And So It Goes

-Kiyoko Michi

~.*.~

Why you? Why us for that matter? Why anything? Because this moment simply is… There is no why.

- Kurt Vonnegut, Slaughterhouse Five

~.*.~

The city seemed… cold. Empty. He'd only been running on the rooftops for a few minutes, but already the city was startlingly unfamiliar. The life and energy he'd always loved about his city was missing. Nobody was outside, no civilian car or stray person. He couldn't even hear or see people going about their daily lives inside the buildings, which would have been obvious before. It seemed almost… dead. Despite the disappearances of the smaller, normal activities, it was the new shape of the city that disturbed him the most.

The familiar New York skyline had been almost completely replaced. Instead of skyscrapers and buildings, the horizon was dominated by large, jutting factories. Their jagged smokestacks had even managed to destroy the sky, covering his city in a thick haze. He could even smell the smoke everywhere- a thick, cloying stench. He passed close to one of the factories, but there were no windows or hint of what the factory was making. Even so, it was the only building with even a hint of movement about it. Despite the late hour, the factories were still working towards whatever goal they had, the smokestacks still spewing their smoke.

The factories were the only untouched buildings as well. Although none of the buildings still standing were in near as bad a condition as the warehouse had been, nearly all of them had been visibly broken in some way. Chunks were missing from the sides and some looked to have suffered small collapses from structural damage, forcing him to carefully watch his step as he ran. Few of the windows were unbroken. Some of the holes had been flimsily covered up, most not at all. And so many of them looked empty…

Don paused in his inspection as the rooftop route he was trying to follow abruptly stopped. What should have been a slightly lower residential building had been replaced with one of the sprawling factories. It was too high and too far away to jump without equipment he didn't have. Looking around, he tried to recalculate another possible path to get to April's store...

After what he'd seen of the city, he knew it was impossible that he would be able to find April still living normally in her apartment. He couldn't shake the mental image of the carefree nights they'd spent in her home, and he was dreading what he would find there. He didn't want to see another loved place destroyed. But he had to go there. He needed to make sure that April was gone, and it was the only place he could think of to find information on his brothers. A note, a sign… something. Hopefully he'd be able to find some clue to what had happened as well.

Thankfully, although Don couldn't immediately recognize the buildings anymore, the streets still had the same layout. If he followed this road, then took a left he should be-

He stilled as his ears picked up the faint sound of something unfamiliar heading towards him. Scanning the skies, he quickly crouched in the shadow of a nearby outcropping, his skin blending in with the darkness. It had sounded as if it had come from overhead, but he couldn't place the sound- it wasn't the cut of blades like the helicopter or the loud rumble of a plane or any of the other noises he was familiar with.

The moon reflected off a glint of metal and his eyes finally fixed upon a group of dark shapes he'd nearly overlooked against the night sky. They were smaller than he'd expected, and vaguely human shaped. Their size explained the lack of noise, and it looked almost like a suit adapted for flight… The scientist in him was practically salivating at the concept. The technology it would have taken to develop that… if he could get his hands on one of those suits…

Don let his mind wander into the calculations and technology the suit would use… the scientific breakthroughs there must have been to create it. Then he forced his mind back to the present, away from the machinery and the faint accompanying feeling of dread from the amount of time it would have taken to develop. It would be too dangerous to completely space out here, no matter how much he wanted to.

Instead, he focused on the figures themselves. They were in a familiar, tactical pattern he recognized- definitely another patrol, albeit a new kind of one. He'd definitely have to be more careful of this one; it wasn't near as obtrusive as the helicopter and vehicles had been. It would be much too easy to be caught off guard by one of these. He kept his eyes on the figures as they moved closer, but they only continued what appeared to be a routine sweep.

His breath caught as one of the figures turned just enough for the moonlight to catch on the bottom of the shape. The shadows bent in just the wrong way at the center, the unnatural angles enough to send up warning flags. Yet… it was oddly familiar… Don's eyes widened as he managed to make the connection.

"Utroms…" Don whispered in surprise, "but… how?" The Utroms had all left after the Transmat fiasco, but it was definitely the same human shaped machine they'd used to get around. Honestly, it was so obvious he should have made the connection as soon as he'd noticed the shape. If he focused, he could almost make out part of the shadowy shape of the Utrom inside as well.

They were definitely Utroms, but… why had they returned? When? And why where they helping to patrol the city? He had trouble imagining the Utrom's he'd become familiar with having anything to do with what had befallen his city, but he would be the first to admit he wasn't an expert on them by any stretch of the imagination.

The Utroms had seemed peaceful, but then again he had only met the small group of them. After all, the Shredder had been one of them as well. For all he knew, there was some rebellious faction that had joined in whatever had overtaken the city. And the Shredder… he could definitely be a part of this. He had originally come from the Utrom homeworld, and he could easily have had followers. If he'd managed to gain contact with those underlings… transfer them and their technology here… it opened up too many dangerous possibilities. Utrom technology used as a weapon here… it wasn't something he wanted to think about, especially in the Shredder's hands.

Don let out a slight chuckle at his train of thought- he'd only seen some Utroms fly by, and he was already connecting all this to one of the Shredder's conspiracies. He needed to make sure he didn't make too many assumptions on such little information- the Utrom's presence only raised more questions, not answers. Assumptions could get him killed. They might be connected, but no guarantee. And… shell he hoped this wasn't the Shredder's doing. If this had anything to do with him, things just got a lot more complicated. The Utrom patrol soon faded out of sight, and Don resumed his run.

