With Shredders apparent defeat and a drop in Purple Dragon activity, the Foot clan relaxed a little. Nagi assigned a ninja to shadow Parker, who had move into the compound, to and from work just in case. Raphael had also moved into the compound and was forced to get up every morning to train as well as wear at least shorts when out of his room. He still went to work three nights a week to help out, and still went to church with his family every Saturday night.
Donatello and Professor Honeycutt spent a lot of time together developing new security systems for the Foot clan’s many clients. It took the genius Turtle a month to fully wean himself of the need for sleep aids and, thanks to Honeycutt, stopped having ‘fits’.
Karai was never left alone, still not fully trusted, but Leonardo’s bond with her grew. His childhood mentor had returned and, even though his schooled emotions didn’t show it, was overjoyed to have her back. The Jones Doctors, who now seemed to work full time for the Foot, couldn’t find anything wrong with the baby Karai carried. A few abnormalities, but nothing that alarmed them, so Karai decided to go through with the pregnancy.
Michelangelo was over the moon with the fact that he wasn’t really sick and now was allowed to leave the compound on his own. He and Raph shared a room and spent a great deal of their free time alone in there and would go out alone together often.
Casey spent a lot of time at Foot Headquarters too. He had fallen for the woman that Leo and Don saved from Stockman’s Mousers. April seemed to like him too, though she played hard to get. Though Shen didn’t approve Raph and Casey would sit on the roof and drink a few beers, though not as much as they used to.
Michelangelo had his own little adventure while out Christmas shopping. He managed to stop thieves from taking a truck full of toys intended to go to orphans. He managed all this with a kitten tucked into his jacket, a kitten that he brought home and named Klunk. After several hours of begging, Yoshi and Shen agreed to let him keep the cat.
One day the four Turtles had a strange encounter with a woman named Renet, an apprentice in the seventy ninth level of the dimension of null-time. She was escaping her master Lord Simultaneous and pulled them with her in to medieval times where they teamed up with an aardvark named Cerebus to defeat an evil creature named Savanti. Needless to say they were happy when Lord Simultaneous caught up with them and set everything right. When they returned no time had passed in their time.
Then they were tasked by Nagi to help one of his longtime friends, Gosei Hatsumi, pass on the spirit force of the Gosei Samurai Clan to his grandson Hattori. It was a difficult endeavor. Nagi accepted the spirit of Hatsumi for the mission and they had to fight off assassins with so little honor that they resorted to using guns. In the end they succeeded with the loss of Hatsumi’s son, Kenji. Hattori accepted the spirit force and Hatsumi returned Nagi’s body to him and passed on in peace.
A year had passes and Christmas was again fast approaching and was only a few weeks away. Karai had a healthy baby girl and named her Sakura. She was developing nicely and was sitting up at only four months old.
With training and work, Raphael was exhausted and was in a deep sleep when a cup of cold water was dumped on him. He gasped and sat up, “What the fuck?”
“Mikey’s crying,” Leo pegged the plastic up at Raph. It struck his plastron then flew off to land on the floor.
“Why?” Raph stood up.
“He ran out of the bedroom this morning in tears and won’t tell us why,” Leo crossed his arms over his plastron. “What did you do?”
Raph shrugged, “I was asleep.” He rubbed his plastron where the cup struck, “I didn’t do anything. I’m gonna go talk to him.”
Leo stepped in his path, “Asleep? Like you were with Donnie?”
“Still upset about that are you?” Raph lifted his chin. “That was over a fucking year ago and you can’t let it go. Your boyfriend crawled into bed with me. It ain’t my fault if you can’t keep him satisfied.”
In a rare burst of anger, Leo lunged and Raph barely managed to avoid his fist. Raph fought back, but his skill was still no match for the ninja master, the best he could do was evade, but that wasn’t enough. Leo soon had Raph in a head lock, “You don’t deserve Mikey.”
“Leo!” Mikey screamed at him from the doorway. “Let him go.”
Leo relaxed his grip and Raph slid out.
“You can go now,” Mikey glared at Leo holding the door open. Leo walked out the door, but before Mikey could close it the eldest Turtle held it open, “I’ll be right outside.”
Closing the door, Mikey leaned on it, “You talk in your sleep?”
Raph heart skipped, “I… ah….” Raph walked over and pulled Mikey away from the door to the other side of the room. “Whatever I said doesn’t matter. I was asleep.”
“You had sex with your cousin.”
Raph looked down at Mikey, “What makes you think that?”
“You said his name and you had an erection.”
“Who’s name?”
“How many cousins have you had sex with?”
Raph tilted his head to the side, “One, I get erection all the time while I sleep. It’s natural and it doesn’t mean that I was having a sex dream. Two, I have a lot of cousins and could have been dreaming about anyone of them, but not in a sexual way.”
“Parker.” Mikey whispered. “You moaned Parkers name while sporting a raging erection.”
