Chapter Text
“Alright,” Raph calls, resting a hand against his weapons for a moment, “everyone ready to move?”
No matter what, Raph has always been the mother hen of the family and Mikey seriously doubts that would ever change just with how much Raph generally keeps track of the rest of them. He often brings Donnie water and food when he hasn’t seen him leave his lab for a while, sometimes even dragging the softshell off to sleep if he feels he has to. And there were many times he would just grab Mikey and do a total check over to find injuries Mikey swears he hadn’t noticed happen. He’s just magic like that, always has been.
“Sí, mí hermano!” Leo calls, sauntering towards the turtle tank to follow his purple-banded twin who was already starting up the navigation, “let’s go! If we’re fast we can get back in enough time to still start the Lou Jitsu marathon!”
Mikey pumps a fist in the air before bounding to follow Leo, “aww yeah! And we have popcorn I can make and plenty of drinks and candy, tonight will be epic! ”
“No movie until we finished the mission, guys!” Raph calls, waving for them to get into the tank before stepping in himself, waiting in the doorway for Mikey and Leo to file in after him.
Once they’re both in the tank, Raph takes his seat at the center of the tank before starting it up and pressing the gas, jolting forward without checking that everyone was belted in and nearly launching Leo across the tank as he scrambles to grab the side of his seat.
“Hey, mí hermano! Slow down a bit will you?” Leo calls, yanking himself back into his seat and readjusting his mask to sit properly instead of crooked and jostled out of place, “you haven’t said a word about this mission, we on a time limit or something?”
Raph’s grip tightens on the wheel, Mikey silently grateful that Donnie made it strong enough to handle his red-banded brother’s strength. Raph’s shoulders somehow grow even more tense, bunching around his ears before he states, “a piece of the armor was found by pops and April. It’s one of the last remaining pieces. They don’t think they’re alone in finding it. So we gotta move .”
Donnie nods, grabbing the side of the tank as Raph takes a tighter turn and using his robotic arms to grab Mikey as he tips, pulling him to sit back in his seat before giving a short, “I’m picking up mystic energy signatures nearby, we’re getting close. Park in an alley nearby, I don’t want to announce our presence.”
Raph gives a tense nod, glancing to the navigation system before taking another turn, leaving all of his brothers scrambling for a hand hold as the tank lifts a few wheels from the ground. He keeps his eyes narrowed on the road, watching for his turn off and the building they need to get to before finally spotting the building. He glances to the side before turning to the opposite side of the street, sliding into the larger alley hidden in the shadows just a bit away from the building.
“Alright, get ready to move in. Donnie, we need to know what we’re dealing with.” Raph says, springing from his seat and opening the back of the tank as the rest of them move to follow.
Donnie pulls up a screen showing the building’s schematics with a short nod as they start following the shadows to get closer, tapping a few times and spinning the model before pulling up security cameras to find what is aimed at what.
As they get to a good distance from the building, Raph motions for them to all lower and wait, Donnie still tapping away at his screen.
“You seein’ anything Donnie?” Raph mutters, eyes tracking his purple-banded brother’s every move as he scans the building.
Donnie’s face falls to a scowl, his brows furrowed tightly as he taps away at his wrist panel before a few chirps come from his throat, the sounds quickly followed by his lip peeling up and the crease between his brows growing deeper. “The only way I see in would be a vent opening on the third story, right by the fire escape,” he groans, running a hand along his face before following with, “it’s a tight fit, only one of us would be able to take that route and the others would have to stay behind. And only one of us is small enough.”
He glances to Mikey as he finishes his sentence, the frown still plastered solidly on his face. Raph seems to pick up Donnie’s implication immediately, crossing his arms and puffing his chest up as a scowl crosses his face.
“Raph doesn’t like that idea,” he grumbles, glancing up to the building windows before turning back to Donnie, “couldn’t I bust something to get us all in there?”
Donnie shakes his head sharply, pulling up another screen of information on his wrist pad, “alarm systems, wired directly to contact police. This entire building is rigged and I believe Mikey is the only one that can get in and out safely. We can be right outside and Leo can portal us if the need arises, but that would likely trigger alarms.”
