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"Ever wonder what would happen if Donnie ever cracked?" Mikey asked as he stared moodily at the door of Donnie's lab where strange sounds were heard from the others.
"Wonder? Raph snorted from beside Mikey where he leaned on the wall with his arms folded. " I think he's at least halfway there!"
Mikey turned to him and noted with worry that though the tone of his older brother was pretty casual, his eyes were worried.
"what makes you say that?"
"One word. Hiccups."
Mikey blinked. Of all the answers he was expecting, hiccups weren't even on the list. "Huh? Hiccups? What are you yapping about, Raph?"
Raphael glanced at him from out of the corner of his eyes. "Wassa matter, you forget or something?"
"Raphie, I have no idea what you're talking about!"
"Heh, guess you're blocking that memory or something. Funny, you were the one with the hiccups."
He sighed and his eyes slid back to stare at the door. "I guess I can tell ya. But I warn you, you'll never look at Donnie the same way again."
"No worries dude. I know he's weird."
Mikey, you have no idea."
"Come on, just tell the story already. You are just teasing me now."
Raph smirked at the whine that was starting to creep in the younger turtle's voice as he talked. It was so easy to mess with him. Too bad, he wanted this story to be part of the prank. HIs smile faded slightly. He still had nightmares.
"Well, guess it won't hurt telling ya."
"Dude, just tell the story already! Stop stalling! Spill!"
"Alright, already! Geesh. It happened when we were ten or something like that." Raph said with reluctance in his voice, now that teasing Mikey seemed to have worn a little thin, and a twinkle in his eyes. "And you had one of the worst hiccups I have ever seen so far."
"Really? I think you're pulling my shell here. I don't remember any of this."
"What did you see on t.v. last week?"
"Umm…" Mikey thought for a moment, then slumped as his face turned bright red.
Raph smirked. "Think I proved my point here." He gloated. "Anywho, Those hiccups lasted weeks. Literally weeks. Got on all of our nerves. At last, Leo decided enough was enough. And he got Don, and me over fer a little meeting…"
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"Okay, operation Hiccup is now on the table," Leo announced as his brothers joined him at the kitchen table.
"Lamest code name ever." Raph griped.
"Sorry the name didn't meet your exacting standards, Raph." Leo retorted scathingly.
Raph growled, and started rising from the seat he just took, but a hand grabbed him by the arm. "Focus guys," Don said calmly. "We got to focus on how we can best help Mikey right now."
Leo took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "You're right, Don. Now can anyone tell me a good way of curing this thing?"
"I already went through the list of common cures, even the stupid ones," Don said, frowning slightly. "Nothing worked so far."
"Like what?"
"Well, drinking water really fast. Holding your breath, exercising, standing on your head. Shell, I even had Raph try to scare him a few times."
"Well, let's go over them again. Only this time, we take it to the extreme."
"Whatcha mean?" Raph asked, ridges raised in curiosity.
"Well, instead of making him drink water or holding his breath, we dunk him in water. Instead of making him do some jumping jacks, we put him through the longest, hardest workout of his life."
"Oh!" Donnie added interrupting excitedly. "There is also scaring him. I can think of a few good ideas. But I am kind of scared of traumatizing him."
"Yeah, right." Raph snorted. "Like we'll ever have to worry about that happening."
"what are you trying to say?" Donnie asked, turning red as his eyes narrowed. "Think I can't be scary, do you?"
"What I am saying is a fluffy little bunny is scarier than you are, Nerd-boy."
Don's face darkened with growing rage and this time, it was Leo who stepped in to defuse the situation. "Guys. Try to remember why you are here. Argue later."
"Right. Sorry."
"Yeah, whatever. So what is the plan?"
"Hmm. I think we pretty much have a plan together. I will do the workout. Raph you sca…..er, no. You do the water dunking. Just remember he's a turtle, not a fish. And Don, you do the scaring."
"Leo! You gotta be kidding!" Raph began, but Don cut in with a dark glare at Raph. "I won't let you down, Leo."
"I am sure you won't." Leo nodded, with a slight smile. "You'll do just fine."
