Better Genes 2
I wanna extend a big thanks to my TMNT sister BrightLotusMoon for her help in helping me get this chapter done. Thanks sis.;)
Here's chapter 2, enjoy!
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For over a week the guys have been hunting down monstrous mutant creatures that've been created by the alien outbreak. With the help of the new Monster Hunting gear that Donnie and LeatherHead had made, they've been able to track and subdue the monsters that they've tracked down. The plan was to keep the Outbreak from spreading by any means without slashing or splattering them, both above and underground.
Tonights monsters... giant mutant toads.
Donnie was able to build a mutant tracker that could track down any forms of mutant activity caused by the outbreak. Which led them to the underground subway tunnels where they've encountered a knot of mutant toads.
They've managed to 'bag 'em and tag 'em' as Raph likes to put it, all except for one which had escaped into the tunnels. In order to lure it out of hiding, someone had to be the bait and get its attention. And as always that someone was Mikey.
"Ahh! You don't wanna eat me! I taste terrible!"
Mikey ran as fast as he could down the tunnels with a man sized mutant toad monster hot on his heels.
"Where are you guys? This thing's gaining on me!" Mikey shouted into his headset while dodging the toads leap attack, "Whoa!"
"We're just up ahead of you Mikey." Donnie answered back into Mikey's headset, "Just keep luring it back to the platform ahead of you and we'll snag it."
"And try not to get eaten while you're at it. Ya might give it indigestion."
"Raph!"
"Oh ho, you're gonna pay for that Raphie-boy!" Mikey yelled back while narrowly avoiding the mutant toads lightning fast tongue, "Hey, I'm not that kind of turtle!"
Mikey raced down the tracks of the subway tunnel while dodging the pursuing toad that kept trying to snag him until finally he saw the platforms up ahead, where hopefully his brothers were waiting. This gave him the added push to keep going while also putting enough distance between him and the ugly frog chasing him.
"Guys, I'm almost there!"
"We see you Mikey, keep going."
As soon as he was close enough, Mikey quickly leapt onto the platform with the mutant toad close behind, just then a tranquilizer struck it in the torso before two metallic clamps grabbed the monstrous amphibian. The toad roared while thrashing wildly in the clamps before the effects of the tranq took hold, it knocked it out within seconds.
"Nice catch guys." Leo praised Raph and Don.
"Nice shot with the tranq Leo." Leo nodded his thanks to his purple clad brother, "Nice job luring it back here Mikey."
Mikey just gave a thumbs up in response. He was hunched over trying to regain his breath. Leo noticed this and became worried.
"You alright there Mikey?"
"Yeah... just need to..."
"Catch your breath." Leo finished for him, Mikey nodded. Leo pulled out a bottled water and handed it to his little brother, who took it and downed most of the bottle.
"Thanks" He sighed.
"You sure you're okay?"
"I'm fine Leo, really."
"Maybe you should lay off on the potato chips if ya can't handle a little exercise Mikey." Raph smirked.
"A little exercise! Dude I just ran more than a mile and a half through underground tunnels, leaping and dodging over obstacles while wearing all this heavy monster gear with an 8 foot monster toad chasing me while avoiding its nasty tongue! So yeah I'm a little winded but you'd be too if you had to run for your life."
"Ah quit whining Mikey."
"I'm not whining!"
"Sounds like whining to me."
"Raph that's enough." Leo said.
"What? I'm just say'n that the Knucklehead needs to butch up and quit bein' a baby."
"I'm being a baby?! You wouldn't be saying that if you had to do what I do for once Raph." Mikey challenged.
"Hey, hey guys c'mon let's not..." Donnie tried to interject.
"What? Be the bait or distraction?" Mikey nodded, the emerald turtle scoffed, "Oh please Mikey, all ya do is make some noise, say something stupid then run and the bad guys chase ya. Any moron can do that."
"Raph!" Leo and Donnie scolded.
"Oh really?" Mikey said getting angry, "Well if you think what I do is so damn easy than why don't you be the bait for the next big nasty monster that we have to trap!? See how well you handle it you asshole!" He challenged his hot tempered brother.
Raph, Leo, and Donnie were a bit taken aback by Mikey's outburst and his use of profanity. Yes they all swore from time to time but only when angry, which for Raph was almost all the time. Usually Leo would scold Mikey for use of profanity but he didn't this time.
