Disclaimer: I do NOT own the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles in any shape, way, or form!

Mikey had subconsciously decided to finally acknowledge today could have been better as he wiped a good amount of blood away from his nose trying to regain some composure after being hit in the face with a bo. Not Donnie's bo, shell not even a wooden one but a solid piece a metal that knocked a few more brain cells loose. He mentally swore that he saw stars all the way to the next galaxy and back before shaking his head to clear it. After he managed his dizziness, the youngest turtle slowly got to his feet from his knees before another attack was aimed at him.

"Mikey!" was the only short warning he got before another elite came at him full force with another shiny weapon. Sword, his mind barely registered as he dodged a K.O. at the last possible millisecond the world could give him. It ended up almost tickling his ear as he put his instinct and training to use by wrapping his nun-chuck around the sword to hold the elite in place while he kicked upward to snap the guy's neck backward with a satisfying click. He watched with a grimace as the Foot's solider fell lifelessly to the ground. He never liked to kill but he's learned unfortunately its either kill or be killed sometimes.

"Mikey, you okay?!" Raph yelled over the clash of his sais against a pair of swords.

"What kind of question is that bro? He marked up my pretty face, now how am I supposed to get the ladies?" Mikey responded with a broad smile as he dug some shurikens out of his belt and threw them at the elite his hotheaded brother was currently trying to out duel. One managed to nick the soldier's cheekbone which caused him to stumble back a step and Raph took his advantage to knock the guy off the roof.

"What ladies? Yer' uglier than Casey and that's sayin' something," Raph insulted, walking back away from the edge of the rooftop towards his youngest brother.

"Well that just hurts my heart Raphie-" Mikey started before realizing that Raph was staring at his now broken nose rather than at him.

"…staring is rude you know. I know you still think I'm pretty despite your insult but if you stare any harder I might end up blushing." Mikey said, batting his eyelids like a silly frilly girl all the while flicking his bandana tail away from his face like he had hair in a flirtatious manner. He was really just trying to distract Raph from feeling unnecessary guilt about his damaged goods and it worked.

Raph looked up from his nose to meet his childish clear bright eyes to give off a string of angry obscenities.

Mikey laughed naturally saying, "Oh boy, somebody's not going to turtle heaven," before running away to meet up with Leo and Donnie who had just finished taking care of business on their end of town with a fuming Raph trailing behind.

They spotted their other brothers on a slightly lower rooftop and jumped down to meet and greet them.

"Long time no see," Mikey chuckled which caused two eye rolls but at least a small smile from Leo that was short lived when it turned upside down.

"What happened?" Leo asked looking at Mikey's now purplish face before he and Don inspected the rest of his and Raph's bodies for any more serious injuries.

Mikey had half the mind to tell them that Raph did it but his red banded turtle beat him to the punch.

"He got hit with a metal rod to his nose. Those damn Elites are pretty well trained. It knocked him on his ass for a good minute so you should probably check him out Don," Raph said with a small amount of guilt that still laced his words from not being able to help his brother in time but Mikey merely shrugged it off.

The youngest took a step back when Don took a step forward, putting his hands up defensively.

"I'm fine, I think by now I'd know the difference between having and not having a concussion these days."

"I dunno bro, maybe you have a concussion that's makin' you think you don't have one," Raph replied, smirking.

"Doubt it-"

"Let Don double check Mikey, just to make sure," Leo reasoned and so Mikey let Don approach him this time to shine his little doctor pen light thing in his eyes watching his pupils, asking him questions, and gingerly touching spots around his nose before declaring, "It's a fracture, it'll heal on its own so we won't need to re-break any bones and no concussion."

Leo sighed in relief before saying, "That's good. Well let's go ahead and make our way back home anyways. We've already had our fun."

"Does that mean pizza for dinner?" Mikey asked, using his signature puppy eye move to persuade the eldest.

Leo looked down affectionately, never the one to refuse those eyes and replied, "Sure Mikey."

Raph was certain that Leo also felt bad that their kid brother ended up with a broken nose for the night and was sure Mikey could get away with murder at this point- oh wait, he was, Raph thought darkly as he recalled the fight that happened moments ago.

"Sweet! Meat lover's pizza here I come!" Mikey hummed happily before looking over at Don who'd been much too quiet. "I wonder how we can afford pizza all the time now…actually I wonder how we can afford anything now-a-days…" Mikey trailed off as he was shoved forward by Raph to get a move on. Don's eyes widened at the back of their heads as he refused to answer that question, especially in front of their noble and honest leader.

