OMG! I can't believe it! I've hit the 100 review mark! You guys have no idea how happy you've made Chuchi!
*dances around candy confetti*
Thank you, thank you, thank you! Just…thank you! I have no words enough to express my gratitude! I love you all! *huggles!*
虎穴にいらずんば虎子を得ず- If you don't enter the tigers den, you will never catch its cubs
Three weeks ago…
"So this is how it's gonna go, guys." Mikey said over the plates of French toast and bacon. "Obviously, we're going to need a sample or two of the new brainworms, The Kraang said that Buzz Kill made some changes to the worms so I guess it's safe to say that old ways to get rid of 'em might not work this time around. I'm not ruling out whatever Sensei did with Karai before, but better safe than sorry, right?"
"There is also the question of what the Shredder's true intentions for the brainworms are." Splinter added. "It is possible that he was after my sons from the very beginning but I find it hard to believe that that is the end of it. There is much we do not know of the situation and it will be foolhardy for us to attack blindly. This is where our reconnaissance efforts will come in."
"Dr. Rockwell, you've gotten a hand with your telepathy, right?" Mikey turned to the chimpanzee doctor.
"Do you want me to look into the minds of our enemies for more information?" Rockwell asked sharply. "Manageable for most, but I would be hard pressed to break the mental defenses of the more formidable ninjas in the Shredder's army who may be more privy to the knowledge we seek. Even harder for us to capture one of them long enough for me to try."
"I know, but don't worry, Doc, we're not going after Rahzar or Tiger Claw or anyone like them." Mikey said, sharing a look with his sensei. "We're going after the regular human Foot ninjas."
"What? But won't they be kept as in the dark as we are?" April asked with a frown. "With something like the brainworms, I don't think Shredder's going to tell his plans to just anybody."
"Here's the thing about low ranks, you may not know what's going on but you definitely know that there is." Mikey pointed out. "Things like areas that are more tightly guarded, hearsays, changes in the routine, that sort of thing. A regular Foot guy may know only at least one of those things, but maybe if we're able to get different bits and pieces, we could get the big picture!"
"I…see," Rockwell said in a hushed tone. "Not only will this tactic be significantly less dangerous on our parts, we may even be able to do this in a way that the Foot will be none the wiser!"
"If you can erase short term memory as well as you can read minds, Doc, then we're all good on that front!" Mikey grinned. "Sensei's got the rest covered!"
"The Foot will expect us to attack soon. We will give them the impression that getting Leonardo, Raphael and Donatello back is the only goal we have, meeting their expectations," Splinter said. "But in reality, we will be conducting a two pronged attack. The majority of us will contribute to staging an assault on the Foot's headquarters but a two to three man team with Dr. Rockwell will ambush human Foot ninjas on the prowl, gather information from them then erase their memories of the encounter. That is, if that is all right with you, Dr. Rockwell?"
"Oh yes, that I can definitely do." Rockwell cracked his knuckles with a wide grin. "I can even do it without having to knock them out, make them think they were in the middle of something that made them stop after I'm done with them."
"Really? You're the best, Dr. Rockwell!" Mikey said gleefully, bounding up to give the chimpanzee telepath a hug. "Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you—!"
"Err, not a problem, my good man, but I suggest you start thanking me only when we've already acquired the information we seek," Rockwell said sheepishly. "It may take some time to piece together whatever data we may get, after all."
"No prob! With all of us working together, I'm sure we'll get it in no time!" Mikey gave two thumbs up. "Well, that's the rough draft of the whole Operation Recon. Still need help figuring out all the details though, but whatcha guys think?"
April heartily believed that she spoke for everyone when she answered. "Mikey, you never cease to amaze me!"
The orange masked turtle blushed. "H—hey, it's not all me! Sensei was a huge help—"
"You're the man, my man Mikey, dude!" Mondo cheered over Mikey's flustered protest. "That nasty ol' Buckethead better watch out, 'cause he won't know what will hit him!"
Mikey couldn't believe how well the whole plan was going. He had his reservations, especially with April and Casey joining the front lines against the Shredder, but now, he was also growing more hopeful by the minute.
The plan was to sneak in the Foot compound with April and Casey disguised as Foot ninjas, find the lab containing the brain worms and snag one the hell out of there.
"How much further, Dr. Rockwell?" Mikey heard April ask on the T-phone.