Donnie raced off, leaving Raph free to vent. And vent he did. "What the shell are you thinking, Leo? Is Donnie going to scare Mikey? Donnie can't scare anyone! Sure you don't want to ask anything a little scarier? Like, I don't know, a Smurf! Oh, I know! Thumper! Call Thumper! Let me get Disney on the line."
"Are you quite finished?" Leo asked after listening for several minutes.
"Why him, Leo?"
"Because you go too far."
"He won't go nearly far enough."
"This is Mikey. He's still scared of the boogie man."
"He also is the one who laughed his way through Arachnophobia."
Leo shuttered at the memory. "Okay, yes. That was pretty creepy."
The two sat in thought. Finally, Leo sighed. Raph, just let him try. We most likely won't need it, since his is last. And if he fails, then you can try."
"Now that is a plan I can get behind."
The next day, Operation Hiccup went into motion. Raphael was first. Somehow, he had managed to rig up a chain and pulley system over the pool in the living room. Leo took one look at it and covered his face with a hand with a groan. Mikey, the hiccup sufferer, took one look and tried to run for it.
"Whoa!" Raph laughed as he and Leo grabbed the frightened hiccuper. "This is for your own good!"
"No, it's n'hic' not! This is revenge for 'hic' the fake ants on the c'hic' couch!"
"No, it's not!" Raph protested, then paused and added with a smirk as he continued pulling the hapless victim to the edge of the pool. "Mostly."
"M...ostly!" Mikey squeaked, struggling against the grip of his brothers "I don't wanna do 'hic' this! I lo 'hic' love hiccups!"
"Relax. Stop this, Mikey." Leo said in his most calming tones. "I'll keep an eye on him."
"Pro 'hic' Promise?"
"Promise."
Thus reassured, Mikey allowed himself to be attached and dunked for varying lengths. The last time, Raph left him down past the fast minute mark and got a serious dressing down from Leo.
Mikey was, when he was let free, was chilled to the bone, cleaner than when they had started, and hiccuping much worse than ever.
By contrast, Mikey welcomed Leo's workout with enthusiasm. As Leo led him through the various exercises as fast as he could, Leo had to wonder if Mikey was venting frustration over Raph treating him like some kind of living green teabag. When it was over, at last, Mikey dropped where he stood. On the up side, it managed to wear even the hyper Mikey out. Unfortunately, Mikey's hiccups were no better.
As Leo led Mikey over to Donnie's lab, with the excuse that the reclusive turtle needed to get out for a while, his heart sank. He had perfect faith that Don would try his best, of course. He was sure that Don was ready. He had sounded the signal that was agreed upon. But he had no real faith in the plan when Raph's dunking fright didn't help much.
He was far from sure that Don was able to pull this off.
He paused at the door, eye ridges drawn low in thought. What was that thumping sound? Mikey didn't hesitate at all. "Dude!" He called out as he entered the spare room Donnie now used for his budding repair work and study. "How long a'hic' are you going to 'hic' going to stay shut up...what the shell?!"
Leo's ridges shot up at the sound of Mikey's outcry. He followed hurriedly. What he had found there sent a shiver of ice down his spine.
The room was not as dark as he had expected. In fact, it was almost too bright for comfort. It was also starkly clean. All but the corner where Donnie stood, wearing the lab coat that was a gift from Splinter. He was glaring at the two. "Can't you knock?" He snapped.
As Leo stared, a part of him was in awe of his meek brother's construct. The rest of him was horrified beyond thought. There was, well, some misshapen lump at Don's feet. The walls were splattered with red. Some of it rusty brown, some was brilliant red. Whatever was on the wall was also heavily splattered on Don's lab coat.
Then Leo's dread doubled when he noticed that Don had his bo in hand. It was splintered and broken on one side and was practically dripping red.
"Donnie!" Mikey sputtered, gesturing wildly as he yelled. "What the...who is….What the shell, man! What the shell are you doing?!"
Donnie looked about him as though searching for something. The annoyance faded slowly. He looked at the staff and sighed sadly. "I wish these things wouldn't break so often." He looked up and smiled his old familiar smile. HIs normal behavior made the chill going up and down Leo's spine that much more pronounced. Shell! Don was only acting. Right?
