Quiescence
"Quiescence: in a state or period of inactivity or dormancy" The brothers had split up for their nightly patrol. Mikey, Raph, and Leo returned home. Companion piece to Graffiti.
A/N: This is actually a companion piece to a little one-shot called Graffiti, but is completely understandable if read alone. This wasn't exactly what I had in the beginning, but it just kinda spiraled into its own thing. There are three chapters, once for each brother, all fairly short. Please review if you enjoyed, it really does encourage me to write more. If you want to see Donnie's side of the story, please read and review Graffiti.
Chapter One: Orange
...
Wait two minutes...redial...ring...ring...voicemail...hang up.
Wait two minutes...redial...ring...ring...voicemail...hang up.
Wait two minutes...redial...ring...ring...voicemail...hang up.
Wait two minutes...redial...ring...ring...voicemail...hang up.
Wait two minutes...redial...ring...ring...voicemail...hang up.
Wait two minutes...
...redial...
...ring...
...ring...
...voicemail...
...hang up.
Again.
Again.
Again...
...again.
Another two minutes passed. Michelangelo repeated the steps, exactly. His vision was fuzzy again, but he blinked that weakness away; crying wasn't going to help. 'Donnie's okay. He went to the junkyard, like Leo said.' He just got distracted. 'Donnie always gets distracted when he's working on something important.' He just didn't realize what time it was. All Mikey had to do was keep calling until Donnie answered. Then he could remind his older brother that they were supposed to meet back up two...tears filled his eyes again, but he shook his head viciously, two hours and forty three minutes ago.
He stared at the small screen of his TPhone. The one Donnie had rebuilt for him numerous times because he couldn't seem to go a week without somehow breaking it. His thumb taped the speed dial contact labeled 'Donatello', because no matter how much he tried, Donnie wouldn't let him change it to a nickname. He'd said he would use "Genius," why wouldn't Donnie let him? Probably because he was gonna use "Mr. Angry-Face" for Raph. It rang and rang, but it was Donnie's voicemail message that answered, so again, Mikey ended the call.
The rhythmic thumps that had helped punctuate the seconds of the two minute intervals was slowing again. Raph hit the punching bag with extra force and gave a yell of frustration before marching across the lair to the pit where Leo was sitting on the old sofa, staring absently at the blank tv.
Another two minutes had passed. Mikey tapped the redial button. It rang. It went to voice mail. He hung up.
"It's been three hours!" Raph boomed.
"Two hours and forty six minutes," Mikey corrected quietly. Less than a minute until he would try again.
If Raph had heard, he didn't acknowledge, "Do you really think Donnie would have gone to the junkyard and lost track of this much time?! Something's happened, Fearless, and we've lost too much time already! We need to go out there!"
The moment the time changed, Mikey hit redial. It rang and rang. Donnie's voicemail message answered. Mikey hung up. He trained his eyes back on the clock. Wait two more minutes.
"Where, Raph?! We don't even know where to start looking," Leo spat back.
"Yeah? And who's fault is that?! You're the one who said to split up!"
"Me?! You wanted to go alone tonight! You took off before the rest of us!"
Raph growled, and Miley looked up, Raph looked like he was ready to hit Leo. "We have to do something! Track his phone!"
"You think I didn't try that hours ago?" Leo asked, "I don't know Donnie's programs, I don't know how to it, do you?!"
Raph growled loudly and threw a powerful punch that landed with a soft thud on the sofa cushion. "When he gets back, the first thing he's gonna do is show us all how to do that!"
The clock had ticked over while he'd been watching his brothers, he scrambled to hit redial, and the process repeated. It rang. Donnie's voicemail message answered. He hung up. Donnie was going to come back. He'd promised to check the thermo-thing on the freezer, Ice Cream Kitty had been looking slightly melty lately. Donnie wouldn't let Ice Cream Kitty melt.
The freckled turtle looked back up at Raph's tired sigh, "Shred-head has him, Leo. We can't just leave him there."
"We don't know that," their oldest brother said forcefully. "Shredder's been quiet lately."
"Yeah, because he's been planning to kidnap Donnie and tonight he finally did!"
"Why? What would Shredder want with him?"
Raph leaned closer to his brother, "Why does Shredder do anything?! To hurt Master Splinter! To hurt us! Does it matter?! We need to go out and look!"
"We need a plan."
"What have you been doing for the last three hours?!"
The clock changed, Mikey hit redial, it rang once, then stopped. He answered! Donnie answered! "Dude!" Mikey yelled, too excited to wait for a greeting, "You finally answered! Where are-"
He couldn't finish his sentence. Raph had vaulted over the couch and snatched the phone out of his hand and was holding the smaller turtle at arms length as he screamed into the phone with all of the pent up fear and rage of the past two hours and fifty three minutes, "Where the fuck are you?!"
Mikey was struggling to get his phone back when Raph's hand suddenly fell from Mikey's shell. The smaller turtle crashed to the floor as Raph froze, pulled the phone from his ear and stared at the screen, "April?" Mikey ducked away as his older brother punched the wall and fumed, if possible, more angry than he had been moments ago. "We've been worried sick thinking something happened and he's visiting his girlfriend?! For fuck's sake. Why the hell didn't he answer?! God damn that fucking...I'm gonna kill him. I'm gonna drag his wannbe genius ass back here and beat the shit out of him. He's not gonna have a shell left by the time I'm fucking done."
Leo helped his youngest brother stand and stared at the tantrum for a moment before sighing, "Calm down. And watch your language."
"I ain't gonna watch my fucking language when he pulls this kind of shit!" He grit his teeth before grunting into the phone, "Give the phone to my idiot brother."
The color drained from Raph's face, turning it a sickly grey-green, his entire body went rigid, his voice suddenly turned fearful, "Cleaned up? Is he hurt?"
Mikey gasped, "Donnie's hurt?!" Trying to lean in and stand as tall as possible to put his ear next to Raph's to hear what was being said.
Raph growled and pushed his youngest brother back to the floor. "Hi, Raph?! That's what you say?! Hi, Raph?! What the hell bro?! You're fucking hurt and you didn't call?! What are these damn phones you made us for?!" The red masked turtle must have noticed that anger had been creeping back into his voice; his next words were softer, with less of an edge, "What happened? How bad?" He listened for a moment, "How long were you out?! Why didn't you call? We would have picked you up!" Another pause, "We're coming to pick you up." Raph tensed again and Mikey shrank back as his older brother started yelling again, "You stay right there! Leo! Get the ShellRaiser ready. We're picking him up!" Leo was already in the garage before Raph finished his sentence. Raph held out his hand to help his youngest brother up; Mikey took it, gladly. "Shut up! We're on our way!"
Raph lowered the phone and pushed it into Miley's hand, but wasn't relaxing as he tugged Mikey toward the garage.
The youngest allowed himself to be dragged along, filled with uncertainty, "He's okay, right Raph? You just talked to him."
His older brother was gnashing his teeth, "Concussion, cuts and bruises. That's what he said. Donnie always downplays this shit. You know that. He said he went to April cause she was closer." They both jumped into their seats quickly and Leo started driving immediately. "April's ain't that far from the lair. There was a reason he needed something closer. Cuts and bruises don't take three hours to patch up. There's something he ain't tellin' us."
Mikey couldn't help the whine that escaped. Leo didn't say anything, but Mikey noticed, their oldest brother did drive faster.
