Disclaimer: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and all related characters belong to Nickelodeon.
Creepy but gorgeous cover created by the awesome Sampsonknight over on Deviant Art.
– Snatched –
Ch 8
"Mikey?" Leo called as he walked into the living room where Doppelmike sat curled up on the sofa with a comic book. Doppelmike looked up expectantly and Leo continued, "Could you write up a shopping list of the essentials we need that we haven't been able to find? I'm heading over to April's shortly and would like to pass her the list while I'm there."
"Sure bro," Doppelmike replied, bouncing lightly from his seat.
Leo followed Doppelmike into the kitchen, watching as Doppelmike pawed through the fridge and cupboard, stopping to write right handed as necessary. When he was done, he handed the list to Leo and returned to the couch, continuing to read his comic. Leo called out a goodbye as he left, stopping only to pick up Mikey's journal from his room on the way.
-:-
Once Leo reached April's, he waited in the corridor behind her shop until the store was empty, then slipped inside to greet his friend. After a few minutes of small talk, Leo requested for April to call Donnie and ask him to drop by to repair something, anything. April was understandably confused but did as asked after Leo promised to explain another day. While she spoke over the phone, Leo quickly began copying the shopping list, having to briefly duck out of sight once when another customer entered the store. After finally handing April the copy, Leo went upstairs to her apartment to await Donatello.
A little over an hour later, Donnie arrived. "Sorry April," he apologised. "I was caught up with a rather fascinating experiment when you called and I was unable to just walk away and leave it unattended at that point."
April smiled reassuringly. "It's okay Don, there was really no rush on my part. Leo's actually the one who wanted me to call you."
"Oh? Why didn't he just call me himself?"
April paused a moment, "I honestly have no idea, he couldn't explain it to me for some reason. He's waiting upstairs for you."
"Thanks, April," Donnie replied easily and jogged to the apartment above. As soon as he spied his brother, he called out, "Hey Leo, you wanted me?"
Looking even more serious than usual, Leo unfurled from his meditation position on the floor, beckoning Donnie over as he moved to the dining table. "You came alone, didn't you, Don?"
"Yes, I did," Donnie replied in confusion. "Why does it matter and why did you have April call me instead of calling yourself or coming to me while you were still home?"
Leo hesitated before thrusting the original shopping list towards Donnie.
Donnie glanced down before looking askance at Leo. "It's a shopping list."
"Yes but who wrote it?"
Donnie didn't even bother to look back down. "Mikey of course. I heard you ask him to."
Leo let out a slow breath before also pushing the journal towards Donnie. "And who wrote this?"
This time Donnie did look, studying the scrawl within. "Mikey keeps a journal?" he questioned in surprise. "Wait, why do you have it, Leo? That's an invasion of his privacy and I would have thought you the last turtle to do such a thing."
"He gave it to me early this morning," Leo reassured. "Compare the writing, Don."
After a few minutes, Donnie replied, "The styles are both his but the list is written right handed and the journal left. See the different angles of the slope and the way the ink smudges slightly here?" he asked, pointing at the writing in the journal. Donnie shrugged, "He's actually kept up the practising, believe it or not."
Leo shook his head sadly, "That's just what he wants us to believe. If we pressed him to write left handed in front of us, I'm certain he would come up some excuse to not do it." Leo took back the journal and flipped through the pages until reaching the start of Mikey's letter. "I want you to read this Don but what you are about to read absolutely must stay between the two of us for now."
Donnie raised his eyebrow ridges in curiosity but started reading without argument. Suddenly he stopped with a derisive laugh. "Tell me you don't actually believe this, Leo?"
"I do."
"Come on! Dark magic? Body snatchers?" Donnie exclaimed in mocking disbelief. "Leo! Mikey is an irredeemable prankster. You know that!"
"Just keep reading Don," Leo commanded quietly.
Recognising the inherent seriousness in Leo's manner, Donnie returned to reading. Not long later, his face went hard and when he spoke, his voice ice cold. "Mikey tried to abandon me that night?"
"That wasn't Mikey, you know he'd never do such a thing. That was Doppelmike."
Donnie's expression softened slightly but not by much and he picked up the book to continue reading again. Finally, he closed the journal and sat in silence, contemplating all he'd learned about the last few months. "You really believe this, Leo?" he eventually asked.
"I do," Leo repeated firmly.
"I don't want to believe this..."
