Donnie woke up with a yawn.

Looking to his side, the vast expanses of space welcomed him to the new-day-or-felt-like-a-new-day-anyway; it was always hard for his brothers and two friends to tell since they'd boarded the spacecraft Ulixes with Professor Honeycutt. While the circumstances of their exile to space had been the main monster in the heads of the six survivors, Donnie couldn't think of a better place than the constellations to regroup.

Throwing his legs over one of the temporary beds the Professor had provided to each of them, Donnie got up and made his way to the main area for some technology-generated coffee, stretching.

Inside were two of his brothers and the Professor, going about their business.

"Well, good morning, sleepy head." Leo teased, flashing him a grin before returning his attention to an electronic display of their rout the Professor was working with at the front window.

"Morning." Donnie grinned, before looking at his other older brother, stretched out in a seat nearby, still trying to pretend he was awake. "Good morning, Raph.

"M'n..." Was all he could get out of him, and he chuckled.

"Where's Mikey? He's usually the first up." Donnie asked, going to the machine to make his cup of coffee and quickly scanning over the electronic screen the Professor stood in front of. They still had to capture two of the black hole generator pieces and were working their way toward the next.

"He did get up, saw we weren't doing much and went back to bed." Leo said, a laugh at the edges of his voice. "Classic Mikey. Casey and April are asleep, too. Can't blame them too much though, sometimes the in-between trips get a little dull. Ah," He turned to Professor Honeycutt, "No offense, Professor."

"None taken, Leonardo!" The cyborg chirped, hardly distracted from his work.

Grinning, Donnie took a big gulp of the already-made hot coffee before taking it with him on his way to the deeper parts of the Ulixes. Sometimes, when there wasn't much activity, the second-youngest liked to explore some of the inner workings of the Ulixes where the Professor had generously granted permission. Some of the energy generators and recyclers that powered the ship had recently held most of his interest.

On the way, he met his little brother, a bit surprised to see the youngest coming back out of his sleeping quarters.

"Morning, lazy bones." Donnie chuckled. Mikey didn't indicate he really heard or cared about the playful tease, exaggeratedly yawning and stretching instead.

"Dude, what time is it? I swear it could be noon." He said, coming to throw himself over the oldest in refusal to hold himself up, getting protests in response. "I'm hungry. Did anyone make breakfast?"

"What kind of question is that?" Donnie jibed back, pulling Mikey off of him and pulling his arm over his shoulder instead, leading his poor incapable brother to the main room. "Come on, let's get food. But no more pasta, please."

"Oh, come on! I need to learn the whole extended family of pizza..." Mikey laughed.

Mid-sentence, however, a loud sound boomed down the hallway and the ground underneath them rocked a little, almost sending the brothers to the floor.

"What was that?!" Mikey asked, the two of them merely looking at each other before bolting to the front room where the others were.

When they arrived, Leo and Raph were both on their feet looking intently at the electronic display on the large window at the front of the room, Casey and April rushing in not long after. "What's going on, you guys?!" Donnie asked, he and Mikey hurrying to look.

The monitor displayed images near the back of the ship, where a blast mark could clearly be seen and enemy ships hovering in the distance. "It's an attack," Leo said, gripping the seat in front of him and grimacing at the live feed. "I don't recognize the ships."

"Oh dear," Fugitoid said, clearly distressed. "It looks like we have a few more angry stragglers looking for revenge after our little pit-stop before." Turning suddenly, he looked at everyone present with a stern, scolding face. "See, do you know now why I warned you all to be careful? This is what happens when you go about ruining random fugitives' days and causing chaos!"

Having no time to respond, everyone stumbled as the ship rocked with another laser attack from one of the enemy ships, and Leo turned back to Fugitoid, slightly desperate. "They're trying to bring us down! Isn't there anywhere we can hide until they go away? They've got us outnumbered!"

"No, no! Not here, anyway. All the surrounding planets are highly volatile, and there are many I know nothing about." Fugitoid responded, quickly turning back to the screen as he talked and typing things with fast, electronic bleep-bloop sounds. "I will have to prepare the ship for hyper-flight. Until then we must keep them at bay! Leonardo, drive the ship and escape our pursuers while I make preparations!"

