Searching for April O'Neal

Chapter 4: The Argument That Sent Mikey to Tears

The Argument That Sent Mikey to Tears

"If I was a crazy, supposed-to-be-dead murderer who wants revenge on my ex-husband, where would I hide?" Casey muttered to himself. Mikey, who was sitting behind them watching, felt like that was a pretty good description of Tang Shen.

"Shut up, Casey, I'm trying to think," Donnie retorted. He was staring at his computer screen, and had been for the past few hours, trying to get some clue about where April was. Even though Mikey had asked more than once, he'd never searched once for Ellie, which really made Mikey angry. Mikey was sitting in the corner of Donnie's lab on the couch that Donnie had pushed over there, his knees pressed up against his chest. He hadn't spoken in almost 5 hours now.

"Fine," Casey said, rolling his eyes at the brainiac. He looked over the turtle's shoulder. "What are you even doing?"

"Hacking. Security. Cameras. All. Over. The. City. To. Try. And. Find. April!" Donnie exclaimed. "Please go away!"

"But I want to help!" Casey protested.

"Just..don't," Donnie simply replied.

"I'm her boyfriend, Donnie, I should be able to help save her!"

At that, Donnie looked as if he was about to explode. "I know," he said through clenched teeth. "Just shut up and let me work."

"And a great job you are doing with that," Casey commented. "We have gotten no where since Splinter explained the whole Tang Shen thing!"

"Maybe if you weren't hovering over my shoulder, I could concentrate and be able to find something!" Donnie snapped.

"I am not hovering over your shoulder!" Casey denied. "I'm trying to help find my girlfriend!"

Mikey watched as Donnie stopped typing, clenched his fists, and glared at Casey with every fiber of his being.

"I don't see you doing anything useful standing there!" Donnie said angrily.

"Because I don't know what to do!"

"Exactly!"

"Well, even though you're trying to do something, you aren't succeeding."

"At least I'm trying!"

"I'm trying!"

"You're just standing there staring at me hack security systems!"

"And you're just sitting in that swivel chair randomly typing away on your keyboard, which by the way, is really outdated!"

"I'm not randomly typing away, I'm hacking! And for the record, I had to make this keyboard when I was 6 years old from an old copy so I'm sorry if it's outdated!"

"And a great hacker you are! You haven't been able to find one single thing about Tang Shen, or April!"

"You try hacking something that Tang Shen has already gone over and deleted anyway!"

"If she's deleted it, it's gone! What are you planning to accomplish if the information you're looking for is not there!"

"One, I can probably get it back if I try hard enough and long enough, and two, Tang Shen might've missed something!"

Mikey continued to watch them argue. He could feel a headache start up in his forehead. He buried his head in his knees and wrapped his arms around himself.

He wanted April back. Then, Donnie and Casey wouldn't be arguing right now, and he wouldn't have this stupid headache. He also wanted Ellie back. He shouldn't have screamed at her. He had no idea where she would've gone, or if she was ever coming back, or anything.

But most of all, he wanted Tang Shen gone. If she would've never showed up, April wouldn't be gone, and Mikey would've never screamed at Ellie. Ellie wouldn't have left.

And all Mikey wanted right now was Ellie.

"...find April?!" Donnie was now yelling.

"Maybe if you let someone else try and locate her, we would have her back by now!" Casey was, too.

Donnie laughed. "Yeah, right! If you tried finding her, she'd be trapped with Tang Shen the rest of her life!"

Casey suddenly jabbed a finger at Donnie's shell. "Shut up."

"Who knows what Tang Shen could even be doing to her now! She could be dead for all we know! She could be being tortured or--"

Mikey stood up from the couch. He felt like he couldn't breathe. He could see Shredder in front of him. Laughing. Walking towards him. His sharp armor looking ready to pierce Mikey in any way possible.

"Will you tell me where your Sensei and your brothers are, now, Michelangelo?"

"N-n-n-n-no." Mikey was shaking. He wanted to curl up in a ball and sob, but he couldn't move. He was too terrified. "Pl-please."

"I've told you before, turtle, I will not listen to your pleas."

Mikey stepped backwards, and fell over onto the couch. He started backing up, squishing as far to the back of the couch as he could possibly go. Shredder walked closer.

"SOMEONE HELP!" Mikey screamed. "HELP ME! PLEASE!"

"No one can help you now, turtle. You're mine."

"PLEASE!" Mikey started sobbing. He curled up into a ball and sobbed. Please. Anything but Shredder. Please.

And suddenly Raph was there, holding him. Mikey clung onto him, too terrified to let go. Honestly, it could've been anyone for all Mikey cared, as long as they protected him.

"D-d-don't let him hurt me, R-Raphie," Mikey pleaded. "Pl-please don't let him h-hurt me."

Raph gently grabbed Mikey's head and made him look him in the eyes. "Mikey, he's not here," Raph told him, worry in his electric green eyes. "You're safe now. No one is ever going to hurt you again, you hear me?"

Mikey stared at him and bit back his reply.

Tang Shen hurt me.

Mikey wiped the tears from his face even though some were still falling down, and Raph helped him stand.

    "You okay now?" Raph asked.

On complete instinct, Mikey nodded his head. But he wasn't okay, and he knew it.

Mikey tore away from his brother and walked out of the room, ignoring Casey and Donnie's stares. Then he went to the entrance of the lair, and ran.

He didn't realize that he particularly had a destination until he reached it: the roof of April's house. The place where the four turtles had stood when they'd first seen April walking home with her dad, and the Kraang attacked.

Mikey sat with his shell against the ledge as tears fell down his face. He wanted to go back to that moment. When everything was normal.

Well, as normal as it could've been when you were a mutant turtle.

He buried his head in his arms and closed his eyes, stopping some of the tears from falling.

Suddenly, he heard rustling above him, which meant that someone..or something..was on the ledge above him.

At first, Mikey froze. But then he got over his fear and slowly grabbed his nun-chucks from his belt, careful not to make any sudden movement or loud noises to alert the person/thing that he was there. Even though he hadn't used them much in two years, he knew he could probably defeat whatever threat was up there.

Mikey got his nun-chucks ready, and lept up. He jumped over the ledge and onto the fire escape, knowing that if it was just some animal, it would be frightened and run.

But it wasn't some animal.

Mikey's eyes almost bulged out of his head as he saw her.

"April?!"