Who am I? - CH10
Then it's settled
Disclaimer: TMNT isn't mine and this is just a fan fiction writing. No money is being made on this story.
(TMNT CC are AU based on 2003 version and events, the turtles are in their late 20s.)
Warning: It has horror elements.
Rate: T
Drama, family comfort/hurt, and heartache...
Summary: Everyone is accounted for, now the real question is what should be their next move?
AUTHORS NOTE: Just to clarify, when it comes to addressing Adam's gender, the brothers address differently. Mikey and Donnie will say she/her when Adam is human, he/him when Adam is a turtle. Leo and Raph will say he/him regardless if Adam is female or male. To them, Adam is referred to as a male using that when addressing Adam. This also will affect the gender choice in the current point of view of the brothers regardless of form, which will determine if Adam will be referred to as he/him or her/she within parts of the story. This will switch back and forth since each tends to take the point of view throughout the storyline. Sorry for the confusion, but I don't believe all four brothers think the same when it comes to Adam's gender. That said, one other thing that will happen is that Raph only, still calls Adam a turtle even when Adam is human as well, this is his mindset and how he perceives Adam.
There was a moment of silence coming from both sides, the brothers with Adam at the table within the hidden bunker in the middle of nowhere-ville, with the other side of the line at Angel's place in New York was Casey, Angel and Master Splinter.
Everyone sat there thinking over the proposal at hand, well half of what Leo has suggested so far as his plan of action.
Donnie, Mikey and Raph now and then placed their two cents in, more towards supporting their leader then against, however on the other side there was some tension growing, more so from Casey than anyone else, that appeared to be problematic then agreeable towards Leo's way of handling this delicate situation.
Time and again the human friend hinted strongly he was blaming Adam for pulling them all into this fuck up shit, that they had nothing to do with in the first place. Mainly his concerns revolved around over on how Bishop was involved and due to Adam, things were going to hit the fan with the deranged psychopath that was dealt with a while back, now might be a threat to himself and Angel once more.
"Bishop won't fuck over the truce will he?" Casey asked with a venomous spat of anger.
"I don't think he would be that rash for if he wants Adam that badly to consider to dare break the truce since it would only jeopardize his own operations, making that action fruitless in the end. Bishop is by far shown to be insane on all levels, yet he has shown he is clever and strategic in the ways he handles things, he wouldn't stoop to such a low level as this to get what he wants, yet by other means if necessary without placing himself on the chopping block at the same time, " Donnie explained, fully seeing how dangerous Bishop is, yet knew enough of the man to know he wouldn't do something foolish to achieve his goals, meaning they were safe with the truce for now.
Donnie cringed hearing the male human friend growling on the other side in response.
It was clear that Casey wasn't so convinced with that explanation seeing Bishop as a cold-blooded bastard that would stop at nothing, not comprehending how Bishop loves a good game of chess, with no risk on his end.
"Then why the hell does Angel and I have to leave fucken town, then? What am I to say to my captain, huh?" Casey snapped, raising his voice that made even Leo's ears ring from the tone of it.
"Casey calm down," Angel insisted and Leo agreed, getting ready to give his reasoning for the two human friends to get out of New York for a bit, besides he could see how his brothers were acting and worse Adam was making himself smaller in his chair, feeling uncomfortable by Casey's demeanor that was uncalled for.
"Angel is right Casey, please calm down. There is a good explanation for why. The reason is that, yes, we don't believe he would dare, however, I don't think it would be wise dangling you two in his face as a means to target us in this delicate situation, that would be irresponsible. Besides, if you're out of town he would more likely to leave you alone and only focus going after us to get to Adam," Leo said calmly just imagining how red in the face the friend was and how much Angel was trying to keep him from flipping his lid even more than he has already.
"So it would be necessary for Casey and I to take a vacation?" she questioned as Leo nodded then answered.
"That would work, doesn't look that obvious and Bishop might just overlook it," Leo answered.
