Family Is Who You Remember

by ADHDplusCartonnsmakesCHAOS

Summary:

"But we aren't. We're talking Hamato clan and lost memories. And the fact that you've forgotten that April's the oldest tells us she's part of the Hamato clan. She's your sister, and you gotta know who she is before we get back. Besides, Casey's your sister and she's human. You don't think shes a real part of your family?"

Mikey and some other mutants are kidnapped by scientists, and only a few of them are able to escape months later. To make matters worse, with his lack of mystic training Mikey had to give up all his memories of the Hamato Clan just to have enough power to break out. Now he and his new... unconventional family are making their way back to New York.

Chapter 1: The Beginning (for you guys anyway)

If Mikey had to find a way to describe Repo's current emotional state, he'd probably use that one tiktok sound. You know the one, with the cutesy romantic music while someone screams in the background. 

 

Mikey, Cassandra and Warren all watched in stifled laughter and whispered 'how the fuck?'s as Repo plastered on the fakest smile anyone had ever seen at his date... one of the doctors that had cut his claws in two. It wasn't funny- it shouldn't be funny, yet this was the third blind date Repo had gone on with a former doctor. How did these people even have a dating life? One would think that they were too busy disecting living beings and claiming they cared only for human life while sawing off the arm of a young human boy.

 

"Oh my god she's blushing. She's blushing over the human form of Repo!"

 

Cassandra slapped her hand over Warren's mouth as his giggles started to become a bit too loud, but the constipated look on her face told Mikey that she was holding in a laugh as well. Who would have known, Repo Mantis being irresistible to sociopath women who made a career out of human experimentation. 

 

"And that's him excusing himself for the bathroom. Someone call Guinness World Records because I think that may have been the world's shortest date!" Warren was enjoying this too much. I mean, so was Mikey but he was at least being subtle about it. "Now, let's see if we can get a quick talk with our lovely interviewee!"

 

Warren commentated on the date the whole way to the back door and carried on until the trio reached their van, bumping into a very exhausted Repo.

 

"What is my fuckin' luck." Repo grouched before anyone else was able to get a word in- and unleashing 10 minutes of pent up laughter from the rest of the group. "That's the third date I've been on- I- I'm deleting that fuckin' app Mikey. It's shit."

 

"There must be some kind of magic in that... Tinder app. Is that it? You can tell me if you made a magic app Mikey" Cassandra whispered in a conspiring tone, which only served to make Mikey and Warren laugh harder.

 

The four pushed their way into the worn down, totally-not-stolen van, shutting the door and pulling blinds over the windows for complete privacy, allowing the three mutants to pull off their cloaking brooches.

 

Mikey flapped his hands about, numbing the buzzy feeling that came with having an extra two fingers. It was weird, switching from turtle to human. Sometimes he would grab something and drop it because of the lack of fingers, and other times he would screech at the feeling of spiders on his head only for it to be hair. 

 

"Is there something about me that scientists like? Is it the hair? I swear I never dated this many assholes when I was human"

 

"Perhaps it is your hair. It does look like a dissected rat"

 

Warren wheezed- he hadn't been breathing right since Repo's date started- and Repo glared at Cassandra with a disappointment that rivalled Draxum "at least I don't look like I've been raised from the dead. How much sleep have you gotten this week Casey?"

 

Clearly that was the final straw. Cassandra lunged forward and tackled Repo to the ground. Warren groaned and stuck his brooch back on, using newly formed legs to step over the yowling duo and settling into the drivers seat. Mikey blinked, then groaned as he realised that this meant they were leaving.

 

He hopped into the passenger seat, ignoring Repo's muffled yelling about "cloaking brooch before you get in the front of the car!". He was putting it on anyway, and people never believed themselves when they saw him. He was, like, 90% sure he used to go up onto the surface in New York without a brooch.

 

"Do we have to go now? I wanted to say bye to Irma"

 

"Sorry bud. One thing Repo's dates are good at is telling us when there are scientists nearby, and we can't risk that."

 

Mikey huffed as he finally got his brooch on, green skin turning brown and the familiar clacking of beads on his head. He hated long car rides. "It's so boorring!"

 

"Ok then," the car started while Casey and Repo yelped as they rolled backwards "pop quiz!"

 

"URAGH, Nooooo!"

 

"Which of your brothers is the purple one?"

 

Pop quizzes. Aka: Hell. "Donnie. Easy."

