Prison of the Unknown

The rooftops of New York at night felt like a breath of fresh air to the Turtles. The four brothers had been cooped up in the Lair all day and were out on their training exercise. Leo was timing their speed and shook his head as he realized he younger brothers were falling behind. When he did call for a stop, his younger brothers seemed relieved and out of breath.

"We have to do that run again," he told them. "That was longer than our average time."

Raph heaved and wiped away the sweat from his brow. "Leo, come on! Master Splinter didn't give us a break today."

"Nah," Mikey grinned, despite how tired he felt. "He's just upset because I won the Battle Nexus Championship!"

"Mikey, please!" Raph growled. "I'm too tired to smack you!"

Mikey chuckled, but couldn't fin the energy to tease him more.

"Leo," Don said, sitting on the edge of the roof and leaned against his bo staff to support his tired body."Just give us five minutes to catch our breath. Please?"

Leo frowned, but he nodded. "Okay, fine. Five minutes. But then we practice our hand-to-hand combat. Mikey, you'll be first."

"Why me?" the orange masked brother whined. Leo crossed his arms.

"Well, if you're the 'champion', then this training session shouldn't even bother you. Besides, you've got the most energy to burn."

Raph and Donnie chuckled despite how tired they were. Leo certainly wasn't giving Mikey any slack because of his boasting about being a 'champion'.

"I mean...No, of course this doesn't bother me!" Mikey frowned, not wanting to be teased about how tired he really felt. "I say bring it on!"

"After your rest, tiger," Leo smirked, playfully slapping the back of Mikey's shell. Mikey almost stumbled off balance.

Leo then felt uneasy and his smile faded. "Guys, I don't want to alarm you, but something doesn't feel right."

There was no warning, the Triceratons had just appeared! The Turtles were all stun by laser guns. At first Leo thought that the Shredder was at work, but he knew a much worse danger was at hand when the Triceratons stepped out of the shadows towards them. Leo tried to move, but his body felt so stiff that all he could do was flex his fingers. The Triceratons stood above them with satisfied looks on their faces.

"W..What do you...want?" Leo strained to ask. The lead Triceraton knelt down so Leo could see him.

"You creatures have caused quite an excitement on our homeworld that we decided you are important enough to be our...guests."

Leo didn't know what they were talking about and grid his teeth, which was a struggle to do even a simple task such as that. "Somehow..I get the feeling...that you don't intend to treat us nicely."

The Triceraton stood and turned to his underlings. "Take them to the ship."

The Turtles were dragged onto the Triceraton ship and taken to the hold. They were chained to the wall and given atmospheric converters to breathe. It was still going to be a long way to the Triceraton planet and their prisoners will need the objects to breathe.

The effects of the stun laser was wearing off on the Turtles and Raphael began to struggle. He glared at the captors.

"Wait until I get out of here, you three-horned freaks!" he threatened with a growl. The Triceratons didn't seem to be at all worried or intimidated.

"Why did you kidnap us?" Leo asked. "We can't possibly have any information you could want."

"We didn't capture you for information," the commander told them as he took a seat in front of them. He felt as ease enough that he propped his foot up on the edge of a box. "Yes, you'll do nicely indeed."

"Please enlighten us," Donatello frowned. "We don't know what this is about."

"You'll find out."

It wasn't an answer the Turtles were hoping for. It was obvious they weren't going to get an answer right now. Besides, the chains and handcuffs around their bodies and wrists could not be broken from force. Their weapons were also taken from them.

When the ship finally did land on the Triceraton planet, the Turtles were forced to follow the commander and his underlings. This place brought chills to their spines and the Turtles had no idea what awaited them this time.

The process of being labeled as prisoners was the same, but when it came to the branding, it still caused the Turtles to yelp in pain. Yup, still as painful as they remembered too.

"Now, then," the commander's voice caught their attention again. "I am Commander Erkon. You shall address me as 'sir' or 'sir Erkon' only and will speak only when spoken to."

"Oh, yeah?" Raph snarled. "What happens if we don't, mister high and mighty?" Almost instantly did he feel a shocking sensation surge throughout his body, causing him to fall to his knees.

"Raph!" Leo said, making sure his brother was okay. He glared at Erkon, who only smirked.

"I think you get the idea."

As they were escorted through a large set of doors, the Turtles found themselves in a room full of rows and rows of prison cells. Guards were carrying stun guns and Erkon continued his lecture on prison etiquette.

"Curfew is from 8pm to 8am. Any prisoners caught outside of their cells during those hours will be punished servility. There are some exceptions to being out of your cells during curfew hours, but that will only be if I or some other commanding officer deems it worthy. Meals are whatever your superiors provide you." Erkon halted the group soon after and the Turtles noticed tunnels leading into several different directions. Where each tunnel lead, they didn't want to find out.

"As far as labor goes,you will each be assigned to a different area of the prison. Do your work well, and you may receive a hearty meal. Disobey or try to escape, and punishment will be likely and decided upon by whomever is in charge of you."

"Wait, did you just say we will be separated?" Michelangelo asked. "Why?"

"If you must know," Erkon glared at him. "You four caused a lot of trouble last time you were being held prisoner here. I assure you, much has changed since then. Having you four together would be asking for another chance at escape."

"Say what?" Mikey asked again.

"Basically," Donatello told him. "We're being separated so we can't plan for another escape."

"Precisely," Erkon nodded.

"No," Leo frowned. "We're brothers, we stick together."

Surging pain coursed through their bodies as they cried out. Erkon's officers chuckled as if the Turtles' pain amused them.

"I'm afraid you don't have a choice," Erkon frowned, not liking how quickly these Turtles were disobeying already. He turned to one of the officers who was holding the electric controls. "Scan them."

With another press of a button, rays of light shun over the Turtles. After a few minutes, Erkon had what he wanted. "Take them to their cells until someone calls for them."

The Triceratons grabbed the Turtles. Despite a desperate attempt to fight back, Leonardo was pinned to the ground and watched as his brothers were dragged through separate tunnels.

"No!" Leo struggled, trying to free himself from the Triceratons holding him. "You can't do this!"

"It's already been done!" Erkon frowned, kicking the Turtle in the face. Leo could taste blood and he glared at the commander. The Triceratons held Leo up.

"Follow me," Erkon told them. "I have a special place in mind to keep this one."