Disclaimer: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and all related characters belong to Nickelodeon.

Summary: For months now, Mikey's been through hell with no one to count on but himself. But now that he's finally been rescued there's two problems; he's still desperately missing his family and he has no way home. No OC's. 2k3/2k12 crossover.

Comments, thoughts and concrit are always welcome.

AOtGO – Aftermath

Ch 6

Date: 21th Sept

"Did you just call Master Splinter grandpa?"

Mikey turned to see the other three turtles staring at him dumbfounded, Raph though, looked almost ready to burst a blood vessel.

"Yeah, dude, I do believe I did," he replied with a hint of a smile at the edges of his mouth.

"Why the hell would you do that?" Raph instantly demanded, taking a quick step closer.

Mikey shrugged, "Because I like grandpa better than granddad, grandpop or poppy?" he questioned.

"He means, why would you call our father that?" Leo immediately pointed out, hoping to stave off the fight he could see coming.

"What else do you call your dad's dad?" Mikey asked nonchalantly with another shrug. He then glanced mischievously at Donnie. "Wait, Don, don't answer that! If you list all the possible names, we'll be here all night."

Donnie gave him a look of disbelief before asking, "Are you saying in your world that Master Splinter isn't your father?"

"Well... Master Splinter is, yeah," Mikey admitted, "but Hamato Yoshi isn't."

"Fascinating," Donnie mused thoughtfully, exchanging glances with his brothers. "I'd love to hear about how that's possible, but it sounds as though it might be a story better saved for when it's not quite so late at night."

Mikey nodded, thinking back to how long it had taken for him to tell the Splinter of this world his tale. "Too true, dude."

"You're looking better than earlier this evening," Donnie observed quietly, changing the subject.

Inwardly, Mikey cringed, remembering his earlier behaviour towards the turtle who was only trying to help him. "Yeah... about that... I'm really sorry, dude," Mikey said softly. "I didn't mean to take things out on you."

Donnie smiled broadly in relief, his diastema in clear view. "Does that mean you'll let me do the scan?" he asked hopefully.

"No way in shell!" Mikey retorted instantly, shaking his head adamantly and backing up a few steps. "Sorry, Donnie, but I... I just can't," he exclaimed, his eyes silently pleading Donnie to stop asking.

Raph rolled his eyes, "Don't be such a baby! It's just a scan," he scoffed rudely, his annoyance over Mikey's lack of cooperation loud and clear.

Mikey shot Raph a reproachful look. He knew he was right, but after everything that had happened to him recently... "You don't understand," he muttered, looking away as he spoke. "You can't..."

"Then explain it to us," Leo suggested helpfully. "Or at least explain it to Donnie."

"It's okay," Donnie quickly piped up. "Don't push him when he's clearly not ready."

"Thanks..." Mikey said quietly, his relief obvious. He looked up again, realising Donnie was approaching him slowly.

"Look, Mike, we really do need to know how well your arm has healed, but if you won't let me see the easy way, then you will need to be completely honest and let us know of any pain or even discomfort you experience with it, so we can help you with your rehabilitation. If you aren't, you could push things too hard or too fast during training and end up doing more harm than good."

Mikey nodded, relieved that Donnie wasn't going to push the subject anymore. "I'll try."

"Not try, do," Donnie insisted. "But you know, you didn't have a problem with Metalhead the other night."

"Huh?" Mikey asked blankly, staring at Donnie as if he'd just grown a second head.

"I created Metalhead out of repurposed Kraang scrap too," Donnie explained quietly, gauging Mikey's reaction carefully as he spoke.

"R... really?" Mikey asked in a small voice.

"Yes, really."

"If it wasn't for Metalhead, I'd still be..." Mikey trailed off, unable to voice, or even think about what they'd done to him at the end. He knew he was a mess from that, shell, he had every right to be, but he didn't want anyone else to know how he'd managed to hold up right until the end and then let them break him, right as rescue was finally around the corner.

He didn't want them to know just how weak he truly was.

Donnie nodded, understanding, "If Metalhead, made from discarded Kraang tech, hadn't led us to that prison, you and everyone else would still be there now," he explained gently. "But he did lead us there and as a result, you and everyone else was freed and able to get away."

Mikey stole a glance towards Donnie's lab and Donnie noticed he was teetering. "How about I show you how the scanner works on myself and you can make up your mind after that?"

Agonising over the other turtle's words, Mikey hesitated a while more, then nodded reluctantly. "Okay."

