Raphael felt Leonardo glaring at him, but for once, he chose not to say anything about it.
"Why didn't you talk to Jazz earlier?" his brother demanded.
"I tried once, Leo. She wouldn't come to the dang door. I mean, what do you want me to do? Am I supposed to get down on my knees and beg for forgiveness?"
"If that's what it takes!" Leonardo was truly annoyed. "Are you forgetting why she's here, Raph? Her life could be in danger. She just got screwed out of her job. It's not like she can tell anyone else what happened! Do you realize how hard it's going to be for Jazz to find more work?"
"Well, yeah, the felonies on her record don't help too much," Raphael muttered.
"Enough!" Leonardo commanded sternly. "We all know she went to Prison. That has nothing to do with this situation! If Greg and Brandon can talk her into staying, you're going to fix this. And if you ever throw her record in her face again, you're going to answer to me."
"All right, shell, Fearless. What's your deal with this chick? You're acting like you're her daddy or something."
"I don't like your attitude, Raph. You came down on her too hard. It's one thing for you to go off on one of us or our friends, but to lose it on someone who barely knows you…why are you shocked that she was offended?"
"I'm not shocked, Leo. I just don't get why you're so uptight over defending her. You know I always try to make things right."
The blue-masked turtle shook his head. "We've all done things that we wish we hadn't, Raph. What if each of us were judged by our past? I'm not going to give you any room for that kind of error."
Raphael swallowed. "Okay. I get it, Leo. Big mistake on my part. If she gives me the chance, I'll do my best to make it up to her."
The lines in his brother's forehead relaxed slightly. "Part of me thinks she wanted to be talked out of leaving, or she wouldn't have tried it in full view of anyone else."
Raphael nodded, as his attention was drawn to the door of the Lab which was opening. When Luke appeared, the red-masked turtle sat up straighter. "Hey, Doc. How's Donny doing?"
"Spiking a fever," the man replied. "His immune system took a hit through the whole ordeal, so it could be related to any number of things. I'm hoping it's a simple infection that we can kill off quickly. I started him on hydralin to help control his temperature, and Marc, Caleb, and I will keep an eye on him. We'll set up a rotation. Donny definitely needs rest above anything else for the moment."
"Which is easier said than done." Leonardo sighed.
Luke chuckled unexpectedly. "It's not as hard as usual, Leo. Donny's already three-quarters of the way there; take away his technology, and what else does he have to do?"
"Good point," Leo allowed. "I still think I'll pay him a visit and reinforce the orders."
Raphael smirked as his brother left the room. Good – let him focus on Genius for a while and get off of my shell. The smile faded as he looked at Luke. "He's gonna be okay, isn't he, Doc?"
The blond man nodded. "His symptoms don't give me any true cause for alarm, but we're not going to ignore them either." Luke gave him a pointed stare. "Are you ready to play nice with Jazz?"
Raphael repressed the urge to roll his eyes. "Leo already gave me the rundown, Doc."
"You're just lucky that your wife isn't here, Raph. What would Karina have to say, I wonder?"
The red-masked turtle cringed at the thought. Doc's got me there. This is the only time since they left that I'm glad Kari ain't around.
When Raphael received the call from Greg that he and Brandon had picked up Jazz, he was quick to get out the door himself. He only hoped that he could beat the humans to the van entrance, to provide ample opportunity to talk to the young woman.
And if Fearless ain't around, so much the better.
The red-masked turtle waited just inside the end of the tunnel, watching for the sign of approaching headlights. He leaned against the wall with folded arms, trying to avoid rehearsing what he needed to say. He had taken to staring into space, when a flicker of light attracted his attention from the corner of his eye. Raphael let out a breath when he saw the Avalanche, and backed up a little further from the entrance. Then again, there's no sense in surprising anybody.
Raphael sighed softly and crossed in front of the opening where the others would be able to see him as they approached. Brandon was walking the fastest, and Jazz was right behind him. He watched the young woman slow in her step and then stop altogether once she was close enough to see him.
"Jazz, hey." The greeting felt weak, but he didn't know what else to say.
"Hey," she said flatly, stealing a glance at Brandon, and then at Greg behind her. "Did you guys put him up to this?"
