Chapter Text
Mikey was getting hungry, and, just a few minutes ago, Raph had been complaining about wanting food. It was getting relatively late, too. Just about dinner time, Mikey figured. He walked into the kitchen and started opening cupboards.
Unfortunately, it seemed they were running low on food, meaning he’d need to go on another supply run again. Mikey liked having excuses to go outside, but getting groceries was not a fun one. Having a bunch of plastic bags haphazardly hanging off his arms as he jumped across rooftops just made his arms hurt later. The bags weren’t known for being durable either. If something broke, it was easier to just pretend he never saw it.
Mikey figured he should tell Splinter. His father would probably notice if the kitchen had been restocked without his knowledge, and Mikey didn’t want to get in trouble. He was hoping Splinter would go instead, but he knew that was unlikely. Mikey was the oldest, the most responsible, whatever that meant. Either way, it still didn’t feel good having a 16 year old mutant turtle run an adult’s errands by himself in New York City, of all places. Mikey had gotten many a strange look.
The false map turtle left the room. It was better to get this over with sooner rather than later. To the right of the kitchen was the living room, where Raph, his youngest brother, was. He was watching reruns of WWE matches, trying to replicate the moves he saw on the couch cushions.
“Hey, Raph! I’m goin’ shopping, you want anything?” Mikey called out.
“Ghost pepper chips!” Raph shouted back. He stopped and looked over his shoulder. “Wait can I come?!”
“Mmm, nah. It’s kinda risky and all,” Mikey’s real reason was that Raph was only 11, but he left that part out.
“Awww you always say that,” pouted Raph.
“Sorry bro, I’ll getcha the big bag.”
His next stop was Donnie’s room. Other than Splinter, they all slept in repurposed sewer control rooms. Donnie’s still had some leftover computers. They liked to poke through the data on them sometimes. Donnie’s room was the third from the left.
Mikey knocked on the door.
Donnie’s flat voice responded. “What?”
Opening the door, Mikey continued, “I’m going shopping, you want anything?” Donnie was sitting at their desk, reading some big book.
“Chocolate,” Donnie looked back at their book.
“You got it!” Mikey closed the door, making sure he didn’t slam it this time. It was a bad habit of his.
Mikey walked to Leo’s room, one to the left. He opened the door, but found Leo wasn’t there. Shrugging, he turned around and figured he’d finally check in with Splinter. If Leo wasn’t in his room, he was probably talking with Splinter.
Splinter’s room was just down the hallway and to the right. The hallway’s lights were on today, and the door to his room was already open, so Mikey poked his head in. He could hear Leo talking to Splinter about some anime he’d been watching. Splinter looked lost, but he was trying to keep up.
“Dad, kitchen’s kinda low on stuff. I’m gonna go out,” the oldest interrupted. Leo waved at him.
“Oh, I see. Do you need money?” Splinter got up, presumably to grab his wallet. He couldn’t get a job due to their current mutation circumstances, so he’d been collecting loose change from the ground at night. At least, that’s what he told Mikey and his siblings.
Recently, however, Mikey had figured out how to set up a bank account online, so he’d opened art commissions for some extra change. He needed a fake ID, so Donnie helped make one.
“Yeah, probably,” Mikey said. It was technically a lie, but he preferred to spend his money on stupid things.
“Alright,” Splinter began rummaging through his dressers. “Why don’t you bring Leonardo with you?”
“Huh, me?” Leo slightly jumped. “Why?”
“It would be good for you to get out of the sewer sometime. I believe Michelangelo might appreciate the extra hands, as well,” Splinter stopped for a second, having found his wallet. As he pulled it out, a robe came out with it. “Oops.”
“Uh, I guess,” the painted terrapin pulled at his hoodie strings.
“Don’t worry, Lee, it’ll be fine. We’ll be in and out,” Mikey tried reassuring him. Leo wasn’t a huge fan of being in crowded spaces. It likely didn’t help that he was almost a foot taller than Mikey now, making him stand out.
“Okay…”
Splinter handed Mikey his wallet. “Call me if you run into any trouble. Leonardo, listen to Michelangelo, and be safe my sons.”
Leo halfheartedly nodded and got up to follow Mikey out.
“You ready to go?” Mikey asked.
“I think so.”
As the two kept walking, they passed Raph again, who noticed them heading out.
“How come Leo gets to go with you?!” the youngest exclaimed, offended at his perceived exclusion.
“Cuz dad said so,” Mikey shrugged. Leo awkwardly waved as a sort of apology. Raph crossed his arms and turned back around, grumbling to himself.
“Alright, let’s get the hell outta here,” Mikey pumped his fist in the air as he spoke.
“Uh, shouldn’t we get hats?” questioned Leo.
“If you want to, yeah.”