 

"Which of your brothers is the biggest?"

 

"Raph. Easy."

 

"Which of your brothers is the leader?"

 

"Leo. E-a-s-y!"

 

"Ok then. Which of your siblings is the oldest?"

 

"Raph. Again, easy. Can we do something more interesting..? I know enough about those guys-"

 

"Clearly not. April O'Neil is the oldest at 19 years old. I think I'll have her birthday seared into my brain forever. Does she still have my arm..?"

 

"That's not fair, she doesn't count! She's human, and adopted! If we're talking genetics-"

 

"But we aren't. We're talking Hamato clan and lost memories. And the fact that you've forgotten that April's the oldest tells us she's part of the Hamato clan. She's your sister, and you gotta know who she is before we get back. Besides, Casey's your sister and she's human. You don't think shes a real part of your family?"

 

Mikey slumped back in his seat and grumbled. Stupid Hamato clan. Stupid memory loss.

 

Stupid, stupid scientists. 

 

---

 

Repo and Mikey sat it the back of the van as Warren and Casey hollered out some Taylor Swift-heavy metal abomination. It had been 3 days on the road, and Mikey had finally succeeded in a mission he had been working on for a full week- convincing Repo to let Mikey paint his prothstetics. 

 

Currently he'd only been allowed free range of Repo's middle finger, and he wasn't allowed to go too 'crazy' on it, but it was only the beginning. Repo had 3 other fingers on one hand, and a thumb on the other. And with Mikeys flawless puppy eyes he was positive that by the end of the month Repo would have a full set of purple camouflage fingers. 

 

Now if only he hadn't been roped into more darn Hamato study.

 

"How many- ah shit, wait-"

 

Luckily Repo knew almost as little about those guys as Mikey did. 

 

"... how old is April"

 

"Nineteen"

 

"Nope, eighteen- wait, or is she- fuck"

 

"She's nineteen, Warren said."

 

"Dammit- how does he know her birthday!? How does he know- fuck, when we get back I'm gonna get out of that dump more often..."

 

He kept talking, but Mikey zoned out and focused on painting Repo's finger. How did Warren know April's birthday? Did he know her favourite colour too? Did she know Mikey's? Who was he kidding, April was his sister, Of course she knew his favourite colour. Maybe he could change it. Gold was pretty as well.

 

He frowned. Every day they drove closer to New York, they also drove closer the the Hamato's. Closer to a bunch of people that would probably expect Mikey to know everything about them, and in return think that they knew everything about him. He wished that they could just... not. He would much rather leave, go somewhere else- preferably outside America, where the US government couldn't reach them. But with Hypno and Cassandra's Girl Scouts in the big apple, that wasn't a choice.

 

Maybe he could live with Warren and Hypno. Hypno was nice enough, and with a few tears he could probably be convinced- or Cassandra, she had her own apartment as well as a soon-to-be multi million dollar company. Or even Repo, he complained all the time about how lonely he was! 

 

"Kid, you're mumbling. You can't stay at the dump, you'll get tetanus and depression. Warren and Hypno live in a one bedroom apartment with shitty neighbours, and Cassandra- I don't know, your purple brother probably has freaky spider-cameras all over the place, and then Casey'll have to deal with how over protective those guys are."

 

"I thought the blue one was the one with the cameras?"

 

"Nope, it's the purple one. And on that note- CASEY!"

 

"No- wait- nooooo!"

 

Repo looked over apologetically and ruffled Mikeys head. "Sorry kid, you really gotta know what you're getting into with the Hamato guys. Either that or you two can figure out some more of that mystic crap." Mikey ducked his head a little more into his shell, and Repo sighed "and... if you really end up hating them that much you can come over to my trashyard. We'd have to figure some stuff out with that crazy sociable brain of yours but.."

 

"But I have the Girl Scouts for that"

 

Mikey and Repo looked up as Casey wobbled up to them "Mikey could man the art department if he needed somewhere to socialise, even if living with Raph's family works out. Art is important in developing creative minds, and they won't so much as blink at the fact that you're a mutant- I've trained them to be better then that."

 

Mikey blinked- that actually sounded...

 

He hadn't thought about what he was going to do when he got back home. At most he had a few art ideas for different warehouses, but anything else involved him thinking about his lost memories, and although yes it would be the healthy thing to do.. he didn't like the idea of a whole family he couldn't remember.

 

"Now, I'm loving all this sappy shit, but Mikey really does need to study the mystic-family crap so..."

