Title: Time Loop
Day: Febuwhump 2024, Day 11
Prompt: Time Loop
Fandom: TMNT 2003
Word Count: 4745
Author: aquietwritingcorner/realitybreakgirl
Rating: T
Characters: Michelangelo
Warning:
Summary: "Mikey, hurry up! You're going to be late for training!"
"Huh?" Mikey turned to look at Leo, and nearly choked on the toothpaste foam that was in his mouth. He coughed, spitting out what he could, and hacking up the rest.
Leo shot him a flat look. "Come on. I don't think choking on toothpaste is an excuse Splinter is going to accept again."
Mikey blinked at his brother in the mirror. "I, uh… yeah. I'll be there in just a minute, Leo."
"Just be quick. I'm not making excuses for you again."
With that comment, Leo was out of the doorway, Mikey hearing him leap over to the training area. Mikey blinked at his reflection in the mirror. What… had just happened? Yeah, Leo had come in and interrupted him brushing his teeth, but it felt like there was something more going on. Like he had just been-
"Mikey!"
Right, right. He'd come back to that later.
Notes: If I had more time, I would have worked in more references. As it is, I prewrote the first draft by staying up too late before a con, and have now spent three days at a con, and need to pack for a week long stay at my sister's which means a six hour drive. I'm exhausted and this is as good as it's gonna get for now ^^;

Time Loop

"Mikey, hurry up! You're going to be late for training!"

"Huh?" Mikey turned to look at Leo, and nearly choked on the toothpaste foam that was in his mouth. He coughed, spitting out what he could, and hacking up the rest.

Leo shot him a flat look. "Come on. I don't think choking on toothpaste is an excuse Splinter is going to accept again."

Mikey blinked at his brother in the mirror. "I, uh… yeah. I'll be there in just a minute, Leo."

"Just be quick. I'm not making excuses for you again."

With that comment, Leo was out of the doorway, Mikey hearing him leap over to the training area. Mikey blinked at his reflection in the mirror. What… had just happened? Yeah, Leo had come in and interrupted him brushing his teeth, but it felt like there was something more going on. Like he had just been-

"Mikey!"

Right, right. He'd come back to that later. Right now, he had practice to get to. Mikey spit in the sink again, rinsed his toothbrush, and hurried to training. He'd figure this out later.

Practice, however, was brutal, with Splinter teaching them a new, highly difficult move. None of them got it right, no matter how many times they tried, and it was clearly going to take a lot more practice before they could. By the time they finished, Mikey had mostly forgotten about the weirdness of that morning.

Mikey groaned as he lay on the floor with his brothers, all of them collapsed from the day's work. "Ooohhhh… I just wanna lay here forever," he said.

"Forever isn't long enough," Don quipped back.

"If we're still here tomorrow, think Master Splinter will take it easy on us?" Leonardo asked.

"My guess is no," Raph said.

"Tomorrow—wait! What's today?" Mikey asked.

"Uh—" Raph didn't get the chance to even finish before Mikey was leaping to his feet.

"It's my day on duty at the Justice Force!" He took off. "I gotta go, tell Sensei I'll be back later!"

With that, Mikey was off like a shot, heading straight for his room and his limited closet. It didn't take him long to pull out his costume, don it, and then jump on the sewer slider, heading straight for Justice Force HQ as soon as he was in open water.

Fortunately, he wasn't late, and he parked the sewer slider in his customary area before heading into Headquarters. He waved at more than a few other superheroes who were around and headed to his station.

Technically, as a member of the Justice Force, Mikey could come here anytime he wanted. He took advantage of that more than once, coming to read over files or just because his brothers were getting on his nerves. But when it was his duty day, Mikey's job was to sit at the main desk and monitor the feeds for problems. It was boring work, honestly, as there wasn't usually anything that required major superhero work that popped up on the radar. There were often minor things, like fires or helping the police, but very few things caused him to have to call up the Force.

Instead, Mikey spent a lot of his time reading through the files, occasionally shooting a minor situation that he knew applied to his family, or that Casey and Raph would like to go deal with his family's way. But even if it was boring, Mikey still enjoyed it. After all, he was here with real life, actual superheroes, and he got to read their secret files! How much better could it get? So, he settled in, checked all the feeds, and got down to his reading.

