Mikey's Predicament
(All this was happening shortly after Mike's rematch with Claw in the Battle Nexus.)
Mikey was annoying his brothers again. Everyone told him to go to someone else and ask them to play with him. They all said the same thing, "I'm busy." He hated being ignored. He went to watch some TV for a change. Splinter had finally stopped watching his soaps. Now he had gone to his room to meditate. Mike was never into that unless it was really required of him.
Soon he got bored of watching the news. He went into the kitchen to get something to eat. He was getting hungry too. His family knew he was hungry most of the time as it was. He would eat almost anything in sight. Chips were a favorite of his.
Soon, it was time for the evening training. Mike and Raph were paired off tonight and Mike wanted to make the most of fun with him. Of course, Mike's teasing soon got out of hand. Raph got so ticked off that he exploded and tried to hurt Mike, but Mike was too quick for him and Raph ran into the wall, again.
Leo and Don had only watched, but knew how annoying their baby bro could be. Mike just laughed and called himself the champion. Splinter then ended training. He told Raph to find a way to blow off his steam. Besides taking to the streets with his hot temper, he also liked to take his aggression out on his punching bag.
Then Mike was given a lecture by Don and Leo, and even Splinter. He didn't need to adjutant his bro so much. "But it's just so fun to make him mad." Mike said.
Leo and Don just shook their heads. He would never learn. They went on patrol later on and Raph got Mike back for his prank in training. "OW!" Mike cried out when Raph hit him on his head for the umpteenth time.
They didn't find much happening tonight so headed home. They went to bed.
---
Things with Mike kept on getting more and more silly later in the week and finally everyone had blown their tops at him, even Don. Leo had been the worst. His words had been so harsh on him, it did kind of hurt his feelings.
When he had gotten away from them, he wanted to watch some TV, but found Raph on the couch. He looked over and Mike had immediately froze. His red wearing bro was still mad as ever at him for pulling 3 pranks on him that week. Mike left to go to the kitchen.
Splinter was in there making some tea. Mike left there too. His sensei heard him leave, but didn't say a word. Michelangelo needed to do some thinking. He was sure that Leonardo had given him a lecture to think about.
Even Don, the quiet turtle, was mad at Mike. He had messed in his lab once to much this time. Mike came into talk to him. "Not now Mikey, I'm busy."
Don was his best friend. Why was he blowing him off too? Mikey sighed and left Don's lab.
Everywhere in the lair was cramped with someone else in it. Except his own room, but it was too boring in his room right now. He wanted some action. Leo was in the dojo meditating and coming up with new ideas for more training. Mike didn't dare approach him after the stern lecture he had given him.
Mike left the lair without telling anyone. He would go out to clear his head and to help others if he found anyone in trouble.
He ran along rooftops, trying to avoid being seen by Foot soldiers and Purple Dragons. He was alone and that made him a little bit more vulnerable, but he was confident enough, he could take anyone that came at him.
But soon, he had been spotted. By Foot. They soon began to chase the turtle. Mike soon became aware that he was being chased and kept on running for only so long. He soon came to a gap between some buildings. He had nowhere to go but down. He saw some laundry hanging out to dry. He jumped down and got a hold of one and hid inside it.
The ninjas followed him. They saw no sign of him anywhere, but did assume he had gone into a basement structure. They went in looking for him.
Mike came out and giggled silently. "King sized bedding. A turtle's best friend." He got back to the rooftops and moved on. Little did he know that someone else was watching him. He ordered more ninjas to take chase. They did.
This person was familiar with Mikey. He knew some of his hide and seek techniques from watching from a distance. This was the turtle that caused some sorts of trouble in his family, as a jokester, that barely took anything seriously. He wondered how his family would feel if they were suddenly scared of losing him. But he also wanted to test the turtle's endurance, so Mike was going to be in for one long night.
Mike kept on running and knew he wasn't fooling these ninjas tonight. He had thought that he had given them the slip, but not really. Soon he was tired of running and he had now come to a dead end. A high building and nowhere to go.
He turned around to face the ninjas. They all had weapons drawn and advancing on him. He pulled out his 'chucks.' Mike bared his teeth and growled the way he would do at the ninjas.
"Get him!" One said from a short distance and they all attacked him.
Mike defended himself well against quite a few of them, but soon got too over confident, and he was thrown across the roof with his nun chucks knocked out of his hands. His carapace struck a thick chimney. "Ow!" He rubbed his head.
The humans in the black clothes now stood over him. They tossed his weapons away from him. Mike opened his eyes. "You are coming with us Michelangelo." One of them said.
The wind had been knocked out of his lungs for the moment, so he couldn't put up much of a fight as they made him stand up and go with them. His hands were tied behind his back so they couldn't give them any further trouble. He was also picked up, slung over a big guy's shoulder and carried across rooftops to some warehouses near the docks. Mike sure wondered what had he gotten himself into.
