Chapter 14 - Reasons to Panic

Several minutes earlier...

"So what's the plan, Leo?" Raphael wondered as he pushed open the door for both of them.

"The plan," Leo repeated absently. Most of his attention was focused on the contents of the two bags he was juggling. "Well, I tend to have several going at any given time. Which one did you want to discuss?"

"The plan, for when we go in there! It's like you said. We gotta stay a unified front, right?" Raph looked over and scowled. "Will you stop fussing with that, already?" He snagged one of the bags from Leo and stuffed it under his arm, grumbling, "These guys are not gonna fuck up the order."

"They did, actually."

"What?" Raphael's grey-green face wrinkled with disbelief. He grabbed the receipt from Leo as his brother was still reading it. "Let me see that." He studied the total and almost immediately scoffed, "Looks right to me. That's about how much I tipped for."

"One, that was a twenty-five percent tip you left. Two, there is a lot more food in that bag than what showed up on the bill."

Raphael groaned, putting his face towards the sky briefly. "Why don't you just say something, if you got something to say? Do you have to count at me?"

"Sorry," Leonardo said, casting a slightly embarrassed glance towards his brother. Then he faced forward again, purposeful and back to business. "That cashier girl knew you, Raph. She knew you, but she was trying not to let on that she did."

That made him scowl. "She barely looked at me!"

"But she was paying attention. And you're right, actually. She spent a whole lot more time covertly studying me. Why is that?"

Raphael barked a short, raucous laugh. "You gotta stop bein' so paranoid, Leo. Maybe she thought you were some kinda hot lookin' dude under that trench coat. Did you ever think about that?"

"Why didn't she wonder about you, then? We're dressed almost exactly the same."

"Maybe you pull it off better! These trench coats - they don't flatter my figure, see?"

"That's ridiculous!"

"I can't help it, Leo. I'm big-boned!"

"You really expect me to believe that?" the older turtle deadpanned.

"That I'm big-boned? Yeah!" Raph stuck his elbows out and made Hulk shoulders at Leonardo to demonstrate. "Hurrr!"

"No," Leonardo corrected slowly, refusing to acknowledge the showboating. "I mean, do you really expect me to believe that young woman was mistaking me for a hot dude?"

Raphael's shoulders deflated. "No," he grunted, on the verge of open laughter.

"Of course not. So, just admit it. You have broken the rule of stealth with her, haven't you? And Michelangelo is in on it too. I've heard him talk about this place like it was the greatest. But it's not about the food at all, is it?"

This caused the hothead to puff up again. He turned towards Leo and stuck a finger in his face. "Hey. The food is awesome."

"But there's more to it," Leonardo countered steadily. "Isn't there?"

The two turtles had stopped walking. A weighted silence fell between them as they stood facing off with one another in front of a vacant shop front. Leo beat back the fires of his panic as the pressure seemed to build between them. Please just be honest with me, he wanted to scream, but he was scared to death of sounding petulant at a time like this.

Raphael's eyes shuttered and fell to the sidewalk between them. It was obvious that he was struggling with some conflict of loyalties, or maybe just terrified of heart-to-heart moments as a general principal. But in the end, he did not let Leo down. "Yeah," he finally said. He paused to give a slow exhale. "Mike is gonna take it real hard, if we have to stop coming. But I've actually wanted to - I tried to say something back there, even. I just thought-"

"You have been trying to tell me," Leonardo realized aloud. "Otherwise you wouldn't have asked me to come here in the first place."

"Somethin' like that," Raphael agreed, keeping his gaze fixed on the ground.

"And you were afraid I would ask you both to stop coming," the older brother interjected quietly. "But I'm not, okay?"

Now Raph lifted his gaze and looked at Leo, his eyes wide. "We thought – maybe because we all took that oath. Stick to the shadows—"

"That oath has been broken a lot lately, hasn't it?" the other turtle's mouth ticked at one corner. "By every single one of us." He started walking again, heading for the alley where they would descend into the sewers. "You think that no one ever saw me in Madagascar or Japan? Central America? Tell me, do you think it's easier to live in total secrecy or among people who worship you as an avenging nature spirit or a minor god?"