"After I read it, I wasn't sure I did either. I sat and thought about everything from over the last three months and the more I thought about it, the more sense it all made," Leo said quietly.
"Is that why we had an astral meditation instead of the normal routine this morning?"
Leo nodded, "Yes. I asked Master Splinter if we could do that today for Mikey's sake. It was definitely Mikey that joined us. If the other one tried to come instead, we would have known something was wrong and kept picking at the problem until we discovered the truth."
"We can't keep this from Master Splinter and Raph!"
"I have no intention of doing so but we need to be smart about this. I'll talk to Master Splinter tomorrow when he comes around to give April her lesson," Leo explained. "Mikey was right though; we'll have to keep it from Raph a little longer. He'd only lose his temper with Doppelmike and give us away before we can come up with a way to help Mikey."
"So what now?" Donnie asked seriously.
"Now we need options," Leo replied fervently, leaning forward as he spoke.
"Magic, dark or otherwise isn't exactly my field, Leo," Donnie reminded him. "I'm a scientist!"
"I know Don but this has gone more than long enough. We have to help him."
Donnie drew in a deep breath, "Then I guess I will start by trying to research that symbol."
-:-
'You seem unusually happy today, Mikey,' Doppelmike interrupted over the top of Mikey's cheerful humming. 'Have you finally accepted things the way they are now?'
Mikey blinked and rested his pencil on the sketchpad in his lap, Nope, not a snowball's, dude.
'Then what the hell are you so happy about?'
Gulping nervously, Mikey thought fast and settled on a half truth, I got to spend time with my bros and Master Splinter earlier.
'Last time you did that, you had a breakdown afterwards.'
Mikey waved a dismissive hand, Last time is so yesterday. This time I was better prepared and got to say what I really wanted to say without seeming weird. He picked up his projected pencil again, returning to his sketch.
For a moment Doppelmike was silent but then he suspiciously asked, 'You didn't say anything to them, did you?'
Mikey's heart beat wildly and he fought to cover up his sudden panic. Heh! Say anything? No way, Doppeldude! he insisted, perhaps a little too strongly. One, I don't want to sound like a total lunatic and two, I'm not the type of turtle who'd knowingly put his family in danger! Without being aware of it, Mikey started sketching all the faster to match his racing heart.
Suddenly he stiffened, Wait a sec, Doppeldude. You were watching me but had to ask...? Mikey said in slow realisation. You couldn't hear everything, could you? he asked in chortling delight.
'Of course I could!'
No way, dude! If you kept the connection between us strong enough to see and hear what I could inside the Astral Plain, basically an extension of my family's and my mind, you would have given away your own presence! Mikey rambled on as if Doppelmike had never disagreed. Oh dude! This is gold! Too bad I couldn't risk it though. He was so using that knowledge to actually talk to Leo if and when he had another chance.
Doppelmike scowled, annoyed at Mikey's sudden insight and closed his eyes to look inwards on the captured soul within. What he saw, Mikey sitting on the ground and leaning his shell against a basic looking wall while drawing with pen and paper shocked him. 'You can now project things around you in there?'
Like a deer caught in headlights, Mikey froze, Uh... yeah... It is a mindscape. If it can be done in the Astral Plain, I figure it can be done in here too, he explained, trying to cover up his annoyance that Doppelmike was looking in on his activities. It had been a while since the body snatcher had last done that, complacent with the seeming knowledge that Mikey couldn't do anything besides project a physical form. He was going to have to remember not to try projecting anything around him that gave him away further. It's not really easy though. If I stop thinking of it, it goes poof but it's better than nothing.
'Then why waste your time drawing something that will just disappear the moment you get distracted?' Doppelmike asked in a mocking tone.
Mikey shrugged, It's something to do? Besides, sketching relaxes me and that's good for you too.
'Whatever keeps you happy and less annoying,' Doppelmike said dismissively, opening his eyes once more before standing and heading to the kitchen to make a start on dinner. 'All the same I think I will keep a closer eye on you from now on. I know you well enough to know you can't be trusted.'
-:-
The next day after Splinter's soap finished, the ninja master headed out to give April her weekly lesson. Watching his sensei leave, Leo flexed his fingers around the grips of his katanas before continuing with his practise. Half an hour later, Doppelmike walked into the dojo, skateboard in hand and announced he was heading into the sewers for a spin. Thanks to Mikey's letter, Leo knew that meant he was really going out to practise in secret far from prying eyes. He felt a chill run down his shell at the thought of his brother trapped alone inside of that monster and far away from home but he schooled his features, calmly acknowledged Doppelmike and continued his workout.
