I have no idea what the reaction will be to this story. I have everything planned out. And it will be big. Who knows if anyone will like the layout or the direction. But I'll hope for the best. Please read and review, and thanks a bunch!
~Omens~
Leo liked to look within himself. To calculate and study every inch of his personality. Of why he thinks the way that he does, and how this knowledge about himself should effect how he treats others, especially his brothers.
But no amount of self-inflection could have made him calm down in this situation.
"WHAT!" screamed Donatello into the shellcell currently being held by Leo. Leo was still too shocked by his brother's new bout with stupidity to respond.
"Dudes I don't have time to argue. I'm going in!" came the far off voice of Michelangelo from beyond the phone.
"Don't you lame ass movie quote 'I'm going in' me shell head! Get away from fire!" Raph screamed, grabbing Leo's wrist tightly in order to forcibly pull the shellcell closer to his mouth. He was so close he could lick the speakers.
Irritated Leo jerked his wrist back from Raph, giving him the appropriate dirty look for the unwanted contact. "Not helping Raph. And Mikey think about what you're doin-"
"Uh Leo."
"Not now Donnie. Mikey please there are firefighters on scene. I can hear them in the background-"
"Leeeeeoo."
"Donnie stop it. And Mikey what is possessing you to go into a burning bar! You're walking into a fireball Michelangelo! There is alcohol burning in there! The humans could see you and-"
"For peats sake LEO!" Raph shouted shoving Donnie out of the way as he was about to call his older brother's name again…. In his own calming way.
"WHAT!" Leo snapped, not at all satisfied with how his lecture was turning out.
"He hung up," Raph stated simply. Crossing his arms angrily over his chest. Muscles rippled and bulged as he tightened his arms in frustration across his front. If it wasn't for his shell his pecks would have been something of legend.
Leo growled low and jammed the shellcell back into his belt. "Let's go!" he commanded, running out of the lair and out into the sewer. It wasn't a far trek. As soon as Mikey called screeching about fires and helpless barmaids the three of them had been subtly but purposefully inching their way out of the kitchen and towards the front entrance. Donatello had even gone so far as to disengage the camouflage and open the front door with the remote in his belt, normally the front entrance is always closed since it is larger than any of the back exists, and any passerby's may find it strange when a portion of the sewer wall flings up like an old garage door. Donnie prefers it when one of the smaller back doors are used. But when things got hairy Leo seemed determined to run out the front.
One day, when there is an ambush waiting for them out that door, Donnie has the biggest I told you so planned.
The three ran through the sewer, Raph stuffing his half eaten baloney sandwich into his mouth as he ran. No point in not finishing. He knows he gets grumpy when he doesn't eat, and he was already going to kill his brother, no need to batter the corpse in his starved fury.
Leo made it to the correct manhole in mere moments. Mikey wasn't far from them. He was at the bar they often frequented for people watching. Or girl watching if any of them were remotely honest with themselves.
Leo shot up the ladder, then froze, taking a moment to peek out from under the grate just a bit. The manhole they were climbing was in the alley across from the burning building, but still the whole place was crawling with people. There were even a few packed into the beginnings of the alley. Gawkers for the fire show no doubt. But none of them were looking in their direction. All heads were turned towards the glowing light across the street that Leo could barely make out from in-between the pond of ankles.
"We move fast," Leo reported down to the brothers below him. Donnie was riding his ass up the ladder. But in this case Leo didn't mind.
Leo shot out of the grate. Pushing it aside with his shell as he leaped upwards. The grinding of the grate against concrete was actually lessoned by the angle and precision in which Leo did this. Not one human turned their head. Donnie shot up right after. Following Leo up the side wall. Raph followed more slowly behind. Taking his time to place the sewer grate gently back in place before scaling the building.
Seven stories later Leo gazed down from the roof of the building across the street from their favorite bar, and he had been right, the thing was an inferno. The flames were high, and more prominent than the smoke billowing into the air, a sure sign of the burning wood and alcohol.
"Donatello call him," Leo said brandishing his swords. Donnie complied, fumbling with his phone in his rush.
"Oh nice one fearless, what are your swords gonna do?" Raph questioned sarcastically, inching his way closer to the building's edge, ready to jump at a moment's notice.
Leo didn't answer Raph, he allowed himself one second to look blankly at his brother, before slicing down onto an air conditioning units set of wires. Re-sheathing his swords Leo snatched the cut wires and took out a block of wood from his belt. He planned on carving a statue of a wolf this afternoon…. Looks like that wasn't going to happen.
