A/N: It's been ages since I last updated! Sorry about that. Huge thanks to anyone who's reading this, I'll try to update more frequencly from now on. The next few chapters might sem a bit odd, but don't worry we will go back an explain what Donnie's been doing!
Mikey wasn't sure how long it had been. At least a week, he reckoned, but probably longer. The Shredder had been remarkably absent during the time they had been imprisoned here and it worried Mikey to not know what he was planning. He was also worried that if they didn't get out of here soon Raph would do something drastic. He elder brother was looking almost murderous. And there was still no sign of Donnie.
Mikey glanced at April and sighed. April was just a normal teenaged girl – not trained since birth like him and his brothers were. He felt incredibly guilty for involving her in their problems and getting her captured when she had done nothing to the Shredder personally. When she'd first woken up she'd been strangely positive and upbeat but now she barely said a word. He twisted his body so he could see her better.
"Hey, April, how are you feeling?" he asked softly. She raised her head and looked back at him with lifeless eyes. Mikey was tempted to look away just so he didn't have to look at those eyes, but he met her gaze reassuringly.
"About as good as I could be," she replied. Raph looked up at the sound of her voice and scowled. Mikey sensed danger and willed Leo to intervene before Raph had a chance to say something he'd later regret.
"Stop feeling so sorry for yourself!" Too late, Raph had already proven just how unsympathetic he could be, "The Shredder doesn't even care about you, and he'll probably let you go. We're the ones who have to worry."
"Raphael!" shouted Leo and Master Splinter simultaneously. April didn't respond; she looked like she hadn't even heard. Raph merely grunted in response. Surprisingly, Leo left it at that and they all fell into silence once more.
Their silence was broken by the sound of the heavy metal door being opened. Mikey snapped his head up in shock, and irrationally expected to find Donnie on the other side. Instead they were met with the Shedder, Dogpound close at his heels. At least they would finally find out what was going on, thought Mikey gloomily.
"Let us go!" Raph snarled, straining his arms against the chains in an attempt to launch himself at the man. The Shedder didn't even glance at him, instead coming to a stop in front of Master Splinter. An evil glint came into his eyes.
"My old enemy, finally helpless," he boasted, "After all these years you were so easy to defeat – it's almost disappointing."
"Do whatever you want with me, Saki, but let the others go." The Shredder's face twisted at the mention of his real name and his hand snapped out to curl around Splinter's neck. Cries of outrage sounded from the turtles.
"You don't get it, do you? It's not only about you anymore. Your mutants have wronged me also."
"Then what are you planning to do?" asked Splinter calmly. Shredder smirked and slowly withdrew his hand from around the rat's neck.
"I was going to just kill you. That would have satisfied my need for revenge. But then I thought of something better. A friend of mine, a doctor back in Japan, has been looking into unusual phenomena for quite some time. He seemed quite excited when I told him I had discovered some real life mutants. He offered me a rather large sum of money to take them off my hands. Seemed to think they'd be useful for some… experiments he wants to run." The turtles and Master Splinter visibly paled and Shredder smiled in satisfaction.
"You… can't do that!" exclaimed Leo, "It's barbaric!" The Shredder waved his hand dismissively.
"What about April?" said Mikey suddenly, "I mean, I know why you want us, but April hasn't done anything to you. Why not let her go?"
The Shredder turned to him in mild surprise.
"They said you were the stupid one," he commented blandly, "But that actually wasn't a stupid question. And you're right; the girl hasn't done anything to me. She's my insurance. As long as she's here all of you will behave – otherwise she's in trouble."
"And afterwards?" Splinter asked, "What happens to her then?"
"I'm sure her family will be eager for her return – perhaps they'll even provide me with money as a reward. You would like to go home, wouldn't you my dear?" April raised her head and glared at the man. Mikey was relieved to see that she hadn't lost all of her fire.
"You're despicable," she spat, "You'll never get away with this!"
"Language," warned Shredder with a chuckle, "You don't want to get on my bad side." He turned to leave but was stopped by Raph.
"What about Donnie? Where's out brother?!" he shouted.
"The purple-masked turtle? I don't actually know. I was going to let you think he was dead, but this is better I think…" He faced them once more and Mikey was scared by the dark humour in his eyes. "He's not here. It's been almost two weeks and he's still not here. How does it feel knowing that your brother has abandoned you?"
With that, the villain swept from the room leaving the prisoners alone with their thoughts once more.
