I was watching the episode, "The Wrath of Tiger Claw" and was disappointed that they never went into detail about the events after Tiger Claw captured Karai. This is my take on what happened. Please read and review. I don't own them, Nickelodeon does.
"Daddy is probably welcoming her home right now," Raphael said before carefully lifting Michelangelo off the floor bridal style.
"Be careful Raph, his shell possibly got knocked loose, remember?" Donatello scolded, lifting Mikey's arm up, laying it carefully on his chest. The two turtles started walking towards the lair, leaving Leo standing in the same spot.
"I promise, Karai. I will do everything I can to bring you back to your Father, Ninja honor," he managed to say before hearing his name being called out, the voice urging him to catch up. He bowed his head and slowly made his way towards his brothers.
"Master Splinter," Donatello called out as they entered the lair.
"What is it my sons?" Splinter rushed out of the infirmary where Casey and April were. When he caught a glimpse of his youngest son in Raphael's arms, unconscious, he panicked. He had never seen his youngest son look so beaten and so quiet. "What happened? Where is Miwa?" He asked before directing Raphael into the infirmary. Leonardo and Donatello trailed behind them.
"I'm sorry Master Splinter, Tiger Claw took her back to the Shredder" Donatello answered. Leonardo froze as his brother continued, "He was going to hurt her if we did anything to try and stop him. I'm sorry we failed".
"Do not blame yourselves. I have faith that she will be fine. After all, the Shredder was the one who raised her, I wouldn't think that he would harm her," Splinter replied, placing his hand on the youngest's forehead as Raphael laid him on the empty bed beside Casey.
"What happened to Mikey?" April said, still clutching Casey's hand in hers, much to Donatello's disliking.
"Tiger Claw beat the tar out of 'em" Raphael answered, a look of worry on his face. "Master," he turned to face the rat as he was examining his brother, "Is Mikey going to be okay?"
"It appears he has contusions on his carapace and his plastron was indeed knocked loose. The only cure is rest and pain medication," the old rat looked up, "He should be fine in a few days. Do not worry, my son". Splinter rested a paw on Raphael's shoulder as the young turtle grabbed Michelangelo's hand and took a seat next to his bed. Master Splinter lifted his hand and left the infirmary, heading towards the kitchen for some tea.
"How's Casey?" Raphael said, not taking his eyes off of Michelangelo.
"He hasn't woken up yet. Just murmurs in his sleep. My guess is, he is going to have a nice head ache when he does wake up," April replied. The young girl noticed how Leonardo was standing off in the corner, keeping to himself. The look of guilt and doubt was written all over the leader's face. "Leo, are you okay?"
Before the leader could reply, Raphael shot him a glance so cold that if it could have been used as a weapon, Leo would have been a dead turtle. "Don't worry about him, he's too worried about Ms. Princess of the foot clan. Wasn't a bit concerned that his youngest brother got hurt, were ya Leo? I mean, if it wasn't for Donny and I you probably would have left him there to fend for himself."
Leonardo shot a hurt look towards Raphael's direction, "Now's not the time for this Raph. And don't ever accuse me of not caring about my brother's. I never would have left Mikey like that," he replied, sounding hurt.
"Bull shit, Oh Fearless leader," the red turtle snorted, "You were trying to convince us to go after Tiger Claw, even when you saw how hurt Mike was. Some brother you are!"
"Guys, now's not the time," Donatello moved towards Raph's direction. Before he could continue a loud groan filled the room. Everyone turned towards the human vigilante's direction.
"Casey?" April asked, squeezing the young teens hand.
"Ugh," he groaned, "What was the license plate number to that bus that hit me?" he said, cracking open his eyes. Without registering his surroundings, Casey quickly tried to sit up only to be reminded of his injuries. He laid back down in his bed and looked up at April, who was still holding his hand. "Hi there Red, did you miss me?" he managed to smile despite the pain.
"I'm so glad you're okay," the girl said before wrapping her arms around him, careful of his injuries. If blood could literally boil, Leonardo could have sworn his purple banded brother's was doing just that. Donnie looked hurt that his "princess" was hugging his rival.
