Lost in the Fight

Chapter 31 - Collateral Damage

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

*Author's Notes: Chapter 31 of 'Lost in the Fight'  is here and it's a bittersweet one. *Warning: there will be B Team fluff.

A big thanks to everyone for reading, voting on, and/or commenting on this story, as well as my other stories. It truly means the world to me. 😊 

Okay, onto the chapter!

--------------------------

Chapter 31 - Collateral Damage

"Whatcha working on, D?" Mikey asked, bursting into his brainy brother's laboratory in his usual flamboyant fashion. In his hands, he gripped a jumbo-sized bag of oily, off-brand potato chips, which explained the crunching sound that Donnie had immediately heard upon his baby brother's entrance. After shoveling another jam-packed fistful of chips into his mouth, Mikey took the liberty to wipe his hand, first across his plastron, and then, on the large table beside Donnie's desk.

Turning his head towards his worktable, Donnie glared at the greasy fingerprints Mikey had so thoughtfully left behind for him to clean up. The genius turtle really hated it when his younger brother came into the lab with food, but he really, really hated it when Mikey came into the lab with potato chips. Partly, because his messy little brother got crumbs all over the place, but mostly, because the crinkling and crackling sound of the chip bag drove Donnie to the brink of insanity.

On a normal day, the smartest turtle would have chewed his baby brother out, and then, used either his bo-staff, or whatever blunt object was within his reach at the time, to chase Mikey out of the laboratory, but the days were no longer normal. Donnie was hardly in any kind of condition to go chasing someone around. The best he could do right now was run Mikey's foot over with one of the tires of his wheelchair or ram him in the shins really hard with his footrests. A slight smirk passed Donnie's features when he thought about Mikey hopping about on one leg after becoming the victim of a senseless wheelchair hit and run.

But as quickly as the smirk had appeared, it just as soon faded away the second that Donnie peered up and saw his happy-go-lucky brother's round, freckled face and sparkling blue eyes. Mikey's smile was as big as they came.

A ripple of guilt swept over Donnie when he reflected on the mean thoughts that he had just been mulling over. Although the unkind thoughts had only lasted a moment or two, and he had had no actual intention of ever acting upon them, he still felt guilty for even having them.

You're supposed to be the nonviolent one, remember?

"Hey, Mikey. I was just doing some research on how I might be able to upgrade the SONAR dome and the inertial guidance system on the Turtle Sub to enhance our navigation and detection capabilities. Then, maybe we won't have another surprise run-in with a Kraang sea monster. Plus, I've been looking at articles on pressure hull repair. The hull on the sub took quite a bit damage on our last little deep sea escapade. I may have to replace some of the electronic equipment, as well as the eductor piping to make sure we don't have any pressurization problems. I just hope that the ballast tanks didn't take on any damage, or next time we take the sub, we're gonna have some serious buoyancy issues." After finishing his exceptionally longwinded answer, Donnie rubbed a thumb and forefinger into his weary eyes. He had been staring at his computer screen for three consecutive hours now and it was getting hard to see straight.

For once, Donnie actually welcomed the disruption from one of his brothers. As much of a workaholic as the genius turtle was, he had to admit, he could definitely use a break. He peered up at Mikey from behind his computer monitor and grinned. It was then that he saw the puzzled expression on his little brother's face. Mikey was staring at him as though he had sprouted fairy wings and grown a third eye in the center of his forehead.