I do not own the TMNT.

Chapter Twelve; Flame out

"Okay Don, I know I've been gone for a while, but things can't have changed so much that Mikey missing breakfast, lunch, and dinner is normal." Leo said as he ran a towel over one of the plates that Donnie had just finished washing.

"You can say that again." Don chuckled. "Don't worry, Mikey was working on something late last night and his Turtle Titan costume was 'hidden' in more or less plain sight. My guess is he's still out there playing super hero." Donnie chuckled some more "I wouldn't be surprised if he had something to do with that fire."

Leo had kind of spaced when Don had started talking about heroes and costumes -it reminded him to start worrying about his other missing brother- but the mention of a fire caught his attention. "What fire?"

"The one that's been on the news all day." Donnie shrugged and rinsed off another plate.

Leo frowned. After all the dishes were put away he walked over to the couch and turned the television on.

...

Witnesses claim to have heard several separate distinct blasts causing the fire, and several others after the fire began burning in full force. Fire Chief Dawson has this to say.

"In my experience abandoned buildings don't burn the way this one has. They don't burn this long and they don't burn this hot. Somebody had to have been using this old garage to store something flammable that could have caused the secondary blasts; but we won't be able to discover just what until we can stop the flames and get an inspector in there."

"Chief Dawson, do you know if there was anyone in the building at the time the fire started?"

"We can't say for sure at this point in time. We do know that the roof collapsed about ten minutes ago so we don't anticipate finding survivors."

...

Burned to the ground.

Raph had heard of it but never seen such a stark example. There wasn't a scrap, beam, or melted wreck more than a foot above the ground. Thick black smoke still rose from the cinders and from time to time the heat would find something that hadn't completely burned and the few firefighters still at the site would hurry to extinguish these small flames.

Seen from above, on the roof of the building across the street it was clear that some kind of explosion had caused this. There was a depression where the 'kitchen' used to be, and where K's desk had been, and where there used to be a storage cabinet. The real heat had probably occurred when the gas cans heated up and caught fire. Then there was the oil for the bike, and the paint for touching up scratches, and the polish for all the leather Nightwatcher wore. All those chemicals burning would have produced enough heat to melt Raph's spare weapons…

And incinerate anyone inside the building.

As darkness approached Raph tried to think of a plan, but the only thing that came to mind was K telling him he needed to get some sleep. She had been right; he was now running on nearly thirty-six hours without sleep. How many times over the past year had Donnie told Raph in none too unclear words that his sleeping habits, or habit of not sleeping, was going to catch up to him?

Not half as often as Mikey had quietly slipped into his room and covered him with an extra blanket. Had it really been a year since Mikey had begged him to help improve his driving?

Why had he said no?

And why had it been K, who he barely knew at the time, who had talked him into teaching Mikey anyway?

And most importantly, why couldn't Raph remember doing much else with his brother over the last year? He could remember Mikey asking.

"Hey Raphie boy! Up for a round or two on Mortal Kombat?"

"Don't call me that." Shortly after that Donnie had acquired and fixed a couple arcade games.

"Come on Raphie, you know you want to try it! You haven't had pizza in like, forever!"

"Don't call me that either." Shortly after that Raph had slowly become aware that his brother was making pizzas for some wacky party idea.

"Raph, come on bro, can't you just stay home for one night? I'll let you pick the movie!"

"Some other time." Two mornings later Raph had driven his bleeding and unconscious brother into the garage that now lay smoking beneath him.

"Shell for brains." Raph muttered. His voice echoed back at him in the helmet.