Archive of Our Own

Chapter Text

Early morning. A time of peace, rest, and relaxation before the beginning of a long and active day. Usually, it would also be a time for getting some extra Z's in before everyone else was up and moving around.

No one jumping all over you just because you slept a little longer than usual sure can be nice from time to time. Raph wasn't typically an early riser by nature, anyway.

However, today would be a bit different than the norm. He'd known that from the second he opened his eyes at exactly five and was unable to close them again.

Sure, he'd tossed and turned and tried to force himself to drift off again. If he didn't necessarily HAVE to get up from his cozy sheets, then he most certainly would NOT. As much as he loved his family, they could survive without him for at least an hour or two.

But, of course, those extra winks just refused to come. Try as he may, something in him was just telling him to get up already and go to the kitchen. His stomach was growling something fierce.

Not unusual, but also not really appreciated at this hour.

That's alright, though. He could work with that. One quick sandwich or three and then back to bed it was for him. That was reasonable, right?

And so, groggy and just barely conscious enough to be constituted as "awake", Raph got himself up from off of his bed and stumbled out of his room. Rubbing the sleep out of his eyes didn't do much in his favor, but it was worth a try.

All went well on his little sojourn for the sake of his food escapade. Dad most definitely was not up at a time like this, and if Donnie was up working on one of his projects, Raph couldn't hear it. Mikey was probably still conked out, which then left-

Leo.

He should've known. Though his vision was still kinda blurry, it wasn't all that hard to make out the image of his younger brother standing by the sink still in his PJs. For a moment, Raph had been hoping to be lucky enough to be able to just narrowly dodge his brother and wait for him to leave and go elsewhere so he could get back to his sandwich business.

Unfortunately, luck just wasn't on his side today. The second he took a step into the kitchen was the second Leo turned back around after getting himself a cup of water.

The very same cup of water that almost ended up on the floor after Leo processed that he wasn't alone anymore.

"WOAH-!"

"Sh!" Raph was quick to scold, hitching a thumb over his shoulder. "What, you wanna wake the entire lair?"

Leo swiftly regained his bearings, shooting his older brother a glare. "Yeah, uh, good morning to you, too?"

Raph only gave a grunt in reply, sighing as he resigned himself to his fate. It's not that he didn't wanna talk to anyone or anything like that; he wasn't mad. It was just one of those days, y'know?

Walking over to and opening the fridge, he absently scratched the back of his head and let out a wide yawn.

"What, no morning hug and kiss after scaring me outta my shell?"

"The heck are you doin' up so early, anyway?"

"As if you had to ask that, Raphael."

Raph rolled his eyes, being all too aware of Leo's mild insomnia that tended to act up here and there. As if he and Donnie couldn't be more similar.

"Sorry. Dumb question. M'not really thinkin' straight right now."

"Why're you awake?" Leo countered, quirking a brow. "Bad dreams? A mutant silverfish crawl into your bed?"

"Ha ha."

"I was serious about that last one. Those buggers do NOT have any respect for personal space."

Raph gave a lazy shrug, careful to close the fridge quietly after he got what he needed.

"Nah, none of the above. Guess I just didn't eat enough last night or somethin'."

If Leo made another comment after that, he didn't hear it. Again, it was just one of those days, and what he really wanted to do was get back to sleep. His brother wasn't exactly top priority for the moment.

Thankfully, Leo seemed to be picking up on that. He hadn't left the kitchen, but rather he made himself a seat on the counter and got himself situated. One of the other perks of early mornings tended to be the absolute silence that followed them.

It was a sort of unspoken rule that if at least one of them was still asleep, loud and rambunctious chit-chat was put on hold. Raph was glad to see that even Leo had it in him to respect that. His usual onslaught of quips and one-liners were endearing at best, and just downright cringey at worst.

Much to his delight, Raph was able to successfully make his before-breakfast snacks with next to no further hassle. He didn't hesitate to happily scarf the first sandwich down, relieved to be getting something in his angry stomach.

Before he could bite into the second, though, Leo took it upon himself to break the quiet.

"Hmm. Hey, Raph?"

"Huh?"

"You think if we were snakes and not turtles that we'd have legs and super long tails? Or like, just tails and no legs?"

Raph had been fully prepared to just answer whatever Leo had in store for him around a mouthful, but the absolute whiplash he got from something so jarring had him pausing completely in his meal.

In fact, it was so ridiculous that he made it a point to slowly turn and glare at his sibling in disappointed scorn.

"Leo," he began.

"Yeah, my brother?"

"I can't believe you just said that to me right now. We'd obviously have tails. The heck are you thinking?"

"What?" Leo asked, a sly smile on his face. "Nooo. We'd have super long tails so we could, like, trip up the bad guys, and make 'em go "oh no, I'm falling because that green log was actually a tail. Ohhh nooooo"."

Raph let his expression do the talking for him.

"You really wanna give up your legs?!"

"No!" he snapped back, a bit too loudly. He lowered his volume before adding, "I'm just sayin' what makes sense! I never said I wanted to lose my-"

He paused and put a hand to his forehead. "Okay. Enough with the weird hypotheticals. I'm too tired for this. You sound like you just got all hopped up on somethin' funky. And NOT the good kind."

"Psh," Leo shrugged. "I'm just trying to make smalltalk. Sue me."

Raph shook his head and reached back to nab his second sandwich. "Eh, would if I could. I'd have to leave all the technical stuff to Don, though. The justice system is too confusing."

"Oh, Donnie would give you the wrong info on purpose. You know that."

"What, and you wouldn't if the roles were switched? Don't try an' play the innocent card with me, Leo!"

"He's the evil twin! I'm the good twin that everybody loves!"

Raph had to scoff at that, finally taking a hearty bite out of his remaining snack. "Uh huh, yeah, alright."

Of course, Leo didn't let it go at that. He had to go and get the guy all wound up. Nice job, Raph.

