Nose Over Tail
Chapter 1:
Stupid Kid

3 months earlier

There was a constant and steady click from the pecking of a keyboard, a continual flicker in the distance of candlelight, and an off and on clatter of weapons. Michelangelo ground his teeth, for this first time in his nineteen years of living he was bored and unable to entertain himself. He was distracted by Donatello hacking away at the keyboard, sidetracked by Leonardo's meditating candles, and annoyed by Raphael's non stop practice.

Mike didn't bother letting anyone know he was leaving, he just disappeared. They always seemed to notice when he did things wrong, but made a point not to take note when he did things right. Today was a right day, he wished he could just be non existent. Mike sighed, they didn't know, they wouldn't understand…he had feelings just like all of them, and just because all they saw was the happy side that didn't mean the other sides didn't exist. Lately depression had been happening more then Mike would have liked, he was somehow beginning to realize that he and his brothers were unlike anyone else in the world and that meant a long life of solitude. It didn't ease his mind to hear that turtles lived naturally long lives, most exceeding 100.

Mike didn't understand how any of the other guys could take it so well, they had to know they'd be lonely for the rest of their lives. He'd seen it on TV, everybody needed friends. Sure they had April and Casey, on occasion, but that wasn't enough…that didn't suffice. Mike was a socialite, he was a butterfly of conversation, a ham, all the things that required an audience and his limited audience was getting bored with him. His brothers could tolerate his jokes and carefree center-of-attention personality for a short while before they ignored him or threatened to beat the life out of him. Master Splinter was more patient with him, but too often his goofing around turned into lecture material about how he needed to be more serious. April was polite enough to suffer through Mike's vat of useless TV knowledge, but she wasn't around often enough to entertain him, and Casey (when he was around) was usually arguing with Raph or hitting on April.

Mike's train of though had been as tangent as his direction when he left the lair, and now he found himself without any indication of his location. He frowned.

Mike distinctly heard someone heading in his direction.

"Just great," he moaned. Somehow, he knew that his bout of self pity was about to come to an end. Silently he slipped into the shadows, extracting his 'chucks, once he found himself completely hidden.

The pounding of foot steps headed his way gave Mike a slight sense of anxiety. There was definitely more than one set. He was somewhere between glad there was something distracting him from his unease, yet slightly annoyed that someone was interrupting him. He peeked out from the shadows of the nook that he had wedged himself in just in time to catch a glimpse of a cloaked figure running past carrying something big and bulky. Right on the tail of the burdened figure was three massive creatures, also concealed in brown burlap cloaks.

Mike didn't think, he didn't even consider any other alternative. He reached his foot out and caught the last large guy by his ankle taking him off balance and causing him to tumble forward and land hard on the sewer floor. Mike bounced out from his hiding spot prepared to fight. Though he knew nothing of the situation, he was fairly certain anything in which an out numbering of three to one was something he needed to help get involved in.

At the crashing sound of their companion the other two halted and turned to see what the commotion was about. Mike saw the individual being pursued dart around a nearby corner. His attention was immediately brought back to the three goons he had opted to aggravate. Had he the time he might have made some snarky remark about how funny it was to leave him to deal with the big guys, but he was too distracted to be funny. The first Mike had decided to attack was just picking himself up from the inch of water running through the sewer drain, meanwhile the other two were approaching the lone turtle quickly. He, Mike, being out number three to one wasn't bothered at all, in fact, he hadn't realized he was out number at all. Unlike Raph he wasn't looking forward to the approaching battle with happy aggression, he was taking it like Mike always took fighting; light heartedly and with no sense of maturity for he had no real fear of loosing. His overconfidence blinded him from any other alternative.

The individual attempting to pull himself from the ground was unable to accomplish his task, as Mike decided to use his back as a springboard for throwing himself at the other two pursuers. Mike landed a flying kick in the nearest adversary's chest, slinging him backward. Mike hit the ground with grace, but didn't hold his dismount for more than a second before lunging toward the third man, landing one 'chuck after another in his chest.

With a heaving chest, Mike stepped back to look at his work. All three figures were strewn about the sewer floor moaning and groaning. He smiled, a lopsided Mike grin and turned to see if he could catch the first cloaked figure that was being chased. Mike's attempt to follow was quickly halted when he spun into the solid chest of a large individual before him. A malicious laugh echoed the sewer tunnel as Mike was lifted off his feet and tossed into a nearby wall.

"Ohhhh," Mikey shook his head, beyond his blurred vision he could make out at least another twelve large burly guys in cloaks – he reasoned that it could be six and perhaps he was seeing double. However, that thought in and of itself was staggering and worrisome to the turtle, if he cared at all. He managed an off hand comment, "I suppose you guys are friends of those dudes I just clobbered."

Mike didn't make it for the response, his eyes rolled back in his head, and the last thing he remembered was thinking, 'Man, those guys are strong. I'll have to remember next time not to let them catch me'.

::Author's Note::

We decided to post the preface and first chapter of this piece at the same time.

As before thank you for taking the time to stop by. We hope you enjoy this piece. Please, if you have a moment, let us know what you think - we'd love to hear.

- Stoic and Harley