Donnie is such a fanboy. I don't say this to make him seem like some kind of nerd in a bad sense because… well… I don't know.
Okay, maybe he is a nerd, maybe he's not. But the fact of the matter is that there's so much more to him. He's smart, resourceful, creative, and super talented. Just labeling him as a geek won't be able to describe the absolute wonder Donatello is, and that's excluding the fact that he's a reptilian mutated experiment as well as a butt-kicking ninja warrior. He's the whole package.
"The Hayden Planetarium. I've always wanted to come here." Donnie says as he stands on the large orb of a planet that dangles from the ceiling.
At first, I was worried that his extra weight—specifically a couple hundred pounds—would result in the thin string to snap and he'd plummet to the ground and we'd have to scrape bits and pieces of Donatello off the walls and floor.
Anyway, I realized something, though. One, the string is surprisingly strong despite being the width of a spider web. From what I can tell, it was made for such tasks, manufactured to hold large objects with large masses. And two, Donnie (an approximately 300 lb reptile-man) is not only light in terms of weight compared to his duplicates, but is also agile and accustomed to doing stunts that involve falling from high up places. So he's pretty much safe.
"Quit fooling around, Donnie. The cops will be at the door in thirty seconds." Says Leo as he jogs to the center of the room. My gaze roams about the exhibits on display as I trail behind him, lost to the world of space and the wonders of the galaxy.
I don't think I've ever been to this museum. Maybe in some other life, I possibly could have crossed paths with the establishment, but as of late it's a new experience for me to scratch off the bucket list. I would've felt something familiar about it, wouldn't I? Like deja vu, and duh! Don't you think I would've said something if anything was ringing a bell recently? Hell yeah, I would've! But I haven't so… yeah.
And sure, I may be somewhat educated in terms of science-y stuff like the Big Bang Theory or whatever, but the reality of just how big the universe is and what little I know of it leaves me speechless. So many possibilities and worlds and planets and stars, all of which are millions to billions of miles away, some that are yet to be discovered, lay in wake here in this very museum for people to feed their brains with this valuable knowledge.
I guess you can say I'm a little… starstruck!
Bwahahahahaha! Do you get it?! Because I'm fascinated… and there are stars in a galaxy… like in space… never mind.
"Hey! You with the face." Leo shouts. I snap my head to him, taken out of my little daydream of such wondrous findings just waiting to be devoured by the hungry minds of children. He waves me over. Apparently, I'd stopped walking when I saw an exhibition on types of stars and was left behind.
Huh. When did that happen?
"Come on. You're worse than Donnie right now."
I huff and trudge to where he stands. "What? You got something against learning?" I remark in a joking manner.
So get this! Because I'm trying to prove that I'm not some spy for the notorious Shredder and his little band of Foot soldiers, I have taken upon myself to be good and act nice. Yeah. I can be a goody-two-shoes, believe it or not.
So, therefore to not act like a complete asshole, I thought that maybe if I warm up to the brothers' better nature, maybe I won't be totally treated like some kind of invader. Maybe they'd finally accept the fact that I am not working for some Japanese terrorists and just want to figure out exactly how I came to be. plus, I could rub it in their sorry faces for days to come and I'd never get tired of reminding them of just how totally wrong they were to accuse me. Wouldn't that be something?
Cross your fingers, guys. I'll need it if this is going to work.
"No." Leo returns. "We just don't have the luxury of going on a field trip." He paces in place slightly, unintentionally telling me that a certain someone is a little on edge. He faces me, wringing his wrists anxiously and popping his fingers mutely. Wow. He's more wound up about this than a brand-spanking-new clock. "Besides, I didn't think you of all people would be into this kind of stuff." He says, raising his arms up to the room around him decked out in planets and models of galaxies as if for emphasis of my unexpected interest in the field of astronomy.
"What's that supposed to mean?" I say, offended. I don't know why, but his comment triggered some kind of flash of anger. As if he had said some kind of insult.
Why? Again, I have no idea.
He must've noticed that what he had said had a rather negative reaction because his sapphire eyes widen and he raises his hands up in surrender. "Oh no no no. I didn't mean… Okay, I have nothing against education or what a woman can and can't do with it." He rambles. "And I don't doubt the measure of your intellect," he adds as an afterthought, "it's just that… I don't know… um… what I'm trying to say is that-" He rubs the back of his neck nervously.
