Authors Note: Yes, this is a repost, and something I have wanted to do for a very long time. This story is also posted at a joint account that I used to share with a good friend and I will not be taking it down from that account (CrackerNChinkinc) because many people have it favored and I would hate for them to lose it off of their list. I decided to post it on here so that it was on my real account that has everything else I have posted, and because this is one of my favorite things I have ever written I would be so very glad to see it on here. I hope you guys don't mind, and don't feel obligated to favor or comment on this one as well as really its going up just so that it is on my account. Thank you for looking and for those of you who have never read then I hope you enjoy it. ~Tauni

Have you ever wondered what might happen if you, let's say, jump off a five story building and try to land on your feet? Well I can tell you, it's not like what Spiderman does; you don't just land on your feet and then go tap dancing away like a tutu wearing ballerina. First you jump, and then you fall (which might be kinda fun if you were not screaming your lungs out) and then you land. And let me tell you, it's the landing that gets ya! My foot touched the ground first and with a sickening crunch it collapsed on itself, making my knees slam down onto the ground. I think I left some skin back there, Bishop would ecstatic to find it, I'm sure. I can just see him jumping around, bouncing off the walls while his goons scrape up my ragged left-behinds.

So here I am, limping along like some ran over dog, sticky blood running down both my legs, and patting down my belt. Of course I lost my cell shell, what kinda Foot ambush would this be without every single thing going absolutely and horribly wrong? One with Leo cracking jokes and Raph obeying orders, that's what. And to make matters that much worse, I lost my pizza. Yah, those bozos make me drop it on some lonely roof. I hope someone finds it and eats it, some bum, because a pizza uneaten a sin, punishable by bad juju.

So, dilemma. How'm I supposed to contact my dear brothers without my beloved cell? Perhaps if I scream loud enough they will find me, you know my girlish squeal can probably travel through a few feet of concrete, shatter glass, and break world records. I bet that movie makers would love to catch it on tape, use it for their damsel in distress. Oh yah. That'd be grand, Raph would have a field day and then some if that ever happened.

I could do that meditating crap that Leo always manages to do to contact Splinter but running for your life is kinda distracting from me that whole 'Calm your mind and body' bit because I'm running on pure adrenaline and just a wee bit of fear. Just a wee bit… Besides. I was never good at it in the first place, why would it work now?

So… back to square one, screaming. I dunno if that's such a good idea, though… Screaming might inform the baddies where I am, and I think I lost them a few blocks back… So screaming is out of the question, I sorta like them not knowing where I currently am, its kinda nice, you know? Able to run away with bloody legs and a damaged ankle without having that hair raising feeling that someone is watching you (ok I don't got no hair, but still).

Ok so if I don't scre-Oh damnit, there goes that 'hair raising' feeling again, maybe I did squeal a few times while running, you know my ankle for real hurts, can you blame me? Ok ok, Mike… Find a place to hide, a place to hide… Oh look. A dumpster. Goodie.

Why is it always dumpsters? I mean as if climbing in aint hard enough with a broken ankle and ripped up knees, you only get rewarded for going to the top by falling into a dismal pit of grossness. Oh yay, week old lasagna. And look, a rotting half eaten apple. And there's something squishing behind my leg, I don't dare look.

That hair raising feeling only gets… more raising when I hear the soft padding of fabric covered feet hit the ground beside my little hideout. I can hear them walking around and soft Japanese words that Leo or even Don would know, but I have no idea what they might be. Then someone goes around and slams something against my hideyhole. I cringe as the sound vibrates through the air and does something nasty to my eardrums, biting my tongue to keep me from yelping as the sounds ended.

Fear filtered through my system when I saw the cover lifted up slightly and fingers slip under it. Think I can cover myself up with enough garbage in time so that I am totally hidden when they throw it open? Then again, I soooo don't want whatever is under me to be all over me. Ew, gross! What is there is a newborn in the building and I find a few of its disgusting diapers? What is there is a dog and the dude throws away its little presents in the garbage? What if—

Damn, I was thinking about different things for far too long, because next thing I know the lid is flipped open and I did not have one piece of trash to cover up my body. Two yellow encased eyes starred stunned at me for a moment, as if he did not expect to see me laying there. With a classic Mikey grin I said, "Hey, hows it hangin'?"

He snarled something angry and then called to some more black wearing goonies. I reached for my nunchucks, planning to hit them something nasty upside the head, only to have that wonderfully constructed plan torn to pieces when a quick pair of hands snatched both my weapons away. Well, thanks, I was kinda plannin on using those you meany.

Gloved hands grabbed me from just about everywhere (and not the normal places like shoulders or knees, just whatever they could get their greedy paws on) and yanked me roughly up and out, my head hitting the edge of the dumpster makin' me see stars and stripes (they SO did that on purpose, the bullies!). Unceremoniously they dropped me on the ground, making me land on my swollen ankle and bloody knees. Oh yah, that felt like a field of daises… Oww…

Ok, guys. Now would really be a good time to do your whole 'swooping in and save the day' thing. Any time now, preferably before they kill me!