Donnie had been quieter than usual though so with a questioning look from the oldest brother he knew Leo wanted to ask him what was up rather than figure out how Don got money for them.

"Leo…" Don started as they still stood in place on top of the roof. "Something doesn't seem right…" he finished, looking around at their surroundings briefly, Leo following suit.

So he's noticed too, Leo thought to himself, trying to see if he could sense any immediate danger around them. He figured Raph and Mikey were too high off of adrenaline to notice anything and he planned at the moment to keep it that way. Both turtles felt a small twist in their guts but it wasn't enough to draw their weapons out. The problem was that they couldn't see anything that represented a threat. There were only other empty rooftops and brick walls that surrounded them.

Leo sighed again before saying "I know. We should head home quickly and just keep an eye out. Make sure there's no one-"

"LEO! DON! GET YER' SHELLS OVER HERE!" They heard Raph scream from three rooftops away. Panic swallowed whatever was left of their guts as they whipped their heads over to see Raph and Mikey, shell to shell, surrounded by four more elites.

This was different somehow though. More dangerous, Leo automatically thought. They wore slightly different clothing, instead of red capes and scarves; it was a metallic purple color that covered their heads like a hood rather than the fancy straw hats Mikey admired. In general, they also looked bigger…more masculine than the previous elites they fought half an hour ago.

Who are these guys? Leo asked himself as he took off in a dead run to join his brothers, Donnie following behind. Fear gripped every muscle in Donnie's body making him almost feel numb as he listened to his heartbeat drum frantically against his skull. The four brothers were in a stare down with the new and improved elites, analyzing and trying to figure out who would make the first move.

Weapons were drawn and at the ready now, bodies tensed with anticipation, waiting for Leo's command. The eldest narrowed his eyes as he took in their relaxed stances and the weirdest part was that not one of them had a weapon he could see. Were they friends or foes?

Mikey on the other hand was itching to make a comment. Something along the lines of telling them that the party ended half an hour ago but they were more than welcomed to split the cost of pizza and share. He knew he should wait for Leo's order to attack or try and flee but all they were doing was standing and sizing each other up and quite frankly Mikey was getting hungrier by the minute. If they were going to fight then he wanted to get on with it and if they weren't then well that's just the better scenario all together.

And now it's raining…awesome, he grumbled to himself, maybe I should ask if I can borrow one of their hoodie things. He gave a questioning glance over to Leo whose eyes never left the solider in front of him. Leo could feel his stare but honestly the eldest didn't know what to make of the situation either. They weren't attacking but they gave off a threatening presence and his instincts were telling him that this was the danger he and Don felt moments earlier.

Mikey switched over to glance at Raph who was now starting to get agitated too, shifting from foot to foot with his sais out in front of him, huffing and puffing like the big bad wolf (turtle) he was. Alright, it was time to make a move he decided on his own. He knew Leo was still trying to figure things out but sometimes his plans made him feel like he missed two birthdays, they took so long.

When he straightened up he could feel the shift of his brothers' eyes on his shell. He lowered his weapons, knowing it was a big no-no in Leo's rule book but someone had to make the first move and he'd try and do what he did best; make new friends. The key word is try.

"Um…" the youngest turtle cleared his throat to prepare himself to yell over the thundering noises of rain hitting concrete, "Not that I don't like hanging out with you guys and all but I was wondering…if we can…just…go? I'm kinda hungry and stuff!"

Raph wanted throttle his youngest brother. What the hell kind of response was that?! Asking something a high school kid would his teacher. He could tell Mikey regretted asking something so stupid too as he sheepishly scratched the back of his head giving off a wary smile.

Mikey waited a minute for a response, regardless, before none came and if it was one thing Mikey absolutely hated, it was being ignored. So he took a step forward in order to get closer to the elite in front of him in case they couldn't hear him over the sound of rain, which was possible, and would have taken it all back if he knew the super elite was going to take that as a sign of aggression and put him in a dangerous close to death single handed chokehold for it.

"MIKEY!" His brothers yelled for him and in a blink of an eye it was a chaotic mess.

Leo, naturally, was the first to lunge at the super elite that was trying to kill Mikey. As soon as he moved to push forward another elite appeared in front of him and suddenly he was engaged in battle as a second elite took him on as well.

