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Things went south really fast.
One second, they were riding high, victory in sight. Mikey could see the bad guys further up the tunnel, his mystic chains igniting in flames to snatch them all up. Leo was whooping in excitement. Donnie had constructs caging the bad guys in. Raph was chuckling menacingly.
The next second, explosions were going off, tonnes of rock hurtling down on them.
Some indeterminate amount of time later, Mikey woke up to a hurting head in absolute darkness. He groaned, forcing himself up onto shaky arms to sit up fully. Or, well, he tried to. About halfway up, his shell scraped across unforgiving stone. He wasn’t able to move the rock.
“Raph?” Mikey called out, trying to keep his voice from shaking. “Donnie? Leo?”
“Here,” Donnie’s voice called back, somewhere ahead of Mikey. The youngest grunted as he dragged himself towards his older brother, hands and knees scuffing along the ground. “Careful,” Donnie warned.
At some point, the stone above Mikey lifted(?) and he was able to get fully onto his hands and knees, then finally to a hunched-over-stand. He could hear Donnie’s harsh breaths to his right, and he knelt down by his brother’s head.
“Donnie, what’s going on?”
“We were buried under 85 tonnes of rock with only a single sheet of stone keeping it all from crushing us, at an angle that is highly unfortunate for movement options,” Donnie said, monotone, his blank tone his way of keeping from freaking out.
“85 isn’t a bad number. Raph could probably move that.”
“85 tonnes. Which means 187,393 pounds, roughly.”
“Ah,” Mikey squeaked. “That’s a little more than what Raph can handle.”
“Yeah,” Donnie gave a dry snort. “Just a bit.”
“Speaking of Raph,” Mikey changed the subject, “where is he? Or Leo, for that matter. Leo can get us out of here with a quick portal.”
“Not sure,” Donnie hummed. “You’re the first one to say anything since I woke up.”
“And how long has it been since you woke up?”
“About 724 seconds, or 12 minutes.”
Mikey shivered. “Pretty sure that means we’ve got concussions.”
“...Or worse,” Donnie mumbled.
Mikey ignored that. Everyone would be fine, because they had to be. “I can light up my chains so we can see?” he offered.
“No no no,” Donnie said, almost sounding panicked. “Even if it’s mystic, we can’t risk losing oxygen. And fire will eat up all that we have.”
Mikey trusted his genius brother, especially when he sounded so concerned. Still, being completely blind sucked.
“Why haven’t you tried moving around?” Mikey complained. “You could have tried to get somebody else up.” He did just that, feeling his way around the space. He found Donnie’s hand in the dark and gave it a squeeze. Donnie squeezed back.
“Ah, yes, about that,” Donnie sounded sheepish. “I may have a giant rock on my leg.”
“Excuse me?” Mikey asked. “I think I heard wrong. You have what on your leg?”
“A giant rock. It hurts. A lot.”
“WHY DIDN’T YOU LEAD WITH THAT!” Mikey boomed. There was definitely some Dr. DT in there. He immediately started looking for the big rock, fumbling forward in the dark. When his hand came in contact with the rock, Donnie gasped.
“Please be careful,” Donnie gritted out.
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” Mikey babbled, yanking his hand back to his chest like the stone had somehow burned him.
“‘S fine,” Donnie sighed, not even saying “sigh” with it. That was definitely bad news. “But the rock is kind of precarious on top of my leg right now and I don’t want to move it much.”
“Right. No touchy, got it.”
Mikey heard a faint thump, probably Donnie leaning his head back down. Mikey went back to shuffling around, looking for his other older brothers, the opposite direction from where Donnie’s leg prison was.
He needed to find Leo. Leo could fix this. He’d just swoosh his swords and they’d all get out of here relatively okay.
And whatever injuries they all had could be fixed in the safety of their home.
It was rock, and more rock, and even more rock. Rock walls on all sides, making a pocket of space for them probably the size of Mikey’s room at home. The ceiling sloped down on one side until Mikey could no longer crawl through, and he didn’t dare try. That must be the sheet Donnie was talking about.
No luck finding his brothers on the outskirts of the “room” (unless they were under the stone beyond the space…), so he had to move inwards. Blindly, he started the trek towards the middle, fumbling about with his arms outstretched. He stumbled over pieces of rubble and small boulders that had fallen before the sheet. However, one of those pieces of rubble groaned in pain when Mikey’s toes stubbed it.
