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Zapped - Chapter 6

Deviation Actions

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“MIKEY!” shouted Leo. He raced across the street, hoping to reach his little brother in time, but the jostling crowd hindered his pursuit. He saw the gap closing between the Kraang and his youngest brother, but Mikey, still searching for the lost cat, did not hear Leo's call.

Suddenly Leo felt something whoosh past his ear and a second later the Kraang droid twitched spasmodically as it short-circuited and then fell crumpled to the ground, a Hamato throwing star embedded in the back of its head. Leo wheeled around to face the red-clad brother behind him.

“Raph!” he shouted indignantly.

“What?” shrugged Raph, grinning. “Oh come on, like I was really going to come up here completely unarmed!”

Leo just shook his head as the two hurried to the place where the fallen robot was quickly drawing a crowd. Quick as a flash, Raph swooped in and retrieved his shuriken, while Leo snatched the droid's tracking device. No one seemed to have noticed them, and a moment later they came up short in front of the ice cream store. Donnie was standing in the doorway, having just witnessed the event as he was about to exit the shop, and Mikey, who had finally given up chasing Orange Juice, had at last become aware of his surroundings and was staring at the prone robot.

“Dudes! Did you guys just – ?”

Raph just nodded, and grabbing Mikey by the shoulders, shoved him around the corner, saying, “Come on, let's get out of here before people start asking questions.”

As they followed their two brothers down another street, Leo handed Donnie the tracking device he had stolen off the Kraang. “It looked like that Kraang was using this to track Mikey,” he said.

Donnie's eyes glowed with eagerness as he stared at the sparkling pink screen and pressed and turned the many buttons and dials, discovering the purpose of each. So immersed was he in learning the device's secrets, that Leo had to yank him by the arm to keep him from running into a street lamp that had suddenly sprung up in his path.

“Fascinating!” the genius cried at last. “It appears that this device is specially tuned to locate trace amounts of activated synthesized mutagen!”

“Uh, could I have a translation, please?” asked Mikey.

“It's a Blue Goo tracker,” Donnie stated simply. “Or, more accurately, it can track people who have been exposed to Blue Goo.”

“Meaning us,” said Raph bluntly. “Great. Now the Kraang can follow us wherever we go, even to the lair!”

“No, I don't think so,” said Donnie, twisting a few dials. “The readings on this are not that accurate. It appears it can only detect a mutated person if he comes within half a mile of the device. We should be safe underground. Also, once the mutagen is detected, the location is only accurate to within ten feet. So if they were tracking, say, Mikey, and he suddenly joined a large crowd of people, they wouldn't be able to tell which person in the crowd was the one infected with Blue Goo.”

“So, we're safe underground, and in the middle of a crowd,” clarified Leo.

“Basically,” answered Donnie.

“But what about – ” began Raph, but was interrupted by a familiar computerized voice ahead of them.

“The ones who were known as the turtles have been located in this place. Kraang must obtain the ones who were known as the turtles.”

A Kraang droid, dressed in its human suit, appeared out of a side alley only a few feet in front of them, holding another tracking device.

“Quick!” cried Leo. “This way!” He grabbed Donnie's arm and led his brothers down a side street, away from the Kraang, which immediately began to quicken its pace in pursuit of the boys.

This street had much fewer people walking along it, so Donnie's plan of hiding in a crowd was not an option. The four boys were faster than the Kraang bot, however, and soon increased the distance between them.

“Leo!” shouted Raph suddenly, “Why are we running?? Since when are we afraid of a single Kraang?”

“Since we are in an exposed place, surrounded by people, without our weapons, and with not even our shells to protect us!” Leo shouted back. “And anyway, we're not afraid, we're just . . . choosing to engage the Kraang on our own terms!”

“Right!” scoffed Raph, sarcastically. “Enough of this!” And stopping abruptly, he reached down and pulled a small blade out of his sock. With deadly accuracy, he flung the shuriken through the air and struck the robot directly between the eyes. It fell, twitching, to the ground, just as the first had done. Raph watched with a smirk.

“Alright, Raph, you made your point,” said Leo. “Now let's get out of here before the police show up.”

Consenting at last, Raph followed their leader down a different street.

“We should probably head back to the lair,” said Donnie. “April will be getting off school soon, and she was planning to come over after that.”