---
Back home, April came down for a visit. Casey was seeing his mom tonight so she was alone. She brought some supplies for them. "Hi guys."
"Hey April." Don greeted first.
"Hey Don. Where's Mikey? I brought him another comic book to add to his Silver Sentry collection." She said.
"We all kind of got ticked off at Mikey for pulling a prank too many this week April. He left to go out on the streets. He needs to think about it." Don said. "I'll put it on his bed and he'll find it later." He took it from her. "Nice of you to think of him."
Leo, Raph, and Splinter also joined them in the kitchen. April wanted to have dinner with them tonight and Mike had forgotten! They had just hurt his feelings for him to stay. That was why he had had to get out and clear his head, but now, he was in trouble.
Don felt bad now for the way he had yelled at him earlier. Mike had been gone for over 2 hours now. He got out his shell-cell to call him to come back, plus to tell him that April had come for dinner and he had promised to cook. He was the best cook out of them all.
Ring, ring, ring. No answer. Don began to get annoyed that maybe Mike was so mad at them that he wouldn't even pick up his phone. It kept on ringing until his voice mail came on.
"He not pickin' up?" Raph asked.
"No. I think he's really mad at us." Don said.
"Well he deserved to hear what we had to say." Leo said. "He needs to think about that."
"We'll give Michelangelo 15 minutes and if he doesn't call us back then, try again Donatello." Splinter said.
"Okay." Don said. They all just sat and talked for 15 minutes.
Fifteen minutes later, Don tried again to call Mike, and again he didn't pick up.
---
Mike was now in a warehouse sitting on a floor. It was cold and drafty in here. His phone had been taken away from him the first time it rang. Now it was doing it again. "Destroy that thing!"
It was crushed and it stopped ringing. Mike looked on in anger. Now he couldn't reach his family. He had no idea of what they wanted with him.
The lead ninja of this group came over to the sitting angry turtle. "You don't know why you were brought here do you?"
"No."
"For a certain kind of experiment. The other half has already been done when my ninjas were chasing you to exhaustion. Now for the other half. Hold him down and get him onto his right side." The man ordered. He was in costume so Mike couldn't see his face.
Men grabbed Mike and pulled him onto his right side. His legs were laid out as he was laid down. "Let me go!" He cried out. "My brothers will make you pay for whatever you're doing to me!"
"You won't be here that long for them to find you here Turtle." Lead ninja said. Then he took out a big, sharp knife! Mike saw it and then knew that he was in trouble. He was going to kill him!
He waited for the pain to come.
The ninja wasn't intending on killing him at all, at least not right now. But he did want to make an impression on him. Make a scared impression though.
The man got down on his knees and by Mike's legs. They were being held down as well as his arms that were still behind his back. He took hold of the pad on Mike's left knee and yanked it off. Mike felt it and opened his eyes.
He looked back and with the knife held over him, Mike saw the knife come down onto his skin and he felt the pain on instant contact. He cried out in pain.
The man had made contact a bit above his knee and was now drawing it down his leg to just above his ankle. It drew blood instantly. It ran down his leg. "Now take him outside and release him." The leader said.
Mike's leg was now throbbing with pain and he got a quick look at it. He had made a huge cut down his leg! It was bleeding pretty badly.
The humans pulled him along outside, cut the ropes on his hands and released him. "Now go Turtle, before we change our minds about letting you go."
Despite his pain, Mike was off in an instant. He wasn't going to stay here.
"Now after him men. Chase him for 5 blocks, then stop." Leader said.
Five ninjas took off after Mike.
Mike ran for all he was worth. He would wait to clear the docks first before he stopped. Then he saw the ninjas. "Guess they changed their minds." And he kept on running, blood now pouring down his leg. It was leaving a trail behind him. He knew he had to find something to stop the bleeding.
He cleared the docks and he found a fire escape and went up it and kept running. The ninjas were closing in on him. He wasn't going to let them catch him again, but blood loss was weakening him fast.
He reached the 5 block limit and the ninjas stopped. Mike kept on running. They would let him go for now.
---
Mike's family were now eating dinner and enjoying themselves for once without Mike around to annoy the heck out of them. April had cooked.
"This is great food April." Leo said.
"Thanks Leo." She said.
"Yeah, and Mikey ain't here to take everything before we get some!" Raph laughed.
"We will save him some of it." Splinter said.
---
Mike soon looked back and saw he was no longer being chased and stopped. He was more than exhausted now. His leg hurt and needed to find a bandage of some kind to wrap it. He limped over to the side of building he was on now and looked at the size of the wound on his leg.
It ran from above his knee to down to his ankle and it wasn't letting up!