Mikey had successfully found another older brother: Raph.
“Raph, Raph,” Mikey knelt down and patted Raph’s cheek (once he found it, of course). “Raph, wake up.”
“Whosit,” Raph slurred, his head jerking upwards. As he was flat on his stomach, his head didn’t go very far before his shell got in the way. There was an ominous shifting of rock across keratin that made Mikey’s scales crawl.
“Raph, good, you’re awake,” Mikey sighed in relief. “We’re trapped under a bunch of rock and we could die at any second, so we gotta get everyone together, wake up Leo, and get the heck outta here!”
Raph was silent. For a long, long time. Then he slumped back down with a thump and said, “I din’ do it, Misser Presiden’.”
The facepalm Mikey did was of epic proportions. It hurt his head, but it was necessary for the memes.
Okay! So, Raph was clearly out of it. And being knocked out for such a long time, combined with the confusion and inability to intake information and correctly respond, meant that Raph was in a bad spot right now. He wouldn’t be any help; he needed the help. Just like Donnie.
That was okay. Mikey just needed to find Leo. Everything would be fine if he could just find his cooler older bro.
Everyone would be fine!
He was ignoring how his hands were beginning to shake, and not from the cold.
“Okay, I’ll help you get to Donnie,” Mikey said, mostly to himself since Raph was babbling about catching fish with a magic wand. The youngest sighed, “Well, somehow.”
He gripped Raph by the shoulders and hoisted his biggest brother up. Rubble cascaded from his shell, but he was stuck. When Mikey checked, he found a small boulder pinning his brother to the ground by his lower back and part of his tail. Mikey slumped.
“Why do you have to make this harder?” he whined.
“Sunflowers aren’t suns,” Raph replied, very helpfully.
Mikey groaned, dragging his hands down his face. “Okay, I still got this. Just gotta move the rock.”
He shuffled around until he was at Raph’s side, then started to push the boulder. There was more of that blood-chilling scraping sound but it didn’t move as much as Mikey hoped. Raph grunted in pain.
Mikey let go immediately. The rock settled again on Raph’s back. He needed to move Raph, but he didn’t want to hurt him!
“Mikey,” Donnie’s voice cut in. “You need to calm your breathing. It’s going too fast, and we only have so much air in here.”
Mikey’s breath stuttered and he choked. He didn’t even notice his breathing had sped up. After a coughing fit to get his spasming chest back under control, he took a few deep breaths to calm himself.
Right. Right.
He could do this.
Instead of pushing the boulder off, Mikey instead squatted down and grabbed the boulder from the bottom (as best he could, anyway). If he couldn’t push, he’d lift. Like a boss, as Raph would say.
But the boulder was heavy, and while he could lift it if he had his chains, he wasn’t sure he could do it without mystic powers. Not that he wasn’t going to try.
He lifted with his knees, arms straining and vein pulsing on his temple as he heaved. “Like. A. Boss!”
Mikey might have lifted it. Maybe. But he couldn’t tell before his arms gave out and the boulder settled back on Raph’s shell.
“Grah!” Mikey exclaimed, throwing his hands up in frustration. “C’mon!”
“Angelo, what are you doing?” Donnie asked.
Ah, right. “Getting Raph out from under a boulder. I’m gonna put everyone together so I don’t lose them again.”
“I see.”
That was all Donnie had to say for a time. Mikey attempted another try of lifting the boulder before Donnie spoke up again, “If you can find a lever of some sort, you can lift it off of him without breaking a sweat. You would just have to place one end between the rock and Raph’s shell, and then push down on the lever.”
“Great,” Mikey grinned. “How do I find that?”
“Well, a log would work well, or a sturdy stick. Maybe a long rock? Or a pipe?”
“So… like your tech bo?”
“You absolutely cannot disgrace my inventions with something so--so… undignified.” Donnie shuddered, and Mikey only knew he did since he vocalized that he did.
“Do I have much of a choice??” Mikey demanded.
“Use your chains! Don’t hurt my baby!”
“You told me not to! What about the fire being bad??”
