The Frequency Fiends

by LuckyLadybug

1987 series, my Exit the Fly verse. A mad scientist creates four raw energy duplicates of Michelangelo, which promptly begin to wreak havoc on the city.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 1987

The Frequency Fiends

By Lucky_Ladybug

Notes: The characters are not mine and the story is! It is loosely based on the Darkwing Duck episode of the same name. ThickerThanLove made the original story suggestion and has been invaluable with working out many details and twists of the plot. This is part of my Exit the Fly verse. Baxter is human again and an ally of the Turtles. His brother Barney no longer works for Shredder.

It was a peaceful night soon after Barney had resumed teaching. He, Baxter, and Vincent were sitting at the island in Barney's kitchen as Barney and Baxter finished a pleasant dinner.

"Are things still going well at the university?" Baxter asked.

Barney nodded. "The students honestly want to learn. And they're quick at it."

Baxter gave a wistful sigh. "I wish my class had been like that."

Vincent looked to him. "You could try again if you wanted, Pal. I'm sure you could handle it."

Baxter shook his head. "I don't want to teach again. That was really Barney's thing. Neither of us are what I would call extroverted, but he was better at interacting with people than I ever was. Anyway, I guess I kind of am teaching with my segments on Channel 6. I just don't have to deal with unruly pupils."

"Or grading papers," Barney said flatly.

Baxter chuckled. "Exactly."

"How is your contest with grade school kids coming?" Barney asked.

Enthusiasm came into Baxter's eyes. "Very well. We're collecting entries from the children now. We're going to announce the first winner at the beginning of next week."

"Good," Barney said, looking pleased.

"That's great," Vincent exclaimed. "We'll be sure to watch. Of course, we always watch your segments anyway, Pal."

"You do?" Baxter blinked. He wasn't surprised that Vincent did, but he was surprised about Barney, even though they had been getting along lately.

Barney turned a bit red. "Yes," he admitted. "You're . . . very good, Brother."

Baxter smiled. Barney would never say that if he didn't fully believe it. "It means so much to me that you feel that way," he said. "That you both feel that way."

Barney grunted and shrugged in a noncommittal way. But then, thinking better of it, he said, "You were always good. You should have succeeded as a teacher. Just as you should have succeeded at everything you longed for."

"I didn't really want to be a teacher," Baxter said. "But I was surprised by the number of people who remembered me for when I was."

"They knew you had a natural gift for it, even if it wasn't what you wanted," Vincent said. He moved his hand and accidentally knocked over the water pitcher. There was only a small amount left, but some of it splashed on his hand.

Baxter flinched. "Vincent, are you alright?!" He righted the pitcher and grabbed Vincent's hand, checking for injuries.

"I'm fine, Pal," Vincent smiled. "I know we weren't sure what would happen if I mixed with water, but then I realized that there wasn't a problem. Computers in general can withstand a little liquid if it doesn't get inside. Sometimes even if it does, they can bounce back from it."

"But your body . . . !"

Barney didn't look worried. "If Vincent's body was made of raw, exposed energy, you wouldn't even be able to touch him. We already knew the solid energy generator converts energy into a different type of matter. That type can tolerate liquid-or ice-without consequence."

Baxter released Vincent's hand and leaned back, both relieved and embarrassed. "I should have realized that myself."

"Electrical science isn't one of your main fields. But even at that, I think you would have realized, had you ever had occasion to really think about it when you weren't suffering the effects of having just been beaten up," Barney said matter-of-factly. "That has a tendency to scramble the mind."

That brought a bit of a smile. In the past, Barney might have berated Baxter for his incompetence. But those days were past and gone.

The Turtle-Comm went off and Baxter answered. "Hello, Donatello," he said in some surprise.

"Hi, Baxter." Donatello seemed to be calling from the Turtle Van. "Look, we have to go fight some mad scientist who's threatening the city and Michelangelo wondered if you or Barney might know something about him."

"Professor Blackheart," Michelangelo said in the background. "Great name for a mad scientist, huh?"

"I've never heard of him," Baxter frowned.

"I know he's been experimenting with electrical science, but I don't know anything beyond that," Barney said.

"Okay. Thanks," Donatello said.

"Be careful," Baxter said in concern.

"We will," Donatello promised.

xxxx

Shredder was definitely displeased as he, Krang, Bebop, and Rocksteady tramped through the yard of the broken-down house Professor Blackheart called home. "Why are we doing this, Krang?" he complained.

"Because, Professor Blackheart announced that he's built a new weapon to bring this city to its knees," Krang gurgled. "We need to get hold of it!"

"We don't even know what it is!" Shredder retorted. "How can we trust something built by a mad scientist?!"

"Well, one thing about mad scientists is that their inventions tend to work," Krang smirked. "Let's give it a try."

The Turtle Van pulled up and Shredder ducked behind a bush. "Oh great! Now we'll have to deal with the Turtles as well!" he snarled.

"Sounds great to us, Boss," Rocksteady leered. "We'd love to beat up the Turtles tonight!"

"Barney ain't with them, is he?" Bebop asked in concern.

"No, it's just the Turtles," Shredder grumped.

"Alright, guys," Leonardo was saying. "Let's do this the usual way."

"You mean break in the door and confront the nutcase," Raphael smirked.

"Exactly," said Leonardo.

They proceeded to do exactly that, with a cry of "Turtle Power!"

Professor Blackheart wasn't at all surprised to see them, nor was he aggravated about the door. "Oh, you're just in time to witness my new invention!" he giggled.

Shredder and Krang sneaked up to the window and peered inside. "If the Turtles get his invention, they'll probably destroy it!" Krang exclaimed.

"You want us to go in there and beat 'em up to get it, Boss?" Rocksteady asked.

"Let's wait a minute," Shredder said with a wave of his hand. "If he's going to demonstrate his invention, we don't want to risk either of you two being caught in it."

"Awww, you really care!" Rocksteady beamed.

"It's not that, you moron!" Shredder retorted. "We still need your mutant strength!"

"That figures," Bebop grunted.

Inside, the Turtles were tensely standing around, held hostage by the weapon that was being pointed at them. "So like, what is that gizmo?" Michelangelo asked with a wary look in its direction.

"I'm glad you asked!" Blackheart exclaimed. "But if you hadn't, I would have told you anyway! If I point it at someone and pull the trigger, it will create four raw energy duplicates of four of the most undesirable parts of the victim's personality!"

"What?" Raphael scoffed. "That's completely nuts!"

"Well, what do you expect from a mad scientist?" Blackheart shrugged.

"We're going to stop you, Professor Blackheart!" Leonardo cried.

"There is nothing you can do!" Blackheart cackled. "Say Hello to four more Turtles!" He pulled the trigger.

Michelangelo yelped as he was hit. As the other Turtles watched in horror, he flew across the room to slam into the wall.

"Michelangelo!" Raphael was the first to run over. "Are you okay?! Speak to me!"

"Oh. . . ." Michelangelo groaned, reaching up to rub his head. But then he stopped mid-rub and looked at a spot beyond Raphael. "I don't think I'm doing very good, Dude. I'm seeing quadruplicate!"

Raphael spun around. Four doubles of Michelangelo were hovering in the air, each tinted a different color. "Holy . . . ! That wacko really did it!" he exclaimed.

"Fascinating." Donatello went closer to them. "They're made out of raw energy from the electro-magnetic spectrum."

"You can tell that just by looking at them?" Raphael muttered.

Donatello pointed his bo at the first one, colored yellow. "What are you?"

"I'm like, light rays, Dude!" was the cheerful response. "Hey, what's that cool thing there?" He pointed at one of the work tables. "Or that thing over there?" He leaped down and hurried over, lifting one thing and then another.

"Be careful with those!" Leonardo cried. "We don't know what they might do!"

"Like, I know that! And I wanna know!" The energy creature grabbed a box and shook it. It exploded, but he was unaffected.

The four original Turtles coughed and choked from the smoke. "That must be Curiosity," Donatello rasped.

"Gee, you think?" Raphael retorted.

Leonardo waved the smoke away and looked to the next one, colored red. "What about you?" he asked.

"I'm heat rays! And I'm hungry!" He whipped up a pizza out of seeming thin air and cooked it by pointing his finger under it and allowing flames to leap from the tip.

Michelangelo was completely revived by now. "Wow, that's totally gnarly!" he said in amazement. "Can I have some?"

"Michelangelo, you should know better than to accept food from a strange energy demon," Raphael scolded.

But the red Turtle wasn't about to share. "Like, get your own, Dude. This one's all for me!" He ate the entire pizza in one gulp.

"Gluttony," said Donatello.

The third energy Turtle floated down and stretched his blue arms. "I'm radio rays, and I'm getting out of this snorefest. I'm gonna go show off how brilliant I am on some primo surfing curls. Catch you later! Maybe." He left by way of breaking a hole in the wall.

