Day 2

"I'm gonna smack him 'till his face falls off. The little twerp. Tell me where he is."

"I told you, he wouldn't tell me."

"Bullcrap, Leo!"

"I tried to convince him, as hard as I could!" Leo waved a hand for emphasis. "But he said if I kept asking, he'd cut us off. Would you rather have it that way?"

Grumbling, Raph stalked off, pacing a few feet away in conflicted frustration while Leo turned to Donnie and Splinter. They looked shocked, but Leo had expected as much. After telling the story of what had happened and what was going on now, as Mikey had described it last night, the rest of his family was all but beside themselves. It seemed almost impossible that all that had happened within the scope of a few evening hours, and now their smallest was gone.

"That's...not possible..." Donnie mumbled, numbly rubbing the back of his head and looking down. "...Is he alright?"

"He said so, but after all he told me, I really don't know." Leo said, sighing.

"Oh..." Staring at his toes, Donnie wrapped his arms around himself before putting a hand to his face, sniffing. "Mikey...that idiot."

"Oh, Donnie..." Leo walked forward and pulled his little brother into a hug, and Donnie broke down into tears, burying his face in Leo's shoulder. "It's alright. He sounded like he'd made it to a safe place, so it's ok. He said he was alright." Leo said, his voice low and soothing. "He would've told me if he wasn't, right?"

"Is he gonna be ok?" Donnie croaked.

"I'm sure he's gonna be fine." He gave Donnie a squeeze, rocking him for a minute to comfort him. "Ok? We'll find him and he's gonna be fine, and we'll bring him home, safe and sound."

Watching his sons, his oldest holding his distressed second-youngest closely, and his second-oldest pacing back and forth in frustration and panic, Master Splinter sighed, troubled and worried.

Oh, his bright, smiling baby boy...how had this happened?

He went to put a hand on his hot-head's shoulder, and when Raph turned to him for comfort, he wrapped his arms around his son as he buried his face in his father's robe. Seeing them, Leo brought Donnie with him and held on tight to the two little brothers he had left, and Splinter to his three boys.

Splinter honestly didn't know what to tell them, much less anything that might comfort them; he didn't know any more than they did about his baby child. All they could do for the moment was hold one another.

After a few minutes, Raph sniffed and rubbed his nose, releasing himself from the group hug. Scrubbing away tears, he grumbled, "That little cheesepuff, as soon as I get my hands on him, e's gonna regret th'day he..."

While Raph mumbled vague threats towards their little brother to himself, Leo and Donnie exchanged upset glances, until Leo rubbed Donnie's head with a smile. "He's gonna be ok." He repeated, encouragingly and quietly. "Mikey's always handled this crazy world we live in the best."

"Yeah." Donnie agreed. "But this..."

Having released them, Splinter turned halfway from them and put a hand on his head, saying, "I feared something like this might happen someday...however, I imagined I would already have passed somewhere more peaceful, and you four would be older and more weathered for these kinds of challenges..."

Turning to their father, Leo quickly got on his hands and knees and bowed apologetically, making Splinter turn back and look in surprise. "I'm sorry, Sensei." He said, lowering his forehead to the ground. "This is all my fault. I should've made sure Mikey went with somebody so they could look out for each other. I'm responsible for his safety, and I've failed to look after him."

"Nonsense, Leonardo," Splinter said, kneeling down to help him up by the hand. Knowing the tendencies of his oldest son, he had been afraid Leonardo would start tearing himself apart over the situation. "This was not your fault, my son, you have not failed anyone. I am more than confident in your responsibility with your siblings; no one could have stopped these events, and no one could have predicted this would happen, in any scenario."

"Right," Raph said, coming back to the group. "It's the fault of that stupid, corrupt government of ours, and the FBI's bird-brained, trigger-happy workforce that can't tell a terrorist from a turtle!"

"Did you want them to know he was a humanoid turtle?" Donnie asked, turning to him. "What else were they supposed to think? You heard the description – short man in battle gear, considered armed and dangerous. They'd be bird-brained if they didn't think he was some kind of terrorist! I'm just glad the actual truth wasn't found out."

"You think that helps Mikey out?" Raph retaliated, miffed. "He's on the run because of those idiots, the FBI and the terrorists! No, I don't want'em to know Mikey's a turtle, heaven forbid, but none of this was his fault, yet he gets to be hunted like a criminal. God even knows if they'll find him anyway!"

"Don't say that," Leo said, making the quarreling two stop and look at him, a little guilty. "We have to have faith in him, and hope for the best. Whether he likes to act like it, Mikey's a capable guy – and he has a lot driving him to do this. We have to trust that he can."

"Well, what are we supposed to do?" Donnie asked, looking lost. "Just sit here and wait?"

"No." Splinter spoke up again with a shake of his head, and looked at his sons. "Michelangelo told us of the note he acquired, and I believe deciphering this will help him."

"Right. And besides," Leo added, smirking in slight irritation. "We gotta get to work on de-scrambling his T-phone signal."

Donnie huffed. "What'd he do to it, anyway?"

"Just what I'd like to know." Leo shrugged. "Obviously, he took out his tracker, but he did something to keep anyone from pinpointing his coordinates when he picks up a call. I noticed when I tried to track him down on your computer last night. I thought you taught him something?"

"I didn't teach him anything," Donnie said, perplexed. "Certainly not that...actually, I really haven't taught him anything, not about the T-phones. Raph?"

"You think I know how to do that stuff?" Raph shrugged off the accusation. "But don't stare at each other all goggle-eyed like that. I can't be the only one that's seen'im tweaking his Xbox so it's all messed up every time I try to use it. He knows how to cross a couple wires."

When Raph sensed he was being stared at, he looked again to see three blank faces in reaction. "What? I'm not the only one who knows, right?"

Donnie turned back to Leo, and they stared at each other in surprise. "Well, depending on how much he's done, it might take a while to de-code his phone," Donnie said, scratching his head. "Especially from a distance; I'll only be able to collect information I need during calls."

"Can we not call Michelangelo now?" Splinter asked.

"He asked us to keep it to a minimum. He doesn't have a charger right now, and he doesn't want his phone going off at any random time and giving him away." Leo said, and immediately looked vexed. "Wait a minute! Was that just an excuse?"

The other three looked around at each other blankly.

Leo sighed. "Either way, I'm gonna call him again tonight, so you guys can talk to him then – and hopefully we can start tracking him down."

Everyone nodded, though Raph looked bothered. When he noticed the other three giving him expectant looks, he gave an uneasy sigh. "Right...hey, when you were talking with Mikey...did he say why he needed t'go alone so bad?" Raph paused, unsure. "I mean he's not like this. Right? Wha's he tryin'a protect us from that he thinks we wouldn't take on?"

Leo sighed, too. "That's not the issue. Mikey told me he feels responsible for everything. We all know how much of a threat the government is to us and he wanted to keep us as far from that as possible. I told him that didn't matter to us but that's when he threatened to break contact entirely." He said, casually crossing his arms. "Clearly we haven't discussed what to do as a family if we did face this problem."

Crossing his own arms, Raph grunted in agreement, looking thoughtfully at the floor. "Yeah..."

"That may be so, my son," Splinter said. "But I do not believe you can say you would not be doing the very same thing, in this situation."

Looking a little less sure of himself and somewhat more self-reproaching, Leo let out a small sigh and looked to the side.

"We must pray for your brother's safety while he is out on his own." Splinter continued. "But while we are working to reach him, we must also keep in mind the dangers around our own home. The government is surely taking aggressive action now, and we must tread very carefully. Whether we agree with it or not, your brother left for our safety."

