A/N: I found the beginnings of this story on my computer a few days ago consisting of only one paragraph (5th in actual story) and it snowballed from there, going in a totally different direction than I intended but I like where it ended up. It ended up way longer than I had intended it to be, one shots aren't easy ;)
Italics are Mikey's thoughts
Anyway, Merry Christmas, Happy Kwanzaa, and Happy Hanukkah!
December 20
Michelangelo woke and stretched leisurely. He looked at the clock, 4:30 pm. Hmm, his nap was longer than he intended, but practice was brutal. It seemed Leonardo worked them extra hard when he was in charge.
In his groggy, sleep-fogged mind he realized what day it was,
'Sweet! Just 5 more days till Christmas! Only 5! …Of course I don't need to count Christmas day so that'd make it 4…And today's almost half over, so if I don't count it, that's 3…Then figure 3 days of sleep, at 16 hrs a day…18… carry the one…divided by 24… It's Christmas Eve!'
He laughed at his own over enthusiastic-ness. But who could really blame him?
Michelangelo loved this time of year. To him it was the best time of year. You've got four holidays coming right after one another. There's Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years. That's four days to party and spend time with friends and family and when you live the kind of life that they have lived, you learn to cherish these days even more. But Christmas has to be Michelangelo's favorite and not because of the presents…Ok, he loves the presents don't get him wrong but the real reason he loves Christmas is because on this day, anything can happen. It's a time of miracles.
In the past they have escaped ambushes, serious injuries and even death. This year they've been lucky. No one has been seriously hurt, there have been no ambushes and as a matter of fact there has been very little activity from their enemies. The Foot and Bishop have been keeping a low profile as of late. One reason being that harsh weather conditions New York has been experiencing. It has been around or below freezing for weeks and there are several inches of snow blanketing the city; too cold for any sane person to be out for any length of time, unless absolutely necessary.
Everyone seemed to notice the absence of the fighting-for-their-lives thing. Donatello has spent a little less time in his lab and more time with the rest of his family. Leonardo still practices more than the rest of them but he too has made more time for his brothers. Raphael has even gotten in the spirit. For one thing, he hasn't picked as many fights with Leo as he usually does. He is still his moody self, but that's who Raph is and they wouldn't have it any other way.
"Yo, Earth to Mikey! Hey bro, are we gonna do this or what?" Raph said, cutting Mikey from his thoughts.
"Huh? Oh yeah, right, the thing with the stuff. Sure lets go."
Raph gave his brother an odd look "Careful, thinking' to hard might make yer tiny brain explode."
"You just wish you could have deep meaningful thoughts like I do." Mikey teased as they went to meet the others.
"Whatever. Knucklehead."
Raph and Mikey met Leo and Don by the entrance to the lair, each laden with gifts and food. They were headed over to Aprils for an early Christmas party before she and Casey went to spend the holidays with their families, and since Splinter was not due back from visiting the Ancient one for a couple days, they could stay at Aprils all night if they wanted.
The trip was uneventful just like their few patrols had been. No one wanted to be out in this cold, but the brothers wanted to stretch their legs.
April had coffee, hot tea and hot chocolate waiting for them when they arrived.
"Thanks April, it's wicked cold out there!" Mikey beamed as he practically inhaled his hot chocolate.
The others thanked her as well but drank their beverage in a more, less frantic way while Mikey went on to drain a second and third cup.
"No problem. So I was thinking that we'd eat dinner, then open presents and finish up with a marathon of some Christmas classics."
"Great!" "Sounds like a plan to me." "Awesome!" "Sure, what ever." Were the guys' respective answers.
So that's how the rest of the evening and well into the next day went. A lot of food, fun and camaraderie that at times turned frighteningly sappy.
December 21
Everyone had zonked out by mid morning during the newer version of 'Miracle on 34th Street'. The noise of the crowed cheering after the trial woke Mikey up. He was sprawled on the floor with April, Casey and Donnie taking up the couch in true couch potato fashion. Raph was on the floor next to Mikey, snoring away like a freight train, while Leo had taken residence in an easy chair with the foot rest up. Everyone looked so peaceful, well, everyone except Raph, who scowled even in his sleep. Mikey turned the T.V. off and promptly fell back asleep.
