As promised, here is the next chapter. Getting a little dark here, I may have to up the rating, but we shall see. But for now, please enjoy and reviews bring much encouragement. ;)


Chapter 4

The blinking of lights flashed across his eyes once more, these ones more florescent in nature compared to the street lights of the city peering through darkened van windows. They hung above his head spread four feet apart, each just as bright as the next as he was rolled down the hallway underneath them. His head lolled to the right, the pounding of little hammers within his skull. Bits and pieces flashed back into his mind with each flash of the passing overhead light.

Being thrown into Bishop's van…

His two cold companions toting guns, silent in the dark…

The long drive in what he could only fathom was heading the deeper into the forest, deeper into the countryside. Further from his family.

Slowly regaining the use of his limbs, allowing himself to sit up, he glared at the men with unease. They moved faster than he could react to, one of them shoving him against the wall of the van, the other holstering his large rifle, a needle finding its way into the man's hand. The silver tip disappeared into green flesh, emptying its clear liquid into his bloodstream. Muscles weakening again, he felt himself falling. Falling from the man's grip, falling to the floor of the van, falling from reality as complete darkness overtook him.

The only thing Leo found himself the least bit grateful for was that this drug didn't leave him feeling sick to his stomach as he fully regained consciousness, shutting his eyes against the flashes of light. That was the least of his worries. He was more concerned with the straps that covered his wrists, ankles, and chest. The cold metal against his skin was biting to his cold blooded system.

Large metal doors swung open, admitting him and those pushing him into a large room. They stopped at the center, his table being pushed vertical before the men left him alone.

Leo peered around the room, taking in the yellowed tiled floor, the bare white balls, the gleaming silver tables near the far wall covered with their sharp little instruments. He swallowed thickly, bracing himself to be ready. Bishop would come striding through those doors at any moment, most likely to dissect him, to use him to advance his super soldiers more than he already had. He could not and would not give the mad man any advantage if he could help it.

His gaze drifted down to the straps around his right wrist, fingers flexing, wrist twisting. If he could just get his wrist free, he could get the rest of himself free and get himself out of here. As much as he wished for his brothers to mount a rescue, he couldn't bear to put his brothers in danger if he was the bait, to risk putting them in the same situation as he was now in.

The doors hissed open behind him, stilling his movements. Footsteps lightly pounded the tile as they rounded the vertical table, the form of Bishop striding confidently to one of the gleaming silver tables sitting merely four feet from him.

"Finally awake are we?" the man asked smoothly, giving him a sideways glance as he adjusted his dark glasses, receiving no answer to the obvious statement. "Well then, shall we begin?" Bishop asked coldly, fingers picking up one of the sharper objects, a scalpel if Leonardo remembered right from Don's inventory of tools back home.

Leo glared at the man, keeping his silence. He would die with his honor intact if it came to that. He would not spill his family's secrets just to make the pain and torture stop.

Bishop crossed the room to a cabinet, pulling the door open and pulling out a brow burlap sack, using the scalpel to cut some of bottom off as he walked back to the turtle. "For once you are worth more to me alive than in dissected pieces to further my research. However, rest assured, this will be no less painful," the man promised smoothly. An amused smirk crossed his mouth as he traced a small hole into the center of one side of the bag.

The scalpel was then set off to the side as Bishop's gaze came to rest on him. "History is a marvelous teacher. One can learn a lot from it, either good or bad depending on who is recounting the story." The man circled the table once, the turtle's eyes following him. "It also gives the most gruesome accounts of the tortures methods of warring nations. Some ingenious methods I must admit." He paused in his steps, facing the blue banded turtle with confidence. "You're one for history Leonardo. I'm sure you've read a few of them. Perhaps even the one we are about to test out today."

The sack was quickly placed over his head, the little hole in the bag landing just above his beak where his nose would be. Leo's brow furrowed as he searched through his mind, not able to link anything yet. He read many counts of history where prisoners of war were subjected to the worst of tortures that mankind could think of in his studies of war and tactics. Though nothing came to mind with a burlap bag. Bracing himself, he waited in tense silence, trying to figure out the man's game.

The table jerked backwards, quickly lowering the turtle to a horizontal position.

"Just remember, this can stop at any time," Bishop broke the silence once more, a slight smirk twitching across his lips.

"What's the catch?" Leo asked warily, fingers twitching slightly against the metal table.

"You'll find out when you're begging for mercy. Only then will you agree to the terms."

Leo frowned at the vague answer. What Bishop wanted could only be worse than he could think of.

A drop of water landed through the sack's hole, splashing his face. A minute in silence passed before another drop of cold water hit his beak. His brow furrowed in confusion. This couldn't possibly what he thought it was. "You're going to bore me to death with drops of water?" he asked incredulously, drawing upon historic knowledge. "Water torture is overrated, rarely used due to the time it took to actually work on its intended victim."

"Yes, though I believe the Chinese were certainly onto something," Bishop admitted as more drops fell in differing amounts of seconds passing between each drop. "That is why we are about to accelerate the process to get what I need."

As far as Leo could tell, the only thing that happened next was the drops falling faster across his face, unable to run off to the floor due to the burlap bag's rough, clingy material. However, this hardly hindered his breathing. He let out a silent sigh, shivering slightly as the drops became colder. He wasn't prepared for the table to drop underneath him twenty minutes later, a quiet hissing echoing through the silent room as he was dragged through the floor with a splash. Water crowded around him, covering him as he sank deeper, holding in what little breath he had taken in when a gasp had escaped him. The burlap bag clung to his face, seeming to close in around him as it stuck like glue to his reptilian skin.

