Any references to TMNT or anything from popular media and culture is NOT MINE. I only own my OC's.
Chapter #21
*Wednesday Aug. 6th (2 days later) Foot headquarters, dorm rooms*
Sam was facing the wall as she lay on the bed of her dorm room. She really didn't want to get up, but she knew that her break was just about over and that she would have to join everyone for training again soon. Not only that, but she hadn't been punished for what had happened just a couple days previous, and she knew her time was coming soon. She then heard the door open up, bringing some light into the pitch black room.
"Hey, I don't want you to get in anymore trouble, so please start getting ready for training, okay?" Jay said softly. Sam had told him what had happened with the turtles and he knew that she was still mentally and emotionally sore from them banning her from their lives. He hated that all of this was his fault and that there was nothing he could do to fix it, but at least now he could be with his sister 24/7, and now was the time for him to be the supportive big brother that he needed to be. He walked over and sat next to his sister who was still lying down and he put his hand on her shoulder.
"I know you're hurting, trust me I know, but one day a time will come when everything will be avenged and everything will be alright again. If they're really your friends then they'll eventually understand and then things will go back to normal" he said, gently rubbing Sam's shoulder to help soothe and comfort her.
She slowly turned over and looked up at him. "You didn't see their faces Jay, I've never seen any of them look like that before. It was made extremely clear where I stand with them, and regardless of whether they ever forgive me or not, now that Shredder knows I knew them he'll constantly be using me as a way to track them down and hurt them. Being friends with them will just put a target on their backs."
"I know it's not easy…but I remember that phone call the one made on the night of the anniversary. No matter how mad someone may get, people don't forget moments like what you all shared together that night. If he's really anything like Nick, then he didn't mean what he said the other night, and soon he'll come to regret it. And that orange one, after all you told me about him, I'd be shocked if he truly wanted you to leave. Trust me when I say that I've been through some crazier shit than what you dealt with, but eventually everything works out in the end. Plus, after them seeing you in that way without an explanation like that, maybe some space between all of you is actually the best thing. Even the best of friends argue."
She quickly shot an angry look at him. "This was more than just-!"
"I know it was more than just an argument, but the principle still stands. I know there's a lot on your mind and I know you're wishing you could redo everything that went wrong, but an appropriate time will come to handle all of that, but if you don't get focused soon then you'll be punished worse than…" Jay then sat forward, his elbows resting on his knees while his hands cupped his mouth. He tried to stay composed, but knowing that Shredder was not pleased with what had happened, Jay knew that Sam would be harshly punished, and there was nothing he could do at this point to prevent that. He had even offered to take his sisters place in the punishment, but Shredder said that that wouldn't be enough and right after he had forced Jay into an immediate dismissal from the subject.
Now it was Sam's turn to comfort her suffering older brother. She sat up and put laid her head on his right shoulder.
"Hey, I've been training with various people for years now. I'm a tough girl Jay, I can handle and push through whatever he has to offer" she said with confidence.
Jay fought not to cry since training was about to start soon, but past memories were what scared him most.
"I've been punished, multiple times. I'm afraid he'll do even worse to you. Please just…be respectful and don't show him any emotion. Don't snap, don't argue, just get through it as soon as possible. Don't give him a reason to make things longer or worse for you. I love you Sam, and I'll be here to take care of you as soon as it's over. I'm…I'm sorry I'm failing you, again" he said as he began tearing up.
Sam hugged him, comforting him so that he could calm down sooner.
"It's not your fault, none of it ever was. You're tougher than anyone I've ever met and I'm so proud to call you my brother. Your love and support is the reason I'll be able to survive tonight."
Jay tightly hugged his sister back for the last minute they would have with each other until late that night. Afterwards, they both stood up, exited the room, and then went their separate ways.
Sam walked to a room where she would be practicing hand-to-hand combat and then later on practice with various ninja tools. She saw one of her new friends just entering the room and Sam crouched down and quickly snuck up behind her. She then leaped onto the purple salamander who then flipped her forward in the process, but not too forcefully, so Sam was able to keep her footing and land without falling onto her face or back.
"What the heck is wrong with you?" Mona scowled.
"I'm your leader, so I have to test and make sure you can defend yourself" Sam said proudly.
"By acting like a child?" Mona asked, smiling while shaking her head. "Besides, from what I heard, you lost your leaders band, so you're just one of us now. Which means I can beat the crap out of you" she said with a wicked smile.
The two then started playfully wrestling until some more of their friends joined in on the fight.
*gasp!* Sam's in trouble, I'll protect you my friend!" Umeko shouted as she ran over and leaped onto Mona Lisa.
Ninjara turned to see what all the commotion was about and quickly ran over and tackled Sam, putting her into a headlock. "Come on, you can do better than that! This is pathetic" she teased.
The teasing worked and Sam kicked her leg back, kicking the fox in the back of the knee and having her fall, and within that split second Sam freed herself and then quickly switched the positions so that she was now holding Ninjara in a headlock.
"Who's pathetic now?" she asked.
"You!" shouted Titian, the lighter green colored turtle, who then used his foot to push Sam off on Ninjara.
Sam laughed as she stood back up. "Dude, whose side are you on?"
"I help whichever lady is being attacked" he said with pride.
"Playboy" Ninjara mumbled with a smile. "But what will you do when it's you who needs to be saved?" and just like that, she was now holding Titian in a headlock.
Just then, Bramante, the older and darker colored twin brother to Titian, and Sally Pride walked into the room.
