My Brother's Child.
Chapter Eight: Only One Option.
Donatello flipped the disk he held over in his hand and looked over it, it's light reflecting off his green features in the sunlight that filled the playground of the Xavier Institute. He'd looked at it on his computer in the layer as he waited for the girls and Splinter to get ready. It hadn't been long but it had been enough to tell him there was no cure he could give, even with his knowledge the removal of the chip attached to Leo's spine would require the best surgeons in the world, a luxury they didn't have. The professor had suggested that he get Dr. McCoy to look over it and see what he thought but what would a school doctor be able to do? Power's words played through his mind and he knew he was right, the chip inside Leo could still be re-activated quite easily and the damaged his brother had caused the day before made him shudder. There was no question the chip had to be removed but how, he didn't even understand how it was implanted in the first place, it was as if the chip had tendrils that had spun their way in to the spinal cortex and there was no way, that he could see, it could have been placed there in one night. Donny sighed and looked out at the few kids studying out on the playing field, at least they were no longer totally alone even if these people weren't exactly like they were, they were still mutants, he got up and decided it was at least worth a try and headed off to McCoy's lab.
"Donny knocked and received no answer so opened the door and walked in quietly to find the man he was looking for was giving a lesson to a group of older students that looked like they were almost of university age. Dr. McCoy looked his way and smiled, motioning to him to take a seat whilst he conducted his lesson and carried on. The young turtle soon recognized the content of his lesson to be about basic biomechanics and was soon on the edge of his seat as the class were discussing the sorts of things he'd always liked to talk about but had never got the chance, he was mildly surprised when the doctor asked his opinion on a particular topic and beamed with pride at the grin on the blue furred man's face when he gave his answer. Too quickly for Donny the lesson was over and the other kids were leaving and so engulfed was he in the flow of things that Donny almost followed him until the doctor cleared his throat.
"I believe you may have come here to see me about you're brother?" McCoy asked still smiling at the bright young mutant nodding at him, "The professor warned me that you might. I believe you have a disk for me to look at." Donny shyly passed the disk over to the tutor and McCoy placed it into his computer, "You aren't like your other brothers, are you?"
"Excuse me?" Donny asked looking at the older man.
"You have a thirst for knowledge I've rarely seen and you retain it well also," McCoy pressed a few keys and a screen popped up, "if you would really like to learn that much you could be taught you know."
"You mean like a normal person," Donny asked getting excited, "and pass exams and do something other than hide my whole life?" Or course it was then the screen went black for a few seconds and he remembered just what he looked like.
"Yes," McCoy placed a hand on his shoulder knowing exactly what he was thinking, "but you don't always have to live in the shadows, there are ways you know."
"Ways to what?" Donny asked almost desperately. McCoy flicked a switch on his watch and Donatello watched in amazement as the blue furred mutant disappeared and a dark haired man sat in his place. "How. . "
"It's called an image inducer, my own design actually, I don't really specialize in any science so when the idea came into my head it was just a matter of creating a hard light holograph that was clever enough to fool everything form humans to television camera's the only thing I have yet to master is the art of hiding a mutants identity form a nasty type of robot called a sentinel, but I'm working on it."
"Wow that's amazing!" Donny looked at the seemingly ordinary watch in awe, "my brothers and I could live like all the other kids, we could have real lives!"
"Glad you like it I'll have some made for you in the next few days," McCoy looked back at the screen, "now lets see what we can do about you're brother's problem shall we. Hmm." Donny gave McCoy a few moments to look for himself before he spoke.
"According to the disk Leo's chip has some sort or tendrils that have been embedded into his spinal cortex," Donny waited as the doctor scrolled down a page, "there's no way I could remove anything like this, I know the theory but I wouldn't trust myself."
"So it should be when it comes to operations like this it is best that the most a relative should do is assist if they are able, but this will require quite a delicate procedure," McCoy looked over at Donny and saw his crestfallen expression, "tell me is Miss Fury still in residence?"
"I think so," Donny replied looking out the window trying to hide the tears threatening to fall, "why."
"Well lets just say that knowing a top secret agent of sorts, especially one as pleasing to the eye as Jessica comes in handy from time to time," the doctor rose to his feet and passed the disk back to Donny, "besides her father is the head of SHIELD which means she pulls a lot of weight in this country and pretty much all the others too."
