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“Can you explain it again,” Donnie mumbled under his breath, head down and eyes rapidly tracking the small dots of color in the linoleum passing beneath them. It was hard to not get distracted every time his feet entered his line of sight - despite his general admiration for fashion, he still struggled to get used to the concept of wearing shoes. Something about the weird feeling of socks and the constant squeezing on all sides of his feet just felt gross. (Besides, it was much easier to take off running if necessary when one didn’t have to worry about sounding like a stampeding horse).
He was, however, grateful that April had suggested he layer up before they left. Not having to worry about one of the already frantic hospital staff calling out the weird teenager with green limbs was one less thing off of his mental plate. (Also if anyone noticed his trembling and teeth chattering, that was definitely because of the icy temperature of the hospital setting and had absolutely nothing to do with his nerves being on fire and the fuzzy feeling of a panic attack at the back of his brain haha nope).
“I reserved one of the MRI rooms for a John Doe that was supposedly found among the wreckage,” Carol O’Neil spoke through her teeth, a smile plastered on her face as she nodded politely to a group of nurses scurrying by. She held her head high and tapped on one of the hospital’s iPads as she walked, giving off an air that she was busy and on a serious mission that required her total attention. In actuality, she looked much calmer and more confident than Donnie felt. “Since the area around the machine is radiation-heavy, it’ll just be the three of us back there. No other people.”
The turtle hummed, ducking his head and cringing again as another patient wearing ragged clothing rushed by. Their arm was swollen grotesquely and oozing with blood in a way that made his stomach churn. It looked like a Kraang had gotten to them.
Donnie felt a hand lightly squeeze his shoulder and shifted his eyes to focus on April’s yellow hightops. Right. Matter at hand.
It was slightly comforting to have both women there, flanking him on either side. He knew April wouldn’t allow anyone to get too close, especially now.
But… still.
He would have felt much better if he’d been allowed to wear his battle shell.
Like. Much much much better.
He’d tried to argue and persuade Dad and Mrs. O’Neil to let him wear it out- clearly he needed it?! Not wearing it was partially what got him into this stupid situation, wasn’t it??? But after one glance at his back, Carol had been adamant that he not put anything beyond clothes over the deep, uneven injuries- and that was only because he had the addition of several thick layers of gauze and bandage covering it from the world.
Honestly, hearing the way her voice snapped and seeing her brow set in a ‘my word is law and don’t even think about arguing, Young Man’ way made it quite evident where April had gotten her personality from. Darwin be darned, Mama O’Neil’s genes must have been strong; April was clearly a clone of her mother.
“No worries, Dee,” the girl reassured him, her voice breaking through his hazy thoughts. “I’ve had an MRI before, and they’re really no big deal. All you have to do is lay on the table and hold still. We’ll dim the lights in the room and can even play some music if you’d like, so you can chill.”
Donnie snorted. Yup. Chill. That was him. Chill as a cucumber. The picture of calmness.
Mrs. O’Neil laid a hand on his opposite shoulder. “Alright, we’re just around this corner-”
A shriek suddenly echoed from one of the nearby hospital rooms, causing all three of them to jolt. Both teenagers hissed in pain, their aching bodies loudly complaining about the sudden jostling of their injuries.
A flurry of footsteps immediately started behind them and Donnie felt his body snap to alert. He whipped his head around, proverbial alarm bells going off as he prepared to size up their pursuer.
“C’mon - in here-” Before he knew what was happening, a door opened to Donnie’s left and two sets of hands shove him inside. He stumbled into the darkened room with arms thrown forward, grasping for something to break his fall, then yelped in pain when someone caught him by his splinted wrist.
“Shoot - I’m sorry Donnie-” April’s voice apologized from somewhere in the darkness. “I didn’t mean to-”
“What’s happening?” He clutched the sore arm to his chest, half hunched over and eyes darting around. He could hear his pulse thudding in his ears. “Did someone see -?”
“No no, nothing like that,” White lights burst to life overhead, and the turtle whipped around to see Carol pushing the massive door closed behind them. A quick swipe of a keycard from her lanyard, and there was a heavy ‘clack’ as it magnetically sealed and locked them away from the rest of the world. “That sounded like a toddler getting bored and just making some noise - the nurses are understandably a bit on edge right now, so they might have been overreacting in running to check on them. But look! We made it!”