Bramante walked over and gently nudged Ninjara off his brother and then helped both of them up. He gave them a look that let them know that this was not the time to be playing around (because if it was play time, he totally would have joined in).
"Alright ladies and gentleman of all species, hand-to-hand is starting in 30 seconds, so unless you want Tatsu to use you as his personal punching bag today, you better get in position!" Sally Pride shouted, and everyone in the room sprinted to get in line, ready for when their instructor entered the room.
Sam looked down the line and was shocked to see that all her friends ended up being in the exact same room for the exact same training session today. Shredder had thousands of recruits (both by choice and by force) within the building, so it was shocking that literally ALL of her 'closest' friends within the Foot clan were in the same session as her. She had a feeling that this was Shredder's way of 'being nice' to her before he beat the shit out of her.
In the room were:
The Asian crew that she had known since childhood: Key, Kris, Kyle, Kevin, and Ken.
The short brown haired triplets: Clay, Thomas, and Tori.
A mixed boy named Ryan, his one year younger sister Angel, and their cousin Ashley who was the same age as Angel.
A tall thin boy with light orange and brown colored hair named Brad, and his one year younger sister with orange hair named Brianna.
A brown curly haired girl named Sarah and her one year younger sister with similar hair named Amanda.
A Japanese girl (who was actually sent from the branch in Tokyo) named Lotus.
A brown haired girl named Sofia, though her nickname was Shadow since she excelled in staying hidden in the shadows and never being seen.
A blonde haired girl named Jillian Amante.
A young Asian girl with short black hair named Lindsey Baker.
A blonde haired girl named Kate.
A darker skinned girl with long black wavy hair named Tara.
A blonde haired girl named Becca.
A darker skinned boy named Josh.
A boy with slightly spiked brown hair named Aaron.
A boy with short brown hair named Nathan.
A tan skinned boy with spiked black hair named Tyler.
A reddish purple colored female turtle named Chompy.
Two male twin turtles. Bramante was the older and darker colored green brother, and Titian was the younger and lighter colored green twin.
The four mutant frog brothers. Atilla and Rasputin, both a forest green color, Ghenghis who was a lighter yellow color, and then Napoleon who was the darkest shade of green.
Two female fox sisters. Ninjara had darker brown and orange colored fur, and her year younger sister, Umeko, had lighter orange fur.
Mondo, a yellow gecko with black polka dots, and his girlfriend Candy, a bright blue gecko with red polka dots.
A female salamander with purple skin named Mona Lisa.
A female cat with pink and blue pastel colored fur named Sprinkles.
An orange and white Akita Inu dog named Hachiko.
A female arctic fox with snow white fur named Alopex.
Overall, all of her closer friends within the clan were here. The only ones that were missing were the siblings of her human friends who were closer friends with Jay, and the more adult aged members of the Mutanimals. Sally Pride, a lioness who was one of the more mature and adult members of the Mutanimals, was one of the leaders for the teenage mutants, so she was also here to help keep them in line during training.
Including Sam and excluding Sally, there were 43 soldiers for this training session. This again let Sam know that something was up since the schedules made it known that for the first few hours of physical training everybody would be in small groups, and over 40 people was obviously not a small group.
Just then, Tatsu walked in. Everyone stood up straight and still in line since by now everyone knew not to get on his bad side. Tatsu looked at Sam and an evil smile formed on his face. "Ahh, so that's why I have such a large group this morning. Alright, line up at the course behind you and I want each of you to run through it 3 times. If you fall in the water, then your 3 times starts all over again. Hajime!"
Everyone walked to the course behind them that stretched from one side of the room to the other.
They each took their turns and completed the exercise rather quickly. Apparently Tatsu didn't realize that everyone in his group (excluding Sam though she was still an incredible ninja) had been in the clan for months at a time or even longer, so this course was a piece of cake and truly was nothing but a warm-up to them. After they each successfully completed their three rounds, Tatsu decided to be nice enough to give them a 5 minute water break before they continued, and he also decided to be nice and leave the room so that the teens could converse for these five minutes before they had to train in silence (from gossiping that is) for the remainder of the hour and a half they had left.
"Hey," Kris said as he ran over and walked next to Sam, "why did he look at you when he said that? What happened?" he asked with concern flooding through his voice.
"Nothing, I just fucked up and got caught."
"Are you going to explain what that means?" he asked, frustration mixing with the concern in his voice.
By this time everyone was sitting in a large circle, listening to what had happened to their friend.
"So, you know how the newbs were sent on their robberies for their initiation?"
"Yeah."
"Well, some guests that I prayed wouldn't show up decided to show up, and I was worried about the newbs and got distracted and I was de-masked" she said as she bit her lip, hating that that night's memories were now flooding through her mind.
"Wait, you saw them?!" he asked with wide eyes.
"Oh no" Key said, "That couldn't have gone well."
"What happened Sam?" Chompy asked.
"Well, they were pissed. So they knocked me out after I had commanded the newbies to leave without looking back, and I got into an argument with one of them-"
"It was red, wasn't it? I bet it was! I've seen him before and he looks like bad news!" Thomas shouted.
"Oh please, you think they're all bad news" Tori said as she rolled her eyes at her brother.
"He is the hothead of their group though, so it's very likely it was him" Clay, the third of the triplets, added to the conversation.
"Thank you detectives" Sam said loudly and bluntly, "I love the input" she chuckled. "But yeah, the others were off somewhere and he and I…shared some words."