Focusing his mind to remember the years of random knowledge anybody gains from living with Donnie for twenty years, Leo wrapped the wires around the wood, connecting them when appropriate. The wires began to spark.
"Leo he isn't answering!" Donnie's voiced in panic, the unease in his brother cut through Leo's fog of concentration. But Leo ignored him, ignored his panic, and connected the last wire. He was quick to throw his wooden block after doing so, so quick that a human's eye would have had trouble following the movement.
The block sparked and caught fire midair. Landing perfectly in the middle of a group of arguing firemen. The fire fighters shouted and yelped in surprised, calling for backup and demanding to know where the building was releasing projectiles.
"NOW! C'mon Raph go! Donnie stay here. Make sure we get out of there."
Leo and Raph went. They grapple hooked it to the other side. Leaving their genius to role his eyes after them. Ofcourse he had to stay behind. Donnie sighed bitterly, but he was used to it.
Raph and Leo made good use of the distraction. Swinging from their building and into the bar's alleyway, with perfection, if Leo did say so himself. There were no firemen in this alley, but there would be, and soon. For now the fire was to out of control for more contact. The heat in this alleyway alone would be a cause for concern for the firemen. But still if someone was trapped inside all corners would be covered by now, no matter the risk. And some sort of search and rescue party would already be being assembled. And Leo saw no sign of any such proceedings when he got a look at the firemen at work earlier. Which could mean either two things, that they think no one else is in this building, or they are waiting on another engine to show geared up and ready to enter. This last one was unlikely, especially since this was only a one story building. Perhaps the burning alcohol is giving them pause. But even so if they are waiting on another engine than Mikey had to get out of there fast before the firemen enter, and if no one is in that building, than why the shell was his brother in there in the first place!?
Raph kicked the back door to the bar once, twice, the door slammed down. It never made it to three. The door was metal, and hot. Raph vaguely felt the tingle of unhappy burnt feet, but he ignored the pain expertly. His reptilian scales should help him anyways. Raph took a step through the door, bracing himself to face the burning hell inside. The heat was already getting to him, already enough to make any hair he did not have burn from his brows. But he could take it, he could take anything. Back straight, chin up he strode through the doorway walking inhumanly through waves of impossible heat.
Before Mikey slammed into his front.
With an, oof, the two of them fell back, Leo hopping to the side to avoid the collision. Mikey was breathing great deep gulps of air, half his face and body still draped over his muscled brother.
"MIKEY!" Raph shouted in outrage, grabbing ahold of his sibling and scooting both of them backwards on his butt away from the fire's heat.
"Raph shhhh!' Leo admonished, but it was too late. A loud 'what was that!' alerted Leo that Raph had been heard.
"Raph get up! Go!" Leo whisper shouted, pushing on his sibling's shoulder to make him move. It was like pushing a scaly rock.
"Tell that to him!" Raph said gesturing to his lap full of a gasping limp Mikey.
"GO!" Leo demanded again. Raph took the hint and picked his brother up. Mikey wasn't the worst brother he has had to carry, that had been Leo, turtles got some power and with that power comes some muscle. But all of his brothers weighed a ton! And Mikey's love for his snacks made his workouts give him muscle faster than even Raph could get.
But Raph stopped his bitching and ran, grunting as he had to scale the wall with one brother draped over his shoulder like a potato sack. Leo was already up top, waiting to help Raph up when he made it to the roof.
With a pull and a grunt Leo and Raph wiggled and maneuvered around, the ending result was three mutant turtles gasping on their shells in a straight line safely on top of the roof.
"M-Mikey," Leo spoke first, having been able to catch his breath back the fastest.
"I-I'm good," Mikey got out before his face twisted and he turned to the side to let out a series of hitching coughs.
"Oh now you can move!" Raph grumbled, ignoring what the sickly sounding coughs could mean. He pushed himself up and looked around for Donnie, the genius had to be close by.
Mikey continued to cough. Truthfully he probably could have climbed the building without his brother's help, given with a lot of hacking and short gasps of air, but he had wanted the turtle back ride. Wanted the chance to catch his breath. And if you were going to have a muscled meathead of a brother that can and does beat your shell in during practice, you might as well take advantage of it.
But as the coughing continued he was more and more glad that he played dead turtle. He couldn't stop! It was a constant tickle in his throat, and it was getting hard to breath!
Leo and Raph were both up and at his side now, pulling him up into a sitting position and leaning him forward to try and help Mikey cough it out. But still it didn't work!
"Dammit Donnie!" Raph snarled gripping Mikey a tad too hard on his shoulder in his concern. "Where are you!"