"On it," Leo said, already diving into the driver's seat and lurching the driving handle, throwing everyone off balance but dodging a few more attacks fired at the ship.

"Oh, no!" Honeycutt suddenly cried out, momentarily pausing his actions to look at the camera feed on the damaged part of his ship. "It looks like that first blast grazed the hyperdrive equalizer's electrical circuitry. It needs to be fixed before I'm able to hyper-fly anywhere!"

"April, Casey, I need you to man the weapon stations! You guys," Leo glanced back at his three brothers, each trying to decide whether to man their own stations or suit up for space offense, "I need you to make your way back into the engine so Donnie can repair the damage they've already done, and give him backup. We can't go into hyper flight until the engine is back in order! He'll need help getting into the –"

"Go back inside to get to the engine? That'll take twice as long! We need to get out there so Donnie can go directly to the damage and the electrical panel!" Raph protested.

Leo irritably opened his mouth to retaliate, but in a small spurt of panic he re-focused on the screen and lurched the ship to nearly dodge a laser fired at them. Turning more fully to the three of them, he commanded, "I will not have the three of you up there strapped to the ship by single cords and exposed as we're being fired at and I'm flying to dodge them! You're going through the inside!"

"Uh, no offense Leo," Casey finally piped up over the noise, "But we've already kind of handled situations like that before. We don't really have time to wait for them to go back through there!"

"This time Casey's right, Leo!" Donnie agreed, the other making a face and almost protesting at the "this time" remark. "I need to get out there as quickly as possible!"

Leo sighed, face looking a bit comically defeated. He'd rather not have to put his brothers out there, especially without him, but he knew they were going to get blown out of the sky soon if Donnie didn't make a quick repair to the electronics. "Fine! Just hurry up, their attacks are coming faster!"

It didn't take long for the three brothers to sprint to the launch room and grab their air helmets and latching equipment before notifying the professor they were ready, and the portal to space opened up with a hiss of released air. Quickly attaching their corded hooks to metal rings near the opening, they jumped out to the area where the damage was, taking cover from the lasers and holding on when the ship took sharp turns.

"We've found the damage point, Professor," Donnie reported into his headset communicator built into his air helmet. "I'm gonna start at the control panel to suspend the main current, the equalizer should be a quick fix!"

"We're rooting you on, Donatello!" Fugitoid's voice came through the intercoms in the three air helmets. "Rooting anxiously!"

Raph and Mikey kept a sharp eye on their surroundings and the enemy attacks as Donnie went to work, holding tightly to the ship and positioned near their brother in case they needed to grab him out of the way. "Hey Raph! If they try to board, I'm taking down more aliens than you!" Mikey called, a wild, daring grin on his face.

Raph smirked back. "Right! We'll see about that, shorty!" He laughed.

"You'll still have to beat my record of thirty from last time!" Mikey challenged, adding a raspberry.

"Thirty? I think I saw you get six. And only because they were all the size of your toes! And weren't you running away screaming before you stepped on them?"

Mikey's pouty frown just made Raph laugh harder. "There was something behind us chasing me!"

"Guys, focus!" Leo's voice came over their intercom before the ship lurched again, dodging more lasers. Raph grabbed Donnie's cord when his brother slid a little, but he was quickly back in place.

"Ah, you worry too much." Raph responded, sending Mikey a wink and making him giggle. "Donnie's almost finished anyway."

"Right," Donnie said, shutting two clamps over an electrical panel with a clank before working on a few surrounding wires. "I just have to re-connect the circuit communicator and we'll be –!"

"Incoming!" Mikey called out, an enemy ship suddenly and strategically swinging out from behind another one, coming in much too close for comfort. Mikey jumped and grabbed Donnie, both rushing over to Raph who was waving them over to take cover beside one of the ship wings, but apparently spotting the three attached to the roof of the ship, it started firing.

"Hold on!" Raph grunted, taking the other two in his arms and trying to shield them as all three huddled beside the ship wing just before the lasers struck the ship.

Clank!