"How are you handling that?" Nathan asked with a sorrowful expression.
Sam nodded. "I'd lie if I said I was taking it well. I'm just...scared."
"That they'll come after you?" Rasputin asked, scrunching up his face in anger as he thought of someone wanting to harm the girl.
"Scared of what I was able to do. I…I could have killed him. If Mikey hadn't stopped me, I literally could have smashed Raph's face in." Sam brought her knees up to her chin as she shuddered when thinking of what she had almost done just a couple of nights before.
"Sadly it happens, especially when testing out that mutagen. Shredder doesn't even know where it comes from, but he has his teams test them all out as they're randomly sent to him, and the results aren't always pretty" said Lindsey.
"It wasn't just me losing control from the mutagen and from my emotions, it was that they literally kicked me out of their lives forever. I've never seen any of them look or heard them talk like they had that night. It felt like I had just lost four more siblings. I don't think I can keep experiencing that anymore…"
"Well, here's one way you can think about it. If they're pissed at you, then they won't chase after you for a while, which means they won't get all mixed up in this Foot business. It's better knowing they're safe than knowing they're going to follow you and get themselves caught!" Ryan shouted as he turned towards his sister, Angel, and then towards his cousin, Ashley. Both girls were of the same age and were both similar when it came to their curious and excited ways.
Angel rolled her eyes. "What were you expecting when I saw you disappear randomly each night? Did you honestly expect me to just ignore that my brother was obviously in some type of trouble?" she asked in an annoyed manner.
"Yes! That's exactly what I wanted to happen, for you to ignore it and keep living! Then you wouldn't have gotten wrapped up in this mess, and of course miss 'monkey see monkey do' over there had to follow you!" he said as he pointed at Ashley who put her hand on her chest, pretending to be taken aback by his comment.
"Who, me? I wasn't following Angel, she was captured by the Purple Dragons…I went a different way and was captured by that one over there" she said as she pointed at Lotus, who then made an awkward smile.
"Sorry, it's my job" Lotus said.
"Don't worry, I learned the hard way what happens when you don't follow an order, so I understand" Ashley said as she shot an understanding smile in the other girls direction.
"ALRIGHT! Bottles down and get into position. Higher level students, teach to the class the moves you have learned."
Sally Pride stood next to Tatsu the entire time, though she loathed being anywhere near the man after all he had done to them, but orders were orders, and this wasn't as bad as other things she had to do.
One at a time down the row, the soldiers who had been taught some higher level techniques took their turn to teach it to the rest of the class, and the next soldier could not step forward to teach until everyone was able to demonstrate the move well enough to Tatsu's liking. Because of how large this group was, this took up the rest of the time for this group.
"Alright, each of you is making progress. You're lucky that I'm able to send a good report to our Sensei today. You may all move to your next location."
Tatsu bowed and all the others bowed in return before dispersing throughout the building to where their next training session would be. Everyone pulled out their schedules so they could figure out who was in their next group and walk together to their next location.
Sam looked at her schedule and cupped her hands around her mouth as she shouted "who is going to speed training?!"
"MEEEEEEE YEAAHHHHh!" Mondo shouted. He gave his girlfriend a kiss goodbye before she left with her group and then he sprinted over towards Sam, as he then leaped onto her back since he was shorter than her.
"Let's do this!" Titian shouted as he ran over.
"Let's go!" Umeko shouted as the two then high fived.
Ninjara and Bramante shook their heads.
"You know them?" the older fox asked.
"Never seen them before in my life" the older turtle replied, both receiving pouty faces from their younger siblings.
Once they were all there, the group consisted of: Kevin, Brad, Lotus, Titian, Bramante, Atilla, Ghenghis, Ninjara, Umeko, Mondo, Sprinkles, Hachiko, and Alopex.
"Alright kids, I'm going to be training with you guys in the next group, so follow me to the next room, okay?" Sally Pride said as she began to lead the way, and all the teenagers followed behind her.
Sam hadn't gotten a chance to talk to some of her clan friends since she returned to headquarters the other night, so she decided to mess with them a bit, her first target being Kevin.
"Hey Kevin."
He turned his head to face her as they all continued walking. "Yeah?"
"How long were you guys NOT going to tell me that you were all members of the Foot clan even though you saw me in school every single day?" she asked as she sent him a comical yet questioning face.
"Uhhhh" he said nervously, feeling a bit guilty about the whole situation, "well, never really."
"Oooh, tension!" Mondo teased, before playfully being kicked by Kevin.
"How can you do that though? Face someone every day and not tell them that their own brother was forced into joining the clan that killed their family. Please elaborate sir" she teased.
He bit his lip as he looked at her. "Well, how do you hang out with four 6 foot turtles all the time and not tell anyone about that?" he said with a smirk.
"Ha I didn't! Because one of them is only 5'8" Sam said, proudly crossing her arms across her chest at her snide remark.
"Dude that's totally different!" Genghis intervened, thinking back to Kevin's comment and completely and unintentionally ignoring Sam. "From her perspective, no one knew who the turtles were, but YOU and everyone in New York knew who the Foot clan were, and you are one of the many people who knew about what happened to Sam's family and yet you still didn't tell her anything even though you saw her every day."
"Well shit" Atilla and Bramante said in unison, which got a lot of people to snicker. These two were usually so serious, so hearing them make such comments was seen as hilarious to the others.
"Whose side are you guys on?" Kevin asked with a laugh.
