Finally, an update! Heh heh, still alive. :P
CHAPTER TEN
Leonardo groaned, placing his hand over his aching head. He must have fallen asleep. Wait, that was bad. What if Mikey fell asleep too? What if Bishop did something to them while they were asleep?
Leo jumped up into a fighting stance, mindful of the distance that the chains would allow. But there was something wrong with his footing; the ground was unstable, and he seemed to misjudge the distance of the chains. As a result he found himself falling forwards onto the ground. But the unstable ground only bounced back and threw him further down, and suddenly he found himself face-down on a hard floor.
Mikey burst into laughter.
"It's about time you woke up," Leo heard Mikey say.
Leo groaned, and opened his eyes again. This time he took more careful note of his surroundings.
He was in the hotel room, and apparently had just fallen off the bed. Mikey was smiling at him from his spot on the other bed, and had apparently just been watching a television show. The shifting light of the tv made the only light in the room; night had fallen, and no other lights were turned on.
Leo picked himself off the floor and rubbed his head.
"Um, how long was I asleep?" he asked.
"I dunno, a couple hours," Mikey said, turning back to the tv, "Donnie said to let you sleep."
Leo glanced at the alarm clock beside the bed. "It's that late?" he asked, rubbing his aching head, "How could I have slept that long?"
"I dunno," Mikey said, already engrossed in his show, "But I've been keeping an eye on things here, ya know? So it's alright. Bishop hasn't found us yet, and we lost the trail of that robot guard a long time ago. So relax, Leo! We're in a hotel room, and we're safe now."
"All the same, I think I'll take over guarding the room," Leo said, "Where's Donnie?"
"Uh," said Mikey, thinking, "I think he left a while ago."
"He what?" Leo asked.
Mikey turned towards him, surprised, "Well, after he asked me to guard the room he kinda disappeared. I thought he went out for some fresh air or something."
Leo moved quickly, scouring every inch of the hotel room-the bathroom, closets, kitchenette…but there was no Donnie.
"This can't be happening," Leo said, "Doesn't he know how stupid it is to leave alone? Mikey, when did he leave?"
"Uh," Mikey said, staring at the clock, "maybe around midnight?"
Leo groaned, and grabbed his katanas.
"Come on," he said, "We have to go look for him before he gets into trouble."
"Aw, can't we wait until the show is over?" Mikey asked.
Leo shot his brother a stern look, and Mikey reluctantly grabbed his nunchucks.
Bishop frowned as he looked at the intelligence report.
"This isn't right," he said to himself. He double checked the report, and reviewed the source material. With a scowl he threw the report aside and walked outside the tent.
Immediately everyone turned their attention to him.
"Pack everything up," he commanded, "We're going back to headquarters."
Eyes betrayed their surprise, but no one questioned him. Instead, everyone immediately began running to perform the task he had assigned.
"Sir," one man asked, "Shall some of us continue to search for DOnatello here in the countryside?"
"There is no need. We will return for him later." Bishop said.
That was enough for his lackey, but Bishop was far from happy. He knew that by the time they returned, the turtle would have escaped. It might take years to find him again, but this matter needed to be taken care of immediately. And he needed all of his troops for this mission.
Donatello crouched down in the corner of the roof, waiting. It had been harder than he thought to sneak out of the hotel room. Leo had decided to stand guard in case someone came after them during the night, and had announced that he would remain awake all night just in case. In the end, Donatello resorted to sneaking a little something from his belt into his brother's drink.
As soon as Leo was asleep he convinced Mikey that Leo had been straining himself lately, and to heroically spend the night awake in his sleeping brother's absence-keeping himself occupied with television, of course. Slipping past Mikey had been a breeze. Don would have been worried about an enemy sneaking up on the television watcher, but he knew that Mikey was still capable of keeping an eye on the hotel room even when he was most engrossed in his shows.
Donatello banished all these thoughts from his mind as the exo-suit landed on the roof. At the same time, his shellcell rang.
"Um, Raph?" Donnie said, "You don't have to talk through the phone anymore. It's just us."
There was no answer from the suit, but Raph's arms roughly gestured towards the ringing phone and he stomped his foot impatiently. It was the first time Donnie had seen the suit move the way that Raph would move.
Confused, Donnie answered the phone.
"This stupid thing," Raphael said through the phone, "Ain't got speakers."
"Really?" Donnie said, "Fascinating. Mind if I look closer?"
"What did you get out of the thing I gave ya?" Raph asked, eager to change the subject.
Donnie held his open shellcell in one hand and dug the small piece of machinery out of his belt.
"It's Utrom tech," he said, giving it back to his brother, "Capable of being preprogrammed and following basic orders, given the right command codes."
Donnie didn't bother to bring the phone back up to his mouth. His brother could hear him speak just fine; he only needed the cell to hear Raph's responses.
"Yeah, that sounds right," Raph said, snapping the thing into his arm.
"So this suit is the computer you've been using," Donnie said, "How were you able to access the internet? Or book the hotels? Or-"
"Look, I don't know," Raph said, "It's kinda controlled by thinking, or something. It gives me stuff by putting it in my head, and when I think of what to do, it does it."
"By 'it' you mean the suit," Donnie said.
"Yeah," said Raph, "I can't call it what it is. I don't have administrator privileges, whatever the shell that is, so it won't let me do everything."
"I get it," said Don, getting excited, "Bishop is blocking you from doing certain things. But he had no idea you could connect to the internet or call my shellcell, right?"
"Right," said Raph.
"But how did you set up the fake hake when I instructed you to?" Donnie asked.
"It's confusing," Raph said, sitting down on the roof, "Sometimes this thing is a lot like an earth computer, and sometimes it isn't. I was hoping you could help me out because o' that."
"Hm," said Donnie, sitting down next to Raph, "I could probably see if we could hack into the system and give you administrator privileges. What things are forbidden to you?"
Raph was silent.
"Right, you can't say them if they're forbidden," Donnie corrected, "Let me guess. You can't control yourself when you're on a mission?"
"Right," Raph said, "The thing takes over then."
"But you have some amount of control, right? I mean, you kept missing us on purpose."
"Only if I try hard not to," Raph said, "Everyone thinks it's a glitch. At least, they used to."
Donnie's eyes widened.
"Bishop knows you let us escape," he said.
"Not you," Raph said, the suit's helmet turning to his brother, "He still thinks you're up north. But yeah, he thinks I let Leo and Mikey escape. That's why he's uploading new software which will allow him more control."
"When?"
"Now," Raph said, "When it's all in, I might not be able to keep this from hurting ya."
"Then we'd better work fast to hack the suit," Donnie said, "How long do you have?"
"Until it's all in? About fifty minutes." Raph said. "And twenty-three seconds." He added.
"Then we'd better hurry," Donatello said, standing up, "I've got some equipment and notes in my lab that would help us out. Can you help me get past Bishop's traps and into the lair?"
"Yeah, sure. Piece of cake." Raph said. But he didn't move to get up at all.
"Um, Raph?" Donnie said, "We have to be going."
"Just give me a sec, will ya?" Raph snapped, "You know this is the first time I've been able to sit since he put me in this thing?"
"Do you want to stay in there or find a way out of it?" Donnie asked.
"Fine, whatever," Raph said, standing up, "Let's get back to the lair."
"When we get to the door I'll go in first," Donnie said, jumping down the side of the building. Raph followed him, surprisingly quiet despite the metal armor. "I don't want to frighten Sensei." Donnie finished.
"Fine by me," said Raph, using the suit to lift the manhole with one hand, "Let's get this over with."