The back end of the work van in which the free turtles were riding was silent. Not only had Raphael not bothered with his promised "telling off" of Sayuri, but the Asian woman was actually riding with them. He repeatedly stole glances at her, looking for any indication of emotion. As of yet, she was displaying nothing; almost like she was intentionally hiding something. It didn't sit well with Raphael. In fact, it only made him want to rant at her more, just to get a real reaction. As he caught her eye again, the woman scowled this time.
"What? Why do you keep looking at me? If you have something to say, then say it!" she said fiercely.
Raphael's gaze narrowed dangerously. "Don't do that, lady. Don't tempt me to get into it with you right now, or you might lose your head completely."
"You act as if this is all my fault."
The red-masked turtle crossed his arms. "I don't like to play the blame game - but just whose fault is it, huh?"
"You are not supposed to be here! I did not want any of your help. I was supposed to be done tonight!"
"You would have been done all right!" Raphael shot back. "The Akiudo would have you, and your suicide mission would be accomplished!"
"I did not have a choice in this, but you did! All of you did! I did not ask you to come after me; I did not want you to be involved. I told Gregory-san to stay out of it!"
Raphael shook his head in amazement. "You seem to keep forgetting you got trapped in there! If we hadn't been here, you would have been screwed!"
"I am not responsible for your interference."
"Interference?" Raphael repeated, his voice rising significantly. "Interference? We risked our lives for you; two of my bros got caught because of protecting you! I'm sorry we had to get in the middle of all your big plans!"
Greg discreetly inserted himself between the two before Raphael could move in her direction, and cleared his throat nervously.
"Raph, don't do this right now."
"Heff, are you defending her?"
"No, I'm not," he answered sharply. "But getting angry won't help anyone. Save it for the real bad guys."
"There will be plenty left over," Raphael said heatedly. "If you expect me to sit here and listen to this garbage, you're fooling yourself."
"Are we slowing down?" Michelangelo asked suddenly.
Raphael threw him a glare, assuming he was trying to divert the conversation. In a couple of seconds, he realized his orange-masked brother was right. Then his phone buzzed. Raphael yanked it off his belt so hard that he nearly broke the loop that secured it.
"What's up, Brandon? Why are we stopping?"
"Raph, you'd better get up here. I'm looking at smoke."
"What?"
"We're overheating for some reason."
He nearly crushed the phone in his grip. "Okay," he replied through clenched teeth. "I'm coming."
"What is it, Raph?" Mike asked.
"Bran says we're overheating. I'm gonna go take a look."
"I'm coming too."
Raphael almost rejected his brother's offer without considering it. Michelangelo was more known for his ability to break things than fix them, but his blue eyes were pleading, begging for something to do.
"Okay, Mikey. Grab Donny's kit from the corner, and follow me."
The two turtles had hardly departed the back of the van, before Sayuri fixed Greg with an incredulous stare.
"Why did you have to complicate things?" she asked.
"What are you not understanding here, Sayuri? You walked into a trap! They saved our tails, and now they're suffering because of it!"
"You blame me too."
"I didn't say that! But I won't let you keep on believing that you would have handled it better alone. The fact is you messed up, you messed up big time! No one wants to hold that over your head. It would just be nice for you to acknowledge what they did for you, instead of acting like all of us got in your way!"
"What are those things? How can you be friends with them?"
The man's hazel eyes widened in surprise, right before rage came over him so hard that he quaked. With all his heart he wanted to pounce on the woman and defend them. For an instant, Greg didn't think he could overcome the urge, and had to imagine that his legs were nailed to the floor.
"How dare you?" His intensity was fierce, even though he started off quietly. "They're not THINGS, and they're better friends to me than you've ever been! You have no concept of what they put on the line to come here! They risked being seen by the authorities! They chased after a deadly enemy, even though they were perfectly safe from the Akiudo back in New York! They have loved ones, families, and they abandoned all of them to join me on this wild goose chase! Raphael's wife is at home about to have a baby, and he still made the choice to throw in his lot with me!
It was going to be a complicated mission to start with, but now it's gone to a whole new level of impossibility! Your stunt back there cost us both our tech, and our leader! But more than that, they're two of the most amazing guys that I've ever known! They're not the monsters, Sayuri - the Akiudo are! And now the gang has their hands on them, doing God knows what!