Contemplating their father's words, the three of them nodded, and looked at each other for a moment.

Donnie turned. "In that case, I'm gonna go to my computer and see what I can do. Leo, I'll see if I can pull any info from your phone from the call last night. I'll call you over when I'm ready."

Each went their separate ways, Donnie to his lab, Raph to blow some steam on the training dummy, Splinter to meditate some stress away, and Leo to the couch to wait for Donnie. He sat down with a heavy sigh and leaned his elbows on his knees, staring intensely at the blank TV across from him with his fingers interlocked.

Raph's and Sensei's comments earlier had sparked some concern in his own mind. It seemed petty and ridiculous at first, and he'd quickly brushed it aside; but the thought wouldn't leave him alone.

After they de-coded Mikey's phone, what was he supposed to do? Round up Raph and Donnie and barge out through the FBI after him? He had to face it – Mikey had gone through all this, taken all this risk to keep the four of them at home safe, and he said himself it would all become worthless if they just threw themselves into their enemy's hands...like Master Splinter had pointed out, they were virtually surrounded, as it was. Suddenly, as sometimes tended to happen – usually at his own expense – he realized an insight that Mikey had pointedly failed to mention. By putting himself out and keeping the government's attention focused on terrorism, not him or his family, Mikey had given them an undeniable advantage over the situation – even against the odds, they were more likely safe than not; and only with the rest of their family in mind, Leo hated to let that advantage go to waste – which Mikey had undoubtedly guessed.

Besides that, after everything he had gone through for them, if they took the risk to go after him, it would effectively serve as a blatant denial of all their little brother's sacrifices and a pretty hard slap to the face.

Leo rubbed his hands over his face with an irritated growl, troubled. What was he supposed to do, then? Just sit and hope he'd be able to do this all alone without getting killed, out of respect toward his sacrifices? He would NOT do nothing, he couldn't, even knowing the outrageous things his little brother had done for them. He told him before and it was still just as true now – he would never abandon Mikey to the enemy, not in a million lifetimes; he wouldn't do that to any of them, he couldn't, he wouldn't, there was nothing in existence that could ever stop him from using every last fiber in his being to protect his three little – Leo took a little breath to calm down. He was going after Mikey, no matter what was in the way.

He decided, then. There was only one thing he could do. Once they de-coded his phone, he'd go after Mikey himself, whether to bring him back or help him finish his mission, and ground Raph and Donnie to the lair or face his wrath. They'd understand – they'd have to. At that point, the only threat would be Leo to whatever misfortunate FBI agent who got in his way. He would be safe enough, and he was definitely going to make sure Mikey was safe, too; Raph and Donnie would be confident of that much, hopefully, so maybe he could find some way to make them stay back. Plus, he figured by then, Mikey would've bought them enough time that the FBI would've slacked off from the city a bit, and he'd probably be able to leave New York without much trouble. Mikey's sacrifices would have already served their purpose; he wasn't stepping on him in order to keep him safe. And then there was nothing that could stop him from getting to his baby brother.

Anyway, Mikey had already agreed that as long as he was out there in that much danger, it was fair that they at least tried to look for him.

"God even knows if they'll find him anyway!"

He sighed, putting his aching, anxious forehead to his folded hands. He just hoped he'd be able to make it in time.

"Leo, come on over here. Let's see what we can do with your phone."

Getting up, Leo made his way to Donnie's lab.

Birds chirped somewhere nearby.

Unused to the sound, Mikey finally woke up. He rubbed his eyes, yawned and stretched. Immediately the worn, softened, ragged leather seat underneath him felt uncomfortable, and already aware of everything that had happened late yesterday, Mikey groaned and wished for his own soft, comfy bed back at home as he shivered and blew out a cloud of warm breath. A pulsating ache in his head told of the lingering headache he'd managed to sleep off, and he rubbed his eyes again with a grumble before massaging his forehead, soothing the ache away.

Not wanting to get up, he tiredly laid on the seat and stared out the window across from him through slitted eyes, where warm sunlight was pouring in and a couple chirping birds could be heard outside. He listened lazily for a few minutes, focusing on the shocking peace that was the lack of a city atmosphere. He wasn't sure what he thought about it or if he actually liked it yet, but it sure was nice while he laid there resting.

What time was it?

Crap!

Bolting upright, suddenly much more awake, Mikey looked around and stared out the windows, frozen for a minute. How long had he slept? Had anyone seen him? He was behind the drug store, where he'd parked the truck last night. Being out of the way, while the chances were good that no one had probably paid attention to him, he still felt nervous. Then again, he was wearing the hoodie and the pants he'd taken, so anyone that might've caught a passing glance would have probably just thought he was a hobo. Thank goodness Leo had convinced him to go get some clothes before he crashed last night, otherwise he probably would've been woken up much earlier by cops trying to break into his truck. The clothes gave him a cover that was going to be necessary, and that was proving itself very early on. A disguise was crucial.

After staring out the windows for a few more minutes and watching a few people walk by on the street across from the store, having a small column of vision around the corner, Mikey finally relaxed a little bit and decided he'd managed to luck out of a pretty obvious, lazy goof. Even with a disguise, he couldn't afford to just lay around anywhere vulnerable any more than he had to. It must've been at least somewhere around 12:00 pm already...the cops could've been called anyway to kick him off of the property. He felt like an idiot. Moaning at himself, he stretched again and started rummaging through his stuff on the floor of the back seat.

Pulling the hat on, he got out of the truck and walked to the concrete backside of another building behind the store to relieve himself, not knowing where else he was supposed to. He really wished he could brush his teeth, too; he felt nasty, but he didn't want to go inside any stores. However, when he was finished, he realized...he really needed to poop.

"...Rats..." Mikey mumbled, looking around. He kept glancing between the back of the store and the alley he was in, and with a sigh, he finally decided he really couldn't just go number two on public property. But how did he get to a bathroom? He felt way too self-conscious to go inside the store. Even with the clothes and being able to hide his hands in his sleeves, his feet and upper face didn't have enough cover. At least it was still cold enough out that he didn't seem so strange all bundled up, but he was still extremely nervous about standing out.

"Come on Mikey," he thought to himself. "You're gonna have to start doing this anyway. Why do you think you need the disguise in the first place? Man up, it's just a drugstore, nobody's gonna be paying attention to you."

Mustering up some courage, he went back to his truck and took the keys out of the ignition slot and grabbed his scarf before going. Wrapping the scarf around his neck and the lower part of his face, he decided to slip his mask off at the last minute or else catch someone's eye with the bright color, so he took it off and stuffed it in the hoodie pocket with his keys before nervously rounding the building and skittering inside.

"I need sunglasses, I need sunglasses, I need sunglasses," he feverishly thought to himself, constantly turning his face away from everyone he saw as he quickly looked around the store for the bathroom. There were only a couple people nearby browsing some products, but they barely spared him a glance. Spotting the bathroom, he hurried over and ducked inside.

He rushed inside a stall and leaned against the wall with a relieved sigh before moving to the toilet. That was something else he was going to need, apparently – sunglasses. He felt like his face was way too exposed, even with the scarf. But he had no money...

With a gulp, he remembered the other obvious problem he'd shoved in the back of his head, but knew he'd encounter eventually. How was he going to get gas for the truck?

Well, there was really no way to figure that out right now. Once he was finished, he washed his hands and left the bathroom, peeking around to make sure nobody was looking first. Hesitating, he went toward one of the back isles to see if they had something he was looking for.

After a bit of searching, he realized this place didn't sell car-adaptable phone chargers; he figured he'd more likely find those at a gas station anyway. However, they did have toothbrushes and toothpaste, and crackers - and he was getting really hungry.