Mike limped now and wished he had his phone on him. He could call his bros to come help him out, but he needed Don's help most of all to help take care of this wound. He didn't even have his chucks now either. He took his belt off his waist and tied it around his thigh. It would stop it temporarily, at least the heaviest of it. He had to get some help.
He got to another side of the building and sat down. He saw some sheets on some lines. White ones. He had to get to one. He pushed himself up painfully and limped over the nearest one. He fell down though before he got there. But he managed to pull himself along and pulled on one. It came down.
He sat up against the pole. He instinctively wrapped the sheet around his leg. He got most of the wound covered up, all but the very bottom near his ankle.
Now with his leg wrapped up, at least the worst of the bleeding would be controlled. Blood began to soak it instantly. Mike knew he had to get back to the sewers. It was too dangerous out here in his current situation.
Mike wasn't going to give into unconsciousness without a fight. He got on the fire escape after getting up and had seen a manhole in the alley. He needed to disappear before more Foot found him.
After what seemed like an eternity, he got to the bottom and his leg burned and throbbed. He leaned over and lifted the lid on the hole. He was losing his strength now, but got it off. He got on the ladder and climbed down.
By the time he reached the bottom of the ladder, the pain in his leg forced him to cry out and fall to the ground. He grabbed at it for a brief moment before blackness took him out.
---
Everyone was now watching a movie. It sure was quiet without Mike and they had needed a break from him. Raph especially was a lot calmer right now. After the movie was over, April was going to head home and get some sleep. She had to work tomorrow, but was enjoying her friends' company. Sometimes she liked their company more than Casey's.
---
A few hours later, Mike came back into consciousness. His leg still hurt, but he would remain awake. He was so far from home yet, but at least he was back in the sewer. He would force himself to walk back home.
---
April had gone home and it was 3 in the morning and Leo, Raph, Don, and Splinter were ready for bed now. Mike had stayed out all night before. They weren't that worried about him. They were still mad at him a little. Don would wait up for Mikey. He had a project to finish anyway.
---
Mikey was now on his way home. He limped ever so slowly. He found a big stick in the water and was now using it to balance himself. With every step, yes, he got closer to home, but the more it made his leg bleed with exertion. Blood was beginning to soak through the sheet.
He walked for over 3 hours and it was now dawning on the horizon. Mike couldn't take it anymore. He sat down to take another break. With such pain, he had to rest every few minutes.
---
Don had now fallen asleep at his computer. Everyone else was asleep now too.
---
After a breather, he got up and continued on.
He limped for over 2 more hours. It was so slow going.
Another two hours. It was now after 10 in the morning.
---
His family had gotten up now and had eaten breakfast and trained by now. Mike had been out all night and had not come home. They were beginning to worry. Maybe something had happened to him.
---
Around noon, Mike finally made it home. He was ready for the pain to stop, but it wouldn't. "Ow!" He opened the door into the lair. He was sure his family could hear it. He limped into the entrance of the lair. He looked around for signs they were home.
Mike saw Leo heading toward the dojo across the living room. "Leo! Help me!" Mike called out.
Leo looked over at the entrance. "Mikey!" Then he saw his brother fall to the ground. He ran over to him. Mike was unconscious again. He had made it home in time because he had made sure he would before he would let blackness take him again.
"Don! Raph! Master Splinter! Mikey's home! Something's wrong with him!" Leo called out.
The others heard Leo and came running from wherever they were. "Mikey, can you hear me?" Leo asked, concerned and hoped his bro was just faking it. Mike was lying on his left side.
When they got there, Don instantly saw the form of Mikey. He didn't look good at all. He was pale, his pulse was weak, and it was clear he was in pain, but from what? "Take him to the infirmary immediately!" Don said.
Don and Leo picked him up, and that was when the bandage on the left leg was now noticed. "He's hurt!" Raph said. "Or maybe it's just a joke by him to get us to feel sorry for him."
"I don't think so. The way he just collapsed when he got in and called for me to help him." Leo said.
They got him to the infirmary and Don took off the sheet bandage and was shocked at what he saw. The longest cut he had ever seen in his life! "Master Splinter, you should see this injury." Don said.
Splinter came over and took a look. His eyes widened. The sheet was blood soaked through, a sign that it had been bleeding badly. It was definitely going to require stitches. It was from above his knew down to his ankle. Mikey had lost some blood. That was why he was so weak and pale. He was also going to need a blood transfusion to make up for the supply he had lost.
Don took to cleaning up the wound first of dried blood and stitched up the wound. He then took some blood from Leo and put it into Mikey. The wound was bound up again. There was no way that Mikey was going to be training or patrolling for at least a couple of weeks.
Mike was still out while all the patching up had been going on. But with a wound like that, he was going to require a leg brace too. Don had seen things like that on TV.
Don called April up and said that they were going to need a leg brace for Mikey. He was hurt and his leg had a terrible cut on it. "Who did it to him?" She asked.
