Prince was an older guy than he looked from a distance. There were lines around his eyes, and his hair showed signs of growing grey under a dye job.
He didn't talk as his men ushered Raph into a jeep waiting beyond the glow of the parking lot lamps.
Raph didn't fight, but the jeep made him hesitate. If there had been any chance Casey would've been back in the next few minutes with help in tow, he would have stalled. But Casey had to make the trip to the lair and back, and that would be, what? An hour? Maybe Leo or Mikey could've stalled that long - they were good at talking. Not him.
Raph got into the jeep. He watched as the man who had claimed his sai from him moved into the front seat, and he frowned. He could've left one as a sign for his bros, but at least this way they were coming with him.
If he had thought about it sooner, he could have stripped off an elbow guard or his eye mask, dropped it for them. But they'd have Casey to show them where he was grabbed from. No use getting caught doing something rash.
He settled in and focused his thoughts on how to contact them once he got wherever this group was taking him.
He knew his bad guys, and this Prince, sitting right beside him in the back of the jeep, unafraid, wasn't about to sit him down for tea and a chat and then left him go.
This guy had all these kids, decent-looking kids, obeying his every command. Probably thought he'd be able to sweet-talk Raph too.
Guy had another frigging thing coming.
"I admit, I'm surprised at how easily you were convinced to join me," Prince said as the jeep pulled into the night.
Raph glowered out the window. "Yeah, me too."
"You care for your friend. That man you negotiated to spare."
Raph shrugged. "Maybe I've just got a basic appreciation for the value of life. Bet that's something you can't understand."
Prince chuckled.
Raph looked across at him. He could lunge, of course. Could have the guy's neck between his hands in a flash. Could order his boys to pull over.
But they had guns, and he was unarmed. He didn't like the odds, really.
When he got home he was seriously going to talk to Leo about some kind of training strategy focusing on guns. They were pretty much lost when one got pointed their way, and that was way too risky.
Prince studied him. "Do you truly value life? Are you able to think in terms of morals? Of conscience? What are you, I wonder?"
"Giant talking turtle, ace. What're you?"
Prince laughed again. "You say that as if it's commonplace."
"Yeah, well. I'm used to it." Raph looked at him hard. "And I'm capable of the same kind of deep thinking anyone else is."
"I see that." Prince's eyes scanned him, his face, his eyes, his skin and shell. "This is incredible."
Raph flitted his eyes Prince's way. "You never answered my question."
"What question is that?"
"What are you?"
Prince smiled. "I'm a teacher."
Raph blinked. "You're kidding."
"No. These men around us are my students."
"Oh, wait. You're one of those I-am-the-way-and-the-light guys who makes people drink kool-aid, aren't you?"
Prince laughed.
Frigging cheerful for a bad guy, Raph thought to himself.
"No, no, This isn't a cult. When I say teacher I mean just that. I'm a professor at NYU."
Raph stared at him.
Prince studied him right back. "So you have an understanding of moral behavior, an awareness of human history. A sense of humor, philosophical notions. Yet here you are. A giant talking turtle."
Raph grimaced, wanting to reach over and risk breaking the guy's neck. It was one thing to be a freak. One more thing to be a freak at the mercy of some guy claiming to be teaching a class.
But for the guy to keep harping on it, studying him like he was some exhibit at a zoo? He didn't need insult added to injury.
"When my boys told me what they saw last night I was dubious. Two vigilante crime-fighters in masks, I assumed. One mask was simply more realistic than the other. Yet they were right about you." He chuckled, seeming not to notice the growing heat from Raph's side of the car. "How many of my colleagues would envy me this discovery? How many scientists?"
Jesus.
Raph suddenly tensed, breath caught in his throat.
If this guy was serious, if he was some professor…would he be taking Raph to a school? To be dissected and studied and written about and thrust into the public eye?
That was the one thing he could not allow. Splinter never taught a lesson as fiercely as he taught the one about not being revealed to people.
He had to get out of there. Right that fucking second.
He glanced at Prince, but he was sitting back, shaking his head and chuckling at whatever thoughts he was having about displaying Raph in some kind of frigging university terrarium. Off his guard.
The two in the front were silent. One driving, one studying Raph's sai.
He went without a fight, and that was his mistake. Guns were just guns, after all. If he tried to get away and they killed him…
Well. Fine. At least then all they would have was a freakishly large turtle corpse, and no one would ever believe Prince if he told them Raph walked and spoke and fought.
Maybe that would be worth it.
He had three brothers to protect. Splinter.
His eyes went to Prince.
Prince was still watching him. "You've got a logical mind. You're capable of predicting outcomes. This is absolutely…you might almost be human. I've got to know your history. I must know what brought you to this state."
Raph curled his hands into fists.
Prince held up his own hand, palm out. "No, no. Don't worry. I don't plan to share this discovery with a soul. You'll not be shown off in any way, you have my word on that."
Feeling the tension all the way down in his toes, Raph snorted. "Why should I take your word about anything?"
Prince regarded him. "I haven't hurt you. I haven't threatened - not more than it took to get you here with me. I am an honest man. My word is good."