Mikey didn’t see a point in grabbing one. It barely covered anything. He’d also tried wearing a hoodie and pants like Leo usually did once, but he still got weird looks. Less than usual, sure, but it wasn’t enough to convince him to cover up more. There was only so much he could do to hide a shell and tail. Plus, his usual sleeveless vest, t-shirt, and shorts was a comfortable combo.
Leo came back with two beanies. He threw one to Mikey and put his on. With his hoodie and pants on, Leo passed for a human almost perfectly, if it weren’t for the shell, pale green scales, and tail.
The exit to the surface was a bit further to the right of the lair’s exit and up a ladder. The sun was setting, leaving a nice orange-blue gradient across the sky, though most of it was covered by clouds. The middle of Spring was Mikey’s favorite. It rained fairly frequently, and the temperature was never too hot or too cold. There was a long abandoned building he liked to sneak out to so he could sit and listen to the thunder. Despite that, he was glad it wasn’t raining right now.
Mikey led Leo to the nearest ladder they could take to get some high ground. It was safer than the sidewalk. The streets of the city were a dangerous place, for pedestrians and drivers alike.
“Where is the store, anyway?” asked Leo, as the two climbed.
“Think it’s, uhh,” Mikey paused to figure out how to give directions. “Just follow me.”
“You do know where you’re going, right?”
“Yeah! Just bad at giving directions.” Mikey flipped off the ladder and onto the roof.
“Showoff,” Leo pouted.
“It’s what a ninja do!”
As soon as Leo stepped off the ladder, Mikey motioned behind him. The store wasn’t far away, just over a mile, if Mikey had to guess.
As they were making their way to the store, Mikey recalled Leo talking about something with Splinter. “Hey Leo, what were you talkin’ about with dad?”
“Uh, an anime,” he sheepishly responded. A moment passed, likely because Leo was trying to find the words to explain it.
“Dude, you’re makin’ it sound bad.” Mikey teased at his hesitation.
“It’s not weird! It’s just kinda hard to explain? It’s about an android who runs a coffee shop during an apocalypse. It’s super relaxing, but like, nothing really happens during it.”
“Ooo, sounds like my kinda show!”
“Really? I bookmarked the page! We can watch it later!”
“Sweet! I gotta pick up some snacks for Don and Raphie, so you grab somethin’ too.”
About 10 minutes later, they arrived at the store. Thankfully, it didn’t look too busy. They walked in, being met with a cool breeze from the air conditioning above. Mikey thought about splitting up to make it even faster, but he figured Leo would prefer sticking close. He grabbed a shopping cart and made a mental list.
They needed meat, eggs, milk, coffee, pasta, the extra stuff Donnie and Raph asked for, and whatever else grabbed Mikey’s attention. Leo stood close to him, trying not to stand out.
It wasn’t Mikey’s first time here, he had a map of the place practically memorized at this point. He decided to get the non-perishables first, for convenience. Sensing Leo’s growing discomfort, he decided to pick up the pace. When they reached the snack aisle, Leo picked out a share size bag of Skittles. Lastly, they picked up the perishables.
As they headed to the checkout line, Mikey pulled out Splinter’s wallet in advance. In front of them was a young child and mother, the kid wouldn’t stop staring at Mikey. Maybe he should’ve worn pants instead of shorts.
“Why is your skin green?” the kid innocently asked.
“Meth. Stay in school,” he deadpanned. Leo choked back a laugh behind him.
Ten minutes later, they were walking out, bags in hand. Mikey realized he should bring an extra person more often, this was much more convenient than lugging everything back by himself. The two turtles started walking back to the nearest ladder to go home.
“Hey, Mikey, why did you bring me, anyway?” Leo questioned. By the tone of his voice, it sounded like it had been on his mind for a little while.
“Sounded fun, I guess,” Mikey said.
“But you said Raph couldn’t go?”
“He’s baby!”
A pause.
“Is. Is that it?” Leo cocked his head to the side.
“Yeah pretty much.” Mikey spotted a ladder. “There, our ticket home!”
“Wait, we have eggs, though. Isn’t it safer to walk?”
“Dammit.”
Stupid eggs. He should’ve gotten them tomorrow. It was fine, he knew a longer route home. Mikey liked to call it a scenic route, but it was really just less busy than the streets and sidewalks. The path wasn’t particularly well-lit, so he usually only took it when it was sunny outside.
The two turtles made their detour, accompanied only by the rustling of the cheap plastic bags and soft breeze. It was always weird being in a quiet part of New York City. There was a distinct lack of shitty music being played and gossip. It would be refreshing if it weren’t disconcerting.
