One Month Later

"...I don't care what level you're on Mike, get your shell in here!" Raphael yelled at his brother out of serious irritation.

"Just give me a second to save it!" He called back.

"You've had ten minutes to save your game! Turn it off, and get in here before I come out and pummel you myself!"

Mike ducked inside the Lab with a sheepish smile a few seconds later.

"Sorry guys, I've been working on that level for like two weeks."

"Alright, the masked avenger is here now, so what's this about Donnie?" Raph asked his brother. "Why'd you wanna see all of us together?"

"Why don't you guys sit down? I have something I've been wanting to show you." Donnie told all three of them.

"Is this like some new tech thingy Don? Y'know I have a hard time keeping up with your changes." Leo asked him immediately.

"It is just such a thingy actually, but it's sort of different than anything I've ever worked on before. I've been developing it over the last two years, with some of Doc's help." He replied.

"Doc? He doesn't usually get into your gizmos like that, does he?" Mike spoke up.

"I told you, this one is special. Okay, so we've been using the watches I made for several years, and I know that they're flawed, very limited in what they can actually do. What happened to Leo last month actually has spurred me on to finish this project. I've gone back over that night again and again, thinking about how differently it could have turned out. What if you hadn't come around to turn on your watch Leo? Or what if it had been destroyed, the same way your phone was?"

"I'm still waiting for a replacement, by the way." Leo said with a half smile.

"It's coming. Anyway. The only way to presently activate the homing beacon inside your watches, is to turn on the distress signal. It's always been sort of assumed that we would have the chance to use it, and if not, we could still trace each other through the signal in our cell-phones. But it's not really that simple is it? In the heat of battle, anything can happen. Things can get broken, or lost completely.

So I decided awhile ago, that it was time to take the next step. I've been working on a brand new kind of beacon, one that will really be able to do a whole lot more than simply broadcast a signal to follow."

"Is it more powerful or something?" Leo asked. "I mean, I'm just wondering how a new beacon can solve the problem with consistency."

"Part of the difference is, you won't be able to lose it, forget it, or otherwise see it destroyed. It's not going to be attached to a phone or a watch, this one is an implanted device that would be injected into one of your arms."

Raph was the first one to react. "What? No freakin' way Donnie! You think you're gonna put some location chip inside me like I'm a dog?"

"Raph, listen to me, okay? Just listen." Donatello said very calmly. "This isn't an attempt to keep tabs on you. I know it's kind of a freaky thing to think about, but--"

"There's no way I'm doing this Donnie, no way!" Raphael interrupted him.

"Raph, would you shut up and let him finish?" Mike retorted.

Raphael glared at him for a few moments, and then turned a skeptical look back to Donnie. "Alright genius. What makes this thing so special, besides the fact that you wanna put it inside us?"

"Aside from the fact that it would grant us the ability to find each other no matter what situation we're in, this one can also give us an idea of what's going on inside of us."

"Huh?" Was the appropriate response from all three of them.

"It sends out a signal, using the same sort of technology I used in the medical scanner. It can instantly gather your vital information, temperature, blood pressure, pulse, even your awareness levels. It's designed to constantly gather data and to keep a record of it, so that it can then be recalled to one central location when a search is done for it.

What this basically means is that if something did happen to one of us, we could already have an idea of how you're doing physically, before we ever find you. It would be a great tool to prepare the Docs or myself, we could already have a plan of attack for treatment. Say we notice that you're hypothermic, or close to going into shock. We could already have the exact right formulas on hand with us, and have a good idea of what needs to be done first thing when we reach you."

"Donnie, that's brilliant. Sign me up." Leonardo said with a whistle.

Raphael still looked uncertain. "I don't know bro. I mean seriously, this might sound stupid, but I have to ask. If you could track us through that thing, what's to stop somebody else from doing the same thing?"

"That's not a stupid question Raph - it's actually the factor that's been holding me up for awhile. I've created an extremely complicated algorithm that would tie directly into our signals. What that means is that we're not operating under something like a regular frequency, that anyone can just stumble onto, or even if they were really trying to find it. It's an incredibly unique formula that would be darn near impossible for someone else to crack."

"Well what if something happens to you Donnie? You've been known to wander off yourself." Raph pressed him.

"I've thought of that. The algorithm is already tied into every computer in this room, I've meshed it into a program that will be user friendly. They're already set up with biometics for extra protection, so that just in case we were ever truly compromised here, our information would stay safe. You guys should know that Master Splinter knows all about this, and he agrees with me that it should be implemented. That being said, I'm not going to force it on any of you. I just want you to know that it's for your protection, and not for the purpose of spying on you. I have every intention of respecting your privacy, unless you go missing and aren't reachable."

"You know I'm in Donnie." Leonardo answered smoothly.

"Me too." Mike said. "Just don't let me see the needle you're gonna have to use."

Leonardo glanced at Raphael, and could tell the wheels were still turning.

"You know he has our best interest at heart Raph." Leo said quietly.

"Yeah, yeah..." Raph muttered under his breath. "Oh whatever, you're gonna talk me into it eventually, so why should I bother fighting it?"