Michelangelo's Journal: Pt 3
I've been tryin' to avoid this part, 'cause I didn't want to think about what happened, but I guess I can't put it off forever. See, things were goin' okay for a while- Orlene was gettin' better every day, learnin' faster than we ever expected. Leo finally admitted how well she was doin', and things had sort of settled down. Then everything went sour.
It started because of the rain. It was the wettest spring we'd seen in a long time, and the tunnels outside our lair were flooded more often than not. Downside #1 of sewer-living: when it rains, sooner or later, you're gonna' get drenched. That's why we always stay in the abandoned parts that have been closed off. Nobody wants to wake up in the middle of the night to find their bed floating off like Noah's Ark.
She called us up one afternoon during a really heavy storm, to say that she was coming down for practice, and needed help getting in. Bein' the gallant and chivalrous dude I am, I volunteered to go get her- mostly 'cause it got me out of the den for a while and away from Mr. Groucho- er, that's Raph, obviously- and his grumbling about not bein' able to go out on roof-patrol with our buddy Casey. I swear, if Casey were a girl, they'd be the perfect couple. They're so much alike it's scary sometimes. Okay, and I'm not ashamed to admit I wanted another chance to see her without the others around, even if it was just for the trip down. Lately I'd been finding any excuse I could just to be around her. I guess you could say I was twitter-pated in a MAJOR way. Good thing we're cold-blooded, or I'd be gettin' hot under the collar every time we paired up to spar. Heh, sometimes full-contact grapple-hold demos can be FUN!
Unfortunately, by the time I met up with her, the rain top-side had picked up, and the run-off was starting to rise faster than the system could carry it. The usual way in was flooded, so I took the first route that came to mind. That's where I went wrong- instead of takin' the garage entrance down, I decided to take the long way around, up Broadway. I totally forgot about the garage route. Hey, I never claimed to be perfect. Problem was, that section started gettin' high, too. In other words, we were LITERALLY up shit creek without a paddle- or even a boat! Well, it was just dirty rain water, but you get the idea.
I was startin' to get worried, since we didn't have many options left; I couldn't take her back through the usual route, so we took the tunnel under the 65th Street Transverse across Central Park, then up through the pipes to our old den in the pump-station under the castle by Lake Belvedere. It was all well and good until we hit that last drop-off, and she lost her grip on me, hit her head on the edge of the holding tank, and went under. I didn't waste any time; I just went down after her and hauled her up on the nearest walkway. Good thing Leo's not the only one of us that knows CPR, or she'd have been a goner. And WHAT did I get as thanks? A left hook right on the end of my beak! SOME gratitude…. Well, I guess ya' can't win 'em all.
It wasn't so bad, though. We had a long talk while we were stuck in there waitin' for the pipes to clear out so we could go home, and I really got to know her better. I even shared something I'd never told ANYONE. Don't know why I did that. Maybe it's 'cause she actually listens to me. No one else ever did that.
After a while, she fell asleep, and I TRIED to, but all I could do was lay awake listening to those damn pumps, thinkin' about the last time we were there. I still remember that day. Well, that's not surprising, I guess- it was only a year before. It had started out as just another day, nothin' goin' on- just chillin' with a good flick on the boob-tube. Whoever came up with that name must've had skin-flicks in mind, but whatever. I was watchin' Farris Bueller; I love that movie. Leo was working on his kattas, as usual, and Raph was on the barbells while Donnie was- doin' whatever it is he does when he's in his workshop.
That's when we heard the noise out on the stairwell from the surface. I muted the movie, Raph dropped his weights- loudly- and Leo made a dive for the door. Donnie was too busy welding to notice, so I chucked an empty soda can at him and made a cut sign when he looked up. He shut it down, while Leo signed for us all to be quiet. Then we heard the voices.
"Hurry up, Dave- let's get this over with. This job really gives me the creeps," said a rough-sounding voice. Then the doors opened. We didn't even wait for Leo's signal to disappear- we just DID it. Even Sensei scurried off into the shadows and up a pipe to hide.
"Scared of a few little rats, Peter?" Someone else chuckled, shining a flashlight around; we watched as two guys in city sanitation uniforms walked in. Our home was bein' invaded, and we all waited for the other shoe to drop.
"It's not the rats that scare me- it's the OTHER things that are down here. Kevin from the downtown crew has seen some weird shit down in these sewers. He told me he saw a big lizard-man or something a few months ago. Said it looked like an alligator on two legs!"
