Chapter 4
Abducted
Raph stood on the edge of the dock, his mouth hanging open in shock and frustration. She was gone. He hadn't been able to save her. Raph roared and hit himself in the head. It was like that incident last month, when he hadn't been able to save Leo from being kidnapped. But this was a different kind of bad feeling. He hadn't weakened Freida, making her easier to capture. It was that evil slime bucket, Yoshihiro Suzuki. He had to go back to the lair and get help. Raph turned and ran full speed back up the wharf.
Back home, everyone was restless, waiting for Raph and Freida to come back. Leo was pacing back and forth. Joan was sitting in a chair, her face in her hands. What a fool she had been. She should've known better than to have started shouting at Freida. Freida shuts up like a clam when something's bugging her, thought Joan. She won't let on what's wrong unless you're really sensitive to her feelings. Leo looked over at Joan. He knew exactly how she felt, like she'd let her sibling down. He walked over to her. Joan felt a warm hand on her shoulder. She looked up to see Leo smiling encouragingly down at her. He kneeled down in front of her, taking her hand in his.
"It'll be okay," he said gently, "Raph will find her." Joan gulped, and nodded, a smile slowly crossing her face. She liked the warmth of his hand on her shoulder, and of the one that held her hand. She sighed, drawn to his soft eyes, gleaming with a reassuring light.
"Yeah!" said Mikey, who had gotten bored and was now doing sit-ups. Lizzie was holding his feet. "Trust us, Raph wouldn't be able to live with himself if he didn't find Freida." He grinned widely. Lizzie giggled impulsively. He had such a nice smile.
"And besides," added Don, who was tinkering with some small devices at the kitchen table. Cleo was helping him make some final adjustments on them. "Raph's really good at talking sense into people, despite the fact that he himself has trouble with having someone talk sense into him. No offense to Freida." He glanced quickly at Cleo, who smiled and waved her hand in a fashion that said, "None taken." "Anyway," continued Don, "I'll bet they'll drop in any m…"
"Leo!" They all looked up. Up on the first level, Raph was running towards them like the Furies of the underworld were after him. He leaped down the stairs and ran strait to Leo.
"Raph!" Leo cried as he ran to meet him. Raph doubled over, his hands on his knees, gasping.
"What is it? What's wrong?" asked Leo, putting a hand on Raph's shoulder.
"Where's Freida?" asked Joan, getting up from her chair.
"Freida…I couldn't stop…gone," was all Raph could manage. He looked really upset.
"Here." Leo took his brother by the arm and led him over to the couch. He sat down next to Raph and put his arm around his shoulders. Raph was shaking and he looked close to tears. Leo hadn't seen him this upset in a long time.
"Calm down Raph," said Leo gently, "It's okay." The rest of the turtles and Splinter crowded around them.
"Raphael," said Splinter, putting a hand on Raph's hand. Raph looked up at him. "It's alright, we are here. Now, please tell us what is wrong."
Raph took a couple deep breaths, closed his eyes, opened them again, and started to speak. His deep, rough voice was so hoarse and choked up that the others had to lean in to listen.
"I followed Freida to a wharf just outside of Brooklyn. At least, that's what I think, because I could see the Statue of Liberty from there. Anyway, on the way over, Freida didn't seem right; she kept having to stop and catch her breath. When we jumped off a rooftop that ended up at the wharf, she kind of…fell, and she collapsed onto one knee after she landed. When she stood up, she started…well, sniffing the air."
"Freida's got a very acute sense of smell," said Cleo.
"Oh, anyway, I guess she caught a whiff something, because she turned around and stared at this spot near a warehouse. Then this Japanese guy appeared and started talking to Freida. He was obviously an enemy, 'cause she wasn't happy to see him."
"What was the man's name?" asked Joan seriously.
"I don't know. It was…Yoshi…Yoshi something."
"Yoshihiro Suzuki?"
"Yeah, that's the guy."
"No way!" exclaimed Lizzie.
"Who's Yoshihiro Suzuki?" asked Don.
"We ran into him about a year ago," said Cleo.
"I think he's the reason Freida made you guys come here to New York," said Raph.
"What did Suzuki do?" asked Joan.
"He pulled out some kind of button," continued Raph. "When he pressed it, Freida started having those weird spaz-attacks. She called them pulses. I think they were like some kind of electric shock or something. They hurt her, a lot. It looked like she was being tortured, and that creep enjoyed doing it." He sniffed.
