Lost in the Fight

Chapter 9 - Lost and Found

*Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles franchise.

*Author's Notes: Chapter 9 of 'Lost in the Fight' is here and this one is extremely intense. I repeat, EXTREMELY intense.

Thank you very, very much to everyone who has read, voted on, and commented on this story. I am so grateful to all of you. Your kindness and support has been wonderful.

Once again, please continue to read/vote on/comment on 'Lost in the Fight' so that I know you are enjoying the story. Thank you for reading. ;) CJ

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Chapter 9 - Lost and Found

The youngest turtle shifted his shocked gaze from brother to brother at least six times before he could fully process the news that they had just delivered.

"What do you mean he's not in his room?" Mikey whined and he pushed himself up off of the bench-like couch that he had been vegging out on when his big brothers had entered the main living space of the lair. By the time the orange-clad ninja had even gotten to his feet, Leonardo had already disappeared inside of Donatello's lab, leaving poor Mikey all alone with his scariest brother.

"Exactly what part of 'he's not in his room' don't you get, shell for brains? I thought it was pretty self-explanatory!" Raph crisply bellowed as he breezed past Mikey to follow Leo into the laboratory.

"But his bedroom door was closed." Mikey was quick to jump to his own defense, feeling as though he needed to vindicate himself. When his two oldest brothers had announced that Donnie was not in his bedroom, the youngest sibling had gotten the impression that they had been accusing him of something.

"So is mine, Doofus! But obviously I'm not in there, am I? Do me a favor, Mikey! Next time you're sent to check on somebody, try opening the door!" Raph growled as he stomped into the lab. He was seriously resisting the urge to slap Mikey in the back of the head, but he figured after what had happened with Donnie earlier, any act of physical violence against another brother would go severely punished by Master Splinter, even if Mikey really, really deserved it.

Unfazed by the bark in his cranky brother's tone, Mikey closely followed the red-clad turtle into their genius brother's lab. So closely, he accidentally bumped into Raph's carapace when his older brother stopped his momentum without warning.

Mikey let out a nervous chuckle and cowered behind his hands, anticipating that Raph was about to smack him and start yelling at him for being an idiot, but in a rather strange turn of events, his bad-tempered big brother didn't get mad. Not at all. In fact, he hadn't even seemed to have noticed.

Okay, that's totally messed up . . . Mikey thought, squinting in confusion. It was then that the youngest turtle noticed that Raph was just standing there, staring at Leo with a rather odd expression. The two oldest brothers looked as though they were about to be sick.

The fear written on Leo's face said it all.

Mikey suddenly felt a little queasy himself.

"So where the shell is he?" Raph asked in a voice that was meant to sound agitated, but the worry behind his gruff words was obvious.

The hotheaded turtle had seen the heartbroken look on Donnie's face after he had hurt him, and now, his genius brother was missing, no doubt because of what he had done. If anything happened to his brainiac brother, it would be all his fault . . .

"I don't know." Leonardo's response to Raph was stripped of his usual confidence and he didn't even bother to look at his immediate younger brother as he had answered his question. Instead, his eyes continued to glance around the lab, still clinging to the small ray of hope that Donnie was just working on something that was temporarily keeping him out of their view.