"Ego?" Donatello mused.

"No way, Dude," Michelangelo argued. "He just wants to party! Maybe I could go hang with him for a while."

"Don't you think you'd get bored hanging out with yourself?" Raphael retorted.

"Hey, you can't have too much of a good thing," Michelangelo laughed. "He could be another best bud."

"Michelangelo, this is ridiculous!" Leonardo exclaimed. "We have to put all of these personified feelings back!"

"Oh, they don't go back into Michelangelo," Donatello said. "That machine just chose four aspects of his personality and created powerful duplicates with those personality aspects. It's not like Michelangelo has lost those feelings because they've literally left his body, because well, they haven't."

Raphael looked back to the remaining energy Turtle, colored purple. "So, dare I ask what this one is?"

"I'm gamma rays," was the snarled reply, "and I'm never going back anywhere! I'm finally free! And if any of you try to stop me . . ." He shot out a blast from his fingertips and a hole exploded in the floor.

"Look out!" Leonardo gasped.

"I think it's safe to say he's Anger," Donatello groaned from the floor.

"We're like, leaving too," Gluttony announced. "This city is full of pizzas, and I'm gonna eat them all!" He turned, casually melting Blackheart's invention.

"Oh, and we're gonna get all powerful and stuff," Curiosity added. "Right after I check out that cool thing out there!" He zipped out the open door.

"They've all escaped!" Leonardo said in horror.

"And now the machine is broke!" Donatello added. "We won't be able to reverse the effect!"

"Guess what else?" Raphael spoke up. "Professor Wack-Heart has flown the coop!"

"So like, what are we gonna do?" Michelangelo gulped.

"First we're going to call April and let her know what's happening," Leonardo said. "She can have the police put out an APB for Professor Blackheart and also report that the four Turtles running loose in the city are not us."

"Oh no!" Donatello moaned. "That's right; people are going to think it's us!"

"Well, they're all me . . . sorta," Michelangelo said with a helpless shrug. He stared at the laboratory. "If my brain did all this to this one little room, what's gonna happen to the city?!"

Leonardo cringed. "Don't worry, Michelangelo. We're going to get all of your duplicates stopped."

"And I know how." Donatello pulled out his Turtle-Comm. "We're going to bring in someone who's an expert in electrical and energy science."

"Donatello, are you serious?" Raphael scowled. "You're going to get Barney?"

"Who else do we know who has a great deal of knowledge about that particular field?" Donatello retorted. "Baxter and I know some, of course, but Barney made it one of his two main fields of study! It would be foolish not to get his help."

Raphael folded his arms. "Yeah, I guess."

"Barney's not a bad guy, Raphael," Michelangelo frowned. "Not now!"

"Yeah, well, it's a lot harder for me to believe that when he was always sane," Raphael shot back. "Twisted and sane."

"You just don't wanna believe it," Michelangelo retorted. "It's staring you right in the face! Even Master Splinter's willing to forgive him."

"Well, I'm not Master Splinter!" Raphael fumed. But then, scowling in resignation, he added, "But Donatello's right; he's probably our best bet. More's the pity."

"What's the big deal?" Michelangelo demanded. "He's helped us before!"

"But we've never actually asked him for help, except for that one time when Baxter asked him to bring the retro-mutagen ray gun for Irma and Vernon," Raphael said.

"And he came through with flying colors." Michelangelo folded his arms. "So there."

"Besides, Raphael, the fact that he's helped us many times without being asked should say something," Leonardo said. "Master Splinter believes he can be trusted. And I trust Master Splinter. Anyway, on my own I've come to feel the same way."

"Yeah? I wish I could," Raphael muttered.

Outside, Shredder and Krang were having different reactions to the bizarre scene they had just encountered.

"Oh, this is preposterous!" Shredder cried. "Four Turtles were bad enough! Now there are eight?!"

Krang cackled. "That machine is brilliant! Just think how busy the Turtles will be trying to catch four more Michelangelos all night! If only one of them hadn't melted the invention." He looked back to the laboratory. "Maybe the blueprints are still inside!"

"Let's go look for them, Boss!" Rocksteady exclaimed. "We can beat up the Turtles while we're at it!"

"As appealing as that part of it sounds, why on Earth would we want a machine like that?!" Shredder fumed.

"Hey, Dude, you got a problem with Turtles?"

They all spun around. The purple duplicate was standing in front of them, eyes narrowed.

"Which one are you?" Shredder frowned behind his mask.

"I'm gamma rays, and you creepazoids are the ones who are always hurting all of us-Master Splinter, the other Turtles, April, Irma, Vernon, Baxter, and my new buds Barney and Vincent too." Anger's eyes flashed and he shot out a small explosion from his hands. "Now you're gonna pay!"

Both Shredder and Krang yelped as they sprang out of the way. Bebop and Rocksteady stumbled back, staring in horror at the smoking hole in the ground.

"Are you satisfied now, Krang?!" Shredder roared. "We have to get out of here!"

"I'm beginning to agree," Krang gulped. Anger was still firing at them.

Inside the lab, Michelangelo had gone to the window to look out once the noise had started. "Whoa, check it out!" He pointed. "That purple me has Shred-Head and Krang on the run!"

"Well, at least it's good for something," Raphael retorted.

"April's going to contact the police right now," Leonardo announced. "Then she and Vernon will go out and start filming what's happening in the city. She'll tell all about Professor Blackheart and his invention. Maybe she'll even get some of your duplicates to give her an interview, Michelangelo."

"That'd be totally radical!" Michelangelo grinned.

"Michelangelo, I have the feeling that you don't fully grasp the gravity of this situation," Raphael frowned.

"Hey, are so many mes really a bad thing?" Michelangelo shrugged.

Raphael slapped his forehead.

Donatello, meanwhile, had just reached Baxter on his Turtle-Comm. "Hi, Baxter," he greeted.

"Hello, Donatello," Baxter returned. "How did your battle with Professor Blackheart go?"

Donatello cringed. "Well, that's what I'm calling about. He had an invention that could create energy duplicates of anyone. He created four Michelangelos!"

Baxter rocked back. "Is Michelangelo alright?!"

"He's fine," Donatello assured him. "But we need your and Barney's help to stop these energy creatures. One of them melted the invention, so we can't use it in reverse on them."

Barney came over now and leaned into the screen. "Exactly what are they made of?"

"Light rays, heat rays, radio rays, and gamma rays," Donatello reported.

"Yeah, exactly what is so dangerous about gamma rays?" Raphael exclaimed. "What even are they?"

"The main component in the fallout from Hiroshima and Nagasaki," Barney answered with a deep frown.

". . . Oh great," Raphael groaned.

"Hey, they came out of my brain . . . or err, were based on stuff in my brain, or something," Michelangelo said in concern. "I would never do anything like that! Why would they?!"

"Michelangelo, take a look at the floor!" Raphael exclaimed. "In fact, take a look at this whole place! They blow up things. They melt things. They break through things. These things aren't really you! They don't care. They're destructive!"

"This is serious." Barney looked completely grim. "We'll come out right now. Where can we meet you?"

"At Professor Blackheart's laboratory," Donatello said, and gave the address. "I'm guessing each one of those duplicates went in a different direction. They're probably all over the city by now!"

"Then we don't have any time to lose." Barney moved away from the screen and went to get his car keys.

Baxter stood as well. "Barney, do you have any idea how we're going to beat them?!" he worried.

"We'll talk about it on the way," Barney said.

"I'm coming with you," Vincent announced.

Baxter smiled at him. "I didn't think you'd stay behind. But it's probably going to be dangerous if these creatures are causing wanton destruction."

"I'm an energy being too," Vincent said, letting a bit of electricity crackle at his fingertips. "I'll take them on if I have to."

Barney nodded. "And I won't be surprised if you'll have to."

"Thanks, you three," Donatello said in relief. "We'll see you soon." He hung up.

xxxx

April drove in determination through Midtown, glaring ahead for any sign of Professor Blackheart or his bizarre creations. "They have to be around here somewhere!" she exclaimed.

"They could be anywhere!" Vernon whined. "What's the chance of our finding any of them?"

Up ahead, a crowd was running and screaming through the doors of a pizza parlor. April pulled over to the curb. "I'd say pretty great!"

Vernon's jaw dropped as Gluttony emerged with a pizza in each hand. He outright screamed when Gluttony shoved both into his mouth at once.

April was already out of the van and filming. "This is April O'Neil, with an on-the-scene report on the energy monsters created by Professor Blackheart," she intoned.

Gluttony walked right up to her. "Hey, April!" he said with his mouth full. "You're cool, but Vernon's not. How about we show this bozo a thing or two?" He aimed a burst of flame at Vernon, who shrieked and dived out of the way.

"I thought these things were supposed to be based on Michelangelo!" he wailed. "He's never acted like this!"

"I'm glad you realize that, Vernon," April quipped. But she stepped back, highly unsettled. "They may be based on Michelangelo, but they're not him!"