"What do I do? Beg for some free toiletries and crackers in exchange for a jig?" Mikey inwardly groaned, longingly gazing at the hygiene products and delicious, plastic-wrapped goodness. As he was just deciding to leave, something popped into his head from the night before.

"Find some kind of store, something – I want you to steal it if you can. Alright?"

Leo had told him that, although he was talking about the clothes, and surely neither were comfortable with stealing anyway; it was wrong. But somehow, his leader's previous permission supported his suspicion that stealing was going to have to become something he did for a little while just to survive, and Leo obviously understood that. They all probably did. It was ok, right? He had no other way of getting necessities right now, and he didn't feel like starving in the name of corporate law, which he didn't consider too highly anyway.

He didn't like it, but he didn't really have a choice. Looking around again as discreetly as he could, also scanning which direction security cameras were facing, he started walking away to disguise what he was doing as he secretly slipped a toothbrush, a tube of toothpaste and a plastic-covered pack of crackers in his hoodie pocket. He quickly made his way back to the bathroom with the items.

Once inside again, he made sure no one else was in the bathroom before taking out and opening up the toothbrush and toothpaste. Pulling down the scarf, he brushed his teeth at the sink, feeling exceedingly grateful for the fresh, clean feeling. He cupped water in his hands from the faucet to rinse, slipped the items back in his hoodie pocket and hurried out of the bathroom, his nerves on edge and nervous adrenaline coursing through his body.

He held his breath as he forced himself to casually walk out the drugstore door, somehow paranoid that some kind of alarm would go off in recognition of the stolen items, or a clerk would suspiciously call him back inside – but nothing happened, so he breathed a sigh of relief as he rounded the store to his truck again.

"Wicked!" Mikey thought, pulling everything out of his hoodie pocket with a smile. He climbed into the front seat of the truck, took the scarf off and slipped his mask back on before sorting through his treasures. He felt excited now, hyped up by successfully pulling off an illegal act without getting caught, almost like a ninja or something.

The crackers he'd snatched were the universal, find-them-anywhere Lance brand, and he'd managed to grab some kind of Jalapeno flavor instead of regular. At first disappointed, he figured he might as well give them a go, all for trying new things. He was about hungry enough that he didn't care either way. Opening up a pack, he popped one in his mouth as he started the car.

"...Not bad," he mused, taking out a few more individual packs before tossing the box and his scarf into the backseat. "A little strong for breakfast, though. Or is this lunch?"

Not knowing where to put the toothbrush, he finally, reluctantly settled on the plastic wrap of the crackers, and finished off a pack so he could somewhat disgustedly slip the toothbrush inside the plastic, trying to ignore the leftover crumbs he couldn't shake out. He put his toothbrush and the toothpaste in the back seat with his other stuff.

With a sigh, he dug the terrorist note out of his pocket and skimmed back over to refresh his memory about what he and his brother had discussed last night, munching on a cracker.

Indian Point plant, 2 gl. drum

H. Wren south, initiating in 20 days

"If I were a terrorist organization, where would I hide?" He mumbled sarcastically. All he still really knew was that he needed to head south. How far, nobody seemed to know; but he needed to believe he'd find more info later. His brothers were going to help him decipher the note, and maybe that would give him more direction. For now, he figured he needed to make some headway, at least, so hopefully he'd end up being closer when they found out more. Wishing he had a map, he glanced about to suddenly realize one was stuffed into a compartment on the side of the driver's door.

"This was being used as a pizza delivery truck, after all," Mikey realized, taking it out and unfolding it. His heart dropped when he saw it was only a zoomed-in map of New York City, but flipping it around and unfolding it a little, he relaxed when he saw the entire east coast in detail. He'd never really paid a whole lot of extra attention to the country surrounding New York, and took the time now to look things over with interest.

After intensively scanning the area he predicted he'd been when he left last night and wracking his brain to remember the name of the highway, he managed to locate his exact position when he saw a nearby sign that had the name of the town – Alexandria – and matched it to the map, determining he needed to backtrack a little to get on i-95, which would take him south. He had already left the state of New York, after all, and was officially in Pennsylvania – despite the circumstances, he was a little excited about that fact alone. Doing his best to remember the route, he folded the map into a smaller section to handle better while he was driving, and pulled out from behind the drug store.

Now he was thirsty...

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Mikey drove for a few hours, doing his best to learn and abide by traffic laws and remember the controls in the truck, and after a little while, he started feeling like he was getting the hang of it. By watching other people, he learned some common protocol about driving, and how to interact with certain settings and situations. Even out of the city, signs still confused him a bit, though – whenever he found signs with street names, he could barely tell which one he was on or what he was about to turn onto, the way they were all crisscrossed around and seemingly placed randomly at intersections. Also, after a little while, he officially decided the highway signs made no sense and were purely posted to troll people. He wasn't necessarily looking for the highways the signs pointed toward, but he found that many times, they seemed to direct him to highways that never ended up being there, but were always somewhere else entirely. Maybe it was just him...

He really couldn't focus on his irritation so much, though, when he was gawking out the windshield at the wide-open sky before him. Cluttered by skyscrapers and tall buildings and clouded over with artificial light or smog, he never generally paid much attention to the sky in New York, even when he was running on the rooftops; but now, it seemed like there was nothing in the way of the bright, light blue and the fluffy clouds in the air; it felt so open and free. It seemed like there were so many trees around, too, even though he was barely a few hours from the city – he wasn't used to that. The fact that he knew he was in another state just seemed to add more glamour – it almost felt as if he'd stepped out into a completely different world. He wondered if all the states were like this.

Just for occasion's sake, he dug out his T-phone and snapped a picture of the sky, grinning.

After traveling down i-78 until it joined with i-95, which he thankfully found pretty easily, he hopped on only to jump back off at a rest stop almost immediately afterwards, really thirsty and kind of sore from sitting. Once he refreshed himself at a water fountain and pulled his scarf back up, he wondered if he could manage to scrape together enough quarters to buy a water bottle to take with him. When he found none in the truck or lying around, he begrudgingly decided to dig a bottle out of a trash can, but as soon as he found one, even though it looked relatively ok, he was too grossed out and just put it back again. Even washing it out wouldn't make him feel any less nasty using it.

He might steal one, but there were only vending machines at the rest stop. With a sigh, he put a dime he'd found in his pocked, keeping a sharp eye out for loose change wherever he could. Whatever he could scrape together into his pocket was probably all he'd have for a while.

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He continued to drive on i-95 for a few hours, coming close to Philadelphia, and started worrying again about gas. The fuel gauge was starting to tip below the halfway point, so he was getting a little nervous.

Making money was not a new concept to him, nor his brothers. Things were always super tight at home, and his family was used to picking up every bit of change they managed to find. Besides building many of the functional items in their home, Donnie was able to hack into whatever services they might want to use, and they'd all contributed with a little online work for some pay before, so they generally didn't have any actual financial concerns but food and groceries, which always tended to be the biggest financial issue; but really, it was never that much of a problem anymore, not since he and his bros had started helping their dad with money.

But gas? Huge, regular, 40-dollar gasoline expenses were not on their normal spending list, and frankly, as little as they always got just scraping leftovers together for the family, Mikey had no idea how to go about making that much. Real money was earned; and it was especially hard to do that when he couldn't be seen, and didn't have internet access.

He didn't want to have to abandon the truck if he could help it, all the same. Maybe once he got to Philadelphia, he'd be able to find out something he could do for money – he always saw rainbows of different talents street performers would use to fund themselves, and he wondered if that would work as well in Philadelphia. While he knew it probably wouldn't look like New York, he really didn't know how different the two cities were.

