Disclaimer: I have nothing to my name… Especially not TMNT.
Title: TMNT:
Rating: T+
Genre: Family/Friendship
Pairing(s): None
Summary: Mikey went missing several months ago, and his brother find him…. But, as a Foot ninja! When they 'rescue' him, they find that Michaelangelo has zero-memory of his past. Can this indecisive, quiet, shy, stuttering ex-soldier really be their brother? Can they bring back Mikey's memory? Can they deal with the extra, mutant 'baggage' Mikey brings along?
Chapter six
"Stop that." Raph growled and lowered his magazine; for the past five minutes his mask had been tugged on his face from the tails being played with from behind. As usual, as the demented cat-thing she was, Fluffy decided to play with his mask tails.
"No!" Fluffy said and purred, biting the red fabric of one of his mask tails. Raph shook his head fiercely, but Fluffy stayed attached to his mask tails.
"Let go!" He roared and raised his hands over his shoulder and behind his shell so he could get a grip on the furry pest, but unfortunately the tails of his bandanna were too long. "Mikey! Get this brat of yours off!" He called to the turtle who was sitting on the other couch.
Mikey didn't respond, he continued to stare off into space, off in his own world (which Don had creatively dubbed 'Planet Mikey'). "Mikey!" Raph repeated, again gaining no reaction. Raph clenched his teeth together and stomped over to Mikey, and waved a hand in front of his face "Hey dufus!" He growled, no response. Frustrated, he yelled "MIKEY!"
Mikey snapped out of whatever trance he was in and shook his head. "W-What? H-Huh?" He stuttered, he looked up at Raph "D-Did you want s-something?"
"If you wouldn't mind," Raph remarked with a glare "would you please remove your demented cat-thing from my mask!" He turned slightly and pouted to Fluffy, who was still attached to one of the bright red tails of his bandanna by her sharp teeth.
Mikey mumbled something quietly and numbly grabbed pulled Fluffy off of the mask and put her down, his gaze was still distant.
"Bro, why you been spacin' on us?" Raph asked, concerned. Mikey sat back down and was back under his earlier trance.
"Daddy?" Fluffy inquired and prodded at his knee.
"Huh?" Mikey snapped out of it again "What….? When did you guys g-get here?" He asked, seemingly having forgotten what had just happened.
"Uh…. A minute ago, remember? When I told you to remove your vicious furball?" Raph reminded him.
"I am not!" Fluffy retorted and punched him in the leg – thankfully, Mikey had taught her to use her fists instead of claws. She was really starting to hate being called a furball.
"Oh… U-Uh… S-sorry I f-forgot." Mikey sputtered; likely this wasn't because of his stuttering problem, but actual nervousness.
"Mike, is something wrong bro?" Raph asked placing a worried hand on his little brothers shoulder. However, Mikey removed his hand and stood up.
"I… I gotta go… I'm going for a run th-through the sewers." He said, more breathily as if he was suddenly low on oxygen. A shudder ran through his body before he dashed out of the lair.
Raph frowned; was it him, or did Mikey seem kind of pale at that moment?
"Don, can I talk with you?" Raph asked as he entered the genius's lab, but didn't wait for an answer "Something's wrong with Mikey."
Don groaned aloud "First he goes missing, then he's a Foot night, then we find out he has pretty much incurable amnesia, then he brings an obnoxious child mutant, then he gets sick…. What's wrong this time?"
'Whoa… This whole Mikey thing must be stressing Don out pretty bad…' Raph realized "He's been…. Real spacey lately, I think he may be hiding something. Are you sure he ain't sick no more?"
"Yes, I'm sure." Don replied, looking agitated.
"I don't know Donnie…. Something's up with Mikey."
"Yeah; he's not Mikey." Don mumbled bitterly, surprising his red-masked brother.
"Whatta'ya mean?" Raph asked him, words flowing out without control.
"Our Mikey is gone; let's face it, our brother was destroyed; now we're left with his polar-opposite shell!"
"Donnie…." Raph warned.
"Some say the death of a personality is death. So I guess that means Mikey is dead." Don continued to rant, "If we had found him sooner maybe we could have found a way to jog his memory. But it's too late now!"
And unbeknownst to them both, they were being heard…
In the shadows outside of the open door, Mikey stood, his eyes wide and shining with a mixture of anger and hurt. 'Too late now…?' Mikey thought and the phrase echoed in his head. What Donatello had said made him angry; it was almost as if Donnie was implying it was his fault his memory was gone, but at the same time, it hurt. 'Am I no one without my memory?' Mikey thought angrily, but his anger switched to hurt 'I get it… They don't want me, they wanted their Mikey, I don't count… Their Mikey is dead, so that makes me no one…'
With his fists clenched, Mikey ran to his room where Fluffy was playing with a ball of yarn. She smiled up at him at his entrance.
He grabbed his cape and put it on, he grabbed Fluffy's human disguise and placed it next to her. "Come on Fluffy, we're running away." He gruffly said; Fluffy didn't argue, she quickly put on the too-large clothing and hat; Mikey ran out of the lair and Fluffy was running as fast as she could at his heels by getting on all fours.
They got up topside (Fluffy couldn't quite climb the latter, so she had to jump on Mikey's shoulder) and ran off several blocks away.
"Why are we running away, daddy?" Fluffy asked when they were about a mile away.
