Chapter Nine
Restraints
"Sen- sei- can we- stop- now- please!" Alex pleaded between huffs as she and Razor lay in the middle of the training area doing sit up after sit up. Both of them felt like puking from the amount of cookie dough they had consumed earlier that day and the exercise wasn't helping.
"I think fifty more should just about do it," Splinter said.
The two groaned though they continued, vowing to never touch a single cookie again whether it be cooked or not.
When they finally reached "Fifty!" neither felt like they could stand even if they wanted to. But finally Razor stumbled to his feet with the help of Jack pulling on his hand. Razor helped Alex up and they slowly walked to Alex's closed off corner. They basically collapsed onto the blankets clutching their aching stomachs, hiding behind the blanket that cut them off from the rest of the room so they couldn't be bothered by more exercise and many disapproving looks.
After a moment Razor suddenly realized that there were three bodies on the blankets when he felt Jack curl up at his side. After a few moments the littlest one was asleep. A little while later the other two followed so as to sleep off the lingering pain.
Not long after an orange bandana-wearing head peeked into the lair. After scoping the area he found no one to be within sight. Everyone seemed to be doing their own thing at the moment.
With a large breath there was a streak of green, orange and brown zooming across the room that quickly disappeared into a messy bedroom before anyone noticed his presence. Or so he thought…
Trying not to make any noise, Mikey stood in front of his mirror and frowned. He had taken his shirt off to inspect the damage from the day in his bedroom. "Aw man…" he whispered as he stared at the bruises of ranged sizes dotting his skin. When he twisted around to see his back he winced at just seeing the almost black patch of skin from when he was continuously shoved into a wall by Hun. It wouldn't have been bad, though part of that bruise had already been started when he fell out of the tree at the park. Then there was the matter of his wrists where the rope that had bound his hands had left thier mark.
"Rough day?"
Mikey whipped around to see Raph leaning against the doorway.
Raph chuckled as he walked into the room. "You don't have to look like you've been caught with a bag full of stolen money. Mind sharin' your adventures of the day?"
"I uh- fell out of a tree," Mikey said. It wasn't like it was a lie.
"Uh huh," Raph said skeptically and grabbed Mikey's arm, holding the wrist up. "I'm sure a tree gave you rope burn."
"I did fall out of a tree…" Mikey mumbled.
Raph rolled his eyes and dropped the arm. "Look Mike, I personally think its great yer going out on your own - yer growin' up. But ya gotta be more careful with what you do when you sneak out."
"I didn't sneak out."
"You left before anyone was awake to see you go, you haven't talked to anyone all day-"
"I've talked to Leo."
"One worded phone calls don't count kid," Raph said like he was a teacher passing on information to the rookie student. "Besides that you snuck back in, and on top of everything else your back's purple-er than Don's mask. You have to have a better story than 'I fell outta a tree'."
Mikey rose his hand to scratch his head but quickly pulled it away after touching the spot where it had been rammed into a wall. "Ow!"
Raph was about to suggest a few alibis to cover a beaten body when he noticed something in the mirror Mikey was standing in front of. Part of the orange bandana was a few shades darker than it was supposed to be in the back. "Turn around."
"What?"
"Just turn around."
Questioningly Mikey turned around so he was facing the mirror.
Raph yanked on one of the cloth tails so the knot came undone and the bandana slipped off. "Crap Mike," he said after seeing a patch of his brother's blond hair matted down and colored red with blood. "What the hell happened out there?"
"What do you mean?" Mikey asked, turning back around.
Raph held up the blood specked bandana. "You've been bleedin' from the head!"
Mikey took his mask, looking at the dots of red. "That explains the people asking me if I was okay in the theater…" he muttered. When he looked back up at his brother Raph had an expectant face. Mikey sighed; he knew he wouldn't be able to keep his secret from Raph, the one that had practically written the book of breaking rules and telling lies. "Okay, but promise not to overreact, or tell Sensei - or Leo - or anyone really."
"You think I'd tell Leo anything?"
"Just promise!"
"Okay, okay I swear jeez."
Mikey was hesitant but finally explained how he'd been at the skate park and was lured away into an alley. How he was shoved into the building and ambushed by Hun with the Foot. After the word 'ambush' the expression on Raph's face become more and more angry. When Mikey finally finished Raph was obviously pissed off with the want for revenge. Mikey had to run to the doorway so he could block it before Raph went on a man hunt.
"Move."
"Please Raph," Mikey pleaded. He really just wanted the day to stay in the past. "Let's just drop it; it's just a couple of bruises. It could be way worse. Worst case I wouldn't even be standing here but I am. I just want to forget about the whole thing, now you know so you can forget too."