"Why not go to that resort you have been talking about Angel," Mikey had finally spoken up, "It has plenty of people around and Bishop wouldn't bother you since he would avoid drawing too much attention to himself or anyone working for him."
"That would work," Angel agreed with a spark of glee, the worry started to fade and not long after an stretched out male groan came from the other side of the line.
"You gotta be kidding me a resort? Seriously shit is going down and you want us to take cover in a place that does… mud baths?" Casey choked out.
"Why not?" Angel asked him, as sounds of shuffling came after, "It's perfect and we have been mentioning it for some-"
"You," he empathized, "have," Casey grumbled.
"Come on Casey, it's perfect, romantic and what better idea than something we have already been planning, it looks less suspicious even if Bishop does know its to get us out of the crossfire, at least we will be surrounded by other people and there are not just mud baths, there are other activities you would enjoy," she hinted as Raph smacked his lips looking away from the phone knowing what she was hinting and wish he didn't.
A silence rose, then Casey grumbled again, "What about the force? I can't just leave with-"
"You have three weeks of banked vacation time and not including the other three, so that will be your reasoning, besides you told me they put you on desk duty after what you did last week…" Angel's voice became cold at the end and no one dared asked what it was that Casey did this time around.
Sometimes they all wondered how the police department tolerates him, if it wasn't for Nobody giving Casey a good word and helping him out, he wouldn't be where he was, just a greenhorn with no hope rising in the rankings.
"Fine…" Casey spat and Angel clapped happily.
"Finally! To think tragedy has to hit for me to even get you to myself, far away from everything and -" Angel started and was going to go into details, however, was abruptly stopped by Master Splinter and Leo who in turn coughed.
"Well then that is solved," Leo cleared his throat, "I will take it you will make your leave right away?"
"We will be on tomorrow's earliest flight," she answered excitedly as Casey moaned in pain.
"Sounds reasonable, Master Splinter-"
"I would not worry about me my son, I have plans already," Master Splinter said, as his sons raised an eyebrow in question.
"Really?" Mikey asked blinking.
"Yes, while you were at the farm I was invited to join both The Demo and the Ancient One at the battle nexus universe to catch up. I told them I would join them when you, my sons were back."
Leo leaned back in the chair seeing that was convenient and he could tell Adam even relaxed in his own chair. He figured Adam wasn't ready to face the others just yet, only getting semi use to him and his brothers so far, and that wasn't fully established. With everyone gone, they can focus the trust between them, then slowly enter the others once Adam was comfortable and willing to open up.
"That would be ideal Master," Leo nodded and turned towards Adam, "This way Adam can get used to the lair before having anyone else entering his life, don't you agree, Adam? Does that make you feel a bit more at ease?"
Adam slowly looked up, then nodded, looking back at the table and his human hands.
"Then I will pack and leave tonight, now about you five, what-" Master Splinter started, then abruptly stopped, hearing Adam suddenly gasped and started holding his stomach. Leo flashed a look in his direction as Donnie looked towards the clock.
"Leo she is fine," Donnie assured his older brother, pointing to the clock that showed it was quarter to nine and the sun was setting.
Adam's body started to vibrate and Leo like a deer caught in the headlights watch helplessly, even Raph was in the same boat, lost and unsure what to do, as neither like the idea of witnessing Adam in so much pain.
Donnie fully aware the panic this was causing, not just by his brothers' reactions, on the other side of the line distress grew as they kept asking what was going on, he calmly yet quickly rose to his feet.
His main concern was not over everyone else uneasiness, but the obvious stress it brought onto Adam, who in turn was showing signs of her fighting her body due to the rising concerns over what was happening to her from everyone else.
She was trying to ease their minds from witnessing her changing, however, that was probably wasn't helping her at all.
Being the only one able to think of a better solution for everyone, he came close to her and gently hook his arm under hers as both support and to drive her attention towards him, than to the others.