When he next woke, the sun had started its decent into the horizon. No one else was in the land of the awake, so Mikey decided he'd make 'breakfast'. As usual as soon as his cooking produced its enticing aromas, everyone seemed to make their way into the kitchen like locusts to a field. Groggy, grumpy, half asleep locusts.
So everyone enjoyed a simple breakfast…dinner…midnight snack…whatever, of French toast and bacon, but it was getting late and so it was time for good byes. April and Casey had presents to wrap, bags to pack and planes to catch.
April hugged each one of the turtles, while Casey went for the more manly handshake or in Raph's case, nuggie.
"Don't linger out there too long, it's freezing."
"Don't worry April, we know our limits." Donnie replied.
"I know but asking me not to worry about you guys is like asking you to stop being giant turtles." April sweetly retorted.
"Touché."
"Thanks again for having us over April."
"No need to thank me Leo. You guys are family in every way, if not by blood and I'm happy to have you all in my life."
"Okay, enough mushy stuff, Merry Christmas, Happy New Year and all that jazz, can we go now?" Raph asked impatiently.
Leo glared at his brother for being so rude and was about to tell him to apologize but Aprils laughing stopped him.
"What's the matter Raph, afraid all this holiday cheer is going to make you soft?"
"Are you kidding? Raphie has always been a big softie at heart."
Raph growled at Mikey's comment and would have chased him if it wasn't for Leo holding him back.
"Raph's right, we should get going before it gets even colder." Leo stated, not letting Raph go till he was sure he wouldn't go after Mikey, who teasingly stuck his tongue out at his red banded brother.
Leo climbed out the window first and headed for the roof. Donnie followed after a farewell smile for their friends. Mikey was a little more theatric, blowing kisses, bowing exaggeratedly. Raph practically pushed him out the window.
"Later Ape, see ya Case-man."
"See ya." "Bye."
Leo decided to make the run home a training exercise. How totally not a surprise. His thinking was that it would be a challenge to run in the snow and not leave any identifiable tracks. Meaning weird, two-toed footprints. Plus snow was slippery, so they would have to concentrate extra hard on their footing.
So the rules were:
No footprints
Difficulty level, very high. Come on it's SNOW. You WILL leave footprints
It's a race
Difficulty level, low. I ALWAYS win in a foot race, I am the fastest turtle
If you fall, you are disqualified, if you make any noise you are disqualified
Kinda hard because snow is kinda squeaky
And just to make things more complicated, it started snowing and it's coming down harder every minute, making visibility extremely low.
Stupid blizzard!
As he expected, Michelangelo put quite a bit distance between him and his brothers. His guess would be three buildings, but he couldn't really tell, the snowfall was too thick. Leonardo was on his tail for a while but he dropped off. Mikey would like to think it was because he was too fast to keep up with but he suspected that the real reason was to keep tabs on the others. Should he stop and wait for them? Getting separated for too long never boded well for them.
He jumped to the next roof and decided that he would wait. At least the snow was starting to lighten up, he could see the building he was just on. After about four breaths, he spotted Raph, followed closely by Leo and one breath later Donnie, hop onto the building.
Satisfied, Mikey turned to start running when a whistle sounded in the not to far distance. He moved just in time to avoid a blade to the chest. Not even a nano-second later his nunchaku were in his hands twirling in defense and his eyes scanning for the perpetrator. And that's how his brothers found him.
December 22
"Mikey?" Donnie all but whispered.
"Someone tried to turn me into a turtle pin cushion." Mikey answered, indicating the knife by his right foot.
The others took out their weapons while Donnie picked up the knife, "Looks like military issue."
"We're leaving, now!" Leo ordered.
They made it to the next rooftop before men in black armored suits jumped out and blocked their progress.
"Who are these yahoos? They sure ain't ninjas." Mikey commented in his offhanded but teasing way.
"Not quite," came the deep, evil voice of their enemy, "but they were trained by one. I believe that you may have crossed paths with her."
"Bishop." Raph spat the name with disgust.
"Hello turtles." He responded with indifference.
Raph gripped his sai tighter.
"This is the part where you ask me what I want, right Leonardo?"
"And this is the part where we say, be prepared to get your shell kicked!" Raph shouted before Leo could open his mouth.
