This chapter required a lot of cutting to get rid of (mostly) the Mary Sues. Don't worry--the one that's left will play a minor part for the furtherance of the plot, and then conveniently disappear. :)

Disclaimer: If I owned Michelangelo, he'd be tied up in my closet right now. Wearing a dress. Mmmm.

Chapter 1 – It's Time I Put it All Together

~May 25 – 8:23am~

From: dhamato at dontech dot com

To: amybc at hotmail dot com

Subject: RE: Reference Position

Amy,

Thanks for submitting your resume. I'd like to arrange a phone interview sometime this week to discuss the position further; when would be best for you?

Sincerely,

Don Hamato

~4:23pm~

Donatello looked over the woman's resume once more. A library science student, mid-degree, with good job experience and a good cover letter. Hopefully she needs a job badly enough to do this, even if I come off a little eccentric…. This is going to be hard. He sighed, looking around at the unbearable mess his workshop had become, at the collapsing piles of books everywhere, and steeled himself for the conversation he was about to have. It's a matter of necessity, he told himself. I just hope I never have to explain that to Father. Or Leo.

A little speaker on the wall crackled, and Leo's tired voice suddenly filled the room. "Hey Donnie, can you come up to the house?"

"Sure…" Don replied, guilty and curious.

"And you might want to bring some tools."

~4:36pm~

Six minutes overdue, Amy's cell phone rang.

"Hello?"

"Hello, is this Amy?"

"This is she."

"Hi, this is Don Hamato."

"Oh, hi!"

"Sorry I was late to call, there was a little…family emergency."

"Oh no, I'm sorry…"

"Nothing serious. My brothers broke the electric kettle, and my father wanted his afternoon tea…."

"That sounds pretty serious to me."

"Yes, well. At any rate, I just wanted to let you know what it is I'm looking for."

"Sure."

"I'm trying to start up a company, a tech lab. I need someone to help me out on research questions and whatnot, mostly, but I also need help keeping my little library in order. It's a mess right now and not catalogued at all; I just don't have the time to keep all the texts and manuals organized."

"That sounds great! That's just what I've been doing in my classes."

"Oh, excellent! Pretty much everything is going to be run remotely…I'm starting small, just my own personal lab and some business folks I keep in touch with online. I do all the actual inventing and stuff myself, but it doesn't leave me much free time for the more…"

"Mundane stuff?"

"You caught me. As much as I love books, I don't really love library work. But you do, I can tell."

"I…well…yeah,"

"Then I guess the question is, do you love it enough for a trip out to Worcester? It's on the commuter rail. I'll reimburse you. I'd like to show you around, just so you know what you'll be in for."

"That sounds really great."

"How's Saturday?"

"Tomorrow?"

"Oh…you're right! So it is."

"I work until four-thirty, but I could probably—"

"Oh, that's perfect, actually. Evening is better for me. Why don't you give me a call when you get on the train, and I'll pick you up at the station?"

"Oh! Sure…great!"

"Perfect. I'll see you then."

"Yeah! Thanks very much."

~May 26 – 4:23am~

"Are you sure this is a good idea, Donnie? I mean, Leo's pretty good at figuring out when we're up to something."

Donatello sighed. "Well, Raph, let's see...we're going to fake a phone message using a voice adaptor that I haven't really finished building yet, use the fake message to convince Sensei and Leo to change their retreat plans, then bring a strange human to the farm without their knowledge or consent, all the while wearing experimental hologram generators. No, bro, I'm not sure this is a good idea. But we have to get them out of the house if I'm going to interview a possible employee. If she's good, and she can get the work in the barn done in the two weeks Leo and Sensei will be gone…well, I'll be all set. And we'll have tested the units with an actual person."

"And then you can't keep telling me to wait to go to the comic book store in person!"

Raphael smacked his little brother in the back of the head automatically. "Can it, goofball. We all wanna use the units. Don's right, this test will be just what we need to prove it's safe. That way if Leo ever does find out…maybe we'll get out of it with our shells intact."

~7:05am~

Seven o'clock in the damn morning. I dunno how the rest of them can get up so damn early. At least Don made some coffee…. The sleep-deprived turtle leaned back in his chair, closing his eyes for a brief moment, his hand folded around a mug of coffee as though holding on to consciousness for dear life. Then he heard the bathroom door click shut and he leaned forward a little in his chair, checking the clock with a quick glance. The water started, and Raphael could hear his eldest brother whistling…is that Oh Susannah? What a cornball. Without letting go of his coffee, he flipped open his cell and thumbed the speed dial.

Across the house, Mikey hummed to himself as he worked, fingers clicking away at the keyboard. He wasn't really getting anywhere, too tense and expectant waiting for Raph's signal to focus, but he had to make it sound like he was following his usual morning routine. Then the lights on his phone sprang to life and it rang, quietly, just once. One ring—that's it! Go time! He jumped from his chair and thumped downstairs with unusual energy, poking his head into the living room. "Morning, Sensei!"

The rat glanced up at his son's grinning face with a smile of his own. "Good morning, Michelangelo."

The youngest turtle stepped into the room, looping his thumbs through his belt with feigned casualness. "I think I need a little break from the writing this morning…you want some help watering the garden?"

Splinter regarded him from beneath his voluminous eyebrows. "Certainly, my son." He looked over at the clock. "It is just as well that you reminded me; I had lost track of the morning." He took a long draught of tea, draining the cup, then pulled himself to his feet. Mikey tried not to notice that his master leaned more heavily on that old wooden walking stick than he used to.

"How have the new Morning Glories been doing? I haven't been over to the barn in a few days…." Michelangelo flipped open his cell phone behind his back as he ushered Master Splinter out the door, hitting what he hoped was the speed dial for Don. He let it ring for a moment, then flipped the phone closed and tucked it back into his belt as they crossed the lawn toward the barn.

On the other side of the grounds, Donatello fiddled with the voice adaptor, trying to get the tone just right. It's been a while since I've heard his voice…but it's been at least as long for Sensei and Leo. The tech turtle jumped, startled, as his phone went off in his belt. That's gotta be Mikey…. One ring! All right, here goes… He strapped the voice adaptor over his mouth, and held out the crumpled note with the message written on it. He dialed the farmhouse number, and listened anxiously to it ring, waiting for the machine to pick it up.

Raphael paced through the kitchen, glaring at the phone. Come on, Don, let's get this show on the road…if I have to listen to one more round of Oh Susannah, all the ninja skills in the world ain't gonna save Leo's sorry tone-deaf shell. As if spurred into action by his thoughts, the phone jangled noisily on the wall. He watched it, resisting the urge to answer. One…two…three…four…. He sighed in relief as the machine picked up, and a familiar voice came over the speaker. I gotta hand it to Don, that sounds just like him!

"Hi guys, it's Kevin! Listen, I know I said that I was going to come and visit three weeks from now, but it looks like that week is a no-go. Can we make it the week before? Hope that's okay—give me a call back and let me know. Talk to you soon."

Raph grinned. The message was perfect; the first part of their plan had gone off without a hitch. He dumped his coffee mug in the sink and turned to make a beeline for his bed—then he turned back, a wicked gleam in his eye, and turned the hot water up full blast to rinse out the mug. He was rewarded a moment later by a shriek that would have done Mikey proud, and an angry bang. "Sorry, Leo!" he shouted through the wall that separated them, grinning all the while, and thumped up the stairs to his room feeling that the morning was getting off to a very good start.