"I'm here," came the calm voice of their live-in doctor. Leo and Raph both jumped a little at the unexpectedly silent approach of their brother. But quickly turned away pretending nothing happened. But even through the coughing and the tears starting to gather in his eyes Mikey felt the jump through the hands gripping him, and he would tease his brother's mercilessly about it later!
"Took your sweet time," Raph said meanly as he moved away, allowing Donnie to take his spot.
The tears were now involuntarily falling down Mikey's cheeks.
"Shhhhh Mikey, give me your face. Good, ok now open up," Donnie instructed softly, ignoring Raph. He got across the street as fast as he could, so Don knew he had no reason to feel bad.
Mikey obeyed with another hitch of his breath. Donnie was quick to react, shoving an inhaler in-between his little brother's lips. "Breath in!" Donnie said sharply as he pushed down on the inhaler. Mikey did so. He continued to cough afterwards. But after another hit with the inhaler, a bottle of water, and the promise of a short trip on oxygen when they got home Mikey managed to stop the cough and simply breathe deeply in relief.
At some point during this procedure Leo and Raph had moved away, allowing Donnie's soft tones of reassurance calm everyone down. The two of them squatted on their haunches near the roof's edge watching the continual organized chaos of the firefighters at work. Raph himself have seen the muscled humans at work so many times he knew he could probably jack their hose and do their jobs for them.
"The barmaid wasn't in there, I swear Donnie, haaaah, I thought she was, hheeeh, in there," Mikey explained, some part of him hoping to start Donnie on a lecture in order to avoid one from Leo later on.
"Shhhh, I know Mikey, we'll talk about it later. Have another sip," Donnie soothed.
Dang, no such luck.
Leo ignored the twitch of annoyance along his eye-ridge Mikey always seemed to cause, and continued calmly scanning the area. The scene was normal, except for that white thing….. Wait….What was that? It was white, and fluffy, with ears, and a tail and…..
"Raph look at that," Leo said pointing to…. Whatever it was.
Raph obediently followed Leo's finger only to see…..
"Uh, is that a rabbit?" Raph asked.
And so it was. A pure white rather large looking rabbit, with ears that stood straight up and a fluffy oval tail that stood equally at attention. The two turtles could see it clearly, sitting ideally right next to the door that Raph had just kicked down. Flames could be seen licking the outside air from inside the door. The fire was growing.
"Ummmm what is it doing?" Leo wondered aloud. He was tempted to call Donnie over and ask. But certainly didn't want to be the one to call Donnie away from his choking sibling just to look at a…..Bunny rabbit?
"Being retarded, that's what it's doing," Raph voiced, flinching when a surge of flame got within inches of the unmoving thing.
The rabbit looked up. Looked up right at them.
…Leo and Raph said nothing.
Then the rabbit stood, stretched one white leg out behind it like a dog, and hopped…. Straight through the door of the burning building, right into the fire.
"…" Raph gaped.
"…" Leo gaped.
"….WHAT THE SHELL!" Raph shouted throwing both his arms out palms open in a 'what the hell was that,' gesture.
It was the appropriate gesture.
"The bunny…." Leo whispered distantly, a numb feeling taking over.
"Yeah fearless a bunny. That just commit bunny suicide! Dumb bags of fur!" Raph roared and ranted his feet beginning the familiar start of a good exasperated pace.
"What are you two going on about?" Donnie asked with a huff, taking his attention away for the first time from the recovering Mikey. "Can't you see I'm busy? Stop checking out the firemen."
"Up yours Don!" Raph yelled.
"No thanks Raph," Don said.
"The bunny….." Leo mumbled again.
"What bunny?" asked Mikey excitedly with his still scratchy voice. He always loved animals.
At this point Donnie had decided that enough was enough. "C'mon guys we are going home. Up you go Mikey."
With a grumble Raph came over to help situate Mikey for the short trip back. Leo continued to stare at the flames. The fire danced and wiggled, reflecting a fierce glow in his eyes.
"…The bunny," He whispered, "….An omen."
This did not bode well.
If there's one word Raph dreaded to hear from his leader's mouth it was omen.
When he was twelve and spilled a gallon of milk on the lair floor. Omen.
When he was fourteen and a mysterious wind blew into the lair and put out all their candles one stormy night. Omen.
When he was seventeen and tripped over a black cat which caused him to land on an abandoned mirror, which shattered, right when he was underneath a broken but opened ladder in Casey's alleyway. Omen.
