Total Recall

Chapter I


He had been so close. So close. It was nearing the end of the day and Leonardo had thought he had made it. He spent his time either with his father or within the dojo. He had even managed to get into the kitchen without being spotted. Once he was sure he had gotten away, he began his mediation routine in order to relax.

They were taking the night off of patrols tonight, though he knew that wouldn't stop his immediate younger brother from going out. It was still hard to just let Raphael go off by himself, but that was the older brother in him, the one that worried. After their years together and everything they had experienced and gone through, Leo thought he had grown up some. He didn't mean to be controlling, but sometimes he came off that way to his siblings.

Nearly dying at least twice had made an impact on his life. One of those he had even made the decision himself, that dying was better than alternative. Luckily, they had been saved, but that feeling of failure had stayed with him for many months, until he had attacked his father in anger. That had gotten him sent away the first time. The second time had been on a brighter note, but it had been his stubbornness and his grasp of the freedom he had in Central America that had kept him from returning.

And when he did return, everything was so different, it was like everything had fallen apart when he left. He had been so surprised when Raph had turned into a vigilante crime stopper, that Donnie wasted his brilliance on a degrading job, and that Mikey was letting small children beat him up on a daily basis. It had been so hard, harder than usual, to get everyone back in line. Raph he expected problems, but not what he got. Even Donnie, who never rebelled the way his immediate younger brother did, seemed distant to him.

It took nearly a year to put things back together, to see the bigger picture his father had wanted him to see. Leo had thought the trip was to make him a better leader, to learn more about being in charge and giving orders. It was only in the aftermath of everything Leo realized that he already was a good leader; he just needed to be a better brother. In the jungles of Central America, he understood how Raph felt about protecting those that couldn't, how this freedom was so open, so…alive. It was nice just to sit and listen to the sounds of the jungle, to look up at the night sky, to just…be Leo.

Now, when his little brother went out, Leo let him go, as long as there was a phone call. Especially if he and Casey got into a jam they couldn't get out of. He half expected Raph to refuse, but he was surprised when his brother nodded and agreed. Donnie had almost a hidden joy at dumping his tech job, but no one could deny that it brought in money that they needed. So they changed it – thanks to April, they managed to find a small volunteer tech repair place that rebuilt computers for those less fortunate to buy one. His salary only dropped a few hundred dollars, but it was still enough and Donnie seemed to enjoy this a lot better. It was paid volunteering, especially when he used his knowledge for helping the company itself.

Mikey had no qualms about giving up his job, even though he enjoyed the money that came with it. He missed his old life of taking out bad guys and video games. With Donnie's help (or demands depending on who you asked), Mikey had kept some money in reserve that he could now officially spend if he wanted. Surprisingly, Mikey only took a few hundred for his extravagant needs like the latest game or comic book.

Even the problems that stemmed between Raph and Donnie evaporated one night. He had no idea what happened, though it clearly looked like the two had beaten the tar out of each other, but it apparently worked as whatever animosity there was before was now gone.

Theirs was a calm and peaceful life now, with the occasional bad guy to rustle. It was nice to just sit and relax…

"Not the most optimal place to hide from me, big brother."

Damn.

Shutting his eyes tighter, Leo could only hope this intruder would go away. He was calm, he was peaceful, he was…being disturbed. "Go away."

"Every year, Leo," replied the voice. "You try to duck and cover with me, but silly bro. Don't you know I can always find you. Little brother's watching you."

Leo couldn't help but to open his eyes and roll them at the cheeky answer his brother had given. And he was right, every year the leader tried to escape his annual exam. The only good part to it was the fact that Donnie usually told him how the others were doing. When they first started this, Leo had always asked how everyone was doing, to which Donnie replied that 'doctor-patient confidentiality restricted him to say'. After a few thorough trouncings during practice made the brainy turtle realize his brother wouldn't give up. So they made a deal – he'd let Leo escape him until last call if he'd let the elder turtle know how everyone in the family was.

