Mike stirred slightly, awaking from slumber in the gas station. He blinked the sleepiness out of his eyes, and looked at his watch. It was 9:30... The Van should be done by now. Mike's stomach rumbled a little as he remembered he hadn't eaten.
"Meih?" he shook her softly and she awoke. She looked up at him and smiled.
"Hey babe." she said quietly, "Where's Tyler?"
"With Don, eating. You wanna go get some grub?"
Meih Pei Chi nodded her consent. They both stood up and stretched a little before heading for the door. However, Mike ran into Don at the door.
"Done eating already, Don?" Mike asked, "Venus and I were just going to join you."
"Never mind that!" Don said, and Mike could sense the urgency in his voice as he lowered it. "We need to get out of here now, I don't have time to explain. We gotta go."
Mike nodded, and took Ty from Don's arms. The little boy was strangely quiet as he played with a toy airplane.
Donatello quickly got the keys for the van and they all hustled out to leave. Mike sensed what was going on the minute they left the door of the filling station. He could feel the eyes watching him. He felt hunted.
Michaelangelo looked over at Venus and Tyler as they piled into the van. Although they both were quiet, neither of them seemed to realize the impending danger that might be facing them.
As they drove away from the gas station, Don pulled into a group of cars, and soon the feeling of being watched and hunted lessened. Mike looked at his brother.
"What's going on, Donnie?" Mike asked solemnly.
"Well Mike..." Don sighed and rubbed his hand against his head as he drove, keeping his eyes plastered to the path ahead as the traffic thinned out. "Like most times in my life, I have an enemy. I still haven't figured out who it is. I'm pretty sure it's one of my competitors. I mean, not a one of them was too happy when i started flooding the market with my inventions." Don sighed and paused, then continued, "Many of them think that I'm too snobby to go about at the conventions and such. Thankfully, only a few know the truth about who and what the leader of T-Tech Industries is. Apparently, one of them thinks the best solution is to kill me."
"Why don't they just try to publicly expose you Don?" Mike asked, "It'd be a lot more effective, I'd think, than killin' ya."
"True," Don said, "but I have that avenue covered fully. My publications manager, Marty, acts as legal head of the company. He knows my inventions as well as I do. He makes an awesome figurehead, and he's very trustworthy. My name is listed in the lower downs of the finance department."
"Well, what about the hitmen? What kinds of skills do they have?" Venus added from the back of the van. Tyler had gone to sleep in his carseat.
Don chuckled. "Well, nothing a ninja can't avoid. They don't know any martial arts, so far. The ones that have been sent after me are no 'masters of the darkness', thankfully. However, they do pack guns. So, there's always an element of danger."
"Do you think they're following us?" Mike asked, glancing behind them and seeing no other cars on the road.
"No way, they're no ninjas. They'd be shooting at us or something much more obvias."
"Do they know about the farm?"
"I don't think so, but when I bought the place from April, I made sure it'd be safe. The whole acreage is surrounded by a big tall wood fence, and if they get past that, there's electrified barb wire within that."
"That makes me feel a lot safer." Venus said from the back seat.
"Me too, Venus, me too." Don replied with a slight smile.
"Wait." The single word was spoken as he raised a dirty, tattered arm in front of her. Abigail looked at him as he sniffed the air. His good eye darted around nervously.
Raph snarled slightly, the air smelled of ash. "It's charged." he stated flatly.
"Huh?" Abby asked, confused.
"The fence. It's electric. Don't touch it." Raph snatched a long dead weed from the snow and touched the fence with it, it burst into a small flame and burnt away. Whoever had put up this fence wanted to keep out intruders, not wildlife...
Abigail just looked at Raph, wondering what he would do. He looked over at her and his lip curled up. For one fearful moment, Abby thought the look was directed at her. Then Raph looked back at the fence.
"I'm almost there, no shitting way I'm letting this stop me." he murmured softly. The mutant took off his coat and coverings, leaving his pants on. He revealed a deeply scarred, worn, cracked shell. He looked at the girl and handed her the garments. He braced himself, he knew this was going to hurt...
Abigail gasped in horror as he threw himself against the fence, shell first. She heard a large electrical cracking noise. The fence broke under his weight and he fell into the snow on the other side. He lay there still for a few moments and Abby thought for sure he must be dead.
