Okay, this chapter is way short, and I apologize for that, but I was busy last week, and the week before so it wasn't looking very good. Not to mention, I don't really think this chapter needed anything more without becoming cluttered, so it was probably best to just leave it as is.
Mikey sat in the main room of the lair, nonchalantly flipping through channels.
"Michelangelo, are you alright?" Splinter asked.
Mikey gave a loud sigh, leaning further into the couch. "I'm bored!" He shouted, throwing his hands up in distress. "There's nothing to do!"
"Well, where are your brothers?"
"Raph's out with Casey, and Leo's meditating or something, and Donnie got home and went straight to his dumb lab."
"His dumb lab?" Splinter asked, raising an eyebrow. "Is there a reason why Donatello's activity gets an insult while the others are left alone?"
Mikey looked up at his father and teacher, his frown deepening. "Ever since Donnie got all humafied I barely see him! He goes to school, then he comes home, and then he goes to his lab! It's only been like, three days and I feel like I haven't seen him in weeks!"
"Well, your brother has been put in a very unusual situation, Michelangelo." Splinter told him. "Have you ever thought that perhaps your brother is undergoing a lot of stress with this change?"
"Why would he be going through stress?"
"Your brother is suddenly human; suddenly different from the rest of his family. This is something even stranger than anything we have gone through together and it happened to your brother alone. He might think that he is going through this on his own, and perhaps he has realized that this might put a strain on his relationships with the rest of you. Perhaps, Michelangelo, he is afraid."
"He doesn't seem very afraid. He looks like he's having a bunch of fun with his new human friends." Mikey pouted.
"And Raphael is not? He is out with Casey now, is Casey not human?"
"Yeah, but, but, it's different!" Mikey shouted. "I don't know why you're making it all complicated when you know what I'm talking about!"
"Because, you should not be talking to me. You should be talking to your brother."
Mikey sighed, slumping back against the couch, and tossed the remote to the side. "He's probably busy or something." He said, then shook his head. "I'll go bother Leo. Later Sensei." He jumped up from the couch, his emotions doing a complete 180 as he headed off for his oldest brother.
Splinter let out a sigh of his own, worried for his youngest child. As well as the other three.
The youngest turtle doubled back from the dojo once Splinter left the room for the kitchen. He crept towards the lab, opening the door as silently as he could and looked in.
Donnie sat over his desk, writing in one of the notebooks Mikey could never make sense of. He looked back into his microscope before giving a frustrated sigh.
Mikey debated on leaving when Donnie got up to wash away the contents of the slide but the thought came too late as Donnie turned back around and saw him peeking in.
"Mikey, what are you doing?" He asked, a surprised look on his face.
"Um," Mikey started, putting on a big grin. "I was just gonna ask you if you wanted to play some video games or something?"
Donnie frowned and it made Mikey's smile falter. "I'd love to, Mikey, but I've got a lot of work to do."
Mikey's smile dropped completely. He had time for a football game but not to play video games with his brother? He tried to keep his anger out of his voice.
"But Donnie! I'm so bored! And Raph and Leo are both busy!"
"I'm sorry, Mikey, but I'm busy too."
Mikey frowned, "Whatever, then." He said, then walked back into the living room, shutting the lab door behind him.
Donnie sighed, dropping his equipment onto his desk. He leaned back in his chair, running his hands through his hair exasperatedly. He had done multiple tests to get any where's near reversing the second mutation, but they had all been failures. It seemed that this problem was going to be as difficult, if not more so, as the normal retro-mutagen.
At least he knew where to start with that.
He picked up a pencil and one of his notebooks, looking over his notes. Nothing about this mutation seemed right.
It seemed highly improbable that he would have come out of the mutagen with such a clean mutation. Whether April had been in there with him or not. It would have been a much more probable result if he had come out of it looking even slightly like a turtle, or at the very least having some sort of green pigmentation to his skin, anything, really. But he came out looking like your average teenage boy, if not with an unusual colour of eyes, but they were odd even as a turtle.
Unless, or course, it wasn't pure mutagen he had fallen into. Maybe Stockman had done something to it. Perhaps, trying to create his own retro-mutagen, since he was a fly-man now. In this case, it seemed irrelevant to be testing anything on the mutagen he had. He would have to collect some from Stockman's lab.
He threw his notebook back onto the table and twisted his chair around to face Timothy's frozen form. He tapped the pencil against his chin, deep in thought. "It'd be an easy enough mission, just sneaking in and getting a few samples if it was empty. Though, there was a higher chance that Stockman would be there. Which put a higher chance of Fishface, or Rahzar being there. It would probably be beneficial to have his brother's along with him, or at least one..."
"If we go out on patrol tomorrow night I could just go then. That seems like the easiest route to go on. I'm sure they won't mind too much." He twisted his chair back around and tossed his pencil onto his desk.
"I guess I could use a few hours of sleep anyways." He said, rubbing his eyes. He turned his head to check the clock on his computer. "Well, three hours will be fine, I'm sure."
He patted Tim's container lightly on his way to the door. He flicked the lights off, and closed the door behind him.
He crept across the lair to the bedroom hall, his wrappings muting the soft slapping that his bare feet would have given off. He peeked into Leo's room, glad to see his eldest brother still snoring softly, before moving across the hall and going into his room.
Walking to his bed, he picked up the few books he had left on the floor on his way and set them on his night stand.
He pulled his mask off, which he wore around the house as a comfort, ringing it around his bed post. He then set his phone on top of the books and all but fell into bed.
Okay, so the next chapter is much longer, and even though I have a really busy week this week as well, it should be out right on time.
I also think I'll have a new one shot out this week, which will be nice.
Okay, byyyyye~
