*I know what some of you must be thinking, and let me assure you, this really is a Mikey-centric fic. It's coming people, trust me. We're not even half-way through...but the action will be coming to a head here pretty soon. If you think you know where I'm going...well, you'll just have to keep reading to find out.
"...I don't understand why you're making us wear these Doc," Raphael complained, as he shifted under the uncomfortable weight of the forest green cloak. "I mean, the four of us are walking around with the best natural camouflage in this dang jungle."
"It isn't about camouflage Raph - it's about mosquitoes." Luke sounded as if he was trying to stay patient. "I'm not going to try and tell you the number of diseases they carry around here. I don't know how many could even be communicable to you guys, but I don't want to find out the hard way."
Donatello nodded his agreement, even though he understood where Raphael was coming from. The heat and humidity were incredibly oppressive, like a blanket already lying on top of them. Add another layer on top of that, and he identified with the red-masked turtle's complaint easily. "He's right Raph. There are a lot of elements out here that we've never been exposed to before, and it's safer for us to cut down on the number of opportunities that insects have to infiltrate us."
There had been very little time spent inside the city of Beni - only long enough for the men to procure a couple of Jeeps, and top off some needed supplies. The group had decided not to waste time waiting to see how Marcs' signal would track today, but headed directly into the wild of the Ituri forest to begin the real process of chasing. Kirkland was proving to be invaluable with the way he was able to communicate with some of the locals who spoke French, and the information he could bring them back about the region.
"There's a mining colony due north of here," Ryan volunteered, as he hesitated beside a map. "I asked some of the Peacekeepers about it. They said that it's a legal operation, but it's definitely being controlled by rebel hands. Judging from the elevation he's retained...I'd say it's pretty likely that's where they're at."
Donatello lowered a pencil over a certain portion of the map thoughtfully. "This is where the change in elevation started picking up a couple of days ago. I think we should try following the same track."
Ryan's nerves were suddenly obvious to the purple-masked turtle. "We're on quite shaky standing here, you need to understand that," Kirkland said. "Even the Peacekeepers don't like to travel into the rebels' territory. Beni is kind of their last stronghold, at least in a mental sense."
"And you need to understand that we're not going into this haphazardly," Leonardo assured him. "We won't jump into battle with the first sign of life that we run across. We'll perform surveillance, we'll move in quietly, and we'll be on the alert for anything that moves or breathes. We may take some risks that people would consider suicidal, but we don't take them lightly. They're very much calculated and considered moves."
"There's something else I'm curious about," Ryan mentioned, looking at Donatello once more. "How on earth do you have so much knowledge about his physical condition?"
"The implanted device that Marc has isn't just a means for tracking him," the turtle replied. "Luke and I designed the chips with some of the same technology wrapped up in my scanner. It gathers and stores medical data, the statistics of the person attached to the chip in question. Then it's tied back into my hand-held unit, giving me access to what his vitals are currently doing, and what they've been doing."
"Where did you come from?" Kirkland was unable to veil any of his amazement this time.
"He's just a brainiac Kirkland - there's no other way to explain 'im," Raphael offered from a couple feet away.
Without further hesitation, they established a group consensus as per the direction they would be traveling, and agreed to follow Marc's progress directly. The turtles would have preferred to go on foot for the freedom of movement and the invisibility factor, but the men weren't budging from their belief that they would need the vehicles. The guys didn't have any choice but to concede to it; the others wouldn't have been able to keep up with them consistently anyway.
Michelangelo had to wonder what was going through his purple-masked brother's head with the way he'd been quietly conversing with Leonardo, and the two had been partially separating themselves from the others. He had a sneaking suspicion they were already planning some kind of move, and it was further confirmed when they took the other Jeep instead of riding with him and Raphael.
"What do you guess they're talking about?" Michelangelo asked Raphael casually, trying not to display his uncertainty about the situation.
Raphael shrugged, much more laid back about it than Mike had expected him to be. "We're in this thing together Mike, it ain't like anyone's going to be left out. They're just planning probably, butting their two brains together. So long as I'm in on the action, I don't care about hearing this part."
Michelangelo decided not to say anything else since he didn't seem concerned, and turned in his seat to face April instead. The woman flashed him a smile easily enough, but there was still pain behind it. Mike sighed heavily, as he tried to conjure up the right thing to say to her. In the end it was April who reached toward him, squeezing his shoulder affectionately.
"You've got no idea how much easier this is to do, just because you guys are here. I'm more grateful than I can put into words."
Raphael's amber eyes flicked over to her, and then lingered on Michelangelo for a fraction of a second. "We've got this," the red-masked turtle said firmly. "We know where they are, or we will soon anyway. They don't have a clue what's coming. Idiots are in for a rude awakening."
It was early evening when the Jeeps pulled over by the Ituri River, a torrent of a tributary that shared the name of the rainforest they'd been traveling deeper into. They fought their way off the main path into the brush, where the vehicles would be better concealed from view, and began arranging their own settlement for the night. It became quickly apparent that not everyone was settling down. Raphael's suspicious gaze rested on Leonardo and Donatello in addition to Mike's curious one now, and the red-masked turtle didn't bother standing around waiting for an explanation.