 

Mikey groaned as Casey sat cross-legged in front of him.

Chapter 2

Mystic training was never fun, even before Mikey lost the Hamato clan.

 

Mystic training was even worse when the only person in your group who knew anything about Mysticism had a very basic set of knowledge. 

 

Sprinkle in a double dose of ADHD, and you could be sure nobody would be getting anywhere.

 

"Mikey sit still, this technique requires the.. upmost.. uh.. important.. focusing stuff"

"You aren't sitting still either! Antsy Pantsy, don't be a hypocrite!"

Casey growled, picked up one of the snuffed out tea candles they had, and chucked it at his face. Mikey squawked 

"Yah- abuse! Abuse! Warren, I'm being abused-"

Before he cut himself off at the sound of Casey's soft snoring. Oh shit.

"Mikey? Did Casey kill you, you two are being too quiet- oh shit, Repo pull over, Casey's asleep."

Mikey jumped up, and ran to all the small windows in the van, pulling the curtains across and dimmed all the lights.

 

Casey being asleep probably wouldn't seem like much to the average person, but the average person hadn't had their natural ability to sleep altered by science and magic. And considering Casey hadn't slept in... about 3 days, this was a big deal.

Lights dimmed, car stopped and family silent, everything was carefully set in place to allow Casey to have the longest sleep possible. Mikey (who struggled to stay quiet for even two minutes) clipped on his brooch and slipped outside. As he wandered around the van, he found himself staring into his reflection on one of the windows.

His human form was cool. Dark skin, colourfully beaded hair, and a wooly orange turtleneck (haha) that completely covered up the scarring around his neck. The additional patches and stickers all over added a wonderful amount of colour that he had missed during his months locked away.

Mikey wasn't sure how he had managed 15 years without in-person contact with society (except, he probably did, with his siblings) but he loved running about in all these places, and making new friends, and hanging out at cafés, and-

 

Man. Human society would be incredibe without scientists. 

 

With nothing else to do except stew in his thoughts and grumble about leaving his art supplies in the van, Mikey began practicing a small gymnastics routine he and his best friend had been practicing back in the lab. Cartwheels, backflips, splits and crabwalking, all feats that were considerably easier without a clunky metal collar around his neck. It was a little stiff, and Mikeys chest burned as he realised he couldn't quite remember the timing the two of them had spent so long perfecting, but that was OK.

His best friend had always said the best art peices were the ones that had their own weird quirks to them. Plays that had the actors improvise, books that had squished together words- scuffed up skateboards were his favourite examples. It was an Irish thing, apparently. 

 

About midway through he spied Repo watching him from behind the van, glassy eyed and lost in thought. That was OK though- Repo always got like that. It wasn't new.

 

Poor Mondo Geko was missed by a lot of people, after all.

---

 

There was a Gas Station about a mile up from where the mishmash family had parked, and Mikey had finally bugged Repo into walking up with him. Which not only meant candy, chips and a few lessons on how to pilfer some free snacks, but also Repo finally got to try on his newly painted prothstetic.

 

And he loved it.

 

"Shit, Mike, I actually might let you customise a few more of these bad boys!"

It was a simple design- Mikey wasn't allowed to use any neons, and altering the finger itself was a huge no no. But since Mikey was only allowed to customise one of the four fingers Repo was missing, he'd gone for the middle one. Naturally. He was making it personal to Repo after all!

So in the day that they'd been parked, Mikey had painted Repo's middle finger in full purple camouflage, and had even started stitching purple camo patch for the man's jacket. He was going to look like the coolest amputee rockstar when Mikey was done with him.

 

"...Not exactly the most subtle though"

 

The two snorted at the inside joke. At the beginning, after they escaped from that awful lab, the four of them had attempted to stay quiet and blend in.

 They very quickly realised that a 14 year old with an incredibly colourful human disguise and a habit of greeting every person they passed, an extremely flamboyant gay man who looked 'eerily similar' to Warren Stone, a weirdly sexy middle aged man with a leather jacket and 4 prothstetic fingers, and a 19 year old, aggressive punk woman with eyebags to rival Goob from the Robinsons and the occasional terrifying hallucination was not the most subtle group in the world. Besides, Mikey was desperate for people outside the small world of the Lab, and Repo had wanted get back into the dating scene now that he was human again (not that he had gone far).

