Started 11-13-12 Finished 11-18-12
This takes place in the TMNT 2003-2009 universe. I am taking each season to equal about 1 year (however this season is going to be extended significantly and with several non-canon events even before the big changes), and this is about a month or so after the Triceraton invasion of season 3.
Metal Head
Donatello
My brothers and I enter the lair and head straight for the kitchen for something to drink. In general, my brothers and I drink a lot. I think that the reason we have to drink a lot has a lot to do to how we used to be aquatic turtles. When you are in the water, your body absorbs some of the water around you, and us not being in the water all the time like we would have been had we not mutated deprives our bodies of that water. So in order to make up for the lost water, we drink more. Master Splinter drinks a proportionate amount to a normal rat, so it can't be due to the goo. But we still need more water whatever the root cause is. Mikey goes for the orange juice, Raph goes for the calcium/protein shake, and Leo and I go for the water. We generally wake up between noon and one due to our nocturnal habits, so none of us are particularly tired, and nobody would start going to bed until around three or four in the morning, so we each go off and do our own thing. Leo and Raph go to the dojo, and Mikey takes out his iPod and some of his comics. Shortly after Leo and Raph go into the dojo, I begin to hear the sound of blades slicing the air and short grating sounds of stone on blade. *Leo must be practicing and Raph must be sharpening his sais.* Leo and Raph have to sharpen their blades in the dojo because of the dust from the whetstone. The whetstone produces some dust while sharpening blades, so in order to keep the lair in a semblance of cleanliness Splinter forces them to sharpen their blades on a special, washable mat in the dojo.
I head into my lab with an armful of snacks and a pack of coffee. I find the place just as I left it, main computer humming on standby, mug keeping a stack of files from blowing away from my fan (left on low), the mysterious pile of miscellaneous items in the corner, and hundreds of other comforting details welcoming me back into their midst. I have finally made the perfect butt-spot on the chair. It took years of using it, and fending off those who wished to throw it away, but I finally did it! I put down my load and turn the fan on high. I then go to my desk and pull out a pad and paper to make a list of all the things I will need to construct Code Boom. It takes a while to make the list, but it is eventually completed. *Now I just have to findall this stuff* That was always one of the more difficult aspects of his larger projects. Living in the sewer, there is not much opportunity to get the official products (such as fresh bandages, batteries, tools, computer parts, and large sheets of metal) without going topside, and if we were to go topside to get huge pieces of metal, people would ask questions. We can go out and make supply runs, we just can't go out and get anything that would attract too much attention. Oftentimes, I send Raph and Mikey out for the larger chunks because it gives Raph an excuse to get out of the lair and Mikey loves it when he can help me with something. I have to do pretty much everything by myself, as they simply do not understand about 90% of what I do, therefore when they can help they leap at the opportunity.
I hear stomping and yelling in the living room. *Either Mikey pissed Raph off again, or Raph and Leo are fighting.* I listen a bit closer and shortly after hear lighter footsteps dancing around the heavier ones. *Mikey must have pissed him off really bad if they're still at it. Normally Raph just smacks him a few times and storms off to his room. I'll go see if I need to play moderator.* I put down my pad and pen and leave the lab, the familiar weight of my sturdy oak bo staff shifting as I walk.
Leo's shouting "-ize what could happen if you went topside right now! You're injured from last night and-"
Raphael cut him off, "Well I don't really care what happened last night, I can take care of myself, and I don't need you mothering me! You loom over us all day, and won't let us topside alone. We are ninja! We can avoid or fight our way through just about anything the city can throw at us!" I walk further into the room, Leo and Raph ignoring my presence.
"It's not the 98% of thugs that are out there that I'm worried about, it's the other 2% that has me worried. You know our luck! We are magnets for those guys!" The fight is now elevating to the point where they are about to draw their weapons. *Now's when I step in.* I walk forward, making my steps loud enough to further alert them to my presence.
