It is time for a new start. Something fresh. Something different. It is time to close the dusty folders, dispose of the old and just DO something. Starting today. Starting now. Because who will change my life if I don't?
That's right. No one. No one but myself.
Staring at the blank page before you?
Open up the dirty window and let the sun illuminate the words that you cannot find
Reaching for something in the distance- so close you can almost taste it...
Release your inner vision! Feel the rain on your skin!
No one else can feel it for you
[Unwritten]
Silent Chambers - 11
01:56 p.m., London/GB, tube station
Donatello is fascinated and scared at the same time.
The city is, at least as far as his feelings are concerned, not smaller than New York. It is just so different. Different people are out on the streets. Different buildings. The architecture! The doorframes, the old houses, the roofs pinching the sky. He bets that some of these houses are older than America itself. Far older than New York. The air is different, too. It is like rain, washed out and bursting with different smells at the same time.
And the people. He has to take care of them, too. More than once he reminds himself that these persons are nothing like the New York inhabitants. They are... he can't describe it. More suspicious, maybe. But also more open. Different. Europe is one big melting pot of different cultures, different societies, that are hardly divided by borders. That is why people are more open concerning strangers. But it is also the reason they are more suspicious.
People in New York don't give you a second look. In some parts of the city, they probably wouldn't look again if they were walking around as their ninja turtles selves.
People in London don't look twice, but three or four times. They study you. There is a bit of the American superficially in them, as you find it everywhere, but not as much. And with the wide hats and the long coats and baggy hoodies the Hamato family members are more than suspicious simply because it is clear that they don't want to be.
They have to take the tube to get from the airport to the seaside. There is no other way than this. Donnie doesn't know the area, he has no idea what London is like, and most importantly he hasn't got a clue about his brothers' whereabouts. He has his tracking device in his backpack, but he can hardly take it out and look at it in public. He has to take wild guesses, because he can't ask anyone. They would notice right away. The people are different. And he is a bit scared of it, to be honest.
The Sensei looks surreal in the hooded sweater. It is clear that he is old, very old indeed, but at the same time he looks impossibly "wanna-be-cool" with his clothes. They are necessary to hide his snout and especially his whiskers. But it still looks strange.
The tube arrives at the underground station. It is theirs. Along with tourists, managers, hobos, school children and shopaholics they squeeze into one of the cars. Donatello holds his breath. Someone just has to notice that they are not made of normal human flesh. It is almost claustrophobic in the cart. Like a box. A casket. He shudders involuntarily and from the corners of his vision he sees Mikey close his eyes. He wants to pull his own hood down some more, but he is afraid that someone may notice his three-fingered hand. So he remains as he is, not daring to move.
The car's doors open. People pour out, but even more come in. He can't believe they are doing that. This is insane. How will they get Leo and Raph and come back? How will they make it on another flight? What if the two are injured or worse? They can't use the tube with dead turtle weight on their shoulders. It's pure insanity. They will all die in here.
Lost in his depressing thoughts, he almost misses their station. "We have to get out!" he shouts suddenly, startling both Splinter and Mikey. The other passengers make room for them. Someone will notice the shells. But nothing happens and they get out safely.
The seaside tube station is over-ground, but it is almost deserted. After another look, Donnie pulls out the tracking device. The dots haven't moved so far, and a new wave of worry dares to crush him. Despite what Sensei said, they don't know what condition Leo and Raph are in. Leo said he was hurt. By Bishop.
Fury, hot white fury shoves every other thought aside. Donatello rarely feels the urge to kill someone, but if it were Bishop at his mercy, he would do so without hesitation. Mikey is even more pale than before; the genius can see it right through the normally blue-green scales of his brother's skin. They are all afraid. But they have come this far and they will not stop here.
"This way" he says and leads the strange group out of the station.
They are coming closer. Bishop had better be prepared for them, because he picked the wrong location and the wrong move to reason with them afterwards.
In the meantime, London/GB, Bishop's Mansion
"You are ignorant and useless."
Agent John Bishop spits the word into the dust at his feet as if they are some kind of bad taste that he needs to get rid of. The agent kneeling in front of him, a young woman of about twenty-five years, doesn't dare to meet his eyes. He likes being superior. But right now he has to get rid of this woman before something else unforeseen happens.
"You let them through. They were fighting to kill us, and yet, you let them pass you by unharmed. I hope you have an explanation for this."
The woman bows her head some more. Truth be told, she hasn't got any explanation for what happened earlier. She doesn't know why she did, or not did, what was. Or rather, she has an idea, but not one she is willing to tell.
Without a further warning, the gloved hands of her superior are under her chin, forcing her to lift her face and look at him. At this close range, she can see the dark eyes behind the black glasses, and she shudders inwardly. They are bloodshot and devoid of emotion. If she didn't know better, she would call them insane. But this is Bishop. A government agent and a brilliant mind that did more than one great deed to protect America. He can't be insane, now can he?
"You are a spy. Do not even attempt to deny it."
Okay, so maybe her opinion needs to be reversed. Maybe he is insane.
Against better judgment, she tries to defend herself. "What makes you think I am anyone's spy?", she asks, not even sure whose country's spy she is even supposed to be. For one thing she is certain of: The only country she serves is America.
"You let them through." He sounds as if that would explain everything. "These creatures are merely animals. They are not sentient, and far off intelligent." He pauses again, his face inches from hers. Suddenly she is scared. But his fingers hold her chin firm, and she doesn't dare to look away. "But they are very tricky. And they tricked you, too, right? They made you believe her." He lets go of her all of a sudden, and she bents backwards out of pure instinct while he turns and starts to pace. Like he is the animal he is talking about, trapped in a cage.
She thinks feverishly of anything she can say. She let these two... turtles pass her by, that was the truth, and she had to deal with the consequences. She can't quite recall her own thoughts at that time. It was the sudden shock, she supposes. That the "animals" are actually able to talk... And no matter what Bishop tells her, it didn't sound as if they weren't sentient. While the red one was clearly aggressive and potentially dangerous, he still tried to reassure his... brother.
She remembers her own brother. He was a bit younger than her, but always protective, always there to get between her and the danger. And something in those amber eyes she saw, something behind the daring attitude and the bared teeth and the hard scale, reminds her of that blonde, blue-eyed boy of her past.
Bishop watches her absent expression and bares his teeth in the abnomination of a smile. So he was right; she was on the enemy's side after all. But he was no monster. He would give her a chance to make up for it.
"They are in room 203 B", he says as a matter-of-fact statement. "Since you are their ally, go there and kill them, and your actions may be forgiven." He says kill them like other people say what a beautiful day or the grass is green. It sends a chill down her spine, but she keeps her gaze downcast and doesn't respond. Only when he tells her that she is dismissed, she quickly gets to her feet and leaves the office.
Room 203 B. She knows that death is probably waiting behind these wooden doors. She also knows that she has no more chance to actually gain these creatures' trust than she has to jump out of the window and fly away. But suddenly, death doesn't seem to be her worst option. She doubts that she would live through being trapped in a casket, or anything similar, for half as long as these "brothers" did.
Sub-agent Melissa "Lissa" Cramp always wanted the best for her country. But for the first time, she begins to wonder if "the best for the country" and "the best for Agent Bishop" are really the same.
Nevertheless, she grabs her gun tighter as she walks upstairs. Be prepared, room 203 B. Lissa Cramp is coming.
And she won't go down without a fight.