Chapter 62

Hi! Feeling a lot better now! Sorry for the delay in updating! I had work most of the day yesterday and today but I wanted to have one final update for 2013! I hope everyone has a happy new year! Review, favorite, and follow!

In order to best have flow to the story, I'll be putting the same opening lines just to make some sense! To clear up any confusion, each boy is going through his own delusion, which is his biggest fear.

"Guys, check this out. I think it's Snakeweed."

His brothers came over and stared at the strange sight.

"He must've been too damaged to fully regenerated himself."

"But how would he get down here?"

"Well, certain plants naturally grow or migrate to new areas in the event of bad soil or poor sunlight."

Mikey started poking at one of the vines.

"Think he knows we're here?"

The flowers all tensed up and released a purple spore into the air.

"Get back!" Leonardo shouted.

The boys inhaled a small bit of the spore and started coughing.

"I can't breathe."

"Calm down," Don said sitting down. "S-steady *cough* heart rate."

It was no use. Each turtle fell to the ground and blacked out.

The moment Michelangelo felt he was about to pass out, he bit the inside of his cheek hard. It didn't prevent him from blacking out, but the pain jostled him back.

The coughing didn't stop and it was clouding his judgment.

He grabbed his closest brother, Don, and started pulling them towards the exit. Once away from the vines, Mikey threw his shuriken to the nearest pipe to split it open and wash away the spores.

Clean water cascaded out of the opening and covered himself and Donatello.

The two brothers staggered over and pulled their brothers under the water. After their siblings had stopped coughing and cleared themselves of spores, all four mutants staggered back home.

Claire and Zoey rushed to the entrance of the Lair when they saw the boys.

"What happened?"

"I'll get Master Splinter!"

The boys went to the living room and sat down.

"My chest hurts..." Leo groaned as Hikaru came over to him.

"My sons," Master Splinter said coming over. "Are you all right?"

"It was Snakeweed, he's in his old lair," Raph said as Claire gave him a glass of water.

Donatello was deep in thought.

"Don-kun?" Zoey asked. "Are you okay?"

"Guys, I think we have an opportunity we've never had before. Snakeweed is at his most vulnerable state. If we create gas masks to protect us from the spores, we can take out the heart and destroy it."

Mikey glared at his brother.

"That isn't right! It's morally wrong! He can't hurt anyone right now!"

"But he has tried to kill us a few times before," Raphael said. "I say we go ahead and crush that heart."

Master Splinter contemplated before he spoke.

"There is an old saying "shut the door to catch the thief." While your enemy is healing, you cannot rush in without a course of action. You boys could take down a powerful foe but you must use strategy. Take the night to figure out what you all think is best."

Mikey's T-phone went off. It was a text from Holly.

Can you come over to my house? My mom is out and I'm kind of nervous to be alone.

He smiled widely and responded he would be there soon.

The orange-masked turtle went to his room and changed into his human clothes. His gray college sweatshirt and blue jeans made him feel like an ordinary human. With a quick slip, he put on his scarf and hat and dashed out of the Lair.

Michelangelo was happy he was able to get closer with Holly. Sometimes, the girl was still hesitant about talking to him but Mikey could tell how hard she was trying to get to know him.

When he approached her home, he sent her a text asking what to do.

Remember the window you came in through at my house? Come through there, it's open.

He made his way up the fire escape but saw there were no lights on in the apartment. The orange-masked turtle peered inside and saw the one bedroom door was open with a light shining from it.

Trying not to startle her, the turtle entered the apartment and announced himself.

"Holly? Hey, I'm here-"

In one second, a man's forearm pressed into his throat.

The turtle quickly reacted and threw the man over his shoulder. The man was in an army uniform with a black mask over his face.

"Move, move, move!" a man shouted from behind the couch.

Four men came out of the shadows and two from the bedroom and rushed over to the mutant.

Michelangelo pulled out his nunchaku. He knew he wouldn't be able to fight them all off, but he just needed to make a path back out the window.

"What have you done with Holly?"

The turtle looked back at the bedroom door and saw a man holding Holly's arm. Holly didn't have her glasses on and was wearing a light yellow shirt and black shorts. The man had short, grey hair in a military cut, wearing an army uniform with many patches on his right arm as well as several medals over his breast. His face was square and his eyes were hard.

"Let me go, you promised you'd give my mom back-"

The man roughly grabbed the girl's neck and knocked her into the wall.

"Stand down or I will crush her throat," he warned.

Mikey shook briefly. There was no way to call his brothers without risking Holly's safety.

His weapons fell to the ground with a thud as Mikey got on his knees with his hands on his head.

A man came up behind him and forced his hands behind his back.

"J-just don't hurt her. Please."

The man behind him struggled.

"The cuffs won't fit, Command Sergeant Major."

Mikey watched as the CSM squeezed Holly's neck tighter. Holly gasped for breath and tried to claw at the man's hand.

"Stop!" Mikey screamed.

Holly's arms fell limp at her sides before the CSM dropped her to the ground.

"Just tranq the freak then."

A sharp pain in Mikey's arm was the last sensation he remembered before falling into darkness.

"H...Holly..."

"So, you're finally awake."

Mikey's eyes shot open.

His arms and legs were pinned to a metal table with leather restraints. He looked around and saw he was in a concrete room with no windows. All of the walls were covered with monitors, machines, and contraptions Mikey couldn't even begin to understand what they did.

Two men in lab coats were next to him, with surgeons masks and black rubber gloves on, attaching wires and needles into him.

And the Command Sergeant Major was standing by the only exit.

"What..." Mikey said groggily. "Wh-where am...I..."

"That's classified. Tell me what you are."

Mikey groaned.

Think of your training. Think of your training. Don't give too much. Make them see you as a person.

"My name is Michelangelo. Where's Holly?"

"I didn't kill her. She's back with her mother."

The man walked over and touched the mutant's arm.

"Fascinating. How long have you been like this."

Mikey took a shuttering breath. This was bad. The man was avoiding eye contact, all this man wanted was the information he needed.

"I want to go home. Let me go."

The Command Sergeant Major turned away to the two men in lab coats.

"Boys, make our guest understand he's in no position to make requests."

The pair turned to one of the machines and one of them turned a dial slightly.

White lightning shot through Mikey's veins and hot pain radiated every inch of his being. His muscles ached.

Mikey thought his blood was about to boil.

With a nod from the CSM, the dial was set back to its original position.

"Just answer my questions and we can make that never happen again."

OC Fact Time! Rachel Carrel, though she tries to hide it, was a rebellious teenager. She once broke her ankle jumping out of her second-floor room trying to sneak out to a party.