Chapter Text
Things can change irreparably in barely a few moments. Those blink-and-you'll-miss-it-situations. Their last situation had almost ended the world until Leo had made his self-sacrificial decision. Donnie had blinked quite a lot in those two minutes and 37 seconds that his brother had been lost in the prison dimension. Realistically he knew he had blinked through his tears, but looking back on it now felt like every time he closed his eyes another hard to grasp change tore through his mind. Like slowing down a movie enough to see every frame, a new realization with every shutter.
Blink.
Leo was gone, unreachable, lost.
Blink.
He was locked away in another dimension.
Blink.
The dimensions only inhabitants were him and a homicidal alien overlord, hellbent on killing him.
Blink.
Leo would not survive this.
Blink.
There was only a small window of time if they wanted to get him home alive.
Blink.
There was no way for Donnie to get to his brother in time.
That last thought had swept another wave of grief and helplessness over him. Because it went against everything he stood for. He was the teams brains, he had machines and gadgets aplenty, all serving the purpose of getting them safely out of every situation. He had solutions prepared for hundreds of different problems that would probably never exist. But he had nothing to open up a portal to another dimension. Hadn't even considered it. For all his diligent preparations all he could do was stand there and cry. He had never felt more useless in his life.
And sadly that feeling stuck with him.
He hid it away after Mikey had managed the impossible and had ripped apart reality with his bare hands. The relief soothing the burning helplessness, cooling it down to a simmer, when he was able to hold onto his brother once more. It was still running rampage in his heart when they finally made back to the lair, thankfully no brother short. Still he managed to push it away in favor of helping everyone with their injuries.
His family held it a bay when they collapsed into a turtle pile inside the med-bay, no one wanting to be alone after their endeavor.
It was only when he jerked awake from his dreamscape, a writhing mass of slimy tentacles crawling over his body, exploring, taking, merging with him, that the feeling came back full force. He couldn't get up then, back into his lab, since he was squished snugly between Raph's shell and Mikey body, but his mind was already running though plans, prints and calculations. This situation could never happen again. He would make sure of it. His wrist computer lit up bathing his face in a dim glow. He would need to experiment, borrow Leo's sword for a few days, maybe have a few scans of Mikey since he was the one with the dimensional power. His mind was already categorizing and pulling up information for his newest invention. He would build a trans-dimensional portal generator. It would be easy, he was sure, after all he had already managed to catch glimpses of alternate realities, recording their alternate selves but ultimately dropping the project in favor of more usable devices. His naive past self hadn't deemed dimensional travel a matter useful enough to deserve further research. What a fool.
With Mikey draped across his back like a heavy blanket, Raph heaving them up and down with every breath and Leo's soft snores resonating from somewhere inside his oldest brother's arms he drew strength from their closeness and continued working through the night. This couldn't be delayed after all.
He wouldn't loose a brother like this ever again.
It had taken him more than his estimated week to build something resembling a prototype. It hadn't exactly been his fault but with Leo's injuries and Mikey's shaking arms he couldn't exactly conduct any taxing experiments. And since both of his brothers were crucial for his data collection his progress had slowed down significantly. Thankfully, and he never thought he'd every be thankful to him for anything, Draxum created them with durability in mind and they healed quite fast from whatever physical ailment plagued them.
While Donnie had originally planned for his device to be portable, for simplicity's sake he designed its prototype as big as it needed to be. First he had to make it work then he could work on compressing it. So after tunneling down into his project for almost two weeks, only pausing when Mikey came into his lab with food or Raph wrapped him up and threw him into his cot to sleep, his tunnel vision cleared and before him inside his lab stood a hulking machine resembling a portal. It wasn't activated, he would show it to his brothers and then they could test it all together as he did with many of his machines. His mind now cleared from his fixation and the ugly feeling of uselessness slowly dissipating he could hear voices outside his lab. While normally he had soundproofed his lab for both his and his family's benefit, after the invasion he had torn some of it down. While he had worked feverishly on his newest obsession it hadn't changed the fact that they all had almost died that day. They all preferred to have each other near, Raph even going as far as to randomly call out to them, getting more and more anxious if one of them failed to answer his call. So to spare his brother's heart he took down some of the soundproofing to let his callback ring through the lair.
It had nothing to do with the comfort he himself felt, listening to his family's familiar chirps and churrs.
While voices outside his lab were nothing new, most of the time only one of his brothers would come to visit his domain. Hearing all of them bickering among themselves was indeed very unusual.
