Leonardo hated Donatello's silence. The purple-masked turtle didn't even seem to be willing to look at him. He knew that his younger brother didn't want to get into possible complications, and Leo had been literally biting his tongue to keep from asking. Jenna was busying herself tugging at pieces of luggage, as if she hadn't already checked them six times. The blue-masked turtle cleared his throat, as he decided he couldn't hold his peace any longer.
"What's the plan if we run into trouble?" Leonardo intentionally avoided suggesting that they could get caught in a flood.
Donatello glanced over at him from the controls. "We'd have to make for the street level, no matter where we are. The Sliders can't skim the surface of rough water. They're equipped to serve as normal boats too, but they'll be overwhelmed by a strong current. The engines could buy us a little bit of time...We could probably make some headway against a current for a couple of minutes."
"A couple of minutes?"
"Leo, we're talking about what could ostensibly be thousands upon thousands of pounds of water pressure. No machine I've ever built could withstand something like that. We'd be lucky to get any delay out of the engines at all."
"So we really don't want to get caught unaware," Leo said more to himself than to Donatello.
"There are ways that we could maybe create extra drag, and buy a little more time," Donny offered. "You noticed I left the grappling guns where we could easily reach them."
"Would the cables hold for long, do you think?"
The younger turtle's shoulders rose slightly. "Hopefully long enough."
"Donny, why didn't you want to consider heading uptown toward Doc and Kat? I know there's a reason you're having us take the longer way around to the Park, and I trusted you enough to go along without asking for an explanation. I'm only going to accept that for so long."
"I think we should stay away from the Upper East Side if we can help it," Donatello replied flatly. "Leo, we talked about possibilities before, remember? Don't make me guess about the situation on the surface."
Leonardo shot Jenna a look, and saw the way the woman was still fidgeting nervously with the bungee cord. It wasn't like Jenna to display her emotions so openly, and it indicated that Donatello had shared something with her.
"You already have theories rolling around in your mind. You just don't want to tell us," Leonardo asserted.
"It's all about the soil, Leo, that and the building materials," Donny answered. "A lot of Manhattan has been constructed on soil with a sandy composition. In the case of a strong enough earthquake, that means that the ground just liquefies. That's why I told you cave-ins could happen."
"What about the building materials?"
"Things aren't built according to earthquake codes, Leo. There are a ton of older brick buildings that simply aren't equipped to handle that type of stress. Even the tunnels and bridges aren't up to code. There's been a big push in recent years to reinforce the most vulnerable areas, but it's being implemented slowly. It's an expensive and time consuming process."
"Right, but like you've already said, we don't know how big the quake was."
Donatello gave him a serious look that was mixed with a tinge of guilt. "Leo, you saw what it did to my Lab, and we were more protected underground than the surface was. This wasn't a small earthquake. Even a moderately sized tremor could spell certain disaster for New York under the conditions I've described."
The anxiety in Donatello's voice was more pronounced than Leonardo had heard yet, and it suddenly dawned on him what his brother could be thinking. "You're worried about the others."
Donatello focused hard on the control panel for a few seconds without speaking. "I'm trying not to think that way, but yes. I'm very worried about them. Doc and Kat live in a historic building, Leo. The chances of it surviving a quake without suffering significant structural damage don't seem-"
A distant rumbling cut Donatello off mid-sentence, but the sound was different than that which the earth had made only minutes ago. The purple-masked turtle stopped the Slider as the roar got louder, and the unmistakable crashing of falling debris echoed through the tunnel ahead of them. Leonardo threw a glance back to make sure that Mike was stopping.
"What is that?", Leonardo heard the orange-masked turtle yell faintly above the collapsing rubble.
"Just stay put, Mike! Don't you guys move!" Leonardo called in return. The blue-masked turtle became alarmed when he noticed the water level rising, but quickly realized it wasn't a torrent heading their direction. He felt a hand on his arm, and he turned to face Donatello.
"We need to go take a look at what happened, Leo. If things are clear up top, this might be the time for us to make a break for it."
Leonardo took a couple of seconds to think about it, but then he nodded. He motioned for Mike to bring his Slider closer so they could talk more easily. "Don and I are gonna take a little walk to try and figure out what just happened."
"Leo, what are you talking about?" Raphael demanded. "We need to get the shell out of here!"
"That's the point, Raph. If things look clear on the surface, we'll try to get out altogether. We won't be gone long."
"Leo, don't go! I'm serious, bro, how do we know the whole tunnel isn't about to come down on us?" Raphael practically pleaded.
"We don't," Donatello answered truthfully. "We'll be quick. Don't move unless you have to."
Leonardo climbed out of the Slider onto the paved side of the tunnel, and waited for Donatello to join him. When the purple-masked turtle began walking swiftly, it was clear he wasn't kidding about being fast. There was an eerie sense of unreality as they slipped through the shadows of the tunnels, uncertain of what could be waiting for them. For as long as Leonardo could remember, the sewer had been one of their sole sources of safety. Right now it felt more like a monster that was stalking them, lying in wait to devour them whole.