"We're…. We're just not wanted there, Fluffy." Mikey replied sadly, kicking a can towards the other end of the alley and it was eaten by the shadows.
The shadows seemed to spit the can out, because it rolled right back. Out of the shadows stepped several Foot ninja…
"Fluffy, get behind me." Michaelangelo demanded and shoved her behind his shell without waiting. He drew out his kusarigama.
"Tsk tsk turtle, thinking you stand a chance." A cold, familiar voice said; Mikey felt his eyes go wide and his blood cold. A cold sweat sheeted his aquatic-green skin when a metal-clad figure step out of the shadows.
"Sh-Shredder…." Mikey whispered.
Him, vs dozens of Foot ninja, all four of the Elite guards, and the Shredder himself. He was in for a hell of a fight.
The Shredder laughed evilly "Traitor, I have awaited this…." He spotted Fluffy "If it isn't the genetic mistake…"
"You leave her out of this." Mikey growled, the Shredder's eyes flashed dangerously.
"Tell me Michaelangelo, did you ever question why that thing was created?" The Shredder asked, Mikey glared but was silent "Let me tell you…. In the years we have warred with each other, my Foot ninja have collected much information on you and your brothers from observation. An interesting thing we had learned about you, was a love for small, furry creatures."
"Point?" Mikey spat.
"That thing," The Shredder pointed at Fluffy "was originally an unwanted bastard child between a Foot ninja and kunoichi…. They were going to kill it, but instead 'donated' it to our science program. Using the mutagen we had collected from you and your brothers DNA, we bonded the childs DNA with that of a rabbit, a cat, and a squirrel and let it roam freely among the Foot."
"Why would you do that?" Mikey asked, horrified. He felt Fluffy from behind him and all of her fur was raised on end.
"To be used against you." The Shredder replied, almost gleefully "You see, we knew that you and that thing would attach to each other eventually if not instantly, and we used it to spy on you….."
"Spy on me?" Mikey repeated.
"We always knew what you were doing….. It is amazing what one can see through the eyes of a freak-child….. In that things optic nerve, we have a microscopic camera installed, and a hearing device inside of the ears."
"You turned a perfectly good human baby into a mutant for the purpose of spying on me? !" Mikey gasped "Couldn't you have just put a camera on me? !"
"Donatello would have scanned you for such things." The Shredder told him, and raised a bladed gauntlet "But would he have suspected a child?"
"Daddy, I'm scared." Fluffy whimpered and hugged his leg.
"It's going to be okay…" Mikey assured.
"I wouldn't make empty promises…." The Shredder lowly hissed.
And Mikey was hit like a flood by his enemies.
"Have you guys seen Mikey or Fluffy?" Donnie asked as he entered the living room; Leo and Raph were watching TV, but there was no sign of Mikey or his adopted daughter.
"No, they must have gone for a run through the sewers." Raph shrugged, Don nodded, pleased with the answer.
"Raph, I take back what I said earlier, the stress was just getting to me; memories or not, Mikey will always be our brother." Don said apologetically.
"At least you said it to me and not Mikey, woulda broken the little morons spirit." Raph answered.
"Guys…. I have a bad feeling." Leo said "Why would Mikey go for a sewer run without telling us? And why would he take Fluffy?"
"Training run? It was only a matter of time before Mike decided to train that furball…" Raph suggested.
"I just don't know…." Leo trailed off, then tensed up "Do you guys here that?" He asked suddenly.
His brothers strained to hear, but indeed they could hear a distant sound growing stronger…. A high-pitched, wailing-like sound….
Fluffy burst into the lair; yowling loudly in distress. Her human clothes were a mess; torn up and bloodied and the hat was missing, and even though they could not see it on her dark fur, they could still smell blood.
"What's wrong? !" Leo asked as he ran over to the tiny mutant.
"Daddy…. In… Trouble….. Help…" Fluffy rasped before collapsing on the ground.
"Oh my god." Leo said and picked her up "Master Splinter!" He called; the elderly rat ran in the room immediately.
"My sons, what is -?" Master Splinter began before his eldest son ran up to him and put the injured and unconscious Fluffy in his arms "She's injured, she needs medical attention. Raph, Don; we need to help Mikey."
Don nodded, keeping his panic in check. He brought out his shellcell "I'll track his signal."
"Hurry up!" Raph urged and pushed them to start running, they left the lair, leaving a confused Master Splinter behind them.
"Any last words, Sharp?" The Shredder asked, pressing the tip of Sharp's own former double-edged sword against his throat. Mikey only gurgled in response; he was half lying on the ground, half sitting against the wall of a storage shed. He cape was ripped up and stained with his blood and the blood of Foot ninja he had cut up. The Foot ninja were deal, as were three of the Elite guards, but there was only so much Mikey could do on his own.
He had been stabbed several times, he was cut up and bruised from head to toe, one of his eyes was swelling closed, all of the bones in one hand was shattered, and his broken arm was even more broken now, the sling having been cut off leaving only now-torn bloodied bandages. Mikey was bleeding out heavily now.
"How sad." The Shredder said and raised the sword.
Mikey closed his eyes, he expected the blade to pierce his neck and kill him, but instead he heard the sound of metal hitting metal.
He re-opened his eyes, and saw a katana in front of him, blocking the double-edged sword. The katana was held by a leaf-green, three-fingered hand.
"Stay away from our brother!"
His brothers had come.
How dramatic~ *sarcasm*
Next chapter is probably going to be the last.