A/N: Here's the first chapter. It's what's happening in the lair after they all wake up. You'll figure somethings out, but some are still out of our reach. I hope you enjoy.

A/N(2): So I added some changes, but they're closer to the end. Not a whole lot of change. Hope they're okay.

Disclaimer: Do not own TMNT. If I did, Mikey would have a hell of a lot more parts and episodes focused on him.

Chapter 1

The residents of the lair looked around in silence. They made the resolution to not give up and fight for their baby brother, but when they woke up that morning from a restless sleep, it hit them harder than they had expected. Their baby brother, who was always happy and bright, was wearing black. He had joined the foot ninja clan. Their sworn enemy! How were they supposed to handle this situation? This crappy, and heart breaking situation.

Splinter looked at the lost teenagers in front of him. April and Casey were taking this almost as hard as the three eldest turtles had. In the span of the year or so since the two humans had entered their lives, they had become close and attatched to the mutant family. Splinter would admit with out a problem that Casey and April had become like children to him. The aura around everyone in the room was dimmed and sad. 'And the only one who can fix it is not here to do so.' Splinter lamenated to himself.

"THIS ISN'T RIGHT!" Donatello cried angrily out of the blue, knocking over a chair as he breathed heavily. "MIKEY SHOULD BE HERE AND HE ISN'T! WHY?!" the group looked on in surprise. None of them had expected this from the usually gentle turtle. But it did make sense. Mikey and Don had always been close.

"Donatello calm down!" Splinter said. Don turned firey red/brown eyes on his sensei. "We will get him back, but destroying the lair and our selves will not do it." Splinter told him gently. Don sighed and sat heavily on the ground, hugging his knees to his chest.

"I just want him here." Don said.

"We do too Don, and we will get him back." Raph assured the purple turtle. Don sighed and nodded.

"My sons, was Michelangelo acting strange yesterday at all?" Splinter asked. They shook their heads.

"No, he was his normal goofy and annoying self." Raph grumbled. Leo and Don nodded.

"He seemed himself during training yesterday morning." Splinter sighed, having gotten no where with his question.

"I thought you guys had taken patrol off last night?" Casey suddenly said.

"We did, why?" Leo asked.

"It's just, why was Mikey out in the city last night then? I mean he sent us a message to meet him on that roof top last night. He didn't send that from here." Casey answered puzzled.

"You're right Casey." April said, but they all noticed the three turtles paling in horror and guilt.

"My sons, what do you know of this event?" Splinter asked, voice grave.

"Like we said, Mikey was being his usual, annoying self." Raph began.

"Mikey was in full prankenstein mode yesterday. He got a little crazy with them." Leo said.

"He pranked me." Don began. "I was really stressing over this new invention of mine." he sighed. "I was out of it and didn't notice the bucket of glitter water on the lab door." Don looked self loathing as he finished. "I yelled at him. I told him I didn't have time for his stupidity." Don gave a choked sob. "I drove my baby brother out! I drove him into the arms of our enemy!"

"Oh Don. It wasn't you. It was me." Raph said, grabbing the turtles shoulder. "I-it was me. It had to be." he said sorrowfully. "I was just being a jerk. He had put some fake roaches in my cereal box. After I got a hold of him, I gave the usual noogie after a wrestling match." he said, pausing for a moment. "Then I went off, yelling at him to stop being a nucience. So if any one drove him out, it was me." Raph said, every bit of self hatred directed to himself.

"No Raph. It was me. He pranked you guys before me. He got me a couple hours before he sent that text message." Leo swallowed harshly. "I was practicing my katas in the dojo when it was suddenly filled with smoke. I couldn't see for awhile. When it dispersed, I was covered in pink paint. I didn't even feel the paint. Then Mikey was there, a can of paint next to him. I got angry and I started lecturing him. I told him he needed to grow up and he needed to put his energy into doing something useful or more productful. I didn't even let him talk. When I finished the lecture I told him to take a run in the sewers to burn off his energy because I wasn't going to put up with him if he was going to continue being a child." Leo finished, his voice barely a whisper. "I'm the one to blame, not you two." he told his brothers. Any one could see the way that Leonardo's eyes darkened with self hatred and extreme guilt at what he had said.

"While you three should never have taken your anger out on your brother the way you did," Splinter began after a moment of silence. "I very much doubt that your behavior was the cause of your brother's decision to become a member of the foot clan." he finished.

"The how else do you explain the knucklehead running to the Shredder's clan." Raph bit out bitterly.

"Your brother still loves all of us dearly. He said he was paying the price for his choice. Your words were the cause of him leaving the lair last night, that's true, but not the ultimate decision he had come too." Splinter said firmly.

"I still feel like it's my fault." the trio muttered in unison.

"Then when we see your brother again, you can apologize to him for those words." Splinter told them. The trio nodded.

