Rebound

Chapter IV

I've heard that when you're about to die, your life supposedly flashes before your eyes. Now, there's no way of knowing that until you've reached the end of your own means, but I'd argue that something similar happens when you've made a huge mistake that's caught up with you unexpectedly. The difference is that instead of your whole life flashing, what you see is the events leading up to your moment of conviction. As soon as I saw "APRIL" flash across the lit up call display screen on my cell, it all came rushing back so clearly.

"Hey, Leo? April and I just made plans to look over this courier program I've been working on for her. It's kind of a last minute thing. We were thinking Saturday night would be best, if that's alright with you..."

"Mm, you haven't been out her way in awhile, have you? If I had any idea how to program I'd ask to tag along, you know how things get around here on Saturdays lately."

"Heh, don't be so hard on them. They've settled down a lot since you came home, you know. Especially Raph, come to think of it. One night of freedom never hurt anyone, right?"

"Thanks for trying to make me feel better, say hi to April and Casey for us."

"Any time, Leo. I don't plan on being remarkably late, but I'll call you if anything changes."

After letting the phone ring until it was about to cut to voicemail, I quickly answered and tried to remain calm while my head raced with panic. Goddamnit, how could I have forgotten to tell April? I knew this couldn't be a good sign, she always called the lair first because it made a mess of her phone bill when she tried reaching us by shell cell. Like an idiot though, I tried acting completely oblivious to this when I picked up.

"H-hey April, what's up?" My voice clipped on the 'hey' and I began pacing along the chainlink fence that surrounded the lot nervously. In retrospect, I may have been overreacting. The conversation I has been bracing myself for went surprisingly better that how thought it would. Instead of being angry with me, or even irritated after her encounter with my brother, April just sounded overwhelmingly exhausted and disconnected. She got lost in her own thoughts not once, but twice, during my apologies and half-vindications, needing me to repeat things for her. I reassured her that I was safe, simply figuring some things out on my own. I told her not to worry about Leo or getting our stories straight, and that I would deal with him personally when I got home. Lastly, I apologized for using her as an alibi without clearing it with her first and vowed not to do it again.

"Well, since you're not going to be shedding any light on what you are up to tonight, I won't keep you any longer. Please be safe, Donnie." said April with a yawn. If she was better rested when she called me she may have been worse tempered, so although I felt for her when I heard her exhausted voice on the other end, I was also semi-thankful in the back of my mind that her usual feisty spirit wasn't with her that night.

"You too April, bye for now." I answered quietly before ending the call. Before getting on my way again, I stood there in the vacant lot for a moment turning everything over in my head. I had April, who knew I was up to something, and a family back home who likely did as well. At the same time I also had no idea what was going on with April, when I'd be seeing her again or if she was even willing to shed some light on her absence in my family's life any time soon. I also had Lisa waiting for me in a parking garage with dinner, smokes and a hundred stories to regale me with. I told myself at that moment that I wasn't going to let anyone ruin this. Not April, my brothers, Edison and Arjay (who I'll get to later) but most importantly myself. Quite frankly, I knew I deserved my time spent with Lisa. Leo left us for nearly two years while Raph got to play Night Watcher and throw his weight around in the lair during our eldest brother's absence . Oh, and some of the things Mikey got into during his Cowabunga Carl gig? I don't even want to go there, the point is I spent the entire time struggling to keep some order in the home under Master Splinter's guidance on top earning just enough money to keep us in the lifestyle we'd become accustomed to, let alone put food on the table.

Truth be told, I had originally only pursued a relationship with Lisa in the first place in the best interests of the safety of my family. Yes, things changed soon after we got to know each other through some heated and lengthy e-mails and IM conversations, but when I first made contact with Lisa the last thing I had in mind was making friends. Lisa's fifteen year old brother Edison (named after the jazz musician, not the inventor, apparently) was the the young founder of a widely successful network of enthusiasts of all paranormal and suspicious activity based in and around New York City. They carried out most of their business through a series of forums and live chats; trading, collecting and archiving amateur photos, video footage and theories which they collected in the streets. When I came across their earliest forums years ago I had my doubts and didn't see the network as a real threat. When the it launched, Edison was an awkward thirteen year old just grasping web design and forum administration, and his group seemed to be made up of nothing more than like minded teenage boys with digital cameras and generous imaginations. Still, I made a dummy account and watched the network, called Vision, grow, lurking in the background while monitoring just what these people were up to and how much they really knew. After six months I started seeing things that surprised me, and began to take these people far more seriously. With a member count of just under two hundred, Vision's forums were made up of individuals whose goals were varied but who ultimately wanted to prove the existence supernatural forces and activity throughout the city. Anything from mutants to ghosts to aliens went and they had an astounding bank of information on the Foot Clan and Purple Dragon gang between them. The Night Watcher had also been a popular character back when Raph was still playing him, though most members had come to accept that whoever they thought he was, he wasn't coming back. There were always debates over what to do with the information the forums gathered, especially if it should be revealed outside of their community. As Vision grew larger and more sophisticated with each passing month, I knew I was going to have to take matters into my own hands before my brothers and I wound up on the news. Constantly looking over my shoulder for kids with cameras during our mission and training runs was distracting me from my work and it was beginning to show.