"This can't go on any longer, guys. He hasn't been out of there since..."
"We know, but there is no way he is getting out on his own, you know how he gets. I'm pretty sure he hissed at me when I tried yesterday."
"Well, it's dinner time, he hasn't truly slept or showered and I really want us all at the table for once. So, as I see it, this is a job for Dr. Delicate Touch."
"Uh... How about we try not to get Dr. Delicate Touch involved. Raph's seen how your arms' been shaking while cooking, big man. Let us handle this."
Donnie had turned to stare at the lab door while absentmindedly typing on his phone. Predictably the door was flung open only moments later, revealing all of his brother's awkwardly standing there. Well, two of his brother's, Leo was being shoved forward by Raph which made him stumble into the room.
"Hey! I thought we'd handle this together?!" The slider instantly turned and narrowed his eyes at his brother, to which Raph only replied with innocent whistles. Ignoring Mikey's giggles Donnie just raised an eyebrow at his twin.
"Do not fret, dear brothers, for my genius knows no bounds and has done the impossible once again." He gestured dramatically towards the portal, all the while grinning self assuredly. He had quad-triple-checked his equations, the prototype would work and they would all go slack-jawed in amazement. No one would get lost where they couldn't reach anymore. Never again.
"Gre~at. See, Raph, nothing to worry about. Just Donnie being his usual manic self. How about we go eat dinner and then come back to... this whole situation." Leo was lazily smiling between his twin and older brother while gesturing towards to still deactivated portal. If it had been anyone else they probably wouldn't pick up on the slight twitch in his expression, but Donnie knew Leo. While his brother in blue could sometimes act unpredictable and was the most skilled liar among them, Donnie could always tell when he was hiding something. Sure, he couldn't accurately tell what it was most of the time, but he always knew there was something. 'Twin sense', Leo would say. 'Common sense,' Donnie would emend.
Nevertheless, he could practically feel Leo's trepidation.
"Let me tell you, brethren. This is completely fail-safe and will change our lives forever. No need for any delay, just let me show you..." He wasn't flailing at the thought of his brothers not trusting his inventions. He was Donatello Hamato and thus he did not flail, instead he tapped a few buttons on the control panel, thus activating the starting sequence of the portal. Any worry was quickly burrowed beneath a heap of excitement and anticipation, when the lights started booting up washing the lab in a soft purple glow. He could feel Mikey edging up to him, ever the curious one. Leo's hesitation mingled with Raph's anxiety, having both of them keep to the exit of the room. But the scientist himself only had eyes for his creation. The lights were flickering before settling into their designated glow, a swirl of color filling the portal's frame, making it impossible to see through it. The machinery sent out a few dangerous groans and cackles before quietening down into a silent hum.
Donnie grinned broadly, his hands flapping excitedly. He did it, he really did it.
"Ohhhh. It looks so cool, Dee. All the colors and lights." Always the positivity incarnate, Mikey's eyes roamed over his brother's newest creation, taking in all the little details. Ever the responsible elder sibling Raph took hold of his shoulder before the box turtle could step any closer, despite the infectious excitement of his younger brothers the crease between his eye ridges only deepened. "And what exactly is it, Donnie?" The purple coded turtle took posture in front of his invention, preparing his explanation. "This is only the greatest achievement ever recorded! An innovation regarding modern means of travel, opening up the doors towards worlds unseen. This-" he paused, two mechanical arms freeing themselves from his shell, dramatically framing the portal. "-is a dimensional portal. It opens a gateway towards other realities." The claws at the end of his
robotic appendages imitated jazz hands, further enhancing his dramatic reveal. "Through intrinsic observance and countless experiments I have finally been able to understand the scientific background of Leo's and Mikey's mystic powers and-" - "Yeah, yeah, we get it, nerd talk's over." Leo came closer towards his twin, leaning onto his shoulder while trying to cover his mouth, effectively stopping Donnie's rambles before they'd begin. In return the tech arms already in use stopped their movement to shove him off." So~, this can bring us to other universes? Like in Jupiter Jim, Lost in Andromeda 6?" The scientist straightened himself. "Sigh. While I would have preferred a more scientific approach of explaining the subject, that is essentially true." Mikey's eyes lit up as he launched himself out off Raph's grip towards the portal. "That's so cool. How do we use it? Can we portal anywhere? Anytime? Can the other universes visit us too?" The youngest turtle was practically vibrating leaning from one side of the machine towards the other, barely refraining from touching it while asking questions in rapid fire mode. Raph tried to admonish him and pull him back again, but they all knew it was a lost cause. An excited Mikey was an immovable object if he wanted to be.
