To Death and Back...

[Ch.7]: Small Talk

~

Mikey sat on the edge of his bed on the floor, looking rather fatigued, and everyone else sat around him in a little circle. Mr. Murakami had taken the patches on his forehead and chest off, so he could move freely. Mikey had Leo's cloak wrapped around him, and he pulled it closer with his right hand. His left arm hung in a sling, so he couldn't use it.

"First off, let us give you these back," Donnie said, handing Mikey his battle companions.

"My nunchucks," Mikey said, taking them with relief. They had repaired his broken pair, replacing the chain. "Thanks a ton, you guys,"

"No problem," Leo nodded. "We grabbed them when we rushed back to the lair. It was kinda tough getting the one in the light pole out, but Raph handed you over and got it - it hit his head, I think."

"Did not!" Raph argued, making everyone laugh. Sighing, Raph said, "Anyway, to the point. All we know is that you trapped us in the old sewer spot, went crazy-ape on the Foot, and made them blow you up. Could you please fill in the gaps for us?"

Mikey shifted, looking a little guilty. "Well," he said, "I'm not really sure where to start.....no, I do. T was when you guys were all arguing," he remembered, and scratched his head with a sigh. "I wanted some fresh air, so I went out and spotted Karai. I went in to spy on them, and overhead a plan to take us out."

"Really?" Leo said, looking concerned.

Mikey nodded. "They knew......they could tell, from our other fights, that we were having a few......problems. Karai wanted to take advantage of that, and they were planning on sniping us out, one by one."

"Why didn't ya' tell us?!" Raph asked, realising they'd all dodged a really close bullet.

"You wouldn't listen," Mikey exclaimed, weakly using his good arm for emphasis. "And anyway, you couldn't-"

"Wait," Leo cut in, "This night you're talking about......was that when-?"

"Yeah," Mikey rubbed the cast on his elbow nervously. "I......I'm sorry......I couldn't make myself tell you......I hate to say it, but Karai was right. If I had told you guys, you would'a all just charged in and gotten yourselves annihilated. I......I had to make a plan and go after them myself."

"So you did," Leo said, and shook his head. "All by yourself, for us?"

"Yeah," Mikey rasped, nodding again, looking down.

"But what did you do, exactly?" Donnie asked, bewildered. "We found traces of acid in your blood, you know? What happened?"

Mikey stared at his toes, refusing to meet anyone's eyes. "Well......the Kraang invented this weird tracker thingy - Karai called it a 'Mutagen Tracker'," Mikey said. Surprised, everyone listened intently. "They figured out how to track us through our mutated DNA, I think, which was supposed to be gotten through our blood. I overheard that, so I made my own plan." Shifting again and sighing uncomfortably, he pointed over at Donnie's lab and said, "I snuck in there and looked for the chemicals you keep to experiment with, Donnie. After doing a little research on the web, I decided to use your sulfuric acid, and looked up how to mess with it so it would do what I wanted. I......knew it would be pretty painful, but......I took one of your medical needles and injected it into myself about four times, and drank the rest - I had to make sure enough of it got into my system, into my bloodstream."

Shocked, everyone stayed silent. After a moment, Leatherhead looked down at the ground. "Sulfuric acid," he repeated, almost in wonder. "That explains your throat, and why you are so liable to get chilled, as well. We were worried you were going to go into shock because of it, young one." He said.