The sound of the line going dead makes Mikey flinch, and he glances at the black screen, shock sinking in as he presses the home and power a few times to get it to turn back on. In a blur of panic and frustration, he chucks the useless t-phone and turns his attention to his older brother.

His worry is through the roof and crashing into the moon as he grabs his shoulders and gives him several rough shakes. "DONNIE!"

His older brother jolts, brown eyes shooting open as he sucks in a desperate lungful of air like he's woken up from a nightmare. Mikey pauses his hysterical shaking as his older brother seems to struggle to return to reality.

"M-Mikey? What- what was that for?"

Mikey feels a nervous laugh bubble up at the look Donnie is giving him, as if he was just innocently taking a nap and Mikey started spazzing for no good reason. He doesn't dare take his hands off his older brother's shoulders. "You're bleeding! Why didn't you tell me you were bleeding!?"

"Bleeding?" His older brother looks lost. "I am?"

Mikey calms at this, relieved that this wasn't some 'Mikey can't handle the truth' information being hidden from him. He nods and releases him. "Back of your head."

Donnie starts to raise his injured arm, but then winces hard. "Ow- ow, ow..." He lifts his other to feel the back of his head, and when they look down at the tips of his fingers, they're faintly red as well. 

As if unable to process it, his older brother only stares for a minute. "Well. That's not good."

"No kidding!" Donnie winces and Mikey forces his voice to quiet. "You passed out and just about scared the shell off me."

"Symptoms?" Donnie glances at him questionably and then frowns. He turns his attention to the area around them, interrupting his own question with more. "How hard did I hit my head? What'd you touch? Is it the lair or just my lab that lost power?"

Mikey's brow furrows. "Lab? Donnie, we're still in the warehouse. We fought Kraang. There was a bomb. Remember?"

"Kraang?" His older brother inhales sharply. "Right. Kraang. Place collapsed. We should get out of here."

Donnie tries to get to his feet, but loses his balance almost immediately. Mikey jumps up in time to catch him and lower him back to the floor. "Maybe you should sit a minute, D. Head injuries are seriously bad news."

He nods weakly. "Right. Yeah. Concussed?"

Mikey hesitates. "I don't..."

Donnie pulls away and shakily kneels, a hand on his forehead. "Symptoms?"

"Passed out, headache-" Donnie shoots him a look and Mikey searches for things less obvious. "Uh, uh- you don't like loud noises, you forgot where you were, you- you're bleeding a little bit and- uh- that's it?"

"And fatigue. Must be." Donnie mumbles. "Didn't feel fractured. Definitely should proceed like I'm concussed."

Mikey watches him anxiously. "What does that mean? What do I do?"

"Limited movement. Keep me awake." Donnie lowers his hands, both of them on the floor as his arms quiver a bit. "Don't freak out if- if I act weird. Brain was knocked about, burst vessel. Make sure I don't sleep. I don't know if..."

He trails off and Mikey scoots forward to scoop him into a hug. "Okay. Sleep is bad. Got it."

Donnie sinks into the embrace for a minute before he pulls away to scan Mikey's gaze and question, "Leo? Raph? Are they okay?"

"They're okay." Mikey's reasonably sure of that. "Your t-phone is gone and mine's dead, but I talked to them a little bit. They were wigging out. They're probably out looking for us, but..."

"Okay." He sounds breathless as he sinks into a more comfortable position.

Mikey watches nervously as his eyes shut in concentration before opening to turn in his direction. "You need to find an exit. Can you do that?"

Mikey nods rapidly as he jumps to his feet, more than happy to make himself useful. "Definitely. I'll look around. No passing out again while I'm gone."

He points an accusing finger in warning as he steps back and his older brother offers an eye roll. "Just hurry."

Mikey takes his words to heart and sprints through what's left of the warehouse. He lacks the t-phone light that he had before, but he has a mission. His eyes whitten as he blinks, allowing him a clearer vision in the black as ninja senses keep him from ramming into walls of wood and metal. 

