*Ahem* (nervously shuffles into the spotlight) Hi everyone. I know this chapter has been incredibly long in coming, so I'm not gonna keep you from the chapter for too long. I hope you've all stuck with me, but I won't blame you if you haven't (in which case, you won't be reading this, so I'm not sure why I'm writing it. lol) Anyway, I'm sure a lot of you are rady to kill me for making you wait so long, so I'm gonna disappear now. Enjoy the chapter! :)
DISCLAIMER: Still don't own them - but a girl can dream. ;)
The room was silent, except for the steady bleeping of the monitor. The occupants of the room were still and silent, each lost in his own thoughts. Finally, one of them could take no more,
"Shell, Donny, it's been four days! Why hasn't he woken up yet?!" Leo yelled, springing to his feet.
Donny sighed and rubbed a hand tiredly over his face – he hadn't slept since it happened, and even his usually endless patience was wearing thin. "Leo, we've been through this. I don't know what's wrong with him – I've done every test I can think of, and I still can't find anything wrong."
"But there has to be something – people don't just have seizures for no reason!"
"Dude, lay off 'im, will ya? He's doin' his best."
"Then why is Raph still like this?!" Leo balled his fists and screwed up his eyes against the tears that were threatening to fall.
"My sons! Stop this!" All three of the young turtle's heads whipped around to face their sensei. "You are not helping Raphael by arguing, and you are most certainly not helping each other. You have not slept in days, my sons – this is not healthy, and I do not need you to also be unwell. Go to your rooms and rest – I will stay with Raphael."
"But sensei –"
"Do not worry, I shall wake you if necessary." He shooed them from the room with a wave of his paw, and closed the door. He quietly crossed the room, and stood by his red-masked son's bedside.
Gently stroking Raph's head, he spoke softly, "I know you can hear me, my son, though you cannot show it. I know you are fighting against whatever it is that has hold of you – your spirit has always been fiery and strong. You have never been one to ask for help, even when you need it most, but please, my son, let me help you now."
The old rat sat cross-legged on a nearby chair, and concentrated. He hoped his son would accept his offer of help, and that he would not resist his attempts to reach him by meditation. He drew in another deep breath, and as he exhaled, he knew Raph had opened the door to his mind.
Master Splinter found himself in an empty space, all pitch black except for an area a few yards away that was bathed in a single red beam of light, which flickered rhythmically on and off. As Splinter walked towards this red light, he saw something – or rather someone – sitting on the lit-up floor. As he drew closer, he recognised the being to be that of a younger version of Raph, perhaps about 7 years old.
The child was holding his knees bent up in front, against his plastron, and was rocking slowly back and forth, whispering something almost inaudibly to himself.
Swallowing hard, the old rat asked gently, "What is the matter, my son?"
The young turtle jumped with surprise, turned in his direction, and looked tearfully at him, before saying, "Please make it stop, dad, please."
These words tugged at the rat's heartstrings, for he remembered how often he had heard these words in the past, when Raphael was a child, and had just suffered yet another nightmare. But he did not think nightmares were what was troubling this version of his son.
He knelt down to the child's eye level. "Make what stop, my son?"
"The noise – the beeping noise."
Splinter was just about to ask what noise he was talking about when he too heard a faint rhythmic bleeping noise, and now realised that the red beam was going on and off in accordance with the sound. "Do not worry, my son, that is just one of Donatello's medical machines."
The young Raph shook his head, "Nu-uh – it's in here, with me." Suddenly, the young turtle seemed to get into a panic, "Please, make it stop, dad, make it stop! Turn it off! Turn it off!" The turtle fell on the floor, sobbing, still pleading with his father. Master Splinter was just reaching out his paw to comfort his young son, when the Raphael before him changed. Now he saw his son as he was in reality.
"Raphael, what is going on?"
The red-masked turtle did not look up to meet his sensei's eyes. "He's comin'."
"Who is coming, my son?"
"W – Winthrop."
