* Looking for the original prank that inspired such retaliation? Take a hop, skip, and a jump over to "Manhunt", and check out the chapter "Sweet Revenge".

(At Home, Three Weeks Later)

Greg shifted nervously from one foot to the other, as he and Michelangelo were waiting for Raphael to come back downstairs.

"I still don't understand why I have to be the one to do this." The man muttered.

"Would you rather I be focusing all of my plotting power on you Heff?" The orange-masked turtle asked with a mischievous smile.

The human swallowed hard, and shook his head.

"Yeah, that's what I thought." Mike went on. "You've gotta remember to be quick though, 'cause I can't guarantee how long I can hold him."

"You know he's going to beat you until the end of time. I don't see how retaliation can be worth it at this point."

"Oh, it's worth it, even if Donnie doesn't think so right now. Something tells me that he'll change his tune when the opportunity falls directly into his lap."

"Your first day back Mikey, and you're pulling this. You really are a piece of work."

"You didn't see what he did to Donnie last year. Believe me - it's warranted."

"Since when do you use that word Mike?"

"I don't have to dumb everything down all the time, just to keep my image up." The turtle replied simply.

"No, I didn't mean--"

"I know you didn't. Forget it, he's coming. Play it cool Heff."

Greg fought to keep his expression simply curious as he watched the two turtles work out for a few minutes together, and slowly relax into a more demonstrative cycle for the benefit of the human's questions. The brothers had been serious at first, but were now reverting to a more playful version of sparring that had included one or both of them taking several plants on the mat.

"I'm still not seeing it." Greg forced his tone to remain completely even. "What's the most effective pin you can use when you're dealing with someone who's bigger than you are?"

Raphael grinned at the man unwittingly. "Mike's the pip-squeak, so he's the best one to demonstrate it. We can take it slow, let you see one of the maneuvers step by step."

The orange-masked turtle successfully kept a straight face as he lined back up with his brother, and tensed to go in for the kill.

"Okay Heff, now I'm just gonna let him--" Raphael was cut off mid-sentence, as Michelangelo pounced before he could get another word off. "Way to take it slow bonehead." The red-banded turtle complained, as his younger brother used his full weight in addition to his knees to perform a flattening pin on him. "Can we be serious now?" Raphael grunted, as he tried to twist his neck so that he could catch a glimpse of Michelangelo perched on his shell.

"Not just yet Raphy." His brother proclaimed with an uncomfortably devious smile.

The red-banded turtle's amber eyes narrowed in the fraction of an instant. "NO Mike, get off of me!"

A strong look passed from his brother to Greg, and the human took a step in their direction. Raphael had further reason to be concerned when his friend grabbed for his wrists. In the end, it took Mike levering even firmer weight against him to help hold his arms at all steady enough for Greg to get Donatello's restraints onto him.

"This isn't funny Mike! I'm gonna HURT you!" Raphael snarled angrily.

Michelangelo didn't budge an inch until he was certain that his brothers' arms were contained, and then motioned for Greg to help get him to the nearby chair. Raphael had opportunity to lash out at the man with his legs, but couldn't bring himself to do something that could actually hurt the still healing human. He glared at the two of them in sullen resentment as they got him back down, and worked together to restrain his legs to the chair.

"What the shell is wrong with you guys?" Frustration made the turtle very sharp.

"It's time Raph." Mike said evenly. "Actually, it's long past due."

As the turtle stepped away from him to type something into the text field on his phone, Raphael turned his scathing look fully onto Greg.

"Past time for what, your crazy pills? Why'd you help him set me up Heff?"

The man shook his head a little regretfully. "Sorry Raph, I'm just a helpless pawn on this one. It was going to happen, with or without my help."

"Do you realize I could have kicked your teeth in a minute ago? You're not gonna be laid up forever Heff, now would be a good time to remember that!"

"It's going forward Raph - you're better off not fighting it." Greg replied.

"Fighting what? You guys ain't got a right to do anything to me!"

"Maybe we don't exactly, but there's someone else who does." Michelangelo said with the first hint of a grin. "I'm gonna go grab my cart Heff, make sure he doesn't go anywhere."

"Greg, just lemme out of these things, and I'll pretend like this never happened." Raphael said, the moment his orange-masked brother left the room.

"Raph, you'll only be putting it off longer than it already has been."

"I don't get what this is about!"

"Don't you? I'm told you seriously have it coming for a stunt you pulled on one of your other brothers."

"The thing with Donnie?" Raphael was only now a little breathless. "That was over a year ago! And he had it coming too."

"Sources say that you went a little overboard." Greg tried not to smile as he told the turtle.

