Little Brother
By Maikafuiniel
Chapter 15
Gleaming an Insight in the Imperceptibility of Children
Or…
Kids for Dummies
He was sitting down next to his brothers, all four of them lined up on the couch as they listened to their father lecture them on how they were not supposed to go topside without his permission- and he was trying not to cry.
It was hard- harder, he knew, then it should have been. Donny, as good a son as he was, already seemed lost in his own head, thinking about some new thing he had read about or some new creature he had discovered. Leonardo was taking it all in as though their father was spouting perfect knowledge, and he took it readily and with a smile. Never mind, Mikey thought with an angry grimace, that this was supposed to be a punishment. Raphael meanwhile just looked bored, as though nothing Splinter said would make a real difference.
Maybe it wouldn't.
From where he stood, Mikey was sure he was the only one who was honestly upset that his brothers had broken the rules. It had been Raph's idea of course; it always was, and he wondered not for the first time how he fell for it.
Raph had said that there had been something up there, though he couldn't even remember what it was anymore, and that all he had to do was open the manhole and go get it. Splinter would never find out, he had said. Nobody would. And how else would he prove that he would ever be a ninja if he never took chances? Always followed the rules.
Leo and Donny had goaded him on as well, always ganging up on him since he was the youngest. They thought it was funny that he was going up there against their fathers wishes- though to be fair Leo did seem a little off about it.
So up he had gone, topside, for the first time in his life. Alone, surrounded by wide open spaces that he could have never dreamed about… There were things moving everywhere, and he was so glad they had chosen an alley to make him use… if any of them saw him… humans.
He had seen them on the telivision of course; he saw a lot of things on the box, but this was new… they were all right there! Right there! He could go up to any single one of them. He could go right up to that stand over there, holding more then enough food to keep his family going for a week…
And then something grabbed his foot, and he was once again forced into the sewer and away from the world he had only just experienced for an amazing first time.
"Michelangelo!" the angry, quiet voice of his father had wrung out, and he looked to see his brothers standing quietly, ashamed, behind him, "What do you think you are doing?"
"I jus' wanted to see outside," he had said slowly, "And-"
"Your brothers told you to," his father had replied angrily, "I know this already. What I do not understand is why you and your brothers continusly find it in yourselves to turn away from the rules for your protection I've given you! If I hadn't found you when I had-"
And it had gone on from there, all the way back to the lair, and long into the night. Mikey knew he had done wrong, but it just wasn't fair! His brothers had all gone up with his father at some point or other, but here he had to stay. Alone and bored, wondering what was up there for real.
And it was amazing.
He wanted… no, he needed to see that again. To see people again.
Real, living people.
He knew how silly it sounded, how stupid it sounded. None of his brothers were obsessed with the humans and their ways, and Splinter most certainly didn't want him wandering around just for the sake of seeing them be, well, them. But he knew that it couldn't just be him.
That he wasn't a freak. Not really. No matter what Raph said when he thought he wasn't listening in.
And as his father droned on, he remembered what they looked like. The ones his size. The children. Short little humans that were just a little bit chubby, with different colours of hair on their heads, cut in loads of different ways. Some of them wore glasses like him, and some of them didn't like his brothers. Noses, eyes, mouths… like on the television, but real.
Touchable.
That's what he wanted, he realized, was to be able to touch one of them.
Now he knew he was insane. …But that was okay too.
And he made himself a promise, that no matter how scared he was, no matter what time it was, no matter what his brothers said or threatened, he would go back up there next chance he got. And until then, drawing them would have to suffice.
Mikey jolted awake from the memory- one of his earliest he could remember. His eyes snapped open, and for a moment he was confused as to where he was. Cold metal below him, and bars surrounding him. A pair of glasses sitting beside the bed, and something… somebody standing there, in the dark.
"Bebop," he said slowly, "Hi."
"Heya' kid," the warthog said slowly, "Didn't mean ta wake youse up or nothin'."
Mikey shrugged simply, confused at the mans behaviour. Normally he would just assume the other mutant was a crazy baddie, and it didn't matter what kind of weird behaviour he showed, because he was evil. Now however, he was realising (however little he felt he needed to) on the older man. Food, water, it didn't matter. He just didn't want to be stuck in this cage for much longer, and Bebop was the only person (thing) that had been remotely nice to him.
Well, there was Shredder, but the evil tin can thought he was not only an idiot, but a naïve on.
"What time is it?" the little turtle asked, "Is it time for training?"
He didn't want to admit it, even to himself, but he was definitely looking forward to this kind of learning. Just doing something physical was going to be a blessing, and if he ended up learning something new in the process… well, that was just going to be a plus. Add in the mooching he was going to do off Shredder, and it all equalled ninja, pizza, and some good times while he waited for rescue.
"About five," the warthog replied, "Rocksteady… I told ja' about him- my roomie. We had a bit of a fight, so I jus' figured I'd come on down and see hows you were doin'."
Mikey stared at him, a bit awed out that this was Bebop. His enemy. A warthog who really was quite nice, polite (if you didn't count the horrible grammer), and nice enough. Sensitive too, if a fight with his roomie was enough to keep him awake until five in the morning.
It was weird.
They stood like that for about an hour, neither of them breaking the gaze that seemed to somehow work it's way into their short conversation- until finally Bebop brought his hand up and put it into an inside pocket of his vest.
Mikey tensed for a moment- but Bebop only pulled out a pack of cards. "Um," he said slowly, not knowing how to phrase this, "Know you're only three and all.. But since you're so smart anyways… youse don't know how to play cards?"
For a moment Mikey almost laughed, until he realized just how serious Bebop was. About the cards, about just hanging out with somebody else, he didn't know. But Bebop was serious about it. Keeping up the three year old cherade, he nodded. "Go fish?" he asked, only entertaining the thought of what would happen if he told Bebop he could play poker would do.
Bebop broke into a large smile, and snorted loudly, surprising the turtle. "Youse can even go first."
Meanwhile
Krang slowly smiled as he looked on through the television screens- the new camera's were working perfectly, and he had known about the turtles the second they had started on down the cavern.
It was really quite funny, he mused, that there were only three of them climbing.
He laughed loudly- as you see, Krang was quite a bit smarter then Shredder gave him credit for. After all, he was a brain. There really wasn't much that could slip past him.
…The only question was whether he would tell his metal henchmen about who Giovanni really was.
…
…
…
Nah.
Where would the fun in that be?
