T h r e s h o l d

Michelangelo

"Leo?"

He doesn't answer. It's quiet. Way, way too quiet. I've always hated the dark, and the things that the dark hides and the monsters under the bed, and everywhere in the whole damn world because we're freaks according to them. Them.

I think Leo's asleep. He was sounding slurred, earlier on. It worries me that Leonardo can sound like that. Scares me.

I can feel aches in my body, starting from the base of my skull to my legs, in red, itchy waves.

Donnie and Raph. They must be feeling this too, or at least, they will be as soon as they woke up.

I creep closer to them, feeling my way. I lay my hands on their shoulders, their shells, checking for injures as best I can. After a while I figure out who is who. I can feel that scar at the base of Raphael's neck.

Donatello is obvious after that.

Raph has a bump on his head and a few bruises and scrapes, nothing serious. Donnie is similar; his wrist is slightly swollen though, but not too bad so he's probably just sprained it.

Remember what Don taught you. If anything ever happened to them. Stay calm. They're fine, Mikey. Fine.

After assuring myself that they would live, I crawl back to the corner of the van and slump against the wall.

They're okay. It's fine.

Then why is dread, sticky and bitter, rising to my throat?

*0*

Raphael

Man…what hit me? Geeze, my freakin' head.

I force my eyes open, my stomach turning and twisting into knots. I can barely see a thing. The hell are my lids so heavy? Drugged? Feels like it. Like when those tech ninja got to me and Case, and I woke to Hun's ugly mug. Least I knew where I was that time. Now all I can see are the little patches of light as they blast through the windows.

We're moving.

I push myself up, my arms shaking with the sheer effort. It shouldn't be this hard.

I feel like a freaking refugee, shoved in the back of a cart to get to a new country. A country with the promise of salvation, but really, it's just the place where worse crap is waiting for me.

"Raph. You awake, bro?"

"Mike?"

"Yep."

"Mikey?" I feel behind me. A wall. I lean against it, "What the hell's going on here?"

I hear him sigh, "No idea."

"Is Leo here?"

"Yes, he's here." Leo's tone is dry, grim almost.

"Damn it." I rub a hand over my head, "Donnie?"

"Still drugged." Leo supplies, "Some kind of gas while we were fighting."

I don't answer for a moment, "So ya know where we are?"

"The back of a van?" Leo almost laughs, but sighs at the mast minute, "All we know. They stripped our weapons though."

My hands fly to my belt. Just like Leo said. Nothing there.

"So now what?"

"We wait." Mikey's voice is hushed, serious and I grit my teeth. Not even five minutes and things were already starting to go to heck. Figures.

I sigh and leaned back on the cold metal, shaking my head. I hate waiting. Hate it with a burning passion. Now it was the only thing we could do. I could already feel the buzz in my muscles, the aching need to just move.

"This is bullshit."

And for once, Leo doesn't comment on my wording.

*0*

I was half asleep. Didn't realize it till Donnie started to wake up. He made this little, half-groaning sounds and sat up.

"Ouch."

I could almost sense him looking around. Could imagine the disorientation, the confusion in his eyes. The way he scanned every possible little detail before loosing his cool.

Better give him some hard, cold facts then. I reached out and touched his arm. I try not to startle him, but I managing to do it anyway. Always do. He gave a weird, yelping sound and reached behind his back where his Bo normally rested.

"Calm down, braniac."

Mikey, Leo, feel free to jump in anytime here. Leave me to deal with the panicked brother why don't you.

"What? Raph?" His breathing hitches but I can hear the stain. The forced calm, "Where are we? Where are Mikey and Leo? What happened and where is my Bo?"

Resorting to facts in order to keep a cool head. Nice, "We're in da back of some van." Start with the drop-dead obvious, "Mikey and Leo are right here, we were attacked and all our weapons got taken."

Even in the dark I could tell that he was staring at me. Feel his eyes on me. I always hated that. How he could look right through you. Worse than Leo, "Shell…"

Doesn't sound like it's coming back to him though. He sounds vague. Out of it. Donnie should never sound like that.

I say nothing.

"Is anyone seriously hurt?" Don asked

Mikey finally speaks, "No. Your wrist is a bit messed up. Raph was hit on the head so nothing important lost there." I ignore the jab, "I'm fine. Couple of scrapes. Dunno about Leo though. He says he's fine. Passed out just after Raph did, though. He seemed pretty tied."

We lapse into silence.

Mikey and Don. My younger brothers. 'S a burden… knowing you couldn't do dick to protect them in the end. Never can. Leo went though that whole funk because of it. Not surprised.

Someone gets injured, who gets blamed? The one in charge. The one in charge is too stubborn to pass the blame where it's due.

Responsibilities. Older brothers.

Gotta talk to Leo about this when we get outta here.

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