Chapter Text
He woke up on the cold metal floor in a dimly lit room. Every part of his body was incredibly sore and his vision was fuzzy. As he lifted himself off the ground he started to get light-headed and immediately regretted his decision. Leaning against the wall he tried recounting how he got into this position in the first place.
It was January 10th, 4:29 pm. He was being cornered in a dark alley by a group of men wearing suits, who appeared to have the same face. That was the last thing he remembered before he saw a flash of pink light. The next thing he knew he was strapped down to a table and injected with a glowing, green substance. The ooze stung like nothing he felt before, it was as if his veins were on fire and his bones were breaking. The pain was so unbearable he blacked out.
Now he’s trapped in this weird futuristic prison sitting on the floor completely disoriented and hurting. Aside from the pain, there was something else about his body that felt off, but the fogginess in his head made it hard to focus on anything. He just wanted to lay back and rest for a while.
“Psst, hey you, have you seen a giant mutant alligator anywhere!?” a voice startled him out of his trance.
“Hu, what?” he answered back.
“Hey, are you ok iguana dude? You don't look too good.”
“N- Wait, what did you just call me.” Looking down at his hands he saw they were scaly and green with long claws coming from his fingers. He turned around to find he had a long tail coming from his lower back. It was like the world started spinning around him and then he started panicking.
“I must be having a nightmare, or I’m losing my Fucking mind!”, he cried.
“Whoa, dude breathe,” the voice spoke up in concern. “Inhale…and exhale”.
The iguana did what he was told and took a deep breath in and exhaled. It felt like ages but he finally was able to calm himself down a bit. Still, he couldn't quite wrap his head around what was happening to him; it just didn't seem real.
He noticed there was a window between the two cells. He stood up and took a peek through to see the source of this mystery voice. What he saw shocked him. Sitting in the cell was a humanoid turtle, dressed in what appeared to be ninja gear and an orange mask on his face.
“Hi there, my name is Michelangelo.” The turtle gave him a big cheery smile.
He looked down at the small turtle and forced a smile.
“That’s it, this is all just a bad dream or some sort of hallucination.” He tried to reassure himself. “When I wake up, everything will be back to normal.”
“Yup, that’s the typical reaction.” The ninja turtle huffed, “By the way, what's your name?”
“Uh, Damian.” The iguana answered a bit reluctantly.
“That’s a cool name.” He blurted out, “ I like to give new mutants cool new names, they don't call me Dr. Name-einstein for nothing”, Damian gave him a confused look; the turtle appeared too enthusiastic for being a prisoner. “Actually, most people call me Mikey. Do you want a new mutant name?”
“Aren't you worried about getting out of this place”, Damian was starting to get annoyed.
The orange-banded turtle shrugged, “This isn't the first time I've been captured. My brothers are most likely looking for me and will be here to free us at any moment.” He rambled on, “Do you want to hear the story about the time they had to pull my foot out of the toilet?”
“Hell no,” Damian snapped in irritation. “Let’s just stop talking for a while.” He said laying down on the hard floor and curling into himself. Closing his eyes again, he hoped this was just a staring dream and he would wake up in his bed.
***
When Damian woke up the next day he was disappointed to find that he was still an iguana trapped in a cage next to a very talkative turtle. Michelangelo told the iguana about his family and living in the sewers of New York City, Damian was also a New Yorker so they were able to find one thing in common. The turtle also told him a bunch of other stories that sounded like complete fiction, but considering he was basically abducted by aliens he couldn't judge what was real anymore.
Eventually, Damian was comfortable enough to confide in the turtle about the day he was captured; it was the same day he was kicked out of the house. He was caught kissing his boyfriend and someone took a picture and posted it online for everyone to see, including his abusive father. To Damian’s surprise, the mutant turtle seemed very sympathetic about his situation and had been dealing with his own struggles as well.
It was clear that Krang despised Michelangelo, so much so that they found enjoyment in torturing him. He was beaten, waterboarded, and given electric shocks, they were doing everything they could to get the location of the turtle's secret lair and he still refused despite the excruciating pain he was in. Through tears, he confessed to his neighbor that he believed that his brothers gave up searching for him. Damian tried his best to comfort the turtle the best he could through the thick wall separating them.
It was difficult to tell how long they had been in there, although they guessed it had been a few days. After what they assumed was a week, the two decided that it was time to finally plan their escape.
***
The Krang guards made their usual rounds in the prison hall and paused at Mikey's cell. They opened the cell door and there laid a lifeless turtle on the ground.
“The turtle known as Michelangelo has become what is known as immobile,” one krang said in their typical emotionless tone. The other one reached down to check his pulse.
“The one known as Michelangelo has stopped the action known as breathing” noted the second one.
“Krang has determined that the one known as Michelangelo is what is known as dead”
“Booyakasha!”
Suddenly the sound of metal crashing echoed through the hall and the door to Damian's cell slid open. There stood Mikey standing over a pile of robot parts. Blaster in one hand and a robot arm in the other.
“We need to get out of here quickly, the other krang will get suspicions and bring backup. Here take this.” He tossed the blaster to Damian who reluctantly caught it.
“What are you going to do with that?” He pointed to the arm.
“I will give us access to Locked doors, that’s how I got your cell open.”
“I've been trying to learn the krang language by reading the signs. There should be a portal room at the end of the prison. Can you cover me?”
The iguana nodded and followed behind the turtle down the hall, he heard animalistic sounds coming from a few occupied cells.
After passing through most of the alien dungeon they finally reached a door and looked through the window. There was a large room with rows of portals that went to different dimensions. They finally spotted a portal that looked to be New York City. Unfortunately, the room was swarming with krang and it would be difficult not to be spotted.
“There’s your ticket home, but we’re going to need a distraction,” Mikey explained.
Damian looked back at the prison and then at the robotic arm, Mikey was holding. “I have an idea, can you give me a hand?” Damian asked.
***
Alarms blared throughout the building as a herd of angry mutant creatures stormed through the portal room's doors, easily plowing over every krang that got in their way. Damian and Mikey raced up to the portal taking out a few krang themselves. Mikey took out the guards with ease while Damian shot at the krang following behind them, not missing a single one.
”Nice aim dude.” Mikey complimented, “ I didn't take you for a gun type of guy.”
“Thanks, and not really,” Damian said a bit nervously. All of a sudden an army of krang came to assist the situation and were running towards them.
”Get in the portal!” the turtle yelled.
“What about you, aren't you coming?”
“I came here to find my friend Leatherhead and I'm not leaving here till I find him. You need to go now!” Before Damian was able to object Michelangelo pushed him. Swirls of pink engulfed him and the image of Michelangelo being surrounded by robots started fading away.
***
He landed hard on concrete. Lifting his head, he was met with the familiar sight of the alleyway where he had been cornered and forced into the portal. The sky was as dark and gloomy as it was then, but the air felt much colder.
To his surprise, his backpack and cell phone were still on the ground where he dropped them. He picked up the cracked phone to see if it still worked. The screen lit up but what he saw show up on the screen had him do a double take. It read January 10th, 4:29 pm, the same day and time he was taken.
He turned it off and on again to see if it would fix the problem but it read as January 10th, 4:30 pm. Now he was really confused, they were locked up in that prison for at least a week. He didn’t understand what was happening to him or what to do next. What he did know was that he was scared and alone.