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Lunar-Ninja- Yeah, okay- there was a fair bit of swearing in it- more then I would usually have, to tell the truth but I felt in that chapter that it was necessary. It is being toned down in future chapters. Thanks for the review and your honesty!

Becca T-Thank- you! Yay, I'm on a story alert list! Happy! I won't say if you right or wrong overall- oh well- they're not vanishing entirely anyway!

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The REAL Cheese Monkey- Thankyou- more is on the way pretty soon!

CH 3

The Letter

In the Messhall this time, he could still feel unfriendly stares on him but there were a good few shouts of "Two fifty!"; "Good run!" and other comments. Looked like the Race (as it was coming to be known) had won him some admirers which made up for the pain in his legs.

"Hey Mikey!" someone shouted as he got his lunch (unceremoniously dolloped out by the counter-man who just scowled at him but at least didn't make any more comments about animals.) It was Paddy, sitting at a longish table. There were a few others- humans who looked at him with a range of expressions. Henry joined them and they settled down a bit. He'd gained quite a bit of respect from the other recruits. Then Electrode and Siren together, who were given uneasy looks as they stood, looking for a table, Mikey waved.

"Electrode! Siren, space over here." The two joined him at the table with relief. The 'Ice-Queen' came next and sat in without showing any signs of acknowledging the drooling from some of the other tables. She was beautiful, even Mikey had to admit. He just wished he knew if she was a mutant or not! The last one was the tall quiet brown haired man, whose name Mikey didn't know.

"You're all in the program?" asked Electrode of the others. The two women nodded (hah- so she was!) The brown haired man and Mikey agreed also. Paddy shook his head.

"Sorry, mate- I'm outnumbered here."

Another man up the table, who was watching the proceeding with unabashed horror and disgust stood up loudly.

"Not staying here- freaking sideshow." Two others joined him and they stalked off to another table. Electrode and Siren, on the ends, very deliberately moved their chairs into the spaces previously occupied by the men.

"All the more space for us."

Henry glanced at Malone and Mikey wondered what they'd do now. Stay where they were the outsiders, in the midst of the mutants or join their own people in casting scorn? He leaned over to Henry and spoke quietly.

"Don't feel like you have to stay. It's gonna earn you enemies. But if you want to, you're always welcome." Henry glanced at Paddy who answered for both.

"Leave now? Hell with that- it's just getting' interesting!" Mikey laughed, relieved, though he didn't really want to show it.

"Who's everyone?" asked Siren, looking around with interest. "I'll start- I'm Siren. You may've noticed the wings."

"Can you fly with them?" asked Malone, interested, then blushed for the first time. "Um…Am I allowed ask that? I'm not sure of the…eh, protocol." Siren smiled at him.

"It's okay- you can ask. Some people won't want to tell. Yes, I can fly."

"Cool!" said Mikey. They looked at him.

"Um…I'm Mikey. Michelangelo. Um…I'm a turtle- kind of."

"You born like that?" asked someone. Mikey shook his head and gave a brief history of why he and his brothers were turtles. He left out the whole Ninja thing. Sometimes it was better to have an unexpected ace in your shell. "Your turn." he said to Electrode.

"I'm Electrode. Three guesses as to what I do." He held up his hand and an eerie glow surrounded it. "Not fun in stormy weather. Feels like all my hair is standing on end." They smiled at the image. In fact, it looked like this had happened already to the rather gangly young man, with his shock of dark hair that stuck in all directions.

"Glacier." The small woman with the white-blonde hair spoke next. The name suited her. She glanced at her mug and waved her hand over it. They looked at it. Electrode picked up the cup and turned it over. Nothing came out.

"Of course, melting it again is the annoying part." she finished.

"Allow me…" put in Electrode, cupping the mug in his hands. His hands glowed and the liquid melted.

"That was awesome!" said Mikey, excitedly. He turned to the last member of the mutant group. "So what about you?" The brown haired man looked up at them.

"My name's Steel." His hand was resting on the tabletop and he lifted it. As they watched, it grew silvery and solid. Malone dropped his fork as he stared. Steel smiled shyly and turned to Malone and Henry.

"Who are you?"

"Yeah. Do you not mind being seen with the likes of us?" asked Siren a bit roughly. Mikey seemed to trust them, and she thought she could perhaps trust Mikey, but she'd been disappointed too many times before to trust people too easily.

Henry shrugged. "Don't see why we shouldn't be. You're recruits, same as us. So you have special powers. You'll still need to learn all the same stuff as us. And perhaps if people see us hanging around, maybe they'll trust you more. Or something. I'm George Henry, by the way."

"And I'm Padraig Malone. My only secret power is that I can"- here he switched voices, taking on a thick fake 'Darby McGill' brogue- "…spake Oirish an' nivar a sinnar kin onderstand me, begorrah." This caused a bout of hilarity that did much to ease the tensions in the group. Even Glacier smiled.

