Equilibrium
Our Life, The Movie

"Ain't it convenient that she needs rescuing from a stronghold that she just gave you access codes to? It's like opening the door and saying, 'come get me.' You know it's a trap, Leo. And if ya don't, I'm telling you now."

Raphael had his finger pressed to Leo's chest as he spoke, punctuating his words. The turtle in blue waved his brother off and continued his trek of pacing back and forth behind the couch. Master Splinter sat, quietly sipping his tea and looking thoughtful in his chair. Michaelangelo watched his siblings from his perch on the couch's armrest. Noticing the absence of a familiar placated energy, he commented, "Shouldn't Don have been back by now?"

Step, step, step, step, turn. Step, step, step, step, turn.

Leo would eye the clock every round he made. "That's what I'm worried about. Do you have your shell-cell, Mike?"

The orange-clad ninja reached into his belt and retrieved the oval device. He then tossed it to his concerned brother; Mike knew better than to interrupt Don when he was at April's house. He sure as shell wasn't about to bother him while he was at Kai's. Even if nothing develops, it was about giving a guy his chances.

Leonardo caught the object and dialed Don's number. He continued to pace for about twenty seconds, then stopped with an expression of pure relief. "Where are you? You sound like you just woke up."

The others listened to the only side of the conversation that they could hear.

"Well, something came up; we need you back at the lair." Leo paused, listening to the other end. "Oh, and did the professor find anything?" Another pause, this one considerably longer than the ones before it. "Then why don't you stop there on the way home? He's probably received some kind of results from the scan by now."

Truth was, Leonardo had no clue how long it took for particular energy signatures to travel through space, bounce back, and be interpreted. But he was hoping for something useful.

'All right. See you soon."

He closed the device and dropped it back into Mike's lap. "He's on his way." Raph looked as if he was going to launch into another argument, but Leo held his hands up to stop him. "We should wait until Don gets here, so that he's in on everything."

Raphael was frustrated- why was he the only one around here that was able to see reason? He wanted to drive his point home, but knew by the look on his brother's face that words would fall on deaf ears. Not that it's ever stopped him before. Unable to keep the agitation from his voice, he demanded, "An' just what are we supposed to do until he shows, then? Sit around with our thumbs up or a-"

"Raphael!" The aged rat interrupted his son before such foul language could be spoken. "This is the perfect opportunity to clear the mind and look at all of the facts, some of which our emotions may block from sight. We should all meditate on the recent events so that we are better prepared to take the appropriate actions."

Leonardo bowed in a gesture of respect toward his master. "Yes, Sensei. That's an excellent idea."

Mike watched as his brother in blue left for his room, no doubt to do just what Splinter had suggested. Raph muttered something akin to 'yeah, meditate' before locking himself in his own room. The sounds of a punching bag being pummeled was soon heard. The turtle in orange looked at his master, realizing that he was the only one that hadn't at least pretended to comply. He reached beside himself to pull out a set of headphones and a walkman.

"What? I'm clearing my mind..."

Splinter didn't doubt that.

Captain Quinzarr stood before the high council, waiting for their decree.

Six utroms sat on their respective pedestals, communing on the matter at hand. One could almost hear the buzz of telepathic exchange. The captain shifted his tentacles restlessly, then schooled himself into reverent stillness. The buzzing ceased, and the council spoke as one.

"Ch'rel must be stopped; you are advised to use lethal force."

Although pleased by their decision, Quinzarr wanted complete clarification. "And does this extend to those in his liege, such as the mutant turtles?"

"If necessary."

Donatello addressed the lair's occupants. "Well guys, there's good news and bad news."

Leatherhead was inserting a disk into Don's computer as the others began to gather around the two. Mike ventured a guess, "Is the good news the fact that LH is going to help us storm the tower? Y'know...to rescue Karai on Leo's orders and all."

It was clear that neither Mike nor Raph agreed with their brother's rash decision. Once briefed, Don and their crocodilian friend had a suspicious lack of comments on the matter. Leatherhead cleared his throat to reply to the young ninja's comment. "It is, if you see it as such, Michaelangelo; however, my reasons have nothing to do with Karai."