He continued through the repetitive, barren streets for a few moments, avoiding the frequent patrols whenever they got neared him. At one point an entire, long line of soldiers cut through the sky for minutes on end, the sheer number of Utroms startling him as they passed. This had to be way more than one small faction of the Utroms… As he started to skirt near the center of the city, the patrols both on sky and foot increased.

That was when he saw the blimp.

After seeing the destruction of the lair, of the city, he hadn't thought he could be caught completely stunned by anything else this new world had to throw at him. So, of course, he had nearly fallen down in astonishment as he saw the giant visage of the Shredder's mask on the side of the aircraft. Then he'd laughed.

A… giant blimp. It was so over the top, so ridiculous and melodramatic and obvious, and it even had pro-Shredder propaganda running across the bottom of the screen. What really struck him was how useless the thing seemed. There was nobody outside to see it, and the people inside probably wouldn't need the reminder to remember. Then again, the Shredder always had been one for the dramatics…

So… this was the Shredder's fault. Suddenly, it didn't seem quite as funny anymore. Shell… Of course this had to be the work of the most powerful, connected, dangerous, enemy they'd ever faced. Their only enemy with such a grudge against his family. And not only had he found their Lair (because, really, who else could it be), but he'd apparently managed to take control of New York as well. Aside from finding his brothers, figuring out what had happened here was the most important thing. When and how this had happened, about the citizens, and how far the Shredder's reach extended. He needed to find out whether it was just New York or farther, and, if it was just NY, why the rest of the US or the world hadn't stopped it.

He needed to find where a resistance would be.

From what he could see, things were bad here. He didn't know how bad, but the city was practically in ruins and the people hidden. Someone must have resisted, and someone must be fighting. If he knew his brothers, then that was where they would be. The only problem would be finding them. Knowing Leo's near-paranoia, he would make sure whatever organization there is was heavily guarded and hidden. Casey and April… hopefully they were with them too, and unhurt. His family would never willingly leave them behind. Just as they'd never leave me? A quiet voice inside him whispered, but he resolutely pushed that thought to the back of his head. He knew his brothers better than that.

He was almost at April's home by then, only a street away. With the constant dodging of patrols, it had taken longer than normal. From what he could see of the sky, he guessed that a large portion of the night had already past- it had probably already been nearing midnight when he first regained consciousness. As he turned into her street and the buildings became visible, Don's run started to slow, legs gradually slowing into a shaky stop.

It… it was gone. The entire building had been destroyed, along with most of the surrounding structures. Instead, one of the copious factories had been built where the store had once stood. He sat down hard on the nondescript building he was on, still staring at the factory. Well… crap. There goes that option. Don let out a hollow laugh, but it sounded too much like a sob for his liking. He… shell, he was in trouble.

His home was gone, his family was gone, April was gone, and almost definitely Casey too. He was practically lost inside his own city, which he had to keep reminding himself to think of as enemy territory. The Shredder had taken control. He couldn't even remember what had happened. And he. Didn't. Know. What. To. Do. April's place… he hadn't realized how much he'd been depending on finding something there. Some clue, some hint of where he could find them or what had happened… but it was completely gone. There was nothing there for him either.

Don didn't know how long he stayed there, his mind blissfully blank as he just stared at the building. Plans would occasionally start to form, then almost immediately dissolve under the weight of the unknown. He'd never felt this lost before. There had always been his brothers there, his father… even when he'd been separated from them he'd at least had some clear goal of what he was supposed to do, how to get back to them.

Shell, even when the Triceratrons had captured him, he'd known he just had to resist and his brothers would come. He'd been able to contact his Father then too… He briefly tried to connect with one of them in the astral plane, but he'd never been very good at it, and that failed as well. He hated feeling this… this useless.

Some time later, at what he estimated at early morning, maybe five or so, he saw the people of the new New York for the first time. At some unspoken signal, the doors to the factory had opened and exhausted people had walked out. The streets had seemed to fill up with people for a brief time as well, shuffling along on their path. Several more figures broke off from the masses in the street and entered the factory; the next shift. Everyone was walking, the streets and sidewalks congested with no vehicles in sight. It was… strange. All those people, and it was still so silent… The people seemed different too. They walked with their heads down, as if bowed by some incredible weight they'd given up on throwing off. Their clothes looked ragged, and even from his high perch and poor lighting he thought they looked gaunt. There were few conversations among them.

The mass of people gradually trickled out, and by the time twenty minutes had elapsed the streets were empty again. Don sat there for a while longer, intermittently thinking and just staring at the streets. He didn't come up with anything worthwhile.

Eventually, he noticed the blackness of night beginning to lighten. He stood up, stretching out the aches and kinks from sitting on the cold roof for so long. Gradually, he turned around and started to retrace his steps, heading back to his old home. The Lair was the safest place he knew of right now- it was sheltered, and nobody else had entered it in a long time. There was a spare cot in his lab he could sleep in, maybe some old cans that would still be edible. He could stay there until he resumed his search after nightfall. There had to be something else in the city he could find. Maybe if he looked closer at the Lair, checked rooms he hadn't entered, he'd be able to find a clue there as well.

He didn't know what else to do.