"Come on, Vernon, dance!" Gluttony mocked, shooting flames from one hand, then the other, near Vernon's feet.

Vernon was indeed "dancing" to avoid them. Finally he ran behind April. "He likes you!" he begged. "Can't you get him to stop?!"

"Oh Vernon, can't you be brave?" April sighed.

"Bravery comes once in a blue moon for me," Vernon sniffled.

"Well, you did help Irma," April mused. "And of course I don't want you to be hurt in any case." She looked to Gluttony. "Come on, give him a break."

"Aww, you're no fun." Gluttony sneered. "Maybe I should just barbecue you both."

Vernon threw his hands in the air. "We're doomed! April, what are we going to do?!"

April was already whipping out her Turtle-Comm. "Turtles, help!" she screamed right before Gluttony reached out and touched it. April dropped it, staring in horror as it melted on the ground. "Oh no, not again!" she moaned. "I've lost count of how many Turtles-Comms I've lost! And I don't even know if they got the message!"

"Even if they did, what can they do about it?" Gluttony whipped out another pizza and cooked it before popping it in his mouth. "You two are left up to my mercy. And I'm in the mood for a mondo big cook-out!"

xxxx

Barney was driving himself, Baxter, and Vincent to the proposed meeting place when Ego dropped onto the hood of the car. "Yo, heads up, Dudes! I'm gonna try some car surfing!"

The car violently swerved. "I can't see!" Barney cried.

Baxter rolled down the window and leaned out. "Get off this car!"

"Aww, don't be a spoilsport," Ego retorted. He ran up to the roof and then back to the hood. "Look, no hands!"

Baxter stared at him for a moment. "He really does look just like Michelangelo," he gasped. "Only blue."

Barney growled. "He is an exact physical replication, so naturally he does." He pulled over to the curb when it became obvious Ego would not get down. "But his representation of Michelangelo's feeling is exaggerated."

"I should hope so!" Baxter fumed. He stormed out of the car and over to the hood, where Ego was doing a handstand. "Now see here! You put us all in danger with your stunt!"

Ego frowned and his balance was lost. "I did?"

"Of course you did!" Baxter snapped. "The real Michelangelo would never do such a thing!"

He wasn't expecting Ego to come down to the ground and just stand there, his shoulders slumped. "Oh wow. I like, really messed up. I didn't even stop to think about the danger to you guys." He took to the sky, flying away before Baxter had a chance to respond.

"Wait!" Baxter yelled then. "Come back!" But it was no use.

By now Barney and Vincent had gotten out of the car as well. "His self-confidence suddenly plummeted," Vincent exclaimed.

Barney looked thoughtful. "To some extent, they are supposed to be representations of Michelangelo's feelings, even if exaggerated. Naturally, no one's self-confidence is always at a high."

"And it dropped when he realized we could have been hurt," Baxter said softly. "That is most certainly like the real Michelangelo."

Barney got back in the car. "Come on," he said. "We need to meet up with the Turtles and discuss what has to be done."

Baxter stiffened as a blue explosion lit up the distant sky. "Oh no," he gasped.

"They may act like Michelangelo to an extent, but their ultimate desire is for destruction," Vincent said as he climbed back into the car.

"But if he didn't want us to get hurt, why doesn't he worry about others?" Baxter frowned. He slid inside again as well.

"Maybe whatever amount of Michelangelo's kindness that's in him only extends to those he feels closest to." Barney pulled away from the curb as another explosion lit up the night. "Everyone else is fair game."

"I suppose they can't be reasoned with," Baxter mused. "Or can they? This one didn't think about the danger to us until I pointed it out."

"With car surfing it's slightly believable that he wouldn't have thought about the danger beforehand," Barney said. "But there's no way he doesn't know that explosions will hurt people."

Baxter sighed and nodded. "You're right. There likely isn't any choice but to stop them in the only way possible. But when they look and act like Michelangelo, that's . . . not going to be easy. Especially for the real Turtles."

"They're logically-minded beings," Barney replied. "They know just as much as we do that these energy creations have to be stopped. And they surely know, or at least have considered, that the only way to do that will involve said energy creations' destruction."

Baxter was about to respond when Barney was forced to slam on the brakes. Shredder, Krang, Bebop, and Rocksteady were running across the street, all screaming in terror. Behind them flew Anger, still blasting at the lot of them.

"Oh my goodness." Baxter stared, riveted to the scene.

Barney swerved and went down a side street. "Gamma rays," he muttered. "We don't want to be in the line of fire."

Vincent had to smirk a bit. "It is nice to see our enemies on the run. They actually look terrified."

"Mama!" Bebop was wailing.

"Who'd ever think that so much pent-up anger could come from that fun-loving Turtle?!" Shredder cried.

"That isn't Michelangelo!" Krang retorted. "It's an energy duplicate!"

"But he has Michelangelo's memories and stuff!" Rocksteady exclaimed.

"All I can say is that we had better never underestimate Michelangelo again," Shredder fumed. "If we get out of this."

"I'm an interdimensional world conqueror," Krang snapped. "I'm not about to be done in by one energy duplicate of a mutant Turtle!"

"Do we have a choice?!" Shredder retorted. He leaped over a bench.

Baxter turned away as the group disappeared from his line of vision. "It's a pity those duplicates aren't really on our side," he remarked. "I still wonder if they could be reasoned with."

"I've seen energy beings once before," Barney confessed. "Professor Willardson once made an invention that did something similar, only his was supposed to bring out the best parts of a person's personality. He used it on himself. His duplicates were Hell-bent on believing that the end justifies the means and feeling that they needed to remake the world in their image to save it. They could not be reasoned with."

Baxter shuddered. "That must have been after I dropped out of his class."

"It was," Barney confirmed.

"So they had to be destroyed in the end?" Vincent spoke.

"Yes. I rigged the device that did it." Barney stared ahead.

"How did Professor Willardson feel about that?" Baxter wondered.

"By that point even he realized those things had to be stopped," Barney said. "But of course he didn't show any gratitude."

Baxter was unsettled by Barney's story. "So these beings are no doubt just as dangerous," he said. "And also unreasonable."

"I'm sure," Barney said. "They only take certain elements of someone's personality. There's nothing else to balance them out. In other words, the one we saw is nothing but the ups and downs of self-confidence. The other three likewise only consist of one personality aspect each. In spite of that, they all feel that their ultimate goal is destruction. They cannot be reasoned with or made to understand that destruction is wrong. Frankly, they don't care. They look like the person they're emulating, but you must always remember that they're just copying that person and adding their own destructive tendencies to what they've copied. They have to be destroyed first, before they can fulfill their goals and blow up the world."

Baxter nodded. "I understand." And he did, but he was deeply troubled on even more levels now. "I wonder if scientists will always find ways to devise things that they shouldn't be tampering with in the first place."

"Probably," Barney spoke flatly. "It's not like we didn't do it too."

"Unfortunately," Baxter sighed.

He blinked in surprise when his Turtle-Comm suddenly went off. As he opened it, he was greeted by a shaky image of April. "Turtles, help!" she cried. Then a red hand came into view and static filled the screen.

"Barney, Miss O'Neil is in trouble!" Baxter said in alarm. "It looked like another of these energy beings was with her!"

"Could you see anything in the background that identified the location?" Barney asked.

"UFO Pizza," Baxter replied in a weak voice.

"What's wrong, Pal?" Vincent asked, concerned.

"I helped Shredder with one of his schemes there," Baxter said softly. "And I could have accidentally injured two children with that stunt, had the Turtles not interfered."

"We all have our demons," Barney answered. "That's probably something you will never forgive yourself for."

"I won't," Baxter agreed.

"At least you can know that your mind was going," Barney said. "And that you had no idea children were going to get involved. I can't tell myself any such thing."

"I shouldn't have been trying to torment the Turtles, though," Baxter muttered. He sighed. ". . . How long will it take us to get there from here?"

"We're closer than the Turtles are," Barney said.

"We can be there in ten minutes," Vincent offered. "I just tapped into the GPS."

"Ten minutes." Baxter slumped back into the seat. "Who knows what will have happened by then."

xxxx

The Turtles had also received April's cut-off transmission and knew they had to get to her. But just when they were hurrying out of Professor Blackheart's laboratory and Michelangelo was preparing to call Baxter to let him know the plans had changed, Curiosity dropped into their path.

"Yo, Dudes!" he waved. "I thought I'd come back and we could party hardy!"

"Not now," Leonardo frowned. "April just called. She's in danger!"

"Aww, you're always saving April," Curiosity objected. "Why don't you just forget it this time?"

"Nothing doing." Michelangelo no longer looked fascinated by his duplicate. "April always comes first before partying!"

"It's probably one of your buddies who's after her," Raphael spoke up. "We saw a red hand reaching for her Turtle-Comm!"