"I'm the good twin!" Leo repeated, sounding a little more hysterical than before. "Don't you dare compare me to Don in any way, shape, or form when it comes to his- UGH!"

"What?" he couldn't stop himself from retorting, hurriedly swallowing. "His sneaky ways of trickin' us into unfavorable situations and then bein' too cocky to admit he was wrong after his "brilliant plan" ends up fallin' apart spectacularly?"

"YES!" Leo whisper-screamed. "EXACTLY that!"

"I was describin' you, Leo."

"And Donnie, also!"

"That does not sound like-"

"Albearto?" Leo reminded with a downward tilt of his head. That shut Raph up quicksmart.

"Yeah, that's what I thought. I'm the good twin and everyone should praise me for it."

"Well," Raph at least tried to butt in after a second to think about it, "Don wasn't the one to trap us in a literal death maze just to get a slice of pizza and his picture on a lousy wall-"

"Hey! It was a GREAT wall, and I SO would have been put on it if not for you three panicking over nothing."

Raph nearly choked on his last bits of food, whirling back around and sputtering at once in indignation.

"That maze would'a CRUSHED us!" he hissed out, taking a fast glance around to make sure their escalated conversation hadn't alerted anyone. "We would've been killed if it wasn't for your portal, and you know that!"

"Yeah! Well!" Leo scanned the ground as if it would magically give him a witty comeback. Ultimately unable to argue against the airtight logic, he ended up shrugging and staring petulantly into his cup.

"Just- be happy the portal even worked. I still think you guys owe me a thank you for that smooth rescue, by the by."

"In your dreams."

"Oh, no!" Leo replied dramatically, draping an arm over his forehead in a classic damsel-in-distress pose. "The one thing I can't have!"

Yeah, okay, maybe that had been a poor choice of wording on his part. He still wasn't backing down from it, though. An exasperated snort signaled that.

He would've continued to defend himself if the argument had progressed any further. Leo was keeping his trap shut, though, and Raph wasn't exactly looking to pry it back open again.

All was, hopefully, good for a few blissful moments. No words, no noises, and no real bad blood. He knew that if Leo had heard one of their sibling's doors opening that he'd've made a remark about it, so he figured they were still in the clear.

That is, until he reached back for his last delectable sandwich.

BOOM!

A wholly unexpected explosion echoed throughout the lair, making the both of them stop and freeze.

They waited for another one to sound off before giving each other a slack jawed glance. If everyone had been asleep before, they were definitely awake, now.

So much for going back to bed.

"Did that," Leo paused to think. "Did that come from Donnie's room, or the family room?"

"I'unno," Raph answered honestly. A sinking suspicion in his gut told him that that wasn't necessarily correct of him to say.

"You think something exploded in dad's room?" his brother questioned, setting his cup down onto the counter with wide eyes. Raph didn't know how to answer that, either.

But he shook his head and went with his first instinct. "Nah. Couldn't have been from Splinter's. That sounded too close."

"You think I should grab my ōdachi? You grab your tonfās?"

Now THAT sounded like a good idea. He wasn't able to get that out of his mouth before a frantic call interrupted him, though.

"Guys! GUYS?! GUYS, EMERGENCY! COME QUICK!"

"Mikey!" they both said together, forgetting to be quiet at this point. Half of New York probably heard that racket.

"That was definitely Donnie's room," Leo affirmed, hopping off of the counter and rushing out of the kitchen. Raph was right on his heels; meal the last thing on his mind.

"When is it never?" he couldn't help but to grunt under his breath. It helped to relieve some of the tension building in his chest, but not by a lot.

The race to their brother's lab was a short one. Neither of them knew what to expect when it came to Donnie and one of his wackjob "experiments", so suffice it to say that the blast alone had put them on edge enough. The fact that Mikey had likely been in the same room with Don and said detonation, and was actively freaking out like someone lost a limb?

Well, Raph wasn't having any of that. Although he was the last one to get to the lab behind Leo, he pushed his younger brother to the side when Leo abruptly stopped in his tracks.

"Mikey! Don! What the HECK ha-"

The words died out before he could even properly form them.

He knew- Raph KNEW that he was the leader of the group. He was the oldest, so he HAD to know how to act in stressful situations, right? He always knew what to say. No scenario was too out of the blue for him.

"-ppened..?"

At least, that's what he wanted to believe. He was painfully aware that it wasn't true, but just how are you supposed to react or feel when you walk into a scene right out of a horror movie?

The normally pretty well illuminated lab looked like it was experiencing a power shortage. The overhead lights were flicking on and off at random, casting eerie shadows in the corners of his eyes. The sight by itself was enough to make his skin crawl, but if that wasn't bad enough, it got worse.

There were no immediate signs of either of their brothers, even as they walked further inside. Raph almost had to squint just to make out anything. It was like being in a rave, if raves made you wanna throw up from building anxiety.

This wasn't normal. None of this was normal.

"Mikey?" Leo called out from somewhere behind him, making Raph nearly jump out of his shell. "Yo, bros! Where are you?!"

No response. He wasn't shaking- YOU'RE shaking.

"Geeze, this place is trashed." Leo came up on Raph's right, reaching down to pick up something that looked like a book in the dark. The lab was practically littered with them, but then again, that wasn't a strange occurrence by itself. Not necessarily.

What was a strange occurrence was the fact that he could have sworn there was some kind of- goo or liquid dripping from said book as Leo held it up. He had to do a double-take just to make sure that was the case, and even then, Raph couldn't be too sure.

He swallowed roughly. "Y-You'd think Don would care more about keepin' neat and tidy than the rest of us..."

"Ehh, you know that's debatable depending on the situation," Leo stated with a shrug. "And you know Donnie. Once he's invested in something, literally nothing else matters for a solid forty-eight hours, if not longer."

Leo held the book only by his fingertips, tilting his head to the side in an attempt to examine the viscous fluid that looked to have been smeared across the side of it. Now Raph was certain that he hadn't just been seeing things.