"Do…do people really speak like that?" managed Mikey after a few seconds.

"Depends what channel you're watching. But in real life, no."

"Fair enough…" chuckled Siren. "So- Malone, Mikey, Electrode, Steel, Henry, Glacier- that right? How are you dealing with it so far?"

"Making friends with the indigenous species. And enemies too…" said Electrode offhandedly, but with a sly look at Mikey who blushed slightly.

"Hey…that wasn't entirely my fault. He started it." he defended himself.

"I tell you- it was some race though. That Jackby guy is fast."

"He's a racer isn't he? Won the 100m in the Olympics a few years back. Damaged something though and he won't be racing again."

"A mile in two fifty-one? He could race again!" There were some nods as everyone concentrated on eating, starving after the long day.

"So who was here first? The icebreaker as it were? Uh…sorry, Glacier…" She waved it off.

"Mikey here. Came in and dealt pretty well with the first shite." said Malone. "Certainly sorted out the moron on the counter. And then Jackby. Took his legs right out from under him."

"Why, what happened there?" asked Siren, interested. Malone told the story and Glaciers lips twisted as she observed scornfully that humans, for all their assumed superiority weren't so great after all. The bitterness in her voice caused a silence and she blushed.

"You are human, Glacier." said Mikey eventually, gently. "It's not something to be either proud of or ashamed of. Any more then being a mutant is something to be proud of or ashamed of. It just… is."

"Try telling them that we're human!" she snapped in a low, vicious whisper. "Try telling them that we've nothing to be ashamed of in being mutants!" She was squeezing her cup as she spoke and the liquid inside froze solid. She set it down roughly with a thud that caused some people to glance around.

"Look Glacier- you look human, okay?" Siren stepped in, sounding angry. "You can walk through a room full of strangers and people won't look at you any different. So can Steel if it comes to that. Or Electrode. You just have to be a little more careful of what you do, when you do it. But you can blend in. Me and Mikey can't. Wings, or a shell aren't easy to hide!" Malone and Henry looked uncomfortable, Steel worried and Electrode edgy as the two women glowered across the table at each other. The tension had built up in the last few seconds as the new surroundings, tiredness and the underlying hostility amplified suppressed rage. Mikey decided he'd better step in. Before there was murder done.

"Hey, it ain't easy being green!" he joked, although even that had an underlying truth to it. He leaned forward, cutting the glares off.

"Look, of all thing we don't need, factions are way up there, dudes. We've a lot of people to prove ourselves too- we need to be a team for this or we may as well pack up our stuff and go home now. Anyone want to quit now? In the first week? We've all done the pre-basic days. And you know what? We survived them. Even on our own. People will get used to us. Until then, we need each other. We need to be a team. If we can make it in the Army then it will help countless other mutants."

"And that is why the 'purists' will want us to fail." said Steel backing him up. "We gonna let them win?" In an intentionally corny gesture he put his hand palm down on the table. "We gonna let 'em?" The tension collapsed again as Mikey laughed and placed his own hand down as well, followed by Glacier, Electrode and Siren, thumb to small finger in a circle on the table. Hey, it was corny. But it helped. They felt a new optimism imbue them. Hell with this place! They would take 'em on!

It was kinda getting easier, Mikey had to admit. He'd been in good shape- hey round was a good shape for a turtle! The first few days had been the absolute lower pits of hell, mainly full of shouting, push-ups and a certain amount of taunting. And the running. He had to check his feet occasionally just to make sure they hadn't worn away yet. But a week had gone by and he now had a chance to write a letter- finally! He glanced across at others in the bunkhouse and frowned. There were one or two that he really wouldn't trust not to nab his letter and do something childish like glue it to the wall or something. There was no underestimating the, the…sheer bratlyness of some people. He wrote it in Japanese and addressed it to Donnie.

Donnie was enjoying himself. He was in a place where he was accepted, despite his species. Oh, there were one or two who'd be more interested in dissecting him then listening to him and he couldn't entirely shake the feeling that Prof. McKehoe was taking notes on every word the strange animal was saying and looking for his trainer, but on the whole, he was accepted here. Mostly, people didn't even seem to notice he was a turtle, it was his brains that the other scientists and engineers were interested in. He'd made friends with a few of them and talked regularly to Leo, Master Splinter and Raph but so far hadn't heard from Mikey. Mikey'd said that he couldn't have the shell- cell in the training place but that he'd write. Donnie wondered how he was getting on. In a way, he'd chosen the hardest option and his family were slightly worried at how he would be coping. So he was relieved when he got the letter on the second Friday after Mikey had left the Lair.