"Man, don't listen to him! He's pullin' your leg! Lizard-men, ha! Anyway, the city doesn't care WHAT'S in the sewers, they just want to get this station back on-line." Said the one named Dave. Then he saw all our furniture and stuff scattered everywhere, and gaped. "What the F-?!" He exclaimed, surprised.
"Looks like someone set up camp in here," said the one he called Peter. "Maybe several someones, from the looks of this place. What IS all of this?!" He had turned his flashlight on Donnie's workshop area, with the half-torn-apart engine from our van he'd been rebuilding, the electronic parts he's always tinkering with, and all sorts of chemistry stuff, microscopes- I realized it probably looked like some sort of terrorist hideout, and now we were in BIG trouble.
"Set up camp, my ass! This looks like someone set up a friggin' HOUSE down here!" Dave replied, shinin' his light over our living room- where the TV was still on. I face-palmed. "And what's with the weapons and fight-ring over there?" The guy asked, moving over to where Leo had been practicing. He saw Raph's weights, and the practice dummy, the weapon rack, and punching bag, and I had a sinking feeling in my gut. "Who the hell has been living here?! A bunch of terrorists?!" Yup, there went the other shoe.
"Man, this is creepy. I have this crazy feeling we ain't alone. Like I'm being watched, or something. Dave, let's get the hell out of here before they come back. I don't want to meet the guys who brought all this stuff in here!" Heh, if he ONLY knew… His friend nodded agreement, and they started to back out, still swinging the flashlights around at everything. They never saw us, though. Sometimes, it's GOOD to be a ninja.
They left, and we waited several minutes before we all slipped out of our hiding places. Leo gave me a dirty look for leavin' the TV on, but didn't say anything. None of us did. The guys were gone, but it didn't matter. We all knew what their showin' up meant. We had to bug out, and find a new home- AGAIN.
And that was the last day I spent in that place- until that rainy evening with Orlene. But talkin' with her made me realize that we had more in common than I ever thought. She'd lost a home too, and worse- her family. Maybe that's why she spent so much time with us- we were the closest thing to family she had now. Sometimes I forget that we're lucky to have each other, even though we argue and fight a LOT.
The rain finally stopped, but it was several hours before the tunnels were clear enough to go back, and by then, we'd been gone all night. On the way back, we ran into an old acquaintance, and had to fight our way out of a horde of angry rats and their "master". Yup, our old "friend" the Rat King decided to come out to play. Dunno why that creepy loon showed up- maybe the rain had washed him out of wherever it is he usually hides out. Whatever it was, I didn't like the way he started sniffin' of Orlene. Like she was a prime-cut rib in front of a starving dog or somethin'. We tried to outrun the creep, but those nasty pests caught up to us just when we were about to escape into the subway, and he yanked her back down. Then he tried to haul her off over his shoulder like some cave man! Stupid jerk. I got stuck fightin' off his little pets- and got bitten in some places you DON'T want to get bitten.
I finally managed to shake 'em all off by divin' into a side-tunnel that was still full, and then had to go huntin' after him, to uh, "convince" him to let her go. I may not like fighting, but when it comes down to it, I'd rather do MY convincing with a pair of 'chucks ANY day. It wasn't easy- I'm not good at tracking like Raph or Leo- but I just had to think like a rat, and followed my instincts. I knew he would need someplace close, since he'd said we were in his territory. There were only a few places around that area that would be suitable as a lair, so I just decided to check all of 'em. Fortunately, a few of the buggers had been left behind, so I decided to watch 'em and see if they'd lead me to his hide-out. The hard part was gonna' be makin' sure I didn't get spotted by any of his furry informants. That's what I call bein' "ratted out"! Okay, that was bad even for me….
I followed a couple of stragglers through the tunnels, hopin' they weren't just wandering around lookin' for food. They crept along with their noses sniffin' the air, whiskers twitchin' nervously. I lost 'em down a short side-tunnel, but not for long. It wasn't hard to pick up the trail again, especially when I started smellin' rat-poop. So then I just followed my nose. I knew I was on the right track when I saw a pair of those beady-eyed minions at the bottom of an access-way to the North River wastewater treatment plant. I'd hit pay dirt first try! Well, it didn't hurt that it was the closest place to where he made off with my gir- uh, friend. I chunked a couple of shuriken at them, and they went down without so much as a squeak. I don't usually like killin' small furry things- it's just not cool- but there wasn't much choice if I wanted to get in and out of there without gettin' caught.
