"Hey Don, got anything on that girl?" Raph asked as Donatello came around the corner.
"No." Donnie groaned. He was messing with his T-phone. "Kasey's phone has been reactivated, somehow... but the tracker's gone."
"What do you mean?" Raph asked, biting into a bare waffle. He sat at the kitchen table, spinning around in his chair to face his brother. April was beside him, slowly and silently chewing her own snack.
"What I mean is that I can't track Kasey's phone anymore. Usually I'm able to see the approximate location of all six of our connected phones, but his is gone now. But it's still connected to all of our phones, which is why I can still see that it's activated. It's almost as though someone tampered with it. Like they removed the tracking mechanism but nothing else. Or disabled it, maybe. Or perhaps there's something in the way, interfering with our connection... or..."
Donnie trailed off, tapping his phone fiercely.
"Don." Raph said. Donnie looked up at him again. "If that phone's still connected to ours, and our tracker-whatevers are on, doesn't that mean that whoever's got that one can see where we are?"
Donnie paused before shaking his head. His eyes were back on his phone. "No." He said. "Luckily, the entire 'tracker-whatever' is all one big system."
"Meaning?" Raph asked.
"It goes both ways." Donnie said. "If they turn off theirs, they turn off access to ours, also. Basically, we can't see them, they can't see us."
"Well that's good, right?"
"Yes and no. Like I said, it goes both ways. We're at a stall."
"Couldn't you just hack into his phone from yours?" Leo suddenly said from his position on the couch. He turned to watch the exchange. "You know, since they're connected still. You could find out a way to turn the tracking thing back on, couldn't you?"
"Well, yeah. It's pretty simple, really. The thing is, as I've already said now several times, the tracker goes both ways. Meaning that if-"
"If you turn it back on, we'll be able to see them, but they'll be able to see us, too." April finished.
"Thank you, April." Donnie said, blowing out a huge breath. She tilted her hand at him in a dismissive gesture. Raph grunted.
"Isn't there some way you can make the tracker one-sided?" Leo asked.
"Yes, actually. I should be able to do that. Just give me a little time..." He trailed off, tapping at his phone with a new motivation.
"So we just have to sit here on our butts while you play with your stupid phone?" Raphael said with a scowl.
"At least I'm actually doing something, Raph." Donnie said, looking pointedly at Raph. Raph sent him a hot look.
"And what can I do, Don? Mikey's already searched the entire city at least five times today. Do you expect me to run around topside all crazy with him? It's pointless and you know it."
Donatello sighed. "It's not pointless to him, Raph. And do you really think he wants to be doing that alone?"
"I told him he should have left her alone in the first place." Raph muttered. "What is she to us, anyways?"
Leo had walked up to the three of them. "She means something to Mikey, Raph, whether you want her to or not. We're not doing this for her. We're doing it for our little brother." He said. "And because it's the right thing to do."
"Right." Raph repeated shortly before sliding off of his chair and all but stomping to the dojo. The three watched him go.
"What's his problem?" April asked, looking between the two remaining brothers. Leo shook his head slightly.
"It's Mikey." He said. "Raph hates seeing him so upset. I mean, we all do. But Raph seems to be blaming that Lynn girl for all of this."
"He can't actually blame her, can he?" April asked, looking at Leo with disbelief. Leo shrugged, looking at her solemnly.
"Right now it's either he blames the Foot or her." He said. He looked back in the direction that Raphael had stalked off. "And since he can't get even with the Foot, he's going to tell himself that it's her he's getting even with."
"And you let him think that?" April raised an eyebrow at Leo. Leo shrugged for the second time.
"It's either that or we have an even more upset Raphael on our hands." He responded. "Just let him work it out. The second we can find the Foot he'll be right back on board with saving her."
Leo sat down at the table across from April. For a while they sat in silence, each of them consumed with their own thoughts. Donnie broke the silence by walking off again in the direction of his lab. He was too lost in his phone to even glance at the two of them as he left.
