Chapter 4-One Saved, Another Missing

Sometime later, after the plan briefing with Bishop…

It was an intense and dangerous mission, but Leo and Raph were able to get the Amulet of Tengu from Karai and bring it back to Bishop's base, with the help of April and Casey.

Leo handed Bishop the pendant after receiving the go-ahead by Master Splinter, but seconds after so, alarms suddenly rang throughout the facility.

"You have 15 minutes to pick up your brothers and leave this facility…Pleasure doing business with you, gentlemen…" Bishop said with a smirk before he disappeared through a secret exit under the floor.

"Come on, let's go!" Leo commanded as he hurried to where Leatherhead and Donnie were located, with Raph and Master Splinter following him from behind.

"Leatherhead, how's Donnie?" Leo called out as he, Raph, and Master Splinter spotted Leatherhead, who was watching the containment unit as it filled with the aerosol form of the cure, surrounding a struggling Donnie in the process.

Then, a moment later, the door of the containment unit opened up and a now normal Donnie stepped out of it in a slight daze.

"Hey, guys…Wha's up…" Donnie said tiredly before he swayed and was about to collapse to the ground when Leatherhead caught him.

"I have you, my friend…" Leatherhead said softly as he held the weakened turtle close.

Leo, Raph, and Master Splinter cheered and joyfully gathered around Donnie, who looked at them with a tired smile.

Now that Donnie was back to his normal self again and was being looked after by Leatherhead, the two older turtles and Master Splinter hurried over to the infirmary to pick up Mikey.

But when they entered the room, they saw that it was empty with no sign of Mikey!

"Michelangelo?" Master Splinter called out in confusion.

"Mikey!?" Leo called out next in an anxious tone when he too saw that the medical bed was empty.

"Where'd he go!?" Raph questioned whilst looking around the room frantically with an angry expression on his face.

"Did Bishop's men take him!?" Leo questioned, his heart now racing and close to having a panic attack.

"No, he may be an evil person, but Agent Bishop would not be dishonourable enough to break a promise in the deal we made with him…" Master Splinter answered in a doubtful tone, despite his deep hate towards the agent.

"He couldn't have just walked outta here by himself, could he!?" Raph questioned in a sceptical tone.

"Not with the injuries that he has…!" Master Splinter answered in denial.

Just then, they saw the last few remaining individuals from Bishop's team running passed the infirmary door.

"Hey! Where's your surveillance room!?" Leo called out after poking his head through the door.

"Two doors down on the right!" One of the men shouted without a second thought before he continued running for his life with his teammates.

"Come on!" Leo said before he, Raph, and Master Splinter hurried towards the surveillance room.

As soon as they got there, the trio immediately scanned the computer screens that had a number of square-shaped video feeds from the cameras scattered around the base.

"Let's rewind the video feeds and see if we can spot Mikey in any of them…" Leo suggested.

With time already ticking away, the trio went to work and quickly rewound the video feeds back whilst keeping a close eye on them to see if they could spot Mikey.

Then, a whole minute later…

"Stop! Look there, on the top left!" Leo cried out when he spotted a familiar figure in the video feed on the top left corner of one of the computer screens.

Sure enough, after looking a bit closer, the trio recognised the limping and slow-moving figure as Mikey!

"Ya gotta be kiddin' me!" Raph said in disbelief.

"He must've left while we were at the Foot headquarters…look at this; the time states that Mikey left over an hour ago!" Leo guessed in shock when he looked at the time on the corner of the screen.

"Then, that must mean that he is somewhere outside of this facility…!" Master Splinter concluded in both relief and concern.

"Well, we don't have time fer a wild goose chase! Have ya forgotten dat dis place will be blown ta bits in da next ten minutes!?" Raph reminded impatiently, not caring about searching for Mikey.

"I-I know, but…" Leo stuttered, unsure of what to do next.

"Leonardo, we will find Michelangelo and bring him back, but we must get out of here first before we can go and look for him…!" Master Splinter said wisely.

