"You said you were fluctuating in and out of time--"
"Wha-huh?" was all Mikey could get out.
Leo sighed patiently. "Last time I saw you was on the fifteenth," he began.
"It's the tenth."
"Then..." Leo looked as though he suddenly understood something. "You just now started...you haven't even..."
"Dude, just make sense."
The older turtle closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and shifted to his left foot, crossing his arms. Releasing the air he had taken in a sigh of long-suffering, he began. "Okay. You said you have about three minutes, so I'll be quick. You will go back, and when you do, tell Raph not to go anywhere. When you see Don, tell him not to follow you. Especially Don. Tell him he can't follow you, whatever happens."
"What?" Mikey felt like his brain was unraveling. "I didn't say anything like...What happened to Raph and Don?"
"They're gone. They disappeared. Splinter, too. Don't let them follow you."
"Is this happening to them, too?"
"No, Mikey, they're gone. Through that." He pointed, and Mikey's eyes followed his hand to the two chairs. Between the chairs.
Mikey shook his head, no less confused. "I don't see anything."
"You said it's a rift in time and space."
"I didn't say anything."
"When you were here before, Mikey, that's what you said. They're gone, walked right through that wall. I watched Master Splinter do it."
"Why would they do that?"
"They're looking for you. Donnie saw you right there, a day after you vanished."
"After I what?"
Leo gave a hiss of frustration. "Listen to me!"
"I am!" protested Mikey. "Just...start where it makes sense."
"There's no time, Mikey. You disappeared--"
"I haven't gone anywhere."
"Listen! You're the one who watches all the science fiction shows! Be creative!"
Mikey bit his lower lip. "Fine. Keep going."
Leo took a deep breath. "The others are gone. You're going in and out of time. You're going to go back in time from here at least twice that we know of."
"How?"
"Raph and I saw you, before Raph disappeared. And Donnie saw you, before he disappeared. If you can talk to them, you can keep them from following you."
"I just..." Mikey glanced back at the chairs. "Follow me where?"
"Into the rift."
"But I didn't go into the rift. I stood there a few minutes ago to tighten one of my kneepads."
"That probably makes a difference. Tell that to me when you go back."
Mikey nodded as his brain started to make a semblance of sense out of this. "Okay. Next time I see you, I tell you everything you said to me. Wh-where d'you think they are?"
"On the other side of it, or inside of it, trapped either way, or they would come back."
"How much time am I going to have when I see you again?"
"About fifteen minutes."
Mikey began to shiver, his brain processing the situation as he knew it and not liking it. He had no idea what was happening to him, and now his family was disappearing. "Don't go anywhere," he whispered. "If you go after them, whatever's got them will get you, and I need you. You've got to stay here and help me puzzle this thing out."
"I don't know how I can help, Mikey. Donnie's the boy genius. If he were here, he'd be able to reason all this out." Leo shook his head lightly. "I don't know what to do."
Mikey's brain was racing against itself. It slammed into a possibility. "First of all, what else did I talk about with you guys when I was here last?" If he knew, he could be that much further ahead of...
Leo seemed to understand. "I think I told you everything we discussed. What do you think we could do?"
Mikey shrugged. "Like you said, Donnie's not here. All I've got to go on is stuff I've seen on sci-fi shows."
"But there may be some merit to imagination over rationalization," Leo said quietly, the side of his index finger slowly rubbing back and forth over his chin.
"Whatever that means. Either way, whatever this thing is, it's still open, right?"
Leo nodded. "As far as I know, if 'open' describes it."
"Let's say it does. So they can still get out."
"If they could, they'd've done so by now."
"Maybe they can't do it on their own."
"We've been there."
"Well, going into the rift-thing obviously isn't the answer." The cogs of Mikey's brain were whirling. "Maybe we can figure out how to get them out without actually going in."
"If you could--"
Leo wasn't finished with the sentence before, without warning, the feeling of lightness came over Mikey again. His vision blurred, this time less like his eyes were unfocused and more like he was seeing a picture that had been snapped from a moving car. The colors and shapes of the room streaked and ran together, and when they cleared, Mikey was alone.
