Pleasant Dreams, Waking Nightmare
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Chapter Three
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Donatello felt panic racing through his veins.
"I was only gone for two minutes. Two minutes!" he repeated as he looked over Raphael. He was gone all right, he wasn't even responding to the penlight being shined in his eyes. Don bit his lip. "I never should have left him alone."
Leo put a hand on Don's shoulder. "Don, it's not your fault. Whoever we're dealing with is obviously more powerful then we anticipated."
Don stood up and faced Leo. "But how? And in just two minutes? Less if you figure in the time it must have taken them to get in and out of here." Don paled. "They were in here. How could they have gotten past the alarms? Leo, they can get past our defenses!"
Leo shook Don by the shoulders. "Don, don't make me slap you!" Don quieted down. "You can not go into hysterics on me. It's not like you, you need to keep a clear head so we can deal with this."
"With what?" Don asked, the slightest hint of panic still in his voice. "We still have no idea what we're dealing with."
Leo gave him a serious look. "That's exactly why we have to keep working. They're depending on us."
Don looked over Leo's shoulder at Mike, still lying on his cot. Then he looked over his own shoulder at Raph, asleep in his desk chair. He nodded slowly and set his book on the desk.
Leo let go of Don. "Okay. You stay here and keep working. I'm going to check around the lair. Maybe the intruder left some clues, or..."
"... Is still around." Don finished softly.
Leo squeezed Don's shoulder. "Stay strong, Don, we can beat this."
Don forced himself over to the coffee machine, which had been brought in six hours after they had found Michaelangelo, and poured himself yet another cup. He counted as he breathed, trying to calm himself down. Inhale...Two...Three...Four.... Exhale...Two...Three...Four....
After a minute or so he moved Raph to a bed and sat down at the desk. He opened his book and began scanning the contents. As he read he became more and more aware of how stupid he'd been a few minutes ago. He was so used to people trying to kill them that he came to that conclusion without thinking. A really stupid thing to do, especially given what they did know. Splinter had specifically told them it wasn't an outside force.
An hour later Leo came back into the room to see Don still at the desk. "Don?" Don looked over at his brother and Leo gave a sigh of relief. "For a second there I thought you were gone."
Don shook his head. "No, I'm holding up. Um, sorry about freaking earlier, I just..."
"Yeah, me too. Got anything?"
Don leaned back in his chair and rubbed his eyes. "After I heard what Splinter told us, about it not being an outside force, but still may be a person or some being, it reminded me of something I had read."
Leo looked over Don's shoulder to see what he was reading. "Since when are you into the paranormal?" he asked, noticing the title.
Don shrugged. "I'm usually not, I got this book as part of a set from April. Anyway, I thought maybe it could be a psychic attack."
"Psychic?" Leo repeated. "That could explain it."
"I'm still not exactly sure who or what we may be dealing with. There are just so many possibilities." Don sighed. "I'm guessing that whoever it is waits until we're asleep to attack."
"Why?" Leo leaned back against the desk, knowing he'd probably be here listening to Don's theories for awhile.
"Maybe it's easier for them to get past our defenses that way. We've had training to recognize and defend against attacks like these, but we aren't at the level where it's automatic. At least, those two weren't." They both looked over at Mike and Raph. "And to tell you the truth Leo, I really don't think I am either. I'm probably going to go next."
Leo looked at him with wide eyes. "Don't say things like that, Donnie! You can't give up without a fight!"
Don gave a slight smile. "I don't intend to. We have this knowledge, we can use it to fight this thing. Look at Mike and Raph."
Leo looked over. They were both still asleep, breathing regularly. "Yeah?"
"They're dreaming. They've been dreaming the entire time they've been asleep. Before you ask, no, that's not normal."
"I know that, Don," Leo smirked. "But what does it mean?"
"That whoever it is, they're probably controlling Mike and Raph's dreams. And they'll probably try to use our dreams to get us as well. The question is why, what do they want from us?"
Leo bit his lip. "What about Master Splinter?"
Don thought for a second. "Splinter's way above our level when it comes to the mental plane. I doubt they'll take the chance on him."
Leo pushed himself away from the desk. "Still, I'm going to tell him exactly what you've told me, so he'll be prepared. Maybe he can even come up with a plan." Leo looked back from the doorway. "I know this isn't exactly your area of expertise, hell, you aren't even that comfortable with it, but you're doing a great job."
"Thanks, but save it for when we have our brothers back."
"Oh, and Don?"
"Yeah, Leo?"
"Can you make another pot of coffee? I have a feeling we're gonna have to stay up awhile longer."
"Sure thing, Leo." Yeah, a fresh cup of coffee sounded like a good idea. He emptied the pot into his mug and started another batch. Leo was right, it was going to be a long night.
He sat down at the desk again and focused back on the book. He yawned and shook his head. He couldn't start getting tired now. He stretched his arms up over his head, getting his blood flowing. He turned to the next section of the book and continued reading, blinking every now and then when the words got blurry.
***
Donatello folded his arms behind his head as he laid back on the soft, cool grass. He stared up at the clear blue sky, watching the pure white clouds slowly float by. He took a deep breath as a warm breeze blew past him. He could hear a small waterfall nearby and the sound the wind blowing through the trees. It was near silence, especially when compared to the city.
Good. He didn't want anything to do with civilization or technology at the moment. He would later, of course, he'd never be able to stay away very long, but these little vacations were necessary too.
Don shifted his body. He felt like something wasn't right. He sat up and looked around, there was the unmistakable feeling that there was someone else here, watching him. The sound of something moving through water pulled his attention to the left.
Don just sat there blinking as a figure emerged from the water. It was a woman, about average height, dark tan skin, and wearing nothing. She walked over to Don and knelt down, wringing the water out of her long black hair. She smiled at him, her dark eyes glittering in amusement. "Did you have a nice nap?"
Don's mouth suddenly went dry. She tossed her hair over her shoulder, spraying tiny drops of water everywhere. She moved closer to him and he finally found his voice. "Who... uh... what are you doing here?"
The woman just laughed. "Trying to get you to relax, silly!"
"Oh," Don replied, as if that answered everything. Funny thing was, it seemed to. "And you are?"
The woman gave him a perplexed look. "Cheyenne. The stress is really getting to you, isn't it?"
Don thought for a second and laid back down on the grass. "Yeah, feels like it is." Instead of grass, he found his head resting in Cheyenne's lap.
She smiled down at him as she placed her hands on his shoulders and started massaging the muscles. "Well, I think I can help with that. You've been working very hard."
"Fat lot of good it's been doing," Don snorted. He wasn't even sure what it was he was working on. He just relaxed as Cheyenne rubbed away the knots in his shoulders.
"Oh, I think you've been very productive," Cheyenne told him. She leaned over and kissed him. "I'm sure you would have... will figure it out. You just need to take a break to clear your head."
Don reached up and grabbed Cheyenne around the neck. "I think you're right." He pulled her back down into a kiss. He felt a warm feeling of relief flow through him, all the way down to his toes. Water from Cheyenne's hair dripped down his arms and onto his plastron. He turned and pulled himself into a more comfortable sitting position.
"How 'bout a swim?" Cheyenne asked, moving back towards the water.
Donatello held onto her wrists and pulled her back to him. "Hmm, maybe later." Their lips met again and Don pulled Cheyenne sideways onto his lap. He pushed her hair behind her to expose her shoulders and chest to his exploring hands.
"Why not?" Cheyenne replied as Don kissed along her collarbone. "After all, we have all the time in the world."
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