As they continued walking, they spotted an odd group in the distance. They were huddled around each other, some of them holding bats or pipes over their shoulders. The group was standing far enough away from the path Mikey and Leo were on that they could likely sneak by, but also out of sight from most people.
Mikey turned his head to Leo and whispered, “Stay close to me.”
Leo nodded and did as he was told. They could probably book it to the entrance to the sewers if they needed to. This detour added about 10 minutes to the usually 15 minute walk, and they should be roughly a quarter of the way home. It was fine. They were fine.
Of course, they weren’t lucky that night. Before they had even cleared the group, Mikey noticed one of the people looking directly at him. It was probably better to keep acting like he hadn’t seen anything, so he didn’t bring it up to Leo.
The group started to break up and run in different directions. Mikey counted seven of them, and he had a feeling there would be more if he stuck around to find out.
Turning to Leo again, he whispered to his younger brother to follow him, and got another nod in response. Mikey sped up his pace and headed for the next alleyway, knowing if they could get through one, they could hopefully disappear into a more well-populated area.
Upon approaching the next alley, Mikey briefly stopped to check if there was anyone waiting. He didn’t see anyone, but got an oddly bad feeling from it, so he continued walking. The feeling didn’t leave.
“We’re gonna run the rest of the way, got it? As fast as you can go,” Mikey quickly instructed Leo, who responded with another nervous nod. Mikey could see his younger brother visibly panicking. He tried to sound as confident as he could muster, which seemed convincing enough for Leo. “Go.”
Leo started running, and Mikey ran slightly behind him to cover should things get worse. As if on cue, Mikey noticed two of the humans chasing after them. A few more emerged from around a corner in front of them. The turtles were going to be boxed in.
Leo shouted to Mikey, “W-What do we do?”
“Text Donnie, it’s probably faster than calling Dad. And throw the bags, it’ll distract whoever these guys are.” Mikey threw his bags behind him as he continued running. He pulled out his phone, but they were rapidly getting closer to the group in front of them.
He pulled Leo to the right with his free hand and continued running. He quickly unlocked his phone and shot off a text to Donnie simply stating he needed help. Mikey had faith they would be able to find his location easily.
“Mikey…” Leo stopped running. Another group of two had shown up in front of them. Mikey covered his younger brother with his body and wordlessly stared at the group. He counted nine. Not much more than earlier, but still not good odds. The wall behind them wasn’t too far. If he could get there, it would remove a direction to worry about later, but they’d effectively be cornered.
He pushed Leo back towards the wall and jumped backwards, eyes staying on the group.
“We just gotta hold out for Dad, Leo. ‘Sides, we can take these shitheads!” Mikey tried reassuring him. Leo looked like he was on the verge of tears. He could probably tire the group out instead of fighting, considering it didn’t look like words would get them anywhere. The gang slowly approached them, makeshift weapons in hand. Mikey got in front of Leo again.
“Hey, what are these things? They ain’t human enough,” one of them said.
“Now that ya mention it, yeah…” another took a closer look at Mikey. This human held a pipe over his shoulder, and he used it to poke at Mikey’s plastron. It was mostly obscured by his shirt. “This don’t feel right.”
Mikey realized he could try scaring them off. “Yeah, we’re aliens. We stole those substances for experimentation. It seems our disguises were imperfect.”
The pipe guy backed off. “Nuh-uh, that ain’t happening. Kill these freaks! ‘Fore they can probe us or whatever!”
Shit. Pipe guy, who seemed to be the boss, swung his weapon at Mikey. He dodged and swept at the boss’s legs to get him off balance and, ideally, disarmed. One of the other members caught the boss, while the others attacked Mikey and Leo separately.
It was difficult to focus on any one foe, so Mikey focused his attention on keeping Leo safe. He could see Leo blocking what he could and throwing out kicks when possible. Mikey dodged another attack from a plank of wood and disarmed his attacker. He managed to pass it to Leo, who could probably use it like his katana. Mikey continued blocking and retaliating when an opening revealed itself.
What felt like an eternity passed, and the pair had been able to knock out six of the gang members and the boss. The remaining two seemed to be getting tired, so Mikey shoved his way through them and made a run for it, pulling Leo out with him.
As soon as they turned the corner, another, smaller group of the gang ambushed them. One of them held up another metal bar to attack, and Mikey quickly tackled Leo to the ground to shield him with his shell.
A sharp pain blasted through his shell as the bar hit him above his right shoulder. Another gang member swung something else at the same spot. Something sharper. It dug into his shoulder.
“Mikey!!!” Leo shouted.
Mikey gritted his teeth as he felt something fall out of place. A large chunk of his shell fell next to Leo’s head as a blade was ripped out.
“Hey, these things bleed!” one of the gang members exclaimed.