"What is this stuff..?"

"Whatever it is, it can't be good news. Put that thing down, Leo! It's givin' me the creeps!"

Leo couldn't argue with that logic; tossing the book away from his person. It landed on something that crunched, making both of them flinch.

"..."

Raph looked at Leo and Leo looked at Raph.

"You totally just broke something."

"I did not break anything; you have no proof."

"Donnie's gonna kill 'ya."

"The lab's broken enough as is! I mean, look at that!" Leo insisted, pointing at something blue and flickering just around the corner. "Even his computer's glitching out!"

"Yeah, and are we not gonna mention the fact that Mikey was screamin' for us not five minutes ago and now we're hearin' SQUAT from either of them???"

"Hey, no," Leo was too quick to reassure. "Look, I'm freaked, too. Just trying to keep the mood light so we can think straight, alright?"

Raph was really wishing they had their weapons right about now. "A-Alright.. yeah.. Good plan."

"Thanks, big guy. Now, why don't you check over this way? I'll check back by where the book landed. The lab isn't that big, and they have to be around here somewhere."

"I," he stammered for a second, "I don't know how much I like the idea of us splittin' up right now, Leo.."

Raph had only taken his eyes off of his brother for less than a second. He was more than a little disconcerted with the fact that, yeah, the lab was pretty much a dump. He knew that Donnie had been sorta holing himself up as of late, so the clutter actually made him a feel a tiny bit better about this all. It was familiar.

The fact that it was books and paper, however, was rubbing him the wrong way. The pens he noticed here and there were excusable, but since when does Donnie use anything that's not electronic? And-

Eugh. He took a careful step back, noticing something gleam by his foot. If it was the same substance they'd seen earlier, he did not want it on his person.

"Leo?" he spoke up, it dawning on him that he hadn't gotten some kind of reply back. "Leo??"

"You got this, dude!" Leo's voice echoed in reply, MUCH further away than he'd been anticipating.

Great. That's- no, that's fine. Excellent, even.

He was strong. He could handle this. It would be fine.

Taking a deep breath, Raph steeled himself before trudging forward into the lab. Uneasily rounding the corner, he made sure to watch his step. Getting glass lodged in his feet probably wouldn't be helpful to anyone right about now.

The lab seemed to get creepier the more he investigated it. Every time he turned his head, he felt like he'd get jumpscared by some kind of horrific murderous machine. Or, even worse, he'd come across one or both of his brothers. Hurt, unconscious, or worse-

Raph shook his head. No. Nope. Quit being scared. You can handle this.

"Mikey..?" He'd meant for that to be more of a yell, but his voice came out as a shaky whisper more than anything.

God, he didn't know what to think. Stumbling across Donnie's computer, he blinked and narrowed his eyes to clear his vision from the stark contrast of light in the nearly pitch black room. Just as Leo had said, the screen was jacked.

It wasn't broken or anything. At least, not physically, he was pretty sure. The thing looked intact, but the words that were flashing in frantic red text were more than a little difficult to make out. The words broke off at seemingly random places, and sometimes they just outright vanished before returning again. Kinda like how the lights were acting.

Despite his growing concerns, Raph spent a good minute trying to decipher it. At most, what he could make out said "Backing powder suit", but that obviously made absolutely no sense.

After another good minute, he felt ridiculously stupid when he realized it said "Backup power supply". What the heck is wrong with his brain, today??

"Don??" Typing away on the keyboard didn't do anything whatsoever. Not like he figured it would, but a guy had to try, alright? It was a lost cause and he knew it. "Mikey?"

At this point, Raph was thinking that the explosion had been less so a Donnie-related occurrence, and moreso an evil mutant occurrence. The more he thought about it, the more and more the puzzle pieces fit together. It was early in the morning, so no one would have seen something like this coming. Donnie's lab had a bunch of stuff to be sabotaged, if you knew what you were doing. At least, he had to assume so. He wasn't the tech guy for a reason.

And that wasn't even taking the elephant in the room into account: Donnie and Mikey weren't anywhere to be seen. This could be a classic kidnapping, for all they know, and they'd just walked right into a trap.

But, then again, that would also mean that their lair had somehow been discovered. That'd put their entire way of living in jeopardy, so, naturally, he REALLY really hoped that crazy evil mutant kidnap was not the case. For all of their sake.

Stepping away from the computer, Raph tried to clear his head and continue his search for his missing siblings. He hadn't heard anything from Leo yet, which means-

Which... means...

Oh.

Oh no.

"Leo?!" Raph all but screamed, his fear getting the best of him before he could really stop himself. If this all WAS some kind of elaborate trap, and Donnie and Mikey WERE kidnapped, then-

"Leo, your blue butt better answer me in the next five seconds or SO HELP ME!"

Nothing. Again, there was nothing. Oh, he knew splitting up was a terrible idea! He KNEW they should've just-

"Hey!" He was torn out of his swirling thoughts by what could only be Leo's voice. Thank goodness. "Hey, come over here! I found 'em!"

OH, thank goodness. Any longer and Raph was certain that he'd have a panic attack.

NOT out of fear or anything like that, though. Because he wasn't scared. Just, uh... Nervous. No one could fault him for that, given the circumstances.

Cautiously stepping over what he was pretty certain was another piece of glass, Raph wasted no time in rushing back over the way he'd came. When he stopped to think about it, a part of him was surprised that pops hadn't come down to see just what in the heck they were doing down here. He wouldn't have looked twice if he saw the silhouette of Splinter in the doorway as he passed it.

Of course, that didn't happen. Rather than hearing the scuffling of little rat feet along the lab floors, the closer Raph got to where he'd heard Leo last, the more he could make out...

Sniffling..?

Picking up his pace, he rounded another corner and gingerly avoided some piece of fallen machinery before finally coming across his brothers.

Now, he really wished that could have been the end of his anxiety right then and there. If only things could be that simple for once in his life.

