Title: Access (chapter 1/?)
Pairing: Michelangelo/Donatello
Rating: R
Warnings: Raph's dirty mouth, turtlecest, some mature content and themes.
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Two thousand and eight was a whole hour old, and already, Raph was drunk. Not that that surprised anyone. Casey had been drunk, too, and when the ball dropped on April's television set the two of them had treated the assembled to a painful, bleeding-ear rendition of 'Auld Lang Syne', which had sent Mikey into a giggle fit and which Leo had born with a grimace. April had just rolled her eyes with a grin and, when they were done, pulled Casey over for a sloppy New Years kiss. Which had been interrupted by Mikey and a noisemaker.
All in all, despite Raph throwing up out April's apartment window at 12:15, it wasn't a bad New Years. Though the same couldn't be said for the poor bastard who had been walking underneath at the time. Leo was currently dragging Raph down one of the main access tunnels in the New York sewer system, Mikey ranging ahead of him still wearing the paper hat and blowing the damned noisemaker. Leo was going to make that noisemaker disappear as soon as they got home, one way or the other.
Donnie hadn't come with them. It hadn't been much of a surprise; Donnie wasn't a big party person, and he'd been locked up in his lab practically nonstop this month, working away on the lair's systems. Donnie was in Work Mode. Mikey had done his best to drag him along, pleading and cajoling and finally resorting to the dreaded Puppy Face, which not even Master Splinter was entirely immune to. Donnie had resisted with an impressive display of will and chased Mikey out of the lab, emerging long enough to see the rest of them off. He'd hugged them all Happy New Year (which got an eyeroll from Raph and a raised eyebrow from Leo) and Mikey had tried the Puppy Face one last time, adding a sad little puppy whine for good measure.
Donnie had paused, and smiled faintly. It looked a little sad.
"Go have fun." He told Mikey, rubbing his head to make him squirm. "Keep an eye on Leo. You know how wild he gets."
"Yeah, you hear that?" Mikey said. "I'm watching you, big bro."
Leo had rolled his eyes good naturedly. "Come on. See you next year, Donnie."
With a warning from Master Splinter to be careful, they'd gone up to April's place, and despite Donnie's absence had made a time of it.
"You know what I'm gonna do?" Mikey said, wandering back towards Leo and Raph. He didn't offer to HELP carry Raph, or anything. Of course not. "I'm gonna go in Donnie's lab, I'm gonna unplug his computer, I'm gonna put the hat on him, and I'm gonna make him feel the Happy New Year whether he wants to or not." He grinned, and blew the noisemaker at Leo, making him wince.
"Good luck." Leo muttered, trying to get a better grip on Raph, who was doing next to nothing to support his own weight. Probably intentionally. "Besides, he put that new lock system on his lab. He'll probably be in there until February."
"Nuh uh." Mikey said. "He gave me the access code."
"You? Why you?"
"Because I'm cute." Mikey said, and batted his eyes at him.
Raph snorted, but fortunately kept any drunken retorts to himself.
When they got back to the lair most of the lights were off, but Master Splinter had left enough to see by. Leo deposited Raph on the couch, and Mikey skipped over to Donnie's lab, looking at the keypad thoughtfully for a moment.
"Okay, so was it two four….or three four….."
He jabbed experimentally at the lock pad and, on the third try, the lock clicked open. He pushed the door open and was met with a blast of cold air from inside.
"What the…Donnie?"
It was dark, save for the faint glow of Donnie's computer screens. Maybe the temperature control had failed after Donnie had already gone to sleep. Mikey let the door click shut behind him and crept inside, planning to jump Donnie in his bed and scare the crap out of him. The door lock bolted home. On the whole, Mikey approved of the new lock system. It kept nosey brothers (and fathers) out if they should happen to be in there together. He'd made his approval known by making use of it thoroughly these past two weeks.
He paused as he crept through the main lab. The computer screens were still active, not on screen saver, and Donnie's computer chair was occupied. A mess of wires ran from the dark silhouette into the computer, and there was something standing next to it; it looked like the IV stand, but something else was hanging from it.
"Donnie?" Mikey asked tentatively, figuring he'd fallen asleep at the computer again. "Hey, Donnie?"
He crept over to the chair, a plastic tarpaulin crinkling under his feet as he got close.
He shook Donnie's shoulder.
Leo was in the kitchen, getting a glass of water to help with Raph's hangover when the screaming started. He dropped the glass in surprise, shattering it in the sink, and bolted out into the main room. Raph was sitting up on the couch, looking around in confusion.
"Leo! LEO!"
"Mikey??" Leo ran to the lab door and tried the handle. It didn't budge, locked tight. He pounded. "Mikey, open the door!"
Mikey didn't seem to hear him. Muffled a little through the steel door, Leo could hear him in short, breathless bursts, squealing hysterically. Raph stumbled his way over to him, frowning, and pounded the door himself. "Mikey, what the fuck's going on!" He slurred, a little unsteady on his feet. Leo tried the lock again, putting his weight on it, but it was too heavy to force. Donnie hadn't done the job halfway.
"LEO!" Mikey bellowed again. "LEO, RAPH, ANYBODY!"
"Mikey, we're right here!" Leo called in, trying to sound calm. "You have to open the door! It's locked!"
"What's happening?" demanded the voice behind them, and Leo looked over his shoulder at Master Splinter, summoned by the noise. His robe was hastily tied and his fur was ruffled at odd angles from sleep, but he looked alert, walking stick held as a weapon, not a cane.
"We don't know." Leo said. "Mikey's screaming but we can't get in, the doors locked!"
