Chapter Six: Life at HQ The crew got settled down into headquarters, as Tirus had seemed to stop attacking dimensions for a while. I guess even evil dimension-attacking war lords need rest. Rita sat at one of the computers, doing her check on where the medallion might be again. Cori was the only one in the room with her. She stood there looking at the screen of another computer that showed the interdimensional chart. "He's still there." she said. Rita glanced over to the computer her sister was looking at. "Mmhm, sure is." she said as she continued on her task on the computer. "I don't like this. It doesn't feel right." said Cori. Rita sighed, then turned to face Cori. "I know, it's not normal. But we should take this sudden, rest period, as a chance to find the medallion before Tirus does." said Rita. "What if he's lookin' for it too?" asked Cori. "Well then he is." said Rita impatiently. "Now, dear sister of mine, I can't concentrate on what I'm doing, which is finding the medallion, if you keep talking." said Rita. "Are you implying something?" asked Cori. "No, I'm telling you. Please hush." said Rita. Cori just looked at Rita for a moment. "Whatever. Listen, I'm goin' to get somethin' ta eat. Want anything?" asked Cori. Rita thought for a moment. "Mm . . nah. Food makes me sleepy. But I could use some coffee." she said. "Sure." said Cori, and she left the room. In the kitchen, Cori met up with Raphael, Mikey, Donatello, and Max. "Hey gang." she said as she entered the kitchen. "Hey." said Max. Cori turned on the automatic coffee pouring machine, then went to the fridge, and looked around inside. Then she frowned. "Okay, who finished the pickles?" she asked as she turned around to face the others. Mikey's cheeks were full, and he looked away as if he didn't hear anything. Cori squinted at him, and he could tell. "What?! I was hungry!" said Mikey, turning back towards her. Then Cori looked at how he was eating them. "In peanut butter?" she asked with a disgusted look on her face. "Yeah! Why not?" asked Mikey. "Euw." said Cori, then she turned away back to the fridge. "How's Rita doing up there?" asked Max after he took a sip of coffee. "I don't know. She's so dang quiet about it." said Cori. "Well of course she has to be. Computer work like she does requires intense silence and concentration." said Donatello. "Heh, you two think alike. Maybe you should help her out." said Cori as she sat down at the table with a cup of juice. "I'd love to, but I don't know how to do what she's doing." said Donatello. "Well I'm sure that Rita can show you when she gets done with that." said Max. "Why can't you?" asked Donatello. "Because, I'm going to be a bit busy fixing the controls of some of the ships. I've been hearing static in the communicators, and that's bad. We can't have our communicators going all kaput between dimensions. That could mean life or death for the one in the ship." said Max. "True." said Cori. "I'll see you all later." said Max after finishing his coffee. Then he left the room. "So what exactly is Rita working on?" asked Donatello. "Finding the medallion." said Cori. "How?" asked Donatello. Cori looked up at him. "Why don't you go and find out? I don't know." she said sassily. Scientific things annoyed her, as did scientific people (or mutants in their case). "Well then, I think I will." said Donatello, feeling a bit offended by Cori's tone of voice. "Oh yeah, and while you're at it, take the coffee cup from on top of the counter with you. She wanted some coffee." said Cori. Donatello did so, and walked off. Cori looked at Mikey's snack again. "Ugh, how can you eat that?" she asked. "I just can." said Mikey quite matter-of-factly, with his mouth full. "Lay off him, he eats what he likes." said Raphael. (Apple Jacks pun???) "Hey, I don't need any comments from you." said Cori. "Well we don't need any comments from you either." said Raphael, getting on the defensive. "You know, I'm more than fully-equipped to whoop your shell." said Cori. "Is that a threat?" asked Raphael, his voice taking on more of a menacing tone. "What if it is? What you gonna do about it?" asked Cori. "I'll take that threat, turn it into a challenge, and take you on." said Raphael. "Hey you two! Calm down, it's okay. I mean, hey, we're all on the same team here." said Mikey. "Stay out this Mikey." said Raph. Then he turned back to Cori. "This is personal." Mikey just moved to another table, not wanting to be anywhere near the two arguing mutants. Cori looked at Raphael for a moment, and studied his face very carefully. She wasn't sure if she liked his face, or hated it. She just turned away from him. "So you decided to back down, good choice." said Raphael. Cori was one who didn't like to be thought of as backing down, so with one swift movement, she leaned over towards the other side of the small table, and left-hooked Raphael really good. He fell