Chapter 1
Ten Years Later…
"Man, I thought people were supposed to slow down as they got older!"
"Less complainin', Mikey – and more concentratin'," Raphael muttered as he rushed past his brother, a sai in each hand, towards the center of the room, where Master Splinter stood, wooden walking stick in hand, waiting for the oncoming attack.
Michaelangelo picked himself up, sliding his nun-chucks back into his belt momentarily, watching his hotheaded brother attempt an assault. It was supposed to be a joint-training excersize, but holding back for a few seconds to watch Raph get his tail kicked by their sensei was always worth the brief reprimand that would come for his 'laziness'.
The old mammal remained perfectly still until the last possible second, when Raphael leapt up and over him, throwing both sai towards Splinter. As his sons developed in their skills (with age, finally, came a bit of maturity, which allowed for calmer, more rational thought) they were instructed always to attempt to deliver a killing blow to their master. Live-fire fights permitted the maximum amount of realism, a necessity with the dangerous enemies of the upper world. Though there was always a slight risk, the aging rat still held confidence enough in his skills to allow the turtles to compete at the top of their game. He side-stepped with great haste, causing both projectiles to miss their target, lodging into the concrete floor several inches away from their goal. Surprised, Raph was late with his recovery, having to roll after hitting the ground instead of landing on his feet as he should have. He cursed himself for his clumsy form, and stood again, desperately trying to prepare for his sensei's attack. Splinter rushed towards his son, swinging his staff in an arc aimed for the amphibian's cheek.
Raph felt the wind as the wood stopped mere centimeters away from his face. Opening his eyes, he inwardly breathed a sigh of relief, although too soon. With a simple flick of his wrist, the old rat brought the staff down upon the top of his son's head swiftly. "Ow!" the short-fused turtle cried out without meaning to.
"Never show surprise to an opponent," Splinter said, lowering his staff, "Always act as if you had interpreted their every move, even if you were not successfully able to."
From behind, Michaelangelo let out a short snicker. He slapped a three-fingered hand over his mouth quickly, hoping his small mistake went unnoticed.
"Michaelangelo," Splinter said sternly, turning towards the second of the turtles present, "I did not give you permission to stand down. Had you aided your brother, rather than stand back and watch, he may not have been defeated."
The orange-masked young man nodded solemnly, "Sorry Sensei," he attempted to remain quiet, to leave it be on that note, but his mouth opened and continued to pour forth words before his better judgment (always suspiciously absent in such situations) could claim full control, "But Master, even if I had stepped in, Raphael would have just told me to back off anyway. You know how he is – he's too stubborn to every really work as a team."
"Excuse me, but he is still here!" Raph spat, "And lemme ask ya, Mikey, when was the last time, when I asked for ya help, that ya actually helped, huh? Sensei, I'm better off without him slowin' me down."
"There's nothing short of chloroform that'll slow you down, Mr. Leap-before-looking!"
"At least I leap at all, Mr. Trainin's-a-waste-of time!"
"ENOUGH!" Splinter said loudly, trying to be heard over the commotion surrounding him, "This exercise was meant to strengthen the bonds of unity, trust, and teamwork. Had you put aside your differences for the common good, you would not have failed," he sighed, shaking his head, "Instead, you will both be assigned cleaning duty for the remainder of the week."
The brothers groaned in unison. "Not again…" Raphael muttered.
"Why don't Leo and Donnie ever get cleaning duty?" Mikey whined as he headed to the supply room.
"Because they have already mastered this phase of their instruction," the wizened old rat reminded them, "They have become so intone with one another that they move completely in unison, knowing each others very thoughts in battle. I had hoped that you two would complete this task more quickly, so I could rearrange the pairings." He shook his head, and turned towards the elevator, "I will leave you to your chores, and go see how your more mature brothers are usefully spending their time."
A brief moment of silence passed after their sensei left. Mikey's shoulders slumped slightly, and he walked off, "I'll get the toothbrushes."
Angrily, Raph knelt and yanked his sais back out of the cement floor. He'd been so close – it wasn't like he really wanted to hit Splinter, but at least catch him off guard once – just once! What more did he have to do to be worthy of that? Leonardo and Donatello had proven their worth months ago – Leo had always been the favorite anyway, so why was he surprised? Sighing, he belted the weapons and sat back, running one thick green finger along the floor. Lifting it up, he stared at the layer of filth now coating his fingertip. It was gonna be a long night.
