Thanks to Tristripe and Pi90katana for their beta-work and help!

Another Voice

"It'll be fine, guys, really!" said Chris once more, an almost pleading look on his face. "It never turns out that way in--" he flushed, as red as a turtle could get. "I mean, there's got to be some way?"

"Like what?" retorted Delancey. "Some swords, knives, and sharp sticks are gunna magically fall from th' sky? And then we'll somehow beat off the staff -and- all the humans out there tha' come to goggle at us everyday?"

Fulton sighed. "He's got a point... but we can't just..." he trailed off.

Dela jumped to his feet. "I'm not saying we should! I'd never give up, not because of them!"

"Then you got a plan?" Christopher looked hopeful.

His breath escaping him in a long desperate huff, Dela slid back onto the cold ground. "...Not yet. But 'm workin' on it." Absently, he noticed that Lex was still watching them, his gaze distant and ponderous.

"Violence is not the answer." murmured Ful, rubbing the bridge of his beak. "And even if it was, we can hardly stand up to all those tranq guns."

"I think we'd fall down." said Chris, a look of mock-seriousness painted onto his face like so much makeup.

Dela gave him a light smack. "This isn't funny! They are gonna take us all away fr'm here! You want us to go?"

Chris gave him a look that could freeze vodka. "Of course not. Bro."

Flinching, Dela forced himself to relax. He still remembered Chris' reaction the first day the young turtle met him and Fulton... of course his little brother didn't want any of them to leave. "Sorry." he muttered. "I know ya do-- it's just--" a familiar snarl settled onto his face. "Those humans..."

"We could try to reason with them?" suggested Ful, sighing. "I've heard that this has been a real money-making venture for them. Perhaps they don't truly wish to slaughter their cash cow this quickly?"

"That's right!" crowed Chris, looking excited again.

"Reason with them?" Dela was aghast. "They are the ones doing this ta us in the first place!"

"Do you have a better idea?!"

"Both of you--!"

"...We are brothers, right?" interjected Lex's soft and serious voice into frothing void of a rapidly building argument.

For a moment the entire room was quiet. Dela was sure it was because none of them knew how to answer quite that stupid of a question. Even Ful. And Ful had gotten really good at answering dumb questions after about two days of living with Chris.

"Of course we--"

"I said," and now their brother's voice was not only louder, but carried something with it-- something that almost reminded Dela of zoo directors and keepers, but in a good way. "We are brothers, right? Can they take that away from us?"

For a moment, Dela almost got it-- then reality struck him again with sheer brute force and he found himself slumping-- only ever so slightly, though. "You think somethin' like that's enough? The humans will take that from us too."

"They can't." breathed Chris.

Fulton nodded. "...It might be -years-... or never... before we see each other again, Chris." Dela was horrified to note the ghastly light of defeat in his eyes.

He didn't mean to...

"I reject them."

"Whaaaaaaaat?" pretty certain he had heard wrong, Dela cocked his head in the direction of the brother he was rapidly beginning to consider his elder. "Reject -what-?"

"Them." Lex swallowed. "...the... humans. This--" Lexington seemed to be trembling, ever so slightly. "It's wrong. We're family, they can't even... they -shouldn't- even be trying to take that away from us. Family is supposed to be -respected-. Aunnie always said..."

"We reject them too." said Fulton, looking solemn. "But it's hardly going to help us now."

"Yeah, good to see ya come into the light, bro." Dela paused, unable to keep himself from rubbing it in. "...Finally. But we can't 'xactly send 'em a nice note saying we don't like 'em anymore and have it be over with."

"No," admitted Lex. "We can't. But..." He paused, looking satisfied that all three pairs of eyes were on him. "But we can take a stand."

"How?"

"These names..." Lexington looked considering. "They gave them to us. They labeled us."

Fulton nodded. "...From an atlas no less."

"We're done with them." Lex's voice was so adamant, Dela found himself holding his breath, that feeling coming back-- something like--

Respect?

Lex gave them a soft look, and Delancey found that newly found respect solidifying somewhere in his stomach into something stronger and stranger.

"...Fulton, do you still have those books you got last week on you?" continued Lex. "We're going to need new names."