Only once Leo was sure Doppelmike was well away from the lair did he pack up and set out to April's to catch up with Splinter.
-:-
Donatello relaxed, knowing Doppelmike was out of the lair at last. He truly hated the idea of him being gone with Mikey but he couldn't deny the jumpiness he felt while trying to research that dread marking with him in the lair and liable to walk in on him at any time. To that effect, Donnie had set up a chime to warn him if his lab door was opened and he was ready with a cover story, close enough to the truth to not be lying. If questioned, he'd simply say he was deep in thought, working out a new project and was sick and tired of annoying brothers sneaking up on him and scaring him out of shell and thought.
-:-
Raphael frowned unhappily. He knew Mikey wasn't just going out to skate like he'd said. A couple of times Raph had actually wanted to hang out with the usually social turtle, competing in races through the sewers or outdoing each other with their best skate tricks, be it with board or blades, but Mikey had turned him down each time.
On one occasion, Raph tracked Mikey by his Shell-cell to find out what the other turtle was really up to and to his shock he'd seen Mikey practising in secret. Raph had always thought he would be happier knowing Mikey was finally taking training more seriously, after all theirs was a dangerous life, yet what he'd seen had chilled the tough turtle.
The way his brother fought wasn't his usual flamboyant style, it was brutal and unforgiving. It was almost as if Mikey was a different person altogether and it reminded Raph of that awful night two months back.
At that moment, Raph realised he really just wanted Mikey to be happy by being himself. He had no idea what could have changed his brother so drastically and more and more, he didn't like what he'd been seeing of recent.
-:-
Mikey sighed despondently. Tonight was their weekly movie night and it was Donnie's turn to pick. Sometimes his brainy brother picked the best, most interesting sci-fi flicks and yet other times he instead chose the most boring, intellectual movies that were a yawnfest for everyone else. Tonight was a classic example of Boring Donnie and things were bad enough in his life without having to contend with being forced to watch 'The Theory of Everything'. Raph too had been vocal against Donnie's choice but Leo had calmly reminded him that sometimes what they picked wasn't enjoyed by everyone else either.
As a consolation, Leo prepared tea, coffee and hot cocoa for everyone and Mikey stared wistfully at the melting marshmallows floating in Doppelmike's drink. As much as everyone knew what a terrible cook Leo was, he really did make the best hot drinks.
Right at that moment it hit Mikey just how much he missed taste. And smell, Mikey muttered petulantly.
'What are you going on about now?'
Mikey shook his head miserably, I'd give almost anything to taste and smell that chocolatey goodness.
Doppelmike made a disgusted sound, earning glances from Mikey's brothers.
"Come on Mikey," Donnie said pleadingly. "At least give the movie a chance. It truly is a fascinating..."
"Don't care bro," Doppelmike interrupted rudely before downing the hot chocolate in one go, not caring that it was still a little too hot. "Sorry to ditch but I think if I'm going to end up snoring, I may as well do it in bed." He stood, wobbling on his feet slightly.
Raph looked up oddly at him, eyes glittering with unexplained anger. "Sounds like a good idea, Doppelmike."
Doppelmike stared down at Raph uncomprehendingly, his mind rapidly turning to mush. "What did you just call me?"
Mikey sat up, suddenly at attention and heart pounding with excitement at the unexpected turn.
"You heard me, 'bro'," Raph glowered and though he made no such motion, Mikey clearly heard the air quotes in his brother's voice.
Doppelmike's face twisted in anger and he took an unsteady step towards Raph. Seemingly out of nowhere, Leo and Donnie were beside the hothead, all three united against the threat to one of their own. Doppelmike blinked in confusion, his foggy mind not quite sure how they were suddenly just there.
The room seemed to sway, making the view Mikey had through Doppelmike's vision swim alarmingly and Mikey laughed with glee. It had only been a few days since he'd given Leo the journal but it seemed Leo had told the others afterall and they were going to save him.
As darkness engulfed the body snatcher and by default Mikey, Mikey felt overcome by emotion and by hope.
"I'm not sure if you can hear us while he's drugged Mikey, but we're going to do everything we can to help you."
-:-
to be continued.
A/N: I have nothing against the movie 'The Theory of Everything'.