Dear Sensei, Don, Leo and Raph

Seems a bit odd addressing this to all of you when Don's the one I'm sending it to, but I figure he'll read the salient bits on the cell or whatever. Yeah, writing this in Japanese. Yes Raph, I can in fact write. Don't look so surprised. And no comments from you either Leo. Okay, at least wait till I'm around to defend myself. Was kinda worried my mail'd get rifled through. And I don't see why they should read my mail. At least not without working for it. Thank God for padlocks, that's all I'm saying. That's the recruits. Small barracks. Some big troublemakers. Not been too bad so far. Well, it's getting a bit easier now anyway. Some trouble near the beginning but its sorting itself out.

Other 'freaks' here- that's the technical term apparently! We're a team already. Admittedly that could be something to do with most human teams not wanting us. There's me, Siren- a hot-tempered woman with wings, Electrode- he can create lightning and channel electricity. Once someone made the mistake of trying to physically intimidate him- pushing him around and stuff. Ah well, he should be able to sit down soon. Glacier- she's a bit scary. Bitter about the mistreatment of mutants. Probably a story there. Who else? Steel- he's quiet but I like him. His power is that he can turn his whole body to steel. Not entirely sure why you'd do this but there you go. Actually, it gives you some punch. They know about the turtle thing obviously, but not about the ninja stuff. With some of the stuff going on a bit of underestimation may not be a bad thing. Anyway- couple of others- humans, who've decided that we're not going to kill and eat them- Paddy Malone and George Henry, mainly. They came and talked to me when I was the first mutant in here after one or two messy confrontations in the Mess. Warned me who to watch out for, helped me, and later the others, settle in. Paddy's this mad Irish dude. He's 'good craic'. Henry's great. Sort of guy you could trust your life to. The other mutants were leery of them at first but seem to have accepted them now. Until now, I don't think they ever got to learn that sometimes humans do put their necks out, not for personal gain or whatever but because it's right. Pity they never met April or Casey. No-one talks much about their pasts here. I don't even know their full names. When they took on their 'mutant identities' they left old lives and families behind. For most mutants, their families rejected them first. Tell you guys, we were very lucky. Thank-you Master Splinter.

Several clashes with some guys- guys are worse then the women, according to Siren and Glacier. They still remember what it was like for them and in most cases…seem almost to accept them. Gets the attention off them. Almost accept 'em anyway. They can be seriously -'bitchy' was the word she used.. At least not many people are foolish enough to attack me physically although I'd tend to stick to a friendly group (ie the other mutants) whenever possible. But Steel, Electrode and Siren have all been attacked. And Malone too. Electrode zapped the guy after him and Steel, well, there's not much you can really do against a guy who just turns to metal on you. Siren was shaken, but okay- Glacier turned up in time. Kinda helped heal the rift between them so it was a good thing in a way. Malone, well he was hurt and spent a couple of days in sickbay, although we got there before any real damage was done. They got disciplined for provoking a fight and we got done for being in the fight. Ah well. It was worth it. Mind you, he did a fair chunk of damage himself. Don't think I've seen anyone so mad since we defeated Shredder- the, what, seventh time? The one when he threw a complete and utter wobbly over it.

But overall, (despite my complaining- sorry guys)- it ain't too bad here. Most of the officers are fair, although one or two- (the higher up, the worse) are a bit…squiffy…about us and are looking for any reason to throw us out. So we're keeping our noses clean and staying out of trouble. When possible. So far, we seem to be surviving. Only another four weeks to go?

Went on a lot longer then I meant to- sorry. I'm more interested in finding out what you are up to. Is Master Splinter still beating you every day in katas, Leo? (still practising daily here- looking for a rematch, Raph) Bet he is. And how's the inventing going, Don? How many labs have you blown up? And Donnie- needn't show this bit to Raph, but I'm a bit worried about him. Yeah, I know, of all of us, he can probably take care of himself, but he's got perhaps the most dangerous idea- his wandering. Not that there isn't a certain amount of lure for what he's doing, but does even he know what he's looking for? (Damn- Sirens penchant for all this phyysio…psycho analysissy stuff is wearing off on me- and no, I don't know how to say that in Japanese. Or in English either.) So yeah, keep an eye on him would ya?

Gotta go- there's dear old Sargent Major shrieking for us. Either laps or the Code I'm guessing…

(Later) Aw man…it was the Code. We're eating it, living it and sleeping it at the moment. Gotta go- essay on…American Military Leadership to complete. The joys of school again I don't think!

See ya'll in four weeks!

Mikey.

Mikey stared at the letter for a few minutes and sighed. Naah, he couldn't send that. Too much like complaining, most of it. He'd known going in that it wouldn't be easy. The others had told him enough times…

"Mikey- are you absolutely sure about this?" Leo sounded worried over the phone and Mikey rolled his eyes in the privacy of the Lair.

