Rating: PG

Disclaimer: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and all related characters belong to Nickelodeon.

Summary: '"... my fault... it's all my fault..."' What actually happened the night they lost Mikey? As Donnie hacks the computer core, it's Mikey's job to watch his back. Events finally revealed for the 2 year anniversary of 'AOtGO'.

Comments, thoughts and concrit is always welcome.

Edited to add: Greys-giovana has done it again! Sad and haunting Donnie image created by her. Go look her up on Deviant Art to see it, or you can also find a link to it in my DA gallery!

A/N: This story was written nearly 2 years ago now, for the express purpose of keeping a clear picture in mind as to what happened on the night when Mikey's brothers thought he died. As I've hit the 2 year anniversary of 'And One to Grow On', I thought it was about time to reveal exactly what happened that night. Please forgive the style difference, this wasn't originally written for posting, though I have used bits and pieces of it during the main story before. I have fixed this up, but I didn't have time to rewrite it from scratch.

Also, I'd like to wish Greys-giovana a very happy birthday for 2 days ago :-)

* If you ever see my stories posted anywhere other than under the name Zelgadis55 at Deviant Art, FFNet, AO3 or Live Journal, then they have been stolen. Please report them.

AOtGO – That Night Revealed

Prequel

17th February

Once again, Earth is under attack, only this time everyone is clueless as to just where the invading aliens come from, or even why they are attacking. If they were searching for something, they certainly weren't communicating their desires. Hundreds of them, tall, exo-suited and all appearing exactly the same, fill the streets of New York City, terrorising the populace as they march inexorably through the neighbourhoods, firing energy weapons at anyone or anything that gets in their way.

The police are helpless. All they can do is try to clear the streets of citizens, getting them to safety. The Earth Protection Force is out in full force, not giving a damn who gets hit in the crossfire as long as the aliens go down too. Naturally, both the police and The Justice Force shun the overzealous tactics of Bishop's people as they spend most of their time rescuing instead of fighting back.

Thanks to Michelangelo's connections with the premier super team, and in particular his friendship with Silver Sentry and Nobody, the turtles work in conjunction with the larger than life band of heroes. The fliers among the superhero team guaranteed easy entry for the brothers into the spherical mother ship, carrying Leonardo, Donatello, Raphael and Michelangelo, wearing the breathers they gained in space some time back, on board to do what ninja do best; subterfuge and sabotage.

Leo and Raph pair up and separate from their brothers, deploying small explosives throughout the ship and doing as much damage as they possibly can, all while taking out as many exo-suited aliens as they can find; something which Raph finds extremely therapeutic.

Donnie and Mikey, on the other hand, have a far more specific mission.

On their way to the computer core, Donnie and Mikey had taken out numerous aliens en route; Mikey grinning as he picked up a fallen blaster, thinking it may come in useful later.

Once at their destination, they found two entrances to the large room. Donnie immediately worked on frying the circuitry of one door so it remained closed, then the two brothers hurriedly barricaded it with whatever loose equipment they could find nearby. They kept the other open as an exit for their eventual escape, then Donnie set to work on the main computer. That left the job of picking off the aliens as they tried to attack through the open door to Mikey and his stolen blaster.

Donnie begins doing his utmost to hack into the alien systems, both in an effort to discover the aliens' purpose on their planet and to take out the mother ship, the smaller ships and hopefully the exo-suits all in one foul blow, courtesy of a custom virus he designed. While Donnie works his technological magic, Mikey's purpose is to watch his shell.

Whooping loudly with wild laughter, Mikey quickly shoots another three aliens the moment they try to enter the room, all while voicing pew pew sounds as he fires. "Head shot! Ten points! Ooh! Too bad, only grazed that one, that's only worth a measly point. Stomach shot, five points!" Mikey crows gleefully as he fires again at the alien he only grazed before. "Another head shot! That's a hundred and eighty six points so far, dude!"

Donnie smirks in slightly irritated amusement at his rambunctious brother's antics. "Actually, the stomach shot would be worth ten points and the head only five, Mikey."