"The one with the person who tried to save us and let us free" Alopex said as she turned her head around and smirked at the boy.
"Sorry all of that went sour and you guys got caught again, I know that had to be a rough return" Sam said as she cringed.
"It's not your fault" Hachiko said, "there were just way more of them and not enough of us."
Sam smiled at the mutant dog and then turned back towards Kevin.
"I still want an explanation as to why I was left in the dark" she said in a playfully stern tone.
"To be honest, we never wanted you to know, and if there was any way we could have kept it that way then we would have. More than half of the workers all throughout the clan and its positions are here because one family member got caught, and then that lead to either A. other family members chasing after them, or B. the soldier did something wrong and their punishment was to see their family suffer within the clan and its cruel lifestyle, losing any and every freedom they ever had. Jay never wanted that to happen and fought through everything on his own so that you would never end up in this position with the rest of us. When we all found out that you were close to friends of April O'Neil's, we all grew worried that you were friends with the turtles and that that would be the reason you ended up here, and that somewhat came true, but not entirely" Kevin stated.
"I see…in that sense, thanks to all of you and the others for trying to protect me. I'm sure it's difficult seeing innocent people that could try to help every day and not being able to say a word, for both yours and their protection."
"Sadly it's just something you get used to" Lotus said, winking at Sam while she scratched the side of her head.
Mondo saw this gesture and nodded with a smile, excited for their upcoming revolution that was still secretly in the works.
One of the main reasons Sam had been brought into the clan was so she could aide in the downfall of the New York branch. The plan was still in the works, but having as many strong and worthy revolutionary soldiers was a must, and Sam had taken it upon herself to live with this shitty lifestyle for as long as she needed to in order to save her brother, her friends, the other thousands of New York citizens who were forced into working for Shredder, and the rest of the city that would eventually be destroyed one day once Shredder's army was large enough to take over the entire city in one night.
"As much as I love to listen to your heart-to-hearts, it's time to be silent. She who must not be named will be our instructor today" Sally said as she rolled her eyes.
The group entered the room and again they were shocked to see that besides for Karai and another mutant, there was no one else in the room. They all had a feeling that their group of friends being the only ones in the room was another 'kind' offering from their leader.
"Ame," Sally said as she walked over and pat her friend on the shoulder, "watch out for them as best you can. Don't let them do anything stupid."
"I won't" said the brown furred female cougar with a smile.
With that, Sally Pride left the room, and Karai stepped forward.
"Alright children, today you're going to learn about how to increase your punching speed. There's three main rules for this: 1. Cut off the distance. 2. Avoid telegraphing. 3. Stay loose. We're going to practice through all of these steps within the next hour. Partner up."
Sam ended up partnering up with Brad. He was a year older than her so she hadn't seen him around school a whole lot, but she knew of him and had become a lot closer to him once she joined the clan.
"Alright rad Brad, show me the muscles of a track runner" she mocked.
"I'll show you track runner skills if you show me soccer player skills" he mocked back.
"Oh it's on" she said as they both got into position.
Karai then had everybody practice standing in the correct and ready position for a fist fight and where they should be standing as to not give too much space between opponents, but not to close either. She then taught the teens how to avoid loading up their punches and instead to throw them with a quick flick forward with their arm. Finally, she taught them all how to prevent tensing up their punches and how to keep their punches loose but solid while they followed through. She allowed Ame to walk around and help those who needed it since she knew the cougar, just like the lioness, had become quite skilled since being forced into the clan months ago.
"Alright, your time is up for the day. Progress has been made, good work soldiers. You will use these skills in your weapons training sessions later this evening" Karai announced.
Sam's face scrunched up in confusion as she pulled her schedule back out.
"Do you guys have weapons training on your schedules? I have one more class and I'm done for the day" she said as she passed her schedule around amongst her friends.
Sprinkles couldn't look at Sam as she spoke to her. "Everyone has a full schedule today Sam. The rest of us won't be done until 10 tonight."
"Awwww you see that guys? Shredder was kind enough to let me know when he's going to kick my ass today!" Sam shouted with a sarcastic smile.
"You better watch your tone kid, or else the beating will be worse" Karai said with a glare.
Sam turned and smiled at the woman. "What? I'm not allowed to respect the organizational skills that my master has? I think he would be disappointed in you for not letting me compliment the all mighty Shredder" Sam said, a mix of confidence and sarcasm in her voice.
Karai rolled her eyes as she began to exit the room. "Head to the next location before I personally kick your ass" she snarled.
Sprinkles face displayed all the sorrow she had for what Sam would have to endure later that evening.
Sam recognized this and pat her friend on the back. "It's alright, I'll be fine. You all survived what you went through and so will I."
This made the feline cheer up some as she hugged her friend. "Just remember we'll all be here for you when it's over. Whatever happens, don't give up hope. We all love and need you Sam."
Sam hugged her back, and the two went their separate ways to their next location.
"Hey Sam wait up!" Hachiko called out as he jogged over towards his human friend with a smile.
Sam couldn't help but smile. "Ahhh they had to pick the cutest dog to mutate didn't they?" she in a childish voice as she scratched the top of the dog's head. Though he was human on the inside, he still had many of his canine instincts, including his love of having his head scratched. He was however a total playboy and used his adorable puppy dog looks to get closer to women.
"Heh, even if he is a mutant, he's such a flirt, just like-"
Sam then froze as she realized what direction her thoughts were heading, and she didn't like it.
