This was originally supposed to just be a Dark Leo and Dark Mikey brotherly fluff thingy, but it sorta canonballed on me as soon as I reached the part where Dark Leo leaves the lair. O_o It doesn't match up with my original idea, but hey, it's all good. :P
Dark Mikey stumbled into the lair, grateful for the fact he and his brothers didn't feel the need to keep the goddamned lights on the highest setting like their counterparts did. He growled at the thought of his counterparts. How the shizzling shell had the eldest three managed to jump him? He hadn't even got his hands on any drinks yet! As it was, he'd just barely managed to evade capture. Ah well, at least his counterpart hadn't been there, that would have been way too tough a fi- "Where do you think you're going?" asked a voice as he prepared to spring up to the upper level and get into his room. He cringed at the voice and turned around with a sheepish grin on his face, his tongue had already slithered out of his mouth again.
"Um... to go to bed because all the good little boys and girls are in theirs and I won't get anything from Santa if I'm awake and-" Dark Leo held his hand up to cut the babbling.
"I didn't even understand half of that," he said flatly. "Would you care to explain why you have a black eye?" Dark Mikey winced, having forgotten about that for a few blissful moments.
"Not really, no." Dark Leo sighed and jerked his head in the direction of Dark Don's lab.
"Come here." Dark Mikey reluctantly followed the older clone to the lab.
"Seriously dude, I'm fine."
"Ah I see, I must have just imagined the black eye, cuts, and bruises," said Dark Leo sarcastically, pulling out supplies.
"No offense dude, but if I have to be cleaned up, I'd rather have Don do it, he at least knows what he's doing." Until they figured out names for themselves, the referred to each other by the nicknames their counterparts had. Dark Leo gave him a sour look.
"And what makes you think I don't know what to do?" Dark Mikey opened his mouth, then shut it and just sulked as Dark Leo cleaned him up. When he finished, Dark Mikey moved to hop off the cot, but Dark Leo stopped him. "Mike?"
"Yeah Leo?"
"Who did it?"
"The older three," said Dark Mikey, shrugging. "No biggie." Dark Leo's eyes narrowed.
"Hey Mikey?"
"Yeah Leo?"
"Go to bed, if Don wakes you to ask where I am, just tell him I went out to clear my head." Dark Mikey shrugged and nodded.
"It's not like he'd care to ask anyway, but ya, sure." Dark Leo gave a grim smile.
"Good." After assisting his little brother up to his room and seeing he was in bed, he left the lair, already planning what path he'd take to reach his destination.
XxXxX
"You what?" shrieked Mikey. "Dudes! That seriously ain't nice! Sure he and his bros are out to kill us and all, but you didn't need to beat him up as bad as you say you did!"
"Come on Mikey, he was probably up to no good!"
"Actually, for once, he wasn't," snapped a voice. Dark Leo landed between the three turtles and their youngest brother, knocking them away with a sweep of his arm. "Do you mind if I momentarily drop the heartless act?" he asked Mikey.
"Not at all dude, I'll keep it safe for ya while ya have fun," said the youngest turtle, grinning. For once, he knew the blue turtle wasn't going to attack them or suddenly betray them. He had stopped viewing their clones as clones ages ago, and had started thinking of them more as people... heck, he had even met up with Dark Raph once or twice (secretly of course) to just talk and hang out. He'd actually discovered that the red turtle at least was pretty cool. Dark Leo shot Mikey a brief smile, before turning back to the others.
"Mikey what the shell are ya doin'?" yelled Raph, pushing himself up.
"How to pin all three of you to a wall at once..." Dark Leo mused, before getting an idea. "Oh I know!" He winded Raph, then grabbed the hothead's sai and used them to pin Raph's wrists to the wall behind him. Next, he stole Leo and Don's bandannas, using them to tie their hands together to two conveniently placed rings. He leaned close to all three of them, his intentionally less-than-pleasant breath washing over them.
"How in the world did you get your hands on garlic among all those other things I can smell?" asked Don, trying not to gag on the smell.
