Disclaimer:…. I obviously do not own Ninja Turtles. Peter Lair and Kevin Eastman do.

"Venus, I'm going for a run topside, 'kay?" Michaelangelo said, putting the hood of his cowl over his head and drifting towards the exit slowly, waiting for Venus to acknowledge him.

"I might go for run later as well." Venus called from the couch as she flipped the channel of the TV "Don't get caught by the Foot!"

"I'll try." Michaelangelo chuckled and ran out of the plant into the sewers; growing up, even if he and his siblings lived in a Dojo topside, they mostly wandered the sewers and occasionally alley's as not to get stir-crazy, so the sewers was nothing new even after fifteen years of living in the sun. He preferred the sun, but it goes without saying that he had always been a little nostalgic.

Coming to the end of a sewer passage, he quickly climbed up a latter and pushed the manhole cover up and checked topside to make sure there was no one was about. Seeing as this manhole was behind a building and under a dumpster, he pushed the dumpster away and climbed onto the surface. "I almost missed doing that." Michaelangelo said to himself and leapt up the rooftops by the fire-escapes, and it wasn't long before he was on the rooftop.

Michaelangelo tentatively walked over to the edge and stared out into the city "I almost forgot about the killer view." He said; it was night, and the city should have been dark – but every building was a light; in the time when everything should be asleep, the humans still managed to stir about. The artificial light even reflected off of the Hudson river, and the murky water seemed pretty for once.

"I wonder if I still got it." Michaelangelo continued to murmur as he produced a grappling hook from under his cowl, he hadn't used a grappling hook in years; having lived in the dense forest of the Shasta mountains, there tree's everywhere he could leap from and there was never really any need for a grappling hook since tree's are nowhere near as tall as sky-scrapers. Shucking his grappling hook, he tried to get a large sign from the next building over, but he missed (damn lack of depth perception….), he tried a few more times before he finally got it. Pulling the rope for safe measure, he tied the other end of the rope to an aluminum pipe and tightrope-walked across.

He had to be careful, keep balance, not panic….. He gave a morbid smile thinking about how Leonardo never did this back in the day, he tried to hide it (and ultimately failed) but he had always been afraid of heights. For that reason, he had always been somewhat behind when it came to roof-jumping. Michaelangelo grimaced; he shouldn't be torturing himself with what was. It's like that one wise man once said: don't look back, you're not going that way…..

Without warning, his felt his whole being ablaze with anger once he was on the other rooftop; he looked ahead of him and saw Leonardo – it wasn't, of course, the real Leonardo; it was a projection made by his over-active imagination. The fake Leonardo looked like the grim reaper himself. It had a smug smirk on his blood-spattered face; his cowl had changed into a black robe with the hood on, in his bloodied hands he held equally bloodied katana. On his sash hung the severed heads of the ones Leonardo had slaughtered, the ones who Michaelangelo had held dear to him; Master Splinter, Donatello, Raphael, Shadow, Angel.

"YOU BASTARD!" Michaelangelo screamed at the hallucination, not caring if it was real or not. He charged at it and hit it with his nunchucks as hard as he could possibly hit – of course, his nunchucks phased right through the hallucination, which did not so much as ripple at the action.

"Why did you betray us?" Michaelangelo demanded, as if the fake Leonardo could answer him "Why? Why did you have to make us suffer? WHY DID YOU DEVOTE YOURSELF TO DESTORYING YOUR OWN FAMILY? You honorless son-of-a-bitch!"

Michaelangelo started punching the hallucination, of course his blows met only empty space, but he kept going anyways, getting angrier and angrier with every strike because he wanted so badly to be hitting the real Leonardo… His anger built up, until his overwhelming emotion just made his lid blow off; he sank to his knee's, feeling nothing but what had been bottled up for years; grief, anger, despair, angst, rage, confusion…

Michaelangelo looked up at the hallucination, managing to keep fluid from filling his single eye "Why?" He asked before he sank onto his hands as well, his chest convulsing with sobs he refused to let out. One of his hands balled into fists and he slammed it onto the ground.