Raph sighed, “I swore that I would never talk about it. You can’t tell anyone about it, but he was my first. He was struggling with his sexuality and wanted to know if he liked it and was feeling pity for me.” Raph shrugged, “Sometimes I dream about it. I can’t control my dreams.”
“Do you want to…?” Mikey started but Raph cut him off.
“No!” He nuzzled Mikey’s neck, “You are the only one I desire now. Sometimes I have dreams that I have breasts, that doesn’t mean that I wish that was a girl or that I had breasts.”
“Who else have you had sex with?” Mikey demanded.
“Strippers from the club,” Raph answered. “I followed Gran’s rules and used a condom each time, just so you know.” Raph sighed, “The guy’s name was David, he’s not at the club anymore and the woman was… um… Ginger.”
Mikey’s mouth dropped open, “The redhead with the really big bobbies?”
A smile spread across Raph’s face, “Yeah.” He cleared his throat, “Sorry. I don’t have any desire to do her again, but I’m not dead. She’s hot and those are great breasts.”
Mikey nodded, “They are.”
“And they are real,” Raph leaned in and whispered. When Mikey tilted his head to the side Raph added, “Some women get… stuff added to make their breasts bigger, but hers grew to that size all on their own.”
Mikey nodded his head, “Oh.”
Raph cupped Mikey’s face in his hands, “You can’t tell anyone. Don’t even talk about it with me, especially about Parker. Who knows how Nagi will react if he found out. Just act like you know nothing.”
Mikey nodded, “Okay.” They kissed gently before heading to the kitchen to have a small breakfast before their morning training.
**
Thursday nights was one night Raph always worked at the club, due to the fact that most of the other bouncers stripped that night. Mikey was craving pizza so he tagged along and had an awkward moment when Ginger sat down right next to him. Other than that, the night was uneventful for the most part, until the warning sirens sounded.
Raph’s uncle came out of the back, “Everyone needs to head home,” he announced to a confused crowd of patrons.
Raph helped to clear the club of all customers and as he ushered the last of them out he looked up and saw the large spaceship hovering over the city, “Shit.”
**
Being on a bike gave him an advantage over the other people on the street and it was a good thing that it was so late at night. Some were trying to leave the city, and Raph didn’t blame them, while others were just trying to get home, like him. Despite how much Raph actually wanted to go home to the apartments, he headed for the Foot clan with Mikey holding tight to him.
He pulled into the garage and was met by Leo, Don and Professor Honeycutt. “Is that a Federation ship?” Raph asked taking his helmet off.
Honeycutt nodded, “They have already sent out their demands.”
“Let me guess,” Mikey limped over to them, “they want us.”
Honeycutt shook his head, “Just me. And I am willing to go with them to spare this world the devastation that would be brought upon them if I don’t”
“I already told you,” Donnie argued. “We’ll figure something out.”
“I have already made up my mind,” Honeycutt stood firm. “I cannot ask you to risk a single life on this planet on my account.”
“What makes you think that they won’t conquer us the second that they have you?” Raph pointed out. “We need to find a way to get rid of them.”
“This planet is too primitive and faraway for them to hold any interest in,” Honeycutt pointed out. “I am certain that once they have me, they will leave.”
They made their way up the elevator and Honeycutt went straight for the lab, “I want to leave you a few notes, Donatello, so that you may resume my research.” He entered the lab and closed himself up in it for a few minutes. When he came back out he walked straight up to Donatello, “I have already sent a message to the Federation ship. They are sending someone to collect me now. Goodbye, my friend.”
Donnie fought back tears, “No. There has to be another way.”
“There isn’t any time,” Honeycutt told him before entering the elevator again to go down.
Donatello watched from the security cameras as a small shuttle ship landed on the street and three soldiers took his friend away. “It’s not fair,” he cried and hit the screen. “He understood me.” Tears streamed down his face as the shuttle took off.
**
Honeycutt was led through the ship to a room full of computers. A man stood waiting for him, “Welcome, Professor.”
Honeycutt bobbed his head, “General Blanque.”
The general indicated a table, “Get him on the table. We’ll extract the information directly.”
“Yes, Sir,” a soldier saluted before guiding Honeycutt and lifting him up. The robot professor did not fight as he was hooked up to the machines through several wires. When they were done and started to upload his information, he turned to look at Blanque.
“Do you know what a virus is, General?”
The man looked down at the robot, “A microscopic organism that causes illnesses.”
“True,” Honeycutt responded as the general turned away. “However this planet has another definition for the word.”
“We are clear of their orbit, General,” another soldier reported.
“Would you like to know the definition?” Honeycutt asked looking up at the ceiling.
“What definition?” Blanque asked.
“The other definition for virus.”
“Why would I care?”
“Sir?” a female soldier turned to look at the general. “My computer is not functioning properly.”
“I am also experiencing difficulties, General,” another reported. Several others followed and the lights began to flicker.