About half his shift had passed before a loud alert suddenly sounded, jerking Mikey out of the files. "Huh?" he asked, and then shook his head, turning his attention to the screens. He hesitated over one for a moment, and then skipped it, going straight to another. "Uh-oh!"

Mikey quickly reached for the communications panel. "Turtle Titan to Justice Force! We've got a supervillain downtown! I'm not entirely sure what he's doing, but it looks like he's making people freeze! The cops aren't having any luck!"

The com line crackled. "Understood, Turtle Titan. Silver Sentry is on his way."

"Nobody, too."

"Nano is joining them."

"Tsunami will respond."

"Chrysalis is in route."

"Ananda is heading out."

"And Turtle Titan is on his way!" Mikey said, setting the console to feed them information, and then leaping over it and heading out.

By the time Mikey arrived, the rest of the Justice Force was already there—and it wasn't looking too good. Whoever this villain was, he already had Tsunami and Nano frozen in place. Ananda was currently stuck, using her giant robot to hold some debris off of some citizens. Chrysalis and Sentry were coordinating their attacks against the man, keeping him busy. As Mikey watched, he saw Nobody in the shadows, coming up in a sneak attack. Unfortunately, the villain wasn't so easily fooled.

"You think I didn't know that was coming?" he said with a cackle as he trapped Nobody in the same field, he had Tsunami and Nano. "You are all so predictable to me!" he said, moving his hand. As Mikey watched, Nobody appeared to move backwards, just like he was being rewound.

The villain's head moved around, slowly. "Just like I know that the Turtle Titan will be here soon," he said, swiveling his head to look straight at Mikey.

Mikey gulped but pushed forward anyway. "You're not going to get away with this!" he said.

The Villain laughed again. "As if you could surprise me!"

He raised a hand, and with a flash of inspiration, Mikey knew exactly where he was going to aim it. Mikey juked to the left, instead, the bolt missing him, and the villain looked surprised. He fired again, and again, but soon Sentry and Chrysalis demanded his attention. Fine by Mikey. He moved around quickly, silently, and waited for his opportunity.

Suddenly, the villain managed to catch Sentry in his beam, and Sentry flew backwards—literally. It was as if someone had rewound him. Mikey's eyes widened. That's what it was. This guy controlled time. But how? Mikey watched him as he played with Sentry, fast forwarding and rewinding him, before turning his attention to Chrysalis.

The vest. He used the controls on the vest—and he seemed particularly protective of what looked to be some sort of metal flask or container. Mikey would bet all of his comics that whatever that was, it was important to making his vest work.

And then, suddenly, Mikey saw his chance. The villain had to throw up both of his hands to combat Chrysalis's powers, and Mikey darted forward. He grabbed at that metal container and the villain screamed at him, even as if felt like it burned his hand.

"No! Not again! You imbecile, you'll just keep trapping us in—"

"Mikey, hurry up! You're going to be late for training!"

"Huh?" Mikey turned to look at Leo, and nearly choked on the toothpaste foam that was in his mouth. He coughed, spitting out what he could, and hacking up the rest.

Leo shot him a flat look. "Come on. I don't think choking on toothpaste is an excuse Splinter is going to accept again."

Mikey blinked at his brother in the mirror. "Uh… wait. Wasn't I just…?"

"Just running late for practice again?" Leo said. "Yes, yes you are. Come on, I'm not making excuses for you again."

With that comment Leo was out of the doorway, and Mikey stood there, dumbfounded. Hadn't he just been… somewhere else? Like in a battle or something? A superhero battle? He distinctly remembered superheroes.

Shaking his head, Mikey went to grab his toothbrush again and winced. He looked down at his hand, blinking in surprise at the burns on it. "What the shell?" he said. "How did those get there?"

"Mikey!"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm coming!" he yelled back down, grabbing the first aid kit. Maybe he could get one of his brothers to help him bandage it.

