.
.
.
'Told the truth.' Donnie thought. "Holy shell..." he whispered. "Leo?" he tried to call out, but it came out as a croak. "LEO!" He tried again. "RAPH! You need to see this." His brothers were their in seconds, and he pulled up the complete file on 'Fushicho'.
"It's not good, guys." He looked at the screen, and started reading.
"Incident dated August 12th, 2011. Raid successful, civilian loss, 1." Don cleared his throat, and continued. "Group leader underwent semi-mythical mental sift, showed marked increase in violence and rage. Abilities of unknown origin and limits shown. Security footage confiscated and archived."
"Footage?" Raph asked incredulously, "You mean there's a video?"
"Looks like it." Donnie's fingers flew across the keys, and found the infamous footage. "This is from a security camera, so I don't know what kind of quality images we're going to get."
"Who cares!" Leo interrupted, " Just play the darn thing!"
The video came up, and the three of them went silent.
The images were grainy, and faces were impossible to make out. One figure gleamed, a white-silver aura radiating from them. It was a foot ninja, coated in flame, but not burning. They gave a half-scream that was anything but human, and
"Mikey's with her?" Raph growled out, his hands shaking. "With that?!"
"We have to find him." Leo had gone pale. "We have to, before..." He couldn't finish the thought. "Is there anything to work with?"
"I got a closer trace on the phone the last time Mike called." Don nodded. "It gave us his location within a half-dozen square blocks."
"Oh, just a half-dozen?" Raph mocked. "CITY blocks, oh, no problem there!"
"I'm doing the best I can, dammit!" Donnie stood, and whirled around so hard he knocked his chair over. "If you think you can do better, help yourself!" He walked away.
"Don! Where are you going?!" Leo frowned.
"For a walk! We can't move for another hour anyways." Donatello left the lair, and walked through the sewers until he reached the main drain room.
The drain room was really a huge pipe, close to 40 feet across, and 100 feet strait down. Dozens of pipes dumped their liquids down it, and on any day, it was like hundreds of waterfalls running at once. Don jumped over to a cross-pipe that went from one wall to the other. It wasn't more than 18" wide, but Don sat, and forced himself to relax.
'OK, so it's not Niagara Falls,' He thought, 'But I'll take it.' Don closed his eyes and just listened to the sound. It was therapeutic, the thundering, crashing, swirling water, and he felt his mind give a sigh of relief. He hadn't been here since Mikey disappeared, and it was taking it's toll; And he was taking it out on his brothers.
'That's one good thing,' he smiled to himself, 'Leo and Raph don't know I come here, only Mike did.' He jolted at that and stopped smiling. 'We'll find him.' He told himself.
Suddenly, he felt a tremor in the pipe that had nothing to do with the water rushing through it. He opened his eyes, looked up, and his jaw dropped.
"April... what are you doing here?"
She stood on the pipe, about 10 feet from him; Then walked towards him as if she did it every day. "I saw you leave. I just thought you might need someone to talk to." She sat next to him. "This place is incredible. No wonder you like to come here."
"How did you know where I was going?" He replied. "And how did you know that I like to come here when I'm... stressed?"
"I could say I followed you, but that's not true. I've been here before." She sighed. "Mikey brought me here a couple of times when he wanted to talk. He figured no-one could eves-drop if we talked in here." She waved her hand around. "Too much background noise."
"Oh. So you and Mikey... talked a lot?" Donnie asked carefully.
April nodded. "He always askes so many questions, and I try to answer them... but some how we always end up talking about me." She smiled, and shook her head. "He always can tell when I'm upset, then he askes me science questions until I want to talk about what's bothering me."
Donnie just sat there mutely, even though his mind was going a mile-a-minute. 'MIKEY' had noticed when April had been upset?' he wondered. He never had... 'And maybe that was why it had never worked between us?' He sighed.
"I'm just... worried. And I'm not like Raph or Leo. I usually take out my stress on inventing or computers, but I've done nothing but work on computers for almost two weeks. I can't relax that way right now." He rubbed his eyes with the palms of his hands. "I just can't do anything else, and I HATE not being able to find the solution to a problem."