"What's the deal with her, anyways?" April asked, looking at Leo.
"What do you mean?" He asked.
"I mean, who even is she? Why would the Foot want her? And what's with her and Mikey?"
Leo sighed. "I don't know, I don't know, and I don't know. All I know is that Mikey just found her one night. You know how he had started going out a lot at night. He must have just ran into her somehow. He said he thought she was dead when he saw her, so I guess that'd be why he was so interested. But I really have no clue. It definitely looked like she was dying, though. So I guess he technically saved her life."
"How so?" April interrupted.
"Oh." Leo said, remembering just how under-informed April was. "He brought her here the first night." April's eyebrows rose.
"Really? Here?"
Leo nodded.
"And what? You made him take her back? When you thought she was dying?"
Leo winced. "We couldn't keep her here. We couldn't just trust some random girl off of the streets."
"And what exactly were you doing when you took me in,Leo?"
He gave her a tired look. "You were different."
April scoffed. "Oh really? How? Because I wasn't dying?"
Leo groaned softly, laying his head on the table and folding his arms over top of it. "Okay, April. I get it." He mumbled. "We should have helped her. But Mikey was doing that just fine."
"Mikey was stealing my stuff!" April cried. She threw her hands up, only to let them fall back down with a loud huff. "I knew her clothes were way too familiar." She muttered, shaking her head to herself. Leo didn't reply.
"So what was he doing, exactly?" April asked, the anger gone from her tone. "He just snuck out to visit her when you guys weren't looking?"
"I guess." Leo said. "I mean... I did suspect... but I just figured it wasn't hurting anyone, so why stop him?" One of his hands fell off of his head and his knuckles made a hard noise against the table. "I didn't know he was giving all of your stuff to her, and I didn't think he was going to get so attached to her. I just thought he was going to help her out a bit and then let her be." Leo lifted his head up, looking at April.
"You know, when I first realized -or thought I realized- what he was doing, I was going to tell him to stop."
April looked up at him with a new interest. "Why?" She asked. Leo's forehead creased and he looked down at his hands.
"It seems stupid, but..." He paused. April waited quietly. His silvery eyes darted up to hers, and she raised her eyebrows in a 'go on' sense. He looked back down at his hands with a small sigh.
"It just felt wrong." Leo said. April frowned, looking at him curiously.
"What do you mean?"
Leo closed his eyes, putting his head in his hands. "I don't know." He said. "There's just something about it. About her. And now with all this stuff with the Foot... I just..." He trailed off for a second. "I get this feeling, like something bad is going to happen."
"But you still let him do it?" April asked gently.
Leo's head shook slightly. "I couldn't tell him to stop. You remember how he had gotten, right? How he was a couple weeks ago?" He opened his eyes, looking back up at her.
She did remember. There was no way she could forget. She didn't think anyone would. Everyone had been worried. Mikey had started to act almost... depressed. No one knew why. Every day he got a bit worse, and every day he was less and less... Mikey. All of the things he enjoyed he slowly drifted more and more away from. It was like he was becoming a completely different person. Some days he didn't even talk. It was terrifying. Even Splinter couldn't figure out what was wrong with him. The worst thing, the thing that April remembered most clearly, had been his eyes. Mikey's eyes were always so full of life, so happy. But then... they were dead.
April nodded.
"He stopped." Leo said. "It all just stopped."
April nodded again. There was no way any of them had missed it.
"Even the very first night, the night he carried her home with him. There was just a difference. He was being Mikey again. You could just tell. The way he was acting, the way he carried himself, the way he was whining, even. It was all just so... Mikey." Leo took a shaky breath. "His eyes." Leo said. "You could see the Mikey in his eyes."
April knew exactly what he meant by that.
"That's why we need to get her back. We absolutely have to. I don't know what it is about her, April. But we can't let that happen to Mikey again. It's coming back, April. Did you notice?"
