The conversations taking place around him made Mikey want to groan. So much sound, all Mikey wanted to do was sleep. He was so tired. And cold. Really cold. But also hot? Warm in one spot on his stomach, and then the rest of him was cold- yes, that's right. He tried to turn and bury himself deeper into the thick blanket covering him, but his muscles were very stiff and his joints hardly moved. His eye ridge furrowed and he frowned. What the shell was going on? This was not very comfortable.

"Mikey? Can you hear me?" April's voice broke through the background noises.

Mikey opened his eyes, blinking as they adjusted to the light. April leaned over him with a hand placed on his shoulder. "Hey, it's good to see you awake. Just take it slow though, we're still warming you up."

"Warming-" Mikey tried to mutter, but his voice was quiet and scratchy, and the rest of the words failed to form in his throat. He looked down at his cocooned body, which had two heating pads placed on over his chest and stomach. He slowly wriggled around in the blankets and lifted them away from his body to see his plastron, which now sported ragged claw marks across the chest. Within the cracks of the plastron was frost and watery ice that was dripping down his front. 

"Oh." He stated, before he reached for his throat. It was extremely sore and hot to the touch.

"Yeah, Leo's been in an out of it for a bit now and we don't think he can feel his bite mark either." April explained, grabbing a thermometer. "Can I take your temperature while you're awake?"

Instead of answering, Mikey looked over to his brother, who was close by and being nursed by Donnie and Master Splinter, the source of the noisy conversations. Raph leans against Leo, snoring. He had some bruises and scratches on various parts of his arms and legs but otherwise seemed okay. Leo, on the other hand, looked very pale and along with the thick layer of blankets, he had a heating pad placed directly on his shoulder, which still had a considerable amount of ice and frost on the injury. 

"Raph, go get the chains we used to restrain Leatherhead." Leo stated, and Raph left the room.

Mikey glanced down at Shelby, who was sitting on the floor with Casey, clenching onto her cup of ice water like it was her lifeline. Mikey bent down on one knee so that they were eye level. "I promise this isn't going to be forever, Shelby. We'll figure something out- I will not let them keep you like this forever." Shelby, however, was completely unresponsive, her eyes staring off into space, her jaw clenched and her shoulders stiff. 

Mikey went to place a hand on her knee and ask if she was okay, but suddenly Shelby stood up, and Mikey shot up as well while Casey scrambled up clumsily.

"Hey, take it easy, Shelby." Casey stated. That's when the glass of water fell from her hands and shattered onto the floor. "Raph! You better hurry up!" He hollered nervously.

Mikey refused to take his eyes off of Shelby, and soon her empty gaze locked on his. "Shelby. What's wrong?" He urged, placing his hands on her shoulders. When she gave no response, he shook her lightly, becoming more desperate with every fleeting second. "Come on, Shelbs, stay with us!"

Leo began walking up to Mikey from behind. "Mikey and Casey, you both need to get away from her right now." Mikey was about to turn around and tell him to buzz off and that there was no way he was leaving her, but before he could even full process that train of thought, Shelby's hands were wrapped around his throat. Her face remained expressionless as she dug her thumbs into his trachea, causing Mikey to gasp and choke. He started stumbling back as he grabbed her arms and tried to pry her off of him, but there was no avail- her muscles were locked in place like concrete as she squeezed. Then Casey and Leo both grabbed onto an arm and pulled. This did relieve some of the pressure but Shelby's vise-like grip remained on Mikey's throat. 

Mikey's head was spinning and light and his heart was pounding out of his chest. He was starting to see spots when suddenly Shelby let go. Mikey gasped for a full breath as he crumpled to the floor, holding his throat. Leo dropped by his side and held onto his shoulders to keep him steady. Mikey watched through teary eyes as Shelby's body contorted and popped, her clothes shredding as white fur burst out of her skin. A massive growl ripped through the air as Raphael burst through the door. "Quick, someone pin her down, I got the chains!"