Splinter was already there by the time Mikey arrived, and it was clear that he wasn't happy with Mikey's tardiness. "Michelangelo. You have delayed your brothers in—what is wrong with your hand?"

That got everyone's attention, and Mikey shook his head. "I dunno, Master Splinter. The last thing, or, well, kinda the first thing? I'm not sure. But I was just brushing my teeth, and then I saw that on my palm. I don't know where it came from."

Don took his hand. "It looks like a burn," he said. "But I'm not sure what from. Heat, yes, but there's something odd about it."

"How does it feel, my son?" Splinter asked.

"It doesn't really hurt," Mikey said. "Just feels kinda tingly."

Splinter hummed and nodded. "Then, my son, allow Donatello to bandage it, and, if it is not going to interfere, lets allow our lesson to continue."

They did, with Splinter teaching them a new, highly difficult move. To his surprise, Mikey caught on faster than the others, although he was far from perfect. He'd need to practice with it a lot. But something about it seemed familiar, although Mikey couldn't place what or why. Splinter praised him for it, and then ended the lesson, leaving the four brothers to dramatically collapse on the ground.

Still, something was bothering Mikey. He just couldn't remember what.

"Hey," he said. "Today. There's something about—" he cut himself off and sprung to his feet. "It's my day at Justice Force Headquarters! Tell Sensei I'll be back later!" he said.

He ran to his room, changed, and sped out the door. That had to be it. That had to be where the weird feeling he was having about the day was coming from. He's almost forgotten it was his day on duty!

Mikey rocketed to Justice Force HQ where he quickly settled in behind the console. He pulled up the files to read as he usually did—although these felt familiar for some reason—but he couldn't get rid of a nagging feeling that was telling him to watch the screens. It was a good thing he did, because it wasn't long before a supervillain appeared. Mikey put out the call, the Force responded, and then he headed over that way himself.

By the time he arrived, the Justice Force was either incapacitated, busy, or engaged. Mikey watched for a moment, eyes widening as he watched the villain use his powers on Nobody.

"He controls time," Mikey said to himself, just as the villain looked at him.

"So, we meet again," the villain said, and Mikey started.

"What? Dude, I don't think we've met," Mikey said.

"Don't play games with me, Turtle Titan!" the villain growled out. "This time, I'll take care of you sooner!"

"This time?" Mikey said, but he dodged the beam that the villain shot at him, flipping away.

The man seemed intent on catching him for some reason, and Mikey had to wonder if the "this time" was significant. Still, Mikey was pretty good at playing bait, and he let the villain try to get him, at least until Sentry could get his arms around him.

"I've got you!" Sentry said, and the villain screamed.

"You think I'm so easily controlled!" the villain screeched, hands going for a device on his vest.

Mikey knew, somehow, that it was important that he not reach that on his vest, and he dove forward, hand clutching around some sort of flask or other metal container. The man screeched at him again and it felt like it burned his hand. And then—

"Mikey, hurry up! You're going to be late for training!"

"Huh?" Mikey spit his toothpaste out and turned to look at Leo, bringing his hand up to his plastron.

"Come on," Leo said. "I don't think—whoa. What did you do to your hand?"

Mikey blinked at his hand, which looked burned, before looking back up at his brother who had hurried over. "I, uh, I think we might be in trouble, Leo."

Leo frowned, taking Mikey's hand. "…Come on," he said after a moment. "Let's get this patched up, and you can explain what you mean."

Once in the training area, Mikey sat still while Don examined his hand, but his mouth was running a mile a minute.

"—and I don't know! I feel like I was doing something really important. I remember the Justice Force being there—wait! It's my turn to work today! Maybe they were in trouble!—and I remember a supervillain and something about… about a vest? I think I grab something, and then—then I don't know. The next clear thing I remember is Leo yelling at me to get my shell to training."

"Sounds like a dream to me," Raph said.

"But these burns aren't part of dream," Don said. "They're real."

"Could it be something mystical?" Leo asked. "Some sort of warning or something that goes along with a vision or premonition?"

"Hm… perhaps," Splinter said. "But until we know more, we will continue as normal. Donatello. Will Michelangelo's hand prevent him from training?"