I found her without much trouble, and even managed to get her cage open before his royal rat-majesty woke up. The guys used to tease me about practicing those old coin and card tricks, but they never seem to mind too much when I use those slight-of-hand skills to gaffe somethin' important like a key or a dangerous artifact some bad dudes already stole. Besides, I'm not the only one with sticky fingers- I know for a fact that Don can't resist "borrowing" some little piece of tech that catches his eye when we raid bad guys' hideouts. He won't admit it's stealing though. HE calls it "commandeering useful gear". Yeah, like that makes it any better….
I wasn't too keen on fightin' those little fur-balls again, so Orlene and I beat it back to that tunnel where I ditched the first bunch of rats, and we made a swim for it. Long story short, by the time we got home, we'd been gone almost a day, and my bros were royally pissed when we got back. Even Master Splinter scolded me for bein' gone so long. Me, I was just glad it was all over. I can think of a lot of bad guys I'd rather tangle with than old Cheddar-breath. He doesn't even do his own fighting- just lets those dirty rats do it for him. It's hard to fight when your opponents are small enough to run under you and number in the dozens. Besides, rats are ugly, filthy, creepy little vermin- except for Sensei. He's cool.
And did I mention that my turtle-com had fallen off my belt when we were in that flood? We couldn't even call in to let the guys know where we were! Yeah, Donnie ripped me a new one over that, 'cause the parts for those things are hard to find. Not MY fault, though. Mostly they were all worried 'cause we'd been gone so long without checkin' in. Raph even made some smart-ass comment about me wantin' to play hooky from practice. Yeah, like I PLANNED to get stuck for hours in a noisy, uncomfortable place with NOTHING to do- in spite of what he was obviously implyin'- and then get into a rumble with that rodent-brain. And he says I'M the dumb one!
Anyway, when we FINALLY got back and told 'em what happened, Leo asked me why I didn't just bring her down from the garage. Yeah, like I said- I TOTALLY spaced on that one. Bad news was, she blamed me for bein' an idiot, and for basically gettin' her into the whole mess to begin with. Guess I can see her point. But she wasn't talkin' to me for a few days after that. I felt like it really WAS my fault, and I wondered if maybe she was just tryin' to be nice when she said that stuff about doin' anything I wanted. Sometimes I feel like I'm not much good for anything. Nothing important, anyway. Sure, I've got mad skateboard skills, but so what? And I may be a wiz in the kitchen, but what good are those things when someone you really care about is in trouble? I felt pretty worthless, 'cause I knew she was right. I'd screwed things up pretty bad. I tried to tell her I was sorry, but you know girls….
To make things worse, she went off with Donnie to help him find some parts to replace the cell I lost. That was almost a slap in the face, seein' her actin' all chummy with my brainy bro, and ignorin' me. Ouch. But it was pretty obvious she was tryin' to get back at me for what happened. Sometimes I just don't get females. They're all sweet and nice one minute, but ya' mess up once, and suddenly you're "persona non gratis" for DAYS. I'd be pullin' my hair out tryin' to figure them out, if I had any. And HE didn't even notice what she was doin'. Don may be smart when it comes to science and all that mechanical and tech stuff, but he's clueless about girls, or anything to do with social skills. That's MY department. Well, sort of.
And then there was that crap Raph and Leo gave me about tryin' to get friendly, just 'cause we spent the night alone. I mean, sure it was nice havin' the chance to get closer, but it's not like we were makin' out or anything! Even I know better than to think that's ever gonna' happen. Sometimes Raph is such a jerk. He's always yankin' my chain, just 'cause he's older and tougher. Big deal- I can STILL kick his ass any day of the week- with one hand tied behind my back. All it takes is gettin' him riled up enough to start loosin' his cool. He can't fight worth crap when he's pissed off. Ya' just gotta' know when to lay off before he goes over the edge and gets a rage on. I made that mistake once; he almost beat my head in with a crowbar. Leo and Donnie had to pull him off me, and I wouldn't spar with him for a week after that. Sometimes he scares me a little…..
Almost as soon as they left, I started feelin' like a bug in a jar. Maybe that's 'cause I had two brothers starin' me down. Big bro was tappin' his foot with his arms folded, givin' me THAT look. The one he gets when he's about to start lecturin' us. Raph was leanin' on the sofa, twirlin' one of his sais. He only does that when he's ready to kick someone's butt. Like, mine, maybe.