"If you tell me to turn my head and cough like last year…" the eldest grumbled.

Donnie had the grace to blush. In his research he knew that human males needed to have cancer checkups on a yearly basis, especially as they get older. It was hard to really determine whether or not they, as turtles, would be in this category, but he thought it would be a good experiment. So for last year's checkup, he instituted 'prostrate' examinations, which as one could imagine, did not go over well. Donnie had checked and confirmed that reptiles in fact did not have a prostate, but that didn't truly matter as it seemed they had a closer physiology to that of humans anyway. What would be the harm in checking?

The scientist learned quickly, thanks to Raphael, that yes, there was harm in checking. "Donnie, I love you, but I don't love you that much." That was Raph's answer to that, even when Donnie tried bribing him and describing the benefits of this. His brother was adamant that he was to not touch him in areas that were deemed 'off limits' to other males.

"Would you rather have April do this?"

"Yes, as a matter of fact I would!"

Donnie smirked. "Like Casey would go for that."

"I'll just tell him it's in the name of science."

Needless to say, Casey Jones did not go for it and Donnie was left with only his eldest brother as the experiment. It went well enough, though neither could look the other in the eye for a week, and Leo was just as adamant as Raph was about it. "Do we even have prostates?"

"Well, reptiles don't, but seeing as we're kinda in between, it couldn't hurt to check. So you up for it?"

"I would just like to say that I am extremely uncomfortable with you touching me inappropriately."

"I'm not molesting you!"

"I don't know, Donnie, this kinda does sound like molesting to me."

"It's a medical examination. If you think this is bad, just wait till I have to check your colon. Believe me, so not looking forward to that."

"I told you," Donnie sighed. Leo would never let him live that down. "I had to check. It be one thing if we were normal turtles, but cause we're not, sometimes we have to go the human route, which again, we aren't, so some things are trial and error." He began giving Leo his normal going over. "'Sides, your experience wasn't nearly as embarrassing as Master Splinter's."

"Stop," Leo interrupted. "Stop, stop right there. I don't want to hear the rest of that. Just give me the lowdown, in short non-informative sentences."

"Spoilsport." Donnie grinned. "So far, everyone's good. Raph had small bruises, but those were easily taken care of. Master Splinter is in perfect health, well for a giant, mutant rat. He did complain of some soreness in his joints. I'm thinking he may have a bit of arthritis in his leg, you know from his injury with Draco."

Leo nodded. "He's been having me take over practice a lot lately," he murmured, blinking quickly as his brother examined his eyes.

"Nothing to worry about," the brainy turtle replied. "It's common for arthritis to set in on joints that have been damaged. I'm fairly sure he's in the beginning stages of osteoarthritis. Luckily, his diet has always been good, he maintains his weight, takes rest and exercise that he's probably managed to stave it off for the last couple of years. It's only now setting in. I'll keep watch over it and certainly if he complains about pain, I'll take a closer look."

"And you, doc?"

"I'm fine."

"Last year, I clearly remember you saying that you had carpal tunnel."

"I said I was probably at risk for it," Donatello corrected. "My daily and nightly habits and uh… 'tunnel vision' as Raph calls it, are prime factors. No worries. April had me install a program on my desktop and laptop that tell me to take a break or else my computer shuts off. And damn if I haven't figured how April got it to do that."

Leo chuckled. Having April in their family had definite perks and benefits. "How's Mikey?"

"Fine," Don said, stepping back. "Though we hit a bit of a mystery. Any soreness, blurry vision, pain in any body part?"

"No," Leo replied. "What sort of mystery?"

"Hmm? Oh, well it seems I may have performed an operation on him about a year ago," Donnie began. "Well, it looks be year old scarring, definitely not more than two years, but the thing is, neither one of us remembers doing it."

"That's weird."

"Tell me about it," agreed Donnie. "And I can't find anything about it in my notes, paper or computerized. How's your hearing?"

