Chapter 14

Searching for Refuge.

Brief recap, seeing how long it's been. Mutants known to exist. Turtles separated- Mikey into the Mutant Army Integration Program where he joins a group of other mutants. After the entire team is murdered by person or persons unknown, Don realises that there's some strange gaps in his memory. The team was revived by a powerful mutant called Chrysta Aylward who felt guilt over heir deaths. Another mutant, Oracle, organised the capture of the newly-resurrected mutants by another shadowy group, as this course of events is the only one in which Mutant/ Human war can be averted in the future. Something has been making contact with Leo while he's meditating.

Don looked tired but triumphant the next morning.

"Look." He held out a small piece of machinery in his hand. Raph and Splinter looked at it with a certain amount of bewilderment. Don looked rather shifty.

"Don't get too mad Raph…" he muttered in tones of a prayer before leaning over and pinching the back of Raph's neck where it was protected by the shell. Raph yelped and swatted the hand but Don had already backed off with something else in his hand, leaving Raph rubbing the back of his neck and scowling.

"Is that a tracer, Donatello?" asked Splinter with interest as Don held the two pieces. Don affirmed it with a nod.

"This can be linked to the computer in the lab," he said indicating the larger of the two devices. "This one that I pulled off Raph is the trace. It sends out a scrambled signal on a wavelength that most tracking devices, or receivers wouldn't pick up. The receiver unscrambles the signal and codes it into the computer. Only I can access the program and I can track any of you." He blushed. "I'm sorry…it was after Leo disappeared- when the Foot got him. I…I was mad at myself that I couldn't trace him, that I'd never thought of this before…so after all that ended I developed this. I know I should have asked…" Splinter held up a paw.

"Perhaps you should, my son. But you were upset and now… Why are you showing us this?"

Leo came into the room now, late for once. His eyes were bright and excited but his face was confused. He opened his mouth but closed it again as the words came into his head trust your brother. He sat down without saying anything. Now Don began moving, as he always did when trying to explain something.

"I wondered why Mikey's tracker wasn't working. It kept moving around after…after I knew it couldn't be. It was reacting differently also. The tracker should show you as a dot, while this orange one was flickering. Sometimes it would go out for ages and others it would be fine. The day after…the funeral I went to deactivate it and it wasn't where it should be. It should have been at…at the airbase…but it was appearing and disappearing and moving, like he was travelling. I figured it was faulty. Maybe it was damaged in the…attack. But then it disappeared, like it went out of range. These aren't very powerful- one fifty, two hundred miles, that's about their limit. So I've been working on it. Then last night…I was dreaming. There was something weird at the funeral. I can remember every single detail of that day." He looked from one face to the other, confused, serene, hopeful, worried, anticipatory. He glanced at Leo again shrewdly.

"Leo? Do you know something?" Leo shook it off.

"Keep going. I had an experience last night too- I'll say in a minute. But I believe you."

"Okay…the one detail I couldn't remember was the coffins being lowered. Then last night, I fought to remember and I got…flashes, I guess. Two people, a man and a woman- the did something to our minds." he recounted what he had seen the previous night and there was a silence for a moment.

"Leonardo. You said you also had an experience last night. Can you recount it for us?" Splinter asked. Even his customary serenity seemed shaken by Don's story. Why had his son's body been stolen?

Leo told of the conversation the previous night, finishing with "I couldn't entirely hear the last words but…this sounds crazy…I could swear she said 'alive'. Your brother is alive. She said she was partly to blame and that I was to trust my brother as she'd helped him remember something- I can only assume she meant Don- and he did. It makes sense. Except…"

"Except we identified him. We saw him, Leo. Nothing can bring the dead back to life. It can't be done. And he- they all- were dead at least twenty-four hours. It's not possible Leo. I want to believe it too…but…" Don shook his head.

"Come on, Don! Is it any stranger then travelling back in time to Ancient Japan? Meeting aliens? Taking part in tournaments in distant galaxies? You've seen so much 'impossible' stuff. Why is this one so hard to believe?" demanded Raph. His eyes blazed again, but this time hope replaced the normal anger. It never occurred to him to disbelieve his brothers. He might fight them, argue with them, be completely frustrated with them on occasion but he trusted them absolutely. If they said it happened, then it happened. Which meant…

"He might be alive…" he whispered.

Silence fell again as this filtered through. Splinter watched with fear in his eyes. He desperately wanted it to be true but feared for the effect on his family if this turned out not to be. The death had nearly destroyed them. If they were wrong this could shatter them beyond hope of recovery. And yet…

"Either way, you have a name. Robert Aylward. And Chrysta Aylward. A relative. Sister, perhaps, or wife. Refuge, outside Washington DC."

"She said 'was'. So does that mean she's dead? I mean, what was it that talked to me last night? A ghost?"