"Subtlety is for losers. Which is why Casey's a ninja"

Repo snorted "If Casey's considered subtle then I must be invisible"

Mikey giggled as the two kept walking. Conversation was fun with Repo when he was in a good mood like this. Mikey could talk about anything and everything, and Repo was always happy to listen, even if he complained.

Eventually, they made it to the gas station, and slipped inside.

Now, obviously they were there to buy snacks for the road. Obviously. Because if they didn't buy at least something, the guy at the counter would realise that they also had a bunch of stuff that they weren't planning on buying.

Mikey zoned out a little as he grabbed various different artificial looking candies, his mind returning to the Hamato family.

 

According to Cassandra, they were crimefighters. Ninjas who beat up evil doers and helped puppies on the street and stuff. Apparently Raph was big on morals, and staying on the right side of the law, and had no patience for criminals at all. Criminals who did stuff like steal from gas stations

Mikey didn't have any memories of the Hamato Clan, sure. But he still had all his memories outside of that. Painting murals on warehouses, meeting Casey, learning to cook and obsessing over Rupert Swagger. And...

 

None of these memories included stealing things. He wasn't a theif before this- that was something Repo had taught him. Not that he was upset about it, sitting with Repo next to a car as he learned the art of hotwiring was fun, and giggling at the man's face as he pulled out more stolen knicknacks then he had pockets was funny. Heck, he and his family were currently living out of a stolen van! 

But the Hamatos weren't. The Mikey they remembered didn't do stuff like that, they didn't do stuff like that. And when he went back to New York, and they saw the mutant he had become....

 

"Mike that's too much in one pocket. You'll rustle at the till."

He jumped, turning to Repo before looking back at the singular pocket he'd stuffed to the brim with Skittles

"Oh! Crap, sorry" He whispered, quietly distributing the stash to more of his pockets. Repo stared at him for a bit before shaking his head.

"Go outside, catch some air. I'll take the stuff we're paying for and be a distraction"

Mikey blinked, and passed him the stuff. Usually he'd fight about it but he really didn't want to try keep up his pizzazz with his brain stuff right now. 

Mikey wandered outside as Repo greeted the cashier and waited for him to finish.

 

He didn't know why his thoughts kept looping back to those guys. He didn't remember them, and from what he'd heard of them they wouldn't like him much either, anymore. Too loose with the law for Raph, too hyper for Donnie, too earnest for Leo. April was stubborn apparently, and could be pretty pushy when she wanted something and Mikey didn't want to risk her getting any ideas of 'bringing back his memories'. And Splinter...

Mikey had heard too many of Repo and Warren's whispered conversations about neglect, no matter how wonderful Casey insisted he was.

He was happy right now. He didn't want to go back to a bunch of strangers who'd cry and cry when Mikey didn't know them. Who didn't know Mikeys new favourite songs, who didn't know Mikeys friends, who didn't even know what his human appearance was despite the fact that he sometimes spent more time human then not!

 

He just..

 

He'd keep going to New York. For Hypno, the Girl Scouts and Repo's junkyard. But he'd really, really prefer to stay far away from those Hamatos.

Notes:

I really want to explore what a criminal Mikey would look like 😭😭 like how he'll react to the villains and how he'd act as a hero when his idea of a run day out is learning how to hot wire cars.

I'm not a great writer, so this fic will probably get worse before it gets better. If I ever finish it. And it'll probably be a while before I update it. Apologies

Chapter 3

Donnie could remember the first time the family lost all hope of finding Mikey.

He didn't know if 7 months was a long time to keep going, or no time at all, but considering the family's unique circumstances Leo insisted it was fair that they'd... not given up, but stopped looking. (Donnie had still been looking into necromancy after all. And Leo definitely knew)

--

It was 7 months after Mikey had disappeared. Several other Mutants had disappeared too: Warren Stone, Ghostbear, even Repo was gone (although it had taken a while for anyone to realise), but that didn't matter. None of them mattered when Mikey was gone.

The whole family had been in the lair, with Sunita and Sr Hueso helping out the more composed members, when suddenly they had all.. collapsed.

 

Donnie could remember it clear as day. Everything had gone black, then purple, blue, red, yellow, brown and orange.

 

Mikey had appeared, in all his bright mystic glory, but something was... wrong. His stickers were gone, his yellow spots had mellowed, he was so skinny, and his neck...

