Raph caught Mikey by the arm before he could scamper by, holding him up with a short frown.

"Woah, hold up. What are all these?"

His little brother was littered with several more bandaids than usual, and as Raph looked closer there were a few on his shoulders and neck that didn't quite manage to entirely cover the edges of scrapes and bruising. When Mikey shuffled, eyes casting down for a split second, a red flag started waving furiously in the back of Raph's mind.

"It's nothing!" Mikey answered only a beat too late. "I just fell. I keep trying to land this one jump on my board, it's like stupid hard."

His skateboard was clutched by a wheel in one hand, and his eyes were round and guiless as he smiled up at Raph; who found himself relenting under the wide blue and letting go.

"Just watch yourself," he said sternly, and Mikey tossed him a cheerful salute as he took off toward the turnstiles.

But there was a pit in his stomach as Mikey disappeared around the corner that it took Raph whole minutes to shake.

"Did you know peregrine falcons can fly super fast? They can fly like two hundred miles an hour. Gideon says he can't go that fast, and he's bulkier than an actual bird, but he's still majorly fast."

"Okay, seriously, who is Gideon? You've been "Gideon says"ing us for days."

"He's my new friend! And don't worry, he's not human. He's a mutant like us!"

"What? Back up, he's a mutant? That's kind of really important information, Mikey!"

"Umm, I'm pretty sure I told you guys that already. Jeez, you don't listen. But I did tell him you guys would wanna meet him, too, and he didn't seem into it. He's really shy, he barely talks. But he's a good listener! I tell him all kindsa stuff!"

"He seems like a good guy?"

"Oh, yeah! We play a lot, and he knows all sorts of stuff about birds. Like, did you know a gold eagle can crack open a turtle's shell by flying it up high and dropping it on rocks?"

"...That's... a little messed up, Mikey."

"Really? Gideon thought it was cool."

"Okay, that's it." Raph threw his comic down and stood; stalked past a startled Donnie and cornered Mikey against a wall before he could escape, fist slamming down hard on the concrete above his head. There were only inches between them when Raph leaned in, and Mikey's baby blues were wide. "What is it now, huh? What brilliant excuse do you have this time? Another skateboarding accident? Parkour? Tricking?"

Mikey shifted uneasily, gaze dropping away. His whole left side was a mess of angry welts and road rash, bruises climbing up his neck, and he was favoring the same leg. The longer he didn't speak, the more convinced Raph became that someone somewhere had hell to pay.

"Was it Gideon? Did he do this to you?"

"Leo! Leo, get in here!" Donnie was pushing past Raph in the next moment, cupping the uninjured side of Mikey's face gently. "What happened to you?"

"It's nothing," the youngest turtle said, pleaded, eyes honest and wide. "We were just playing, and I fell down."

"This isn't playing Mikey, this is assault!"

"You and Leo fight all the time and it's fine," Mikey shot back, something defiant creeping into his voice. "It's the same thing."

"It's not the same thing at all," Raph growled at him, and the urge to grab his stupid beat-up face and shake sense into him was so strong Raph almost did.

But then Donnie was moving aside suddenly, and Raph fell away a step too when he felt their older brother approach. Leonardo stepped into the space they made for him, and touched Mikey's face in much the same way Donnie had; turned it gently to one side to put the bruises in the light, and then back again.

"Go with Donnie and let him take care of this," Leo finally said, his voice a quiet, grave thing that commanded Mikey's full attention. "I want you both in the kitchen when you're done. Okay?"

Mikey hated when Leo used that voice on him, and it showed in the way his head dipped low. "Okay."

Leo tapped his chin fondly, belying his tone, and Mikey let Donnie steer him toward the lab without a fight. When they were gone around the corner, Leo turned back to Raphael with steely blue eyes- and distantly, Raph was relieved.

Fearless is on my side.

"How much do you know about this friend of his?"

"But Leo- "

"No buts, Mikey. I'm serious. Gideon is officially off-limits."

"You don't understand! He's all alone, he doesn't have brothers or a sensei like I do. He really needs a friend!"

"Mikey, if you're his friend I'd hate to see how he treats his enemies."

"No, that's- he doesn't mean it, Raph. He just plays hard. He really doesn't mean it."

"I'm not a doctor, but those welts don't look even remotely accidental. I think Leo and Raph are right, this guy is bad news."

"He's not bad news!"

"Enough. I'm not going to stand by and let some mutant hurt you because he thinks it's a game. I'll go to Master Splinter, and maybe we'll talk about the four of us meeting Gideon together, but you are not allowed to go and see him on your own anymore. Got it?"