"Earth to Sam!" Brad said as he caught up and then waved his hand in front of Sam's eyes. He stopped once he realized she wasn't just joking around. "Sam…?"
Sam snapped out of her trance and blinked a few times as she recognized what was going on and who was in front of her. "Sorry, what?" she said, faking a smile.
"You okay?" Brad asked with concern.
Sam just brushed it off, forcing herself to ignore how she truly felt. "Yeah I'm fine, I was just wondering how a childish puppy can flirt with so many women" she said as she playfully pushed the dog away.
This new group now consisted of Sam, Kevin, Brad, Genghis, and Hachiko.
"Alright nerds, let's head to the lab" Genghis said as he rubbed his hands together in excitement.
No one truly enjoyed any job they had to complete within the clan, but depending on that persons individual interests, some jobs were better than others. For some people that were nerdier and were more interested in working with chemicals or with typing in codes on a computer, working in the various laboratories throughout the building wasn't the worst thing in the world. It was the same for those who enjoyed casual exercising activities, they hated the rigorous trainings, but they enjoyed when they were sent to the various gyms throughout the building and basically got to relax while they worked out and built up their muscles, almost like they were at a regular gym…except for the fact that their every single move was monitored by a higher up soldier.
The group of five reached their destination and, for the third time that day, were surprised to see the group that they had been paired with. In this room included these 5, Clay, Ashley, Amanda, Tara, Josh, Nathan, Jillian and Lindsay. Ame was no longer with them, but that was because Leatherhead was already working in this room. He was a giant mutant alligator and appeared to be a rather scary being, but in reality he was one of the sweetest beings Sam had ever met, unless there was something that made him feel threatened in which he truly became one of the most terrifying people ever and someone no one would ever want to mess with.
"Leatherhead!" Sam shouted as she jogged over and hugged the gator, almost like he was a giant teddy bear (which is exactly how Sam pictured him).
The gator smiled down at the girl, but then had to look away.
Sam titled her head in confusion. "What's wrong?"
"I recently heard about your plans for this afternoon…" he said as he continued to stare at the wall.
Sam sighed with a smile. She felt horrible that she was worrying and upsetting so many people, but she'd be a liar to say it didn't feel nice to know so many people cared about her and her well-being.
"Just make sure the rest of you guys are taking care of yourselves. That's the only thing that will truly upset me, is if you guys get hurt because you were worried about me and ignored your jobs, or something like that." She then brought her arm up and scratched the back of her head, making sure that her arm was hiding her lips based on where the security cameras were angled. "Our revenge will come soon enough" she said with a smile. She made sure to switch back to a serious expression before revealing her face to the cameras again.
Leatherhead gave a small nod. The expression didn't look like much, but they all knew that that was his way of saying that he felt the exact same way.
"Alright everyone, get your gear on and go to your positions. I've laid out instructions at each station. Let's get to work" Leatherhead announced, and the group of 5 went to a small space towards the back of the room and saw what they needed and where they needed to be.
Sam quickly put on her smock, gloves, goggles, everything she needed and then walked over towards two other girls. They were walking back and forth between a small walkway. On their left was a table with all types of organized and splayed out small dishes with various type of mutagens, and on their right were closed in stations where they were separated by a see through barrier, but there were spaces where they could still put their arms and any other materials that they needed to enter and exit the space. This way they were safe if any materials exploded or did anything else that would cause harm to the one who was experimenting with them.
"Alright nerdssssssss, what are we up to today?" Sam asked with a smirk.
Jillian giggled while Lindsay rolled her eyes and smiled.
"We're examining the particles in each mutagen, then seeing what happens when we combine them. Based on those results we have to determine whether or not they're safe enough for human trials" Jillian said.
Sam's goofy expression quickly turned to one of sorrow. "When's that?" she asked dully.
"Literally tomorrow. Ugh, I'm dreading it" Lindsay said, "whether its criminals or innocents, I can't stand human trials. Sometimes its fine and we can reverse whatever we did to them, but other days it's so bad that we have to put them out of their misery."
"And of course Shredder doesn't care what happens as long as he gets some good info about the mutagen he can then one day use to create an army. Did you know he's trying to figure out how to use certain deadly mutagens and turn them into weapons?" Jillian asked.
"Are you serious?" Sam asked as she looked through the microscope lens and then back up at the screen above the closed in space. A chord was connected to the microscope so that any images from the lens were then projected onto the larger screen. "He's such a child, never happy with the toys he already has" she said as she shook her head. "Whoa, definitely keep this one away from human trials" she said as she then turned to the side and began making notes and filling out the loads of paperwork of charts that needed to be completed for each and every combination of mutagen that was tested.
"What's wrong with that one?" Nathan asked as he then brought over new samples and collected the ones that were now finished being used and then refilling the dishes that were still needed to be tested but the mutagen within them had already been used.
"The combinations of the cells are creating a pattern that are similar to the one that, well, blew up that one guy" Sam said with a cringe. "Hey, why are you filling and refilling? Usually you're working with the computers or something."
"Well, even though I'm the techy genius that I am" he said with a playfully cocky expression, "I'm also one of the few who knows how to organize and properly take care of these materials, so some days I'm needed to help aide in properly storing them away and treating them with care. Basically I'm being used for safety reasons. I was in your spot earlier, but I guess our generous leader wanted to give you a fun job before…yeah" he trailed off.
"Ugh, you guys are all so emotional" Sam said as she finished logging the endless amounts of information about the mutagen and then began clearing her area for the next combination that was needed to be observed.