"Tsk, Tsk. I'm in the giving spirit, it being Christmas season and all, so I'm going to give you a choice. I am willing to let three of you walk away, if one comes with me."
"In yer dreams dirt bag."
Couldn't have said it better myself Raphie!
"If that's the way you want to play," Bishop snapped his fingers and the black clad men attacked armed with metal night sticks and knives.
The brothers took up their typical defense of fighting shell to shell and defeated the first dozen with ease. The soldiers were not up to their skill level, but they were close. They were quickly surrounded with too many to fight through. They were horribly out numbered.
"Uh, Leo?" Mikey couldn't hide the uncertainty from his voice.
"I know Mike."
He sounded so confident that they could pull through this, just like every other fight. Leo will come up with a plan.
They fought hard. There was no time for the usual banter. Grunts from hits sounded from turtle and soldier alike, but it was the ones from his brothers that Mikey heard the most. It seems like they'd been fighting for hours instead of the more likely 15 minutes or so.
"This needn't go on." Bishops voice carried over the fight, no one had trouble hearing him, but they continued to fight. "I only need one. If you continue to resist the rest will perish needlessly. You can't last forever. What do you say?"
"Forget it" Donnie
"Ain't gonna happen" Raph
"Never" Leo
They all sounded exhausted. The fight was still going strong but they were growing tired, of course the cold didn't help the situation any, only sped up their loss of energy. Bishop was right, they couldn't last much longer. The sea of black looked never ending. They were only four and no matter how awesome their skills were, this was a loosing battle. Where's Leo with the plan? Something had to happen and soon or Mikey fear that they would not live to see Christmas Day.
Mikey looks to Bishop. He has that evil smirk that makes his blood run cold. Their eyes meet and then…he's gone.
Where'd he go?
Mikey ducked as a fist swung at his head. It was Bishop. Mikey swung a nun chuck in response. Bishop caught it and the second one that followed and yanked them out of Mikey's hands just before he placed a kick in the turtles stomach. Mikey flew back and landed on his shell. He struggled to get up but Bishop grabbed him by the wrist and maneuvered behind him and grabbed him in a choke hold.
"They will not last." Bishop whispered in his ear. "I only need one."
"Mikey!"
Raph sent Bishop flying with a powerful side kick. Bishop disappeared once again behind a sea of fighters.
"You ok Mike?" Raph shouted as he fought.
"Still breathing," He said as he retrieved his weapons, "and back in the fight. Thanks bro." Mikey managed to say between opponents.
Reactions started to get slower and more injuries received in the next several minutes. Mikey couldn't get what Bishop said out of his head.
"What's the plan Fearless?" Raph shouted across the sea of black.
If Raph is asking that, then we are in serious trouble.
He had a plan to get his family home safe, but he knew they would never go for it.
He heard a sickening CRACK followed by a cry of pain.
Donnie
Mikey located his purple banded brother, cradling his arm and about to have his head smashed in. He was too far away and his two other brothers were trying to fight through their own opponents to get to him. He had to do something.
"STOP!"
The man did and Bishop appeared by Mikey's side. Mikey looked him directly in the eyes,
"Stop the attack."
"Are you volunteering?"
"Yes" Mikey dropped his weapons.
"NO!" Donnie was back up in a flash and fighting his way to his baby brother, one handed.
"I'm not sure. Seems they would fight through Heaven and Hell to get you back."
"That would happen for anyone of us, but let me talk to them...I'll convince them." Mikey was getting desperate. Leo had lost a katana, Raph was fighting bare-handed and Donnie was taking more hits because of his injury.
"How?" Bishop was playing with him.
"Just stop the fight!"
"I think you will need some help in convincing them." Before Mikey could protest Bishop was gone, heading towards Donatello.
"No-" Mikey started to follow and stop him but hands grabbed his arms and his shell, holding him back.
Bishop attacked Donnie, knocking him on his shell. He held him down with his foot on his throat and aimed a gun at his head.
"Stop or Donatello is dead."
Raph and Leo froze.
Bishop snapped again and the hands holding Mikey dragged him to where Bishop was looming over his brother. Mikey heard Raph growl. He couldn't look them in the eye.
"Michelangelo," Mikey cringed, "has volunteered to come with me, but I felt that you needed some convincing to let him go."
