The Silent Partner

Countdown Pt. 2

Sixty-one hours

"My sons, Mona Lisa has made great strides in her training of late. But it will be her progress over these next few days that shall determine whether or not she will accompany us on the mission at hand." Master Splinter stated gravely, pausing as he paced up and down in front of his kneeling sons. He glanced pointedly at Raphael and was sorry to see that the red-masked turtle displayed no emotion whatsoever regarding the announcement that had just been made. With a small sigh he turned his back to them. "Raphael."

His second son straightened and regarded his father with flat, soulless eyes.

"I am giving you all permission to train as you see fit for the remaining time until the mission. Do not lapse, my sons, for in the end the choice of who goes and who stays will not be mine to make, but Leonardo's and we will do as he sees fit."

That caught Raphael's attention and the bright green eyes rose up to his father's face, that familiar fiery passion burning in the depths of the colorful irises. One of the old rat's hands landed unexpectedly upon his shoulder, making him jump. "Are you well enough to face this, Raphael?"

The gazes of Raphael's three brother's all softened as they turned towards their brother. Donatello was carefully sizing the hothead up, taking in all of the areas where his injuries had healed. Leo briefly wondered about Raph's slight loss in muscle mass and whether or not it would have a detrimental effect on Raphael's fighting abilities. Raph was as great a threat as ever, but it was always impossible to be sure with him. Mikey was a little bit more worried about Raph's current state of mind. After everything that had happened last time, they were all deeply scarred. The thought of losing Raph and the sheer fact that they had almost lost him last time would mean that they were all being super protective of him now. Of course, their worry only made Raphael that much more determined to shove them away.

Sensei's question infuriated Raphael. Worrying was something that all fathers did when it came to their children, but Raph wasn't mad because Sensei was worried about him. Sensei was perhaps one of the very few people who understood Raphael almost as well as Slash did and Raphael was quite aware of that fact. So it wasn't the fact that Sensei had asked the question that bothered him. It was that Splinter had asked the question when the others were present because the old rat knew that Raphael hated being made into a spectacle and he hated when all of his brothers looked at him like that. So he reacted in the only way that he knew would force all four of them off his back. He growled, loudly.

He fought the urge to grin at the way that his brothers lurched backwards. Splinter grimaced disapprovingly at him. But he wasn't looking for his father's approval. Not now.

"It doesn't matter whether I am or not. I'm going. Nothing short of a shot to the head is going to stop me." He snarled, aggressively, jumping to his feet and looming over each of his siblings in turn, just daring them to try and argue with him.

Leonardo stood and took a step towards him. Raph took a step back, snarling angrily. His muscles froze stiff as he suddenly found himself enclosed within his older brother's arms.

"I made you a promise Raphael. I swore to you on my honor that I would be with you. I know that it may not have sounded like a pledge to you, but in my heart it always has been. But I need you to have faith in me, Raph. You can't be stubborn and bull-headed about this." A forest green hand pushed the hothead back a step while the other raised the hothead's face. "I need you calm and at my side if we both want to get out of this alive. I almost lost you once, Raphael. Rest assured that I will do anything to keep that from happening again."

Fifty-eight hours

Donnie and Rockwell had were working on the EMP in the brainiac's lab. Leonardo and Slash were in the main room with Leatherhead, constructing a plan. Michelangelo was in the kitchen making lunch, or at least, some facsimile thereof. Raphael, lacking anything better to do, headed off to the dojo, though he soon found out that it was already occupied. He watched as Mona Lisa practiced her katas. Entering loudly, so that she knew exactly who had just joined her, Raphael remained stoic as her eyes turned to him.