"...hurry up and get out of here, little brother! Go! Now!"
Tired baby blue eyes opened as Michelangelo's mind resurfaced into consciousness. The urgent command that had jolted him awake had, he foggily realized, simultaneously snuffed out any recollection of what had been occurring in the dream itself. He remained still, gazing up at the ceiling of his dark bedroom and struggling for a few minutes to conjure up the images that had previously flooded his dreamscape. It was a wasted effort. They were vivid, that much he did recall, but whatever it was he had been dreaming about was now lost. Vanquished the moment Raphael's words had shot through his mind.
A slight tremor ran through the young mutant as he lay in the darkness. It was only when his heartbeat had steadied, and he blinked away the moisture in his eyes, that he felt ready to get up and start the day.
His mind slipped into autopilot as he pulled back the covers, got out of bed even as the temptation to sleep a little longer tugged at him, and went into his morning routine. On went the bathrobe and slippers. Off he shuffled to the old chest at the base of his bed, once filled with old childhood treasures, to select the outfit for the day. Then out through his bedroom door he went and across the Lair to the bathroom. There he took a quick shower, with cold water to snap his mind fully into wakefulness, and then he proceeded to put on his half-heartedly selected attire: baggy tan khaki's paired with a white long-sleeved shirt, completed with an orange bandana that wrapped over the top of his head and was tied in a secure knot at the back of his neck. He liked the feeling of something draped over his bald head like this, and made a mental note to buy more bandanas later so he could have more of a variety to play with aside from his traditional look in orange. He would always love that color though.
It was only after applying the finishing touches, a little bit of makeup for his face, that he finally emerged from the bathroom and made a beeline for the kitchen.
"Awwww, yeah! It's grub-makin' time!" He sang cheerfully as he strolled over to the fridge to look at his food selection and decide what he wanted to incorporate into this morning's breakfast. Eggs, Wensleydale cheese, blueberries, strawberries. "Oh man, put together that would make a really awesome omelet," he murmured. His mouth watered as he thought of the potential tasty outcome of such a combination. "Booyeah, making omelets it is!" He checked the freezer to see if there were any sausage links left, and grinned with delight to see that there was more than enough for him to cook up. Then he snatched up the remaining oranges from the bottom tier of the hanging fruit basket next to the fridge and put them aside on the counter. He decided, after a brief moment of debate, that since there were enough of them to fill a pitcher he'd just juice them for the morning beverage.
He cracked the necessary amount of eggs into a mixing bowl, and quickly whisked them until the yolks were perfectly blended with the whites. Once he was satisfied with that, he put the bowl aside and moved on to the berries. Washing them and drying them with care. He plucked off the stems and leaves from the generous handful of strawberries before getting to work slicing them up. Once that task was completed, he put aside the end results with the blueberries until the giant omelet was ready for them.
The eggs didn't take long to heat up in the pan. And once the bottom looked like it was cooked enough, Mikey flipped it over to let the other side cook. He spread the handfuls of cut up strawberries and blueberries across one half of the omelet, sprinkled a coating of the Wensleydale cheese shavings over the berries as the final touch, and folded the cooked egg over the tasty toppings to heat them. Then, after almost forgetting to do so, he turned down the burner's heat to low so he could peel and squeeze the oranges without fear of overcooking the food or letting it get cold.
The smell that blossomed throughout the Lair was intoxicating.
"That's the best way to wake folks up." Mikey thought to himself with a prideful grin, pleased with his handiwork.
Finally, it all came together on the kitchen table. The oranges were juiced and waiting in the pitcher to be poured. The large omelet was completed, divided, and served onto plates. Smelling like heaven. And within a few quick minutes the last of the sausage links were cooked and divided among the plates as well.
It was nearly seven o'clock, and breakfast was served.
Michelangelo was about to go over to the dojo to announce the meal was ready when a little squeak from the pit in the main room caught his attention. His eyes fell on Spike, who was perched on top of the TV he had managed to climb up on. "Oops! Sorry, little dude!" Dashing back into the kitchen, he dug around in the fridge to snatch up the little turtle's breakfast. A few baby spinach leaves, a large strawberry, and three blueberries. "Here ya go buddy!" He laughed as he carried the food over and presented it to his brother's pet.