There was a light knock at the door, and the purple-banded turtle looked inside a second later. "Hey, what's up? Mike texted me to..." Donatello immediately trailed off when he caught sight of Greg standing over a bound Raphael. "What's going on?"

"Donnie! They're ganging up on me, help a brother out!" The red-banded turtle decided to try.

Donatello threw a curious glance at Greg, who merely shook his head at him.

"Mike will be here in a minute Don. Just wait for him, and he'll explain everything."

The purple-banded turtle crossed his arms across his chest, as he attempted to hold back a smile of his own. "We're a little late for his birthday, aren't we? And where's Leo?"

"This more closely concerns you Donnie." Mike announced from the door. "I've decided to help you take some action."

"Again with the retaliation Mikey? I told you I was over this." Donatello protested.

"That's right Donnie, you don't have to listen to him!" Raphael piped up hopefully.

"Are you sure you're over it Donnie?" Mike wheedled him slightly. "You do remember what he did, don't you?"

"Of course I do, but that was months ago. Why are you dragging it back up now?"

"Do you remember how long it took to get all that caramel off of your shell?" Michelangelo said pointedly. "I do. I had to help you."

"That's all in the past! Bygones are bygones, huh Donnie?" The red-banded turtle called again.

"Three hours." Donatello said stoically. "It took three hours to get that hardened junk off of me."

The purple-banded turtle threw a slightly menacing look over his shoulder at Raphael, and gave him the immediately sinking feeling that he'd just lost the battle completely.

Mike gave him a huge grin in turn. "Step into my office Donnie, see if you like what I have to offer."

Donatello slowly surveyed what he'd amassed, chuckling more than once as he hefted the weight of one of the buckets. "You know I won't be able to do this alone." The turtle pointed out, referring to the cast on his left wrist.

"That's what I'm here for Donnie." Mike said with another cheshire smile. "Shell, I have a feeling that Heff will warm up to it too."

"This isn't fair!" Raphael stated. "You and Leo already retaliated - the same time that it went down with him!"

"That was their doing Raph, not mine." Donatello said non-chalently. "I'll do you the grand favor of trying to avoid your shell. As far as anything else is concerned, well...you're just gonna have to take it like a man." He finished with the ongoing taunt that Raphael and Michelangelo had traded back and forth for years.

Raphael buried his head as they started in with Donnie's first choice, not that it did the turtle any good whatsoever. They took their time covering him slowly in both caramel and chocolate, only pausing for a brief moment after what was an over ten-minute assault.

"Today's inspiration was brought to you by the Killer Brownie," Mike announced officially. "Of course, there's something else that goes along perfectly with them."

Raphael flinched as the first cold sensation hit the back of his neck, and couldn't hold in a groan. He should have known that was coming. The turtle couldn't see a thing at the moment, but he could hear Greg's voice close enough to tell where the ice cream being slathered onto his shoulders was coming from.

"Helpless pawn, huh?" He growled at the human.

"If you can't beat them..."

"Oh, I can beat 'em Heff." The red-banded turtle said flatly.

It was necessary to finish off the ice cream with more chocolate, and then a thick layer of whipped cream on top of that.

"Aren't you done YET?" Raphael demanded, shivering as melted ice cream traveled down his shell.

"Nearly bro - I just want to make sure that Sarah gets a visual of this." Michelangelo chuckled, while Donnie was adjusting his camera lens.

"One of these days, she's gonna get it, and she won't even know it's coming." Raphael said darkly under his breath.

Leonardo's first clue that anything unusual was going on didn't come until he walked out of his bedroom upstairs, around the time that Raphael was making for the bathroom. Laughter leaped up before the blue-masked turtle could stop it from coming out. "He finally got you back, didn't he?"

"Thanks to Mike. And you'd better stop laughing, before you have to eat my fist!" The turtle seethed in return.

Leonardo sincerely did his best to keep a straight face, biting his lip as he took another step toward him. "Do you need any help Raph?"

"Help? I needed help half an hour ago! What were you doing up here that was so important, that you couldn't notice what was going on downstairs? All three of them ganged up on me at once!"

Leonardo gave him a small shrug, and held up the piece of waterstone that he'd still been gripping in his right hand.

"Polishing again? Fearless, you've hardly put your katana down since we got home. What's with you? Are you that freaked out about what's coming next? Raphael asked him.

The blue-banded turtle shook his head. "No Raph, I'm just trying to be prepared. She did warn me after all. Actually, in a weird way...I'm sort of looking forward to it."

Raphael snorted openly. "I'm gonna remind you that you said that, about half-way into it Leo. I'd like to find out if you still feel the same way."