So, you'd think I would be terrified and pissing my shell. Well, I aint going to deny it, I kinda am, but I can find something funny in the situation. Like, I wonder when the boys will notice I'm gone; probably between the times that Raph is all "I'm hungry. Where's my damn pizza?" and Leo is all "The TV sure is quiet, no games playing…" and Don is all "He charged the credit card over an hour ago…" and Splinter is all "I sense bad juju, my sons." Yah, somewhere around there.

So that must've been, what… twenty minutes ago, tops! Com'on guys! I suddenly squeal again as a sharp object was placed on my neck, right over my beating lifeline. "You wew tew me where duh udder turtows are or I wew cut off your hed!"

… Say whaaaaaat? Can you gimme a definition and shove that into a sentence, please?

Ok, if I got this right… HE WANTS TO CUT OFF MY HEAD? Uhh, no thank you; please call back soon, bye! I like my head right where it is, on my shoulders, not on the ground rolling around like some bowling ball. Ok, so what was that other part… something about… turtows… turtles? Tell him where my brotherly turtows are? Like, ya right!

Guess I was thinkin for far too long again because the knife was pressed harder against my neck and I held back a gasp when I felt its sharp edge slice my skin a little. I had to fight back a cringe as the slick warm feeling of blood ran from the cut down my neck and hit the lip of my plastron, using that little ditch between plastron and skin to run down the side and to the sensitive skin between my shell and chest. That felt weird.

"Tell me, or die, turtow!" The Foot dude said again and I coughed gently, not wanting to agitate the knife at my throat. Pointedly I looked down in the direction of the knife and back up to the face of the speaking man. I had to buy myself some time and right now getting that knife off of me almost sounded better then that abandoned pizza. Almost.

With a sharp command the knife was removed and the man repeated, "Where are da towtows, furi-ku?"

Furi-ku? If only I knew what that meant, I might be more offended! "They are, uh, at home…" I said, wanting to test the hands that held my body fast but fearing that testing said hands would bring back the knife, and I just got ridda that thing!

"Baka yamero-yo," He snarled, stepping forward and grabbing a butterfly sword from his belt, twirling it around once before pressing it against my already slightly bleeding neck. I have no idea in the world of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles what he just said, but the fact that he pressed another and (if possible) sharper weapon against my throat kinda gave me a hint; stop playing around.

Do I heed that warning? Nooooo, because secretly I have a death wish! Hah.

"Dude, domo arigato Mr. Foot ninjato, I didn't pay attention in Japanese." I said, flashing another winning Mikey smile. How much you wanna bet that if I was human I would be a game show host? Com'on, with my good looks, manly charm, and wonderful smile how could anyone resist?

He snarled again as if he was some junkyard dog looking out of its fenced residence to a bum trying to find shelter and drew back his knife a short ways. I knew the movement; it was the 'planning to chop off my head' movement and he needed momentum to do it cleanly. Of course it's gotta be a clean cut, how is Shredder going to hang my head on the wall if it's all jaggedy edged?

I take in a deep breath and l close my eyes tightly, thinking Oh no, oh no, oh no, oh no the whole half a second I have left to live. I hear the whoosh as the knife cuts through air and expect some sort of big impact. You know, they say that if you get stabbed it feels more like a punch until you see the blade sticking out of you… I should ask Leo. I could ask Raphie but he'd go all macho on me and tell me that it didn't hurt at all, hah, liar.

Of course, what I didn't except was to hear the sharp and quiet annoying 'twang!' of one blade hitting another. In shock I opened my eyes, falling backwards as all the ninjas that were holding me jumped away. Low and behhold! My knight in shining armor! Leo's just missing the pretty white stallion!

"Get away from my brother," he said as he flicked his weapon upwards making the butterfly swords fly up and the man stumble backwards away from me. Man, Leo's mad, I can tell because his eyes are all narrow and his lips are tight and thin. It takes a lot to make Leo look like that. And yay, the ninja man is away from me. I like that, I think my neck and knees and ankle have had enough, thank you very much. Now that think about it, and have a moment to myself, my head hurts… A lot… Must've been when they got me outta the dumpster…

I hear Raph growling off to the corner as he slammed some Foot goon into a wall, and I would look but it's coming from behind me and right now I don't really wanna move with my knees because when I try to twist around just a little bit the primitive scab that had formed over it cracked and now I can feel blood flow anew from the wounds.

The sounds of wood hitting flesh caught my attention and before I knew it Don was there, kneeling in front of me and placing a hand on my shoulder. I smiled something small, glad that Donny, My Wood Weapon Welding Companion, was here. He could fix me up right quick!

"Mikey, lean back on your shell." With some wincing I was able to do so, using my uninjured hands to hold me halfway up as Don reached into his bag of wonders and pulled out a thick roll of white bandages. In a flurry he wrapped half of it around my neck, staunching the small blood flow that it still had and protecting it.

