A/N: Well, after this I've only have one more chapter to post up, which will kind of work as an epilogue. I'd like to take the time now to thank you all for reviewing. It's really been appreciated.
Chapter 10: A Heart in New York.
Things were rather quiet now in the glass prison. It was early morning, and once again the air was cold. The three turtles sat in separate corners, all looking down in the dumps. Mike struggled to keep his eyes open. He had been crying most of the night, and now that morning had come, his eyes felt heavy and swollen. Silence filled the room; a sniffle broke the stillness every once in a while.
"I miss him…" Venus said suddenly with a quiet tone.
"We can rescue him," Mike said almost inaudibly. Silence choked the air again. Michelangelo looked towards the steel door and shuddered. "We have to go out there soon," he said, almost fearfully. There was no response from the other two turtles for a while. Leonardo looked towards Venus and sighed. The female turtle caught his gaze.
"I love you," Leo admitted truthfully, yet he said it in such a way that it sounded as though this would be the last time he would see her. Venus looked at him sorrowfully in the eyes.
"Don't do that. Don't lose hope Leo. We'll get out of here," she looked at her stomach and place a hand on top. "All of us will," she completed. Leo nodded slightly. Mike stared at Venus, before looking at her hand that sat on top of her lower plastron.
"What are you going to call the baby, once it's born?" Mike asked, somewhat surprised with himself that he hadn't mentioned or thought about it earlier. Venus smiled slightly and looked down at her stomach.
"I was thinking that if it's a boy, then I'd call it Raphael. Or I'd call it a name that his father liked, such as Casey," Venus said softly. The other two nodded in agreement. Though some would say that it would be bad to call a child after a deceased friend, as it will always remind the parents of them; this case was different, as the child would remind them of Raphael anyway.
"What if it's a girl?" Mike asked. Venus shrugged.
"I haven't chosen a name yet," she said honestly.
At that moment, Dr Aquel entered the room. After a quick routine check, she pushed a button on the control panel for the steel door to open. Reluctantly, the turtles entered the enclosure, knowing that there wasn't any other alternative. Leonardo looked towards the perimeter wall, which was now barren, as the writing from yesterday had been washed off. Leo sighed and followed the others over to the pond. The turtle looked to the wall again and couldn't help but feel that Donatello's sacrifice was a waste. Depressed and angry at the same time, Leonardo looked at the crowds of people that stared at them from above. A thought drifted threw his brain. Maybe Donatello was on the right track after all.
He stared at the girl's familiar face. Leo knew that she came every day to see them. She looked as though she was in her late teens or early twenties. Her dark brown hair was tied back neatly as her hazel eyes gazed sympathetically towards the turtles. She was carrying a red clipboard, which was supported by the daily newspaper underneath, yet she didn't pay any attention to it. Her focus always remained locked on the mutated reptiles. The zoo visitors beside her left, leaving her to be the only one around.
Sarah watched as the blue male walked towards her. He looked up and stared her straight in the eyes. "Hello," the turtle said simply. She was taken aback for a moment as this hadn't happened before.
"Uh, hi," she responded when the initial shock had worn off.
"I've seen you around here for quite some time," Leo commented. "What are you working on?" he asked, gesturing towards the clipboard in her hands. She looked down at her notes.
"I'm working on a hypothesis for Biology," she said uncertainly, trying to make up her mind about the turtle. He seemed to be kind and considerate, unlike most citizens she had met in the past. Sarah smiled, realising that this creature wasn't necessarily an animal.
"Oh," Leo exclaimed, raising an eyebrow. "What's the hypothesis?"
Sarah stared at him for a moment before answering. "If the recently discovered mutated turtles can move similarly to a human, then their behaviour and habits should also be similar," she said.
A faint smile spread across Leo's face. "What have you concluded then?"
"That you are human," Sarah said with a small smile. She paused for a moment, thinking over everything that she had observed with the turtles. They could speak, write and were able to express feelings through expressions and tears. Leonardo couldn't help but smile back. It had been a long time since he heard someone say that. "My name's Sarah," she introduced.
