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roseverdict · 7 months

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And You May Ask Yourself, "How Did I Get Here?"

Mikey had been following up on a potential lead on what might have been an EPF bunker for several reasons- the EPF could be doing anything down there with no one the wiser, of course, but he'd also needed some time to himself while Leo and Raph argued, and there was always that tiny glimmer of hope that maybe he'd find-

But he hadn't.

He'd gotten about a mile from where the bunker was supposed to be before the entire thing had erupted in a massive mushroom cloud and the ground had started sinking.

(or, I AM NOT IMMUNE TO SAINW PERMANENTLY REWIRING MY BRAIN. GOOD LORD.)

anyway how do you think the turtles went from "hiding in the shadows because humans are terrified of the unknown" to "freedom fighters of varying edginess that human rebels are literally fine with"

ao3 link in rb's bc i don't trust tumblr to not hide this. my turtle sideblog is still shadowbanned for reasons unknown and i'm not letting this exercise in "how keenly can a character's absence be felt while avoiding using their name" disappear into the void

〜

"-reports coming in telling us that there had been no prior warning-"

"-still mystified about the origins of the fireball that destroyed the middle of Staten Island and destabilized the-"

"-currently sinking into the sea. Survivors are advised to only take what they can carry on their-"

Mikey swallowed and kept flicking through radio stations as he ran, though he repeatedly had to divert his attention from the radio in his belt to the rooftops he was sprinting across.

It was hard enough to keep one's balance when doing parkour, let alone when you only had one hand and were already using it to multitask.

And when the ground beneath you was dropping into the Atlantic. That, too.

He'd been following up on a potential lead on what might have been an EPF bunker for several reasons- the EPF could be doing anything down there with no one the wiser, of course, but Mikey'd also needed some time to himself while Leo and Raph argued, and there was always that tiny glimmer of hope that maybe he'd find-

But he hadn't.

He'd gotten about a mile from where the bunker was supposed to be before the entire thing had erupted in a massive mushroom cloud and the ground had started sinking.

Hence the frantic rooftop parkour.

He'd made an abrupt about-face and started sprinting back the way he'd come, as much as something in his chest had shrieked and clawed at him to keep going, to dig through the rubble for any possible clues it could have contained.

A tiny part of him, dark and dense and growing every day, grimly reminded him that any evidence the EPF might have had was now either ash in the wind or sinking to the bottom of the sea, and that he needed to pick up the pace if he didn't want to join it.

He mentally blew it a raspberry and hurled himself to the next roof.

On the ground below him, he caught sight of the fleeing human population of the island.

He wrenched his concentration back to his own escape.

He couldn't afford to be distracted by the humans running past beneath his feet, screaming in fear and shrieking for parents and siblings and brothers-

Mikey's foot hit the gravel atop the next roof at an odd angle, nearly sending him sprawling before he recovered and scrambled forward again.

The shadow of the mushroom cloud was faint now, but it still loomed from behind and cast the path ahead of him in vague darkness.

Distantly, he figured he should be glad he didn't need to run directly into the sun to survive this.

"-sailing in on their own boats to supplement the ferries in an unprecedented show of solidari-"

"-azzano-Narrows Bridge is beginning to strain-"

"-those of you in the surrounding area are advised to-"

Mikey felt his heart sink as he quickly flipped the station back and turned his gaze towards the bridge he needed to reach to escape the sinking island.

"-weight of the destabilized island. Current estimates predict that structural failure is imminent, and fleeing citizens are urged to avoid the bridge and board one of the ferries now diverting to the eastern shore. Private citizens are also offering up their own vessels, as well."

Welp, Mikey couldn't very well do that. With the sheer number of people that would be swarming the ferries, the odds that one dazed businessman or traumatized kid would look up and see him would be through the roof.

The failing bridge it was.

Mikey pushed his legs to run faster, his hand to clamp against his side as a stitch stabbed through his lungs, and his feet to stay steady as he leapt from the last building on his route to swing up into the shadows between both levels of the road leading to the bridge.