"Mike- were you blind when you looked in that mirror?" Raph asked, not believing Mikey didn't want to do anything after what happened. The Foot are one thing, but an ambushing? "For all you know you gotta cracked skull. And personally I don't think you would even realize yer head's broke until yer brain's leakin' out yer nose!"
"Mikey?" a new voice said from the main room. The arguing brothers looked through the doorway to see Donnie standing there with a look of confusion and concern. At that point Mikey realized he was showing off his purplish-black back and reddened hair to anyone that happened to pass by. "Guy's, what's going on - what happened?"
Mikey slowly turned around to face Don. "Uh- I fell out of a tree?"
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BAM BAM BAM!
"Alex it's been ten minutes!"
"What's your point?!"
"Get your butt out here!"
"I'm not done yet!"
"I gotta go too!"
"So?!"
"Hurry up!"
"I can't go any faster!"
"Hurry anyway!"
"I ate just as much as you did!"
"So?! I really gotta go!"
"Go in the sewer!"
"Grrr…"
While Alex and Razor yelled at each other through the bathroom door - Jack still napping in Alex's bed - the rest of the family were gathered in the kitchen where Mikey sat backwards on a wooden chair as Don applied a bandage in case the scab that had formed broke open.
"So when did this happen?" Don asked after Mikey explained his encounter with Hun. No one really bought the idea that he got beaten so badly by a tree. "Did the tree fall on top of you afterwards?" had been Don's reaction to the excuse.
"Uh… about the time Leo called and I said he worried too much."
"You said you were at a theater," Leo said.
"I was," Mikey defended. "Just… not at the exact time you called." The last fifteen minutes had been exactly how Mikey had pictured it: Raph wanted revenge, Don tended to injuries, and Leo teamed up with Splinter agreeing with everything the old rat said.
"I still say we go out there and get even," Raph grumbled.
"No Raphael," Master Splinter said firmly. "We do not go out looking for a fight. The most honorable are the ones that are able to avoid battles, not the ones with the most victories on the battle field. There is no reason to fight a battle that leads to nothing but destruction."
Yep, exactly as I pictured it… Mikey thought as Don tied off the bandage.
Leo agreed with Splinter and Raph mumbled something under his breath, though Mikey was able to catch the words "Splinter Jr."
"I don't want revenge," Mikey told Raph for the second time. "I just want to be able to lay down without hurting."
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"Okay," the kid said dropping his fry onto the greasy paper. "I've never understood this. Why don't you starve?"
Psych looked at Bomber from across the table with hint of amusement as the two sat in a McDonalds. They had arrived in New York four days ago and spent those four days looking. Bomber wasn't really sure what they were looking for, and Psych didn't need to ask. It was almost too easy to read a mind that was lost, scattered and becoming more and more frustrated with every passing hour. Psych had to constantly remind him of the basic bodily needs while they searched for any kind of clue as to what they were doing. It had taken him almost two hours to convince Bomber he had to eat something.
It's simple really, Psych said, looking out the window as he sat with his legs crossed in the booth, ignoring the voices from a couple of teenagers some tables away. The past few days he had constantly been subject to compliments on how 'cute' he was. He didn't see it, and personally blamed the black and red scarf that made it look like he was walking around with a cape. With the fact being that I don't have a mouth my body never knew what it was like to be fed, so I don't technically need food. But… He turned back to the table to dump a couple salt packets out on the surface, pulling his finger through the grains to make small pictures. Since I can't eat and get the nutrients from food I'm not very strong, or agile. That and I'm old.
"Huh," was all Bomber said as he continued to eat what was left of his meal. "And you know you can't keep pulling this old card on me. I don't care if you're a thousand years old, I still have to hold your hand across the street, pick you up so you can reach a counter, and I can't leave you alone anywhere because you're so small. You may be old, but you're still little."
Just remember, Psych said as they stood up to leave. I never asked for this kind of attention.
"Fine then, I'll stop taking care of you," Bomber said quietly as they walked out the door.
I didn't mean it like that. Besides, you're the one that needs taking care of.
"Oh it's like that is it?" Bomber asked crossing his lower set of arms, which were hidden underneath a sweatshirt a few sizes too big. It wasn't exactly a fashion statement, but it hid the fact that he wasn't exactly human.
If I didn't cook for you you'd be living off of fast food, and I'm the one that's constantly reminding you where you put the keys, your shoes, the guns… you'd lose your head if it wasn't attached.
"What happened to the tired little pacifist that slept ninety percent of the time? I'm starting to miss him," Bomber sighed as they cut through an alley to get back to the hotel, it was getting dark and the two were still trying figuring out the layout of the city. It didn't help that everything changed when the shadows of night fell to Earth.
Oh very fun- The sarcastic thought was cut off by a grunt of pain as Psych slapped a hand to the back of his neck.
"Psych?" Bomber asked stopping in the alley.
Psych pulled a dart from his neck. After a moment he started to sway and his legs collapsed.