Donnie turns to Mikey, his lips twisted in obvious displeasure as a couple more chirps bubble up in his throat. He pauses a moment before lifting a hand to rest on Mikey’s head, sliding down the side of his face before he asks, “think you could retrieve it without touching the floor, Michael?”
“Spy mission!” Mikey exclaims, bouncing on his toes before walking to stand in front of Raph, “I can handle it! You guys will be right outside and it’s just a retrieval mission! Not much can go wrong!”
Raph picks at his wrist wraps for a moment, biting at his lip before heaving a sigh, leaning his head back before groaning, “fine, but if you need help you ask, alright?”
“Can do!” Mikey calls, already darting towards the shadows on the opposite side of the street, pulling his kusari-fundo from his belt and grinning as he moves to the fire escape Donnie had pointed out.
A solo mission! And a stealth one too! I get to be like the spy in the movies, was it Bond? Yeah, the James Bond movies! Ooh! Maybe I can do that cool lowering from the ceiling thing!
Mikey’s thoughts whirls as he starts to climb the metal ladder, focusing on keeping himself close to the rungs as he moves quickly upwards. He’s done more dangerous stealth missions, that’s for sure. Or at least, they seemed that way. Stealing the remote from Splinter so Donnie could fix a few parts of it and returning it before he woke up was dangerous enough Mikey called it a death defying stunt.
Once he reaches the vent, he glances back down to find his brothers before giving a short wave, turning back to the vent cover. As he starts fiddling with the latches, he nearly loses his grip as a voice comes through in his ear.
“Mikey, vent’s exit on your left, remember to tell us if anything goes sideways,” Donnie says, the voice coming through an earpiece Donnie must have slipped on Mikey before he darted across the street.
How did he do that?
Mikey puts a hand to his chest for a moment, willing his heart rate to slow, before giggling and whispering, “will do, watch my 6, I’m going in.” as he pulls the cover off of the vent and starts to wiggle his way into it.
It’s definitely small enough only he could fit, and even that’s just barely. Sure, he can move his arms around slightly, but if it had been any smaller he wouldn’t be able to move an inch. It would have been tight, pressing against his shell, suffocating him with pressure against his chest and head that won’t let up, he’d be trapped with no escape.
In for 3, hold for 4, out for 7. Repeat. Keep breathing.
As his ankle twinges in pain at the memory, his chest tightening and his heart pounding against his plastron, forcing him to stop and remember how to breathe for a moment.
Mikey pauses for a second to remind himself where he is, reaching a hand to feel the metal surrounding him before starting to slowly pull himself forward again.
In for 3, hold for 4, out for 7. Repeat. Breath Mikey.
Donnie said the first opening is the one he needs, the one just about 10 feet in front of him now. Shouldn’t be long he’s in this vent, he’d be out in no time. Back on solid ground with nothing pressing on his shell.
As he moves forward, he comes across a small vent hatch on his right. It’s way too small to be the one he’s after, but through the small grates he manages to spot tens, no, hundreds of the Foot paper ninjas surrounding the Foot clan leaders and-
“ Guys!” Mikey Hisses into the mic, his hands starting to shake against the metal of the vent as he forces his focus back on his breathing.
In, hold, out. In, hold, out. Breathe.
He hears the earpiece crackle to life before Donnie’s voice comes through, “What’s wrong, Mikey? You sound spooked, what’s going on?”
“ Baron Draxum is here, ” he hisses, keeping his voice low so as to not be heard or found out.
If Draxum is here, that means they definitely know about the armor piece. Not only that, but they expect a fight coming to get it. Judging by the harsh tones of the words spoken, though, they haven’t found it. Mikey figures it’s in the next room over since Donnie said the vent he’d go through was on his left instead of his right, where the Foot clan is currently bickering.
“The armor piece is in the next room over, they haven’t figured out where it is yet. I can still go for it.” Mikey mutters, his shoulders stuck tense as he watches the Foot clan argue about something or another. They still haven’t moved so there’s a good chance he has an opening to go snatch the piece really quickly, if he can move fast enough.
Mikey has just started to move, his arms shuffling to be in front of him and now pulling him towards the other vent cover when he hears Raph take over the comm system.