Not wanting to back down from a challenge Raph shook off his shock and grinned, "Alright Mikey I'll tell ya what, the next time we track down a mutant monster that we have to flush out, I'll be the bait and lure it out."
"You will?" Mikey asked raising an eyebrow ridge.
"Yeah, if for some reason you ain't available to do it then I'll step up and do it. Deal?" Raph held out his hand to his youngest brother to seal the deal.
Mikey glanced down at the outstretched hand, wondering if his brother was really serious about what he was saying.
"You're serious?"
"As serious as a heart attack."
With that answer Mikey took Raph's hand into his own then gave it a single shake.
"Deal. No backing out."
"Wouldn't dream of it."
"Okay I think that's enough excitement for tonight." Leo announced, "Let's go home."
Everyone nodded in agreement before leaping off the rails to head for their home.
''''''
Back at their new home.
"Hey Mikey, are you okay?"
"Yeah Donnie I'm good. Just another night of hunting down mutant monsters."
"That's not what I meant. I meant about what Raph said." The smile on Mikey's face faltered a bit, "You know that he didn't mean what he said."
"Yeah I know. He's just 'bustin' my shell' as he likes to put it." Mikey waved off.
"That still doesn't make it right. What he said I mean."
It really bothered olive green turtle that Raph had said that a moron can do what Mikey does. True he never gave it much thought before but it was still completely uncalled for. He may be a pacifist but at that moment he wanted to give Raph a slap upside his head. Though he had a feeling that Leo may've beaten him to it.
"It's fine Donnie, really." Mikey smiled, "Raph's just being Raph, you know how he likes gives me a hard time like I give him a hard time."
"But still what he said was uncalled for."
"Yeah well he'll get to see first hand just how 'easy' it is. You know what they say 'Karma's a bitch' heh heh." He paused.
Donnie chuckled, "I prefer the phrase 'what goes around, comes around' when talking about Karma."
"Uh yeah. There's that one too." Mikey chuckled.
Before Mikey left Donnie asked to check his arm to see how it was doing. The wound seemed to be healing okay but it wasn't healing fast enough. He asked Mikey if his arm was bothering him in anyway and the orange-banded turtle told him that it felt sore and hot. Donnie concluded that it must've been from tonight's hunt. Nonetheless he gave it a quick clean, applied some more Aloe Vera cream on it then wrapped it up with a new bandage. He also told him to put ice on it to ease the pain. Before the sea green turtle left the lab he asked if he would make a fresh pot of coffee for him.
Once Mikey left Donnie got to work on his and Leatherhead's notes on the Outbreak. Hoping that he can find something that'll lead them closer to stopping the outbreak, and maybe even finding a cure. It's been a snails pace, something that the olive green turtle didn't like, but he wanted to make sure that they didn't miss anything.
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Mikey's POV
I readjusted my scarf for the third time tonight. I hate wearing scarfs but I had to endure the itchy winter fabric covering my face because my brothers and I were going out tonight. Not to go patrol the streets or hunt down Bishop's monsters, no tonight was a special night. Well for Donnie anyway.
Donnie had been working so hard lately, well harder than usual. We all have but Donnie had been workin' himself dry these past few weeks. Between building and setting up the new security defenses around our new Lair, making new monster hunting gear, building the new Battle Shell out of a moving truck, and working with Leatherhead to figure out a cure to the alien outbreak, not to mention our usual ninja training, I'm surprised he's still alive. But I guess that's what happens when you're fueled by stubborn determination and a lot of coffee.
Truthfully I was really worried about Donnie, I know his work is important but so is his health. Both physically and mentally. I knew I had to do something.
The idea came to me last night when I went to April's to get groceries and some more Aloe Vera cream for my arm, I told her about Donnie work'n himself to the bone and even she grew concerned. Then I saw the paper on the table, on one of the pages was an ad for the Museum of Natural History having a nightly special this Saturday. This was perfect.
It didn't take much to convince Donnie into 'taking the night off' so to speak. As soon as I showed him the ad in the paper, his face lit up like a Christmas tree. It took some persuasion to convince Leo and Raph to come along but in the end they agreed. One of the advantages of being the youngest. I asked April if she wanted to come too and she said yes.
"I'm telling ya right now, this is a bad idea." Raph said as we followed behind Donnie and April down the stairs.
"You've said that five times already Raph."