"Great!" Donnie grinned brilliantly. He headed for his lab, waiting at the door for Michelangelo. When Leo and Raph made to follow, Donnie quickly shook his head. "Sorry guys, just the two of us."

Leo nodded, understanding, "In that case, I think I'll just head to bed then."

"Best plan you've ever had, Lame-o-nardo," Raph mocked with a smirk, following Leo towards the bedrooms.

"It definitely beats your 'punch everything in sight until it's unconscious and then ask questions' plans," Leo retorted good-naturedly.

"Which is far better than standing around preparing stupid speeches or posing like that loser Captain Ry..."

"Don't worry about those two, they're always riding each other," Donnie smiled, shaking his head as Mikey anxiously hesitated at the door, watching as the two brothers disappeared into the hallway.

Mikey promptly nodded, "Yeah, my Leo and Raph are like that too."

"Would you feel better if I left the door open?"

Mikey hesitated once more, thinking about it. "You know what, dude? I think I would."

"I thought so," Donnie nodded, leaving it wide open as he walked further inside.

"You did? Why?" Mikey asked, turning and staring perplexed after the genius.

"I noticed last time you were in here that you seemed more anxious once the door closed, and that's saying something, seeing as how you were already anxious before that," Donnie admitted, hoping his observation wouldn't cause the other turtle to put up walls again. "I'm sorry that I didn't really think about it until afterward."

"I never cared about closed doors before," Mikey said doubtfully, following Donnie inside, "so why would I now?"

"You were probably never held captive in such a small cell before," Donnie pointed out indelicately. "This will take a few minutes, I need to set everything up," he explained, switching on power to the other computer, the one not currently running analysis on Mikey's blood samples taken earlier that night.

Swallowing, Mikey nodded. "You're wrong, dude. I've been held in small places before, even chained."

"But for as long?"

"No..." Mikey eventually admitted quietly. "And the previous times I wasn't really alone either..."

Donnie turned away to pick up his scanner, powering it on. "There you go, then. Look, Mike, it's going to take a while for you to get past whatever you've been through, and it's not going to happen overnight. Be patient with yourself and talk to one of us; it'll help. We may have our own problems right now, but all of us are willing to help when and how we can. Okay?"

"Okay... Thanks, Don..." Mikey muttered, clutching uncomfortably at his left arm.

"No problem," Donnie replied with a small smile, turning back to face him. "Okay, everything's ready. Are you good for me to demonstrate?"

Mikey nodded silently, eyes fixed apprehensively on the Kraang tech scanner in Donnie's overly large hands.

"Right! It's actually pretty simple. All I have to do is run the scanner over whichever part of the body I need to and the image of what's underneath the flesh shows up on the screen there," Donnie explained patiently, nodding towards the computer monitor. Then he demonstrated, keeping an eye on Mikey and watching for any signs of panic.

"You do know that we'd never do anything to deliberately hurt you, right?" Donnie asked, leaving the 'as long as we're not somehow actually wrong about you and you don't try to betray us' thought unsaid.

Mikey nodded again, only shifting his eyes from the scanner briefly enough to see what was showing on the nearby screen. Donnie noticed and slowly moved closer to the computer monitor to make it easier for Mikey to watch both.

"You're safe now and we won't let them get a hold of you again."

"They'll never get the chance, Donnie," Mikey swore softly, viciously. "I'd be better off dead than letting them do that to me again!"

Donnie looked up into Mikey's eyes in shock at the conviction in his words, wondering, not for the first time, just what exactly had happened. "Don't think like that!" he exclaimed loudly in alarm. "How would your family feel if they heard you say something like that?"

"They really wouldn't care," Mikey laughed bitterly, still staring at the scanner.

Donnie's jaw dropped, the impact of the other turtle's words and tone overwhelming him once more. "Is this because they never found you?" he asked in disbelief. "How could they have found you? You're in another dimension, Mike,"

Mikey shook his head adamantly. "There's ways," he replied cryptically. He turned on his feet and started for the door, calling over his shell, "Hey, I'm still really wiped, dude, so I'm going back to bed."

"What about the scan?" Donnie asked numbly, still astounded over the wild turn of the conversation.

Sighing reluctantly and realising Donnie wouldn't truly let it go after all, Mikey headed back and stuck his left arm out. "Do it quickly, dude, but don't bring that thing any closer than you absolutely have to, and definitely don't trust it! Their tech is evil!"

"There's no such thing as evil technology, Mike, only evil users," Donnie said, resisting the urge to roll his eyes over the ludicrous idea.