He needed to pull his hand from his side to keep his balance as the ground beneath him lurched downward.

This meant he had no way of catching it when his radio slipped from his belt and plummeted to the ground far below.

"-starting to see visible strain against the cables of the-"

(That radio had been in the workshop when Mikey had first found it months ago.)

(His brother had once told him about his plans to touch it up and give it to April for her shop.)

(He had never gotten the chance to put that plan into action.)

The sound cut off with a distant smash as the radio's innards clattered across the groaning asphalt.

Mikey hung there for longer than he'd care to admit, staring at the broken remains of one of the last pieces he had of his lost brother.

Only when the broken shards began to slowly skid down the road did he manage to shake himself out of it and keep running.

(It felt like he was abandoning his brother to whatever fate had befallen him.)

(It felt like boiling, icy slime crawling up the inside of his skin.)

(In an ugly, selfish sort of way, he desperately hoped his brother hadn't vanished of his own free will. Even if doing so would cause Mikey to need to reconsider every single interaction the two had ever had, he would never wish this sensation on even his worst enemy.)

(…well, okay, the Shredder could deal with this sensation. Everybody else was still off-limits, though.)

Everything felt sore.

Mikey kept running.

There came a distant crashing sound, and Mikey whipped his head back around to gawk as water started rushing inland without passing him on the bridge. A quick look to one side told him that there must have been some part of the shore that had simply…cracked.

There was no other way for the water to have started pouring into the sinking island at such an alarming speed before the outer edges had truly begun to sink.

The metal and asphalt of the bridge groaned and shifted beneath Mikey's feet, spurring him further out over the water.

For a moment, he let his body go on autopilot. Whirling between supports with lighter fingers than usual to put as little stress on the doomed cables as possible, desperately putting as much distance as possible between himself and the beginning of the bridge before it inevitably snapped-

A human's shriek from off to one side cut through the haze. "DOMINIC! NO!"

Mikey chanced a look.

There, on one of the overcrowded ferries, clutching at the rail, held back from the open rear end of the ferry by the press of the crowd around her, a woman leaned dangerously over the side with one arm stretched as far as she could reach towards a still-growing ripple in the water. "HE CAN'T SWIM! DOMINIC!"

Mikey was changing directions before he even realized what he was planning to do.

He hit the water in his best approximation of a swan dive and started kicking for where 'Dominic' had fallen, peering through his third eyelids as he got close-

-there!

The kid had already drifted down a good yard or two into the water, but his eyes were still open and his arms were still clawing against the pull of the deep- he was still fighting.

Mikey swam for him with his arm outstretched, and the boy stared at him for a second before Mikey grabbed on tight and kicked for the surface, holding him to his plastron.

As soon as they breached the waves, Dominic hacked and coughed as what seemed like lungfuls of seawater came pouring from his mouth.

"There you go, kid, get that nasty harbor water out of your system," mumbled Mikey, already searching for the ferry Dominic's mother had been on.

Dominic managed a creaky gasp after several seconds of nothing but horking up the ocean, then shifted to look at Mikey's face. "You're-!" A cough. "Tur-?"

"Yep, I'm a turtle," admitted Mikey. "Gimme a sec, I swear your mom was on one of those things-!"

"DOMINIC?!"

Well, then, speak of the devil.

Mikey zeroed in on the ferry she stood on, then shifted in the water. "Hey, kid, I'm about to go pretty fast. You wanna hang onto my shell?"

Dominic coughed up a last paltry mouthful of water, then nodded.

The kid let Mikey shuffle him onto his carapace, then grabbed onto the ridge that rose just past Mikey's shoulders. "Okay."

Mikey nodded back, brought his arm up behind his back to catch Dominic if he slipped, pressed his stump against his side, and kicked.

