The lair was unusually quiet for that early in the night, Donatello mused as he came out of his 'computer cave' for a late night snack. That's when he noticed how utterly empty it was and he instantly knew that Leonardo and Raphael had gone out patrolling for the night; not together of course. He let out a sigh as a he opened the fridge and pulled a piece of leftover pizza from the box lying haphazardly inside. He began to absentmindedly scarf it down while he paced around and thought.
Was it a year ago? It had to be at least. They had worked perfectly together for awhile like the team, like the family, they used to be. However it hadn't taken long for all that to change. That was how it always was; they would be able to pull together to save the day but never long enough to save the family. The main conflict was always between Raphael and Leonardo; their personalities were just not made to combine. Not saying Raphael hadn't tried because everyone could see he had. It just turned out that following orders, especially those of his brother, were not in his programming. It wasn't long before one order after another pushed Raph's buttons to the point where he just exploded at Leo. Leonardo now tried harder than ever to try and control their hot headed sibling, which only pissed Raph off more. Now the two spent all their time trying to avoid each other because whenever they were together in the same room for more than a few minutes a fight would break out over something. In the end, even Master Splinter could not quell the fighting. Though they had fought quite often before, it had never been this bad.
As Donnie shook his head and made his way back towards his computer cave he noticed his younger brother Michelangelo had left the couch in disarray again; an empty pizza box hung open from the corner almost hidden by all the blankets as the lights of the muted television flashed across them. He smiled sadly and decided to clean up the mess instead of going to Mikey's room and scolding him. The poor kid had been trying so hard to bring even a little sunshine to the household. However Donnie noticed, being not only his brother but his best friend, how much everything was affecting him. Mikey had been ecstatic when they had become a crime fighting team again, Donnie could only imagine how much it hurt him to have the family fall apart again.
Couldn't Raph and Leo see how much their fighting was affecting the rest of the family? He wished he at least knew what happened to make their fighting so bad so that he could try to fix it.
Donatello sighed as he folded the blankets carefully and placed them all in the corner of the couch.
"Donatello," came a raspy old voice and Donnie knew at once that Splinter was still awake.
"Fa…Sensei," he said as he turned to face Splinter and bowed respectfully. "I didn't expect you to be awake."
Splinter nodded but slowly made his way towards Donatello. "What troubles you my son?"
"It's just our family Father," Donnie replied sadly. "It seems that no matter how many times we fix it it just breaks again."
"Maybe that is because it cannot be fixed," Master Splinter said simply. A look of pure horror crossed Donatello's face and Splinter raised his hand to silence his son's racing mind and continued. "At least not by our hands."
"Then it may never be fixed," Donatello reasoned. "April and Casey won't come down to visit anymore because the fighting bothers them so much."
"My son, I do believe that we must stop trying to fix things ourselves before they cannot be fixed at all."
A realization dawned on him. "That's why you've been staying out of their way when they fight now. You don't want to risk damaging things beyond repair."
His Master smiled. "Yes my son. Have you heard the phrase, 'unable to see the forest for the trees?'"
"Yes Sensei."
"Then I will tell you my thoughts as of late. Our family cannot be fixed because it is not our place to fix it from the inside. To me it seems as if we must wait for someone who can see the forest to fix it for surely they will be able to see something that we cannot because being within the forest all we can see are the trees. Just possibly, do you not think so?"
Donatello hesitated at the thought. Someone else had to fix their family. He had to admit that he didn't like entertaining the idea, especially because it seemed very unlikely. They had seen very few people who could see past their faces. Maybe their family wasn't meant to stay together…
Master Splinter, noticing his son's growing distress and expression, placed a had on his shoulder. "Do not lose hope, my son. Just let things take their natural course and I'm sure that they will all work out in the end."
And with that he left Donatello to think on his words. Donnie mulled the thought over in his head as he made his way back into his computer room. It was certainly a strange concept; the city's heroes needing to be saved. He sat down in his chair and spun it around to face his numerous screens, each one watching a different area. One camera, however, was turned to the sky capturing the moon in its lens. As he stared at its timeless beauty he vaguely wondered if maybe somewhere out there his family's savior was looking at the same moon. Donnie also wondered if this person master Splinter spoke of, if they really did exist, knew just how important they were right now.
Michaelangelo shivered beneath his lime green hoody and reached up to check that that the zipper was as high as it could go. The city air was brisk at night when you weren't getting heated up by an intense cardio workout of jumping from roof to roof and fighting rag time villains. He adjusted the baggy black jogging pants that were just barely staying up on his awkward figure and grumbled. Just a little bit longer and everything would be fine.
On an outing with his brothers a couple weeks ago while his head had been beginning to fill with all these rebellious thoughts he had seen the perfect place. A small half duplex that was being held by the bank until the gentleman paid off his loans. Mikey knew that him and his brothers had scared that man into skipping town one night, by accident of course. This abandoned house was where he planned to stay and live out his days as a vigilante. That's right a vigilante. He was sick and tired of everyone taking turns telling him what to do and how to help people. Or telling him to take things more seriously and to grow up. What the hell was the point? He was a mutated turtle for crying out loud he didn't have anyone to impress. What was the point of being as mannered as Donny and Leo? Ya if they ever met the president he was sure to be real impressed with how polite they were right before shipping them off to area 51.