“It’ll be fine if it’s just for a minute,” Donnie huffed.
“You’re just saying that because you don’t want me to use your tech bo.”
Donnie whined. Mikey sighed, “Fine, I’ll just light up this tiny room and suffocate us all.”
“Ugh,” Donnie groaned. “Fine, jeez, you’re so annoying.” A shuffling sound, followed by a clattering at Mikey’s feet, and Mikey knew he’d won.
“Thank you,” Mikey picked up the purple turtle’s tech bo next to his left foot and found it already extended. He jammed one end into the spot between the small boulder and Raph’s shell. He pushed down, just like Donnie said, and found that the boulder actually moved. Giddy, Mikey continued shoving down, but it got to a point that the tech bo wasn’t lifting it any further. He scrambled to stick the side of the tech bo he was holding into a cluster of rocks, keeping it in place while he pushed the boulder the rest of the way off.
With a grunt, the boulder came crashing down on the other side of Raph, freeing him from his rock prison. Well, the smaller rock prison. Wiping sweat from his brow, Mikey grinned at his success.
“Alright, Raphie, let’s get you over to Don,” Mikey said, grabbing back onto Raph’s shoulders and dragging him back to where Donnie lay. It was long and exhausting, and by the time Mikey finally got Raph next to Donnie, he was panting heavily and sweating buckets. Mikey took a second to just get his breathing back under control.
“Mikey?” Donnie asked, when the silence had gone on for long enough.
“I’m fine,” Mikey said, straightening back up as much as he could. “I still gotta find Leo. You okay here with Raph?”
“I’ll keep an eye on him,” Donnie promised. It could have been sarcasm, but it sounded sincere enough that it made Mikey’s chest hurt.
“‘K. Be back soon.”
Taking the tech bo in case it was needed again, Mikey set off in search of their final brother. When the tunnel collapsed, Mikey remembered his brother being closer to Raph and ahead of their group. Mikey had seen that split second of terror shining in his big brother’s eyes before everything came crashing down on them.
Mikey really, really hoped Leo was somewhere in this space with them and not…
He shook his head. No, no, he couldn’t think like that. Leo was fine, he was probably trapped under rubble like Raph and Donnie, and maybe he hit his head and was unconscious, so…
He was fine. Everything was going to be okay. Anything less was not an option.
(Mikey ignored the ice in his veins and the whisper of “he’s gone, you lost him again, Leo is gone”)
This whole night was nightmare enough. Mikey wouldn’t be able to handle it if something even worse happened.
“Leo?” Mikey called out, blindly stumbling in the dark. He made a path from where Raph was and stretched the search from there, hoping that Leo was where he had been before all this mess. Jeez, if only he could use his mystic powers to make a light right about now…
“Wait,” he almost smacked himself. It was probably the concussion, but he felt so stupid for not thinking about this before. “Mystic hands, baby!”
And yes, while his brothers were worrywarts and told him not to use his mystic hands after the first time he used them, to successful but disastrous results, Mikey thought it would be fine as long as he only poured a little bit into his hands like he had been practicing with Barry for a while now.
Tucking the tech bo under one arm, Mikey stretched his palms out in front of him and allowed for the energy in his core to unfurl through the cracks in his finger tips and across his hands. A soft glow emanated from the cracks, dimly lighting the room. His hands shook the tiniest bit.
“Angelo, what…” Donnie sounded like he swallowed his tongue. “Why are you--!”
“Don’t be scared, I’ve done this before,” Mikey reassured. “Barry’s been making me practice with just this for a few months.”
“And you decided not to let us know why?”
“Because I knew you guys would freak out,” Mikey sighed. This was silly, he needed to find Leo. Ignoring his brother’s spluttering, Mikey waved his hands around him in a circle as he checked the “room” they were in, hoping for a sign of his blue brother.
And there, on the ground a few feet away, was Leo, face down and with one arm out towards where Raph had been, the familiar blue bandana a welcome sight. But there was also red.
Too much red.
Panic laced through Mikey’s limbs, making him jitter a few steps. His breath whooshed out of him in an instant, his eyes burning as he stared at the red puddle under his brother.