He stayed there for a while, trying to get a grip again, and being so focused on putting himself in order he didn't notice someone come up to him.

"Michaelangelo? Is that you?" An older, surprised voice from behind him asked with uncertainty; Michaelangelo was instantly back on his feet as he turned around. His single blue eye narrowed.

"Silver Sentry?" He inquired and mentally sighed – he really didn't need this right now.

"It is you." The muscular hero said and grinned, he walked closer to Michaelangelo; over the years, the superhero's face was now lined with age, and his hair was gray, and his costume was slightly modified. But he was still the Silver Sentry Michaelangelo used to know. "It has been a long time, Michaelangelo."

"Fifteen years, I think." Michaelangelo said in a hollow voice. The old hero smiled.

"You have grown – and what happened to that little girl of yours?" Silver Sentry asked – that last time he had seen the cowl-wearing turtle in New Jersey, he had been carrying a small child with him, whom he explained he was going to adopt.

"She's around." Michaelangelo answered cryptically, then he suddenly became agitated when he remember that she was infiltrating the Foot clan, under Leonardo. "What do you want?" He asked harshly, he rudely pushed past Silver Sentry to grab his grappling hook without waiting for an answer.

Silver Sentry frowned – he knew very well of Michaelangelo's grief and devastation due to losing so many in so little time, but rather than time healing his wounds, or even scarring, it seemed to have made his wounds fester. Leaving an empty, mutilated shell in place of a once cheerful, eccentric turtle.

"Why have you returned to New York?" Silver Sentry asked uncertainly, knowing that so much as insinuating the wrong thing would set the mutant off.

"To kill Leonardo, Karai and their little brat. And destroy the Foot clan once-and-for-all." Michaelangelo replied caustically; Silver Sentry flinched at the blood-lust in Michaelangelo's voice.

"Michaelangelo, you can't just…." Silver Sentry began, only for Michaelangelo to turn back to him in full-force anger.

"I CAN'T! ?" Michaelangelo roared "Fuck you fucking superhero's! This isn't the comic book world; you can't send a criminal to jail and expect everything to be well and good; THEY GET OUT OF JAIL AND SWEAR REVENGE! And Leonardo has had this coming; FOR GOD SAKES HE SLAUGHTERED MANY! It is only right he follows suit! So don't cram that self-righteous, comic book 'justice' down my throat, BECAUSE I DON'T FUCKING BUY IT ANYMORE! So fuck off Silver Senry…." His voice lowered "Fuck off….. I'm not one of you anymore…. I was just a wannabe super-hero, thinking I could make some kind of a difference….."

Silver Sentry walked over and put a hand on his former comrades shoulder; back in the day, Michaelangelo had been a member of the Justice Force, the best out of the heroes without super powers, the Turtle Titan. In fact, even his sister Venus DeMilo had been a member, because her mentor was Nobody. But then, upon the tragic genocide of his family and friends, both of the remaining turtles rejected their 'hero' identities.

"I'm not a superhero anymore, Silver Sentry…." Michaelangelo said sadly "I'm a more of a tragic hero….." He pulled himself back together "How's 'Joyce'?" He asked in a lower voice.

Silver Sentry rubbed the back of his head "I am not sure….. She went missing a couple of days ago…"

Michaelangelo narrowed his single blue eye "Vigilantism is a dangerous game…."

"Do you ever play any other kind?" Silver Sentry asked, Mikchaelangelo could imagine his eyes flashing behind his mask.

Michaelangelo shook his head "'Fraid not, old friend." He yanked the grappling hook and all of it swung back at him.

"Michaelangelo, if you ever need help -!"

"Fuck off!" Michaelangelo growled "I may not have super strength and the ability to fly like you, but I'm not a fucking helpless civilian. I don't want help. I don't need help. This is the business of my clan, and my clan alone."