"No, they didn't," Raphael answered quickly. "Can you just hear me out for a minute? It's not the easiest thing for me to admit when I'm wrong."
Jazz stayed rigidly where she was, but she nodded. "I'm listening."
"I'm sorry for what I said. I don't want you to leave," he said evenly.
Jazz's gaze flickered between the men who were now on either side of her, and settled back on Raphael. "As much as I appreciate all of your concern, this was never gonna last forever."
"Why wouldn't it last, Jazz?" the turtle pressed.
"You think I don't know that I'm tainted?" she asked quietly. "In a way, I'm glad this happened. I don't have to fool myself into believing I could actually belong."
"Do you think you're the only one around here with a past, Jazz?" Greg spoke up. "I have a history of my own."
"Why don't I find that hard to believe?" She snorted.
"But that doesn't matter, Jazz," Raphael added. "It ain't about what you did before. It's about where you are now. You can fit in with us."
"You already made it clear that you have a problem with my record," she argued.
Raphael blew out a frustrated breath. "I didn't mean it."
"Then why would it come out that way?" she retorted.
"Because I was mad, and it was an easy target. That's the truth, Jazz, sure as I'm standing here. I'm sorry."
The young woman shuffled from one foot to the other hesitantly.
"So are you coming with us?" Raphael went on.
"It's a little late to turn back for tonight," she acknowledged.
Raphael took a step backwards and motioned for them to follow him. "I was already smelling Mike's soup when I left, so it's gotta be ready now. We should get going if we wanna eat. He might just try to force-feed Donny the whole pot," he said impishly.
The others were close enough now for him to see Jazz's perplexed expression.
"Why would he have to force-feed him? Do we really wanna eat this stuff?" she asked.
Brandon laughed out loud. "No reason for fear, at least not from Mike's cooking. He can be a little zealous over making sure the patient gets enough to eat."
Jazz's forehead creased. "Because he's injured?"
"He's come down with an infection or something today," Raphael filled in. "Doc's not panicking or nothing, but that's Mikey for you."
"I didn't know," she replied. "Is he going to be all right?"
"If he survived this far, a little fever ain't gonna kill him," the turtle encouraged her.
He climbed onto the Slider and settled behind the wheel as the others joined him. Raphael watched Brandon offer a hand to Jazz, and cocked his head as the two shared lingering eye contact. Hm. They seem to be warming up to each other.
"Raph." Greg's voice snapped him back to reality. "This tunnel is really scenic and all, but do you think we could head home sometime this evening?"
"Yeah, sure," Raphael said automatically, without responding to his friend's lighthearted sarcasm.
The turtle swiftly pretended like he hadn't been staring, but it was hard to keep his eyes ahead of him the entire way home. When he glanced over once more, the young woman was resting her chin in her hand, with her elbow braced against the back of the seat. The rest of her frame was facing away from Brandon, and the bronze-haired man seemed more interested in the tunnel walls than anything else.
I'm reading into them too much, Raphael told himself. Just watch where you're going, and stop trying to invent something.
Donatello's internal clock guessed that it was probably morning, but he wasn't tempted to open his eyes. The throbbing in his temples felt much more pronounced than it had since he'd first come around from his injuries. He'd started to learn how to adapt and function with the pain, but the current intensity made him long for deep sleep.
The only problem with sleeping was that he couldn't find a comfortable position in which to lay his head. No matter how he turned his neck or tried different configurations, the pressure still felt overwhelming. Donny had been worn out enough to sleep in stages the night before, but this morning the pain was even more difficult to ignore.
The purple-masked turtle had awakened alone, which led him to believe that one of the docs would have to be returning soon. I need to ask for something extra for pain, or I'm not getting more rest any time soon. He switched to his right side to watch for someone to come through the door, fussing awkwardly with the IVs in his arm.
Raising his head was an unbearable chore, so he chose to remain draped over his pillow. This is just what I needed; another excuse to be worthless around here. It's enough to make me want to scream at the top of my lungs.
His chocolate brown eyes widened hopefully when he saw the door inch open, but an unexpectedly colorful head of hair appeared instead of one of the men. "Jazz?" he asked confusedly. "What's up? Do you need something?"