"That you're surprised that I would be into something so consequential as space?" I interrupt to put a halt to his blubbering before he can give himself an aneurysm.
God, the guy really needs to take a chill pill.
"Well, yeah but-"
"But what?!" I bark with a little too much fire than necessary.
"But I'm not trying to make it sound like you can't be!" He nearly cries out. "Women can do anything a man can do and do whatever they want and… what? Why are you laughing?"
What was once a quiet giggle has turned into a full-on belly-clutching laughing fit. I can't help it. Here he is, the great and mighty Leonardo, the one and only leader of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, stuttering away like a nervous wreck for supposedly saying something so inappropriate as to downgrade a woman's knowledge and her rights of what she can and is allowed to do in this free country.
Oh my god, he's such a worrywart.
"What' so funny?" He asks, a mirthless chuckle escaping his green lips, more out of his jumpy state than his humor. I can only imagine how much tension is building inside of him, on the brink of combustion.
Seriously, I expected Donnie to freak out like this. But Leo…
"You," I say through a hiccup. He frowns, a crease forming in the space between his blue saucers.
You've gotta be shitting me. Do I need to spell it out for him?!
"Chill out. I know what you meant." I say when my chortling ends. I take a deep breath to relieve the growing aching in my belly from all that laughter. Damn! Who knew laughing could be so much fun? "And I know that you aren't some sexist pig trying to lecture a girl of what she is capable of."
"Oh." He lets out a sigh of relief, a pink tint inking his cheeks slightly.
What the hell? Is he blushing?
"I just thought that you might take it the wrong wa-"
"Okay okay. Leo, listen." I interrupt him. "It's fine. I'm not upset about it. Really, it's no big deal. Just drop it, okay?"
"Okay." He says a little shakily.
Huh? Something must be really bothering him. Poor guy.
WHOA WHOA WHOA! What just happened?!
Did I just admit to feeling pity for him?! For having sympathy towards my hypothetical enemy?! The guy who threw me over his shoulder like a goddamn sack of potatoes to keep me from running away… TWICE?! The guy who wasn't afraid to fight brutally to help me see the reason for my staying?! The only person who talks to me like I'm not a complete shit wreck of a person?! And makes me feel like can actually be someone who can aid them in this inconceivably impossible mission of salvation?!
Absolutely fucking not! Why would I feel any sort of remorse for him and his problems?! Why in all of hell would I do that?!
I don't know I don't know I DON'T FUCKING KNOW!
It's okay. It's okay. It's nothing. This is nothing. It means nothing.
Just don't think about it. Don't think about it!
But I am thinking about it I'm thinking about it and I can't stop thinking about it!
Okay. Calm down. Calm down.
Dammit! I'm acting just like Leo!
Stuff it down inside and… maybe it'll go away?
Yeah. Good plan. Very good plan. Just stuff it down and it'll go away. Very good plan.
I can literally feel the intrusive thoughts begin to sink like rocks in a pond to the pits of my beings and down to my toes. And ever so slowly, my mind clears of any oncoming hysteria and I 'm able to process what is going on around me.
Thank God! The last thing, the very last thing, I need is to have a fucking meltdown in the middle of this secret operation.
Leo seems to let it go as he calls Donnie down again, and this time the purple-clad turtle actually descends from the giant ball that resembles a blue and white marble. He lands with the grace of a cat and immediately gets to work. He flips a switch at the side of his headgear where a beam of light shoots outwards from what has to be a mini projector built into the bulky glasses perched atop his bald head. He swivels around, the light scanning the room for whatever clues he can find and also managing to temporarily blind a startled Leonardo.
"Donnie!" He yelps, blocking the bright beacon with his hands held up to his face.
I cover my own eyes before I, too, can fall victim to the harsh light. The genius doesn't seem to notice the consequences of his careless actions as he continues to observe his surroundings with the stream of pure white surveying the exhibits. It finally lands on a bulbous rock formation roosting proudly on display. He shuts off the light and approaches it with the hushed clomps of his brown boots to accompany him.