"Age and bitterness has made you an ass, Hamato." Silver Sentry said and crossed his arms – if there was one thing he remembered about this turtle, it was that he disliked being called by his last name. In response, Michaelangelo threw a shuriken – but being super-powered as he was, all Silver Sentry had to do was flex and the shuriken just deflected off of him.

"Yeah it has; remember that and stay out of my way." Michaelangelo warned before returning to the shadows – that was one thing Michaelangelo had over the other heroes; darkness was his world, more so than Nobody even.

Silver Sentry sighed, remembering a happier time, or rather, a happier Michaelangelo. But then he remembered the turtles upbeat personally crashing and burning at the deaths of his slaughtered father, brothers, friends, and even the very much innocent baby.

Killing was against his morale.

But Leonardo was an exception.

"This is the corner of Eastman and Laird?" A pizza delivery boy said to himself as he came to what looked like an empty street corner "But where's the place?"

"You're standing on it." A voice coming from nowhere, making the pizza guy jump.

"Who said that?" The boy asked, looking around but seeing no one.

"Try looking down." The voice chuckled; the boy looked down; he wanting on a sewer duct – he could see a dark shape underneath, with a bill of money poking out. "Just slip it down." The guy, or whatever it was, commanded.

A little bit weirded out, the pizza guy grabbed the bill and slipped the pizza, which was snatched by the 'person' underneath.

"Hey, this is only a ten!" The pizza boy complained.

"Sorry, you were late."

"Come on, I was late because I had trouble finding the place."

"A wise man once said; forgiveness is key, but don't pay full price for late pizza (1)."

There were splashes, meaning whatever was in the sewers was walking away.

"New York really does attract all kinds." Michaelangelo heard the pizza boy topside groan.

"I heard that!" Michaelangelo said before walking further away with the box of pizza under one of his arms; he hadn't had pizza in fifteen god-damn years. Growing up, and while he lived in Jersey, he had eaten pizza at least every other day. And, of course, there wasn't a Domino's in the mountains was there?

Suddenly, there was a very loud bang above his head, topside, and then a loud thud and footsteps – he recognized it as the crack of a gun. He sighed; "I wonder what poor sucker got shot?" Having grown up in New York, he was used to hearing guns. In fact, in their teens he and his siblings would perform heroics every time they heard gunshots. Either carrying the shot person to the hospital, or fighting gangsters, ect. What fools they had been, thinking they were making some kind of difference.

Still, he could not shake the bad feeling he had welling up inside him, sighing again he dropped his pizza and went to the nearest manhole to surface topside. He lifted the sewer-cover a little bit to glance out; several feet away was a all too familiar shape lying on the concrete on their shell….

"No!" Michaelangelo couldn't help but shout as he jumped out of the sewer hole over to his sister; Venus DeMilo was half on her shell and half on her side; but there was a small hole in her plastron where blood was pouring out onto the ground and surrounding her in a small puddle, and she was coughing out the same thick red substance. She was, unfortunately for her, still conscious, but at least she was alive.

So she had gone for a run...

"Venus! Venus, are you alright? What happened?" Michaelangelo asked in panic as he picked up her head; panic filling him. No…. No, he couldn't lose Venus, he couldn't lose his sister too! He lost too much already!

"M-Mikey…. I…" Venus said and went into a fit of coughs; blood flowing out of her mouth and staining her teeth.

"Please, Venus, please don't die…" Michaelangelo whispered and picked his sister up off the ground bridal-style "I'll get you help, just hang on, okay?" Venus nodded weakly and struggled to remain conscious; if she were to become unconscious, she would go into shock and they both knew that.

Michaelangelo looked around; how could he get help? ! He didn't know the first thing about treating gunshot wounds, and it's not like he could take Venus, a mutated turtle, into the hospital.

He peeked out of the alley and looked around; what for, he didn't even know. An idea would be good.