"So. You wanna' tell us what's goin' on here, little bro?" Yup, Raphael's really got a way with words.
"Uh, what're you talkin' about?" Playin' dumb is easy when everyone already thinks you are….
"Can it, Mikey. You KNOW what he means. What's going on with you lately? You've been letting yourself get distracted, practically drooling every time she comes down- and don't think we haven't noticed your 'volunteering' to pair up during practice. Have you forgotten the little fact that you're A TURTLE?!" Ouch. Harsh, Leo. Real harsh.
"Oh, I guess that would explain that shell on my back! Thanks for the update, guys! Does the word 'DUH' mean anything to you?!" Okay, I was gettin' a little ticked at 'em for givin' me the third degree. But it's none of their business, anyway.
"Hey, do I haf'ta pound some sense into that thick skull of yours? Yer gettin' yer 'chucks twisted over a girl! Tell me, what was she talkin' about earlier? Somethin' about spendin' the night nearly naked? You wanna' clue us in on what happened last night?" Raph said. I glared at him; did he HAVE to bring that up?
"NOTHING happened. She took 'em off to dry while we were stuck down there! That's ALL!" I wanted to beat him into the ground for even suggesting we'd- Not that I didn't WANT to, but….
"Yeah, and I bet you were LOVIN' that!" He shot back, rolling his eyes.
"Mikey, we all know how it is- it's hard for us too. But we have to accept that there are some things we can't have. You have to let this go." Trust Leo to follow his head. Sometimes I wonder if he EVER lets his heart do the thinkin'. Then again, he's one to talk, pinin' over a girl who's half a world away, AND who tried to kill us when we met her!
"Yeah, sure Raph. There was nothin' to see. She was wrapped in a blanket the whole time. Geez- get OVER yourself!" By then, I was just disgusted with the whole thing. They just didn't get it. "I KNOW that, Leo. But I swear, nothin' happened. Heck, she doesn't even know how I…." I couldn't even say it, 'cause that would mean admittin' there WAS somethin' goin' on. That's the part that rankled most. They were spazzin' out over somethin' that couldn't go anywhere, when she didn't even have a clue. Guess the joke was on me for once.
"Mikey…." Leo started to say somethin', but just shook his head and reached out to squeeze my arm. That's as close as big bro ever gets to sayin' anything like "I'm sorry". That would've been enough, but Raph had to go and pop off his big mouth.
"Yeah, nothin' happened THIS time. But what about next time? You gonna' keep pretendin' there's nothin' between you two?" I spun on him, and the only thing that kept me from poppin' him one in the jaw was Leo steppin' in between us. I glared at Raph, and let out an angry growl.
"Y'know what?! Forget it. I don't have to explain myself to you guys. Kiss off!" I stalked back to my room, and didn't come back out until Don and Orlene got back.
They were only gone for an hour or so; when they got back, she kept lookin' at me funny, but she still wouldn't talk to me. After practice- and Master Splinter left Leo in charge again, which kind of bothered me, 'cause he's been doin' that a lot lately- she just left without a word, and she didn't talk to me again for almost a week. I tried askin' Donatello what he said to her while they were out, but he wasn't talkin', either. At least until I threatened to play football with Raph in his workshop! He knows we get pretty rough when we play, and he spilled his guts pretty quick after that. I am SO good, I scare myself sometimes…. Turns out, he filled her in on mutant anatomy 101. The Cliff's Notes version. Geez, no wonder she was givin' me the fish-eye. His explanations could make ANYTHING sound gross.
The next few days were torture. It was hell sittin' next to her during morning meditation, or watchin' her spar with Don or Leo- 'cause he wouldn't let me pair up with her, the jerk- when she just acted like I wasn't even there. Raph made my life heck, too. He kept gettin' in the way or interrupting every time I tried to get her to talk to me. He's such a douche-bag sometimes. I knew what he was doin'. He was tryin' to keep me from spendin' any time alone with her. They ALL were. I had to ambush her one morning on her way in, while the guys were havin' breakfast, before she'd give me a chance to make it up to her.
When we finally made up, I thought everything would be copasetic again, but that never lasts with us. A few nights later, we went out on a roof-top patrol after Casey got back into town and heard some rumors about a gang war brewin'; since it was her first time out with us, we were keepin' it easy and slow. We heard some shouts down on Pike St. at Cherry- that's near the East Side Waterfront district- and then the shooting started. Leo told Orlene to hang back, since she'd never been in a gun battle before. She wasn't happy about it, of course. Sometimes she's almost as stubborn as Raph.
