Two Days Later
Donnie flicked on the lights to his lab.
It was his first time setting foot back inside since… everything. He'd spent much of the first day home sleeping. His brothers didn't bug him them, as they were also licking their own wounds and getting some well-deserved rest.
The questions had started popping up on the second day, and he told them all to buzz off.
It was bad enough he already had to sit through a private conversation with Splinter. He didn't want to talk about his role in all this. He didn't want to talk about what happened in Cocytus, and he certainly didn't want to talk about his move with Leo's sword.
"Wait, you used my sword?"
"Yeah! He grabbed it and portaled us to the round room!"
"On the first try?"
Because it didn't escape his notice that mystic energy was the only thing that had tipped the scales in their favor.
His brothers seemed to get the hint for now and left him alone. Which was… good, because he had projects he needed to work on. He needed to check over his tech bo, goggles, and wristband for any trackers he might have missed, or viruses. He needed to rewire the lair and harden it against surveillance. There was another broken battle shell he needed to replace. He was going to rebuild and improve like he always did and things would be fine.
He rounded a blast shield and stopped.
The Mind Over Matter monolith still stood in the testing area. The potato still sat before it, all hooked up in an attempt to become mystic. Exactly as he had left them.
Just standing there.
Mocking him.
His face twisted. His precious, beloved, tech bo was in his hand before he could think.
He swung it like a stick.
Damn this machine! Damn it for being inspired by Bishop! Damn him for thinking that he could really recreate mystic energy with science! For thinking that he could finally learn the secrets to this frustrating magic his brothers understood so easily. Damn him for thinking he could ever possibly improve his tech enough that it would make a difference, that he wouldn't ever face another shredded battle shell, another hacked device; that he could ever compete with mystic abilities. Damn him for trusting.
Because trust led to kidnapped pizza-goers and traumatized Yokai. Because trust put his brothers in a cage and their lives at risk. Because trust used his knowledge and tech in the vilest of ways and got Mikey shot.
Damn his tech, damn Bishop, damn himself!
Donnie beat the machine into a mass of dents. Rage, shame, guilt, anger, grief, frustration, loathing, and anguish all cycled through each swing like a nauseating merry-go-round. He whaled on the monolith until sweat made the bo start to slip in his hands and the crumpled mess of parts shed no more sparks.
When it was finished, he turned on the potato and obliterated it one, sweeping blow. He stood there for a moment, panting.
"Um, Donnie?"
He turned. Mikey hovered in the lab, shifting nervously on his feet. His sling was now decorated with swirling colors and drawings, yet it was still the ugliest thing Donnie had ever seen. It made his heart twist, raw and painful.
"What do you want, Michael?" he asked tiredly.
Mikey looked over the destroyed tech and swallowed. He furrowed his brow as he met Donnie's eyes. "Are you okay?"
The adrenaline rush was fading and leaving him empty. He didn't… feel any particular way, now. There was just… nothing inside he could identify in the moment. He didn't know how to explain that answer, though, so he just pointed. "You've got a bullet hole in your arm and you're asking if I'm okay?"
Mikey didn't flinch at his monotone. Instead, he gestured towards the monolith. "You worked hard on that."
"Yeah, well, I work hard on a lot of things that don't pan out how I expect them to." He tossed his tech bo haphazardly to the side instead of collapsing it down. It clattered noisily against the scrap metal. "What do you want?" he repeated.
"Well, Dad's not grounding us…"
Donnie snorted. "He should."
"…he's asked that we don't leave the lair for a couple days, but it's just a request. I think he's rattled. With Bishop still out there and all…"
"He won't be able to find us." Donnie crossed to his computer. "I'm making sure of it." The virus is still active in the Cherubim, but all of our blockers need to be updated, expand the scrub; add that to the rewiring project…
"We know that, and we trust you, Dee-"
"Don't."
Mikey paused. He tilted his head. "Don't what?"
Donnie didn't answer. He hunched further over his computer.
After a moment, Mikey's footsteps plodded closer. A hand rested on his shoulder. Donnie finally looked at him.
Mikey studied him intently, as if reading a language Donnie had never been able to master. He opened his mouth and then closed it, as though changing his mind. When he did speak, it was on a totally different subject. "We're trying to guess what the dinosaur from Raph's dreams could have been downstairs. I think you should join us."
Donnie tensed. "No thanks, Mikey."
His brother pushed his face into his personal space. "I want you to join us."
It's hopeful and innocent, but even Donnie can pick up on the spine of Dr. Feelings or Dr. Delicate Touch backing that statement. He sighed, too tired to fight. "Okay."
Mikey took his hand and led him out of the lab.
"This one?"
"No, it didn't have a long neck."
"What about this one?"
"He just said it didn't have a long neck, Leo."
Leo stuck his tongue out at April, who stuck it out back through the laptop screen. Raph shook his head at the exchange, though a small smile crept onto his face. What he was worried would be a terrifying dive into his psyche was turning out much more light-hearted than he anticipated.