Say one more word about them, and you can get the heck out of this car, and walk wherever it is you want to go. I won't do a single thing to stop you - I don't even care what you do anymore. I'm sorry I ever contacted you, and I'm sorry I cared enough to chase you down. I'm sorry my friends are in mortal danger, because they had the decency to save your life. I'm sorry we had to 'interfere'."
Greg flung one of the back doors open with impressive force. He jumped out without looking back, and slammed it shut behind him.
Raphael took one whiff of the sweet smelling steam rising from the engine, and had a sinking feeling about what was going on. He wouldn't be able to do anything for a few minutes yet; it was necessary to wait for the engine to cool down before attempting to get a look at the radiator. Raphael shifted from one foot to the other as he stood by, anxious to see what kind of damage they could be dealing with, and to estimate the delays they could be expecting. Part of him wanted to collapse and pummel the earth with his fists like a three-year old. They were losing further ground on the Akiudo.
Brandon was standing adjacent to the turtle with slumped shoulders. "I should have pulled over sooner; I've been pushing it too hard," he mumbled almost indiscernible.
"If the radiator sprung a leak this was bound to happen, no matter what you did." Raphael forced an even tone. "Have you guys noticed it losing any coolant?"
Brandon shook his head. "No. I wasn't even paying attention. I wasn't watching the temperature gauge either; I was looking for cops. I got distracted, and now we're stuck."
Raphael sighed. "Bran, it isn't..." The turtle broke off as he heard the sound of a sob, coming from around the side of the van.
The red-masked turtle motioned for Brandon to stay put, and peered around the vehicle to see Michelangelo fiercely clutching a crying Rebecca against his plastron.
"It isn't, Becky. It isn't," Raphael heard Mike telling her, over and over again.
Something compelled Raphael to join them, and insert himself into what looked like a private moment.
"What's going on? Why the waterworks? This ain't over yet; we're just getting started."
Rebecca broke away from Mike to give Raphael a mournful look. "I noticed it running hot earlier today, a couple of times. I meant to say something, but it completely flew out of my head! Are we stuck, Raph? Are we going to lose them?"
"Becky, I'm still waiting to get a good look at the radiator. But no matter what's wrong with it, this thing with the Akiudo isn't your fault. Mike's gotta say that because he loves you, but I keep it real, don't I? So if I say it isn't your fault, then it isn't your fault."
She wasn't able to stem tears completely, but allowed Michelangelo to wrap his arms around her again. Raphael considered saying more, but then saw Greg coming. The sandy-haired man had a look that might have killed someone.
"I'm sorry, Raph; there's no excuse for Sayuri. I'm ready to wash my hands of ever knowing her. I'm sorry I got us into this!" Greg proclaimed in one breath.
"Geesh, what is this, 'blame yourself hour'? Everyone's forgetting that the Akiudo is the problem here," Raphael told him.
"What's up with the van?"
"It's got all the makings of a radiator leak - I'm waiting on it to cool down. Are you still watching Leo and Don's coordinates?"
Greg had Donny's scanner in hand, and flashed a glance down at the screen before looking back at Raph. "I see them - not that it's doing any good. Are we going to be stuck, Raph?"
"That depends. There are a couple of quick fixes I might be able to do, but they won't hold for that long. Something's gonna have to be replaced probably." All of his agitation came out with the last statement.
"Well of course it is," Greg snapped more fiercely than Raphael expected.
At the red-masked turtle's startled glance, Greg winced. "I'm sorry, Raph, that isn't meant for you. I'm just so angry right now, I could blow up into a thousand pieces."
"I know the feeling, Heff, but it won't help. Trust me - I've tried it before."
Greg sagged against the side of the van, and ran a hand through his short hair. "We're not going to catch up with them, are we?"
"Of course we are, Heff," Raphael said insistently. "Just not as fast as we wanted to. But we're gonna catch up with them, and they'll pay big time if they hurt Fearless or Genius."
Raphael glanced at his watch, and back toward the hood. "It's probably been long enough. I don't care either way; I've got to get under that dumb hood and see what's up."