Zapped - Chapter 8

The garage was completely deserted. Leo looked around at the shifting dust, unsure what to do next. He had been so hopeful that they would find a clue here.

“I thought the Blue Goo was going to be here!” cried Mikey, who had been the most desperate to find it that night. “Where is it?”

“Actually, I don't think it ever was here,” stated Donnie looking around thoughtfully, “except for the small amount the Kraang had in their guns last night.”

“What do you mean, Donnie?” asked Leo. “This is the address where the Kraang said they were conducting their experiment. You heard it on the communication orb.”

“Exactly,” said Donnie, “But you see, the Kraang knew I was listening in. This was never the location where they were actually creating the new mutagen. They just gave me this address to lure us here – to a place far from their research so they could test the Blue Goo on us without fear of us trashing their equipment.”

“Or learning any more about their plans,” added Leo grimly.

Donnie nodded.

Raph growled. “So we came all this way for nothing!”

Mikey looked panicky. “So, we have no idea where the Blue Goo is? What if we don't find it in time?” He put up his hands to feel his face, as if he expected to begin transforming back to a turtle then and there.

“Actually, I have several ideas of where the Kraang facility might be located,” said Donnie reassuringly. “But I'll have to go back to the lair to retrieve my data before I can conclude the most likely options.”

“We have to go home, anyway,” said Leo. “It's getting late and Master Splinter expects us back soon.” He began leading them toward the door.

As Mikey followed, he asked, worried, “But what about the Blue Goo? We needed to find it tonight! Donnie says we don't have much time until we change back!” He ignored Raph's pointed glare.

“Don't worry, Mikey,” said Donnie as he replaced the lock on the back door. “We have at least until tomorrow night. We'll search again tomorrow.”

“But right now, you need to get a good night's sleep,” said Leo in a parental tone. “You have school in the morning.” He smiled playfully at Mikey.

Mikey laughed. “Haha! Leo, you sound like one of those moms on TV!” But he cheered up considerably at the mention of school, and the four ninjas crept quietly back to their lair.


******

The school bus moved slowly through the early morning traffic. The usual buzz of chatter filled the air, but April wasn't participating in any of the conversations. She was tired, and she leaned her head against the window, watching the activity around her. She had been unable to sleep last night as the strange new faces of her friends kept parading themselves before her eyes. She couldn't get the bizarre situation out of her mind.

A few months ago, when she had first met the turtles, she had been surprised by how easily she had adjusted to the idea that her best friends were mutants who lived in the sewer. But they had saved her life and accepted her as one of the family, so she wasn't about to be judgmental about appearances. Now her dear ninja turtle 'brothers' were no longer mutants, and she was finding this much more difficult to get used to. She wasn't entirely sure how she felt about the idea.

She stared at the boy sitting beside her, bouncing up and down in his excitement. He was at the same time both a stranger to her, and familiar as a brother. She felt she already missed the turtle she had grown so close to, but when the messy-haired boy next to her turned to grin at her, his baby blue eyes reminded her that her friend was still there. She shook her head, unable to wrap her mind around the contradiction.

Already April was having second thoughts about letting the former turtle accompany her to school. He had no notion of social protocol. The bus driver had twice yelled at him to sit back in his seat, as he kept leaping around the bus, talking a mile a minute to everyone. In his ecstasy, Mikey did not seem to notice that no one was responding to him. Most of the teenagers were staring at the obnoxious newcomer with shocked aversion.

At last they pulled into the school parking lot. Mikey leaped excitedly off the school bus and raced to the front of the building, followed closely, though less enthusiastically by April. He stopped several yards before he reached the door to take in the scene. April could see his eyes shining as he looked eagerly at the large, tan brick building with wide concrete steps leading to the large double doors, and an American flag flapping in the breeze outside. In the courtyard and on the steps, teenagers were milling about, chatting, goofing around, or comparing homework notes. There were still several minutes before the first bell and no one seemed in a hurry.

“What do you think, Mikey?” asked April coming up beside him.

“It looks amazing!” squealed the boy, his blue eyes filled with joy. He noticed a couple of boys about his own age practicing skateboarding tricks near the steps. He watched them with glee for a couple seconds before stepping forward. “Hey!” said Mikey with a cheerful grin. “That's an awesome trick! I've never seen that one before. Can I try?”

April kept a respectful distance, taking up a position near the stairs where she was still close enough to watch how this interaction would play out.

The two boys looked in surprise at the new kid who was being so forward, but with a friendly shrug, the taller one with curly blond hair relinquished his board to Mikey, saying, “Sure. Let's see what you can do.” He was a lanky boy with freckles and sparkling brown eyes that gave the impression he was ready for anything, as long as it was fun.

