Chapter 21: That Song in Your Head

A/N: And here is yet another chapter ready to be read by my readers. Now we will see if Mikey gets rescued before revenge can be sought. Thanks to those who have read and reviewed thus far. Your kind words mean the world to me and make me smile when I read them. Major thanks to Illusionann for letting me borrow your characters and messing with them a bit. I really hope you enjoy this chapter.

Disclaimer: TMNT and all related characters are property of Nickelodeon. The Phoenix, her children, and any other characters from The Other Side of the City are property of Illusionna and are used with permission from the author. I only own the plot and Danielle Enderly.

"Mikey should be back by now," Leo sad as he fidgeted with worry.

"He's probably busy lookin' at the comics again," Raph grumbled. "You know how he gets."

"Yeah, but he said he'd only be a half hour and it's been an hour," Leo replied. "I think we should go look for him."

Donnie accessed the tracker function on the T-Phone. "He's stationary at the Byerly Building," he reported.

"He's probably lookin' at the cars or somethin' like that," Raph predicted.

Leo didn't care what Raph said. "Let's get over there and make sure he's okay."

The Turtles and the Children of the Phoenix headed out, hoping against hope that Mikey was merely sitting on the building and daydreaming as he sometimes tended to do. When they reached the edifice, a horrible sight met their eyes. Mikey's T-Phone was sitting on the roof of the building along with his gear and weapons, but Mikey was nowhere in sight.

"Who could have taken him?" Aries asked.

"Shredder," answered Leo. "Maybe this is revenge for failing to capture the Phoenix."

"Let's go after him!" Raph declared.

Leo shook his head. "We need to plan first. Let's go back to the Lair and let Sensei and Mom know what's happened and go from there."

Raph wasn't happy about this, but he didn't argue and followed everyone back to the Lair to report their missing brother.

22222

"Ninety-nine boxes of pizza on the wall. Ninety-nine boxes of pizza. You take one down and you pass it around. Ninety-eight boxes of pizza on the wall."

Mikey was bored being locked up in a cell and since he had recovered from whatever was in that dart, he decided the best thing to do was to sing. Unfortunately, not everyone was a fan of his choice of songs.

"Would you please just stop with that infernal racket?" Tiger Claw groaned. The tiger cursed his luck that he was put on guard duty.

"What's the matter, Boo Boo Kitty?" Mikey taunted. "Are you jealous 'cause you can't sing as good as I can?"

"My name is not Boo Boo Kitty," Tiger Claw said.

"That's your nickname," Mikey said. "I got it off Empire. You should totally check it out. Cookie Lyon is a boss!"

"I have no time to watch such senseless drivel," said Tiger Claw. "Now, be quiet like a good little prisoner."

Instead of listening to Tiger Claw, Mikey continued to sing his own rendition of "Ninety-Nine Bottles of Beer on the Wall." After he finished that song, he moved on to a few by Katy Perry and then sang more songs by other artists to get his mind off things. This is one way he calmed himself down though they all had their methods of doing so. Raph's way was to bust up punks with Casey, Leo liked to meditate, and Donnie liked tinkering in his lab. But Mikey's way was signing and he did it all the time to just try and relieve tense situations. He'd done it while they were at the farmhouse and had even sung to Leo hoping that his voice would rouse his older brother. Raph had made the comment that Mikey's singing would keep Leo in a coma forever, which made Mikey furious.

To say he wasn't worried would be an understatement. He was terrified of what they wanted to do with him. He had overheard Danielle and Rahzar talking about revenge, and he had a pretty good idea as to why this was going to happen. He just hoped his brothers would rescue him before that plan came to pass.

Rocksteady came to relieve Tiger Claw of guard duty, and he certainly didn't mind Mikey's signing at all. He actually liked it and they got into a discussion about their favorite artists though Rocksteady had some that Mikey had never heard of.

"You know, if you weren't my sworn enemy, I think we could have been friends," Mikey said.

"Dah, I am feeling the same way about you," Rocksteady said. "Is shame that Comrade Bradford is planning on torturing you for the information."

Mikey's blue eyes widened at this. "What information?"

"I do not know what it is, but I do know that he is planning on using the torture to do it."

Okay, that wasn't a good sign. Mikey tried not to imagine the horrible things he would endure at the hands of his old friend, Chris Bradford. Trying to shake the feeling away, he started humming again to alleviate his nervousness.

Not long after, Rahzar and Danielle came in and told Rocksteady to leave.

"It's time for the punishment," Rahzar said with a maniacal grin.

"Um, what punishment?" Mikey quavered.

"You'll see," said Danielle. She unlocked his cell and released his chains so Rahzar could drag him by the hand.