"Damn fuckin..." he mumbled as he sat up, shaking from the electric shock. She went to his side at once and helped him get up. He angrily shook off her offers of help and grabbed his garments from her. She could tell he was in pain although, by the way he was shaking so.
He took off and she followed silently. He didn't need her help. How many times had he said it to her during this short journey? He didn't need anyone's help he told her. She wondered what had made him so angry.
As they traveled, Abby soon noticed an old farmhouse on the horizon. Raph's pace picked up a little, and she found herself a bit out of breath to keep up. Was this their final destination? Abby wondered what was so special about this place as they got closer. It looked as if it had been abandoned, but there was no major disrepair. Just that the walks and driveway showed no signs of shoveling or footprints. What was so significant about his place? Abby wondered this, but dared not to ask Raph.
As they got closer, an alarm was heard sounding, no doubt because of Raph breaking the fence. Abigail followed Rafael into the house, where the alarm quickly ceased, due to Raph's violent punch to the system it was coming from. Sparks flew, and with a dying moan, silence was heard throughout the farmhouse.
Raph looked about the room, with Abby standing in the doorway behind him. It looked much as the last time he had seen it... after Splinter's death... the night he had left them...
Raph choked on emotion, and he could swear he could still see Michaelangelo, tossing and turning on the couch, in a fit of yet another nightmare. His vision blurred, but he quickly pulled himself together, pushing his emotions down deep. He cursed himself for being sentimental, and turned quickly to glare at Abigail.
Abby felt like an intruder in a sacred place.. how little she knew how much Raph felt she was the same. "We're here." he said coarsely, "Go upstairs and find a place to suit you. We're not going anywhere for a few days. I have phone calls to make, and you're not to concern yourself with my affairs."
Abby nodded slightly and quickly took to the stairs.
Raph sighed as he looked around again, and went into the kitchen to start to call around.
Donnie hummed to himself as he pulled through the gates and headed through the snow to the farmhouse. He was glad the van was built very solid as he plowed through the snowdrifts. As he neared the house, his keen eyes picked up on something wrong.. the snow was disturbed around the front entrance... Who was in the house, or had been in it? Vagrants? but how? The fence was electric.
As he pulled up in the back of the farmhouse, he turned to Mike. "Mikey, you and I go in first, Venus and Tyler can stay in the van until we say the coast is clear."
Mikey nodded in agreement, and Venus looked like she wanted to protest, but said nothing.
As Michaelangelo and Donatello approached the door, both of their outer cloaks dropped silently to the snow, a fluid movement. As they approached the back door, they could hear sounds from the kitchen within. Loud cursing in an eerily familiar yet unplaceable voice. Slamming around, something breaking...
Donnie pushed the door open silently, and all the noises ceased abruptly. A low growl was heard and before either of them had a chance to react or even think, a mass of rags flew out the door and pinned Mike to the ground.
However, the push to the ground was just the beginning of his shock. As he looked to the face of his attacker, he gasped. A face ripped and scarred, caked thickly with dirt, but still terribly familiar. It was Raphael. There was no mistaking the image that had haunted Mike for so long. As brother recognized brother, angry eyes softened, and slight smiles came to their faces. Raph stood up and looked at Mike. "You always were slow, Mike." He kicked a footfull of snow at his stunned brother, "and now you're old too.
Raphael looked over at Donatello. "Don." he said, a statement more than a greeting.
By this time Abigail had peeked out the door, but no one noticed her. She had heard the commotion and come to see what was going on, although Raph had warned her to 'stay out of his business'.
"Where is he?" Raph asked bluntly, staring Don straight in the face.
"Who?" Don asked, though he knew full well who Raph meant.
"You know who. Don't play with me Don. Where's Leo?"
"Leonardo is dead, Raphael." Don said with a certainty.
Raphael growled. It was true. He knew that. He had known that. But to hear it spoken infuriated him, so he reacted the only way he knew how. With anger. He shoved Mike to the ground again and roundhoused Don in the face, then took off at a fast pace into the woods.
Abby looked on in shock. She had no idea who these others were nor what they wanted. Raph was the only one who she knew even partially. She screamed for him to wait then took off after him, running between the stunned turtles.
Mike looked at Don with questioning eyes as Abigail disappeared into the trees.
"Let the bastard go. He'll come back, and if not then it's his own fault. Not like he can hurt much out here." Don said with a tinge of anger in his voice.
"What about the girl?"
"If she cares so much about Raph to go running after him like that, then she's been with him long enough to keep up with the jerk. It's none of our concern."