"Perhaps so. One of a mutant with a very strong Gift it seems. But a ghost that can communicate to one in meditation... She must have known how to find you, Leonardo. Perhaps…perhaps through contact with your brother…" he spoke the last words reluctantly, loath to raise his sons hopes if they were going to be cruelly dashed.

"Well, if she was responsible for Mikey and his team and she's now dead, it follows that she only died in the last week or so. So parish records would show it. Or local newspapers. Chrysta Aylward- can't be too common a name," was Leo's logical contrubution.

"Alright- I'm to the 'net. Might be something there."

"That woman- the one who gave me the warning- Oracle, her name was. I found out that she's from somewhere near Washington DC. Around Alexandria seems to be the best guess anyone can give, but I can't narrow it down further. Try there first," said Raph, acting on a hunch. Don nodded and left the room. Leo, Splinter and Raph looked at each other rather helplessly. Don was the one with the best chance of discovering anything. They felt rather superfluous to requirements for the moment.

"Well, I guess I'll make breakfast," said Leo finally. "My turn anyway. 'Bout as useful as anything we can do for now." Raph growled slightly at the inaction. He then looked rather sheepish as his stomach echoed the noise and the tension in the room faded slightly.

It was dark. That was all he could discern and he felt disorientated and scared. Where was he? Who was he? Why was here and where the hell was here? These questions followed each other through his head for one panicky moment. Training, faces flashed through his mind, attack in an alley, army, Missing his family, race, Electrode, Siren, Glacier, Steel, Fights, allies, friends, teammates. ATTACK! The pain as the bullet hit him again, the feather floating downwards.

Then peace for a time. And a voice, asking, insisting. He followed it and was back in this sharp spiky world. Where were the others? Had they come back? What was his name?

Mikey…I am Michelangelo Hamato. I…was murdered. I'm back, he thought, memories returning and his mind calming as he answered some of the questions. He shied away from the fact that he'd…died and returned, focussing on where he was. He couldn't move. His arms were fastened by his sides. He was on his back too. Dammit. He tried to rock on his shell but found that he was in a hollow effect. Whatever he was fastened into made allowances for his shell and he was effectively pinned in place in the dark. Okay…not good. Chances were he wasn't in the barracks then. His eyes were useless in the darkness of this…room, he assumed. He quietened his breathing and listened. No sounds. So he was alone in here. How long had he been here? No- that was conjecture. Useless. Facts. He needed cold hard facts. So- he was immobilised in a chair/ bed/table thing that had obviously been prepared for him. He was alone and he didn't know where he was, who had captured him or if the others were still alive.

Well, this sucked.

"I have something!" came the shout from the Lab. Forgetting the sausages which were sizzling away in the pan, Leo was first to the door, closely followed by Raph who nearly climbed over him. Splinter followed more sedately with his cane, but even his steps were more hurried then customary.

"What? What is it?"

"'Search for young housewife continues,' is the headline for the Alex Journal. Dated today." He started to read the main copy.

"The search for young housewife, Chrysta Aylward continues today, a week after she vanished. Her husband, Robert Aylward (30), has been questioned as to her disappearance but fears are in the local community the pretty twenty-seven year old is dead. It was well-known that the couple were both mutants which caused some strife in the quiet suburbs of Alexandria when it was first known, but since the quiet but popular pair have carved their place in this close-knit community and were widely accepted. A tearful neighbour said "I fear that some of these terrible anti-mutant people may have hurt her. I knew she was one but I could never hold it against her. She's a kind and lovely woman and we all pray she is safe."'

"Chrysta and Robert Aylward. It fits." said Leo unnecessarily.

"So why are we still here? Let's get to Alexandria and find Robert Aylward!" demanded Raph, already half-way to the door.

"Sensei?" asked Leo, looking at the elderly rat master.

"Go, my sons. I will remain here and try to find Michelangelo through my meditation, if, indeed, he is alive. But my sons, please do not raise your hopes too high. And remember what Chrysta said- although she, and possibly her husband, caused your brother's death, they did not mean harm to come to him and the true killers are still out there. Be careful."

"Hai, sensei," replied Leo seriously. He might need to keep a leash on Raph, who already had a dangerous look in his eyes as he stared at the picture on the screen of a young couple smiling into the camera.

Don switched off the machine as Raph went to get the van warmed up. It would be a long journey. Leo paused for a second in the living room before disappearing a moment into Mikey's room.

"Come on, Leo!" shouted Raph impatiently as Don took his place in the drivers seat and Leo climbed into the back with a sigh. It was always a bit of a fight for the front seat as whoever was in the back was due to be shaken around and occasionally thumped by boxes or whatever else cluttered the floor of the van.

