You're Needed Here Now, Donnie

Chapter 1 - Late Night Regressions

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

*Author's Notes: Here is the first chapter of 'You're Needed Here Now, Donnie' and it contains some serious Donnie angst. I really hope you enjoy it. If you like it, please let me know. Thank you so much for reading.

*Story Summary: Set several hours after 'The Fourfold Trap.' After escaping Karai's deadly traps, the turtles return to the lair, hoping to put the awful events of the night behind them, but there is one brother who cannot forgive himself for what has happened. Consumed by guilt, Donatello makes a rash decision that puts his life in grave danger. The brothers race to save him, but will they be too late?

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Chapter 1 - Late Night Regressions

The beaker filled with the thick, black, porridge-like substance was still sitting atop the metal stand above the Bunsen burner on his desk. The overflow of the failed experiment still stained the surface of his desktop and served as an unpleasant reminder of what had happened, mocking him without repent. Whether the discoloration was permanent or not had yet to be determined, as he had not bothered with any attempts to clean it up yet. Not due to a lack of motivation, but because this was the first time he had sat down at his desk since the whole ordeal had taken place.

Sinking into the worn seat cushion of his blue task chair, Donatello stared wearily ahead at the turquoise-colored liquid contents of the Petri dish on another metal stand just a few inches away from the one holding the beaker and he let out an exasperated sigh.

Tears pricked his eyes when the events of the night replayed in his mind once again. It was a night he would just as soon forget.

Several weeks ago, Donatello's oldest brother, Leonardo, and youngest brother, Michelangelo, had risked their lives by sneaking into their arch enemy, Shredder's lair on a rather bold and extremely foolish mission to acquire one of the Brain Worms from the laboratory of Baxter Stockman – or Stockman-Fly as Michelangelo dubbed him. Donnie had never cared much for the not-so clever nickname Mikey had come up with for the mutant housefly. It certainly wasn't one of Mikey's best naming efforts to date . . . Not that it really mattered right now what they called the guy. Either name Shredder's personal mad scientist went by – be it Stockman or Stockman-Fly – the monster was the one responsible for creating the genetically modified mutant worms and the Mind Control Serum that caused the whole mess.

Shaking his head from side to side a couple of times until he realized the motion was causing him a great deal of discomfort, Donnie then looked down at the open notebook on his desk and glanced at the various sketches and notes he had made while researching the Brain Worm Leo and Mikey had obtained. It was more than slightly unnerving to Donnie to know that Leo and Mikey had deliberately put themselves in harm's way and nearly lost their lives to get Donnie a live sample of a worm just so that he could fail miserably in the end. They all had high expectations that Donnie could develop a cure for Master Splinter's daughter, Miwa (aka Karai), who was under the mind control of a Brain Worm Shredder had implanted in her. For weeks, Donnie worked night and day to synthesize the neurotoxin from the Brain Worm in hopes of reversing the mind controlling effects of the worm, but it was all for naught.

He had failed . . . yet again. He was supposed to be the one that could fix things, but he had failed.

He had failed his brothers.

He had failed his father.

He had failed Karai . . . and now, she may be lost forever. All because he couldn't figure out a solution.