As much as Leo wanted to protest against Master Splinter's words, he knew that his father and sensei was right; if they didn't get out of Bishop's headquarters soon, they wouldn't live to even make a start in searching for Mikey.

Therefore, Leo nodded and ran out of the room with Raph and Master Splinter following him from behind to head back to Donnie and Leatherhead.

When Donnie and Leatherhead saw the trio running back over to them without Mikey, they immediately became worried.

"W-What's going on? Where's Mikey!?" Donnie questioned anxiously.

"He's not here, Donnie; he somehow left da facility without anyone noticin'…" Raph answered in an annoyed tone and not caring about Mikey's well-being both physically and mentally.

"What!? W-We gotta go look for him!" Donnie cried out, now even more panicked.

"And we will, Donnie! But first, we need to get out of here; we don't have much time before this place comes down!" Leo reassured firmly, placing his hands on Donnie's shoulders, before guiding him out of the building with help from Raph.

Once they were in the Turtle Copter and in the air away from the facility, everyone watched as the building suddenly exploded and was reduced to rubble and ashes within minutes.

/

The turtle copter…

Silence and uneasiness filled the air within the turtle copter as April piloted it back towards New York City. She turned on the radar to scan and search for signals that might lead to Mikey.

The others in the back of the turtle copter said nothing to each other, because they were all lost in their own troubled thoughts. Despite being happy of the fact that Donnie was finally cured from his secondary mutation, no-one was in the mood for a celebration at the moment because they were worried about the status of their youngest friend and family member, who was wandering alone and scared in an unknown location with several bullet wounds covering most of his body.

Speaking of Donnie, the poor turtle was sat on one of the chairs looking both tired and very worried. After he was told everything about Mikey's actions and disappearance by Leo a few minutes ago, he almost went into complete and utter shock; he couldn't believe that his only little brother took a number of bullets for him in order to protect him, but what confused him was why Mikey would leave without anyone knowing whilst suffering from such horrific injuries.

Just then, a furry hand touched his shoulder, making him jump and look up to see Master Splinter next to him and looking at him with sad eyes but had a warm smile on his face.

"I am glad to have you back, my son…" The old sensei said before handing Donnie his mask back.

"T-Thank you, Master…But I'm more worried about Mikey than anything else…" Donnie replied, accepting his mask whilst shaking with nerves for his brother's safety and health.

"Don't worry, Donnie; April's keeping an eye on the scanner whilst she flies the turtle copter right now…I'm sure she'll pick something up soon…" Leo reassured him optimistically.

"I still think dis is a waste of time; Mikey could be either lost without a trace or dead by now…!" Raph suddenly blurted out bitterly.

"How can you say such a thing!? Need I remind you that it was your fault that Mikey left in the first place!?" Leo reminded scoldingly.

"My fault!? He's da one who caused all dis trouble, includin' Donnie's mutation!" Raph bit back accusingly, shocking the others to the very core.

"I can't believe you! Even after he protected Donnie from getting shot at and leaving Bishop's place with severe injuries, you're STILL blaming him for what Bishop did weeks ago!?" Leo said in disbelief.

"He should've moved and push Donnie out of dat freakshow's way, but he didn't, and instead just stood and shouted out a warnin' like a coward!" Raph spat out cruelly.

"Neither did you, and you were closest to him!" Leo countered as he got closer to Raph's face.

"ENOUGH!"

Everyone froze and looked over at Donnie when they heard him shout. The look that they saw on Donnie's face was scary but also upsetting, because he had an seething expression on his face and tears were falling down his cheeks.

"For shell's sake, just STOP IT! What happened to me is in the past now! It's done, and it was never Mikey's fault that it happened in the first place! So, stop bringing it up and move on already!" The poor turtle cried out pleadingly and furiously before he sat back down and lowered his head.

"…T-The only thing that matters right now…is getting my little brother back, safe and alive…" He then managed to say before he covered his face and broke down in tears.