Mike sighed, Don seemed so callous, but he was probably right. Mike cast a glance in the direction the girl had run off in, and then went to help Venus out of the van.
Don sighed as he set to work on the alarm control box, Raphael had really smashed it good. Damn, why did he have to be so destructive? He was going to have to hammer out that corner before he would even be able to get the dang thing open. Don wandered into the kitchen. Mike was there, sweeping up what looked like it might have been a vase. Don sighed as he saw the telephone cords hanging out of the wall. Another thing to fix.
Mike finished sweeping up the glass fragments and looked at Don. "Why does he do this, Donnie?" Mike asked with exasperation in his voice.
"Because he's an idiot." Don answered flatly, "He doesn't know how to handle things so he just lashes out. And that usually makes things worse."
Michaelangelo sighed and dumped the contents of the dustpan into the trash can, then went to work cleaning on the counter. "I hope he comes back."
When Don didn't respond, Mike sighed, he didn't need this split right now. He needed unity in his family. "When are you gonna go check the perimeter for the breech?" Mike asked.
"Soon." Don responded, glad for the change in subject. "Probably tomorrow morning. I'm gonna try and get the control box up and operational tonight. It's gonna take some time though."
"Sounds cool." Mike said, "Need me to come with you?"
"Nah. I'll be fine on my own." Don said as he fished a hammer out of a toolbox under the sink, "You can sleep in, but I want breakfast when I come back."
"Ahh, I see." Mike grinned, "Le famous Michaelangelo Special!"
"Dang straight." Don replied, returning the grin with one of his own as he walked out of the kitchen, "I didn't buy all those groceries for nothing."
The quiet of the dawn was close around him as he walked the fence. He had to get this thing fixed soon. His enemy knew he was on the move. That was a bad thing. He just hoped that they didn't know where he was going.
Don hummed a little as his eyes followed the next stretch of barbed wire. There was disturbed snow, but no broken fence... what did Raph do? Hurdle it on the way out? Maybe he was still somewhere on the acreage. It was very possible. As Donatello got closer, something dark stood out in the white snow. 'What the heck?' Don wondered and he quickened his pace, keeping himself silent though.
It was that girl! The one who had ran after Raph. Don quickly ran to her. Was she sleeping? No. She was talking quietly. She didn't seem to make much sense. Nor did she seem to realize Don was there. She was shaking... was she frostbitten? A quick visual examination revealed a swollen ankle, no doubt that it was at least sprained, if not broken. There were white patches on her uncovered legs and arms, indicating severe frostbite.
"Damnit." Don's curse sounded loud against the silence. He took his cloak off and wrapped her shivering body in it before scooping her up into his strong arms and taking off towards the farmhouse.
Michaelangelo moved happily around the little kitchen with ease. It had been sometime since he had been up this early, but something about being back at the farmhouse just had got to him. He couldn't sleep in. Not on a beautiful day like this.
Don had already been gone when he woke up, no doubt checking the fenceline. Venus was still asleep. 'Good, she deserves her sleep' Mike thought to himself.
Mike sang to Tyler as he picked up the little boy's bear and put it on the tray of his high chair once again. Tyler gurgled happily, thoroughly amused by this game. Mike laughed and continued making pancake batter.
No one was prepared for the interruption when Don came bursting in through the back door, a young girl in his arms. "Mike!" he said, "Go fill the bathtub with warm water."
Mike nodded, not asking questions, and went to do so. Don followed him to the bathroom where he set the girl on the floor. She immediately curled up, pulling her legs against her chest and told him loudly to go away.
Don looked stunned. It was the first coherent words the girl had spoke. However, she still needed attention or the frostbite would hurt her.
"Listen lady." Don said, "You need to get in that tub there. You have severe frostbite and unless you want to be in a lot of pain later, you'd better do it."
The girl remained silent.
"Listen, either you do it yourself, or I'm doing it."
The girl's eyes hit the floor as her cheeks turned a bright red. She still stayed silent.
"So," Don asked, "What's the decision?"
"Fine." the girl said quietly, defeated.
"Good." Don said. He hadn't been too excited about having to undress a girl. Especially one that didn't want him touching her.
Don nodded to Mike and they both left. Don followed Mike into the kitchen. "Well," Mikey said, "Looks like we'll have to set another place for breakfast."
Chapter 4 coming soon!