Look for the Dragon (A TMNT fanfiction)

{05}Stress And Search

When Casey and I walk into the lair, we head towards the kitchen. I can hear Splinter in the dojo as we near the rice paper walls.

Michelangelo and Donatello are the only other turtles in the kitchen when Casey walks in. Straining my heightened senses as far as they can go in my normal form, I can hear Raphael's footsteps somewhere around the bedrooms. April's footsteps join his after a few seconds-she's stayed overnight as some kind of sleepover-and she wants to join in on the whole morning training.

I step into the kitchen, where Casey and Michelangelo have engaged in a conversation. Michelangelo is a little groggy, but he's still his usual bright and bubbly self. Donatello is hunched over a cup of coffee, lifting the edge of said cup up to his lips.

Casey and I seem to be the only ones relatively awake-although Michelangelo is pretty close to it.

Raphael enters through the curtain. He says a few words, although I tune him out as best I can. I watch April enter the kitchen, shivering a little at the memory of her announcing she saw me.

I purse my lips, worried again.

When we are all seated, Michelangelo begins humming while delivering plates in-front of each of his 'customers', placing the final one in-front of himself.

He begins to announce the name of the meal, which is actually pancakes (something I'm a little surprised about) dramatically, but he's cut off when Raphael cuffs him over the head.

"We don't need the name of the meal, genius," he snaps at his younger brother. "We can tell perfectly well what pancakes are."

Michelangelo looks down before cutting off a large slice from one of his pancakes, licking off a bit of the maple syrup first before shoving it all in his mouth.

I look down and cut a smaller, more appropriate size off one of my pancakes, using my knife to take off some of the maple syrup before taking it off the fork with my teeth.

Near silence fills the kitchen for a few moments, except for a few short exchanges and Michelangelo munching on his food loudly.

"So Leo," Donatello breaks the silence. "Have you thought of a plan to track down the dragon? I want it roaming around New York for as little time as possible."

I look up, willing myself not to appear panicked. "Well, I was thinking," I start, a 'plan' for both how to track me down and how to avoid being discovered forming.

"We split up, either teams or single. We take some darts, ah, use our phones to communicate and hopefully bring it down," I decide.

"Sounds good," Donatello says, his coffee now finished along with one and a half pancakes. "But," he continues, "I recommend going in pairs. We don't know how dangerous this dragon could be. Just in case."

"Okay," I shrug. "Choose your pairs now… so we can just go immediately tonight."

Raphael takes Casey by the arm, and the two fist-bump. I can't help but sigh. Since Splinter doesn't go on our missions with us, Casey is the only one who knows and goes with us. Since Casey is with someone else as a partner now, I have a feeling this search is going to be a little complicated.

Donatello takes April, leaving Michelangelo my only option.

Breakfast continues, knowing who our pairings are. Thankfully, much to my relief, the topic of the dragon, me, isn't taken up again. Training is normal. Mostly. It takes a small while for Splinter to act completely normal around me. The fact Casey is training with us takes away how obvious Splinter's subtle actions are, although he's also acting differently. It's a no win situation. The rest of the day passes slowly. TV, games with Michelangelo and Raphael, checking on Donatello in his lab, talking to Casey discreetly (Mainly about the dragon issue, surprise surprise), and having the occasional chat with April. I talk to Splinter in the dojo as well, and also stay in my room for a few hours to meditate.

When patrol comes, we get our gear, darts provided to us by Donnie of course, and divide into our pairs before heading to different areas in the city above.

Michelangelo bombards everyone with questions. I know the answers to most, but for the majority of them, I keep quiet so I don't risk losing my cover.

We all keep the speakers on for our group phone call chat, just in-case. Because of this, I know Casey isn't dropping any hints about me-intentionally or accidentally. This calms me down a little.

Sure, I give a few excuses to Michelangelo and come into his, Donatello's and April's sight briefly to avoid any risk of suspicion, but other than that… nothing happens.

When we arrived at the lair, everyone went to their rooms, or in April and Casey's case, headed out of the lair to their apartments.

I made sure nobody was looking before I grabbed Casey's arm. "Tomorrow," I muttered, "We'll need to talk."

Now the others are determined to capture me, we need to talk about some plans of action.