Just after six months, while everyone, including Casey and April, was in front of the TV enjoying a marathon of a new series, surrounded by sandwiches, sweets, and pizzas, Mikey, all of a sudden, jumped to his feet and put a hand over his chest. He began to breathe agitatedly.
"What's wrong, Mikey?" Leonardo asked, noticing his baby brother's heavy breathing immediately.
"I don't kn…" The freckled turtle couldn't finish; he had begun to stagger. Leonardo caught him before Mikey fell to the ground. Everyone else stood looking at the youngest turtle with fear and concern.
Right away, Donatello asked his big brother to help him take Mikey to the infirmary. Without delay, Leonardo obeyed, carefully lifted Mikey in his arms, and followed Donnie. Michelangelo was still conscious, but he was very dizzy. Leonardo laid him down carefully on the stretcher.
Everyone else followed Leo and Donnie and stayed in the driveway, waiting to hear what was wrong with the turtle in orange. Donatello was frowning, something was happening, and the others perceived it. After examining the vital signs of his little brother, Donatello smiled, looked at the others, and told them breathing out a sigh of relief: "It seems to me that it isn't something serious, guys, go back to watch TV. I will stay and watch Mikey.
Everyone smiled when they felt their concern diminishing. Except for Donnie and Mikey, all of them returned to the living room, but before leaving, April neared Donatello. The redhead's face drawing one of those special smiles that caused Donatello's blood pressure to rise to levels outside the scale.
"Oh, Donnie! You're so thoughtful to everyone, I've often told Casey there's no one like you in this world; you always take such good care of your family. It is a stroke of great luck for me to have you among my dearest friends." The girl ended up kissing her friend's cheek with genuine admiration. The smartest turtle almost was about to faint from the emotion but managed to control himself enough not to do it.
"Thank you, April, actually; it is something easy to do knowing that my father and my brothers deserve my best efforts." Thanked the young scientist with authentic modesty. Those words got him an even brighter smile and a tight hug from the girl he had adored from the first second after seeing her for the first time.
"Sometimes I think if I were a mutant turtle like you, I would have asked you out a long time ago, Donnie." A cheeky wink was the last thing Donatello observed while enjoying full consciousness before staring at April's back with a dumb look on his face when she was leaving the infirmary.
April rejoined the others while Donatello, sitting next to the stretcher where Mikey was resting, got lost in his romantic dreams.
After a while, everyone received back the two missing turtles. After just seeing April's angry face, Donnie knew that something had happened.
"What was wrong with Mikey, Brainiac? Raphael asked, putting into words everyone's desire to know what had happened.
"Nothing serious, Raph, bottomless pit here doesn't know how to say 'no' to another slice of pizza, even if he is about to throw up," the smartest turtle smiled, patting Mikey's head; the prankster stuck out his tongue at him as he blew a raspberry. "Now he's okay. Is something wrong?" He asked when he saw the redhead's face before sitting next to her as he took a can of soda.
"Casey thinks the girl in this series we are watching is just a burden for the others, and I pointed out his mistake, but it seems that he isn't mature enough to accept it." The redhead girl replied, looking sideways at the said human teen.
"Look, Red, women should know their place and let men do the real work." Those words were only born out of anger; they didn't reflect what Casey thought of the female gender. But, boy, did they truly make the girl's eyes threw a murderous look in the direction of the young street fighter. Casey didn't even flinch even though the others got a little away from him, fearing what April might do, as several objects around them began to tremble as if they were waiting for the girl's signal to throw themselves at the human teenager.
"In fact, Casey," April spoke, at last, coming out of that state of annoying commotion, "to women who pride themselves on being so, don't care about the immature opinion of a brute who is convinced that everything can be solved with blows."
"I think he's talking about you, Raphie." Mikey mocked and then stared at his brother in red, who gave him a hard knock on the head that made him see little stars.
"Is that so?" Casey countered-attack folding his arms, feeling irreplaceable. "And what do those women want, Red?"
"Men who have good taste, men who are smart, not immature dummies like those who don't even have a single brain cell and think that burping it's a funny thing."
"Now she's talking about you, Mikey," Raphael laughed, now zapping his baby brother, who looked at him in anger.
"Ha, ha, ha, ha! And where is a wonder like that?" The young man continued without allowing the girl's insults to affect him.
"Right here!" April replied as she hugged Donatello tightly, not letting herself be defeated by the supposed obstacle Casey thought there would be on the dispute with his girlfriend. The smartest turtle, whose body suddenly became lax, slipped between April's arms, with a blush so marked on his cheeks that he looked like a freshly boiled lobster.
It was Leonardo who had to pick up his brother in purple from the soda-soaked floor after April turned around to continue arguing with her foolish boyfriend.
"Come on, Red, you're kidding!" Everybody knows girls like guys like me, a bad boy! No boring nerds! Many girls in our school envy you! You're the luckiest girl in the world to have me as a boyfriend!"