"Just relax, Raph," said Leo, "Take your time."
"I was watching all this from behind some crates. I couldn't do anything because my foot fell through a rotten plank and got stuck. I couldn't help her."
"It's okay Raph," said Mikey, "It's not your fault."
"Why'd Freida keep having these…convulsions?" asked Don.
"Suzuki said there was some kind of device inside of Freida. It pulses whenever Suzuki presses the button, and, besides being excruciating, it weakens her whenever it activates, sapping her energy."
"So that's why she's been so off lately," said Cleo.
"Then they started fighting. Freida couldn't hit Suzuki; he could dodge everything. His punches were really fast, faster than I've ever seen. He knocked Freida down, and …and." Raph had to stop for a moment.
"She realized that she forgot her fans, didn't she?" asked Cleo.
"Yeah," whispered Raph, "I've never seen anyone look so scared."
"Poor Freida!" whimpered Lizzie.
"She only uses her fans when she really, really needs them," said Joan. "She knows that there are times when she can't fight without them. For her to come up against an opponent like Yoshihiro Suzuki without her fans…" Joan shuddered. Raph continued on.
"Suzuki pressed the button again, then knocked Freida into a crate. I think she was dazed, because she didn't get up right away. Then Suzuki summoned some ninjas. They captured Freida and drove off in a speedboat. I…I wasn't fast enough to…to save her." Raph stopped, and put his face in his hands. Leo patted him on the arm.
"It's alright Raph. It's not your fault, you did your best."
"Right," said Joan, standing up. "Where was the speedboat heading?"
"Liberty Island," Raph answered through his fingers. Joan nodded.
"Girls," she said, then inclined her head to the boys, "and Guys, we've got a Code Grey on our hands. This means that one of our number has been taken behind enemy lines. Here's what we do: we go to Liberty Island, find Freida, free her, and stop Yoshihiro Suzuki, because whatever he has in mind it can't be good."
"But how are we supposed to get there?" asked Lizzie.
"Yeah," agreed Mikey, "I mean it's not like we have jet packs or anything."
"Well, not quite," said Don, smirking.
"What do you mean?" asked Leo. Raph looked up from his hands.
"I've been working on something that I think you guys will like," said Don smugly. He walked over to the kitchen table. He picked up the things that he and Cleo had been tinkering with, and held them up. The things looked like black shoebox lids with straps on them. They each had two small openings on the back of them, which looked like mini rocket boosters.
"What are…? Are those rocket shoes?!" asked Mikey excitedly.
"You better believe it!" said Don, handing two to each turtle. "Just a little something I've been working on."
"These are amazing, Donny!" said Leo, turning the shoes over. "How do they work?"
"What you do is you angle and sweep your feet back and forth, like you would for roller skates, to make them go forward," explained Don, "You turn by angling the heels of your feet in the direction opposite of where you want to go. You start the boosters by tapping the toes on the ground."
"Don," said Mikey, grinning, "I love you!"
"Likewise little brother," said Don.
"Okay," said Leo, also standing up. "The plan is to rescue Freida and stop Yoshihiro Suzuki."
"You coming Sensei?" asked Mikey.
"Of course," said Splinter, "as long as you have a pair of those rocket shoes for me!" Don looked a little taken aback, but nodded all the same. Raph looked around at them, his eyes shadowed with doubt.
"You too, Big Guy," said Mikey, clapping his older brother on the shell. Raph hesitated, and then broke into a fiercely determined grin.
"Alright then," he said, punching his palm. "Let's knock some heads !"
On Liberty Island, Freida found herself locked in a cell with large shackles on her wrists. Luckily her wristbands protected her skin from getting chafed or cut. The shackles held her hands behind her back, and the chain connecting the shackles was, in turn, bolted to the wall. In front of her, half-inch thick iron bars prevented the turtle from moving outside the cell. Freida felt hopelessly trapped, but she would not give in, not when everyone she cared about depended on her.
Yoshihiro Suzuki's base of operations was secretly located under the Statue of Liberty, made up of maze-like hallways that wound their way through a space underneath the statue's plinth below sea level. Freida's cell was located in Suzuki's office, which was hidden inside the plinth itself, somehow built in an area separate from the public entrance area. The office was circular, with the walls painted red. On the left side of the office sat a large security panel, complete with video monitors and keyboards connecting the office with the security system for the whole base. On the right side of the office sat a grand mahogany desk piled high with books and papers. The far end of the office held an assortment of expensive leather couches and crystalline coffee tables. Bookshelves lined the walls behind the furniture. At the other end of the room, a large elevator door sat gleaming in the light from the diamond chandelier that lit the room.