They quickly picked up speed as they followed the ferry, though Mikey stayed just to the side of the wake left behind so the flow of the water wouldn't inadvertently suck him in and knock off his rhythm. As they approached, he had to hold back a wince- with so many humans aboard, there was no way he was going to be able to pretend to be some figment of everyone's imagination.

Leo and Raph were gonna kill him.

They came close enough to the boat that Mikey was able to see it when the humans' faces shifted from shock, to horror, then to confusion.

Confusion was good. Confusion meant conflict, and conflict meant they weren't dead-set on being freaked out.

"MOM!" called Dominic, lifting a hand for a moment to wave. "MOM, I'M OKAY!"

Mikey kept swimming for the ferry, jolting in surprise as a life preserver plopped down on the water just ahead of him. "Huh-?"

"Grab on!" called a new voice, a boy with a hat sitting backwards on his head.

"You got a good grip, Dominic?" asked Mikey.

"Yeah," said he. "Why?"

Mikey lifted his stump for a bit before pressing it back to his side. "Because I'm all-right, but I gotta make sure you're alright."

"Oh," said Dominic.

Mikey felt the kid's grip tighten slightly, and the next time the life preserver dangled into reach, he flung his arm forward and grabbed on.

He gave himself a moment to just breathe as the ferry towed him and Dominic along, then pulled himself forward to tuck the curve of the ring under his arm instead of gripping it with his hand. "Almost out of the woods, kid."

The sound that made the metaphorical hair on the back of Mikey's neck stand on end was unassuming.

Quiet.

Distant.

It was a snap akin to the noise made by a rubber band pulled too tight.

He felt his blood freeze.

He didn't even need to look back for confirmation- to the side, the bridge had started wobbling in a way it could only have done when given too much slack on its support cables.

Dominic's grip on Mikey's shell grew almost painful. "Oh, no."

"Pull us up," breathed Mikey. Then, again, at the top of his lungs, as he looked up at the humans on the ferry, "PULL US UP!"

The kid who'd thrown the life preserver was frozen, staring at the sight behind Mikey, but a woman next to him (his mom, maybe?) went into action, grabbing the line and reeling it in as fast as she could. Dominic's mother shouldered through the crowd to join her, but then Mikey had to focus entirely on not letting go of the preserver.

The water began to dip beneath him, but as soon as the preserver got close enough to the ferry, Mikey swung his feet forward to give himself even the slightest bit of traction and help boost the two of them up.

Only then could he afford to look back.

Just as he'd feared, the bridge had given way, and the last remaining parts of Staten Island were sinking out of sight…though it wasn't as though they'd dropped below sea level even faster than before.

Rather, the sea had risen up around the falling bridge, causing a wave that was already blocking Mikey's view of Staten Island, and even though his vantage point wasn't really the greatest…

…he didn't want to think too hard on what would happen if he and Dominic were still in the water on their own.

He gulped, then dug his toes into the tiny ridge of floor that poked out from under the safety wall and used his newfound leverage to hurl himself over the edge and onto the floor with a shout, keeping on his side to avoid crushing Dominic.

"Mr. Turtle!" squawked Dominic worriedly.

"I'm okay, kid," Mikey assured him, pushing himself upright and glancing back over his shoulder as he finally let go of the life preserver. "What about you?"

Dominic managed a weak grin. "I'm good."

Dominic's mother quickly descended on them and hugged her son tight to her chest, but before they could do much else, the ferry lurched beneath them.

The waves had arrived.

They didn't seem quite as big from Mikey's new viewpoint on the ferry, but that minor difference didn't mean all that much when they were still big enough to rock the boat and send several people sprawling.

Life Preserver Kid's mom(?) yelped and nearly fell overboard, but Mikey lunged forward and clasped one of her arms with his own, pulling her back. "I gotcha, ma'am!"

The woman blinked, then smiled. "Th-thank you!"

Mikey shot her a nod, then, once the ferry seemed stable again, took his hand back in favor of whipping out his shell cell and dialing the first number he could think of.

"Mikey!" called April's voice. "Where are you? Did you see the news-?"