"But if they aren't the reason, then why?" April asked, frustrated.

"That is a question only Michelangelo can answer I'm afraid." Splinter sighed.

"In that case, we should go out there tonight, find Mikey, and then take him by force." Leo said, his tone revealing just how serious he was about that plan of action. "What?" he asked, seeing their looks of disbelief.

"Nothing, it's just that you're sounding like Raph there Leo." Don answered.

"It sounds like a good plan to me." Leo defended.

"You're right fearless." Raph said. "Let's just waltz into Shredhead's lair, search all 40 floors of the place to find the one room Mikey might be in. Then we'll grab him. Tie him up, and throw him in a bag. Then we'll just waltz right back out." Raph's voice was brimmed with sarcasm.

"Glad you agree. I'll go get the rope." Leo said standing. He was pulled to a halt by Donatello.

"It won't work Leo. Mikey's a trained ninja and he'd just get out of the ropes." Don then added in a serious tone. "We'll need chains. I have some strong chains in my lab. I'll go get them. You get the duck tape and Raph can find a large duffle or something for us to shove him in." Don told him. Leo nodded and was about to go off when Splinter grabbed both his sons' arms.

"Enough you two! We are not going to kidnap your brother." they looked at him in betrayal. Didn't their father want the youngest back? "Yet, anyways." Splinter finished. "Kidnapping Michelangelo will be a last resort. Though I would more likely call it -Forceful Re-collection." he answered their looks. The duo were relieved.

"Seriously?" Raph asked. "It's not like fighting Mikey will be easy. He was going easier on us than we were on him, in case you didn't notice. If he made this decision, then he'll fight. Not to mention, do you really think Shredhead will let his newest weapon against us go so easily?" Raph asked. "Don't get me wrong, I like the plan of kidnapping Mikey. But we got to really think about every detail that could go against us." he stressed.

"Weird. Leo sounds like Raph. Raph sounds like Leo. And Don has fully embraced the evil genius side of his already crazy smartness." Casey said in awe. "Damn, the ammo Mikey would have with this." he couldn't help but comment. They were all frozen by that.

It was true. What the hell?!

"Be that as it may my sons. We must come up with a plan to try and get Michelangelo with out force if we can." Splinter told them, getting back on topic. The group all nodded and they all sat in silence.

"What do you think his orders were last night?" April suddenly asked, making them look at her in confusion. "Remember, he said last night the objective wasn't to kill or capture any one. And no one got seriously hurt, despite the opportunities. I mean, him and those ninjas had us all pressed. He got a hit on all of us and held his own against Master Splinter. Holding back or not. And Fishface said he did good. So he must have completed his two orders." she explained. This had them all thinking. It was Raph who figured it out.

"He was trying to break us." Raph's voice came out hoarse and pained. Their baby brother's orders had been to break their spirits. And it had started to work.

"Raphael is correct. Our spirits are all shaken and have dimmed at the events that took place. But I believe that his true objective was for Michelangelo to prove his loyalty." Splinter agreed.

"I refuse to allow him to stay there." Leo growled.

"Yah. We need him here." Don agreed.

"Then we will need to fight with every thing we have to get our youngest back. But, we owe it to Michelangelo to at least find out the truth of what happened as well. Just as he owes us answers to our questions." Splinter told them. They nodded.

"Can you track him down with the t-phone still?" Raph asked Don.

"Nope. I tried to do it before I went to bed last night. He has his tracker off, so it'll have to be by luck that we find him again." Don answered.

"Can you track his movements after he left the lair last night?" Casey asked, surprising everyone there with his suggestion.

"I-I can actually. If we re-trace his steps from when he left, maybe we can get some clues to this whole thing!" Don exclaimed, surprising them when he hugged Casey. "I'll go get to work on that. I'll make a map we can follow." with that Don shot into his lab. Casey was still shocked that the brainy turtle had still hugged him. April chuckled at the boy's reaction.

"I'll start something for breakfast. If we're going to investigate all of this, we're going to need the energy to do it." she said, heading for the kitchen.

"I'll meditate on the matter. Perhaps the spiritual plains can give us some answers as well." Splinter said, heading to his room.

"I say we still get the stuff we'll need to kidnap Mikey." Leo said. He was not going to let that idea go any time soon it would seem.

"I'll help." Casey agreed, Raph nodded. The trio headed off to get what ever they may need to grab their baby brother. The lair was filled with an energy as they all had a plan. They'd find out the truth to the matter, and they would get their baby brother back.

A/N: There's the first chapter. We'll get Mikey on the next chapter. And Maybe, we'll find out what happened to Mikey to make him join Shredder willingly. Then again, I might keep it a secret for a while longer. Review and tell me what you think, or Mikey may for ever be in Shredder's clutches.