"C'mon, Rad Brad, do you really want to do this?" Mikey begged. "We used to be best buds. Remember when we shared pizza on that rooftop? Remember when I introduced you to my toenails? I totally miss that, dude!"

Rahzar paused to put Mikey down and glared at him. "We were never friends, freak," he said. "I was using you to get to your father."

"But you must have felt something there, right? I know I did."

"I felt nothing. Now, it's time for you to give up some information." He led Mikey to a room and put him on a table while Danielle strapped him down.

"Uh, is this considered legal?" Mikey whimpered.

"It is in the Foot Clan," Danielle answered.

"Now, Turtle, I want to know where the secret Lair of yours is," Rahzar said.

"Like I'm gonna tell you!" Mikey snapped.

"But I thought we were friends, Michelangelo," said Rahzar. "Friends share secrets, right?"

"You just said you weren't my friend, so I'm not sharing anything with you."

"Then it looks like I'll have to use other means," Rahzar said.

Danielle came forward with a taser gun and hit Mikey in the plastron with it. The Turtle cried out in pain until the gun was taken away.

"That hurt, didn't it?" Rahzar purred. "If you don't want her to do that again, then you'll have to start talking."

Mikey shook off the lingering effects of the stun gun. "No," he said. "I'd rather die!"

"That will be arranged though it won't be the quick death you want," said Rahzar.

Danielle gave him another round with the stun gun and then moved on to dousing his head in water. Each time, Mikey refused to give in and disclose the location of the Lair.

"Let's take him back to his cell and give him a rest," Rahzar said. "Then we can try again later."

Mikey was thrown back in his cell and curled up in a fetal position. This definitely wasn't what he wanted, but he would rather die than to betray his family. He began humming a song from some musical about favorite things and hoped it would chase away the lingering pain he still felt.

22222

Splinter had a nagging feeling that something was wrong, and his belief was confirmed when his sons stepped through the door without Michelangelo with them.

"He's gone, Sensei," Leonardo said as he bowed his head. "They took him."

Splinter's ears flattened at this news and his eyes filled with rage. He tried to take a deep breath because he didn't want his sons to see how angry he was. "This is very distressing but not surprising."

"Why would they just take Mikey though?" Raph asked.

"Maybe it's revenge for how we rescued the Phoenix," Leo answered. "They couldn't achieve their plan with her, so they decided to take Mikey to make a statement."

"If he's in the same holding cell I was, it will be easy to get to him," Phoenix said.

"Maybe so, but we still need to be alert and vigilant," Leo replied.

Splinter put a paw on his son's shoulder. "Bring him home," he said.

"We will, Sensei," Leo promised.

After they left to plan, Splinter lapsed into thoughts about Michelangelo. He remembered the young Turtle begging him to stay up later to watch TV, crying because he wasn't getting his turn at the fun toys, curling up in his father's lap for cuddles, and going to his room when he had a nightmare and wanted Splinter to stop it. He only hoped that his son wasn't broken and that he would remain brave for as long as he could.

"He'll come home," Phoenix reassured him. "Mikey's tough."

"I know," Splinter whispered as he hugged her tightly.

22222

Mikey was still in a lot of pain from the next torturing session which involved a hose of cold water and a cattle prod of all things right in his cell. Still, he wasn't going to give up and betray his brothers.

Danielle unlocked his cell with a tray of food and a glass of water. "Are you ready to talk yet?" she asked him.

"Nope. Hey, what's your deal anyway? Why are you hanging out with Rad Brad and Shredder?"

"I trained under Chris Bradford after I left my parents," she answered. "I was recruited by Shredder to join the Foot Clan and improve my skills. I left them to pursue my own venture towards getting rid of mutants, but I decided to come back here once I found out exactly what Shredder was trying to do. You freaks are a thorn in his side, and all he wants to do is get rid of you."

"True, but you're better than that," Mikey said. "You could have any job you want, and you choose to stay here and torture me for your own amusement. You hurt Tony too. Why don't you just get out of the Foot and do your own thing?"

"Because they are my family," she answered. "You better eat because you need your strength for the next session."

After she left, Mikey ate the food and drank the water. He had to think about how to get out of here and do it quickly. He had hoped appealing to Danielle using compassion would have worked, but she was too smart to fall for that trick. He had to try something else, and it wasn't going to be easy without any weapons. Still, he was a ninja and he knew he could do this and get out of here if at all possible. He just had to have the perfect opportunity.

A few hours later, they took him out of the cell and to the same room they had used before. Mikey pretended to be weak from the torture even though he was anything but weak. Just as they were leading him to the table, he reached up and head butted Rahzar hard, causing the mutant to loosen his grip. That was all Mikey needed to twist free from him and hit the ground.

"You little punk!" Rahzar growled. He came at Mikey again, but Mikey reached up and grabbed his ear, giving it a firm yank. The wolf mutant yelped as Mikey kept twisting the ear hard.

