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phoebepheebsphibs · 3 months ago

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Double-Mutated Mikey

Chapter 42: Artificial Intelligence

Continued from the short story written by @boots-with-the-fur-club

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"Raph, I'm fine!" Mikey argues as he looks up at his older brother. "Really! You don't need to hold my hand..."

Raph nods, but doesn't look down at him -- instead opting to keep lookout, glancing back and forth as they walk down the halls.

Raph's usual pace has always kept Mikey struggling to keep up, his longer legs causing his steps to be wider than the average ninja mutant turtle teen. But even now, he's speed-walking. Mikey's forced to jog in order to keep up and not be forcefully dragged by his older brother, who is keeping a deathgrip on his wrist. They turn a corner and Raph raises his hand to signal him to stall -- though he raises the one he's holding Mikey with at first, causing the little brother to dangle in midair for a moment before Raph hears him clear his throat and frantically sets him back down and silently apologizes.

Mikey glances down at Raph's ginormous hand enveloping his own. It's enormous, strong, and covered in calluses and rough skin -- and yet it still manages to be gentle and sweet, the kindest hands Mikey has ever known.

He glances back up at Raph -- the eldest brother's face is stone and serious, a grim expression of sternness hiding the obvious fear and anxiety underneath. His Raph-chasm is deep-set, his eye twitches, his teeth grit and grind as he stares down the hall for incoming dangers. Mikey glances back down at their fingers interlocked and gently squeezes Raph's hand twice.

For a moment, Mikey's chest fills with a familiar anxiety as he feels the difference between his fingernails and Raphael's. As rough as Raph's hands are, they're nothing compared to Mikey's palms now. His crooked claws threaten to pierce Raph's skin, the sharp talons scraping against his knuckles.

But Raphael's face lightens once he feels Mikey's squeeze, a signal that was made between all four brothers when they were little. A signal to show that they were present, that they cared. A tiny gesture that represented a specific phrase to help when all other words seemed to fail.

I love you.

Raph stares down at the two hands. He squeezes back twice.

The anxiety in Mikey's chest drifts away immediately. But he can still sense the lingering fear in his brother...

"Are you okay, Raph?" Mikey whispers softly, looking up at him. "We're gonna be alright, y'know... Now that Chaplin's gone, no one's going to be coming after us once we get out!"

Raph gives a weak and pathetic attempt at a smile. He wears his heart on his sleeve, he has no poker face whatsoever. Mikey can tell he's scared.

He slips his hand out from Raph's and reaches up, cupping his face gently. Raphael's hands reach up and wrap over Mikey's. He breathes in deeply, exhales slowly, closes his eyes. His fingers shake as he tries to form the words.

"...I'm just scared, Mike," he whimpers, tears pooling under his eyelids. "I can't help it. I'm... I'm scared a lot more than I let on. I don't want to lose you again..."

"You're afraid you'll lose me?"

"Why do you think I wanted to stay with you when we split up?" Raph whispers. "I... I know you forgave me. I know it wasn't my fault. But it was my responsibility, you were my responsibility, and I -- I --" Raph chokes down a sob before opening his teary, blurry eyes. "I can't lose you again. I'm not.... strong enough."

Mikey pulls Raph close and holds him tight.

"You're not Mr. Incredible, you know. You don't have to be the strongest one all the time. And you won't lose me!"

Raph whines softly, hands trembling against Mikey's as his tears drip down his cheeks.

"...Raph, I swear on my life that you'll never lose me again."

"Don't say stuff like that," Raph cries, squeezing Mikey against his quaking chest. "Don't say that, it makes it sound like you might --"

"I need you to know, though --" Mikey says, stroking his older brother's spiky shell in slow reassurances. "You'll never lose me again. I promise. Nothing in this world or any other could take me away from you. Or you from me." He pulls away to make sure Raph can see his face. "Not even death."

Raph's eyes glisten, his lip quivers.

"...But I don't want it to come to that, Mikey," he sniffles. "I know that... I know we have that Hamato ghosty-thing, and all the anatawa hitorijinai stuff, but... I don't want that. I want you to be safe and stay with me in this world. I want to make up for my mistakes and flaws, I want to make up for lost time. I want you to come home."

"Then I promise that I'll come home," Mikey smiles. "Easy. So why are you still scared?"

Raph shrugs before pulling Mikey back in again.