Mikey tried the new move a couple of times, and on his third try executed it successfully. “Yes!” he cried. “That's an awesome trick!”

He handed the skateboard back to the blond boy, who said, “Hey, you're pretty good.” He extended his hand in greeting, saying, “I'm Justin, by the way. Justin O'Brian. And this is Ryan Smalls.” He indicated the stockier, sandy-haired boy beside him who shoved his hands into his sweatshirt pocket and nodded casually at Mikey. He was wearing baggy clothes and leaned against the wall in a manner that clearly showed he considered himself too cool for his surroundings.

Mikey took the proffered hand and shook it excitedly, saying, “This is so awesome! I'm Michelangelo, by the way. Hamato Michelangelo.” He imitated Justin's method of introducing himself, having never participated in a proper introduction before. April smiled to herself. Mikey was doing alright.

Justin looked at him slightly confused. “So, your first name is Hamato?”

“No, it's Michelangelo,” Mikey corrected, then clearly comprehending Justin's source of confusion, he clarified, “In Japan, family names come first.”

Ryan raised an eyebrow and scrutinized Mikey, taking in his round blue eyes and freckles. “Um, no offense, but you don't look Japanese,” he said.

Mikey laughed. “No, dude, but my sensei – I mean, my dad – is from Japan. I'm, uh, adopted.” April hid a smile as she couldn't help thinking that Mikey's father did not look particularly Japanese at the moment, either, but of course, Mikey did not feel it necessary to mention this.

“Oh, that's cool,” said Ryan casually.

“So, Michelangelo,” began Justin, maneuvering his tongue around the mouthful of a name.

“You can call me Mikey.”

“OK. So, Mikey, what's with the orange mask?” Justin gestured toward Mikey's face.

“Oh, my dad gave that to me. It's my ninja mask!” Mikey said this proudly, as if everyone ought to desire this kind of facial wear.

Justin's face became skeptical at this, while Ryan's bore a look of disdain that clearly stated he thought Mikey was far too old to be playing dress up. April frowned and felt a sudden surge of protectiveness toward Mikey. He was like her little brother, and she did not want him to be made fun of on his first day ever at school.

“No, for real, dudes,” Mikey defended himself. “My dad's a totally awesome ninja master, and he is training me and my brothers in the art of Ninjitsu. If I had my nunchuks with me I could show you some moves.” April could tell his new friends still didn't really believe him, but at that moment the bell rang and Justin and Ryan picked up their backpacks that had been leaning against the wall and slung them over one shoulder.

As the boys raced up the front steps, they called out in a friendly way, “We'll see you around, Mikey!”

Mikey waved to them, then turned to the red haired girl who was waiting for him by the stairs. “Did you see that, April?” he exclaimed with joy, “I made some new friends!”

April smiled affectionately at him. He hadn't done too badly, after all.


*******


The sun shone warm on their backs as the two brothers stood together on the rooftop, scrutinizing the bustling office complex across the street. It was about an hour past noon and Raph and Leo had been out since early morning, trying to track down the Kraang.

When they had all arrived home the night before, bruised and disappointed, Donatello had pulled out a map of the city, and using the data he had collected on the Kraang over the last few months, had marked out the eight possible locations of their experimental facility in red marker. He labeled them with the numbers one to eight, based on the likelihood of each one being the correct building.

That morning Mikey had left for school directly after training, and Raph and Leo had taken the map, leaving Donnie in his lab to further research the Blue Goo. Beginning with the location labeled '1', the two oldest brothers had traversed the city, scoping out each place in turn. They did not, however, search them in order of likelihood, but in order of proximity to their current location, in an effort to efficiently save time.

The first building had been an abandoned warehouse where they had encountered the Kraang once before, but the aliens seemed to have deserted it. The second place they checked, labeled Number Five on the map, had turned out to be an underground Kraang containment facility. They had engaged in a minor scuffle with the Kraang here, but had not found anything remotely connected to the Blue Goo. Number Two had been infested with Kraang, and the brothers had had difficulty in managing to escape with their lives, but again, had discovered no new information. Number Eight had been only an old wooden building on the fishing docks, which smelled strongly of fish, but not of Kraang.

Now the two boys were surveying the office building, labeled Number Seven on the map, where Donnie suspected the Kraang had a secret operation in the basement. Leonardo watched the people hurrying in and out of the front door on business of their own, and his mind was already calculating the best way to infiltrate the building unnoticed. Only half of his brain was thus occupied, however. The other half was focused on Raph.

All morning Leo had noticed that Raphael had something on his mind, and he strongly suspected what it was. However, he knew his least expressive brother would open up more if left to do it on his own time, so Leo had refrained from approaching the subject. Now he could tell that whatever had been preying on Raph's mind was about to explode out his mouth, and he waited patiently for his brother to begin.