Spike dug into the strawberry gratefully.
The family cook started to make his way back over to the dojo when he caught a glimpse of the calendar hanging by its entrance. Doing a double take, it took a moment before it registered in his mind what day it appeared to be. "No way!" He exclaimed, sliding over to get a better look. Surprise, mingled with embarrassment and guilt, washed over him when he realized he hadn't misread the calendar.
"Wow, I can't believe I actually forgot!"
After once again dashing into the kitchen to throw some clean and unused pot lids over the dishes on the table to keep the food warm, he ran back to his room to grab his tote bag and tossed the old loose-tea tin containing his earnings inside. Pausing for a moment, he tried to prepare a mental list of what he needed to get. In the process he found himself thinking about how, a year ago, such a thing wasn't even possible.
Thanks to his unofficial job at Murikami's, where he played security guard for the blind man's restaurant at night, Mikey was able to earn enough money every week to get groceries for his family. Originally this was accomplished with April's help, which she would happily do on her way home from school for them once they gave her the money and list of things to get. These days, thanks to the events six months ago, the young mutant was free to roam in the city above to do the shopping himself. While he and his family were truly grateful to their friends in the underground community they were neighbors with for sharing their resources with the Hamato family over the years, it had been so wonderful to be able to buy groceries for themselves after they had befriended April and Mr. Murikami last September.
Before their 15th Mutation Day the family had survived on algae, worms, rats, and whatever Splinter's scattered gardens produced. When times got hard, they turned to their friends in the tunnel community for help: Vincent, Father, and young Jacob. They were the leaders, and were always willing to lend a hand when needed. They shared the resources that were provided to them by their own helpers in 'The World Above'; mainly fruits and vegetables that the grocers among those helpers couldn't sell in their stores, but they were still perfectly fine to eat.
Even though his brothers couldn't remember it themselves, and had repeatedly scoffed at his claim that he could when he seemed so forgetful of other things, Michelangelo did have faint memories of that fateful day they had met the man with the lion-like face.
It was immediately after Yoshi had gotten his new family settled into what would become their much loved home in the old abandoned subway station. It was beginning to get terribly cold at night early that autumn when Vincent had come upon them and offered the young family shelter. He had assured Splinter that there was enough room to spare for them in the section of the old tunnels, and the underground caverns and abandoned structures connected to them, that his community lived in. However; as kind as the offer had been, Mikey remembered Splinter politely rejecting the invitation. He had been fearful that the five of them would appear too outlandish or fearsome for the other members of the tunnel community to accept among them, despite Vincent's own unique appearance. But any help they could get at that time was welcomed, and he did accept the follow up offer their new acquaintance presented him with.
It didn't take long for the lion-faced man to come back with his young son and a trusted friend with some blankets, food, a tool box, and a crate filled with bits and parts that would be needed to get the station mostly operational again. Jacob, who was seven years old at the time, played with the baby mutants. Mouse set out to work on not only getting the heat and electricity running, but setting it up so the city wouldn't detect the station being activated again. And Vincent brewed some tea for Splinter as they talked about their lives. A few days later he provided a helping hand in retrieving the rest of Splinter's things from his abandoned apartment and the storage unit he had been renting. The equipment contained inside was meant for the martial arts school that would never be, but the ninjitsu master didn't have any trouble deciding what to do with it all once getting it back home. In time, when they were old enough, his adopted sons became his pupils.
It was the birth of a wonderful, strong friendship between the two peculiar families. Over the following years they shared resources and knowledge. Donatello had latched onto Mouse as a mentor in all things mechanical. And in time, as his creative genius blossomed, the roles reversed and he began teaching his idol his own ideas. Over time helping the middle-aged man make delightful improvements to the tunnel community's way of living. Alongside Jacob, as he reached his teenage years with a desire to be a doctor like his grandfather, Splinter and Donatello both learned the art of medicine from Father. And, when they weren't discussing their day to day lives and shared experiences of being single fathers over a cup of tea, Splinter would aid Vincent in dealing with any threats made towards the underground community.