Mikey took the moment of inaction to yell. “Get out of here, Leo! I’ll be fine!” Leo scrambled to his feet and ran off, weaving between the stunned humans. Mikey wasn’t sure if he believed his own words, but rolled away from the gang anyway. His shoulder flared in pain again as he rolled backwards.
He was kicked back onto the ground by someone behind him. Another person rolled him onto his back as the new group stood over him. Some of the humans pinned him down.
They began poking at him with sticks. One of them noticed his plastron underneath his shirt. Mikey opened his mouth to speak, but couldn’t force any words out before he was gagged. One of the other members ripped his shirt off, revealing his plastron.
“Let’s crack it open and see what’s inside!”
It happened in slow motion. One of the gang members held a metal bar over his head, the same one used to crack Mikey’s shell, and slammed it down onto his plastron, roughly where a human heart would be. Mikey heard a sickening crack as a new wave of pain coursed through his body.
A second time.
A third time.
It stopped after the third. Mikey’s vision began to blur. He wanted to scream. He could feel a puddle of blood forming at the new wound. The gang members opened their mouths, but he couldn’t hear anything. He shut his eyes, as though closing them would shield him from the pain.
Mikey could swear he sensed Splinter’s presence right after. A gentle touch on his uninjured shoulder, removing the gag. Another presence appeared soon after, feeling like Leo’s. Mikey opened his eyes, but none of the new shapes registered in his head.
He heard a wordless voice. Cloth being pushed onto his plastron.
He didn’t feel anything else.
He couldn’t feel anyone.
Something smelled of hydrogen peroxide.
Something panicking.
Where was he?
Was he dead?
He woke up in the lair. It looked like he was in a freshly repurposed part of living room. The TV had been moved, and he was laid on the couch. He chuckled a bit at the irony, and got a shot of pain through his chest as penance.
“Ow,” Mikey heard the sound of someone turning around. It was Donnie.
Their eyes were red and puffy. They must’ve been crying earlier. Donnie visibly relaxed and a slight smile crept across their face. They rubbed their eyes a bit.
“Due to a lack of professional equipment, your shell and plastron aren't perfectly dealt with yet. We'll have to clean it every day or so until we can get our hands on the right materials. Dad doesn't want you moving too much until then,” Donnie assumed a more professional tone while describing Mikey's shell.
Mikey had read somewhere that turtle shells were fixed using some combination of screws and epoxy, things his family had assumed they would never need. The worst injury they had ever dealt with was the time Leo had accidentally cut Raph's eye while practicing his katas.
He felt like a mummy with all the bandages covering his right shoulder and plastron.
Trying to find a positive, Mikey finally rasped out, “Sweet, coolness just increased tenfold. Scars are always cool.”
“Sure,” Donnie shrugged. “I’m glad you’re okay.”
Mikey nodded. “How’s Leo?”
“Bruised, mostly. A certain turtle’s dumb ass took most of the injuries.”
The oldest smiled. He heard the sounds of more footsteps approaching their “medbay.” It was Splinter, Leo, and Raph. Leo had a few bruises and a bandage on his cheek.
Mikey held up his arms as Raph and Leo rushed over to him. Raph dove straight onto his chest.
“OW!! OW OW ow!!”
“Fuck sorry Mikey!!” Raph scrambled back off.
“Love you, too, Raphie,” Mikey grimaced as Raph sheepishly looked at the ground. Leo had stopped a couple feet away.
Mikey looked at his blue brother. “All that over eggs, huh?”
Leo broke down sobbing as he walked over and began hugging Mikey’s arm.
Splinter knelt down to comfort his injured sons. Mikey did his best to hug Leo back, considering the circumstances. Donnie rolled their chair a bit closer as Raph sat down next to Leo to lean on his shoulder.
They stayed like that for 15 minutes, Leo’s sobbing turning into gentle tears before finally falling asleep, still clinging to Mikey’s arm.
“Leonardo has not slept since we brought you back to the lair,” Splinter softly spoke.
“Was I out for long?” Mikey asked.
“Dude, you were out for like, ever!” Raph said.
“Maybe two days, no where near forever,” Donnie corrected.
“It felt like forever!”
“Damn,” Mikey looked back up at the ceiling.
“I am deeply sorry, my son,” Splinter looked at Mikey. “I should have gone with you.”
“I mean, it’s not like we knew there’d be a gang like that,” Mikey reasoned.
“Perhaps so, but it was still irresponsible of me to let you outside without my accompaniment.”
“Nothing bad really happened the other times, I think we just got unlucky.”
“Unlucky, he says, as if a dozen hooligans didn’t try to crack your shell open,” Donnie snarked.
Mikey laughed, even though it still hurt to. Splinter looked a little disappointed that Donnie was being snarky about the situation already, but Mikey had no qualms with it.
All this over eggs.