There wasn't a whole lot more time to think about it, however, because soon he noticed a cop that had been behind him for a little while now had a buddy. Wary, when he discreetly glanced at his rear-view mirror at them, he suddenly realized that they were definitely focusing on him, and seemed to start communicating with each other through the radios in their cars.

Suddenly extremely on edge, Mikey wished he could grab his scarf, but it was in the backseat – he wasn't as concerned about them seeing his face unless they ran him down, however. With getting pulled over in mind, he changed lanes to see if they would go around him, but they followed over. In that case, since he wasn't at the speed limit, he sped up a little in order to safely pass and pull back over in front of another car, hoping to get them off his tail. As he was attempting this, however, he heard the dreaded bwoop sound, and saw the red and blue lights on the leading police car light up and spin.

Oh. No.

He hadn't broken any laws, and the truck was surely up-to-date on everything; he was positive of that. He'd even used his turn signals. It was for something else, and Mikey was sure that it was because they found him suspicious.

There was only one way out of this, and his heart began to race while his mind immediately started hysterically pleading with alternatives when he came to this conclusion.

He had no other choice, though. He couldn't afford to be pulled over – especially since he wasn't confident enough about his disguise. Another couple bwoop's and both cops following close behind drove him to action.

"Master Splinter better not hear about this."

Seeing another opportunity, he quickly sped around another car and pressed harder on the gas, trying to lose them. Immediately, both police cars' sirens went off, and the chase had begun.

It all happened so fast – Mikey's heart was pounding frantically and his mind was all a frazzled buzz as he weaved around other cars, he and the cops rather quickly catching up to 140 mph. The truck hitched and protested at the ridiculous speeds at first, but the old workhorse faithfully followed his commands through with a roaring torrent of strength and steady acceleration.

Seeing a 16-wheeler, he veered around it, dove back in front of it and immediately took an exit, hoping the large truck would hide him from view long enough to let him slip out from under the cops. It worked, as the cops sped by the exit on the highway - he gasped and slammed the brakes to slow down fast enough on the exit ramp, praying thanks that nobody was in his way. Screeching down to speed and leaving skid marks behind him, his racing mind flashed an idea before him and he veered left before turning right, leading anyone who followed the skid marks in the other direction. He turned onto the road he'd come to and quickly entered the parking lot of a shopping strip, squeezing his truck into a crowd of others in a parking space and quickly entering a dollar store, taking his scarf and removing his mask.

Once inside, he finished tucking the scarf in around his face and walked over to an isle without anyone else in it, keeping a lookout for other shoppers, and stared out the store window. He didn't see any sign of the pursuing cops, but he was sure they were still looking for him, and had definitely called in back-up already. He felt way too scared to go out now, and even disguised in a crowd of other cars and trucks, the fact that his truck's license plate was facing outward made him paranoid. The cops had undoubtedly tagged it.

He gave a ragged, nervous sigh and pretended to calmly browse the items in the isle while giving nervous glances out the window to keep watch, trying to keep away from other shoppers and attempting to still his shaking hands. What was that all about? Sure, if somehow, in his escape from New York, suspicion had come up that a suspect terrorist had been the one to steal the pizza truck, and cops in the surrounding areas had gotten a tip about its appearance, they might've wanted to question him, but how likely was that? And New York would be telling them he was in a pizza delivery truck, but he'd taken off the sign. The police system back there would probably be too backed up right now for the poor, nice pizza guy he'd stolen it from to turn in an acknowledged report about it anyway. Plus, he had been on the highway this whole time, and hadn't seen a single cop until they started following him. He was following all the traffic laws, as far as he knew. Maybe he'd accidentally done something? No, he was sure it wasn't for that. What, then?!

He needed to calm down, and these other people in the store were making him nervous. He quickly located the bathroom, and going inside, he scooped some big gulps of water into his mouth and splashed his face from one of the faucets; he was super thirsty from nervous sweat. After that, he spent a good 30 minutes in one of the stalls to see if he could wait the initial chase out without being found.

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Once he finally decided to leave the bathroom, he was almost too scared to. Making himself make a cautious exit, he looked around, and immediately looked out the window for his truck. It was still there, same as before. A few people had left from the area he'd parked, but he considered it still fairly blended in. Apparently the cops lost track of him after he'd found a busy hiding place so quickly. He sighed, knowing he was out of immediate danger. Although, every aspect about driving anywhere was a terrifying idea right now, and he wondered what he was supposed to do next.

He checked his T-phone. It was 7:32 pm, and the light was fading outside. He was really hungry...and he was positive that highway chase had his truck all but running on its last fumes. At least, while he still believed he might possibly be able to start it again, he needed to find a better hiding spot for it so he would be able to figure out how to get gas later. Moaning, he looked to his side and decided to look for some last supplies he needed in the dollar store first. He had to prioritize, though – he could only take what would fit in his clothes.

Mainly for the sake of security cameras, in order to look like he was doing something, he first headed over to the hair care isle to pick up a bottle of shampoo – looking for things and snatching them along the way. On the way to the isle, using his well-trained ninja skills, he found and secretly grabbed a pair of sunglasses, slipping them in his hoodie pocket. Making it to the shampoo, he picked up a bottle as if considering it, but of course, no one was paying enough attention to realize there was no hair under his hat.

Next, taking the bottle with him, he took a round-about path to the medicine/vitamins section, locating – to his pleasant surprise – a phone charger hanging on a rack with other tech accessories, and he walked through that isle to inconspicuously snatch it on his way, also slipping it in his hoodie pocket.

After this, he passed through an isle with a lot of snacks, and snuck a pack of muffins in with the rest, transferring the sunglasses to his pants pocket. Once in the medicine isle, he walked to what he personally called the "natural-hippy-alternatives" section, and picked up another vaguely related, "natural" and "chemical-free" hair-care item, as if comparing the two. He gave a couple comical, sarcastic nods of the head, rubbing his chin with appropriately matching impressed expressions solely as a joke to himself before putting both items back on the same shelf, rolling his eyes and walking away.

Successfully leaving the store with all these new, stolen items, he felt even more like a dirty sneak. He sadly got back into the truck to examine what he'd taken this time, putting the muffins and sunglasses in the passenger seat while he unpackaged the phone charger. At least, even without gas, he had a secure line of connection to his family now, which managed to cheer him up a little. He stuck the charger in the cigarette lighter port and plugged his phone in, which was half dead.

Telling himself the bulk of all this stealing only needed to be done now, while he collected necessities, he put the keys in the ignition and hopefully cranked up the gas. The truck tried to rev up but wouldn't start soon enough, and not wanting to flood it, Mikey cut the engine. Pausing for a second, telling himself to try again before he panicked, he cranked the gas again, and this time the truck came to life. He sat back in his seat with a sigh of relief, and looked at the fuel gauge. Sure enough, according to the gauge, he had already run out of gas, so he was obviously running on minimal amounts. He quickly started looking all around to try and figure out where he could put his truck, thinking he should have found a spot before he turned it on.

Discovering he could go behind the buildings of the shopping strip, he drove around and found that there were luckily very few cars back here – only those of employees – and plenty of parking spaces, along with a couple delivery trucks. If he was unlucky enough to get questioned by any employees or something, he could try saying he was there helping with a delivery and maybe the person would be dumb enough to believe him.

He found a nice parking space tucked away next to a dumpster, and probably for the last time in a while, cut the engine again. Sitting back with another sigh, he stayed still for a moment, letting his mind wander and wondering what he was going to do now.