"I dunno. Just... just a feeling. I hate this place. I hate what it does. And I hate feeling scared for no reason. I know we'll get out, I know we'll be okay, and I know I'll never let anything bad ever happen to you ever again. But... that doesn't stop the scared thoughts from creeping in."

Mikey nods and sighs.

"Well... I can only tell you advice that someone told me once," he says with a smile. "Trust me. And remember that those thoughts are just lies. Right?"

Raphael smiles softly, squeezing Mikey in a hug one last time before letting him go.

"You're right. C'mon, let's find Bishop and Honeycutt and get outta here..."

The two meander down the hall carefully, even though it's mostly deserted. They check every room, though Raph elects to have Mikey be lookout in the hall to avoid getting triggered by anything unexpected. The floor they're on has a lot of medical equipment and rooms for surgery...

They're about to go searching on the next floor when they receive a text message from Leo, stating that he's found the professor.

"That means we can head out now, right?" Mikey asks, climbing up onto Raph's shell and perching on his shoulder.

"I think so..." Raph says, though the tone in his voice is unconvincing. "Casey just messaged us and said he found Bishop and April, and that they're going to look for something to use against the EPF and the TCRI."

"Use against? Like a weapon?" Mikey asks nervously.

"No, I think they meant like proof of illegal activity."

"Oh," Mikey sighs. "...Should we go help them?"

Raph takes a moment to think it over. Mikey knows that he wants to get out as quickly as possible, and he doesn't blame him. But not even the fear of this creepy lab could null Raph's loyal heart, nor his hero mentality.

"...Yeah, I guess we should," he mumbles, rubbing Mikey's head.

Mikey's pretty sure Raph did that just to be certain he was still with him. But Mikey doesn't mind. He's secretly pleased that just being a physical presence for Raph is enough of a way for him to help ground his older brother... and besides, Mikey's love language is touch, after all. Despite how much the TCRI tried to beat and sculpt and scrape that out of him, he still adores it when his brothers hug, or pet, or snuggle, or cuddle.

Raph messages the group chat and gets a few texts back in response.

"Okay, so -- we're all gonna meet up in the records room, where we'll come up with a plan on getting the stuff we need, and Dee will give us back our weapons. But we're not gonna stay for long; April and Casey will stick with Bishop and Honeycutt long enough to recover the files they copied. While they're up to that, Leo will portal us home."

"What about the others?" Mikey asks nervously. "How're they getting home?"

"Leo or Draxum will portal back for 'em," Raph explains. "But Leo wants to get you home quick. Plus, he took a lot of voltage. I think he needs to lie down for a bit..."

Mikey hums sadly, crouching against Raph's shoulder. The older brother feels his baby bro's vocal cords vibrate against his skin as he whines, and he instinctively reaches up to stroke the back of Mikey's shell.

"That wasn't your fault, and you know it, big man."

"...Yeah, I know," Mikey whimpers. "But I still feel guilty about --"

Mikey pauses.

He stiffens, his nostrils burning from a specific scent. His muscles tense, his lifts himself up slightly from Raphael's shoulders to sniffs the air once more, searching for something.

"Mikey? Mike, what's wrong?" Raph asks, noticing the obvious shift in his brother's attitude and stance.

"Something smells... wrong," Mikey answers, brow creasing as his head moves from side to side, still trying to locate the smell. "I smell something bad."

"Bad? Like what? A gas leak, or maybe a scientist??"

"No, nothing like that," Mikey murmurs, forehead wrinkling exponentially. "It smells... like a machine..."

"Machine?"

"Yeah, they all have a distinct smell here. They smell like oil and tar. And burning rubber. A-and a weird metallic scent, like nickel or... I dunno. Maybe even obsidian?"

"But I don't smell anything," Raph whispers, peeking back and forth down the hall as Mikey crawls all over him while he seeks to locate the source.

"I know I smelled something," Mikey whispers. "Something dangerous... and... familiar..."

"Familiar?" Raph asks, "Familiar how --"

Out of the wall, a hand suddenly thrusts itself in front of the two, almost punching Raphael straight in the face before he ducks and deflects, scrambling away while Mikey exclaims in shock.

Raph reels, Mikey clinging onto him desperately as his older brother struggles to regain his balance. The wall crumbles, dust and debris tumbling as a figure bursts their way through the drywall.

"WHAT THE HOT SOUP?!" Raph shouts, fists going up as he readies himself for a fight. "WHAT ARE THESE PEOPLE MADE OUT OF?!"

