Chapter Text
In the lab, Donnie is busy putting his newest invention together. It’s normally quite peaceful. Only hearing metal and the occasional hiss noise from his piping clicking together. However-
‘’Oeh! What does this do?’’
A curious orange turtle is poking around his lab, trying to assist his tech savvy brother. Of course, Donnie rather works alone, but after asking for it over 15 times, the soft shell reluctantly had to say ‘’Sure”.
‘’Please don’t touch anything, Michael.’’ Donnie sighs, turning his spinny chair to the noise of clinking glass. ‘’And don’t break it either.’’
Mikey halts, pulling his hands back and putting them behind his shell. ‘’Sorry, D! I was just exploring.’’
‘’If you want to help, just..’’ Donnie twirls his hand in the air before spinning back to his working bench. "...fetch me some coffee or something.’’ Focusing back on his work, he leaves a saddened box turtle.
"Okay…" Mikey then takes a look at the beakers behind Don. Maybe he left some coffee in a beaker nearby for easy access, as he often does. Multiple of them are filled with all kinds of different liquids and labels, but one stood out to him. One with no label, colored black, and close to Don. He doesn't hesitate to grab this beaker and bring this coffee to his hardworking bro.
Placing it next to Donnie’s right hand he shouts with glee: "Coffee is served!’’
‘’Thanks, Mike.’’ The soft shell then takes hold of the beaker, bringing it to his lips. At that moment, Mikey notices something off about it.
‘’Wait!’’ On the back of the beaker is a note that reads ‘’Warning! Don’t drink!” With a drawn face of Donnie wagging his finger next to it. ‘’Don’t drink that!’’ In a panic, Mikey swipes the beaker from his brother’s hand.
However, his sweaty palms cause him to juggle the liquid in his hands, fumbling it until-
‘’Ah!’’ In a last attempt to catch the potion before it hits the ground, it splatters all over the box turtle.
‘’Mikey?! What happened to my-’’ Donnie casts his gaze downward to his fallen, yet still snickering brother. The color of the stuff on his younger brother makes his voice heighten. ‘’Coffee..?!’’
Trying to wipe off the black substance, Mikey rises to his feet. ‘’Gross!’’ Mikey shakes his body like a dog. The ‘’coffee’’ flies on the ground.
He finds Donatello inspecting him closely. For a turtle who dislikes his personal space being invaded, he’s really closing in.
‘’Uh, D?’’ Mikey’s eyes shy away. ‘’Do I still have goo on me?’’ He chuckles in an awkward manner.
‘’Hm, do you feel any different?’’ Donnie rubs his chin.
‘’I mean, I do feel hungry now. I could go for some pizza.’’ He licks his lips, visualizing taking a bite of that sweet baked oven crust.
‘’Yep, you’re normal, alright.’’ Donnie glances over to the clock on the wall. ‘’I guess I’m feeling a bit peckish as well. Let’s get some slices.’’ In his voice, Mikey could detect a hint of disappointment. Perhaps Donnie planned to have his experiment finished by dinner.
As the two make their way to the kitchen, an alluring smell reaches the turtle’s noses.
Mikey and Donnie share a greedy look before they make a dash.
“Pizza, pizza, pizza!” Mikey smacks his lips.
“No, Michael! You always eat the entire pizza in under one minute when you get there first!” Donnie states, pushing Mikey behind him with his shell’s mechanical arms to gain some distance.
“I promise I’ll leave a slice!” The box turtle then looks away. “Maybe half.” He laughs.
“I heard that!” Donnie snarls.
Though he soon gets over Mikey’s pizza brain when he spots the golden slices being taken out of the oven by Raph.
“They’re mine! All MINE!” The soft shell yells victorious as he takes one final leap.
“Oef!” Donnie tumbles onto the floor. When looking up, he finds his orange brother’s foot caused him to trip.
“Hey!” He snarls.
As Donnie scrambles to his feet, the pizza was already claimed.
“Oops~!” Mikey giggles as he munches on a slice. “My bad!”
“Tripping me up to get your hands on a pizza is a new low, Mikey!” He then sighs, calming himself down.
Donnie then walks into the kitchen, removing dust from his shoulders.
“Well, at least you saved a slice for me-“
With a loud burp into Donnie’s face, Mikey shows the contents of the pizza box.