"You're almost there," The chimpanzee doctor, who was the one monitoring everything from the Shellraiser, answered. "Just take the next stairwell then a straight right past Hall A. The room you're after is 4-A7."
"Man, I really hope so. This place is giving me a whole new level of the creeps!" Casey hissed at their surroundings. Mikey couldn't blame him: just knowing that he was within the same six foot radius vicinity of the Shredder made him feel uneasy.
Hopefully, they'll be able to do this without having to run into any of the Foot, the Shredder or worst of all, his brothers.
The trio was able to sneak past the guards running all over the place thanks to the distraction provided by Slash and his group, nearly tripping in their hurry to reach room 4-A7, a room at the far end of Hall A with a reinforced steel door and two Footbot guards that met a quick end thanks to Mikey's nunchuks and Casey's hockey stick.
"You'd think with all the technology they have, they'd switch to tighter security," Mikey mumbled after successfully prying the door open with the blade of his sickle.
"Personally, I'd count that as a good thing, but you know what they say: don't count your chickens until they hatch." April waved her hand to halt the boys from entering the dark room and produced a spray can from her utility belt.
A quick burst of white gas revealed several crisscrossing lasers all over the room.
The red head smirked at Mikey who pouted. "You were saying?"
"Great, we can see the lasers, but where's the worm we're after?" Casey squinted to no avail. "I can barely make sticks and stones out of this."
"You did remember to bring your night vision goggles, right, Casey?" April said, arching a brow when Casey gave her a sheepish smile. "Ugh, Casey!"
"There are loads of drums in here. I bet at least one of them's got a brain worm or two." Mikey strapped his own set of goggles and gave his friends a thumb up. "Relax, dudes, I got this one."
Casey matched Mikey's gesture. "Right. We'll watch your back."
The orange turtle took a calming breath—focus, Mikey, focus—before flipping around the lasers as carefully as he could.
Mikey was definitely not called the most flexible of the turtles for shit and giggles.
Just when April and Casey thought Mikey would snag a particularly difficult set of crossing lasers, Mikey would pull of a just as difficult maneuver on his hands and limber legs to avoid it. The pair watched with baited breath as Mikey flipped three, four, then a fifth time high up in the air before landing on his feet at the edge of a drum lid.
"Jackpot, guys!" Mikey cheered after cutting a circle open on the plastic cover. "Just gotta get some of the worms then we're home free!"
"Hurry, Mikey, I don't know how long the coast will stay clear like this." April urged quietly, anxiously eyeing the still empty Hall A as if something unexpected would pop at the corner.
"Relax, Red, everything's going smooth as silk here and we're almost done!" Casey said, arms crossing over the back of his head. "It's not like something gonna go—woah!"
To April and Mikey's horror, the black haired vigilante seemingly had a misstep that sent him careening to the floor and straight to a diagonal laser jutting from the side.
Not even a second later, a shrill alarm rang over everyone's ears.
"CASEY!" April cried in both anger and terror.
Casey, to his credit, looked equally frantic. "Shit, shit, I'm so sorry! I didn't mean—!"
"No time, dudes!" Mikey cut in bluntly, jumping away from the drum. "Let's just make ourselves scarce before the welcoming party gets here! Follow me and back me up, OK?"
Without waiting for their confirmation, Mikey took off, nunchuks whirling dangerously at the ready.
He really hoped it ain't so, but he had a strong feeling he'll be seeing his brothers again too soon for his liking.
She knew something was going to go wrong at some point, even more so now that Casey totally called it.
If they weren't running for a possible threat on their lives, she would have hit the idiot and strangled him for good measure, see if he'll say anything that could jinx them again.
That, and the fact that Casey looked so terribly guilty that it made her guilty as well for thinking like that.
"I'm so, so sorry, guys. I don't know what I stepped on but it was so slippery and I—"
"Don't worry about it, Casey," Mikey said lightly, though his eyes remained glued to their front. "Sometimes, missions don't just go the way you want them to. God knows how many of those I've screwed up over the years. Just gotta make do with what we've got, y'know? Hey, Doc, how's everyone doing upstairs?"
"Quite shaken, given the commotion." Rockwell answered. "So far, the pig and rhino duo are out for the count, Slash's team is engaging Rahzar and Fishface, but Leonardo and the other turtles are unaccounted for. Thank goodness Tiger Claw is out on a mission or you would have found yourselves in a bigger mess!"
