Zero: Chapter Four
***
Zero was waiting for him when Don got to the rooftop. He raised his arm to block his eyes from the rising sun and spotted Zero standing near the center of the roof, her clothes sitting in a pile next to her. Don walked around the rooftop, partly to keep an eye out for danger, partly just to pass time.
He passed in front of Zero, casting a shadow over her for a second. Her eyes fluttered open to evaluate the change in environment. Seeing that it was only Donatello, she went back into charge mode.
Don stopped to study Zero for a moment. Her silvery skin had taken on a golden glow from the sunrise, and a metallic glitter that Don hadn't noticed before. It gave her a very inhuman appearance, yet...
Don continued his patrol of the rooftop. Zero was certainly an amazing piece of technology. Nanobots imitating organic cells, an AI program almost as advanced as the human brain, it boggled Donatello's mind. From what little time he'd spent with Zero, it was obvious that the program was designed to evolve to become more and more human. How human could it become? Would it eventually evolve into a sentient life form? Was it already there?
"Donatello?"
Don snapped out of his reverie to see Zero trying to get herself dressed. Trying being the operative word. Don couldn't help but smile as he walked over to help Zero get untangled from her sweater. A few quick tugs and Zero's head popped up from the cotton depths. "Thank you."
"No problem." Don tied her scarf back on. "All right, if you're ready, let's get back down to the others."
***
"Alpha, this is Delta team. The target and company are once again on the move. They have entered the sewer system, and seem to be continuing on to the predicted destination."
***
They had reached the end of the line. Leonardo turned back to the others. "Okay, we can't take these tunnels any farther. Fortunately, it's only a block or so ahead. It should still be quiet enough to get there and back without anyone noticing us."
While Leo climbed up the ladder to check the surroundings, Zero looked at Don. "I am almost home."
Don gave a weak smile. "Yeah, almost."
Mike wrapped Zero in a hug. "I'm gonna miss you, robo-girl."
"I will miss you, too, Mike."
Leo called down from the top of the ladder. "Okay, things are clear. Everybody up."
The neighborhood was quiet. All the cars were sitting along the sidewalk, or in driveways. It looked like a good place to live. But as they got closer to the house, Don started getting a bad feeling. He chalked it up to not wanting to hand Zero over to anyone, even to her own creator.
Don shook his head. Her... Man, they even got him thinking like that now. But his mind drifted back to his earlier thoughts about Zero's programming. If she was programmed to learn the way a child did, did that mean she would grow up, even mature? Don was hit with a wave of depression thinking that he may never get the opportunity to find out.
When they got to the address, Don and his brothers waited on the sidewalk as Zero went up to the door. She turned to them one last time. "Thank you all for helping me."
As Zero reached the door, that feeling of uneasiness rushed over Don again. This time he saw his brothers tense as well, and he knew this was more than just his own feelings about leaving her. He heard the rustling of cloth and saw Leo sneaking around the side of the house out of the corner of his eye. Mike went around the other side. Don scanned the street.
All that had happened in the time it took Zero to take a single step up to the door. Don whirled around and called through gritted teeth. "Zero, stop!"
The android stopped just short of the door. But before she could move away, the door was flung open and she was pulled inside. Don was already running. He cleared the steps and hit the door just before it was slammed shut.
He was welcomed by a hail of gunfire, rolling behind a nearby staircase for cover. Once the bullets stopped, he checked to see where Zero was. She wasn't anywhere to be seen, but her trigger happy abductors were. They opened fire again.
"Boo-yah!"
Don heard two thuds and then silence. He looked over the stairway and saw Michaelangelo standing over the unconscious thugs. Mike smiled. "Come on, Donnie, this is no time to play Hide and Seek, we gotta find Zero."
Don rushed past his brother, giving him a quick punch to the shoulder as he passed by. "Out the back."
***
"We're just gonna go for a little ride."
Zero struggled against her captors. "No! I must not be captured!" It took three men to carry her towards one of the cars.
A green blur came out of nowhere and bowled into one of the men. Leonardo then turned and slammed his fist into the second man's face. The third man lost his grip on Zero and reached into his jacket.
Leo dove to the side as the man fired on him. He rolled, picking up a stone and throwing it at the man's hand in what seemed to be one motion. The man yelped in pain and dropped the gun. Leo easily knocked him out.
Don and Mike appeared at the back door. After seeing that there was no more immediate danger, Don called out, “It everyone okay?”
