NOTE: There will probably be grammar mistakes that I will fix later.
The first thing Mikey did when he came home was step into the shower and turn on the water.
The purple blood washed off his body and went down the drain, and he grabbed a bar of soap to scrub his plastron with. But he was so numb and lost in his thoughts that he repeatedly and slowly scrubbed the abdominal part only.
He couldn't stop thinking about Gamora. Did she die among friends or was she all alone? Was it quick and painless or did she suffer in her final moments? What really tore him apart was that he wasn't there with her and that he didn't get to say goodbye. And her own father killed her for a stupid space rock.
He also thought about his brothers and all the friends he lost. He was so convinced that he could bring them back with the Avengers' help, but Thanos ruined their one and only chance after he destroyed the Stones. And now trillions across the universe were never going to see their loved ones again.
The Turtle closed his eyes as he pressed his forehead against the tiled wall, the warm water running down his freckled cheeks like tears.
This was, by far, his greatest failure.
...
In the kitchen, Raph, Rocket, and Nebula all sat the table in silence.
Raph's eyes were red and puffy from crying and he stared down at the T-phone in his hands. There were six missed calls and eleven texts from April, but he didn't have the heart to tell her that Casey and her Dad were never coming back.
The depressed Rocket rested his chin on the table. He kept thinking about Groot in his final moments. He faded away in front of the raccoon looking scared and in pain, and the last thing he said before he disappeared forever was one word: "Dad".
Nebula was the only one who finally spoke. "I'm hungry," she said softly as she stood up from her chair. She walked to the fridge and opened the freezer. What she saw inside made her jump a little.
Ice Cream Kitty mewed curiously at her, blinking her little black eyes and tilting her head. She kindly offered Nebula a strawberry popsicle, which the cyborg reluctantly accepted before she closed the door. Oddly enough, as strange as that was, it wasn't the strangest thing she ever saw.
Mikey walked into the kitchen wearing nothing but a towel around his waist and he chuckled softly when he saw Nebula's reaction to his pet. "I see you've met Ice Cream Kitty. She's my pet." He then turned to Raph, who was still staring at his phone. "Raph, you want me to fix you something to eat?"
Raph merely shook his head.
"Rocket? You want something to eat?"
Rocket didn't even respond and just sighed.
"Nebula?"
"I'm good," Nebula said as she continued to eat her popsicle.
"Oh. Okay. Well, I'm not really hungry, myself, so, uh...I guess I'll go to my room. Just let me know if you need anything, okay?" When no one answered, he walked out of the kitchen and straight to his bedroom.
The whole lair felt cold, but he knew that he set the temperature to seventy-three degrees. He was about to pass by the dojo but he stopped for a moment to peek inside. As he looked into the empty room, his heart ached when he realized that there would no longer be any training sessions with Leo. With a soft, trembling sigh, he continued on his way.
As he walked into his room, his saw his old toy robot on top of one of the pillows on his bed. A lump formed in his throat as he sat down on the matress and picked it up. One day, when he was six years old, he accidentally broke the robot and it absolutely crushed him. Donnie saw how distraught his little brother was and took it upon himself to repair the toy. It took him a few days, but the young genius not only fixed it, he also did some modifications and made it even more fun to play with since it could now sproat aircraft wings and make laser sounds. Mikey was so happy and grateful to his brother that he couldn't stop hugging him all day.
With tears in his eyes, he pressed the small red button on the robot's chest, and its eyes flashed yellow as it made hight-pitched laser sounds. Sniffling, he hugged the toy close to his chest.
...
After sitting in front of the TV for four hours straight, Rocket decided to leave the lair for a short while and go explore the city that was Mikey's home. He figured he'd be back before the others woke up, but he left a note for Mikey just in case he didn't.
As soon as he crawled out of a manhole, his nose immediately picked up a delicious scent. He followed it to a hot dog stand on the sidwalk, and he still had some Earth money left that the Avengers generously gave him, so he decided to buy a little snack for himself.
He walked up to the vendor, who was handing a hot dog to a customer. "Hey, pal," he said. "I'll have one of those."
The vendor nodded. "Sure. You want it plain or-?" He turned around but didn't see anyone, which confused him. Then he happen to glance down and saw Rocket. His eyes got big at the sight of the raccoon and he quickly became angry and disgusted. "Hey!" he yelled and kicked at him. "Get outta here! Shoo! Get!"