Just as he spoke, he felt his pocket vibrate and heard the familiar ditty announcing a text message. Pulling his T-phone out of his pocket, Donnie glanced at it.

“Can only come over for a few min. after school. Science field trip was rescheduled for this afternoon. Will still stop by, tho, Leo said something weird happened?”

Donnie looked up. “Leo, you told April?”

Leo shrugged. “I just said something weird happened to us. I thought it was only fair to give her at least some warning, so she didn't totally freak out when she saw us.”



April made her way carefully through the sewer tunnels, trying not to let her boots touch the water, and trying even harder not to think too much about it when they inevitably did. At last she approached the abandoned subway station her best friends called home. She knew she could only stay a few moments, but even a short visit was worth the trip down here. Seeing the turtles was always the best part of her day.

Vaulting over the turnstiles the way her honorary brothers always did, she was about to call their names when she suddenly froze at the sight of an unfamiliar boy slouching among the cushions in the pit, playing a video game on the turtles' TV. He looked to be about fifteen, but was rather small and skinny. He had tousled brown hair and freckles, and, strangely, was wearing an orange ninja mask, exactly like Mikey's.

The boy was unaware of April as she stared at him, unable to account for his presence in the lair. Was this the weird thing Leo had mentioned? Had they made a new friend?

At last, clearing her throat, she said loudly, “Uh, hi!”

She was about to ask the boy who he was, when he suddenly looked up at her with a grin and a second later she found herself in the midst of a rib-cracking hug while a familiar voice cried, “Hey, April! How do you like my new look?”

As the boy let her go and stood in front of her so she could get a better look at him, all she could do was stare, mouth agape. She had instantly recognized both the voice and the manner of greeting, but her brain refused to process the information.

“Come on, April, don't you recognize me?” He was still smiling at her, but his eyes betrayed a touch of hurt at her apparent inability to return his greeting.

“Mikey?” she finally managed, though the name came out in a whisper.

“Yep!” he crowed. “I knew you'd know it was me! Hey guys!!” he suddenly shouted into the lair. “April's here!”

Two more teenage boys poked their heads out of Donnie's lab, and a third, wearing a red mask and carrying Spike, emerged from the kitchen. There were a few more awkward moments of staring as the boys drew closer and greeted her with a nervous series of “Hi, April”.

At last, April found her voice. “Guys, what – how – how did this happen? When you said something weird, I was expecting an interesting story about some new mutant monster, but this! This is not weird. This is beyond bizarre!”

The boys glanced at each other and then at their friend, who was still looking at them like she half expected them to jump out of their costumes and tell her it was all a joke. Taking her gently by the elbow, Donnie led April to a comfortable seat in the pit while Leo recounted the tale of their fight with the Kraang. When he finished, April turned to Donnie, a look of utter bewilderment on her face.

“But, I thought you said it was impossible for you guys to become human?”

“Yeah, I thought so, too,” answered Donnie, “But. . .”

“But they're alien robots!” interrupted Mikey. “Anything's possible!”

“So. . .” April hesitated, her mind still trying to comprehend the abnormal situation. “Is it permanent?”

“No,” stated Raph quickly.

“Well, not yet,” clarified Donnie. “But if we get our hands on more of this synthesized mutagen, or Blue Goo, as Mikey calls it, we could decide to make it permanent, if we want to.”

Raph huffed and folded his arms. April looked at each of their strange new faces searchingly, before asking, “And do you want to?”

“We haven't decided yet,” stated Leo firmly, glancing at both Raph and Mikey, who decided not to contradict him.

There was silence for a moment as April considered this, then Donnie, who had been mentally running through this scene all day, began, “Um, April, I was wondering . . .”

But at the same moment Mikey began talking loudly, drowning him out. “April, you should have seen all the sweet stuff we did today! We went into the city in the day time, and we went shopping, but we didn't buy anything 'cause we didn't have enough money, then we got hot dogs, and ice cream, and I found a cat that liked me, and it liked ice cream, too, and we got chased by Kraang bots, but we got away, and there's still so many cool human things I want to do and oh! April! Can I go to school with you tomorrow??”

April was a bit baffled by the rapidity of this speech and it took her a second to comprehend Mikey's question. “You want to go to school with me?”

“Yeah! I've always wanted to go to school! It looks so awesome! And there's tons of kids there. I could make some new friends and eat at the cafeteria and go to all your classes with you and please say yes!”