"You won't get away with this Bishop, we'll hunt you down!" Raph snarled.
"So I figured, hence your decision. Like I said before, I only need one of you. Either Michelangelo comes with me, or I kill Donatello, then you, and Michelangelo still comes with me. Choose carefully."
"Let me talk to them." Mikey all but pleaded.
"You have three minutes."
Mikey was released but Donnie had to stay where he was. Mikey walked over to his brothers still not wanting to look them in the eye.
"Ok, here's what we're going to do, Raph you-"
"No." Mikey interrupted.
"What do you mean no? You can't be serious about this Mikey, can you?"
"I'm totally serious Leo. We can't win this one." Blue eyes met brown with all sincerity they could muster.
Leo was shocked and Raph was pissed, "Like hell I'm gonna let you go with that lunatic!"
"It's my choice Raph and I'm going. And you will promise to not come after me."
"You know we can't do that Mike." Leo said.
"For Donnie's sake, you have to."
"Then I'll go instead."
"No Fearless, I will."
"No, I'm going! I'm the most logical choice. The team can function without me."
"Don't demean yourself Mikey, we need you too." Leo had a good point.
"That's not what I mean and you know it. There might have been a chance before but…Bishop is forcing his hand. Swear to me Leo, swear on your honor that you guys will not mount a rescue."
"Hell no Mikey, tell 'im Leo."
"Mikey I-"
"Thirty seconds." Bishop informed them.
"Please Leo! Don't you see, this is the only way, please let me go."
"Don't do this." Leo pleaded in return.
Leo didn't want to make this choice, Mikey knew. It was his worst fear, the nightmare he always woke up screaming about. And now Mikey was making that nightmare come to life. Leo looked to Raph for support, or a different solution but he couldn't make the decision either. They were both torn.
"Times up." Bishop caulked the gun.
"Stop." It was quiet, a mere whisper. Leo was back looking into his brothers blue eyes, "I give my word. No rescue." He looked away at last two words.
"Son of a…" Raph was pissed and clearly wanted to hit something.
Mikey was washed over with relief and fear.
"Smart turtle. You will live to fight another day, but if you go back on your word I will hunt you and your friends down and kill the lot of you. That is my promise."
Two men came and pulled Mikey back behind Bishop. Bishop removed his foot from Donatello's neck but kept the gun trained on him. He allowed the purple banded turtle to be helped up by Raph and Leo.
"Please go." Mikey said as he looked each brother in the eye.
They did, although with great reluctance and at a very sedate pace.
Mikey was led away, arms bound behind his back. He looked back one last time, and saw his brothers retreating backs. He turned back with a single tear running down his cheek, something he was glad that his brothers couldn't see.
There was no warning before the prick in his arm and within seconds, his world went black.
December 23
Once they were back into the safety of the sewers they couldn't hold back the emotions they've been holding in; grief, fear, pain and anger. The one turtle with a history of an uncontrollable temper, didn't even try to confine the anger and he lashed out with right hook to his older brothers jaw. Leo should have, could have dodged the attack but he felt he deserved to be on the receiving end of Raph's anger and ended up on the sewer floor.
"How could you just let 'im do that!" Raph yelled as he jumped on top of his brother and started swinging. Leo protected his head but didn't strike back or try to stop his brothers attack.
"Raph, stop! STOP IT!" Donnie cried as he tried to pry his brother off. Raph pushed him away, unintentionally hitting Donnie's broken arm.
Donnie could've stopped the cry of pain that escaped his mouth but he let it out, hoping it would snap Raph out of his funk. It worked.
"Oh shell Don, I didn' mean ta. You ok?" Raph walked over to help Donnie only to receive Don's good fist meeting his jaw.
"Does this really help anything?" Donnie growled angrily. Raph only stared in shock.
"Well, does it?" He asked threateningly.
"Guess not." Raph grudgingly admitted.
"Right." Donnie held out his good hand to help Leo up, which he accepted, now lets focus our energy on finding a way to help Mikey."
Back at the lair after Donnie's arm was set and a cast put on, wounds stitched up and bandaged, they were all sitting at the kitchen table discussing their options. Every now and then one would glance to the empty chair. They didn't waist time on their coulda, woulda, shoulda's or who was to blame. Instead they were picking apart the agreement Leo had made, trying to find a loophole.