Raph then took his opportunity to free Mikey aiming a sai at the elites head when the fourth elite grabbed his extended arm from behind until it made a sickening pop noise. And just like that Leo was being forced away from his brothers in a fight with two of the super elites, Mikey was still choking to death, Raph was already down an arm, and Donnie was in a frantic state of mind knowing his first priority would still be to get Mikey out of the chokehold he lost consciousness.

Mikey had dropped his weapons as he began to lose feeling in the rest of his body. He clumsily tried to latch his hands onto the elite's arm, weakly trying to pull it away from his now bruised neck and cracking bones. He let out rapid gasps of air as he tried to take in whatever oxygen he could manage before Don threw is Bo at the elite at such an angle that he was forced to drop Mikey in order to catch it.

Mikey really had to give his brother credit; Don was too damn smart sometimes. He fell to his knees placing his hand against his neck, trying to get some kind of feeling back to his nerves again. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Raph now in a fight with the elite that attacked him and the elite that had caught Don's bo just now was staring at his genius brother. Leo over in the corner was holding his own for now but Mikey knew he only had a few more seconds to recover as much as he could before he'd have to get back into the game.

The elite snapped Don's bo in half as he took a step toward him and threw the pieces over towards the edge of the roof. Mikey saw this and quickly went to pick up his weapons before aiming to hit the guy in the back of his head. Although, as turtle luck was true to form, he grabbed Mikey's weapon in mid swing forcing the youngest turtle to let go of one of his weapon again to fight with his body instead. Now that he gained his elite's attention back, Don was free to run over and take one of the guys off Leo's hands.

It was a hard fight. It was a long fight. Bones were broken, new scratches and scars were made, and the turtles were running into the problem of exhaustion.

An hour had almost past since the fight broke out and the turtles only managed to take down one of the super elites by sheer dumb luck as the guy jumped to take down Raph but the red banded turtle was already standing at the edge of the rooftop and so the elite went flying over when he ducked down. He actually managed to tangle himself in some telephone wires in the middle of falling as the cables caught him and by the looks of it he'd been electrocuted as well as managed to create a power outage across the street.

Raph gave a tired smile as his turtle luck was finally dying down, as it was bad thing, and turned to join Don in his fight. Although it still hurt like hell, his arm felt better after he had a chance to put it back in place and he would make do until they could get home safely.

Mikey had been in the middle of blocking his elite which he named Three, like the number because he had no other way to refer to them, before he glanced over to see One disappear in front of Leo just to reappear behind him, ready to deliver a final blow when Mikey kicked Three with all the strength of a raging fire away from him as he managed to get out his manriki to throw it and pray to the turtle heavens that it would loop around One's arm and it did. Once it did, he fell to his knees for more stable support and yanked at it, forcing One to fall his way before the ninja caught on and unhooked himself all before Leo could turn around see what had happened. At least it bought his eldest brother some time to recompose himself and turn around to attack One again.

"Mikey look out!" Leo yelled as he caught Mikey staring at him for a reason he hadn't known. He simply thought Mikey had his head in the clouds again which made him almost want to put his youngest brother in a time out from the fight so he could lecture him.

With the distraction, Mikey had failed to notice Three already above him with a single silver blade he pulled out from behind his back. Leo was still being pushed back by One so he wasn't able to reach Mikey no matter how hard he fought but Donnie had heard the wild cry, saw Mikey's elite sneak up behind him, and had already started to make his way over.

The purple banded turtle stood in front of his younger brother with his shell facing his opponent, using it as a shield so that the blade wouldn't hit flesh and do worse damage. Mikey could do nothing but watch with wide eyes as his brother was then suddenly kicked in the ribs by Three and sent flying sideways, making contact with the edge of the roof's brick wall.

"DONNIE!" Mikey called out as he saw his brother's shell hit the wall hard. He was scrambling to get up and make his way over but Three had another plan for the youngest as the ninja kicked him square in the face, being forced to fly and land on his shell. His new broken nose now made his old broken nose look like a wimp. He was sure it was broken in multiple places now but he didn't have time to care as he rolled over to his side just to watch Three walk over to Don who was struggling to get up as well.

"N-NO!" Mikey tried to get out, blood now blocking his lungs; he was having a hard time keeping conscious. But he had to get to Donnie. That elite was going to kill him. He tried getting up one last time before Two got away from Raph and shoved him back to the ground with a kick to his shell. At that point, all the youngest could do was watch as Three grabbed Donnie by the forehead and slammed it backward into the wall until his brother lost consciousness and slowly slumped sideways onto the ground.