"But how, Raphael? He cannot possibly find you down here."
"He has 'is ways. Hear that beepin' noise?" His sensei nodded, and Raphael continued, "That's the sound of the tracker he implanted in me. It's been activated, which means he's comin' fer me."
"But Donatello examined you thoroughly; surely he would have identified the presence of such a device?"
The red-masked turtle shook his head, still not looking up to make eye contact with Splinter, "Not even Donny could've found it, not in the place he put it." Anticipating the elderly rat's next question, Raph raised his slightly shaking hand and tapped his head. He heard his sensei gasp, and knew he understood.
"But, my son, why did you not tell us of this before?"
"I didn' want ya all ta know."
"But why, Raphael?"
"Cuz by the time I got my head straight enough to remember it was even there, it was too late! I knew Donny couldn' do anythin' 'bout it anyways, an' I didn' want ya all to worry 'bout it."
The old rat sighed deeply, before placing his paw under Raph's chin and gently lifting his head, so that Raphael was now forced to make eye contact with him. "And this was the reason for your behaviour several nights ago." He said it as a statement, not needing Raphael to confirm it as being true. "My son, when will you learn that you do not have to bear everything alone? We are your family, and we love you no matter what happens. Your brothers are deeply concerned, and I think the least you owe them is an explanation."
"Yer right, Masta Splinta. I know I owe 'em a shell of a lot more than that, but it's all I can give, fer now." Raph responded quietly.
"Very well, my son. Take my hand, and we shall inform your brothers about what you have just told me." The turtle slowly got to his feet, took his sensei's hand, and together they walked from the red light and into the surrounding darkness.
"Donatello, my son, wake up. Raphael is awake." Master Splinter spoke softly, trying to arouse the purple-masked turtle gently.
"He's what?!" Donatello shot up out of bed, startling his sensei. He glanced at the clock, and was alarmed to see that he had been asleep for several hours, much longer than he had intended to sleep. "Sensei, it's been hours – why didn't you wake me sooner?"
"My son, you were exhausted, you needed rest. I told you I would only awaken you if there was a problem - everything has been fine, so there was no need to stop you getting a good long sleep. But never mind that, I must go inform your brothers that Raphael has awoken."
Soon, everyone was once again gathered in the infirmary, but now they were all relieved to see Raph awake and seemingly alright.
"My sons, Raphael has something very important to tell you, with regards to what happened the other night."
Now with his three brothers' full attention, Raph, now sitting upright, shifted uncomfortably in the bed. "I, er, I don' really know how to tell yer this." He rubbed the back of his head nervously, and the others thought how odd it was to see such a gesture from Raph – he never got nervous, or if he did he never showed it. He cleared his throat and quickly said at high-speed, "There's a tracker in my head, an' it's been activated, an' now Winthrop knows where I am."
Leo, Donny and Mikey simply stared at him for a moment, mouths hanging slightly open, trying to decipher what he had just said.
"What do you mean, there's a tracker in your head?" Donny asked, first to work out what his red-masked sibling had just told them.
"Winthrop put it there. He put it in my head, cos he knew that it would be almost impossible fer us to get it out, and cos ya probably wouldn' be able to detect it in the first place. It started beepin' that night, so I knew he'd finally activated it. As long as I'm alive, it'll send out a signal to 'im, tellin' 'im where I am. That's why I...why I asked ya ta...ta kill me." Raph finished quietly, staring down hard at his hands.
"But why will it only work while you're alive?" The scientist in Donny queried, his curiosity piqued.
"He said somethin' ta do with impulses, and that's why it doesn't need batteries, and can last for years."
"Harnessing the power from the electrical impulses of your brain? That could explain the convulsions then – as your stress levels increased, your brain was transmitting more and more electrical impulses, until at last there were too many, and it overloaded, thus causing the tracking device to electrocute you, causing the seizure." Donny rubbed his chin thoughtfully, simultaneously thinking how brilliant such a device was, and how diabolical such a mind must be to think of using it.