Shelby wasted no time in leaping at Raph, slamming into him and sending him flying into the table. She continued to target him, mouth open wide to bite whatever she could trap within her jaw, but Leo was already on the move and slammed into her side. Shelby stumbled but took no time to recover, pivoting around quickly and leaping at the now very close Leonardo, and Mikey watched in horror as she sank her teeth into Leo's shoulder. Mikey grabbed his nunchuck and shot the chain out at Shelby as she went to take a second strike at Leo's neck. 

Temporary relief at seeing his chain wrap around her muzzle and snap it shut washed over Mikey. He pulled hard on the chain in an attempt to get Shelby away from Leo, who was now on the ground, writhing in pain as he gripped his wound where ice was already crawling across his skin. Instead, Shelby raced at Mikey and before he could defend himself, she raised her paw and slashed down and across his plastron. Searing pain jolted through his body and he instantly crumpled once again. 

He had no time to recover before Shelby had him pinned to the ground. Mikey stared up at her soulless blue eyes as she shook the nunchuck chain off her face. Once free, she let out another rippling growl, hackles raised as she opened her mouth and snarled, ready to chomp down on Michelangelo's face. He squealed and squeezed his eyes shut as to not see the attack come, but it never came. Suddenly, Shelby's body collapsed and fell into his, completely limp as Master Splinter stood over them both.

"Mikey!" April's voice cut in, shaking Mikey at the shoulder. He paused, realizing that he had started crying and hyperventilating. "It's okay. You're safe. We're all safe."

"Where-" Mikey flinched and grabbed his throat.

"Mikey, seriously, it's better if you don't talk for now." April stated.

Mikey tried to clear his throat. "Where is-" 

April slapped her hand over Mikey's mouth. "Okay, if you're going to talk anyways, at least do it through a pen and paper. Give me two seconds." April ran out of the dojo, and within 30 seconds, she returned with a notepad and a pen. She handed it to Mikey and he wrote down his question quickly before passing it back to April.

""Where is Shelby?"" April cleared her throat. "She's, uh, she's chained up in the lab."

Mikey sniffed and wiped the tears off his face before he reached for the pen and paper again. He wrote underneath the original line before passing it back to April. ""Can I see her?"" April hesitated. "Do you really want to?"

"Yes." Mikey stated. He wasn't trying to whisper, but his voice came out as a very hoarse one. 

April nodded slowly. "Okay. Well, I don't know if she's awake, and I don't know if she's... you know, herself. And I think you should really just rest, Mikey. You've been through a lot."

Mikey's lip quivered and tears began to spill over his cheeks again. "She- didn't-"

"No, I know, Mikey." April whispered, wrapping her arms around Mikey in a gentle hug. "You're right. That was not Shelby. She would never do that to you guys."

Mikey let out a sob, burying his face into her shoulder. He was so exhausted, physically and mentally. He was terrified of what was to come, but he also knew that he couldn't abandon the girl he loved.

Yes, loved. It seemed very soon- especially considering they weren't even officially dating. But Mikey could easily trace his feelings back to the night of the Foot invasion on the Kraang headquarters, when Shelby quite literally swept him off his feet. From there, Shelby did not leave his head. That was almost seven months ago, and his feelings had only grown stronger with every moment he spent with her.

And so now, here he was, battered and bruised at the hands of his first love, but at the same time, it wasn't really her. It was very mentally and emotionally taxing to navigate, but he also knew that the moment Shelby woke up, if she was herself, she would be extremely upset with everything that had happened. And Mikey just had to be there for her.

As April released him from her hug, there was suddenly very loud clanging and squeaking coming from Donnie's lab- the garage door. As the sound was still echoing through the dojo, it was chased by the sound of an engine revving. Everyone instantly froze and Raph jolted awake, looking around frantically for the source of the noise.

Donnie was quick to set down the thermometer he was holding. "Somebody's leaving and I'm willing to bet every pizza in New York that Shelby's in that vehicle!" He yelled, taking off towards the dojo door. Though his head was still spinning and his body felt very sore and stiff, the adrenaline was now kicking as Mikey threw off his blankets and heating pads to join his brother.