"DONNIE!" Mikey screamed until he coughed up blood. Raph hadn't been paying much attention to Mikey and Don's situation as he was focused on keeping Two away from them the whole time. The second Two took off toward Mikey, Raph's only thought was again to take him away from reaching is brother. He was late in doing so as he watched the elite kick Mikey down, and he hadn't heard the word that came out of his youngest brother's mouth as he was already seeing red, but he did end up tackling Two a second later after Mikey watched Don slump to the ground just to fly over the rooftop with him.

Mikey barely whipped his head back to see Raph's bandana tails disappear over the edge clutching onto Two before he whispered out, "Raph.." feeling all the insides of his body turn to stone. It had to be nightmare. That's all this was. This kind of fight rarely ever happened where two brothers were taken down in a moment's instance. They were stronger than this. This wasn't real. It couldn't be.

But no matter how hard Mikey prayed that it was all a nightmare, no matter how hard he tried to force himself awake, he couldn't. Because he was already awake and this was his reality right now.

Leo this whole time could hear things happening over at the other side of the rooftop but his elite was too strong to get rid of. He tried almost everything he could possibly think of to get to his brothers side but no matter where he stepped, turned, jumped, etc., One was always there in front of him keeping him on his toes.

That was until One suddenly disappeared again and as Leo waited for him to attack, it never came. The eldest turtle stared in front of him for a second trying to figure out where his elite had gone before he caught sight of One appear over Mikey instead.

Then he turned his head to catch Three over Don and to find Raph and Two missing.

Then his whole world fell apart as both Three and One held blades without a handle over the bodies of his youngest brothers. Don and Mikey were too far away from one another…

and Leo couldn't save them both.

He had time to save one brother… that much he knew but not both. And what was he to do? What kind of sick twisted day did this turn out to be where he was put into a position where he had to choose to save one brother over another? His veins were on fire, as he broke out into a sweat and started hyperventilating. Panic attack, his mind ghostly recognized. He was going to pass out from fear alone and then both brothers possibly all three would be dead.

What was he supposed to do?

What the fuck was he supposed to do?!

He couldn't choose. He couldn't pick Don over Mikey or Mikey over Don. There was just no possible way his brotherly instinct would let him. His feet were glued to the ground but if he didn't move soon everyone would die.

Do something, he commanded himself, do something, do something, DO SOMETHING NOW!

Mikey by all means wasn't as dumb as people gave him credit for. He knew the situation as soon as One appeared over him with a blade. He was watching as Three was doing the same over Don and he could see Leo struggling with the situation. Donnie was unconscious and he couldn't save himself and the only thing Mikey could move as he laid on his plastron was his eyes. He tried so damn hard to move even a finger but it was like his body couldn't react to the orders his brain was trying to deliver. He faintly feared paralysis but it wouldn't matter if he was going to die.

He knew Leo had to save one of them. He knew Leo couldn't save them both. He knew it. He wanted Leo to save Don, he really did but he also wanted Raph to stop playing hide and seek right now and climb back over the rooftop to save his shell. But his hotheaded brother didn't and he didn't have any more time to think about him right now.

He didn't know what was going to happen, didn't know what Leo would do but time was running out.

Leo still couldn't get his body to move to one brother or the other. But he had to save someone.

So he let his mind go blank and let his leader instincts take over instead.

Because he couldn't choose as a brother. So he let the leader inside himself make the decision instead as he shut down all emotions and feelings, and let a leader's instinct take over his mind.

Mikey clenched his eyes tightly as the blade came down to meet the back of his head but he forced them open again when he heard a pair of katana blades clash against metal.

His heart hurt with relief as for a selfish second he thought he had been saved. But when he had opened his eyes, he was staring across the rooftop where Donnie was passed out cold and Leo was crouched with swords over him, growling, in a defensive position.

Mikey gave a small tired smile as little relief still filled his heart as he knew Donnie would be safe now. He just wished he hadn't been awake to witness his oldest brother choose Don over him.

Because it hurt. A lot.

And as the blade pierced his flesh, he fell into a lonely world of darkness with his last thoughts being,

Leo chose Don over me.

Leo chose Don…

Leo chose Don.

Hello again! I hope you have all enjoyed the story so far! This is a two shot so please look for the next chapter on Saturday! You never know what's going to happen until you read it! Please review to let me know what you think of the story so far, reviews make my heart flutter in a great way, and I'd be more than honored if you continue to read the next part, favorited, or followed the story as well! I hope you all have a great weekend!

-A Damsel in Distress