That was a collar. That was a fucking electric collar on his little brother, so thick he could barely fit his chin over it. If he had to guess, the thing had about 85 volts in it, which was horrifying considering that the amount of electricity Donnie and his brothers could handle was one of the few things he hadn't tested. It looked professionally made as well, no loose seams or visible screws- whoever collared his brother knew exactly what they were doing.

 

He was there for such a short time, they hadn't seen Angelo in 7 months and he was only there for a few seconds-

 

And then he smiled. He was crying. He was shaking. He was cracking.

 

"Sorry"

 

And he was gone.

 

The five had all come to at the same time, apparently. That bit, Donnie couldn't remember. If he asked the others, he knew they wouldn't either.

 

Because Mikey was gone.

 

Hamato Mikelangelo was dead.

 

---

 

2 weeks later, and the Hamato's were in shambles. 

 

April had refused to leave her brothers side, and according to Sunita, missing posters were starting to be put up. She and Sr Hueso were debating telling her parents about her second family. She didn't care.

 

Leo and Donnie hadn't said anything, but the tension between them and Splinter said enough. Leo had always been a little bitter about the neglect, and Donnie would always take Leo's side in tense situations, even if they didn't always see eye-to-eye. (they definitely did here. April wasn't sure what Leo was letting Donnie work on, but she recognised the vaugly familiar feel of ghosts. She should probably stop them).

 

(She didn't care enough to)

 

Raph was utterly broken. She knew how to deal with this, kind of. She'd been there a hundred times when Raphie reached his limit, when it was made clear a 10 year old couldn't take care of a 8 year old. She wasn't there now. Why should she care, when the excitable, loud, destructive 8 year old was dead? She didn't care enough to hold the family together while Raph cried. (She cared enough to hold him together, but her heart could only hold so much after being so broken).

 

And Splinter...

...

She cared a little she supposed.

 

She cared enough to move any and all medication Leo had scrounged up into her room, beside an open perfume bottle so Splints couldn't find it.

She cared enough to find Mikey's favourite soup recipe, something that Splinter would actually eat, to make sure he didn't... go hungry.

She cared enough to set an alarm on her phone that went off every couple of hours so she could check on Splinter.

She cared enough to make it hourly after he spent too long looking at Leo's old katana.

 

She cared a little.

 

She cared so much.

 

And she fucking hated it.

 

Her brother was GONE.

 

Her alarm went off.

 

She got up to make sure Splinter hadn't hung himself.

 

"Michelangelo may be Alive!"

 

... and then Draxum burst through the door.

 

---

 

Draxum burst through the door. "Michelanglo may be Alive!"

And Leo's world stopped.

 

"Michelangelo, he may- he may be alive."

 

As everyone stared at the man, Leo was the first to force his vocal cords to work. "How."

 

Still shaking, Draxum slowly sat down on a nearby stool. Old, rotting pizza that Sunita and Hueso hadn't cleaned up fused with the goat's gown, but he didn't notice. Looking closer, the man was shaky, small, and his eyes sunk into his head that made Leo think of his twin. But unlike Donnie's current look, deep in those tired eyes, Draxum held the smallest glimmer of genuine hope. Not mania, not desperation, hope.

 

Draxum had found something. And Leo would believe him.

 

"Mystic power is... difficult." The goat started "and Michelangelo is not experienced in it. Therefore I have not been encouraging him to push himself any further then the basics as that could- as it could have dire consequences."

 

The room was silent. Draxum was not helping. Leo grit his teeth. "So what are those consequences?"

 

"Well, you can technically achieve more powerful mystic abilities with little training. However, it comes with a sacrifice. Usually, a sacrifice of either the Mind or Body. If the Body is sacrificed, the person who made the sacrifice will usually turn into a powerful spirit, but all connections to the earth will be severed. If the Mind is sacrificed, the person will become a powerful vessel, but will lose themselves to madness. In past experiences Michelangelo has unintentionally been more inclined to sacrifice his body-"

 

"So he's dead. Your using a bunch of fancy words that Raph and Leo can't understand to say he's dead."

 

Leo clenched his jaw at April's words, and Raph made a choked whining sound. He kinda hadn't understood what Draxum was saying, and April wasn't helping at all. But he had seemed so certain... or just excited at another possibility...

 

"No, I- I apologise. I didn't mean to- there is another possibility." He paused, shaking a little harder. "The examples I used, Mind and Body, are only two examples. They are the average yokai- or humans- only connection to the world of mystic. But you all have something else, something unbelievably powerful that is just as much of your soul as your Body and your Mind."