Don frowned. "I don't think so," he said. "Not unless we're doing something intensive with the hands."

Splinter shook his head. "We are not. I will teach you something new today."

They all got up, and the lesson started. What Splinter had to teach them was new, and also very difficult, but it felt familiar to Mikey, and he got the hang of it quickly, much to everyone's surprise.

"Mikey, how did you do that?" Leo asked him.

Mikey shrugged. "I dunno. It just felt… familiar."

Splinter hummed. "The lesson is over for the day. I must go meditate on this."

His brothers all went to sit down, but Mikey headed towards his room.

"Where ya going?" Raph asked.

"It's still my turn on duty at the Justice Force, weird day or not," Mikey said. "I'm gonna change and head over."

"Just be careful," Leo said.

"I will!" Mikey called back.

It didn't take long for Mikey to arrive at Justice Force Headquarters, or to get settled in. He didn't bother to pull up files, something telling him he needed to pay attention. Sure enough, a super villain appeared on and alert, and Mikey called the Justice Force in. The battle was in full swing, at least until Mikey got there. The villain focused on him, clearly intending on taking him out. Mikey dodged and ducked, struck and fought, dodging people and things that the man controlled with the knobs and buttons on his vest.

And something seemed awfully important about that flask.

Mikey jumped at it, his burned hand making contact with it. It felt like it burned worse, and the villain screeched at him.

"I do not want to go through another—"

"Mikey, hurry up! You're going to be late for training—whoa, Mikey, what did you do to your hand?"

Mikey spit out toothbrush and all in the sink, and looked at his hand, which seemed worse than before. He knew groaned. He knew what this was. It was a time loop, and he was stuck in it.

Mikey leaned over and banged his head on the bathroom counter. "Leo, grab the first aid kit, and let's go to the dojo. Boy, do I have a story to tell all of you."

Leo blinked but moved to do as Mikey had said.

"—and I don't remember everything, but I know that whatever is happening, I'm stuck in a time loop, and I think that maybe that villain guy is too." Mikey said, as Don bandaged his hand.

"I think you watched one to many sci-fi movies," Raph said.

"Oh yeah?" Mikey challenged. "The how do you explain this!" he thrust his burned hand in Raph's face. "Or this!" Mikey stood back and made his way through the new move they were learning today, only a little wobbly on it. "That's what Sensei's gonna teach us today! And I've already learned it, like, three times!"

Splinter looked at Mikey, astonished. "That is, indeed, what I was going to teach you today, my sons. It's a very complicated move, so I expected it to take you at least a few days to get the basics."

"See? That's what I'm saying!" Mikey said.

Leo frowned, thinking. "If this is the case, then wouldn't it be a good idea for the Justice Force to know?"

"Probably," Mikey said. "But how am I gonna get them to listen to me about this? It sounds crazy!"

"A warning is better than nothing," Don said. "But I might have something that'll help."

"Yeah?" Mikey said.

Don nodded, and headed towards his lab, coming back with a scanner. "When people are doing weird things with time, it leaves a trail of tachyon particles. I've been working on a way to track those after we end up on some sort of time travel adventure. I can scan you now and see what your ambient tachyon particle reading is."

"Scan away!" Mikey said.

"Alright. Just hang on. This shouldn't hurt," Don said.

"Wait—shouldn't?" Mikey said.

"Nope, it shou—woah!" Don stared at his scanner.

"What? What?" Mikey asked. "What is it?"

"You're covered in these particles. I'd say you've been bounced around several times already," Don said. "Five times? Six? Maybe as many as nine or ten."

"If this is true, then the Justice Force needs to be warned," Splinter said.

"The rest of us can do some recon," Leo said. "Maybe we can learn something about this time travel villain."

"Why is it always time travel?" Raph complained.

Mikey nodded. "On it, Sensei!" he said, and bounded away, to get his costume and head over the Justice Force Headquarters.