"Well, since you are here, uninvited I might add, just give me a moment to clean up, and I'll be right with you. Hey, Mikey? A hand here?"
When Don moved a few steps toward his younger brother and reached out, Mikey seemed to wake up. "Don't you dare come near me!" he screamed. "Raph! Splinter! Don gone nuts!"
"What's wrong, Mikey?" Don asked, his face taking on an expression of concern, as he took another step closer. Mikey screamed again, skipping back hastily.
Don's acting so normal, Leo almost believed that this was some crazy dream. A pinch relieved him of that idea. "Don! You went too far," he said sternly. His brain buzzed with fear and worry.
"Too far?" Don asked cocking his head to the side, as he had a habit of doing with something got his curiosity. "What are you talking about?"
Leo's eyes widened even more, and he found himself backing up as well. "D...Don! That is not f...funny!"
"I do have a rather evolved sense of humor. But this time, I have no idea what joke you are talking about." Don said, blandly, as his ridges drew together, as though in thought or worry. "Are you guys feeling okay?'
The quiet, rational words with the normality of his manner, clashed so starkly with the blood splattered lab coat and the broken bo made Leo want to scream. But before he could do more than stare back, however, Raph arrived with a resounding slam of the already abused door. "What the shell is all the noise about?" he glared at Leo and Mikey before his gaze drifted to Don. "I was watching Die ha….What the shell?!"
"Ah, Raph." Don smiled as though in relief. "Great!" Grabbing his arm, he started pulling him toward the corner where the lump laid in a spreading pool of red. As he pulled, he continued chatting animated. "Leo and Mikey needed me for something, I suppose. But they got shy for some strange reason. So, I need your help in moving this, and maybe they will act more like themselves."
"You're supposed to be scaring Mikey, not me! You twit!" Raph snarled, as he struggled against Don's grip. He had a rough time of it, Don's grip was the strongest with his bo training.
Don looked at him with a strange expression. "Huh? are you scared of something? Why was I supposed to scare Mikey, anyway?"
"Shell, Don! Don't get buried in yer part." Raph hissed as he bent over the bundle. Then he yelped and jerked back so fast from it, that he slipped on the puddle and landed hard on his rear.
"That's the body of a turtle like us!" He yelled, with a freaked-out expression. Then he looked down. And screeched. "I'm in blood! I'm sitting in turtle blood!"
"Are you okay?" Don asked worriedly, as he put a hand on Raph's shoulder, looking down at him worriedly. "Do you need help getting up?"
"Don't touch me, you wack job! Don't touch me! Where did the turtle come from? What did you do?!"
Don's face went slowly very still. HIs voice flattened to a dead monotone. "He..was a clone. But he was...less than perfect. It had to be gotten…..disposed of."
Don's three brothers stared at him. Finally, Raph broke the stillness. "Shell! Don!" he jumped up and ran for the others. He stood in front of them, and glared at the tallest of his brothers, as though to make sure he didn't rush the other two.
At the same time, Leo gulped hard and said sternly. "You went too far, Don! Much too far."
"All imperfections must be removed," Don answered in that same creepy, flat voice.
It was too much for Mikey. He raced out the door, screaming frantically "Splinter! Donnie's crazy! He killed someone! Splinter! Donnie's killed a turtle!"
Leo and Raph lost no time in following. Turning, they slammed the door shut behind them, and leaned against it in case Donnie got it in his head to go after them or escape.
It was then that, as they caught their breath, that they noticed two things. Mikey, who was still screaming, was no longer hiccuping. And the other was that Donnie on the other side of the door was laughing his shell off. Wide green eyes turned to stare into wide blue eyes. Finally, Raph growled. "I'm gonna kill em."
"I'll help."
We never speak of this again."
"Agreed."
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Donnie smiled slightly as he heard Raph tell the story on the other side of the door. Smiling fondly, he remembered that day. Remembered the lecture he got at the hands of Splinter after he explained that he was only trying to help his brother get better. His eyes lingered fondly on the chest, where his surgical dummy was currently housed. "Guess they learned never to underestimate us that day, huh Leon?" He asked softly. The dummy didn't answer, of course.