Suzuki now paced back and forth around his office, pressing the electric pulse button every two minutes. Freida's energy (and maybe her life force) was waning. She didn't think she could take much more. If it weren't for the fact that it was her sisters, the boys, and her pride on the line, Freida felt that she would surely give up, break down, and give in. But no, that's not what Master Lin had taught her. Master Lin had always told them that to admit defeat is to admit your own failure; defeat is only valid in a fight, not in a mission or capture. Freida couldn't fail the others, or fail herself. At first, Freida had been annoyed that Raph had followed her to the wharf. But that annoyance didn't last long, when she realized that Raph had followed her to make sure she didn't get hurt. Freida knew she had been stupid to just walk out like that, forgetting her fans. And the way she had treated Joan! Freida hung her head in shame.
What's the matter with me? she asked herself. I brought my sisters here to protect them, but I only ended up getting myself caught and chained helplessly in a cell. And only after fighting with Joan. A knot welled up in Freida's throat. But she cast the thought from her mind. Instead, she concentrated on another emotion. She felt touched that Raph had been the one to follow her. She had seen to look on his face when he was too late to save her; he had looked so horrified. What a sweet turtle! thought Freida, He's rough on the outside, but on the inside…he seems softer, and he's actually pretty good-looking. I always did like the strong silent type. Freida sighed. What a guy.
"I certainly hope you're still awake, Freida," said Suzuki. He pressed the pulse button again. Freida snapped out of her reverie.
"Like you care!" she said venomously.
"As a matter of fact," said Suzuki, stopping in his pacing, "I care very much about whether or not you're awake."
"Why? So you can start bragging?"
"Precisely. I'd really love to tell you about my plan."
"Oh! I'm so thrilled!" said Freida, her voice dripping with sarcasm.
"I thought you might be," said Suzuki.
"You see, the device inside you is actually a prototype," said Suzuki. "I put it in you as a test, so that I could fine tune it and be sure that it worked properly. Now, as it turns out, the device is perfect."
"Well I'm glad that all my pain and suffering has proven useful to your cause," said Freida, baring her teeth.
"Yes, well. My actual plan is to ensure that every criminal in this city is implanted with these electric devices." Suzuki smiled at the thought. There was a pause.
" What? That is just about the dumbest plan I have ever heard of!" said Freida. Then she laughed. "You're losing your touch Suzuki."
"Now now, you need to keep an open mind, Freida. Tell me, just how many criminals do you think there are in this city?"
"Probably half as many as there are citizens," said Freida, shrugging. Suzuki smiled again. Then it hit her. Freida's eyes widened.
"Total control, that's right," said Suzuki. "Criminals are much easier to control when they are tortured. If I control the criminal element of this city, I control both its resources, and a good portion of its citizens."
"There's no way you're going to get away with this," said Freida. She struggled at her bonds, but to no avail. "I'll bet you anything that my sisters and the boys are heading here right now to rescue me. Then you'll be sorry, Suzuki."
"Oh, I have planned on your friends coming. I'll have something waiting for them when they get here."
"No matter what you do to me, they'll make you wish you were never born."
"You know, Freida," said Suzuki, walking towards the cell, "I'm getting quite tired of your on going insults." Freida snorted.
"Oh please! I'll complain and yell and riot at you as long as I'm here!"
"I'll ask you again politely," said Suzuki, still walking closer and closer to the cell, "Please be quiet Freida."
"Um…no. I don't think I will."
"Very well. I hate to do this to you, Freida, but you leave me no choice."
Suzuki pressed a button on the wall next to the cell. With a clanking sound, the bars were pulled up into the ceiling, so that there was no barrier between Freida and Yoshihiro Suzuki.
"If you won't behave yourself, I'll have to make you." He pressed another button. Iron bands clapped around Freida's ankles, binding them to the long bench on which she sat on. Another band clapped around her middle. She gasped as she felt her hands being crushed by her shell, which was now being forced against the wall. Now Freida couldn't move at all. Suzuki stepped into the cell; Freida gulped.
"Now," he murmured, "be a good little turtle and hold still."
