Leonardo had such a difficult time sleeping that he almost went after one of the docs to give him something to help him rest. We were so close. Why couldn't Takashi have just been there? It feels like our luck was against us tonight. He rolled over to face the wall, so he wouldn't have to gaze at the empty space in the bed next to him.
At least we didn't get caught inside their building, and we know they're not planning on playing nicely. Not that I expected them to. This is insane. I'd rather be sitting out there at Indian Point than lying in this bed. What does North Korea have to do with the Akiudo? The blue-masked turtle closed his eyes with a groan. There's nothing more we can accomplish tonight. I have to get some sleep so that I'll be worth something tomorrow. I just wish I knew what Takashi has up his sleeve. The very idea that he's scheming while we're resting is disturbing.
A knock at the door made Leonardo sit up in a flash. Greg stuck his head in the room before he even answered him. The man stiffly advanced inside with his cell phone.
"Takashi," Greg said softly.
Leonardo took a deep breath to steady his immediate reaction to the man's name, and wordlessly accepted the phone from Greg. "What do you want?" he asked Takashi flatly.
"It is a very sad thing to me that we have been here for weeks, and our paths have yet to cross," the man returned. "I expected to receive a better welcome than that."
"You're not welcome," Leo retorted. "Am I supposed to be happy to see you?"
"I just think that there is no sense in avoiding each other. There are things to say between us, and I believe it would be better done in person. Do you refuse to meet me?"
"This is the first time you mentioned wanting to," Leonardo said as evenly as possible.
"I didn't have to invite you before," Takashi said pointedly.
"You name the place, Takashi, and my brothers and I will be there."
"I hoped you would agree to it. I am anxious to catch up with the four of you."
"It seems like you're more anxious to hurt innocent people."
Takashi chuckled, a sound Leonardo abhorred. "No one else has to be hurt, Leonardo. I only wanted to demonstrate how serious I am. If you are willing to come and reason with me, I have no purpose in harming others."
I have to make him think we're playing along, Leonardo said to himself. "Whatever it takes to get you out of our city, and out of our lives."
"How do you feel about New Jersey?"
Leonardo took an inward breath. "What about it, Takashi? Tell me what you want us to do."
"I'm going to be in Newark tomorrow night, on the north side of Military Park. There is a sizeable monument that's impossible to miss. Will you and your brothers come?"
"If you're really interested in being reasonable, nothing could keep us away. What time?" Leonardo rolled his eyes as he attempted to sound earnest. Right. As if I can trust him any farther than I could throw him.
"1:30AM. I will be very disappointed if you don't come, Leonardo. It would not bode well for your city."
"We'll be there, Takashi," Leonardo snapped. "But the assault rifles had better stay at home!"
"Those weapons were never meant for you, Leonardo. In all our history together, when have I tried to kill you?"
"You tried to kill both Michelangelo and me at our last meeting!"
"That could not be considered a serious attempt, Leonardo. If I wanted you to die, I would have commanded the men to open fire on you. But they didn't, did they?"
"I want you to leave this country peacefully, and whatever that takes, I'll do it. We'll be there at the right time, Takashi."
"I am pleased to hear that you wish to cooperate with me. There could be hope for you yet, Leonardo."
The turtle clenched his teeth angrily, but said nothing to give away the information that they already had on their headquarters. "Tomorrow night, Military Park."
"1:30," Takashi reminded him.
"We'll be there." Leonardo hung up the phone before the man could say another word, and looked over at Greg. "He's putting himself into position to make a quick get-away. We have to accost the gang before we're supposed to be at the rendezvous point."
Leonardo got to his feet and handed the phone back to his friend. He strode out of the room, heading immediately for the Lab with Greg trailing behind him. The blue-masked turtle wasn't surprised to find Donatello sitting up with his laptop.
"What's going on, Don?" Leo asked. "Do you have any movement on Takashi?"
"His signal is heading on a course that will likely put him back on the Upper West Side, but it's not moving quickly."
Leonardo looked at his watch to check the time, and saw that it was pushing 5:00am. He shook his head. "We're going to have to make an early evening of it; move on the Akiudo before they leave the ghostscraper tomorrow night."
"Did Takashi deliver instructions?" Donatello asked.
"He wants to meet us out in Newark, Military Park at 1:30 in the morning."
"That's not suspicious or anything," Don said sarcastically.
"I told him we'd be there. He has to believe that we're cooperating with him and honoring the agreement."
"Honor has nothing to do with it," Donny said darkly. "Leo, blow up that entire building if you have to, send them all skyward. Don't let them get the chance to kill any more civilians."
"I won't, Don, I promise. We're going to handle them without gloves. They've become too great of a threat to do this any other way. You're going to need to sleep at some point though. Have you talked to anyone else about watching the feed?"
Donatello nodded meekly. "Yes, I have. It's going to be running continuously for the next several hours leading up to the finale, Bro."
"As long as you're not the only one observing it."
"No, we'll create a schedule."
"Good. We all need to get some more rest before the insanity hits." Leonardo looked at Greg, and saw the man rub his forehead tiredly.
"I'm going to sleep with my phone, just in case Takashi calls back."
Leonardo watched his friend leave, and turned around to find Donatello staring at him.
"I'm sure this goes without saying, but don't take anything for granted, Leo. They've used chemicals against us before, and the stuff that Raph and Mike overheard has me freaking out a little."
"I'm worried about that too," Leo replied. "But if we catch them unaware, they might not have time to mount that kind of offensive."
