"Null. The corporate mogul turned demon Null? The one who we haven't seen for about 40 years? THAT Null?" Raph looked, and sounded, skeptical.
"Yes, that Null."
Raph threw up his hands in exasperation. "You're kidding me Don. I wouldn'ta put it past that guy, but the Mutanimals took him out! He's a crispy critter!"
"No, he's not," Don said sadly. "Whatever happened, it certainly didn't take him out. Well, at least, it didn't stop funds that can be traced to him from being distributed to the right places. And now there's the explosion."
"That doesn't prove jack," Raph slapped his open palm on the table. Then he swallowed hard. "But, I suppose it doesn't really matter. What does matter is: how are we gonna stop this guy?"
All attention now focused on Don. Now that the problem was out, they turned back to routine; Don would have a plan.
"I have a plan," Don finally said. Mike grinned crazily, and Raph smiled. Leo, though, just kept looking at him. Don cleared his throat and continued. "I have managed to get seismic equipment to most of Null's likely targets. He'll have to drill in order to get the bomb deep enough. When he does, we've got him," Don took a breath. "Let's just hope we've got him in time. If all of this is true, the next volcano will not be in Antarctica like the last. It'll be someplace much, much worse. And the results. . ."
"What, Don? What could be worse than destroying the world?" Mike asked, fear filling his voice.
"Ever hear of Thera?" The other three shook their heads. "You know Atlantis? That was Thera. It was a volcano that destroyed an entire civilization. And it didn't need and ice age to do it. But, compared to what I think Null's going to do, Thera was a jellybean. And Null has to do that several times over."
"Crap," Mike whispered.
"Yeah," Don agreed. Then he pulled out four objects and slid them across the table. "Here. I pulled them out of storage and did a little fix up job on them."
Leo fingered his gently. "The turtle-coms," he whispered. Then he looked up with a gleam in his eye, and he straightened his shoulders. "Well, then," he said, "we'll have to be ready to go at a moment's notice. Don, we're moving in here."
Don grinned. "I figured as much."
Leo continued, " Mike and Raph, gather what you need from your places, and get back here pronto."
"OK boss," Mike said lightheartedly. Mike and Raph started to get up. Leo reached across and laid a hand on Raph's arm.
"Raph? Maybe you want to talk to Mezcal about Null. After all, her father was the last one to see him."
Her eyes were red from crying. They had talked a long time, and miracle of miracles, Leo hadn't interrupted telling him to get back to Don's. She had accepted a delay in the starting of their family, but it hadn't been easy on her. And now. . .
"Hon? I've got to ask you something else." Mez looked up at Raph. "It's about your dad. It's not really any big deal, so don't worry about it. Anyway. . . did Dreadmon ever talk about him and Null?"
Mez sat in silence for a while. My poor babe, Raph thought. She's been through alot, and I hate having to grill her like this. . . Raph hugged Mez tighter, and she hugged him back, fiercely. Then she sat up a little straigher and looked into Raph's eyes.
"Yeah. He did. There was this one time, he was, oh, I don't know, sometime in his forties. I don't know, I guess he was having a midlife crisis. Anyway, one day he called me into his room and started telling me his life story. I was. . . oh I don't know, like twelve at the time. I don't remember half of what I should about what he told me, but I do remember this. He was talking about the big battle with Null, right after that whole weird time screw up where you guys thought they were dead, and he started telling me about how they were all split up inside Null's place, and how he was the one to find Null," she paused, breathing hard. "Then he told me something I’m always gonna remember. It wasn’t what he said, or even how he said it that got me, but the look in his eyes. . .” she shuddered. “He said ‘Baby girl, dere are some thing in dis world that are so terrible they make you want to never have existed, jus so you won’t know about dem. He was one.’ He didn’t say much more about it, just that Null triggered some kind of explosive that brought the whole place down. Of course, dad and the rest of ‘em got out all right, but they never did find Null’s body. They just assumed he was fried. Still. . .”