"Yep. Shredder and the mutants were definitely here." He speaks, now tapping away at the rows of buttons on his wristband that now forecasts screen-like images from the cameras settled on Donnie's head and shoulders. Mainly it shows equations and paragraphs of text rambling about science crap and all that junk.
"And you know this how?" I ask, stuffing my hands into the large pocket of my new, April-purchased New York City hoodie. Black with the white words in Transitional text across the chest, the inside fuzzy with cotton weaved through the material. It's a bit bigger than necessary, the hem going past my hips and the sleeves obnoxiously falling down my hands, but it's nice. I like it. Though I mainly chose to wear it because I thought that the night would be cold (which it is) but also as an unreceived thanks to the brunette and her generosity.
So what if I have a heart?! It's not like I'm some soulless jackass who doesn't do acts of gratitude towards others. I am a human being, for crying out loud!
He doesn't answer me. Instead, he just continues to study the data in front of him. "And I'm detecting traces of… neutronium." He pauses. "The key ingredient in creating a controlled black hole. Which… is the only thing able to break the space-time continuum."
What. The hell. Is he talking about?!
"And you know what that means?" He turns to us, looking as if he had just discovered a new deadly disease that will wipe out the human race from the face of the earth. I return his look at him blankly, blinking at the amount of absolute science and… I don't even know anymore. I'm still stuck on whether or not neutronium is a real element.
"What?" I ask because I don't know what else to say.
"No, I do not know," Leo answers after a pause, still trying to blink away the effects of Donnie's bright light to see properly.
"It means that Shredder may not be as crazy as I thought." He says, flipping the incoherent screens off.
"You say that as if he isn't the leader of an army that tried to intoxicate an entire city with truckloads of chemicals just to make some rich douchebag even richer." I assert.
"Can we please stay on topic?" Leo states.
"Fine," I mumble, rolling my eyes. "Jesus Christ, no need to be so edgy."
"From the data I collected," Donnie carries on. "I can concur that whatever was inside of this, Shredder can use it to open a portal to another dimension."
"Wait! So you're saying that this rock thing was… wait! What?" I snap.
I'm not sure if you've noticed, but right now I'm having a teensy bit of trouble trying to understand exactly what is going on.
…
OKAY FINE! A lot of trouble. I mean, wouldn't you?
All of this information is confusing me more and more with each second that ticks by. If someone doesn't break this down into tiny pieces for my stupid brain to comprehend, I think my head will implode on itself.
"So remember when we were on the interstate the other night and we tried to catch Shredder?" Donnie says to me, sensing my befuddlement. And being the patient teenager he is, he's willing to tolerate my thick-headedness and walk me through it. Great. Even more kind acts to be indebted to.
"Yeah."
"When we were just about to grab him, he vanished in thin air and with further inspection, we discovered that Baxter had a teleportation device and used it to free Shredder from police custody." He says, pushing his glasses up his nose to prevent them from falling down further. "We're assuming that for some reason there's more to this than we first guessed. That it's possible that they're on the hunt for more alien technology."
"... okay. But how would they know where this alien tech would be?" I ask.
"I've concluded that they have some kind of employer or inside voice who's telling them where to find these pieces of mechanical devices. They have to have had something to do with the machines being on earth in the first place and can be using Shredder and Baxter as errand boys to gather them."
"But what for?"
"That we don't know." Donnie remarks.
"Okay, but what I want to know is," Leo interjects, "if you go to open a portal… what's coming out of the other side?" He says, not willing to hide a grave expression.
I haven't thought of that. I don't think any of us have thought of that.
Someone, someone who has a profession involving the supernatural and life outside of our atmosphere, has the almighty and powerful Shredder and his little doughboy Baxter Stockman tied to the end of a string, using them as puppets for some unknown plan that can either be really good or really, really bad for us. The fact that he's using a criminal organization with a psychopath—who intends to start wars that result in massive, worldwide genocide—for their master, one of the greatest minds of our generation, and two meatheads that are now a humanoid rhino and warthog, it's probably the latter.
This is worse than I thought.
"Come on. We better get out of here." Leo says, gently tapping my arm.
Guess I was lost in thought again.
I nod in affirmation and the three of us race to the exit.
And the plot thickens! DUN DUN DUUUUUUUNN!