Ch.9: Pains of Revenge
Writhing restlessly inside of her cage, Karai hissed fiercely at the screen blocking her escape. Pure anger flooded through her mind at just how insane and cruel the Shredder's methods had become.
This man, who she had once seen as her father, stood back and smiled as Stockman injected the mind control toxin into Raphael's veins, enjoying the growing torment on the turtle's face as he succumbed to the venom's control.
Her mutated brother was now a slave to Shredder's will. A prisoner, a pawn, just like Karai would soon become.
Depressed, Karai transformed back into her human state, and laid her head down between her knees. Thanks to weeks of experiments from Stockman, she had regained her mind, and now could transform from human to snake at will. But that little fact did little to comfort that she was still being caged.
Now that the mind control serum was complete, and Shredder knew it worked successfully on mutants, Karai knew it was only a matter of time before she would be controlled as well. But what confused Karai most of all, is why Shredder wanted to control one of the turtles.
Raphael had been a fine catch, and his aggressive attitude would be a most fortunate asset to the Shredder's team. No doubt Raphael would soon be after his brothers, seeking to exterminate them for Shredder's cause.
But what about after that mission was complete? Would Shredder kill Raphael when he was no longer of use? Or would the turtle remain bound in his service forever?
Meanwhile, inside of Shredder's meditation chamber, a red-masked figure slowly started coming awake after the torment he had suffered in Stockman's lab.
"Where…where am I?" Raph breathed out, confused.
The whole area around him was strange. Colored by walls of yellow brick, and lit by an aura of shadows and fire, the room Raphael found himself in definitely had a dark, spiritual feel. Three statues stood around the room as well, each ten feet tall with the forms of demonic Oni. Each of the Oni statues stood perched on top of a human skull, their evil eyes gazing down, judging those who crawled beneath.
Before Raphael could decide he should either stay or run from the room, the middle section of the floor suddenly flamed up and platform rose with Shredder sitting upon it. The villain's back was turned towards Raphael, as he scooped up his mask, and placed it on his head, deciding to answer the turtle's previous question.
"Your new home mutant,"
"Shredder!" thought Raph, his mind instantly prickling with rage.
In a flash, the turtle brought his sai and ran to deal a death blow to Shredder's head, but stopped in tracks when Shredder shouted out for him and to kneel. Raph did as he was told as Shredder stood, locking the turtle with his gaze.
"Have you forgotten who you are?" Shredder asked.
"Sorry Master" said Raphael, the programming of Stockman's mind control serum now in full effect " I didn't mean to try…,"
"Stand" interrupted Shredder " and attack. Show no mercy. Aim to kill."
With that said, Raphael stood, and started to slice at Shredder mercilessly with his sais. With no sense of mercy holding his bound, Raph immediately aimed for the fatal spots he knew would cause his opponents great pain.
Shredder countered each and every one of Raph's moves, correcting the turtle when he saw a mistake he didn't like, and grinning at just how ruthless Raphael could be.
During the middle of his pride for the turtle's skill, Raphael took advantage of Shredder's distraction, and pushed the armor-plated felon down. Quickly, Raph pinned down Shredder with one of his legs, twirled one sai, and aimed for the killing blow, when Shredder yelled out "Stop!" and his blade hovered in phase.
"Well done" said Shredder, standing up, his hand pointing over to a skull "There, you shall find your reward."
Turning his gaze to the skull under the red Oni, Raphael sheathed his sais and walked over to the stone figure, noticing a silver glint shining in its eyes. Reaching his hands into the empty sockets, Raphael felt a click as something snapped onto his wrists, and he pulled his arms out, observing the new weapon he now held.
A twin set of his Master's own gauntlets, every bit as deadly as the pair on Shredder's own hands. These weapons would now be a symbol of his power and position within the Foot Clan. He had no need for the sais anymore.
Those puny tools were possessions for weaklings, the gauntlets meant power. And with more power came the right to destroy. Destroy and eliminate all that stood against Shredder's path.
Meanwhile, back at the turtles lair, Donatello was busy pushing himself hard to find a cure for the mind control when he heard Casey Jones enter the lair. It was almost always Casey now.
Ever since the invasion had ended, April and her father had been busy helping in the city's recovery efforts, biting out a big chunk of time in the teen girl's schedule to pay regular visits to the turtles lair.
Although Casey's schedule was busy as well, making sure the city streets were clear of crime, he had more free time on his shoulders than April did, and found no complaints slipping through the sewers to greet his friends.
However, when Casey entered the lair this time, he was surprised to see how quiet it was. Mikey wasn't in the living room watching the latest episode of Crognard the Barbarian. There were four big beds in the living room that hadn't been there before. And, there wasn't a sign of Splinter and his sons in sight.
"Whoa" Casey wondered out loud " What is going on here?"
As if in answer to the hockey player's question, Donatello opened up his lab doors to greet Casey outside. Casey looked towards the turtle, and immediately the frown on Donatello's face.
"Donnie, what's going on?" said Casey "Where are the others?"
"I don't know where Mikey and Leo" said Don " but Master Splinter is in the infirmary. He got sliced by Leo's sword."
"What?" asked Casey shocked " Leo tried to kill him?"
"No!" said Don, forcefully " It wasn't Leo's fault. Rockwell made the blade cut Splinter. He's not the one to blame."
"Rockwell?" thought Casey curiously " The Mutanimals were here? Well that explains the extra beds. But where are they now?"
When he posed the question to Don, the purple-masked turtle replied that Leatherhead and Pete had gone back to check on things with the Underground. Where Slash and Rockwell were however, he hesitated to divulge. Casey immediately sensed that Donatello was hiding something.
"Spill it man!" Casey demanded "What's the big secret? You can trust me with the truth."
Donatello cringed as he finally forced the words out.
"Slash and Rockwell have gone back to Shredder" said Don " with Raphael in tow."
It only took a moment of shock for Casey to register what Donatello had just said.
"What?!" shouted Casey " My best bud has been kidnapped, and you wait until now to tell me! We've got to get him back right now!"
"Casey wait!" said Don " Raph is probably already under Shredder's mind control. We won't be able to save him without a cure and I haven't developed one yet. We'll save him. We just need to find out how."
While Casey and Donnie were chatting away in the living room, Leo, through with throwing his tantrum in the dojo, had entered into the infirmary, and sat down right by Splinter's side.
The old rat was breathing a lot easier now, and the bandage around his chest seemed clean. Leo just sat there, for several moments, cursing Shredder and his failure to help Splinter, when the giant rat's eyes suddenly awakened, noticing the blue-masked turtle in the room.
"Leonardo," said Splinter, causing his son to look.
"Master Splinter" said Leo shocked " I'm sorry Sensei, I didn't mean to disturb your sleep."
"It is alright" said Splinter "I assume that you have a question?"
"Yes Sensei" said Leo " I made a vow…to kill Shredder."
"I assumed that would be so" said Splinter, only slightly surprised by Leo's statement " after all the pain he has caused to our family it is only natural that you want revenge, but vengeance brings nothing good in its result. I many times had to restrain my own lust for vengeance, just so that I could remain true to myself."
"But Sensei" said Leo " it's different this time. Shredder has gone to far! We have to take him down, once and for all!"
"And then will you be satisfied?" asked Splinter, shocking Leonardo.
"No" the blue-masked turtle responded finally " not until I get my brother back."
"Then perhaps" said Splinter " there is hope for your vow after all."