The orange-masked turtle returned a moment later, holding two very worn looking tooth cleaning devices. He held them up to his brother jokingly, "Red or Green?"
Yup, Raph thought as he snatched the red one, A really long night…
"Leo, would you hold the light steady? I can hardly see from under here as it is without you getting distracted and moving the light," Donatello's muffled voice floated up from under the Battle Shell, which he'd been upgrading for the past few days.
"Sorry, just gettin' a little stiff, that's all," Leonardo explained, reprimanding himself inwardly for adding time to the already lengthy operation, "Making any progress?"
"I think so," Donnie said, fumbling for a wrench, "A few more days at this pace and the ground-to-air modifications should be fully functional."
A few more days…great… "Sounds good," he remarked, trying to remain patient in spite of his slowly growing boredom.
"I know it's tedious now," the brainiac admitted, "But it'll be worth it – trust me! Just think of the distant we could cover this way."
"Hopefully that stealth plating we installed will keep us off the FAA's radars," Leo adjusted his position slightly, careful to not move the small beam of illumination from the flashlight, "For what we paid for it, it better."
"Don't worry, I've tested it enough times by now," Don said, "It should be fine- Ack! Ow…" He slid out from under the vehicle, sucking on one of his fingers. Waving his hand quickly as if shaking off the pain, he grinned up at his brother sheepishly, "Maybe that's enough for tonight…"
"Fingers had enough?" Leo teased lightly.
"Well, if I could just raise the car up so I didn't have to be so squeezed under it, I don't think I'd have as many…um, shall we say, 'clumsy moments'…" Don replied, grabbing an old rag from his extensive toolbox and wiping the oil off his hands, using it as a cover for what he was really doing – massaging his still sore appendages.
"Possibly, but not likely. Either way, the jack broke last week, remember? It met an unfortunate end in Hurricane Michaelangelo."
"You know I still haven't paid him back for that…" Don muttered, "Maybe I could get a hold of his–"
"That will not be necessary, Donatello," came a familiar, aged voice as the elevator doors hissed open, "Michaelangelo is presently occupied with a castigation that will keep him quite well out of the way of your equipment here."
Leonardo chuckled softly, "Cleaning duty again?"
The old rat nodded, "I only wish he and Raphael could learn to cooperate as well as you two do, at least during training."
"Raph and Mikey are like…Yin and Yang," Don said, tossing the blackened rag aside and coming to stand beside his brother, "Maybe trying to get them to work together is something that could wait until they're older."
"Yeah," Leo nodded, "Like forty or so."
Splinter rolled his eyes, "They must overcome their difficulties, not avoid them, my sons," he surveyed the scene briefly, scanning the bare, messy room. Satisfied that his two adoptive sons had not caused any chaos whilst not under his watchful gaze, the elder mammal turned to depart, "Dinner shall be prepared shortly."
"Great, I'm starving," Leo said, following his beloved sensei towards the elevator.
"From what? I was the one doing all the work," Don shot at him, hurrying to catch up.
"You're not the one with the sore wrist!" The blue-masked vigilante retorted, rubbing just below his right hand, "Holding that flashlight in place for 4 hours can make a guy build up an appetite."
"Well, at least we'll get first dibs at dinner tonight," Don grinned, "I think Mikey and Raph will be conveniently absent from the feasting, at least until sensei takes pity on them."
"Not our problem," Leo said indifferently, "Their minds can be stubborn as long as they want, but as soon as their stomachs can't hold out any longer they'll have to learn to work together. It's not like a little teamwork once in a while would kill them," he paused, an eyebrow raised, "Would it?"
"I hope not," Don said, as the elevator doors shut behind them, "But with those two, it's hard to be sure."
"I'm sure they'll get over it…or drive Master Splinter so insane that he gives up and changes the pairings for training." Ever since their coming of age into legal adulthood (eighteen, finally!) the martial arts master had decided to train his young pupils in pairs of two, with only occasional four-on-one sessions. It was easier to devote more time to developing the skills of two at a time rather than the entire group. That was, at least in theory, the plan outlined by their master.
