Under The Radar

Under the Radar

Donatello hated it when his brothers hid their injuries from him. It was mostly Raphael or Leonardo who thought they could handle their battle wounds on their own without doctor Donnie inspecting them. But this tactic just ended up agitating their injuries further and causing them to become more infected, which was a lot worse than letting the genius turtle patch them up in the first place.

Whenever Raph or Leo got injuries that gave them the incentive to hide their wounds, it was on nights where they snuck out of the Lair to go rogue and haul and kick major butt. Most of the time, Donnie would still be cooped up in his Lab, working on small gadgets when the rogue turtle returned home. Sometimes he'd catch them trying to sneak through the Lair —doing their best to be undetected while supporting a huge gash— and force them to his Laboratory despite all their claims to be 'fine' and 'it's really not that bad' to clean and fix their wounds.

And then —much to the irritation of the family doctor— there were times when Donnie didn't catch them. And when the morning came, their injuries were puffy and irritated and completely swollen which made it harder to patch up. Donnie would scold and demand if they even have so much as a scratch on their body, they better come and find him because honestly, Donnie was never going to sleep if he didn't have the secure knowledge of knowing his family was in one piece. And after a few heated arguments that may or may not have been loud enough to alert the whole city of their presence, Donnie finally won the promise of both older brothers, vowing they'll come directly to him if they happen to sustain an injury in their solo battles. For the most part, they kept to their vows, giving Don the peace he very much needed to know that his family was safe.

Michelangelo was a different story. Mikey always, always told Donnie if he got hurt. If it was a paper cut, the youngest would come sprinting to Don with tears spilling down his cheeks and begging his immediate brother to 'make it stop hurting'. Donatello didn't have a problem with Mikey hiding injuries. He never had to reprimand his little brother for not showing him his battle wounds because, well, Mikey never went off rogue like the two eldest did. And to be quite honest, it was refreshing to the intellectually inclined turtle to not have to worry about his baby brother.

But it was because he wasn't worried about the youngest, Mikey was able to fly under the radar without the purple-banded brother's consent.

The Lair was freezing, reaching fifty-four degrees as Donnie worked to fix up the small heater—some faulty wires that just needed a quick reattachment, almost got it, and there— to heat up the frigid air that claimed their small home. Over in the tv pit sat a shivering Leo who was curled up in a blanket, and next to him, a teeth-chattering Raphael who refused to snatch a blanket, claiming that he 'didn't need one'.

"Is that thang workin' yet? It's takin' you forever!"

"Yes. I just got it working again. Give it a moment to start heating up the Lair." Donnie grumbled as he walked over to where his two brothers sat and plumped down on the make-shift couch and snagged a spare blanket.

"I'm not sure when Mikey's going to get back from hanging out with Casey, so we better start the show now before it gets too late."

"If he comes back and throws a fit that we started it without him, I'm blamin' you." Raph hmphed as he grabbed the remote and punched in a few buttons before settling back to watch the movie that illuminated the tv pit.

It was nearly an hour later when Donnie heard the turnstiles shift, announcing the youngest's return. He didn't bother to look up from his laptop that was balancing expertly on his leg as he gave half of his attention to the show's extremely boring plotline.