 

"The Hamato clan." He didn't process his words until a few seconds later, but- "The Hamato clan, that's powerful and important for our Ninpo and stuff. He sacrificed the Hamato clan, didn't he?"

 

Draxum nodded, then grimaced "I don't know. But he could have. If Michelangelo sacrificed the Hamato clan then you wouldn't be able to sense him. It would feel as though he was dead, because he would have no connection to you. I can't say for certain that this is what happened, I never even told Michelangelo he could since I thought that a boy with such love for his family- but it's possible."

 

"So he's out there" 

 

Everyone swivelled around to look at Raph. 

 

"He's out there, waiting for us."

"...."

Leo frowned. "..Drax? I get that he might not be alive, but..."

 

The man sighed "If Michelangelo is alive, then it means he sacrificed the Hamato clan to the fullest. He sacrificed his connection to you, his connection to the ghosts, the Hamato afterlife" there were small gasps all around the room at that "and... all memories of the Hamato clan."

 

Everyone was quiet.

 

"Michelangelo, wherever he is, will not be waiting for us. And unless he is with the other missing people, he may not come back to us."

Notes:

Posting this in English class which I think is fitting. I'm at the front of the class and I'm really hoping the teacher doesn't call me out lol

Was hoping to make this the fourth chapter, always love working in threes, but I was struggling to keep writing about Mikey

Chapter 4

Summary:

The Lab Rat crew go out for a day in Lincoln, Nebraska!

The best part about living on the move was meeting new people. The second best part about living on the move was all the cool places Mikey had never been to before!

 

He had spent his entire life in New York City, and all of the (very few) memories he had before he turned 12 was in the sewer, and look at him now! Lincoln, the capital of Nebraska! He was ready to go outside and meet the world!! After they packed up and ditched this van!!

 

"Aaannnd... that's us got everything. We ready to bounce?" Yes, yes!

 

"I'm not sure" Repo smirked "I don't think Mikey wants to leave our sweet van"

"Nooooo!" 

 

The Mantis chuckled, locking the van and securing his brooch. Brushing off his jeans, checking the van, stretching....

 

"Ok ok, we're going!" He laughed when Mikey started dragging him off. "Warren, your with Mike. I'm going thrifting with CJ."

Mikey was already at the other side of the car park with Warren by that point, but he put a thumbs up anyway to prove he'd heard. Repo shook his head. Kids...

 

"So, Michelangelo, what are we up to today?" Warren grinned as the two walked together. 

 

"Oooh I dunno. We should probably see if there's a library or something? For computers, to see what's in Lincoln" Mikey rambled "also maybe there's an event or two on today? Like a craft fair- ooh, a craft fair! Or a skatepark, skateboarders are always nice, and I've- ohh, or what if there's a bake sale? Warren what if there's a bake sale."

Warren stuck his head back and laughed as Mikey whipped his head around trying to sniff the air for baked goods. Ooh, he loved a good bake sale.. and a good craft fair..

 

"Well we could go to a library, that's true. Very smart idea kid, your full of them. Or, we could go to a place called The Bay, the best skatepark Nebraska has to offer that I, Warren Stone, did an award winning interview for in 2016. The place has a brilliant atmosphere, and they're all about encouraging self expression and community and all that crap with young people. You'd love it."

 

Mikey grabbed the man's shoulders and looked at him, serious as a grave. "Warren Stone... you are my idol."

 

______________

 

Repo and Casey linked arms as they trooped from thrift shop to thrift shop. With Repo's ability to sniff out a deal anywhere, Cassandra's laser sharp eyes after her nap in the van, and the family cell phone that they shared between them they where an unstoppable force. Cassandra held the golden, high quality items that they'd found for an absolute steal with the feirce determination of a soldier protecting the president, while Repo held bags filled to the brim with worn and torn items that would be gifted to Mikey to fix up and given life again.

 

(In all the glory of a good thrift find, they didn't notice the people who took one look at them, and immediately crossed to the other side of the street.)

 

"St Louise's thrift store. Looks big, clothes are on racks but people inside seem to be experienced thrifters, not tourists. Has big shelves of trinkets, likely gets lots of donations. Nobody inside it making faces at price tags. I say we check" Repo nodded in agreement.

The two stepped inside and immediately started working through the piles of clothes. Repo grinned as he saw thrifters around them clutch their bags and glare at them, suddenly looking through the racks a lot quicker. Mikey and Warren might be friendly, might be good at making small talk with fellow shoppers, but they never seemed to understand that thrifting was war.