That was the last straw for the girl.
"Okay, from now on, someone else will be the 'lucky' girl!" April exclaimed, using the word 'lucky' sarcastically. "We're done!"
Casey was stunned to hear those words. The others also looked at the girl with disbelief. The boy's pride, although he knew he had gone too far, didn't allow him to admit it.
"Perfect! I don't care at all! I'm sure you will be so happy with the walking encyclopedia!" The teenager got up, went to the old turnstiles, jumped over them, and ran away.
"Casey, wait!" Raphael shouted, standing up too to follow his friend, to try to calm him down while the others stayed with April.
"It's just a silly fight, April. You know Casey truly loves you, give him some time to calm down; he will come like other times to offer you an apology," Leonardo told her, trying to lessen both the anger and the sadness of his friend.
"No, Leo. Something tells me this is for real. Before coming with you to hang out, we had already argued. He and I are very different..." As the girl explained that to Leo, she laid her eyes on the ninja in purple who was wiping the soda on his body with a disposable tissue.
"I'm sorry, Donnie, for using you like that just to make Casey jealous, but if you want, to make up for it, we can spend more time together." After suggesting that, the redhead's eyes begged for the smartest turtle's understanding, something Donatello loved with all his heart.
"Sure, April, I'd love to," replied the young genius. His friend hugged him, grateful for the deep friendship that purple provided her.
While Donatello was happy as a clam holding the redhead in his arms, his eyes met Mikey's. The freckled turtle looked at him with a cheerful smile at seeing the happiness in the eyes of the young scientist. After a few seconds of exchanging glances, the youngest smiled at his brother in purple and gave him a two thumbs-up as a sign of encouragement or victory. Upon seeing that, Donatello's gaze turned to the floor a little embarrassed, but after a few seconds smiling back at his best friend, he also gave him a two thumbs-up. The turtle in blue was looking at them with a bemused expression.
The next day the whole team gathered in the room to patrol the city for a while at night; the boys had enjoyed a day off and had spent their time in various activities, especially Mikey and Donnie; they hadn't left the lab while playing cards with Ice Cream Kitty.
On their way out, a quiet moonless night awaited them, a perfect night to enjoy the friendly shadows that sheltered them from the looks of humans in the streets. The boys were jumping from rooftop to rooftop, and Mikey, true to his custom, was on his skateboard. Being in the company of his brothers had always given him the confidence to risk a little more. So, at a certain point, the youngest one stayed behind for a few minutes doing a few pirouettes on a roof worthy of being used for that purpose.
His decision cost him dearly. A silhouette emerged from the darkness, but it didn't fully expose itself, managing to maintain its identity in anonymity. Just as Mikey was beginning the descent of a great leap, a glass container, the same size and shape that the tubes filled with mutagen, was thrown in his direction. Having no foothold to avoid the trajectory of the object thrown at him, Mikey struck the container with his nunchakus; perhaps he had been saved from being hit by the object, but much of the contents made contact with his body.
"Where's the knucklehead?" Raphael asked without addressing anyone in particular when he noticed that his brother in blue had stopped in his race against him to check his brothers were okay.
"I bet you anything that he stayed on one of the rooftops to practice one of his best jumps," his brother in purple replied. He was the last one in the race, breathing a little agitated.
"Let's go back, guys," Leonardo decided. He didn't want to risk any of his little brothers. Something bad might happen to them.
It didn't take them long to get back to the place where Mikey was. The prankster was trying to wipe with his hands everything that had splashed on his face and body. He was a little disgusted.
"Mikey!" Leo exclaimed, immediately approaching his baby brother on the floor, but Donatello prevented him from doing it.
"Wait, Leo! Don't touch him!" Donatello asked him, interposing one of his arms in the leader's path, and then he carefully approached Mikey.
"What happened to you!?" Raphael exclaimed with a loud voice an action that didn't agree with the stealth they should have at all times.
"Someone threw that at me," the freckled turtle answered, pointing to the broken glass a few feet away from him. Mikey wanted to keep removing the substance from his body, but his brother stopped him.
"Wait, Mikey, let me take some samples," Donatello asked, taking out of his backpack some gloves and a small glass bottle to collect some of the substance to analyze it later.
"It's a mutagen container," Leonardo said after asking Raphael to help him make sure there was no one around.
"So it seems, Leo, I just don't think it contained mutagen, the color doesn't match, the mutagen is bright neon green, but this is almost black." The young scientist added, looking carefully through the bottle's glass at the sample of the substance that had been thrown to his little brother.
"Is the goofball going to be all right, Don?" Raphael demanded to know as he watched Donnie clean all the skin of his little brother's body.
"I hope so..." the turtle in purple whispered.
"Then let's go home soon," Leo ordered, "so you can examine Mikey better."