He shifted his tattered old black backpack as it started to slide awkwardly off his shell. His skateboard clanked against his nunchucks and tossed around the few disguise clothes he had. It wasn't much but he was sure he could come up with some sort of costume. It might look a little shabby at first but once he became rich and famous he'd had something a lot more elaborate.
His plan was simple; hide out in an abandoned house at day, become a crime fighting super hero at night. It was his best plan yet!
"Well well, look it what we just found." The gruff voice snapped Mikey back to reality and he turned around to find your run of the mill thugs standing there. Three of them; very cliché. Dressed in dirty torn up clothes with scraggly facial hair and wild eyes. Mikey knew they weren't looking for hugs and coffee. Then he saw something; a small tattoo on the side of each of their necks just barely visible under the heck of their neckline. They weren't thugs; they were Foot. And they'd seen right through his disguise.
A grin cracked the face of the thug that had just spoken as he saw Mikey's features contort with acknowledgement.
Something that night chilled Alice Moore to the bone as she walked home from work. She did this every night when she was off work instead of waiting for the bus to come pick her up. She'd had more close encounters of the creepy kind at the bus stop than she'd had walking home. Walking she'd only been confronted by a drunken bum once who tried to mug her; he wouldn't make that mistake again as in her panic she broke his nose. By accident of course. She kind of had this theory that that's where all the bad people hung out; bus stops. They waited and watched analysing the people that came off the bus and picking out easy targets. Alice never thought she would be easy but she really didn't want to take the chance to find out.
She popped the collar on her long black coat in hopes of blocking a little extra wind. Her flaming red hair was a tangled mess around her head even though it was so short in its slightly grown out pixie cut. Her flats were silent against the sidewalk while her brisk pace carried her even farther.
Then she felt it again; that foreboding chill. She shivered and glanced around in search of something to justify her feeling. She was maybe one block from her apartment now and she was hoping that out of the six months she'd been making this walk tonight would not be the night that something chose to jump out at her.
What did was not what she expected. She let out a scream as something smacked against her ankle. Well, it may not have jumped but it certainly was something.
"A skateboard?", she mumbled out loud as she picked it up and looked for it's owner.
That's when she saw it; the shapes in the alley where the skateboard had come from. Someone was getting the living snot beaten out of them. Alice's better judgement told her to keep walking but something small in the back of her mind told her to help. She would hope that if that were her in trouble that someone would have enough courage to help her out as well. She considered calling the police but then figured that the hooligans would be long gone by the time that they showed up. Picking up the skateboard in both hands preparing to wield it like a baseball bat she ran towards disturbance.
Her flats made her silent even on the asphalt and she was sure they were too focused on their fight to hear her coming. She carried herself with a small amount of courage as the scene drew closer and took one last reassuring breath.
"Leave them alone!" she yelled at them. She hoped it might serve as enough of a distraction that whoever was in trouble be able to get the upper hand. But just in case it wasn't. She swung the skateboard with all the force she could muster and the edge of it cracked along the skull of the thug nearest to her sending him into a stunned rage as he crumpled to the ground.
Faster than she could have imagined the thug raised himself back to his feet; his eyes were full of fury and blood trickled from the cut in his forehead. "You bitch!" As the words erupted from his lips he swung his hand around slapping her across the face. The force was so great her head spun one hundred degrees sending her balance into a spiral as she stumbled to the ground. Her eyes, though clouded, moved to the victim that had previously been on the ground himself and she watched as he raised himself up.
Alice started to drag herself back onto her feet but that attempt was brought to an abrupt end when the thug's fist connected with the back of her skull blackening her vision and crumpling her.
The thug spat on the back of her jacket. "Next time stay down." As he turned back to the fight at hand a large green hand snatched out and lifted him off the ground by the front of his shirt. His eyes darted behind the turtle and found that while he had been distracted both of his accomplices had fallen. He was alone and outmatched.
"Don't hit girls dirtbag."
After a solid bludgeoning Mikey dropped the pathetic man to the cement and wiped his hands clear of the mess.
"Thanks dudette, that was just the distraction I needed."
His eyes fell on her and he realised she hadn't gotten back up after that last hit. He knelt beside her body and pain twisted through his side where he was sure one of the foot ninja had stabbed him. He gingerly felt her neck and found the pulse there. Strong. Good, she was perfectly fine aside from being knocked out. He'd be willing to bet she'd have a pretty good bruise too. He shook her shoulder gently to see if she would stir but her eyelids didn't even faint a flutter.
"Oh man oh man oh man this is not good..."
Mikey stood up and began pacing the alley in fevered thought. He should probably take her to a hospital; no that didn't make any sense. She had bruising not brain damage. And he wouldn't be able to get there without being spotted any way. He should just take her home; no that was stupid too. Even if he raided her unconscious body for her drivers licence, which in itself was a bad idea, he had no idea how to get to any of the streets from here. He remembered patterns and places but actually tracking addresses was on Donnie's list of things to do. Another thought crossed his mind; he could just leave her there. He nearly smacked himself the minute he thought it. That wasn't an option. That left him with only one thing left to do; she had to come with him. The same way Raph had brought April back he'd bring this girl back to his hideout. He knelt down and scooped her small body into her arms as he prepared to continue on with his journey. He only hoped that when she woke up he was met with thank you's rather than screams.