The girl- a real one, like you see on the news- is stronger than Michelangelo expects. Master Shredder always said normal humans, untrained and undisciplined, were weak and fragile, but O'Neil refuses to make a sound as Leonardo kicks her repeatedly in the gut. A short cry of pain rips from her lips, muffled by her arms- well, she's trying at least. A valiant effort if he ever saw one; he is intimately acquainted with the force of that kick, and is well aware of how much it hurts- and he has a shell! He bets her squishy, unprotected torso is gonna be black and blue for a couple weeks at the least. He knows Leonardo isn't gonna go easy on her just cause she's vulnerable.
His thoughts drift to the turtle in question.
Another mission that has nothing to do with the rest of them, but Shredder has made them watch as he assigns it to Leonardo. He may not be the brightest tool in the shed, but he knows what this means. Master Shredder is pulling the whole "be more like your brother" thing again. Well, he never really stopped, but he did tone it down a little. Looks like that's over.
April screams sharply and quickly as Leonardo jabs his katana under her chin to threaten her into stillness.
Michelangelo thinks- about his brother, about his master, about himself and his role. This is nothing new. He's always been one for thinking about things he shouldn't. Thinking about all the ways he could throw a wrench in the works, the ways he could make the others pay attention to him. He could show them he worth something, show them he can do things and fight just as well as his brothers. He's a little easily distracted- everyone's got flaws. It's not fair his brothers act like his are unforgivable. Don's got a superiority complex the size of Mars. Leonardo is so obsessed with Shredder, it's probably classified as some sort of mental thing. And Raphael-
...
Well, now there's a wrench just waiting to hit the works.
April has stopped responding and her eyes are closed; she's probably unconscious. Leonardo throws her over his shoulder, bows to Shredder, and walks out.
April is something new. Michelangelo has always wanted what was new and different and strange, always wanted what he hadn't seen before, and this strange girl and the weird way the Kraang want her specifically but won't get her themselves is intoxicating. If there are two things his brothers and master hate about him more than anything else, it's his- no, that's more than two things. Three things- four? No, that one's not as bad as the others (but he could make it worse)- lets just say: one of the things people hate about him is his insatiable and undiscerning curiosity. One day, it was going to get him killed, and his brothers might just celebrate it.
Shredder finally leaves. Michelangelo thinks he might have been talking for a long while. It's a good thing he perfected his "this is my listening face" face ages ago.
His feet take him to his room by instinct as he retreats back into his thoughts. April O'Neil... he wonders if someone's taken care of that shoulder yet. Or the... everything else. Might not matter though- might be better if she dies sooner. Michelangelo may not know much about the Kraang- sensitive information and him rarely ever cross paths, and never on purpose- but he knows that the things they keep trapped would do anything to escape.
He could help her. Help this strange, strong girl get out of this dark place. She doesn't fit right here, bright colors and bared teeth scraping at the dull brick walls, rubbing raw against the oppressive aura of the Shredder. She may be injured, but he could keep the others here long enough for her to escape. It wouldn't be hard, he thinks as he sits on his bed. Wouldn't be easy, but wouldn't be hard.
Of course, he'd get punished. No chance at all of leaving the throne room with all his bones unbroken. He might even get another scar to match the first- one long, continuous mark that starts on the right side of his neck and ends just below his left eye- but that isn't anything new, and then Shredder would have to pay attention to him. He couldn't ignore him anymore, couldn't act like he's worthless; Michelangelo could prove he was just as dangerous as the others.
Save the strange bright girl, get recognition from Shredder- all in all, the perfect plan.
Now how?
First off, he'll have to go to Donatello's lab to disable the cameras. No, not disable- he needs time to bring April to the vent, and disabling it will bring Don running. Put current footage on loop? Yes! Don won't notice if he's distracted (which he always is); as long as the footage is playing, he won't notice exactly what is playing. He can figure out which cell April is in while he's there, and get the code to it. He can even disable the fan at the end of the vent.
Getting Don out of the lab will be easy; just take out a camera or panel or something, and Don'll come running to fix it. As long as he does it somewhere far from the lab, he'll have more than enough time to put his plan in place.
With all details sorted out, Michelangelo thinks it's high time he went to work.
A camera on the third floor- six below the lab- goes dark. After a spirited run/jump/flipping from rail to rail up the stairs, he arrives in an empty laboratory with all the lights left on. Someone has left in a hurry. He throws himself into the desk chair by the computer, spinning a few times with the momentum. Grabbing the desk suddenly, he yanks himself to a halt- time to get to work.
April's cell is on the tenth floor- the vent is on the second. He hopes April is prepared to run, because elevators are not an option when they're racing against The Master of All Technology Himself. A strategic array of cameras begin looping at his command. Her cell code- 227583. 227583, 227583, 227583, 227583- remember remember remember. Can't forget, don't have time. Oh! Right- he disables the fan. Almost forgot. 227583.
He leaves, not bothering to hide his tracks. If the point wasn't to get caught, he wouldn't be doing this at all.
Tenth floor, cell 1056. 227583. April is facing away from him, hands moving in front of her where he can't see them. Is she- meditating? Weird. He'll have to ask her about that later.
Will there be a later?
His finger hovers over the keyboard- broken bones and scars and one of these days Shredder will do something permanent, something that really will make him useless, and Master Shredder won't have a reason to keep him alive at all anymore- but he didn't come here because pain can stop him. He didn't come here because he's weak. 227583, and the cell door opens with a click.
April whirls around. She must not have heard him before. She's startled, but more mad than anything- sai through her shoulder- looks like it's been confiscated but the wound hasn't been looked at- and skin more black and blue than fair and she's mad that her meditation got interrupted.
A girl after his own heart.
He beckons to her with one hand, puts one finger from the other over his mouth in the universal gesture of 'shhhh'. She's wary and suspicious, hesitant- but she sees no one else around, and there is something in the silent, wary way he carries himself that says 'I'm not supposed to be doing this', and it's enough to get her out of the cell.
They walk. April tries to ask a question once, but after receiving nothing but another gesture to be quiet she doesn't try again. He's glad- if a footbot hears them now, they're dead. Well, she'll go to the Kraang, which is as good as dead, and he'll go to the Shredder, which... was his plan all along.
Well, whatever. They're nearly there anyway.
The vent is close to the ground and barely big enough for a human. He unscrews the things carefully- disguising which way they went will mean less of a chance of catching her- and gestures towards it.
April gives him this... look. She looks halfway between curious and knowing, and honestly it freaks him out a little. He gestures harder, and she takes the hint.
She crawls through the vent and out of sight.
He puts the vent back on, goes to his room and waits. He does not have long.
(Side note: Mikey is about to get hurt very, very badly. Without spoiling too much, I want to ask: do you think his wounds should be permanent? Again, without spoiling too much, I am pretty much asking if you think I should remove a limb or just beat him to hell and back. Feedback is appreciated!)
(Side side note: Thank you for the kind words! You have no idea how thrilled I am that my first story is getting this much attention!)