"But Leo- "

"Got it?"

"...Fine."

Raph hit Gideon so hard something in the feathered mutant's face crunched under his fist. Gideon cried out and staggered, and Raphael kicked him the rest of the way to the ground.

Mikey winced when Gideon fell but lifted one arm as Raph came running over, round blue eyes wide and hurt, and Raphael couldn't get his hands on him fast enough. Of course Mikey would go out to play with his new friend again, no matter what Leo said, and Raph was shaken to his core at the thought of what might have happened if he hadn't gone after him.

"Are you okay?" he whispered, trembling with the burnt edges of something that felt like adrenaline, pulling Mikey in as tight as he dared. "I swear to god I'll rip his wings off if you're not okay."

"No, I'm okay." Mikey tucked himself against Raph's plastron, voice no louder than Raph's was- maybe just on instinct, maybe by design, but either way it made Raph wrap him even closer. "I promise."

"Let me see." He held his brother out at arm's length and looked him over, fingers sliding over the dome of his head and across his cheekbones, down his shoulders and pausing there. "What'd he do to your arm, Mikey?"

"No, he- I landed on it wrong." The orange-banded turtle shifted guiltily, eyes falling away for a long moment, and Raph knew exactly what was coming by the time he blurted, "I'm sorry I didn't listen. I shouldn't have run off like I did, I shoulda listened when you said- "

"And I'm ticked off about that, believe me," Raphael muttered, and lifted Mikey's chin when his head sank down. "But there's time for that later, okay? Right now I'm just glad I found you in one piece, little brother."

Mikey's eyes were filling despite his best efforts and then he was sobbing, fat tears rolling down his cheeks like they owned the place, and Raphael felt his heart break a little more with each one.

"Stop cryin', Mikey," he said, as gently as he knew how. "You gotta stop cryin', or I'm really gonna kill 'im."

"Sorry you had to come after me," Mikey continued anyway, words falling out in a hiccuping mess. His good hand came up to wipe his face, and Raphael's came up to hold it still. "I'm so stupid. Gideon said I was nothing but a pain and he was right. I'm sorry, Raph."

Raph pictured turning around and breaking Gideon's beak under his foot so clearly that he was distantly surprised he hadn't actually done it. Instead he rested his brow against his little brother's, red and orange meeting in the middle, and reached for the right words.

"Gideon ain't right about jack. It ain't your fault he turned out to be a monster. You were only trying to do right by him." Even though Mikey hadn't listened to them and ran off, and got himself thrown off a building for all his troubles, he'd gone with nothing but good intentions. And Raph could appreciate that, he could- now that Mikey was safe with him, anyway. "You're not a pain, I'm not mad at you. Mikey? Hey, look at me."

"No," came the muffled, petulant rejoinder, "'cause I'm crying like a sissy."

"And I've seen it before, you dork." When those baby blues finally pulled up and looked at him, Raph rubbed Mikey's head fondly and said, "Wait for me here for a sec. I have some wings to clip."

"It's not wrong to want to meet people and make friends, Mikey. You're just that type of guy. Hold still, this needs a butterfly stitch."

"Ow, ouch, okay. And... But... Bradford, and now Gideon- "

"Alright, so it's been hit and miss. You were wrong about those two jerks, but Leatherhead would take on a whole army for you. So we can't rule out all mutants. And Casey and April are- well, they're part of the family. So we can't rule out all humans, either."

"So how are we supposed to make friends, if we dunno who we can trust and who we can't?"

"The way everybody else does, I suppose. The way you've been doing. Takin' people at their word."

"Really? Even though- "

"Oh, no, hold up- you aren't allowed out of my sight for a long time. That's for dang sure. Anyone you wanna pal around with is gonna have to- I dunno, pass a series of tests."

"Raaaph."

"Mikey, you're more purple than you are green, and- subsequently- I almost killed a guy tonight. It really isn't up for debate."

"I guess that's fair."

Raph was kneeling to pack away the first aid kit, shutting the heavy lid and snapping the clasps, when he heard the chair behind him squeak, and Mikey's arms slipped around him. They were both bandaged and taped, one wrapped tightly against a splint, and Raphael closed his eyes. Mikey was warm against his carapace, a pliant, breathing weight that nuzzled closer when Raph tipped his head to allow him more room.

"Thanks, Raph," Mikey whispered, and Raph had never loved anything as much as he loved him.

"Anytime, little brother."