"What are you talking about, this is gonna be great." Donnie said with pure excitement in his voice, "How can you not be excited about being in a museum?"
"Because it's boring."
I groaned. I know that Raph doesn't care about museums or historic things, I didn't either and like Raph I found them to be boring too, but this was for Donnie so I'm trying my best not to complain. Unlike Raph.
"You won't think that when we get to the main attraction!" Don grinned.
Raph groaned though it sounded like a growl, "I still can't believe ya talked us into doing this Mikey."
"C'mon Raph, this was the only way that I could get Donnie out of that lab that didn't involve Monster Hunting. Plus he's been workin his butt off for weeks."
"Hey we've been work'n our asses off too."
"Yeah but Donnie's been workin harder than all of us. If anyone deserves a stress free night it's Donnie." I argued back, I really didn't want to argue about this right now because I'm really not in the mood for it and I don't wanna ruin Donnie's night.
"Mikey's right." Leo spoke, "Donnie's been working the hardest out of all of us, let's just let Donnie have his fun for tonight okay?"
Raph 'hmphed', muttering something about 'bashing heads being more fun then this'. He and Casey spend way too much time together. Though I have to admit that if Casey was a turtle like us he could easily be Raph's twin. On second thought, that's a horrible idea.
I heard Leo mention that the museum was closing and that we should keep a low profile when my nose started itching, I knew what that meant. I barely managed to pull out a tissue and pull my scarf down before a big sneeze tore itself out of my throat and mouth. The muffled sound echoed throughout the hall.
"Gesundheit." I heard April say, I nodded thanks.
'Damn it. Why does this have to happen now?' I sniffed.
"You okay Mikey?" Leo asked.
"Yeah I'm fine. Just some cat hair on my scarf tickled my nose is all." I assured him. It wasn't a total lie, Klunk likes to sit on my scarf from time to time so some of her fur was on it.
"You sure about that? Cause you look a little pale and you haven't been acting like yourself lately. Is something wrong Mikey?"
To be honest... I haven't been feeling all that great, infact I felt like crap. My nose was stuffed up and runny at the same time, my throat was sore, and I have a slight headache from all the sneezing.
Lately I've been feeling the affects of a cold coming, which happens to me all the time when Spring and Fall came around. Donnie explained to me that because my immune system is a bit weaker then theirs plus being cold blooded, the shift in temperatures affects me more than it affects them. Which sucks for me. This time though this bug was really stick'n around longer than usual and it was having an affect on me. I don't know what it is but it feels like my brain's in a thick fog. I've been having a hard time functioning like I normally do.
Like a week ago durning practice I stumbled during a kata that I've done hundreds of times, then during my spar with Donnie I lost my grip on my chucks, which ended up tripping Leo and Raph during their sparring session. Needless to say I got my butt chewed out by Master Splinter, for not focusing and for slacking in my training. That one hurt alot. I ended up getting 50 flips for it. It didn't help that Leo chewed me out later too.
Things just continued going downhill. For me anyway.
Two nights ago I went skateboarding to clear my head after we got back from mutant monster hunting, everything was going fine until I started feeling dizzy while coming down from a one handed flip, I lost my grip then fell. Luckily I wasn't too high up when I landed on my shell, though I still scraped my shoulder on the ground. When I got back to the lair Donnie caught me holding my arm and asked what happened. Which drew everyone's attention. Both Leo and Raph thought that I was faking it to get out of training. Master Splinter said that I should be focusing more on my training instead wasting my time fooling around.
Donnie was the only one who seemed to really care. I told him what happened as he cleaned me up. He told me no more skateboarding in the tunnels. At least until my arm heals and the Outbreak's been taken care of. Guess I couldn't argue with that.
Then yesterday when I was showing Donnie the ad that led us here I stumbled mid sentence and forgot what I was saying. Though I don't think he noticed. I hope he didn't notice.
"Nah bro I'm okay. Just uh... having one of those days ya know? And it's just a runny nose. Really I'm fine." I smiled.
Leo wasn't buying it though, but before he could say anything more about it Donnie was calling for us.
"Leo, Mikey c'mon. You're missing all the fun."
I couldn't help but chuckle, only Donnie would call a trip to the museum fun but that just means that my plan in getting Donnie to relax was working.
