Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Donatello was a turtle who prided himself on being spectacularly unfazed by the odd and peculiar. Whether he was amazingly well-adjusted or horrifically repressed, nobody was quite sure.

That being said, even Donnie was taken aback by the huddled mess of fur and feathers that greeted him when he dropped down silently behind his favorite pizza place.

"You, uh, you good?" Donnie asks the... mutant? Furry? Feral mountain lion? - and receives a chirp in reply as feathers shift and someone stands up. With a jolt, Donnie realizes what he's looking at.

The skinniest crow mutant he's ever seen stands in front of who has to be his brother, come on, and Donnie doesn't even move forward a helf step before there's a blur of speed and the crow kid is at his throat, slamming Donnie back against the wall in a way that makes him grateful for his battle shell, black eyes narrowed. He looks reasonably human, Donnie notices a bit hysterically, with a pale face lined with tiny black feathers and a hooked nose and solid black eyes.

"Do not even try it, bitch," the kid snaps, wings tented. Donnie raises his hands up in surrender.

"Let him go, man." a voice says and the kid jerks back, looking up in surprise. Donnie takes his chance and drives his elbow into the kid's stomach, slipping free and making a run for it. A hand, something far too human, closes tightly around Donnie's arm and drags him to a stop, yanking him around until he's face to face with something he's only ever read about.

The android's red eyes narrow as it stares Donnie down. "So, where were you running to?"

"You're so cool," Donnie breathes and the android jerks back, looking uncomfortable. The crow kid is bent over the other mutant again, quietly talking.

"I'm gonna ask you again. Where were you running to?" the android asks, its bone-white face and hair nearly glowing in the dark. Donnie swallows hard, fully aware that this might be how he's killed.

"I was going home," Donnie says quietly, the android staring him down. "My-my brothers are gonna be worried, I said I'd be home soon."

There's silence and Donnie glances up to see the android looking down at him, its eyes a bit duller.

"Alright. Dave, don't kill him. Be nice." the android calls over its shoulder. Then, turning back to Donnie, it adds, "Call me AR. How much do you know about wound care?"

"You're gonna trust a fucking kid?!" the cro - Dave, Donnie reluctantly corrects himself - exclaims. AR shrugs.

"Dunno if we have another option. My databases were purged, I lost my medical knowledge. This kid's all we got." it says, and Donnie can't help but feel excluded.

"I don't know a lot," Donnie admits and Dave groans, but Donnie feels a bit braver now, and steps forward, ignoring the way AR and Dave tense. He walks up slowly and winces at the guy sprawled over some trash, completely motionless.

He's a fox mutant, judging by the fluffy grey tipped tail and sharply pointed ears and schnozz. But he's pure white, which again, something new to Donnie. He's also covered in blood, a gash running down his leg and side, weeping and so obviously infected. Dave glares at Donnie, who takes his cue and backs off.

"I can't help you but, uh, Ra - my brother knows a bit more medical stuff." Donnie offers, and AR looks thoughtful while Dave just glares at him.

"So you're insinuating that we follow you to your home." it's not a question from the way AR monotones. Donnie swallows hard and nods.

"It's getting to be light soon, and you're going to have a way bigger problem on your hands if a human sees you." Donnie says. "We live in the sewers so there's no way you'll be spotted."

"I don't like this," Dave grumbles, wings shifting. AR nods.

"Let's go, then. I'd rather the sewers than a slag heap." AR agrees and easy as anything, scoops the fox into its arms. Donnie hesitates, then pops off the cover to the manhole nearby and hops in.

Dave gets down easily, though he keeps half spreading his wings, looking deeply uncomfortable. AR has a bit more trouble, and has to hand Donnie the other mutant for a second as it clambers down. Donnie barely stops himself from flinching as the guy's bloody fur touches his arms but Donnie can shower for twelve billion years later.

He leads the way down the tunel, ignoring Dave's comment about the lack of smell, and finally pulls open the door to the base.

A bit too late, Donnie realizes he probably should have texted someone before Leo comes hurtling over the couch, sword drawn and ready to fight.

Chapter Text

AR wants a lot of things in his existence. For one, he wishes he could suppress the constant nagging to clean everything, shoved to the back of his programming and mind. He also wishes he could eat a Big Mac.

AR also desperately wants the purple turtle mutant to stop touching him. Sure, it's cool that you have an interest in tech, but feeling up the robo dude is really uncool.

"Can you stop touching me?" AR finally snaps, a synthesized hiss sneaking its way into his voice. Purple flinches.

"Sorry, you're just so cool," Purple says. AR raises an eyebrow.

"I'd be cooler if you ask first, man. Hurtin' my feefees over here." AR says, keeping an eye on Dave and also on his other brother, currently slumped in his arms. Blue turtle managed to calm himself down after AR so kindly threatened him at gunpoint.

This is why Roombas should not be allowed to wield double flintlock pistols. Although AR is a bit more than a mere Roomba now. Ooze shenanigans, he supposes. His brother groans faintly, and instantly Dave is at his side as Blue and Purple watch with thinly veiled curiosity.

"He's burning up." Dave says, frowning. Purple steps forward.

"I can get my dad." he offers, and again, AR's trust for this kid ticks up a bit more as he keeps his distance, bo staff leaned against the wall across the room. Dave isn't budging from where he stands but nods apprehensively and Purple scuttles off.