"Allow me to explain. This prototype can access any dimension as long as it is close to its origin. The farther away the dimension, the more differences there will be and the more power is required to travel there. Dimension's can be differentiated by an unique ID... "
This time at least Mikey and Raph were listening to him, when he went on to explain his creation. Both nodding along even though Donnie was sure that at least half of what he said went over their heads. It didn't matter though, he could vent his discoveries and they'd at least get the gist of what the portal was supposed to do.
Leo was watching the machine in their midst. Of course, he could listen. It would probably save them all quite a headache and a lecture from Donnie, but he had a bad feeling about this. Something was going to go wrong, he could feel it. While he loved making fun of his twin's faulty tech, he had to admit, most of Donnie's machines (at least of the ones he presented to his brothers) worked. Maybe there were a few kinks left to fix, but nothing that would hurt them in the long run. Donnie always made sure to at least try to minimize possible injuries or damage made by his prototypes. It would defeat it's purpose after all if his fixes ended up to be the things that needed fixing. Which is why Leo was worried. Because in theory he should trust his brother to know what he's doing. Still the ugly feeling remained, making him paranoid and watchful.
So far everything seemed to work just fine. None of the lights were blinking, there wasn't any electricity shooting out, no power outage flooded the lair in darkness and there were no unusual noises hinting at loose parts or something breaking apart internally. The whole thing went off without a hitch, which made the pit in Leo's stomach only grow further. Still there was nothing to warrant his worry, which is why he zoned in just in time for Donnie's explanation on how he combined the data he got from the tests with both his brothers. Half listening he smiled at his twin, nodding along all the while not really processing any of his words, his paranoia still keeping half his mind on his surroundings.
Which was the only reason why he noticed the sparks. Mikey's powers had been on the frizz ever since he opened up that lifesaving portal to the prison dimension. Sometimes not heeding his call and leaving him without any reaction when he tried to summon his chains or fire, and sometimes roaring and sparking off him like a blazing inferno, barely contained. Most off the time it depended on his emotional state, his mystical powers ebbing away when he was emotionally exhausted and in turn answering his mental agitation with a flood of energy. This time the box turtle was excited, waving his arms around while letting his mouth run marathons. Orange brightly glittered where his hands were moving, none of the other brothers having noticed it yet. Leo's eyes widened when he saw it, already raising his hand to alert his youngest brother, maybe get him to step away from the untested machine.
Most mystics didn't mix well with machines, Donnie's being the exception, being based upon his creations. But he was too late. Almost like a chain reaction the small sparks on Mikey's arms became lightning bolts shooting over his scars. Alerted and alarmed he tried shaking them off, only succeeding in making them jump towards any nearby surface, which happened to be Donnie and his portal. The scientist jumped back, trying to dodge the uncontrolled energy, but the bolts still connected with the active prototype, running through its circuitry, overloading it completely. The machine let out a rattling groan, while the colorful lights and swirling portal took on an orange glow. While the groan raised in frequency it spooked Mikey enough to jump into his shell, making it impossible for him to gain any distance from the portal. The next few seconds branded themselves into Leo's retinas. It felt like a movie in slow motion and just like the motion pictures he was unable to interact in any way that mattered.
The portal began swirling faster, creating a suction, that he could feel all the way over near the lab entrance.
Donny clung to whatever he could grasp, which was the nearest furniture, that being his desk.
Mikey's shell, still in the air was being pulled in, while their youngest let out a scared shout of surprise.
Leo could feel his body moving towards the portal a hand jutting out to pull him back.
Raph standing next to him grabbed him tightly, rooting him at the edge of the lab, stopping the portals pull and preventing him from reaching his brother.
A bright flash, the sound of metal breaking apart and then complete darkness.
For almost two seconds there was only the sound of heavy breathing while they all tried to understand what had happened.
"Mikey?! ¿Hermano?" Leo was the first to break the silence, his voice sounding panicked even to himself. Donny had activated his wrist computer, tapping hurriedly to jump-start their backup generator, bathing his face in a soft glow. Leo was sure, if he could have looked at himself at that moment, both Donnie and him would have sported the exact same expression. Eyes wide in barely contained panic, beak set into a worried grimace. It took almost no time at all before the lights in the lab turned back on.