Leo was obsessed with omens, loved them, looks for the damn things everywhere he goes. So when Raph heard said brother mumbling the dreaded word over and over behind him on their way home, he knew it was going to be a long day. A long looong looooong Leo whining day.
Not that he could blame fearless too much. Raph knew he had his days. Oh and shell knew they were head screaming, brother punching, beer bottle shattering, days. He was no angel. So he learned long ago to let his bros have their off moments too. It was the least he could do. And it made him feel better after throwing a fit over whatever dumb unimportant shit that his brother's had decided to move an inch to the left.
….But seriously if they would just stop touching his stuff…..
But no no, he was going to play this cool. Self-homicidal rabbits were nothing to be concerned about. He would help Leo see that.
Once they made it to the Lair Donnie lead Mikey by the elbow towards his lab, promising the stupid turtle a long date with his oxygen tank. Leo and Raph followed because…. What else were they going to do?
Besides Leo still had an important point to make. "Guys," Leo began while Donnie sat Mikey down onto one of his cots and began getting the oxygen mask ready to go over his head. "Raph and I saw something…..Odd at the fire."
Raph wished he had a hat…. So he could eat it. Maybe the crisscross irony would make fate stop this conversation.
"Weird how Leo?" Donnie asked politely.
Raph rubbed his thumb against the leather of his belt….He wondered how it would taste. Had to be worth more than a hat.
"Raph and I saw a rabbit jump into the fire. Ok I know what you're going to say Donatello, but I could see everything perfectly clear, there wasn't that much smoke blocking the animal. It was snow white, and it jumped right into the fire!"
…Donnie and Mikey looked back at Leo with blank expressions. In the awkwardness Mikey tried to subtly inch his hand up to remove the uncomfortable oxygen mask. Donnie slapped his hand away without even looking.
"AGH! Raph back me up here. You saw it to!" Leo said spinning around to look at Raph.
Raph looked back at his desperate Leader evenly, then he crossed his arms over his chest, looked away, and reported, "I dunno what you're talking about Leo."
"RAPH!"
"Ok ok! Sheesh! I saw the rabbit to, and yeah it cannon balled it right into the fire. Real intelligent thing it was, white like the blank sheet that was its brain. It was just a dumb animal fearless."
"Animals are not dumb!" informed Mikey with a muffled voice.
"Raph it was weird, it looked at us, you recall that don't you? It actually looked at us!" Leo ranted. "It was a sign, a message, an ome-"
"NO NO NO! It was not!" Raph yelled covering his ear holes with his hands childishly. Screw giving Leo an off day, Raph was not helping this delusion.
"Uh guys," Donnie said physically stepping in-between the two of them. "This really is no big deal. If it was an omen." Raph growled as Donnie said the word, but Donnie just rolled his eyes and continued, "If it WAS an omen, Raph, than its meaning will come to you in time Leo. And if it isn't than well, that's the end of that. You can't force these things Leo, you know that."
Donnie's voice and words sounded so reasonable, so logical, like he always sounds. But many times Raph wondered just how much of the crap Don spouted his genius brother actually believed, and how much was just said to stop the fighting. Either brain boy knew how to fake it, or he had a lot of conveniently timed beliefs that just so happen to solve all their emotional spats. But the free outs were nice. It's not wussy to back off when good 'ol Donny-boy is telling you to, that's just good sense.
Leo sighed scratching his bold head, a sign of his nerves, "You're right Donnie. I just have a bad feeling is all."
Donnie nodded at Leo with a smile, smacking Mikey's hand away from his face without missing a beat. Mikey rubbed at his knuckles, glaring at the genius.
Donnie adored his brothers, every single one of them. They were so unique, such individuals, take away his tec and he was sure everyone around him would be bored in a hot minute. Mikey always tells him that this isn't true, that he makes friends faster than all of them. That he shouldn't be so down on himself. But it is true. And ofcourse he makes friends easy, he is nice. Oh he knows he's nice, no point in denying it. And with niceties comes an easy to be around atmosphere with little risk for unseemly squabbles. So really it's just easier to be around him, his brother's large personalities may take some getting used to. But once you do it's much more rewarding and natural to gravitate towards one of them.
To Don he doesn't make friends easily, he makes perfectly good acquaintances easily.
But where Donnie believes that Mikey has his biggest misunderstanding is that Mikey thinks that he is sad about that. He's not. In fact he completely acknowledges and accepts this. He knows that he has some great brothers who all seem to be fine with spending time with him, and he has friends. More than he ever hoped for growing up. His brothers just don't get to see their own charm since for some reason they seem to run into lots of scientists. Very smart, let's face it only Don can really talk to them, scientists.
