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Donnie pulled the stinger out of Leo's arm, examining it while Leo made a brief complaint about how it hurt. There was a bit of swelling, nothing bad, and Leo would live.
"Okay. Let's take this thing home, have Donnie look at it, and maybe treat that sting Leo's got." Raph said, pointing a finger at the very obvious lump on Leo's forearm. "I'll be fine, Raph. Just a sting."
Raph frowned. "Maybe, but I just want to double-check."
Mikey moved to pick up the bean-shaped egg, but was quickly stopped by Leo. "What?"
"I'll- carry it!" Leo exclaimed, quickly scooping up the egg and laughing nervously. Mikey squinted at him, but shrugged, and followed his brothers to the tank.
Donnie took his scalpel, preparing to cut open the egg, before being stopped by Leo. "Dude, I gotta open this thing up if I wanna find out what's inside." He said, pointing the small blade at the slider. "Well, maybe we should watch it! Instead. To see how it develops? We can do more experiments on it after."
Leo pushed Donnie away. "You can watch...over there." He pointed to where Raph and Mikey stood, on the other side of Donnie's lab. "O-kay..." When he didn't move, Leo flicked his fingers at him, and Donnie stepped backwards a few.
Leo grinned, sitting criss-cross in front of the egg and watching it intently. His brothers exchanged glances, quietly deciding to leave him alone, and went outside of the room.
"Oh Leo~" Mikey sang. "We're gonna go do some skateboarding, wanna come..?"
Leo remained still.
"I've got your board right here~!"
Nothing.
Mikey huffed, dropping Leo's skateboard on the ground and returning to his brothers. "It's no use, he's not getting up." He groaned. "Well, he's going to get up whether he likes it or not. I want my lab back." Donnie added, glaring at the door.
Raph glanced at the same door with an expression of concern. "That's it, I gotta destroy that egg. We're losing Leo!" He moved towards his room. "Tonight, I'm going in there, and I'm getting Leo back."
"Leo?" Raph called, slowly opening the door to Donnie's lab and finding his brother sitting in there- just as he had been hours before. Raph crept closer and closer to Leo. "Hey, dude. I dunno what you're doing, but whatever it is, it's stopped being funny. We're worried about you. Come back, ple-?"
As he reached out to touch Leo, he was interrupted by Leo's hand on his wrist. He yanked his hand away, pulling out his sais. "Leo, please, I don't wanna hurt you."
Oh, who was Raph kidding? That thing was not Leo. That was not his brother. It's eyes were wrong- Raph couldn't tell what exactly, his eyes seemed to be darkened by shadow. It snapped and snarled at him, stepping back, and pouncing.
Raph made one shout for help before realizing he couldn't. Donnie's lab was sound-proof, and the boys were in their rooms. No one would hear him.
He took a second to register what had just happened. He was back to standing, after being tackled by Leo that thing with his brother's face. He remembered holding it off, pleading for Leo to come back, and he-
He was bitten.
The thing bit him.
Raph clutched his head as a pounding headache came on, his right side twitching and his mind growing fuzzy. He knew this feeling. It was- it was like the Krang, how they-
He wasn't able to finish that thought before he blacked out.
Mikey glanced at Donnie's lab the next morning, then around the room. "Where's Raph?"
"I dunno. He said he was gonna destroy that egg, 'get Leo back' or whatever." Donnie replied with his usual monotone voice, and continued to scroll through his phone.
"Dee, shouldn't he have come out by now? Last night was..." Mikey glanced at his phone. "Eight hours ago." Donnie's gaze shifted to Mikey, then to his lab. "Yeah, I guess he should have."
"We gotta go and check on him."
Donnie raised an eyebrow before giving a defeated sigh. "Alright, we'll go take a look." He stood up, stretched, and lead Mikey to his lab.
Peeking through the door, Donnie noticed Raph sitting next to Leo, oddly calmly. "Raph? Leo?" Mikey edged closer. "Bros..?"