Leo stole a glance in Raph's direction. The wind was ruffling his brown hair and whipped the red tails of his bandana about his shoulders, but he was otherwise standing stock still. Leo noticed that he was not watching the office building, though; he was watching Leo. As their eyes met, whatever had been bubbling up inside of Raph all morning finally burst out.

“So, what's the real plan here, Chief?” he asked, folding his arms and narrowing his eyes. Leo knew what he meant, but thought it best to wait and let Raph elaborate on his own. “I mean, we've been out here all day looking for this Blue Goo, but what happens if we actually find it? Are you really planning on taking it back to the lair? Are you really planning on USING it?”

Leo looked steadily back into Raph's emerald green eyes, which were boiling with accusation, frustration, and a hint of betrayal. “I haven't decided that yet, Raph,” he said calmly.

“Well, you better decide soon, because you know what will happen if we bring that stuff home with us. Mikey will use it for sure, and I think Donnie will, too. He probably thinks it will give him a shot with April.” Raph scoffed as he said this. “So you need to figure out what you would do with it. Have you even thought about it yet?”

“Of course I've thought about it!” snapped Leo. “And you're right. Mikey and Donnie would use it. They have good reasons to want to remain human, Raph. Try to remember that.”

“Yeah? Well I have good reasons to want to be a turtle again. Have you thought about that?” The sense of betrayal was showing stronger in Raph's eyes now.

“Of course I have, Raph. But what about Master Splinter? Think about how much he has always wanted these opportunities for us, and for himself. If we finally had the chance at a normal life and just threw it away, wouldn't that be like a slap in the face to him?”

Raph growled and began to look angry. “Alright, Leo, drop the perfect leader act. So far you've told me what Mikey and Donnie want, and what Master Splinter wants, but what do YOU want?”

Leo was rather taken aback by the directness of this question. He was the leader of this team, and even before that, he had always been the oldest brother. Responsibility fell on him to keep his family unified, and for years he had carved out this role for himself, necessitating that his own desires were wrapped up in the desires of his father and his brothers. No one ever really asked him what HE wanted. He wanted to keep his family together. He wanted whatever would make them happiest. Now that Raph asked him so pointedly, he found it difficult to separate his own desires from those of his family. He searched deep into his own heart. What DID he want?

Leo did have a secret desire. Ever since he was a child, he had dreamed of visiting Japan, of experiencing for himself the country of his family's cultural origin. He had never even told Splinter of this longing, for he knew it to be unattainable. They didn't exactly hand out passports to mutant turtles with nothing but a pet store receipt as documentation of their existence. If he remained human, perhaps he could finally accomplish this dream.

But then there was the life he and his family had created for themselves here in New York. True, they were outcasts and lived in isolation in the sewers, which sounded terrible, but if Leo was honest with himself, he had never really minded. He didn't feel the sting of loneliness. He had his family, and that had always been enough.

Besides all this, he loved the new role he and his brothers had adopted as defenders of the city. Battling the Foot and the Kraang was exciting. Defending people from gangs and thugs was rewarding. They had become heroes, and that was something he had always wanted to be. And Raph was right. They could do that much better as mutant turtles.

And honestly, he liked being a turtle. It had never bothered him that his family was different. It made them unique, special somehow. It was part of who they were.

Leo looked up at Raph who had been watching his deep contemplation with an accusatory stare. “In all honesty, Raph, I like being a turtle,” he said with a small smile.

Raph's face softened into a look of surprise. “You mean, you're on my side?”

“It's not about sides, Raph. It's about what's best for this family.” Leo knew he had to get Raph to understand this if he didn't want his family to fall apart over this issue. “Raph, as the oldest brothers,  it is our job to protect this family, to keep us all together. You and I cannot afford to be selfish. We have to think about what Mikey and Donnie want, what would make them happy. We're a team, Raph, and I need your help to take care of our little brothers.”

Leonardo could see the effect this speech had on his hot headed brother. By sharing the responsibility with his brother, rather than placing himself on a pedestal by trying to shoulder it on his own, Leo had brought Raph to his side, effectively causing him to see beyond himself to the needs of the family as a whole. Raph no longer saw Leo as betraying him by siding with his younger brothers, but rather as respecting him enough to share with him the burden of taking care of the family, a burden which Raph often desired to take on himself.

Raphael did not answer right away. Then, in a rare moment of affection, Raph clapped his brother on the shoulder and said, “Sensei made the right decision when he made you leader, bro.”

Leo stared at Raph, surprised, but the moment was already gone. Raph turned his attention back to the office building across the street and said brusquely, “So, how are we getting in there to trash the Kraang?”