All eyes shot towards the remains of the portal. The frame, now empty was crooked, like it got sucked into itself and bend to release the pressure. The control panel was smoking and crumpled, most of the metal sheets looking either crushed or ripped apart, some cables sticking out of the resulting holes. Though most alarming to the brothers was the noticeable lack of turtle shell in front of or even inside of the portal. Mikey had vanished.
Leo was trying to release himself from Raph's iron grip, almost clawing at the arms holding him back. Still in shock the snapper held on tight.
His twin was blinking uncomprehendingly at the broken portal, before desperately trying to restart it. His hands flying over the broken controls, either not noticing or uncaring of any injury the broken metal inflicted to him. Tears began blurring his vision and Leo seeing Donnie's uncoordinated motions was sure, that not even the genius himself knew what he was trying to accomplish. Even he could tell, that the machine was broken beyond repair. Watching their brother cut open his hands on the busted metal seemed to shake Raph from his shock, his arms instantly releasing Leo from his prison, letting them both storm forward towards Donnie and his invention.
The eldest hugged his panicking sibling close, preventing him from reaching the controls and hurting himself even further, while Leo stood in front of the bend frame trying to make sense of where his brother could have ended up. Maybe he got thrown to the side, or he was hidden behind debris?
"Let me go, I need to fix this. Need to restart, need to get him back. I..." The softshell was babbling while trying to free himself from his oldest brother's grip. Every failed motion sending him further into panic. Leo stopped his fruitless search and steered towards his twin. While it was true that Mikey had vanished he had to trust that wherever the portal had deposited him he was safe or at least safe enough until they came to rescue him. But any kind of rescue had to wait, because the only one who had the capabilities of fixing the machine was currently at the verge of a panicked meltdown.
"Donnie? Dee, can you look at me?"
Leo stood as close to his brother as he dared, making sure to keep enough distance as to not accidentally touch him. For a few seconds it seemed like Donnie didn't even hear him and Leo was almost ready to repeat his words again but then slowly his wide gaze shifted towards his calming twin. The blue turtle in question made sure to broadcast every movement as to not spook him any further.
"Great, you are doing great. Can I come closer?" At these words Donnie's bloodied fingers clenched around Raph's arms. Touch was always a fickle thing for him and who could come close enough to reach out depended on the day. His response lagged behind a bit, but then almost unnoticeable he shook his head. It seemed that day Leo was not approved to come near. At least he didn't fight his eldest brother's embrace any longer. Normally this would have been Mikey's domain, with Leo's role as the medic being mostly for physical ailments the youngest had taken to matters of the mind like a fish to water.
Still if the time since the Shredder's attack and especially the last two weeks taught
him anything, it was how to navigate a panic attack. Pushing away any thoughts on how it should be Mikey doing this, because Mikey wasn't on Donnie's do-not-touch-list, never had been, Leo tried to put on a reassuring smile. He wasn't quite sure it hit the mark, but he gave it his best to keep it from looking like a grimace.
"That's OK. No worries, hermano. How about we play a little game? You tell me five things you can see?" It wasn't the best way to ground Donnie, Leo knew that, but the best way involved having Mikey tightly wrapping his arms around Donnie, putting on just the right amount of pressure while babbling into his ears about whatever he had done that day. Out of question for obvious reasons. The slider waited for a moment, absentmindedly noticing how the muttering had stopped. Donnie meanwhile tried to pry his fingers from Raph's scales, unable to he settled on clenching his jaw and mutely shaking his head. He seemed calmer but Leo was sure his heart and head were still racing. Well, that threw a wrench into that plan, non-verbal as he was.
"That's OK, too. How about I talk and you listen? Can you do that?" He was especially careful to keep his own mounting panic out of his voice, thankfully being the faceman he knew quite a lot on how to hide his anxiety and worry. Sparing a glance at Raph, he was even more thankful for that. The snapper was chewing on his lower beak and Leo was sure he'd be bleeding if the mutation had left them with human lips. The rest of his body gave its best shot at impersonating a salt pillar. Shaking off the thought, Leo continued speaking.
"Well I can see your marks, they are bright on your skin, not as bright as mine, of course, but who keeps track. I can see your tools, that you left out. I can see the purple of your chair and while I do think the use of that color is excessive I can see the purple LEDs on your desk as well. I can see that ridiculous marble bust of yourself." He made sure to list things Donnie would be able to see as well. Trying to keep his gaze away from the failed prototype and guiding his concentration towards simple things. There was always a short pause after each sentence in which Donnie's eyes searched for whatever his twin named. His hyperventilating slowly calmed down.