"He can have her," Curiosity shrugged. "Hey, can I ride with you?!"

"Uh . . ." Leonardo exchanged a look with the other Turtles. Well, they did need to catch them all. . . . "Sure, why not."

"Totally righteous!" Curiosity ran up the ramp ahead of all the others and leaped in the driver's seat. "Let's boogie!"

"Wait!" Donatello said in horror. "We didn't say you could drive!" He reached for the wheel and then yelped in pain. Raw energy could not easily be touched.

Curiosity responded by blasting the Van and bringing the engine to life without the key. "All aboard the Turtle Express!"

"We'd better go or we'll be left behind," Leonardo exclaimed. He dashed inside, followed by the others. Then they all crashed to the floor as Curiosity pealed out.

Raphael clenched his teeth. "Aww man, if he didn't look so much like Michelangelo . . . and act like him, sort of . . ." He grabbed the top of the seat as he pulled himself up.

"If you can't beat him, Dude, I can!" Michelangelo retorted. He started to get up, his eyes filled with determination.

"I thought you liked all these extra yous," Raphael remarked.

"Yeah, well, that was before one of them went after April and this one totally didn't want to help her." Michelangelo moved to throw a nunchuck and wrap it around the wheel. Before he could, Curiosity swerved again and the Van rocked to the side. Once more, all solid Turtles crashed to the floor.

"Watch out!" Leonardo gasped. "You're going to hit something!"

The warning came too late. Curiosity slammed into a bench, fully uprooting it. He did the same to the first fire hydrant they came to. Water streamed over the Van like a geyser.

"Ordinarily I'd be thrilled that the Van's getting a bath without us having to do anything," Raphael grumbled.

Then they shattered through a store's plate-glass window and Curiosity sprang out. "I'm done!"

Donatello shook the stars from his eyes and stumbled out after him. "You can't just leave after causing all of this trouble!" he scolded.

"Oh yeah? Who's gonna stop me?" Curiosity blasted just to Donatello's left.

"We'll all stop you," Leonardo insisted. He rushed out as well, followed by Raphael and Michelangelo.

"I still say you can't," Curiosity taunted. "Your ninja weapons aren't gonna work on me!"

"You know, he's probably got a point," Donatello cringed. "He can only touch things if he wills it so. He'd never let these weapons reach him. We need a weapon that can attack energy on its own terms."

"And just where are we going to get something like that?!" Raphael demanded. "Energies R Us?"

Curiosity blasted at all of them before taking to the sky. "Catch you later, Dudes! Unless . . ." He looked hopefully to Leonardo. "You'd like to join forces with me instead of trying to stop me!"

"We can't condone your destructive habits," Leonardo frowned.

"And I'm not gonna stop! I'm gonna round up my real buds and we'll get more and more powerful! Soon we'll take over the whole world!" Curiosity grinned. "Only first I wanna look at that cool thing over there!" And he swooped away.

"Oh brother!" Leonardo groaned.

"I knew it. This night is going to keep getting better and better," Raphael sighed.

"Did you notice how he always blasted around us, but not right at us?" Donatello mused as they hurried back to the Van.

"Yeah. So?" Raphael retorted.

"It was almost like he didn't want to hurt us," Donatello said.

Michelangelo wasn't impressed. "He didn't wanna help April," he said. "Why should he do us any favors?"

"He has a part of your personality," Donatello said. "Maybe there's some level of caring for us in there." He slowly pulled away from the broken glass and off the sidewalk. He felt terrible to leave all that mess, but April's life was more important.

"So like, what does that mean?" Michelangelo frowned. "So what if he does? He's not me."

"You sure did a 180-degree turn," Raphael said.

"I'm starting to think I don't like all these mes running around," Michelangelo said. "That's all."

"I'm just saying that's going to make the inevitable all the more difficult," Donatello said. "Because more than likely, the only way to stop these things is to permanently disperse their energy."

"You mean they won't exist," Raphael said.

"Yes," Donatello nodded.

Raphael groaned and slumped back. "I couldn't even handle destroying one robot clone of Michelangelo," he said. "Now there's four energy clones!"

"It's going to be hard for all of us," Leonardo said. "We'll just have to tell ourselves that they aren't really Michelangelo." He cringed. "No matter what they say or do."

"Hey, I could get rid of them," Michelangelo offered. "I don't think it'd bother me."

"Let's wait and see exactly what Barney says," Donatello said.

"Oh, that's right. I've gotta call Baxter and let him know we're going to help April," Michelangelo remembered. He pulled out his Turtle-Comm.

xxxx

Barney had just pulled up near UFO Pizza when Baxter's Turtle-Comm went off. At the same moment, a fireball went past the window.

"I've got you two cornered now," Gluttony taunted. He didn't even seem to notice or care about the car. He was approaching a telephone pole that April and Vernon had climbed out of desperation.

"Oh please," Vernon whimpered. "Why do you want to do this?!"

"I can make a big fire to cook some mondo big pizzas," Gluttony smirked.

Baxter leaped out of the car. "Stop this at once!" he cried. "If you want a fire, there's no reason why you have to be cruel to have it!"

Barney growled. "Brother, don't do something stupid," he warned. He and Vincent both exited the car.

Vincent went over to the telephone pole and stood in front of it to defend April and Vernon. "If you want an energy battle, I'll engage you," he said, calling forth an orb of electricity.

Gluttony regarded him in annoyance. "You know, none of this would even be happening if those two had just let me eat in peace," he said.

"We didn't stop you from eating!" April called, her voice filled with indignation.

"Then I just wanted to have some fun with that moron, but April wouldn't let me," Gluttony continued. "So now I'll toast them both. All of you guys too!"

Vincent threw the orb and sent Gluttony flying backwards when it hit its mark. "You two had better get out of here," he said to April and Vernon.

"Gladly!" Vernon said. He started down the pole but then paused. "But won't Dr. Stockman get hurt?" He looked to his friend in concern.

Baxter smiled at him. "I don't have any intention of it."

"You never do," Barney countered.

The Van pulled up just then. "Turtle Power!" came the collective cry. The Turtles jumped out just as Gluttony got up and torched the next telephone pole over.

"There," he sneered. "Now it'll fall over on the two of you."

Vernon shrieked and practically flew down the pole. April wasn't far behind.

"Who'd ever think things that look like Michelangelo could be so dangerous?!" she wailed.

"We're not letting you get away with this!" Leonardo declared. He opened a nearby fire hydrant and redirected the water at the pole. The flames sputtered and died.

"Why do you want to do this?" Donatello addressed Gluttony.

"I just want to eat, Dude," Gluttony retorted. "I'm gonna get enough power to rule the world so I can sit around and eat all the time and no one can stop me!" He started another fire and toasted a pizza he brought out from nowhere. "Deep fried pizza," he smirked.

"Oh, yuck!" Michelangelo exclaimed. "Even I draw the line there!"

"Your loss," Gluttony sneered. "Not that I would've let you have any anyway, Dude." He rose into the sky and flew off.

"Is everyone alright?" Leonardo asked.

"We're fine," April sighed, "but I'm afraid we didn't get much footage before he cornered us!"

"That's okay, April," Leonardo assured her.

"Yeah. There's gonna be a lot more chances for it," Michelangelo scowled. "I feel like a big jerk for ever thinking these guys were cool!"

"Well, it's understandable that you did, considering that they're all you," Raphael said lightly.

"I'm nothing like these guys!" Michelangelo snapped. "Okay, yeah, I like to eat, and I like to look at cool things, and I can get mad, and I can even think I'm mondo cool stuff. But these guys, all of them, just take the pizza pie!"

Baxter went over and laid a hand on Michelangelo's shoulder. "They do," he agreed. "They only started out with the blueprints of some of your traits, Michelangelo. They expanded on them and added the destructive aspects all on their own. We all know you would never behave like that, especially with your loved ones."

"I sure hog the pizza sometimes, though," Michelangelo muttered. "And I get mondo curious about stuff I shouldn't."

"Those are the blueprints," Baxter agreed. "But their similarities to you stop there."

Michelangelo tried to weakly smile. "So like, what do we do about it?"

"Well, we've already seen that we can't seem to get anywhere with talking to them," Leonardo frowned.

"And that no matter what else they do, they always end up causing destruction," Donatello added.

"On purpose!" Raphael exclaimed.

Michelangelo nodded. "They're all maximum bad news."

Barney came forward. "As I see it, the only thing to do is to somehow gather them all in one place and blast them with negative polarity. That will disperse their energy and, in essence, destroy them."

"Negative polarity?!" Raphael countered. "Give me a break! Even I know negative is bad!" His eyes flashed. "What are you trying to pull?!"

"He's not trying to pull anything, Raphael," Donatello said with some impatience.

Baxter nodded. "This isn't a cartoon or some other black-and-white situation. Negative doesn't always mean bad."

"In this case, it's only bad for them," Barney said.