Leo turned another page in The Big Book of Dinosaurs. "Okay, what about this one?"
Raph squinted. "No, this one has a beak. Mine definitely had teeth."
"Hmm, teeth…"
Leo flipped through some more pages as Mikey and Donnie entered. Raph checked them over carefully; he hadn't missed the loud banging coming from Donnie's lab, but his brothers looked okay. Donnie still seemed tired, but more in a done-with-the-world sense than anything physical. Truthfully, it was a look he'd seen before, so at least it was familiar. Mikey appeared to be his chipper self, fortunately.
"What'd we miss?" the youngest piped.
"We ruled out flippers, long necks, beaks, and anything that looks like hooves," April counted off. "But it has teeth."
"Aha, what about this?" Leo turned the book around.
Raph frowned. "I would know if it was a T-Rex, Leo."
"Ooh! Let me look!" Leo held the book out while Mikey flipped through the pages with his good hand. Donnie drifted closer to Raph and sat down by the laptop.
"How's being grounded, April?" he asked.
"Not as bad as I thought," she replied. "I mean, I kind of saw it coming. But now we've been able to spend a lot of time together, like, REAL time. No more secrets, no more weird energy. It's actually kind of nice."
"That's good to hear," Raph said. His brothers' arguing drew his attention back to the book. "What?"
"Did it look like thiiis?" Mikey asked. He held up a picture of a Triceratops.
"No, it didn't have horns."
"Plus, Triceratopses don't have teeth!" Leo exclaimed. "Like I told you."
"Why don't we ask Raph to describe his dinosaur and then match that instead of picking random ones?" Donnie pointed out.
"Tried that."
"And?"
"Tell him, Raph."
"It's like a big lizard! What do you want me say?"
"Geez-us, Raph, all dinosaurs are big lizards."
"Technically you can argue that some of them are closer to birds."
"Uh, excuse you, but what birds do you know have teeth?"
"Ooh! Ooh! What about this one?" Mikey turned the book around. "Spinosaurus."
Raph squinted. "Hey, that's a lot closer. Only it didn't have a big fin on its back."
"Oh, for Pete's sake." Donnie got up and crossed to the bookshelf. He pulled off a different book and flipped through it. "Is this what you saw?"
"Yeah!" Raph shouted excitedly. "It was just like that, only vertical."
Donnie closed the book. "That's a crocodilian, Raph, not a dinosaur. They are still very much around today."
Leo gaped at him. "You couldn't recognize a crocodile?"
"Hey, this is Toddler Raph we're talking about," he said defensively. "Once labeled a dinosaur, always a dinosaur."
"Cool! A crocodile Yokai!" Mikey cheered. He abruptly shifted gears from excitement to contemplation. "I wonder what happened to them…"
The room fell quiet, everyone lost in thought.
Raph tapped his splint-free fingers. Was the crocodile still alive? Would they be in the Hidden City? Would they remember him? It was so many years ago. Would they even look the same? He knew he certainly didn't. A lot had changed.
A lot.
He looked up at his brothers.
Mikey still had to wear the sling for at least another week, not even their super-fast healing abilities could shorten it more than that. But he was still bouncy and bright. He was still Mikey. Leo and April were still rockin' and rollin' like they always could, and hey, April's parents were cool. And Donnie…
Leo clapped his hands together, startling him out of his thoughts. "Well, we are way past due for a Jupiter Jim marathon I had planned, so how about we order some pizza?"
"Ooh, last one to call has to foot the bill!" Mikey took off through the lair.
"Wait, what? That's not even how that works!" Leo chased after him.
"You guys enjoy. We're having spaghetti tonight." April waved from the laptop.
"Thanks, April. Love ya."
"Love you guys, too."
Raph closed the laptop, stood up, and stretched.
He spotted Donnie walking back towards the upper levels. "Hey, you joining us?"
"No, I have too much I need to do." It sounded almost like his normal, casual dryness, and yet Raph paused. He reached out and stopped his brother, not totally sure why. Donnie raised his eyebrows at him, and he struggled to think of something to say.
"You can take a break, you know."
"Thank you, but I just did." He gestured the bookshelf. He paused, catching the skeptical expression on Raph's face, then unexpectedly smiled and elbowed him. "It takes a lot of work to make my tech even more spectacular, you know?"
Raph knew Donnie wasn't the best with emotions, but this… this felt off. Forced. Before he could comment on it, though, Donnie patted his shoulder and departed back towards his lab.
Raph lingered for a moment, wondering if he should follow, wondering if it would only make things worse. Cheering erupted from the kitchen; one of his brothers got out of paying for pizza.
"Everyone copes differently," he said to himself. Things were getting back to normal. This… this was normal. Rebuilding was Donnie's thing, right? With one last, long, look toward the lab, he slowly moved and joined the marathon.