"See? You are doing great. Now... What can I hear? I can hear me talking to you. I hear Raph's teeth grinding, boy, if he keeps that up he'll spit out dust when he opens his mouth." At that Donnie let out a huff of air, not quite a laugh, but close enough.
"I hear your wiring humming from all around. And finally I can hear you breathing." He paused when Donnie closed his eyes, fingers still clenched around Raph's arms. The softshell let out an audible breath, slowly relaxing. Leo tried again.
"Can you tell me three things you can feel?"
Donnie unclenched his jaw, opening and closing it a few times without any words escaping, before continuing where Leo left of.
"I can feel Raph's scales. I feel the weight of my battle shell and I feel the cuts on my hands..."
His death grip slowly eased into a normal hold, the slider encouragingly nodding along.
"Two things you can smell?"
"I can smell burnt out wires and Raph's worry stench." He blinked himself back to full awareness, him calming down in turn relaxing his elder brother at least a little bit.
"And one thing you can taste."
"I can taste blood, I think I bit my tongue..." His last sentence was spoken with hidden disgust which made Leo crack a brittle smirk. Donnie had never liked strong tastes after all.
"I think I'm good now, Raph, you can let go." He tapped the snapper's arm twice, similar to a wrestler tapping out. Lost in his own thoughts and worries the sudden contact made Raph flinch, before sheepishly releasing his brother. Freshly freed Donnie directly went towards his computer, ignoring his hurting hands he frantically tapped on the keyboard, first exiting the safety mode the power outage had induced, then opening up blueprints of the portal. Knowing better than to disturb the genius both his brothers came to stand behind him.
"According to my calculations the portal itself has not been faulty. Its original purpose of traveling through dimensions should've still been achieved. Sadly I have overlooked how mystical powers could alter its intended use."
His fingers were still flying over the keys, opening tabs of mathematical formulas, recalculating entire paragraphs. The computer was still processing when Leo interrupted his twin's thoughts.
"He he, sooo~ how about you repeat all that in English this time? Where is Mikey and how do we get him back?"
Donnie stopped his typing abruptly, hands still hovering. For a moment only the quiet whirring of the machine in front of him was heard.
"If the portal still did what it was supposed to, Michael was sent to another dimension. All we need to do is fix up my invention, locate the correct dimension and open up another portal to get him back home."
Leo let out a huff, noticing how Raph relaxed as well. That sounded easy, Mikey would be back in a blink and everything was going to be fine. "Sounds like a plan to me and easy to follow as well. Vamonos, hermanos! The faster Donnie gets his thingamajig fixed the faster we get Mikey home." Excitement bubbled through, blue and red building up hope, purple staying serious. Leo's smile dropped when he noticed Donnie's frown. Their eyes met, crushing the budding hope under the boot of realism.
"I don't know if we can reach the dimension he has been sent to. The more energy the portal has access to, the further its reach. Mikey's mystic powers overloaded the framework. Originally I planned on visiting somewhere with small differences, like what if one of us had freckles, or what if we changed our species. A fractal change that, in the long run, wouldn't differ too much from our own dimension. But with the boost Mikey gave it I have no idea where he could have landed, much less how I'm supposed to recreate it without him present. If I had access to uranium, maybe, but alas... "
There was defeat in the air, Donnie's hopelessness infecting their excitement, turning it into something ugly. Noticing the shift he was quick to lift them back up.
"It's not impossible, we will get him back. It'll just be a lot harder than I anticipated. First of all we should probably make a plan." Always first to put on a mask Leo's face settled in a reassuring grin. "Dee's right. Don't worry, Raph. With all of us working together we'll get that portal up and running in no time."
While his twin was trying to ease Raph's growing anxiety, Donnie was already tapping on his keyboard. He would need materials to rebuild his invention, new fuses for their busted electricity. Then he needed to track his brother, find out in which dimension he drifted off. Should work just fine, he has more than enough data on his mystic power's, building a tracker was the least of his worries. The power source though...
