It was like something straight out of a nightmare. Everything that has happened the last few minutes has been nothing but a bad dream that they could wake up from. Because the thing that they had saved April and Casey from, the thing that they drove out of April's building and into the sewers couldn't possibly be their youngest brother.

That thing couldn't possibly be their sweet and fun loving Michelangelo.

It just couldn't be, the thought was lost so haunting, so heart stopping because no, not Mikey, please.

Leo had to believe it wasn't true, not until they had definitive proof but as he stood there, clinching his little brother's bandanna in his hand, hoping in the back of his mind that none of this was real, that he was gonna wake up, go into the lair and see Mikey, sitting on the couch in the lair watching television and teasing Raph about his medal he'd won from the Battle Nexus.

But everything came crashing down when he saw the look on Leatherhead's face. He took a set forward, hesitantly as if he almost didn't want to know the answer. "Don? Leatherhead? Anything you two can tell us?" He watched as Don, who had been standing the closest to Leatherhead looked at him, like he wanted to say something but couldn't find the exact words.

Then Leatherhead spoke, almost absentmindedly as their friend stared at Mikey's bandages through a microscope. "It seems that the tissue sample from Michelangelo's bandage contains the same alien DNA that's been found in the mutated creatures you have fighting as of late.

Oh

Oh god

It's worse then he thought.

How could this have happened, how could he have let this happen? Leo was the oldest, he was suppose to keep his family safe, especially Mikey because he's the youngest, how could he have failed so horribly? "You mean Mikey's been infected by the outbreak?"

"Since..." Donnie began to speak but faltered slightly, before continuing, "Since we were already mutated by the mutagen, the DNA in Mikey's blood stream has triggered a secondary mutation. Turning him into a—" Leo watched as Don paused yet again, a deeply sad look on his face, and stayed silent, looking to Raph and saw the same exact thing happening him.

They were all cracking at the seams, and it looked like they were all on the verge of breaking, but they were forcing themselves to stay strong because they had no choice.

The guilt that Leo already had on his shoulders double in size, he should have prevented this.

"The tainted DNA in Michelangelo appears to have been inside his system for quite sometime, slowly turning him into the creature you described. I realize now that my assumptions I had previously stated were incorrect. I assumed that he was going through the beginning stages of adolescences, because he showed the various signs for it." Leatherhead turned and gave them all an apologetic look, "But I was wrong; the anger, the hunger and emotional imbalance were all from the feral animal growing within him." Gently, he bowed to them all, in shame. "I am deeply sorry, my friends."

Out of the corner of his eye, Leo looked to see Raph step forward, the anger clear on his face, like he wanted to say something really nasty to Leatherhead but stopped.

Even if their friend had been very wrong in what exactly had been happening to Mikey all this time, even if the urge to blame was strong within his bones, Leatherhead wasn't fault. Stepping forward, he placed his hands on the crocodiles arms and gestured for him to stand. "You don't have to apologize, Leatherhead. At the time we all thought it made the most sense."

Leatherhead closed his eyes and let out a deep breathe, and nodded only once, "What I cannot understand is exactly how this substance found it's way into Michelangelo's bloodstream?"

Looking down towards the floor, clinched his hands, he didn't have to wonder, he knew exactly where and how this happened, and by the look on Donnie's face he knew how as well. "His arm. When the outbreak first occurred, and we were fighting those mutated roaches down in the sewers, Mikey got a nasty gash on his arm." He turned to his brothers and they both had different expressions on their faces. Raph looked shocked and then that shock turned to quick anger. And Donnie looked like he had been told the absolute worst news in the world.

"I regret to say." Leatherhead said behind him, with a sigh. "Even with the combined assistance of Donatello that the chance of either of us finding some type of cure for Michelangelo's ailment is slim to none."

And was for first time since they arrived Leo let his vulnerability show as he wiped around so fast he was shocked he didn't get whiplash. "What?" Because no, there had to be a way to cure Mikey, there had to be something they could do.

"No... But I could..." Don whispered to his left, the tone sounding desperate and detached, "No..."

To Leo's left, Raphael let out a deadly snarl, "When I get my hands on Bishop, I'm gonna ram my foot so fuckin' far—!"

Leo had to take a breathe to steady himself, he should have realized that freaking out would have set off his other already agitated brothers. When one of them are stressed out the others are soon to follow.

And right now they could afford to break, not yet. Not when Mikey was still out there, gently he place a hand on Raph's shoulder, "Easy, Raph. We will find a cure but first we have to find Mikey, capture him before he hurts himself or anyone else."