"Once I get an official job, I've gotta save up to get something super awesome for them!"Mikey decided, smiling a little as he finished his trip down memory lane. Then he remembered why he had come to his room in the first place, what he hoped to accomplished, and that he needed to get a move on. Dashing back out of his room just as quickly as he had entered it.
He was pretty confident he had enough money left over from this week's earnings to get everything he needed for this morning's project. It was a matter of getting it all, and then getting back home before Splinter finished his meditation session and morning prayers. The young mutant prided himself on being fast, but he wasn't quite convinced he was that fast to accomplish his mission in time without detection.
"Where are you off to in such a rush?" A familiar voice asked from the Lair's entrance as Michelangelo hurried back out into the main room.
He had been too busy making a mental list of the places he possibly needed to hit topside, that he didn't notice the girl coming through the turnstiles until she spoke. "Oh, hey Karai! What's up with my favorite big sister?"
"I'm your only sister, you dopey kid." She replied with a warm smirk. Leaning on the turnstile she had just passed through, she redirected her gaze onto the bag he had slung over one shoulder. "Going shopping?"
"Yeah, I gotta grab a few things." He whispered, quickly glancing behind him to make sure the dojo's door was still closed and that there wasn't anyone in the main room or kitchen to overhear him. "I, uh, kinda lost track of the days. You mind keeping Sensei busy until I get back and get everything ready? I made enough for breakfast for you to have some too if you haven't eaten yet! You gotta wait until I get back though!"
"I think I can handle that." Karai gracefully pushed herself up and leapt down the steps, landing with ease by her brother's side. With a reassuring smile, she placed a hand on his shoulder and nodded her head in the direction of the Lair's exit. "Food smells good, but I'll do my best to resist it until you get back. Now hurry up and get out of here, little brother!"
Hit with an array of varying emotions at her choice of words, Michelangelo offered her a smile of gratitude back before taking off for the tunnels that would lead him to the surface.
Arriving topside revealed that it was a beautiful Sunday morning. The nautical twilight had already begun to shift into what the young artist had recently learned to define as: the blue hour. The inky blackness of the night had shifted into dark blue directly above the early risers of the bustling metropolis. On the horizon, peeking between the skyscrapers surrounding them, the pink and orange hues of the sunrise began painting the sky. Clouds were slowly creeping in, but they only added to the beautiful showcase that nature was providing them with. While the warming temperature, closing in on 60 degrees, enhanced the tranquility of the late September morning.
Once the young mutant got over being awestruck, as always, by the sight of the wonderful sunrise, he began to make his way to the closest market that was open that early in the morning. His mind was elsewhere for most of the walk. Thinking about the thens and nows in his life.
Bustling down the sidewalks, and driving through the busy streets around him, there were mutants and humans alike. While it was once an unimaginable sight, it was completely normal in New York City these days. It had been the everyday norm ever since the fall of the Kraang six months eariler. A couple of weeks after Michelangelo and his brothers infiltrated the TCRI building and successfully destroyed the Kraang's transmat portal device. Their actions had put the aliens invasion scheme on a standstill, until the mutant breakout exposed the whole thing to the public and the Kraang where finally taken down permanently.
As he was about to cross the street, glancing both ways to be sure it was safe, he caught sight of the old TCRI building in the distance. His heart suddenly began to pound, and he stopped in his tracks. Staring at the haunting structure that peeked menacingly back at him between the skyscrapers that filled the gap between the two. The sign had been replaced, and the top floor had been rebuilt since the explosion, but he would always see it for what it used to be. No matter how much John Bishop dressed it up since he moved in.
A horn blaring, accompanied by some colorful words that Michelangelo was sure Raphael would appreciate, snapped the young mutant's attention back to his surroundings. He flushed with embarrassment when he realized that, in his distraction, he had almost walked out in front of the still-swearing driver.
"S-sorry!" He yelped, jumping backward and back onto the sidewalk.
The driver, a middle-aged man with messy black hair and face beet red with rage, didn't seem to be in the forgiving mood. "Go back to the zoo, you dumb animal!" He screamed out the passenger window as he hit the gas and continued on his way.
Still embarrassed, and feeling a little weird, Michelangelo remained still on the sidewalk as other humans and mutants pushed passed him to cross the street.