“Lee?” It was punched out of him, strangled and ending on a whimper. He wasn’t even sure if it came out right. His hearing was muffled, like he was underwater or he had on Raph’s earmuffs. “Leo, this--this isn’t funny,” he said, voice shaking and lip wobbling. “Leo!”
Finally, he got his legs to move and he ran for his downed brother. He almost threw up when his knees hit the puddle, but he swallowed it back because he needed to take care of his brother, dammit.
“Leo, answer me,” Mikey shook his shoulder, trying to get anything, even a groan of pain.
Nothing.
The sob that exploded out of Mikey surprised him, but he supposed it was to be expected. After all, it looked like his brother was dea--
No! Stop! Leo was fine! He was fine. He had to be fine.
His scales were so, so cold.
“Michelangelo!” A voice finally broke through Mikey’s cottony hearing, leaving his ears ringing. Startling, Mikey whipped around, his arms coming up to cover Leo. When he registered the voice as Donnie, he calmed just enough to answer back.
“Don?”
“Mike, what’s going on?” Donnie asked, sounding tense. Mikey couldn’t see him very well in the dim lighting, but he could imagine his purple brother nervously stimming his hands as he anxiously waited for Mikey to respond.
“I--I found Leo.”
“I gathered. What’s wrong?”
“B-Blood,” Mikey stuttered. “Leo’s bleeding.”
“Where?” Donnie’s voice shook.
“Everywhere,” Mikey whimpered.
“No, I mean,” Donnie paused long enough to smack something, “where is it coming from?”
“Um,” Mikey looked back down at Leo, actually taking a moment to find where the wound was. Thankfully, there weren't very many stones around Leo, other than a big one near his side that probably hit his back and rolled off once things settled. Mikey checked to make sure the previous fractures across his shell weren’t the problem, but it was clear whatever it was was on the other side of Leo.
Slowly, Mikey rolled Leo over. The first thing he noticed was how lifeless and floppy Leo was. It almost made him cry again, a vice tightening around his throat.
The second was the blade of a katana buried into his brother’s side.
Sucking in a harsh gasp, Mikey said, “I found it.”
“What is it?” Donnie asked.
“One of his swords. It must have been shoved through his plastron when the ceiling came down.”
“Where is it located,” Donnie said, choked.
“His side, mostly. The right,” Mikey took a few more shaky breaths before continuing. “He looks like he’s sleeping.”
“Okay,” Donnie smacked more stone. “Okay. Mikey? I need you to listen very carefully.”
Mikey’s spine straightened.
“Do not remove the sword. No matter what, even if Leo sounds like it’s hurting him, do not remove that sword. If you do, it will kill him in minutes.”
“Okay,” Mikey said faintly, avoiding even looking at the katana now.
“Good. Next, check for a pulse.”
“How?”
“Place your fingers against his neck. There’s a spot on the side, under his jaw, that pushes blood into his brain. If you can find that spot, you can feel his pulse. It will feel like something is jumping from his neck.”
Mikey followed the instructions the best he could. After a few moments of fumbling against Leo’s neck, he found a jittery thing under his chin like Donnie said. “Is it supposed to be this fast?”
Donnie gasped harshly after yet another smack against stone. “No, but at least it’s there. Now check for breathing. Put your finger under his nose. You should feel his breath against it.”
Mikey did so. “It’s a little slow…”
“For now, that’ll have to do,” Donnie said. “Next, I want you to stop the bleeding.”
“I thought you didn’t want me to remove the sword?”
“And I still don’t,” Donnie hurried to explain. “But the bleeding is still a problem that could slowly kill Leo. You need to put pressure on the wound around the sword so he doesn’t bleed out.”
“Right,” Mikey removed one of his arm wraps and did his best to get it around the sword while also applying pressure like Leo had shown them when he gave that first aid class. What felt like a lifetime ago.
Leo let out a soft groan when Mikey tightened the makeshift bandage, and the orange banded turtle perked up at the sound. “Leo? Are you with me?” he asked.
No response. But at least hearing anything from him gave Mikey some hope that all was not lost.
Once wrapped up securely (or as securely as Mikey could get it), Mikey took hold of Leo and started to drag him back to the others. This time, the youngest made sure that Leo’s katana was away from the ground to prevent further harm, while also going slow enough that if a change happened he could attend to it immediately.