He moved to place a hand on Raph's shoulder, only to be flung like a ragdoll and slammed into the ground. He shouted in pain, clutching his side and looked up to face Raph.
What he saw was definitely not his brother.
Raphael's eyes were an inky black, with small, white, pinpoint pupils and an expression he only wore during a fight. Glancing at Leo, he noticed a similar situation, with Leo's mouth gaping and dripping saliva- or, what Mikey hoped was saliva.
He was swiftly pulled away by Donnie and his tech-bo, using it to steady himself and later grabbing his nunchucks.
Donnie slammed his staff into Raph's head, resulting in a pained cry, but nothing more. Leo jumped at Mikey, who, in turn, wrapped Leo in the chain of his nunchucks and tossed him away.
Mikey moved towards Raph, intending to attack, but instead got flung towards a wall. He picked himself back up, watching as Leo and Raph ganged up on Donnie.
...Or, so he thought.
Raph was absolutely nowhere to be found, and neither was the egg.
Mikey immediately went into panic mode, deciding to throw a mystic chain around Leo, keeping him off of Donnie. Donnie whacked the slider with his tech-bo, and he only snarled in response. Sure, he was bleeding profusely, and that would have to get taken care of when he was done trying to eat people, but Donnie decided to pull his staff back and leave Leo alone.
"Hey, 'Nardo...any chance you wanna talk to us and, like, maybe tell us where Raph and the egg are..?"
Leo snapped, and Donnie flinched, moving away a little. Mikey wrapped Leo's chain around a nearby object, not checking to see if the thing was even bolted down, and sighed.
The two lucky enough to not be infected stood there, panting, taking a second to acknowledge what was going on. Mikey turned to Donnie. "Hey, by any chance, do you still have that stinger? Could that maybe help figure out what's going on?"
"Yeah, actually. I'll get it, you make double, triple sure Leo isn't going anywhere." Mikey saluted, whispering a small apology to Leo as he tightened the chains.
Mikey frowned. "Come on, Leo. I know you're in there. It's me! Mikey..! Your brother..?"
Leo shut his eyes tightly, gently opening them after a few beats. They were normal. Back to good old, Leo blue!
"Michelangelo?"
Mikey nodded, tears welling in his eyes. "Yes! Yeah, it's me. Come on, Leo! You can beat it!"
Leo grinned. "Of course I can. I have. For you. You can untie me now."
This time, Mikey wasn't so ecstatic. Something was off. It had caught Donnie's attention, too, and the soft shell stood just a few feet out of Leo's reach.
"You can untie me now." Leo repeated. Something was off with his voice, and Mikey took it as a cue to move next to Donnie. "Come on, I'm your brother, aren't I? You can untie me n-"
Donnie's tech-bo met Leo's head once more, and this time, the slider was out cold. "Creepy." He commented, moving back to the other side of the lab.
Mikey lingered on Leo again, attempting to tighten the chains once more, only to find they were as tight as they could get. That was going to leave a mark.
"Aha!"
"What?"
Donnie turned around to face Mikey, grinning. "The wasp! It's a parasite. It stings creatures and mind controlls them into protecting their eggs!" He showed his laptop screen to Mikey, where a Google page on "Parasitoid wasps", with a few photos and a description of the wasp below it.
Mikey moved closer, reading the information provided. Donnie scrolled down, clicking on an article that looked useful. They silently read through it.
"Hey, wait, look at this." Mikey said, pointing at a paragraph. Donnie's face scrunched up as he scanned it, quickly turning to fear. "'As the egg hatches, the infected creatures allow themselves to be eaten alive by the larvae.' Gross."
"What does this mean for Raph and Leo?"
"We gotta get an antidote, now."
Donnie pulled down his goggles, getting to work. He moved swiftly, precisely, and Mikey watched curiously
"Wait, what's that on your shoulder?"
Donnie raised an eyebrow, setting his goggles back on top of his head. "What? What is it?" His battle shell procured a mirror, and he almost vomited from the sight.
