I heard someone being dragged into the cell next to mine, but the stone wall blocked my view of who it was. As soon as the other prisoner's cell was closed and the door leading out to the main hallway was shut, I heard the person inside groan as he woke up. I heard him sigh and mutter something in another language, and I could only figure it was a curse. Silence reigned for the next few moments, but I got the feeling he knew he wasn't alone. I spoke first.
"What you in here for?"
"What?"
"Just as I said. What you in here for?"
"Shredder's never liked me… you?"
"I was captured."
"What's your name?"
"Amanda. And you?"
"Leonardo."
"Leonardo? Like Da Vinci?"
"One and the same. You've seen his art?"
"Not really, just recognize the name from when I was in school. Why would your parents name you after a painter?"
"My father didn't know what to name me, so he just picked it out of an old Renaissance book. He did the same with my brothers."
"Your brothers?"
"Yes, I have three. Raphael, Donatello, and Michelangelo."
"Ok, I know about Michelangelo, he painted a church ceiling or something. Who are the other two painters?"
"I… I honestly don't know myself."
I laughed for the first time since I've been captured. I heard a chuckle from him as well.
"So, how did you get on Saki's bad side?"
"My father knows him from the past. Shredder killed his master."
"I see…"
The door leading outside opened and three Foot Ninjas walked to my cell. One of them opened the door and the other two walked in and grab me by my arms.
"It's time for your treatment with the good doctor." The foot holding my right arm whispered into my ear. The ninjas started dragging me out of my cell past Leonardo's. I tried to see what Leonardo looks like, but one of the ninjas forced my head forward and down.
"Where are you taking her??" Leonardo called out.
"None of your business." One of the ninjas snapped at him. I got dragged out the door and down the hall to that all-familiar room. The ninjas threw me onto the examination table and strapped me down as the "good doctor" prepared his equipment.
"Thank you, gentlemen." The doc said. The ninjas left the room, leaving me and him alone. He turned around and walked over to me, grinning. "How have you been feeling?" I remained silent. "Now, come on. If you stay quiet like this, I can't tell if treatment is working, right?" The silence continued. "Do you want to skip treatment? You know what happens when you miss treatment." I felt the color leave my face as I shook my head. "Now, then, how have you been feeling? Is the treatment working?"
"Yes…" I said, subjecting to him.
"Yes, what?"
"Yes, Dr. Stockman…"
He grinned. "That's better. Now, we're trying out a new serum today. Hopefully, this one will make your condition stabilize. But first, I need a blood sample…"
About an hour later, I was thrown back into my cell. I was sore from what Stockman did to me; the serum made my state worse before he could fix it back to what it was before he started today.
"Amanda? Are you Ok?"
"I'm fine, Leonardo… Just needed to get my treatment…"
"Treatment?"
"Yeah… the doc needed someone to experiment on, and I had just been captured, so instead of being killed, I was made a guinea pig."
"How long have you been in here?"
"I don't know, I lost track of the days. What month is it?"
"March."
"I was taken in September."
"You've been here for 6 months, just having him test on you?"
"Well, lately, he's just been trying to permanently stabilize my condition."
"Your condition?"
"Yeah, the first serum he shoved in me made me… well, it changed me…" Leonardo stayed silent, waiting for me to continue. "Now, I need to get a shot from him every week, or the serum starts attacking my body…" I shivered, remembering what happened when both Stockman and I realized that the serum didn't last long.
"What does it do?"
"What?"
"The serum. What does it do?"
Oh, yeah, he couldn't see me when I was taken out or brought back in, it was too dark. "I'd rather not say."
"Alright."
"That's it? You're not gonna pester me?"
"If it's hard for you to say, I'm not going to bother you to find out."
"… Thank you, Leonardo."
"You can call me Leo. My brothers do."
"Thanks… Leo."
"You're welcome."
"So, what are your brothers like?"
"Well, Raph is the tough guy of the group. Throws a fist first, asks questions later. Donnie is the smart one, he makes these gadgets and is almost like the family doctor. Mikey is… well, he's Mikey, always with a positive attitude."
"And you?"
"I'm the leader of the four of us, and the oldest. I make sure they're Ok…" I heard him sigh.
"You're worried about them, aren't you?"
"I'm worried about them coming to get me… I don't want them to get captured, either."
"Why don't they call the cops?"
"The police won't help my brothers. We're different… Anyway, we can never really rely on police."
"I kinda can't, either. They've never really helped me, so why should I trust them, you know?"
"Well, they can help you. You can't just rely on guardian angels."
"Well, what about that Nightwatcher? He seems like the kind of guy who could stand in for a guardian angel."
"But he can't be everywhere at the same time."
"True…"
"How were you captured, if you don't mind my asking?"
"Well, I was at the local convenience store, picking up a bag of chips, when a bunch of guys all dressed in black came in. There was a woman with them, too, an Asian woman, with a heavy accent. The woman and the store owner, Mr. Garris, started to yell at each other, something about protection money. Next thing I know, one of the guys in black had a sword in Mr. Garris's chest… Anyway, I accidentally knocked over a can of soup, and when they saw I was there, they grabbed me and brought me here. I've been in here ever since, getting shots from the doc."
"What about your parents?"
I scoffed. "What parents? My dad left me and my mom when I was a baby, and my mom's a drunk that doesn't care about me."
"I'm sorry."
"It's alright. You didn't do anything. What about you?"
"I never knew my mother. My father raised all four of us as best as he could."
"Poor like me, huh?"
"You could say that."
I made my way to the lumpy rock my captors call a mattress and laid down. "I'm gonna get to sleep. Visits to the doc kinda wear me out."
"Alright. Good night."
"'Night…"
When I woke up, alarms were blaring. I jumped out of bed, looking up at the rotating lights on the ceiling.
"What's going on?"
"That must be my brothers. They're coming to rescue us."
"Us?"
I heard the door open and 3 sets of footsteps and one heavy set of footsteps walk over to Leo's cell.
"Come on, Leo, let's get you out of here." An innocent-sounding voice said.
"Hold on, we gotta get the woman next to me out of here, too. She's being experimented on." Leo said.
"Donnie, pass Casey the other lock pick." A gruff voice ordered. My eyes widened; I can't let them see me! Panicked, I jumped into the dark corner of the cell. The heavy footsteps walked to the door. The man in the boots had long black hair and a hockey mask on, with a baseball bat over his shoulder. He worked on the door and opened it within seconds.
"Hello? You in here?" The man at the door asked.
"Amanda?" Leo called out.
"Go on without me, I have to stay here."
"What's going on?" A third unknown voice asked.
"I can't leave. I need to keep getting treatment."
"If you lead us to the lab, we can pick up the serum." Leo reasoned.
"Please, just leave me, I can't—"
"Oh, gimme a break!" The gruff voice exclaimed. "Casey, pull her out!" The man who opened the door reached into the darkness and grabbed my wrist and tugged me out of the cell.
"No, wait! I—" I froze when I looked at the four of them, and they held the same gaze at me. I was expecting anything but this. I wasn't expecting to see four turtles… especially when they looked like me…
A/N: Hello! This is my first time writing in a while, so I apologize in advance if this chapter seemed cheesy or corny or OOC. It'll be difficult to continue this due to school and work and all that, but I'll try to when I can. Comments, positive or negative, help me get inspired, so leave some sort of comment, even if the comment is "I like cheese"!