"We're gonna take the back roads as much as possible." said Donnie, glancing briefly at the map before making a sharp left turn. The was a muffled yelp from the rear of the van as Leo got pelted with grit and small pebbles that had inexplicably found their way in.

"Sorry Leo," he called back rather belatedly before continuing. "I've been following the news- New York simply isn't safe to drive through. Especially not for us. You've all seen the riots- they're getting worse. I wouldn't be surprised if it does erupt into open civil war soon, just like that Oracle woman said," he added seriously. "If we're seen we could end up trying to fight any number of people. Stoppit Raph. We're good but we can't fight people with guns. Besides, we don't have the time to go looking for trouble. We need to get to Alexandria. Leo? Are you minding that laptop? It can't get damaged- we need to link the tracker into it when we get there- hopefully we'll be in range from there and…" he trailed off. Leo looked around guiltily before wincing as he realised he was sitting on the leather bag holding the precious machine. He eased himself onto the floor beside it and tried to look as if he'd been there all along. Another sharp turn had him grabbing the side of the van and wincing.

"When we get to Camden, we're switching. I'll drive and someone else can mind the laptop for a while," he said firmly. Otherwise, this was going to be a long journey!

Mikey didn't know how many hours he was there in the dark for. He tried meditating but couldn't settle down enough. Like Raph, he was of too active and impatient a nature to settle easily. Splinter had always half suspected that his youngest, and perhaps the second-oldest had mild attention-deficit disorder. And in the case of the youngest, ADHD wasn't out of the question. Whether this was or wasn't the case, Mikey certainly wasn't able to concentrate now. Then, after an eternity in the dark, a light! A door had swung open behind his head letting artificial yellow light into his room, where it attacked his eyes and made them water. He shut them tightly as they stung.

"Number 401 is awake. Subject seems to be a large humanoid but has a chelonian appearance. Reaction to bright lights, like a human or ape."

The voice was cold, dry and impersonal. A clipboard voice. Mikey hated it on principle.

"Number 401 isn't deaf. Nor is he stupid." he managed angrily, before clamping down on any further words.

"Subject confirms gender, same as previously ascertained during prelim examination."

That was enough to temporarily render the young turtle speechless. He felt furious and embarrassed, not mention more then a little violated. They'd done some sort of examination on him when he'd been unconscious?

"Subject speaks American English with a New York accent. Appears to be cogitating rather then repeating learned sentences."

"Well, yes, I'm thinking. The Army doesn't accept parrots. It was hard enough for them to accept a turtle!" he muttered, thankful for once for Don's vocabulary. Clipboard duly noted the observation. Mikey rolled his eyes.

"Baka." The forbidden expression learned from Raph (who else) seemed to fit the git. Mikey then went on to expound at some length on the subject of the scientist's humanity and brainpower and how it would compare (unfavourably) with that of a small lemming. In Japanese.

Clipboard mentioned that the subject seemed to be raving and talking gibberish. The subject told him that actually, many Japanese people would be quite offended to hear their native language thus described. Clipboard dropped his pen. The idea of an animal speaking one language was hard enough, but English and Japanese- two of the harder world languages to learn, seemed to stump him entirely.

"It is my recommendation that previous plan of vivisection to see effects of death and revival after more then twenty-four hours to be wasteful. We could learn much more by having a psychologist to speak to this subject and learn if it is indeed sentient and how it learned two languages."

Mikey went silent again at the coldness in the man's voice when he spoke of murdering him -again!- to see the effects of his last bloody murder! And vivisection is never a nice word to hear applied to your immediate future.

"Where are my teammates?" he demanded. "And where am I?"

"Can you tell me anything else?" asked the man, pen poised.

"Where are my teammates and where am I?" he asked again.

"Your name is Michelangelo Hamato, we have your service file. I can't give you any information at this time. It's classified."

Mikey stared at the ceiling.

"At least tell me did you kill them or are they alive?" he asked flatly.

"Classified. But perhaps I could…bend a rule…if you were to tell me are there any more like yourself. Family?" Mikey gave the ceiling a flat stare. Was this guy thick or did he just believe that subtlety would be wasted on a giant turtle? Like he was going to give this goon his family's name and address!

"Michelangelo Hamato. Service number 1022461. Rank; Trainee." he shut his mouth again and stared at the ceiling. That was all he was getting, just as he'd been trained for a situation like this. Of course, he allowed, it probably wasn't precisely this situation they were thinking of…

Ten hours later they had reached Trenton and Leo felt like he was about to lose his legs. He'd been sitting on a hard jolting surface for ten hours and it wasn't even his turn to get out and drive yet. Ninja- he was ninja, used to discomfort and able to bear it with fortitude- his bum was numb-and OW! A pothole threw him up what felt like a foot and landed him hard on the base of his shell. Arrgh…his bum wasn't quite numb…that hurt!