"Never better," Leo replied, pulling away from his brother. "Listen, why don't you get Master Splinter to give you a check up? I know things have been pretty slow lately, but maybe during our fight with Winters, you hit your head or something. Or hell, maybe you hit it when you hit the keyboard in sleep."

Donnie huffed at the comment. He hadn't fallen asleep at his computer in at least a few weeks. "You're fine for now," he said. "With exception to your humor. Make sure you stop by the lab; I haven't gotten you in my new invention yet."

"Later tonight, promise."

The scientist knew that was a Leo brush off, so he gave his brother a frown before heading to his lab. Looking around, he noticed that Master Splinter seemed to be having a talk with Raph, so that meant his own check up would need to wait a while. The problem was, as much as he made it seem like something small, the very thought that he had performed a rather complicated surgery on his younger brother and not remember it weighed heavily on him.

It wasn't like him to forget something of this magnitude. He prided himself on his brains and the knowledge it carried. That was the sole reason he had been so upset when he had that Tricerian mind probe. It felt as though he was literally losing his mind and that scared him more than anything in the world. He knew his place on the team and within their family, hadn't his trip to a world without him proven that?

Leo needed to be in control, needed to worry, needed to see every detail for everything; Raph needed his strength, needed to be able to protect no matter what; Mikey needed laughter and happiness. He had seen what a hopeless Michelangelo could be and he hadn't liked it one bit. Donnie needed his brain, needed to think and analyze everything around him. As much as he took the more realistic, scientific view to everything, he knew there were some things that science couldn't explain, things he had seen that defied logic, but only in the brainy turtle's growth had he learned to let go of the panic when he couldn't explain something.

But he couldn't help but feel panic now. It wasn't full blown, just a minor niggling in the back of his mind that said something was wrong when he couldn't remember performing surgery. His curiosity, luckily, pushed him forward with the taste of a good mystery. Pulling out his shell cell, he hit the speed dial button for April. He could tell he had obviously called a rather bad time, as April looked hurried and frazzled. "Can't talk now, Don."

"Sorry for calling at a bad time," Don winced. "I was hoping you could help with something."

"Busy," she rushed. "It's gotta wait. Casey and I have our hands full."

"Gee," the turtle sighed. "Looks like I'm two for two. I gotta wait a few hours before Master Splinter's free and you were the next person I thought of. I'm sorry for bothering you."

He wasn't sure if it was the sad, pathetic tone of his voice or the small puppy dog look he tried using, but something obviously made April's face go from stern to caring. "Give me an hour," she said.

"Awesome!" he replied. "You're the best, April."

"I know."


An hour later, April O'Neill found herself in the home of her adopted littler brothers. It had been such a crazy day at the store, with everyone and their mothers coming in every few minutes. Business was good though, even if only half of those that came in actually bought something. Plus, she was still doing side work for those that were looking for priceless antiques. The Winters job had been a God send, with her and Casey moving in together right before she had taken the job. Now, as a young married couple with aspirations of having a baby, they needed as much money as they could.

Upon entering the new lair, the red-head was actually shocked at how quiet it was. Normally she came over when all four boys were there, but sometimes she did manage to miss them. But she was usually greeted by Master Splinter and that didn't happen either. "Guys?" she called. She was instantly on alert when she heard something from the kitchen. The memory of Karai's attack on the guys years ago had never left her and she was prepared to defend her family on her life.

"Hey April," greeted Donnie.

"Donnie, thank goodness!"

"What're you doing here?"

April looked at the turtle in surprise. "Donnie," she said, confused. "You invited me over."

"No, I didn't."

"Yes, you did!" she insisted. "You called and said you needed help on something. I told you I'd be over in an hour."

"I…seriously don't remember that," Donnie replied, sheepishly. Taking out his cell, he went through his call history and sure enough, there was a call to April exactly one hour ago that day. "You're right," he whispered. "I don't remember calling you."

"Donnie, are you alright?"

