Separated

It was a typical night in New York. Four terrapin adolescents patrolled the city from the security of the rooftops. It was unusually warm for an autumn night but that was not an issue with the cold-blooded teens. With all the natural grace of an acrobat, Leonardo executed a full twisting layout from one roof to the next. Not wanting to be out done, Raphael followed closely with a double tuck; his landing heavy and commanding attention to his presence. Donatello settled for pole-vaulting with his trusty bo, completing the landing with some expert twirls of his weapon before sliding it back in its place.

"And now, ladies and gentlebros, we bring you the highlight of the night: The Great and Most Awesome Michelangelo Executing the Bigspin!" The youngest turtle announced, speeding their way on a skateboard. As he reached the edge of the first rooftop, he launched himself into the air. Skateboard turning 360 as he turned 180, landing on the board as it hit the next rooftop. "Whoooooooooooo! Consider yourselves dusted!" He exclaimed as he sped by his brothers backwards. As he gloated, the front wheels sank into a gap in the cement and the cheering turtle went flying into a crash landing on to his carapace.

"Idiot..." Raphael muttered as Donatello shook his head and Leonardo put his face into the palm of his hand.

"It's alright, bros!" Michelangelo immediately leaped into a stand. "I'm okay!"

"Somehow, I find that hard to believe." Donatello sighed. Suddenly, Leonardo stiffened.

"On your guard!" He ordered, pulling his swords out. Brothers followed suit with their respective weapons as they found themselves surrounded by none other than the foot clan.

"Alright! I was waitin' for some action!" Raphael grinned, twirling his sais.

As a ninja came at him, he brought the butt of his sai square into his chest and dropped his elbow down on the hunched form of his attacker before deflecting a swing from another oncoming foe. Michelangelo expertly swung his nunchaku left and right, catching a few by the head or limbs before they could get too close. Bringing the bottom end of his bo staff on the foot of a ninja, Donatello swung around as his enemy grabbed his foot in pain and swept the staff under the lone standing limb to completely take away his balance. It was Leonardo who tapped into his vocabulary of ninja forms to access combinations of sword, kicks and flips like performing an improvised dance routine. All four were on top of their game tonight. It was still early and they had all the energy in the world. That is, until they realized that the clan members kept swarming in. Where one fell, more came in droves. The brothers were beginning to feeling the wait of exhaustion as the supply of enemies seemed non stop.

"What the shell? These guys keep comin'!" Raphael grunted, throwing a ninja into two who were about to attack Donatello from behind.

"It doesn't look like they're going to stop." The family genius shouted as he swung his bo around in a 360, leaning back to hit any who dared to surround him.

"There's too many of them." Leonardo shouted to his brothers. "Pull back!"

Slowly, the brothers escaped one by one with Raphael at the tail and Leonardo taking the lead. The eldest brother gritted his teeth, formulating the best possible plan to lead them to safety as the four of them leapt from rooftop to rooftop. Their pursuers were close behind. Leonardo leapt down to a fire escape, bolted off the rail to a lower fire escape on the opposite building and leapt back to a lower level of the first fire escape, alternating until they landed in an alleyway.

"We'll need to split up." He explained, heading for the main street. "Raph, you go with Mikey to the left. Donnie, with me! Keep your shell cells on! We'll meet in the sewer on the corner of East 30th and 3rd." The brothers split in their designated partnerships and bolted in opposite directions.

"How many we got on our tail?" Raphael inquired as they ducked into another alley. Michelangelo peeked around the corner.

"Uhm...None." Was the reply.

"What?"

"There's no one following us."

"We weren't moving that fast."

"They must have gone after Leo and Donnie."

"Must've been their plan all along." The red clad turtle growled. The younger of the siblings pulled out his shell cell and dialed his brother's number. They waited with grim expressions as it rang.

"Come on..." Michelangelo groaned. The click of someone picking up on the other end made his heart jolt. "Donnie!?"