"We don't know April, but please, we need one for him."
April went to the hospital and asked for a leg brace. She was asked questions but she said she needed it for a friend. They gave her one. She took it down as quickly as possible.
Once at the lair, she gave it to Don and he put it on Mikey's leg to try to keep the leg straight, almost as if it was in a cast, but a removable one. He was still out. Chances were that Mike would try to move his leg when he came to, so the leg had to be kept immobilized for now. Mike was also hooked up to an IV to keep him hydrated.
His heart rate had picked up since the transfusion. He seemed to be doing okay, but he needed to wake up. His family would stay with him one at a time until he came to. Now they all had felt guilty about being mean to him. Leo especially.
Several hours later, Mike began to stir. He moaned. His vision was blurry. His head hurt. He saw the blankness of the ceiling above him.
Raph was with him now. He heard Mike groan. "Mikey?" He asked.
In his blurry vision, a dark green color with red on it appeared. "Mikey?"
"Raph?" He said weakly.
"Who hurt you?" Raph asked with concern. His voice was in a gentle tone.
"Foot!" Mike said in a weak voice.
"The Foot did this to you!"
"My head!" Mike held his head.
"Mikey's awake guys! He says the Foot did this to him!" Raph shouted out loud.
The others came in to the infirmary. "Why did they do this to you?" Don asked.
"Don't know." Mike said. "My leg hurts."
"We know Mikey. I patched it up for you. It looked almost infected and you had a blood transfusion to save your life. You had evidently lost a lot of blood." Don said.
"The Foot did it with a sharp long knife. That's why I couldn't answer my shell cell. I was in trouble."
"And we just assumed you were mad at us." Raph said.
"I was more concerned for my life at the moment it was happening." Mike said.
"You're going to be okay Mikey, but I don't know if your leg will be in total working order as it was before. You may have a limp for a long time. Right now there are many stitches in it to keep it closed, so no running around, training, fights, or patrols for at least a few weeks." Don explained. "At least for the next couple of weeks until the stitches come out."
Mike was sad to hear that. But he was glad that his family had mellowed out at him. Their tempers had softened. He stayed in the infirmary for a couple of days. The IV was taken out of his arm. He ate in there too.
On the 3rd day, he was given his crutches to try to start walking around the lair again. When he sat down, he always he to have his left leg supported. His family was there for him a lot right now while he healed. Even Raph.
Mike tried to have his humor in all this though. But it was hard when he almost couldn't totally get around on his own. The brace was on his leg practically 24 hours a day to keep it still and straight. Don gave him pain medicine as he could.
Mikey watched training for the time being. Of course, his bros nor Splinter would let him think about joining them.
If there was one thing he was doing, he was still doing his best to cook food for everyone. By the 5th day, Mike was walking with one crutch. He had energy to burn usually and he healed fast. But fast action still wasn't allowed as it could still tear the stitches in his leg.
The bandages were changed daily. Mike got so grossed out by the look of all those little stitches on the outside of his leg. Then the brace would be put back on. The changing had to happen before he ate anything for lunch. Or else he would lose his lunch.
Mike sure did want to get back at the Foot for doing this to him. And he would when he was well enough again.
By the 9th day, Mike was walking without crutches, but had to have the brace on his leg yet.
By the 15th day, Don took the stitches out of his leg and tested to see how well Mike could walk on his own without the brace on his leg. The cut had turned out to be worse than he had thought.
Mike's limp was really bad without the brace. He nearly fell over. Don caught him. "What did they do to you Mikey?" Don asked.
"I don't know beyond hurting me." Mike said.
"Even though you can have the stitches out now, it would be best if you would go on wearing the brace a little longer." Don said.
"I hate this thing!" Mike complained.
"I know, but if you can't walk properly without it, you won't walk at all."
Mike did as he was told, but if there was one thing he wanted now that the stitches were out and bandages off for good, was a nice long bath. His family let him. The brace had to be off for that. The only other time it could be off was at bedtime.
---
As it turned out, Mike had to wear the hated brace for at least 3 more months. When the Foot had cut his leg, the knife had apparently did more damage than it had let on. Mike had a limp for that long and did learn to train again, but he just wasn't that speedy as before. His bros took it easy on him for that.
Despite the leg handicap, Mike was still his happy go lucky, but often annoying self again in all this. His family was just glad that he had pulled through that injury.
Now after 4 months, the brace came off. He might always limp or not. For the first time in so long, Splinter and Don gave him the okay to finally go on a rooftop patrol with his bros. They had to see how he did without the brace. Before he couldn't go because the brace held him back. Mike was so happy to go on patrol again.
Mike did well that first night. There didn't seem to be any pain of any kind, but what damage had been done still caused a limp. Mike hoped he would get over it in time.
The End.