"And just how are we gonna capture a 200 pound killer turtle that has no idea who we are?"

How indeed, lucky for them Donnie spoke up as he and Leatherhead walked over to the object they had covered in a tarp. Leatherhead pulled the sheet back and revealed a device that looked like a container. "Leatherhead and I have been studying the outbreak since it occurred, and we made this to see if we could possibly capture one of the larger mutants, the ones that were unstable and see if we could fully study it without risk falling to us, to see if we could find a cure. I... we—" Don's voice stifled just slightly as he gently place a hand on the device, "I... this was suppose to be for the other mutants, I never thought we'd have to use it on Mikey."

Leo's parental instinct kicked in and he immediately wanted to comfort Donnie, but he stood stiff and forced himself not too, right now they had to focus, right now they had to find Mikey and bring him home.

And bring him home they did.

It wasn't easy, Mikey sure put up a fight as the three of them and Leathehead struggled to get him inside the bio-container, but they did it, Mikey was home. But even though he was home now, back with his family, they knew they couldn't celebrate just yet for youngest turtle was still a monster, still a savage mindless animal.

And that thought alone enough to bring a tear to their Master's eye as he and everyone else looked on, watching as the creature that was Michelangelo fought to get out of his confined space.

"My son..." The simple action of their father putting his hand on the glass was almost enough to break Leo. He had to clinch his hands and feel his nails dig into his palm to keep from collapsing. "My son."

The action, made them even more determined then ever. "This is Michelangelo, this is our baby brother. We will find a cure."

The reality of what was happening was too much, to know that this was actually happening that they had lost one of their own, their youngest brother, no less, to Bishop and his damned outbreak was just too much to handle.

Letting the weight of everything sink in wasn't such a good idea, because now almost everyone in that room felt like they were suffocating.

"Alright, so say your a superhero."

Leonardo, despite the fact that he was meditating, laughed at Mikey's obvious attempt to break his concentration, like he use to do when they were kids. "Okay,"

"But say you didn't really have any powers, kinda like Batman or that Nobody guy we meet a few months ago." Leo listened as Mikey paused probably for dramatic effect, and continued. "And your actually doing really well for yourself, your popular, you have fans and your loved by all."

The lime light was never really his thing, but it had always been something that Mikey had enjoyed. "Ninja's stick to the shadows, but sure."

"Shh, I'm not done!" Mikey held up a hand to keep Leo from talking. "Anyway, your doing really good then suddenly this new villain that comes to town and he kicks your shell and tries to go after your friends, but the bad guy gets beat by you with some helpful hands of your friends." Mikey looked at him in the eye when he said this, "Would you blame yourself even though you did your best to stop him?"

This made up scenario making was telling was starting to sound familiar. "If I were a hero? And I did the very best I could with what I had to work with?" He thought for a moment and applied that scenario to how he had been acting 2 months ago, how he was filled with so much angry and how distant he was with his family, how he blamed himself for failing even though he did the best he could.

He remembered the Ancient One, how he told him that failing was just another stepping stone in life, that it didn't matter how many times you get knocked down, it's how you respond to that pain and the choices that you make, even if those choices in the beginning are perfect and leave you having to reevaluate yourself in a different light. "Learning from your mistakes is better then living in the past."

Mikey let out a low cheer, clapping his hands, "Ding Ding! Exactly! And that's what I would have said to you two months ago if you weren't being all dark and broody." Leo let out a soft 'oof' when he felt Mikey knock into him, hugging him around his waist. "You've always been too hard on yourself, dude. You're best is enough, it's always been."

Oh

Leo was speechless, he hadn't expect Mikey to be the one to give him a lesson in acceptance, in forgiving yourself. When had his little brother become so wise underneath all that goofiness?

Regardless he appreciated it none the less.

Without opening his eyes, Leo returned the hug tightly, a smile on his face, as his eyes stung, his voice stifled just a tad as he spoke. "Thanks, Mikey."

He put his forehead against the glass. "I love you, I promise. We will find a cure. No matter what it takes."

But how exactly was he not suppose to feel like a failure when his brother was now a seething, feral monster? How was he not suppose to feel guilty that his brother was gone, and he had done nothing to stop it?

No one answered

Apologies for such a shorter chapter, this was actually going to be a lot longer focusing on each turtle and how they were feeling everything that's happened to their littlest bro, but that got crazy long, so I have decided to break them up into chapters instead.

Anywoo, despite its shortness, I hope you all enjoyed it regardless. Feedback is always welcomed and appreciated around here in reviews if anyone has the time, and I'll see you all soon!