Liability

Chapter 12

I'm very sorry for this... Enjoy!
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The soft thuds of Mikey's feet over the rooftops seemed incredibly loud to the young terrapin. He felt like he was suffocating from breathing so shallow in order to be as silent as possible. 

The ninjas in front of him veered to the side, they were getting way too close to Shedder's lair for Mikey's comfort. With a hard swallow, he gripped his nunchucks and did a remarkably smooth flip over the footbots. He landed with a thump, immediately catching the attention of most, if not all, the ninja. 

"I think you've got something that belongs to me!" Mikey smirked, amused at himself for sounding like a villain in one of those cliche movies.

The footbots merely stared at him, getting into battle stances. 

"Oh, so you speak butt-kicking then? Alright, I can translate!"

Mikey jumped forward, sending a nunchuck to one of the robotic jaws, and the other smacking against a couple of bodies. But where was Shredder?

The thought made Mikey shudder. Tigerclaw and Rahzar were there, but no sign of the evil lord himself. He dodged a slice to the neck and the thrust of another katana to his gut, but he still managed to get punched straight in the face by Tigerclaw. Mikey jumped back. It didn't hurt that much, but his eyes were watering like crazy. 

He wiped at them with his forearm, trying to clear his vision as he was surrounded by footbots again. He swung his nunchucks. His face scrunched up in concentration, motions becoming pure instinct. 

Kick right, punch left, dodge, jump, again!

His heart was pounding in his ears, his breathing coming out in short puffs. He was blinking furiously, not even having a chance to wipe the stinging sweat from his eyes. It was getting difficult to keep all his opponents in check, much less defeat them. A shadow from above brought his attention skyward and before he could criticize his own stupidity, a sharp crunching pain erupted from his ribcage. His lungs spasmed, nearly knocking him on all fours.

"Gah!"

Another punch to his side sent him sprawling to the ground. Pain blossomed across his body as one of his nunchucks went skidding across the roof. Tigerclaw aimed a kick to his left side and all Mikey could do was propel himself closer so the kick wouldn't be nearly as effective. He swung his remaining nunchuck at the cat-man's face, hitting him directly in the eye. Tigerclaw hissed at the impact and Mikey took advantage of his temporary blindness to jump, using his whole body weight to kick Tigerclaw in the chest. 

They were both knocked to the ground but Mikey was quickly on his feet again, swiping at the attacking bots. He stole a glance to see where his brothers were, but he couldn't find them. The familiar feeling of dread washed through him, twisting his gut into painful knots. The distraction proved to be a fatal mistake as a katana came slicing across his arm. No, not a katana, but a large razor-sharp claw. Rahzar. Mikey grit his teeth, taking a step back, only to be met by a crushing grasp and a thin sword to his throat. 

"Looks like I didn't have to go looking for you, after all, turtle." He could almost feel the man's hot breath on his neck. 

Mikey swerved in the cold grip, jerking himself free and striking at the figure with his nunchuck. It came into contact with a metallic clang, and it dropped, held only by the chain connecting it to the side Mikey held. In an instant, Mikey was pinned against the wall, Shredder's masked face dangerously close to his own.

"Hold still, turtle."

Mikey squirmed. "Get off of me!"

Shredder growled and Mikey squeezed his eyes shut, expecting a brutal pounding, but the blows never came. He opened an eye tentatively, finding a blade centimeters from his face. Both eyes flashed open, heart thundering. Mikey could practically see Shredder's mad grin as the blade moved down to his shoulder and plunged into his green skin. His body shuddered in response but he clamped his mouth shut, not about to give him the satisfaction of his cries. But the blade went in again, over and over, and Mikey found himself screaming anyways. 

It didn't matter if he was going to die or not, he could only think about his brothers. It was the one thing keeping him sane. That and the feeling of his nunchuck still tight in his grasp. To be honest, his own screams were all that kept him from laughing. Shredder moved down, stabbing him in the stomach, and it broke Mikey. Tears were cascading down his freckled cheeks, hot, salty, pools of despair. 

"Leo! Donnie- Raph!"

"That's right, pathetic freak! Cry for your brothers!" He cackled.

With sheer rage and desperation, Mikey tilted his wrist back, revealing his nunchuck's blade and thrusting it into his side. He shoved Shredder back and stabbed him again, knowing that if he stopped, Shredder might kill him and get away with his brothers. Clutching his waist with one arm, Mikey managed to get a hit on the back of Shredder's head. The man fell back once again, but this time he didn't make a move to get up.

"Master!" Tigerclaw shouted, shoving Mikey with a shoulder as he made his way to Shredder. 

"Bradford, let us go."

Rahzar let out a low growl but complied, following Tigerclaw as the group headed away from Mikey.

"No, not with my brothers!"

Mikey spotted the footbots dragging his brothers away. He used the remaining adrenaline in his system to smash them to bits.

That's how he ended up on that roof, left slumped in a pool of his own warm, wasted life, too nauseated and weak to move. His three older brothers unconscious beside him. Unable to do anything. Feeling so selfish and humiliated that he had once willingly tried to end his life when other people were fighting for theirs. Just like he was now. And he didn't want to die. He didn't want to. HE DIDN'T WANT TO DIE.

He didn't- 

"You're not what you think you are."

"I'm a liability..."

"No. You're not."

"Papa!"
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Yeah.....