The darkness stirred, voices echoing into Mikey's ears. He didn't fully understand everything they were saying, but he managed to catch a few phrases.

"His shoulder's dislocated, you're going to have to snap it back in place."

"He's lost too much blood- needs blood transfusion."

"But he's a mutant turtle!"

"It's the only thing that we can do to save him!"

Mikey groaned, his vision still dark. What was going on? He could still hear their voices, the sound painful to his ears. Everything hurt, his body was on fire. Hands were touching him, the pain exploding.

Then he felt it, a hand on his right shoulder. The sound of bone popping, snapping back into place followed by excruciating pain that reverberated through his entire body. Mikey let out a blood-curling scream, his eyes flying open as he was blinded by the intensity of the light.

"Mikey!" He could feel gentle hands pushing him back against something soft. But he could only scream at the top of his lungs. The pain was too much, the light even hurt. He just wanted everything to end. "Dim the lights, Jones!"

The freckled terrapin continued to scream, tears streaming out from his eyes. His head was spinning, he felt dizzy. In that moment he caught a blurry image of April's face before he blacked out again.

Mikey didn't know how long he was out, but he was suddenly pulled back. His breaths came out ragged and sharp. He could still see them, his brothers, the blood that sprayed through the air. The way he screamed Donnie's name before the purple masked turtle was rendered unconscious. The bloody gash that tore across Leo's face, bleeding profoundly as it stained his bandana. The sight of bone sticking out from Raph's ankle, the swelling of purple and blue covering his lower foot.

And then the feeling of being suffocated, gasping for air. The last thing was the blinding and crushing impact that he felt. Mikey screeched, eyes ripping open as he spurted. His entire body was sweating. His heart was beating irregularly, like it could rip out from his plastron at any given moment.

"Mikey!" he felt a warm hand touching his forearm. He turned his head, breathing heavily as he came face to face with April. It was then that the turtle realized that a breathing mask was over his nose and mouth.

"Ap-" he croaked, his voice raw and coarse.

"It's okay, Mikey," she whispered soothingly. "You're gonna be okay…" That's when he recognized the other familiar teen that stood on the other side of his cot. Casey smiled at him, holding a thumbs up.

"Welcome back, dude."

Taking the opportunity to scrutinize his surroundings, Mikey found himself in some sort of white room. The walls were white, including the floor. He was lying on some sort of cot. There were many tubes attached to his body, IVs in his arms, one that was connected to a bag of red liquid. He could see the bandages on both April and Casey's arms. So they gave him blood? Not to mention there was a monitor beside him.

But wait! Mikey could feel himself panic. He wasn't in the lair! He wasn't in the lab! "I'm in a hospital!?" He exclaimed, despite his dry voice. April quickly reached out to stop him from ripping out the IVs from his arms.

"It's okay, Mikey. Casey and I managed to speak with some doctors to help you. At first, they thought that we were crazy. But I begged them to help you, for you were my friend. A doctor and a vet managed to save you. Casey and I donated some blood, along with the vet who also inserted turtle blood into the mix as well since you're technically half human and turtle."

"So I'm not being experimented on?" Mikey questioned, eyes wide with horror at the horrid thought. He didn't want to recall what nearly happened last time.

"No. The doctors understood and believed us once we showed them your condition. We told them that you needed to be in a place away from prying eyes. So they put you into a secluded room where the only humans that could see you were Casey and I along with the two doctors. They told us that they wouldn't file you or anything."

"Whew, that's a relief," Mikey sagged in relief against the cot. He groaned at the sting of pain, taking in another deep rattling breath.

"We're just glad that you'll be okay," April rubbed his arm gently. Mikey choked suddenly, as realization struck him like a freight train. He remembered why he woke up screaming the first time.

"My bros!" he ripped the breathing mask from his face. He could feel his breathing becoming erratic as April grasped the clear mask.

"Mikey!" He could feel himself being pushed back down once again. April placed the mask back over his mouth, make sure that he wouldn't knock it off again.

"You need to breathe man," Casey said, keeping Mikey down onto the cot.

"Relax, Mikey. You've been hurt pretty bad, you need to rest," April pulled her hand back, rubbing the top his head.

"What happened?" the freckled terrapin rasped. "Where are my bros?" He noticed the looks of melancholy on both April and Casey's faces. April teared up, gazing down as Casey gritted his teeth tightly. "What happened!?" Mikey asked, louder this time. He hacked, trying to calm himself down.

"They're gone…." April whispered.

"What?" Mikey blinked, he couldn't believe his ears. Well, he technically didn't have any outer appearance of what looked like ears. Yet, he wondered if he had heard that right.

"They were taken away," Casey elaborated, folding his arms across his chest as he scowled.

"We could only manage to save you," April replied, finishing. Mikey felt himself staring at the wall as it felt like the entire world had collapsed beneath his feet. His heart began to constrict as tears pooled from his eyes.

"No, no, no, n-n-no…. they can't be!" Sobs wracked his body, causing the turtle to flinch at the flare of pain. "Ah!"

"We're so sorry, Mikey…"

"No!" The orange masked turtle hollered, thrashing against the cot. He tried to sit up but found that he couldn't move one of his legs. It was covered with a giant cast, with bandages that were wrapped all around his body, even his head. "I need to find my bros! I need to…" he was stopped once again, jerking against the many pairs of hands that held him down. He even felt two other pairs of hands holding him down as well, and he could assume that it was the doctor and the vet.

"Listen up turtle-humanoid thing." Mikey froze as he was forced to gaze at a stranger's face. The woman gave him a solemn expression, one full of worry. "You can't get up. You're critically injured you hear? You've suffered a concussion, blows to the side, dislocated shoulder that was popped back in place. Your right leg is broken, your arm we had to stitch back together because it was barely hanging. You've even suffered wounds to the neck, due to constriction of oxygen and blood flow, which is why you're having trouble breathing. Your left wrist is infected due to blood clotting from a wound. The top skin that connects to your plastron has been ripped. There is no way that you are in any condition to leave this room."

Mikey relented, finally allowing himself to stop resisting. He turned his head to the side, crying as the tears burned against his cheeks. The turtle could feel April hugging him gently, yet firmly. He continued to sob, his body quaking vehemently. How could it come to this?