He stepped out of the alley, sticking to the shadows even though no humans were out. A ninja can never be too careful; he looked to the front door of one of the apartment houses and his eyes widened at the name on one of the mailboxes.

Jones/O'Neil.

'Could it be….?' He thought; he strained to listen, and in fact he could hear what sounded like a mans thick Brooklyn accent, and the background noise of a sports game on a television. 'Casey!' He realized and looked to the front; two cars were parked; April had to be home too.

Michaelangelo ran back into the alley and scrambled up desperately – but carefully, as to make sure he did not drop Venus – the fire-escape until he came to a window; he saw a much-older April O'Neil sitting with her back turned to him and she typed away at a computer.

Michaelangelo frantically tried to open the window – luckily, it smoothly slid open and he came into the room "April!" He called, catching his former ally's attention.

April turned around immediately in surprise; her slightly wrinkled green eyes widened when she saw a 'person' she never thought she would see again.

"Mikey?" She whispered in shock; she could tell it was him from his skin color, but by voice she never would have guessed. In fact, this turtle in front of her looked far more mature and rugged than her Mikey from many years ago.

"April, I need help; Venus was shot in the chest, she needs a doctor; like you!" Michaelangelo began to bed, before April could respond, he fell on his knee's still holding Venus "I know you hate us! I know you wish you never knew us! I know we're the reason you lost Shadow! But please, April; if you feel any iota of kinship towards us, you'll help. I can't lose Venus too, not like Splinter, not like my brothers….."

April rushed over and looked at Venus DeMilo, who was borderline comatose with pain at the moment "Put her on the bed." She demanded, the 'doctor' part of her being coming out and blocking all questions of the two turtles re-appearances. She went into the bathroom and came out with a few things.

April took out a scalpel "Turn her onto her side; blood is filling her lungs." She commanded – Michaelangelo did just that, and April made somewhat deep incision with her scalpel, she then brought out a long, thin plastic tube usually used for I.V'S and put one end inside of a bucket she had brought and the stuck the other end inside of the incision, burrowing it deep in the chest cavity. Blood flowed out of the tube and drained out of the female turtles lungs.

April than took out a syringe and injected the anesthesia into Venus – the turtles brown eyes fluttered shut. "Stay back, Mikey." She said "Taking the bullet out of going to be difficult – I'm going to use a small buzz-saw to open her plastron so I can take the bullet out. This is going to take a while and I need the upmost concentration, and no turtle breathing down my neck to whole time."

Michaelangelo just nodded and headed for the door "I guess I'll fill Casey in…. We have some catching up to do." He said dryly, he then looked to April with his single blue eye full of gratitude "April… Thank you."

April did not respond. Sighing, Michaelangelo closed the door behind him.

Slowly he walked down the hall and then the stairs; the living room was dark except for the lights of the TV. Slowly and silently, Michaelangelo inched his way into the living room. He cleared his throat, which caught Casey's attention "Casey?" Michaelangelo addressed.

Immediately the light was flicked on; Casey was in front of him a couple feet and the hockey stick the man was holding was a mere inch away from Michaelangelo's calm face.

Casey had changed in the past twenty years, as expected – he was much older now (after all, he was almost sixty, having been a teenager while Michaelangelo and his siblings were children) his raven-black hair was streaked with gray, white and silver, his face was lined with the years. But his blue eyes will still aflame with that famous temper that made Casey…. Well, Casey.

As Casey registered who was standing in front of him, he dropped his hockey stick "Raph?" He breathed "Is dat you? How?"

Michaelangelo couldn't help the bitter chuckle "I know I'm old Casey, but surely I'm not that ugly for you to mistake me for him."

