Being sick really stinks. But hey, at least I get time to write fanfics this way!
Leonardo felt his mouth drop open. For a moment, he and Karai just stared at each other in astonishment. Judging by her expression, she was as shocked as he was.
He was immediately lost in a wave of hopeful fantasies. He imagined working together with her to get the cure for Donnie. Along the way, they would be able to repair their friendship—or whatever it was they had before Leo had decided that taking out Shredder was more important than beating the Kraang ship. Afterwards, Aunt Mei would tell Karai the truth, and Karai would finally leave the foot. She would come stay with them. They would get to be even better friends than ever, and maybe...
Focus, Leo, he silently told himself.
Finally, his voice worked again. "You will?"
Her eyes still wide, Karai nodded slowly.
"Leonardo?" Aunt Mei stepped back through the doorway.
"She's going to help us," Leo breathed, still hardly able to comprehend it. He had hoped—longed—that she would, but had never actually dared to believe it.
"If I can," Karai said quickly. "I can't make any promises. You know how the Kraang are."
"Boy, do I," Leo said, allowing himself to smile.
"Don't think for a second that this makes us allies, Leo," Karai snapped. "Once this is over, I'm going back to hunting you down. Just because I want the honor of finishing your brother doesn't mean I actually care about him."
Leo felt the smile slide from his face; his imaginings faded along with it. I suppose that's the best we can ask for right now.
"Now, about my payment," Karai continued. "I want to talk to Satou alone. And she'd better answer every single question I have, and if she tells me one lie, the deal is off."
Aunt Mei frowned. She looked over at Leo, as if repeating her concerns from earlier.
Leo drew a deep breath. "She might tell you some things you won't like, Karai." It was a massive understatement. "But you have to promise us that you'll wait until you know for certain whether it's the truth or not before you call off the deal."
Karai folded her arms and pursed her lips. Leo couldn't decide whether this meant she was reconsidering her agreement.
"Dudes, what's taking so long?" asked Mikey, as he walked back inside. His voice was congested, probably from crying. "We better leave before Raph starts punching Casey."
"Go back outside, Michelangelo," Aunt Mei said. "We're discussing terms."
Mikey's face lit up. "Does that mean she's gonna help us?"
"I'm considering it," Karai said.
Leo's heart nearly skipped a beat. They were on thin ice. "Why don't you make sure Raph doesn't kill Casey, Mikey? We'll be out in a second."
A grin spread across Mikey's face, and then he left.
Leo melted inside. It was the first real smile that he'd seen from Mikey since the accident. He turned back to Karai, silently begging her not to take away his brother's smile.
Karai's eyes were darting back and forth between Leo and Aunt Mei. "What exactly do you mean, I might not like everything she has to say?"
"It means that the truth is painful," Aunt Mei said.
Karai frowned. "I want all of my questions answered before I start on this thing."
"Done."
Leo felt a surge of doubt; there was no way that Karai was going to help them if Aunt Mei told her everything. Karai wouldn't believe it.
Or maybe she would. Maybe she'd join their side.
His heart leapt at the thought. All of his wild, unfounded hopes started coming back to him.
"Get out of here," Karai said. "I want to talk to Satou alone."
Hesitantly, Leo glanced at Aunt Mei. She nodded. Leo didn't like the idea, but he'd watched Aunt Mei training enough times to know that she was a competent fighter. If things went bad, she would be able to protect herself.
Suddenly, there was the faint buzzing of a cell phone. Karai jumped and dug her hand into her pocket, pulling out a slim phone. "Doesn't he actually sleep?" she groaned. She answered it. "Karai."
Leo could hear Shredder's voice, faint and tinny, on the other end of the line. "Where are you?"
"I couldn't sleep. I went out for a late night bowl of noodles. What do you want?"
Leo couldn't quite make out what Shredder said next, but Karai silently mouthed a foul word. "Really?" she said. "At the old radio station?" She started jerking her head toward the exit. "I'm not too far from there. Tell Bradford and Xever to meet me."
Leo's heart started pounding.
"Hai." Karai hung up the phone. "What are you still doing here?" she hissed. "Our scouts spotted you. They've got eyes on Jones and your brothers right now. They know that Satou is here, too."