It was painfully slow. Every few steps, Mikey would lean over his blue brother and check for breathing and a pulse, just in case, and by the time he reached Donnie and Raph again his arms were sore and shaking. The faint glow from his hands was still going steady, but by now he was beginning to feel the strain. He checked over Leo one last time before looking up at his other older brothers for the first time since this all started.
Raph didn’t seem too worse for wear, other than the line of dried blood running from his temple down to his chin. His shell still looked intact, as did his limbs. His tail was a bit scuffed, though.
Donnie, on the other hand, had apparently not been as forthcoming about his situation as Mikey thought, since there was a huge rock precariously hovering over his entire body, one end trapping his leg in place. The only thing holding it up was a few metal beams that Donnie must have conjured into existence. Which would explain why Donnie wasn’t using his ninpo to get them out of here (that and the crushing weight of a giant rock kind of distracting him from using mystic powers).
Mikey felt pale and shaky as he looked over his purple brother. “Donnie, you didn’t mention you were seconds away from getting crushed.”
“I’m not going to get crushed,” Donnie huffed, turning his snout up. “...Though I do hope we can get out of here relatively soon.”
“...I’m not sure that’s happening with one of Leo’s portals.”
“Yeah,” Donnie agreed. They both looked at Leo, who was still gasping softly on the ground, his sword protruding from his side like he was a bug stuck by a pin. Mikey swallowed heavily.
“What do we do now?” Mikey asked.
“Well,” Donnie’s brows came together, “unfortunately, we can’t dig our way out, not without risking the ceiling to come down on us. Until Raph or Leo wake up, all we can do is sit and wait for rescue.”
“You can’t do anything?” Mikey already knew the answer, but he was desperate. “Call the drill?”
Donnie held up his wrist. The “cloth” computer that was usually wrapped around Donnie’s forearm was missing. Blood and bruises covered the arm. “Alas, I have yet to set up the neural transmitter for the drill, otherwise I would have sent it our way.”
This situation was becoming more and more hopeless. The longer they were down there, without food, water, or medical, meant the chances of getting out alive were slimming.
Mikey started to rock back and forth in the fetal position, biting hard on his lip.
“Angelo,” Donnie said softly, gripping Mikey’s ankle. “I know it looks bad. I promise that you’ll be okay.”
“I don’t care about me,” Mikey whispered. “I care about you. All of you.”
Donnie’s lip wobbled. “...I know.”
They sat in silence for a while, just existing together as the tomb they were in grew colder and the oxygen lessened. Mikey would do his rounds, checking the pulses and breaths of the unconscious brothers before going back to holding Donnie’s hand. Donnie, in turn, would squeeze Mikey’s hand three times before the youngest would shuffle off: I love you.
Several minutes--maybe an hour--passed. Mikey took a deep breath and said, “What if I made a portal?”
Donnie’s hand became a vice around Mikey’s. “No,” he turned down immediately.
“Donnie,” Mikey whined.
“No, absolutely not.”
“We might not have a choice!”
Mikey’s voice seemed to linger in the resulting quiet.
“I know,” Donnie finally said. “I know. But I don’t want to sacrifice you to escape.”
“You won’t sacrifice me,” Mikey snorted. “I’ve been practicing with Barry.”
“The last time you opened a portal you almost died,” Donnie said. Mikey didn’t answer, pouting down at his older brother. Donnie just glared up at him.
“Raph’s unconscious,” Mikey said, “and even if he wasn’t, he isn’t all there. Donnie, you’re pinned by a stone bigger than you that could fall at any second--”
“It won’t fall, I have reinforced steel keeping it--”
“Leo’s dying--” his voice cracked. Donnie’s beak snapped closed. “Leo’s dying. Again. And I don’t know how much longer he has until he’s gone.”
Donnie stared at the rock above him, jaw ticking and hands clutching at nothing. Mikey did his rounds. Leo’s breath was slow enough now that Mikey feared he’d stop soon.
“Alright,” Donnie said blankly. He didn’t make eye contact with Mikey. “But as soon as you feel unwell, I want you to stop immediately.”
“Dee--”
“I won’t argue about this. I will not let you die for this.”
“...Even if Leo does?”