Raphael looked from him to Donatello and Baxter. Then he sighed, a little embarrassed but unwilling to admit it. "Okay. So how do we go about building this big polarity blaster anyway?"

"I've been mentally calculating everything we'll need on the way over here," Barney said. He proceeded to recite a list, which Vincent typed up as fast as Barney spoke.

Raphael looked lost before the fourth item had been named. "Where are we gonna get all this stuff?!" he wailed. "Especially at eleven o'clock at night?!"

"It's eleven?!" April interrupted. "Oh no! The news!" She ran for the news van to telephone Burne.

"Well, it's good to see that her priorities are, as always, in their proper order," Raphael said with dripping sarcasm.

"In all fairness, we wanted April to do that piece on the news so people would understand what's going on and not blame us," Leonardo said.

"And in answer to your question," Barney cut in, "I have some of the pieces with us. We brought everything we could from home that I felt we would need."

"And I have some of them at the factory where I used to live," Baxter added. "Some more are at my apartment."

"Alright then!" Leonardo exclaimed. "Let's gather up everything and put this thing together!"

"We should use a rooftop," Barney said. "The Channel 6 building should do. Then we'll have to find a way to bring all of the energy creatures to us."

Michelangelo looked to Leonardo. "So how would you get me to go somewhere if I didn't wanna go?"

"Would the same method work on four different beings?" Leonardo frowned.

"Maybe not," Michelangelo agreed. "I'll think about it."

"And once all is said and done, we'll have to choose someone to press the button that will release the polarity," Barney said.

"Well, I already know I don't want it to be you," Raphael retorted. "Donatello should do it."

"Really, Raphael?" Vincent spoke up. "You're volunteering one of your best friends to destroy four duplicates of another best friend?"

Raphael froze, a sickened look coming over his face. Donatello looked nearly as ill.

"They're not really Michelangelo," he tried to say.

"But they act more like him than that robot clone did," Leonardo said. "I know it's not logical considering what they are and who they're not, but if we're all honest with ourselves, I think it's going to be hard for any of us to press that button while looking right at all of them."

"Maybe it would be better for you to do it after all," Raphael said to Barney. "After all, you hurt Michelangelo once before. What's four more?"

Barney flinched. He turned away, shaken, and headed back to his car. "Vincent or I should do it," he said. "We're the most objective and impartial."

"I still say I should do it," Michelangelo said. "I wanna get rid of these not-mes!"

"Let's get the parts," Leonardo said. "We can discuss this more at Channel 6!"

"We should go to the factory first," Baxter said quietly. He looked after Barney, the ache clearly in his eyes. Raphael had a perfect right to still be angry about the Golden Goose case, but it hurt Baxter to see Barney trying so hard to change and Raphael continuing to put him down. That dig had cut deep into Barney's heart and soul. Baxter would be able to tell that even if hadn't grown closer to Barney over the past weeks.

Michelangelo realized it too. "Hey, Barney, are you okay?" he asked in concern.

"Of course I am," Barney retorted. "Let's go." He practically threw himself into the car.

Baxter frowned. "Maybe I should drive," he said.

"You've never driven anything like this before," Barney grunted. "I'd rather do it."

Baxter looked to Vincent, who gave him a sad look and also climbed inside. "Barney, Baxter has a point," he said. "You can't drive as well when you're upset."

"I am not upset," Barney hissed. He turned the key in the ignition. "Raphael has every right to hate me and to show it."

"You're trying to help," Baxter said angrily. "You don't have to, but you're willing to anyway. And he treats you like that!" He went around and slid into the passenger seat.

"He doesn't want my help. Can you blame him?" Barney pulled away from the curb and sped towards the end of the street. After a moment, the Turtles followed in the Turtle Van and April and Vernon followed after them in the news van.

"You've helped before and he hasn't made such a fuss," Baxter frowned. Really, the more he thought about it, the more he wished he hadn't virtually ignored Raphael's comments.

"Maybe it's because this case is so personal to them," Barney said. "Why would he want the person who encased Michelangelo in gold to help get rid of four energy duplicates of Michelangelo?"

"I don't suppose he would," Baxter said softly. "I understand his anger. I honestly do. And I can't blame him. But when I was forgiven and I hurt Michelangelo too, I guess it's getting harder for me to understand why he can't forgive you as well. It can't be healthy to feel such bitterness and hate. It was horrible for me. And it was only when I could finally let it go that I realized how badly those emotions had been poisoning me."

"What do you want me to do?!" Barney finally snapped. "Tell Raphael he should forgive me?! How can I say that when I don't even believe it myself?!"

"Oh Barney," Vincent said sadly. He looked to Baxter. There was really nothing they could say to that.

Baxter slumped back into the seat. It was a painful situation from all angles. "Is it too much to hope for that someday we might all truly be allies and even friends?" he wondered.

"That's a fairy tale, Brother," Barney growled.

"So was your leaving Shredder," Baxter replied. "And us actually becoming more like a family. But they both happened."

Barney didn't answer. After another block, he said, "Let's forget about all of that for now and concentrate on the issue at hand."

"Unfortunately, it looks like they're both issues at hand," Vincent said.

"Raphael will just have to deal with it," Barney retorted. "So will I. So will all of us. After all, this isn't a matter of what any of us want. It's what has to be done to save the city and probably the world. And I'm the one who knows what that is. We can't dredge up another electrical science expert now."

Baxter sighed. Barney was right.

xxxx

Nothing else happened until all three vehicles pulled up at the old factory. Raphael sighed when he saw it. "Well, this brings back memories," he commented. "All of them bad."

"Totally," Michelangelo agreed. "You know, I haven't even been inside since the night we stole a lot of Baxter's stuff for the van that we also stole."

"Well, it seemed to make sense at the time, since Baxter wasn't around to use it," Donatello said. "But I remember that Master Splinter didn't seem entirely approving of what we did. At the time, none of us understood why."

"We sure were new to everything then," Leonardo said. "We wouldn't make the same mistakes now."

"You still make a lot of mistakes!" came a furious voice.

Everyone looked up as they exited the Van. "Okay, what's your problem now?" Raphael frowned, looking up at Anger.

The purple duplicate responded by blasting a hole right in front of him. "You really don't even know, do you?"

"No!" Raphael snapped.

Michelangelo gripped his nunchucks. "Why don't you just buzz off?" He sounded oddly defensive.

"Why don't you just be quiet, like always?" Anger shot back.

"You know, I don't even get why you exist anyway," Raphael frowned. "It's not like Michelangelo gets mad very often. And when he does, it hardly lasts at all."

"Yeah, you'd know, wouldn't you?" Anger mocked. "You know what? It's kind of weird how nasty you are to Barney, considering you don't even think I have a brain!"

"What?!" Raphael exclaimed.

"You've said it enough times," Anger insisted. "I mean, what kind of a way is that to act about somebody you supposedly care about so much that you can't even forgive somebody else for hurting them?! It's not like Barney even really knew me! But you do! You're such a hypocrite! Didn't you ever think about the fact that you hurt me a lot more than Barney ever did?!"

Raphael's mouth dropped open. Leonardo and Donatello also looked shocked.

Baxter looked over at Michelangelo in concern. He was starting to shrink around the side of the Turtle Van.

"And you!" Anger pointed at Donatello. "You're always dismissing my ideas so easy, like I never have anything intelligent enough to say!" He aimed at the purple-masked Turtle and blasted, causing him to jump. Despite aiming point-blank, at the last moment he had wavered and the hole had struck just to Donatello's left.

"I . . . I never meant to!" Donatello gasped.

"Oh no, of course not, Dude," Anger mocked. "Okay, so you listened recently when I was sure Baxter wasn't dead and you studied that stupid suspended animation ray gun because of what I said, but what if Master Splinter hadn't had a dream too? Would you have paid any attention if I'd been the only one?"

"Michelangelo . . ." Donatello was stunned.

"He's not me!" Michelangelo cried. "I'm over here!"

"And what if there hadn't been any dreams and all you had was, say, a gut feeling from me?" Anger went on. "There's no way you would have listened then! Go on, admit it!"

Donatello's mouth worked, but no sounds came out.

Anger looked to Leonardo. "And like, you're always on my shell about me training the way you think I should! I've got my own style, you know. And it's served me pretty righteously all this time. Maybe you should take more stock in it instead of thinking you know it all! I really can take care of myself a lot better than you seem to think I can!" Another blast, also initially aimed dead-on but shifted at the last second to Leonardo's right.

Leonardo jumped back. "I'm just trying to be a good leader, the way Master Splinter taught me!" he exclaimed. "I never meant for it to look like I was demeaning you . . . er, Michelangelo!"

"Hey, Leonardo bosses us all around," Raphael frowned. "Why would you be singled out?"

"It feels like it sometimes," Anger bitterly retorted.

