"Follow me," Don said, so Mike hopped off the couch and did exactly that.

"Where are we going, Robo-bro?" he asked, when they got out into the sewers.

"Never call me that," Don replied.

Okay, so Robo-bro was in a mood. Mike could roll with it.

"It's cool," he said. "I'm up for whatever." He graciously provided a conversational opportunity, then, when Robo-bro didn't take it, cheerfully continued to fill the silence. "You don't even have to tell me. I love surprises. Or guessing games. Should I guess where we're going?"

"No."

"Okay, then, surprise it is. This is gonna be great. You are one surprising guy, R- Donnie. I never know what you're gonna do but I almost always like it. Hey, remember that time when you -" Several hilarious stories popped into his mind, but he dismissed all of them. "Yeah, of course you do. Mind like a - like one of those stupid toys where you can't get the pieces apart. Where I can't get the pieces apart," he added, a little sadly, because Donnie always seemed to solve those things with a five-second glance and two moves.

Leaving off the conversation, he turned his attention to where they were going. The way seemed familiar, but he didn't say anything until they stopped in front of a heavy wooden door.

"This is our old Lair," he said, when it seemed they had arrived at their destination. "What are we here for?"

"You?" Don said. "Waiting outside and not coming in, no matter what you hear."

"Huh?" Mike said, but Don had already gone inside and slammed the door behind him.

Well, okay. Just a little delay to the surprise, then. Robo-bro must have been cooking up something neat inside. Mike couldn't figure out when in the past several weeks there had been time for any side projects, but hey, they were a multi-talented and indef- - indefinite? indefeatable? - tireless bunch of ninjas.

Mike chilled in the tunnel, hooking his thumbs into his belt. After a while he withdrew thumbs and nunchucks and amused himself by inventing several new and wholly-unapproved moves. He began to wonder if there wasn't really a surprise after all - he'd made that up himself, hadn't he? - but whatever Don was doing in there, Mike was sure it would end with something worthwhile for himself. Robo-bro was reliable that way.

The "no matter what you hear" was kinda weird, though, because so far Mike hadn't heard anything. He caught his weapons and edged towards the door, stretching sideways to listen until his head brushed the heavy wood.

Nothing.

He leaned away again. Maybe he should check on Donnie. Maybe -

His thoughts skipped when something that sounded a lot like an explosion threw him off his feet.

Maybe he should check on Donnie.

A second explosion nearly foiled his attempt to stand, but something was blowing up around his brother and ninja mode was on.

"Donnie?" he called out.

No answer.

"You okay, bro?"

There was a weird whining sound that Mike couldn't place. He thought about going in. He thought about running back to the new Lair to get help.

Don had told him to wait, no matter what.

Had Don expected the "no matter what" to include machine-gun fire?

He tightened his fists around his weapons and took a step towards the door. Before he could take another, he heard a much more welcome sound.

Don was calling his name, and he sounded just fine.

"I'm here!" Mike called back.

"Come in."

Mike went in. The place was a wreck, as places usually were after a couple of good explosions. It had kinda looked like that before, though, he remembered with a twinge of sadness.

"Look at this," Don said, and turned back towards the detritus of their former home, raising both arms.

First a chunk of rubble went flying. Then a line of bullet holes was carved into a wall, and a Mouser head exploded, and finally a broken chair burst into flames.

Then it was Mike's turn to be silent. "You're a one-man army, R- bro," he said, when he remembered how to speak.

Don lowered his arms. "Yeah. Just what I always wanted."

Mike shifted uneasily. He wanted to be supportive, but his social playbook didn't have a page for pacifist brother gets turned into death machine. "So, uh." He held out an imaginary microphone, hoping to get a hint on what Donnie needed from him. "You just learned to shoot lasers from your hands. What do you plan to do next?"

Don's answer came without hesitation. "Destroy the Technodrome."

Forget uneasy. Michelangelo was terrified.