April was unsure. This entire strange situation was still sinking into her brain. Before she could think too hard about it, however, Mikey gave her his best pleading look, hands clasped before him in desperate supplication. Even though his features looked different, the expression in those eyes was too familiar, and she had never been able to refuse them. Sighing, she gave in. “Fine, you can come to school with me. But just for one day!”

Mikey was already fist pumping the air. “YES!” he cried. “Oh, April, this is going to be so awesome!!”

April couldn't help smiling at him. She had her misgivings, but maybe he was right. It could be fun. Glancing at her watch, she suddenly stood up. “Oh, sorry, guys, I really have to go!”

“But you just got here!” complained Donnie.

“I know, but like I said, I have to go on a field trip. I'll come back tomorrow. Oh, and, Mikey?”

“Yeah?”

“Meet me at the bus stop at 7:15 tomorrow morning, ok?”

Mikey's eyes were wide. “We get to ride a bus?? Dude, that's on my list, too! This is going to be the best day ever!”

April laughed at him, and then, giving one more overwhelmed glance at the others, she rushed out of the lair, her mind whirling. She would never be able to concentrate on science this afternoon!

After April left, Leo and Raph wandered into different parts of the lair, leaving their two younger brothers alone in front of the TV. Mikey picked up his game controller with the intention of finishing the level he was stuck on, when he suddenly noticed the death glare Donnie was shooting in his direction.

“What?” cried Mikey defensively.

“I was going to ask April out on a date!” said Donnie angrily.

“Oh yeah,” said Mikey, still rather unsure about the source of his brother's ire. “Why didn't you?”

Mikey was sure Donnie was going to blow smoke out of his ears as he shouted, “Because you wouldn't let me get a word in edgewise!! We knew she could only stay for a few minutes, and you took up all her time talking about shopping and school and riding on buses!!”

The young ninja stared at his older brother, he eyes large with contrition. “Oh, dude, I'm sorry! I got so excited about going to school, I totally forgot you were going to ask her out!”

Donnie continued to glare at him.

“Hey, maybe you could call her. She might still be free after her field trip.” Mikey did his best to be helpful, trying to placate Donnie.

Donnie sighed, his manner softening after Mikey's sincere apology. “Nah, it's the kind of thing I wanted to do in person.”

“Well, to be honest, bro,” said Mikey softly, placing a hand on Donnie's shoulder, “I don't think today would have been a good time, anyway. She was totally freaked out. You don't want to ask a girl out when she's freaked out by the sight of you.”

Donnie looked at his little brother's serious expression. Mikey's insight did him credit. Sighing again, Donnie consented, “Yeah, maybe you're right.”

“Of course I am, bro!” Mikey said brightly. “And you can always do it tomorrow.”

“Yeah. . . assuming we're still human tomorrow.”

“We better be! I'm going to school tomorrow! Wait, do you think maybe we won't be??” A look of alarm had come over Mikey's face.

“It's hard to say for sure, but according to the calculations I was correcting, I'd say we have until tomorrow night, or the next morning at the latest.”

“Well, then it's a good thing we're going out tonight to look for that Blue Goo! Once we have that, we can stay human forever!” Sitting back, satisfied, Mikey resumed his game.

Donatello looked at his little brother, worried. What would happen if they didn't manage to find the blue mutagen in time? Or what if they found it and Mikey used it, but Raph refused to? What would Leo choose? What would he, himself choose? He was pretty sure he knew what he wanted, but was it worth splitting up his family for? Could they handle that kind of division? For once, Donnie did not have the answers to any of his questions.
TMNT 2k12 universe.
Rating: This chapter, K.
Whole fic, T, for violence and angst.
Disclaimer: Still don't own TMNT, obviously.

*****


Hey, I've had extra time to write this week, which means you guys get an update earlier than usual. Yay!

So, I know some of you were harboring a secret hope that something terrible would happen to Mikey. :D To you, I say, don't worry, there will be a good dose of angst closer to the end of the fic, so hang in there for that, and in the meantime, enjoy the rest of the story!

Prev. -->Chapter 5
Next --> Chapter 7

Beginning --> Chapter 1
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Feonix500's avatar
Ooh, conflicting choices. Can they find one that will make everyone happy? What will they do if there's no acceptable compromise? Can't wait to find out. :)