Leo and I met up with the others in the Dinosaur exhibit where Donnie was smiling from ear to ear at the dino exhibits like a kid on Christmas morning, pointing at all the displays. Donnie absolutely loved dinosaurs, he's been a dino fanatic since we were tots.
I admit some of the exhibits were cool, especially the large fossilized skeleton of a giant sea turtle called an Archelon. According to Donnie being that we're turtles we have ancestors dating back to the Cretaceous era, making dinosaurs our ancient cousins. Now that's awesome.
"Hey Don, check out the T-Rex." I pointed to the T-Rex skeleton.
Donnie smiled up at the fossil then he turned to me.
"Hey Mikey, thanks for tonight. This is just what I needed."
I smiled back at Don, feeling so happy and relieved that he was enjoying his night, "Anytime Donnie."
''''''
Normal POV
'Okay relax O'Neil. There's nothing to worry about. You've gone up against worst things in the past, so a nice night out with your boyfriend is nothing you can't handle.' April thought, taking a deep cleansing breath.
To say that she was nervous was the understatement of the year. She haven't been on a date since her freshman year in College and that ended in disaster. She finished applying her lipstick then gave herself a once over in the mirror, to make sure that she didn't miss anything.
"I hope I look enough like a 'Biker Babe' for Casey."
Then right on cue, there was a knock.
"Coming."
April opened the door and there stood Casey Jones, dressed in a navy blue tux, his hair neatly combed and tied back, in his hand was a bouquet of flowers.
Although he loved the 'Biker' look on his girlfriend he asked if she was gonna get ready for their date. The redhead explained that she'd been spending all afternoon getting ready. Turns out they both had different ideas for their date night. Both of them were thinking about what the other wanted to do. April figured Casey would want to go on a romantic motorcycle ride and maybe hit a few biker clubs. Casey thought that April would like to go out to dinner at her favorite restaurant. In the end both of them were laughing. This was a mess, but a sweet one though.
Then there was another knock on the door.
"Now who could that be at this hour?" April opened the door, there stood Leo and Raph, "Guys! This is... unexpected."
"Sorry April, we were on our way to a possible mutant sighting and... well..."
"Ah-choo!"
"Gesundheit."
Two seconds later Mikey and Donnie appeared in the doorway, Mikey was clutching a blanket draped over his shoulders and a tissue in his hand while Donnie supported him. The orange banded turtle looked terrible.
"Oh my gosh Mikey, you look... greener than usual." April said, her voice full of concern for the young turtle.
"I feel greener than usual, and not in a good way. Ah-choo! Ow." He groaned pressing a hand to his head. He even sounded horrible.
April turned to Donnie for an answer, "He's been under the weather ever since that night at the museum. Nothing we've tried has worked in getting rid of this nasty bug that he's caught." Donnie explained.
"He's been sick longer than that Donnie."
"Ah-choo!" Mikey sniffed.
"April, can you and Casey watch the Knucklehead for us?" Raph asked in a gentle tone.
Mikey sneezed once, twice, then blew his nose.
"Of course Mikey can stay here." April said as she gently led him and Donnie over to the couch to rest.
"Dude seriously, you guys are cramp'n my style here." Casey muttered to Raph.
"Ah get over it Case. By the way, nice monkey suit." Raph grinned. Casey narrowed his eyes at the emerald turtle.
Mikey sniffed then covered his beak, "Ugh, what's that smell?"
"I don't smell anything Mikey."
"Well I do... and it's giving me a headache."
"I'm surprised you can 'smell' anything at all. With all the sneezing that you've been doing." Donnie joked lightly.
Leo started sniffing the air then turned to Casey, "Casey, are you wearing cologne?"
"Yeah, it's a new brand called Jungle Madness. Brings out the wild man in ya."
"Like you need a cologne to help you with that Case." Raph smirked, Casey frowned at his best friend.
"You guys have been on monster patrol for weeks now." April stated, "What's the plan? Clean up all the mutants in Manhattan?"
"Well no. This outbreak is way more than four turtles can handle. We're just trying to keep it from spreading any further." Leo explained.
"Which is why we were heading down to the Power Plant, until Mikey got sick and made us pull over." Raph said with a pointed look at Mikey, "He almost threw up in the BattleShell."
"I said I was sorry."
"He wouldn't have gotten sick if you hadn't been driving like a mad turtle in a demolition derby." Leo spoke in Mikey's defense.
"Hey it ain't my fault that Laird Street is full of potholes at every turn Leo. And for the record you told me to take that street." Raph countered.
