Remember. [TMNT 2012]

Chapter 47; Raphael

Song: Find Our Way - Being As An Ocean

I walk out into the main room the next morning, surprised at the sight. Donatello, Michelangelo, Elizabetta, and Edmund are already seated. Leonardo stands in front of them with his head held high. He must have already informed them of what we discussed last night.

   "Good to see you've finally woken up, sleepy-head," the blue-clad turtle greets me teasingly.

   I just grumble in reply. Normally, I would whip his shell for saying something like that. But today, I'm just glad he isn't being a pain.  Settling down beside Michelangelo, I listen as my eldest brother start speaking again.

   "Donnie, how's the research on Lizzy's father coming along?"

   Donatello looks troubled.  "I've looked all over the internet, but nothing helpful turned up. Every address I found that he might be located at was fake," he responds as he removes the white bandages from Michelangelo's arm. His expert eyes darts over the wound. "This has scabbed over quite well, Mikey," he comments happily. "You'll be better in no time."

   "Yeah, I better be," Michelangelo says, wrinkling his nose. "It's too gross to look at. It's even more disgusting than shellacne!"

   "You're more disgusting than shellacne," I sneer, earning an indignant glare from my little brother.

   "Can you run by me again why you think my father is involved in all of this?" Elizabetta speaks up for the first time. She looks distraught. It must be hard having your father as a suspect for something so disastrous. I certainly wouldn't enjoy the feeling if I was her.

   "Yeah, I don't think I get it, either," Edmund sighs. "I understand that the Kraang are dangerous, and that them having access to the earth could mean our untimely doom. But why would they want help from a normal guy? I mean, don't you think they could get on just fine by themselves? They have enough technical knowledge for it."

   "That thought crossed my mind as well," Donatello says as he wraps a fresh bandage around Michelangelo's wound. "I think that the Kraang needed an ally on earth. If they were ever cut off from our dimension by us turtles for example, they would need someone ready to help them return. Your father, if he is who I assume he is, happens to be said ally. He could have built the portal himself and placed it where no one would suspect: in the rubble of the TCRI building."

   "Right," Elizabetta replies, though she still sounds confused. "But how is it that my dagger is the key to the portal?"

   "Your father must have wanted to use something he always had on hand as the key," Leonardo suggests with a shrug. "He could have easily made a copy. You just happened to have the original dagger that could open the portal, too."

   Elizabetta nods, slowly understanding. "Alright, I get that part. Wait," she suddenly says, her eyes lighting up with a realization. "My mom is the one that gave me his dagger. Why would she have it if he always had it with him?"

   "I think that's more of a personal question," Donatello states. "Only she would know the answer to that. All I know is that you have a second key that he's probably forgotten all about."

   "We need to find my mom, then," Elizabetta decides, while my purple-clad brother nods in agreement.

   "Soon," the techy-turtle adds.  "But not now.  We need more information first. Like, for instance, where she's at."

   All of us look at Edmund, who shrugs guiltily.  "After she got mutated or whatever, the Foot took her away.  I don't know where she is.  Sorry."