Title: All Falls Down (2k12)
Rating: T
"Hold on Mikey! Just hold on little brother!" Leo panted as he ran with Mikey on his back. He didn't want to jostle him, but he had no choice but to run as fast as he could.
Mikey wasn't always the most obedient, but he valued what his brothers told him. Leo said to hold on, and Mikey was trying. He was trying so hard, but it hurt. The pain was so intense it numbed his mind. A sliver of a smile ghosted across Mikey's face. Raph would have called him a numbskull.
Leo's lungs burned as well as his thighs as he kept them churning. His breaths came in ragged hot bursts, but he had to keep going. They were almost back to the lair, they just had to be.
"Raph," Leo tried to shout but it only came out as a hot wheeze through his clenched teeth.
"On your six Leo," Raph responded through ragged pants of his own. They had been running forever it seemed. Raph couldn't look at Mikey right now, so he just kept his eyes trained forward. He'd stopped hearing footsteps a while back, so there was at least that small comfort. They weren't being followed for now.
"M'sleepy Leo, so tired…" Mikey drawled out. His eyes drooped closed and a line of drool escaped from his mouth and trailed along Leo's shell. He wanted to wipe it off. He hadn't drooled on any of his brothers since they were children. They weren't children anymore. If that point had never been driven home to him before, then it was driven home with great effectiveness tonight.
Leo had heard his brother but just didn't have the air to spare in response. On cue he felt the dead weight of a sleeping Mikey on his back. He couldn't allow it. If he wanted to save Mikey, then he couldn't allow him to lose consciousness. He would hate himself later for doing this, but he jumped a little, knowing that it would jostle Mikey a lot more than he was right now. The pain made Mikey's eyes water, and he'd bitten his tongue and now it was also bleeding. He was awake now though, more awake than he'd ever been in his life.
"Mikey quit foolin' around. You're twenty-six years old now, you'd think you was still fifteen or somethin'," Raph chided in hushed tones.
"Tell that to Mondo, he's the one poking me," Mikey said, knowing that he was pushing it with Raphael.
"If I have to speak to you two about the importance of stealth on a mission like this, I'm going home," Leo whispered without turning around. Raph shot Mikey a look that said he seconded that motion. Mikey shrunk his head down a little, properly chastened. Mondo had the audacity to let a giggle escape him which earned him a look from Mikey in response.
When Leo raised a hand and clenched his fist they all went completely silent. Mikey, Raph, and Mondo peered over the edge of the roof. The wind was up and sent a chilled breeze coming off the ocean. Their mask tails flapped in the wind so badly, that they were forced to knot them in the backs of their heads. The sun had just set which was very risky for them but it couldn't be helped. April and a host of innocent mutants were being held prisoner, and from the intelligence they had, they were all set to be executed. They had to act fast or else mourn the loss of innocent lives…again.
They'd gone down into the building. Leo had given Mondo what he thought was a simple task. Just look out and warn them of danger coming their way. That was it that was all. He figured the gecko could handle that much at least. He was wrong. Leo hadn't thought it a good idea to bring Mondo along, but had no other choice really. He thought a million things could go terribly wrong with Mondo around. He was undisciplined, he was loud, and he managed to be more easily distracted than Mikey ever was and that was saying a lot. Most of all though Mondo couldn't fight, in fact he refused to learn and that made him more of a liability than anything. Almost more trouble than he was worth. Leo would never tell Mikey that, but it was true. He had thought on many occasions that Jason Mondo was going to get them or himself seriously hurt or killed one of these days. Before the night was over, Leo would see the horrible truth of that come into fruition.
"Almost there Mikey," Leo gasped out. His legs felt all jittery and heavy and hot. Just a little more to go. He could see the familiar bend of the tracks coming up and soon he was looking at the rusted turnstiles.
Amazingly he had the strength to hurdle them, and heard Raphael right behind him. Leo made a beeline into Donnie's old lab area. He hastily laid Mikey out on the metal gurney as careful as he possibly could. Raphael helped without having to be asked. Leonardo took a look down and had to force himself not to look away. Mikey's left arm was a mess. A completely mangled bloody mess starting just above the elbow. Out of sheer habit Leo almost turned to Donnie for instruction on what to do, but Donnie wasn't there. Donnie was gone. He'd left one day after a particularly hurtful argument with April involving Casey, and he'd never come back. That was three months ago. Leo felt a literal pain in his heart just thinking about it, but shook his head to clear his mind. Mikey was important right now. Not the pain of losing Donnie, and not his strong resentment and blame for April as the root cause of that loss.
"Raph I need you to get the bag of morphine in Donnie's stash," his heart constricting again at the mention of Donnie's name. He had to move past that, but also he had to think of what would Donnie do in this situation.
Donnie would have the situation under control. Donnie would put his emotions to the side and work on his brother like had done so many countless times before.
Leo would have to simply do the same.
"Bring me Donnie's surgery kit, all the bandages you can find, the anesthetic gas, and the big bottle of Iodine," Leo said as he removed his tattered bloodied mask from Mikey's arm and placed a real tourniquet on it. All of Donnie's things had detailed written instructions for their purpose and use, just in case he wasn't there to help or he himself was too hurt to do it. Even in his absence Donnie's forethought had saved their lives.
"It's gonna be okay Mikey, I promise," Leo cooed to his brother who was looking up at him with his large blue eyes.
Raph had brought him all the tools plus a bowl of warm water for the surgery and a bowl of cool water just in case. Leo was grateful. He dipped his hand in the cool water and placed in on Mikey's forehead. Mikey never took his eyes off his brother as they welled up with tears. He wasn't crying because it hurt although he had never experienced such an intense pain before.
Mikey was crying because it took this, for him to understand. He had never thought their many fights with the Shredder, the Foot, the Kraang, or the Purple Dragons and a host of other enemies over the years were jokes. He took the fights seriously for the most part, but there was always a sense of invincibility. He and his brothers would always make it out, always find a way, and always return home whole and together. They got dinged up here and there, a good scare in between dings, but they would never be killed. They were brothers, they were family, and as long as they were in it together they would make it out together, and now he saw that that was never true. It had never been true not one damned time.
Leo had prepped the IV drip.
"I'm sorry bro," Mikey slurred as he was overcome by the anesthetic.
"I love you Mikey," came the reply as it drifted to him on a cloud.
It took a few hours. Leo was meticulous and scared, but he and Raph had done it. Mikey's life was saved, but not his arm. They had to amputate it. It couldn't be saved, and even if it could neither of them had the knowledge or equipment to make it so. Mikey was resting now, the stump of his arm wrapped and bandaged, and the morphine drip was going for the pain. Raph had done the 'honors' of disposing of Mikey's severed appendage. Raph had placed his own injuries aside to help him deal with Mikey, and Leo didn't know how to repay him for it.
Now Raphael tended to his own burns, cuts, and bruises. Leo tried to help him but was shooed away. Any other time that would have started a passionate argument, but tonight Leo understood it completely. Raph needed to deal with things in his own way as he always had. When he was done, Raphael left the lab and went to his own room. Leo settled in for his watch over Mikey. He rubbed his little brother's forehead as he slept. He knew Mikey would ask about Mondo whenever he woke up, but Leo didn't want to think about how to tell him that his best friend was dead. Another casualty in this escalating war between mutants and humans.