"That's precisely what I was going to suggest, Leo. Let's go back."
Donatello didn't allow Leonardo or Raphael to help Mikey walk; the reason he gave was that he was afraid that something of the substance might affect them. Besides, Mikey said he was fine and could return on his own.
"Let's go to the infirmary, Mikey, so I can remove any trace that's left on you," Donnie asked as soon as they got home. Leonardo and Raphael followed. A while later, Splinter, noticing that his children did not report to him after patrolling, arrived at the infirmary to investigate the reason.
"Do you feel well, my son?" the sensei asked his youngest son after Leonardo told him in few words what had happened.
"Yes, sensei, so far, yes." His son answered with a big smile; that made the old master sigh. He put one of his hands on the head of his brave little one, smiling too. "I'm glad, Michelangelo."
"Just to be safe, we'll both sleep here, Mikey, so I can keep an eye on you if anything bad happens, okay?"
"Yes, sir!" Mikey smiled again, making a funny in front of his smartest brother standing to attention like he was the best soldier ever. Those were the last words of the youngest turtle while he was still enjoying a normal life.
…..
Leonardo hadn't been able to sleep well thinking about his little brother. He was worried that the consequences of that substance on Mikey's body might become deadly. The effects of the mutagen were almost always instantaneous, but on that occasion, there seemed to be no adverse effects of that compound unknown to them, that might be the worst sign, so he left his room to head to the infirmary. Just then, Raphael was coming out of his room.
"You're also worried about Mikey, don't you?" The brother in blue stated as he caught a glimpse of the shiners under his little brother's eyes who, despite quickly putting on his bandana trying to hide those marks, couldn't fool his best friend.
"Of course not, Lame-o-nardo! What happens is we didn't have dinner so, I am starving," Raphael denied heading to the kitchen, but before arriving, he said to Leonardo: "but if you want, I can accompany you to check on Mikey, that will stop you from worrying." Leonardo smiled, Raphael always did the same, so he just nodded.
Right at that moment, they heard their father's voice. The old sensei was standing in front of his room: Leonardo, my son, come here, I have to talk to you. The leader looked at his brother in red, making him understand with a gesture that he could go on and he would catch him up later; understanding, Raphael nodded.
Raphael immediately entered the infirmary, hoping to see his two brothers inside, but strangely there was no one. Frowning and looking in all directions, the tough warrior didn't find any of them.
Thinking that maybe they were somewhere else, Raphael inspected the bathroom, the laboratory, and both rooms; there was no one there either. When Leonardo came out of his father's room, he ran into Raphael. His little brother looked a little confused and worried.
Fearing to hear some bad news, Leonardo asked: "How's Mikey?"
"I don't know, Leo," his brother answered him, his voice showing a bit of concern. "I checked everywhere; none of them is in the lair." After those words, both brothers were about to head out to look for them. But before doing so, they saw Donatello leaving the infirmary to get into the bathroom.
"Dona..." His brother in red began to pronounce his name, but Donnie passed by them without even answering. Frowning, they followed him at once.
"Where were you, Brainiac?" Raphael asked; he was a little upset because Donatello hadn't answered when he passed by them. Leonardo looked at how his smart brother filled a washbasin with cold water and took a couple of small towels.
"Not now, Raphael," Donnie told him without looking at his grumpy brother, "Mikey has a high fever." Immediately, Donatello took the objects to the infirmary using a speed worthy of the best ninja. Once again, Leonardo and Raphael followed him.
Mikey was comfortably lying on the bed, but he looked sweaty with his glazed eyes, Donatello soaked one of the small towels, wrung out it before he wiped the sweat on his little brother's face and then soaked the other one, wrung out it too and placed it on his baby brother's forehead. The youngest one thanked him with a faint smile.
Until then, the others hadn't noticed, but Donatello looked tired.
"Are you all right, Donnie?" His oldest brother asked.
"Yeah, Leo... I'm fine," Donatello assured him, letting out a big yawn, raising his arms above his head to stretch a little. "I had to watch our little brother, he had a very high fever during much of the night, and I wanted to be sure that he would be okay."
"Do you think it was because of the substance they threw at him?" Raphael asked as he helped Donnie by changing the towel on Mikey's forehead.
"Unfortunately, I think so, Raph. I already have a sample in one of my test tubes to figure out what it is, but the reaction still lacks time to give the result; it's a little slow..." The smartest one yawned again; he felt like his eyelids were as heavy as lead.
"Donnie, you have to get some sleep," Leonardo suggested, "we'll take care of Mikey, and I'll let you know right away if there's any change in the tube."
"Thank you, guys... The worst hours of the fever are over, but anyway, I want to make sure that Mikey is going to be fine." Donatello got up, willing to allow himself to fall onto his bed to rest a little, "please... let me know if the substance in the tube changes color or if Mikey gets worse or something strange happens to him." They both nodded.
To be continued…