Should be writing an essay, but I can't focus on stereotypes and how they are a 'modern day monster', instead I wanna focus on some guys with a hard outer shell, but are really a bunch of puddins. :P

Well, I know you're probably bored now, so I'll stop procrastinating and write my essay, and then write some of this (or pass out, whichever comes first!) .

Word Count: 2,179

Started: 12-11-12

Finished: 12-30-12

Geode

It is now time to go reclaim our lair. We left a note to April, as she is already asleep, thanking her for her hospitality and put it on the table ext to a smiley face Mikey made out of some coins he found lying around. Before we left, however, we have another strategy meeting to discuss what our game plan was going to be. Based on how he did when we were practicing, Mikey is going to be more backup than anything due to his leg. Leo and Raph are going to focus on keeping its arms busy, and keeping it near the charging port. I will try and get to the back and disrupt the signal for the movement while still keeping the data from the memory banks. In a perfect world, this could take under 2 minutes. This would only happen if it is on its port, however. If it is elsewhere, it could take much longer

We are now entering the sewer system about half a mile from one of the entrances to our lair. Instincts honed by years of fighting in darkness switch into high gear as I scan our surroundings. We are silent as we move through the darkness, avoiding all of the cameras and security systems I have put up over the years.

Mikey winces every time we leap from pipe to pipe from the pain in his leg. It must be intense for him to be showing it despite the adrenaline from going into battle. The adrenaline keeps the pain away while we fight, however once the fight is over, it comes back tenfold, making it a bittersweet blessing. To not feel pain and fight with worse pain later, or not fight and spread the pain over a longer time. When we win, I am going to load both him and Leo up on painkillers so they can sleep. The soreness from both getting injured and having to work that injury in the same day will make it very difficult for them to go to sleep tonight if I don't.

Millimeters outside of the range of the most well equipped of my sensors, the door before us looms like a dark shadow. The hissing coming from the pipes overhead make the pipes on the wall seem like writing snakes. Leo dashes forward and plugs in the combination to unlock the lair, the door opens, and we rush in.

My eyes dart around the darkened lair, searching for any sign of the robot. There is none. My ears, however, pick up the sound of electricity humming particularly strongly in my lab (more than normal anyways). Glancing at my brothers, I assume that they hear it as well, because they are silently inching towards my lab. Mikey waits outside the door to my lab, nunchucks ready for use, but not spinning, as they make too much noise. Raph walks into the room, followed by Leo and myself. The robot is plugged to one of my computers, which appears to be running through all of its information. It is uploading all of the information from my hard drives into its memory.

I am suddenly struck with an idea to gain control of the robot. Signaling to Leo and Raph not to attack, I walk towards the robot, making sounding footsteps deliberately. I am now beside it.

My eyes never leave the ever changing screen before me, "Hello, GT4."

To my mild surprise, it responds civilly, "Hello, Creator-Donatello."

"Might I ask what you are uploading?"

"I am currently uploading city records," its mechanized voice is completely neutral, without any trace of either malice or fondness, "I presume you have returned to shut me down."

I look at it in curiosity, as the robot had said that with a slightly sad intonation. "Yes, that was our plan. However, I am willing to talk. We will not make any moves of aggression towards you as long as you make none towards us. What say you, GT4?"

It is silent for a few moments, ensuring calculating chances of a negative outcome. "I concur. I know your brothers are just outside the door, so I now ask them to enter." I give the signal for them to enter, hoping that they do not have violent intentions.

Mikey looked at the robot slack-jawed and with wide eyes. "Dude, you're just like the robot from—" Raph smacked him upside the head, cutting off his speech, finishing with a reprimanding glare. Mikey shook it off quickly, "So, what should we call you, uhhh… MetalDude?"

That was a very interesting question, and I did not have the answer to it. It probably did not want to keep the name I had given it, and it had to be called something.

It seemed to be thinking about this question. "I wish you to call me Geode. Thank you for asking about my name."

Mikey smiles a huge grin, and replies, "No problem, Geode!"

Raph seems like he is going to explode from all the pleasantries, his face is getting greener from the blood rushing to his head. "So why the hell did you attack us yesterday anyway? Don wasn't hurting you or anything, so Why?"

Geode was unfazed by Raph's outburst, he probably predicted as much from my files. "The AI program that Donatello installed onto me enables me to have independent thought. It was activated right before I attacked. The program had not yet had a chance to process the other memory files installed, so I panicked, much as any of you would if you were to wake up in perceived captivity."

This was an interesting revelation. The program was supposed to have been running in the background for the past several days, going through the files. Rather, its startup had been delayed, starting instead when I had its limbs restrained for support. It must have panicked if the AI program is as powerful as I think it is. So it was only acting in self-defense, and since a robot is naturally so much more powerful than us it seemed like it was acting out of malice. Interesting. "I understand that aspect of your situation. Does it still seem this way?"

