Michelangelo was grateful when the phone picked up on the other end. He'd been trying to reach Marcus non-stop for the last hour. This time the signal wasn't as much the problem as was his friend not answering.
"Mike?" Marcus was slightly breathless. "I'm sorry, I've been with a bad case. What's going on?"
"You haven't heard anything yet? I thought Don or Leo might have tried to call you."
"Call me about what? What's wrong?" Marcus' radar was instantly on alert.
"You don't know anything about the Federal Building?"
"There's sort of a cocoon effect going on here at the hospital, Mike. Just tell me what's going on!"
"The news is saying that the Civic Center took a worse hit from that bad aftershock. We got a distress signal from Brandon, and the guys went in after him, maybe Greg too."
He heard Marcus gasp. "How long ago?"
"They've been gone close to two hours."
"I can't believe..." Marcus didn't finish the thought. "Mikey, I'm going to head that direction. If you hear anything else from them in the meantime, tell the guys I'm coming to help. You haven't heard from them since they left?"
"Not yet. Can you get away from the hospital like that?"
"You bet I can, and I'm going to. I'm about to start flying here, Mike, so I'm hanging up the phone!"
"Okay, Marc, be careful!" The orange-masked turtle silently hung up the phone, and glanced at the circle of women around the room.
"Is he going to head over there?" April asked.
Mike nodded. "The medical help certainly won't hurt them, right?"
"It was a great idea," April returned. "Marc is probably upset that he didn't know anything about it to start with."
Michelangelo hung his head. "Well, it wasn't for a lack of trying," he murmured.
He felt the light pressure of Rebecca's hand on his knee, and raised his head to face her.
"No one's blaming you, Mikey," she said.
"I know," he replied dully. "I just wish I could do more. I wish I was with them." Mike felt like pacing, but he didn't have the energy. "This waiting around stuff stinks."
Jenna shook her head. "Welcome to our world," she said ironically.
Mike's eyes traveled to Karina, who was sprawled across the other end of the couch with Olivia resting against her shoulder. The bronze-haired woman hadn't said anything for several minutes. While he watched, she brushed her lips against the sleeping baby's forehead.
"I guess I should lay her down," Karina remarked to no one in particular. The woman didn't look like she wanted to let go of Olivia. Nevertheless, she rose a couple of seconds later and headed for the Master Bedroom where the play-pen had been erected.
When Mike turned his attention back to the room, he found Calley gazing at him.
"You should think about lying down too, Mike," she told him.
The orange-masked turtle shook his head. "I'm not sleeping at a time like this, Calley, not with them out there."
"That's not what I meant," Calley said. "I just think you could be in a better position."
"I'm not tired."
The blond woman got out of the recliner in which she was sitting, and motioned him toward it. "I'm going to fix something hot. Put your feet up, Mike."
Michelangelo had been sitting in the same place ever since his brothers had left, and only now noticed how swollen his ankles were.
What? How weird is that?
He shuffled to his feet and dropped into the chair without saying a word about the strange condition. From the glance Calley gave him over her shoulder, it was apparent she'd already seen it. From Rebecca's expression, it was clear he hadn't managed to hide anything from her either.
"Mike, when did that swelling start?"
"I don't know," he said honestly.
April retrieved a pillow off the couch, and laid it on the end of the footrest. "Put your feet on that, Mike, and keep them elevated, okay?"
He resisted the urge to groan. Figures. My bros are out there risking their lives, and everyone's going to worry about me, as usual. This is getting so old. Mike turned his head toward the window, and gazed out into the semi-darkness.
There still aren't as many lights outside as there should be. Memories surged in his mind of a night like this one several years ago, when all four turtles had ventured into the United Nations to save Jenna. It didn't really hit me how Sensei must have felt, watching us go. I think I get it now...and I don't like it.
He tried to take a deeper breath, and grimaced at the familiar twinge of pain. No way tonight is going to be as bad as last night. Donny said stress could contribute to it, so I gotta calm the shell down somehow.
Calley cleared her throat as she placed a steaming mug on the table beside him.
"Thanks," he said automatically, hardly looking at the cocoa before he tried it. "Whoa. Not tea. Way to surprise a guy."
She actually smiled. "Some people say that chocolate is better than medicine."
To his surprise, he chuckled too. "My Sensei would have liked that saying."
Greg was nervously waiting on the opposite side of the chasm, as Leonardo was the first to ascend to the hallway. He took a shuddering breath when he realized the turtle had Kelley, and forced a calm expression. As he reached to help unhook the harness, Kelley's eyes widened.
"Heffernan! You are here!"
Leonardo nodded. "I told you he was waiting for us, Director."
"Where's Brandon?" Greg asked immediately.
"With one of the other...guys like him," Kelley finished more carefully.
"They're coming," Leonardo said crisply. It was clear the turtle's patience was wearing a little thin.
"Is Bran okay?"
Leonardo shook his head anxiously. "I don't know. Brandon's unconscious - Don says he's going into shock."
Greg swore and glanced back at his boss, to find Kelley already staring at him.
"What's going on, Heffernan? Who are they, and where did they come from?"
"You do realize that one of them is standing in front of you, right?" Greg snapped, ready and eager to leap to the turtles' defense.
"Greg, I'm just looking for some answers. What's going on?"
Greg held his gaze steadily, refusing to break eye contact. "I'm sorry, Sir. This is neither the time nor the place for this discussion."
"Now hold on a second-"
"No offense, Director, but you can do whatever you want with me, and it won't make any difference. I'm not getting into any explanations right now. Let's concentrate on escaping. Everything else is kind of irrelevant, don't you think?"