Donnie and Mikey groaned at their older brothers bickering. Seriously do they have to do this now? Mikey let out a moan while rubbing his forehead, which didn't go unnoticed by Donnie.
"Uh guys?"
"No I told you to turn right on Eastman Lane, but you turned left instead."
"Guys..."
"I only turned because a dog ran into tha street! What'd you want me to do? Hit it?"
"Guys stop it!" Donnie yelled at the older turtles before turning back to Mikey, who didn't look so good, "You okay Mikey?"
Mikey shook his head, "Donnie... I think I'm gonna..." He quickly clamped a hand over his mouth.
That was all it took for Donnie to react, "Uh oh, gangway!" He quickly helped Mikey to the bathroom then shut the door. The sounds of vomiting and coughing could be heard from behind the door.
"Wow, he really is sick."
Leo and Raph nodded, "He always gets sick around this time of year but Donnie thinks that being out hunting mutants has only made it worse. Mikey said that he was feeling better earlier but... well it's just best that we leave him with you guys." Leo said looking apologetically at the human couple. Who nodded understandably.
The sound of the toilet flushing was heard, then Donnie came out while guiding Mikey back over to the couch with a damp rag in his hand. The older turtles immediately offered their assistance too. Raph helped Donnie bring Mikey over to the couch, then lifted his feet up when the genius turtle laid him down. Leo had grabbed the blanket that Mikey had plus another one nearby then draped them both over the sickly turtle.
"Ugh I hate being sick." Mikey groaned.
"You didn't when we were tots." Leo countered lightheartedly.
"That was different. Oh by the way, I'm never having pea soup ever again."
Leo smiles gently at his sickly brother, "It'll pass Mikey, just rest until we get back okay."
Mikey nodded at his big brother.
"Yo Leo, Don, I hate to cut this short but we need to get going." Raph said urgently.
Leo nodded, "Right." He turned back to his baby brother, "Take it easy Mikey okay."
"Yeah like Leo said, get some rest Mike." Raph said gently rubbing Mikey's head before following his brother out of the apartment.
Donnie was hesitant to move. He knew that they had a job to do but he didn't want to leave Mikey, even though he knew that April and Casey will take care of him. As a brother and family doctor he didn't want to leave Mikey like this.
"We'll be back as soon as we can Mikey." Donnie soothed placing the damp rag on his brother's forehead.
Mikey smiled weakly before closing his eyes.
"Yo Donnie, you coming or what!" Raph called from stairs.
The olive green turtle then felt a hand on his shoulder, it was Casey, "Bro it's okay. We'll watch Mikey."
Donnie nodded his thanks before heading out to join his older brothers.
As soon as the guys left, Casey and April turned their focus onto Mikey. April used the damp rag to wipe the sweat off the orange clad turtles face before Mikey stirred then opened his eyes at them.
"Sorry Mikey, did I wake you?" Mikey shook his head, "Do you need anything?" He shook his head again.
"Sorry." He groaned.
"For what Mikey?"
"For being a burden on you guys... and for ruining... your date night."
"Oh Mikey, you're not a burden. You're family and family always looks after each other." She smiled warmly, "And you didn't ruin our date night. We kinda did that ourselves."
Casey chuckled, "Yeh we both had different ideas for our date tonight. So don't worry about it. And like April said, you're family not a burden Mikey."
Mikey smiled before he fell into a small coughing fit. April went to get him a glass of water, she also grabbed the trash can from the kitchen just incase he felt sick again.
"Here Mikey drink some water." She advised holding the glass to his lips. He downed half the glass before gently pushing the glass away.
"Thanks..." He laid back down on the couch before falling asleep.
The human couple thought it best to let him sleep till he woke up again or until his brothers came back, which ever came first. April stayed by his side occasionally wiping his forehead and reapplying the cool rag to bring his fever down.
Then the power went out all of a sudden, Casey looked out the window, confirming that the power was out everywhere. Meaning that something must've happened at the Power Plant.
Both of them hoped that the guys were okay.
'''''
Later that same night, the guys raced back to April's place as quickly as possible. This time Raph really was driving like a mad turtle. They'd just neutralized the giant crab mutants at the Power Plant when Don got an urgent phone call from April. She explained that Mikey wasn't doing so well and that they needed to get there fast.