Geode turns his attention to me, "I do not have an answer to that question, as there is not yet enough to analyze."

Leo speaks up for the first time since we began talking to Geode, "Geode, would you mind if we had a quick huddle to figure out what we are doing?"

"You may," Geode slowly walks off to one of the tables around the room, having unplugged himself from the computer sometime during our conversation.

We get into a huddle, however Raph is the first to speak. "Ok, what the shell is an AI, anyway?"

Surprisingly, Mikey is the one to answer him. "AI is short for Artificial Intelligence. You know, like in the movie I-Robot." Then again, maybe not so surprising considering how many games and movies he plays and watches.

Leo rolls his eyes and speaks in a calculated manner, "He does not seem to have malicious intent, and has conceded to everything we have asked. I am thinking about asking him to stay with us. What are your thoughts?"

Raph, of course, responds first, "Dunno why, but I gottta bad feelin' bout him. He seems to check out ok, though." He sends a wary glance in the direction of Geode.

Mikey responds next, "He seems alright to me. Just have to be careful is all."

Both Mikey and Raph are generally ethos and pathos based, so I expected them to answer with very little logic. Leo and I are generally logos and ethos based. Together, the four of us make a good team because we even each other out like Yin and Yang.

I go next, "I don't see much reason not to allow him to stay. Like Mikey said, we just have to keep an eye on him. Before his AI woke up, I had him retrained because I was doing some work on his joints. If I did not have him restrained, then I could get shocked if something moved improperly. I don't really blame Geode for attacking us like he did in truth. We can let him stay, and talk to Master Splinter about it when he gets back. That seems like the most logical course of action to me."

Leo is silent for a few moments, considering his options. "I agree with Donnie," Raph's eyes darkened with suspicion as he looked over to Geode, who is patiently standing across the room. "Unless one of you two gives me a reason as to why we should not let him stay, I can't just say no. This is a robot we are talking about here. And if I were to guess, it is logic based, not feeling based. We will let him stay on a temporary basis until Master Splinter comes back, then he will have the final say."

Raph and Mikey reluctantly go along with the plan. I can see they are still uneasy about Geode.

"Geode, we are done now." He comes back over to us. "We have come to the decision that you can stay with us if you wish on a temporary basis until Master Splinter returns, he will then make the final decision."

Geode looks at Leonardo with what I have to call a gaping stare. He replies, "That is a very generous offer, Leonardo. However my sensors detect that Raphael's heart rate increased when you asked that question, which indicates that he is not entirely ok with this occurrence. If I were to stay, there would inevitably be heavy conflict between him and I. You three would remain by your brothers side of the conflict, and would force me to leave. By my calculations, this scenario has a 74% chance of occurring. Another 16% are scenarios with the same outcome. That leaves only 10% chance of this being successful, not including what your Master Splinter will decide. So, in the best interests of all, I have to decline." Raph and Mikey gape in surprise, while Leo and I nod at his logic.

I speak first, "I will have to ask, however, to be permitted to erase your memory banks of knowledge of our existence. I will provide you with a small charger. I will also remove your built in weapons," Geode nods in understanding, "This way, there will be nothing to trace back to us. I will also give you a full charge before you go." A grim plan is now formed in my mind, and I am the only one who can pull it off. But I cannot have my brothers discovering it or all will be ruined. I keep my heart rate and breathing in check so as to avoid suspicion.

"I will submit to your precautions, Creator-Donatello." I mentally scold myself at the glee that I feel when he says that, letting nothing of it show on my face.

We decided on having the 'procedure' done on Geode after we were all properly patched up. I hid the remote I made at April's in my bag, and when Mikey was about to ask about it, I gave him a warning glare. That shut him up quite nicely, and with an added squeal to boot. Once everybody was completely patched up and fed, I approach Geode and request starting the procedure.

"When I made you, I made it so that I can work on you while you are charging, so I would like to take that course of action."

"That is logical, and will save time." I plug in all the cords to charge him, and turn on the charging unit. His eye-bulbs change from red to yellow and his body starts to hum. He now cannot move until I unplug him. Looking over to my duffel bag, I sigh and pull out the remote I made at Aprils and plug it into Geode's core, effectively shutting down his systems forever. Now, to ensure his demise, I take out his power cell so that he has no power to run on. Shutting down the charging unit, I leave my lab.

My brothers are sitting on the couch watching some show when I come in. At this moment, I cannot bear to look at them. They expect me to be ever forgiving and kindhearted, but Geode would have posed too much of a threat, so I eliminated him. I ran the calculations in my head, and this was the least likely scenario that he would have come up with. That is why he trusted me so. Geode expected me to follow through on my word, but the reality was different. I saw a threat to my family that I could eliminate, so I took the opportunity. That being said, I really don't know why I'm beating myself up over it. I shut my door, as if I were shutting out the disappointment of the world around me.

Wrote most of this between two 10 hr car rides