Mikey had been patrolling the alleyways of New York for a few hours. He had stopped a few muggings, and all the men and women he had saved had run away from him screaming. This must be what it feels like to be Raph. His face felt naked with his bandanna on his arm, but it felt nice too. His wounds burned but the cool night air made them a little more bearable. "Maybe if I cut some eye holes in a garbage bag and then put that garbage bag on my head, the people wouldn't be so terrified of me." He tried that for his next attempted mugging, and not only did his mugee pass out, but the muggers all ran away. Mikey, exasperated, tore the bag off his head, and made sure that the old man had just fainted. The old man's eyes fluttered, locked on Mikey's face, and then he was back out like a light. The young turtle sighed. "You have got to kidding me." A passing policeman had heard the yelling and ran into the alleyway, but all he found was an unconscious old man, and a garbage bag with two holes in it.
Mikey sat dejectedly on a rooftop a few blocks away. "Looks like Turtle Titan is retired after all. Maybe I should just change my name to Scarface… but I think that's taken." A muffled scream brought him back to his senses, and he jumped to his feet. He was running, flying, adrenaline pumping through his veins, because he had heard more than just a muffled scream. He had heard the sound of metal slicing through skin, and then… a desperate gargling. He knew he had found the right alleyway when he smelled the blood. Hidden in the shadows, he saw a young girl lying on the ground, and the glow of a cigarette as the man who had did this to her dropped the knife and walked into the crowd. Mikey leapt down to try and stem the blood that gushed from a gash in her throat. Her white dress was torn and dirty; her eyes stared up at him as he tried to save her. They were wide and terrified. "Help! Someone help! This girl is dying!" A middle-aged women ran into the alleyway, and Mikey sunk into the shadows. "George! George, get in here. Call 911. A little girl is dying!" A man about her age, presumably her husband, ran in and pulled out his cell phone. The young girl, Mikey figured she must have been around thirteen, tilted her head. Her eyes searched for him, and when she found him, she smiled. Her knotted blond hair glowing like a halo around her head, she mouthed, "Thank you." And then her light went out.
Mikey checked out for a little while, and whenever he checked back in, he would find that his body was making its way back home. Then he would see the blood, and he would remember the man with the cigarette, and he would drift away again. On instinct, his body stopped a few rooftops away from his brothers and hid in the safety of the shadows. The shouts of his brothers and the clang of metal on metal dragged his soul back from the oblivion. They were fighting Foot nin and they were badly outnumbered. Mikey almost jumped right in, but then he saw Karai, and the remote she had, and he realized that as long as she had that remote, there was no winning the fight. She was playing with them, like a cat with mice. Why can't Leo fall for a girl who doesn't want to kill him? He watched restlessly as his brothers tried to fight their way through the Foot nin, until they began to slow, and the foot nin captured them with ease, kunai at their throats. Karai lowered her hover board. To gloat. As usual. Looks like its my turn.
"I never expected you to be defeated so easily. I don't suppose your quick defeat has anything to do with your missing brother?"
"Bite me." Raph grumbled.
"I never would have guessed that a clown-"
"Hey, only we can call him that!" Donatello interrupted.
"- would prove to be a necessary member of a team of ninjas."
"And I'm being ignored."
"I have always felt that little fool held you back, Leo." All three turtles glared murder at her.
"You-"
"Did somebody call for a fool?" Mikey leapt onto the rooftop, and even Karai was surprised. His hands and face were covered with blood, his bandages were dirty, and his bandanna strips were so stained with blood, they were almost black.
"Mikey!"
"Hey Donny, Leo, Raph, it's good to see you guys are getting along well without me."
"What happened to you?" Leo gasped. The Foot nin guarding him had pressed his kunai deeper into his skin.
Mikey's eyes seemed to lose focus as he said, "Don't worry, it's not my blood."
"Michelangelo!" Karai shouted. "Why did you come here, do you actually believe you can rescue your brothers?"
"No. I don't have the slightest hope of rescuing them, which is why I came to make a deal with you."
"Oh?"
"Release them. Swear to me you'll never harm my family, and in exchange, I'll swear my loyalty to you." Karai was taken aback by his bold statement.
"And why would I agree to something like that?"
"Because one living mutant turtle on your side is more profitable to you than four dead ones." Karai smiled.
"It seems I've underestimated you, Michelangelo." Raph and Donny struggled against their captors.
"Come on, Mikey, this isn't you. You don't have to do this!"
"Mikey! You've got a plan, right? You'd never-" Karai pressed a button on the remote and all three of them froze in white light. A quick glance told Mikey that Leo had been just about ready to throw his captor over his head. Both of his hands were clamped on his captor's forearms, a look of fierce concentration on his face. Probably planning his next two or three moves.
Michelangelo turned to Karai, "You've got their DNA in that remote, don't you?"
"Very good, Michelangelo. I have yours as well, so don't even think about trying to double cross me."
"Are you questioning my word as a ninja?" Karai fixed him a bemused smirk.
"Drop your weapon, Michelangelo." He unfastened his nunchuks and dropped them to the ground. "Kneel." She placed her katanna on his shoulder and paused. "It's strange. I always felt that Leo would be the one to join me." Michelangelo's slight smirk did not go unnoticed by his brothers. "Why do you wish to be a Foot nin?"
"I wish to change my fate."
"An impressive wish to be sure. Do you swear to follow our laws and my orders unconditionally?"
"As long as your orders do not breach our agreement, I will follow them."
"Will you protect me and your fellow brethren with your life?"
"Yes."
"Then stand, brother Michelangelo." He stood up, wobbled slightly, then regained his balance. "As par our agreement, your family will not be harmed. I will release them once we are safely back at headquarters." Her gaze softened, and she said, "Since you are one of us now, I will expect you to tell me what happened to you once we return." She boarded her hover board and flew off, her ninjas trailing her. Michelangelo looked down at his abandoned nunchuks and then at his blood soaked hands. With one last glance at his brothers, he growled, "Damn it all." And then leapt after his new master. He didn't look back.
Three white pods stretched from floor to ceiling in the experimentation room of the Foot. Karai stood with her lead scientist behind the control panel. "Is he ready, yet?"
"Wait for it… Yes!" The scientist pressed a button and one of the pods began to open. From within the billowing clouds of gas, a large turtle shell fell out. Karai ran forward, and lifted up the shell. Underneath it, a young man lay panting on the ground. He looked up at her defiantly with startling blue eyes, fiery red hair, and harsh scars on his face and chest. She smiled, and said, "Hello… brother."