"Guys, cool it. Do you really need to fight right now? It's almost dinner time and I don't really think that it would be a good idea to set off the new alarm I'm building," that last bit was a bluff, but they generally have no idea what I'm working on so to them, I could very well be working on some kind of new alarm system for the lair, "it goes off at the sign of fighting, and it's very sensitive right now." They get a worried look in their eyes (my projects have a history of blowing up during the developmental stages if they are messed with or go off wrong), and back away from each other, getting into a more relaxed stance. They walk away from each other, Raph going to bug Mikey about dinner (he is the only one in the house with any kind of cooking ability), Leo going to look through the small bookshelf in the living room (the bigger one is in my lab, but I also have a stash in my room for late night reading when the nightmares keep me awake). All now peaceful, I go back to my lab to throw together something to resemble a new alarm system in case they go snooping. It takes about an hour and a half to throw together the basic circuit board (with the correct wiring and a bit of programming) for the device and connect it to a remote looking thing. I can now smell something coming from the kitchen, my stomach growls in response.
Entering the kitchen, I see Mikey humming contentedly while taking a pan out of the oven. Based on the smell, I think that is a macaroni type thing. He glances at me, smirks, and puts the pan down on the stove. "Hungry, Donnie?" Mikey jested. I roll my eyes in good-natured exasperation.
"Well, we have to eat sometime. What is it anyway?" I quirk my eyebrow in a questioning manner.
Mikey overdramatically bows to me with sweeping arms, "Tonight, Donatello dear sir, we shall feast on the macaroni and cheese." He takes the foil tent off the pan and the smell of melted cheese wafts over to my greedy nose. My mouth waters in anticipation; macaroni is his specialty right behind pizzas. Mikey must have seen the gluttonous look in my eye and handed me a fork. "Let's have some before Leo and Raph get to it," Mikey says with a mischievous glint in his eyes. I smile broadly, grab the fork, and we dig in, not even bothering with plates.
Raph and Leo must have caught on to the idea of food and raced into the room. They stare at us lustfully, Raphs eyes narrowing. Mikey takes another bite, starts twirling his fork, and says innocently, "Yes?" and chuckles with a broad smile on his lips.
Raph and Leo go and grab two forks and grab the pan with an indignant glare, taking the pan to the other end of the kitchen table. By this point, we had finished a bit more than half of the pan, so we let them take it.
Raphael
Leo and I look at each other as the tell tale smell of macaroni and cheese permeates to the garage. Leo had been checking over the air pressure on all our spare tires (and no doubt thinking of a new training regiment), while I had been filling up the fluids on my motorcycle. We both drop what we were doing and jog to the kitchen, surprised at the faint sound of metal scraping on ceramic. We jog into the kitchen and I am only vaguely surprised that Donatello and Michelangelo were splitting a pan of cheesy yellow gooiness. My eyes narrow in slight annoyance when Mikey starts to twirl his fork, Donatello with an amused spark in his eyes. Leo and I go and grab two forks and I snatch the pan away from the two macaroni hogs. We go to the other end of the table and dig in together. Leo and I are not always at odds with each other, we can make peace relatively quickly. Generally, our spats are resolved at the most by the next morning. We sit side by side, brushing shoulders as we ate in relative silence. Mikey and Donnie had left once we sat down, so Leo and I were alone. We finish the tray in silence, and I go to the sink and fill the pan with water to soak. Glancing at the clock, I see that it is now 6:38 in the morning. *It'll be getting light topside about now.* Now is about when we all start going to bed. I raise my hand to Leo in farewell and leave for my room.
My room is dark and has a very lived in feel about it. My hammock in the corner is surrounded by a layer of towels and blankets, the punching bag on the other side of the room looks lumpy from heavy use, the dartboard is near falling apart from use, the floor clear for when I storm in. I put my sais on their stand on the wall with its brethren of backups, take off my belt, pads, and mask, and collapse on the hammock. I sleep a dreamless sleep, merely enjoying dark oblivion.