"Leonardo," the turtle said, gesturing to himself. The other two turtles walked up to stand beside Leonardo after hearing most of the conversation. "This is Michelangelo, and she's Venus," Leo continued to introduce. The other two turtles waved. "Do you what's happened to Donatello?" Leo asked, voice full of concern. Sarah looked at them quizzically for a moment.
"You mean the purple male?" she asked, sounding unsure.
"So that's what they call us," Leo muttered. Sarah looked at the newspaper she was holding and opened it.
"He's been taken up to Washington DC under the consent of Joseph Fiffer. Apparently he's a well-known mathematician. They're going to observe… Donatello… more closely to see if they can learn anything else from him. They're also going to see if they can get him to cooperate so that they can use him for Government purposes such as cracking high-tech codes," Sarah informed them, still unsure about their names. She dropped the newspaper into the enclosure. "It's on page four," she said.
Leonardo picked the paper up and flicked through the first few pages. His eyes rested on an article titled 'Intelligent Being'.
"After a local news crew filmed the mutant turtles in their New York enclosure yesterday, the 'purple male' was found to possess a high intellect. For the past few days, writing has appeared on the enclosure's walls, causing people to suspect the local vandals notorious to the city. Yet it was proven yesterday that the sentences were produced by one of the zoo's inhabitants. The turtle managed to write a high level mathematical formulas, proving it's bizarre intelligence, unlike the other three turtles.
'Only one of the turtles seems to be intelligent', Dr Yesmal, the reptile researcher and caretaker said. 'He needs to be studied more closely before more conclusions can be reached about his intellect'. The purple male has been removed from the zoo and has been transported to Washington DC for further research. Joseph Fiffer, the purple male's new caretaker and the Government's top mathematician, was quite excited with the discovery. 'I can't wait to see what we can learn from him', Joseph Fiffer said. 'It would be great if we can use him for Government purposes. If we can communicate with him, not only will it be a giant step towards understanding animals, but also we might be able to convince him to work on secret codes, since his interest seems to lie in mathematics. I guess only time will tell'," Leo said, reading out most of the article for the other's sake. His eyes skimmed down further just to see if there was anymore useful information.
"So they don't think that the rest of us are intelligent?" Mike asked softly. Leo shook his head.
"That means that we won't get anymore publicity," Leo grunted, still looking at the paper.
"Isn't that a good thing? That they will leave us alone?" Venus asked, slightly confused.
"Yes and no. If the public think that we're unintelligent animals, then no one will be on our side," Leo sighed. He rolled up the newspaper and threw it back up to Sarah, not wanting to be seen with it, knowing the fate of Donatello.
"I'm sure there are others in New York who feel that you're not… You guys shouldn't be in here. You're too special to be locked up," Sarah admitted with a compassionate voice. The turtles gave a small smile.
"Thank you," Leo said softly.
*****
Sarah walked through the streets of New York, hoping to find some supporters. She stopped a few selected people on the sidewalk. "Hi. I'm currently holding a petition-" Sarah started to say, only to be ignored completely. She sighed in annoyance, but didn't let it get to her. Sarah looked around and found her next target.
"Hello. I'm holding a petition and I was wondering if you'd like to sign for this cause," she enticed sweetly, planting a false smile on her face. The middle-aged man looked at her.
"What's it for?" he asked, arrogant curiosity heard in his voice.
"It's supporting the understanding that the mutant turtles in the zoo are intelligent creatures, and that they should be treated as such through releasing them back into the wild," Sarah explained. The man shook his head.
"I do think that they are somewhat intelligent. They're probably the next smartest animals after us. But I wouldn't feel comfortable knowing that four mutant turtles are running loose around the city. No, thank you," the man said before continuing on his way. Sarah frowned but kept her hopes up.