Master Splinter gestured Leo aside and went up to the door himself. He rapped hard with his cane. "Michelangelo!" he called, his voice sounding calm, firm, and authoritative. "Michelangelo, you need to calm down and open the door! You hear me? Open the door!"
The noise strangled off almost immediately. There was a moment of dead silence, then scrabbling at the handle on the other side. He got the lock, and the door swung inward, revealing Michelangelo's pale, saucer-eyed face. He stood, blocking the door.
"Michelangelo, what's happened?" Splinter asked firmly. "Are you alright?"
Mikey opened his mouth, came up with nothing, and closed it again. He was breathing short and hard, and Leo recognized the expression, the one that he'd worn when they were little and they'd gotten lost on the surface, out against Master Splinter's orders. It was badly controlled hysteria. Leo gently pushed him back and stepped into the lab, followed by Splinter and Raph, who was unsteady on his feet but looked deadly serious. He stood ready to draw, but the lab was silent, just the hum of Donnie's machinery making white noise in the dark.
"Donnie?" Leo called carefully, listening. There was no sound of movement.
"Donatello!" Splinter called, maintaining that authoritative voice. "Are you in here?"
Silence.
Leo crept forward, leaving Michelangelo to stand dumbly at the door. There was a bank of worktables and machinery blocking the view from the door (Donnie had set up the lab that way intentionally, he was sure) and Leo moved past it warily, half expecting to be attacked. All he saw, in the main lab, was Donatello's computer screens glowing placidly in the dark. His brother's computer chair was there, and occupied.
Leo's gut went cold.
"Donnie?" he asked, quietly. The figure in the chair didn't move.
Master Splinter started forward, and Leo moved to get there first, holding up a hand to forestall his father. Not because he thought there was danger. He stood in front of Donatello for a moment, blocking him from the light of the computer screens, then knelt.
Master Splinter came anyway. Raph hovered where he was, looking drunk and scared and unsteady. Master Splinter made a small noise, and covered his mouth.
It was obvious he was dead.
Donatello's eyes were half open, staring blankly into the dark below the computer screen. His head was resting on his chest, the angle a little off, and he'd slumped backwards in the chair. Around his head was what looked like a steel circlet, holding in place myriad wires and cables, looping down past his shoulders like a braid and leading into the main computer. The IV stand by his right arm was hung with some sort of contraption, looking deceptively simple, with a tube running down into his vein and a string that tied to the fingers on his right hand. The bottle attached to the IV line was only half empty, but it had stopped running.
"Hey. Hey, no." Raph slurred, and stumbled forward. He'd matched Casey beer for beer, and beaten him in the end. "No fucking way. Donnie! Hey, Donnie!"
Raph grabbed Donnie by the shoulders and shook him viciously. Donnie's head snapped back and forth like a ragdoll.
"Donnie, wake the fuck up!"
"Raph, stop it!" Leo grabbed him to pull him off, but Raph snapped an arm back, slamming Leo in the nose and knocking him backwards.
"No, you do not get to be dead!" Raph shouted angrily. "You're the smart one, no way you're fuckin dumb enough to kill yourself! WAKE UP!"
"Raphael, that's enough!" Master Splinter snapped, and smacked Raph in the plastron with the head of his stick. Raph looked up at him and blinked, startled. Splinter pointed to the door. His hand was shaking. "Go! Outside! Now!" He ordered. He'd managed to keep his voice of authority, though it had slipped a little. "Leonardo, you too! All of you, out NOW!"
Leo stared at him, a little shocked, but grabbed Raph by the elbows and pulled him away from the chair. This time, his brother didn't fight him, but let himself be dragged to the door of the lab. Mikey went without a struggle.
Master Splinter stood in the quiet of the lab after the door clicked shut, breathing with forced regularity. Donatello had been knocked sideways in the chair by Raphael's furious treatment. Splinter dropped his walking stick and gently reached forward, pulling the steel circlet and all of its wires off of his son's head. He set it on the ground carefully and straightened again, looking at him once more. With careful, deliberate movements, Master Splinter clamped off the IV line and gently pulled it out of his arm, rubbing the cold skin where it had been with his thumb as though it might sting. There was no blood. Donatello's eyes kept staring past him, into the dark.
He wanted to move him to the bed. He didn't know if he could get him that far, on his own. Practically, he should not attempt it. Practicality. How much of this was practicality. The tarp, realistically laid to catch any bodily runoff. The heating in the lab turned off, freezing the room and the body until they could properly deal with it. Such a cold, practical look at it all. His son was eminently practical.
He, himself, was not.
Splinter grabbed Donatello under the arms and tried to shift him, straining, hauling him back up to sit properly. He couldn't get him as far as the bed, but he could manage that much. He placed two fingers on his son's eyelids, and gently pulled them closed.
He stepped back to look at him again. He could hear his heartbeat in his ears. It was louder than the noise of the machines, and it was going too fast. He took a deep breath to try to slow it. Breath carefully and evenly. Control the shaking in his hands. He had three son's left to deal with. Three sons. They were waiting for him outside.
Splinter forced himself to look away, and moved towards the door of the lab. His legs buckled, and he grabbed the IV stand to try to steady himself, but the wheels went out from under it, sending it, him, and the homemade Kevorkian Machine sprawling. The glass IV bottle shattered and he landed on his hip hard, shouting despite himself. For a moment he just laid there on the cold concrete floor, trying to take deep breaths. He had to be calm. He had three sons left waiting for him, he was their father, he had to take charge, he had to be the strong one, he had to be—
He grasped vainly for his center, for some anchor, some place of calm. Sixteen years of meditational technique collapsed under the very real weight of his fears realized.
Donatello—
He felt something snap in his chest, like an overstretched rubber band. Master Splinter drew his hands up over his face
TBC