Donatello cleared his throat, causing the redhead to release Casey and sit back down in the chair that she was previously sitting in, her face burning a crimson red. "Hey, is Mikey going to be okay?" Casey asked, once he was able to focus in on his surroundings.
"He will be fine, Casey, no thanks to Leo" Raphael snapped again. Instead of fighting back, the blue turtle turned and left the infirmary, leaving a very confused Casey.
"I take it you two are fighting?" Casey replied to his friend, showing his lack of front teeth in his smile.
"He's a high and mighty ass and was going to leave poor Mikey and go after Karai when Tiger Claw grabbed her" Raph replied, his blood was starting to boil again.
"I'm confused. I must have missed a lot while I was out, huh?" the teen said, turning to April.
The redhead grabbed his hand and helped him out of bed. "Come on, Casey. I will fill you in while I make you something to eat". Casey got to his feet and the two hobbled off into the kitchen where Master Splinter was. Casey leaned on the small girl for support and managed to wink at Donnie as they walked past him. Donnie quickly trailed behind them, wanting to make sure to keep an eye on a certain hockey masked vigilante.
Raphael couldn't help but chuckle at his brother. The knucklehead sure knows how to get under his brother's skin. Before Raphael could adjust himself to get comfortable, he felt his younger brother begin to stir.
"Mikey?" Raph asked as he grabbed his younger brother's hand a little tighter. "Come on bro, open your eyes".
"Raph?" the young turtle stated, squinting his eyes as he tried to adjust to the light. "Raph, is that you?"
"Hey buddy, I'm right here". Raph placed Mikey's hand against his chest, not taking his eyes off of his brother.
"You big softie! I'm okay" Mikey said, half laughing. The turtle was starting to feel the pain from his injuries and couldn't continue harping on his brother as a sharp pain went up his side. The young turtle winced and Raphael's face fell in concern.
"You're in pain, aren't you?"
"I've had worse. Snakeweed I think did more damage to me than Tiger Claw." The orange turtle said in between breaths. "hey speaking of TC, what happened? Where's Karai?"
Raphael's face fell, gritting his teeth he gave his reply, trying his best to contain his anger. "Tiger Claw took her back to the Shredder. Leo was going to go after them but you were hurt so we came back here."
"I'm sorry I let him hurt me. If I hadn't got hurt, we could have brought her back to Master Splinter". Raphael wasn't surprised the younger turtle felt a little guilt and he quickly pulled his little brother in a hug.
"I'm just glad that you're okay little brother," he said, resting his head on the youngest's head.
"Thanks bro. And thanks for taking care of me while I was out of it," Mikey managed to say as Raphael pulled back at arm's length.
"Hey, you took care of me when I got stabbed by Fish Face, I owed ya one" Raphael smiled, rubbing his brothers head playfully.
A week has passed since Karai and Tiger Claw went missing. Casey and Mikey were healing well from their injuries. Casey left the lair the day after the turtles came back from battle along with April. The two teens needed to get back to their daily lives before anything started to look suspicious. Irma was starting to get on the redhead's nerves, texting every hour, wanting to know where she and Casey disappeared to.
Michelangelo managed to convince Donnie to let him make camp on the couch in front of the television. The young turtle's comics littered the floor along with empty pizza boxes. He was currently sitting on the couch watching space heroes, with only the glow of the television lighting up the room when he heard arguing coming from the dojo. The young turtle put the show on pause and carefully lifted himself off the couch to see what the commotion was. As he was walking towards the entrance, he noticed Donatello's head peer out of his lab's door, a look of confusion about the commotion as well.
Both brothers walked in the dojo, greeted with the sight of their oldest brother's arguing. "Raph, look, Master Splinter always says that family doesn't get left behind. Karai…Miwa is family. She's his daughter and I didn't want to leave her in the hands of Tiger Claw"
"Yeah well, she is a trader. We never would have been in that situation if she hadn't led Tiger Claw to the sewers to begin with. And besides, Mikey is your family too. What, you were going to leave him behind instead?" Raphael grabbed the sais that were nestled in his belt and brought them up to Leo's face, inches from his eyes.