"That's not fair!" Raphael's sudden outburst succeeded in scaring a number of birds out of neighboring trees, and startling all their companions at once.
Michelangelo quickly straightened upright from the low fire he'd been tending to, and rushed over to where his brothers were talking.
"Raph, we're not going in to fight," Leonardo was keeping his own voice even. "We need to get some idea of the settlement up there, and how many men there might be. This is surveillance, pure and simple."
"And you two automatically elect yourselves as the only ones to do it?" Raphael fumed. "So much for teamwork."
"Please try and understand," Leonardo nearly pleaded with him. "We've got a long way to go on foot, and we'll probably be out there most of the night. We could all go, but I feel like that would be leaving our guys back here partially exposed."
"So we're on babysitting duty. That makes it sound a lot better," the red-masked turtle said sarcastically, though he did manage to at least keep his voice down that time.
"We're sorry. We're not trying to take away your choice in the matter, it just makes sense when you consider-" Donny started to say.
"Save it Genius. If you two have it figured out already, there's nothing left to say, is there?" Raphael stalked angrily away, leaving an awkward Michelangelo in his wake.
The orange-masked turtle wasn't much happier. Although he didn't explode the way Raphael had, his feelings on the matter seemed perfectly clear too. "I knew you had to be planning something like this," he mumbled heatedly.
"We'll be back before the sun rises," Leonardo assured him.
"Yeah, sure. Whatever," Michelangelo said shortly.
Donatello followed him as he turned back toward his fire a few feet away.
"Aren't you 'spose to be leaving?" Michelangelo asked with an edge.
"Don't be mad, please? We're trying to cover all of our bases, and we should have communicated sooner. I'm sorry Mikey."
"Haven't we learned that nothing good happens when we separate?" was Mike's only reply.
"Leo and I aren't going to take anything for granted. We'll be careful Mike."
"You'd better be," he said with serious annoyance, casting down the stick he'd been stirring embers with. "Just go already. We can hold down the fort."
The red-masked turtle was sulking silently by himself, which was certainly better than storming off, as he might have done in the past. The overwhelming feeling of having nothing to do was coming over Michelangelo again. Once everyone had eaten something, he found himself pacing their clearing just to combat the annoying sensation.
More than once he fingered the radio at his side, one of a set that had been brought along for the purpose of communicating among themselves without their cell-phones. Leo and Donny had taken one with them, and he was seriously resisting the urge to call them, and check on their progress. They're working. Just let 'em be, don't act like a pest. He took his hand off the radio again, and wandered slowly back into the fire circle, where the flames were still burning low to prevent it from smoking too much.
April was noticeably missing, and Brandon caught the orange-masked turtle looking around for her. "She went to talk to Raph."
Michelangelo cracked a smile. "She'd probably have better luck with him than anyone else, except for Karina that is."
Brandon laughed out loud. "My sister can keep him in line, can't she?"
"She has a gift," Michelangelo returned. "And patience - lots of that."
Mike picked up the soft sound of rustling foot-steps over their conversation, and glanced over to see the red-head coming back their direction. She was alone, but he thought he could see her smiling in the low-light, so that was encouraging at least. As she ducked under a hanging branch, she didn't quite judge the distance correctly, and ended up running into the wood instead.
April had just started to laugh at her mistake, when something dropped off the branch directly beside her. The chuckle turned into a loud gasp when she saw the size of the snake now in front of her on the ground. The rust colored reptile reared back its' head with a mighty hiss, unfurling a hood in the same motion. Kirkland was already on his feet by the fire, both arms outstretched toward her.
"April, don't-"
Before the man could get another word off, Michelangelo shot past the older gentleman like a blur, and lashed out at the snake from behind. The hard wood of his weapon of choice found a target in the serpents' head, as April instantly backpedaled into Raphael, who'd been coming up behind her.
Michelangelo stood back breathlessly for a moment, staring hard at glossy scales as Kirkland raced over to join him with a dead branch in hand.
The man probed the snake carefully with wood, and then shot Michelangelo a look.
"Did I kill it? I wasn't trying to."
Ryan shone the beam from a flashlight over the serpents' form to get a better look, and then tentatively felt the head. "Skull is crushed, he's dead," he asserted.
There was an entirely new respect in the man's eyes, but Michelangelo didn't want to focus on him. "Are you alright Ape?"
The woman nodded a little shakily, taking a step forward with Raphael still beside her. "What was it?"
"Some variety of cobra...coloring reminds me of a Cape. Looks almost...five feet long I'd wager. They're also very good climbers, and this is one of their most active times of hunting," Kirkland replied.
"Venomous?" Raphael asked.
"Extremely, they've got one of the most potent venoms in Africa," Ryan replied, shooting another look at Michelangelo. "I've never seen anyone move that fast."
"Now you understand why we like to keep them around Ryan," April commented impishly.
*Reviews are the icing on the cake. Unless you're one of those people who just likes to scrape it off. Terrible waste if you ask me. :)