"Okay, pull over!" he said as commandingly as it is possible to sound when your rear end felt like, well, like it had been sat on for six hours and thumped around the inside of a large metal van. Don decided he had probably pushed his luck as far as it was going to go and meekly pulled over. He could do with stretching his legs for a while anyway he supposed. Ten hours of following directions read out by someone who, it transpired about three hours out from New York, had been reading the map upside down, trying to find back roads and avoid habitated areas and the riots and anger that made them so dangerous. He was tired too.

A thump and a squawk from the back of the van hurried both of them out to find Leo picking himself up off the road and glaring at them both. Raph turned away slightly, not able to hold the twitching of his mouth at the sight of Leo hobbling around like a granddad, slightly hunched over. Leo scowled at him even more fiercely and then glanced at Don. Before Raph could even react, Don made a run for the passenger door and Leo belied his previous elderly state by suddenly being at the drivers side door leaving Raph beside the open back door, groaning as he twigged how he'd been tricked. Ten minutes later they'd set off again with a much-relieved Leo driving, Don as a rather more competent map-reader and a grumbling Raph being bounced around the metal room in the back, wondering why the shell they hadn't got seats in here.

Mikey had been left alone again to brood. He'd refused to answer any of the scientist's questions and the man had left slightly frustrated but excited at what he had learned. His team! What if…they had been killed, he was sure. But so had he and he was back. Maybe they were okay too. Had they been captured? Or vivisected. The scientist's cool ones echoed in his head. Siren was in the most danger (after himself, he allowed). She was the most obviously not-human after himself with her wings. And the others? Steel, Electrode, Glacier? He suddenly realised that if something happened to any of them he would almost as badly affected as if it happened to one of his brothers. They were his team. And he was responsible for them. He strained again against the bonds- he had been working away at them automatically for as long as he'd been awake, but these guys were good. He wasn't getting loose any time soon. Eventually, against his will, his eyes closed as his body demanded rest and time to recover.

He slept normally for a time before he felt something pushing at the back of his mind. Training kicked in and he tried to identify what it was. It felt like someone reaching out in meditation, only not practised and courteous, asking entry, like one of his brothers or his Sensei might have done. It seemed familiar…but not one of his family. It was scared, but didn't mean him harm. It was getting frantic and panicking. Then a scream echoed through his mind. He was willing to bet that the body of whoever this was was thrashing and panicking too. Then he recognised the presence.

Siren!

Siren, it's alright. It's Mikey, don't panic, he tried to communicate but the 'link' wasn't strong enough. He projected calming emotions at the 'presence' trying to soothe it. It worked and the presence faded slightly. Then images and impressions flew back to him- dark, capture, fear. So Siren was captive also. She was reacting much worse then he had because he was far more used to this sort of situation due to previous experience then she. Then another presence was felt, pushing at the link. It was…hard to place…no, not Electrode. Must be Steel. This one wasn't as panicked and could be calmed easily by Mikey and now Siren's efforts. She seemed to have gotten the idea, projecting calming and peaceful images to the newly-awakened mind. Mikey surmised that whatever it was that these people had used on them, it was only wearing off now. Glacier and Electrode should be waking soon. Siren and Mikey were the most different physiologically and they'd probably put less into them for fear of an overdose. Steel was bigger physically then petite Glacier or wiry Electrode and the drug had dispersed faster.

He noticed that with three 'linked' for want of a better word, images and ideas were easier to send although words didn't seem to be getting through. Then he was temporarily inundated with confusion and fear as both Glacier and Electrode 'woke' together. The three of them worked to calm them together and finally they had a five-way link established.

Can…you hear me? It was faint- distant. It sounded like Glacier. Mikey's eyebrows furrowed. Obviously this 'link' was more powerful, the more people involved. With two he had barely been able to calm Siren. With five, they could talk. Don could explain this, but he couldn't for the life of him think why this had happened.

I hear you he 'said' picturing her in his mind and concentrating on getting his answer to her.

There was a pause. Did you hear any of the others? I heard you all. Mikey thought about it.

No…I focussed on you when I answered.

I concentrated on all of you- so you all heard it. Makes sense…unlike the rest of this! Where are we? And why can we talk like this? What's going on?

The calm cool Glacier seemed on the verge of panic again and it was affecting the others. The 'link' shifted and suddenly Mikey could only hear his own thoughts again as he lay there, troubled and feeling very much alone.

Hmm…another twist! Mwahahaha! Thank you for your patience, kind readers! I apologise for the long wait- pesky exams and stuff. Well, summer holidays have arrived again, the birds are blooming and the cabbages singing and this author wants to get back to torturing borrowed characters! See you again soon!

AZ