"What about you?" Leo said, drawing his katanas.
"I'll get out another way and double back. Just go."
"We'll call you."
Aunt Mei pulled out her sai. "Karai, if this answers anything for you: my name isn't Satou. It's Kobayashi. I'll tell you more when we meet again."
Karai frowned. "Good. Because that doesn't explain anything at all."
A look of relief crossed Aunt Mei's face. "It will. Come on, Leonardo."
With a final glance at Karai over his shoulder, Leo rushed out to join his brothers.
"Leonardo? What happened?"
Leo clutched at the brightly bleeding cut on his forearm, trying to think of ways to avoid telling Splinter the whole story. After they had left the radio station, the Foot had launched a surprise attack—which wasn't much of a surprise, since they all were expecting it. Right as they were escaping, Karai launched into the fray, giving him the vicious cut as if to remind him that they were not allies, even now. "We were out on patrol, looking for the Kraang, and we got ambushed by the Foot."
It was a half truth; hopefully there was enough truth that Splinter wouldn't be able to sniff out the lie.
"Yeah, it was pretty lame, though," Mikey said, rubbing at a bruise on his temple. "The Foot are seriously losing their touch."
Splinter scowled. "Never underestimate your enemy."
Splinter's displeasure actually encouraged Leo; it was the first emotion beyond grief that Splinter had expressed in close to 36 hours. "Hai, Sensei."
"Come, Leonardo, let's get you patched up," Aunt Mei said. "You too, Raphael."
"It's just a scratch, Obasan," Raph said.
"A scratch that will get infected. Come on."
"Geez, Auntie M, you sound just like Donnie," Mikey said.
A strange hush fell on the room; Splinter's face went from anger and concern back into grief so profound that it made Leo feel like succumbing to the despair that had threatened to take him after Donnie's transformation.
Mikey's posture drooped as he realized what his words had done to everyone's mood.
"Come, boys," Aunt Mei said, in a quiet voice.
Leo, Raph, Mikey, and Aunt Mei all filed into the lab. Splinter did not. Leo's heart sank.
April and Mr. O'Neil looked up from a hand of cards. The exam table had been returned to its usual state, other than the deck of cards that had been stacked in the middle. Donnie sat on the table near April, looking like he was considering whether or not he wanted to attempt eating one of the cards that she was holding.
"Guys!" April said, jumping up. Her sudden motion startled Donnie into his shell. "Did you find anything out from the Kraang?"
"Not quite," Leo said, as Aunt Mei started to tend his injury.
April drooped. "Oh."
"If there's anything I can do to help," Mr. O'Neil said, "let me know. I'm nowhere as good as Donatello, but I know a little bit about chemistry and the like. It wasn't my field, but I did a little on the side as a hobby."
"Thanks, Mr. O'Neil," Leo said. He flinched as Aunt Mei applied hydrogen peroxide to his cut.
Chemistry. Of course. Even if the Kraang were able to help them some, they would still need to find a way to make sure that it would be safe for anyone not from Dimension X. But it would take a genius to figure that out.
A genius like Donnie.
Leo closed his eyes. So many factors had to fall into place if this was going to work. Any given one of them was beyond his control—but all of them?
I'm an idiot. I'm never going to get my brother back.
Nothing was more idiotic than hope. But without it, there was no point in doing anything.
He was going to get Donnie back, or if not, he was going die trying.
Karai knelt on the ground, her face inches from the floor. The waves of her father's disapproval washed over her. "Unfortunately, they were able to evade us. If Bradford and Xever weren't so inept, I would have had them."
"I see," Shredder said, his voice laced with disappointment. He was quiet for a moment. "The scouts told me that the Satou woman was with them. Did you see her?"
"Yes, Father. She was there."
"Did you learn anything about her?"
"No."
"The scouts sent me some photographs they took." Shredder stood up and leafed through a couple of sheets of paper. "Perhaps your concerns over her were not unfounded."
Karai lifted up her head, willing her face not to betray the violent twisting in her stomach. "What do you mean, Father?"
"My daughter, have I ever told you anything about the Kobayashi family?"
Dun dun dun...