Raph still slept and his master awaited him, meanwhile however Sasami was awake and getting to know her new mother, along with her family. At present she, Chrissy, Jessica and Cat were drawing out behind the stables and Leo was watching them laugh and just have fun. He liked Jessica she was strong but knew when to let go, when to free herself of responsibility and relax, he even envied her for that was something he rarely did, if ever. He smiled as he noticed the twinkle in Cat's eye as the girl played with her new daughter and drew pictures of animals for the child to color in. It was certainly going to be strange with this new addition, Casey was still in shock and he hadn't even met the bundle of joy yet! He found himself wondering how Jessica lived her life, he knew she was a mutant and that she was a SHIELD agent, but did she have a social life outside of that or did she have to live as they did, in the shadows only coming across friendship outside of the family by mistake and hoping for a day of normality where they could walk among everyone else and not be screamed at, not have people running away from you the moment they see what you really are. He looked back to realize that Chrissy, Cat and Sasami had gone and Jessica was clearing up.
"My life is anything but normal and I have no social life outside of this school," she told him to even bothering to look at him but a smile on her face none the less, "as of yet any way."
"Would you want to be normal?" Leo asked her.
"I really don't know, if my powers mean I can make a difference to the world then no," then she looked at him, "but if it meant I'd be alone all my life then. . Yes I would do anything to be normal." She sighed and looked up at the clouds. "I didn't get my powers until I was twelve and even then it was nothing special, I had a photographic memory anyway and the added psi powers meant I would sense things before they would happen, which was great for sport, but when I was about fourteen I had my first boyfriend it was the typical teenage thing you see on the TV and I loved it, until one day we were crossing the road and a car ran a stop sign, that's when the rest of my powers sort of . . activated themselves I guess, I remember being so afraid and then seeing a flash of gold light, then a clear bubble around us, the car was trashed and the driver pretty badly hurt but that wasn't what scared me. What scared me was the looks on people's faces, their thoughts when they'd seen what I'd done, it spread around the city like wild fire and eventually my father moved the family to California and commuted on his days off via jet to the local air base. Then he found out about this place and I came here, but the way they stared, what their minds had said . . . "
"I'm sorry."
"S'not your fault," Jessica replied wiping a few tears away quickly, "so don't worry about it, besides now I have a better job than any of them, better paid too. . " Jessica paused and looked back at the mansion, "duty calls Leo, gotta go." and with that she was gone.
Four days, that was all it took for Jessica to get two of the best surgeons on the planet who happened to work for SHIELD and owed her a favor. Leo swallowed hard, he hadn't actually been brought up to trust doctors but Donny had told him that the chip had to be removed or he could end up being controlled again. There were some risks though, he'd been told by Dr. McCoy, or Hank as they were now calling him that if the surgeons cut to close they could paralyze him or worse kill him. He sat in the room where he was likely to be spending the next few weeks in and found himself shaking. By now both Raph and Blink were up, most of the school called her Clarice and he found it pretty confusing, but what wasn't confusing was the fact that she hadn't come to see him yet. After what he'd done he couldn't really blame her, he did nearly kill her, but it did cheer him up that his new friends from the school upstairs had all sent him good luck cards to wish him well. One of the surgeons entered and told him it was time and they would soon be ready with the anesthetic and Leo numbly nodded his head. The surgeon told him to lay down on a separate bed with wheels and he did so.
"There's nothing to worry about son," the middle aged surgeon smiled at him, "we'll take good care of you." Hank arrived and they began to wheel him out and along the corridor to the next room that would serve as a theater. He'd been told his family would wait upstairs. However, just as they were about to take him through the door he heard the soft padding of feet on a metal floor before;
"Wait!" Leo looked over and saw Blink standing to his left, her arm was in a sling and heavily bandaged and the bruises from the guards were still painfully evident, he looked away ashamed of what he had done and she leant down and kissed his cheek before letting them move on, he smiled slightly before the uneasiness about the operation returned, only finally disappearing as the anesthetic sent in into a deep slumber.
Not really sure what to say about this one, some of the guys being regular kids for a change, I'll do Raph and Mikey later on but I wanted to do Leo and Donny first, especially as schools Donny's thing! Anywho I hope you liked it! Toodles Angel!