"So wanna explain how a crow, a fox, and a robot ended up here?" Blue demands. Dave scowls at him and AR just watches, curious.

"I don't like you." Dave decides and proceeds to completely ignore Blue. AR can't suppress a smirk at Dave's stubbornness, but it falls away quickly as Purple rushes back in with the oldest damn rat AR has ever seen right behind him.

"That's your dad?" Dave scoffs. Purple glares at him and the rat rushes forward to AR, who can barely say "don't touch" before his brother is carefully being lowered onto the beaten up futon, tail dangling limply, and AR thinks he nearly looks dead, if not for his skinny chest rising and falling with shallow breaths.

"I am Splinter." the rat announces. "Why are you three here?"

"Way to be welcoming," Blue snarks, leaning against the wall. Purple elbows him hard in the side. Splinter ignores it, and with a smooth motion just digs his claws into the wound. AR jerks forward, mechanical daggers sliding out of his arms, but Splinter just laughs, harsh but somehow kind, procuring a wad of medical supplies out of nowhere and beginning to work. AR hovers cautiously, Dave perched on the arm of the futon.

"What is his name?" Splinter finally asks and AR hesitates. Dave takes the bait.

"Dirk. And I'm Dave." Dave says. Splinter looks up at AR, who shrugs.

"I don't care what you call me," AR says. "Never got a name."

"I gave you a name!" Dave protests, and AR rolls his eyes.

"Skrinklebinkle Jorgyborger is not a name, Dave." AR tells him.

"You need a name," Splinter decides. "And I need light."

Without thinking, AR leans down and flicks on a bright LED on his finger, and Splinter just grabs his whole hand and directs (read: manhandles) AR as he works on Dirk silently.

Eventually, Purple pipes up, Blue having walked away hours ago. "What about Hal?"

"For what?" AR and Dave chorus. Purple blinks.

"For a name. Like the guy from-"

"Space Odyssey, yeah." AR cuts him off. "I mean, I don't see anything I don't like about the name."

"But it doesn't start with a D," Dave protests. AR shakes his head.

"Better Hal than David or Dietrich," he argues and Dave coughs a quiet laugh.

"I'm Donnie, by the way," Purple says. "Donatello."

"I'm Hal."

Chapter Text

It's late when Dave feels his wing pulled at slightly. He glances down to see Dirk's exhausted orange eyes looking up at him.

"You're awake," Dave gasps and Dirk shakes his head.

[Too dark,] he signs, pushing himself up with a hiss of pain. [Can't see your lips.]

[Light?] Dave signs and Dirk shrugs, looking around cautiously. Dave flicks on the light on his phone and immediately Hal uncurls from his spot in the corner and stands up, red eyes focused on Dirk.

[How are you?] he signs, and Dirk scoffs, swinging his legs over the couch so he's sitting straight, Dave deciding to slide down the back so he's pressed against Dirk's hip in the way they used to do as kids.

[Been better] Dirk finally decides. [You?]

[Perfect,] Hal signs and immediately glitches. Dave grins at him. A light flicks on in the hallway and Dirk tenses, Dave whipping his sword out before he sees Donnie poke his head in.

[What the fuck?] Dirk signs, eyes wide and confused. Donnie's eyebrows raise and he steps forward.

"You are awake. I have a few tests to run as well as doing a background check on you and I also need to know about allergens and man I have so many questions." Donnie rambles and Dirk stares at him before turning to Dave.

[Mind explaining?] Dirk signs. [Put the sword away, too.]

Dave sighs and does indeed put the sword away before turning to Donnie and signing as he speaks for Dirk's benefit. "Dirk here is mostly deaf. If you know sign, that's helpful. But you also have, like, six fingers, so-"

"Dave," Dirk scolds, smacking Dave's arm slightly. [Be nice.]

"So you can talk?" Donnie asks and Dirk nods.

"I can. Don't usually." Dirk replies. "Who are you?"

"Donnie."

"… helpful." Dave says, fingerspelling for Dirk, Hal hunched over in the corner fiddling with a circuit on his arm.

"There are five of us here," Donnie explains. "Me, Leo, Dad, Mikey and Raph. Mikey is orange."

[I approve of that color.] Dirk signs, and once again Dave is shocked at the amount of tone that carries through into sign language. There's a loud pop from the corner of the room and Hal yelps in surprise, shaking his arm out. Dirk is out of his seat in a second, flashstepping over to Hal and helping him with whatever the idiot managed to fuck up in his own cicuitry.

"Don't-" Dave cuts himself off. "He can't hear me."

"There are accomodating devices for mutants with hearing issues, you know." Donnie pipes up, Dirk and Hal now engaged in a rapid fire argument, Hal tracing circles in the air. Dave shrugs.

"Dirk and Hal managed to figure something like that out and it didn't end well for Dirk." Dave says, stretching his wings a bit, the sickening pop of his shoulder joint and release of pressure telling him that he really needs to stretch more. Donnie nods.

"Interesting. Has he always been deaf?" Donnie asks. Dave side eyes him.

"Not my place to say, man." Dave says and Donnie looks disappointed.

"If you say so." the turtle concedes, beginning to type on his tablet, rapid fire, that crease between his eyebrows telling Dave that there will absolutely be questions.