What are the odds right? Even Donnie's homeless friend, the Professor, is incredibly smart, if not a little off in the head. But Donnie was convinced that if they were in normal crowds his brothers would understand.
So with this thought process in mind Donnie often goes out of his way to get his brothers talking to as many people at once as he can. It's an odd motivation, but it was enough of one for Donnie to insist that all of his brothers go with him on his annual, help the homeless, outing. It may not be a normal crowd, but mutants can't exactly be picky about this sort of thing. Or much of anything really.
Besides it was the perfect time to do it. In early October the air was beginning to have a constant nagging chill, but no snow would be seen for another one to two months. This was actually the hard time for the homeless. Until the snow can actually be physically seen most folks don't contribute as much to help, saving their good deeds for the Christmas month.
And so Leo, Raph, and even Mikey, who seemed to have recovered just fine from the fire incident two days ago, were all successfully guilt tripped into tagging along. It wasn't hard, especially when Donnie asked them while they were happily playing video games on his game box, warm under his heater, eating food cooked on his stove.
Donnie got his way a lot.
The four turtles bundled up and made their way to the closest known nighttime homeless hang-out. The homeless men there would know them and would welcome the handmade treats and blankets, brought to them by the generous Michelangelo.
…..In Donnie's oven ofcourse.
They walked towards the clustered group of the homeless hidden beside a bridge near a fowl smelling bar. The men were gathered around a burning pit. All of them contributing to the fire with newspapers found off the street.
"Ehhhhh look what we 'ave 'ere," came the nasally voice of the one known as RockStar, most of his teeth were missing, and his skin was drooped and rough in texture. Each one of his finger nails were filled to a flimsy unkempt point.
Raph liked him the most.
"Hey ugly, still missing that guitar?" Raph asked smirking. He already knew the answer.
RockStar smiled toothlessly, tapping his pointed nail against his chin, "Haven't found that thing yet. Oh but I will, I hid it around here somewhere, and when I find it I'm-"
"Ooooh oh! I know this! You're gonan be a rock star!" Mikey cheered holding his arm up in the air like a child in a classroom. Donnie nudged him in the side warningly hissing his brother a warning "Mikey!"
RockStar burst into laughter, the others around the fire turned their heads as the man laughed, they greeted the guys with the usual ray of smiles and hellos. "You bet your alien hide I will! Everyone will stop to hear me play on the street. They'll be throwin' their green at me. Easy money! Just as soon as I find me guitar, you be my first fans."
"Oh I bet," Raph smiled, "And you won't even need a guitar pic, just look at those nails."
RockStar examined his nails silently, poking at one sharp tip that was more lopsided than the others, "Yeah I guess..." He mumbled, "The babies do need some sharpening yes…"
Leaving Raph to deal with the creepy RockStar, because they were sane and anyone sane called RockStar creepy, Donnie and Mikey began handing out the treats. Leo tried to help, but got separated when one of the younger homeless men cornered him and told him how he just got out of jail for trying to murder his sister's boyfriend….With an axe.
Most homeless weren't that bad, but Leo always did seem to attract the extra crazy ones. And those crazies loved to tell their stories. The thought of being so desperate to tell your story, so desperate to scar another with your tale that you'd tell a random known crime busting mutant alien thing that occasional gave you blankets and muffins, was just sad to Donatello.
But overall everything was going well, and his brothers were socializing splendidly. Smiling and humming happily Donnie handed the last steaming hot muffin to the final bundled up figure, when he heard the warning.
"Oh watch your step there buddy," came the voice of the young almost axe killing man. It was a small warning, but enough to cause Donnie and the rest of them to at least look.
All eyes followed the dirty shower needing finger of the young man to Leo's feet, where a small brown mouse with a fuzzy white chest sat calmly on his haunches, sniffing Leo's heel innocently.
"Ack!" Leo shouted with a shudder, feeling the critters whiskers tickle his heel. He lifted his foot and took one big hop away. The mouse simply followed Leo's hop with his eyes, scratched his ear, stood up, and ran. Then the mouse jumped incredibly high, although still within reason for a mouse Donnie supposed. He jumped up onto one of the cardboard boxes previously being used as a chair by none other than RockStar, than jumped from the box right into the still blazing fire of the homeless men's pit. The flame rose for a second and extra puff of smoke rising from the mouse's drop point, before everything settled back into place.
….. "What the hell!" shouted the young man.
"shell," mumbled Donnie.
"Did that mouse just-" RockStar began to ask.