Mikey smiled grimly as he tried to control his breathing, eyes still firmly fixed on the terrifying device in the genius' hands. "Explain that to me again when the machines take over in twenty twenty-nine."

"Sounds to me as though you've been watching way too many B-grade SciFis," Donnie said dryly as he carefully scanned Mikey's arm, keeping an eye on the image on the screen as he went.

"Never seen 'Terminator', Don?"

Shaking his head, Donnie admitted, "I've never even heard of it. Though there is a B-grade movie called 'Rise of the Terminator Droids' that our Mikey has always enjoyed for some odd reason. He has it on video somewhere, but be warned, it's really bad." Then he stepped away, placing the scanner on the nearby bench away from the recently tortured turtle. "There, all done and it was painless, right?"

Mikey immediately pulled his arm back against his body, taking several quick steps away. "So, can I go now?"

"Just a minute," Donnie muttered, turning to pour over the images recorded on his computer. "Did you know much about the break itself?"

Mikey shook his head. "No, they didn't really talk to me much, only when they were trying to tell me what to do," he reluctantly admitted. 'Or when they were explaining how they were going to punish me if they even bothered explaining,' he added to himself bitterly, remembering the times he was helplessly strapped down or chained within his cell. Except as an extra way to torture him, they'd rarely bothered to say much else, knowing a lack of knowledge usually made things that much worse.

Donnie nodded and pointed to several places on the scan of the bone. "It was pretty bad, Mike. Multiple breaks and fractures all along it. In fact, it looks as though it was almost completely shattered. You're very lucky you didn't lose it. How exactly did you break it so badly anyway?"

Mikey blinked in shock. He'd never realised just how bad it was, but then again, he'd spent a lot of that time in and out of consciousness when it happened. "Fell from pretty high up, dude."

"You didn't try turning in mid-air to land on your feet?"

"Couldn't. Someone was gripping my ankle. It was impossible to turn and they landed on top of me," he shrugged. "I don't even remember hitting the ground."

Donnie shook his head in wonder. "It's healed very well, but I must admit I'm surprised they actually bothered to treat it. We know full well just how merciless they truly are, not to mention how much they enjoy causing others pain and misery."

Mikey fell down into the nearby chair as he gawped up at Donnie. "Trust me, dude, their 'treatment' wasn't what I call merciful, but they made it clear early on that they wanted me alive, no matter what it took." He hesitated again, then asked, "Have... were you guys their prisoners before, too?"

"No," Donnie shook his head, pulling up another chair and sitting nearby to face Mikey. "Well, only very briefly and they were far too busy to try anything, so it doesn't really count; not in the way you mean anyway. However, several friends of ours have been and we know from their first-hand accounts just how cruel the Kraang can truly be."

Mikey's eyes widened at the news and he pulled out the remains of one nunchaku, clutching tightly at the handle with both hands to draw comfort from that small piece of home. "Who? What happened?" he whispered, dreading to know, yet also somehow needing to.

"April and her father are just two I can mention," Donnie offered. "They recently had a hold of April briefly and wanted a sample of her DNA. Only instead of doing it the quick and easy way by taking a strand of hair or blood sample, they were prepared to extract it by drilling into her head, simply because it was 'far more entertaining'."

"D... did they...?" Mikey asked in horror, remembering all the terrifying instruments above him whenever he'd been strapped down.

"No," Donnie quickly reassured. "Raph was able to come to her rescue before anything could actually happen. Although, it's not entirely certain which of the two helped the other more. April really is so amazing," he sighed with a wistful, dreamy smile. Moments later, catching Mikey's stare, he remembered what he was talking about, straightened self-consciously and continued speaking.

"Her father, though, he's a different story. They had him for months and we still have no idea of the full extent of what they did to him. He, like someone else we know, came out of his ordeal with severe PTSD. After he was rescued, he barely even let April out of his sight for a good month and a half."

Mikey, who had dropped his gaze when Donnie continued speaking, suddenly perked up when he realised what the other turtle wasn't saying. "You guys know April's father?"

"Of course. Why are you so surprised?"

Mikey shook his head emphatically. "We never met the dude in our world and April never even talks about him. I get the feeling he's dead or something."

"Maybe she just doesn't think he could handle meeting your family?" Donnie suggested.

"Nuh. We've met other members of Ape's family before, and Casey's, and they were fine with us. She just doesn't talk about him. Kinda clams up, actually."

"That's too bad."