Even so, it seems like no matter how far he goes, there's another immovable pile of warehouse that threatens to crush him if he dares come through.

Don't do anything I wouldn't do.

Donnie's injured. Be smart.

We both know Mikey and smart don't belong together, fearless.

The smell in the air is getting worse and it doesn't hit him why he thinks he recognizes it until he sees a light flicker in his peripheral vision. His heart leaps to his throat as he turns, threatening scarlet flames now reflecting in round blue eyes, and then he's charging back in the direction that he came.

Fire!

Get out of there!

NOW!

"Donnie!" He skids and ducks in front of where he left his brother, coughing out some of the smoke that he'd accidentally inhaled as he ran. It's easier to breathe now that he's lower to the ground and Donnie stares at him in shock.

"Mikey?" The wrap from his left wrist is missing and now there's a makeshift bandage along his head. 

Mikey doesn't waste time wondering how he did that with one hand, but does waste a second to feel guilty when Donnie winces at the volume of his call. "What happened? What's wrong?"

"We gotta get out." Mikey rises and begins searching the wall of debris directly in front of them, leaping and crouching on an intact crate to see if there's a way over.

"Well- yeah, obviously." His older brother's shaky legs give up half way through the action of standing. "Crud- crud, I think I'm gonna lose my lunch."

"Bad time, dude." Mikey shoves his shoulder against a piece of the fallen roof, and it falls to the side. The collision with the ground triggers a cascade of crashing objects in the distance, and the roof over them trembles, rumbling a threat as Mikey moves to slide off the other side.

Donnie's panicked voice makes him freeze. "Mikey! Stop!"

There's a shrill, echoing scrape of metal as a rafter on the roof breaks free of its other half, and Mikey watches as his older brother cries out, hands cupping the side of his head as he falls on his side. Mikey's heart pounds as he slips off the crate and races to him.

It takes every ounce of control he has to keep his voice soft. "Donnie? Donnie? You okay?"

He lifts his upper body off the ground and his older brother barely seems to notice, a whispered plea between each heavy breath. "Stop, stop- plea- Mikey- stop."

"I stopped." Mikey reassures gently. "I stopped. I'm sorry."

Mikey gently sets the injured head on his lap and his older brother's good hand blindly reaches up. His eyes are tightly shut as Mikey takes it, and Mikey can't tell if it trembles from pain or fear, but he feels terrible for being the reason that it does in the first place.

Donnie's grip is almost painfully tight, and Mikey tries to swallow down as much guilt as he can because his older brother doesn't look very good, and he's terrified that he's going to pass out again. "Sorry, D. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to. You gotta stay awake."

"I-I know." Donnie's voice sounds strained, but his grip relaxes. "I know I should, but..."

Mikey's heart decides to begin its exit from his chest. "No buts, bro."

Donnie doesn't argue and a short silence falls. Mikey knows he should keep searching for an exit, but he can't bring himself to leave his older brother while he's in this condition.

He needs to keep him awake. "Hey, wanna hear about the dream I had last night?"

"...Not particularly."

"Aw, come on, bro. It's was really good! We were superhero cowboy pirates and we had this flying ship that we sailed all over the New York sky. It was insane. Oh! And we all had these colorful horses, mine was named Lightning because he was super fast and yellow- and we all had awesome super powe-"

"Mikey?"

Mikey pauses in his rant, worrying he was getting too loud. Then he frowns in thought, not because he isn't used to being interrupted, but because his older brothers usually sound more annoyed. Donnie sounds confused.

He tilts his head and realizes that he also looks confused. "Yeah?"

Donnie glances about their black surroundings. "Where... Are we?"

Mikey's stomach drops and he laughs nervously. "Very funny, D. We're still trapped in the warehouse."