After a little while, he took the map from the passenger seat and tried to determine where he'd ended up. Tracing his finger southward on i-95, which had turned into i-295, when he found the place he'd most likely exited, he discovered he'd barely made it to the very outskirts of Philadelphia, and was most likely in a nearby area called Moorestown. He hadn't quite made it to the city. As close as it was, this place he was in now was nothing even distantly similar to New York City...the vast majority of ideas he'd had for making money were now dashed, and he wondered how he'd collect enough for gas. How much did he even need? This truck guzzled gas like a monster, so compared to what Donnie said the Shellraiser would take if they didn't have other power sources, he knew it could end up being a lot, even with the truck being a fraction of the size.

He knew one thing for sure, though – for all the stealing he'd done so far, he was not about to start robbing for money. If he were ever going to get his hands on actual cash, it'd be by making it on his own.

He felt uncomfortable...being stuck here while the police were sniffing around for him. He still wasn't sure what'd initially set them off about him, but maybe he could do something to help keep disguised. If he found a thick black marker, he was sure he could alter some of the numbers on the license plate...he knew that was REALLY illegal, but he wasn't sure being a convicted criminal and hunting down an extremely dangerous felon while already dodging the legal system didn't outweigh that.

No...maybe he shouldn't. An altered license plate might just attract all the more unwanted attention, even if he was tagged.

Then again, if he was tagged, every police system in the whole country probably had a file on him, and every cop he saw would be a chance to get shot out of the sky.

Forget it all, he had no idea and couldn't think about it. Mentally, emotionally and physically exhausted, sluggishly wishing for a bottle of water, Mikey opened the pack of muffins, scarfed one down, checked the time on his phone – it was 8:15 – and dozed off.

.

.

He awoke sometime later to his phone ringing, and he picked it up to see Leo was calling again for the day. Looking at the time, he saw it was now a little past 9:00 pm. His tired brain realizing suddenly that he'd probably not only have to explain what happened today, but might talk with the rest of his family for the first time since he'd been gone – which did give him an enormous amount of relief and made him happy – he groaned and rubbed his eyes worriedly, and hesitated before finally answering. As much as he was dying to hear their voices, Leo had undoubtedly told them everything that had happened, and he was nervous.

"Hello?"

"Mikey!" Came Leo's voice, and his evident happiness instantly melted some of his stress away. "How are you? How did things go today?"

Mikey hesitated a second before laughing. "It's, eh, kind of a long story...how are you guys doing?" He wearily smiled.

Noting that, he responded, "We're alright. We've been working on that note you told me about, but we haven't made a lot of progress yet. It's just the first day, though – we'll get somewhere before you know it." Sounding slightly more concerned, he asked, "What's your 'long story'?"

"Well," he started, suddenly unsure how much he could tell him. No, it was probably ok – if anything, his unspoken decision to stop using highways from now on only meant it would be even harder for the others to find him if they tried, even knowing he'd been on the highway. Well...maybe that would be more true if he weren't stranded, but they still didn't know where. "I was on i-95 today."

"Mikey..." Leo started. He was probably about to bolt over to the Stealth Bike, and was trying to confirm if he'd really just been given a location pointer. He could hear Raph and Donnie in the background, telling Leo to let them talk to him, but Leo hushed them.

"Don't bother," Mikey said, dousing his brother's impulse to dash out the lair. "I'm not there anymore. Far from it," he lied. He was actually literally right next to it, the back of the shopping strip facing the highway. "Sorry..."

Leo sighed, and recognizing Mikey had been willing to give that much away to explain what happened, became a little more concerned. "So what happened, then?"

"Well, I don't know why it happened," he explained, "But I had a run-up with some cops. They just randomly started following me on the highway and tried to get me to pull over. I didn't break any laws and the truck's up to date – I don't know why they did it, and that worries me. I couldn't afford a confrontation with the cops – I can't – so I...might've tried to outrun them."

There was a small moment of silence, before Leo exclaimed, "You what?!"

"What's he sayin'? Gimme the phone!" He heard Raph demand somewhere nearby, and Leo brushed him off again.

"There was a chase. We were going really fast," Mikey said, the upset from the event suddenly coming back, but he did his best to hide it. "I managed to duck around a 16-wheeler and lose them on an exit ramp. I got away and I've been hiding, and they haven't found me but the truck is out of gas. Right now –" he paused, before continuing, "I'm not...totally sure what to do."

There was another pause on the other end as Leo groaned, his voice filled with obvious, agonized worry. Mikey could imagine him putting his hand to his face, trying to make himself stop imagining all the worst-case scenarios. Suddenly, though, there was a scuffle, and Raph's voice came on. "Mikey! You there?"

"Hey Raph," he said, grinning with relief. With all the stress, he was really happy to hear another big brothers' voice.

"Mike, what've you gotten yourself into now? Leo's all freakin' out and tryin' to take the phone back. Oof! Shove off, Leo! Mikey, what happened? By the way, you're a big, stupid goofhead and your brain is made of cheese!"

Mikey couldn't help but laugh. "I love you too, Raph,"

"Donnie, the crap!-" Raph's voice cut off.

"Mikey! Mikey, is that you?" Came Donnie's voice, this time.

Mikey laughed again, happiness bubbling over at the re-connection to his brothers. "Hello, Donnie."

"Oh, Mikey, thank goodness. Are you ok? I'm sorry, but Raph's got a point – what were you thinking, running off like this?"

He sighed. "I thought I'd be able to take a nice roadtrip, get some time away, enjoy the view. Y'know, a little vacation or something." He sarcastically replied, unable to stop from feeling just the slightest bit bitter. "Hey, you guys need to at least take turns or something –"

"Guys, cut it out!" Leo's voice came, amidst lots of scuffling and grunting. "You're going to make him mad!"

"Make him mad? You've hogged the phone this whole time! Let us talk to'im for a change!"

"Quit it you two, I'm trying to talk with Mikey!"

Now there was a lot of static and struggling on the other end, as if they had started fighting over the phone. Nervous, Mikey waited while his overprotective, burly big brothers struggled over who got to speak with him. Even with all the struggling going on on the other side, Mikey smiled, feeling suddenly very warm inside. He missed his brothers so bad; it made him so happy hearing them all again, being their usual selves. He felt a lot better.

"You're gonna bust it! Just put him on speaker!" Leo eventually barked. Soon, the scuffling stopped, and Mikey could hear all three of them.

"You guys call me a knucklehead." He chuckled.

"What was all that you were tellin' Leo?" Raph asked. "He was upset, like somethin' happened."

"Yeah! Is everything alright?" Donnie pleaded.

"He said he was on the highway, and got into a chase with some cops. The truck's broken down, but he said he got away." Leo briefed.

"He what!" Raph exclaimed.

"Are you kidding –"

"Are you alright, Mikey?" Leo asked.

"I'm fine," he responded, feeling terrible for his worried family. Maybe, he hoped, after a few days, his phone calls wouldn't be so extremely concerning and disaster-ridden.

Suddenly thinking of Master Splinter, he thought about asking where he was – he wanted to talk to him, too, but maybe he wasn't at home, since he wasn't already on the phone with them.

"Mikey..." Donnie started, but hesitated before finally, carefully trying, "Please..."

"I'm sorry...I can't tell you." Mikey responded sadly, and sighed. "I've got this...I'm ok. I gotta keep trying to move forward..." He said, still refusing to give up his location. "I just had a little – scare today. But everything's gonna be ok. I promise,"

Donnie sighed, too, and by his computer where the three of them were gathered, he exchanged looks with Raph. They knew their little brother had no intentions to change his mind. But why he wouldn't was harder to understand.