Bomber barely caught him before he hit the ground. "Psych?!" he exclaimed and looked for a reason when he didn't get a response. A pair of metal talons landing onto a fire escape above his head gave him the answer. Without taking the time to even swear under his breath, Bomber scooped up Psych's unconscious body and ran down the alley.
The robot bird immediately gave chase from the air.
Bomber's laser gun was right in his back pocket but he couldn't grab it with his extra arms trapped under his sweatshirt and his dominant ones clinging to Psych. Glancing over his shoulder he quickly jumped to the side, almost tripping in the process, when the robot's lasers turned on.
When the alley ended he dashed across the street causing a few drivers to slam on their breaks swearing, and then rub their eyes when the robot came in and out of sight. Going right back into another alley, Bomber continued in his escape but shortly after skidded to a stop when the alley ended with nowhere to go.
Whipping around he was face-to-face with the robot with no apparent escape. In the middle of a stare down, Bomber slowly shifted Psych so the body was balanced in one arm, and quickly reached for his back pocket. But before his hand could even find the handle of the laser gun the robot opened up its chest and shot a net made of thick wires. The net was too big to dodge and heavy enough that it knocked Bomber on his back, the conscious of the two was barely fast enough to position himself so he could cushion Psych's fall as they hit the ground.
As the bird walked forward the net gave off an electrical charge sending a thousand volts of electricity through Bomber's body. It didn't let up until the trapped experiment finally passed out with a few less living brain cells.
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Waking up to darkness wasn't easy anymore. First one had to figure out if their eyes were either open or closed – or there was always the possibility you had suddenly gone blind. When you finally figured out you weren't sleeping anymore it was time to groan about aching body parts because it was impossible to find a comfortable position in a room that was nothing but hard metal flooring and cement walls. It didn't help any if you were forced into a sitting position with numb hands, and your wings uncomfortably pressed against your back with duct tape.
Of all the stupid things made by humans why ducttape?! It's like they're trying to yank my feathers out. Actually, they probably are… and I thought I'd never hate my life again…
With a huff of self-pity Dev tried to look around, knowing he couldn't. There was no source of light whatsoever. He had been sitting in complete darkness since he first woke up an eternity ago strapped down by only what he could feel were shackles clamped around his wrists so tight it cut off the blood flow. He didn't know where he was exactly, but he had a pretty good guess on who had brought him here.
Assholes really are devils from hell, they won't die. Or they did die and just came back from the grave. Why not? Maybe I'm just not good enough to stay out of captivity. How does Alex do it?...well there's always the stealth training for sneak attacks… and she lives with a fighting group…
Suddenly a while light exploded and he had to squeeze his eyes shut with a rather colorful expression. Head bent down towards the floor he tried opening his eyes but it burned. Through his abrupt blindness he could sense the presence of someone near him and felt the shackles being messed with. They weren't taken off though - no that would have meant his captors were being nice - instead they were pulled in front of his body and probably chained together like heavy, tight fitting handcuffs by the sound of metal clinking. If that wasn't enough he was roughly yanked to his feet and felt whoever was messing with him doing something very close to his side. He had half a mind to kick whoever it was but thought better of it for the sake of his health.
When he was able to squint against the unforgiving light something was clamped around his neck.
Blinking his eyes open, he looked down at himself. As he thought, metal shackles were gripping his wrists so tight his hands had a purple tint to them. A short chain was running between the shackles just like handcuffs. But then he noticed another chain that was looping over the first chain and disappeared between his legs. When he tried to lift his arms the second chain grew taut before his hands reached his chest. That's when he figured the chain was connected to the thing around his neck because when he pulled his arms up the thing pulled back against his throat, so if he even tried to hands up any higher than his shoulders he was going to choke himself. And if that wasn't enough, when the shackles were raised the second chain was raised also and caught where nothing should catch.
Just as he understood the cruelty that went towards making sure he kept his arms down he received a shove from behind. It caught him off guard and he almost fell on his face. When he regained his balance he was pushed again and through an open doorway sending him stumbling down a hall.
Grumbling a few choice words got him a smack on the back of the head hard enough his eyeballs almost popped out. That being the last straw he turned to face his oppressor and found a man twice his size.
"What are you lookin' at?" the man said roughly and put a large hand to Dev's chest giving a shove that had the experiment stumbling backwards. Uninitiated by size, Dev regained his footing and ran forward. When he was ready to pull his foot back for a kick the man quickly grabbed the chain running between his shackles and yanked up. With a choked yelp Dev stood barely on his toes after almost being pulled onto his back by the collar around his neck yanking on him, then there was the painful matter of the chain between his legs getting yanked up.