"It's not our faults, we all know too well how bad Shredder can get" Amanda said as she looked up from her own station on the other side of the room. "I mean I literally got kicked in the stomach every time I couldn't perform, like I can't even remember which technique we were learning, but whatever it was I wasn't learning at a fast enough pace. So I was sent to where he trains and he literally kicked me every time I messed up the kick. I literally couldn't move for the next two days. Freaking ridiculous" Amanda said as she shook her head, her face telling of how scared she was as her mind sent her back to that horrible day.
Nathan was the next to talk. "Oh I got one. When I was first brought here, there was a day when I wasn't able to fix his computer fast enough, like he was literally standing behind me as I was working which wasn't intimidating or anything-"
"No of course not!" Sam exclaimed, joining in on his sarcasm.
"Exactly. So then I needed to go get some tools to finish working on the computer and apparently I was supposed to magically know what the problem was before I even started to work and I should have brought my tools with me ahead of time, and because I failed at being prepared for what was to come, I had to go through an alertness exercise. Basically, he got 5 Purple Dragons guys to beat the crap out of me for a solid hour" he said as he shook his head.
"You got revenge against them eventually though, right?" Ashley asked from a closet space where she was also doing some organizing of her own.
"Ohhhh yeah! They failed whatever it was that they were supposed to do, and by that time I was ten times stronger, faster, ten times better at everything compared to that previous punishment, and let's just say I had some fun that night" he said with a wicked smile.
"Normally I would condemn someone for saying something like that, but sadly that's what this place does to you. I've felt the same way when in similar situations. I used to hate people who found enjoyment in hurting others, yet I've become one of them" Tara said as she momentarily spaced out before Nathan put his hand on her shoulder, bringing her back to reality.
Nathan then saw Kevin sitting the same way back at his station. He just sat there with his eyes glued to the desk in front of him as he fidgeted with his fingers.
"Hey Kev, everything alright?" Nathan asked.
Kevin looked up and gave him one of the most depressing expressions he had ever seen. Everyone then paused and turned to face Kevin as he just sat there in silence. He finally spoke, but he continued to look down. "It's my turn to switch…"
None of them had ever heard him sound so broken and it took them all a moment to realize why switching to another room or station would make him so upset. As the wheels in everyone's head were turning, the main door opened and in walked Karai.
Sam stopped what she was doing and looked over at Kevin. He finally looked over at her and he mouthed 'I'm sorry' as he stood up and walked over towards her station. As she walked past him she made sure to pat his shoulder before exiting the room. She knew what was coming, but she needed to act strong in front of everyone, and that's exactly what she did.
"Hey Karai! We going somewhere?" Sam asked in a mockingly happy tone as she pranced over to the obviously annoyed woman.
"Let's. GO." She said sternly, making it known that she had better things to do and did not want to be here.
"Awww come on Karai, you have your entire life to be a jerk, why not take today off?" Sam said as she tried to playfully nudge the woman against her arm, but Karai made it known she was not taking this bullshit today. She grabbed the front of Sam's shirt, pulled her in close, and even slightly lifted her off the ground.
"Fuck you kid" Karai snarled.
Sam shrugged. "Okay, but I get to be on top" she said with an innocent smile.
Karai slapped the woman across the face and then spun her around. She pushed Sam against the table in front of her and grabbed her wrists. She then handcuffed Sam's wrists and pulled her backwards.
"Whoa Karai, I thought we'd wait for the bedroom, but in front of all these people? Huh, kinky" Sam teased.
"You know, sometimes it's better to keep your mouth shut and give the impression that you're stupid rather than open it and remove all doubt" Karai said, shaking the girl as she spoke to her.
"Sorry, I'm trying to see things from your perspective, but I just can't get my head that far up my ass" Sam said, smiling the entire time.
Karai punched her in the gut this time. "You just don't know when to quit. This attitude of yours is going to get you killed."
"Well, I'd rather die strong and confident than as a weak coward" Sam said with a wicked smile as she looked up at the woman.
Karai shrugged. "At least you have one respectable quality. Say goodbye to your friends, while you can still see them that is. You'll be lucky if you survive the 'fun' time that you're going to have" she said as she then shoved the girl forward and then starting pulling her arm as she lead them to their destination.
"Oh Chuck E. Cheese!"
And that fast the door slammed behind them. Everyone in the room was experiencing a mix of emotions. Some were already tearing up, and others began to laugh at how courageous their friend was. Even though she was about to be beaten up, possibly killed even, she would never back down and she would always come back with the last word. They all went back to work, but the room was dead silent. Deep down, they were all praying and hoping that they would one day see their friend again.
*5 minutes later in Shredder's main office*
At this point Karai was literally dragging Sam into the room. Sam had claimed that she had a muscle cramp and that she couldn't walk anymore, so Karai was literally dragging her by her feet into and across the long office area. She dropped the girl's legs and then bowed to her master.
Shredder had a feeling that the girl would mess around like this. She wasn't one to give in easily and he knew she wouldn't want to give her friends a reason to worry, even though they all knew what was coming. He decided to let her put on her tough act for now since he knew he would break her out of it soon enough.
"Thank you Karai, you may get back to work now" Shredder said. There was no emotion evident in his voice or his expression, yet the smile Karai had on her face would say otherwise.
"Thank you master" she said with a bow, and as she turned to exit the room, she sent Sam one last evil smirk, and then she was on her way.