"So, what do we do about it?" Leo demanded, pushing his feelings of horror to the back of his mind.
"To be honest, Leo, I don't know. Winthrop was right – if the tracker is indeed planted on Raph's brain, then we can't remove it. Brain surgery is risky enough in a well-equipped hospital operating theatre, and a highly-trained surgeon, neither of which we have access to."
"So are you sayin' there's nuthin' we can do? You're givin' up?"
"Of course not, Mikey – I'm just saying that I have no idea what to do about it."
"But you do know what to do about it, Donny." They all turned to face Raph, who was now looking at them. "I already gave you the solution."
"No Raph! We told you the other night, and we haven't changed our minds. There must be another way, and we will find it, no matter what."
"There isn't time fer this, Leo! He's comin' – shell, he could be waitin' outside right now –"
"Then it's too late for us to do anything. We need to be ready to fight." Leo met his brother's hard gaze, and crossed his arms across his plastron.
"You don't understand – you CAN'T fight him! I won't let yer be taken by him! I can't let him do anythin' to ya! I need ta protect ya!"
"I am the leader, Raph! I am the elder brother! It's my job to protect you, and Donny and Mikey. It's not up to you to protect me." He saw Raph about to retort, but stopped him by holding up his hand. "This discussion has ended – you need to rest now, and we'll come up with a plan of attack."
"You expect me to sleep, while the rest of ya fight fer yer lives? No way in shell, bro! I am not gonna sit on the sidelines and watch while ya fight him!"
"Raph, you're in no condition to fight –"
"Don't give me that, Donny! Sure I'm a little beat-up, but that is not gonna stop me!"
"Raph, you just had some kind of fit, and you're still not properly over what that scientist dude did to ya – shell, he even put the tracker-thing in your head that made you have the fit. So, maybe ya should listen to Donny."
"No Mikey, no way! I swore to ya a long time ago that I would protect ya, and I am not gonna break that promise! Shell, its cuz Winthrop did all this ta me that I need ta fight him!"
"Raph, I'm really sorry for what I'm about to do, but it's for your own good." And with that, Donny grabbed a syringe from the counter, and jabbed it into Raph's arm. As the liquid emptied into Raph's bloodstream, Donny felt tears prick his eyes. "I' m sorry, bro," he repeated, as Raph finally succumbed to the effects of the sedative.
As he shakily set the needle down, he felt a hand on his shoulder. "It's okay, Don. You had to do it. How much did you give him?"
"Enough that he'll be out long enough for us to get ready for Winthrop. I don't know whether it'll last until Winthrop comes or not, but if the tracker has been activated for a few days, it seems likely that we could be attacked at any moment."
"Then we shouldn't waste any time." And with that, the three turtles and their sensei began planning how they would deal with the problem of Dr. Winthrop.
It was a couple of hours later, just as nightfall was taking place on the surface, that Raph suddenly awoke. "He's here!"
In a panic, he ripped all the wires out, causing the machine to make one long continuous 'beeeeeeeeeep' sound – until Raph put his fist through it, that is. He sprung out of bed, almost falling over – his legs felt like jelly, and an unfamiliar weakness made his limbs feel like lead. But he knew that Winthrop was here, and this thought gave him new strength – he knew what that madman was capable of, and there was no way in shell that he would ever let him get his hands on his family. As he raced into the main room, he felt a horrible sinking feeling in his stomach as he realised he was alone in the Lair. Stopping only to grab his sais from the dojo, he sprinted out of the lair, praying that he would not be too late.
Well, there's probably only gonna be one more chapter after this. :( I don't know whether I'm gonna do a sequel or not - I'll probably leave that up to you to decide. :)
But I will start focussing on 'Secret Weapon' next - I know raphfreak has been telling me for ages to update it, so I think I better do it before she tries to kill me. lol :D
As usual, reviews are much appreciated. And watch out on my profile for my new poll - it will affect you readers directly, so you'll definitely want to vote! :D