Donnie made a wounded sound, like Mikey had taken Leo’s sword and stabbed Donnie with it instead. But he didn’t say anything. Mikey understood the feeling.
Don’t make me choose. Don’t make me doom one to save another.
“It’s okay, Donnie,” Mikey said, standing up and raising his hands towards his brothers. “It’s my choice.”
“Mikey?”
The glow around Mikey’s hands grew. He could now clearly see his brothers and all of their hurts. Donnie’s eyes were wide enough that the gold glinted back at Mikey from the whites of them. Mikey winked.
“I got this.”
Mikey strained to make a portal. Leo always made it look so easy, but they were so hard. Since he made his very first that horrible day, he’d not been able to do another. He’d tried little ones (with supervision, of course), but he’d been unable to do more than a few sparks before he became winded or his hands started to sting.
Now, he didn’t care. He pushed and pushed and pushed, tearing at the air with his bare hands. A small spark became a flame, and the flame became a bonfire.
At the same time, Mikey’s skin began to flake away, starting at his fingertips and creeping up his hands. His arms shook in pain and exhaustion. Sweat beaded his brow as his beak twisted in a grimace. He couldn’t hear Donnie anymore.
The fire opened a gateway below his family, swirling orange erasing the view of grey stone. Mikey apologized to his brothers; this wasn’t going to be a pleasant trip.
Their bodies dropped through the portal and (hopefully) into the lair’s medbay. Mikey fell through after them, snapping the portal closed as soon as he was through so death wouldn’t follow them. Thankfully, he found himself staring up at the medbay ceiling, blinking stars from his eyes. He turned his head, finding his brothers piled around him. He met Donnie’s gaze.
“Angelo…”
Before he passed out, Mikey smiled weakly at Donnie. He couldn’t hear himself when he said, “I got it.”
Donnie’s terrified face was the last thing he saw.
~o0o~
Mikey woke from a dreamless sleep some unknown time later, hooked up to machines and arms wrapped up like a mummy. The stinging is what woke him up. With a wince, he looked around the room, trying to find his family.
Beside his bed was Splinter, his father snoring face down on Mikey’s knee in an uncomfortable position on the chair. Behind Splinter was another bed, Donnie resting in it, his leg in a cast and propped up on several pillows. He was sitting up and typing on his phone.
There were two other beds squeezed into the medbay holding the other two brothers who Mikey was missing. Raph was snoring peacefully under a mountain of stuffies. Leo’s torso was wrapped in thick, white bandages, and he was hooked up to the rest of the machines in the medbay, but he was awake and reading a comic.
Everyone was okay.
Mikey let tears slip from his eyes.
“Angelo,” Donnie greeted quietly. He let his phone drop to his lap as he gave his full attention to Mikey. “You’re awake.”
Leo put down his comic when Donnie spoke, his eyes tracking to Mikey, too. “Miguel,” he said, smiling. Mikey wanted to hug him. “How are you feeling?”
“How are you feeling?” Mikey asked, throat sore. “You were skewered!”
At least Leo had the decency to look abashed. Mikey wanted to fold his arms and frown at him, but his arms hurt too much. “To be fair, I didn’t mean to.”
“If you meant to get a sword stuck in your side, we’d be having a talk.”
“Hey, if anyone is harming themselves on purpose, it’s you,” Leo said, petulantly. And, yeah, Mikey knew he was a hypocrite, but still.
“I didn’t know if…” Mikey bit his lip. “I thought you were gonna die.”
Leo looked away.
“That was still a dumb thing to do,” Donnie chimed in. “Your arms are charred, Angelo.”
“But I got us out,” Mikey said, sniffing. “It was worth it.”
“Sigh,” Donnie sighed, closing his eyes and leaning back. “While I am glad we got out alive, I’m still not happy about the circumstances of our escape.” He paused and looked at Mikey with such fondness and love that it made Mikey’s chest ache. “That being said, I’m… really proud of you, Mike.”
“Me too,” Leo said, smiling brightly at Mikey. “That was so cool! Want me to give you portal tips? I am, after all, the resident portal champion.”
“If by champion you mean dum-dum who got us lost on several occasions,” Donnie smirked, “then yes.”
They started to bicker, and Mikey relaxed. Things would be okay now.
He closed his eyes and let the sounds of his family surround him.