Leo pulled Zero with him as he jogged back to the house. “Fine, but we have to get out of sight.”
The four of them stood in the dead silent house for several minutes before anyone dared say anything. It was Don. “Let's search the place. Maybe Doctor Sung's still here, or at least his information about Zero.”
Leo looked out the window. It was getting too light to move without being noticed, even in disguise. A couple people were outside already, and would no doubt notice strangers coming from their neighbor's home. “Okay. Until we get some better options. Mike and I'll tie up the bad guys, Don check upstairs.”
“Actually,” Don replied hesitantly, “I think I'd have better luck looking for a basement. That's where I'd store the systems we're looking for.”
Leo just nodded, trusting Don's knowledge and intuition when it came to technology. Don turned, asking Zero to follow him.
The basement turned out to be the fourth door he checked, next to the kitchen. It looked like it had a state of the art lock and alarm system, but it wasn't activated. That flipped an alarm in Don's head, and he proceeded with caution.
A second after the door opened, strips of light appeared along the wall, outlining the steps and guiding the way down. Don looked around in awe as the lights in the stairway and room below brightened as they walked down. “Nice...” Don commented with a whistle.
The basement itself was full of computers and other machinery. There was barely room to walk, although pathways had been made.
“Zero, do you recognize any of this?” Donatello recognized basic computer terminals, but as for the more specialized machines... he had no clue. For now.
“This is my charging pod,” Zero answered. She was standing next to what looked like a vertical tanning booth.
Don watched as she stepped inside. “Makes sense that you'd be programmed to recognize that.” He waited for a few seconds as the pod lit up and Zero was bathed in white light. When Don was convinced that Zero was safe, he went poking around the machinery surrounding him.
Zero emerged from the pod several minutes later, and found Don standing in front of a computer terminal, trying to gain access. “You'd think Doctor Sung would be able to afford a chair,” Don grumbled.
“A chair would not fit,” Zero replied in her usual metallic tone.
Don sighed, then backed away from the computer. “Your creator is good. His system is almost hack-proof. I can't get in for information without my equipment. Zero, you think you could...”
Before Don could finish his request, his brothers came crashing down the stairway. He heard a door slam above. “We've got trouble!” Mike yelled. “The 'bot nappers have backup!”
“We'll never get out through an upstairs exit. We better hope there's something down here.” Leonardo started pulling machinery away from the walls.
“There's gotta be something, right?” Mike piped up. “If Zero was trying to get here from the sewers, there's gotta be a door.”
“Mike, the reason we didn't come straight here underground is because the pipe system is too small.” But Don still helped with the search. He could hear people upstairs, and it was only a matter of time before they got to looking down here.
“Wha- oh!” Thud.
Don, Mike, and Zero all looked up towards the noise only to see a large hole in the wall.
Mike peered into the gap, finally looking down. “Good job, Leo!”
“Get down here!”
After Mike dropped, Don turned to Zero. “It's a good fifteen foot drop, can you make it?”
“My frame is designed to withstand a fall from-” A large crash interrupted what she was going to say. Don grabbed her wrist, pulling her into the shaft with him.
The landing wasn't as soft as Donatello had hoped, but he ignored the pain and ran. The same strips of lighting that had been along the staircase now lined the walls, showing them the direction out. Don kept a firm grip on Zero's wrist. As they ran, he realized that Doctor Sung obviously had advance knowledge that someone was after him and his creation. Why else did he need an escape tunnel? Don hoped the secret door had closed behind them.
The lights dimmed to nothing just short of a fork in the tunnel. Great, Don thought. Where now?
“Don, over here!” His brothers were calling from the tunnel on his left. When Don got to the end, he found himself standing in a familiar tunnel.
“We need to keep moving in case we're being followed,” Leo told them.
“I wish we'd gotten some information,” Don sighed as they headed off in the general direction of home. He now had time to notice that his knee ached, and he wasn't looking forward to the backtracking they'd be doing.
“I found this. It looks like a file on Zero.” Leo handed over a pale blue folder. “Actually, there were filing cabinets full, but I couldn't take everything. This was sitting out on a desk.”
Don took the folder and nodded. “Thanks. I'll read it at home. Hopefully, it'll have some information that'll be useful.”
“Useful for what?” Mike asked. “Our next mission?”
“Exactly. At the next logical place to find answers. Starmine Technologies.”
***