"Interesting query," the figure responds, voice soft and silky smooth. "While most of the people here are made up of flesh and bone..."

The figure smiles as she dusts herself off and straightens out her skirt.

"...I am made of more interesting materials."

Mikey growls from atop his perch, claws going rigid and trying very hard not to clench Raph's shoulders. His tail sharpens, the barbs and spikes sticking out.

He feels Raph's hand rest against his arm, gently reminding him to stay present and not let Instinct take control. Mikey forces his breathing to slow down and regulate, he grits his teeth to keep the fangs from forming, and curls his hands into fists to try and force the energy inside from coming out.

"Who... what ARE you?" Raph asks nervously, though he does a good job of hiding his nerves.

"I am Ms. Campbell," she replies with a sly smile. "Mikey and I have already met..."

Raph glances back at Mikey, who is having a difficult time keeping his seething fury in check.

"She's the one who captured me..." he growls. "She's not human, she's some kind of robot-thing..."

"She is?" Raph questions, his own face getting getting hot with anger as he turns and glares at the woman. "Oh. Then I guess it's clobberin' time, eh?"

Ms. Campbell tuts at them, clicking her synthetic tongue in disappointment.

"I know how skilled you are in combat. I've downloaded Mikey's training sessions, and pulled security footage of you and the others during the invasion and the two years prior. The four of you are quite impressive..."

"Thank you," Raph growls. "But we'll be heading out now."

"You ki̶l̶l̶e̵d Dr. Chaplin. I saw from the security footage," she says, practically spitting venom as she speaks. "You will pay for that. His work will be continued if it's th̷e̴ la̵st̶ thing I do̵̼̞͛."

Ms. Campbell dives at them, her fists ready. Raph jumps back and dodges the blows before returning fire and swinging his own fists at her. As he leaps forward, Mikey jumps off his shoulder and pounces on hers instead, clawing at her face and wrapping his barbed tail around her neck. Raph and Mikey simultaneously attack her, But even still she is a force to be reckoned with. Mikey's spiky tail cuts through her forged skin, as it tightens more and more. She screams in anger and grips his tail taut, trying to rip it from her neck. She pulls in two directions, the barbs and spikes cutting her palms. Mikey shouts in pain as she attempts to tear his tail in two. He releases his grip, and instead opts to bite his fangs deep into her neck. His teeth hit something hard, a metal tube or rod, and he nearly chips a tooth. Ms. Campbell screeches in pain, grabs him from under one of his scutes, and tosses him across the hallway. Raph catches him as easily as if they were playing a game of brother-ball. This gives the two an idea... Mikey nods and Raph instantly throws him back into the fray. As Mikey is flung through the air, he spins to gain momentum. Mikey slashes his tail and sending several projectile barbs flying ahead of him, stabbing the android woman in the chest and shoulders. As soon as he lands on top of her again, he pulls two out and stabs her in the temples, dragging the barbs down and slicing her face in the process. Sparks fly and oil spurts out as she gives a gutteral screech of agony. Mikey jumps off of her and lands on Raph as he barrels towards her, tackles her, and then swings her body like an oversized ragdoll all the way down the hall and into the farthest wall.

Mikey and Raph cheer and high five excitedly, celebrating their victory.

Their premature victory.

"Yo̸u̸ t̷h̵i̶n̵k̷ t̶h̴a̶t w̷i̵l̵l̵ s̴t̸op m̷e̵?̴"̵ she growls, her voice garbled and strained. Mikey must've bit through her synthesized vocal cords. "̴I̵ am̵ n̷o̷t̵hi̵n̸g̷ l̴i̴k̷e̷ wh̵at̸ yo̵u̸ ̵h̷a̴v̵e̴ e̶v̷e̸r̶ ̷k̴n̵o̴w̵n̷.̸ I ̶am ̶n̷o̸t̶ ̷h̷u̴m̴a̵n.̴ ̷I ̷am̵ no̴t̴ ̴ma̵c̵h̵i̷n̷e.̴ I̴ am part of the KR̶A̴N̷G̶.̸ I ̴will̶ d̴e̵s̴t̴r̷o̷y̴ ̴y̶ou.̸"

She pulls herself from the crater in the wall, slowly cracking her neck and rolling her shoulders, dusting off the debris from the drywall. Her face is covered in oil splatters and ripped fake skin. She reaches up and begins to peel the faux flesh from her face, revealing the metal that is molded to resemble human muscles underneath.