"I'm not sure," the turtle replied. "I woke up from a nap, which is odd because I don't normally nap during the day. C'mon, maybe there's something in my room that can explain this."

They hurried to the purple masked turtle's room, which was situated across from the lab he had established. When they had found this place, after being forced out of their second lair, Donnie had taken the initiative to have the larger area. With the money he had made from his IT support job, he had managed to build a nice little computer nook. He had made the closet into a server room where he had access to all the security he had once again placed in and around their home.

His own desktop computer was as tricked out as he could make it. High end parts graced this technology marvel – it was the first thing he had put his money to – but that was his gaming and work computer. He still counted the first computer he ever built as his main computer. He had upgraded it at least twice, though it was inferior to his mega desktop (what Mikey called 'Megatron'), but it was sentimental value that made him stick with it. He had a state of the art all in one printer, the kind that businesses would probably use; next to that were three separate external hard drives that all had at least one terabyte of storage.

The first drive was for backups, even though one of the five servers he had built was done specifically for backing up all data he had in his room. It was a backup of a back up.

The second one was for all the music and movies they had in their previous lair. Mikey had been so upset that every CD, MP3, video game, and DVD had been destroyed thanks to Karai. His stuff had survived their first move, but didn't make it in their second, all because Karai wanted everything gone. The good thing about having jobs and thus having money, was that Mikey had begun restocking his supply. The first thing he had done was replenish his comic book collection and once Donnie had gotten his giant printer, the younger turtle scanned in every page.

He then restocked his CDs and DVDs. Luckily with the advent of the internet, the stuff he couldn't find or buy, Donnie downloaded for him. He then made Donnie secure the whole thing on the second drive. Then, once he reestablished his video games, he made Donnie copy those too. The brainy turtle of course obliged; after all, it was Mikey's taste in music that appealed to everyone and how they mostly ended up with tunes in the first place. The same was true for the video games and DVDs. Those were Mikey's children, next to his nunchucks.

The third drive held…special entertainment. It had started as 'research' into the human body and the mechanics and all things that said 'research' when one describe it. Of course, as a teenage mutant ninja turtle and a male one at that, research turned into…specialized learning. He could've easily gotten away with it if not for Raph discovering the 'secret stash' and then asking Donnie for copies. Even that he could handle, but no. The loud mouth had to tell Mikey and Raph said it was only fair that they teach their younger brother about the 'beauties of the world and the internet'.

He was just thankful neither Leo nor Master Splinter knew anything about it. Raph was temperamental, but discrete and Mikey's room always looked as though a hurricane had blown through it, no one would be able to find anything. Just to be on the safe side, of course, he passworded every and anything that could be looked at or touched by Mikey.

That was why coming to stop at his main computer, he was surprised to see it was unlocked and ready to go. "I must be extremely exhausted," he whispered. "I never leave my computer unlocked." On screen was his medical journal that he had been typing up and placing into his 3-D X-Ray machine. What was strange was that it only listed Master Splinter and Raphael, as though he hadn't gotten around to Mikey or Leo. But then, what was he doing?

Typing in a few commands, his eyes widened slightly in shock. "Someone's been messing with my journal," he said, pointing to the info he had pulled up. "See? There's been a deletion in one of the sections."

"Did you delete them?" April asked.

"No," he said. "At least I don't think so." Confused, but now determined, Donnie stood and addressed the shop owner. "Let me get my laptop and we'll head over to your apartment. Something weird's going on."

The trip to April's apartment was about twenty minutes; they made it in about ten. April had never seen Donnie so shaken up and panicked before. Even she was flipping out. Once inside, it was clear that her husband was out with Raph, which made what they were going to do a little easier without Casey asking what they were doing. They got to work, Donnie handing his laptop over to April, while he remoted himself into his desktop from her computer. This way they could look at two things at the same time. And if there was anyone Donnie trusted with his online stuff, it was his sister.

