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aquietwritingcorner · 6 months

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Mistaken Identity

Title: Mistaken Identity Day: Whumptober 2023, Day 9 Prompt: “Learning everything ain’t what it seems, that’s the think about these days” Polaroid/Mistaken Identity/”You’re a Liar” Fandom: TMNT 2003 (AU) Word Count: 1638 Author: aquietwritingcorner/realitybreakgirl Rating: T Characters: Raphael, Donatello Warning: NA Summary: Some new thugs grab Raph when they meant to grab Don. But while this is a case of mistaken identity, Raph will gladly take the hits, especially considering Donnie’s current state. Notes: This is part of an AU I’ve had forming in my head where, during a crisis with the Time Scepter, Don sacrificed himself to save everything. Instead of it killing him, though, it turned him into a baby, and his family has needed to raise him all over again. AO3 || ff.net

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Mistaken Identity

Raph’s head jerked to the side as he was hit for about the fifth time. Just like all of the other times, he growled and shook it off, glaring up at his captors.

“We told ya, turtle! Yer going ta fix this for us, or yer gonna die!” the lead thug demanded.

Raph spat a glob of blood out. “And I told you! I don’t know how to fix it!”

That was met with a punch to the side—not the first time for that, either—and Raph grunted, but he didn’t give them the satisfaction of more than that.

“Lemme see that picture again!” the lead thug demanded. One of the underlings handed him what to Raph looked like an old-fashioned polaroid, and the leader squinted at it. “There’s four of ‘em, right? Ya sure we grabbed the right one?”

“They said the one with the bag and the tools,” the other thug said. “He’s got the bag and the tools. He’s gotta be the smart one!”

So—they had been after Donnie, like Raph had suspected. But these thugs weren’t their normal thugs, so they didn’t know how to tell who was who. Raph bared his teeth. Good. Then he’d keep on taking the hits for Donnie. Until Leo and Mike showed up, he was willing to put up with this. Besides, these guys were idiots. It shouldn’t take his brothers long to track him down. He didn’t stay out as long anymore, after all.

“Right.” The leader tossed the photo aside and turned back to Raph. “Alright, so—yer gonna fix this machine for us, an’ if ya don’t, then we’re gonna blow those big brains out, got it?”

Raph growled. “First of all, how do ya expect me to fix anything, when you’re got me tied up? Second, if ya blow my brains out, then nothin’ is getting fixed, idiot. And third, like I already told ya, I don’t know how to fix the thing!”

He was hit again, although this time it was hard enough to send him rocking back. The only reason his chair didn’t fall over was because of the thug back there that caught it.

“Yer a liar!” the leader snapped out. “We know ya can do this! Our informant was very clear!”

Raph gave him a feral grin. “Maybe yer informant wasn’t as good as ya thought.”

That earned him another hit, but Raph took it. As much as these punks thought they were going to get something out of him, Raph was gaining information too. Mainly, that they didn’t know. That it wasn’t common knowledge yet. It wasn’t on the streets yet about Donnie, and that was good. They’d been trying to keep it relatively hidden for as long as they could, and it looked like it was working.

Another hit brought Raph out of his thoughts, and, again, the thugs demanded his fix some machine. Again, Raph refused. Raph wasn’t sure how long this back and forth beating went on, but what he did know was that these punks had the wrong turtle. Yeah, Raph had been carrying Don’s bag, but that was because he was going on a junkyard run. Raph was no genius like Don had been, but he knew his way around the vehicles and several inventions, at least more than the rest of his family. They’d become his duty, and Raph wasn’t about to let them fall to pieces, not after all of the work Don had put into them.

Unfortunately for them, these punks couldn’t tell the difference between him and Don, and took the bag as the sign, even though Raph had different weapons, a different colored mask, and a different tone of green. But they didn’t have Donnie, for all the good it would have done them, and for that, Raph was glad.

The leader landed a hit that was harder than the rest, clearly frustrated with Raph and his answers, though, and his patience was at an end. “Maybe we should do somethin’ a little more drastic, to ya, turtle,” he said, leaning Raph’s chair back and grabbing Raph’s mask so he could pull Raph’s head around. “Maybe we still need yer brain, but ya don’t need yer legs ta fix a machine, do ya?” He roughly let go of Raph and took a step back. “Bring me that sledgehammer!”

Raph bared his teeth and growled. This was bad, but there wasn’t anything he could do about it. Some punk handed the leader a sledgehammer, and the leader approached Raph with a sadistic grin. “Maybe this’ll teach ya that we’re serious!”