Raph and Mikey retch at the sight, unaware of how much worse it is about to get.

Ms. Chaplin's joints disconnect, causing her arms to separate into pieces and elongate. Her face unbuckles and reveals a hidden metal skeleton with serrated teeth. She begins to grow, her dress rips around the stomach and reveals her chest stretching like a coil. She towers over the two terrified teens, becoming a horrific amalgamation of nightmare of machinery.

"Okay, so this is new," Mikey mumbles in a hushed tone.

"Albearto, eat your heart out..." Raph gulps.

Ms. Campbell roars at them, her shrieks nothing more than the grinding of gears and scraping of metal. Mikey and Raphael scream as they run away.

"Why didn't you tell me there was a killer lady robot on the loose?!" Raph yells as he slides down a turn and slams into the wall, regaining his footing and booking it as fast as he can.

"Well, because I wanted us to fail!" Mikey mouths back, his tail balancing him out as he bounces off the same walls, his enhanced agility allowing him to make the turn much more elegantly and with greater speed. "...OBVIOUSLY I DIDN'T KNOW!"

The two run as fast as they can, the horrible screeching sounds of deadly mechanics following fast behind them. Mikey glimpses back and sees a giant spider-like monster giving chase, arms and legs twice the size of her body and made of uncoiled cables that bend with utter flexibility. Mikey feels like he's living in a nightmare or one of those spooky video games Leo and Donnie would play late at night when they thought Splinter wouldn't catch them.

He rounds another hall before realizing he's no longer accompanied by Raph. He skids to a halt, scanning the hall behind him. Raphael is several yards behind, trying his best to keep up. Raph's walking pace may have been quicker than Mikey's, but Mikey blows him out of the water when it comes to running for your life.

"Raph!!" Mikey screams, lunging towards him as the mechanical monster catches up and nearly grabs him. "WATCH OUT!!"

Mikey pounces atop him, acting as a shield as Ms. Campbells hands claw into his arms, digging through his flesh and spilling blood as her coiled arms wrap around him, imprisoning him in her hold. Mikey screams in pain as she lifts him up and stares at him, her eyes burning and her twisted mouth grinning at him.

"̶Y̶o̷u̵r̴ ̶t̸i̴m̷e̷ ̶i̵s̷ ̶u̴p̴,̵ ̷l̷i̴t̵t̴l̴e̵ ̵m̷o̴n̵s̵t̴e̸r̷,̶"̵ she drones.

"HEY!" Raph shouts, leaping up and swinging his fist at her. "NO ONE DOES THAT TO MY BROTHER!!"

Raph's unprotected knuckles collide with Ms. Campbell's steel face, knocking her back and momentarily stunning her. Raph falls to the floor hissing as he grips his wrist, his knuckles scraped and already starting to bleed from the impact.

"What is she MADE OF?" he growls before going back in the fray, attacking her relentlessly.

Raph tackles her and manages to shove her through a wall, landing the trio in an examination room filled with strange exercise equipment that look more like medieval torture devices to MIkey...

The impact causes her grip on Mikey to loosen just enough for him to wriggle out. Despite the blood running down his forearms, Mikey forces himself to crawl all across the terrifying automaton. Ms. Campbell shrieks in irritation and sends one of her arms after Mikey. This gives him an idea...

Mikey jumps from one side of her body to the other, pretending it's Dee's jungle gym. Ms. Campbell's arms swerve back and forth, chasing after him as the the rest of her limbs wriggle around like frantic worms. With her limbs tangled, Mikey seizes his oppurtunity.

"Raph!" he shouts. "Get her legs!"

Raphael, who had been slightly dazed and trapped under her flailing legs, comes to and grabs what he can, tying them all up into knots. Ms. Campbell shrieks, and her limbs start spinning out of control as she fights to regain stabilization.

"Whoah!" Raph manages to yell just before one of the tangled limbs throws him into a table.

Mikey dodges the limbs and grabs the first thing he can from a nearby desk.

It's a cattle prod.

He jerks as sparks fly once he presses the button, surprised by the power this thing has. He smiles as he realizes the karma he's about to pull, and slams the staff of electrocution into Ms. Campbells chest. Her tuned-up pitched screams fill the air and make Mikey's ears ring. Her eyes burst like bulbs after a power surge, and her body goes limp. Mikey pulls back, shaking as he looks her over.