“Absolutely not Mikey,” Raph hisses, struggling to keep his voice low for the sake of Mikey not being heard, “you need to come back, we aren’t prepared to fight Draxum again, especially not with you being in the vents . Come back.”
Mikey can’t stop the subtle hum in his throat as he grumbles, “come on, Raph. I’m not weak, I can still get it. I’m fast and they aren’t even in the same room as it.”
“I agree with Raph on this one, Angelo,” Donnie says through the comm, his voice coming through as tight and strained, “you don’t know how they’re going to move, and now that I have body signatures on the building, there’s just too many.”
Mikey can’t help but groan at the overprotectiveness of his brothers as he watches the Foot clan start moving to the next room, led by Draxum, and completely ruining any and all chance he had to snatch the piece before they found it. With his opening completely lost, he gives a few short grunts before starting to slide himself back in the vent. It’s much too tight to turn himself around so he has to manage with sliding backwards awkwardly.
I could have gotten it. I would have been quick enough they wouldn’t have even noticed me, and I could have stopped them getting another piece of the armor. I thought we didn’t want them to get it, isn’t that why we came out here? Am I that much of a mess up they think I couldn’t do it?
Mikey hums a slight bit more, his lips turning down in a very uncharacteristic frown as he keeps sliding back, and as he starts to feel the cool air from outside brush against his legs he feels his shoulders start to relax some, taking his focus off of his breathing just a bit more. He’s going to get out of the vent just fine. A little upset and ego damaged, but otherwise fine.
That was, at least, until the bolted connector just behind him starts to buckle.
As the vent starts to fall out below him, he barely has even a split second to grab the sharp edge of now folding metal, his hand barely keeping a grip on the right angle edge as the vent goes swinging down to spill Mikey into the open.
He desperately keeps his grip on the vent as he swings down, trying to shoot his left arm up to catch as well before his weight comes to a jarring, bone rattling abrupt stop. He has to bite his tongue hard to keep from crying out and instead focusing on grabbing the edge with his left, his right shoulder having given a grinding, sickening pop and now dropping to hang at his side, entirely not where it should be.
As part of the vent creaks and his grip begins to falter, he’s reminded that he was absolutely heard and now his chance for escape is a ticking time bomb counting down to being caught by Draxum. His only chance at this point, since scrambling back up into the faulty vent with a non-functional arm is a non-option, is to use the remaining strength in his good arm and swing to the window behind him before his grip fails completely. Only about a 5 foot blind leap through glass, it shouldn’t be that hard.
As he hears the sound of people moving in his direction, he knows he has no choice but to break the glass as he goes through the window. Setting off the alarm will have to be a sacrifice he’s willing to make at this moment if he wants to get out alive.
He grits his teeth, shifting his weight and desperately trying to ignore the screaming, burning and just wrong sensation in his shoulder, and finally letting go as he flings himself towards the window in a desperate attempt to get outside.
As he flies backwards, he uses his good arm to cover his face as he hits the glass, thankfully having angled himself so he hits shell first and crashes through, alarms immediately blaring in his wake. He doesn’t have time to worry about them, though, instead focusing on getting down the building and waving his brothers to the tank with his good arm.
“GO!” He screams, pointing to the tank with his left arm as he jumps down the fire escape, stumbling as his bad ankle hits the ground just slightly wrong but immediately popping back up to run to the tank, “we need to go NOW!”
His brothers waste no time with questions, darting through the shadows back to the tank and just barely letting Mikey slip through the door before they yank it shut and Raph starts the tank. He pulls out of their hiding spot and shoots off just as Foot paper ninjas explode out of the building, their eyes searching in every direction for the cause of the noise. Thankfully, with Raph’s slightly reckless driving, they’re just out of their sight range and rounding a corner when Mikey catches just the barest glimpse of Draxum stepping out behind them.
“Mikey! What was that?!” Leo cries, turning back to look at his little brother with lines of confusion painting his face.
Mikey grits his teeth as Raph hits a particularly rough patch of the road, giving a one armed shrug and hoping Leo doesn’t take notice of the one arm dangling at his side at the entirely wrong angle.
Oh this hurts worse now, adrenaline probably wearing off, crap. I need to get it back into socket.