"I can imagine," Raphael agreed, still wide eyed. "Whole villages huh?"

Leonardo shrugged and flushed with shame. "Maybe we've reached an age where we can use our best judgment. We should be wise enough to make that choice. The choice... whether to withhold our trust, or give it. Don't you think?"

A wash of gratitude left Raph at a loss for words. Wrinkles grew around his eyes and he nodded.

"And I would like to trust you. You and this pretty waitress." Raph's mouth opened to protest and Leo grinned, trying to show that he was teasing. "I guess you're into all that nose jewelry."

"Me and Darcy?" Raph snickered. "Not a chance. She's got a girlfriend!"

Raph and Mike had made friends with a lesbian! A tiny firecracker of hope went off in Leonardo's chest at the news. He was careful to keep his thoughts off his face, but a voice in the back of his head was suggesting, There. You hear that? You could probably tell either of them, and it would be fine! That's as close as you'll ever get to proof.

Leo gave up smothering his grin and deftly changed the subject. "Hold this." He shoved the carryout bag into Raphael's hands. They'd reached the manhole cover and now he hefted the cold slab of metal out of the street like it was nothing. Raph made a one-handed descent down the rungs rather than leaping to the half flooded level of sewers below, for the sake of the food.

After fitting the manhole cover back into place and leaping to the ground himself, Raph's shell cell startled them both with a 'bloop!' The text alert sounded strange, much louder than before now that it was bouncing off curved concrete walls in the relative silence. Leonardo pulled it off his belt in a hurry and the display clicked on as he opened it. Phosphorescent green spilled from the small LCD screen onto the curves of their faces as the brothers were both drawn to gaze at their only light source. They read Mike's latest text message together.

"Shit," Raphael whispered.

Leo took the extra carryout bag back from Raph and said, "Time to run."

Carrying a box full of diagrams and pages of typed notes, Donatello paused at the threshold of his door. With every step, a reckless and unhappy feeling had been growing in his chest and he was desperate to find release for it. It was the lack of resolution, he decided - the idea that he hadn't even said he was sorry for making her cry - which was driving him crazy. He set the box down on the nearest work bench and paced back and forth in front of door. Then his hand shot out, cranking the lever down with more force than necessary. The airlocks in the walls hissed and made a 'whumph' as the electrical sound proofing kicked in.

Once his privacy was assured, Donatello dove to recover the pendant from its hiding place. Most recently he had stashed it inside a locked server case. It was a tiny glass tear drop with an even tinier clock inside. The delicate hour and second hands pointed to Nulltime, spinning quickly in opposite directions. He held the pendant up in front of him. Rather than using it to teleport directly to her, he spoke to it. He was the kind of guy who insisted on knocking first. "Renet. We need to talk, okay?"

Don waited in silence. When he spoke again, there was more strain in his voice, "Please, Ren. I've thought about it, and I can't bear to do this. I don't want to spend another second here. Not until we've – please just give me a chance to explain! I never meant for you to hear…"

"Give it up, Hamato," a familiar voice called with smooth, infuriating calm. "She's long gone."

The edge in Donatello's voice went dull as he recognized the voice's owner. "Hello, Jonas," he greeted slowly, turning to face the sound. Renet's androgynous duster was now occupying one of his monitors. The screen ticked and flickered as if reaching him from a long distance - which would make sense, really. They were both from the same universe and time, but different solar systems. Jonas was an Omatran, which meant he was tall and lean, with teal skin, spiky blue-black hair, and slanted alien eyes. He reminded Donatello of the creatures from the movie Avatar, except twice as pretty and clad in futuristic, skin-tight synthetic leather body armor. "What do you mean, she's gone?" he demanded.