"Are you sure you're alright?" Leo asked.

"I'm sure," he chuckled. "I told you I managed to get away."

"Don't mean he can't still worry," Raph interjected. "That's what he does best, you know."

"For once, Raph, I think you and I can agree on something." Leo said, and everyone cracked up.

"That bein' said, I was right about one thing, though. Your brain is made'a cheese, Mike." Raph continued. Somehow, even though he didn't sound particularly mad, the tone suddenly changed a little more serious and Mikey was picking up some angry vibes from his older brother. "You bonehead, what were you thinkin'? You know, you're real lucky you ain't some mess of twisted-up steel or a bloody scrape on the highway!"

"Raph," Leo agonized.

"He's right. Thank God you're ok," Donnie sighed. "Don't you know what a miracle it is you made it out of that alive? You should've pulled over and just tried to out-run them. You know we're faster than people,"

"Sorry, next time I'll pull over and give them my ID," Mikey exclaimed, a little miffed. "What was I supposed to do? I didn't want to get out and run, they might've had guns. Besides, I don't want them to see me!"

"Well, why were they after'ya anyway?" Raph asked.

"I have no clue," Mikey replied, rubbing his arm. "I don't know if they're on the lookout for me since I left New York, but I didn't think they knew what car I had. Maybe they're monitoring highways like i-95."

"i-95? That's where you were?" Donnie said, and paused for a second. "That may explain some of it...you know, i-95 probably isn't the best highway to take if you're trying to go unnoticed."

"Was' wrong with it?" Raph asked, taking the words out of Mikey's mouth.

"It runs along most of the east coast; it's somewhat notorious for people using it to smuggle drugs across the states, particularly north-bound – cops are usually posted around there to screen for people that look suspicious, so if they got a glimpse of Mikey, they'd probably try to run him down, no matter which way he was going. Especially with everything that's been going on, I'm not surprised they picked you out."

"Seriously?" Mikey exclaimed, putting his hand to his face. He felt awful now. Sick, scared. Maybe they just thought he was a drug lord, that wasn't so bad. But he was especially nervous about his truck being flagged if they thought he was a terrorist, and him flying off and putting everyone on high alert probably didn't help their opinion of him. There was a short moment of silence as he stressed about this. If he was caught, he was sure now it'd mean serious consequences. But he was just parked here, unmoving. This stupid truck! He felt like kicking the dashboard. Why did it have to be so big and old and gas-guzzling and stupid?!

"What happens now?" Leo asked. "You said you were broken down. Are they looking for you?"

"I...I got away and found a place to hide, like I said," he replied, swallowing his anxiety to try to keep it out of his voice. "I guess they're still looking for me...but I'm pretty well out of sight, and I just need gas and I'll be out of here. I just...don't really know how to get it, yet. I'm not taking highways anymore, though." He glanced over at the highway as he told them he was out of sight, ignoring it. Bushes hid him well enough from any cops looking from there.

"Probably a good idea." Raph concurred. "Why don'cha just ditch the truck? You could sneak onto different vehicles and jus' hitch a ride. Ain't no use sitting there because you don't have gas."

"I don't wanna do that," Mikey said. "Even if I try to be all stealthy, it'll be so much harder trying to hitchhike without getting caught. And anyway, I really don't know where I'm going," he added. "If I can help it at all, I'd like to have a bit of independence until I've got a better idea of where I'm headed."

"Suit yourself," Raph huffed. "But that don't put gas in the tank."

"I know," Mikey moaned. "I just need money...you guys wouldn't know how to make any on the go, would you?"

There was a short moment of unsure silence, before Donnie spoke up. "Well, I don't suppose you're going to get any tips unless you beg, unlike in New York City, the capital of street performers." He stated, humming with heavy thought. "How big is the truck?"

"Think very old rhinoceros."

Donnie chuckled at this. "Pretty big, huh?" He said, and thought about it. "Well, if it's on the larger side, it could hold up to 25-30 gallons." Donnie said. "Based on New York City's gas prices, anyway, to fill it up, you could be talking upwards of $50."

"Really..." Mikey deflated.

"Somewhere in that range, anyway. Even if you found a way to make money, I really don't know if you should hold out for making that much in such a short amount of time. Since you're headed south, prices will probably drop a little – but for somebody who doesn't have any money anyway, it's still a big chunk, no matter how you look at it."

"No joke," Mikey said. This wasn't looking any better. He was stuck here being hunted, and Donnie was right – it really wasn't logical thinking he could make that much money come out of nothing. He didn't know why a cop would come back behind the shopping strip where he was, but he could be seen or reported any number of ways. "I've been worried that the police here might report me for terrorism," He finally said. "I'm afraid if they have the license plate number...I don't know if I should try drawing on it? You know, to change some of the numbers."

"No way!" Donnie immediately interjected. "Do you know how illegal that is? You'd get caught for sure."

"I know how illegal it is," Mikey irritably responded, "But I wasn't sure whether they'd catch me faster driving around with a fraud plate or a tagged plate."

"Hopefully they won't catch you at all," Leo offered, "But I have to go with Donnie on this one. You're in a unique situation, but somehow I feel like you'd get in trouble faster for defacing the license plate."

"I don' know, Mike, but I'm goin' with the majority of the court, here." Raph finally agreed. "Sounds sketchier drawing on it to me, too. Ah, no pun intended."

"Well, what do you want me to do?!" He asked, increasingly frazzled. "I can hardly figure out where I am on a map, and that's as far as my knowledge goes about this place! Where the heck am I supposed to be able to safely walk around in the middle of daylight looking for a ride?! I can't just sit here forever waiting to be taken in or shot! Because if I just sit here, I'm gonna get taken in or shot!"

"Hey, now, just calm down." Leo soothed. "You don't know that they tagged your license plate. If the chase happened like you say it did, they might not have even gotten a chance to. And I assure you, you're probably not the only one they've tried to run down since all this started. You said you found a place to hide, so you're ok. Nobody's going to take you in, or – shoot you."

"Yeah. An' while I still suggest tryin' to hitchhike if you don't find some soon," Raph said, "Everybody wants gas. I know there must be a way to work around to gettin' some for yourself, even without money. Heck, Donnie powers the Shell Raiser with alien crystals – there's gotta be a way."

"You'll be fine," Donnie chipped in. "Like Raph said, gas isn't the be-all end-all here. Maybe an even better option will come along. And like Leo said, as long stay you stay hidden and keep patient, you'll be safe."

"Right..." Mikey sighed. Feeling a little less anxious, he crawled in the backseat and used the scarf to pillow his head, tired.

"Still, while you're doing that, please try to be careful with the cops around, if you're going to be there for a while." Leo added. "For my sake if nothing else,"

"You wouldn't want daddy Leo to be worried, would'ya?" Raph jeered, grunting an "oof" when he apparently received a jab.

Mikey giggled. "I'll try, Leo. Oh – I already found a phone charger, just so you know, but we should still try to keep calls to once a day. I don't know what kind of spying and sneaking around I'm gonna have to be doing, and we probably shouldn't talk while I'm driving, either."

"Alright," Leo consented. "Hey, did you find a blanket or something?"

"I found some clothes," he said, grinning. "And a hoodie, like you said. They've come in handy already."

"What's he need that for? I mean, you tell'im to get a disguise?" Raph asked.

"Yeah, but also for comfort's sake, and a good luck charm, hopefully." Leo said. "I knew he was gonna be focusing on trying to get food, and I wanted him to be warm. Plus, I thought it might give him a little encouragement, for the rainy days."

"That's a good idea," Donnie mused. "Speaking of food, how has that gone for you, Mikey?"