"I hope you have backups, Don," she said, staring at the screen. "You've got a lot of files missing here."

"And on my desktop too," he added. "My online journal logged several deletions, going back almost two years. Even some of my pictures are gone." The turtle sat back, hand rubbing the back of his neck. "Who would want to delete my stuff? I mean, if it was sporadic, I'd think Mikey first off or hell, even the others, but these look deliberate and no one else has the know how to do something like this."

"Do you have server backups?"

"You know I do."

"Where do you keep the media ones?" she asked. "Maybe they've only been deleted from your computer and not the server."

"Good thinking," he said. "Though I'm not sure how accurate the media one is. Ever since my digital camera went AWOL, I haven't backed it up."

April navigated to the server address; Donnie had given her access to one of his servers as well for the store's inventory. She paused though when she heard him say that. "Your camera went missing?" she asked.

"Yeah," he sighed. "I haven't seen in it for like seven, eight months. I accused Mike of having it, but then had to apologize. For a while, I thought maybe it was destroyed when Karai came after us, but I clearly remember getting it after that. I have no idea where it could be."

She couldn't put her finger on why, but the fact that Donnie's camera was missing seemed odd and suspicious at the same time. Finding her way to the picture files on his media server, April was glad to see it had been updated within the year. Due to the obvious, the guy couldn't go parading pictures of themselves to everyone, but with two homes destroyed, everyone thought it best to keep those happy times on file. Master Splinter especially liked the idea, seeing as he had lost every picture of the turtles as children in Karai's attack. Most saddening was the loss of the only picture he had of his Master Yoshi.

When Father's Day came around, a few months after they had defeated the Tengu Shredder, April and the guys had gotten together to discuss gift ideas. Somehow they were talking about how sad it had been for them to lose everything this time thanks to the Utrom Shredder's daughter. It had been Mikey who thought is sad they couldn't recreate their moments.

Both she and Donnie had perked up at the idea. When the day had arrived, all six of them had presented Master Splinter with digital copies of pictures. They could never replace the ones where they were little, but as a joke they did have one with them dressed in baby clothes and waving (well, Raph scowled, so it looked like he was having a tantrum). Most of the pictures were when they had been at the farmhouse and a couple from movie nights and other events that April had taken herself.

They had even gotten the Ancient One to let them digitize a picture he had of Yoshi and Tang Shen, something that even Splinter didn't have. He had tears in his eyes and said it was the best Father's Day gift a father could want from his children.

April was joyful to find those still there, as well as a few pictures that were taken after that. She was nearly caught up in her memory lane trip when she came across four photos that were just labeled unknown. That was strange in itself as Donnie always labeled his pictures. "Hey Don," she called. "I think I found something." She waited until the turtle in question stood by her before she clicked on one of the pictures.

Both were surprised when the image of a raven haired girl appeared, smiling at them. Her hair was long and about her shoulders, her smile was wide and joyous, and her brown eyes were twinkling. There seemed to be a celebration behind her. "Who is that?" Donnie asked, quietly.

"I was about to ask you the same thing." Hitting the forward icon on the picture viewer, they were met again with the young woman, this time Donnie and Mikey were on either side of her, and all three were smiling. It seemed to be from the same time as the first picture. "You obviously know her," April mentioned, going to the next photo. This one also had the mysterious woman, Donnie, and Mikey, but this one seemed to have been taken in or near Central Park. Both turtle brothers were in disguises and the young woman was hugging Mikey.

"And again," Donnie murmured. "I've never seen her before."

Clicking the forward button, both were stunned to see another picture, but it didn't have the previous occupants. This shot looked like it was taken as the camera lay on the ground. The man or being in the picture seemed tall and some type of weapon lay in his hands. He looked humanoid, but had small horns on his forehead and his skin seemed to be a light pink. He was dressed in what looked like military garb and combat boots.

Both turtle and human looked at each other before looking back at the strange picture. "April," Donnie whispered. "What the hell is going on?"