A pained grunt caught our attention and we both twisted around a little to see Leo clutching his upper arm, blood running between his thick fingers. With an angry snarl he jumped forward again, forgetting his wound and fighting with more fury then before. Don looked at me and back to Leo, fighting himself between staying by me or going to help our eldest brother.

"Go, Don, I'll be fine," I said, making him look back at me. He gave me a skeptical look and I sighed, "I'm fine, just don't make me move and I'll be ok, go help Leo." He sighed but nodded tersely and jumped up, twisting his Bo staff around a few times before finding an opening to slam the man in the back. I winced, because that musta really hurt, but I find I can't feel too bad for the guy. He had, not long ago, held a knife to my neck. That's kinda on my 'so not cool' list.

Of course the second I'm left defenseless onna the Foot Ninja, who had been hiding away waiting for an opportunity jumped down right in front of me using a pair of tonfa's to slam down on the pressure points on my shoulders. I cry out and fall backwards, able to throw my hands in front of my face even though my arms were both spazzing from the sudden hit. Hey, gotta protect the merchandise, don I?

The unmistakable growl of Raphael reached my ears and I pulled my hands away enough to see his sai stuck hilt deep into the dudes chest, thrown from behind where Raph was standing. The man stood stunned for a moment before falling backwards and hitting the ground. Yep, that one's dead. Poor sucker.

"Watch yerself, knucklehead." Raph said, leaping forward and ripping his sai out of the man's chest with a totally grotesque sound. I cringe, feeling my stomach (which was empty, thanks to the foot and not letting me have my pizza) churn and squeeze.

Before I could spit back something smart he was already engaging in another one on one fight. The Foot were being cut down quickly, Raph had killed two and put another unconscious, Don had put two in dream land and Leo—Oh yep, that sound was defiantly Leo's katana going through the dudes chest. It's like a horrible concert here, full of death and despair…

With that sound the rest of the Foot fled the scene, just as they always do. Leader goes down, they retreat. What wimps. Don was back by my side as Leo went to collect a katana that must've been tossed to the side sometimes during battle for one reason or another. Raph was wiping his bloody sais off on a piece of black fabric, and I totally did NOT want to know where he got it from. Ew.

"What hurts, Mike?" Don asked quietly as he started to wrap my bloody knees. Oh joy, when we get home he's going put that bubbling stuff on it that hurts more than the wound itself. Maybe I should just stay here, in this alley, away from evil orange/yellow liquid of cleanliness…

"Mike?" I looked away from my fingers that I had been staring at while deep in thought and locked onto Don's eyes.

"Uhh, I dunno. My head hurts, it got hit, and my ankle is killing me…" I said truthfully. Now that the adrenaline was wearing down it hurt more and more.

He nodded slowly and looked in to my eyes, taking notes in his mental notebook. Yep, probably had a concussion, I know the feeling well by now from all my skateboarding accidents. He moved to my ankle and carefully placed his fingers on it, but even that simple feeling made me gasp in pain. Yep, adrenaline defiantly wearing away… Don tisked lightly and didn't touch it again, probably wanted me on some pain meds before wrapping it up.

"How'd you get these?" He asked, as he turned my head slowly, looking for a bloosming bruise I guess.

"Uhh… E-heh. I jumped off a building?" He turned my head back around and gave his doctorly glare and I smiled again, "I gracefully fell off a building? Off a five story building…" Another flashing smile, one that says 'You've won a brand new CAR!'

"… And after you fell?"

"… Then I ran away… and jumped into that dumpster… and they pulled me out, making sure to hit my head on the edge… and then they held a knife to my throat… and you know the rest…"

He sighed once, loud and slow, "Can you walk?" Oh Don and your never ending questions, ya know they are going to get you killed one day…

I shrugged a little, giving a mumbled "I dunno…"

"Well, let's try." He's hands found purchase under my arms and pulled me upwards onto my feet. I winced, whimpering a little when pressure was put on my swollen ankle, but at least I was standing. I smiled, glad of my accomplishment of being on two legs. Well, until I started to fall backwards…

Another pair of strong hands caught me and a grunt later I was back on my feet, "Don't go swoonin on me now, twinkle toes," Raph grumbled from beside me as he lifted my arm around his neck. Don took the other side and Leo magically appeared in front of us, both katana sheathed in their proper places on his back and my nunchucks in his hands, which he quickly slipped into my belt. I flashed him a 'thanks' smile, wanting to hold my babies but unable.

"Come on, let's go home." And we hobbled out of the alley, going quietly but at brisk pace until the manhole, which Leo quickly uncapped.

"Awh man!" I said, and I would have slapped my face if both of my hands were not currently slung on other turtles shoulders. They all looked at me, waiting for more. "I lost the pizza…" They all laughed, even Leo, and Raph rolled his eyes before helping me down the hole in the ground.