His grip on the handles of the tote bag tightened, and he found it almost frightfully difficult to unclench his fists. It was as if his hands were being paralyzed. His forced his eyes, which had unconsciously found their way back to the old TCRI building, to stare down at his feet instead. Then he closed them and did his best to focus. Focus on his breathing. Focus on his heartbeat. He took a slow, deep breath. Held it. Then exhaled it just as slowly. Relief blossomed within him as his heartbeat, quieting in his ears, began to slow down to its regular rhythm. As he felt his fingers begin to loosen and his fists slowly unclench. He was starting to feel grounded again.
"Hey, kid. You okay?"
He opened his eyes, and turned to look at the person who had come to his aid. The concerned stranger was another human, older than the one who had been screaming at Mikey earlier, who had a gray balbo-syled beard and matching gray hair that had grown white at the temples. His warm eyes sought out and locked with Mikey's own. They radiated with nothing but genuine concern.
"Um...yeah." Mikey murmured when he realized he hadn't answered the old man's question. "Yeah, I'm good. I was just a little rattled, that's all." He hoped the smile he plastered onto his face looked as laid back as he wished he could feel right now.
The man, now smiling with satisfaction, seemed convinced enough. "Well, don't let it get to you." He reassured with a friendly couple of pats to Mikey's shoulder. "People drive like maniacs in this city, and I've seen my fair share of pedestrians deliberately walk into oncoming traffic to cross the street around here with much angrier reactions. Just be a little more careful next time, that's all."
"Okay."
They parted ways. The man resuming his trek to wherever it was he had been going to, and Mikey continuing on his way to the market to get his last minute shopping done. The rest of the trip there proved to be uneventful. And, much to his relief, the store wasn't crowded and had everything he was looking for. Into the basket it all went, and over to the register he strolled.
He made friendly small talk with the canine mutant at the register, while eyeballing the soda selection in the beverage fridge to his right as she rang up his things. After shifting back and forth on his feet, going 'eenie, meenie, miney, moe' in his head, he finally snatched up a bottle of 'Olde Brooklyn Coney Island Cream Soda' for himself, and a bottle of 'Stewart's Key Lime Soda' for Karai, and placed them on the counter just as the last of the original items was being scanned in. The final cost of everything was cutting it pretty close, but Mikey was able to afford all of it. Giving a friendly wave goodbye to his fellow mutant, he placed his groceries in the tote bag and quickly made his way home with no further unwelcome incidents.
He resisted the urge to open up his own soda to drink on his way back. Reminding himself that he hadn't eaten his breakfast yet, which he had already prepared juice for. Plus, he was hoping Karai would let him split her soda with him, and then he could split his soda with her. He knew for a fact that the idea of sharing the beverages was less likely to be approved by his sister if he had already taken a sip from his bottle. While he had no issues sharing food that someone else had taken a bite of already, or drink from someone else's cup after they had already taken a sip themselves, he knew Karai was a bit of a germaphobe and would not be keen on the idea one bit.
Thankfully this aspect of his sister's personality wasn't something he had to learn the hard way. It was just something he had observed about her as she spent more and more time visiting with Splinter in the Lair over the past few months. If Mikey took a sample of something he was cooking to taste and offered for her to try some, she would always decline to use the same fork or spoon as him. Instead, she'd pluck out clean utensils from the drawer and then helped herself. But other than that she was not at all hesitant to dig in to whatever wild dish he whipped up. Unlike his brothers, who would always make faces at whatever Mikey had made and would be extremely reluctant to even try a bite, Karai proved to be just as fearless about trying new foods as Mikey was.
He adored having her as his older sister, and was glad that she had learned to look past the lies Shredder had told her in favor of giving her biological father a chance and getting to know him.
Not that there was much Shredder could do to stop her from bonding with her birth father. To everyone's relief, Saki Oroku was currently spending a life sentence in federal prison with no chance of ever being released. As Mikey had been told after everything had gone down; Karai had discovered the truth about her parentage the night of the TCRI mission, a few hours after Splinter himself had learned who she really was. She was, very understandably, both devastated and enraged by the revelation and had disappeared for two weeks. Then the Kraang were exposed by the mutant breakout from one of their other facilities in the city. Agent John Bishop led his Earth Protection Force into New York City to take them down, and that's when Karai returned. Presenting the agent, as his men rounded up the aliens, with the damning evidence that proved her adoptive father had helped the Kraang to satisfy his own needs. Considered a traitor to all humanity, he was locked up and the Foot Empire fell.