"Why don't we go to the other room where you will feel more comfortable with not so many eyes on you?" Donnie suggested, having Adam quiver under him placing her full weight on his arm, that made it evident she wanted to, however, was unable to do so on her own without someone's aid.
Without another word Donnie led the trembling human that was clinging onto him away from the table, disappearing with her around the corner and then closed the door to the bedroom behind them. The sounds of her agony were muffled by the concrete walls yet each could imagine how vocal she was over the ordeal she was enduring on the other side.
"Damn it someone tell us what the hell is going on over there!" Casey demanded on the line as Leo reluctantly faced towards the phone, then the direction he wanted to keep his focus on, just in case he was needed.
Though in truth, he had no clue what he could do if that came to pass either way, though he had acknowledged this event was coming sooner or later, he wasn't prepared for it as he thought he was since he had no idea it was that painful of an experience...
"He turns at night, Adam is changing back into a male turtle," Leo explained, knowing they had mentioned Adam's ability, yet couldn't remember to what detail.
"Poor thing," Angel said sadly, "So she… or is it he now?"
"He when he is a turtle, she when he is a human I guess... yet, I'm just calling him a he, he doesn't seem to care either way, as long as you don't call him Raph or Raphael... he prefers Adam," Raph stated as he was becoming accustomed to the idea that Adam was two genders, however, couldn't refer him anything other than a male regardless. It felt right to address Adam this way and if the kid didn't care that is what he was going to keep doing until told otherwise.
Mikey was different on that opinion, alongside Donnie, who referred to Adam as the gender present.
Thus far Leo was referring Adam as a male and as so far Adam showed no signs of disapproval to any of them when addressing him on the way they felt comfortable with.
"Then I guess he would be correct and does he experience that pain every time he changes?" she had to know.
"So far as we are aware, yes," Leo answered unless Donnie could tell him otherwise. Now the screaming had stopped and no movement came from the other room, Leo figured Donnie was just making sure Adam was calm before joining them.
Taking that moment to consider maybe it would be wise that this was said beforehand, Leo debated if this next part Adam should be a part of or not. He didn't like to disclude him, however, due to the delicate subject he wanted to sit down over it one on one with the turtle first before bringing it up in this kind of manner. Leo wasn't sure how it would go down, discussing the drug situation, unsure over how Adam would react.
"Before Donnie and Alex join us again, I want to quickly discuss when we will return home so you'll are all aware," Leo started as Raph crossed his arms in disapproval that Leo was doing this without the other two.
"I would think you have a reason not to wait my son, for your brother?" his Master asked.
Leo sighed, shaking his head and folding his hands on the table, "We don't want to leave too prematurely to risk having Bishop finding us, however, the same time we can't stay here too long either. As you are aware of Adam's ability it comes with a price as we can tell. As it stands there is a drug that Bishop had for Adam that we believe is key to his survival, and currently unsure how it works fully. Even so, we do know for fact without it, his transformation might end up killing him, and unfortunately, due to lack of equipment and materials, we are in short demand of the drug. Donnie suggested to even giving him half doses that should only cover for four or few more days and I believe that is still too soon... Then there is the matter of the distance we must travel-"
"If that is an issue, why don't I bring the sub up north, closer to where you are and then leave for the Battle Nexus. It doesn't matter where I go to enter the dimension, my son," Splinter offered.
"Is that wise?" Donnie asked returning to the room with the Raph look-alike hovering behind him. Leo looked around Donnie ignoring the question and stared at Adam. To his relief, the turtle did appear healthier, yet not fully, but an improvement since the other night that was for sure, this was something he thought he wouldn't witness, fearing the worse and having the poor turtle health declining before his eyes.
"Why would you say that Donatello?" his father asked in a stern voice, as Donnie paused in horror, just realizing his father heard his, was to be inside thought.