 

Cassandra whipped out a pair of skinny black jeans, sniffed them, and showed Repo. "CLEAN! Good fabric, slightly worn at the seams but stretchy for mobility."

 

He nodded "put it in the regular bag" God he was proud of her. Cassandra was a brilliant kid, so observant. Thrifting with her always felt like winning.

 

... fuck, maybe his mother was right about the joy of having kids. Mikey and Cassie rocked. 

 

"Hey! HEY! THAT WAS MY HOODIE! I WAS JUST GRABBING THAT YOU IMBICILIC-"

 

Nope, nope his mother was wrong.

 

______________

 

Warren sat at the side of the skate park, grinning as Mikey enthusiastically talked with his fellow skaters.

 

The place had changed a little since he'd last been there, but it still clearly held the positive and welcoming feel it had in 2016. 

Warren had never been particularly interested in skateboarding, and honestly he probably wouldn't have chosen to interview this place in any normal circumstances but he'd been stranded in Lincoln after a nasty disagreement with one of his coworkers, and Nebraska was so incredibly dull he'd been itching to do something. The Bay seemed interesting, was the first indoor skate park in Nebraska, and looked nice enough so he contacted them to meet in person and had a good time nosing about and enjoying an unscripted, more freeing interview.

 

And he was thrilled about it now, watching this kid- watching his kid run about with his new friends, flipping and spinning about on his skateboard while everyone around him yelled and clapped. Warren whooped as well, smiling as Mikey whipped his head up to grin at him, before turning back to all the other skaters.

 

What Warren didn't notice, to focused on his kid, was an employee whipping their head up at the noise. He didn't notice, as Mikey balanced his skateboard on his head, the employee's eyes light up in recognition. And he didn't notice, as Mikey ran up to him to introduce all his new friends to Warren, the employee pull out their phone to take a picture of the famously missing Warren Stone.

 

____________

 

"Ok, no more getting us kicked out of Thrift Stores." 

 

Cassandra blushed bright red as she remembered how the two of them had been escorted out. "It was the other guys fault. Who just grabs a hoodie out of someone's hands like that?"

 

"You do Casey."

 

"SHUT UP"

 

The two walked into another Thrift shop, 'Buds Thrift Shoppe', and went back to browsing. 

 

"By the way..." uh oh, Casey didn't like the sound of that "how are you doing? You were slurring your words a bit in there CJ."

 

"Was I?"

 

"Yup."

 

Oh. That was embarrassing. "I'm fine. I had plenty of sleep yesterday, I just.." She trailed off. Repo didn't reply.

Nobody in the group liked to talk about it. The lab. Nobody liked to talk about the long term consequences especially. And for Casey... sleep was important. Her and Mikey had obsessively googled long term sleep deprivation for days once when they'd stopped by a library in Colerado. Hallucinations, paranoia, depression... heart disease, strokes, diabetes... brain damage. It killed her, (it was killing her) whenever everyone stopped for the night to sleep and Casey could do nothing but watch. When the others woke up screaming and Casey had to try comfort them with heavy limbs and needles glinting in the corner of her eye. 

 

And now she was slurring her words after 16 hours of sleep. Great. 

 

"Hey, hey, check out this t-shirt. Think Warren will like it?" Casey glanced to the side before letting out a ear splitting bark of laughter as Repo waved about a neon pink 'would you still love me as a worm :( 🪱 ' shirt. "It's a dollar. It's a sign"

 

"It's fate"

 

"It's destiny"

 

"It's-" Cassandra felt her eyes flutter as she stumbled backwards, brain going fuzzy. Blinking back to reality, she looked up to see Repo's concerned face, and a furious looking stranger.

 

"Case? Casey you OK?"

 

"I- was that a-" she pursed her lips.

 

"A seizure? Yeah. Not a big one though, ya basically just drooped a bit. I'm the one that stuck you on the floor-"

 

"You spilled my coffee."

 

Repo and Casey squinted up at the stranger, who continued to look at them expectantly. 

 

I- sorry, what was that?"

 

"She spilled my coffee."

 

The two stared blankly at the man, before Cassandra scanned him up and down, noting the very small dribble of coffee down his T-shirt. The guy was on his phone, having clearly stopped talking to whoever was on it to yell at her about.. his coffee.

 

"She was having a seizure." 

