Hey guys and gals, thanks for the reviews - I'm glad to here that you like the story so far, and you are being patient enough to stick with me. :D
DISCLAIMER: I don't own TMNT (**once again checks sky for a shooting star**), but Dr Winthrop and Dr Carr are mine.
And, without further ado, the next installment of the story....
"Good morning, Raphael. Are you ready?" Dr Winthrop asked, looking at the scowling turtle.
"Oh yeah, I'm really lookin' forward to getting' cut up," Raph snarled.
"My, my, aren't we feeling feisty this morning? That will certainly help the procedure run more smoothly. Dr. Carr, prepare the specimen for analysis, while I get Mistress Karai seated in the observation room." He then strode out, leaving Rob and Raph alone in the room.
"I'm sorry, Raph," Rob whispered, "I wish I could stop this."
"Hey, don' worry 'bout it – I can handle it," Raph said, putting a hand on his shoulder.
"But you don't now what he's capable of – he'll put you through torture like you've never imagined."
"Rob, yer've been a pal. But I learned a long time ago that even yer friends can't always help ya; sometimes, all ya got is yerself. Now, c'mon, ya betta do what he says unless ya wanna lose yer job."
Ten minutes later, Raph was once again securely strapped to the lab table. Dr Carr was to assist during the procedure, but Dr Winthrop wanted to do most of it himself. Raph glanced over towards the window into the observation room – he saw Karai sitting there, staring at him, her eyes filled with a lust for vengeance and blood. He nodded at her and smirked – that'll really tick her off, he thought to himself. Sure enough, he saw her eyes narrow, and she scowled at him. Heh heh, if I die now at least I'll die happy.
"Dr Carr, the no. 5, if you please." Dr Winthrop was holding some sort of handle, which he fitted the blade into. He pressed a button, and the blade began to make a sawing motion. He pressed it again, and the blade stopped. "Thank you, Dr., this will do nicely. Are we ready?"
Dr. Carr hesitated for a moment, glancing at Raph. Raph returned the glance and gave a slight nod. "Yes, sir. We are ready to begin. Would you like me to be keeping notes, or will you need help with the surgical procedure?"
"I should be fine with the surgery, thank you. This will not be the first live specimen I have used. Please be sure to take detailed notes, and make them into a report later."
"Yes sir, Dr Winthrop." Dr Carr went over to the desk and opened a notebook. He wished he could do more for Raph, maybe slip him some anaesthetic, but he knew it was not possible. He would have to watch, and wait until after the procedure to help Raphael. He winced slightly as he heard the electric knife start up, and heard Raph's groan as it cut into him, before he quickly buried himself in his note-taking.
Raph closed his eyes as the knife cut across his plastron and into his skin. He was being cut in two, and without anything to numb the pain. He was determined not to pass out this time, but was even more determined not to let either Karai or Dr Winthrop see him cry. He felt like screaming at the top of his lungs, but his pride warned him that to do so would be to admit his defeat.
Instead, he tried to focus inwards – trying to reach a place somewhere in his mind where he could escape the pain. He thought of his brothers, and a warm feeling seemed to flood his body. Then, he thought of their battle with the Shredder, and how he had thought he would lose them all, and the pain came back. Don't give in, don't let him know. It'll be over soon – it will. Just focus. Focus and it goes away. But however hard he tried, no where seemed deep enough to escape.
He felt the sides of the wound being pulled apart slightly, and something cold being pushed in. It felt like a hose, but with something round on the end - a camera? It was moved around a bit inside, and then pulled out sharply. Raph hissed as it scraped along his insides. He didn't see the wicked grins on the faces of either Karai or the scientist because his eyes were still firmly squeezed shut – they were enjoying this. However, Dr Winthrop was still not completely satisfied that Raph was in enough pain. Going over to a drawer in his desk, he pulled out a syringe and a bottle of fluorescent yellow liquid. He filled up the syringe with it, and then injected it straight into Raph's bloodstream. Now you'll know what pain is, he thought to himself, smirking.
Raph felt the sting in his arm and the burning sensation as some kind of drug was injected into him. He somehow knew it was not going to make him feel better, but he could not have been prepared for what it actually did to him. Soon, it felt like he was on fire – his skin was burning hot, and the wound in his stomach was so agonisingly painful he would have ripped at it if his hands had been free. Yet still he did not cry out. He heard the drill start up, but wasn't prepared for the excruciating pain he now felt in his left shoulder as the drill dug deep into the muscle and the drug intensified the pain signals the nerves sent to his brain. He bit the side of his mouth to try to stop himself from yelling out, but tasted the metallic taste of blood in his mouth as he bit too hard. He could take it no more – he screamed. He screamed and screamed until he had no more energy left. Drained of strength and from the large amount of blood he had lost, he felt himself go lightheaded, and passed out.