He got over there as fast as he could, bypassing the usual pleasantries. Quickly calling up the Justice Force, he briefed them on what he'd figured out and showed them Don's proof. While there were some skeptics, everyone agreed not to take chances. Like clockwork, the villain showed up, and the Justice Force went to stop him. Mikey went with them, but this time he stood back and didn't grab for the box. Maybe if he stayed out of it, things would—

"Mikey, hurry up! You're going to be late for training!"

Mikey groaned and thudded his head against the bathroom mirror.

Leo blinked at him from the doorway. "Mikey?"

"Get everyone to the dojo. This is going to take some explaining."

"And you say you're stuck in a time loop?" Don asked as he examined Mikey's hand.

"Yeah," Mikey said. "I start out in the bathroom with Leo telling me to get to training, and I end up in the fight with that time controlling villain. I think my hand got burned the first time when I grabbed the metal flask on his vest. It was worse after the second time when I grabbed it." Mikey frowned. "I didn't grab it last time, and my hand isn't burned worse."

"Then I bet that has something to do with how he controls time," Don said. "And something about getting close to it, maybe even you grabbing it, has set off the time loop."

"Okay, well, that's great, but not grabbing it didn't stop the time loop," Mikey said. "So how do we stop it?"

Don hummed. "I'm… not sure. Lemme go get a couple of things."

Don headed off, and Mikey looked over at the rest of his family.

"I still ain't sure about this," Raph said. "Seems kinda out there, even for you."

"I can prove it!" Mikey said. "Look! Master Splinter was gonna teach us this today!"

He stood up and worked his way through the new form, his brothers and Splinter watching. Raph and Leo watched with amazement as he worked through the difficult steps in it nearly perfectly. Splinter nodded when Mikey finished.

"I was, indeed going to teach you that today. It is difficult, and I did not expect any of you to learn it in a day," he said.

"Yeah, well, I've had the lesson at least three times by now," Mikey said. "Something had to stick."

"Okay, okay, so Mikey is going through time loops," Leo said. "And we don't know how and we don't know why, but he is. So, what do we do about it?"

"Well, first off, we take some readings," Don said. "This scans for—"

"For tachyons, time travel particles, yeah, I know," Mikey said.

Don frowned a little and looked at the readings. "Oh, wow. Your readings are at about 50. A normal person would only score about a five. We usually have readings of around fifteen to twenty." Don looked up. "For you to have fifty, then that means that either you've been exposed to a large amount of tachyons, or you've been through a lot more loops than we realize."

"Or maybe a combination of both?" Raph suggested.

Don nodded. "Or maybe a combination of both," he agreed.

Leo frowned. "Mikey, you said that it seems like this villain knows that you're coming, that things are going to happen, right? Then why would he keep going back to the same place?"

"I don't know," Mikey said. "But he always ends up there. And when I'm there, it's like he knows exactly what I'm going to do. I think I've managed to surprise him some, but I'm gonna run out of surprising moves sooner or later."

"Unless," Splinter said, stroking his muzzle, "you learn more."

"Learn more?" Mikey said. "Sensei, it's matter of hours before this whole thing starts all over again! I don't have time to learn more moves!"

"Actually, you have all the time in the world. Maybe even the universe," Don said.

"Huh?" Mikey asked.

"Come on, Mikey, you've seen enough sci-fi shows to know this," Don said. "If you're stuck in a time loop that's not degrading, just going round and round, then you have an infinite number of days to do whatever you want with no consequences. In this case, if, every day, when Leo yells at you to get to training—"

"I didn't yell," Leo interjected.

"—you convince us that this is true, probably by getting me to scan you with this, then you can spend the rest of the day training with Master Splinter," Don finished. "Or even working with me on something to stop this or memorizing any useful information. You literally have as much time as you need to do whatever you need to, to prepare."

"Then Mikey can start on training with Sensei," Leo said. "Don, you and Raph can head downtown, see if you can figure out why that villain keeps returning there. I'll go to the Justice Force, try to talk to them and see if they have any idea." He looked at Mikey. "We'll try to meet back up, or at least call before the time loop resets."

"A good plan, my son. Come, Michelangelo. Let's see what I can teach you," Splinter said.

Mikey groaned, but he knew this was the best plan of action.