"-right, Donnie?" He was ripped out of his musings by Leo directly addressing him. Caught unaware he blinked at his brother in blue before settling on a questioning. "Yeeeees?" Always the actor he pressed on. "See? Nothing to worry about. We find what we need and get him back. He's probably in a cool dimension anyway, with superheroes and unicorns." Despite Donnie's lackluster reassurance, Leo's words seemed to sooth Raph. The biggest brother's jaw slowly unclenched, his hands stopping their nervous rubbing motions.
" You're right. Raph's fine now... he thinks. We should really focus on getting him back. What can we do, Donnie?" All focus on him, he took the list he had written and sent it into their group chat. A small ding alerted them that they received a message. Good, seemed like the portal had only fried the connected network and not every electronic nearby.
"I sent you a list with all materials I need to rebuild my invention. You can search through the nearby dumps if you can find everything. I could probably order them to a warehouse, but it would take a lot longer..." He continued tapping in calculations.
"Sadly I'm unsure on how to get enough power to reach Mikey with the materials on hand. Therefore I'll be doing something none of us would ever want to." He cringed, disgust and embarrassment clear in his voice. "I'll ask Draxum for help."
Knowing his twin a little too well he shushed him before any complaints could erupt out of him.
"I know, I don't want to contact him either. But as much as it pains me, if someone can replicate Mikey's mystic interference it's him. I'll need his knowledge to power the portal." Leo frowned. While their youngest brother gladly took the Baron in as part of their family, none of them could place quite the same trust into him. They tolerated each other in favor of Mikey's happiness but otherwise tried to keep any interactions down to a minimum. Deciding to ignore his disdain for now, Leo took out his phone and skimmed over the list.
"Alright... I have no idea what most of this is." - "I included pictures." - "Yeah, I noticed, thanks for that. Anyways, Raph, let's go. I bet we can find at least some of it at Repo's." Raph let himself be dragged along, if only to escape the dark lair. Donnie would have to fix that one first, less their father made an appearance. They would need to tell Splinter about Mikey's disappearance eventually, but none of them had the emotional capabilities right then to give any conclusive account on what had happened. So their father had to wait. He probably was sleeping anyways, so as long as Donnie had their electricity repaired by the time he woke up, he would watch his commercials and be none the wiser. After that he'd plan out the tracking device and build what he could from the materials he had left. He'd need to contact Draxum somewhere in between, so they could brainstorm up a way to power the portal.
Despite his mind running circles around all the things he had to do, deep exhaustion settled into his bones. He hadn't truly slept nor eaten in just about two weeks and had known that it would catch up soon. Had planned on it even, wanting to catch a few hours of sleep and one of Mikey's delicious meals after the reveal of his invention. Nice going on that one. Even though his mind was on his lab and how many fuses he needed to bring back electricity in all parts of the lair, his legs steered him towards the kitchen. Faintly he could hear his brothers making their way out, most probably Leo reading the list out loud, knowing Raph sometimes had trouble with all the scientific terms Donnie used.
He entered.
It was like a blow to his face. There were still some utensils, a knife and a cutting board out. Standing innocently on the counter were five plates filled with glossy looking noodles. A recipe from their father, fast and easy but still tasty. A nostalgic meal straight out of their childhood. Donnie remembered back when Mikey was just starting out, he wanted to learn that recipe first. By now he knew how to elevate the dish to fit all of their tastes. Donnie stood in front of his plate. The edge of the ceramic had been painted purple and there was no sesame or chives garnishing the food. Instead there were fried pork stripes laid meticulously off to the side so the different textures wouldn't mingle. It smelled delicious and while no longer hot it was still warm enough to softly steam. He did say it was dinner time...
Still standing in front of the counter, Donnie had a sudden urge to take all of the plates and shatter them on floor. Instead he swallowed the burst of anger and self loathing, walked past the well prepared dinner towards the fridge. Robotically he took out a package of his flavorless juice, ignoring the untouched food prepared for him. The nostalgic aroma normally warming his heart, only brought nausea with it. If only he had thought of Mikey's mystic outbursts. In hindsight it was such an obvious side effect he should have calculated it in; should have kept his younger brother away from the prototype, maybe he should have designed some kind of protective casing or...
He took a sip and turned away from the fridge. It didn't matter. He would fix it, get him back and everything would be fine. The feeling of helplessness once again reignited inside him, but Donnie pushed it aside. Right now he had quite a list of things he could fix and only one he couldn't, so it was only logical he would start at the former.
Smothering the feeling beneath thoughts on circuits and fuses he walked out of the kitchen towards his lab. The steaming plates were left behind, untouched, slowly growing colder.