April slipped her arm around him under his, and put her head on his shoulder.
"You're not alone, y'know." She spoke softly. "There's no shame in admitting that you're afraid." She hugged him. "And there's no shame in asking for help."
Donnie closed his eyes, and hugged her back, burying his face in the sweet-smelling wealth of her hair. 'She smells like sunlight.' he thought, even though his rational mind commented that sunlight HAD no smell. "When did you get so wise?" He whispered, letting out a long breath.
"I didn't." She looked up at Donnies' face. "Mikey said that to me one time, when we were looking for my father. He told me 'The last thing we expect to miss, is the first thing we take for granted.' " April let out a little sigh. "He was right." She sat up and smiled. "I'm going to head back now." She stood. "You coming?"
Donnie shook his head. "I think I'll stay here for a bit. I'll be back to the lair in a little while."
"Ok, I'll see you then." April leaned over, kissed Donatello's forehead, and leapt back to the access tunnel they'd come in from.
Don didn't move for a full 30 seconds; he didn't even blink. 'She... she kissed me?' he thought in shock. 'I mean, I know it was just a friendly kiss, but she still kissed me!' He felt his heart pounding. It sounded even louder than the rushing water. 'NO, I shouldn't make a big deal out of this. She sees me as a friend, and I still have no idea how to make her think of me as more than that.' He shook his head and closed his eyes, searching for the peace he found here.
"So, what did you think?" Phoenix asked as she cleared the table, and put the dished in the dishwasher.
"That was really good... but I think pizza will always be my favorite food." Mike admitted. "But it was TONS better that tofu... or algae & worms." He grinned.
"Algae & WORMS?" She made a face. "I'm not even going to ask." She turned and looked out the window. "It's getting late. Mediation and then sleep, ok?"
"Already?" Mike made a pouty face that was ruined by a yawn. "Yeah, that sounds like a plan." He shrugged, "Who knew mental stuff could be so exhausting?"
"The brain is like any muscle." She replied. "When you start exercising it, it gets tired."
"I'm not tired... My eyelids just keep slamming shut!" He joked. Mike stood, and looked at the kitchen. "Do you need some help, y'know?"
She shook here head. "I don't mind cleaning... it's not painting, but it is therapeutic." She smiled. "Go meditate, and I'll see you in the morning." Phoenix looked at him, "And Mike... just a question, but your ninja weapon of choice is nun-chucks, right?"
"Yeah... why?" He replied.
"Just curious." She shrugged. "Goodnight."
"Night." Mikey walked to his room, and dropped into a meditation pose on the floor. 'Breath...and relax.' He thought, 'The guys may not get it yet, but they will.' He closed his eyes, and smiled. 'They will...'
Phoenix wiped down the counters and set the dishwasher to run. After checking the security system and setting the alarm, she slipped outside onto the roof. The sky was clear, and the stars seemed that much brighter tonight.
'That's what a little perspective dose for you,' She smiled, 'Who knew?' She took off running, but only a couple rooftops away, to a condemned building, awaiting renovation. She sat, and instead of meditating she slowly loosened the grip on her control. Power flooded her body, and she carefully summoned it. In her mind, she saw the flame, and called it to her. She opened her eyes, and looked down at her hands.
With a deep breath, Phoenix let it loose. A tower of silver-white fire erupted in her palms, in a column ten feet high. For a moment, she stared in almost-horrified fascination. Then, as if remembering herself, cut it off.
"Too much..." She whispered to herself, "Too fast. Smaller... I have to make it smaller." She loosened her control, but this time called only a single thread of flame.
Again, fire came to her hands... but only a candles' worth in each one. "There you are." Phoenix put them out, and smiled to herself.
"Again."
A special thank you shout-out to everyone who's reviewed!
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Many many thanks! I WILL post another chapter tomorrow as well! (I have a lot already written, so... [;])*)