"Sort of," she replied. The young woman slipped into the room, shutting the door with a quiet click behind her. "I didn't wake you, did I?"
"No, unfortunately I was already up."
Jazz grimaced. "Are you in pain?"
He nodded.
"The guy with the glasses, Caleb? He's close by. I'll get him for you."
Donny detected a slump in her shoulders as she turned around to leave. "Well, hold on. Was there something else, Jazz? You came here for a reason, didn't you?"
She looked over her shoulder at him uncertainly.
"You probably don't have much time before we get interrupted, so you need to just come out with it. Have you made up your mind whether you're staying or leaving?" Donatello asked.
Jazz shrugged as she headed for a desk chair. "I think I'd like to stick around, on one condition."
"What's that?"
"I want you to tell me about Labyrinth."
His eye ridges rose. "What about it? Daystar was your thing—"
"You know something about that gatekeeper. Your comment about an outdated program having it's 'secrets' made it sound like I personally attacked your work."
"You did," he replied. "Labyrinth is mine, was mine, I ought to say."
"You created Labyrinth."
"I'm an independent contractor," he told her. "I've designed several gatekeepers for a number of corporations. Daystar was one of them. You're right though. Labyrinth was outdated, but I didn't have any control over how they handled the system. Daystar dropped me; they decided to go with someone in house to take care of their security needs."
Jazz's mouth opened, but she didn't produce a sound for several seconds. "I know who you are! You created Firestorm, Gridlock, Iron Fist—"
"You made that last one up, didn't you?" he interrupted.
"I did make it up! You've been commissioned by Amhurst, Precision, Hines & Schultz…You're the invisible designer? I always figured you were some anti-social nerd who lived in the Hamptons, spending your days counting piles of money!"
"The nerd part wasn't far off."
Jazz cursed, even as her face lit up. "You're a legend, a freaking genius! Punk, you're insane!"
Don was slightly taken aback. "Uh…thanks, I think."
Jazz scooted her chair closer to him. "I'm not kidding. You're amazing. This is like…the highlight of my life!"
Donatello chuckled as some of the persistent throbbing in his head faded into the background. "If you say so."
"So your program has some kinda trick up its sleeve, huh?"
"Mmm…that's where things get complicated, Jazz. A hacker doesn't typically reveal his secrets to a cracker," he said impishly.
"Oh please, you've gotta give me some clue. I don't need to know exactly how it works, but you've got to tell me how it caught me."
"If you bothered reading the legalese, you'd already know how."
"Legalese?"
"Yeah. You know, those lengthy terms of service agreements some programs force you to accept? The warning is loud and clear. Hack, and be hacked."
"So…when I cracked the firewall, Labyrinth had access to my computer?"
"We have a winner," he replied.
"Okay…that makes sense. But I still don't understand how you traced me that fast."
Donatello shrugged innocently. "It's a method I call 'tagging', that essentially works in reverse. It hones in on an established signal, in this case, the cracker who's invading the system. The process involves laying down a digital signature on the offending operator, so that even if the connection gets interrupted, they can still be tracked. If you had read the terms of service for accessing Daystar, you would have realized that you gave Labyrinth free rein to invade your territory if you invaded theirs."
"My God, that's genius. Nobody reads those things!"
Donatello smirked. "You can't say I don't give anyone the chance." As soon as the words left his mouth, he felt a little awkward. "Sorry. I…uh…I essentially sent you to Prison."
"You didn't send me to Prison," she said evenly. "I mean, maybe I got caught because of you, but you didn't force me to crack Daystar. You didn't choose my friends. Despite everything, I'm fairly level-headed, Donny. I take responsibility for my actions."
Donatello raised his head a couple of inches. "Is that all you wanted to know?"
"Are you kidding? I have so many questions I can barely sit still!"
He smiled tolerantly as the woman took a sharp breath.
"But it can wait, obviously," she said quickly. "I can't believe I met you. I can't believe you're here in the flesh!"
"I had no idea I had a following," he said wryly.
"People recognize the skills, Donny. Seriously, you're like my hero."
He grinned. "Does that mean you'll be sticking around a while longer?"
She nodded with an overwhelmed look. "I'd like to see someone try and drive me away. You're stuck with me now."