"Nope you're just seeing things Rock," Raph insisted stopping the strange guy from stating the obvious. RockStar looked like he was about to argue. But Mikey quickly jumped in, his nice guy instincts sensing the impending fight.
"I propose!" shouted Mikey throwing his arms dramatically in the air, "That we go home!"
"Seconded," agreed Raph pushing past the men to head back. Raph made sure to grip Leo's bicep as he passed, the poor guy hadn't moved since….it…..happened.
"Oh wait oh, oh my, goodbye, see you later," Donnie said politely bowing to the men before hurrying off to catch up to his brothers. Leo didn't even bother to whisper as he spoke right in Raph's ear hole.
"Might want to look to the left Raph, because I was right."
"No Klunk NOOOO!" Michelangelo screeched in horror, running across the living room and towards the kitchen of their lair to grab his cat. In his sprint he made a giant vertical leap, landing on the couch cushion right next to Raph's face, before jumping again into the kitchen
"hmmmmmm Whazzat?" Raph drunkenly spoke from his spot sprawled across the coach. If the droll pooling in the crevices of his chin was anything to go by he had been taking a nap.
His heart pounding adrenaline racing Mikey hopped again and skidded himself up and across their dining room table, landing on the other side next to his pet cat Klunk. And right next to Klunk, who did nothing but raise his nose and stare at his owner evenly, was an opened oven.
'Meow,' Klunk said.
Mikey snatched his cat, hugging the creature tightly to his plated chest.
'MOW!' Klunk said.
"Where's the fire?" Donnie asked from his own spot next to Raph's feet. Before Raph had gotten comfortable for his beauty nap Donnie had claimed his own spot on the couch and was happily typing away on his laptop. He would have done this elsewhere since he really was working on some serious material. But he wanted to keep an eye on Raph's burnt foot. It wasn't a bad burn. And his reptilian skin was already shedding off the damaged area. But with Raph subtle observation of injuries was best. Mikey choked on a dramatic sob and hugged his cat tighter.
'MOOOOOW!' said Klunk.
"Mikey put the poor thing down," Raph said lazily, waving his hand vaguely in Mikey direction.
"Did you two not see what just happened? What almost happened!" Mikey questioned his face still showing his panic.
Donnie and Raph looked at each other, then back at Mikey. Raph even going so far as to sit up so he could do so. "No Mikey we didn't see anything, what almost happened?" Donnie asked politely.
Mikey loosened his hold on Klunk, he knew that his kitty didn't like being held so roughly, but he just couldn't help himself. He'd give her an extra serving of cat food for dinner tonight to make up for his behavior. Klunk took advantage of the extra freedom Mikey gave him and propelled himself out of his owners arms, making a hasty retreat up into Mikey's room. Mikey let him go in favor of explaining the problem to his brothers "The oven was opened." Mikey stated.
"…Uh yeah," Raph said not really getting it.
"….Mikey it's not turned on," said Donnie, who was pretty sure he got it, but was seriously hoping he was wrong.
"THAT'S NOT THE POINT!" yelled Mikey throwing his arms up and all around. "Did you see that mouse? It jumped, it just jumped! NO no! Klunk is grounded, he isn't allowed near anything burning or hot! We are having ice cream for dinner! Only ice cream! I will cook nothing!"
Raph snorted beside Donnie flopping himself back onto the cushions, "Ice cream huh? Sounds good to me."
"Raph," Donnie scolded, "You're not helping, and Mikey I highly doubt that Klunk is going to suddenly jump into the oven, burning or not. He's never done it before. And I told you the mouse was a strange occurrence. The poor thing probably had rabies. And the rabbit… Well Leo was just being crazy with that one."
"Up, gotta stop ya' there genius. I saw that one myself. The fuzz ball definitely dive bombed it into the fire," Raph corrected.
"Still not helping Raph," hissed Donnie.
"Still not trying to," said Raph.
"See Donnie see Raph saw it himself! No, from now on we are a flame free house!" Mikey declared moving towards the freezer. Presumably to get that ice cream he talked about.
"Raaaph, I do not want to eat ice cream for dinner," whispered Donnie, leaning closer to his brother on the couch so Mikey couldn't hear. "We are trained warriors. We need a balanced healthy diet on a daily basis. And we ruin that enough with all the pizza."
"Well then," said Raph adjusting himself sideways on the couch and away from Donnie so he could lie down and continue his nap in peace. "Why don't you make dinner yourself Donny-boy?"