Don had been genuinely trying to remain friends with Jonas, even after the confession that he and Renet were longtime 'playmates' who practically lived together. The pair had no intention of cooling down their affectionate relationship just because Donatello had entered the equation. All his good intentions for Renet's prettyboy apprentice fell apart as the blue alien continued, "The most I can tell you is that a certain trial didn't go as well as we'd been hoping. Now she's been asked to take a rather long vacation. But, hey, listen! Turns out you've got nothing to worry about. Completely by accident, she left you in capable hands."

"This is ridiculous." Don said through his teeth. "Not to mention terrible news. And she's really sending YOU to tell me, after everything we've been through? Have I been so horrible, she can't even say goodbye to my face?"

"I don't think they gave her the option. Now, listen. I'm telling you, maybe it won't be so bad. We both know she's never been a good match for you. How does that Earthling saying go? Many fish in a sea? It's just like that. You'll see. And you won't be cut off completely. I'll swing out to Orion in my cruiser and rescue you from time to time! Show off my latest toys. You can access the Omatran DataBank all you want… I won't even drag you to any Fed clubs!"

"No," Donatello said sternly. "Never again. I told you, I have to clean up my act now that Leo's back!" The kind of clubs Jonas frequented were bad for his Federation credit account, not to mention his blood pressure.

"We'll do only boring and harmless things," Jonas promised.

"No bots. No jiggle shows," Don muttered under his breath. "No more tripping on weird crystals. No laws broken whatsoever!"

The Omatran beamed sincerely. "Cross my heart."

"I don't know," Don groaned. "Maybe? Your timing is really terrible. I mean, could you get out of here? Just for now? You are not who I need to see right now. Please tell Renet that I really need to talk to her."

"I keep telling you, mate, but you aren't listening! It really might be awhile. Now, there is one more thing you need to hear. I mean, you were probably expecting this. Right? But, you know, they're making me deliver the news officially. So, here goes. You're out of a job. Outside of this world, I mean. You can still fix computers for humans if you want to. Like, if you're still doing that. So - yeah. The apprenticeship has been terminated. Your access to the 79th layer of Nulltime has been suspended without a full time escort and a buttload of paperwork. Oh, and that pendant you're holding? It's probably not going to work for awhile. Not until she works some things out and can call on you herself. Or if the two of you have to go back on trial, obviously. Um. You're being awfully quiet, Hamato. Neuro-translator working all right? You understand everything I'm saying to you?"

"She had me fired?" Donatello was reeling from the news. Renet might as well have slugged him in the face again. "I don't believe you," he spluttered desperately. "You're just saying this to - because you and her-" He looked down at the pendant, and that convinced him better than anything Jonas could have said. The hour and second hands were standing still for the first time. "Jonas!" he cried, tearing his gaze back to the monitor. "Tell me this isn't happening! Tell her to be reasonable, for once in her life!"

Jonas spread his hands and worked his mouth helplessly.

"Is she – do you think - it's a power play, right? She won't fill my position. She'll give me time to apologize. I'll make it up to her!"

Jonas flinched. "Hamato… I'm really sorry. Truth is, the vacancy has already been filled. Hey, maybe it's for the best! Look, I don't have much time left. I just wanted to say that I feel for you, all right? That, and I really am going to kidnap you. We'll hang out soon, you and me!"

Donatello contemplated throwing the pendant at him. However, the pendant was indestructible so it wouldn't accomplish anything other than to possibly damage his monitor. His shoulders slumped and he heard himself mumble, "Okay. Yeah." He rubbed his olive-freckled beak and grimaced. "See you then, I guess."

He stared at the empty screen for several minutes after Jonas had gone, cursing himself and wondering why he had agreed.

Author's note:

YES, Jonas is the same alien race as Starlee in Fast Forward. Gratz and cookies if you figured that one out without help from me.

Thanks in advance for not stringing me up at the first indulgence of an OC in this fic.

XOXO,

Winny