April remembered the look on Mikey's face before he left the house early this morning. That crazy, desperate, hopeless look. Of course she had noticed. No doubt everyone else had noticed, also.
"Yeah." She said quietly. "I noticed."
Leo sighed. They sat in silence again.
April glanced at the clock. It was getting late. "Should I tell Kasey to bring him back?" April said. Kasey, surprisingly, had been the one to volunteer to help Mikey search the city. He must have gotten sick of Mikey doing it on his own these last few days. Whatever his reason, Leo was glad he was doing it. The rest of them had to battle their fear of this 'Dark Mikey' character's resurfacing. Kasey had been the only one to not see the worst of it, being the only one who still lived topside full time. Kasey was the only one who could truly stand to be around Michelangelo at this time. Yes, his brothers wanted to be around him and be there for him, but Kasey was the only one who could stand the hurt caused by Mikey's misery. Donnie had lent him a spare phone while he was out. They knew Mikey was most likely not to respond at this point.
"Yeah, probably." Leo said.
"Okay." April said after texting him. "They're on their way now." Leo nodded, then slowly got up from the table.
"I'm going to go self-train for a bit." He said tiredly. He, like Raphael, went to the dojo. April watched him go, hoping that him and Raph could manage to keep from getting in a fight. The last thing they needed right now was Raph and Leo mad at each other.
After a small while Kasey and Mikey appeared in the doorway. The sight of them made April jump. Usually with these two you could hear them coming from a mile away. Kasey walked with one arm around Mikey's shoulders, holding him tightly. April was surprised. Kasey and Mikey's friendship had always consisted primarily of them just being teenagers, joking and messing around. They were always up for a good prank war or a see-who-can-stuff-more-pizza-in-their-face-at-once challenge, but when things got serious, they seemed to stay away from each other. She wouldn't expect to see Kasey doing even the simplest "kind" thing to anybody, let alone Mikey.
"Hey, guys." April said in the cheeriest voice she could manage.
"Hey April." Kasey said. He sounded tired, but he too put up a cheery attitude.
"Hey." Mikey said quietly, which relieved April. He was still trying. He even gave her a fleeting smile. Fake as it was, it was reassuring to April. Kasey squeezed Mikey's freckled green shoulder before letting go of him. Without Kasey to hold him, Mikey seemed to instantly lose a couple inches in size. His whole body seemed deflated.
At the same time, Leo and Raph walked out of the dojo. It looked like they had managed to stay off of each other's nerves.
"Hey Mikey. Kasey." Raph said to them. Kasey nodded to them. Mikey was silent this time. The hurt was obvious on Raph's face. On everyone's faces.
Their moment of sad silence was interrupted by banging doors and loud, fast footsteps. "Guys!" Donnie shouted, running from the lab. "They're making a phone call! If I try hard enough I ca-"
He was cut short by Raphael's T-phone blaring to life. The usual cheery jingle rang from his belt. He looked up at everyone surrounding him. All of the people capable of calling him were currently in the same room as him. That is, all except for...
Raphael whipped his T-phone out of his belt, holding it up.
"Kasey's calling." He stated.
"Not me." Kasey replied.
"Answer it!" Mikey shouted, springing to life.
Everyone ran over to Raphael as he did what his little brother instructed.
"Turtles." The low voice of Hiroto hissed through the phone. Mikey's eyes were wide. He was clinging to Raphael's arm like a small child. At the sound of the man's voice, a small gasp flew from his lips.
"That's not the Shredder." He whispered in a similarly childish manner. Donnie put a hand on his small brother's head, patting it softly.
"Who are you?" Raphael spat. The hand holding his phone was shaking. April put a slight hand on his shoulder. Everyone watched the phone, unblinking.
"Who I am is of no concern to you reptiles." Hiroto said, mimicking Raphael's anger perfectly. "But I do believe someone here you know is." He made a sharp noise that made Mikey flinch. Donnie patted his head a second time.
