When Don returned to his room, Mona was sitting on his desk. This time he managed to hold back his scream, but just barely.
"Hello, Donatello," she said pleasantly.
Don shut the door behind him and stepped up to her. "Listen, I want out."
Mona blinked. "Excuse me?"
"I want out. I've been doing this job for a month, and it's…I had to take a baby! I can't do it. Let me out."
The middle-aged woman uncrossed her legs and quirked a brow. "I'm afraid that's impossible."
"There's nothing-"
She was already shaking her head. "I am sorry dear. You're not the only one who's wanted out before – I know it's not fair, dumping the job on just anyone who passes by, but it's the only way. No one would want it otherwise. But I'm afraid it's a lifetime deal."
The turtle gaped at her. "I have to do this…for my whole life!?"
Mona inclined her head. "You'll pass your job on to whomever makes contact with you last upon your death. Just as happened to the homeless man whose job you took over. He was a tough one – hard for him to get near a computer. But he did a good job."
She really did look sorry, but that did nothing to stop Don's heart from rapidly sinking into his stomach. "So there's nothing-"
"Nothing at all." She sighed. "Now, the box, please."
"What? Oh." Don had nearly forgotten about all the souls he had collected. He picked the box off his shelf and pulled a tiny key from his belt, unlocking it, before handing it to her.
As soon as Mona opened the top to peek inside, her face was bathed in a dull blue light, illuminating her pleased expression. "You've been doing a good job as well, apparently," she said, closing the top again. "We've got plenty of bodies waiting for souls to be redistributed into them. And you haven't passed any of the deadlines, not even by a second! Good for you!"
Don merely nodded mutely. However, Mona wasn't finished – in fact, she was in the process of shaking a finger at him. "Make sure you never pass a deadline," she said, suddenly serious, "You've been doing a good job so far, and a few seconds never matter, but there will be consequences if you do."
"Consequences like what?"
Mona shook her head. "I'm sorry, it's not my place to say." She gripped the box tightly and the blue glow disappeared. "Until next month." She handed the box back to him, and then she was gone.
Don's computer pinged, and with a heavy sigh, he turned to see whose number was up.
-
Far across New York, in a deeper, darker part of the sewers, something black and slithery leapt out of the water onto a maintenance platform. Two others joined it, seemingly having materialized out of the air itself.
"We grow weaker," The first one said in a grating voice, as if it had not spoken in many years. "We need to feed."
"But," said a second in a voice that identified her as female, "All the souls have been collected. And the moon will return in a few nights' time."
"We have waited this long," The last one, also female, spoke up. "We can wait a bit longer. It is only a matter of time…the new one will slip up. They always do. And then we shall grow strong."
The three crowded together, and then with the sound of whooshing air, one large black mass disappeared into the water.
-
Mikey sighed and reclined on the couch. Klunk was in his lap, rubbing against his plastron for all the attention he could glean from his owner.
Morris, who had discovered that his master's brother knew exactly about that special spot between his ears, lay curled up on Mike's left side, blissfully enjoying the rubbing motion of the turtle's other hand.
Leo smiled at the scene as he entered the living room. "You're turning into quite the animal guy, Mikey."
"What can I say?" The younger turtle said, grinning, "They love me."
Leo chuckled and shook his head. "Well, you're gonna have to disappoint them. Meet outside for patrol in ten minutes, ok?"
"'Kay."
"Oh, and could you get Donnie for me?"
Mike looked at his brother. "Why me? Don's been such a grouch lately."
"I know," Leo grimaced. "That's why I'm asking you to get him."
"Oh, ha ha, thanks a lot."
The blue-banded turtle just smiled and disappeared out the door to wait for his brothers.
Rolling his eyes, Mikey pushed Klunk off his lap, ignoring his indignant yowl, and headed for Don's room, tapping on the door.
"Donnie?"
"I'm busy Mike."
"Yeah…Leo told me to tell you that patrol's in ten minutes."
"What!?"
"Patrol's in ten minutes," Mikey repeated, "Something wrong?"
"Uh…no…" Don said, looking back at the computer screen. Patrols took hours, and he only had one to collect the soul of some guy named Charles Ling, all the way in Chinatown, which was in the opposite direction of where the patrol would be tonight.
But how to get out of this one? Leo had been watching him even closer lately – Don thought he probably suspected something was going on. But the book had been very adamant about not telling anyone about his new job.
"Donnie?"
"I'm coming," Don said, getting up and shutting down the computer. He would go on the patrol and look for an opening to slip away from his brothers. He would collect the soul, and then return to them. It was the only solution he could think of.
"Damn patrols," Don heard Raph muttering as he passed Don and Mike on the way to the door. He was also pretty sure he heard Raph mumble something about Leo's power trips, but he wasn't positive.
Sure or not, it made him smile, something he really needed. Leo noticed.
"You look happier today," he commented to his brother. "Get some weight off your shell?"
"Not really," Don shrugged, "But I can deal."
Raph elbowed Don good-naturedly. "Good, 'cuz we really don't need ya turnin' into me!"
Don chuckled falsely along with the rest of his brothers, and fell into his place in line as they jogged to the nearest manhole cover.
Once they were topside and safely on top of a building, Leo began to lay out the rules for the evening. "Okay, it's Friday, so there's going to be a lot more activity than the rest of the week. Make sure to keep an eye peeled. And stick together at all times. No wandering off. You know what they say – the freaks come out at night."
Well damn, Don thought as Raph made some comment about nobody being able to get freakier than Mikey or something, How am I supposed to slip away now? Leo's been watching me lately – I know he has. He's probably going to be extra-careful tonight, too, or he wouldn't have said that.
Don glanced at the clock on his shell cell. He only had thirty minutes left to collect the soul, which wasn't anywhere near where he was standing.
Damn damn damn.
"Waiting for something, Don?" Leo's voice said from behind him.
Don jumped and turned to face his brothers. Mike and Raph had already gone on ahead – apparently Leo had given the order to go, although Don hadn't heard it. He gazed at Leo's stern but curious face.
"No," he sighed, "Nothing at all. Let's go."
As he joined his brothers in the nightly show of acrobatics, heroism and some good old-fashioned thief punching, the opportunity to slip away never came up. And the hour deadline slowly ticked away.