“What, babe?” Raph asked gently.
“I don’t think dad really believed it.”
Raphael sighed, and hugged her close again. After a while, he released her and started to get up.
“I’ve gotta go back. Don’s set it up so we can track that sucker down, but I’ve got to be ready to go. And,” he said with a grimace, “Leo will probably want us to practice.”
Mez smiled at his jibe and started to get up. “Just promise me one thing,” she said, hands lightly touching Raphael’s arm. “If you go, just be careful. . . of him. I don’t want to see the look in your eyes that I saw in dad’s.” She shuddered gently.
Raph hugged her one last time. “Don’t worry, babe. It takes more than a demon to scare me.”
It takes more than a demon to scare me, he said to himself as he drove the boat back to Don’s. Yeah, right, was his next thought. And what about Vulvanna? He frowned, remembering how scared he had actually been of the demoness. He had had to let it go, to escape, but the fear had returned later. He still had dreams of that place, Vulvanna’s evil, seductive voice, stepping through, falling. . . even Mez didn’t know how those dreams still bothered him. But, he reasoned, I’ve learned to deal with it. I can learn to deal with it again, if. . .
Not if, when, he told himself.
Mike wiped the sweat from his brow. It had been a long time since they worked out like this, and he knew he was going to be sore the next day. But, like Leo said, better a few sore muscles now than a missing apendage later. Right now Don and Leo were sparring in the middle of Don’s practice floor. Don’s gotten better, Mike thought. Or Leo’s gotten worse. Either way, Don was actually holding his own against their ‘almighty leader.’ Suddenly, though, Leo’s foot shot out and undercut Don. It was over in less than a heartbeat.
Don grinned up at Leo, who was panting with exertion. Leo smiled back and offered Don his hand. “Nice to know that I can give you a workout,” Don said. “You’ve gotten better,” Leo replied. Don waved the compliment off. “Ah, I try to work out just to combat the effects of sitting behind a computer for hours on end.”
Leo nodded, still smiling. “Yeah, but all that radiation is going to fry your brain.”
“Naw, my brain thrives on radiation. I’m a mutant, remember?” Don quipped.
Everyone chuckled. Leo streched briefly. Then he glanced up at the clock. “Where’s Raph?” he asked no one in particular. “You think that guy would learn at some point in his life to be on time. . .”
Suddenly, several things happened. There was the creak of a floor board, and then a green blur shot across the room at Leo’s back. The floorboard had tipped Leo off, however, and he ducked at the last second. Raph shot over his head, and hit the ground rolling. He came up punching and kicking.
Leo had his wind back now, and sucessfuly blocked Raph’s attacks, and then started mounting a few of his own. Kick, punch, block, jab, evade. They circled each other, each looking for weak points in each other’s defenses.
Mike watched them, and a feeling of amazment grew in him. The keep going faster, he thought. And neither one has the upper hand. And still they fought. Time grew long. Seconds, then minutes passed. Both combatants were sweating freely when Leo finally said something. “What took so long?” he asked.
Raphael smiled grimly but his concentration did not break. He kept jabbing, punching, kicking. He could beat Leo this time. He could feel it. Leo was already tired from sparring with Mike and Don before he got there. He would start to slown down soon. . .
But the battle just sped up. And kept speeding up. Mike and Don watched, not believing what they saw. They too knew Leo was tired from before, knew he had to break sometime. Then, when their hands and feet were just blurs, Leo missed his timing on a kick. Raph grabbed his foot and spun him through the air. Leo landed on his back, the wind knocked out of him. Raph went to him, and the two stared at each other. Finally, Leo got up. He stared at Raphael, and Raph stared back. Oh no, thought Mike. Now they’re really going to get into it.
Mike was quite relived when Leo embraced Raph and the two pounded each other on the back.
“It’s about time!” Leo exclaimed.