I had made plans to sabotage Vision on my own before any damage was done, it was the kind of threat I knew my brothers wouldn't take any action towards until it was too late and one of us had his picture posted all over the forums. I wanted to take care of this before they knew who we were, my goal was to make it look as if the Foot was responsible for it, scaring them into reconsidering their network's activities. I was going to try and get Lisa to tell me everything she knew about her brother's motives and the inner workings of the community, including everything they knew about and all the proof they had to back it up. Lisa had helped her brother with Vision since it's humble beginning but remained largely inactive within it's community until the first year since it's creation passed. There was a very "investigate for good and not evil" air about anything she contributed but she mostly acted as a moderator, rarely getting involved in any actual surveillance or investigations herself. As I began talking to her outside of Vision, I realized she was much smarter and well informed about the world my brothers and I lived in than she let herself appear to be. When I hinted at things, things I didn't think she'd have a clue about like Stockman's mousers, she never skipped a beat and reiterated her brother's entire study on the machines after he and another Vision member acquired a defunct mouser unit (though she wouldn't budge when I asked where or how they came into possession of it.) This was impressive, for a girl whose only other interests I knew of at the time included watching and collecting piles of movies (evidently she was a film student) and blasting music while speeding around in her Trans Am.

Nearly a year after I'd made the decision, I was still in full-blown sabotage mode. One night, out of the blue an IM window appeared on one of my monitors and Lisa herself opened with "look Don... I know what you're trying to do. I want you to know that I'm on your side, because I think you're threatened by the things my brother and his followers are studying. I know you're not a criminal or a villain. I think I know what you are, to be honest, but they don't. If you can convince yourself to trust me, I can help you." She always wrote so eloquently when she was trying to be serious, but it never carried over into her every day speech as I learned not so long after that night. Before our first meeting in person I told her that no matter what she thought I was, she was going to be way off and would probably run from me. That, and I wasn't coming unarmed and wasn't afraid to do what I'd have to do id she was setting me up for her brother. If you're wondering, the first thing she said when she saw me was "You're like him, but you're not the same. So this is what you look like underneath?" She was talking about my brother, Raphael. Raphael as the Night Watcher more specifically, at the time she thought I must have had a metal suit as well and wondered why I was wearing street clothes instead.

Here was this girl, this skinny, cigarette smoking girl who wore t-shirts with unicorns and band logos plastered across them, who drove a yellow Trans Am and watched Bollywood movies all day, calling it part of her university education. She had figured out who the Night Watcher was on her own and hadn't told anyone but me, and it was my brother. I didn't dare confront about Raph about it, ever, because I was scared of his reaction as well as what Lisa was going to do with this information. At that moment I literally began begging her not to tell Edison what she'd discovered. She kept her word that night and since then we'd been pulling all nighters just talking, as well as meeting up in secret. We came together to exchange vital information, what her brother was up to and any new criminal activity I could report to her for Vision, but what we really stayed for was the company.

I knew I was lucky to have what I did with Lisa, which was why I took so many stupid risks with my family (and now with April) to keep seeing her. I didn't know what I was going to tell Leo when I got in that night, but at the time I couldn't be bothered to think about it much longer after getting off the phone with April. I finally hopped the fence of the vacant lot and made my way down a narrow alleyway, Lisa was waiting five blocks east of here at the top level of a parking garage for me and was going to be wondering what the hold up was.

I'd like to thank everyone for their extremely helpful reviews, you guys are amazing! It makes writing this so much more enjoyable, I love going over your takes on the story and always look forward to hearing what you have to say. - Dee