Sam rolled her eyes. She didn't find the soldier threatening at all but more so annoying than anything. "Tch, you act all tough, but with a little more training, I could totally kick your ass" Sam thought to herself. Her thoughts were in her head, but she hadn't realized that she was smiling as she thought this. Shredder on the other hand picked up on this instantly, and now he was frowning with anger.
"Something funny Samantha?" he asked in a low tone.
The girl sighed and turned towards the man standing above her. "No sir." Now was the time to start acting serious, or else things would get even worse.
Shredder picked up on this change in her attitude, and for the first time he formed a small devilish smirk on his face. "So, Sam, I hear you were very clumsy the other night and let yourself get caught."
Sam stared at him, making sure not to be nasty, but still standing her ground and not showing any weakness. "I wasn't clumsy, I was being protective. Unlike you I actually care about the people here, or at least I care about certain ones, and I wanted to protect them from our unexpected guests."
"Oh, you had guests? Do you know who they were?" he asked, continuing to display his devilish smile.
"The turtles…" she mumbled.
"Speak louder" he snarled.
"The TURTLES."
"So, I guess you weren't able to find a place where you could hide from them?"
"Well that's not new news, your guys get caught by them all the time" she said blandly.
Shredder was fuming now. "Are you diminishing my men?"
"No, I'm just saying that they're good at tracking people. I mean they are animal mutants, aren't you training your mutant army to learn the same skills?"
Shredder knew this was true, so he let this one go. As much as he honored his clan, sadly they were always getting caught by the turtles and usually it was the turtles who walked away with way less injuries.
"Alright, so how did you get caught?"
"I was distracted when-"
"Oh Samantha," Shredder said as he shook his head, "You WERE in a leader's position, what does that mean?"
"…forget about everyone else and make sure to escape and bring all important information straight to you."
"So why did you allow yourself to get distracted?"
"I didn't want the new trainees to get hurt by the turtles. I saw one take a serious blow, and that's when I was de-masked."
"So, you broke two rules. Not only did you get caught, but you revealed your identity, which can also endanger the rest of the clan."
"Yes sir. If it means anything, I allowed all other soldiers to escape though."
"Why do I care?"
"Because that means I was the only one in communication with the turtles that night, and I swear on my life that nothing about your operations here were mentioned. Even if I had wanted to do something as stupid as reveal any of your plans, I was instantly silenced and even abused by them." She knew that last part was extremely exaggerated, but at this point she needed to do whatever it took to possibly save her ass at least some.
Shredder nodded, accepting this little bit.
"What happened when you were captured? Where were you taken?" he asked.
"They took me to their home."
He raised his eyebrows, wondering if she was finally going to give up his enemy's location.
"They took you their home?"
"Yes."
"Where was the location of their new home?"
"Whelp, time to play dumb" Sam thought to herself as she formed a confused look upon her face. "Their new home, sir?"
"Yes, their NEW home. Where was it?"
"It was the same location as last time sir."
Shredder was balling up his fists now and it was obvious he was growing even more furious. "It couldn't be the same location as last time, we've checked millions of times now and they're NEVER THERE."
"I'm sorry sir, but that's the only place they've ever taken me. They might have cleared out already after they found out I was part of your clan, and for that I apologize. But that's the only place-"
"ENOUGH!" the man shouted as he stood up and then started walking towards the girl kneeling on the ground in front of him. He brought his hand back up each time right before he began to speak to her.
"You disobeyed an order as to how a leader of the Foot clan should act, *slap* in doing so you allowed yourself to get caught, *slap* and then you let them see your face *slap*. If anyone else had allowed all of this to happen then I would kill them on the spot, so I'm going to give you one last chance to tell me the truth as to where the turtles are hiding before I have to get really violent."
At this point he was now holding the girl by the front of her shirt and they were face to face. Regardless, Sam would never give up on her friends. It didn't matter to her if they all hated her or not, she would rather die than give up their location and allow them to get captured by Shredder.
She gritted her teeth together as she spoke, deciding that if these were her last words, then she would stay strong and die with honor. "And I'm going to tell you one last time that the only place they've ever taken me to is the location that you attacked last year. That's the only home they've ever introduced me to, so get over it and move on."
Shredder then twisted his body as he flipped the girl over his shoulder and onto her back, which hurt even more since her arms were still handcuffed behind her back.
"Am I a joke to you?!" Shredder said as he kicked the girl in a way that had her standing back up on her feet.
"Of course not, but even the greatest of leaders can be duped. If they have another home, they never introduced me to it. Heh, they never did truly trust me. Sorry Shredder, but I got nothing for you. It's up to you whether you kill someone who could become one of your greatest soldiers."
"Heh, you?" he asked as he kicked her in the stomach. "You think you can become a true Foot soldier?"
"Sure, whatever I have to say so that I don't die."
"I can't offer you information now, but I could become a great soldier with the proper training. Check my records, within the few days I've been here I've already beaten out everyone else in my groups."
"I know that already" he said as he swiped his leg by her knees, making her crash down onto the floor. This time Sam hit her head really hard on the floor, but she refused to groan out in pain, and instead fought her hardest to sit back up and face the man.
"That's why you were given a leader's band so early on" the man continued as he walked over and grabbed a sword from the wall. "You know, you won the record for three things: being the youngest person to earn a leader's band, the first person to earn a band within less than a week of joining the clan, and also for losing the band quicker than anyone else." He then held the sword out so that it was resting very close to her face, but there was a small enough space between the weapon and the girl that the two were not yet touching. "I should just kill you now, you and your brother. Give me reasons why I shouldn't."