The oldest turtle didn't flinch. "NO, I would never leave Mikey behind. I didn't know he was that injured. Besides, we could have split up. Donnie could have gotten Mikey back to the lair with no problem".
"Earth to Leo," Raph said through clenched teeth, "Donnie wouldn't have made it back with Mikey as injured as he was. He was out cold! You know what, I should take these sais and shove them up your…"
"Raph, Leo, Stop!" Donatello wedged himself in between the two turtles. "Stop arguing, its not going to bring Karai back. And Raph is right Leo, I couldn't have gotten Mikey back here by myself. Karai can take care of herself."
"I can't believe you're taking his side. Karai is technically our family too, Donnie." Leo defended.
"You're thinking with your dick, Leo. All you care about is getting your little girlfriend back. After all that she has done to us and you are still willing to bring her back into our home? To accept her? Putting your girlfriend before your family is unacceptable!"
"Wow, using big words again Raph? Do you even know what that means?" Leo hissed.
"Guys, Stop!" Mikey yelled from the doorway. All three brothers looked up to see the youngest hunched up against the doorframe. A look of anger and disappointment was written all over his face.
"Look, it's my fault okay? If I hadn't been so clumsy and vulnerable, Tiger Claw would have never hurt me and we could have stopped him before he ran off with Karai. So Raph lay off of Leo, okay? He is just trying to do the honorable thing. It's about Master Splinter, remember? And Leo, arguing with Raph isn't going to fix this. We need to work together".
"Yeah, you know what Mikey, it is your fault. Maybe if you practiced once in a while then maybe I wouldn't have had to choose between my brother and my sister. You are always getting hurt. You're such a liability to the team", Leo growled back. "I should have left you there. At least she doesn't screw up missions. She's not as useless as you are, Mikey".
"You don't mean that Leo" Donnie said, shocked that Leo would even think that let alone verbally cast his opinion.
"It's okay Donnie. I'm sorry I can' t be fucking perfect. I'm sorry I screwed up and I'm sorry I got hurt. He's right." The orange banded turtle just stared at the floor, his emotions were starting to take over. "Look, I need some air. I can't stand hearing you guys fight like this. It's been going on for a week now. I'm fine and we need to move on. I'm out of here" The turtle quickly turned and headed out of the lair.
"Great Leo. Tiger Claw and Fish Face are out there and Mikey is still not 100%. He can't defend himself up there if he's attacked." Raphael stated.
"He's right you know. He shouldn't be outside in his condition. His shell hasn't fully healed" Donnie agreed.
"I'll go after him" Raph started to head towards the door. Leo placed his hand on Raph's shoulder, causing the turtle to stop in his tracks.
"No, I'll go after him, Raph stay here" Leo interjected.
"After what you said to him earlier? I don't think so, you were a complete ass to him" Raphael fired back.
"Look, you both were the cause of this mess to begin with, you both go after him" Donnie said. The two turtles nodded in agreement and were on their way. "Bring him home, guys." He said as he was left to stand in an empty dojo.
"Stupid Leo and Raph," Mikey said to himself as he plopped on the ledge of an empty rooftop. Did Leo really mean what he said? Was I a liability? I know I messed up and I am happy to take the blame for what happened, but what did he mean by all the time? Mikey was hurt beyond words. He couldn't believe his oldest brother, his leader, said he should have left him behind. Michelangelo would die for his brothers in an instant. He would never leave them behind in battle either. And the worst part, Raph, his best friend, never came to his defense. Does everyone think that? Tears started to make his way down his cheeks. Michelangelo was so lost in thought that he wasn't aware that they were snaking their way down until one came in contact with his knee pad. "I guess I am a screw up"
"The tracker says he is three blocks north," Leo stated as Raphael climbed his way out of the sewers.
Raphael's reply came as a snort as the two took to the rooftops. When they managed to jump onto the roof where the tracker led them to, Raphael and Leonardo began looking around. It was too dark to really see where their brother was on the roof, as the street lamps in this neighborhood were burnt out. About ready to admit failure in the mission, Leo managed to spot a silhouette perched on the side of the building. Getting Raph's attention, Leo pointed to where their brother was and both headed in his direction.