Rocket backed away and began to protest. "Hey, wait-"
"Get outta here, ya filthy raccoon!" the man shouted and threw a discarded cardboard box at him.
Those words stunned Rocket. "'Raccoon'?" He snapped out of it when he felt an empty soda can hit him in the chest and made a run for it as the vendor continued to throw trash at him.
He ran into an alley where a homeless woman and her young daughter were dumpster diving. The woman didn't notice him but the little girl did and she stared at him with curious eyes. She smiled sweetly as she slowly approached him.
"Hi," she held out a peeled orange. "Are you hungry?"
He was touched by her kindness but could see that she needed it more than he did. Before he could say anything to her, the mother finally noticed him and pulled her daughter away.
"Lisa, stay away from it!" she screeched.
"But, Mommy...!" the girl pleaded.
"That's a raccoon, baby! It might bite you!"
Raccoon. That word again. Did he really look so much like the Earth rodent?
Seeing that he was not welcomed among humans, the dejected Rocket decided to go back to the lair and looked for a manhole. He was about to pass by a large pile of trash bags on the sidwalk when he heard a rustling noise. Curiosity got that best of him and he looked behind the pile.
A couple of street raccoons were digging through torn bags and feeding on garbage. One of them picked up Rocket's scent and looked directly at him with its dark eyes.
Rocket couldn't believe what he was seeing. These creatures, these raccoons looked exactly like him, and all this time he believed that he was a one of a kind.
Suddenly a van pulled up, its headlights nearly blinding Rocket, and two men stepped out with control poles. The wild raccoons snarled and growled but one of them was snagged while the other made its escape. Rocket watched in horror as the captured raccoon was lifted and thrown into a small cage.
One of them men saw Rocket and pointed. "Hey, there's another one."
Terrified, Rocket darted across the street with the man pursuing him. As he ran, he glanced back at the van, which had the label "ANIMAL CONTROL" on the side.
They all thought he was a wild animal. A disgusting street rodent.
He yelped when he felt the pole's noose tighten around his neck.
"Got it!" The man lifted him off the ground and carried him to the van.
"N...No...!" He struggled to talk but the noose was so tight he couldn't breathe and all he could do was kick and struggle. Is this how it was going to end for him? Euthanized like an unwanted street animal?
Then he saw someone running down the street and straight at the man who held him. The stranger snatched the pole right out of the man's hand and held Rocket under his arm as he continued to run.
"I got you, Rocket!"
Rocket immediately recognized that voice. "Mikey?"
The Turtle sprinted into an empty alley and put Rocket down, removing the noose from his neck. "Are you okay, dude?" he asked worriedly.
The raccoon rubbed his burning neck. Everything had happened so fast he didn't know what to think. "I...I don't know." He looked up at Mikey with sad eyes. "Mikey, they all think I'm a raccoon."
"Well, you look exactly like one," Mikey said. "Nobody here knows the difference. And that's why you need to lie low."
This only made Rocket even sadder. He was probably going to live on Earth for the rest of his life and he didn't want to spend it hiding in the sewers like he was some kind of monster. "But...I don't want to lie low, Mike," he said softly. "I want to fit in."
Mikey looked at him sadly. "Me, too, Rock. But I'll never fit in 'cause I'm a mutant. We have to stick together, so don't go sneaking off again, okay?"
With his ears flattened, Rocket sighed deeply. "Okay."
...
Later that night, after Mikey went back to bed, Rocket rested on the couch, but he couldn't sleep. The images of all the angry and scared faces that he saw on the streets kept him awake. On Earth, he wasn't a Guardian of the Galaxy or even a person, but a lowly rodent.
Mikey's iPad happened to be on the coffee table so he picked it up and Goggled, "Raccoon". Images of wild raccoons popped up and he scrolled down the page, looking at them all. There were several pictures of raccoons snarling and even attacking humans. The general attitude toward raccoons was negative on this planet, and for good reason: raccoons were filthy, barbaric animals that fed on garbage and carried diseases.
He crawled off the couch and made his way to the bathroom, where he searched the cabinet for a mirror. He found one and looked at his reflection then at a photo of a snarling raccoon on the iPad. He made himself snarl and bare his teeth just like the one in the picture.
As he compared his reflection to the photo, he realized the horrible truth.
"I really am a rodent," he mumbled sadly.
...
