Donatello was sick of being hot. The intermittent fever seemed to be a harmless response to the infection he was battling, but it left him extremely uncomfortable. With the trouble we have holding on to heat, you'd think I'd appreciate the opportunity to be warm, he thought ironically, shaking his head. But then, I'm irritated in general. I've definitely had enough of this bed.
He rolled over to face the desk where he could see his laptop, waiting out of reach. The turtle sighed longingly, right before there was a knock at the door. Brandon peeked around the door into the room.
Donatello forced what felt like a normal smile. "What's up?"
"Just coming to check on the patient."
"You're not here to spring me?" Donny suggested hopefully.
"I'm not sure. Do you think we could handle that, Jazz?" Brandon directed behind him, and the young woman entered the room too.
"It's not worth it, Donny," she told him. "You just have to serve your time."
"Ha," he said dryly. "You should be a comedian."
Jazz's grey eyes registered sympathy. "Has Luke been letting you do anything?"
Donatello automatically looked over at his laptop again, and Jazz followed his gaze. She glanced over her shoulder as if the wrong person was watching, then strode over to the desk to retrieve the computer.
"No one should be cut off from their true love," she said.
Donny chuckled. "You're going to get yourself in trouble."
"What's the worst they can do to me, really?" Jazz scoffed. "Once you've been to Prison, you realize how silly it is to be afraid of the small stuff."
The purple-masked turtle accepted the laptop from her. "Thank you."
"Unplugging a hacker from his computer is the real crime here." Jazz flashed him a smirk.
Brandon snorted. "Make sure you tell Luke that."
"You think I won't?" she challenged.
"No, I'm sure you're up for it, but you haven't seen what Luke's like when he's angry," Brandon returned, nudging her warningly from behind.
She punched his shoulder in response. "Bring him on, Brandon. He can't be any worse than those crazy Akiudo."
Donatello's eye ridges rose as he watched the two of them. Interesting. With the frame of mind Brandon's been in, I wouldn't have imagined there could be a strong attraction. They sure look like they're into each other. I wonder if anyone else has noticed. He turned away before either of them could realize that he was staring, and opened the lid of his computer.
"Anything new on the radar this morning?" Don asked.
His visitors dragged chairs over to sit down.
"Well…they're closing down Indian Point," Brandon offered. "Kelley thinks the Akiudo has something to do with it.
"Wha…" Donatello didn't even bother to finish the word. Nobody is telling me anything, he silently fumed. "Is there a plan?" he demanded. "Are the guys going to do something?"
Brandon shook his head. "No, I don't think so. Not yet. I know Kelley asked his family to leave town though."
Donatello trembled as a cold chill washed over him. "He must have a compelling reason to believe that the gang could be messing with the Plant. Is anyone else in authority taking it seriously?"
Brandon and Jazz exchanged a glance, and the man looked back at Donatello. "The general consensus is that it's a giant industrial accident."
"Oh, sure it is," Don muttered. "Just like Takashi was murdered by a suicidal vigilante in Okinawa. Is there anything else?"
Brandon shrugged. "Not that I'm aware of. Thousands are already without power on the surface."
The turtle winced. "Shell. It's only going to get worse, isn't it?" Donatello closed his eyes briefly. There's so much more at risk than blackouts. And we're not doing anything? We've got to get some eyes inside the Plant!
He gazed down at the computer on the tray in front of him. I guess I'm going to have to get my news off the Internet, since hardly anyone wants to tell me anything.
"Is there something else I can do for you?" Brandon asked carefully.
"Not unless you can smuggle in some coffee."
The man laughed. "No promises, Don, but I'll do my best." Brandon shot Jazz another smile. "You can hold down the fort?"
"I've got him," she replied.
Donny rolled his eyes. There's no middle ground. Either I'm being ignored, or I'm being treated like some little kid.
"How are you feeling?" she asked.
"Impatient," he answered. "I'm tired of being seen as an invalid, even if that's what I am."
"Yeah. I bet that's irritating."
"It wouldn't be as bad if the Akiudo wasn't out there doing who knows what. I need to get back on trying to track them down."
"Is that your sole responsibility?"
Donatello shrugged. "I specialize in all things technical."
"But you do more than that, right? You can kick some serious tail like your brothers. I watched Leo and Raph sparring yesterday. I thought they were gonna kill each other."
He laughed. "No, we save that for special occasions."
Jazz shook her head. "The four of you combined must be something else. I bet you give those Akiudo a run for their money."
"We do our best."
"Greg told me about the amazing stunt you pulled at their place on that island."
"You mean the flood? That was Leo's idea, and we just barely pulled it off. I didn't have time to mess with all of the fail safes that were in place to prevent such an event. I was cut off from my brothers; the Akiudo was already onto Greg, Sayuri, and me…I had to improvise."
Jazz motioned for him to continue. "So what did you do? How did you bypass the security features?"
He grinned. "It was simply a matter of dealing with the sensors that communicated water levels back to the computers. I overloaded the devices with too much power to force the sensors to short out. It was a lot more effective than trying to find a way around them."
"You aren't just a one-trick pony. I get overwhelmed wondering about the things you're capable of."
"You'll never realize what you're truly capable of until you're backed into a corner with no way out," he said ironically, but his smile faded. "That day was supposed to be the end of it for the Akiudo." He rubbed a hand over his eyes, discouragement making them feel heavier. "Can we focus on something other than that wretched gang?"
