Eh, real life really does get in the way sometimes. :P

A huge thanks to everyone who reviewed, including my guest reviewers and Starcross123! I hope you guys will love this next chapter AKA the point when things start heating up.

晴天の霹靂–Thunder from the Clear Sky

How did those guys in the movies make crawling through the vents look so easy? Mikey grunted to himself as he slid further into the steel cavern he was crawling through.

Everyone was initially against Mikey using the ventilation shaft to sneak into Foot headquarters, but the orange masked turtle quickly reasoned that there was no one else in the team who can do it as inconspicuously as possible. The sewers would have worked as well (it did last time), but Mikey wanted to remain as unpredictable as he could get, considering who the enemy was.

April and Casey did not count—all things considered, they can fit in the shafts as well—because despite their determination to join the rescue mission, this was way too dangerous for their human friends and Mikey knew he wasn't skilled enough to protect all three of them in case things went wrong with the plan.

A plan haphazardly thrown and risky at best, but it was everything that Mikey got and he desperately hoped it was enough.

Thirteen hours and sixteen minutes since Leo, Raph and Donnie went missing.

Between him and the Mutanimals, they were able to create a rough floor plan of the Shredder's base, including the lower floors that contained Buzz Kill's labs. Mikey then took a few moments to think real hard before turning to his avid audience.

"OK dudes, I know this sounds whacked, but hear me out first." Mikey remembered himself saying. "From my experience in breaking into Shredhead's lair, his mug is really tightly guarded. And while, yeah the Footbots are pushovers, running into Tiger Claw, Rahzar, Fishface even Bebop and Rocksteady will mean bad news. But with the tower being so big, those guys will be stretched thin if we pretend to attack from different directions."

"Pretend to attack?" April raised an eyebrow.

"Oh, don't worry April, we're really gonna lay down the hurt. But, it'll be like this: since there's gonna be a lot of us this time, we can split up into teams again. One team will sneak in the main entrance and the other will try to get in via the roof, though whoever's gonna get that will most likely be a distraction because the roof's a really long way from the lab and then—"

Casey shook his head fondly. "Mike."

"Point is, the roof team will be the main distraction, the guys sneaking via the entrance will really try to break in and save my bros but can also be the distraction, whichever works for the moment." Mikey pulled himself back to the topic. "Anyway, Slash, Leatherhead, I need you guys to be the entrance hall team. Whack those Foot droids good but if you get the chance to save Leo and the others, feel free to take it, OK?"

Leatherhead nodded while Slash grinned. "We got this one."

"Pigeon Pete and Dr. Rockwell, you guys will be the roof people. If you can sneak in, great, but remember to be very careful! We don't know who'll be the guards there tonight. It's usually Rahzar but we'll never know. Just please, please stay safe."

Pigeon Pete saluted like a drunk. "Aye, aye, Mr. turtle orange sir!"

Splinter however raised an eyebrow. "But what about you, Michelangelo?"

Mikey tapped his chin and sent a grin at his master's direction. "I remember seeing a ventilation shaft behind the building. I'll use that to slip into the lair undetected."

"Wha—by yourself?!" April gasped, as mirrored looks of worry and horror flitted on everyone else's faces.

"I'll be OK, April. I'm the smallest turtle around, I'm sure I'll be able to fit in there just fine!"

"We'll be able to fit in there too!" Casey interjected. "We can't let you go in there alone!"

"No!" Mikey winced apologetically for his yelling. "You can't, April, Casey. We need you guys in the Shellraiser to give us some backup. Donnie's got a program in the computer there that can hack into Shredder's video cams. I'll keep my phone under my shell in speaker mode so I can keep talking to you guys once I'm in."

April looked mutinous however and Casey frowned deeply. "I still don't like this, Mikey. What if you run into Tiger Claw or the Shredder and you don't have anyone to back you up?"

"That's what the gazillion smokebombs are for." Mikey answered. "That's also why I need you guys outside so you can back me up in case I do run into them." Mikey hesitated before pulling off his best puppy dog face. "Trust me on this guys, please?"

And that's how I got here. I just hope the others are OK. The littlest turtle thought. Everyone's working hard to do their parts and I'd better not let them down. Now, where do I get off this cramped ride again?