So we dropped in on the guys doin' the shootin'- sure enough, it was a bunch of Turks and Purple Dragons fightin' over turf- and we scared the "shell" out of 'em. Not that they had time to figure out what was goin' on; we hit hard, and hit fast, then left 'em for the cops to sort out later. That's the fun part of what we do, to tell the truth. I may not like fightin', but I DO like to "play" pretty rough sometimes. That's why I pair up with Raph all the time during practice- he likes a good rumble, too. Plus, bustin' chops on a bunch of jerks who just don't know how to get along makes the world a little better place, and gettin' those guns off the streets makes everyone safer. We always take 'em apart and dump 'em in the nearest junk yard compactor, just to make sure they never get used again.
We didn't get out without a scratch, though. Raph took a hit during the fight. Once the two gangs realized that someone else had showed up to the party, they stopped shooting at each other, and started shooting at US. Not that we weren't expecting it. Occupational hazard. We were lucky Raph only got winged in the leg, but he was grumpy about it for days. I'm just glad it wasn't anywhere serious, like his head. Then again, that might be an improvement on his looks- but if he ever asks, I'll deny I ever said that.
The worst thing about that patrol was runnin' into Hun. He's the big-bad of the Purple Dragons. The head-honcho. The Big Kahuna, the- well, ya' get the idea. He's bad news. Seven feet of pure muscle, and tough as nails, with a bad attitude and some mad fighting skills. If he ever went straight, he could really clean up in the UFC. The dude's a brute.
Hun's the only one of the Dragons who knows who we really are, 'cause we've fought him before. He kicked our butts the first time. He's also allied with the Foot. Basically, we think he's one of tin-face's spies and muscle-men here in the city. Not sure, but we think Hun's gang works for Shred-head directly- but we can't prove it. He's big, but he's also smart. He also has funding from somewhere, maybe even from those fake businesses Saki uses to hide some of his shady underworld ties. See, Saki was a crime-lord long before he met Krang, and he still keeps up with the crime syndicate he runs usin' the Foot. The REAL Foot, that is- not those stupid robots.
A few weeks after the fight, Master Splinter threw us all for a loop when he made Orlene a kunoichi- that's a special kind of FEMALE ninja- of the Foot. See, before that worm turned it into his own personal crime-ring, it used to be an ancient and honorable ninja clan in Japan. Hamato Yoshi was the Grandmaster's most favored student and a Master himself. Sensei was his pet, and he learned everything he taught us by watching his owner. Guess he was pretty smart for a rat, even then. When his Master was framed and disgraced, they came to New York with nothing, and lived the best they could. Meanwhile, that snake Saki used the Foot to take a chunk out of Japan's underworld for himself, and ended up gettin' booted out on his butt by the Grandmaster and the clan members that were still loyal to him, when they found out HE was the one who tried to tried to assassinate him.
I guess Yoshi had the last laugh on him, 'cause he sent a letter to the clan that exposed Saki's plot. That's why old tin-face followed him here and killed him. But he also wiped out the rest of the clan, just for spite, which means Master Splinter is just about the only one left who still knows all the clan's secrets. Well, I guess there's always Kazuo, Saki's younger brother, but he left the clan a long time ago to join the Tokyo PD, and he's not technically a ninja anyway. He only ever learned basic combat. I kinda feel sorry for the guy, havin' a psycho like Oruku for a brother. Makes me wonder what their childhood was like. SOMETHIN' must've turned that guy into a monster. Maybe he just didn't get enough attention as kid.
Anyway, Master Splinter is basically the "true" leader now- as much as a rat COULD be, I guess- since he learned from his Master. That sort of makes us the "new" Foot clan, or maybe we're just all that's left of the old one. But when he promoted her to kunoichi, it meant that she would be part of the clan, too. Which technically makes her our sister, 'cause it means she's been adopted into the family. Weird, huh? Only problem is, I'm not quite sure what that would mean for uh, possible future relationships. I mean, I've heard of kissin' COUSINS, but a SISTER?! Um, yeah….. Then again, she's not BLOOD-related, so….? Okay, things are startin' to get complicated around here. Maybe I should pick this up again after I go clear my head in the half-pipe. That usually helps.