The woman gestured around them, a confident smile on her face that made Donnie lower his shoulders a few centimeters. Sure enough, they were tucked into a contained little hallway with two doors on either end. To their right was a thick door much like the one they’d entered through, surrounded by yellow tape on the floor and a red light bulb indicating that the room was in use when illuminated. To their left was a second, much thinner door with a simple sign labeling it as the ‘observation room’.
“See!” April spun around and put her hands on her hips with a broad grin. “What’d I tell you? Easy peasy!”
Donnie hesitated, glancing between the two rooms and the curtained off ‘changing room’ in the corner, then back towards the door they’d come through. The air smelled distinctly of metal and disinfectant, much like the rest of the hospital. He’d assumed that being away from the other humans would have instantly calmed his nerves, but for some reason his body still refused to physically relax.
The silence dragged on for a moment too long before he realized that the women were waiting for his response. He blinked up at them owlishly and then gave a single, silent nod.
They’d done the hard part by getting in - now it was just a simple exam.
Come on. Deep breaths, Anxious-tello.
“Alright, then let’s get you ready.”
***
Apparently ‘getting him ready’ was not as simple as just walking into the exam room.
Mrs. O’Neil had him strip off his hoodie - the aglets would apparently interfere with the machine - and shoes (thank Pizza Supreme), but the sweatpants were deemed safe since they contained no metal. She also claimed the emergency multitool that he had tucked into his shorts pockets, and the goggles that he had almost forgotten were perched atop his head.
“I’m going to sit all of this right here,” she reassured him as she carefully folded the clothing and laid his belongings in the changing area. “By any chance, are you wearing contacts? They’ll be fine to stay in during the exam, but I just want to mark it on my own records.”
He nodded and followed silently as she then led the teens through the second thick door. Even though the pants were more than Donnie wore on a normal basis, he still couldn’t help but feel exposed. He briskly rubbed his hands up and down his arms, trying to calm the goosebumps and shivering that had started back up. Gosh, what he wouldn’t give to be back at home - he couldn’t wait to curl up beneath his weighted blanket and heat lamp tonight and try to forget this whole horrendous day had ever happened.
Had he been in a better mindset, Donnie knew that he would have been fascinated with the giant MRI machine - it looked like something straight out of a science fiction film. A giant ring-like structure sat in the center of the room with a metal exam table stretched out in front of it. The table lined up perfectly with the center of the ring, making it easy to slide in and out of the machine. On either side of the room were dozens of shelves, each lined with plastic structures of varying shapes and sizes. On the far end of the room, pointed towards the foot of the metal bed, was a tinted window that led to the observation room.
Carol instructed him to take a seat on the exam table, then reached into a cabinet and withdrew a needle and IV catheter - the sight of which immediately set him on edge once more.
Mental flashes of ‘hospital - drugs - dissection - experiment- RUN’ started galloping through his mind, and he suddenly found his chest aching with each inhale.
“Uh - “ he stammered as he scooted back on the table, head shaking ever so slightly.
Both women paused to peer at him inquisitively, but when he opened his mouth all that came out was a small, shaky chirp. Blood immediately rushed to his cheeks and he ducked his head, suddenly wishing that he had Mikey’s ability to fully retract into his shell. Haha! Fantastic! Really not helping the whole ‘freak of nature being examined on a lab table’ scenario when he’s suddenly lost his voice and can only make sounds like that! Great job!
April evidently caught his expression, as he suddenly felt a warm hand slip into his own and give a gentle squeeze.
“It’s been a while since my MRI, Mama- could you remind me how this works again?” The girl spoke casually, not looking in Donnie’s direction. He swallowed and squeezed her hand gratefully in response.
“Sure, honey.” Carol nodded calmly, a faint smile ghosting across her lips as she curled Donnie’s other hand into a fist and instructed him to hold it tightly. “Essentially an MRI uses a strong magnetic field to image water molecules in the body. To help the machine better pick up the pictures I’ll be taking, I’m going to set you up with a small IV of something called ‘contrast’ that will be administered partway through the procedure. It won’t hurt, but it will allow us to get a better understanding of if anything has gone awry in his head. After that I’ll use one of those coils on the wall to fit over the area we’re examining - in this case, your brain.”
Donnie watched as the woman held his fist and stretched out his arm to expose the soft flesh in the crook of his elbow. He scanned her expression as she prodded the area, searching her eyes for any look of disgust or twinge of regret for having offered to help. To his surprise, she seemed relatively unphased by the tiny, pliable scales that lined his skin. If anything, he recognized the gleam of genuine curiosity and parental tenderness that lit her brown eyes.