"Frankly, I'm kinda glad we got paired up, Leo," Don admitted, "I've really been learning a lot."
"Well, a month ago I wouldn't have been able to tell you a thing about how an engine works, but after putting in as many hours on the BattleShell as I have in these few weeks with you, I probably know more than I ever wanted to," Leonardo agreed, waiting for the elevator doors to open once again, which would announce their arrival on the sewer-level of their base of operations.
"For what it's worth, you're the most patient helper I've had," the engineering genius, "And certainly the steadiest hand of all of us – even I couldn't hold that light still for four hours," he added with a smile.
"Just another form of training, bro. But thanks."
"Anytime," Don grinned as the elevator doors slid open again, spilling them out into the main living quarters of the lair. Catching the sight of their other brothers crouched on the floor, absorbed in their work, Don strode over for a closer inspection, "How's it coming, guys?"
"Go ta hell," Raphael grumpily responded, scraping with his toothbrush at a particularly sticky piece of gum that was stuck on the floor near the couch.
"That bad, huh?" Don said, before Leo tapped him on the shoulder and mouthed, 'Don't push it'. Teasing Raph was Mikey's forte, it was best to leave it to him. One wrong comment, when he was already in a bad mood, was likely to push him over the edge. And the hotheaded turtle's temper had gotten no better with age. So Don nodded and said simply, "We'll save some dinner for you guys to heat up when you get finished."
"Thanks, dude," Mikey replied wearily, reaching under the couch, digging for dust bunnies. He watched his two cooperative siblings leave, then furthered his search, "Hey!" he exclaimed loudly, once again alone with Raph. His pulled his hand out from under the couch, clutching a taped-up controller, "Told you I didn't lose the remote," Michaelangelo told his red-masked kin smugly, waving the small device in the air.
"Wonderful…" Raph muttered, "Just…fckin' great!" with the last word, he slammed the toothbrush down on the floor, sitting up, arms folded across his chest.
"Hey, no need to get mad at me," Mikey replied, just a tad affronted, "I was just sayin' it wasn't my fault you didn't get to watch ESPN2 last night."
"Mike – did it ever occur to you that TV might not really be my problem right now?" Raph growled, glaring off in the direction their brothers had departed.
"Then what is it?" Mikey asked, setting the small remote down on the coffee table, "It's hard to tell what you're so ticked off about, when yer always pissed about something."
"Oh it's just that now we've got two teacher's pets to deal with and…what am I tellin' you for?" he stopped himself, "I gotta get outta here…" he said, getting to his feet.
"But we're only half done!" Mikey protested, pointing his own green toothbrush at the floor where he still sat.
"Tell me somethin', Mike," Raph said as he grabbed his coat out of the closet, "Does it look like I care?"
"Well…no," the other's answer came, "But you can't just leave me here with all this!" he finished, flustered.
"What you do is your choice," Raph grunted, tugging the coat tightly over his shell, "I never said ya had ta finish the job yerself. I just said I ain't stayin' here anymore."
The orange-veiled turtle put down his toothbrush quickly, "Wait for me, bro!"
No sooner had the pair disappeared out the main entrance did Leonardo emerge from the kitchen, "Hey guys, Master Splinter said that you can come…" he trailed off, starring at the empty room, "…eat now…" he finished weakly, spotting the discarded toothbrushes. Sighing he turned back towards the kitchen, "Um…sensei? I don't think they'll be joining us after all…"
"Why not? Is their dedication to the assigned task so great that they would skip their evening meal?"
"Um…not exactly…well, they kind of…um…escaped…" Leo mumbled, rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly.
There was a pause as the old rat rubbed his face with one withered hand, "They will come back, eventually. Patience is a virtue, Leonardo. They shall be dealt with properly upon their return."
"And as amusing as that may be to watch," Don mused, "I think they'll be back much too late to make staying up waiting for them worth it."
"I will wait for them," Splinter assured his two sons, "I'm sure that they will tell you about it in the form of complaints when morning comes."
"Works for me," Don said, heading to the fridge to refill his drink.
"I just hope they don't get into too much trouble…" Leo murmured.