"Yes, Leo. And yes, I know the Army won't exactly be welcoming, but there will be other mutants there. And if I- if we succeed, it will be a big step forward in human-mutant relations." Damn- had he gone a bit far there. The silence in Japan made him wince. He could practically hear Leos eyes shooting up at the other end.

"It's just something I want to do. Same as Donnie wants to become an inventor/scientist thingie. And now that he's gotten that offer from that Government bunch- he'll have the same potential problems as I would have. He'll handle them. And so can I."

"It's not really the same thing, Mikey."

"I'm sure about this, Leo. And Master Splinter said I could." Leo sighed and the conversation passed onto more mundane things. When they rang off, the eldest turtle was left feeling unsatisfied and a bit apprehensive. So he rang his younger bother whose opinion he particularly valued. Of all the turtles, Donatello was the most academically brilliant. In fact, seeing as he'd had 'no formal education' he was wowing the people he'd talked too and had become, almost overnight, a celebrity in some circles. He was ever the quiet one though, and although he did give a couple of lectures, he preferred to spread his own findings and works through the same medium that had made him accidentally famous- written word.

Michelangelo was right- Donnie would be facing the same thing in the world of academia and in the Government labs where he was helping research in medicine and one or two other area that Leo didn't even pretend to know anything about. But aside from mere academic intelligence, his younger brother was also the steadiest of the three younger turtles, who often had good insights into the others' problems. He wondered briefly if the other two would also have produced these insights had they been allowed to. Now that he was separate from them, he wondered uneasily had he been a bit inclined to dismiss their opinions because how could the brash, never serious Mikey or the hot-headed, rough speaking Raph come out with anything world shattering? He didn't like the side of himself that he was wondering about.

He shook his head as he stood there with the phone dangling loosely from one hand as he recalled his mind from zone-out land and dialled the number. His brother picked up on the fourth ring sounding dazed and not very awake.

"He yawn llo?" Leo winced as he recalled the notion of time-zones. Why the hell had Mikey rung him at…three o clock in the morning where he was?

"Sorry, Donnie. I just got a call from Mikey. I'd forgotten the time in New York."

"So you know then." answered Donnie, sounding much more awake. Leo shrugged and figured he may as well continue.

"Yeah. I'm not sure about the whole idea. What do you think?" Donnie sat up in his bed, rubbing his eyes as he woke his mind up.

"Two minds. On the one hand- if it's what Mikey wants to do- and if Master Splinter has agreed then what can we say? Also- he's right, in a way. This could be a big step in human-mutant relations. In some circles they're still trying to decide if we should even be given basic human rights. If the Army accepts them, and they prove their worth there, then, well, it would a huge step. And it might be just what Mikey needs. We kinda deserted the two of them, Leo. We did. And I know Raph is still mad at us. Notice how he always manages to be out when we call?"

"Yeah, I'd noticed. And I felt a bit guilty, I guess, over it too. But…"

"What does it have to do with it? Well, Mikey and Raph, to a lesser extent have just been thrown into an entirely different lifestyle. We had a pretty strict, regimented lifestyle- and I'm not complaining. It was necessary and we all turned out well and I mean no disrespect to Master Splinter." he added hurriedly. "My point is, that now the two of them are at a bit of a loose end. Maybe Mikey needs a place with discipline- new training to keep him on the same track.." Leo nodded slowly. Okay- that was a pretty convincing argument.

"And the other mind?" Although Leo couldn't see his brother, Leo recognised the silence as Donnie chewing his lip worriedly.

"Well, I'm not sure how he'll cope." he admitted. Leo drew in breath to speak but Don cut him off quickly.

"Oh, I don't meant the physical stuff- anyone who's spent seventeen years under Master Splinter ought to be able to cope with the physical stuff. No, I mean- look, we may not have noticed, with all his messing, and pranking about but our kid brother's actually quite…sensitive, I guess. You need to be tough mentally as well as physically to be different in the Armed Forces. And he'll be different. Mutant Integration Programme notwithstanding. He'll be a large green turtle in a room full of humans and he'll be bullied and picked on. Again, probably not physically but… I don't know- I'd be worried about that. But overall, if it is what he wants, then, I think we should let him go for it."

…Mikey read over the letter again critically before shaking his head. Naah. He scribbled something a lot shorter and scowled at that too. He sighed and stuffed the original letter into his locker before sealing the edited version and leaving it for posting. Maybe someday he would tell them about the fights and the taunting that the mutants received but for now keep positive.

Owzat? Actually doing my Leaving Cert (Irish A-Levels, kinda) at the moment so this is my last update in any of my stories. Please give me some reviews, people- help me through this depressing and exam-my time!

Argh- Maths and Irish tomorrow. And just because the exams have started the weathers glorious- every flippin' year.

Ah well- good luck to everyone else in this position too!

Aries