“Sadly, General,” Honeycutt continued ignoring the chaos around him, “you will not be able to put your new knowledge to work for you, but I will tell you anyway. It is quite fascinating in fact and I am surprised that we have not come up with it ourselves.”
“What are you going on about?” Blanque yelled.
“The virus,” Honeycutt explained. “The humans make them for computers. And you don’t have time to purge it from your systems, General. I made sure to download a particularly nasty one.” Honeycutt turned his head again to look at Blanque, “Tell me. Is it getting hard for you to breathe yet?”
The general gasped for air as the vacuum of space entered his ship.
**
Donnie cried with his head down on his folded arms resting on the desk in front of him as he sat in the lab. “Donatello.” He sat upright at the sound of his name.
“Who’s there?” He looked around the lab, but he was alone. “Great. Now I’m schizophrenic.”
“No, my friend, you are not.”
Donnie stood, “Professor?”
“Here.” Donnie walked over to a computer and, as soon as he approached, the screen came on causing him to jump back a bit. “Do not be frightened. I downloaded myself into your computer and from there accessed the internet. Now it seems I am everywhere.”
“Everywhere?” Donnie’s voice trembled.
“I am in anything and everything that has internet access or a wireless receiver of any kind. So, yes. Everywhere.” He paused for a moment, “There are some really… interesting things out there on the internet. Some humans are… adventurous while others are… improper. I do not believe everything on the internet is legal.”
“What did the Federation take then if not you?”
“I programed Sal with what to do and had him carry a virus, knowing that they would try to directly extract the information using their computers. Viruses for the computer are unheard of where I come from.”
His eyes hurt, but he managed to cry tears of joy as he touched the computer screen, “You’re still here.”
“I fear I have some bad news, however,” Honeycutt’s voice sounded sorrowful. “Satellites have detected a second spaceship fast approaching Earth. The Triceratons are coming and they won’t be as diplomatic as the Federation was.”
**
“The government will come down on us soon,” Shen pointed out. “Everyone saw the robot leave our compound. They will investigate and find our children and take them away from us.”
“Calm yourself,” Nagi said grabbing her shoulders. “The few pieces of alien technology we have can be removed easily and the boys can go out to the farm while the government investigates us. We will make up a story to explain what had happened.”
Donnie came running out of the lab, “We have a problem.”
“What,” Nagi prompted.
“Another ship is approaching Earth.”
“How do you know this?” Yoshi walked up to Donnie. “What have I told you about hacking into the government’s computers?”
“It was Professor Honeycutt,” Donnie said turning to the lab. “He downloaded himself into our computers and accessed the internet. He told me that the ship was coming.”
“Your robot friend is now in our computer,” Shen stated.
“He’s in every computer,” Donnie corrected. “And wireless device too. He’s everywhere.”
“Well that’s reassuring,” Raph said with a heavy layer of sarcasm.
“He won’t hurt anyone,” Donnie argued.
“Right,” Raph mocked. “Because becoming an all knowing computer all of a sudden won’t fuck with his mind.”
Leo swatted Raph on the shoulder, “Watch your language around mother.”
“Yeah, that’s the biggest problem we have right now,” Raph yelled, “my language!”
“Enough,” Nagi did not yell but his voice held authority. “Does Honeycutt know how long we have until the ships arrive?”
Donnie sighed, “Two hours.”
“When they get here we’ll tell them that the Federation already took Honeycutt,” Mikey offered. “Then they will go away.”
Donnie shook his head, “They stopped at the Federation ship first before continuing on their way here.”
“Why didn’t they fight the Federation for Honeycutt?” Leo asked.
“Because Honeycutt used Sal to infect the ship’s computers with a virus,” Donnie explained. “That ship and everyone on it is dead.”
“Then why are they still coming?” Raph’s voice shook. “What do they want?”
Donnie swallowed hard, “Me.”
**
A shuttle craft landed on the street not far from where the Federation ship had landed only hours before. Three giant triceratops looking creatures stepped out of it carrying ray guns that were triangular in shape. Donatello stepped out of Foot Headquarters with a knife at his own throat.
“If you hurt anyone, I will end my own life and you will never get the transmat technology,” he declared as he walked towards them.
The one in front snorted, “Interesting offer but let me counter it with this. If you kill yourself, then we will destroy this pitiful planet.”
Donatello froze as a flood of dread washed over him then he lowered his hand and dropped the knife.
“Where are the others?” the leader demanded. “The ones that were with you on D’Hoonib.”
Donatello shook his head, “They don’t know how to build the device. You only need me.”
The leader laughed, “But we do need them. What else are we going to use as motivation for you to work?” His voice took on a threatening tone, “Now go get them or we’ll go in after them and it won’t be pretty.”
“That won’t be necessary,” Leo stepped out of the compound followed by Mikey then Raph. “We’re right here,” Leo stated as he walked up next to Donnie. “Can we please leave without incident?”
“Get in the shuttle,” the leader ordered.
Donatello tried not to cry as he stepped into the shuttle with the sounds of Michelangelo sobbing behind him.