Both Leo and Raph immediately felt guilty and shameful after seeing and making Donnie upset; their purple-banded brother had already suffered enough, and having a heated argument against each other in front of him was making things worse for him, especially when their youngest brother was missing and badly wounded.

Leo walked over to Donnie and engulfed him into a hug before he spoke to him in a soft and reassuring tone.

"You're right, Don, and I'm sorry…We will bring Mikey back to us alive, I swear…"

"I-I don't wanna lose him, Leo…h-he took a lot of bullets for me, and I owe him for that…! I-I don't know what will happen to us as a family if Mikey doesn't survive this…!" Donnie said in a terrified voice with sniffles and hiccups.

"We're not going to lose him, Donnie; he's strong and would never give up without a fight…!" Leo countered firmly but softly whilst slightly tightening the hug.

"…Y-Yeah…" Donnie said with a nod in agreement before burying his face into Leo's shoulder.

Behind the duo, Raph still remained in his spot; he didn't speak or move a single muscle when Leo went over to Donnie to comfort him. Instead, he just saddened and lowered his head down in shame and guilt for making Donnie feel emotionally worse than he was before.

Then…

"I'm getting a signal!" April's voice was suddenly heard, making the others jump and look at her with shocked and widened eyes.

"I-Is it Mikey!?" Donnie asked, pleading with hope on the inside that it was his little brother's signal.

"It has to be! He must still have his shell cell on him, because the signal is moving underground in the sewer system…!" April insisted.

"Yeah, and besides, I doubt dat Mikey would be stupid enough ta leave his phone in our enemy's base, anyway…" Casey said sceptically.

"Good point, Casey…April, keep an eye on the signal and try to stay in range of it while you find a safe place to land!" Leo said in his leader voice tone.

"Got it!" April replied in determination as she refocused on her flying and following Mikey's signal at the same time.

"Why? What are you going to do, Leonardo?" Leatherhead asked.

"I'm gonna go down into the sewers and get Mikey safely out of there…" Leo answered, his voice full of determination to find and save his youngest brother.

"If ya do bring him back alive, I'm gonna kill him myself!" Raph said threateningly whilst clenching a fist.

"You will do no such thing, Raphael!" Master Splinter scolded harshly.

"Right! We were already close to losing one brother, we are not going to go through the same thing with another!" Leo added firmly in agreement.

Soon, April was able to land the turtle copter on a large patch of grass not far from the nearest street that includes a manhole.

"This is the only safest place I can drop you off at, Leo…" She said.

"It's fine, April; we're not too far from Mikey's location, anyway…" Leo replied before he opened the copter door.

"Be careful, Leonardo…" Master Splinter told his oldest son, his voice filled with concern for both his and Mikey's safety.

"Don't worry, Master Splinter, I will…" Leo reassured his sensei and father before he jumped out of the turtle copter.

"Please be ok, Mikey…" Donnie prayed quietly as one more set of tears fell down his face.

/

The sewer system…

Leo flashed his torch around the tunnel that he was currently in after entering the sewer system through a manhole. His face then wrinkled when he smelt the foul stench and saw the dirt and grime all over the tunnel walls.

'Shell…These sewers are a lot worse than those in our area…' Leo thought in disgust and in concern at the same time, because he knew that Mikey had multiple bullet wounds that could possibly become infected if exposed to these filthy conditions. The reason why he knew all of this was because Donnie taught him and his other brothers about infections during his mini first aid and medicines lessons.

Then, suddenly…

"Urgh…gasp…Ngh…"

Leo froze when he heard the sounds of groaning and gasping echoing through the tunnel up ahead.

"Mikey?" He hissed before he ran towards the source of the sounds.

As soon as he got there, Leo stopped and what he saw in front of him almost made his heart stop in horror; there, laying against a pillar in the middle of the sewer tunnel, was the wounded and barely moving body of his youngest brother.

"Mikey!" Leo called out, but not too loudly to avoid startling Mikey, as he hurried over to his ailing brother and knelt down next to him to check his condition.