Sam spoke with a sly grin. "1. Killing us would bring us joy since we would be reunited with our assassinated family. 2. With the proper training, I can get revenge against the turtles for you. They're soft, and they're weak. They're not stupid, but all four of them are very emotional. After some time, they might allow me to be friends with them again, and that's when I'll convince them to reveal ALL their secrets to me, and once I get your needed information, you can attack and capture them once again and do whatever you would like to them. But I need time sir, a good amount of time, both to improve my skills and also to gain back their trust."
Shredder thought about what the girl said. He wasn't sure if he could trust this girl just yet, but once she would have been with the clan for a longer period of time, maybe she would be brainwashed to truly despise the turtles and to truly want to work for him. It wouldn't be the first time it had happened, and she wouldn't be the last to fall victim to these mental changes as well. He brought his sword up and brought it back down swiftly against Sam's cheek as a long strip of red began to slowly bleed out. He was a bit shocked that the girl had never blinked or even flinched as he cut her.
"Hmph, I must admit that your confidence and mental strength is admirable. For that, I'll take you up on this offer Samantha. I'll let you continue on with your trainings so that one day you can attack and capture the turtles yourself. You can kill the rat, but I'll want the turtles alive. Get close to Lotus, she's an assassin I had sent over from Japan and she's one of my best soldiers from the Tokyo branch."
Sam nodded. "Thank you sir, I won't let you down" she said with a bow, but in her head she knew that the revolution within the Foot would have occurred way before a time for her to attack the turtles would ever come.
"For now though," Shredder continued, "I'm going to have you start your very first class: pain toleration" he said, smiling like he was the devil himself.
He then called out to some soldiers nearby and within seconds they were rolling in karts that had all types of weapons on them. One of the soldiers, with permission from their master of course, went over and unlocked Sam's handcuffs as Shredder walked over towards an ash tray and started heating up one end of a metal whip. He then turned around and walked over to Sam, nodding to the soldiers in the room. The soldiers nodded and then walked over and stripped Sam of the majority of her clothes so that she was now wearing nothing but a solid black sports bra and a small pair of black spandex shorts.
Shredder cracked the whip so that it slammed against the floor right next to where Sam's hand was, and again he was shocked at how she didn't flinch and how well she was keeping herself calm and composed.
"Samantha, it's about noon now, and your schedule is free for the rest of the day, correct?"
"Yes" Sam mumbled.
"In that case, we have until 10 tonight to learn as many lessons as we can. Let's start with lesson one: how to handle intense burns" he stated aloud as he then cracked the whip over and over and over again, landing somewhere new on Sam's body each time he snapped the whip.
*9:00p.m. in Sam's room*
Theme:
Red-Hymn for the Missing
Mikey carefully opened the window that lead into Sam's room since there was no one there to set the alarm. In a way he had wished there would have been someone there and they would have had to acknowledge his presence when shutting the alarm down, but he was able to walk right into the room.
His brothers tried to stop him, but ever since Sam had left the way she had, every night Mikey would go up to Sam's apartment and spend the night there, hoping that his friend would return. His brother's decided that this was his way of coping with what had happened since Mikey had become much closer to Sam than the rest of them had, so they decided to let him be until he was fed up and broke this habit.
In reality, Mikey was planning on doing this every night until he got some answers. He still didn't know what Raph had said to Sam to make her act the way she did, and no matter what the rest of his family said, he knew that the person they had kidnapped nights before was NOT his best friend. Maybe it was a clone, or she had been brainwashed, or maybe she had been kidnapped and forced to join, it had to be something! Mikey knew that Sam couldn't have just walked in and signed up to join the Foot clan, and he just knew that there was no way she had always been a member before the two had met. Something must have happened between the night she left for her tournament and the night they captured her and brought her back to the lair. He knew that if she had been a part of the Foot, then he and his brothers would have been captured a long time ago. Shredder doesn't play around, and Michelangelo knew that as soon as Shredder gained any information about their whereabouts that he would have planned an attack the moment Sam had spilled any details about them, and she had learned A LOT about them.
"Sam, what happened to you?" Mikey sighed as he laid down on her bed.
He hated the way she had left and he so badly regretted not stopping her and giving her a chance to speak. He could tell that she had something she wanted to get off her chest, but even he had felt so upset and betrayed that he let his emotions get the best of him and he joined his brothers in kicking her out of their lives, and now he feared that he would really never see her ever again.
As he lie in the bed he brought his hands up to his eyes as he tried to cover up his silent tears. He couldn't keep himself from crying as he thought of the worst possibilities. For whatever reason he felt that Sam was in danger, and he cried as he thought of the cruel things that Shredder might be doing to her right at this very moment. And then he thought of the worst thing possible: what if something happened where Sam was killed? What if she looked at Shredder the wrong way and he decided to go bat shit crazy on her and it resulted in her death? Mikey realized that if something serious did happen to Sam, his last words to her were to 'just go' and this realization had him balling his eyes out as he lost control of his emotions.
Eventually after he had calmed himself down, he then began rapidly shaking his head.
"No, I promised that I'd take care of her…and that's what I'm going to do. I'm going to find you Sam, I promise" he said to himself. He didn't care if it took years to find his friend, as long as he was still breathing, he vowed to make sure that Sam came home safe and sound. He had promised on Amber's grave that he would keep Sam safe, and he wouldn't rest until he kept up on that promise.