As soon as they arrived at April's shop, they quickly and stealthily made their way up to her apartment, where she and Casey were waiting for them.
"Guys! Thank God you're back! Mikey's burning up!" April exclaimed as she let them inside.
Donnie was immediately by Mikey's side by the couch. He could see even in the dimly lit room that the sea green turtle was sweating profusely, his breathing was shallow, his head was going back and forth on the pillow as he grunted in pain.
"What happened April?"
"I don't know. He's been sleeping since you guys left, but then he woke and started complaining about his arm hurting, then he said everywhere was hurting. We tried to help him sit up but he said that even that was too painful for him."
Hearing that Donnie felt his baby brother's forehead, it felt hot to the touch.
Mikey's eyes snapped open when he felt Donnie's cool hand on his head, "Donnie..."
"I'm here Mikey. We're all here."
"It hurts Donnie..."
"What hurts Mikey?"
"Everything hurts... but mostly the cut on my arm. It hurts like shell... Ahhhhhh!" He cried out clutching his bandaged arm as though it would stop it from hurting. It didn't.
The pain was so intense, like someone had poured liquid fire on his arm.
Donnie reached out to steady his brother, he was shocked to find that even his skin was hot to the touch, "Mikey! Mikey it's okay, just calm down. You're gonna be..." Donnie's eyes grew wide as he watched the bandages on Mikey's arm tear away as the muscles in his arm grew larger. He gasped.
Leo and Raph immediately grabbed Donnie, pulling him away from the couch while Casey pulled April away.
Mikey stared at his arm in horrified shock. He turned to his brothers, reaching out to them, begging for their help.
"Guys... help me..." Was all he got out before another wave of searing pain struck him, this time spreading throughout his entire body, "AHHHHH! Ungaahhhh!" Mikey's screams filled the room as he rolled off the couch, falling to the floor.
Donnie struggled against his older brothers hold to get to his baby brother but they wouldn't let go.
Everyone watched in petrified horror as the youngest turtle's body began to change. They wanted to help but didn't know what to do. For Donnie and his brothers they knew what was happening. Mikey was mutating. Just like those creatures that they've been fighting.
Mikey's whole body grew in size, his muscles grew larger as his arms and legs stretched, tearing his pads, wristbands and belt off in the process. His sea green skin had darkened in color.
Just then the change ceased, leaving the orange banded turtle on his hands and knees on the floor breathing heavily. Somehow only his orange ninja mask remained intact during the change.
No one moved or said anything for what felt like years, until Leo finally regained himself then slowly approached his baby brother so as not to startle him.
"Mikey? Mikey? Can you hear me?"
"Leo..." Mikey's voice sounded deeper, almost guttural. When Leo took another step towards him, he cringed, "No... staaay... back..."
"Hey c'mon Mikey, it's us your brothers." Raph soothed as he slowly approached his trembling baby brother, "We just wanna help you bro." He said placing a hand on Mikey's shell.
"GET AWAY!" Mikey roared.
Raph yelled in shock at the glowing red eyes of his baby brother before being pushed away by Mikey's massive muscled arm. The force of the shove sent the red banded turtle crashing into Leo then into everyone behind them.
Mikey looked in horror at what he'd just done. He'd just hurt his brothers, his friends. He stared down at his hand, his larger mutated hand, watching in horror as his fingernails grew into claws.
He was still mutating. He had to get out of here!
Pushing himself up to his feet he made his way to the door. Grabbing the knob and pulling the door off its hinges as though it were made of cardboard before heading down the stairs to April's shop, being careful not to hit or break anything, then down to the basement.
He could hear his brothers calling out to him. Telling him to wait and to come back, but he didn't stop, he couldn't, he just kept running. He had to get away from them before he lost control of the savage beast inside of him that was turning him.
"Mikey!" His brothers called to him.
Michelangelo paused infront of the tunnel in April's basement, sparing a glance up at the ceiling, tears building in his eyes, "I'm sorry guys."
Then Mikey ran into the tunnel, disappearing in it's darkness.
'''''
A.N. I left out the part with Romaro Savanti because nothing really changed except that Mikey is the one that's sick instead of Donnie. So there was no point. I also delayed Mikey's mutation for a more dramatic approach.
Also I've read a few fanfics where people have given Mikey a weaker immune system than his brothers, so I used that to hopefully explain why Mikey is sick without raising suspicion.