"…." Donnie said nothing. But glared disapprovingly towards the kitchen as Mikey littered the dining table with every imaginable topping for what must be mutant turtle sized ice cream sundaes.
It was silent for a while after that. The snores of Raph's breaths, the soft clink and clacks of Mikey working about the kitchen, the taping of Donnie's keys. They were all familiar sounds. Donnie revealed in them. He'd read online studies of babies that calm down when surrounded by familiar sounds. He was both grateful and slightly maddened by the simple mental relaxation that something as mundane as snores and clinks could cause. But he also figured it was cheaper than prescription drugs, so he allowed it.
"What's all this?"
Leo appeared from out of the dojo, he went in there earlier today declaring his need to not be disturbed so he could meditate. Donnie wasn't really sure why Leo needed to shout this, over all the three of them are pretty good about leaving him to his meditation. Unlike with him when he is trying to work on a project. Not that he minds, he likes the company and frankly has a feeling that he really would turn into one of those hermits, as humans call it, if he discouraged the tradition any more than he already does.
Mikey brightened up as Leo walked towards him eyeing the cluttered table suspiciously. "We're having sundaes tonight Leo!"
Donnie snickered to himself as he watched Leo critically analyze the contents for the 'feast.' Leo even went so far as to pick up an unlabeled jar and open it, revealing a clumpy yellow like substance that he had to assume was pineapple mush. Leo grimaced, Donnie smiled. Looks like he was going to get a home cooked meal after all.
But then Leo took in a deep breath, letting it out slow and long. "Sounds like fun Mikey, I could use a little fun. I didn't get anything from meditating. I just hope that's a good sign."
Donnie gapped as Mikey whooped with glee wrapping his arm around Leo's broader shoulders. "That's right bro you just relax. I even have mint in chip, your favorite dude!" Mikey shouted leading Leo into a chair. Leo smiled, eyes glazing over at the thought of his favorite treat.
Resigning himself to his fate Donnie groaned and stood up from the couch, placing his laptop gently in the warm spot his butt previously occupied. "C'mon Raph." Donnie mumbled, slapping Raph's bicep as he passed him to get him up and going.
Raph groaned, but obeyed. Pushing himself up and groggily shuffling towards the kitchen. He was still tired from the extra amount of weight lifting he put in today. But that doesn't mean he didn't want to go out tonight. Here's to hopping that a nice sugar rush and some of Donnie's coffee will be enough to keep a turtle going.
The four of them attacked. Sprinkles flew cherries ended up in Mikey's nose. Someone threw strawberries at Raph, which translates to 'bring it on,' in Raph speech. And, courtesy of Mikey, the chocolate sauce ended up on Leo's head.
But no one touched Leo's mint n chip.
The food and ice cream decorations destroyed the kitchen. And every turtle involved volunteered Mikey to clean it up. Mikey whined, but not much before throwing a chunk of vanilla at Donnie. Mikey knew that they would all help him in the end.
"Mikey put your coat on right," Raph grumbled fumbling with the buttons on Mikey's trench coat, concealing his brother's exposed plastron. Mikey laughed loud and long, knowing how much Raph didn't want to baby him. Unlike Leo who took it as a sort of unspoken honor he possessed.
"Relax Raph, its pitch black tonight. No one's going to see," Mikey explained waiting patiently for Raph to finish buttoning him up.
Raph finished, smacking his brother in the chest when he was done, it hit pointlessly against Mikey's shell with small slap. "There are street lights all over this park nuthead," Raph said angrily. "Accidentally walk under one of them right now and people are going to see a shell of a lot of green with the way you're acting."
Mikey shrugged and continued walking. He already knew where they were going. The two of them had planned everything out.
After the ice cream sundaes Raph still wanted to go out. But Casey, the back stabbing son of a whore…Casey's words not Raph's his mother apparently got around in the day, bailed on him. Something about his girlfriend being able to give him what Raph could not, so she got dibs on him for date night.
Which meant that Raph had to settle for one of his brothers if he wanted some company to go along with his fresh air tonight. Raph didn't mind, he liked hanging out with his bros. In fact he did so every day. But Raph was in the mood for some trouble. Something two of his three brothers seemed to make their mission to keep him out of. That only left him one option, Mikey, and he was pleasantly surprised on what the little sucker had planned for them. This was going to be fun. If only the little twerp would keep his cloths on!
Mikey continued to stride forward, his steps big and obvious. Raph followed along much more subdued. It wasn't much longer when Mikey stopped and stared down, his eyes on a beautifully plump baby bush that only reached the tops of his ankles. Mikey squatted down onto his toes, palms on his knees. "This one Raph, this one's perfect."
