TMNT Mikey stories

Unwilling recruit (2003)

Michelangelo was captured by the Shredder during a fight between the Foot and the turtle brothers, he was kept prisoner for almost 2 weeks until his family met him again.

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The day that the brothers lost Mikey after being defeated by the Foot Clan's troops, they got home agitated and injured, their father, Splinter, soon came to rescue them, he nursed his sons until realizing that his youngest was missing, the brothers had to explain about their failure to their father, he was horrified to hear that, his sons were not only attacked but one of them was kidnapped, his first instinct was to kick those Foot people, specially Shredder, right in the face.

But as he was about to leave the Lair to fight for his son, Leonardo stopped him and made Splinter realize that it MIGHT be "a bit" too dangerous for a single elder rat man to face off an entire clan, also reminding his dad that they still have Michelangelo hostage and they could you him as such, hitting his dad with a wave of reality that they need more time to figure out a plan before aimlessly heading to their hideout to kick their buttons, that much for Splinter's dismay, will take quite a while, he was frustrated with the idea of leaving one of his precious sons at the hands of his worst enemy, but as a wise man, he had to swallow his heart and use his brain to solve that problem.

After 5 whole days of planning, Leonardo, Raphael, Donatello and Splinter went to the Foot Clan's HQ and ended up having to face the Shredder himself, Splinter showed no fear towards that monster's presence and was the first to step forward to attack, but he was interrupted by an arrow being shot in front of him, making Splinter stop on his tracks and distracting him enough for his sons to be ambushed and chained down, he tried to help them but the Shredder stomped him on the back, taking him down for long enough to be binded in chains, once the Hamato Clan was fully captured and stripped of their weapons, Shredder revealed his new apprentice, Michelangelo.

Michelangelo slowly stepped out of the shadows and stood by the side of the Shredder, he held a bow and was carrying a few arrows with him, but he definitely wasn't happy with any of this, he kept his head down and his white eyes reflected no light or life, even though he seemed to be trying to hide it, Splinter could see he his hands shaking, Michelangelo was geared up with Foot clan's vests along with a scarf wrapped around his neck that covered half of his face and black face paint over his eyes like a smudge.

Shredder rested his hand on Michelangelo's shoulder, Splinter looked up to his son, stared him deep into his eyes with a glare that screamed a plea for mercy, not knowing what had became of his son, after seeing the look on his father's face, Michelangelo's dull eyes got filled with tears, but he couldn't afford to shed any of them, not in front of the Shredder, so he just stood there, still as a statue with his head down and eyes closed, the Shredder ordered him to get the job done at once, but Michelangelo couldn't bring himself to even move, angered by him stubbornness, the Shredder threw Michelangelo back and pulled out his blade as he approached Splinter menacingly, Splinter was still in shock and frozen in place, when Michelangelo saw this, the feeling of dread flooded his heart, he couldn't let the horrible man hurt his family, he couldn't let him hurt his dad, he refused to just stand by and watch.

Splinter saw the man he for so long hated, approaching him with murder in his eyes, he could almost see the end of his life coming, like a breeze of death catching up to him, he could hear his sons screaming out his name in fear, when the Shredder raised his blade to the sky to slice the rat man in half, two arrows crossed his chest and face from behind, one struck him right on the heart, the other perfurated his brain violently, it was brutal to even watch, he fell over by Splinter's feet, dead on the floor.

Michelangelo had a burst of adrenaline that got him down on one knee, he had pulled the bow and two arrows to shoot, and with an impressive aim brought out by panic, he mercilessly shoot the two arrows at the Shredder to protect his family, and as the villain dropped dead, the relief caused Michelangelo to cry uncontrollably, he took off that godawful gear as he ran to his father's arms, kicking the corpse away from them in the process, Splinter gladly held onto his dear son with a tight hug and helped him get rid of that cursed armor that covered him as the poor turtle sobbed, strangely not saying a word, Raph, Leo and Donnie managed to free themselves and ran to their father and brother to check on them both.

Splinter noticed something weird beneath the scarf Michelangelo was wearing, he carefully removed it and saw a collar like contraption wrapped tightly around Michelangelo's neck, probably being the reason he wasn't speak properly, Donnie took a closer look and found out it was a choking collar, it limits the amount of air one can breath, it also seems to have a taser function, so it could also count as a shock collar, Raph sees a big lock in the back of the collar, he picks up his Sai and plugs it's tip inside the lock, he moves it around trying to open it but it was to no avail, he smacks his hand on the end of the Sai and the impact broke the lock, opening the collar enough to remove if from Michelangelo.

Mikey suddenly gasps for air now that he's able to breath freely, he starts taking deep breaths to calm down while Splinter pulled him closer for another fatherly hug before examining the damage the collar caused, his neck had burns and bruises all over, some spots were almost bleeding from how strong the shocks must have been, it was a sad sight to see, the usual goofy and cheerful Michelangelo, reduced to a scared and crying kid that was so badly injured and possibly tortured that he had a hard time speaking due to the pain, his family hugged him once more and then got up to leave that terrible place.

When they arrived, the brothers decided to help on nursing Mikey back to health, starting off with a bath, he was very dirty and he smelled awful, so the bath was to wash that filth away and clean his injuries so they wouldn't get infected, and then, they went on to patch him up, Donnie applied some medicine onto Mikey's neck injury to help it scar better, Michelangelo had a few small cut and bruises, but gladly, nothing too worrying aside from the neck, Splinter was there the whole time to make sure Michelangelo felt safe and ok, also because Michelangelo was so desperate that he refused to let go of Splinter's hand since they left the building, he seemed to be very touch starved to be on such condition, whenever someone would hug him, he would cling onto them until he felt like letting go, which could almost take an hour.

That experience hit Michelangelo so deep that it completely changed his perspective of life as a whole, he was now scared of violence and any loud noise could scare him to the point of crying and needing physical comfort, he refused to continue on his ninja training and he eventually quit being a ninja altogether, his neck injury was really bad for him, not only did he struggle to speak, but he also had a hard time eating, it hurt him to swallow anything and this made him very frustrated since he loves eating, all of those struggles, along with the trauma of almost losing his family and killing a man, caused Michelangelo to close himself up, he couldn't stand the pity and disappointment on his loved ones' faces whenever he failed on doing simple stuff, he rarely left his room, hiding under his blankets and sleeping the day away to avoid his problems and to avoid BEING a problem.

He thought it was his fault he ended up like this, he blamed himself for not being able to handle his pain so he could get through the day peacefully, but his family never gave up on him, they helped him back up to his feet and made sure he would heal, physically and mentally, even though he never re-joined the ninja training or went on patrols again, he kept practicing at home in case his brothers ever need him.