The sound of shifting rocks and debris was still ricocheting off the walls ahead of them, though it had slowed down considerably from the initial implosion that had stopped them in their tracks. With Donny's recent words lingering in his ears, Leonardo's desire to get to the surface and find their wives and friends had increased a hundred fold.
When the strains of daylight began to reach their eyes, Leonardo swallowed deeply. The hand with which Donatello was grasping a flashlight dropped down to his side as his breath caught in his chest.
"Oh shell, Leo..."
"I know it might not be pretty, but we still have to get a look."
Leonardo silently led the way through the last shadowed section, into the partial light of day on the other side. They hung back from the fringe of the rubble, and stared at the gaping portion of the street missing above the tunnel. Dozens of voices registered in Leonardo's ears, and none of them made any sense. The sheer panic on the surface bled through the crevice like a cold tidal wave overtaking him.
"This doesn't sound promising," Leonardo said softly.
Donatello's form was tense, and he didn't seem inclined to get any closer to the devastation. "This feels unstable, Leo. We can't make a break for it here. People are being drawn to this spot like a car wreck you can't look away from."
Leonardo nodded and backed away from the mound of debris. "Let's take a quick glance through the manhole we passed a couple yards back."
They backtracked into darkness, and Leonardo cautiously ascended the ladder, giving the cover a firm push. He peered out at the street level, dark eyes widening at the number of congregating people. The blue-masked turtle instantly let the cover slide back into place, and dropped onto the side of the tunnel.
"No way. We can't go up here. I think our best bet is to keep moving toward the Park, even though we're going to have to change directions."
Leonardo felt a strange heaviness weighing down his limbs as they walked back to the Sliders, and the question of whether or not he was making the right decision for everyone popped up in his mind again.
"What's the deal, guys?" Raphael's was the first voice to greet them.
"There's a cave-in up ahead. We have to take a detour," Leonardo said calmly.
"What about going up?" Rebecca asked.
"You girls would be fine, but the rest of us would be in jeopardy," Leonardo replied. "It's actually not a horrible idea if you and Jenna want to go to the surface now."
"That's not happening," Jenna snapped. "You don't really think splitting us up is the right thing, do you?"
"No. I think we should keep going, and try our hardest to get to the Park. I have to admit I'm having some second thoughts though."
"Can you have them while we're moving maybe?" Raphael shot over.
Donatello nudged Leonardo's side. "Maybe you and Mike should switch places," he suggested under his breath.
Leonardo couldn't argue with the logic. "Hold up - we're going to make a quick change, guys, then we can get moving again. C'mon over here with Don, Mikey."
"I didn't drive the Slider that badly, did I?" the orange-masked turtle complained.
"You didn't do anything wrong, Mike. You're the best counter-balance for Donny." And it sounds like I need to calm Raph down a bit, so please don't make a big deal out of this, he added mentally.
Leonardo saw the longing look Michelangelo gave to Rebecca, but then the orange-masked turtle heaved a sigh.
"Okay, Leo, whatever you say."
Rebecca brushed his shell before Mike could switch with Leonardo. "I'm not going anywhere, Mike. I'll be right behind you."
He nodded at her, then carefully exchanged places with Leonardo so that the leader could settle in with the red-masked turtle.
Raphael gave him a dirty look. "Are you and Genius keeping secrets now? What was the deal up ahead?"
"It was exactly what it sounded like, and there were too many people around to consider going topside."
"I think you're underestimating us, Leo."
"We might have been able to manage it, Raph, but is that the kind of risk you want to take with your daughter?"
Raphael acted like he was going to say something, but then shut his mouth.
"That's what I thought," Leonardo said evenly.
"Yeah, well...we're still not in a good spot down here either. All that creaking is making me paranoid."
"I couldn't tell, Raph." Leonardo grinned suddenly.
Amber eyes narrowed slightly. "I want to know that our girls are okay."
Leonardo knew that Karina was at the forefront of Raph's thinking. His brother's nerves made perfect sense to him, but he still needed Raphael in a calm frame of mind in case they hit issues.
"Raph, I know you're worried about Karina and Olivia. There are a lot of reasons you could lose it right now, but I need you to fight the urge, okay? Yes, Donatello told me that this probably wasn't a small quake, which means there's a measure of madness on the surface. I need your help, and I need your mind to be here where we are, and not imagining everything that could be going wrong up there. Focus with me, bro."
Raphael broke eye contact with him as he took a shaky breath. "Yeah, sorry," he mumbled. "I don't mean to get so impatient-"
"You just want to get out of here, which is understandable. I want out too. We're going to make it, Raph. Hang in there with me."