"Morning," Mikey yawned as he walked into the kitchen. To his surprise, only Nebula was at the table, drinking a cup of coffee with Ice Cream Kitty who was in a bowl next to her. "Hey, where's Raph and Rocket?"
"Your brother is still in his room," Nebula told him. "As for the fox, I don't know where he is."
"Uh-oh." The young Turtle instantly became worried for his furry friend and went to go look for him. "Rocket! Where are you, dude?" He approached the couch where he saw the raccoon last, but no one was there.
Then he checked the bathroom and was puzzled to discover his iPad on the floor. He turned the device on and it instantly led him to Google images of wild raccoons. Now Mikey was even more worried and hurried to Raph's room. He didn't even bother to knock and pushed the door open.
"Raph!" Mikey yelled. "Rocket's gone missing! I can't find-!"
He froze when he saw his brother packing a suitcase on the floor. Chompy, who had grown to the size of a Great Dane, was on the bed chewing on an old sock and he wagged his tail excitedly when he saw Mikey.
"Raph, what are you doing?" Mikey asked the older Turtle.
Raph didn't look up at him and continued to pack his things. "I'm leaving, Mikey," he said softly.
"W-What?" Mikey couldn't have heard him right. "You're-You're leaving?"
Raph nodded. "Yeah."
"W-Well, where are you going?"
"To the old farmhouse. Mona's moving in there with me."
"But why?"
Raph slammed the suitcase shut and stood up to face Mikey. There was sadness and defeat in his eyes. "I can't stay here any longer, Mikey." He picked up the suitcase and walked right past Mikey. "Come on, Chompy."
The space turtle jumped off the bed and followed his master down the hall.
"Raph, wait!" Mikey ran after his brother. "Just wait a minute! Let's talk about this first!"
"You can't change my mind," Raph stated as he walked into the living room. "I'm going."
Mikey wasn't going to give up and continued to plead with him. "But this is your home! You can't just leave!"
Raph finally stopped at the turnstiles and had his shell to Mikey before he slowly turned around. "No, Mikey," his eyes glistened with tears. "Without Leo and Donnie, it's just not home anymore. Now it's just a place full of painful memories."
Mikey stared at him in disbelief, and his own eyes to water. "But," he whispered, "I need you here."
There was a pause before Raph walked down the steps and touched Mikey's shoulder. "You know, you can come with me," he offered with a small smile. "We could all live together in the farmhouse and start over."
Mikey was stuck. Raph was now the only family he had left and he wanted to move away, but Rocket was somewhere in the city, possibly lost or even hurt. He was tempted to leave it all behind and start over like Raph said, but his friendship with the raccoon was stronger than that temptation. And although he's follow his brother to the ends of the world, his friend still needed him.
He bit his lower lip and looked down at the floor. "I can't leave Rocket," he quietly said.
There was silence for a moment before Raph removed his hand from Mikey's shoulder and said calmly, "I see."
When Mikey lifted his head, Raph was looking at him with eyes full of hurt and betrayal, which broke the younger Turtle's heart and he reached a hand out to his brother. "Raph..."
But Raph turned his back to him and stormed up the steps. Chompy followed him into the tunnel, but not before he gave Mikey a sad glance and a whimper.
Once Raph and Chompy were gone, Mikey sat down on the couch and buried his face in his hands, feeling so lost. Everything was falling apart and his whole family was gone. At that very moment, he wished that Thanos had snapped him away, too, because it was all too much for him to bear.
He heard footsteps approaching him and quickly looked up, hoping that Raph had changed his mind. But it was Nebula, and there was sympathy in her normally cold eyes. Without saying a word, she down next to him.
"Do you want to leave, too?" he croaked. "I wouldn't blame ya." After all, why would she stay here in the sewers with him? She could just move into the Avengers facility, which was much cleaner, and this once lively and fun lair was now just a sad and lonely dump.
But then she gently placed a hand on his shell. "I'd rather stay here with you."
He looked at her surprised. "Really?"
"As much as I hate to admit it, you're the closest thing to a friend I have, and I'd rather be with a friend than to live among strangers."
With a heart full of so much gratitude, Mikey pulled her into a tight hug. "Thank you," he whispered as a tear slipped down his cheek.
Nebula became stiff and awkwardly patted his shell. She still wasn't used to being hugged, but it felt kind of nice, even though she wouldn't admit it.