Hi! I read your TMNT headcanons on the boys living topside and you really give such intricacies to their personalities, its like you know them! So I thought you were the perfect person to ask for your thoughts on this idea I had since I'm bad at people building haha. Of course you dont have to engage to this ask at all if you dont want to! But I was thinking about how the boys would react to a new friend they made, or one of them made and then introduced their brothers to them later on, and they become good friends or even a significant other to one of them for extra angst. They find out that they retired a year or two years prior to meeting the boys from a super high paying job but they won't say what the job was or who they worked for. You can determine the age. More time passes and its eating away at the friend and finally they decide to tell the boys what really happened. They tell them they used to make high powered weapons for governments, aliens, I dont know I haven't thought that far into it. But the reason they stopped was because of a fishy request they recieved. No current weapon they had was satiating this customer, it wasn't strong enough, they needed more power, whatnot. Then it got really specific: "be able to shoot through a mutated, bulletproof shell" with a candid, blurry photo of the boys. They did some digging and found that these boys weren't doing anything wrong and they were so close to aiding the bad guys in killing these boys that were just trying to make the world a safer place. So they decided to fall off and just live off what they currently have (rich rich BTW just laying low lmao). So when they met the boys, they weren't shocked by how they looked but it really broke their heart to realize how kind and nice they are and how horrible it would be if they actually went through with the order. After hearing about all the friend had to say, the boys came to the realization of how close they were to being wiped out if this friend had gone through with it. But how do you think they would feel if the friend didn't care to learn of their customers backgrounds? Or, perhaps, they typically only aided aliens that weren't directly interfering with Earth? Or it was a separate government that wanted them dead? If you want real good angst make them a significant other to one of the boys! But headcanons for each boy would work cause I want to hear your thoughts on how they would feel and how they would process it. Would they continue the relationship/friendship? Much love!!
This is an HC that I’ve taken forever to write. Many apologies. Thank you for your kind words, though. I hope that if you’re still following me, you see this. This one was difficult to put my mind to, which is part of the reason why it has taken me so long to do this.
I decided to do it as a HC with each of their reactions and I modified it a little bit to include a villain I think would be perfect for this.
Please enjoy, the next request I'll be working on is the farmhouse one, sadly, I haven't heard back from whoever put in the original request but I will be writing it anyway.
No warnings for this that I can think of, a little bit of angst.
TMNT HC: Working For The Government
You had largely kept your past a secret from your four mutant terrapin friends. Around the time they were 18 and you were 21, you’d been lucky enough to land the job of a lifetime with the U.S. Department of Defense. Following Krang’s attack on New York City, the department wanted someone to develop high-powered weapons. Should such a threat ever resurface, they’d be ready. You had the knowledge and skill for such a project, and for a time, your work was good, satisfying, and worthy in a way that you were working towards keeping people safe. As a result, you’d been able to create quite a comfortable living, making more than six figures doing what the government asked.
You’d remembered the attack and the mysterious heroes who had saved everyone. Like many others, you’d only been able to speculate what they looked like. There had been a slew of grainy photos online, but nothing concrete to reveal who or what they were. Doing vigilante work as well, these four were New York’s best-kept urban legend. The unsung heroes, quietly keeping the city safe. You didn’t give it much more thought as you started your job, and you scarcely thought of them as you worked, designing weapons and submitting them for review. The government had you believe you were creating arms to deal with a threat more dangerous than standard humans, but you’d assumed this referred to future alien attacks, such as the one the city had just sustained.
That was until you received a special request from a man named John Bishop, a newcomer from a special branch of the government dedicated to defending the world from future alien attacks. The Earth Protection Force, as they were called, and the man in charge, Agent Bishop. Something about that man sent a chill down your spine as he delivered his request in person.
He wanted you to design a very special weapon for him. Although he was tight-lipped about the details, it was explicitly stated that the designed firearm needed to be able to pierce not only flesh and bone but also something stronger, such as hard, bony plates, like those a certain animal possessed—turtles.
It was then you noticed the case file tucked under his arm, with the same blurry photo you’d seen all those years ago sticking out of it. The turtle-like creatures that saved the city. The weapon Bishop wanted you to create was for them, specifically for hunting and, presumably, killing them.
