Who are you

Nearly Exposed

After Mikey had finished making spaghetti , he grabbed two plates and a notebook with a pen and dashed to Donnie's lab. His brothers already knew why he was going there and didn't say a thing. After all, someone had to convince Splinter that Mikey wasn't up to no good while he was gone. Mikey did eventually get to the figure's cells and was able to slip the plate in through the slot so she could grab it. "I also grabbed us some napkins in case you need them, just let me know." Mikey said as he sat on the floor this time. The figure looked at the food in confusion and looked at Mikey, trying to copy how he was eating his and remained silent once she got the hang of it.

Mikey eventually set his plate down and grabbed the notebook, flipped through some pages and grabbed the pen from the spiral rod on the end. "Okay, I made a list of things me and my brothers use to do all the time." Mikey said as he looked at the figure, who put her plate down immediately and looked at him. "We of course don't do them as much anymore because we go out patrolling more than usual." Mikey explained and looked at the list again. "Okay, I'm just gonna name them off and you tell me if you've done it before." Mikey said, the figure nodded and did as Mikey asked.

"Skateboard?" Nod.

"Graffiti?" No nod.

"Reading books that aren't about history and just for fun?" No nod.

"Exploring because you're bored?" No nod.

"Training?" Nod.

"Watching anything TV other than the news?" No nod.

Mikey didn't even bother to ask about the rest as he frowned and set the book down. "Okay, we're not getting anywhere and where we are at it is concerning." Mikey admitted as the figure looked at him in confusion. "Why don't you tell me what you did before I found you." Mikey explained, the figure nodded and looked to the ground. She began to hum before raising her hands up to explain the best she could. "I was in hiding, trying to avoid being seen the best I could." The figure explained, Mikey nodding at this. So, it was pretty much confirmed that the figure wasn't in the clear from whatever was after her. "I'm gonna assume that those weapons weren't exactly helpful?" Mikey asked, the figure shook her head.

"I hid those guns for another reason. I hid them from who is after me."

Mikey was shocked by this and realized it. "You haven't told any of us who's after you, do you know who they are?" The figure froze and lowered her hands onto her lap. Mikey frowned at her and sighed. "We promise to help you. But we can only do so little if you don't tell us who's after you." Mikey explained, the figure looked away with a frown on her face. But before Mikey could say another thing, Donnie's lab door slammed open. "Mikey?!" Splinter's voice rang out, causing Mikey to gasp as the figure's head shot up with wide eyes. "Where are you?" Mikey started cursing under his breath as he stood up and looked at the figure, who looked at Mikey in hidden fear. "Just stay here, okay? I'll try and make sure Dad doesn't find you." Mikey said as he quickly dashed out, the figure watched in concern before looking at the keypad. Back with Mikey he looked and saw a tense and concerned Donnie as Splinter began to rummage through things and even threw stuff behind him in an effort to find Mikey. Raph, being the brother he was, caught every item that Splinter threw as Leo tried to convince the rat to leave the lab.

"Don't you think we would've told you if he was in here? He's hanging out with April like he does every other friday." Leo said as he dodged another thrown item. "I'm looking for Mikey because April called me and said he hasn't arrived yet!" Splinter said as he threw another titanium bust of Donnie behind him before turning to Leo with an accusing eye. Donnie yelled out as he jumped for his statue and hugged it to his chest as he glared at Splinter. "I'm right here dad, no need to worry." Mikey said as he walked over to Leo with a nervous grin. "See! I told you he was here!" Splinter said with a giant grin as he pointed to Mikey, Leo sighed and rubbed his brow before leaning closer to Mikey. Splinter was distracted by doing his victory dance and rubbing it in Leo's face that he was right on something. "You didn't need to come out here, I had it handled." Leo whispered as Mikey kept grinning.

"I'm not taking any chances. Mrs. Shadow living in that cell is the last thing Splinter needs to know about." Mikey said as he looked at his brother. But even though he kept his words to a whisper, Splinter stopped as his ear flicked. "Who's Mrs. Shadow?" Splinter said as he narrowed his eyes on Mikey, who yelped and laughed nervously. "Uh, no one! It's just what I named that cat that keeps coming in here." Mikey said as he rubbed his neck, but Splinter wasn't convinced as he hummed and narrowed his eyes more. Raph, Donnie and Leo all slid behind Splinter and begged the young turtle silently not to spill the truth. Mikey kept laughing and sweating as Splinter kept his gaze on him, but soon enough, Splinter shrugged his shoulders. "K." Everyone sighed in relief, until they heard Donnie's AI speak.

"Cell one opened." Splinter didn't even wait for the turtle's excuse before slipping past them and running to Raph's old cell. The boys yelled at him to stop as Splinter grabbed the curtain and ripped it open, shocking the turtles as Splinter hummed. The cell had been cleaned out completely, the dishes, blankets, pillows and chair were all missing, the light above was even turned off. Splinter walked into the cell and looked at it in silence as Donnie was typing away on his tech gauntlet, showing it to his brothers to reveal that the figure wasn't in there. "If she's not here, where-" before Leo could answer, Raph elbowed his brother. All three looked at Raph as he gestured to the other side. Everyone followed and saw the blankets had been folded and rested beneath the pillows. The chair had been folded and rested against the wall while the dishes of food remained next to Donnie's monitors. They looked into the dark corner and Mikey gasped quietly as he saw two eyes open. They looked worried and were staring at the cell.

"Camouflage." Raph explained to his brothers, but all three tensed once they heard Splinter sigh. "I suppose nothing in wrong here. It might just be acting faulty from not being used in a while." Splinter said as he moved the cell's door and nodded as he heard a loud groan from it. "Alright then, carry on with whatever you two were doing." Splinter said as he walked past them all and even closed the door on his way out. Donnie double checked to make sure Splinter was gone as Leo and Mikey rushed over. The figure hyperventilating as she fell to her knees and her body could now be seen. "Hey, it's okay!" Mikey said as he sat next to the figure, but she flinched away from him when she saw Mikey was reaching for her. Leo narrowed his eyes and looked around, seeing the curtains were being held up by curtain rods and some poles on wheels. "Don, help me out." Leo said as he dashed to the curtains and tried moving them. Donnie saw what Leo was trying to do an nodded as he dashed to help, Raph ran to the blankets and grabbed one, tossing the blanket over the figure and even grabbing a pillow.

He tossed it to Mikey as the figure gripped the blanket closer to herself. Mikey then looked at the figure sadly as he tried to keep quiet. "It's okay, you won't get hurt in this lab, we promise." Mikey said as he held the pillow out for the figure, who quickly grabbed it and hugged it to her chest, once the curtains shielded the figure's vision of the lab, the brother circled around her. None of them were up close and didn't say a single thing, ready to help the best they could as the figure tried forcing herself to calm and steady her breathing. Mikey didn't know how to help, he didn't know what boundaries he was able to pass without starting something worse. At this point, Mikey wouldn't be surprised if the reason the figure didn't verbally speak with him was because she didn't trust him. After a while, the figure sighed in relief and sat there, staring at the floor with a tired look as the other brothers remained silent and patient.