"And thank goodness for really good intel, courtesy of you, Doc, of course!"
"Nonsense, it was your ingenuity that made it possible in the first place."
Mikey opened his mouth to respond but a movement made his eyes narrow. "Guys, Foot boots twelve o'clock."
Seeing the troop of robots running before them a few seconds later, Casey eagerly pulled out his hockey stick and pucks. "I got this one! Goongala!"
So far, only Foot bots were showing up on the trio's path, which wasn't really a problem for Mikey's chucks, April's tessen or Casey's exploding pucks. But as the fighting went on, Mikey noticed that April and Casey were becoming more and more out of breath.
The orange masked turtle bit his lip. This was why he was hoping they wouldn't have to confront the Foot directly in this mission.
But yeah, gotta make do with what they've got.
And in a few seconds, their hand was about to get worse.
The three friends just got past the platoon of Footbots now littering the lower floors in pieces when Mikey felt rather than heard the telltale whoosh of a shuriken heading towards April's direction.
"April, watch out!" Mikey flicked his chuck at the throwing star before jumping in front of the red head.
Casey jumped back, holding up his hockey stick in front of him. "Woah, where'd that come from?"
But as he, Mikey and April formed a protective circle around each other's backs, not a single Footbot was showing up, with any follow up attacks. Mikey's grip on his weapons tightened, drawing out a sickle blade.
So much for not running into them tonight.
He then quickly spun his kusarigama in a defensive circle around his friends, effectively batting away the barrage of shuriken sent their way, much to April and Casey's surprise.
As the offending metallic objects fell to the floor, Mikey stared nonchalantly at the three emerging shadows in front of him while whirling his scythe and chain to his side.
"Hey bros, missed me?"
Chuchi's Cultural Corner!
Koketsu ni irazunba koji wo ezu (虎穴にいらずんば虎子を得ず): Japanese equivalent for nothing ventured, nothing gained. After all, the greater the risks, the better the rewards (if you're actually willing to take said risks).
Not to encourage you folks to gamble, mind you. Choose your battles wisely. *winkwink*
Headcanons and Other Extras!
-Dr. Rockwell's telepathy: It was seen in the show that the Kraang's experiments on Dr. Rockwell amplified his abilities like mind-reading and manipulating to formidable levels. But being the Donnie equivalent of the Mutanimals, Dr. Rockwell's biggest contribution to his team is his superb intelligence rather than the use of his psionic powers. That doesn't mean that Dr. Rockwell hasn't been practicing with his powers, of course.
And after the Turtles and the gang returned with Fugitoid, April shared her knowledge in improving psychic powers with Rockwell, and the two have had quite the practice partnership since then. J However, while April's powers have the potential to surpass Rockwell's (being inborn with said powers), Rockwell is better at controlling and making the most of his abilities, at least for now.
Imagine, if you will, that April is Naruto, Rockwell is Sakura (ugh. Bad imagery!), and psionic abilities is chakra control.
-ADHD Notes 2: There's been research to support that some children with ADHD are gifted. Not that all ADHD children are gifted (and vice versa), but a child being both highly intelligent yet having ADHD is possible.
Call it biased or whatever, but I think it's possible that Mikey is a gifted child with ADHD. It's been demonstrated that he is quite smart and intuitive, maybe even as capable as Donnie is. It's just that ADHD makes it difficult for him to sit still and stay organized enough to express his intelligence in the same way the resident genius can.
This is true for gifted children with ADHD as well. While on paper, they can keep up with higher level school work, these kids have a harder time managing schedules, participating in certain activities that require more attention and dealing with social demands that come with growing up. But that doesn't make them any less smarter. They (and Mikey) just have different needs, and when taught and guided well, can learn to cope to meet society's standards.
Guest Review Replies
KASE1248: Aww shucks! Thanks so much! I enjoy writing this and supplying you with trivia as much! (And thanks also for reading through my notes and headcanons! That means a lot!) Rest assured that this is a work in progress and that I will finish this fanfic. I have most of it ironed out already. I just need my net to...cooperate with me. :P
Guest: Lol thanks! Well here's the next chapter. I hope it's to your liking.
Visitor: Wow you sure have nice ideas! And yes, the three older bros (and the Foot) will get to see Mikey shine. And as for once the bros are free from the brainworms, well, we'll just have to wait and see. Thanks again for reading! And I do intend to keep the action going.