It was then that he noticed that some of the bandages on Mikey's body were blood-soaked, meaning that the stitches in the wounds covering them have torn due to too much movement. He also discovered that the drain tube was still in his side and its end had been clamped shut.

"Oh, no…Mikey, wake up! Talk to me…!" Leo pleaded as he placed a hand on Mikey's good shoulder and gently shook him to try and wake him up.

"Ngh…Mmm…"

Leo received a small grunt and a groan from Mikey before he watched as the orange-banded turtle slowly turned his head towards him and opened his eyes, which then widened slightly in shock when he recognised his oldest brother.

"L-Le-o…?" Mikey rasped out weakly.

"Yeah, little brother, I'm here…Thank shell you're alive; we've been looking all over for you…!" Leo said in relief whilst placing his other hand on Mikey's cheek.

"…W-Why…s'rch for me…?" Mikey slurred in confusion.

"Wha-? Because you're my brother and you're seriously hurt!" Leo answered with confusion in his heart as to why Mikey would ask such a thing. He then asked him a serious question that was bothering him since Mikey left.

"Why did you leave Bishop's headquarters without us knowing?"

"…" Mikey didn't say anything and just shook his head slowly before he started crying.

"Hey, what's wrong?" Leo questioned, now more worried on the inside when he saw the tears fall.

"…I-I'm a b'rden…sh'dn't be al've…" Mikey slurred in a heartbroken tone.

"Don't be stupid, Mikey! You saved Donnie's life, and we were finally able to cure him in time too!" Leo countered firmly, shocked at what Mikey just said.

"R-R'lly-Cough! Cough! Cough!"

Mikey tried to talk, but he was suddenly cut off by a bad coughing fit.

"Mikey!" Leo cried out before he gasped when he saw blood coming out of Mikey's mouth again, which was not a good sign.

"Hold on! I'm gonna call for back-up!" He then said before he turned on his communicator on his head and spoke.

"April, are you there?"

"I hear you loud and clear, Leo. What's your status?" He heard April's voice respond seconds later, much to his relief.

"I've found Mikey! He's alive but just barely, and he's close to going critical!" Leo told her calmly, despite panicking on the inside.

"Oh my-! Can you carry him back to the turtle copter?" April said with a gasp.

"I don't think so; some of his wounds have had their stitches pulled apart and blood is seeping through the bandages! Besides, he's so weak that he can barely move on his own!" Leo explained grimly.

"Ok, stay where you are! We'll send Casey over with a stretcher to help you!" April instructed firmly.

"Thanks, April, see you soon…" Leo said gratefully before he ended the call and refocused his attention back to Mikey, who now had a pained look on his face.

"Hang in there, Mikey…We're gonna get you out of here and back home safe…" He pleaded in a soft tone whilst holding Mikey's hand for support.

Then, after waiting for a gruelling 2 minutes…

"Leo!"

Leo heard the voice of his male human friend echoing from behind him, meaning that Casey was coming to help him.

"Casey! Over here!" Leo called out after letting out a sigh of relief.

Suddenly, at the corner of Leo's eye, Mikey's breathing started to flutter and his eyes were also beginning to close.

"Mikey!? No, stay awake! Don't give up on me now…!" Leo pleaded desperately, but it was no use; Mikey had already passed out.

Leo checked his brother's pulse between his head and neck, and thankfully, it was still there despite being weak and slow.

"Leo, I'm-" Casey was heard talking again before he gasped when he saw the state that Mikey was in. "Oh, man…He does not look good at all…!"

"I already know that, Casey! Help me get him off the ground, and watch the drain tube!" Leo snapped before he and Casey got on each side of Mikey's body and carefully lifted him onto a stretcher, which Casey brought with him and set up next to him, and then they secured him by connecting both ends of the straps to keep him from falling off.

Once they lifted him up after they each took an end of the stretcher, Leo and Casey quickly but carefully headed straight back towards the manhole that they entered from. However, they soon realised that getting Mikey out through the manhole might be more complicated than they first thought.