She spotted a young woman nearby and decided to try her. "Hello, I'm holding a petition. It's a statement that the turtles are intelligent creatures and should be released back into the wild, due to their rarity as a species, and also because keeping them in a zoo is cruel," Sarah rambled, hoping to make a good impression.
The woman smiled and nodded. She took the pen out of Sarah's hand and signed the piece of paper. "Apparently those turtles have been living in this city for years. They haven't caused any trouble for society. I've even heard rumors that they fought crime," the woman explained while handing Sarah the pen back.
The college student looked at the petition, checking that she had filled everything in correctly. "Thank you," Sarah said to the woman before they parted their separate ways.
*****
"The turtles have feelings too. The turtles have feelings too," Sarah chanted, holding up her protest banner. She paced in front of the zoo entrance, determined to succeed. She already had a few followers; most of them were people who had signed the petition, while others were simply animal lovers or greenies. They had been protesting for over two hours now and were getting a fair amount of attention.
A zoo worker in the ticketing office quickly became worried about the uprising commotion outside. She built up her courage and confronted the protesters. "Excuse me. We are trying to run a business here. Would you kindly stop you're protest?" the zoo worker asked with an authoritative tone.
"We have a permit to protest here. Call the police station if you want confirmation," Sarah responded. The protesters smiled and continued to march and chant, amused at the zoo workers frustrated snarl.
*****
One week later…
Sarah waved and marched with her banner along with another sixty people. Though there wasn't many compared to most protest rallies, there was enough to make a difference. "Free our turtles. Free our turtles," the group chanted, holding up varies signs; some saying 'Intelligence shouldn't be caged up' and 'Free our legends'. It was clear to Sarah that the group's spirits were high on adrenaline and determination. Now was the time.
The protesters stormed through the main gates of the zoo, ignoring the zoo worker's angry shouts. They marched straight to the reptile section, and traveled up the steps to the viewing deck of the turtle's enclosure. With keen eyes, Sarah reached into her green backpack and pulled out a long rope. The turtles looked upwards in astonishment as the protesters cheered at Sarah's actions. She lowered one end of the rope down so that the enclosure's prisoners could easily reach it.
Without thinking anything, all three turtles grabbed at the chance. Venus climbed the rope first, followed quickly by Mike, then Leo; the protesters held the other end of the rope to make it stable. In under a minute, all of the turtles were free from their enclosure. Leo stared at Sarah completely in disbelief. Sirens were heard in the distance. "You know you're going to be arrested for this," Leo stated with sadness. Sarah nodded as the police sirens grew louder.
Tears were coming to her eyes. "Someone needed to do it," she said simply. Leo nodded.
"You're one in a million you know that," Leo said, admiring her courage to believe in them even though the vast majority of society was not on her side. All of the protesters had grown silent. Some of them fled from the zoo to avoid the cops.
Sarah looked in the direction of the exit. "Well, you better make it worth it," Sarah said softly but with a smile, gesturing for them to run. The turtles bowed in respect and Mike gave her a hug.
"Thank you," the orange-wearing turtle whispered softly. With that, the turtles took off, leaving Sarah to deal with the consequences of her actions. They knew that they would probably never see her again, yet she would always be remembered.
Their hearts pounded with every step they took. Venus looked around wildly, hoping not to spot another tranquilizer dart gun. Just like last time, the zoo visitors screamed as they passed, but they paid no attention. Following the signs and their own instincts, the turtles ran through the gift shop. Mike stopped for a second when he saw a figurine of himself, but Leo managed to grab him and push him through the zoo exit.
The police cars rolled up at the same time the turtles appeared out on the street, though the cops were too stunned to do anything. Leo used this precious time wisely, and to his utmost delight, found a sewer lid nearby. With not a second to lose, Leonardo ushered everyone down the manhole. The police were hot on their tail, along with the two scientists who had just heard the news.
The three turtles hurriedly sloshed through the tunnels of New York's sewer system; freedom and fear of failure being their incentive. After ten minutes of strenuous running, Mike stopped suddenly. Venus noticed this. "What's wrong?" she asked, slightly out of breath.