Dammit! his mind screamed. Just when Leo was about to...
"Leo?" he called, suddenly nervous. He had phased again, and there was no telling where in time he had gone. If Leo wasn't here, if no one was here, he wouldn't have anyone to talk to.
"LEO!" he called again, louder this time. "IT'S MIKEY!" He tried to run to the stairs again, but slammed into the same force as before. He reeled. "MASTER SPLINTER!" he shouted in the direction of his sensei's room. "IS ANYONE HERE?"
No one was there.
A thought chilled him. What if he'd gone forward to when Leo had disappeared, too? Or been killed?
The rational part of his brain told him that Leo had probably gone to April's. Or maybe everyone was asleep.
"Leo? Raph? Don?"
By now, someone should have heard him, if anyone was here. He gave a sigh and sank to the floor. If he was going to spend an indefinite amount of time alone, he may as well think. He tried to remember theories about the space-time continuum that he'd heard on Discovery Channel shows, but mostly remembered what he'd watched on Star Trek. Space and sub-space. Time portals. Wormholes.
But how had this happened? Had someone created it? Were they aware of the damage they were doing? Could they make it stop? Could they fix everything?
Maybe someone had created this thing and deliberately made it lead to their lair. In that case, why hadn't they come through? Would that mean it had an entrance and an exit, like a wormhole? If they could create this thing, shouldn't they be able to control it? Maybe they didn't want to get to the lair. Maybe they wanted to bring the turtles to them. Maybe they had no idea what they were doing, and no idea of the consequences.
Scratch that last one. That was not likely.
Unless it was Renet. Now it seemed likely.
This was too crazy. It was all speculation. He didn't really have anything to go on.
Not speculation. Hypothesis. That was what Don called it. It was always speculation until you tried it out and proved it.
Things could obviously go into this rift or wormhole or whatever. How could it be possible to test whether or not something could get back out?
He jumped to his feet as the feeling of lightness came again, and the room blurred around him. Phasing again. Wonderful. He hoped someone would be home this time.
Hm. This time it was taking longer.
His vision cleared, and once again, he found himself in the same spot, alone.
"Leo?" he called experimentally. This was happening too often. "LEO?"
"Mikey?" called a familiar voice.
It was Raph.
"RAPH!" Wow, it was good to hear that voice!
"LEO, IT'S MIKEY!" shouted Raph's voice.
Mikey heard footsteps upstairs, and Raphael burst from his room and tumbled down the stairs. Mikey had about ten seconds to prepare before his brother seized him by the shoulders and forced him to look him in the eye.
"You okay?" the older turtle asked frantically.
"Yeah," answered Mikey.
"You hurt?" Raph's hands moved to Mikey's cheeks, holding his face in place while looking him over for injuries.
"I'm fine."
There was a pause, then THWACK! Raph hit his brother upside the head savagely, encouraging an "Ow!" of protest from the orange-masked turtle. "What the hell were you thinkin'?" shouted Raph.
"Mikey?" called Leo's voice as the oldest turtle flew down the stairs. "Raph, quit hitting him!"
"One minute you're right behind me, then I turn around and-and you're gone! For five days!" Another smack, another cry of protest, and Mikey rubbed his smarting head. It was evident that Raph had spent the last five days scared spitless.
"Raph," Leo said in a warning tone, approaching his brother from behind.
Another smack. "You ever decide to jus' disappear again, I'm gonna bust your--"
"Raph!" snapped Leo. "Leave him alone."
"Yeah, Raph," Mikey said with a small smile, a little relieved to be in a familiar situation, "stop hitting on me."
Raph said something along the lines of "forget you," only less delicate.
Mikey had to bite his inner cheek to keep from automatically replying, "That's what I'm telling you to avoid," seeing as how Raph was upset enough as it was, and frankly, there were more important things besides banter right now.
"What happened, Mikey?" Leo demanded.
Mikey rubbed the back of his head. "I got fifteen minutes, guys. This might take a bit."
