Mike sat in his room, his head resting on his knees. He didn't want to go back out into the lair, especially when everybody was mad at him, but he hated being alone and by himself. It had just been a harmless prank, they had to have forgiven him by now.
He hopped off his bed and spotted Leo in the dojo. "He-."
Mikey stopped when Leo turned to him with an angry glare. "Mikey. Let me practice, okay? You've bothered me enough today. When are you going to smarten up and learn that we don't appreciate your games? They're an annoyance."
Hurt flashed across his face before he quickly hid it. He nodded. "Right…"
Mikey turned and left the room.
Leo frowned. He was sure he hadn't been too harsh. Mikey had to grow up. He turned back to his training.
Mikey popped into Don's lab. "Hey Donny!"
Don jumped, nearly dropping the test tube he was holding. He turned to Mikey, an out of place frown on his face. "Mikey, don't do that! This is an extremely flammable chemical, any miscalculation and it could have exploded. "
"I just wanted to say 'hi' Don." Mikey smiled.
"Mike, get out of my lab. I don't need you blowing anything up… again." Don glared at him.
"Alright Don." Mikey trudged out of the room, heart feeling heavy. Don too?
Don's glare lessened and he turned back to his work. At least he wouldn't be bothered for the next little while.
The garage door flew open as Mikey came in. Raph was his best bud, he wouldn't get mad at him for saying 'hi'!
Raph looked up from his bike. "Whadd'ya want Mike?"
"To say 'hi' to my beloved older brother." he laughed.
"I'm not in the mood Mike, I need ta fix my bike, 'cause a certain someone damaged the paint." Raph growled.
"It was just a joke bro, I didn't mean for that to happen." Mikey smiled.
"But it did Mike, so get outta here before ya wreck it again!" Raph turned back to his bike, sanding the chipped paint off.
Mikey hung his head, "Whatever bro."
He turned and left the room.
Raph snorted. He was such a drama queen. He hadn't said anything more than he usually did.
Instead of going back to his room, Mikey left through the side door of the garage, and took to the rooftops. Maybe a run would help tire him out.
As he ran he didn't notice the shadows that followed him across the rooftops.
Two hours passed and Mikey knelt down on the roof, panting. That had been a good run. He smiled, but he soon stiffened as he heard footsteps.
He turned his eyes up to the ones that surrounded him and his hands flew to his weapons. He pushed his tired body up and glared. "What do you want?"
An Elite appeared in a puff of smoke. "A lone turtle, how simple."
Mikey glared. "Just because it's me doesn't mean I can't fight."
He shot forward, attacking him. The Elite disappeared and then appeared once more behind him, the pike came smashing down.
Mike yelped as it caught his leg, but he jumped back. The run had tired him out and slowed down his reaction time. He glared at the Elite before glancing around at the others. There was no way he could do this alone. But… his brothers probably didn't even care where he was right now.
Raph sat on the couch and flipped through the channels. He looked up when Leo walked into the room.
"Ya finally finished trainin'?" he asked.
Leo nodded. "Yeah."
Don came in minutes later and took a seat on the chair. "Where's Mike? Isn't it his turn to pick the movie?"
"Prolly sulkin'." Raph shrugged.
"One night without 'im here won't hurt. That jus' means no bad movies tanight."
Leo looked over at Raph. "How can you say that? "
Raph shrugged once more, indifference in his voice. "Ya know he's prolly sulkin' Leo. I'm not the only one who's still mad about the prank."
"That's true." Don nodded. "If he isn't home by the end of the movie we'll look for him, okay?"
Leo couldn't help but agree with Donatello. He held a calm head in situations like these. "Fine."
Raph picked the movie and they sat down to watch it.
Mikey slid down the wall he was thrown into, a groan escaping from his mouth.
"Too easy." The Elite stepped forward, the pike held to his throat.
Mike's eyes widened in fear.
"You're not worth our time to kill. You can kill yourself." he smirked, and the pike was raised.
Mikey brought his arm up to defend himself. He screamed out in pain as the blade sliced through his arm and then down through his calf.
He heard a snort of contempt, and then they were gone.