He awoke several hours later to find himself back in the comfortable bed, with a drip in his arm. He attempted to move so he could look around the room, but pain prevented him from moving. He felt the slit in his plastron – Dr Winthrop had stitched up the wound in his flesh, and used some sort of glue to hold his plastron together while it healed. His shoulder had been bandaged, but he couldn't move his left arm – it seemed the drill had damaged the muscle quite badly, and he would only regain the use of his arm if it healed properly. His head throbbed – probably from the after-effects of the pain-intensifying drug he had been given. He managed to turn his head just enough to see the clock on the wall. 10pm. He didn't know how long he had been out, and he didn't really care – he just wished it would all end. He wished he could call out to someone, but knew the only ones he wanted to call to could not hear him, and he didn't really want them to hear him.
"I'm glad it's me and not them."
"Raph? Are you okay?"
"Leo? What are you doing here, ya know what they'll do if they catch ya? Ya gotta – ya gotta get out. Run, now! Go! Leo…"
"Easy, Raph. Don't worry, I'm in no danger. I'm safely at home in the Lair, with Donny, Mikey, and Master Splinter."
"Leo – don't come… look for me…okay?"
"Raph- you don't sound too good. What's happened?"
"They cut me up, bro. They…They put me on the table…I couldn't stop myself from screamin'. I…I couldn't. It hurt, shell it hurt…"
"Whoa, slow down Raph! What do you mean, 'they cut you up'? Who did?"
"Winthrop… And Karai… Oh man, Leo... Please- promise me somethin'?"
"Raph, where are you? We'll come and get you out of there. We'll come and…"
"No, bro. Promise you won't…come look for me. I can handle this – I couldn't handle it if… if they got one of you guys. Please, Leo… ya gotta…promise me."
"No. I can't promise that. You know I can't."
"Leo, if I die…promise me ya won't go after her. Please."
"You're not going to die! I won't let you!"
"Leo, would you do somethin' for me?"
"Anything. Just name it."
"Stay with me.. Don't leave me tonight… I won't shut ya off – I wouldn' have the energy to anyway. Please. I don' wanna be alone right now."
"You'll never be alone, Raph. Not as long as I'm around."
"Thanks, bro...And don't tell Donny or Mikey 'bout this – I don't want 'em to know."
"But Raph…"
"No! Just tell 'em…tell 'em not to worry 'bout me anymore."
"Okay, but you rest now. Don't worry, I'll stay up with you, I'll be here. Sleep now."
Leo knew Raph had gone to sleep after a while, because the connection felt so quiet. But it was still warm, so he knew Raph was still there. They were going to rescue Raph, whether he liked it or not – no way were they going to let him suffer like this at the hands of Karai!
"I spoke to Raph last night," Leo informed everyone the next morning.
"How was he? Is he okay?" Mikey asked, looking worriedly at Leo's unusually pale face.
"He told me not to tell you," Leo looked awkwardly at his feet.
"Leo, we're his brothers, his family. If something's going on, we should know about it," Donny responded, desperate to know how his older brother was.
"It's not good. When I contacted him last night, he was saying, or rather thinking, something like 'I'm glad it's me and not them'. I spoke to him, and he told me they cut him up. He sounded like he was in a bad way. It didn't sound like Raph at all – he even asked me to stay with him all night, because he didn't want to be alone. Then he tried to make me promise we wouldn't go looking for him, and that if he died we wouldn't go after Karai."
"But…but he's not going to die….is he?" Mikey began to cry, his big blue eyes begging his oldest brother to reassure him that Raph was going to be alright.
"Mikey…don't cry. He'll be fine if we can get to him in time."
"But we don't even know where he is, Leo." Donny said quietly.
"We have one clue – Karai." Leo replied, his voice hard as steel as he said her name.
"Leo, if we don't find Raph in time, will he…" Mikey sobbed.
"Yes, Mikey." Leo looked at his little brothers and their tears had been replaced with a look of pure determination. They were going to get to their brother, before it was too late.
So, not too bad, I hope?
You know the drill - read & review, even if its just a quick word to let me know what you thought. I personally reply to each of my reviewers (Samantha, I'll say thanks here, because I can't reply to yours for some reason). :)