Don sighed. "You can handle it, just like the other times. I know you'll pull it off, Leo."
"I wish you were coming with us," he admitted.
"Yeah, well…beat their tails for me, or whatever you need to do," Donatello said meaningfully. "You're going to stay together, right?"
Leonardo nodded. "We won't separate on our own with the Akiudo. I don't know how 'Team Prevention' intends to spread out. Indian Point is large facility, and there's a lot of ground to cover. I wish we had surveillance on them."
Donatello held up his hands helplessly. "Without the power on at Indian Point, there's no reason to even try to hack their interface. The monitoring system isn't operating."
"Takashi knows what he's doing," Leo muttered.
"Not completely," Donny countered. "He doesn't know that we're tracking him, or that we're on to Indian Point. We have an advantage…you just have to use it accordingly."
"We're going to do our best, Donny; I give you my word on that."
"Try and make it back in one piece. We're already paying the docs overtime as it is," his brother said wryly.
The tension in the atmosphere of the Den was thick, even worse than it had been the day before. Leonardo had felt prepared as they moved toward their original assault, but the previous night's events had left him uncertain. He wanted to pace, but he forced himself to sit calmly in one place, in the hopes that he could convey the sensation to everyone else around him.
The room had been quiet for some time; there was nothing left to do except wait for the appointed hour after sunset to arrive so that they could leave. Leonardo cast a glance over at Greg and Sayuri on the couch, and then turned to include Kelley and Tim.
"I know I don't need to tell you to watch each other's backs. It's anyone's guess how many Akiudo could be present at the Plant. It may not be necessary for them to be there to initiate anything, but past experience tells us Takashi will have men on the premises to make certain the plan goes off properly."
"A suicidal volunteer?" Kelley suggested.
"In all likelihood, you'll be facing a few of them. You're going to try and stay together?" Leonardo verified.
"That's the goal," Greg replied. "But like we've said all along, no one knows what we're getting into."
"All the more reason not to lose track of each other," Raphael insisted from behind the couch. "You're taking extra ammo in case you need it, right?"
Greg nodded. "We wouldn't dream of going without it."
Leonardo felt a little silly going over things with them again, as if they hadn't had the talk the day before.
"It was quiet last night, and maybe it will be no different now," Timothy suggested.
The blue-masked turtle felt someone else watching, and scanned over his shoulder until he saw Brandon standing in the hall. The man had barely spoken that day. Leonardo knew he was unhappy about being left behind, even though Brandon hadn't openly objected. When he shifted his gaze forward, he noticed Jenna lingering in the doorway from the Lab. The raven-haired woman had a stoic expression on her face, but he could read the concern in her eyes.
"Y'okay, Jen?" Raphael asked.
She nodded. "It just sucks to do this two nights in a row."
"We're gonna be fine, Jenna. It's our turn now," Raphael said dangerously, and made eye contact with Leonardo. "We could get on the road at least, couldn't we, Fearless?"
Leonardo rose to his feet. "It's about that time. Let's gather up everyone else."
In the middle of people moving moments later, Leonardo realized he'd lost track of Brandon. The man was nowhere in sight as everyone else prepared to leave. He sought out Raphael and caught him by the arm. "Will you get everyone directed toward the Sliders? I want to find Brandon real quick."
The red-masked turtle nodded, and Leonardo ran to check Don and Jen's room first. When he found it empty, he returned to the hall and noticed that the door to the Lounge was partially ajar. He nudged it open the rest of the way, and saw Brandon and Jazz sitting on one of the couches.
"Hey, guys. We're about to leave. If everything goes well, we should be home in a couple of hours. I'll keep in touch as much as I can."
Brandon's rigid posture spoke volumes to the turtle. "Take care of each other," he said tightly.
"We always do. This nightmare is so close to being over, Bran. Hang in there, and we'll be back soon."
The man nodded and got up to meet him. "No sense in getting emotional all over again, is there? Give Takashi and crew 'what for', all right?"
Leonardo extended an arm around the man, and then waved at Jazz. "Your nightmare is almost over too," he said. "Soon you'll only have to hang out with us because you want to."
The young woman couldn't mask her anxiety. "Don't do anything stupid, okay? You guys are growing on me."
The turtle chuckled. "Okay. Bye, guys."
Leonardo breathed in and out sharply as he left the room, and fingered his phone as he considered calling Calley again. No, I talked to her less than an hour ago. She knows we're getting down to business.
He bid Jenna farewell in the living area and went outside into the tunnel. The idea that he'd been holding up the group made him grimace, and he hurried to get into the Slider already occupied by his brothers, Luke, Kat and Caleb
"Are we set, Leo?" Raphael asked.
"It sure looks that way, doesn't it?" Leonardo motioned to the Slider in front of them. "Go ahead, Greg! We're right behind you."
Michelangelo had his arms folded across his chest, chilling against the seat as if they weren't getting ready to take on some of the worst villains of their lives.
"You seem relaxed," Leo commented.
"Sure, Bro; been there, done that." Mike grinned.
Leonardo gave him a withering look.
"We've already rehearsed this, Leo." The orange-masked turtle shrugged. "I'm ready to do this. We've been waiting for months. Don't you feel relieved?"
Leo laughed. "I'll feel relieved when it's over, Mikey."
Raphael thumped an arm over the youngest turtle's shoulder. "Can't blame a guy for getting a little ahead of himself. Just not too far, Chucklehead," he told Mike. "We've got work to do before we get to celebrate."