It took sixteen years, but he finally paid the price for Tang Shen's murder.
"At least that arrest is one thing Bishop can honestly take credit for..." Mikey thought to himself. He had justifiably mixed feelings about the government agent, but he would always be grateful to him for helping Karai put a stop to the man that had hurt their family so much.
"Father's still doing his thing." Karai informed him once he had returned home and had gone into the kitchen. He had to admit, it was still weird hearing her call Splinter that even though she had been doing so for nearly a month now. "You have no idea how much torture it was to smell this for the last ten minutes!" She lifted a lid off of one of the plates, and Michelangelo was surprised to discover that the food was still giving off a light steam.
He plucked her soda bottle from out of his tote bag and waved it teasingly at her. "I didn't forget to get you a reward for good behavior," he replied with a grin. Taking out his own soda as he strode to the fridge to place the glass bottles inside to be drunk later in the day. He put the quart of milk in next to them, and then closed the door. Scooting over to the cabinets next to the fridge to deposit the rest of the items from his bag. He would get started on the project after breakfast was eaten and the kitchen was cleaned.
While Mikey quickly microwaved the food that had gotten a little cold, Karai went to the dojo to announce her arrival in the Lair and to declare that breakfast was ready. It was a silent meal, but a pleasant one. Everyone loved how the omelet had turned out. It was definitely something the young cook would be making again down the road.
"I wonder if April would like it?"
The others, after complimenting his cooking and thanking him for making breakfast, excused themselves from the table when they finished eating. Splinter was eager to begin Karai's training session, and watched with fatherly pride as she twirled the tessan he had made for her. Michelangelo tore his eyes away from the pair as they headed for the dojo, and decided that he would hold off on starting his project for at least an hour. After cleaning the kitchen, he wandered over into the pit of the main room and flopped himself down in front of the TV. Channel surfing, without really paying much attention to what the limited stations they could get a signal for had to offer. His thoughts had shifted to April again, and he couldn't help the hurt he was feeling.
"Not today...", he mumbled to himself. Irritably, he clicked off the TV and wandered over to the arcade game to play a round of that instead. Seeing Leo's high score was still in place, he wondered if he could beat it. An hour later he was back in the kitchen pulling out all of the bowls, pans, and ingredients he needed. He took out the recipe he had printed from a cooking blog he followed online, and read over the list one last time to make sure he had everything he needed. Then he dove right into his work.
He was putting the icing on the cake when his father and sister returned to the kitchen. They had been drawn back into the room in their quest for water to quench their thirst now that the training session was done.
"My son," Splinter said softly as he took in the sight of the perfect looking dessert. "Is this the secret you were trying to conceal this morning?"
Sheepishly smiling, Michelangelo nodded his head as he took a step back to admire his work. "I didn't want you to know, in case I did it wrong and had to take out the one from the store. The backup cake's hidden in the top cabinet," he admit as he handed the butter knife to his father. "It doesn't look like I screwed it up, so I think it's safe to cut. Do you want to do the honors?"
Teary-eyed, Yoshi grinned down at his son as he accepted the utensil. Delicately slicing into the soft vanilla cake, and giving a piece to each of his children. As they had done with breakfast, the small family enjoyed the fruits of Michelangelo's labor in pleasant silence.
Then the young mutant collected the untouched slices and carried them into the dojo. Laying them in a line in front of the shrine Splinter had created for the family he had lost in Japan sixteen years ago. There was a new photograph on the altar now.
"Hey Raph, remember how excited you were last year when you thought I had pulled off making a real cake?" Mikey asked, a bittersweet smile quivering on his face as he looked up from the plates to stare at the photograph of his brothers that had been added to the shrine six months ago. "Well...I did it for real this time!"
He bowed in front of the two framed photographs with tears glistening in his eyes.
The date on the calendar read September 29th, 2013.
"Happy Mutation Day."