With a gasp, the three opened their eyes mid-fire just long enough to see three wire cords flying lose from the roof of the ship, and their feet slightly lifted off the surface as Raph reached to grab hold of the ship –

One combined laser fire from each of the enemy ships together jolted the Ulixes and sent it spiraling away, and the three brothers hurdling toward the nearest planet.

"GUYS!" Leo's staticky voice crackled over the intercom, the last thing the three screaming brothers registered before the connection was lost and they entered the planet's atmosphere, flying downward in a barely-withstandable inferno and –

Blackness.

"Uhg..."

Mikey shifted with his eyes clenched shut, causing a rough crackle in the dry foliage around him before he finally rubbed his eyes and slowly looked around, seeing a dark, desolate-looking landscape around him. He was lying on the ground, a clear mark through the overgrown, messy earth where he'd made a rough impact. He noticed his breathing helmet was gone, but thankfully he seemed to be able to breathe fine here; fortunately, since who knew what oblivion his helmet had flown off to. Broken branches in some nearby trees gave him the impression that his fall had been broken; his aching body gave him that impression, too. As far as the dim light and thorny, tough looking landscape went, this smoggy place gave him a very uneasy feeling.

"Raph? Donnie?" He tentatively called, trying not to be too loud, looking around worriedly for his two brothers and pushing himself up to sit on his knees. Ah! He flinched for a moment as he found out his side hurt. Wrapping his arms around his right side, he looked around meekly, wondering if he should try to get up and look for them or assess his surroundings a little better.

Hearing a rough groan in the distance that was unmistakably his older brother Raph, he instead quickly scrambled up and ran over to his brother, relief and worry washing through him.

"Raph! Raph," He called as he approached, stumbling to a stop and falling over his older brother in a hug, Raph just barely awake enough to half-register what was happening and lower his arms over his little brother in surprise. "Are you ok?"

"Huh...Mikey?" Raph grumbled, pushing himself up onto his elbows and taking a dazed moment to rub his head, which was missing its breathing helmet, as well. He looked awful! Mikey instinctively started looking for horrible injuries on his older brother, but the scuffed-up burns and scratches almost made it impossible to tell what the worst was. Raph finally cleared his vision and peeked at Mikey before starting and quickly snapping to attention, his expression almost indicating somebody had dropped a bomb behind them.

"Mike! You–! Where does it hurt? Hold still for a minute, little bro!" And instead of Mikey checking him, Raph started checking Mikey, going over him with the thoroughness of an alarmed Donatello and the attentiveness of an upset Leonardo.

"What? You should be worried about yourself!" Mikey said, trying to shoo his mother bear of a brother off. "You look like Shredder dragged you through a serrated coal mine."

"I do?" Raph scoffed, clearly intending to say it was the other way around, but both brothers took a second to actually look themselves over. Mikey found out Raph was right; he didn't look any better, and after taking time to pay attention, noticed a wicked pounding in his head, too. Raph hissed and put his hand over what both brothers unspokenly found to be Raph's own worst injury, his left shoulder. It didn't hurt Raph enough to think he broke anything, but there was still going to be some serious down time before it healed fully, of that he was sure.

He looked up at Mikey again, concern coming to his face. "Where's Donnie?"

Mikey's face fell, too, worried. "I don't know. I'd just found you over here. I was gonna keep looking."

Staggering up with a worried grumble, Raph stumbled slightly before helping Mikey haul himself to his own feet. "Donnie?" He called, cupping his hands around his mouth. "Donnie!"

"Donnie?" Mikey called out, too, and a rustling sound made both brothers whip their heads toward a nearby tree.

There was their third brother, hanging up-side-down by vines tangled around a broken branch!

"Donnie!" Raph called, running beneath the second-youngest. He, too, was missing his helmet and looked to be in the same shape as his brothers. "Don, can'ya hear me?"

Donnie moaned, shifting in the vines tangled around him. "Where am I?" He mumbled.

"It's ok, little bro, just hang on," Raph called, jumping to climb the tree while Mikey stood underneath, waiting in case he fell.

"Raph? Mikey?" Donnie asked as Raph made his way closer, straining to pull apart and snap vines to free him. "What happened?"