The punk had only just started to raise the sledgehammer when suddenly there was the sound of breaking glass and a turtle was slamming into the leader full force. Another blur landed in front of Raph, and with the quick and efficient precision that only Mike could do with his nunchucks, the punks that were around Raph were down.

“Casey!” Mike called.

Casey dropped down from the ceiling, landing with his hockey stick in hand as he took care of another punk.

“On it!” he yelled back and made his way over to Raph.

“You look like shell, man,” he said as he took out a knife to cut the ropes that were tying him to the chair.

“Yeah, well, I still look better than you,” Raph shot back.

Casey laughed. It didn’t take long for Casey to get Raph untied, or long for his brothers to finish off the punks, load Raph in the Hovershell, and for them all to take off back to the lair. Mike drove them home, actually avoiding the potholes for once, while Leo and Casey sat in the back, going over Raph’s injuries. It was only a temporary job, of course, but it was enough for him to limp inside the lair with help. April was there and waiting, and Splinter wasn’t far behind her, a small Donnie in his arms, sucking on his fingers as he watched. He opened his mouth, though, and let out a noise of distress as he saw Raph.

“Hey, don’t worry, buddy,” Raph said, glad that Casey and Leo had wiped off most of the blood in the Hovershell. Coming in like that only would have scared Donnie more. “I’m gonna be alright.”

Donnie, even as a one-year-old, was preceptive. He didn’t look convinced, and Raph really couldn’t blame him. Splinter carried him into the infirmary with the others, putting him in the small pack’n’play they had in there, and pulling a curtain around it just enough that Donnie wouldn’t see things while everyone cleaned up or tended to Raph. Raph explained what had happened to his family, keeping his voice low and hushed. Like him, they were glad that news of Donnie hadn’t gotten out yet, although they weren’t happy to find out this way.

At some point, Mike finished cleaning up and took Donnie out of the room, even though Donnie wasn’t happy about it. He cried, and Raph heard his name somewhere in there, especially as it devolved into a full-on fit from the small turtle. Raph winced at the sound. He’d have to thank Mike later for dealing that that.

Finally, Raph was allowed out to sit on the couch, although he was under strict orders not to do anything strenuous. He was helped to it, where he gratefully sat, content not to do anything for a while. At least, he was until Mike appeared with Donnie in his arms.

“There he is!” Mike said, clearly speaking to Donnie. “See? Raphie is okay, he’s just got a few boo-boos, that’s all.”

Donnie sniffed from his position in Mike’s arms and looked at Raph. He reached his hands out to him. “Ahpy,” he said, clearly wanting Raph.

Mike looked at Raph, waiting to see if Raph was willing to take Donnie. Raph couldn’t help himself. He reached out for Donnie. “Come here, squirt,” he said.

Donnie grinned and burbled as Mike handed him over. “You up for this?” Mike asked.

“We’ll be fine,” Raph said. “You just go help April in the kitchen. I think Leo’s in there with her now.”

Mike grimaced at that, and turned to go avert disaster, leaving Raph alone with Donnie. He settled the baby on his plastron, keeping an arm around him to make sure that he was stable. Donnie looked up at him, his big, grayish-green eyes, staring at him. He reached up, gently touching a bruise that had already formed on Raph’s face.

“Owwie?” he asked.

Raph smiled at him. “Yeah, kiddo. I’ve got an owwie.”

Donnie frowned, and looked at other parts of Raph, gently reaching out to touch some of the bandages. Even for a child who didn’t have all of his motor control yet, Raph was always amazed at how gentle Donnie could be. Splinter said he was always like that; it was a part of his very nature. For Raph, who had always struggled with being gentle, it was amazing to see his literal baby brother know how to be gentle almost instinctively.

“Ahpy ‘ur’,” Donnie said, sniffing a little. “Ba’!”

Raph softened. “Yeah, I’m hurt. And it’s not a good thing. But it’ll be okay, Donnie. I’ll heal. The owwies will go away.”

“’ur’?” he asked.

“Yeah, Donnie they hurt a little.”

Donnie looked up at him again, and then tucked himself in Raph’s hold, patting his plastron and giving a small, high pitched churr. Raph’s heart melted as Donnie tried his best to comfort him, and he smiled softly at Donnie, giving a churr back. He settled into the couch, content right there, even with his injuries, as he held Donnie.

If this was what he was protecting, then Raph had no problem with a case of mistaken identity.

#whumptober 2023 #no.9 #mistaken identity #TMNT #TMNT 2003 #TMNT 2k3 #fanfic #TMNT Raphael #TMNT Donatello

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