Even with the disorienting lighting situation going on, it was near impossible to mistake the initial sight of his youngest brother kneeling on the ground. Mikey was jittery and his eyes were as wide as dinner plates. If Raph didn't know any better, he'd say the poor kid had just woken up from some kinda terrible nightmare.

He did know better, though, since his gaze settled on the person Leo was crouched over before he even really knew what he was looking at.

"Guys!" he exclaimed, rushing forward without another thought.

"Raph!" Mikey greeted, voice wobbling in a way that made his heart hurt. Raph didn't hesitate to lean down and give his brother a hug as soon as he got within reach of him.

"Oh, I'm so glad you guys are in one piece! I thought you were in some serious trouble!"

Mikey buried his face in the crook of Raph's shoulder, trembling like a leaf. He shushed his baby brother the best he could, rocking him back and forth without really processing the action. Noticing movement in the corner of his eye, Raph turned to glance over at Leo and-

Oh, Donnie.

"Is he-?"

"Relax," Leo cut him off with a wave of his hand. "I've seen this before. The loser isn't hurt, I can guarantee that much."

"W-Wait-" Raph stammered, feeling himself tense. "What do you mean you've "seen this before"?!"

"D-Dee's gonna be okay..??" Mikey sniffed, raising his head. "I-I couldn't get him to wake up, a-and I KNOW I wasn't supposed to be in his lab while he was working, but I-I thought he'd be asleep by now, a-and I just wanted to-"

"Relaaaaax," Leo repeated again, reaching forward to put a finger on Mikey's lips. "Calm down, my sweet summer child. Leon's got this all handled."

Something about Leo's tone had Raph's hackles raised. Sure, Donnie having some kinda mishap in his lab wasn't exactly unheard of, but the way his brother was speaking made it sound like he was just trying to act more knowledgeable about this all than he actually was.

And that's never a good thing with Leo.

"How can you be so sure?"

"Well, he's got his battle-shell on, so we know he isn't in any serious danger," Leo explained, cracking his knuckles. "And he didn't hit his head on anything but the floor, from the looks of it."

"And HOW is that any better??"

"Raphie baby, look at me. You're talking to a trained professional, here. I've lived with the guy for over fourteen years, now. You think I don't know how to assist my little brother?"

"Y-You," Mikey stuttered, "you guys are the same age-"

"Now, normally," Leo continued, "I use cold water whenever I wanna get Don up, but I left that in the kitchen, soooo..."

Yeah, no, he REALLY wasn't liking the sound of that.

"Leo. Don't you dare."

Mikey's eyes darted between his two brothers, slowly catching onto Leo's thought process. "W-Wait, dude, no. M-Maybe listen to Raph on this one??"

"Or we could go get dad!"

"Yeah! I-If anyone can help, it's dad! Just- c'mon, Leo, dude, I-I screwed up enough, you don't have to-"

Naturally, Leo wasn't listening to either of them. Instead of using common sense, he reared a hand back and slapped Donnie across the face with little to no remorse.

The response was immediate, shockingly enough, with Donnie nearly headbutting Leo from how quickly he sat up in a blind panic.

"THE ANSWER WAS FOUR, OH MY GOD."

"Welcome back, sleeping beauty."

"LEO GET OFF OF ME RIGHT NOW, I HAVE TO WRITE THIS DOWN."

"Uh- no? If you're doing math in your sleep, then I think that's called having a serious problem. So, why don't we just take a chill pill, and-"

Donnie didn't seem to have much patience for his brother's antics at the moment, and honestly, Raph couldn't blame him. Pushing Leo off of himself, Donnie made a mad dash to get back onto his feet. Having just been forcibly woken up from some kind of stupor took its toll on him, however, as he tripped over nothing in his rush.

Raph broke away from the hug on impulse, lurching forward to grab onto his brother before he hit the ground again. Everything had happened WAY too fast for his comfort. He was still trying to piece together just what exactly had happened to cause this mess.

"Woah, there, hold on, Donnie! You ain't goin' anywhere until you start forkin' up some answers!"

Donnie struggled against his grip like an angry cat, not even so much as offering a "thank you" for his generous brotherly efforts.

"Later..! Let go of me, I gotta- I have to assess the damage and make sure it's all- I gotta-"

"Nope, nuh-uh, no 'ya don't. It can wait. Just- A-Are 'ya hurt, at least??"

"Nooo..."

"Did'ja get any brain damage? Is your shell fine?? I know it probably is, but I'm just makin' sure-"

"Raaaaaaaph..!"

"Hey! Don't you 'Raph' me! I'm not lettin' go of 'ya 'til you start makin' some sense of-" Raph cut himself off mid-sentence, a robotic limb from his brother's battle-shell extending and getting all up in his personal space.

Oh, if Donnie thinks he can get away from him THAT easily, he's got another thing coming.

"Donatello, you put those things away right now!"

"Let go of me and maybe I will!"

"I will break 'em if I have to!"

"Oh-ho-ho, trust me, you don't wanna do that, Raph."

"Guys," Leo tried to intervene, "come on, now. We don't have to resort to violence."

"You hypocrite!" Donnie fired back before Raph could get the chance to. "You're lucky I have my priorities right now, because so help me-"

"Dee!" Mikey butted in, running up ahead to stand in front of his two older brothers. "Dee, bro, please! If you're gonna be mad at anyone, be mad at me! This whole thing was my fault, remember?"

Raph loosened his grip on Donnie a little as his sibling took a moment to acknowledge Mikey's self-sacrifice. He realized that was a mistake too little too late, as Donnie shrugged Mike's apology off faster than he'd expected him to. Those annoying metal legs of his easily pried Raph off enough for him to escape.

"Yeah, yeah, I remember, Mikey. I'll be mad at you later, just-" Donnie didn't finish that thought as he callously walked over his younger brother, clearly distracted as he hurried to slink away into the lab.