On his neck was a very gross, very slimy bite mark, definitely from the battle they just had. There was some kind of swamp-water green goo leaking from it, and its texture reminded Donnie of snot.
Disgusting.
Of course, Donnie freaked out, shouting things like "ew, ew, oh my god," and "get it off of me". He rushed to clean the wound, his breathing quick and his heart rate quicker.
"Mikey, I've been infected. If I don't make it, I need you to knock me out and finish the antidote yourself."
"I don't think I can do that, Dee!"
"Yes, you can! Take that petri dish and stick it in the incubator for ten minutes. Then, pour it into a tube and place it into the centrifuge. Let it spin for about five minutes and put it into a syringe. It should be easily injectable."
"Dumb that down a little?"
"Take the little dish and bake it for ten minutes. Put the dish's contents in a tube and place it in the spin machine. Let it spin for five minutes, and when it dings, take it out and put it into a syringe."
"Much better!"
Donnie pulled himself away from Mikey, gripping at his mask and attempting to fight the virus. Mikey hyperventilated as he watched, helpless, as his last brother was forced to submit to the wasp's thrall.
Donnie stood up. Slowly, carefully, and quietly. Mikey attempted to smack him with his nunchucks, but Donnie grabbed them as though he knew they were coming. He yanked on the chucks, pulling Mikey with them, and slammed his younger brother into the ground.
Mikey turned around right as Donnie jumped onto him. He used his hands and legs, attempting to shove Donnie off, but it was no use. He was bit.
Donnie took that as a sign to leave, untying Leo from the chains. The two of them left Mikey alone.
When Donnie and Leo approached the center of the lair, they found Raph- and the egg- waiting for them. "Where is Michelangelo?" He asked. His voice was deep, and sounded a little more like Donnie and Leo were speaking at the same time as him, but their lips didn't move.
"He's fine. He's on our side now." Donnie said, in a similar voice to Raph's, with Leo nodding as confirmation. Raph hummed, and the three gathered around the egg to watch it.
Mikey moved silently, his figure pulling itself out of the shadows. He didn't have the same dark eyes his brothers did, but he appeared to have the virus nonetheless.
Then the egg started to make noise. The three turtles surrounding it stood up, opening their arms wide, sacrificing themselves to the egg. Out came three giant wasps, who immediately went to feed on the turtles.
They were shoved off, however, by Mikey and his nunchucks. He stabbed each of his brothers with the antidote and swiftly shooed the wasps away, practically throwing them to the ground and smashing them with a table. To celebrate, he did a small victory dance before running to help his family.
Donnie was the first to regain consciousness, then Raph, then Leo. Mikey helped each of them onto a beanbag, humming contentedly when they were all comfortable.
"Mikey, how- how'd you do that? How'd you save us?" Leo asked, rubbing at his temple. Mikey smiled. "Well..."
Mikey ran to the incubator, quickly shoving the dish in and impatiently waiting for it to finish. When it was, he pulled it out, finding that it was scalding hot and instead dancing it atop his fingertips.
As the dish cooled, Mikey poured the liquid into a vile, popping it into the centrifuge and slamming the lid shut. He waited for another five minutes, used a syringe to pull the liquid out of the vile, and injected it straight into a vein.
He nearly passed out about ten times, as well as a few seconds after taking the antidote. But he threw his hands up, happy to not have been mind-controlled, then rushed to help his brothers.
"Awh, Mikey! I'm so proud of you. Come here." Raph beamed, opening his arms wide, requesting a hug. Mikey happily accepted, practically throwing himself at his red brother. Donnie patted Mikey's shell, while Leo joined in on the hug.
"Oh, by the way, a side effect of the antidote is drowsiness, so..." Mikey grabbed Donnie, pulling him into the hug-now-turned-cuddle-pile. He and his brothers all soon fell asleep on top of each other, managing a peaceful sleep for once.