Chapter Text
"Michelangelo."
Mikey jolted some at the noise, nearly dropping his DS in the process--which he managed to save before it hit the ground, but not in time to prevent Mario from losing his last life. He sighed in annoyance and looked over his shoulder at the man sitting in their little makeshift cell. It was created some time ago to house mutants that Donnie had tried to experiment the antigen on while it was still in development, but apparently it works just as well for gang leaders.
"Come on, man. I was told that if you tried to talk to me then I gotta rotate shifts, and I really don't want to go to training today."
Inside the cell stood a tall man with dark hair and darker eyes. His clothes were bulky, but even through them it was easy to tell that his body was toned and powerful. He wasn't bad looking, even with the many scars that adorned his face. Somehow, they even helped accentuate his defined features. Everything about his appearance screamed sharp. Definitely fitting for the man infamously known as The Shredder.
Despite the position he was in, being locked against his will by his enemies, he had remained composed, almost to an unsettling degree. He stood as though he owned the place, posture perfect and gaze strong and unwavering. Despite all of this, his demeanor did not emit any sort of malice whatsoever as he spoke,
"You shouldn't slack on your training, especially when you're keeping an enemy so close."
Mikey furrowed his ridges and tried to ignore the fact that he sounded so much like Splinter, "Are you encouraging me to train? Isn't it better for you if I slack off?"
"I suppose that's true. In that case, continue as you are."
"Wait no, this is reverse psychology, isn't it!" Mikey perked up, "You want me to--to feel bad about not training so that I'll go train, and then since I'm training I won't be here guarding you, and since I won't be here then you'll be able to escape easier and--" He paused, then groaned and held his head. "Aw man, I just said I'm not supposed to talk to you! No more conversations!"
Saki chuckled, his amicability bothered Mikey. "I wasn't looking for a conversation, I was just going to ask a favor."
Mikey's eyes narrowed, but he just turned back to his game and shrugged him off, "What, are ya hungry? We have some more leftover pizza I can heat up if you want."
Saki seemed to grimace slightly at that, "Again? You mutants have strange torture methods."
That response made Mikey giggle, which he quickly covered up with a cough before clearing his throat, "Okay, then what IS it you want?"
"Well, as you can see I'm long overdue for a haircut--"
Mikey tore his gaze away from his game and stared at Saki with a look of near bewilderment, "Do you really think I'm that stupid? I'm not giving you scissors!"
Mikey's surprise was met with a look of amusement from Saki, who simply gestured to Mikey's arm--or more specifically, his wrists, "I was going to ask for a hair tie."
"Oh."
Mikey shuffled some so his back no longer faced the cell, staring at his wrist which adorned many colorful hairbands he had been collecting, (an odd hobby for someone with no hair, as Raph has pointed out more than once), "I guess that's fine." He removed the first band, an orange one, from his wrist, but then paused and placed it back. He carefully looked over all of them. Orange, teal, purple... Yellow seemed like a good color. He removed that one and lifted his head, "How's this one?"
Saki seemed perplexed by his indecision, unable to tell the difference between the different colored bands, but he didn't bother asking. "That one would be fine, thank you."
"No prob, dude--" Mikey stepped closer to hand it to him, but stopped when he was right outside of the cell's reach. He squinted and tilted his head to eye Saki in suspicion, "Waaait, is this a trick?" He backed up again, shell against the opposing wall now as he glared, "Like, you'll take this hairband and pull some Looney Tunes-type shit to escape? Or like, I get close enough to give it to you and then you grab me and hold me hostage! Or--"
"I just don't want my hair in my face when I'm training."
"Training 'cause your enemy is close by?" Since he was already mid-ramble, the words fell out of Mikey's mouth before he could process them, and they earned him a laugh from Saki. The sound made Mikey tense some, not because it was unpleasant or evil, but because it was so... normal.
"I train everyday no matter the conditions," He explained through his chuckles, "But when I'm stuck in one spot, it's just about all I can do to pass the time, so having my hair this long has been a real pain."
"Ah..." Mikey felt his face redden some in embarrassment at the amusement Saki seemed to be getting out of his constant overthinking, "Whatever, you can have it," He mumbled and, instead of getting closer again, he just positioned the hair tie to launch it into the cell, aiming besides Saki so he wouldn't hit him, "Incoming!"
In response to this, Saki lifted his arm and caught the tie between his two fingers, a feat that left Mikey gawking in surprise. He seemed satisfied with himself, be it from receiving the hair tie or from seeing Mikey's reaction, the turtle had no idea.
As the man pulled his hair back and out of his face, Mikey watched him. Was... this guy really Shredder? He isn't anything like the monster he had always imagined underneath that mask. All of the misfortunes he's endured, all the nightmares he's had, he felt no association between them and him no matter how hard he tried.
Saki noticed his staring and raised an eyebrow, to which Mikey quickly turned away and hunched over his DS to distract himself from the unpleasant thoughts. He took in a deep breath and let it out. The boys always knew Shredder was a human. They knew that from the beginning, but still... It was so weird to be forced to acknowledge it like this.