"The way I see it," Donnie said after hours of deliberation. "Mikey's only chance is for him to escape himself."
"Like hell it is! I'm goin' after him!" Raph stood up and stalked to the door, the others close on his heels.
"If it were just us Raph, I'd say to hell with our promise and go after him too, but it's not just about us! Do you honestly think that we could keep an eye on April and Casey for the rest of their lives? What about all our other friends? Or do you think that Bishop won't make good on that threat?"
"I don't think Mikey would want us to risk their lives for his. I know I wouldn't." Donnie added, hoping to bring some sense to his hot tempered brother.
"What are we supposed ta do then, huh? Just sit on our shells an' hope that Mikey can break out on his own?"
"Here's a newsflash for you Raph, Leo said without any malice, but with plenty of dejection in his voice, "I don't have all the answers."
Mikey gasped for air, filling his lugs with the precious life-giving substance. Bishop wanted to see how long he could hold his breath and to make sure his subject was being honest, he put Mikey in a large tank of water for increasing amounts of time. The previous tests were easy, if only physically, for him to perform. X-rays, CAT scans and MRI's didn't require any effort on his part. But Mikey had a feeling the tests were going to get more difficult and painful.
And he was right. How long could he keep up a dead sprint? How much weight could he move and/or lift? How high was his pain tolerance?
Bishop was very methodical in his testing and was very good at motivating his test subject. Mikey complied as best he could and didn't resist even when Bishop's assistants were purposely being rough and taunting. In between these experiments, while they went over results, Mikey was kept in a small room shackled to the wall. He wasn't given any food and very little water.
I wish they would just start the dissection already and get it over with.
He thought about trying to escape, but it seems Bishop had foreseen that particular loophole in their deal and security was, in Mikey's words, wicked strong with soldiers that carried guns all over the place. Plus he didn't even know where he was. He could be in a different state for all he knew. He wasn't even sure what day it was.
That's it, no more deals with evil men in black suits.
December 24
He really wished he could take back his wish for the dissection to start. Bishop really was one sick, demented person that got his jollies from causing another sentient being extreme pain. He was doing the dissection in stages. Stage one consisted of simple things like blood samples, not a big deal. Stage two was more painful with skin, tissue, plastron and shell samples. They actually cut a two inch wedge out of his shell. Many people don't know that turtles have quite a few nerve endings in their shells. They didn't bother stitching up or bandaging the wounds because the third and final stage was the collection of tissue from his internal organs.
He was never released from the metal slab he was restrained to between phases but he was given a brief respite. He didn't know if this was a blessing or another form of torture. He was tired and he hurt, he just wanted it all to end. He didn't even respond when Bishop walked back into the lab, but he couldn't turn off his ears.
"I must say, you have been a most…accommodating guest. I almost wish you had been more uncooperative. It would have been entertaining to watch you suffer more thoroughly."
Mikey just continued to stare at the bare, white wall, away from Bishop.
"Although, I am disappointed that you broke so easily. It makes me wish I had taken one of your older brothers for the challenge they would have given me."
Mikey did respond to that by giving Bishop a glare Raph would be envious of. Bishop only grinned as he started a scary looking saw. Mikey squeezed his eyes shut and turned his head away. He hoped he could keep his vow not to scream, but he had a bad feeling that he wouldn't care if he screamed or not.
It seemed to take an eternity for the saw to descend upon his plastron, the pain was greater than he could ever imagine. He could feel the saw tracing down the center of his plastron, not quite cutting through, Bishop wanted to see him suffer as much as possible.
Bishop was about to start his second pass on the tough plastron when the alarm sounded and red warning lights flashed.
"What is going on?" Bishop roared.
A man came running into the room, "Sir, the government is here."
"I am the government, fool."
"I-uh, th-the legitimate part of the government, sir."
Bishops demeanor went from out rage to indifference in an instant,
"Well, let's go see what they want."
Mikey heard the words, but he couldn't decipher their meaning through the pain. Then he felt someone unbuckling his wrists, then ankles from the table.
"Who…?"
"Someone who doesn't want to see any more harm to come to you. They'll lock you up like an animal and an animal you are not."