“Hear that, Donnie?” April squeezed his hand once more and grinned. “We’re going to finally see that massive brain of yours.”
Donnie tried to offer a weak smile in return, but it was at that moment he felt the needle slide into his skin. He squeezed his eyes shut and turned away, burying his face in April’s shoulder and fighting down the urge to gag. How in the world did Leo stand to look at this type of stuff in his medical textbooks?
Once she seemed satisfied with the placement of the catheter, Carol guided him to lean backwards onto the table. A pillow was tucked under his knees and another under the upper portion of his shell, providing a slight barrier between his gauze covered back and the cold metal beneath him. He could feel his expression twist into an uncomfortable grimace as pressure was applied on his new wounds, but fearing another chirp he chose to press his lips together and stare up at the ceiling.
“I’m not sure how sensitive you are to noise, but I’m going to give you these to protect your … erm… ears?” A thick pair of headphones slid over the sides of his head, muffling the woman’s voice as she continued to speak. “I’ll start playing some music before the machine starts- I hope classical is alright. Now, let me grab the coil and we’ll get started.”
***
April grimaced sympathetically as she watched the metal bed roll into the machine through the observation room window. Her mother sat beside her, typing away on one of the monitors as she finished prepping the MRI.
It was hard to see Donnie like this, looking so small and helpless and scared. Between his massive intelligence and general confidence, sometimes it was hard for April to remember that he was actually two years younger than her.
Hearing his fearful chirp - a noise that she had only ever heard a handful of times in the nearly decade of knowing the Hamatos - and seeing the way his pupils had shrunk as the plastic coil was fit over him, essentially pinning him to the bed, had made her heart clench protectively. The world was on fire outside, and they had been through so much in the past 24 hours- surely they all deserved a break and a chance to sleep. And yet here Donnie was, being forced into another nightmare situation. She dug her fists into the pockets of her jacket and mentally willed courage towards him.
Her view of the turtle was partially obscured by the fact that he was half tucked into the machine, but she could see his fingers drumming rapid patterns on the table and the way his toes curled up and clenched tightly enough that he most certainly would have to deal with muscle spasms later.
“Alright- starting the machine now.”
With a final keystroke, the MRI sprung to life and emitted a series of loud, shrieking clangs. Even though she knew it was coming, April couldn’t stop herself from immediately tensing up.
The clanging continued for several seconds as the magnets within the machine began to spin faster and faster. Carol flipped a switch and classical music began playing in the observation room, mirroring what was currently playing through Donnie’s headphones.
The doctor let out a hum as she turned back to her monitor. “It looks like he’s wiggling his head around a bit - the images are coming out kind of fuzzy.”
April turned back towards the window. Even from here, it was evident that Donnie’s whole body was trembling. His hands had moved to his plastron, fingers flaring and drumming sporadically on a chest that looked like it was heaving to take in air.
Carol pressed a button, cutting off the music and speaking directly into Donnie’s headphones. “Donnie, Baby? I need you to hold still, okay?” She pressed a second button to turn on the microphone inside of the machine for his response, and instantly the observation room was filled with the sound of soft hiccups and trembling, uneven breaths.
The two women shared a pained look.
“Mom -”
“There’s an extra hospital gown in the changing room - take off any metal and get in there.”
April smiled gratefully. “Thanks, Mom,”
***
Donnie’s chest shook with barely held back sobs as he listened to the MRI machine shake and scream around him. It was just too much - the pain of his back. The cage around his face, plastering him to the metal bed and keeping him from being able to run far far away. The orchestral music blasting in his ears. The knowledge of everything that had happened today. Cleaning Leo’s wounds and setting his bones. Mikey almost shattering to pieces right in front of him. Raph’s body morphing and twisting into some hideous creature that most certainly was NOT his big brother. All of the blood. The Kraang ship. New York. Their home. The seizure. The noise. All of the noise. It wasn’t stopping it wouldn’t stop it it wouldn’t stop it wouldn’t stop-
Warmth.
Solidness.
“I’m right here, Donnie.” A familiar hand reached out of the darkness and curled around one of his own, fingers naturally parting and shaping to hold him steady amongst the screaming darkness. “I’ve got you, Buddy.”