He fell to the side, clutching his bloodied arm. It burned along with his calf. There was no way he could make it back home like this. But he also couldn't just die here.
After a moment to collect himself, Mikey struggled to his feet. A whine of pain escaped his lips as pressure was put on to his leg. He couldn't stand on it, his leg wouldn't support his weight. He stood on his uninjured one and tried hopping to the edge of the building, not caring about the trail of blood left behind.
As he made it the edge of the building, his vision blackened and he plummeted over the side.
Leo paced the lair, worried. "He's still not back yet Donny. It's been three hours!"
Don frowned and pulled out his shell cell. "I'll call him."
Ring, ring, ring, ring….
The phone continued to ring, but there was no answer.
"He's not picking up."
Raph came forward, worry creasing his brow. "We gotta go look fer 'im. Don, can ya track 'im?"
Donny nodded and typed in a code on the phone. A small map was projected up, showing their brother's location. "Got him."
Leo nodded and they headed out of the lair.
Mikey breathed heavily, his vision blurring. He hadn't been able to answer his phone. It had landed out of his reach when he fell. He hadn't the strength to climb out of the garbage bin. His injured arm hung outside of the bin, bent at an awkward angle. Blood dripped down the side of the metal container.
"I'm sorry bros. It was a stupid prank…."
He'd been playing with Don's chemicals, something he knew he shouldn't be doing, but he hadn't been able to help himself. Raph had brought his bike down for the day so Don could take a look at it, and an idea had come to him.
The chemical had blown up part of Don's work station and seriously scratched his brother's bike.
It hadn't been fully on purpose, but of course he should have known not to fool around.
"He's down there." Don pointed towards an empty building.
Raph flew down, spotting Mikey's abandoned nunchakus. He ran over and picked them up. A sticky substance was felt on his knees. He hadn't even paid any attention when he'd run over, but he knelt in a puddle of blood.
Leo landed beside him, horror crossing his face. "Mikey!"
Don ran to the edge, still following the tracker. He looked down, his eyes widening and face draining of color. "I found him! Hurry!"
He leapt over the side of the building, soon being followed by his brothers.
Don looked at his younger brother, fear on his face. He was pale and in bad shape. "We have to get him out of there. He could contract all kinds of infections from the garbage."
Leo and Raph nodded. They shared their brother's horror at the state of the youngest. They gently hefted him out of the bin and on to the ground below.
Mikey's eyes were closed, his breathing shallow. Though not what they wanted, it at least told them that he was alive.
Don knelt down beside him and pulled out some cloth from the duffle bag he always carried. He mopped the blood up as best he could.
Using his mask he tied a tourniquet around his brother's calf, just above the laceration. He did the same using Leo's mask, on Mikey's arm.
"This is all I can do here. We have to get him back to the lair." Don's voice was low, worry clouding it.
Raph pulled the youngest up into his arms.
Don hung his head. "I can't set his arm until we get back to the lair, so be careful Raph."
"I already know dat bro." Raph nodded.
They took off back towards the lair.
Once in the lab Don set to properly cleaning the wounds. They needed stitches.
He properly stitched them up before placing a healing salve on them and wrapping them in bandages.
"Raph, I need you in here." Don called.
Raph came in, and with Don's instructions, they snapped his arm back into the rightful place and braced it.
The silence that came with all this was unsettling, showing just how far gone Mikey was.
Leo came into the room soon after, each of them taking a seat near the youngest.
"Come on bro, if ya don' come back ta us, who's gonna pull pranks an' make us laugh?" Raph held on to Mikey's hand.
"Who's going to pull me from my work and make me eat? We need you Mikey." Don's eyes dropped down and he held Mikey's other hand.
"Fight it Mike, don't you dare lose to something like this." Leo frowned and placed his hand on top of Mikey's forehead.
Minutes passed and soon there was a quiet groan. "Dudes, ya think I'd let you live without me? You need me." Mike laughed quietly.
He was met with three pairs of relieved eyes. "Don't ya eva do dat again Mike!" Raph smiled.
They gathered Mikey up into a hug, careful of his injures. "Welcome back Mikey."