A/N - Thanks to the people who have reviewed, it's nice to know people are enjoying this story! Let me know what you think!
Disclaimer: I own nothing
Chapter 6
Karai smiled in contentment watching the screen in her quarters. The past five days had been spent 'training' her prisoner, all of which had proven to be successful. The rat had become completely obedient to her, and had only attempted to escape twice. Karai knew the rat would not leave without Raphael and after each escape attempt she had reinforced her power over him. Stupid rat; so easily fooled by fake pieces of shell and a strip of green skin. Whenever Karai thought the rat was considering escape, the threat of her attention being turned to Raphael ensured his compliance. She had taken it as far as forcing the rat to bow to her, so she would not hurt the turtle. Karai liked to think her Father would be proud. Everything she did now was to honour him; to avenge him.
The plan had worked better than Karai had ever hoped; even now she watched the rat on her screen walk like the animal he was and eat from the bowl. Sadly, this stage of her plan was at its end, and the rat had served his purpose. Tonight he would be returned to the turtles, which gave her the rest of the day to truly break him.
Leaving the room, Karai summoned her guards and moved towards the room that contained the rat's cage. This base of operations would be finished with tonight and all trace of the Foot would be gone before the turtles set foot in here. Approaching the door, a guard quickly tapped in the necessary code allowing his leader into the room.
Maintaining a commanding presence, Karai strode to the cage with purpose.
"Good morning, pet" she called
As he had been trained to, Splinter turned towards Karai and sat at the front of the cage, his eyes downcast. The rats lead was still attached to the floor beyond the cage, although it was unnecessary at this point, his compliance was assured.
Crouching in front of him, Karai immediately reached a hand through the cage running her hand all over her captive. This was one of the most satisfying outcomes for Karai. No matter how she touched him now, the rat offered no resistance; too afraid of endangering his son.
"There are many things to be done today, rat. We can waste no time"
Opening the cage door, two guards entered and unfastened Splinters collar from the chains and then reattached it to a shorter lead which was handed to Karai. Giving the chain a small tug, Splinter left the cage on all fours without protest. Karai had noticed his movement was poor when walking like this, most likely due to his age and past injuries. It was no concern for her though; she was almost finished with him.
Accompanied by four guards, Splinter followed Karai down the winding corridors to the same room he had been in several days ago.
"Get on the table and lie on your back" commanded Karai, gesturing to the metal table he had awoken on days before. The guards followed them into the room, where the scientist from the other day also waited. Without question, Splinter did as he was told. The guards moved his arms and legs so they were spread away from him and the metal cuffs clicked in to grooves on the table, effectively immobilising him. The lead from his collar was also removed, yet the collar itself was also clipped into place on the table, preventing him from moving his head.
Seeing her captive was completely restrained, Karai decided it was time to end the illusion the rat had held for a week now.
"I have very much enjoyed the past week rat. Breaking my Fathers most hated enemy has been most pleasing" she started, seeing no emotion from the rat
Moving closer to him, she lifted the Foot symbol hanging from his collar "Of course I know you only complied to protect Raphael. Did the thought of protecting the freak make it all seem worth it?"
Signalling to a guard, a TV monitor was rolled from across the room to directly in front of Splinter.
"I believe it is time to shatter that illusion" said Karai with a cold smile. At that a video played across the screen, showing the night Splinter had been captured.
Splinter could only stare at the screen as the video showed the Foot guards leave Raphael in chains on the roof. Nothing happened for a while and Karai wound forwards in silence, until something on the video changed.
His sons. The video clearly showed Leonardo, Donatello and Michelangelo rescuing their brother and leaving the rooftop. At that point the video monitor turned blank, and it was removed from Splinters view. In its place Karai walked forwards a piece of shell in her hands.
"It is quite amazing what science can do. It has the capacity to produce very realistic imitations" said Karai with a sadistic smile
It took Splinter a moment to process this. He had been tricked. This woman who had forced his compliance in her twisted game had never had Raphael captive. He had allowed her to degrade and humiliate him. He thought he was protecting his son.
"You vile witch" breathed Splinter, his voice raspy and quiet from lack of use
"That is good. I thought you may have completely regressed to an animal, going so long in silence"
"I will kill you" threatened the rat, his voice barely above a whisper
"I think not" replied Karai in a bored tone "you're being given back to your wretched sons tonight. Your purpose has been served"
Splinters eyes shone with fury, as he forced his tired body to fight back. Every time he had conceded to Karai it had been to protect his son, no matter how much it hurt him. Now red hot rage burned through his body, as well as a sense of shame.
"There are a few final things to be done before you are returned, rat" continued Karai, ignoring the rats futile struggle "You may begin now"
At that the scientist in the room approached Splinter pulling a small cart with him. A guard also accompanied the scientist and grabbed Splinters left forearm, rotating it swiftly until the metal cuff clicked into a new place on the table, leaving the rats left arm facing palm up.
Standing to the side of the table the scientist wasted no time in grabbing a pair of clippers and lowering it to Splinters exposed arm.
"What are you doing?" growled Splinter as he continued to struggle, the restraints not budging at all.
The scientist paid him no heed and the fur on Splinters inner arm was soon shaved off from below his elbow to the metal cuff covering his wrist.
Karai watched this with polite interest. Her eyes focused solely on the rat and his reaction.
"I thought it fitting to give you a more permanent reminder of our time together" she explained, watching Splinters expression change from anger to panic as the scientist raised a tattoo gun to his arm.