Mikey visibly slumped at the blatant rejection, hanging his head and wrapping his arms around himself. Raph knew the kid would start crying again any minute, now, so he was keen on putting an end to that before it started; offering Mike some supportive pats on the shoulder.

While he could certainly understand Donnie's annoyance, he was definitely gonna be having a chat with the family genius about this, later.

"I messed up, Raph..! He hates me, now!"

"No, don't say that. F'course he doesn't. You know it's just- i-it's just Donnie bein' Donnie!"

Mikey sniffed and leaned into Raph, going in for another hug. Who was he to say no to that?

It was one of the nicer moments they'd had this morning. Now if only a certain someone would quit being dodgy and vague.

"Man," Leo said after a couple beats of silence. "What got under his shell?"

Mikey and Raph turned on their brother in an instant.

"See, THIS is why we don't smack people, Leo!" Raph felt like he was talking to a ten year old all over again. "You KNOW how Donnie gets!"

"Yeah!" Mikey added, wiping away some stray tears before crossing his arms. "Not cool, man! I-I was already worried enough before you had to go and get him even MORE peeved!"

"Hey! Don't gang up on me like this! I helped! You said you couldn't get him to wake up, so-"

"That doesn't mean you had to be a jerk about it!"

"Oh, and who exactly is the jerk in the room when you clearly know more about the situation than you're letting on?" Leo countered, taking his turn to cross his arms.

"We weren't the ones pestering Don before whatever exploded, so maybe be a good brother and clue us in so we could help out with a bit more TACT?"

"I know just as much as you do!" Mikey threw right back, tossing his arms up in the air. "You're being an even BIGGER jerk, now!"

"Oh, yeah? I hope you know them's fighting words, partner."

"Knock it off! The both a 'ya!" Raph demanded, stepping in between his bickering siblings. "NOT the time!"

"B-But HE started it!"

"I know, Mike. I know."

"Uh, the only thing I 'started' was getting some actual work done!" Leo deflected, earning a fresh glare the moment that sentence ended.

"Yeah. If by 'actual work', you mean 'making things more difficult for everybody', then sure, you're a real winner," Mikey muttered under his breath.

"WHAT did you just say to me, shortstack?"

"WHO ARE YOU CALLIN' SHORT, YOU WANNABE ANIME PROTAGONIST?!"

"Oh!" Leo gasped, "it is on!"

"Nope!" Raph butted in at once. "Nope, nope, extra nope."

He grabbed his two bickering brothers and held them up in his arms, being sure to keep them as far apart as he could.

"Oh, and, did I mention: NO!"

"Raaaaph," they complained at once, vainly attempting to get at one another in his grasp.

"Not fair! Leo's bein' a big BUTT! Lemme just kick him around for a bit and then I'll calm down- I PROMISE!"

"I'M not the one being a butt, mister! You should be thanking me for my valiant efforts! I- I came to your rescue!"

"But I wasn't the one who NEEDED rescuing!"

"I'm the one who needs rescuin' from this entire situation," Raph grumbled.

"Look!" he went on before either of them could start up again. "If you guys don't SHUT UP and MAKE UP in the next five seconds, I'm gonna shake 'ya 'til you do!"

Miraculously, that was what managed to get them both to quiet down. Sure, they turned up their noses at each other and crossed their arms, but it was better than nothing.

"Fine," they relented together.

"BUT," Mikey added pointedly, "Raphael, would you please tell Leonardo that we are no longer on speaking terms until he apologizes to me for calling me short?"

"I am not doin' that."

Leo scoffed. "Raph, could you please tell Miguel that he IS short, and that I am NOT a wannabe anime protag, when I'm CLEARLY already a fully-fledged main character?"

"What are we? Five?"

"No, nevermind. Raph, would you tell Leo that him thinking he'd be the hero and not the villain of the anime is the funniest thing I've ever heard in my entire life?"

"I'M NOT THE EVIL TWIN!" Leo practically exploded, throwing a murderous glare at Mikey. "For the last time, that title goes to Don-"

They all took a moment to pause, looking up in surprise as the flickering lights overhead seemed to have fixed themselves at the mere mention of their brother. Finally, the labs weren't a headache-inducing nauseating fun house, anymore.

"-nie..."

"Huh," Raph noted. "Speak a' the devil. Donnie must'a fixed 'em while you two were snapping at each other's throats."

"We don't snap," Mikey corrected irritably. "You're the only snapper 'round here, Raph."

"Ha!" Leo exclaimed, a wicked smile on his face. "You admitted it! He's a demon! Good twin Leon for the win!"

Raph didn't give Leo so much as a glance before letting him drop. Hearing Mikey's snickers made him drop him, too.

"Welp," he sighed, giving a good stretch and cracking his knuckles, "you two can stay here, if 'ya want. Ol' Raph's gonna get himself some answers to this mess."

"Oh, NO, you're NOT!" Leo was all too quick to protest, scrambling to get back onto his feet after the abrupt drop off. "Not without me!"

"And me!" Mikey chimed in, doing much the same. "If you're going after Donnie, I'm gonna be right behind you!"

"Well," Raph started, but then trailed off as he gave a good real look around the lab.

Now that they all could actually SEE without having to squint constantly, he figured it couldn't hurt to give the place one last good look around. Giving Donnie as much time as he needed to get his scattered thoughts put together before they interrogated him was probably for the best, too.

Making sure that he wasn't about to step in a puddle of that weird goo, he took a step back and turned to check out his surroundings. Judging by where they'd found Donnie and Mikey in the first place, he'd wager that the source of the explosion they'd heard couldn't be too far behind.

Scanning the rundown lab, it wasn't long at all before Raph's eyes settled on something a little out of the norm. Flipped over onto its side was what looked like one of Don's lab tables. That wasn't unusual by itself, and it really wouldn't have stood out if there wasn't an array of different.. wires..?? he wanted to say wires trailing from said table to-

Well, there was a reason he wasn't the science guy. To him, it just looked like Don had installed a jukebox in his lab and neglected to tell either of them about it. Knowing his brother, there was a real possibility that that actually was the case.

