This story was inspired by the last page of dinosaurish's SAINW fanfiction, Disappear.
Happy chatter fades into silence moments after Michelangelo enters the room with his war torn older brothers and Donatello. It's a mess out there. Raph has burns along the sides of his arms from a few near misses and Donnie's covered in mud from when he had to roll into a ditch to dodge a grenade. They're tired, aching, and the last thing Mikey wants to see when he's walking into headquarters is his men popping a tape into their garbage picked VHS and chewing popcorn like it's date night.
They stare at him, guilt written all over their faces.
Twenty-year- old Lance speaks first. "Hey, Cap. Welcome back. We were just about to watch a movie General Rowan suggested." By his side, Rico nods vehemently. Basically, they were trying to shift the blame for goofing off to a superior officer.
Donnie watches in disbelief as the two young rebels practically cower while they wait for Mikey's reaction, then feels his jaw go slack when he realizes that Michelangelo is actually glowering down at them, as though he's debating what condiments he's going to need when he chews them up and eats them for breakfast.
It turns out to be for show, though, because his hardened younger brother slumps, throws a helpless shrug in Raph and Leo's direction, then hops on the couch. "Push the movie in. Considering General Rowan's feelings towards me and mutants in general, it might be better if I saw it with you."
Raph lets out a snort as he pushes Mikey so he can get a spot on the increasingly crowded couch. "Yeah, right, lamebrain. You just want an excuse to slack off."
"I'm a captain." Mikey mutters distractedly, his eyes narrowed on the television, equal parts cautious and curious about what a man who has made it clear time and time again he doesn't trust him as far as he could throw him could want his men to see. "I don't need an excuse to slack off."
Since there's no more room left on the couch unless one of them wants to sit on Raph, Leo and Don end up leaning against the arm rests.
The tape pops in and the old television makes a whirring noise, a picture forming from the grouping of static into a head and one arm.
Mikey jumps out of his seat, heart slamming in his chest. "Turn it off!"
At the same time, the one-armed mutant on the screen screams. "I didn't mean to kill her!"
Behind him, Mikey's three brothers stiffen at the sight of their youngest sitting in a brightly lit room, the lamp shining directly in squinting eyes, his one whole arm handcuffed to the table, with stress and exhaustion and bone deep grief oozing off him in waves. It doesn't take a genius to know that the Mikey on the television was being interrogated.
An unfamiliar voice spoke up off-screen. "They found you cradling her body, Michelangelo. Are you honestly trying to tell me that after spending most of your life in hiding, you don't hold even the slightest grudge against humans? That the thought of harming one has never crossed your mind?"
The Mikey on the screen gives a heavy sigh. Who knows how long he's been answering the same questions over and over again? "I never said that." In the present day, Michelangelo's men, who are very much human, tense, throwing him hesitant, anxious glances. Instead of trying to stop the video again, Mikey just lets it play. Stopping it now would only make things worse. "But I'm also not going to kill a little girl because a human hurt my feelings. I know you don't believe me but we were in the middle of a warzone, I didn't expect – I thought – she was supposed to be the enemy."
The mutant in the interrogation room is breaking, words and thoughts becoming more difficult as fatigue catches up with him. There's an empty look in his eyes that, Donnie notes, has never entirely left.
Mikey stares at the screen, his face oddly blank as tears begin to track down his other self's cheeks. It doesn't faze him in the slightest when the television suddenly flicks off. Raph pulls his finger off the power switch, grabs the tape, and breaks it in half.
The air hangs heavy in the silence the video left behind, until finally Leo turns to Mikey and says quietly, "Where were we?"
A small, hollow smile stretches the skin Michelangelo's face, emphasizing all the wrinkles and lines a lifetime of mourning has carved into him, and he shakes his head. "You'd know that better than me, Leo."
After that, his brothers don't press him. They don't force him to explain or relive what had happened. Because they know him. They know he'd never hurt a child on purpose and they know just how disorienting the fog of war can be.
Later, he's going to have to talk to Privates Lance and Rico. Make sure they know that he doesn't bare a grudge against humans, since he can't expect them to trust him with their lives if they doubt him. Later, he's going to move past this. Be the soldier he has to be.
For now, all four of his brothers are piled around him, warm and living and together. And they can't keep the monsters away.
But they can help him fight them.
Someday, I'd like to expand this into a real story. Mostly because I like the idea of a high ranking officer in April's army that doesn't trust Michelangelo because he's a mutant and actively tries to discredit him. Normally, April would just get rid of him, but Mikey says he can deal with a little harassment and it's fine. Plus, General Rowan has military experience and weapons, two things they desperately need.
The second reason is thinking of an older Mikey dealing with kids in the lower ranks who are in their late teens or early twenties and rambunctious as puppies makes me smile. I kind of see him as this exasperated older brother/father figure who beats himself up if anything bad happens to any of them. April's army is his family and losing any of them is like losing Donnie all over again.
Oops. Starting to run into sad headcanon territory.