backwards off of his chair, and onto the floor. "Let that be a lesson to ya." said Cori as she got up from her chair. She then began walking away, not really thinking that Raphael might have a reaction to what she just did; but he did. Without warning, Raphael jumped at Cori, and left-hooked her. The rule about not hitting a female never really applied to Raphael, except in Venus' case. I mean, she had fireballs. He didn't wanna go there. "Don't no one ever make a fool out of me!" said Raphael. "Oh really?" asked Cori, and she hooked him again. Raphael reciprocated, and it was an all-out fight as they kicked, punched, and virtually beat each other up. Mikey pretended not to notice; he wasn't going to get between them for any reason whatsoever, so he just kept on eating and reading a magazine that he found. On one of the higher floors at headquarters, in a dimly-lit room, was Lavia. She was sitting on top of a tall, sturdy metal bookcase, and looking out the window. She saw nothing but desolation and scraps of destruction from times past. Orange/yellow sand was spread as far as the eye could see, along with scraps of metal and ships, buildings, houses, and cars. The debris littered the ground, and made her remember all that had happened. A single tear rolled down her face as she looked at it all. But she wasn't alone in her silent misery, Fay was there too. She was standing by the bookshelf, looking out the very same window, which was very tall. "It's all gone." Lavia said silently. Fay looked up at her, then she climbed to the top of the bookshelf, and sat up there with Lavia. Lavia knew that Fay was there already though. "You realize that don't you?" asked Lavia. "Yeah, I know. But it's still hard to believe sometimes. It seems like just yesterday we were eating breakfast at the diner with our families." said Fay. "Yeah, but when I remember it, it's like a picture, frozen in time. A cherished memory forever." said Lavia, letting another lone tear roll down her cheek. "And when you look around you realize that's all that it is; a memory." said Fay. "Out of all the dimensions, why us? Why did he have to come to ours?" she asked bitterly. "I guess it had to start somewhere. He had to start the chain of pain from one place, so he picked us. He picked us to start the grieving, to start the fighting against him, to start the holding back of feelings." said Lavia. "Too bad all of us couldn't hold back our feelings. I still have nightmares about what happened to Cleo. I always felt so sorry for her. She didn't deserve to die like that." said Fay. "Yeah, but it was her choice. I still remember when she jumped off that ledge over the rocks. I wanted her to stop, to turn around and think about us all behind her, watching, scared. She was the oldest, like our mom." said Lavia. "But she jumped anyway. I feel sorry for her though, she didn't know what to do. Her mom, her dad, her brothers and sister . . . all of her family, gone, even before we got to the underground home. I guess after it got gassed, it was more than she could handle." said Fay. "And because of Tirus, every single day I have to hold in the pain . . ." said Lavia. "The anger." said Fay. "The hate." "The fear." "And have to front like it's all okay." "Even though it isn't." said Fay. They were silent for a long time. "Now it's up to us to make sure that no one goes through the same pain we have to deal with everyday." said Lavia. "And that's a cause worth fighting for, no matter how tiring, or tough." said Fay. "True dat." said Lavia. Downstairs in the computer room, Donny had arrived from getting lost in the many hallways. He brought the cup of coffee over to Rita. "Here you go." he said. Rita turned around. "Oh, thanks." she smiled. "Cori said you wanted some." said Donny. "Hm, I'm surprised she cared. I get on her nerves a lot with my intense work on the computers." said Rita. "Well, you're needed to do that. She just has to accept that." said Donny. "True, but tell that to Cori. She's just as stubborn as they come." said Rita. "I know what you mean, Raph is the same way." said Donny. "Well I guess we're both in pretty much the same boat then." said Rita. "I suppose." said Donny. Then he turned his attention to the work Rita was doing on the computer. "How do you do that?" he asked. "You mean tracking the medallion? Well, it's a matter of guessing actually. Educated, guessing." replied Rita. "How so?" asked Donny. "Well, I'm trying to find the medallion, which is in the center of the dimension. So I'm zooming in on different regions, and reading the frequencies, radio, and air waves in that dimension. If I find something abnormal, I investigate further. So far, I've gotten to the center of the dimension, somewhere around where China should be." said Rita. "Interesting." said Donny. "So you'll have the medallion found in a little while." Rita sighed. "I'm afraid