Mikey was so deep in thought and numb to the world around him that he didn't hear his brother's approaching him. It wasn't until they each plopped on either side of him that he realized they followed him. The three of them sat in silence for what seemed like an eternity. Raphael couldn't help but notice the dried tear stains on his brother's face.
"Do all of you guys think that I am a screw up all the time?" Mikey's voice had lost all happiness. He spoke in a somber tone that frightened the older brothers.
"No Mikey, we don't think you are a screw up all the time" Raph replied.
"I never should have said those things to you, Mikey. I'm sorry" Leo bowed his head in shame.
Mikey shifted a little bit, a half laugh escaped his lips. "But you would have left me. I mean back there during the fight…"
He was stopped short when Leo cut in. "Look Mikey" Leo said, putting his hand up on the youngest's face, motioning him to look him in the eye. "I would never leave you to fend for yourself. Ever. No matter what, you are always my brother and no one, not even a girl would ever come between that. I love you too much, Michelangelo". Mikey's eyes began to water again but he fought to hold back the tears. Raph placed his hand on his shoulder motioning Mikey to look at him.
"And I'm sorry for fighting with Leo. I guess I was just…." Raphael paused, "I was worried about Leo along with you"
"You were worried about me, Raph?" Leo perked up, confused.
"Well yeah, I mean Karai has done so many bad things to us in the past. And she managed to manipulate you so many times. I see how it hurts you and I just didn't want her to hurt you again Leo." Raph sighed. "You're my brother and whatever hurts you hurts me too, Bro" he smiled sheepishly. Embarrassed about what he just said.
"Thanks, Raph. But you don't have to protect me. I'm the big brother, I should be protecting you guys"
"Yeah, sure you do. You always manage to come in with your fancy steak knives and take the credit for saving our shells all the freaking time," Raph half laughed, nudging Michelangelo's side. He was expecting a reply but only saw a glimpse of pain show on his brother's face. "Jeeze Mike, what's wrong?"
"Still a little sore from the other day. I'm okay" he replied.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to…"
"Raph," Mikey said, causing Raph to look at him dumbfoundedly. "you're a big softie"
Raph just laughed, causing the other two turtles to laugh with him. "I guess I am"
"I love you bros. I just hate when you fight all the time. We need to work together!" Mikey said laying his head on Raph's shoulder. Raphael wrapped his arm around his little brother, letting him lean a little more into him.
"You're right Mikey. Look Raph, I'm sorry for everything. I love you both and Donnie so much. I promise I won't ever let anything cloud my mind again". Leo wrapped his right arm around Mikey's waist, grabbing Raph's hand that was already there in the process.
"So what do you say Fearless? We regroup and come up with a plan to bring our sister home?" Raph smiled. Leo paused for a moment, taking in what his brother had said.
"Yes, but Splinter said that he didn't want us to go after her. I hate going against his orders. I guess I need to be more like you Raph". Leo and Raph exchanged smiles again. Their brotherly moment was interrupted suddenly by snoring. The red banded turtled jumped a little at the sound. When he looked down, Mikey was now leaning more into his plastron, eyes shut, sound asleep.
"I guess coming out here with his injuries took a lot out of him" Raph said as he layed his head on Mikey's.
"Yeah, we better get home. Donnie is probably thinking we killed each other and Mikey right now" Leo let go of Raph's hand, standing up to stretch. Raphael gently scooped Mikey up in his arms, carrying him bridal style. The youngest turtle never stirred, instead, he snuggled as close to his brother as he could.
"I love this goofball. He really does hold this family together. He has never been useless" Raph said in a whisper. Leo only managed to smile before Raph continued. "And if you ever tell him that I love him, I will kill you"
Leo only laughed at that comment, wrapping his arm around Raph's shoulder as the three of them made their way back to the lair.
DONE! Please read and review. Not my best but I don't think it was my worst either. Goodnight everyone!