A whoop of glee brought everyone's attention around before they could even think how to process what was happening. "Look at me! I'm skating on the power lines!" Ego exclaimed as he soared along. "Yes! Check it out, guys! April!" But then he stumbled and fell off the wire.

Anger looked over. "Why don't you scope out what you're doing?!" he snapped. "You just interrupted me finally mouthing off to these jerks!"

Ego looked downcast as he floated downward. "I'm really not as good as the others. I never will be, will I?"

That was the last straw. Michelangelo turned, running through the factory door Baxter had just unlocked and up the stairs.

"Michelangelo!" Leonardo exclaimed.

"Why is he running off?" Vernon frowned.

"Can you blame him?" Barney commented. "These duplicates have his memories. Now all of his inward feelings are being laid bare, including what he never wanted anyone else to know."

"Oh, shut up," Raphael snapped, still badly shaken from Anger's words.

Baxter hurried inside after Michelangelo and up the old stairs. He wasn't surprised to find his friend curled up in a corner of the old workshop, his knees up to his chest and his arms crossed on top of them. "I don't wanna talk," he mumbled without looking up.

"I know." Baxter went over and laid a hand on Michelangelo's shoulder. "Michelangelo, I am so sorry."

A weak shrug. "You don't have anything to feel sorry about. But all those things the mes were saying. . . . They're all true. They're all what I've thought. All the stuff Anger said. . . . I never wanted the guys to hear that. Heck, I know Raphael is just teasing, even though I hate it. And I know I act so irresponsible sometimes that naturally Donatello brushes my ideas off and Leonardo isn't always sure I can take care of myself. And I never wanted them to know that sometimes I doubt myself."

"Everyone does sometime," Baxter said softly.

"That's right," Leonardo spoke up from the doorway. "Michelangelo, you know I've doubted that I'm a good leader."

"Yeah, I guess," Michelangelo said slowly. "I talk about stuff like that with Master Splinter sometimes, but I don't wanna bring it up with my buds. I want my buds to think I'm strong."

"We know you're strong, Michelangelo," Leonardo said. "You're the heart of our team."

Donatello and Raphael nodded in agreement.

"I can't think of a better way to put it," Baxter said with a sincere smile.

Leonardo shifted. "And . . . I'm sorry I've made you feel like I don't know if you can take care of yourself. You've proved yourself many times. I guess I'm just . . . well, kind of protective. And I'm . . . still kind of feeling my way around this leader bit. I know I don't do it as well as I could." He looked down. "Sometimes I do get caught up thinking things like my style is the best way. I need to remember that it's not the best way for everyone."

"It's okay, Leonardo," Michelangelo said. "I know you're trying."

"And some of your ideas are really good, Michelangelo," Donatello said. "I think sometimes I have an ego problem and I don't want to consider other input. And anything paranormal or supernatural, like dreams or gut feelings, I have a hard time accepting. I don't want to believe I wouldn't have listened to you about Baxter if Master Splinter hadn't had a dream too, but . . . I have to admit that I honestly don't know what I would have done." He looked and sounded helpless and regretful. "I really think I would have still paid attention when you were so insistent, but I just don't know."

Michelangelo gave a half-smile. "I know, Donatello. But hey, some of it's my fault for acting like such a shallow moron sometimes. If I just shaped up more, maybe you'd all respect me better."

"Michelangelo, you're special just the way you are," Leonardo said. "We don't want you to change your fun-loving nature or your appetite for pizza. You know how to be serious when the situation calls for it. We don't give you enough credit for having your own way of doing things."

Now Michelangelo looked amazed and awed. "You like, really mean that?"

"Of course we do," Donatello smiled. "I think things would get boring awfully fast without you around to lighten them up. Or make us examine possibilities and people that we might not have thought as strongly about otherwise." He looked to Baxter, who nodded.

"I don't even want to imagine what my life would be like if you hadn't extended your sincere friendship to me," Baxter said. "Of course, there is always room for self-improvement, but there's no need for you to change any of the things that make you happy. Just make certain you never carry any of them to extremes, as these energy creatures are doing."

"I won't," Michelangelo said emphatically. "If there's one thing this mess has shown me, it's that I never wanna get anything more like these not-mes!" He looked down.

Raphael clenched his fists. "And about what that thing outside said. . . ." Michelangelo cringed. "I know you don't like teasing, but I do it anyway. I guess I figure . . . well, that's who I am and that's how guys bond."

"Not all guys," Michelangelo mumbled. "Some guys don't like it."

Baxter nodded. That was something he and Michelangelo had in common.

Raphael looked down. "I should've remembered more how you took it to heart when I led the guys in pretending we didn't remember your birthday. Master Splinter said that teasing is only funny when both parties can laugh about it. You've never laughed about mine." He looked up again like a shot. "But is that other thing really true, Michelangelo? That . . . you feel like I've hurt you more than Barney did?" Even in the dim light, he looked sick and stunned and disbelieving.

Michelangelo also looked sick. "Well . . . I've said stuff like that to myself sometimes out of anger, but . . ." He shook his head. "I know there's really no way to compare what you do and what he did. . . . I guess it's just . . . well, he didn't know me and that was a one-time thing. And he was the bad guy then, so I mean . . . you kind of expect that the bad guys are gonna hurt you. You don't really expect it from your best buds. That's why things hurt more coming from you, even though they're nowhere as extreme as what Barney did." He averted his gaze as he continued. "I mean, with you, we've known each other all our lives and the hurt really is something that keeps coming back because stuff keeps happening. I try to brush it off 'cause I know you don't mean anything by it . . . at least, I don't think you do . . . but then sometimes I wonder . . . and sometimes it really does hurt."

Raphael's shoulders slumped. "I don't mean it," he insisted. "Not really. . . . Sure, you can be out there sometimes, or obnoxious without meaning to be, but you actually do get it together real well when you need to. A lot of your ideas have helped us a lot. And your fighting skills." He shifted, extremely awkward. But he looked up, clearly meaning every word.

Michelangelo started to smile. "I . . . think I really needed to hear that, Raphael," he said. "I mean, even though I knew you didn't mean the nasty stuff you were saying, it feels real good to hear you say that."

"I wish you'd told us these things before, Michelangelo," Leonardo said quietly. "We really didn't know. In fact, there's probably a lot we should know about each other. We should all be more open."

Michelangelo gave a helpless shrug. "I don't like to bring stuff like that up. I really know you guys don't mean anything by it, and heck, you probably don't say anything a lot of the times when I do something annoying, so I don't want to be the one who does that. . . ."

"But to be the most effective team we can be, everyone needs to be happy and feel understood," Leonardo said.

A flash out the window brought Raphael's attention up. "And we need to get rid of those things before the whole city collapses!" he exclaimed.

Michelangelo leaped up. "Oh no! Mondo disaster! They probably did all that with us on purpose to give us something else to think about when we need to be thinking about them!"

Barney and Vincent appeared in the doorway, with April and Vernon right behind them. "We've found a few pieces of what we'll need downstairs, but we need to see if there's anything up here now," Barney said. He didn't acknowledge the conversation he knew they had been having. He felt that wasn't his place or his business, even if part of the conversation had included him due to Anger's words.

Baxter reached for something on a shelf behind him. "This is one of the things we need."

"Good," Barney said in approval.

Leonardo snapped back into leader mode. "We'll talk more later, but right now we definitely need to get back to fighting these energy demons," he declared. "Let's take what we need and move on."

Everyone was agreeable to that.

xxxx

Within a couple of hours, all the parts had been collected and Barney had constructed the polarity blaster on the roof of Channel 6, with the aid of Baxter, Donatello, and Vincent. April and Vernon were standing by to film.

"There," Barney said, stepping back. "It's done. Unfortunately, we won't be able to do a trial run first or the energy duplicates will no doubt see the blast and know what we're doing."

Michelangelo cringed. "So we've only got one shot at this, huh?"

Baxter tried to give an encouraging smile to both him and Barney. "It's going to work."

Several colorful blasts lit up the night sky from all directions, as had been the case all during the construction process. Barney was right; these beings desired destruction above all else.

"Oh, I hate to think what the city looks like right now!" April fretted.

"I'm sure we'll be seeing a lot of it over the next few months," Michelangelo said, clenching a fist.

"So now, how do you suggest we get the energy demons to show up here?" Raphael asked, looking to Michelangelo. "The biggest pizza in the world?"

"Well," Michelangelo mused, "I've been trying to think of something that might bring them all here at once and I guess there's several things. I'm just gonna pick one and hope for the best."

April handed him a microphone. "This is hooked up to the loudspeaker system," she told him.

"Gnarly," Michelangelo grinned. He took a deep breath and yelled into the microphone. "Attention energy mes! Yours truly is the only real Michelangelo, so take that! COWABUNGA!"

Raphael raised an eyebrow. "Cowabunga?"

"Well, it worked, didn't it?" Michelangelo retorted. "Here they come!"