"You're a thief!" Raph wasn't ready to relax. Not by far. "Say whatever you want about being a professor of whatever the hell a guy like you would teach, but you're in charge of these clowns who we've caught twice in two nights. Last night? These kids of yours were terrorizing a couple of tourists. Stole their money and talked like they were gonna jump on the girl. You're nothing but a punk like any wallet-grabbing punk I've ever faced down. Just 'cause you have nicer words don't mean you're anything like an honest man."
Prince somehow smiled even wider. "Do you have a name?"
Raph hesitated.
Prince nodded. "Perhaps later. Listen, my friend. I could teach you, as I teach these men who study with me, about this world we live in. About this stolen land, this government that robs its citizens blind. This corrupt world. What we do? It is the only honest thing left. To steal openly is the only real truth. The things we take, the parts they're made of, the labor that created them, they are all backed by thievery and deceit. They are all built on the blood of the poor. There is no such thing as robbery in this world."
Jesus, he sounded like Don and Leo when they got into one of their long-winded debates about whatever bullshit philosophy one of them was reading about. Don especially could go on and on about the nature of man and truth and good and evil.
Raph? His opinions were more blunt:
"Something doesn't belong to you and you take it anyway. That's robbery. That's a crime, and that's why you're nothing but a punk."
"'You'll learn." Prince sat back, relaxed and confident. "You can obviously be taught, and I will teach you."
"Why?"
Prince tilted his head.
"You said it yourself. I'm a freak, some scientific discovery you just made. Why the hell would you want to grab me up just to hold me hostage and teach me things? What kind of nut job are you?"
"I'm not crazy, I assure you of that."
"All the crazies say that," Raph retorted.
"Maybe they're right," Prince answered, serene. "I wasn't sure of my intentions tonight. Simply to see who hurt my students, and why they reported being attacked by a giant rabid animal led by a deranged hockey player."
Raph would have laughed at that description any other time.
"I wanted to see you for myself. Once I saw you fighting, it occurred to me that you might be useful. Not that friend of yours - he is a brawler, indelicate, and my men won't learn anything from him. But you have obviously been well trained, and could teach them a thing or two about defense."
Raph gaped at him, at the idea that he'd ever even consider it.
"Now?" Prince shook his head, looking delighted by the possibilities. "We must learn from each other. There is so much I can teach you, and so much I must learn. Your existence is an impossibility, but here you are. Every word you speak fascinates me more."
The guy was a lunatic. He had to be.
"And what happens when I say no? You just kidnapped me, pal. You threatened my friend, you threatened me. You're the bad guy here, and I got no interest in learning or teaching. So what happens now?"
Prince gave the same serene smile. "If this lesson were optional, I'd be disappointed at your refusal. But as you've pointed out, we are armed, we have taken you. You're in no position to refuse, and I have the luxury of not having to request."
So he still had to get his ass out of there, before they got to wherever they were headed.
No surprise there. Raph just had to get over how surreal this night had become - he was supposed to be fighting bad guys, not planning his escape from a mad philosopher.
He looked to the front seat, and found himself wondering about the two guys sitting there. How the hell had they gone from students at some university to robbing people under the rule of their professor? How did Prince talk them into it? How did he get away with it? Not one of them had the decency to realize this was wrong, to report the guy and get his ass thrown in jail?
He was curious, but not so curious that he was willing to stay around and ask questions.
"You won't succeed."
Raph looked over sharply as Prince spoke. "What?"
"You're planning to make a break for it."
The two men in the front tensed, and the one had his gun in his hand and Raph's sai out of sight in a flash.
Prince was calm as ever. "You're planning to use me to convince my men to stop and let you out. But it won't succeed."
"Worth the risk, I think," Raph said, fists clenching.
"Not at all. You won't kill me - you're a self-professed 'good guy', after all, and though I think you'd be able to bluff amazingly well, my men are not idiots. Without the threat of my death to stop them, they would easily subdue you. They might kill you, of course. But I have a feeling if we go back to the spot we found you, your masked friend might lead us to more just like you."
The guy was too fucking perceptive. Raph bared his teeth, furious and trying like hell not to be rash. He had to think of his brothers, of Splinter and Casey. He had to do what was best for them.
Damn it.
Prince practically beamed as Raph sat back. "You would surrender to protect your friends! You truly are a good guy. I'm glad. It makes you so easy to control."
Raph's anger flared up all over again.
Prince laughed, and in that laugh were traces of the madness he didn't seem to show otherwise. His eyes glinted with a wildness that his calm demeanor couldn't conceal entirely.
Power, Raph thought. The guy got off on it, and it had nothing to do with teaching. He ruled these guys because they let him. He grabbed Raph because he could, and now he'd do his best to subdue him, because he needed to have that much more power.
Raph stared ahead, silent and waiting. Satisfied now that though he wouldn't get away yet, he was getting an idea how he would eventually.
Because big words and pretty ideas aside, this man was just one more Shredder. Just one more sociopathic nutcase who couldn't stand not to rule over everything he saw.
Raph wasn't scared of it, because it's what he knew. One more megalomaniac to put on the list.