Mikey had little idea where his brothers could actually be held. All that he could remember from the last break-in mission to rescue Karai was that the prisoners are usually kept in the lowest floors of the tower. Slash told him that his safest bet would be either basement level four or five, which was also near the laboratory with the glass and the indoor garden.

It wasn't much, but Mikey would take what he was given.

Fourteen hours and eight minutes after Leo, Raph and Donnie disappeared, the orange masked turtle dropped out of the shaft and onto the bare, dimly lit hallway of the Foot headquarters, nunchuks at the ready.

"You in, Mikey?" He heard April from the T-phone hanging on his neck, hidden inside his shell.

"Yeah, I'm in. Can you see me from the Shellraiser? Because I have no idea where I am."

"Give me a sec." There was a short pause before April replied. "You're right at B3, Mikey. According to the rest of the camera feed, you're most likely a block away from the nearest stairs down. But there are Foot bots patrolling the area to your left, and there are a couple of them on the way to where you're at."

"Got it, dudette." Mikey quickly took off to the direction April indicated, slipping into an opposite hallway when he saw the three Foot bot guards standing by the door.

Great, I gotta be careful with this. Come on, turn around, turn around…Mikey thought as he flipped his way up to the ceiling and watched the guards looking at his direction almost painstakingly, well aware of the other guards coming from the opposite direction. Mikey knew he could take the five robots no problem, but that could draw the attention of the other more capable fighters and Mikey really didn't want to deal with them until he got his bros out of this hellhole.

So once the patrolling guards turned to the direction he wanted, and the three ninjas walking the opposite direction were a good distance away, Mikey quickly threw his chucks and wrapped them around the two Foot bots patrolling the stairwell below him. With a grunt, he leapt right behind the struggling robots, drew his kusarigamas and slashed the Foot bots to three thick pieces.

A quick glance in front of him told that the far off Foot boots did not hear the skirmish, to Mikey's immense relief.

So far, so good. Mikey dragged the remains of the black clad robots to the opposite side of the stairs entrance and took off to the basement below.

"I'm in B4, April. How does it look from your end?"

There was a mild sound of tapping keys from the red head's end for a few seconds. "Strange," Mikey could imagine her frowning. "There aren't any Foot bots around, Mikey."

"Seriously?" Mikey asked, his own lips tugging downwards as well. Things are going a little too easy for him for comfort, and Mikey was worried that he may have made a mistake at some point.

"Not a damn thing down there with you, Mikey. Not anything we can see from our end, anyway." The turtle heard Casey confirm.

Mikey swallowed back his nervousness at the statement. "So eh, how are the others?"

"Leatherhead and Slash are on their way to B2 but are currently fighting against Rahzar and Fishface. Dr. Rockwell and Pigeon Pete managed to get into the tower and are taking care of Bebop and Rocksteady on the thirtieth floor."

"Great, they're all OK." Mikey felt a bit of weight on his shoulders lift at that. He knew that being the leader was tough, but he had no idea it was by this much.

It made him miss his brothers so much all the more…

"Guys, I gotta keep going." Mikey said, barely able to keep the tremble out of his voice. "Just—just let me know if I'm gonna run into anything while I'm at it."

A little more. Just a little more. Baby blue eyes turned into unyielding ivory. I'm getting you bros back if it's the last thing I'll ever do.

Back at his prison, Leo's mind was rapidly switching between blank and full blown hysteria far too many times for him to get a grip over what the Shredder just told them.

Mikey was here? Mikey was here?

Bad enough that he had two little brothers under Shredder's grip while he couldn't do anything to help them, but now their youngest could be running around somewhere in the Foot's headquarters all by himself for easy picking by Shredder's henchmen?

What in the name of every good god in existence was Michelangelo doing here?!

"Y-you're lying!" Leo looked up to see Donnie glowering from his table, eyes wide with fury, denial and terror. "Tiger Claw didn't say anything about Mikey being here!"

"Heh, and how can you be so sure, Donatello? You don't have proof that what I said was a lie any more than what I said was the truth." Shredder said calmly. "But I have nothing to lose either way. Can you say the same for yourselves?"

Don't you even. Fucking. Dare. Think of touch my baby brother, you psychotic son of a bitch! Leo cried out in his head. Why the hell was his voice stuck in his throat now of all times? He should be going all out on that bastard Shredder's face instead of acting all clammed up and shell shocked like he wasn't supposed to be!