“I don’t know, vent collapsed, I found an exit, “Mikey grumbles, carefully rubbing at his bad shoulder before quickly moving his hand back down. Thankfully, none of his brothers caught the motion since they’re too busy staring at his face to notice. And Raph is driving, otherwise he’d already be found out. Maybe, just maybe he could escape to his room to put it back on his own when they get home.
“The vent collapsed?” Donnie asks, leaning forward to try and catch Mikey’s gaze as Mikey desperately avoids his, “it fell out from below you?”
Mikey gives a short nod, trying to focus on the little information he knows about out of socket joints before Raph hits a bump just slightly too fast, jostling Mikey enough to steal a hiss from his throat as he slightly curls around his arm.
“It’s fine, I won’t fail the next mission. It was just a faulty vent, nothing big.” Mikey mumbles, hoping his brothers don’t truly hear his response. He’s saved, however, by them pulling into the garage at just that second, and he slides from his seat and towards the door just as it starts to open.
Just keep moving, I can put it back when I’m in my room where they won’t hear any noise. Donnie sound proofed it for my music, they won’t hear anything and the pain will be over.
“Hold it, big man,” Raph says, stepping out of the tank to follow Mikey, his eyes searching him for answers Mikey isn’t too sure he wants him to find, “your arm. That isn’t right, is it Leo?”
At his question Leo’s grin quickly changes to a much more serious, tense expression as he takes in his little brother, and the definitely wrong looking shoulder before Mikey turns to try and hide it.
“It’s fine guys, I’m fine,” Mikey grumbles, tears starting to prick at his eyes as he starts to walk out of the garage a bit faster than before, keeping his arm pressed tight to his side with his good arm in a meager attempt to stop the pain.
“Med bay,” Leo states, suddenly a lot closer than Mikey remembered him being and earning a startled yelp from him as Leo places a hand on his good shoulder to guide him.
Mikey sighs, knowing he’s yet again missed his opening, so he changes course with Leo guiding him to the Med bay instead of his room. Of course Raph would notice. Honestly, Raph notices way too much. Sure, it’s nice when it’s something like him noticing Mikey’s out of soda and filling it before he asks, or when he offers hot chocolate on a cold day, or when he notices Mikey needs more paints. But it’s less nice when he notices something Mikey wasn’t planning on asking for help with.
As Leo guides him to the ever familiar bed in the Med bay, Mikey can’t stop a few displeased grunts coming from his chest as he hops up onto the bed. He would have been fine, it isn’t the first time his arm has been out of socket.
“You do know the more times this happens, the more likely you are to tear something that requires a surgical fix. You know that, right Miguel?” Leo asks, already at Mikey’s side and starting to gently feel around the joint for any damage past it having not asked for directions and gotten lost.
Mikey gives a short nod paired with a sigh, turning to look away from Leo and his work to try and focus on something, really anything else, cause this was about to hurt really bad. Like fire crawling through his veins slowly roasting him alive kind of hurt. Like he’d rather be shot, kind of hurt.
In, hold, out. Breathe .
Before Leo makes any more moves, Raph gives a short knock on the doorframe before offering a short wave paired with a small, still warm smile. He walks to Mikey’s side and puts a gentle hand on his shell before saying, “I thought you might want to sit in Raph’s lap, ya know, give you somethin’ else to focus on?”
Mikey hesitates for a second before looking to Leo, his previously misty eyes now much closer to dripping tears just with Leo touching the joint, and before he says anything Leo starts to gently instruct Raph to pick Mikey up without jostling him too much.
Once he’s settled in Raph’s lap, Mikey immediately turns to bury his face against his brother’s plastron, his good arm grabbing onto his brother’s shell and a small whine escaping his throat as Leo starts working on his arm again.
This never gets easier, does it.
Raph gently wraps an arm around Mikey, careful to keep out of Leo’s workspace but also trying to provide the affection his little brother so obviously needs, and holds him tight against his plastron before lowering his mouth close to Mikey’s ear and murmuring, “hey, Mikey, try to breathe for me. You’ve got this big man, it’ll be fast.”