Raph, who also stood up, gave Mikey a stern look. "You better sit your shell back down."

"Yeah, right." Mikey shot back hoarsely, taking off after Donnie, and Raph could only huff and follow. 

It was too late though. Just as Mikey and Raph exited the dojo and were racing towards the lab, the sounds of tires screeching emitted from the garage. Donnie was shouting for them to stop, but soon the sound of the car disappeared. Mikey and Raph entered the lab to an open garage door and a steaming Donatello.

"JONES!" Donnie yelled. "If you- actually, I take that back- I KNOW you had something to do with this!"

"Yeah, I helped, D. I help my friends when they're hurting instead of chaining them to the damn wall!" Casey shot back, pointing to the empty chain attached the wall.

"You're a nimrod." Raph growled. "Truly."

"I have a sample of her blood. I may be able to come up with something for neutralize the mind serum, I just haven't had the chance!" Donnie exclaimed.

"Well, if you come up with something, I'll take you to where Shelby is gonna be." Casey stated with an aloof tone, crossing his arms and turning away slightly. "This is what Shelby wanted. She wants to keep us safe, and this is how she wants to do it."

"What makes any of you think this is the right way to go about it? We already pointed out that if she leaves, she's more likely to end up with the Foot." Raph pointed out.

"Yeah, but I think she already disproved your idea that she could stay here safely. Or should we wake Leo up and see what he thinks?" Casey gasped mockily. "Oh, right, he's out of it because Shelby turned him into an icicle. My bad."

"STOP IT!" Mikey yelled, his voice strained and squeaking like nails on a chalkboard, tears spilling down his face. The three boys fell silent and turned to him, their angry faces relaxing into sympathetic frowns. Mikey locked eyes with Casey. "Where ' she?"

"I'm being completely honest, Mike- I don't know. My job was to keep watch." Casey muttered.

"You're ly-ing." Mikey said lowly. 

"No, he's not." A voice stated from behind him, and Mikey turned to face April standing in the doorway, one arm dropped to the side as her other hand rubbed it up and down rhythmically. "I gave them somewhere to go."

Mikey stared at April in disbelief. Donnie stepped forward. "April... you really think that this is the best idea? I just... I can't comprehend this."

"I just can't watch her do that to you guys again." April whispered. "Once you have something to reverse this, I'll take you to her. But I do think it's best that she's somewhere where she can't hurt anyone."

"And Monica?" Raph asked gruffly. 

April shrugged. "She said she can take care of herself as long as someone took care of Riley."

Raph groaned, rubbing his eyes with his fingers for a second. "Where's the damn lizard?"

"Probably in her room." April stated. With that, Raph made his way out of the lab.

Mikey tried to follow suit, but April stepped in front of him. "Mikey, you should come back to the dojo."

Mikey shook his head, glaring at the floor. "I'm going ' my room. I need to be- left alone. Please."

April stared at him for a moment, before sighing and moving aside. Mikey walked quickly to his room and shut the door. He was very cold now and wrapped himself up in his comforter, lowering himself onto his bed carefully. As he laid on his pillow, he reached to his nightstand for his tPhone and pressed the home button. He went to Donnie's tracking app, just to be met with Shelby's location pinging as being in the lair. He sighed, a couple more tears rolling down his cheeks and onto his pillow as he abandoned the location app and went to his photos. 

He scrolled past pictures of ice cream kitty and steaming pizzas to a selfie of him and Shelby. In most pictures he had of her, her face was frowning or neutral, but in this one, she was so excited about the boys agreeing to watch Twilight with her. She was flashing a genuine smile, the scar on her face stretched and prominent, but that did not hinder her beauty. Her blue eyes were sparkling with joy as both she and Mikey leaned in to fit into the camera, her long brown hair brushing onto Mikey's shoulder. 

Mikey stared at that picture for a long time. At some point, Donnie came in with a heating pad for him, and Mikey didn't move as Donnie situated it on him. Eventually, he fell asleep, his phone falling onto his chest.