not. See, even though the strange air waves are in that area, there are also other regions where it's just like that." "So you don't really know if it's erratic at all, but a widely-spaced pattern." said Donny. "Exactly." said Rita, sounding relieved that he understood what she meant. "Hm, I can see how that can be difficult. I'd be glad to help, that is, if you could teach me how to do it." said Donny. "You're interested in learning?" asked Rita. "Of course! I find what you're doing to be fascinating. Besides, being able to help out in this mission would be something I'd enjoy." said Donny. "Great, you know, that's the most thoughtful thing you could possibly want to do. Max just rather leave it all to me, but I appreciate that you're willing to help." said Rita with a smile. "No problem." said Donny, smiling, perhaps a bit bashfully. "Ok, first lesson, how to access, and use, the dimensional scan program." said Rita. She then began showing the program to Donny. Back in the kitchen, Raphael and Cori were still fighting. At one point, Raphael knocked Cori to the floor, but not without her tripping him up, and making him fall as well. He fell on top of her. Cori then looked up at him for a moment, and saw his eyes really close up for the first time. She looked up into them for a second. Raphael still felt the adrenalin from the fight running through him, but he still couldn't help but to stare into Cori's eyes for a moment. It was as if he was trying to see what she was all about. Cori shook the feeling of interest in Raphael's eyes. Then she closed her eyes really tight for a second, and opened them. "Get off me!" she said as she shoved him off, then she sat up. Raphael got up from the floor, and so did Cori. "So, next time ya know better than ta pick a fight with me, don't ya?" asked Raphael. "Whatever. Just call it a tie." said Cori as she began walking away. "No way! I beat you fair and square. Remember, I had you pinned to the floor." said Raphael. "Yeah, you did. But you didn't throw any punches. That's how you end it. You pin 'em, then hook 'em. Everyone knows that." said Cori. "Well then, come 'ere, lemme finish this thing off." said Raphael as he approached her, rubbing his fist with his other hand. "Um, I think not." said Cori, then she made a mad dash for the elevator. Raphael ran after her. Cori reached the elevator, got inside, and closed the see-through door. Raphael got there, but too late. He saw her inside the door, smiling slyly and waving to him as the elevator went down. "I'll get you later Cori! You know I will." said Raphael as the elevator went down. He just stood there and looked at the elevator for a moment, then walked away mumbling something incoherent. In the living room area, Venus and Leonardo were just relaxing, sitting around; and feeling bored. "Man! The least they could do is have a television." complained Leonardo. "I don't think they have time for television." said Venus. Leonardo sighed. "Maybe, but still!" he said. Venus turned away from him, and sat quietly, and kind of looking off into space. "What's the matter?" asked Leo. "I am thinking of Master Splinter, and how he is doing with Andre. I am hoping that he is all right." said Venus. "Yeah, I sure hope that Andre doesn't get many visitors." said Leo. Then he thought that maybe he should take that back. He didn't want to sound like he wanted Andre to be a lonely blind man, but he was just thinking of Splinter's well-being. Venus sighed. "But he wouldn't want us to worry. He would want us to keep our mind on, other things." she said. "True." said Leo. "But like what?" "Like, what you keep thinking about everytime I say I'm going to bed." said Venus, turning to Leo. Leo looked surprised, and a little nervous. "Wh, what do you mean what I keep, thinking?" he asked. "You know just what I mean." said Venus. "Wel . . . what are you doing reading my mind anyway?" asked Leonardo trying to sound offended, even though he didn't feel that way. "Just curious I guess." said Venus. Leo stared at her as she sat on the other side of the couch from him. He studied everything about her, and her body. "There! You thought it again." said Venus. "I can't help it! It's what you call the result of raging hormones." said Leo. "Hm . . ." Venus thought to herself as she turned away from Leo. "What?" asked Leo. "Nothing you need to know." said Venus. Leonardo sighed. "I need to meditate." he said, and began doing so. Venus soon followed suit. Later on that night, everyone had eaten dinner, and were in bed. The Turtles had been given some of the empty rooms. Lavia, Fay, and Max always made it a point to sleep with their clothes on. Cori always made it a point to sleep with her belt by her bed. For the first time in a long time, the whole crew found that they got an entire night's rest at HQ; something extremely rare. |
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