Rating: K
Word Count: 1,171
Disclaimer: I don't own TMNT.
04. Insanity
Raphael blinked open his eyes. Still in that strange moment between sleep and reality, for a moment he hardly registered what he was feeling.
Oh, if only he had treasured that moment of pure bliss.
The first thing that hit him was how sore he was. Raphael groaned and tried to shift his arms, but the stabbing feeling in his muscles didn't allow him to move very far. It was like that tense feeling after getting a shot, only it covered his entire body.
"Dang…" he muttered, squeezing his eyes shut. "What hit me, a bus?"
"Actually that was Leo," Donnie's all-too-eager voice piped in.
"Stop being overdramatic Raph," Leo huffed. "I didn't hit you that hard."
Raphael snorted and opened his eyes partway, squinting against the bright light. Oh hooray, it was his favorite place to wake up in - the med bay. He could hear the squeak of the rolling chair somewhere to his right, and could only assume Mikey was riding it around the room. Donnie and Leo hovered at the foot of the bed, Leonardo holding a rare expression of sheepishness.
"Let me guess," Donnie cleared his throat and changed into a deep, scruffy voice. "What happened Donnie? How did I end up here?" Out of Raph's line of vision, Mikey laughed like a hyena at the impression.
"That doesn't sound anything like me," Raphael scoffed, rolling his eyes. "But yeah. What happened?"
"Some guy tried to make you go all psycho on us with his evil mind control serum," Mikey explained, rolling over on his chair.
"Again?" Raph sighed, slamming his head back on the pillow. "Why do they always target me?"
"Probably because you're already halfway there," Mikey taunted. Raphael sat up, grabbing the pillow from underneath him and whacking Michelangelo over the head with it. Mikey let out a shriek and rolled away on his chair, a huge grin plastered on his face.
"So did I hurt anyone?" Raphael asked, his eyes scanning over his brothers.
"Are you joking?" Mikey burst into hysterical laughter. "You were outnumbered three-to-one and running around like a chihuahua on steroids! It was hilarious. I should've videotaped it. And then Leo totally punched you right into a wall! You were just like SMACK! on the wall and then BOOM! down on the ground!"
"So that's why I feel like crap," Raphael clipped, giving Leo a murderous glare.
"I think he's more dangerous when he's himself," Leo commented. "Maybe we should let bad guys control his mind more often, for our own safety."
"Hilarious," Raph deadpanned.
"In all seriousness, you should be fine," Donatello soothed. "It was easy to reverse the effects, the serum was very primitive."
"But it was an epic fight!" Mikey butted back in, wheeling over. "Leo did the whole "I know you're in there somewhere!" speech, but halfway through he started cracking up because you tripped and fell over and were spinning around on your shell. Ha, you were waving your arms and legs all over the place because you weren't smart enough to roll over. After a while D gave you some knockout gas."
"Then the guy was like 'Nooo! My evil plan is thwarted! He was supposed to kill you all!'" Mikey narrated melodramatically. "And we were like, 'Dude, if you wanted him to kill us, you should have drugged him up with something that didn't give him the brain of a goldfish'."
"Although the brain of a goldfish isn't too much of a step down for you," Donnie added in with a fiendish smile tugging at his lips. Raphael turned his glare to Donatello.
"Say Donnie, it'd be unfortunate if something were to happen to your bo staff," Raphael grinned. Donnie immediately took a step backwards and protectively held onto his weapon with one hand.
"Oh no. This one is a naginata, and you are not laying your hands on it," Donnie growled.
"You keep telling yourself that Don."
"I'll sic Master Splinter on you."
"Ha. Tattling? Isn't that a little beneath you?"
"To save my naginata, no."
"Calm down guys, nobody is breaking anybody else's weapons," Leo intervened, giving them both hard looks. "It's been a long night, and we're all going to bed now that Raph is okay."
"Aww, boo!" Mikey pouted. "I'm not voting for you as team leader next election."
Leo rolled his eyes and Donnie and Raph exchanged amused looks. Raphael pushed himself up off the sickbed - with a great deal of sharp pains - and was helped to his feet by Leonardo. His legs felt a little wobbly, but he would be able to get around okay if he didn't attempt to run or do flips. The four brothers headed out of the lab, and Raphael lingered towards the back. There was something still bothering him.
"Hey guys…" he hesitated, and immediately they turned to look at him. He shuffled a bit awkwardly under their stares. "You don't think...y'know...I'd ever actually…try to hurt you. Right?" For a moment they all looked befuddled with the situation.
"Well duh!" Mikey laughed. "We're bros dude!"
"Of course we don't," Leo added in, blinking in confusion.
"Why do you ask?" Donatello replied tactfully. Raphael wrung his hands and didn't meet any of their gazes.
"I dunno. I'm bad at pulling my punches, I lose my temper a lot," Raphael snapped, riling himself up as he thought about it. "And all this mind control stuff keeps happening and it makes me wonder what would happen if I got even angrier."
For a moment his brothers stared. "No way!" Mikey burst out. "Raphael is worried about us!" In a split second Mikey was at his brothers side and clinging to him. "Awww!" Mikey cooed, pretending to have tears in his eyes.
"Get off you little parasite," Raphael grunted, trying to pry Mikey's arms away. "I'm just...concerned."
"Look, Raph, we know you throw a lot of tantrums, ones that sometimes involving a little rough housing," Donnie consoled. "But none of us thinks you'd ever actually seriously injure us."
"I'd trust you with my life in a heartbeat," Leo nodded solemnly.
"Yeah, ok, that last comment was a little overboard," Raph snorted. "Tone it down there Leo, I don't need you to promise your soul to me or anything." That got Donnie and Mikey to laugh, and make Leo's face turn a little red. Raphael felt his shoulders relax. Of course he wasn't some sort of rampaging Hulk. He had discipline and self control - and if his brothers believed in him, then he could too. He flashed a rare, genuine smile.
"So Raph, should we start calling you Turtle Top?" Mikey grinned. "Cause you should have seen it when you spun around on your shell during that fight!" Raphael punched his arm lightly.
"Oh, shut up."