Calming his racing heart, Leo forced himself to remain calm and hold his breath, eyes closing in concentration. He was no novice to holding his breath for long periods of time underwater. He could outwait Bishop if he focused enough.

Time continued to drag slowly by. He was no longer sure how long he had been under, his lungs were starting to tickle, a burning ache spreading across his chest. It continued to spread as time continued to dragged on. He willed his body to keep still even as he felt his muscle twitch in an effort to break free to the surface, yearning to reclaim much needed air.

Without warning, the table shot upward above the room's pool, stopping in mid air. Leo shook his head of the water, trying to take in a breath to soothe his burning airways, the soaked bag over his head making it almost impossible as his body squirmed and jerked, trying to shake the obstructing object from his head. Water shot down his lungs, dredging up lung wracking coughs.

"Breath through your nose," Bishop supplied calmly, with barely hidden interest.

Without thought, Leo obeyed the man's order, dragging air through the small hole in the burlap bag that allowed air to his beak, shuddering as his body stilled to a quiet shiver. In the quietness of the room, the only thing he could focus on was his breathing.

In… Out…. In… Out…

With a shake, the table went down again, a whip of air left in his lungs. He clung tightly to the little he had left and waited to be pulled back up, forcing his mind to retreat into mediation as he found his center of peace. His lungs burned with abuse from the first dunking, his body shaking as the water felt colder against his skin, catching his attention, pulling him from his focus ever so slightly. Fists clenched, he willed himself to remain still, to not give into the struggling that would certainly amuse the man standing above in the air that Leo now desperately longed for. Minutes dragged by, his lungs slowly burning like fire, a small gasp escaped his mouth, eyes shooting open, bubbles escaping to the surface as he was losing the hold on his little mouthful of air.

The cough came without warning, expelling the rest of the air from his lungs in a heartbeat before he could stop it. His body jerked, limbs flaring in an attempt to free themselves from the restraints holding him down. Primal fear tore through his mind as he sucked in more and more water.

No air…

A few moments longer and the table shot upwards again, resting above the water, this time turning vertical to aid in draining the water away. Leo continued to writhe and struggle, dragging in air through his nose, coughing air and water through his mouth, feeling it run down his chin and plastron, refusing the urge to gag on the water that continued to bubble up and out his throat. The heaving slowly stopped, leaving him drained and weak, unwilling to move as he just hung in the straps that held him tightly to the table.

"Results seem to confirm the effectiveness of inducing the process more quickly," Bishop mused to himself, tapping away somewhere off to Leo's left. The tap of key's hitting the keyboard the only sound in the room.

Leo refused to reward the man with a demand of explanation despite the curiosity clawing at his mind questioning the reason the man was attempting this process at all.

The table was dunked four more times, each one leaving Leonardo with only a mouthful of air with the speed and suddenness the table dropped between dunking. He thought he had prepared himself for the feeling of falling, each one still coming unexpected. Each time his body thrashed underneath the water against his will, continuing until he was dragged upwards and turned vertical.

Hovering above the water once more, Leo shivered from the cold, breathing the air slowly in and out through his nose. More shivers wracked his body, a sliver a fear crawling across his spine as he waited for the process to begin all over again. Seconds ticked by agonizingly slow. Still he kept silent, still unwilling to show weakness and beg for mercy from his enemy.

The table slowly turned horizontal. His muscles tensed, waiting for the drop into the water that never came. He let out a breath he had realized he had started to hold as he heard the grinding of gears beneath him, of doors slowly closing over the pool once more.

The splash to his face came without warning, causing a violent flinch to shake his frame. Another dropped from the ceiling, followed by another and another, each one in varying seconds, each one causing a violent flinch and shiver. Minutes dragged on. Leo could've sworn another hour or more dragged itself by as the drops continued to fall before they stopped all together.

"Subject is responding favorably to the treatment," Bishop's voice droned in the silence. "Step two is complete."

"What… do you want?" Leo finally rasped, his chest constricted with stress and residual fear. He tugged weakly at the restraints, certain that he could feel blood leaking from his wrists and ankles from his frantic struggles.

Bishop's shoes tapped against the tile as he approached the bound turtle. "Would you do anything to make it stop?"

Leo bit his lip, dreading another dunking. The doors whined beneath him as they slowly opened. Another shiver of dread overtook him before he could stop the feeble nod.

"A verbal answer if you will."

Leo screwed his mouth shut. He could not and would not answer. He would not allow himself to beg for mercy.

The table slowly dropped two feet, laying on the surface of the water, making him jump, trying to claw his way out of the restraints and away from the water as it were a monster about to devour him whole.

"Well?"

"…yes." The word stuck in his throat, burning him more than lack of air ever could at his display of weakness.

The table rose up, the doors sliding closed beneath him once more. The bag was ripped from his head, the light above forcing him to screw his eyes shut tightly.

"Not necessary. We are finished for today. Rest while you can Leonardo. The next treatment begins at dawn." Bishop walked around the table, smirk still in place as he made for the door. The footsteps paused for a moment. "That is to say you have five hours until O7:00."

Leo shuttered as the doors slammed shut, biting his lip as the guilt and shame seared through him. He had weakened. He had agreed, begged for mercy even if it was only just one shot, simple word whispered past his lips. Worse yet, he knew that he would do almost anything to keep from going through that again. To be stripped down to the primal sense and fear for survival. An unsteady breath blew past his lips as he tried to focus, tried to regain his strength and determination. He had to be prepared. He had to be strong. He had to at least get himself free from the restraints that bound him. Exhaustion pulled has his mind, dragging him down to the land of sleep before he could attempt to think his way out, the water torture continuing, even in his dreams.