"Yeah... Hey, do you think... maybe I could meet him? Talk to him?" Mikey asked hopefully. He wasn't sure if he'd be able to actually bring himself to open up, but being around someone else who really knew, he figured that could only help. "I mean, it's not like he'd really have anyone else to talk to either, right?" he suddenly added, desperation in his voice as he saw Donnie's expression fall.

"You're right, Mr. O'Neil would be a great choice, made even better by the fact he's a psychologist by profession." Donnie began nervously.

"But?" Mikey prompted moments later when Donnie fell silent.

Donnie sighed and rubbed wearily at his face. "However, talking to him is quite impossible..."

"He doesn't like you guys?"

"Yes! No! I mean, it's not that. A couple of months ago he met with an accident." Donnie winced painfully at the memory and all the misery the accident had caused. An accident they themselves had caused.

"Did he die?" Mikey asked softly upon seeing Donnie's expression.

"No. Though almost as bad..." Donnie muttered guiltily. "He... he came into contact with mutagen and mutated into a bat..."

Mikey blinked; he remembered seeing someone like that dragged into the prison while he was there. "A giant bat with ginger hair?" At Donnie's nod, he exclaimed, "I saw him! He was... there too..." He trailed off as he realised what he was getting excited about.

"Yes... Do you know how long he was there?"

Mikey shrugged as he thought back. "Not really too sure, dude. Maybe a few weeks? It was before they took the cast off anyway."

Donnie nodded. "Anyway, the problem is that the mutation messed with his mind. He seems to recognise April and ourselves still, but... he can't communicate and his bat instincts completely control him. So you see, talking to him right now is quite impossible for anyone.

"I've been working on finding a cure for his condition, a retro-mutagen, but... with our brother now missing, that's taken a back seat," Donnie explained, looking guiltily towards the ground. "We thought Mr. O'Neil was safe until two nights back but we didn't even realise he was missing too."

Donnie sighed again and shook his head. "Anyway, it's late and we have training early. I'll finish looking over your test results tomorrow afternoon and talk to you about things more then." Donnie turned and began turning off the equipment that didn't need to stay on.

"Okay." Mikey stood, putting the remains of his weapon away. "I guess I'll see you at training then."

"You're joining us?" Donnie asked in surprise. "I mean, of course you are, but so soon?"

"Yeah," Mikey replied with more determination in his voice than he would have thought possible when it came to training.

"I thought it'd at least be a couple of days before you did."

Mikey chuckled, "Honestly, while I do wish I could just sleep in, cause seriously, you guys train at the crack of dawn..."

"Seven thirty is not the crack of dawn."

"May as well be," Mikey smiled, noticing, not for the first time, how easy it was to get a rise out of this Donnie. He filed that knowledge away for future use. "But yeah... I'd... I really want to get some kind of normalcy back in my life. I need this right now, dude."

"That's understandable," Donnie replied softly.

Mikey laughed again, more confidently this time, "And back home, somehow my bros and Master Splinter just heard me and fell over in shock."

-:-

Michelangelo lay in bed, tossing and turning, unable to sleep. The longer he laid there, the greater his uneasy feeling grew.

Rubbing wearily at his sore eyes, Mikey sat up, gazing around and trying to figure out just what exactly was bugging him.

It didn't take long before his eyes fell on the shadowy cardboard cutout of that human by the door; it was still facing the wall, but in the dim light cast by the nearby lamp it still appeared as if it were watching him. Squeezing his eyes tightly closed, Mikey quickly reminded himself how he turned it around only hours before. However, when he opened his eyes again minutes later and feeling only slightly better, he knew that wasn't really what was getting to him.

Mikey licked his lips nervously, suddenly hyperaware of the thirst he felt as his eyes lit on the closed bedroom door. Donnie's earlier words slipped unbidden into his mind, "you seemed more anxious once the door closed". Mikey immediately shook his head in emphatic denial. That may have been a small part of whatever his problem was and he knew he would have to learn to deal with this new hang up sooner or later, but instinctively he knew that still wasn't it.

No matter how hard he tried, how hard he thought about it, he just couldn't put his finger on whatever was truly bothering him.

"Everything should be great! I'm free now!" Mikey reminded himself in a small whisper. Then he sighed, wrapping his arms around his knees and resting his head on them in the gloom. "Ah, who am I kidding... I just want to go home... but I'll probably never even see home again...

"After all... they're not even looking for me..." he finished miserably.

-:-

* If you ever see my stories posted anywhere other than under the name Zelgadis55 at Deviant Art, FFNet, AO3 or Live Journal, then they have been stolen. Please report them.