And he was right. All four energy duplicates were swooping in and converging on the Channel 6 rooftop.

Vernon gave a choked cry of horror. "There's so many!" he whimpered.

"Oh, chill out, Vernon," Raphael sighed. "We know."

"This is April O'Neil, bringing you a Channel 6 exclusive," April announced as Vernon rolled the camera. "Tonight you will witness the destruction of the energy creatures that Professor Blackheart created earlier this evening. The Professor, incidentally, was picked up an hour ago by police as he tried to escape to Staten Island."

Barney stood, controller in hand, ready to press the button and blast the energy duplicates with negative polarity. He knew he had to do it. It was the only way. But . . . they were all coming at him, all looking like Michelangelo, all acting like Michelangelo to varying extents. He had already hurt Michelangelo once, something that he would never get over for all eternity. He had to do this . . . he had to destroy them. . . . But he couldn't do it. . . . He couldn't. . . .

"Barney!" Baxter screamed in horror. His brother had froze, sheet-white, his finger on the controller but not pressing the button. And as the creatures came closer, realizing what he was trying to do, they all prepared to blast him at once. But Barney was still frozen. He couldn't do it.

Baxter tackled Barney to the ground just as the collective blasts hit the rooftop. The controller went flying and was caught by Vincent, who pressed the button. The duplicates gave a shared scream of pain and then they were gone.

For a moment everyone stood where they were, silent, breathing heavily as they absorbed what had just happened. It was a bittersweet moment, a solemn moment, instead of an outright victory. Then Baxter moved off of Barney and knelt next to him and time started to move again.

"Barney, are you alright?" he asked softly.

Barney sat up and leaned forward, covering his eyes with his hands. "I couldn't do it," he rasped. "I've tried to be the logical one all along the way, but when it came time to actually destroy them . . ."

"Yeah, how about that?!" Raphael snarled, pushing his way past the other Turtles to stand in front of Barney. "What was with you anyway?! You didn't want to help after all, in spite of everything you said?!"

Baxter looked up at him and he actually looked angry. "Are you that blind, Raphael?" he snapped, drawing an arm around Barney's shoulders. "Don't you understand what happened and why?"

"I understand that he froze up and could have got us all blown to Kingdom Come!" Raphael retorted.

Barney didn't look up and instead just shook his head. "I couldn't do it," he repeated. "I couldn't hurt Michelangelo. Not again. One was bad enough, but this time there were four of him. . . ." His voice cracked.

Raphael stepped back, stunned. Words failed him; he didn't know how to respond. Finally he just replaced his sais in his belt.

No one else spoke until the weapon was dismantled and they were all heading down from the roof. "Man, I'm so sorry," Michelangelo spoke in sorrow.

Baxter looked at him sadly, as did everyone else. "It's really not your fault, Michelangelo," he exclaimed. "Professor Blackheart created the device that started all of this."

"No, Dude. I created the energy demons that started all of this!" Michelangelo retorted. "If it wasn't for my brain, none of this would have happened!"

"Everyone has feelings, Michelangelo," Barney said quietly. "As Vincent says, without them we would just be Foot Soldier-level robots. It could have been any one of us hit by that madman's ray tonight. Unfortunately, it just so happened to be you."

"Yeah, it was me!" Michelangelo retorted. "So how the heck am I gonna feel better about this?! Huh?!"

"It's probably going to take some time," Leonardo said kindly.

"Everywhere we go, we're gonna see what my brain did!" Michelangelo exclaimed with a wide gesture. "I need to make up for it. But how?!"

"If you really feel it's necessary, you could help with the rebuilding process," Barney said.

"Professor Blackheart should pay for all repairs," Baxter said angrily.

"I'm sure the district attorney will insist on that," April said. "But I'll talk to him to make sure."

They arrived at the bottom and started loading the parts in the Turtle Van. When Raphael approached with a box, Baxter coolly stepped out of his way.

Raphael frowned. Baxter usually understood how Raphael still didn't trust Barney and why. But tonight Baxter had been angry, and it looked like he still was.

And maybe he had a right to be. Raphael had promptly accused Barney of essentially betraying them when the truth was so vastly different. It was so ironic. The main reason why Raphael couldn't forgive Barney was because of a cruel and unkind act against Michelangelo. Tonight, Raphael had let that anger spill over again, feeling that Barney was again being cruel and unkind. And this time he was wrong; Barney had cared too much, not too little.

Raphael gritted his teeth. Really, by this point he wished he could forgive Barney. But some bitter part of him just clung to the idea that he couldn't, that it was almost a betrayal of Michelangelo to let go of those feelings.

And the further irony was, Michelangelo had forgiven Barney whole-heartedly long ago. Michelangelo probably saw it as a betrayal that Raphael hadn't forgiven Barney. At least in his angriest moments.

"Look, I'm sorry, okay?!" Raphael finally blurted.

Baxter turned to look at him. "I'm not the one to whom you should be apologizing," he retorted. "If you're truly sorry, Raphael, then tell him." He nodded to Barney, who was silently loading some of the other parts.

Raphael stiffened. Baxter was right, of course. It was ridiculous to try apologizing to Baxter when it was Barney he had accused.

But Barney looked up and met Raphael's eyes. "You owe me nothing, Raphael," he said. "I am the one in debt. And I can never pay." He turned away, his hair swishing with the motion.

Again Raphael was left speechless. But he shook himself out of it. It would be so easy to just use Barney's reaction as an excuse to do nothing. And he really didn't want to this time.

"That's not the point," he said, going over to Barney and grabbing him by the arm. Barney turned back in stunned shock. "The point is that I've really been trying to make this truce work, but I acted like a big jerk tonight. Maybe it was all the stress about Michelangelo. I don't know. But you haven't let us down once ever since you started trying to help us. I had no right to think you'd deliberately do it now."

From Barney's eyes, he clearly didn't know what to think. Baxter, on the other hand, looked completely moved and hopeful.

Raphael let go of Barney's arm but kept standing there, his shoulders slumping. "You know, the funny thing is, I . . . was really upset when we thought you were dead. I didn't want you to be dead. But I sure as heck haven't always treated you well now that you're back alive. I didn't tonight. I guess I . . . don't know how to deal with my feelings about you. And the worst part of it is, that's a lot like you." He practically mumbled the last part.

Barney still looked stunned and at a loss for words.

"So I really am sorry," Raphael finished. "Take it or leave it. I just wanted to say it." He stepped back.

Finally Barney spoke. "Thank you, Raphael. You don't owe me an apology, and that makes it even more surprising that you opted to give one. I accept it."

Baxter smiled.

xxxx

In another part of the city, Shredder cautiously peeked up from under a bush. "Is it safe to come out now?"

"I don't know," Krang retorted. "Why don't you go out and see?"

"There were all kinds of pretty lights in the sky a few minutes ago," Bebop said.

"Yeah!" Rocksteady chirped. "I think maybe they finally blew up those energy monsters!"

"Do we dare hope?" Shredder came out from the bush. Half his cape was gone.

"I think so." Krang emerged as well, his robot body badly scorched.

"This is probably the one and only time I'll be grateful to that miserable traitor," Shredder growled. "He had to have been involved in their destruction. The Turtles wouldn't know enough about energy science to pull it off without him!"

"So Barney saved the world again?" Rocksteady blinked.

"Let's just say he must have helped." Shredder dusted himself off and stormed onto the sidewalk. "Let's get out of here and go back to the Technodrome before anything else goes wrong!"

"For once I'll agree with you," Krang said.

Shredder shook his fists to the sky. "And now I'm going to have nightmares about Michelangelo going berserk on us for weeks!" he fumed. "I don't know how we ever got away from that creature with as little damage as we sustained!"

"Gee, Boss, you want us to make you some warm milk when we get home?" Rocksteady asked.

"I'll think about it," Shredder grumbled.

The quartet darted through the night.

xxxx

There were still things that needed to be discussed among the groups as they separated to their individual vehicles once more. Baxter paused before getting into Barney's car. "Will you be alright, Michelangelo?" he asked, looking to his friend.

"Yeah, I think so," Michelangelo said. "You and the guys really helped a lot." He smiled a bit, but it was shaky. "I'm still really bummed out about what happened, though. My brain tore up the whole city and tried to fry a whole bunch of our friends, including you! And all of these private thoughts of mine got broadcast all over the place. . . ." He shook his head. "I never wanted that to happen."

"I know," Baxter said quietly. "It would be a nightmare for anyone. But I hope it will lead to better things between you and the other Turtles." He laid a hand on Michelangelo's shoulder.

"I hope so too," Michelangelo said. "But I think I'm gonna feel mondo embarrassed and ashamed for a while."

Baxter nodded. "That's completely understandable. I'm sure the other Turtles will understand as well. I'll check with you tomorrow," he promised.

"Thanks." Michelangelo smiled again, stronger this time. "See you, Baxter Dude."