"Mikey!" A Donatello's breathless voice came through the receiver. "Are you guys okay? We're still being tailed!"

"Dude! None of them followed us!" Michelangelo replied.

"What?! You mean to say they're going after us?" Donatello asked in spite of knowing the obvious answer. Leonardo could be heard softly cursing in the background.

"We're going to have to move quick." The leader finally said through the receiver.

"What do ya want us to do?" Raphael asked, restlessly pacing.

"Just head for the meeting spot, At least we'll know that you guys are safe." Leonardo responded. A crashing sound suddenly came from Michelangelo's shell cell.

"WOAH!" Donatello cried out.

"DONNIE!" Leonardo's voice followed immediately. The sounds of struggle came thereafter.

"Leo! What's going on!?" Raphael demanded, into the cell, grabbing it from his little brother. "Leo! LEO!" No answer came from either brother. Only the sound of fighting.

"Donnie, get up! DONNIE!" The leader's muffled commanding voice could be heard. "Raaaagh!"

"LEO! DONNIE!" Raphael shouted. More sound of a scuffle followed and slowly faded.

"Say goodbye to your brothers." A stranger's voice said over the receiver before hanging up the cell. The brothers stared at the shell cell in silence.

"What are we going to do?" Michelangelo whined, a fear for the safety of his brothers gripping at him.

"We're goin' to find 'em and bring 'em home!" Raphael growled squeezing the cell. "There's gotta be a tracker on this thing." The older turtle clumsily pushed at the buttons, muttering. "Of all times for Master Splinter to go on a retreat."

"We should call April and Casey!" Michelangelo suggested.

"Great idea 'cept they're in Hawaii for their honeymoon."

"Shell...We're on our own for this."

"Ha! Got this piece of junk to work!" Raphael stared at the blinking dots on the screen. "Let's go save our brothers." They nodded to each other and made the climb to the rooftops to better track their missing brothers. Once above the city, they looked at the screen of the shell cell. The purple dot was staying in one place while the blue dot moved from it.

"Are they only taking Leo?" Michelangelo inquired as they ran in the direction of the purple dot's location.

"I dunno, Mikey." Raphael replied. "They might've just left Donnie's phone behind." They raced from roof to roof until they were right above the purple dot. Looking down, they sound an empty street. The brothers scaled down the building and found what Raphael had predicted. Donatello's shell cell was left on the ground. The alarming part was the blood not too far from it. It wasn't a lot but it was enough to spell out that someone was injured. Raphael's mind quickly went to Leonardo screaming for their brother to get up.

"That's not from Donnie...is it?" Michelangelo asked regarding the blood.

"Could be." Was the honest reply. Raphael grabbed Donatello's shell cell from the ground and they moved on in silence; the concern for heir brothers growing at an alarming rate. No leader to lead them. No brainiac to suggest a device to aid them. The hot head and the joker were on their own. They headed for the direction the blue dot was moving toward. By the speed if its movements, it had to be in a vehicle of some form. "Once we know where they're takin' 'em, we can figure out how to break 'em out."

"How are we going to escape all of those foot ninjas? I didn't know they had that many members."

"We'll figure somethin' out!" Raphael snapped, determined to take back his brothers. He could see his younger brother visibly wince at his tone. "We gotta...We gotta work together. Once we get to Leo, he'll have a plan."

"Yeah! We got this!" Back to the rooftops they went, leaping from building to building to get closer to the blue dot which ultimately led them to a warehouse. They studied it from a distance. There was, suspiciously, no one in sight.

"You sure you read that right?" Michelangelo inquired.

"They gotta be in there."

"So what's our plan?"

"The plan is: you two get caught." Someone said from behind them. Before they could react, both were struck in the head and all that was left to greet them was the darkness of unconsciousness.

Author's Note: Figured I'd make a Mikey/Raph centric story. In the Mirage comics, Raphael is closest with him and I want to explore this. This is going to be a short fic. Maybe a couple more chapters. Reviews are welcome and delicious.