"Let's start with that," he said, pointing to his latest discovery. "Mikey, you got any idea what all that is?"

"Uh, dont'cha think it would help if you actually looked at it, genius?" NOT Mikey responded.

"Uh," Raph copied, "I'm pretty sure I asked MIKE-EY. Not LE-O."

"Why're you saying our names like that."

"Take a wild guess, Leo."

"Oh!" ACTUALLY Mikey was heard gasping out, making them both turn their heads back to the table. Low and behold, their little brother had snuck his way over while they'd been distracted.

"This!! This is the thing!"

"It's the thing?" Raph repeated, taking a step closer.

"It's the thing!! Come over here- but be careful!" Mikey cautioned, raising his hands. "There's a bunch'a glass pretty much everywhere, so don't-"

"OW!" Leo cried from somewhere behind Raph.

"-step on it- okay, you deserved that one, Leo."

"CAN IT, MIKEY!"

Raph made his way over to the other side of the table, crouching down beside Mike so he could get a better look at the 'thing' that had supposedly been the catalyst to all this nonsense.

He was expecting to find some sort of machine, or device, or even just nothing but a burnt table. Anything that was able to cause this much general damage surely would've disintegrated or something, right? How could it not?

Well, again, he wasn't the scientist for good reason, because what the culprit actually ended up being was some kind of large beaker; shattered beyond repair and dripping with that same nasty goop scattered around the lab. With the better lighting, Raph could tell that it was in some kind of in-between of being dull grey and light blue. He honestly couldn't decide on one or the other, so he'd describe the color as greyish-blue.

It was certainly... something. He just didn't quite know what. Which is where Mikey came in.

"This is what Donnie was working on before I came in," his little brother explained, grabbing a pen from off of the ground. "I scared him by accident, and I guess he poured in too much of something and that made it explode..?"

Leaning back a bit, Mikey's eyes darted from the goo, to the pen, then back to the goo. Raph didn't really have the knowledge available to tell him not to do the obvious, so he didn't.

"But it was like, more of a clearish red before??" he added, rubbing his chin. "And it was boiling. I clearly remember the boiling part. And there were several of 'em- all pretty much the same color."

"Maybe the boiling part had to do with this neat-looking jukebox?" Leo suggested, lightly kicking the unknown invention. "The power shortage was probably from the obnoxiously loud chemical reaction. Mystery solved."

"So I'm not crazy!" Raph exclaimed. "I KNEW it looked like a jukebox!"

"I don't think it's a jukebox," Mikey put in almost matter-of-factly. "Maybe think more like some kinda generator?"

"A generator, huh? Well, aren't you quite the little lab assistant! Learning all the fun terms and being all scientific and junk! We'll have another genius in the family before we know it! Following in Donnie's footsteps..."

"Shut up! We're still not on speaking terms, y'know!"

"But you just spoke to me, so what is the truth?"

Mikey didn't say anything back for once. Instead of falling for Leo's antics, he, instead, rolled his eyes and returned his attention to the pen and goo. Slowly but surely, he inched the pen forward, nearly recoiling away when it began to smoke after not even a full second of coming into contact with the stuff.

Soon, there wasn't even a portion of the pen to speak of. Mikey dropped it without a word, a horrified expression on his face.

"Um," Raph said.

"Okay," Mikey said secondly.

"Alright!" Leo said thirdly, his hands on his hips. "Now we know for certain that we maybe possibly MIGHT want to avoid that stuff! Alright? Alright, okay."

"Mikey," Raph spoke up after taking a moment to process what they'd just witnessed. "Do you have any idea just what in the heck Donnie was trying to make in the first place..??"

Mikey opened his mouth to reply, but was cut short as the familiar sound of metal legs across the lab floor made itself known; getting louder by the second.

"DON'T TOUCH THAT!" Donnie all but shrieked, scuttling into view faster than a startled rat. "NONE OF YOU TOUCH THAT- GET AWAY FROM IT! DON'T EVEN THINK ABOUT TOUCHING IT!!"

Raph and Mikey stood in surprise, holding their hands up to avoid the inevitable chiding from their sibling. Leo, on the other hand, remained unaffected and leaned up against the generator jukebox, arms crossed.

"Calm down! We know what it does to a pen, Donnie! Why would you think we'd want to find out what it does to skin?"

"Don't use that voice with me, Leo! You know VERY WELL why I would think you HOOLIGANS would be that stupid!"

Breathing heavily, Donnie's attention was quickly turned back to his other two brothers. Locking eyes with Mikey, his manic expression somehow morphed into something that promised even more violence than before.

"And you."

"Me," Mikey repeated meekly, ducking behind Raph for protection.

Donnie spoke slowly, gaining more volume as he went on. "Do you. Have. ANY. Idea. Of how mUCH WORK YOUR SORRY ORANGE BUTT JUST COST ME?!"

"I'm sorry!" Mikey cried. "I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm SO sorry, Dee!! I-I'll make it up to you, honest!"

"Donnie," Raph warned, keeping one hand on his baby brother and the other outstretched to avoid any physical outbursts from the currently enraged scientist. "You're at about a twenty right now, and I'm gonna need 'ya to bring it back down to at least a nine."

"OH, you'll make it up to me, alright," Donnie hissed, completely ignoring Raph for the time being. "You. YOU-"

"Use your words, Don," Leo quipped, being greeted with a metal limb directly to the neck in response. Mikey reached up to grab at his own neck as he watched the physical altercation, visibly trembling from the intensity of Donnie's anger.

Donnie lifted Leo up to face level, uncaring of his brother's struggles to escape the vice grip of the machinery. In any other situation, Raph would've immediately rushed to Leo's aid. But, given how Leo pretty much deserved it...