An exchange of quizzical looks floated around the room until all eyes came to rest on Donatello. Splinter, wishing for some clarity himself, addressed his intellectual student. "Then, my son, what is the good news you spoke of?"

Don's voice carried over the sound of Leatherhead's furious typing. "The good news, is that professor Honeycut's scanner works brilliantly. He was able to utilize the reciprocal energy to not only locate the starship, but to also run an analysis on its technology so that we're better informed as to the resources old Shredhead has at his disposal."

That was indeed good news, right? The saying, 'know yourself, know your enemy, and you will know victory' came to Leo's mind. Afraid to hear it, but unable to avoid it, the turtle in blue asked the inevitable. "What's the bad news?"

A series of code began to run across the monitor's screen and Leatherhead replied without looking up. "The bad news, my friend, would be our findings. I'm downloading a copy of the scan's result and it's not good."

Raphael hated suspense.

He also hated bugs, thugs, authority, bad guys that won't stay dead or down, being mocked, appearing weak, cages, oatmeal, and curfew. But to be unnecessarily lead into suspense about something terrible when it could just be said and done...well, that came in at a close tenth on the list. He twirled his sai in agitation. "Then out with it already!"

The crocodile adjusted the glasses on his snout as he looked over the codes. Michaelangelo's knee bounced up and down from his seat on the couch and everyone's attention was on the two mutants gathered around the computer screen. Leatherhead elaborated, "It would seem that the results indicate an exponential source of harmonic frequencies that, while innocuous in it's current state, are nonetheless degenerative on an atomic level. Such a state of energy would require but a minuscule form of stimuli to become active."

Mike asked the question that everyone knew he would. "Huh?"

Years of having to reword his own thoughts in order to relate to his brothers came in handy as Don translated, "There's a weapon of incredible destruction on that starship. Judging by the signature it's giving off, it's activated and just waiting for the trigger. The trigger could be anything from a timer, to remote activation by the Shredder."

Leatherhead interjected, "It's difficult to measure the device's power in its current state, but the potential ranges from planetary destruction to severe overkill. Don't expect anything less than complete annihilation."

Michaelangelo's knee came to a sudden stop. Leatherhead had always been the drama queen. He had the whole Frankenstein complex down pat; despite his high character and complexities, he still considered himself a monster. Not much else they could do for the guy but be there for him while he worked things out. Hopefully his love for drama was carrying over to the current situation, because complete annihilation was never a good thing to hear. Just to be sure, Mike did what he usually does: he voiced his thoughts.

"So you're saying that old tin-grin's got a giant ray gun pointed at Earth? I thought that he wanted to enslave the planet, not destroy it..."

Don interrupted, "He does seem prone to holding grudges, though. He wants to destroy the Utrom's planet- his own homeworld -I don't think he'll lose any sleep over Earth."

Raph was also doubtful. "Then why not do it already? Why would he be on the planet that he plans to destroy?"

Don supplied the somewhat repetitive answer while clicking the mouse over his friend's shoulder. "The grudge, Raph. His every action here on Earth seemed to be fueled by vengeance of some kind. Shell, he created the foot centuries ago in order to track down and destroy the Utroms. We're only his latest targets. I'm guessing that his vindictive nature won't let him rest until he settle matters personally. Those 'matters', of course, being us." He thought for a moment before adding, "And Karai as well, if she was telling the truth."

The ninja in orange waved his arm in the air to bring everyone's attention back to himself. "Hello! Giant ray gun pointed at Earth because of one guy's personal vendetta; can anyone else say B-rated sci-fi movie material? Isn't it all a little cliche...a little far fetched?"

Leonardo, who had been listening in quiet contemplation, responded. "It's about as far fetched as being transported to a galaxy lightyears from our own where many of its diverse inhabitants speak English. Or as cliche as an invasion of aliens that despite their distant and unrelated origins, resemble our own extinct triceratops- even in name. We seem to encounter a lot of recycled 'B-rated material,' but that's our life. We should come to expect this sort of thing by now...especially when the Shredder is involved."

Raph took to leaning against the wall, his sai having been returned to his belt. "So this is it. It's not about Karai anymore, it's about survival."