Casey frowned, his old eyes showed some amazement "Mike?" He said uncertainly, and Michaelangelo nodded. "Shit Mike, you've changed." Casey said; Michaelangelo looked at him self, he hadn't noticed, but yes he had changed much in appearance. He was taller, broader and more muscular than he had been in the past, healthier because of the years he had spent in the sun, and he had an extensive collection of old and new scars. No wonder Casey had mistaken him for Raphael. After all, when they all wore the same cowls and mask, the only things really distinguishing them from each other was their eye color and skin tone. And it didn't help that his voice was much deeper and gruffer than it had been in the past.

"It's been a long time, Casey." Michaelangelo said "I'm sorry that we came back to you guys."

Casey frowned and sighed "Mikey – we don't blame you guys anymore…. We were grieving hard at the time; we put the blame on you guys instead of who deserved it – Leo. Not you and Venus. We didn't even realize how bad what we said to you was until you guys fell off the face of the planet."

Michaelangelo looked to the ground still.

"We don't hate you guys." Casey said with emphasis.

"We came back to New York – to get our revenge on Leonardo." Michaelangelo told Casey, changing the subject quickly "We've only been back a few days –but Venus got shock, by a complete stroke of luck we found you guys."

Casey sat on the couch and signaled Michaelangelo to sit next to him "Tell me what's been up with you the past twenty years, this might take a while."

Michaelangelo sat down next to him and thought for several moment "Where should I start?" He asked.

"How about when you and Venus left New York."

With that, Michaelangelo began to explain – how he and Venus separated, how for five years he lived in New Jersey. He told Casey about Moth, and carried on to when he and his adopted daughter moved to California in the foot hills of the Shasta mountains. He then explained how recently Leonardo finally sniffed them out, so they collected Venus and all three of them returned to New York to get their revenge on Leonardo.

"Whoa…." Casey said when Michaelangelo was done "Mike, it's nice to hear you adopted a daughter, especially after - !"

"Don't finish that sentence." Michaelangelo warned in a low voice; there was pain in his eyes and Casey understood that the red-mask ninja did not want to talk about it.

"But that brings up the question of," Casey continued "where is daddies little ninja girl?"

"Infiltrating the Foot clan." Michaelangelo answered stoically, getting a disapproving look from Casey, who would argue if he had a chance of getting through the turtles thick scull.

April then came into the room – Michaelangelo peeked at his watch under his wrist-guards and saw it had been about an hour – wow, time really passed when you talked to someone for the first time after twenty years.

"How is she? !" Michaelangelo demanded, expecting the worst but hoping for the best.

"Venus is going to be fine." April said with a smile "Everything went perfectly – it was a little tricky, but I managed to pull her plastron back together after I got the bullet out – thank god we have that turtle wax. There is no long-term damage and she should be fully healed after a month or so."

"Thank you." Michaelangelo said with a respectful bow "I guess we'll get out of your hair now." He rushed up the stairs without other words.

"Mikey, wait!" April shouted as she chased him up the stairs – damn, twenty years and he still had that energy? However, once she got to the bedroom, the window was already open and both turtles were gone.

"Damn." April muttered sadly, her husband came up from behind her and put a comforting hand on her shoulder.

"April, don't worry." Casey soothed.

"They think that we hate them." April stated "Mikey really believes that – and did you see the look in his eye? I could hardly believe it was him… He seemed so…. I don't know, bitter."

"I get it, I thought he was Raph first time I got a look at his mug." Casey admitted "But hey, we'll find them, and path things up the right way."

"You really think that we can? After all this time?"

"April, we've known them since they were kids, a couple of hurtful things said won't keep them away forever as long as they know we didn't mean them."

"I guess you're right….. But, this is a lot to absorb… Especially with Cody going missing."

"We'll find 'im, April, trust me, our son ain't stupid, he got your brain instead of mine."

April giggled a little "You always seem to know what to say, Casey."

"It's a gift, babe."

(1) Heh, couldn't help the TMNT movie reference.

So this chapter was Mikey-centric because of Moth has been the one mainly featured and I figured Mikey needed more of a spotlight.