Little Brother
By Maikafuiniel



Chapter 10
Bebop's and Pizza



Michelangelo sat in his cage, looking around him slowly at the lab he was in. It was the first moment that he had been left alone, and he knew better then to leave the chance be. He looked to the door, his only option for escape, and wondered just where he was.

Sliding doors and no windows? Metallic everything?

It didn't say anything good to the small turtle, that was for sure. T either meant the Technodrome or a government building. Neither option aws something to celebrate. If he was in the Technodrome, the chance of his brothers finding him was way to small, and if they were in a government building it meant Shredder was working with the humans.

Mickey shivered, and wished for a blanket or something. Anything really that he could grip onto. He knew he wasn't going to escape anytime soon. Shredder was the only one who had come in so far, and he hadn't been holding a key. He couldn't even go through the bars of the cage, his shell being to thick and hard already.

The only possibly good thing about the entire situation was… well, there were two actually. First off, the guys were being so protective of his 'safety' lately that they would have noticed he was gone right away. Hopefully they would even chase him down within moments.

The other good thing was that the Shredder didn't know he was, in fact Michelangelo. As far as he was concerned he was Giovanni.

Mikey winced at the sound of the name, even in his own head. He hadn't been able to think of anything better at the time, but the name sounded just… wrong. It didn't fit him at all. He was eternally grateful now that his father had good taste in names. Sadly though, there was nothing he could do about it now.

As far as Shredder or any of his minions could be concerned he was three year old Giovanni, who (as far as he could figure out from what Shredder was hinting at), was rescued from a lab by the Ninja turtles and being raised by Michelangelo.

He was also one other thing. Hungry.

He didn't actually expect Shredder to let him eat anything when he was here in the cage. After all, he was the prisoner. Thinking about it now, Mikey could have hit himself if it would do any good. If he hadn't of mentioned food Shredder might have fed him without any thought to it. But now that he knew Mikey was hungry and getting a bit desperate… After all, even lunch was now sitting in the sewers after he had thrown up.

Trying to push the thoughts of hunger out of his head, and desperately trying to ignore the sound of his stomach growling, he lay down on the 'bed' and sat his precious glass beside him. Maybe, he decided, the guys would have rescued him by the time he had woken up, and he could eat like crazy at home.



Bebop walked through the long corridors of the Technodrome, headphones on his ears, and quietly singing to the music. If Rocksteady were there he would have gotten a smack over the head for mutilating it, but since he wasn't… well, Bebop was going to enjoy himself.

He held a large pizza box in his left hand, doing his best not to balance it too much to the left or right as he hopped a bit to the beat of his music. He had bought such a large pizza, not because he thought the kid could eat all of it, but because when he had been out he had missed dinner with the foot soldiers. Bebop was just about as hungry as Mikey was right now.

When he got to the door he spun around and slid it open with his left foot, and entered. He looked at the small turtle, asleep in his cage, and felt a sudden surge of guilt. The kid hadn't done anything wrong, and yet it had been his idea to bring him here.

Just because they couldn't find some stupid container.

Honestly, Bebop couldn't understand Shredder sometimes. Well, really it was most of the time. He liked to speak in those big long words after all.

He walked over to the cage and took his earphones off, dropping them onto his shoulders. With his right had now free he shook one of the bars of the cage until the turtle woke up. Bebop noticed that the little turtle was obviously hiding something. When he had woken up it looked almost as if he had recognized the warthog, then made himself look carefully confused.

Bebop didn't think about this however. It wasn't his job to think, and he wasn't about to sprain himself trying.

"Hey, kid! Wake up!" He said loudly, snorting as he finished the sentence.

"Hm? …Who are you?"

"Bebop. Got a pizza for you kid. Me and you'ze are gonna' share. The boss said you wanted Pepperoni, right?"

"…I actually get to eat pizza when I'm here?"

"Anythin' you want kid. The boss took a real likin' to you. So," he snorted, "Just be good and you'll be fine."