"I um... nothing Master, do you remember how to launch the sub into the water bay…" Donnie asked, trying to hint how nervous he was on the idea his father operating one of his machines, all considering... sure he loves his father... however, he wasn't very tech-savvy and he has trouble with the shell cell at times.
"I can do that for him, Don, before we leave," Angel offered and Donnie relaxed a bit on that.
"Then will you accompany me back home after this call Angel?" Master Splinter asked.
"Of course, Casey needs to pack and it will give him time to get his stuff sorted out," she chuckled.
'Then, if we are going to do this, I will find a suitable location you can drop off the sub Master," Donnie said, unable to say no now or voice his concerns, "Will there be any issues being underwater to enter the Battle Nexus?"
"No, why do you ask?" his father questioned.
"I would like to know too," Leo tilted his head at Donnie.
"Well, there aren't many locations to hide a sub up this way, however, there are many feasible areas under the water. I know a few caverns that are large enough to park the sub and if father shuts down most of the functions, the sub will sustain its air supply until we are ready to go home. All we need to do is have one of us, presumably me, to retrieve it, then we can head home and no one will see us, not even Bishop. He wouldn't consider monitoring underwater, compare to land."
"Sound like a good plan, we might be able to leave earlier if the coast looks clear," he agreed, then turned to the other three, "Any objections?"
"Nope," Raph leaned back on his chair balancing it only on two feet.
"All good here too, what about you Adam?" Mikey answered and address the turtle with green eyes.
Adam nodded, not saying a word and Leo gently tap the table not to startle anyone, "Then it is final then, Angel and Casey will go on a most needed vacation, I say three weeks at least?"
"Yes, that sounds great," she answered and Casey once again groaned under his breath. The human friend did speak something, however, no one could hear yet knew what he said, something on the line they, as in the turtle brothers, owed him big time for this one.
"Master Splinter after dropping off the sub in the location that Donnie specifies we will leave roughly in three to four days back to New York, then after that, we will debate what will be our next move," Leo informed them all.
Donnie got up heading to a room to grab some maps he had stored thereof the area coming back and informing his father where he needed to navigate his baby.
Leo rose and left the table feeling a bit overwhelmed with an upcoming headache and retired in the living space that was connected to the rest of the place.
Adam followed him showing his full concerns seeing how Leo was feeling and Raph stretched out looking around for something to do. Mikey, he retreated to his kitchen now taking more time to plan out the meals within mind the rough time frame they will be there.
This was going to work Leo assured himself, sitting down and had Adam hovering there. Leo smiled at him, pointing to an empty seat.
"You're allowed to sit down Adam, please you must make yourself at home, we will be here for roughly four days and you don't need to walk around stepping on eggshells, this is home for us as it is for you. Later we will figure out sleeping arrangements okay, for now, let us just relax," Leo slumped in the couch tilting his head back as the turtle took a seat and finally stopped staring at him, looking around in a hint of curiosity.
"Why don't we watch a movie until supper?" Leo suggested, pointing to a cupboard on the far wall, "You will find the cassettes in there, we never really updated this place and it has some very old stuff but you probably haven't seen most of the movies we do have, so it's not so bad."
Adam's head looked towards what Leo was suggesting, as he rose to his feet going to the cupboard opening it up. There was a slight gasp from the turtle as he gawked at the impressive large collection of cassettes, running his finger on the boxes and the titles. After a moment he came back with two in hand as if he was in a deep debate which one they should watch, as Leo gave a smile extending his hand to see what Adam had found of interest.
"So which ones are you interested in watching?" Leo asked as Adam shyly came up to him handing him both. The two movies were of different genres and part of him wondered if this was more of a conflict of interest, the female and male side of Adam.
Though this was stereotypical to label a movie appealing to one gender over the other, yet he couldn't get the impression out of his head.
One was a horror movie Scream that is, as the other was Labyrinth. He didn't mind Labyrinth yet comparing the two movies, it had to gender-rise it and then there was the fact one was horror and the other was fantasy. He stopped debating it and felt bad for labelling them both, they were good movies, though he didn't particularly like Scream, yet Raph did as he wondered if that was another reason.