Now, it was not your place to question him about any of this. You were in no position to do so, paid only to take the work assigned to you and follow through on your orders. This time, however, you felt a deep sense of wrongness after he’d left, satisfied that you’d follow through on the request. It was not as though you were incapable of making such a weapon, but for the first time in your entire career you felt frozen with indecision. Finally, you decided to dig deeper, using your security clearance to uncover the truth. It was exactly as you’d suspected.
For whatever reason, John Bishop wanted these turtles destroyed, and he needed your help to do it. The whole request felt unforgivable. No, you were not going to be able to go through with this. Perhaps these creatures were aliens, perhaps not, but they were heroes—no more a threat to humanity than any superhero standing up for what was right.
Immediately, you were on the phone with your superior, telling him you had to refuse this assignment. The conversation did not end well, resulting in your resignation, all because you dared to disagree for once in your entire career. Fine, though it pained you to leave, you took solace in the fact that Agent Bishop would never be able to make that weapon easily and that those mysterious heroes would be safe for now.
Fast-forward a year, and, wonder of wonders, you’d actually met the city’s mysterious heroes. Not aliens, but mutants, and meeting them was entirely a matter of luck and timing. You were extremely fortunate, as these four did not welcome new humans easily, yet they had amazingly accepted you. All you had told them was that you used to work for the government, that you’d left the job due to stress, and that, since you’d made a lot of money, you were able to live comfortably and take a much lower-paying job that you enjoyed more.
Still, there was some deeply buried guilt you were holding onto. How could you tell them that you almost created a weapon to kill them? The thought of these four wonderful men being destroyed broke your heart, and it killed you to think how close you had come to contributing to that.
As time wore on and you grew closer to the brothers, it became abundantly clear that your secrets would not stay secret for long. Especially not when one of the brothers was a certified genius and the ghosts of your past had caught up with you, threatening to destroy all that you held dear in this new life you’d created.
Agent Bishop had found you and seemed deadly intent on having you finish the job, even if it meant taking you captive and forcing your hand.
Upon saving you from being reclaimed by the government and a power-mad Agent Bishop, the beans of your past were spilled, and the truth was out for all to see that you had once created weapons and omitted valuable information about Bishop that could have affected their safety.
His expression is grim, a storm of emotions hidden behind a sharp, blue gaze as he quietly escorts you back to your apartment. Finally, he speaks, one thing on his mind as he stands on your balcony, hesitating because he needs to know.
You steeled yourself, trying to form a logical string of words for the tall, turtle in blue. Something that would hopefully make him understand why you never disclosed this to him.
“I couldn’t go through with it. I could tell that man was evil. I was forced to resign and thought it would be better to keep everything in the past and lay low. I didn’t think they’d come back and try to…”
You’d apologized profusely, emotions bubbling up because you feared this might be the end of the friendship and that neither Leonardo nor his brothers would ever trust you again.
Something pulls at his expression, a hint of sympathy and understanding perhaps? But it’s gone before you can question him. Leo states that he needs some time to think and leaves swiftly while tears form in your eyes as you watch him blend into the shadows.
Later, when you could no longer find the will to cry, you’d fallen into a fitful, dreamless sleep. Unrest weighed heavily on your soul, and the lack of any message from Leo or his brothers only deepened your regret and anxiety.
It was a full week before Leo finally decided it was time to meet, realizing it was time to work things out, pushed by Mikey, of course, who missed you, and by Raph, who wouldn’t admit it, and Donnie, who was determined to clear your name. He is the one using hacked government files to back up your claim, finally making Leo see reason.
He had to admit he had missed you as well and thanked you for refusing to build the weapon. There was so much relief flowing through you both when you finally embraced one another.
Finding out you used to work for the government was one thing—finding out that you nearly created a weapon that threatened to destroy his family?—That was something else entirely, and he was unable to see past it for a while.
He had been upset, angrier than you’d ever seen him, spitting out accusatory, hurtful words. How come you never said anything? You’d come this close to making something like that? A fucking weapon strong enough to shoot through their bullet-resistant shells and plastrons?
He was right about one thing. He and his brothers had deserved to know this. They would’ve taken this information and devised ways to keep themselves safe. What if Bishop had gotten his hands on someone else and actually created these guns?