"Is... is she, like... dead? O-or, deactivated?" Raph pants as he steps forward.

"I...I'm not s-sure," Mikey stammers, his arms going weak and wobbly as he recalls his injuries. The cattle prod falls to the floor with a loud clatter, and Raph rushes to Mikey's side.

"Here, let's get those taken care of," he whispers softly, removing his own wrappings from his arms and tightly bandaging Mikey's wounds.

Mikey hisses as the cloths touch the open wounds in his arms.

"We should look for a room with medical supplies, I'm sure they'll have some anti-bacterial spray or actual bandages."

"That sounds like --"

Mikey's words are knocked out of him as a coily limb once again slams into his stomach and throws him into a wall. Raph is also thrown as the opposite limb collides into his chest and sends him sliding several feet away.

"Mikey!" he shouts, getting up quickly and running over to him.

Ms. Campbell gives another robotic shriek before she manages to untangle her arms and grabs at Raphael, who momentarily wishes he was as small and agile as his little brother was.

But then he realizes that he's a tank, and smiles.

Raphael headbutts the metallic monster, shoving her into an observation room of glass walls and extreme exercise equipment. While she struggles to get back up, Raph grabs two heavy weights in each hand and activates his ninpo, turning the equipment into temporary sai and creating armor over his hands.

"̴W̴h̵a̷t̸ ̷d̵o̷ ̶y̵o̴u̶ ̸t̸h̴i̸n̸k̴ ̷y̸o̷u̴ ̷w̷i̷l̵l̸ ̵a̶c̵c̷o̵m̵p̸l̴i̵s̴h̴ ̵h̶e̴r̶e̷?̶!̶"̴ Ms. Campbell shrills, her voice distorted and glitching. "̴Y̶o̵u̵ ̷c̷a̶n̵n̵o̸t̸ ̴d̷e̶f̶e̸a̵t̶ ̴m̶e̴!̶ ̴Y̵o̷u̷ ̴s̶h̸a̷l̶l̷ ̶n̶o̸t̵ ̵d̴e̸f̵e̵a̶t̵ ̴t̵h̴e̶ ̶T̷C̶R̸I̵!!̵!"̷

"We'll see about that," Raph smiles smugly, creating two replicas -- so two of him can fight Ms. Campbell, and one can check on Mikey.

Two of the Raph clones begin to pelt the robot woman with dumbells and weights and other random equipment, doing their best to break her metal body into pieces. The third Raph slides up to Mikey, scoops him up, and carries him out.

"W-wait, what about the oth-thers?" Mikey stutters, the bloodloss starting to make his head spin and arms quiver.

"They'll be fine, they can handle her."

"But... which one is the real Raph?" Mikey asks, looking back frantically at the two clones that are still attacking her.

"You think I'd let a clone take care of you?" Raph winks. "Even if it was a perfect clone of myself -- I'm not letting you out of my sights ever again."

"So... y-you're the real Raph?" Mikey mumbles, clinging to his brother's plastron.

"Real as rain, bud," Raphael chuckles. "Now, let's find you some actual medical supplies while Springtrap back there is distracted..."

"H-her name is Ms. Campbell...?"

"Nevermind," Raph sighs. "Maybe someone else will get the joke..."

The two Raphs tag-team the fight, one smashing his fists into her alloyed countenance while the other tries to wrangle her weird limbs. Every time he gets one pinned, another comes loose and he has to wrangle the 'spaghetti noodles from hell' once again.

As the first clone swings his fist once more, Ms. Campbell's face opens up to the skeletal structure and serrated teeth, and closes around the mystic armor, chomping down hard and nearly piercing the hologram. Raph yelps and tries to pull his hand out, struggling to do so as she continues to rip him apart. The second Raph jumps behind her and puts her in a hibernator move, lifting her up off the floor and throwing her backwards towards a very terrifying-looking treadmill machine. One of her limbs gets caught in what seems to be a harness connected to the device. Raph clone #2 gets an idea...

Raph clone #1 gets the same idea and lunges outside of the glass room, rushing to a control panel and begins pressing buttons. The treadmill starts to whir. Ms. Campbell notices the movement, despite her eyes having been burst. Raph clone #2 takes advantage of her moment of distraction and begins grabbing the other limbs, wrapping them into several of the harnesses and tangling her up. She quickly catches on to what he's up to and begins to fight back, desperately trying to untangle herself. One arm clicks, the hand retreats into the cable and is swiftly replaced with razor blades. Raph clone #2 bends backwards as he dodges, the edges of his mask tails getting shredded as Ms. Campbell swipes at him. She manages to rip one of the harnesses and feels around for the rest, almost sawing her other limb in half as she does. Raph clone #2 ducks and dives at her feet, grabbing the tentacle limbs and shoving them towards the conveyor belt rotors.