He did not recognize the voice and by pure instinct he tried to get away, but his attempts were so feeble that the man had no trouble in holding him down so he could explain.
"Listen, we don't have much time. You deserve to be free, but if the government agents find you, that will never happen. Will you let me help you?"
Mikey wanted to say yes but…
"Don't worry about the deal with Bishop. The others aren't responsible for your rescue, I am and besides, he's going to be very busy for a very long time whether or not he gets caught tonight. So what do you say?"
Mikey nodded, he felt that he could trust this man.
The man helped Mikey sit up and supported him as he got his feet under him. It hurt, but he managed to walk on his own with the man as his guide. They went down a couple of deserted hallways and down a flight of stairs to the basement. From their Mikey was led to a grate in the wall behind a water pump.
"This will lead you to the sewers, you can make your way home from there I hope?"
The sewers? How could he know?
Then Mikey got his first real good look at his rescuer. The man was about his height with grey/white hair and a short and very well groomed beard and mustache. A pair of small glasses rested on his round nose.
No way it couldn't be
"Thanks dude, I owe ya one." Mikey said as he stepped through the gate.
"No problem. By the way the name's Kris."
Mikey got this funny feeling in his stomach.
"Kris what?"
"Kringle. Kris Kringle. Safe journey Michelangelo."
Mikey nodded his thanks again and turned to leave and then did a mental double take.
There is no possible way
"Wait! How did…?" He turned around but Kris was gone. "You know my name?" He finished his question to an empty room.
"No way my bros are gonna believe this one."
It was late but no one in the lair was sleeping. Leo was in the kitchen, nursing a cup of chamomile tea, hoping it would calm his racing mind. Raph was once again at his punching bag, but not with as much gusto as past encounters, while Donnie was seated in front of the T.V., not in the mood to be alone in his lab.
Even though you could hear a pin drop in the quietness of the lair, no one heard the doors slide open due to their noisiness of their thoughts.
"Uh, anyone home?"
They heard that. Raph and Leo came charging into the room while Donnie jumped over the back of the couch and rushed over to his brothers. All three of them.
"Mikey!" They all yelled.
Mikey wanted nothing more than to tackle each one of his brothers but they beat him to it. He grimaced in pain and they immediately let go, concerned.
"Damn bro, we better get ya fixed up." Raph said as he gently guided his brother towards Donnie's lab.
Once there, they realized the full extant of Mikey's injuries.
"That sick bastard!" Raph exclaimed, referring of course to the incision on his plastron.
"He's lucky Bishop didn't get cut any deeper." Donnie remarked.
"Sure feels like he did though." Mikey replied.
Donnie quickly gave him something for the pain, cleaned him up and bandaged his wounds.
"Mikey, how'd you escape?" Leo asked, curious.
Mikey's eyes were already drooping from the drugs but he did mutter something before they closed.
"What'd he say?" Leo and Raph asked at the same time.
Donnie was thoroughly confused, "It sounded like he said Santa."
December 25
"My son. It is time to awaken."
"Father?" Mikey asked opening his eyes.
"Yes Michelangelo. I am here now. I am sorry I wasn't here for you, but the storm delayed my return trip."
Mikey sat up and embraced his father, tears of relief running down his cheeks.
"It is okay now my son, everyone is safe."
Father and son just sat in each others comfort for a few more minutes before Splinter broke the silence once more.
"Are you feeling well enough to join us in opening Christmas gifts?" He asked with a knowing smile on his face.
"It's Christmas?"
Splinter nodded.
"I didn't miss it?"
"No, you did not. Come my son, your brothers are waiting for us."
All the gifts had been exchanged and opened, all except for one.
"Hey Mikey, there's one more an' it's for you." Raph tossed him the small package.
Mikey opened it and smiled. In the box was his orange mask which had been missing when he first woke up after Bishop had taken him.
Mikey looked at the tag and it read,
Hamato Michelangelo,
True selflessness is not often seen in this world, but you are of a rare mind in these times.
Christmas can be a time for miracles for those who are truly deserving.
Merry Christmas,
Santa
THE END
A/N: There were so many places I could have expanded to make it a fairly decant sized chapter fic but I wanted to get it out today. Hope you enjoyed!