I wake to the sound of clanging of metal on bone. I am awake in an instant, instinctively grabbing my best sais. Dashing out the door, I survey the situation. What I see is shocking.
I see Leo, and Mikey battling a huge robot, Donnie was slinking around behind it, weapon drawn (presumably looking for a way to turn it off). None of them has their masks on, so I assume that they were woken up the same as me. I leap into battle, yelling "What the shell's goin' on!"
"I made one of my robots too intelligent, and now it wants to be free," Don shouts back, "The power comes from a box in its stomach, aim for the stomach and open a way for me to get in so I can shut it down!"
Not having time to shout back a response, being preoccupied by a giant chunk of concrete flying towards my head. I dodge, but am knocked off balance by the impact of the chunk on the platform I was standing on. Bracing my legs for a leap, I fist my sais and hurdle onto the robot. Leo was focusing heavily on its legs, and Mikey was using his nunchucks to bang around the chest and stomach. I land on its shoulders and stab anything I can reach, hopefully hitting its cameras for vision. I hear a spark, followed by a loud boom. I am blown off the robot by a resounding shockwave. "What the shell was that Donnie!" I block small projectiles with my sais, surveying the damage. Donnie's monster changed its arms to be covered in rows of blades.
"It's getting really angry now! That was one of the grenades I installed. It can make its own explosives. Keep it up guys, its getting rash!" Don bounded forward, staff drawn, and drove his staff into its shoulder joint. He made slashing motions with the staff within the joint and the arm moved no more. He pulls out his staff and yells, "This arm won't be able to move for a few minutes, I made it so that it can repair itself, so it won't last forever! Be careful!"
Mikey leaped back from a kick, only to be hit in the side by another flying chunk of concrete. He let out a muffled grunt as he is crushed against the wall, his 'chucks clattering to the ground a few feet from him. "Don't need to tell me twice," Mikey groaned, trying to move.
Leo and I looked at each other and nodded, wordless communication flying between us. We started to draw it away from the heap of Mikey. I close in on its center and pull my arm back to strike, when I am thrown into the air, head hitting the pipes above, my sais jerked from my hands. The world goes black for a moment and I fall back towards the ground, too disoriented to right myself so as not to fall flat on my back. I hear clanging of swords on the ground as if underwater. I look over to the sound to see Leonardo pinned underneath a huge foot. Donnie is now alone in this fight.
I try and move as fast as I can, but my body feels like lead, and my head is foggy, it feels like I am moving through sludge. Donnie, must have seen that he had very little chance of winning this fight without anyone to watch his back while he rewired his creation. He shouted "Get out of here! Meet me at 53rd and Columbus, I'll be right behind you, I just have to lose this guy in the tunnels somewhere," he skirted just outside of range of his remaining arm, "GO, I'm faster than it!"
I run to help Mikey out of the pile of rubble, snatching up his nunchucks. He leans heavily on me, trying to reorient himself and stand on his own. I shove the weapons into his hands and pick up the sai that had landed nearby. Running to snatch the other one, in the back of my mind I am shocked as to the destruction of the lair. Leo, Mikey, and I now run out the front door, battered and exhausted.
The sewers are nearly silent as our hurried footsteps race through the bleak tunnels. Our breathing labored, we near our designated manhole. We begin to hear the faint pattering of footsteps behind us accompanied by the thundering poundings of the creation beating on a wall. We go up the manhole and into the light of day. It appears to be about 10 in the morning, meaning people are out, and we are much less able to hide in the shadows. We get out of the sewers and dash behind the dumpster in the alley, collapsing once we reach the shadows behind. A few minutes after, we hear the manhole open again, and Donatello joins us behind the dumpster.
We sit for a few minutes, assessing our injuries. Leo opens his eyes and wearily says, "We need to find a better place to hide."
I look at him with an indignant glare, "No duh, shell for brains," I fist my sais again and stand up to check the other side of the dumpster. All being clear, I still keep silent watch while Leo looks for an escape route.