"Ware-warehouse?" Donnie shuts his eyes again, forehead creased in intense discomfort. "Urgh, my head..."

"Yep." Mikey wishes that Donnie was the type of person to joke around with memory loss, but he knows his older brother too well. He keeps his voice airy and bright, hoping it hides his fear. "Got a concussion, bro. Don't fall asleep."

Mikey feels the weak nod. "Good idea. You 'kay?"

"All good up here." Mikey glances to the side when he hears a distant crash behind them. The warehouse around them creaks, and he feels his older brother tense. He releases his hand to push down on his shoulders, keeping them against his lap. "No moving. You gotta stay put, or you'll mess up your big brain even more."

"What- what was-?"

"Just the place settling." For some reason, the lie comes easy. "It's aaaall good."

His older brother remains tense, but at least he's stopped moving. Mikey releases him, and they remain silent for a few minutes. Mikey scans for any signs of the fire moving toward them, allowing his older brother the silence he'd asked for before they knew how bad everything was.

After the longest minutes of his life, Mikey feels Donnie shift to look at him.

"Mikey?"

Mikey lowers a hand to gently cup the side of his face. "Whassup, bro?"

"Som-thin' wrong." Donnie's voice cracks as he looks up. "Call Leo. Please? Head hurts."

"I did. He says he's on his way." This lie is harder to swallow, but he guesses that Donnie won't remember it anyway. He knows his big brother, and if he doesn't think everything is under control, he's going to do everything in his power to impose a sense of control.

Under other circumstances, Mikey would love to know that Donnie was dead set on getting them out, but his older brother isn't in his right mind and he'd said not to let him move. "Just gotta stay awake till he does."

"Oh." Donnie's eyelids flicker, and Mikey carefully pats his cheek. "No, no- I said awake, Donnie. We gotta stay awake and wait for Leo."

Donnie moves his head away from Mikey's hand. "'m tired."

"I know." Mikey pleads as he grasps his shoulder, needing assuring physical contact. "I know you are, but you gotta keep your eyes open. It's dark in here, D. You're not really gonna pass out and leave a turtle stranded, are you?"

Donnie groans miserably and Mikey knows he's won when his eyes open again to shoot him a look. He relaxes his grip and asks, "Does your arm hurt?"

His older brother barely lifts his arm and then winces. "Mhmm."

Mikey seriously hopes that he set it right.

Silence begins to descend again and Mikey can't take it. "You working on anything cool, Don?"

Donnie makes a sound of protest, but Mikey presses on. "You're always making something. What are you working on? New invention? You can be as sciencey as you want; I promise I'll listen. All ears, bro."

"Mikey."

"We don't have to talk about that if you don't feel like it. We can talk about something else. Whatever you want-"

"Stop." Donnie sounds like a whiny kid. "Want Leo."

"Leo will be here in a little bit." Mikey swears desperately. "But I'm here. I-"

"Loud." He suddenly sounds on the verge of tears and Mikey only feels worse. "It- hurts. I ca-a't- don't- Leo."

Maybe he should feel offended at this dismissal, but he's not. He knows exactly what's going through Donnie's head because he knows exactly how he feels. When you have to split two older brothers, and they have to split you likewise, it's bound to happen that you're going to fight for attention, or you're going to learn to share.

Sharing is something that came so naturally that none of them really noticed it happen.

When Mikey has a nightmare, he goes to Raph. When Donnie is worried about something, he seeks out Leo. When Mikey gets into trouble, he doesn't have to turn to know Raph's got his back. When Donnie is working late in the lab, Leo is always going to be right there to remind him about self-care and coax him to bed.

Older brothers are like comfort blankets. No matter what happens, as long as they're there, everything's going to be okay.

Mikey likes to think that younger brothers are like that too.