For thirty-six loops straight, Mikey trained with Splinter all day long, learning more and skills and moves, and finding ways to become more unpredictable, so that the villain couldn't predict him. For about fourteen loops, he worked with Don, watching as his brother designed a device that should, hopefully, nullify the tachyon particles the villain had, breaking the time loop.

And then he needed a break.

Mikey took seven time loops off, and just goofed around.

Then he was back to work, spending another twenty-three understanding what Don was building, so that he could tell Don what to do on each consecutive loop, and eighteen more doing more training with Splinter. He sprinkled in about sixteen more days off here and there, just because things got overwhelming from time to time.

However, it paid off. With all the loops, they had managed to figure out that the reason the villain went downtown was because there was a large presence of tachyons there, ones he was most likely trying to harvest. He was also draining people of their tachyons, which no one really knew the effects of. Don had built a device that would negate the extra tachyons, rendering the villain powerless, but it would need to be attached to the villain's suit. Additionally, Mikey had several new skills under his belt, and, with Leo's help, had analyzed the typical attack pattern the Justice Force did, and come up with a new one for them—something to surprise the other person aware of the time loop.

Finally, on Mikey's 127th time loop, he was ready.

He didn't even let Leo finish speaking before he spit in the sink and yelled for the family to get together. He showed them his hand, a couple of moves, and had Don scan him, the number higher each time. He gave Don the instructions on how to build the device, and then headed over to the Justice Force Headquarters, where he called them all together, convinced them, and went over the plan.

And then it was just a matter of waiting.

Sure enough, the villain appeared again. But the second he tried to start anything, the Justice Force was there, stopping him from hurting anyone. The villain looked shocked, but he didn't give up so easily. The battle was on, and soon enough the villain was locked in combat. It didn't take long for Mikey's brothers to join in, either a surprise to the villain, but Mikey just waited, biding his time.

And then—he saw his moment!

He bounded forward, the villain moving to counter him. But Mikey didn't do anything at all like the villain expected, and it sent the villain scrambling back, trying to get up a defense.

"No!" he said. "I refuse to let you ruin this!"

"Ruin it?" Mikey said as he attacked. "I'm trying to break the stupid time loop. But sure, say I'm "ruining" it."

The villain, fortunately, was nowhere near as skilled as Mikey, and Mikey saw his opening. With the device Don had built in hand, Mikey attached it to the villain's vest, and pulled back. The villain shrieked there was a sudden explosion, and then, for a moment, it looked as if everything lit up golden before Mikey knew no more.

When Mikey blinked awake, it was to Leo's face hovering over him. Mikey groaned and put an arm across his eyes.

"You're not going to tell me I'll be late for training, are you?" Mikey asked.

"Not today, little brother," Leo said. "Splinter has declared it a day off."

Mikey groaned and pulled his arm away from his eyes, moving to sit up. "So, I'm assuming we broke the time loo—ow!"

"Easy, Mikey," Leo said, helping him sit up and handing him some water and a pill. "Yeah, the time loops seem to be broken. Unfortunately, putting that thing on the villain did a number on your arm. The Justice Force healers say you'll heal up just fine, but you've got to rest it for a while."

"Dude," Mikey said looking at him, taking the water and the pill. "Resting sounds awesome. I don't know the last time I slept. The time loops weren't during the night." He swallowed the pill, and downed the water, handing the glass back to Leo.

Leo took it and smiled at Mikey. "Then rest. I'll let the others know you woke up, but that you've gone back to sleep. But when you're ready, they're out there with a million questions."

"Unless the main one is 'what movie do you want to watch' I don't want to hear them," Mikey said.

Leo laughed. "I'll let them know. For right now, you sleep."

Mike settled back down, curling up under the blankets. But just before Leo left, he called out to him.

"Leo?"

"Yeah, Mikey?"

"I just need you to do me one favor," he said. Leo waited and Mikey went on. "Just make sure Groundhog Day, any of the Back to the Future movies, and any other time travel movies don't make it into the stack."

Leo chuckled. "You got it. Sleep well, Mikey."

And Mikey did.