"'Use your words, Don'!" Donnie mocked, shaking Leo around a little. "Well, what about you, huh?! Huh, Leo? Use your words, Leo!"

"Ch-Choking.. me.."

"WHAT?! SPEAK UP! I CAN'T HEAR YOU, LEO! YOU GOT SOMETHING IMPORTANT TO SAY TO ME?!"

Okay, no. Donnie's going too far with this. Geeze, is he pissed this time around.

"Ey, yo, Donnie! Not cool, man! Put him down!"

Donnie turned his furious gaze on Raph as soon as he opened his mouth. Luckily, things didn't have to get physical any more than they technically already had. Don thought things over, Raph could see it, before ultimately taking a deep breath and relaxing his posture; releasing his grip on Leo enough for him to slip.

Mikey raced forward in a blur of green, bowling into Leo before he could hit the ground. Mike ended up just landing on top of Leo, but it was the thought that counted the most.

Bringing a hand up to his face, Donnie brought himself back down to his feet; extra limbs retracting back into his battle-shell. Raph made his way over to his brother, taking care to step over the mess of wires, and gave him a firm pat on the shoulder.

"You alright, Donnie?" he asked quietly, knowing fully well that Donnie was the OPPOSITE of alright from how intense his homicidal outburst had been.

"Yeah," came the almost breathless reply. "Y-Yeah, Raph, I'm- fine. I've got this awful migraine, but, sure, yeah, I'm cool. I'm alright. Let's just go with that for the time being."

"Speak for yourself!" Leo groaned, voice muffled by the floor.

Raph broke out into a grin. "I knew you hurt somethin' from your accident back there, 'ya big liar!"

"No," Donnie deflected, taking his hand away from his face. "No, i-it wasn't that. Just- yelling at the top of your lungs kinda takes it all outta 'ya, y'know?"

"So," Mikey spoke up, bashfully shrugging his shoulders. "Does... Does this mean you're not mad at me, anymore?"

"Oh, don't think you're getting off the hook that easy. Just because I got most of the rage out of my system doesn't mean you're safe from my wrath."

Mikey gulped, but nodded along dejectedly to his future fate.

Leo shakily stood up, using the wall for a major portion of his support. "Yeah, okay, that's nice and all, Donnie, but could you please tell us what all this was for, now?? The suspense has been killing me for the past hour, now!"

"Yeah," Raph agreed, tilting his head. "Now that you've got your burning rage all repressed again, what kinda thing were you workin' on that involved that- weird goo stuff?"

Donnie didn't meet Raph's gaze. "Uh," he said intelligently, biting his lip and glancing down to his wrist at his tech-gauntlet. "Well, I mean-"

"Just spit it out, Don."

"DON'T RUSH ME- I-It was just supposed to be a better sort of resin for my tech- bō. Y'know, to- make it shinier and just all around better and even more amazing. Not really a huge deal, now that I think about it. Sorry, guys. Lost my cool."

A beat of silence. Two. Then-

"ARE YOU SERIOUS?!" came the exasperated voices of Leo and Mikey; Leo, unsurprisingly, overshadowing Mikey by quite a bit.

Mikey covered his mouth as he soon as he realized what he did, but Leo stomped over to Donnie's person and got up in his brother's face unapologetically.

"So what you're telling me is: you nearly choked me out and made us go through this whole song and dance, JUST BECAUSE YOUR FANCY LITTLE BŌ RESIN EXPLODED?!"

Donnie didn't so much as blink. "That is what I said, yes."

"HOW DOES SOMETHING LIKE THAT EVEN EXPLODE?!"

"Well! Since you asked so nicely!"

"We don't have time for lecture mode, Don," Raph reminded. "Just give it to us short and sweet. We're all very tired."

Donnie rolled his eyes and grumbled about something under his breath, but he relented, nonetheless.

"I was just in the middle of adding the finishing touches when a certain someone came into my lab and startled me, making me accidentally add too much of, let's just call it Element A, into Elements B through D."

They all waited a moment for Donnie's explanation to continue. When he kept typing away at something on his gauntlet, Leo let out a loud groan and hung his head.

"Hate to break it to you, fellas, but the simple answer is sometimes the answer you're looking for. Sad but true."

"But when it comes to YOU, the simple answer is NEVER the answer!" Leo countered. Donnie simply shrugged.

Mikey shook his head and narrowed his eyes, still just as confused as Leo seemed to be. The explanation, while a bit vague, yeah, made perfect sense to Raph. He wasn't really desiring anything more or less from Don at the moment, but Mikey apparently had other ideas.

"But- But then wait. What about me ruining your tech-bō resin had you getting SO mad?? I don't think I've ever seen you that mad! Like. Ever!" And, as an afterthought, "And why does a tech-bō even NEED resin?? Am I just stupid, or does that make no sense to anyone else? Hello???"

Leo shrugged and gave an "eh" as a reply. Raph really didn't have much to say about this subject. Again, no one should trust him with anything technical. Ever.

That had Donnie hesitating for a moment, but he brushed it off with a scoff.

"Michelangelo, how would you feel if I came into your room and started trashing everything that you hold near and dear in there? Answer honestly; wouldn't you just want to rip my head off? Wouldn't it make you angry enough to kill a man?"

"But it was by accident! And you didn't even answer the-"

"Accidents are still actions," Donnie chided, shooting Mikey a dangerous glare.

Clamming up, Mikey decided that he couldn't argue with that logic.

Having nothing left to say, everyone just kind of took a second to glance around the lab again. Not for any particular reason, but because the sudden awkward air of the room made it more than a little difficult for either of them to look the other in the eyes.

It had been a long morning, that's for sure. Donnie would have a heck of a lot of cleaning up to do before his lab was back to tip-top shape, but he wouldn't have to do it alone. Raph was more than sure of that.

"Ugh, no..."