He slowly passed a large styrofoam plate through the bars to the turtle, who was squinting at him.

"What's with your eyes kid?"

"Oh I… nothing," he muttered in embarrassment as he turned quickly to grab his glasses.

He held out his plate and Bebop put a few slices there, grabbing a few for himself. He chewed slowly, watching the kid go through everything he was given. "Why you so hungry kid?"

"I just didn't have dinner before I left. And I got hit on the head really hard, so I tossed my cookies. You know?"

Again Bebop felt something that felt suspiciously like guilt well up inside of him. "Ah, sorry about that kid. I didn't think you waz jus' gonna' come along all quiet though."

"That was you?"

"Jus' doin' my job."

"Oh."

They both went back to eating, eyes trained carefully on one another. Bebop couldn't take the silence any longer though, and took to talking again. After all, Rocksteady wasn't talking to him right now, 'cause they had had another fight. Krang wouldn't, because he liked to have conversations with lots of big words. And Shredder… well Shredder just wasn't the conversation type.

"So kid,"

"Don't call me that."

"Wha?"

"Kid. Don't call me kid."

"You're only, what? Two? Seems you're a kid at me!"

"I'm …three!" He said, after looking like was having an eternal debate, "And I'm not a kid. Don't call me that."

"Well then," Bebop reasoned, "What's your name?"

"…"

"C'mon kid, might as well tell me. We're gonna be stuck here together for a while."

"Uh? Why?!"

"Shredder don't like kids much, and the foot soldiers have other things to do. I can't go back to my room 'cause me room mate and me are fightin', so I'm your sitter for now. What's your name?"

"…Giovanni."

"Weird name."

"Ya?" Mikey said angrily, "And Bebop isn't?"

"Bebop ain't my name kid, it's my nickname. My mommy wouldna called me Bebop when I was little. Get it?"

"Oh. So… what's your real name then?"

Bebop considered telling the kid to shut up right then, but somehow… he seemed genuinely interested for some reason. They had only known each other for about five minutes, but Bebop figured that if the kid wanted to know, well, it wasn't going to do any harm to tell him.

"You gotta' promise that if I tell ya my name, you ain't never gonna call me it! And you can't tell anybody neither! Not Shredder, or Krang, or the soldiers, or even Rocksteady!"

Mikey held up his right hand and promised.

"Never ever ever?" He snorted when he said this, disbelieving that he could ever actually trust anybody.

"Never. C'mon, who am I gonna' tell here that would even care?"

"…Justin."

"Justin?"

"Yep."

"But… why Justin?"

"An' what's wrong with Justin, Giovanni?"

"Ouch, point taken. …I really don't like that name neither, if it helps any."

Bebop watched the kid for a little bit longer then pointed out, "You're a lot smarter then most kids I think, ain't ya? I mean, I'm not real smart, but… usually I can outdo a three year old at least."

"Er… ya. I'm smart, but just a bit. You know?"

"How come? Shredder said something about a lab…"

"Ya! Um, a lab, you know. Born there and everything… Maybe it's genetic."

"Maybe. So if you wuz in a lab, how come you were with the turtles?"

"You know... they just, saved me. They wanted the best for me is all.

"Oh."

Bebop swallowed the last of his pizza and sat back in the chair Shredder had been sitting in when he had been questioning the turtle. But as soon as he did Mikey gulped audibly.

"You're not going to question me like Shredder, are you?"

"Nah kid… I mean, Giovanni. I ain't good at making up questions."

Mikey blanched at the name, but still, he couldn't bring himself to let anyone call him kid. He thought about it for a moment, thinking that as long as it was just Bebop…

It wasn't like Bebop was his enemy after all. He just, well, like he said he was just doing his job. It just happened to be on the other side of the shell was all.

"…You can call me, I don't know, Gio or something. I don't really like the whole thing."

"Sure," Bebop muttered. But he wasn't looking at Mikey any more, his ears were perked up and he was watching the door.

That was when Shredder walked back into the room.