Jazz was quiet for a long moment, and he saw her staring at his computer. "What about you, Jazz? Are you going to tell me you haven't touched a computer since getting out of Prison?"
"That's my punishment," she said evenly.
"Uh huh," he said skeptically.
She gave him a hint of a smile. "Where there's a will, there's a way. I've stayed on top of the latest technology through literature. There's no rule against me reading about computers, is there? That's not the same as physically accessing a terminal."
The turtle still had his doubts. "It wouldn't be hard for you to access a computer," he remarked. "I bet you know of people who could hook you up."
"I'm not going there, Donny. I'm not a career cracker; I thought I made that clear to you." Jazz looked disappointed.
"I didn't mean you were searching for trouble," he said hastily. "I just know how deep the love of technology runs."
She nodded. "It leads you to take one of the few menial jobs that will hire an ex-con, just because it puts you in a position to use a computer once in a while."
"Oh, yes." Donatello understood. "The places you cleaned? You were using their machines?"
"For small windows of time. I found a team within my Agency that took longer breaks because they liked to drink. It usually earned me some play-time with a computer, at least twice a week."
He chuckled. "So you found a way." Donny was surprised to feel some of his irritation over being left out of the loop fizzling.
Jazz lounged back further in her chair. "I ain't gonna lie, Donny: I liked cracking. I enjoyed the challenge and feeling like I was overcoming something. When you're small and insignificant, and then get a taste of that kind of power…it's intoxicating. But not at someone else's expense," she added quickly.
"Technically speaking, I do a lot of cracking too," Don admitted. "I've probably broken more laws domestically and internationally than you ever will. That's why your motivation mattered to me so much. All of us are law-breakers, Jazz, every member of this family. But as you said, it's not at the expense of other people. We do what we have to in order to find the bad guys and save lives."
Jazz pursed her lips. "I've never come close to saving someone."
You're probably closer than you think, he thought inwardly, recalling the image of her and Brandon together. Where did he end up? I thought he was coming right back.
"But hypothetically speaking, if you were to pick up a computer right now, do you still have it in you?" he continued.
"Cracking you mean? Why do you wanna know?"
He shrugged, though he had his reasons for asking. "It's just a question. Have you done any since you got out?"
Jazz shook her head. "No. All I've done is stick my feet in the kiddie pool, the shallow end of the Internet. I haven't come close to breaking and entering, and I don't have any plans to. Is that what you wanna hear?"
Not necessarily, he thought. "I'm just wondering where you stand and what you'd be capable of."
"If I didn't know better, I'd think you were trying to recruit me, Turtle."
"Is that crazy?"
"You're the good guys, remember? How would that make any sense?"
"Since when were you a bad guy?"
"Most people already think of me that way," she replied.
"But you said yourself that you don't want to hurt anyone, Jazz. That doesn't mesh with a bad guy's motivation. I've known enough of them to be able to tell the difference."
"I'm not a good guy, so what does that make me then?"
"In the past, I don't think you were trying to be either one. You've walked this middle line, and tried not to be swayed too far in either direction, Jazz. That won't work forever; you have to choose a side at some point. Do you know what can happen when you try to remain neutral in a time of war? I have one word for you – Belgium."
"Belgium?"
"When the German army began invading Poland in the Fall of 1939, Belgium and the Netherlands made a joint public appeal to terminate the war, and announced their neutrality. The country had already suffered through World War I because of having Germany and France as their neighbors, and they wanted to avoid being caught up in it again.
"Regardless, Belgium was occupied by Germany in the Spring of the following year. The country had made very few preparations for the case of an invasion, because they trusted in their diplomatic relations. Instead, Belgium fell to Germany in only 18 days."
"Am I supposed to be Belgium?"
"The thing is, no matter how hard you try to avoid taking a side, eventually someone is going to decide things for you."
"I'm confused. Are you talking about the Akiudo, or something else?"
"At the moment, I'm only referring to where you choose to stand, Jazz. You don't want to fit in alongside anyone, and I understand that you've kept yourself unattached partially for defense. But sooner or later, you have to choose to be one thing or the other. Do you get what I'm saying?"
"I get it," she said softly.
"Between you and me, Jazz, you're not cut out to be a bad guy."
"You don't think so?"
"Nope," he replied. "First of all, you're way too cool for that. Secondly, you have a good heart. Bad guys don't care about people the way you do, especially when they don't know them well."
"Who said I cared?"
"Call it a sixth sense." Donatello struggled to keep a straight face, and turned his head as he heard someone raising their voice outside the Lab.
"Bran, that's enough!"
"What was that?" he wondered aloud.
"Got me, Donny." Jazz got to her feet, heading for the door as it burst open.
"Brandon, I'm not kidding. The game is up, and I'm getting into that room!"
Don recognized Luke's voice this time, and he had to cover his mouth at the sight of the bronze-haired man doggedly refusing to give the doctor easy access to the Lab.
"Don't make me call for reinforcements, Brandon; I swear I'll do it!"
Brandon cast a look over his shoulder at Donny. "Sorry, Don, I held him off for as long as I could! I hope you got to do something useful with that thing."
Donatello looked at the computer, which he hadn't even turned on. Depends on the definition of "useful". I think the conversation with a live human was more important.
"Donny! You tell him to back up, or I'm taking your phone away next!" Luke called.
"You and what army, Doc?" Brandon laughed.