"Don't gotta see it when I'm living it," Mikey said grimly.

"Wait, you're there?!"

"I was," he corrected. "April, you and Casey were gonna be at Dyker Beach Park today, right? Please tell me you're not still there!"

"We are-! Mikey, what's going on?"

"The Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge just went down, and the waves are coming right for you!" Mikey burst.

"Oh, shit-! CASEY! CASEY, GET THE BIKE RUNNING!" April's voice grew distant for a moment, then came back to the microphone. "We're evacuating now! Where are you?"

At that, Mikey met the eyes of Life Preserver Kid's mom (confirmed, now- the kid himself was hugging her with a death grip) and grimaced. "You gotta promise not to be mad at me. And also to back me up when I have to tell the others."

"Mikey…"

"So, uh, I may or may not have been on Staten Island when the explosion went off," Mikey started, "and I may or may not have barely managed to escape before the bridge went down-"

April's voice was stern. "Mikey."

The rest of his sentence came out all in one burst. "-and it's not entirely out of the question that I kept a kid from drowning but now I'm on a ferry and there's too many people here to pretend to be a figment of their imaginations?"

Over the phone, he heard Casey's bike engine start, but April just raised her voice to be heard over it. "I-! Okay. Okay. Is everyone there alright? Are you in danger?"

"Seem to be, and I don't think so," said Mikey.

"Okay," said April again. "We're getting inland now. Are your brothers okay?"

Mikey pressed his beak together thinly before trying to speak. "They were arguing again. I needed some space."

April hummed in frustration. "I gotta help Casey keep his eyes on the road. Do you wanna call 'em to make sure you all know you're alright?"

"Can…can I call you back after?" asked Mikey quietly. "The guys'll be fine as long as they stay put, I think, but…"

"Of course you can, Mikey." April's voice held an audible smile. "I'll see you soon, too, okay?"

"Okay."

The line went dead, and Mikey took a steadying breath before going to dial Raph.

He picked up before the first ring even ended. "MIKEY!"

"Are you and Leo done arguing for now?" asked he tiredly.

"Wha-? Er…yeah," said Raph, seemingly abashed. "Sorry, Mikey."

"It's fine," Mikey lied. "You saw the news about Staten Island, right?"

"Staten Island? What about Staten Island?" Raph asked. "Has it got anything to do with this earthquake?!"

"Probably. Are you and Leo and Dad still in the lair?"

"We were, but we made a break for the surface once the ground started shaking," said Raph. "We're hiding out in Central Park now- less stuff to fall on us. What about you? What's going on with Staten Island?"

"Well, for one thing, there is no Staten Island anymore," Mikey told him. "It went for a bit of a swim, and I don't think it's planning on coming back up for air."

Raph's voice came out in a stifled squawk. "It what?!"

Leo's voice trickled in, and Raph said, "Mikey says Staten Island's sunk!"

"WHAT?!"

"That's what I said!"

"Hi, Leo," Mikey deadpanned.

Dominic's mom met his eyes and raised an eyebrow.

Brothers, Mikey mouthed.

She, her son, Life Preserver Kid, and his mom all shared a sympathetic look and a nod.

Mikey mirrored it right back.

There was a brief moment of audible grappling on the other end of the line, then Leo asked, "Mikey, where are you? Are you safe?"

"I'm okay, I swear," Mikey said. "Just…don't freak out on me when I tell you where I am?"

The question came out flat this time. "Mikey, where are you?"

Here went nothing.

"On a ferry."

Mikey timed it in his head.

Half a second: Leo was probably processing the words in his head.

One second: Leo was likely remembering that, since Mikey only had one hand nowadays, Mikey's usage of the shell cell had to be because he was somewhere he didn't have to worry about falling.

One and a half seconds: Leo could probably hear the chatter of the humans around Mikey- nothing too worrying, save for the fact that they were right next to him.

Two seconds, and Leo took a breath.

Mikey pulled the cell from the side of his head.