“I think I just set a new record!” He grins, flinging a crumb of the crust into Donnie’s twitching eye.
“Why you!”
In the middle of wanting to grab Mikey and experiment on him to find out how to reverse time, Raph intervenes.
“Hold up! Donnie, breathe! I bet Mikey was just hungry. You know how he can get.”
“True.” Donnie crosses his arms. “But still..”
Raph pats Donnie on the back. “I’ll bake another pizza for us, ok?”
Raph gets a tap on the shoulder. “Can I bake the pie? To let Donnie have some!”
The snapping turtle couldn’t say no to that face, so he responds with a ‘’Sure thing, bro!’’
After some masterful displays of his cooking skills. He gracefully spins the pizza dough on his finger, puts the salami topping on top, and sprinkles it with Donnie’s favorite spices. Mikey then Shoves the pizza into the oven with one swift move. Proudly, he presents his pizza to Donnie.
‘’Here, Don! Sorry for eating all of the pizza. Hope this makes up for it!’’ He smiles.
Donnie’s eyes widen as he takes a sniff. ‘’Uh, Michel?’’
‘’Hm?’’
‘’You want me to eat this?’’ He points at the pizza, doing a double take from it to Mikey.
‘’Uh, yes? Unless you don’t want to?’’ Confused, Mikey pulls his pie back.
‘’Oh, I’ll consume it.’’ He states dramatically, causing a scene. ‘’Alas! I just remembered I have something left to do in my lab! Michel! I need your help with this!’’ Donnie then rushes Mikey, with pizza in hand, to the lab.
Skitting Mikey’s feet over the floor, Donnie pushes him into the lab. Quick after he shuts the door behind them. Flailing in place to regain balance, Mikey turns around.
‘’What’s wrong?’’ Mikey scratches his head.
‘’You tell me.’’ Donnie then once again shows the pie to Mikey.
‘’Is it too small?’’ Mikey zooms in on it.
Donnie aggressively points at it.‘’Michael, it’s in the shape of a turtle.’’
‘’Yes?’’ Mikey shrugs.
‘’You know very well that I can’t eat anything with a face on it or when food resembles an animal.’’
"Oops! Oh well, I guess I'll have to eat this one all by myself too then?’’ He chuckles, already salivating, and goes right in for a bite, chomping off the small turtle’s head.
Not being able to find any words to respond with, Donnie just stares at Mikey. Fascinated, yet, unsettled.
‘’Maybe we should run some tests, just in case.’’ Keeping his eyes on his brother, the soft shell takes out his digital notepad, naming the file ‘’Unboxer’’.
‘’C’mon, Don! Just because I forgot about that, doesn’t mean I’m sick.’’ Mikey slowly backs away from Donnie.
‘’Mikey, stay.’’
With a whine, Mikey has his back against the closed door.
‘’I’m just going to scan you. I need you to hold still.’’ Now approaching faster, the box shell is retreating partly in his shell.
‘’Now, don’t move-’’
Mikey then bolts with a yelp, not willing to feel the tingly sensation of the scanner.
‘’I didn’t want to do this, but...’’
Donnie pushes a button on his battle shell, causing an iron cage to drop over Mikey. The lab trembles from the impact and a small fog covers the air.
‘’You’ll have to stay safe in there so I can run some tests, okay?’’
As the fog clears, Donnie’s jaw drops. He finds Mikey wearing his prototype goggles.
The soft shell jumps to the bars, wrapping his hands around them. ‘’Michael, take off those goggles! They’re still in their testing phase! Also, how did you even get to them?!’’
Mikey smirks, flipping the goggles down. ‘’A magician never reveals his secrets~!” The orange turtle gently puts his finger on one of the bars and winks. ‘’If only you made this bit more sturdy, huh?’’
He then whips out his weapon and slams the unsteady bar. ‘’Let me put these goggles to good use~!’’ As both Mikey and the weapon share a cackle, they create a hole in the lab’s wall. ‘’You’re welcome for the new window, by the way!’’
Donnie gulps as he sees the wall crumble before him. ‘’Oh, this is bad.’’
‘’And this is why I need your help’’ Donnie pleads, slamming a blueprint down on the table.
Raph drops his playing cards, his eyes shaking. Leo, on the other hand, couldn’t help but freeze up.