It took 30 minutes for the inking to be done; Karai had instructed the scientist to go slowly after all. During this time the rat continued his struggle to escape, occasionally cursing her in Japanese but he was ultimately powerless to stop the Foot Clan symbol being permanently inked on his arm. Beneath the Foot Clan symbol the Japanese kanji for servant was also added in black ink. Throughout that time Karai had watched her prisoner wear himself out through struggling until he was left panting on the table, jaw clenched shut against the pain of the marking.
At some point Splinter had accepted this was being done to him, regardless of how much he fought back and had shut his eyes while trying to catch his breath. He could not stand to watch the needles marking him; branding him forever with what had happened here. When the deed was done, the Foot scientist wheeled away the cart and re-joined the Foot guards lining the room.
Moving closer to the rat, Karai inspected the marking.
"This shows who you belong to" she explained cheerfully, indicating the Foot symbol "and this demonstrates you are nothing more than a servant" pointing to the Kanji underneath
"I do not belong to you" muttered Splinter, his escape efforts leaving him exhausted
"That is where you are wrong" breathed Karai, demonstrating her point by invading his privacy once again. This was the last chance she would get to touch the rat and she was determined to degrade him as much as possible. He was nothing more than a mutant freak, an animal. Now, she had taught him his place.
Enjoying the rat for a few minutes longer Karai stepped back and sighed.
"When capturing you and while imprisoned here, you harmed a number of my guards. I promised there would be retribution, and now it will come to you"
With that several guards fell on Splinter and removed him from the table, despite his attempts to fight back. A week in captivity had left him weakened and Karai's Foot soldiers were much more disciplined than the Shredders had been, with practiced ease Splinter was removed from the table and carried into the next room. Upon entering the room, Splinter saw that at least twenty Foot soldiers lined the sides. Carried to the centre of the room Splinters arms were chained by the metal cuffs above his head and his feet were secured to the floor by much shorter chains.
Karai entered the room as this was going on.
"Within this room is every member of the Foot you injured within the last week. They have my full position to exact their revenge upon you" explained Karai, smirking at Splinter who hung loosely in the restraints
Turning her attention to the Foot Soldiers present, she continued "Anything is permissible so long as the rat is still alive when I return"
"Hai, Mistress" chorused the Foot soldiers bowing deeply to her as she walked towards the door.
The Foot soldiers arranged themselves into an orderly line as the door shut after Karai and she heard a pained grunt from the room as the first Ninja took his revenge on the rat.
She would return in a couple of hours to ensure the rat was still alive, but for now she had arrangements to make. Phase one was at its end; phase two began tonight.
It had been five days since the message was left at April's apartment, and despite searching every night and day they'd found no trace of the Foot, Karai or Splinter. Raphael was not a happy turtle. His siblings may argue he had never been a happy turtle, but the past week had worn down what little patience he did possess and left him feeling restless and angry. Since the Foot Ninja had broken into April's apartment, both her and Casey had been staying in the lair causing Raphael's already short temper to shorten further. The frustration of finding no trace of Master Splinter had hit all of them hard, which was why they now found themselves in the battle shell with no choice but to go to the meeting place tonight.
They had already scoped the place out multiple times and Donatello had wanted to hide cameras there so they could monitor the building. The argument over it had become very heated. Ultimately Leonardo had decided not to, in case the Foot discovered them and kept Splinter. To Raphael this seemed overly paranoid even by his eldest brothers' standard. If the Foot were going to just hand over Splinter it was for one of two reasons. They will have either tortured him to near death or it was a trap. The red masked turtle had sided with Donatello and April and even Casey, against Leo and Mike, but the leader had been adamant his decision would stand. Michelangelo had only supported Leonardo because his brothers concern of scaring the Foot off had worried him as well.
Tonight's plan involved Leonardo and Donatello going in to retrieve their Father, while Raphael and Michelangelo secured the building. April and Casey were going to stay in the battle shell as back up and a quick escape. The red masked turtle glanced around the vehicle as they approached the building. Their leader was currently sat in meditation while April and Donatello arranged medical supplies, Michelangelo was being uncharacteristically quiet even though the repetitive tapping of his hand betrayed his nerves.
"Park up here Casey" said Leonardo, disturbing the silence
"Sure thing, boss" replied Casey, clearly still annoyed at his side-lined role
The building itself was a little further away and had been abandoned for years. They had visited the building before the meeting tonight and all four brothers had a pretty good idea of the layout including possible entrances and exits. Raphael thought it was a weird place to meet them at. He expected something more like an abandoned warehouse, an old house in the middle of nowhere just seemed strange.
The battle shell pulled up about a 5 minute walk away from the house into a small section of woodland covered by trees. At this point, Raphael was antsy to get going. Something about this didn't sit right with the red banded terrapin and the sooner they got Master Splinter back the better. If they got him back that is.
"Is everyone clear on the plan?" questioned Leonardo glancing around at every team member in turn
"No, I wasn't listening the first 10 times" grouched Raphael, casually twirling a Sai in his left hand
"We got it, Leo" answered April before the turtles could start an argument
"We get Master Splinter and get out. This is not a revenge mission" reiterated the leader looking particularly at Raphael
"Leo we should get going, the note said to meet at 9pm" cut in Donatello
"Right" agreed Leonardo
With that the four turtles left the battle shell and travelled silently towards the building. Each of them hoping in their own way Splinter was alive and well, despite the odds against that possibility.
Next chapter should be up towards the end of the week/weekend! Thanks for reading