"Goodnight, my friend." Baxter went to Barney's car and climbed in.

Barney was silent as he started the engine and pulled away from Channel 6. Baxter and Vincent exchanged a worried look. Barney was still upset about something.

"Barney, what is it?" Vincent spoke. "Something is wrong. Baxter and I can both see it."

Barney gripped the wheel. "I couldn't help noticing that even Michelangelo's personified anger didn't harm the Turtles even while it screamed at them. It kept aiming at them, but then actually blasted around them."

Baxter was still confused. "Well, yes, but . . ."

"Think about that!" Barney snapped. "A personified feeling, something that's nothing but anger, still didn't hurt those it-or rather, Michelangelo-was angry with. And I . . . I hurt you without help from personified feelings or anything else."

Baxter looked to Vincent, stricken. "You were in a blind rage, Barney," he said quietly.

"That's not an excuse." Barney kept looking straight ahead.

"No, it isn't," Vincent agreed. "But it's an explanation."

"Not a good one." Barney sped around a corner. "Look at how close the Turtles are, in spite of whatever issues they may have with each other! And then look at how beyond dysfunctional we were because of me."

"Barney, it was a two-way street," Baxter protested. "It wasn't all on you."

"Whatever you did was minimal," Barney shot back. "I can't even think of one thing you did that was done purposely to hurt me. It was always innocent things: a comment I blew out of proportion, your naive behavior, you reacting to something I did . . . !"

They were far away from the Turtles now and unlikely to run across them again that night. Barney pulled over to the curb. Even he realized he shouldn't be driving right then.

"Barney." Vincent undid his seatbelt and leaned forward. "You don't have to compare this family with the Turtles'."

"They're the first normal family we've ever encountered, aren't they?" Barney retorted. "Who else can I compare us with?"

"Don't compare us with anyone," Baxter pleaded. "Barney . . ." He reached for Barney and Barney flinched. Baxter drew his hand back.

"The Turtles have always had a relatively normal life with Splinter," Vincent said. "At least as far as operating as a family unit goes. Barney, you and Baxter never had that. You've had an entire lifetime of damage and hurt. Without any stalwart foundation to which you could turn, is it any wonder that all that damage and hurt just festered inside you until it finally had to come out?"

"And I could have murdered my brother when it came out!" Barney screamed. "That's the bottom line. That's the only thing that matters!" He slammed his hand on the steering wheel and flung the car door open. In the next moment he was storming outside.

"Barney!" Baxter leaped out after him, as did Vincent. Baxter ran over, his hair bouncing with the motion, and got in front of Barney since he didn't dare attempt to touch him again at the moment. "Barney, that isn't the only thing that matters to me. You know that. And you know I've forgiven you."

"And I still don't know why. You and Vincent should both abhor the very ground I walk on, the same as Raphael does," Barney snarled.

"We know you and he doesn't," Vincent said as he approached Barney from behind. "Barney, there was a reason I told Baxter it was good he didn't keep his feelings bottled up. I knew how damaging it was to do that."

"In both our cases, it was also damaging to release them," Barney retorted.

"The ways you chose were damaging," Vincent corrected. "Not the principle itself. I never should have encouraged Baxter to release his feelings by taking revenge."

"I didn't choose to lose my temper and chase Baxter down with a crowbar," Barney said. "But if I'd had better control over my feelings in the first place, it never would have happened." He folded his arms. "The irony is that I know how the mind works. If someone with this exact same problem had come to me in my capacity as a neuropsychologist, I would have known how to help them. But I couldn't recognize my own issues or figure out what to do about them."

"Because you were too close to the situation," Vincent said. "It's the same principle behind why medical doctors can't operate on family members. They can't be objective."

Barney gave a dark laugh. "Oh yes, I called myself objective tonight about the Michelangelo duplicates. And I couldn't even be objective about that."

"That was another situation you were too close to," Vincent said. "Barney, given the circumstances, it's completely understandable that you froze."

"I'm glad you didn't," Barney muttered. "Or Baxter." He looked to Baxter. "You saved my life when you tackled me out of the way. And Vincent saved all our lives by pressing that button."

Baxter managed a smile. "And this time we didn't get ourselves hurt instead."

"And I hope that continues in the future," Barney said.

Vincent smiled too. Barney was calming down. "Are you feeling any better?" he asked.

"Some," Barney admitted. He sighed, rubbing his forehead. "I never will get over the horrible things I've done, even if both of you can."

"It's the same for us," Baxter said. "Just as you said, Barney, we all have inner demons from our past actions that can't be entirely quelled. But even though you and I started out so dysfunctionally, we aren't anymore. We're learning how to be a real family with Vincent. And it's alright if ours is different from the Turtles'. There are many ways to have a happy family."

Barney nodded. "That's true."

"And honestly, I'm just happy to put that past behind us and focus on our present," Baxter smiled. "There's so much to be happy about now."

Barney visibly started to relax. "Also true." He actually started to smile. "Alright. Let's go home." He headed back to the car.

Baxter and Vincent looked at each other, relieved and happy, before following Barney.

xxxx

The scene in the Turtle Van was also one of silence. Michelangelo didn't feel like talking and the other Turtles weren't sure of what to say. It had been a bizarre evening of assorted revelations and conversations, none of them expected.

At last Leonardo spoke. "Raphael, I'm glad that you apologized to Barney."

"Yeah, well, that doesn't mean I forgive him or anything," Raphael frowned. "It just means I realize that I acted like a really big jerk tonight."

Michelangelo sighed and leaned back against the wall, staring at the opposite ceiling.

Raphael glanced to him, shifted nervously, and then continued. "And I also realize that I really need to forgive him. I mean, if I've actually been causing Michelangelo more pain than Barney did . . ." He trailed off and shook his head.

"I really didn't mean for you to ever hear that, Raphael," Michelangelo said. "It's just something I've kind of thought sometimes when something digs real deep and I'm mad. And I guess . . ." He hesitated. "I guess I'm really bummed out. I mean, I had all these thoughts that Barney and Vincent were gonna really be part of things now too and I was excited, you know? But then there's still problems and I don't really understand why. Especially when I'm the dude you're upset about Barney wronging and I've forgiven him!"

"Yeah, I guess it doesn't make much sense, does it," Raphael muttered.

"It's understandable, Raphael," Leonardo spoke now. "Not everyone has Michelangelo's ability to easily forgive and move on. For some, it's really a struggle."

"You've got that right," Raphael declared. "I just . . . I know every bit of logic in me says that Barney's trustworthy. Everybody else is giving him another chance. And I feel like a heel that I can't throw in with all of you. But I just keep thinking about how rotten he was-to Baxter as well as us-and I just can't let it go."

"I think you still can," Leonardo said. "It's just taking longer for you."

"Yeah, well, I'd better figure out how to speed it up," Raphael growled.

"You can't rush it," Donatello said. "It can only come when you're ready or it won't mean anything."

"But I want to be ready!" Raphael cried. "I'm sick of feeling this way! I don't want to hate Barney anymore!"

Leonardo gave him a kind smile. "Then I think you're getting pretty close to being able to forgive him."

"And then we can all be buds," Michelangelo said hopefully.

"My guess is that Barney will still keep his distance," Leonardo cautioned. "He is aloof by nature. Of course, I could be wrong. Maybe once he feels like everyone here fully welcomes him, he'll open up some."

"Gnarly," Michelangelo smiled. "I sure hope so."

"And what about what Leonardo said back there, about all of us needing to open up more?" Raphael wondered. "Are we really going to try to do that?"

"I think we should," Leonardo said. "Baxter and Barney are learning to do that with each other. We should too."

"Yeah, I guess so," Michelangelo mumbled. "I just . . . don't like for you guys to know everything. Especially things that might hurt you."

"If it's something that's bothering you, Michelangelo, we should know about it," Leonardo insisted.

"You shouldn't have to be miserable just because you think we'll be happier not knowing," Raphael said. "When I know there's a problem, I want to fix it!"

"Same here," Donatello said.

"Me too," Leonardo agreed.

"Me four," Michelangelo said. "I want to know if you guys are having problems too. And if I'm like, being too annoying or something."

"We'll be a better team for opening up like this," Leonardo said with confidence. "I know it."

"I hope you're right," Raphael grunted, folding his arms. "And that it won't turn us into a bunch of Teenage Mutant Ninja Boy Ninnies instead."

"I know Master Splinter would be happy about it," Leonardo said. "And I'm sure you don't think he's a ninny, Raphael."

Raphael actually went red. "Of course not!"

Michelangelo found himself laughing. After a night like tonight, it felt so good. He was still upset about what the duplicates had said and done, and he really did want to help with rebuilding all the physical and emotional damage that he could, but for right now he wanted to just relax and enjoy this moment. Things were beginning to seem normal and he was starting to feel that everything would be alright. Maybe not immediately, but eventually. And that was an amazing thing.