"How do you like that?" Mikey taunted.

Danielle tried to yank him away, but Mikey kicked her hard, sending her flying. Rahzar managed to free himself from Mikey's grip, and Danielle grabbed him from behind. The Turtle struggled and managed to steal the small knife that was stuck in her belt. He jabbed it in her side, causing her to cry out and stabbed Rahzar in the shoulder.

The commotion brought Rocksteady into the room, but Mikey had a plan for him too. As the rhino went at him, Mikey held up a hand which stopped him in his tracks.

"Pick two," Mikey said holding out his fingers.

Rocksteady picked the first two fingers and Mikey poked him in the eyes with them. The rhino yelled in pain as Mikey ran as fast as he could out of the room. He was ecstatic that he had been able to escape, but his victory was short-lived as something hit him in the side and Bebop materialized before him.

"Aw, shell!" Mikey cursed.

"Looks like someone was tryin' to escape, but you can't get away that easily, dawg," Bebop gloated.

Mikey tried to fight him off, but Bebop kept on hitting him while turning invisible. Mikey knew he would have to try another tactic to get the mutant away from him. Looking around, he saw a fire extinguisher and grabbed it, spraying it in the mutant's direction and revealing him. Mikey used a pressure point to render him unconscious.

"Score one for the Turtles, son!" Mikey gloated.

Just as he was leaving, he was blocked by Tiger Claw.

"You are going nowhere, cub," the tiger mutant declared.

"That's what you think," Mikey said. He took Danielle's knife and swiped it across Tiger Claw's face, barely missing his other eye.

"You will pay for that!" Tiger Claw snarled. He pulled out his blaster sand began firing them in all directions. Mikey dodged the blasts and then used the knife to shield himself from one that was headed toward his face. It ricocheted and hit Tiger Claw in the face, causing him to be frozen.

"Aw, yeah, I'm on a roll!" Mikey gloated.

"Think again!" Xever said as he kicked Mikey in the stomach. Mikey doubled over from the pain, but he knew he had to get the best of the mutant fish.

He dodged the next kick but was caught off guard as Xever grabbed him around the stomach and kept him there. Mikey kicked his legs but couldn't get out of the mutant fish's grip.

"It looks like your little plan was a failure," Xever gloated. "Perhaps I should put you out of your misery."

"Let him go, Fishface!" a voice snarled.

Mikey looked up just as Raph jumped down and landed on the mutant fish. Xever tried to buck him off, giving Mikey the opening to get out of his clutches. Then Mikey took the knife and stabbed Xever's shoulder, causing him to yell in pain as Raph jumped off him.

"Dude, thanks for coming," Mikey said.

"No problem," said Raph. "Thought you might want these." He handed Mikey his weapons, and Mikey cradled them lovingly. Xever regained his feet and tried to launch another attack, but Mikey hit him with his weapons, knocking him out.

"Where are the others?" he asked.

"Fighting off the Foot," Raph answered. "We gotta meet up with them at the Lair." He threw down a smoke bomb in case there was anyone else coming to head them off, and they made their escape.

22222

Mikey sighed as he felt his mother use her power to heal him from his injuries. The physical pain would leave, but the mental scars would remain for some time. He was definitely sure of that.

"How are you feeling, Sunshine?" the Phoenix asked him.

"Better than I was," he answered. "Thanks, Mom."

"No problem," she said.

"What happened to you?" Leo asked his brother.

"They were torturing me for info about the Lair, but I never cracked once," answered Mikey proudly.

"Raph told me about your escape plan," said Leo. "That was quick thinking on your part. Good job, Mikey."

"Thanks, Leo," said Mikey.

"You were very brave to stand up to them as you did," Splinter praised him. "I am proud of you, my son."

"Thanks, Sensei."

"You seem to be in pretty good shape thanks to Mom's healing you," declared Donnie. "I think it would be fine if you went to your room to rest for a bit."

"That sounds like a prudent idea," Splinter agreed.

Mikey was happy and went to his room to sleep for a bit. He knew it would take some time to heal from the incident, but as long as he had his family and friends around him, he would be fine in time. But he was proud of himself for not giving in and revealing the location when anyone else probably would have cracked. They mistook him for weak and he wasn't. He had fooled them and now they would know that Michelangelo Hamato was not one to be messed with when it came to his family and friends. With that last thought in his head, Mikey fell asleep and hoped that tomorrow would be a new day.

A/N: Finished another chapter and I am very happy with it. I figured it was time to have Mikey shine for once and prove that he isn't weak as some authors tend to portray him. I hope you enjoyed this chapter and I hope to have another one as soon as I can think of what it will be about. Feel free to leave a review and have a shelltastic day.