TMNT: Ricochet ▶ON HOLD (till gets more reads, votes and comments)◀

Chapter 8

Michelangelo hobbles into the hallway with his stomach lurching up his throat. Leaning his shoulder against a wall, he swallows thickly against the urge to vomit. All he wants to do is puke and cry and curl up into a little ball until everything is back to normal again. But he doesn't. He sucks it up because he's in the middle of the hallway on a weird utrom starship, and the rest of the world is counting on him to keep it together.

All he can do is replay the look on Leo's face, feeling his insides shrivel like raisins under his withering glare. He looks up to him so, so much, and it's hard not to feel utterly crushed, to feel like he hates him for some reason. To feel like he disappointed him somehow. Does he blame him for what happened to Master Splinter? If he only paid more attention. If he hadn't had to push him out of the way...

Bile surges up his throat. He chokes, but manages to keep it together. No. No, that's not it, but it's way too easy to think that way. Leo's just mad at the world right now, mad at himself, not him specifically. He knows that. It's just hard to believe.

Though much as Mike wants to just curl into his shell and die, he can't. He made a promise to himself he would handle things, and he can't go back without seeing Raph.

But the truth is, he's fucking terrified. After seeing Leo that way, he's not sure if he has it in him to do much of anything, neverless see Raph in the state he's in. But he has to. He has to. He can't be selfish this time. He can't wait 'til someone jumps to his rescue just because he can't handle things. Not again. Neveragain.

They don't call him the Battle Nexus Champion for nothing. If he could win a fight like that, whether it was out of sheer awesome skill or pure luck, that makes him a pretty awesomely tough guy. If there was anyone who could come inches away from dying, almost lose his entire family in one fell swoop, deal with an emotionally unstable big brother, then ninja his way into a forbidden room on an alien spaceship (all, mind you, with an annoyingly painful busted leg), it was Hamato Michelangelo. He doesn't need saving because he is the champion.

Or that's the bullshit he feeds himself. He knows it's bullshit, but it makes him feel a little better, so he doesn't care. Michelangelo's gotten himself out of a lot of jams with the power of pure, unadulterated bullshit. If he had a superpower it would be bullshit.

So after his mental pep talk, he moves on his way. Hobbling up and down the hallway, he keeps his ears peeled for any hint of where Raph's room might be, and tries not to dwell on anything else. The throbbing in his leg and being generally exhausted and beat to hell is the only thing that tugs at his focus.

He's sore and worn out, but he has to find him. He has to make sure he's okay, see it for himself, not just hear it from some utrom's mouth. And he has to make sure his brother knows that no one's gonna hurt him. Waking up in a strange place, all alone and beat to an inch of his life, he knows Raph's gonna be scared out of his mind. But if he's there, Mike knows his brother will be brave for him. It's just how things work.

It doesn't take long to figure out where the utroms are keeping him. What he doesn't expect is the utrom in the tough-looking exosuit sitting outside his door. It makes him wonder what the heck they think's gonna happen. Do they really think Raph's gonna go on some kind of rampage? Probably not, from what he can remember hearing about the shape he's in.

No, this guy was here to keep them out. It's kind of creepy how well the utroms know them. But what's really the big deal? So what if he wants to see his brother? He knows Glurin said he wasn't ready for visitors, but what do they think he's gonna do? Try to convince him to run a marathon or something?

So Mike doesn't let it deter him, and tries going for the direct approach. He doesn't try creeping around, doesn't do anything to act suspicious. He just walks right toward that door as if he's meant to be there. Like there's totally nothing wrong. But just a few feet before the door, the utrom steps sideways, putting himself in the middle of his path.