Ms. Campbell swings her arm at him again, stabbing one of the scutes on his shell. The clone isn't bothered, he barely even registers the knife in his back as he smiles and watches the rotors and gears swallow her legs and begin to eat her up. Ms. Campbell pauses in shock as she realizes her imminent defeat and shrieks again, swinging her trapped arms as her body is pulled apart, half of it trapped in the harnesses and the other getting pulled into the gears and shredded in the process. Her pins and points pop, coils snap and springs fly. Her shouts are pointless as she's ripped apart, the circuits fry and her body falls limp as the robotics are flattened inside the mechanisms of the strangely deadly treadmill.

The two Raph clones smile at each other and give an exhale of relief before disintegrating into holographic pixels. The sai drop to the floor and almost shatter the tiles as they transform back into heavy weights.

Raph exhales softly as he covers Mikey's arms with salves before stitches. He might not be the official team medic, but Leo taught him a few things, and with as many unintentional injuries as he gave himself and the many years where he had to pick up the slack for his ailing father, Raph learned a few things about taking care of others and treating some serious injuries.

"Okay... we're safe now," he sighs with relief. "She's completely destroyed."

"You can tell that from way over here?" Mikey asks, forcing himself to look away from his arms. He still can't handle the blood, and even though it's Raph... he still hates the feeling of being inspected or operated on.

"Yep," Raph nods, being as gentle as he can while he stitches up the wounds. "My ninpo told me."

"Do you... c-can you see everything they see?" Mikey asks. "Or... how does your ninpo work? Are all of the Raphs connected?"

"Sorta," Raph chuckles, noticing the way Mikey is trying to distract himself from the situation. "My ninpo is kinda weird. I can sorta... tap into them whenever, but usually I don't know what's going on unless I purposefully connect with them. We mind-meld sometimes, but it ain't real necessary since we all have the same thoughts and junk in battle."

He ties the thread, snips it, then moves on to the second arm. Mikey holds his breath for a moment as he waits for the needle to sew him closed...

"...Sometimes I can see what they see. It's a weird out-of-body experience, but also... not at all? It feels kinda more like teleportation. Which freaks me out sometimes."

"How? Why" Mikey asks, glancing back momentarily before looking away again.

"I used to wonder if I'd ever get confused which me was the real me, and which one was a clone. Poking into their minds felt almost like... transferring my consciousness, if that sounds right. It probably doesn't. But I always wondered what would happen if a clone got wrecked by a villain while my mind was still connected. I spent a good few weeks trying to figure out if I had been replaced by a clone and the real me died while fighting the Shredder... it was a weird couple of weeks, and I couldn't focus on anything."

"I had no idea," Mikey sighs sadly. "...Do my powers do that? Or is it just... mystic chains?"

"It's a little more complicated than that," Raph sighs back. "Casey said your powers evolve and grow, but before he showed up we just thought it was only mystic chains. But during the invasion you learned how to open portals, which was cool. Dangerous, but cool. All done, by the way!"

Mikey finally gives a real and deep exhale as Raph snips the tied-off medical thread. He quickly bandages the injuries as well, so Mikey won't have to look at them and get squeamish.

"Thanks, Raph," Mikey sighs. "For everything."

"That's what big brothers are for," he smiles. "To make sure their little bros get back home in one piece, like they promised."

Mikey nods with a grin, slowly climbing back up onto Raph's shoulders as they make their way to their rendezvous with the others.

"Do you think... we could practice cool mystic powers once this is over?" Mikey asks.

Raphael desperately tries to hide the sheer excitement from the inquiry. For years, Mikey always loved following Raph and wanting to hang out and learn from him. But somewhere along the line, Mikey grew up and they grew apart. Raph could never stop seeing him as the baby, and Mikey had gotten sick of it. But now, here he was again, asking for his big brother to teach him things like he used to do oh-so-long-ago.

"Sure, Mike," Raph smiles, patting him on the back, and feeling his baby brother's tail swing back and forth in a highly pleased manner. "I can't wait to..."

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