"Come on, Beautiful." Hiroto said from the phone. His voice had faded slightly, as though his face was turned away from the phone on his side of the line. It was obvious he wasn't talking to them. "Don't you want to say hi to them?" He said in the same faded voice.
Mikey's hands dug further into Raph's arm. Raphael winced but said nothing. His brother's breathing was heavy and he stared at the phone with such intensity that it looked like he was trying to reach through it with his mind and kill the man on the other side. Maybe he was.
"She doesn't seem to want to talk to you guys." Hiroto said, his smugness leaking through the phone.
"Lynn." Mikey whispered.
"You could be lying to us." Raph said darkly. Though he directed his statement at the man in the phone, his words seemed to revolve around Michelangelo.
"Oh?" Hiroto asked sinisterly. "You want proof that she's here, do you?" He laughed in a disturbingly joyous way. "Give me a second, will ya?"
Mikey sucked in a sharp breath. His eyes darted quickly around the group of people before gluing to the phone again. "No." He whispered. No one else understood his concern until a small whimper made its way through the phone. Not Hiroto's. A girl's. Then she shrieked. The loud cry faded and ended in a low moan.
"He's hurting her!" Mikey yelled. He gripped Raphael so tightly that Raphael gasped with pain.
"You don't like it when I do that, turtle?" Hiroto hissed, obviously pleased.
"Nononono." Mikey groaned. He didn't seem to be breathing. His pleading was of no help, as she started crying out once again. This time is was longer. Raphael grit his teeth.
"Stop it!" They all heard her plead. "Leave them alone!"
A strangled gasp struggled out of Mikey's throat.
"Leave them alone." Leo repeated in an awed whisper. He stared at the phone with disbelief. They all knew what he meant.
She wanted him to stop hurting them. Not her.
All anger Raphael had ever felt towards her vanished immediately. Mikey clapped his hands over the sides of his head, unable to take anymore.
"Make him stop." He begged, slowing sinking to the ground. Leo and Donnie tried to keep his from falling, but he was not to be helped. He slumped into a shaking heap. Raph growled ferociously.
"Stop that!" He yelled into the phone. A loud cracking noise came from the phone in Raph's trembling fingers.
"Raph, the phone." Donnie whispered harshly. Raph seemed to control himself enough not to shatter the phone. Mikey was mumbling nonsense from the ground as Hiroto laughed his same choking laugh once again.
"You want me to stop?" He hissed. "Make me."
The phone clicked. He was gone.
They all stared at the phone, unable to move, until the dial tone started ringing. Then Donnie's phone chimed. He slowly looked down at it. His eyes grew wide.
"He activated the tracker again." He said.
"Doesn't that mean he can see us now?" April asked. Donnie shook his head.
"I managed to install a shield on all of our phones right before he called, so no." Donnie replied.
"Well then find out where he is!" Raph ordered loudly. Donnie didn't even bother to call out his brother's rude behavior, just quickly set to tapping around on his phone. Hammering would be the better word. From the ground, Mikey seemed to realize finally that something had changed. His hands fell from his head slowly as he looked up and around him. His big eyes locked with Leo's.
"What happened?" He said in a small voice.
Donnie looked up from his phone to the people around him. His eyes finally made their way down to Mikey, whose sad blue eyes gazed back at him in the way a lost child would look at a friendly adult. He took a deep breath, then, "We have an address."
Is a chapter really a chapter if it doesn't end on a cliffhanger?
Am I Gracilynn if I don't write an unnecessary paragraph on every page?
Okay. My absolute sincere thanks to all of you reading and to everyone who has taken the time to show even the slightest bit of interest in what I have created. Reading all of the positive and supportive things all of you have to say always makes my day. Always. It's truly a great thing to me to feel truly as though someone enjoys me and things I've worked hard on. Which is what you've done and continue to do for me. Thanks again. You guys are life savers.