Kelley's brow furrowed, as if he was finally seeing Greg for the first time. "Why..." he began, and paused to ask the question that really mattered. "How do we get out?"
"We're blazing a trail," Greg answered. "We can't go back the way we came in. Too many people."
"Too many witnesses?"
"They're not criminals!" Greg couldn't bring himself to add a "sir" this time. "Not that I expect you to view them any differently," he muttered.
"How did you expect me to react, Heffernan? It sounds like you already have it figured out."
Annoyance burned through Greg's mind, and he unconsciously clenched his fists. "I'm not doing this. I want to get out of here alive, and not think about anything else. Can you give me peace for that long?"
Kelley exhaled sharply. "Okay. No more questions, except how do we get out of here?"
"We'll figure it out as we go along," Greg answered. "Hopefully it won't be nearly as hard as getting to you guys was." He stiffened as the floor shuddered. "And the building won't come down on us first."
Kelley paled in the faint light of Greg's head-lamp, and he realized how shaken the man was for the first time.
I've never seen anything faze him, but this is pretty extreme. He had to think he was going to die down here, and we're still not safe.
"We made it this far," Greg said with more confidence. "We're going to make it out."
He glanced past Kelley to watch Leonardo catch Raphael's arm, and pull him toward their section of the hallway out of the chasm. His breath caught in his chest when he glimpsed Brandon in the turtle's arms.
Kelley turned around to watch the scene with him. "Heffernan, for what it's worth...Thanks for coming after us. Well...him. I know I'm just a tag-along, and I'll gladly accept the ride. I'd like the chance to get home to my wife and daughter."
Greg felt his exterior softening. "For the record, I wouldn't have intentionally left you out in the cold either. It just so happens that Brandon carries the means by which we could track him, and we share some very determined friends."
"I can see that. They appear to be...uniquely talented."
Greg snorted. You have no idea.
His gaze traveled to Donatello as the purple-masked turtle climbed into their hallway. Don headed straight for Brandon, and knelt down beside him with his backpack. While Greg watched the turtle selected an epi-pen from one of the pockets and injected it into Brandon's arm. To Greg's surprise, Kelley jerked beside him.
"What's he doing?"
"Relax, Director. Donny knows what to do for him. He's only going to help Brandon."
"Is he the genius?"
Greg nodded. "Donny, how is he?"
"His blood pressure dropped pretty far," Donatello called over. "That's probably what caused him to pass out. I gave him a shot of noraphim to help stabilize it, at least until we can get him to help outside. We shouldn't linger any longer." Don got to his feet. "Raph, do you want to handle him?"
The red-masked turtle nodded his assent. "Yeah, Donny, I got 'im."
Donatello and Leonardo exchanged a glance before the purple-masked turtle joined Greg at the head of the group. "So how about we get out of here?"
"Sounds good to me, Don. Are we heading for the ground floor?"
"I don't know what else we can do," he replied, his eyes glued to the screen of his scanner. "I'm not detecting any hot spots in the vicinity, so we're good on that front."
Greg noticed that Donatello hadn't even glanced at Kelley yet. "Lead the way, Don."
It was a large burden off Greg's shoulders to have found Brandon, even in his current condition. His nerves over Kelley, however, were just beginning to skyrocket. He doesn't know anything about them yet, he reminded himself. I'm sure Brandon wouldn't have mentioned the whole vigilante thing. I'm not planning to either. The less he knows, the better.
Greg cast Kelley a sidelong glance, and realized the difficulty the man was having in matching their pace. "Director, are you hurt?" He pulled up short immediately.
"I'm fine," he insisted, though he sounded winded.
Donatello cast a probing look at the man, but he didn't move toward him yet.
"I swear, I'm okay," Kelley assured them. "I just can't move as quickly as usual."
"Sir, if you don't mind...well, I probably should have taken a look at you before..." Donatello hedged. "I won't be invasive or anything. I have a hand-held device that can take a scan to give me a picture of your vitals."
Kelley looked back at him uncertainly.
"Don't be ridiculous - he's not going to hurt you." Greg was exasperated all over again. "Heck, give me the machine, and show me which button to push, Don." Greg realized then that the turtle had sensed Kelley's apprehension, and had purposefully been avoiding him.
"No, it's fine," Kelley said quickly. "Go ahead and do what you need to."
Donatello tapped a few keys to make an adjustment on the machine while he scanned Kelley, and Greg saw his boss gazing at the device curiously.
"What does it do?" Kelley asked.
"Too many things for me to tell you about," he replied evasively. "At the moment, all I'm doing is gathering your basic vital information. Temperature, blood pressure, things like that."
"This is yours? It's your design?"
"Yes." Donatello studied the read-out without looking up. "All things considered, you look fairly normal. Would you let me have a quick look at your side?"
"How did you know..."
"It's the way you were carrying yourself. I've had a lot of experience with injuries, Sir."
Kelley cocked his head at the turtle, but remained still while Don probed his side. When the man winced, Donatello withdrew his hand.
"Sorry. There's definitely a small indentation under the skin...It's indicative of a torn muscle. If you can still contract the muscle, it's probably only a partial separation. Is it very painful?"
"Only when I try to use it," he said ruefully. "But I'll be okay, honestly. I just can't keep up as well as I'd like to."
"We'll slow down," Donny said. "If you need help, or start to feel anything strange, you have to speak up, Sir."
"You really do know what you're doing."
Donatello shrugged at Kelley. "My brothers and I have been around."
Leonardo came up behind Kelley. "Is everything okay?"
"I think so, Leo, but we have to watch our speed a little. Director Kelley is hurt too."
"You should have said something," Leonardo said briskly to Kelley. "Are you all right to continue?"
"Yes, uh..."
"You can call me Leonardo. We should keep moving."