He hesitated. "I found a couple stores, and took some things I needed. I've managed to get some muffins and a box of crackers," he said, "along with a couple other things. I can't seem to get a water bottle without it being obvious, though. I'm so thirsty..." He sighed. "I don't like stealing...I don't want to, but I've had to steal so much already. I wish I could at least pay for stuff..."

"Hey, don' you worry about it," Raph cut in, almost with a scolding tone to his voice. "If they knew what you were doing, they'd hand over every stupid water bottle in the store. You gotta do what you gotta do, and ain't nobody blaming ya' for it. If anybody's got a problem, I'll come kick their butts for you."

"He's right," Leo agreed. "I know you must feel uncomfortable about it, but for now, there's just nothing that can be done. That's fine. You need the supplies, and stealing food and necessities here and there kind of stops mattering when you're doing it to protect the entire country. There's no point in feeling bad."

"What they said," Donnie put in. "They would be grateful, if they knew. If you're trying to get a water bottle, don't worry too much about being noticed. Especially with small convenience stores, they're probably not paying much attention to that footage, anyway. Besides, it's water. What are they gonna do?"

"You're probably right," Mikey said. "Maybe I'll go try to get one before the store closes..." He mumbled, looking thoughtfully at the building. "Oh, how much progress have you guys exactly made on the note, by the way?"

"We've been working on it most of the day," Leo said. "Donnie's been looking up the term 'Wren' in association with terrorist activity, but it's hard to find that kind of stuff without hacking into places."

"I haven't found out anything that seems significant," Donnie said. "Especially nothing happening in 20 days. Whatever's going on then, it's definitely a secret."

"I'll keep an eye out," Mikey said. "That's all the info I've got, but maybe I can pick up something else. Have you been watching the news?"

"I've been keepin' an eye on it," Raph said. "They ain't said nothing new than what they already said yesterday. 'Parently they haven't caught the other guy yet, either."

"Figures," Mikey sighed, closing his eyes. Of course, while that told him he was still tracking the guy down, it started to feel like he'd just disappeared. It had only been about two days, but somehow, he wished something new might have come up. If the media couldn't come up with anything new and the case started going cold, it would feel more to him like he was just chasing his own tail.

"Hey, don't get down about it. You know as well as I do the media don't know crap half the time," Raph said. "You just keep that optimism of yours, a'right? I'll tell you if anything new pops up."

"Ok," Mikey said with a grin, and yawned. "I know you guys aren't happy with any of this. But I'm really grateful you're helping me out...you have no idea how much trouble I'd have without you. Plus, it makes me feel better knowing I'm not totally on my own out here."

"Hey, we're still coming after you as soon as we get the chance," Leo retorted, making Mikey chuckle. "Of course we're helping you. That's what we want to do anyway."

"I'd just rather you do it from the lair." Mikey smiled.

"You can't tell us what to do!" Raph shouted.

"Fine," Mikey laughed. "But I bet you can't beat me to their hideout!"

"Hey, we'll see about that!" Donnie said. "Challenge accepted!"

Everyone shared a laugh, but an awkward silence ensued. Coming close again to the subject they were all subconsciously avoiding, the mood dampened slightly and Raph and Donnie bit their tongues to do whatever it took to stop themselves from repeating the same argument he and Leo undoubtedly had just last night. As much as they wanted to immediately bombard him with all the looming questions for themselves, they knew it wouldn't do any good – and Mikey probably wasn't up for round two at the moment.

He'd never done this before and Mikey knew they were worried. He hoped egging them all on would soothe some of their nerves that they would, in fact, get him back eventually – their insistence that they'd track him down in no time made him a little worried, though.

He considered ditching his phone entirely, but immediately tossed the thought away. They needed each other now more than ever, even if keeping up with them meant getting discovered.

"...Well, how's driving that old clunker been?" Raph suddenly asked. "I hope you didn't get Leo's sucky driving gene. -Ouch!"

"You deserved that."

"Guys," Mikey chided, trying not to laugh. "Ok, it was kind of a bumpy ride at first...I'll spare you the details, but I may or may not have had a couple exciting adventures through some intersections."

"No, no, I don't want to know." Leo immediately began, making the other three laugh.

"Oh, come on, momma Leo! Don't you wanna know how little bro took on the Big Apple for the first time? How bad was it, Mikey?"

"Please, spare me," Leo begged. "And if you're going to keep calling me names, Raph, at least decide if I'm mommy or daddy!"

When he heard his other two brothers start wheezing and cackling, Mikey couldn't help but laugh along. "Hey, nobody got hurt, ok? I'm not that bad of a driver!" He protested, chuckling. "New York is definitely worse, but I think I managed. I've gotten better at it since then. Um, I've never necessarily read the DMV handbook or anything, though. I kinda have to figure it out as I go...oh, I hate the signs, though," Mikey groaned. "Leo, did you ever notice that trying to find the highway is like finding your way through a bowl of spaghetti? Dude, I'm starting to think somebody just put the road signs there to make people feel bad about the fact that they don't know where they're going."

Leo busted out laughing. "I'm not usually paying attention to that, but yeah, they have confused me once or twice..."

"It's not just me?!" Mikey sighed in relief. "Thank goodness! I thought I was going crazy."

"What do you mean? You are crazy." Raph jibed. "Crazy and directionally challenged."

"You don't know, Raph! You don't know the struggle!"

"Oops, I forgot – a crazy, directionally challenged cheesehead. That's what you are!" Raph concluded, sounding satisfied.

"Meanie!" Mikey blew a raspberry at him, and received one back.

"Now now, children." Donnie reprimanded, settling them down. "Hey, Mike, I'm sorry you ran into trouble, but I'm glad you're alright – that's all the matters. You should try to get some rest and not worry about it, ok? We'll do that for you."

"Ok," Mikey chuckled. "Thanks, Don."

"Take your time finding a water bottle. At least you said you found a disguise, so you can use water fountains and things." Leo added. "Have you got enough food? Crackers and muffins can't last very long. And are you warm enough? You always get cold faster than the rest of us. I just wanna be sure –"

"Speakin'a worrying for'ya...OW! Buzz off, Leo! Gosh!"

"I'm fine, you guys," Mikey assured, laughing. "I promise, cross my heart. I'm planning on stocking up on more food when I get the chance. And I'm plenty warm," he added, pulling the hoodie tighter. Leo was right about him getting cold, as embarrassing as it was, and it was still chilly out. He hoped it would warm up soon as he continued traveling south.

"Alright...well, as Raph's bruises start to develop, I think we're gonna let you go so you can get some well-deserved rest." Donnie said. "Master Splinter wanted to talk to you, but he had to make an important grocery trip. I forgot to say so earlier, when you told us about the cops. Sorry he had to miss out tonight..."

"Oh. That's ok," Mikey replied, though his heart sank a little. He'd hoped at first he would get to talk to his father tonight, too – at least be able to hear his comforting voice – but he wasn't around, after all. "Well, we can get him on the phone some other time, right?"

"'Course," Raph promised, his voice warm and comforting. Mikey could just imagine the knowing grin he always gave him. "Maybe tomorrow, huh?"

"Sounds good," Mikey grinned, closing his eyes. "I've got a couple things to do before I go to sleep, and I'm super tired...I'm gonna have to run inside really soon here before I start sleepwalking."

"I bet you would be tired, after a day like this," Leo said. "Try to get some sleep."

"Don't let the truck-bugs bite!" Raph added.

"Goodnight, Mikey," Donnie said. "We love you, so much. We'll talk to you tomorrow,"

"G'night," Mikey replied. "I love you guys more. Tell Master Splinter, too! And try to keep Raph out of trouble for me, ok?"

