Leonardo pushed the manhole cover out of the way as he led his brothers out of the sewers for the first time in their entire lives.
"It's so beautiful," Michelangelo said in awe, as the four of them looked around. Then he started running around. "The city is just full of possibility! There could be an adventure around this corner... or – or this one... or this one! There's not, but there could be!"
"Look at all the computers!" Donatello breathed, staring into the window of an electronics shop. "Is that the next generation cadmium processor with quantum encryption?"
"I don't know, Donatello," said Raphael sarcastically. "Is it?"
"It is!" Donatello exclaimed.
Leonardo watched his brothers with a soft smile on his face. He was curious about the world, too, sure; but seeing his brothers so excited and happy made him much more content to watch rather than exploring with them.
"Guys, guys!" Michelangelo said. "Check this out. A hand made out of light. Now it's an eye made out of light. And the hand again! Now the eye's back! Now the hand!"
Raphael scoffed. "Come on, genius." He grabbed Mikey by the back of his shell and began to drag him away.
"The eye," Michelangelo whispered as he was dragged away.
"So, where to next?" Donatello asked.
At that moment, a human pizza delivery boy drove by and spotted them. Raphael growled at him, causing the boy to flee in terror, dropping a box of pizza from his motorcycle.
"That was kinda fun," Raphael said, immense satisfaction in his voice.
"We're too exposed out here," Leo spoke up. "Come on."
The four of them began to walk away, and Michelangelo stopped to pick up the box the delivery boy had dropped before following his brothers up to a nearby roof. He set it down on the edge of the roof, and he and his brothers stared at it for a long moment.
"Pizza," Michelangelo read off the top of the lid.
"Should we open it?" Donatello asked.
"It could be dangerous," Leonardo warned.
The four of them looked at each other before Michelangelo lifted the lid off the box revealing a perfectly circular crust covered in tomato sauce and cheese, cut neatly into twelve slices.
"I think it's food," Donatello said.
"It's not like any food I ever saw," Raphael replied.
Leonardo didn't say anything else, he just reached forward and grabbed one of the slices and took a small tentative bite out of it.
"It's... It's pretty good, actually," he said slowly. He watched his brothers each grab a slice and take bites of their own.
"I never thought I'd taste anything better than worms and algae," Raphael said. "But this is amazing! Right?"
"I love it up here!" Michelangelo exclaimed.
YOU ARE READING
Rise of the Turtles - Part 1 of "Experiment 1251514118415"
FanfictionTMNT 2012 angst-fueled story. This particular one follows the first episode, with minor changes to the plot - specifically the characters of Leo and Casey - to better suit what I want to write. Leo has a different personality (which will be obvious...