Thankfully, he could always count on Raph.

"Keep your filthy hands the hell away from Mikey, you sick bastard!" Raph was struggling so hard against the straps holding him down the table was already budging at the force he was exerting. "When I get out of here, I swear I'm gonna gut you like a—!"

Then, much to Leo's horror, the Shredder suddenly laughed. A full blown, straight from the belly, crueler than the Arctic was freezing laugh.

"Foolish turtles!" Shredder exclaimed. "I am the last thing you should be worried about!"

And, as if on cue, the door opened again, this time it was by the fly mutant Baxter Stockman.

"You called, my Maszzzter?" Stockman buzzed through his mandibles, Tiger Claw right behind him. "Iszzz it truly timeeee?"

"Proceed with the second phase." Shredder said coldly. Leo's gut twisted anxiously when it looked like the fly actually clapped his appendages in glee before flying off to somewhere at the back of the room.

"As I have once said, your skills are being wasted on that fool Hamato Yoshi; an error I aim to correct." Shredder said. "It would have been better if I have all four turtles, but for now, you three will suffice."

Leo croaked, finally finding his voice. "What are you—?"

It was then they all heard it, the sound of a jar being opened, the sounds of slippery squelching and a shrill cry.

Leo's heart stopped. That's—! It—it can't be—!

"NO! No, no, oh fuck no, not again! Not again!" Raph screamed, more frightened than Leo had ever seen him his whole life as he tried to move as far as he could from the direction where Stockman was.

"Those are…the brain worms?" Donnie's small, fearful voice confirmed it for Leo. "The Kraang…they said something about new and improved brain worms, didn't they?"

Stockman flew up to the Shredder, and there it was: a tong holding a writhing black maggot like creature that brought the Hamato family much suffering. Was this how Raph felt the first time he was face to face with that horrid worm? Leo mused. But back then, he didn't know at the time that it would make him a loyal servant—an unflinching weapon—of their most hated enemy.

An ignorance Raph and the rest of them were not blessed with this time around.

"A vastly improved version of them, yes. You would find them much harder to eliminate than before." Shredder answered. "Not even Splinter's knowledge of the Hamato ninjutsu will save you now, and thanks to your brother, we'll be able to know just how effective they really are."

"S-Stop!" Leo pleaded weakly, even though he knew it was no use. Already, he could hear his brother's screams of anguished terror as Stockman and Tiger Claw set the worms onto their foreheads, heard the squelching and the cracking as the maggot-like abominations set to work.

"N-no. Oh God, no! Don't—! Get away from me, you damn bug!"

"—NGH! GRR! KEEP THOSE FUCKING MAGGOTS AWAY FROM ME, GODDAMNIT! TIGER CLAW YOU—! A-AAAARGH!"

It all drove Leo to the point of that he had forgotten that he was supposed to be a Hamato ninja and the fearless leader.

Right now, he was the oldest brother of four terrified at the thought of being forced to point his blade at the one of the precious few he vowed to die for to protect, that he loved above all else.

No, please, please, not Mikey! Not my little brother! Our little baby brother! I can't hurt him. I won't hurt him! Oh God, please, not Mikey!

As Shredder placed the worm on his own head, as his own screams joined his two brothers, he clung as hard as he could to what would be the last thoughts that would be his own, until the very end.

No! No, never! I won't! I'd never hurt him! I'm the one who's supposed to protect him, for God's sake! I—no! No, no, NO!

Mikey!

And somewhere in the very same floor, a green and orange blur paused, baby blue eyes wide with disbelief and confusion.

"…Bros?"

Chuchi's Cultural Corner!

晴天の霹靂 - The quote pertains to a surprise, often a huge one, like a sudden boom of thunder that can make you jump. Simple, yes? :)

Headcanons and Other Extras!

-Mikey has what it takes to be leader. 2012's Savage Mikey and 2003's SAINW Mikey proved that much. I think (and can relate to at some point) that it's because that Mikey has several authority figures in his life he can lean onto and pretty much take responsibility that he lets himself become laid back and goof around.

Now that that I think about it, for those who play Dynasty Warriors games by Koei, Mikey's kinda like Jin Dynasty's Sima Zhao. Interesting...