"So sorry, being worthless biological trash, I'm too much of a savage to know about breath mints," he hissed. "So, my brother came back looking utterly exhausted, with a black eye and various serious injuries. Care to explain why this is?"
"He was up to no good," Leo said, trying to breathe in as little as possible. "We had to make sure he couldn't do it either by capturing him or putting him out of the commission so we could give him to the Peacekeepers."
"And it never occurred to you to just ask what he was doing did it?" snapped Dark Leo, glaring.
"Well no, every time we see you you happen to be trying to kill us or wreak havoc!" snapped Raph.
"Wow, big words Raph," teased Don, unable to resist.
"Oh shut up," Raph growled.
"Hey bro, about them always trying to kill us or wreak havoc... that ain't actually true," said Mikey.
"Why do you say that?" asked both Leo's at the same time, turning to him curiously, then giving each other strange looks. Mikey grinned.
"I've been meetin' up with Red and he's actually pretty cool."
"Red?" asked Dark Leo.
"Yeah, until you guys pick names I just call you by your colours, only, Red calls Yellow Cheese Head." Dark Leo shook his head, momentarily amused, before turning back to the other three.
"So, go on, ask me why my brother was out wandering the streets, I know you want to."
"Fine, why was he out wandering the streets if he wasn't going to cause trouble?" asked Leo, ignoring Raph's muttered promises of giving Mikey trouble as soon as he was free.
"You know all that 'biological trash' and 'worthless clone' garbage we have thrown at us?" asked Dark Leo. Leo nodded. "He doesn't show it when he thinks we're watching, but it gets to him. He's actually starting to hate himself, he's been force fed the belief that he has nothing to call his own other than his mind so many times that he started believing it." The three brothers stared, and even Raph shut up. They didn't know that the comments had affected Dark Mikey so much.
"Dude, you totally have to get Purple to set up a call so that Yellow and me can set up a game meet up or a movie marathon or somethin', 'cause he seriously sounds like he needs to loosen up a bit."
"No, what he needs is for your idiot brothers and Darius Dunn to stop putting him down all the time!" Dark Leo yelled. "Sorry about yelling Mikey, but it's just so frustrating...!"
"I get ya."
"Mikey, since when did you get on such friendly terms with them?" asked Don.
"Since I started actually seeing them as individuals rather than just mindless clones spewing a script they were fed," said Mike. "I went back to their lair and after a couple misunderstandings, I actually got to know Purple and Red. Blue and me had a few words but he was generally off doing other stuff. Haven't come face to face with Yellow outside a fight yet though." Raph's eyes widened, and so did Leo's.
"MIKEY!"
"Are you telling me you walked into a situation where you could have been potentially killed?"
"Yeah, but it was all fine. It was one of my more brilliant ideas," said Mikey, grinning. "It also means that when you guys do something stupid, they won't take it out on me!" Dark Leo smiled in an amused fashion.
"I still don't get exactly why you don't mind us going after your brothers..."
"Well it's not like you're going to kill them," said Mikey, shrugging. "Seriously, Purple told me that in all honesty, all he'd really do if he caught them is mess with their heads a bit and maybe rough them up a small bit so as not to look suspicious or anything. Red really has no idea what he'd do other than gloat." Dark Leo couldn't help the chuckle that escaped.
"Yeah that sounds like him."
"And what about you?" asked Leo, causing Dark Leo to turn. "What would you do if you caught the three of us?"
"That's for me and possibly Mikey to know, and you to possibly find out at the worst possible moment," growled Dark Leo, leaning in close again, blocking Mikey from their sight. "Ever hurt my brother again, and I swear I will rip you three apart."
"Ahem," said Mikey, giving an obviously fake cough. Dark Leo sighed.
"Alright alright, I won't rip you apart, but I'll break something precious to you," he threatened. He held out his hand to Mikey. "Might I have my heartless mask back? It feels so strange openly showing how I care for my brothers in front of these three."