"The tracking devices! They'll know where we are!" Mike panicked. Adrenaline rushed, Leo furiously searched for an answer… and found one.
Smashed bottles were a common sight in the sewers, as they easily rolled down water drains when it rained. Glass was always a nuisance when they were little, as they kept cutting their bare feet on the thin shards. But this time, the broken bottle would be to their advantage.
Leo bent down and picked up a sharp shard of glass from the ground. He gently reached out and took Venus' arm, looking her in the eyes to see if she was ready. There was no other alternative. "Wait," Mike called. He smothered his fingers in his own spit and carefully wiped the edge of the glass blade. Leo looked at him weirdly. "It will help to sterilize it a bit. Saliva contains natural healing properties," he informed the others. Leo nodded in understanding.
Venus bit into her own bandanna, as she trusted Leonardo with her arm. He dug the shard of glass into her right shoulder, making a rushed incision in order to extract the small tracking device. Venus looked away and tried to ignore the burning sensation felt by Leo's hasty operation. It was all done in a matter of seconds. Venus' bandanna was wrapped around the gash so there wouldn't be blood trail. Leo moved to Mike next.
Michelangelo bit into his orange bandanna, trying to reduce the sharp pain he felt. He showed his discomfort in his face, but didn't cry or scream, knowing that the police or scientists were getting closer and closer by the second. The orange bandanna was used to compress the wound at the end.
Mike did the same for Leo. The oldest turtle kept a stern face, knowing not to scream as the glass cut deeply into his shoulder. Blood tumbled out of the cut as Mike poked his finger in and flicked out the troublesome tracking device. Leo's bandanna was taken from his head and tied around his shoulder like the others.
Torch lights flashed around the sewer's curved tunnels, forcing the turtles to run again. They swiftly climbed down a ladder to the next level down, hoping to fool their pursuers. The three turtles continued to run, not having much of a choice in the matter.
A half-hour past before the turtles stopped again. The three panted heavily while at the same time looking fearfully behind them. They stayed quiet for a minute until they were certain that no one was nearby. Leo paced around, trying to get his brain to work. After another minute, Leo commanded for them to start running again, but Mike didn't move an inch.
"Mike! What's wrong?" Leo said tiredly.
"What about Donny?" the turtle asked sadly. Venus and Leo were quiet for a second. "We can't leave him in captivity. We have to save him," Mike said, tears swelling up in his eyes.
"Mikey, Donatello's far away in Washington DC," Venus said softly.
"We can't forget him," Mike protested.
"Listen. We won't leave him behind, but we can't rescue him now either. They'll be expecting us to do that. We have to wait a while. Right now we need to make sure that we're free ourselves. We have to head for the airport. Don knows the plan. He'll know where we are. I promise that we'll come back for him one day," Leo said solemnly, still looking down the tunnel to see if anyone was near. Mike smiled a little bit, knowing that Leo never went back on his promises.
During the next ten minutes, the turtles reached a familiar destination. It was a niche in a wall where they kept their spare weapons in case of an emergency. Excited, Leo reached for his backup sword, surprised at how heavy it was due to not holding one in weeks. Mike grabbed his tonfas while Venus equipped herself with her kai mi balls. They looked at the bo and the pair of sais that remained all forlorn. Thinking of Donatello, Mike gingerly picked up the bo. They continued to stare at the remaining weapon.
With at look towards the other two, Venus stepped forward and claimed the two sais. "For my child," she said simply, with a tint of sadness and despair in her voice.
After a moment of remembrance, Leo looked down the tunnel that headed towards their freedom. "So where are we going? London or Sydney?" Mike asked quietly.
"Let fate decide," Leo said, hope in his voice. Venus continued to stare at the two sais in her hands. Her eyes inevitably traveled down to her stomach, a small smile spreading across her face.
"I think I know what I'm going to call her if the baby is a girl," Venus started. The two males smiled.
"What?" they asked curiously.
"Sarah."