They all looked back to Donnie as their brother pulled down his goggles, revealing giant cracks in the red and blue lenses. Sighing through his teeth, he took them off and carelessly tossed them over his shoulder.

"Useless... Of course."

Out of the corner of Raph's eye, Leo froze. Mikey, noticing it at the same time he did, shot Raph a glance. Raph didn't exactly know what was going through Leo's head, so he really didn't have anything to say for himself.

"Wait," Leo said, grabbing everyone's attention.

Donnie raised a brow. "What?"

"Wait. Wait, wait, wait right there. Don't move."

Dashing over to where Donnie's goggles ended up landing, Leo picked them up and brought them back over to his brother. He pushed them into his hands, an odd expression on his face.

"Put those back on for a sec."

Donnie looked down at the goggles, then back up at Leo, disbelief clear on his face.

"Leo. They're broken."

"I know that, just shut up and put them back on your face."

Rolling his eyes, Donnie eventually did as was asked of him, much to Mikey and Raph's further confusion.

"There. Happy?"

"Almost. Now take 'em off again."

"Leo, if this is some kind of joke or prank, learn to read the room. I'm really not in the mood for-"

Leo impatiently yanked the goggles off of Donnie's eyes for him, carefully inspecting Don's face. He did this a few more times before Donnie smacked his arms away.

It had taken until the second or third time around, but the realization had Raph and Mikey sharing another glance; this one more out of shock than anything.

"What?!" Donnie insisted, pulling the goggles off for the last time. "WHAT has gotten into you, Leo?!"

"Uh.. I don't think you should be asking me that question right now, bro.."

"Dee," Mikey gaped, "your eyes..."

"My eyes?" Donnie echoed, a hand shooting up to his face. "Wh-What about my eyes??"

"I-I thought it was just the lighting at first," Raph explained, "so I didn't say anything, but, Donnie..."

"Donnie, your eyes are the same color as your goggles..!"

"WHAT?!" Donnie yelped, immediately going into panic mode once again. "Wh- HUH???? HOW IS THAT EVEN POSSIBLE??"

"Don't ask us!" Leo snapped. "You're the guy who's supposed to have all the answers with this kinda stuff!"

"Are 'ya in pain??" Raph asked, taking a step towards his brother. "Do your eyes hurt? Do you- Do you need like.. eye drops..? Or-"

Donnie didn't give him any sort of response, instead diving towards a sliver of glass that had been on the ground. Looking into it and angling it to get a better view of his face, Donnie took his sweet time marveling at his discolored pupils.

"Th-That," he stuttered and stammered after a moment, "I-I didn't account for- this isn't normal. Th-This shouldn't have even- I..."

Feeling the familiar coldness of concern creep back into his chest, Raph looked from Mikey to Leo. They were both just watching Donnie with the same disconcerted expressions on their faces. If Don didn't know what to do, then they really didn't, either.

Of course, Leo being Leo, he cleared his throat before long and placed a supportive arm over Donnie's shoulders.

"H-Heeeyyyy, now... No need to get all riled up just because you've got a little- okay, a MAJORLY different eye color! It.. happens..."

"No it doesn't, Leo, we've just established this."

"Eh..." Leo glanced off to Mikey for help.

"Do you.. Do you think we should get dad for this?" Mikey suggested almost sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck.

"Okay! Okay, yeah! Sure! We get dad, he makes fun of my eyes, and then he goes back to watching television all day long! GREAT idea, Mikey!"

Raph stepped in, then. "Okay. Let's not overreact, here, Donnie. Th-There could be a perfectly reasonable explanation for all of this!"

He hurried to explain himself as Donnie turned around to give him an incredulous glare. "Wh-What I mean is- do we even know if this change is... harmful...? Like.. What if it's good?"

Raph gestured for his brothers to help him out, not wanting to be working on the sales job all alone.

Leo perked up at once. "Y-Yeah! Heterochromia is aaaall the rage nowadays! Super fashionable!"

Mikey joined right along with him. "Totally, dude! You look like some kinda fancy important supermodel with cool contacts! Just think of all the new fashion opportunities!"

"Stop," Donnie moaned, tossing the glass back to the ground and not even flinching as it breaks. "Don't try to fuel my ego about this even though it's totally working!"

"And you know dad won't make fun of you about this!" Raph was sure to correct, easing up beside Donnie. "If anything, he'd be like 'oh, Purple, my most favorite and coolest son, how proud you make me with your fancy science'."

"Stop it! Stop it, I'm serious! Stop trying to cheer me up, this could have genuine adverse health effects down the road!"

"And if it does, we'll worry about it right along with you, then!" Leo stated with a wide smile. "But until then, you're the cool twin! Live with it!"

Running out of viable excuses to keep panicking for the time being, Donnie frantically looked between all three of his siblings surrounding him. Getting nothing but reassuring and understanding smiles thrown his way, he gradually visibly relaxed and resorted to holding his head in his hands.

"This is the worst day of my liiiiiife aaaaaaaaaaaaaAAAAA-"

Mikey darted forward and brought a finger to Donnie's lips, quieting his distressed monotone screaming.

"Correction: it's the best day of your life! Because you've got three wonderful and helpful brothers here to get both you and your lab back in working order!"

"Yeah, what he said!" Raph affirmed.

"And I won't even complain about cleaning anything!" Leo assured. But then he thought it over and added, "For the most part."

"There's no getting out of this, is there."

"Nope!" they all said unanimously, cramming together and following the unspoken rule of "a family bonding moment requires at least one group hug".

Thankfully, Donnie didn't push on with his protests, and instead silently brooded over the morning's events. As one does.

And, hey, honestly speaking? Things could've gone worse. WAY worse. If a sudden and unexplainable change in eye color was the most terrible thing life had to throw at them all for the day, then they could handle it. Not even a lab full of broken glass and highly acidic bō resin could bring them down.

Quite frankly, Raph was just glad that this meant he could get back to his last sandwich before long. His stomach was still jonesing for it, bad.