Mikey forces himself to breathe again, taking air in, holding, and releasing just as he had been earlier, and he keeps going with his pattern until Leo gets a better grip on his arm and gives a warning, “I’m moving it,” before Mikey takes a final deep breath in and holds it, burying his face even further into Raph as Leo starts to quickly but carefully move Mikey’s arm to get it to slide back into socket.
The movement is excruciating enough that Mikey’s breath he’d been holding is let out in a short, choked scream, muffled against Raph’s chest. Once his arm slides back into place and the pain begins to subside, he practically collapses against his red-banded brother.
Spots dance in Mikey’s eyes as he tries to catch his breath again, gently rubbing at his now lightly throbbing arm and tucking it back against his side as he waits for Leo to come back with the sling. It’s the same one they make him wear for a few days after every dislocation, which doesn’t happen often , but it’s enough times that they know how to best help him.
“Hey, buddy,” Raph starts, his voice gentle but unwavering as he pulls back just slightly from his brother, trying to catch his eye, “you weren’t going to tell us you were hurt. Were you.”
It doesn’t come out like a question, more like a statement Raph is already certain to be true, and Mikey can’t keep his gaze for more than a few seconds before he looks back down at his hands, tears now clouding his vision as they threaten to fall. He gives a short nod in answer, confirming Raph’s statement as he tries to roughly wipe the tears from his eyes.
Why do I have to start crying every single time, I’m the one that’s good with emotions, why do I keep making them deal with this? I shouldn’t be asking for help, I shouldn’t need help, why do I keep breaking? I’m not strong, why do I keep failing, I can’t-
“Michelangelo,” Donnie calls from where he’s materialized besides Mikey, placing a hand on his shoulder as he jumps at the sudden sound. When Mikey turns a hesitant gaze towards Donnie, he continues, “you were spacing out and hyperventilating. Are you with us now?”
Hyperventilating? Oh great, if you didn’t want to worry them you did a great job at that, didn’t you. Now Raph won’t let you out of his sight for days and Leo will check on you every moment he can and missions will be postponed and missed all because you’re so stupid and-
“Mikey,” Raph calls, giving a very gentle shake to yank Mikey back out of his own mind, “hey buddy, you gotta talk to us.”
“Yeah, this is the third time something happened and you tried to not say anything. Mikey, what’s going on?” Leo leans a bit closer, brows furrowing slightly, “we didn’t make you feel like you can’t talk to us, did we?”
Raph shifts to hold Mikey more protectively, wrapping an arm around his shell before saying, “no matter what, we’re here for ya, alright Mikey? But ya gotta come ask us for help,” he gently rubs his thumb along Mikey’s shell in a circular pattern, “you asking for help isn’t a burden or a problem.”
“It’s quite the opposite, actually,” Donnie adds, a hand now wrapped around Mikey’s, “we want you to talk to us. We’re family, Angelo. And more importantly, we’re a team. We talk to each other because none of us are in this alone. We don’t have to do anything alone, and we work better when we’re working together.”
“I know we don’t know anything about what’s going on in your head, Miguel,” Leo adds, his hand landing on Mikey’s good shoulder and giving a gentle squeeze, “but trust me when I say we want to. We may not be Doctor Feelings, but we want to help and we want to listen.” Leo gives a warm smile and wipes a stray tear from Mikey’s face, “you just have to ask for help because even though we may be magic and know a lot about you, we still don’t know everything.”
Leo pauses for a moment, lifting both hands to Mikey’s face to wipe the tears now streaming down his face before resting a hand on his cheek and saying, “you just have to talk to us and we’ll be there for you, Mikey. Always.”
“Promise,” Raph agrees, rubbing his hand along Mikey’s shell as the tears start to really fall.
He can’t hold back the tears anymore, sobs beginning to wrack his body as he leans into all three of his brothers, promptly getting squished by the ensuing turtle pile as they all offer hugs and support the best they can. Nobody forces him to talk, nobody even really acknowledges anything other than the fact that they’re hugging each other.
And when they all decide they’re moving to Raph’s room to set up a pillow fort and settle in for the night, Mikey just wipes the tears from his face and nods, letting Raph carry him and not feeling even slightly sorry for it this time. This time, his brothers have somehow managed to beat the voices in his head. And maybe, just maybe, he’d be able to start beating them on his own.