 

The man scoffed. "I know what a seizure looks like. That wasn't a seizure, the bitch barely even stumbled. That was-"

 

"A seziure" Cassandra interrupted, growling. The man frowned, irritated.

 

"No, you attention seeking-"

 

She snapped "that was a fucking seizure. That's what a seizure looks like you urchin brained fool, and I get them a lot, and I think you, if you really try, you can suck up your BIG BOY PANTS AND DEAL WITH YOUR TINY ASS SPILL ON YOUR UGLY T-SHIRT AND STOP-" Repo was grabbing her, trying to get Cassandra to sit back down, but she pushed past him "ACTING LIKE SOME BIG SHOT PROFESSIONAL BECAUSE YOU WATCHED GRAYS ANATOMY ONCE!"

 

The stranger and Repo just stared at Cassandra as she panted, dizzy from her outburst. "Idiots don't... deserve coffee anyway.." She panted.

 

"Casey..." Repo muttered softly "what the hell." Bitch.

 

"Well chat" Cassandra and Repo both whipped around to look at him, and Cassandra realised with a sinking feeling that with how the man was holding his phone, he looked less like he was on a call, and more like he was recording. "Remember what I was saying on my last live about crazy single bitches-?"

 

"Don't- are you recording? Don't post that online" Repo choked out, standing up towards the man. Cassandra felt sick.

 

"Too late for that dude, don't you know what a livestream is?" The guy gave a snobbish laugh "I'm a budding big shot. I've got 50 people watching now- oh, 51- 52! Hello Othello3.14169 and user069086073076, hope you're enjoying the stream!"

 

Cassandra felt water rushing through her head as Repo stepped in front of her and tried to cover her face, but it was too late. Repo and Mikey could get away with being on the Internet since Mikey had never had a human face, and the scientists had never figured out what Repo's looked like. Warren and Cassandra though? Warren could get away with it possibly, the stress of what they'd all been though had changed his appearance quite significantly in his human form, but there was always a superfan out there that might recognise him despite everything, and Cassandra?

She was unbearably, undoubtedly human, from the beginning. The scientists had watched and analysed her from the beginning to right before she escaped. They knew what she looked like. They knew. 

 

("Hello Othello3.14169 and user069086073076, hope you're enjoying the stream!")

 

(user069086073076)

 

(user069086073076)

 

Cassandra leapt past Repo, kicked the man in the face, grabbed the phone and snapped it over her knee.

 

"We have to contact Mikey and Warren. Now."

Notes:

This took so much goggling. I'm from Scotland, so I know nothing about American states, and the location setting on Google are my worst enemy cause it kept telling me about charity shops in SCOTLAND
anyway, Google maps is great so I was able to find some particular cheap thrift ships in Lincoln that just so happened to be near enough to each other that Casey and Repo could have gotten to them easily, and there's a few more shops a few streets down that they got the rest of their stuff from.
Also, did you know sleep deprivation causes diabetes??? Because I did not know that, but every site I went to when looking up the long term effects of sleep deprivation mentioned diabetes, which is really interesting. I'm assuming it's type 2, so it would probs fix itself when you get a healthier amount of sleep, but still.

There's also The Bay, the first indoor skate park in Nebraska! It's actually really interesting, the site talks a lot abt community and being a place for young people to grow on their own, w out the pressure from adults. Apparently they have a fashion workshop too, which is cool cause I love making clothes and I love little artsy workshops, so if you live in/near Nabraska that's a cool place to go to. I don't think it's really a place for Warren, I feel like he'd look down on skateboarding a little, but I wanted to explore his job as a famous reporter a little more, as well as give him something to connect with Mikey more.

Hopefully everyone's in character, its been a while since I last watched ROTTMNT but I looked up character compilations of Casey and Warren to get their dialogue right. I tried to do the same w Repo, but everybody hates Repo so the mist a could get was a 25 second clip that he just so happened to be in 😭😭😭 I'm writing this fic because there's no Warren Stone or Repo Mantis appreciation, and now I'm reaping the consequences of that decision

(Also guess who Othello3.14169 and user069086073076 is... spoiler alert they aren't on rhe same side)

Notes:

So I have ADHD and this is already a months old wip that's been sitting in my notes app, so if you want to steal this idea (with credit obv) that is absolutely fine because the liklihood of me finishing this is LOW. I might post stuff about this AU onto my tumblr, so if you want to see it my tumblr is here!