"Donnie, dude! No way!" Mikey protests, laughing more, "Head shots are always worth more, and I should know, I'm the video game champion!" he adds in the boastful tone he always uses when reminding everyone who the Battle Nexus Champion is. He immediately fires another two shots in quick succession as more aliens enter.

"Not in this case." Donnie explains calmly as he continues working on the alien computer. "The head may have a lot of sensitive components and sensors contained within, but much like our allies, the Utroms, the stomach area is where they are controlled from. Therefore, your current score, not including those last two shots, is only a hundred and sixteen."

"Spoilsport!" Mikey jokes cheerfully as he takes aim at yet another two suicidal aliens coming in through the door. "Fine. A hundred and forty six now."

"Mikey?" Donnie narrows his eyes thoughtfully as he stares at the barely decipherable information scrolling across the computer screen in front of him.

"Yeah, bro?"

"Shh!" Donnie smiles. "I'm almost done and I really need to concentrate now. Keep score in your head and tell me later."

"That'll be hard," Mikey laughs in a singsong voice, "but anything for my favourite techno-geeky bro."

"Thanks," Donatello murmurs, not bothering to point out that he is the only 'techno-geeky' brother. He starts rapidly typing once more, everything else around him falling into a distant awareness as he concentrates fully on the task at hand.

For several minutes, Mikey continues to defend his brother and himself silently as Donnie works when suddenly a crash from the locked and blockaded door at the other end of the room steals Mikey's attention. He turns his head briefly, glancing with dismay as he sees the door itself has been cut through, the edges still glowing red with heat and the blockade in the process of being knocked down.

Mikey swallows worriedly, knowing he can't continue to defend the two of them from attacks at opposite ends of the room. "Um, Donnie? You really need to hurry, bro. They've broken through the other door."

Donnie doesn't respond, so deeply concentrating is he.

"Don..." Mikey tries again, firing rapidly at the larger group of enemies now pouring in through the first doorway. All playing forgotten, it's all he can do to take them down in time before they shoot at him and his brother.

Mikey hears a final, resounding crash from the other end of the room and realises the blockade is now completely down. "Donnie..." he warns again as he turns to see the exo-suited aliens aiming a new, larger weapon at his concentrating, genius brother. More aliens are swarming in from the original door still and Mikey knows there is no more time.

"Donnie!" Mikey yells, running at his brother as Donnie absent-mindedly glances up in time to see a frantic, practically flying Michelangelo about to crash into him. "Move!"

Donatello tumbles away from the force of Mikey's frenzied shove, a little unsure of just what was actually happening. Before he comes to a halt, he hears a blood-curdling, drawn out scream of pure agony and with a dreadful chill, he realises it's Michelangelo's voice he is hearing. Donnie looks to where he had stood working only moments ago and sees his brother writhing painfully as he screams, caught in the throes of an energy beam of some sort, different to that of the blasters used up until now.

Mikey's scream abruptly cuts off. The silence is complete and Donnie realises Mikey is no longer there.

Donatello's horrified gaze drifts downwards and all he can see is the smoking chains from his hyperactive brother's nunchakus, his Shell-cell, a few other pieces of inorganic material and Michelangelo's stolen blaster.

The next thing Donatello is aware of is the heavy thud of the blaster falling out of his suddenly limp hands and Raph shaking him fiercely, desperate to get his attention. "Donatello! Don! Come on! Don!"

Donatello raises his eyes to his younger brother in trepidation, his now only younger brother, barely noticing an anxious Leo hovering just behind their rough sibling.

"What happened? Where's Mikey?"

He doesn't respond at first. He can't. Donatello finds himself shaking, breathing fast and shallow. Dimly in the back of his mind, he is aware he's hyperventilating. His eyes slowly stray back to the remaining belongings of his youngest brother on the ground nearby.

"Don?" Leo prods apprehensively.

"... my fault... it's all my fault..."

The Beginning