"Hey!"

"We'll do our best," Leo laughed. "Love you."

"Love you!" Donnie pitched in.

Grumbling, Raph added, "Love you too, numbskull. 'Night."

Almost hesitantly, the four hung up again. Mikey laid in the truck with an arm over his eyes, letting out a frazzled sigh and resting for a moment. They'd said Master Splinter was on a grocery run...ever since he and his brothers had started going topside when they were old enough, they were mostly in charge of that duty now, and they didn't mind – any excuse to get out of the lair, or spend longer away. That their sensei had gone this time told Mikey that his brothers were too preoccupied to do it, and he knew that probably meant they were busy trying to pin him down.

...

Well, after all, he couldn't say he was surprised. Knowing Donnie, he knew from the beginning they would be working their honest best to crack his code – he looked at his T-phone again and checked the work he'd done, just on an impulse. It was the same as ever...Donnie was probably gonna have trouble with it, and that was ok by him.

If the guys wanted to come after him to help or bring him home, he wasn't stopping them. He almost wished they would...he missed them really bad, and even feeling much better when he talked with them, it reminded him of just how far apart they were. Hopefully, though, his encrypted phone would keep them in the lair long enough to stall them through the worst of this – long enough for him to find out what he needed to get this done, too.

He got up, slipping his hat back on and taking the keys with him, and started out the back door. He wanted to know if he could get that water bottle after all.

There was a small moment of silence after they hung up with Mikey.

The three looked around at each other, and then immediately away, laughing to shrug it off, so they wouldn't all burst into tears.

At this, Donnie paused with a hand to his forehead, and started back to work on his computer, where he'd been sitting throughout the whole phone call. Leo and Raph were standing next to him, in the lab. Tapping away, Donnie said, "Well...that was more than enough time to collect what mixed-up info Mikey's phone would give us. Lemme see..." After a few more taps, a box came up on the monitor screen with what appeared to be many complicated mathematical patterns and numbers. "Holy crap..." Donnie exclaimed.

"What's all that?" Raph asked, pointing at the screen in exaggeration.

"The code," Donnie surmised. "He didn't create all this, but it's the product of his tinkering. Somehow he knew how to do what was needed to get the results he wanted."

"I told you," Raph mumbled.

"So what do we do with it?" Leo asked. "Just unscramble it?"

"It's a file of his scrambled signal and satellite location, from the time of the call. It's mixed, a little manipulated and tightly locked. I don't doubt he was trying to slip us all under the FBI's radar, too." He guessed. "This is actually a really simple divergence, but with the highest success rate of its kind...and that's for a reason – it's annoying and tedious as all shell to take apart. He did this once when he pranked us, but that doesn't make it any easier to decode...I gotta start hiding those cellphone handbooks." Donnie irritably grumbled before continuing, "This will take a lot of computer work, attention and time, but with the right methods I think I can crack this. Though, once this file is set straight, it'll only tell me where he was at the time of this call...not where he'll actually be. But once I do solve this, all the patterns and information will already be unlocked and sorted through in my computer, and with that info, we can hack through Mikey's phone during another call and tap into his satellite location. Then, boom! We got him," he said.

"Alright. Sounds like a plan," Leo grinned, but Raph hesitated. When he received curious glances, he thought for a minute before speaking.

"You know," he finally started, slowly at first, "About that. Well...you probably already thought about this, didn't you Leo?"

A little surprised, Leo waited to let Raph continue, "Look...I don' give a flip about whatever idiots or their big-shot guns we gotta face to go after that little dumbbell, but I know you're aware of the 'Men in Black' up there," He said, pointing upwards, "An' I know for sure you don' like taking risks where you don' hav'ta." He paused, giving Leo a critical look. "I know you, bro. Is there any kind of special plan you been coming up with for us to get to Mikey...?"

Leo looked down and sighed. Donnie stared at his toes; this had crossed his mind, too, and he was eager to know what Leo thought. "You're right," Leo said, "I have thought about it. Mikey's thought about this too, and he knows he's put us in a good position – we're safe here. And yeah –sprinting off after him, particularly right now, would be outrageously dangerous." He crossed his arms. "But Raph, you're the one that's been watching the news," He said. "They haven't come up with anything new about the case, and the FBI can only wing it with so much to go on. The chase is going to die down when they start looking around for new leads, and it's more than likely gonna take us about that long to track him down, too."

Leo nodded confidently to Raph and Donnie. "There won't be so much danger at that point, and we'll have an opportunity to move. By then, it's safe to say Mikey will welcome the support."

The other two looked at each other, processing this idea. Donnie looked up at Leo. "Well, as long as we get that note de-coded before his phone, and don't come rushing after him without deciphering it for him."

"Probably," Leo agreed with a wry grin. "I imagine we'll have plenty of time to do that, though."

Hesitating in thought, an almost condescending glint appearing in his eyes, Donnie slowly added, "And when we do find him, we're ALL going after Mikey, right?"

Leo grimaced, sighing – this is why it was almost pointless trying to hide these kinds of things from his brothers. "Listen, we'll figure out what to do when that time comes. For now, let's just focus on getting there."

"W'as that supposed to mean, fearless leader?" Raph challenged, catching on and edging closer to his older brother's face.

"It doesn't mean anything," Leo rebuttled, standing his ground. "The situation is complicated enough, and it's hard to set anything in stone right now, alright? Whatever happens, I assure you it's going to be a group effort. Let's just take things one step at a time. I'm really too tired to think that far ahead right now, anyway."

Huffing, Raph and Donnie dropped the case for now, unsatisfied but deciding to leave it for the moment. Turning to his computer to examine the technological drabble displayed before him, Donnie shifted to get comfortable in his chair as there was a short moment of tense quiet throughout the lab, the soft humming and occasional beep of his machinery becoming noticeable once again. After a moment, he chuckled a little, somewhat sadly. "Mikey would have started singing that stupid Jordin Sparks song when you said that."

"What?" Leo looked at him, confused.

"One Step At A Time," He said. "You know, that song. Just to be annoying."

Seeing what he meant, Raph's and Leo's hearts both immediately melted in despair, all without warning and catching them off guard. Looking at each other and both being surprised at the wounded expression looking back, they looked to the floor.

"You're right. He probably would."

Chapter Stats

Location: Moorestown, Pennsylvania (Shh! Don't tell the guys!)

Possessions: Weapons & gear, clothes, iPod, toothbrush & toothpaste, crackers, muffins, sunglasses, phone charger

Money: 10 cents

Note:

Indian Point plant, 2 gl. drum

H. wren south, initiating in 20 days

Song: A Great Big World - Already Home

A/N: "...And I'm not a fan of year-long waits between chapters, so I like to have a fanfiction mostly completed before uploading chapters, haha."

...

I have failed you all. I will now send myself to be punished T_T

Yeah, so...my original plan was to upload chapters about a week apart or so after I had gotten a lot of progress done, but it was taking too long so I uploaded the first chapter and said I'd be trying to get the next one out soon. It doesn't look like my original plan is gonna work out much at all. I'm sorry. Blame my job T-T I will still be trying to get the next chapters out as soon as possible, there are just some details about the story I have to go through and make sure are there before I release chapters. Thanks to all of you for being so patient!

This chapter was a little slower and didn't have as much action, but it will be picking up soon, never fear!

On a side note, I have no idea how the bro's actually pee or use the bathroom, so just go with it, LOL. Some things are better without an explanation...also, Mikey's driving struggles come from some of my own personal experience from when I first started out. :P