"Sure dude, remember to hook me and Yellow up!" said Mikey cheerfully, handing back an imaginary mask, which Dark Leo pretended to put on his face before giving a casual salute.
"Yeah sure, I'm sure he'll be a happy to see that at least one of you sees him as something other than a punching bag." He actually bumped fists with Mikey. "See you around, Goofball." Mikey laughed.
"See you around Blue!" As soon as Dark Leo left and Mikey started freeing them, he started receiving three lectures at once. Sighing and shaking his head, he just grinned. "Dude, someone had to take a chance on 'em and give 'em a chance to show they ain't what we think they are."
"We already gave Dark L-"
"Dude, we gave him a supposed chance under forced circumstances, he'd have been caged either way. Oh, and before I forget, if he was locked up with us or the Peacekeepers, that means he would have been unable to protect his brothers." Surprising them all, Mikey turned and started walking around. "Conversation's over dudes."
XxXxX
Dark Leo slipped into the lair, but found Dark Mikey sitting on the couch, looking at his hands. "Leo?" he asked, looking up.
"Yeah Mike?" asked Dark Leo, sitting beside him. "What's on your mind?"
"Do you think I should just end it all?"
"I doubt we can get our hands on a bomb big enough to blow up the whole planet." Dark Mikey shot him a temporary amused look, then shook his head.
"I don't mean destroying Earth, I mean removing myself from the world." Dark Leo was suddenly pinning Dark Mikey to the couch.
"You dare try and do that, and I swear I will get Don to set up something so that you are given some sort of suitable punishment for that thought. We're a team! We need you Mike!"
"No, our counterparts are a team. You, Don, and Raph are a team. I'm just the useless add on." Dark Leo massaged his forehead as he leant back.
"I'm going to kill Dunn."
"But we can't hurt him."
"Oh I'll find some way around it," growled Dark Leo. "Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you... your counterpart wishes for me to set up a phone call between you two." Dark Mike stared.
"Why would he want to talk to me? How in the world did you even talk to him without being attacked in the first place?"
"I went to get angry at his brothers, and he's been our friend for awhile."
"Are you serious?" asked Dark Mikey, looking surprised.
"Yes, he says he'd like to hang out with you and get to know you... and just so you know Mike... he doesn't view you as a clone." Dark Mikey's breath caught.
"You're just pulling my leg," he said, suddenly looking hurt.
"I kid you not. Let's go set up a connection on Don's computer, right now."
"Nah, I need to sleep."
"Yes..." said Dark Leo, eyes suddenly narrowing. "Why are you down here? Your leg is hurt and you shouldn't be walking around on it..." Dark Mikey winced.
"Oh geez... I wish you didn't share the tendency to lecture like your counterpart," grumbled Dark Mikey. Dark Leo rolled his eyes.
"We only lecture our brothers, normal mutant turtles or not, because we care." They heard a click, and Dark Don walked into view.
"And now I have this all recorded to share with the world." Dark Don wiped away an imaginary tear. "You have no idea just how touching that was Blue, seriously."
"Delete that, or I'll seriously kill you," growled Dark Leo.
"No you won't, not when you yourself said that you care for us just like Leo cares for his brothers!" said Dark Raph, grinning as he emerged from the kitchen. Dark Leo's eye twitched.
"I'LL KILL YOU BOTH!" he roared, charging at them. They screamed and ran, and Dark Mikey laughed for real, instead of just one he put up to seem like he was okay. He went to the lab quietly and set up a connection, his counterpart's features appeared on the screen.
"Hey there Yellow! How're you-" A crash sounded in the background. "Uh, is everything okay there? This ain't an SOS call is it? 'Cause that'd suck." Dark Mikey shook his head.
"No, it's just things being normal."
"Cool! Wanna hang sometime? We could play video games, or-"
"What would you do around the city? I don't much like being cooped up." Mikey paused thoughtfully, then grinned almost maniacally.
"Dude! We could so totally go hover boarding! I just figured it out last week." Dark Mikey nodded.
"That sounds fun, but there wouldn't be one big enough for-" Mikey raised a hand.