"Listen ya freak of nature," the man said threateningly. "Either you go quietly - as in I don't wanna hear your voice in any way and you don't try to run off or do anything that could be seen as a threat - or I make sure you never go to the bathroom again," he pulled up harder on the chains to get the point across "got it?"
Dev managed a nod as he rose with the chains until he was barely on the tips of his toes like he was in a ballet - a very painful ballet.
With a smirk the man let him go and Dev dropped back down with a breath of relief. Not giving him a moment the man pushed him back around and shoved him down the hall.
As he walked Dev noticed the hall they were going down was lined with doors.
He was stopped at one, which was really just the man grabbing the chain that hung down his back before it went between his legs. Dev didn't realize he was supposed to stop until he suddenly choked.
Asshole… he wanted to growl, but rather kept it in his head for personal reasons below the belt.
While Dev was distracted listing off colorful remarks in a number of languages inside his head, the man opened the door using a keypad. The door slid to the side and the experiment was ripped from his thoughts when he was shoved inside dark room, the door closing behind him as he hit the floor.
Hey, he didn't chain me to the wall… he thought optimistically as he lay on the hard floor, a small ache coming from where he was sitting on the thick shackles. After a few seconds he realized why he wasn't chained to the wall. Wait- shit I can't get up.
"God dammit…" he huffed.
"At least you're not stuck to a wall," a voice nearly growled from in front of him.
"Who's there?" Dev demanded, rolling onto his side so he could look forward though he couldn't make anything out through the heavy darkness. He could almost place the voice, but it's been a while.
"Who do you think dumbass?"
Yep - Bomber in a bad mood… "Hey," he said, trying to push himself into a sitting position, but it wasn't going very well. "How'd you get here?"
"Electric net," Bomber muttered like he had something entirely different on his mind.
"Tranquilizer," Dev said, not really sure why it mattered how they got captured. The point was that they were captured. Then he wondered why he had been moved into a room with Bomber. An aerial combat soldier had nothing to do with an explosive specialist, except that sometimes the soldier would drop the bombs created by the specialists, but that was about it. The two hadn't even really held a conversation in a long time. The only reason Dev even passed a few words with Bomber was because Psych had decided to live with him and- Wait, if Bomber's here then… "Where's Psych and Eli?"
No answer.
Dev sighed. There was nothing he could do being chained up as he was, and he could only assume Bomber was shackled to the wall like he had been earlier. It was on both their minds that not only was Psych more than likely captured somewhere also, but Dev could tell Bomber was equally - if not possibly more - worried about Eli. It was also very obvious that there was nothing either of them could do to help the two, let alone anyone else in the scientists' grasps if they couldn't help themselves first.
Time crawled on, though it might as well have been standing still as the two just existed there in the surrounding darkness. They didn't talk. They really didn't have anything in common to talk about. Dev liked to fly, Bomber liked to blow stuff up. Sure Dev had a thing for loud noises and seeing something get destroyed (what kind of guy didn't?), but he didn't understand the whole science behind it, and he didn't feel like learning it either. And he knew Bomber would never understand what it felt like to fly in open skies - or to fly at all really.
After a couple lifetimes Dev opened his eyes despite the darkness and lifted his head from the floor. "Do you hear buzzing?"
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"Sir," the low scientist was back, standing some feet behind the chair sitting in front of the main computer. "The soldier has been moved as commanded."
"Very good," the head scientist smiled to himself. Turning his chair, he stood up. "I believe it is time we stopped trying to bring our projects in by ourselves."
"Sir? I'm not sure I know what you mean."
Of course you don't you simpleton… "It's simple," Ambrose Luben said with hands folded neatly behind his back. "At first I didn't want to turn to this, but it seems to be the only way to insure our work gets back under control. It has been proven many times through history that we as humans do not take kindly to things we do not quite understand. So we'll show them something they are bound to not understand, and through instinct they will first panic for their safety, and then organize to control what they see as a horrible threat."
"How are you sure the people do it, exactly?" the smaller ranking scientist asked.
"What better way to show a threat than to see the harmful side of our creations?"
"How are you planning to do that?"
No wonder all you do is supervise vital signs on a computer screen… "My little side invention of course," Ambrose said out loud. "I find mind control a little easier to handle than free will." As he spoke the scientist knew that the small insects he had first created were drilling through the skulls of the two captured. In a few hours the lucky two would be the representatives of the experiments. After they make their presence known to the public the authorities would surely be more than happy to round up the rest of the annoying free willed experiments for him and dump them into his 'well prepared hands'.
Oh how good it felt to be the one pulling the strings…
I admit this doesn't really have anything in it, but it wraps things up from the chapter before, and sets things up nicely for the next chapter. Oh what does this so called 'man of science' (who's supposed to be dead, but like Dev said: they won't die!!) have planned for our sub-main characters? Wait and read to find out.
I just love cliff hangers (even partial ones) don't you?
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