When Leo needs someone to challenge a plan that he isn't certain is foolproof, he goes searching for Donnie. When Raph needs a way to blow off steam, he finds a reason to yell at and wrestle with Mikey. When Leo has been trapped in his leader self-blame, Donnie will corner him for tea, coffee, and a heart-to-heart. When Raph is on the edge of blowing a gasket, Mikey is always ready with a prank and solid chase scene to yank the anger right out of him.

Mikey wipes away the tears that steal away his vision.

He's wholeheartedly with Donnie on this. He doesn't want to be here. He wants to be anywhere but here. He wants Raph. He wants their brothers. He wants them now.

"Mik-key?"

Apparently, his quiet is noticed. He glances down and sees that brown eyes are glazed. Mikey isn't sure if he can even see him, but he smiles anyway. Forced. Terrified. "That's my name."

"Whe-Where's Llleo?"

His words are slurring, and Mikey brushes a thumb over his cheek, hoping his hand isn't shaking like he thinks it is. "He and Raph are coming to get us."

"S-soon?"

Mikey wants his words to be true with everything in him. "Very soon."

Donnie leans into his hand. "M'- m' head..."

Mikey swallows down the painful emotions that threaten to break loose. Donnie doesn't need that right now. "You're gonna be okay, D."

Donnie doesn't respond, and the warehouse roof creaks as though openly denying Mikey's statement. His head shoots up, and that's when he realizes that the distant flames aren't so distant anymore.

It makes a thin trail across the room, but the fallen rafer prevents it from reaching them. Unfortunately, it has no qualms about spreading out and corrupting the debris to its sides.

Spotting the opening to their left, Mikey realizes that an exit can't wait any longer, and he carefully lowers his older brother's head to the ground, shooting a command to "Stay awake, D!" before he hurries over to the dislodged metal column. 

The smoke tries to assault his lungs, so he holds his breath as he attempts to tug it down.

It's stuck in a diagonal position and Mikey looks around quickly. Leo and Donnie are usually the brains. He's no good against an enemy he can't fight, and what good are nunchucks against fire?

The reminder of his weapon inspires him with a sudden idea. He pulls one out to sling the chain over the middle of the rod, catching the other side and planting his feet before throwing most of his strength into a firm tug.

It comes loose and hits the ground with a resounding thud, bringing most of that area's second floor roof with it. Mikey dives out of the way and rolls, taking a sharp breath and instantly regretting it when his lungs are invaded. The new blockage works, and the fire chooses to travel away rather than attempt climbing the metal, but Mikey knows it'll get bigger and then it'll reach them without issue.

The earlier shadows taunt him with their new power as he gets to his feet, daring him to try and smash them now. Hand over his heart, he coughs as his body demands and continues forward, moving to his brainy brother's side.

"Donnie! Donnie, we gotta move!" He crouches next to him and places a hand on his shoulder, but his older brother doesn't even stir. Panic claws at his chest, and he gasps, "No! No, Donnie, no, please- wake up! Donnie, wake up!"

Donnie doesn't even twitch, and a sob escapes as he pulls him to his chest, careful not to disturb his arm as his body quakes with overwhelming terror. Images of the roof finally caving or the fire swallowing them flash through his head on repeat, getting gorier the more that he dwells on his dying hope.

There's no way out, and Donnie's unconscious. He can feel every breath his older brother takes, but they feel too shallow. When the smoke reaches the ground, neither of them will be able to do that anymore. A string of deep coughs supports the horrifying realization, and his eyes water all over again as he buries his face in Donnie's shoulder.

Donnie had been following his lead. Donnie was injured because he was distracted saving him. His older brother had been counting on him to find a way out. He said that Mikey needed to keep him awake. He told Mikey to keep him awake!

Pay attention, shellhead!

Don't you ever shut up?

If you would just listen for once!

He's going to die- Donnie's probably already dead- and it's all his fault.

It's his fault.

"I'm sorry, Donnie. I'm sorry. Just wake up, please, I'll make it up to you- I'll do anything- anything- Donnie- please, please, wake up!"