"How about Labyrinth, it is old and before our time, yet one of the best classics and I don't know watching a horror movie with these conditions is wise… probably not for me because of the fast movements," Leo chuckled placing Scream down and passing back the Labyrinth.
Adam smiled deeply that caught Leo off guard at first, then smiled back feeling warm inside, it was nice seeing Adam happy regardless the shit surrounding him and what was going on.
The turtle placed the movie in the cassette after the third try with Leo's instructions, it was obvious Adam never used a cassette player and was confused on how to put it in.
Once in, Leo got him to bring the controller and he turned on the TV, by then Raph not finding something else to do joined, sitting beside Leo taking up the rest of the couch as Donnie wasn't far behind entering the living space.
"So we are watching this then?" Donnie asked. He like the movie too, yet noted to himself that he wasn't to comment on any imperfections as he got in trouble last time.
"Yes," Leo answered rewinding the movie for someone forgot to do so last time, "Why not join us?"
"Oh sure," Donnie looked about in vain, seeing the only open sitting space was beside Adam. Fearing of personal space and boundaries he avoided that option and made his way towards the floor, only just to yelp as something hit him in the back of the head.
The object fell to the ground that was a couch pillow, the one that was on Adam's couch. Turning his head towards the turtle, Adam looked away innocently as Donnie could only gawk, "Did he just threw a pillow at me?"
"Beats me," Raph answered with a snicker, giving Donnie a goofy grin before shrugging.
Donnie's face became flat as he rolled his eyes, then he jerked once again, feeling the other pillow hit him smack dab on the back of the head. A bit annoyed he sharply turned his head towards the culprit as the innocent turtle smacked his lips together, staring at the TV as if he wasn't to be blamed.
"Why-" Donnie started to ask yet was interrupted by Leo.
"Just sit down Donnie it is obvious he is trying to indicate to you he wants you to sit on the couch with him and stop being silly in sitting on the ground," Leo pointed out figuring that was the reason though the way it was done was very amusing.
"Then he should just say so," Donnie grumbled bending down and picking up the pillows. When he rose he saw Leo giving him a look, that one that he knew meant what did he expected from Adam, this alone was an improvement in communication and besides Adam wants him to sit beside him which was significant on its own. Donnie in defeat, let out a sigh straightening up, suddenly hearing one word on his right that came to him as a surprise.
"Please…" Adam said in a low voice catching the brothers' attention. Both Leo and Raph hearing for the first time Adam talked in his turtle form, they finally saw what Donnie was talking about, how Adam sounded just like Raph, well at least Leo thought so.
"I don't sound like that, do I?" Raph asked as it made him feel weird, the same feeling someone gets when hearing their recorded voice, then he sighed, "Man... no wonder you didn't want to be around me Adam, not for looking like each other, but sounding, it must have been fucken creepy hearing me speak."
"Never thought of that," Leo admitted.
Adam nodded then smiled at Raph, as he smirked back, "But you're used to it, aren't you by now... damn that is faster than it would have taken me since you haven't told me to shut-"
Raph jolted straightening up as something hit his face, he blinked in confusion just coming aware Donnie had already seated on the couch beside Adam, who now was looking like a little shit again staring at the TV.
"Did he…" Raph started as Leo bump him in the shoulder.
"Shh, he will throw another one if you don't take the first warning to shut up," Leo chuckled at the perfect timing of Adam doing just that, amused at the fact Raph didn't even noticed that Adam had snatched up the pillow and aimed at Raph's head when he was talking, it was priceless and even Donnie was intrigued by it as well.
The red mask brother only sighed, raising his hands in the air in defeat, knowing he was best to keep quiet yet manage to mutter under his breath before the movie's music started, "Great… well let's not let Adam spend any time around Mikey or we will have another little shit running around."
TBC