The disapproval and hurt rolling off of this turtle in red was almost more than you could bear. All you could do was choke out an apology and leave with Leo, thinking it was best for everyone if you cut ties now, before he could say anything else.
Raph watched you go, a myriad of feelings churning within. He couldn’t imagine why you didn’t tell them, unable to see past his own hurt and confusion. It was many days later that he came to a realization about your choices. Mikey was the one to break through the hard shell of built-up resentment and present things from your point of view, along with evidence from Donnie. He helped him realize that you’d been so afraid to lose them that you’d buried your past, pushing it down in hopes it would never be revealed. He certainly knew a lot about that with his own issues.
You confirm Donnie’s findings, tearfully, as Raph stands before you, finally willing to listen and beginning to understand your unwillingness to follow through on direct orders. You did explain your hesitation in telling him and regretted that decision, but were glad, to your knowledge, that such a weapon still hadn’t been created.
Raph understood your reasons for withholding this information and what you’d given up, choosing a more modest lifestyle rather than the one you’d had while working for the government. He believed you. After all, why would Bishop have tried to capture you otherwise?
Armed with this new information, Raph and his brothers devise a new plan to take Bishop down, with the goal of destroying any chance of him creating anything like this again.
You are steadfast in your decision to help them do this in any way you can.
Mikey is rightfully distraught when the information about you comes to light. He feels betrayed, blindsided and conflicted, knowing that the friend he’d come to know and love once dealt in arms and nearly worked for one of their most dangerous adversaries. He goes to a dark place for a while, his mind awash with a terrible flood of what-ifs ranging from 'what if you'd gone through with it?' to 'what if everything you'd said up until now has been a lie?'.
He is quiet, which is very unnerving for you. Mikey is almost never without his jokes and jovial demeanour, so when he stops speaking and withdraws to his room, you know he’s more than just upset.
It breaks your heart, but all you can do is wait, give him time to process everything, and hope he eventually decides to speak to you again.
Luckily, Mikey is the quickest to forgive you, and he emerges days later to make up with you and talk. Once he hears you explain your side of the story, he understands why you never told him or his brothers. Plenty of tears and hugs are exchanged, with apologies on both sides. Mikey is also your ally in this situation and opens lines of communication with the remaining brothers who are still having difficulty moving past this.
He also teams up with Donnie to look deeper, not to verify whether what you were saying was true, but to confirm that Bishop was really trying to engineer weapons tailored to their destruction. What Donnie finds is shocking and eventually leads the team to a mission to destroy one of Bishop’s top-secret operations.
Mikey could see that you chose to keep him and his brothers safe before you even knew them. Though it was difficult to know the truth, your friendship came through stronger. He’d known from the beginning that you were not a bad person. Mikey prides himself on reading people and is the best of his brothers at it, and he’d hated questioning himself about that. He was very relieved he hadn’t been wrong about you and you were subsequently relieved that you hadn’t lost him as a very valuable friend and ally.
He is surprised by your confession, but not as much as you think. This turtleman never leaves any stone unturned, so he’d known ahead of time that you used to work for the government. It’s both a blessing and a curse that he gets the privilege of vetting potential friends for his family. He had only gotten the basics of your work, knew it involved arms dealing, but he hadn’t known about the wrinkle with Bishop, hadn’t dug that deeply.
He’d assumed you’d left the profession because you’d been stressed and needed a change of pace. That’s what he’d told Leo, and it had been decided to welcome you into their fold.
After the attack with Bishop, he throws himself into researching everything he can about Bishop’s claims and how close Bishop had come to creating the weapon he’d spoken of. Soon joined by Mikey, they both work towards getting the whole story this time, not just part of it.
He’s so wrapped up in his work that he nearly forgets to find you and reassure you that he believes you and is working to help his brothers come around as well.
You are tearfully relieved that he’s on your side throughout all of this, since Leo and Raph still aren’t speaking to you. With Donnie and Mikey’s help, the remaining brothers eventually move past this and all four begin working to bring down Bishop’s operation and once again do what they do best—keeping the city safe.
A/N: I hope this was alright! I'm so sorry it took as long as it did to complete this.
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