"Say no more, say no more. I'll pester Donny or Cody into helping me build one for ya. When would you be available bro?" Dark Mikey froze.
"Bro?" he echoed.
"Well yeah! Blue and me haven't exchanged many words, but the words we have actually sorta showed us that though the rest of my bros are sorta frienemies to you guys, we're part of each other's families. That's why I'm actually putting my hidden smarts to use to make sure you can come live with us here and not be hunted down by the Peacekeepers. The fact that they're all robots means they can be hacked." Mikey grinned evilly. "And I will so have the stuff all fixed so we can go hoverboarding in the daylight." Dark Mikey nodded, speechless. "Oh yeah, and I managed to get my hands on a book like the one Master Splinter used to name us, so we can pick names for you guys out of there!" Dark Mikey nodded again, still speechless. "You okay bro? You look a little shellshocked," said Mikey, laughing.
"I just-"
"Look, despite what that loser Dunn says, you're a great dude. After all, you and me are alike!" said Mikey, laughing.
"You mean I'm your clone." Mikey shook his head.
"Pfft, yeah right, you're far more than a clone. I'm certain you'd have been born sooner or later, even without Sh'Okanass." Dark Mikey laughed, even though the name was even that funny. "So, I'll call ya as soon as the hackin's all done! This is the Turtle Titan, over and out!" Before Mikey's image vanished however, he smirked. "By the way, I have so designed a superhero outfit for you already, and it looks wicked cool if I do say so myself." The image vanished, at which point Dark Mikey realized his brothers were in the doorway.
"Leo says you were thinkin' about dying," said Dark Raph softly. He hadn't heard that before, seeing as he had been in the kitchen grabbing a snack due to hunger after following Dark Leo and then racing to get home ahead of him.
"Not anymore," said Dark Mikey, smiling slightly.
"Well I don't care, until I'm sure you aren't thinking about committing suicide, we're all sharing a room. No buts," said Dark Don. Dark Leo smiled at Dark Mikey and gestured.
"What?"
"Group hug." The other three stared at Dark Leo like he was insane.
"A hug? Are you out of your mind? We're bad guys! We don't do hugs!"
"We're not bad guys," said Dark Mikey, grinning and hugging Dark Leo. "We're anti-heroes." Dark Leo chuckled.
"We may be, but Mikey clearly believes you're firmly placed in the hero category." Dark Mikey smirked.
"He'll change his mind during our hoverboard race... I'll beat him through fair means or foul!" he said, with extra drama thrown in. They laughed.
"Trash! I have need of you," came Darius Dunn's voice as they exited the lab. They gave him cold looks.
"Go shove it," snapped Dark Mikey. "We are going to bed."
"Don't you take that tone at me!" said Darius, bristling. "I own your worthless lives, and you will do what I say when I say!" Dark Leo tensed, expecting Dark Mikey's mood to evaporate into semi-depression again. Instead, Dark Mikey calmly took one of his clubs and chucked it at him.
"That's what I say to that stupid notion," he said flatly before turning and tugging on his brothers' arms. "Come on." Smirking, they sprang into the upper level and went towards Dark Leo's room, which was the largest.
"Good night Darius," called Dark Don mockingly.
"YOU WILL NOT BE FED UNTIL YOU COMPLY!"
"WE DON'T NEED YOUR SCRAPS!" yelled Dark Mikey, opening the door and chucking his other club at Darius, which actually managed to hit him this time.
WHY I made Mikey a friend of theirs, I don't know, but I just felt that despite his apparent fear of some of them, he would try to become friends. *shrugs* Yeah... and the ending felt sorta lame to me, but I dunno, maybe you guys liked it. *shrugs again* I'll try to come up with one that's JUST Dark Leo and Dark Mikey... but right now a Dark Don and Dark Leo one is calling to me... and I seem to be answering with a creepy look on my face. O_O
Read and review please! The title was suggested by my friend, who I shall simply refer to as Madame Strawberry. She'll get the reference. :P