"I think we've been thrown into one of the planets Fugitoid was talking about," Mikey called up to him, looking up in worry.

"What?" Donnie struggled in the vines now, trying to look around.

"Hold still, Don, you're gonna–!"

With crackles and snaps, wines whipped around and Donnie fell loose from the tree, crying out. Mikey braced himself and held his arms out to catch his brother, both crashing hard to the ground.

"Guys!" Raph jumped down from the tree, running to them as they sat up, groaning. "Guys, are you ok?" He grabbed them both around the shoulders, trying to brace them.

"Uhg...I think I...sprained my ankle..." Donnie whined, grimacing in pain as he held onto his left leg. Both brothers saw it was extra swollen, with nasty purple and black bruises already developing.

"Safe to say you got it when we landed here," Raph said. "Can you walk on it?"

Raph supported both brothers as they got back to their feet, Donnie favoring his left ankle before testing it, using Raph's right shoulder for leverage. Setting it down as gingerly as he could, he immediately hissed and lifted it again, Mikey and Raph exchanging worried looks.

"I wasn hopin' it wouldn't be that bad. Looks like you'll have to stay off of it for a while though, bro." Raph said, bending down to re-arrange some of Donnie's wrappings while Donnie balanced with his hand on Mikey's shell.

Donnie sighed. "This sucks...well, at least it's the worst I came out with. We're lucky to be alive. Are you guys ok?" He asked, suddenly going into Doctor Mode and taking inventory on his siblings' damage.

"My shoulder's messed up and Mikey's been holdin' his side." Raph said, looking at Mikey as if to confirm it was hurt, and Mikey merely nodded in response. Raph finished wrapping Donnie's ankle and pulled them secure, Donnie wincing a little. "That's about the worst of it though, besides all of us looking like hell. There...that should hold until we get back to the ship and get some real medical attention." He stood up, and Donnie rested the toes of his bad foot on the ground.

"Thanks, Raph." He said, shifting to turn to him, still with his hand on Mikey's shoulder. After pausing for a moment, he glanced between the two of them, and they all shared a look, thinking the same thing.

"You think the others are ok?" Mikey quietly asked, twiddling two of his fingers.

Raph sighed, looking down and running a hand over his head. "I sure hope so." He grumbled, pausing before adding, "I'm not even sure if the Ulixes was able to stay in flight, or if they crash-landed somewhere, too."

"I was able to fix the major problem with the engine before we were blown off," Donnie said, "But it still wasn't enough to let the Professor go into hyper-flight. And they were still being attacked, too. I hope they got away before more damage was done..."

"Well, hopefully they wouldn't go into hyper-flight anywhere after they lost us, anyway." Mikey chuckled, bringing a grin to his brothers' faces. "I can see Leo now." He started imitating their oldest brother, twitching from side to side and flailing his arms as the other two started laughing. "Oh! No! Professor, release your power core, we're gonna nuke these guys! Hang on everybody, I'm about to charge the planet!"

All three brothers laughed, but after a moment, it came to an awkward stop and the brothers stood there, feeling increasingly guilty with each passing second. Now that they thought of it, that wasn't really a joke. Their oldest brother had never lost his whole team before, certainly not like this. He hadn't wanted them exposed in the first place. He must be worried sick. Really, though. Casey, April and Fugitoid had to be terribly worried, too.

Mikey sighed, scratching his face. "Ok, so maybe too soon..."

Raph snorted, hoisting Donnie up onto his back so they could move. "I hope they're ok, but we ain't gonna do'em no good standing here worrying about it. Come on, let's go see what kinda planet we're dealing with here so we can figure out how to reach'em."

"Aye'aye cap'n!" Mikey chirped, jumping to follow his brothers out of the wild, ash-grey wilderness.

A/N: Yooo!

This is a plot bunny XD

It's been on my mind for a while now and I couldn't help but post, and does actually already have a chapter 2 in progress. I'm hoping working on this will get me in the mood to work on Mikey's Escape From New York as well. I like this one too, though! I can never get enough Big Brother Leo Angst (also I like bunnies)

Hope you guys enjoyed :D