"Ok, now what do we do? We can't all climb up at da same time; da hole's too small…!" Casey said anxiously.

"One of us will have to climb up to the top of the manhole and wait until the other lifts Mikey halfway up towards it, and then grab hold of the handles to bring him up and out…" Leo explained his plan.

"Alright, then I should go up first; yer stronger at liftin' Mikey up from da bottom than I am…" Casey insisted.

"Good idea…Come on, let's hurry!" Leo said with a nod before he and Casey went straight into action.

Casey quickly climbed up the ladder and lifted the lid of the manhole before climbing out and getting himself into position. Leo then carefully lifted the stretcher straight and facing upwards before he raised it halfway up, just high enough for Casey to grab the handles and pull Mikey up topside.

"I gotcha, bud…" Casey said softly before he laid Mikey flat on the ground and watched as Leo hurried up the ladder himself.

"Alright, let's get back to the turtle copter!" Leo said before he and Casey lifted Mikey back up and hurried their way back to the turtle copter whilst being careful not to disturb Mikey's wounds too much.

/

The turtle copter…

Leo and Casey were able to return to the turtle copter without running into any trouble, and they got inside whilst carefully transferring Mikey inside with them and placing him in the middle of the copter.

"M-Mikey!?" Donnie cried out in horror when he saw how bad Mikey looked.

"Calm yourself, my friend; I will check him over…you stay here…" Leatherhead reassured Donnie before he went over to Leo who was closely positioned next to the wounded turtle.

"What is his current condition, Leonardo?" The big reptile asked.

"He lost consciousness a few minutes ago and he has also been coughing up blood earlier, Leatherhead…I'm worried that his bad lung is filling up with blood again!" Leo explained anxiously.

"Then we must release the clamp on the drain tube to relieve the pressure from the blood building up in his lung...!" Leatherhead instructed urgently.

Knowing what's needed to be done and that it was going to get messy, Leo immediately stood up and went to grab a bucket and a first aid kit at the bottom corner of the copter. He then placed the first aid kit next to him and carefully moved the end of the drain tube into the bucket.

"Ready when you are, Leatherhead…" Leo said as he got into position to prepare himself for what's to come next.

After giving Leo a nod, Leatherhead proceeded to unclamping the drain tube, and sure enough, blood immediately flowed out of the tube and poured into the bucket. It was then that everyone noticed that Mikey was breathing a bit better than before.

"Alright, this should help bide us a little time until we get back home and get him into the infirmary…" Leatherhead said with a small sigh of relief since he knew that Mikey was not out of the woods yet.

"P-Put him on oxygen; it'll help keep his breathing stable…" Donnie demanded as he walked shakily towards his wounded brother whilst dragging an oxygen tank with him.

"Donnie, you should take it easy; we'll take care of Mikey…" Leo told Donnie to try and keep him from moving too much, but the purple-banded turtle was having none of it.

"I just want to sit closer to him! Please! He saved me, so let me at least return the favour in supporting him by being near him!" Donnie pleaded, desperate to be by his immediate little brother's side.

Leo felt unsure on whether or not to allow Donnie to sit nearer to Mikey. However, after looking at Master Splinter and Leatherhead, both of whom were looking at Leo as if they were in agreement to follow through with it, he sighed and shifted to the side to let Donnie get closer to Mikey and give him the oxygen that he needed to remain stable for longer.

"Don't worry, baby bro; I'm right here…I won't leave you, ok? Just don't die on us…" Donnie soothed softly with tears falling down his face as he gently stroked Mikey's cheek and leaned his own head against Mikey's to comfort him.

The others, except April who was piloting the copter, looked at the scene with great sadness. They wanted to do more to soothe both of the younger brothers, but they all knew that nothing more could be done until they returned to the lair.

Therefore, they all sat in their places and stayed quiet whilst they kept an eye on Mikey to make sure that nothing changed in his condition until they got back home.