Leo thought to remind his brother that in neutralizing the threat, they would still be saving Karai. But seeing everyone on the same page, this was an instance where he knew the importance of picking his battles. Letting it go, he switched to tactical mode; they needed a plan of action, and they needed it quickly.

"Yo, April. It's Mike. Listen, there's something going down tonight, so we're going to have to cancel the pizza and movies. But you and Casey should definitely stay in and rent the flicks anyway, y'know?"

The turtle sat in the kitchen, wincing at the earpiece as the interrogation began. They had all agreed that with the access codes and updated schematics, there was no reason to involve and endanger their friends. At the same time, if anything were to happen to the Hamato clan, they didn't want to simply disappear off the face of the Earth. At least, not to their closest friends.

"Just trust me April- everything's fine. It's just a little skirmish that we can handle. We just worry about you being recognized from associating with us."

Not that being indoors would protect their friends if they were to fail...

"Oh, Leo's calling my name. I'll explain later, promise. Gotta go, bye!"

Click

Putting the shell-cell away, he folded his arms on the table and dropped his head into them. A deep sigh escaped him as a swirl of thoughts began a kaleidoscopic dance in his mind. They say that every teenager feels as if the weight of the world were on their shoulders. Over the past two years, Mike had come to believe that there was something...different...about his family. There were the obvious things that made it unconventional of course, but he felt as if there was something more.

Why? Why were they always fighting for their lives, teetering on the edge of devastation? They were just a family; individuals who had their own faults and dreams, yet life kept thrusting on responsibilities that should belong to no teenager. Mike knew that luck had been their side so far, but it was going to catch up to them one day. Don won't have the answer, Raph won't be strong enough, Leo won't be perfect, or he...well, Mike didn't like to dwell on the possibilities.

"That should just about meet my brooding quota for the month."

With that, he left the kitchen to live out the day at hand.

Donatello was making a call, himself.

"Kai, it's Don."

Even if they hadn't known her long enough to develop a known association, he felt obligated to contact her before something as big as attempting to neutralize a planetary threat. Call him old-fashioned.

Her voice was somewhat hesitant on the other end. "Hi Don..."

He could understand the awkwardness. They had been about as intimate as two people could be. The fact that he had to leave so abruptly did nothing to help matters. "I'm sorry about leaving like I did, but it was an emergency. Trust me when I say that I wanted to stay and talk- it all happened so quickly."

She interrupted, "I wanted to talk to you about that."

He flinched mentally. He knew that they had moved too quickly. Way too quickly. In all reality, they hardly knew one another, but they obviously had something. Right? He had shared a part of himself that no one had ever seen; could he really chalk it up to a youthful mistake?

Her voice became more confident and he was suddenly afraid to hear it. "I think we both had too much to drink..."

That was a lie, and she knew it. "We had the same amount, Kai. We were discussing the implications of active thought forms not ten minutes before you fell into my lap."

"That was an accident!"

He couldn't believe what he was hearing. If she was going to get defensive, so was he. They were both equally responsible for their actions, and he wasn't about to let her dismiss it. "And everything that followed, were those involuntary reflexes as well?"

The line was silent for several moments; it seemed as if neither had anything more to say on the topic. Don's flat tone broke the extended pause, "I believe this is where we hang up."

"Wait, Don." Her voice was softer, lacking conviction. He recognized it to mean that she was searching for the right words. "It's just...aliens, mutants, supernatural abilities and starships. I'm in way over my head here, and I'm really not prepared to involve myself in something so abnormal."

Abnormal

Later, he would reflect on it and realize that he should have hung up and left it at that. But it wasn't his mind that was wounded.

"You don't even realize how self-centered and conceited you are, do you? 'You shouldn't involve yourself.' Not only are you involved, but you involved me in this little self-searching of yours. I should have seen it: you completely disregarded the safety of potential thousands because you didn't want to get your hands dirty with the Mozeka. You freaked out over the Utrom because he threatened your personal view of the world, wrapped up in your own comfortable ignorance. You claim to be unprepared, and you couldn't be more right. So just screw your eyes tight and dismiss reality. You'll be doing the world -and those of us who live in it -a favor."

Click