"MIKEY, ARE YOU INSANE?!"

Leo's demand- whispered, but only barely, and close enough to the microphone to be loud enough for Mikey to hear from a foot away- caught the attention of Dominic, Life Preserver Kid, and their moms, as well as a few other humans right around them.

Mikey just grimaced and lifted the phone back to his head, drawling, "Oh, I'm sorry, next time I'll let the kid who fell off the ferry and can't swim drown in front of me."

Leo made a choked-off noise, then sighed. "No, no, you were in the right to save them."

"That's what I thought." Mikey let a ghost of a smirk rise to his face. "He survived, by the way. Not sure how I'm gonna meet back up with you and Raph once the ferry reaches what's left of the shore, but him, his mom, and a few others seem to be chill enough with me being here."

"Wait, Raph?" asked Life Preserver Kid. "You know Raph?"

Mikey blinked. "You know Raph, kid?"

"A kid knows Raph?" asked Leo. "How would-?"

"Whaddya mean, a kid knows me?" came Raph's voice.

"He helped me save my mom from some mob goons a few years back!" declared Life Preserver Kid. "It's me, Tyler! I got to be his eyes for some of it!"

Mikey's eyes widened. "Ooh, that does ring a bell. Hey, Raph, you remember Tyler? Says you helped him save his mom from the mafia at one point? He was your eyes?"

Raph laughed disbelievingly. "What?! Aw, no way! Put him on! Leo, gimme back my shell cell!"

Mikey grinned and handed Tyler the phone. "It's for you."

Tyler beamed and took it, pressing it to his ear. "Raph!"

Raph's voice came through too quietly for Mikey to make out any words, but with a delighted tone he was glad to hear.

"Yeah! She's actually on the ferry with me! Mom, Mom, say hi to Raph!"

Mikey let the conversation fade to the back of his mind as Dominic tugged at his hand. "Thanks for saving me, Mr. Turtle."

"No prob, dude." Mikey leaned back against the rail and hooked his stump over the side. "And just call me Mikey. All my friends do."

"Mikey, Leo, and Raph…" mused Dominic's mom. "There's a connection between those names, I just can't quite think of it…"

"Renaissance artists," Mikey supplied. "Our father wanted us to never come off as 'completely uncultured.' Leonardo, Raphael, Dona-!"

Mikey's voice closed off, and he swallowed before finishing in a strained, cracking voice, "…a-and Michelangelo."

Something in Dominic's mother's face twisted. "Oh, kiddo."

"You did find your dad?" asked Tyler, blissfully tuned out of the grim conversation around him. "Thank goodness! I'm glad your family's back together again!"

Mikey brought his hand to his mouth to stifle a sob, then turned to look back at where Staten Island used to be.

Tyler's voice was horrified, now. "Wh…what do you mean, 'your brother's gone?'"

One of the other nearby humans gingerly placed a hand on Mikey's shoulder. "I'm…I'm sorry, son."

"Staten Island was our last lead," Mikey admitted blankly. "It's been…it's been years, and our last lead just went up in smoke and sank to the bottom of the ocean."

Tyler's mother came up next to them, concern etched into her face. "What…was his name?"

Mikey clenched his fist. "His name is Donatello."

Tyler's mother tried for a reassuring little smile. "If your brother is still out there, I'm sure you'll find him."

If.

Mikey locked his gaze on the collapsing bridge- namely, the part of it he'd been standing in when the radio had fallen and shattered against the ground.

"That's what I'm afraid of."

#tmnt 2003 #tmnt sainw #sainw #tmnt 2003 mikey #tmnt mikey #tmnt 2003 leo #tmnt leo #tmnt 2003 raph #tmnt raph #feat. tyler bc lone raph and cub is an instant favorite episode for me lmao #rosie writes #hahahahaha surely the explosion on staten island had nothing at all to do with what mikey's doing. surely not.#i'm definitely not building a red-string corkboard to connect things to make things worse before i make things better lmao /lie

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