Raph had to agree, it was small and wouldn't be missed, and it was pretty. Which honestly made this next part all the more satisfying, in a sickly awesome way. But best of all the bush was in the corner of the park. It was a small park on the edge of New York City. Meant for the newly appearing suburban kids moving into the neighborhood not far away. But at three in the morning the whole park was perfectly empty. Still the darkness of this corner section was a nice touch, with buildings nearby that provided good covering.
"Hey yeah," Raph said admiringly. "Nice pick bro."
Mikey smiled smugly, "So you got the thing?" Mikey asked.
"Yup," Raph said extracting a long metal object from his trench coat. It was a shiny thing, with a cushioned grip, a barrel, and a trigger….
"Duuuuude!" Mikey snickered happily, "you brought the big one!"
Raph smiled evilly, "Shell yeah I did. Better back away Mikey, things are about to get hot!"
Mikey ran away from the doomed bush laughing gleefully. Meanwhile Raph skillfully adjusted his grip, pointed, and pulled the trigger of Donnie's fully handmade working mini flamethrower.
Fire burst out from the tip of the gun in a straight deadly arc. It made contact with the bush, immediately setting the wood and leaves ablaze. Raph's eyes danced with mirth, the fire reflecting creepily in his eyes. Mikey got out the small handheld fire extinguisher Donnie made years ago, and got ready to spray. But he never stopped cheering Raph on.
Having had his fun Raph stopped the stream of flame and dropped the head of the flamethrower to the ground. Raph smiled admiring the burning bush that was his handy work, the grass around it was starting to burn too, mostly due to Raph's inability to completely hold the flamethrower steady while it fired. But it was still an easily contained, nicely made, fire.
Time to wait.
"Keep an eye out for cats," Mikey said, images of a cooked Klunk still running though his head.
"Mikey nothing's gonna come out," Raph assured him. Mikey had offered this idea in the first place, hoping to prove this whole mystery wrong so that he could stop worrying about his cat. Raph just wanted an excuse to burn a plant.
"Something could!" Mikey insisted! "And this is the perfect way to test it! I bet even Leo will be happy with our experiment."
Raph laughed his doubt of this in his brother's face but continued to watch the fire. And yes admittedly he flicked his eyes around for any possible suicidal furry critters.
The fire was starting to die down now, having burnt most of its targeted bush. But enough was still burning that Mikey refused to shut up about the smores they could be making.
"Geez Mikey give it a rest, all we brought were some apples," Raph finally said, shuffling closer to the fire to feel the warmth against his bare toes.
"Let's cook the apples."
"How do you even cook apples?"
"I'm not sure but…..Raph," Mikey whispered.
"What?" Raph asked not paying attention.
"Raph look," Mikey said pointing to a spot on the ground some five feet away.
Raph looked.
He wouldn't have noticed it normally. Even with his better than human night vision it was black. Black with only a white underbelly protruding up his sides, it blended in with the night around them almost perfectly. But its beady black eyes reflected in the fire light. Making the familiar pure dark eyes of a rat shimmer. It was looking at him. Dammit his dad was a rat, so Raph knew when one was looking at him!
"….No."
The rat started to move forward.
"No…. No shellin' way," Raph whispered.
The rat started to run, and rats move fast. Its tiny feet disturbed the grass beneath it in its swift sprint.
"RATTY NO!" Mikey shouted running forward himself to try and block the rat from the flame with his body.
He wasn't fast enough, the rat jumped with a high audible squeeeeeak! And fell head first into the fire, its tiny paws spread out in front of it like superman.
The fire rose up for a moment with its new fuel, before dying down, back to its original pre-rat jump position. But the inevitability didn't stop Mikey from racing forward to check the flames.
"Well shell," Raph breathed out. He just…..He just didn't know what to say. What was there to say after… that! Maybe if it wasn't a rat…. He'd find this a little more ridiculous and less...Wrong.
"Raph he's gone!" Mikey shouted from his kneeled position next to the flames.
Raph sighed sadly shoving his hands back into his pockets. "Yeah buddy I know. But he did kind of ask for it ya' know."
"No Raph," Mikey said sounding very serious, "I mean he isn't in the fire."
"What?" Raph questioned joining Mikey near the ground. He looked, and Mikey was right. He should have known. Rats don't burn that fast, ofcourse the thing wasn't there anymore. It would still be burning, and probably squealing in pain if it was. "I'll be damned," Raph said awed.
For their truly was no body in that fire.
Mikey took out his fire extinguisher and sprayed.