Narration, English
Other languages
'Thoughts and names'
Dreams, flashbacks, memories
Everything was like a routine and at the same time had nothing to do with routine at all. Each routine lasted a while, then changed beyond recognition and created a new routine like a passing trend in fashion.
A week had passed since the plastron had been removed, it was time for a final examination, final removal of the bandages, and the thing Dr. Morisaki had called getting used to. Donatello didn't hide that he was very afraid of the last thing, especially since he had no idea what it would be, but he had a strong feeling that it was related to pain and discomfort. So when the main person in the CD project and three other people appeared, the mutant, despite his greatest intentions, couldn't stop his muscles from tensing from stress. That caused pain in the places where his yellowish plastron had been just a week before.
Morisaki was accompanied by the same man who had probably previously explained the post-surgery details to the doctor. The turtle had yet to meet that surgeon by name, let alone personality, but he wasn't sure if he really wanted to. Russell and his personal sidekick Kuroba were enough for him. Speaking of the devil, the young Japanese had also appeared in the white room, fortunately without his annoying Canadian guru. The last person accompanying Morisaki was Eika, who didn't even know the meaning of English words 'This is a pen'.
All in white coats, as benefits madmen, I mean scientists and doctors. With their boss in the front they gathered around the bed, the surgeon and Eika with emotionless expressions, Morisaki and Kuroba with light, but mocking smirks and heads tilted up slightly. Without saying anything, they all started pushing the bed. Wait a minute, the bed was on wheels? How could he not notice it earlier?
Anyway, now was not the time to contemplate the wheels that made the bed move. The humans were slowly moving the heavy bed toward the mysterious door with the digital clock above it. So far Donatello hadn't been moved anywhere when he'd been conscious and aware of his surroundings. What could be outside the door? An operating theatre or room? An office? Maybe the room was filled with torture machines? Eh, no, that would make no sense. Nevertheless, the reptile had a bad feeling.
When the edge of the bed touched the door, Eika moved away from the bed, squeezed between it and the door, and grabbed the handle. She pushed the door with obvious difficulty, which meant they must have been very heavy or reinforced somehow, or the woman just didn't have the strength to open it normally. The Japanese entered the dark room and felt her hand around the wall, probably trying to find the light switch. She struggled, rummaging on her right side until Dr. Morisaki cleared his throat and said stoically. "Not this side".
Eika trembled at the sound of his voice, embarrassed by her mistake. She quickly went left and seconds later the mysterious room stopped looking like a black hole and the bed was pushed through the door frame.
Donatello's first impression was a thank deep in his soul for the lack od white walls. Instead, their color seemed to be in a pale gray-blue shade. The floor was dark gray and the ceiling was navy blue. The room didn't contain many stuff, and it was certainly not filled with torture machines, so the mutant sighed with relief. There was a tape measure with the metric system and a scale in one corner, and right next to it, several tailor's tape measures with different systems were hung on hangers. A small table with some folders or some documents, and a lot of pens, pencils and rulers were in another corner. Aside from that, the room was empty, the only other thing that caught the mutant's attention was another mysterious door leading somewhere further.
While the giant turtle was looking around the boring but much better room than the white one, the people were fumbling with the latches that prevented him from moving freely. First, just above the old latches, they put new ones, which long and heavy chains were laying on the floor, their ends disappearing into one of the walls.
"Welcome to the multifunctional room, Donatello," Dr. Morisaki said, leaning slightly over the bed. "You're probably wondering where the name comes from."
Donatello rolled his eyes. Of course, the name was quite weird and interesting, and his curious nature made him interested in the genesis of the name of that new room.
"I understand the awkward silence will continue until I ask," he sighed, disconcerted and flustered. "Where does that name come from?" he asked in a touchy voice.
"The answer is very simple," Morisaki laughed. "It was in this room where we examined you immediately after you had been brought here and where we performed the first surgery on you. This room also servers as a rehabilitation room and that's the form it's going to take for the next days. It can also turn into a training room, if I find the conditions favorable. Eika, take the blanket."
The Japanese woman obeyed without a word, while Morisaki and the surgeon stood at the legs of the imprisoned mutant, muttering something to themselves. Kuroba was still standing by Donatello's head with his notebook and pen.
After a short moment the boss of the project looked back at the reptile's face and pointed his hand at the surgeon. "This is Dr. Kiwa, our main surgeon. He's responsible for everything that happens to you during all surgeries, although he doesn't always take an active part in them."
Now he knew who he could thank for what had happened to his body and what was still ahead. Dr. Kiwa was a short and fat man, his hair slowly losing its natural as for Asians color from black to gray. The guy was also wearing funny little glasses, encircling his equally small eyes, on his big nose. His silhouette was slanted, crooked, but he had no visible hump. He literally looked like a bad man, especially with his mouth tightly pressed into a straight line.
The mutant didn't miss how often Dr. Kiwa and Dr. Morisaki were looking at the parts of his body where nobody wished to bo looked at, unless that someone looking is a gynecologist. Even though he tried very hard, Donatello couldn't control the weird blush on his face. How did he know it had happened? Oh, it was very simple, he had a few clues. First, his snout felt warm. Second, he felt not only embarrassed but also furious. Third, Kuroba laughed loudly as he looked at him.
"You're already secured, so you won't run away, and you've already demonstrated your love for escaping. We can now unhook you from the bed, but before we do that, we need to remove the catheters because they can cause pain when you move. Guess you've already found out about that, hmm?"
He didn't answer, still staring at the amused Kuroba with gritted teeth. It was hard to deny that moving with two catheters in the cloaca was and would be a very painful and somewhat dangerous procedure. The hell knows if they knew about catheters as well as they should have, or if they care whether the catheters were properly put in.
"Meanwhile, let me keep you busy with a small conversation," Kuroba said, waving his hand in front of his eyes for the reptile to focus on him. Donatello did so reluctantly. "We'll get to the tough questions later, and for now it would be nice if you said something about your favorite food."
"Am I to understand that it's another unimportant for the project question that the answer to which is supposed to protect me from depression?"
"Only if you don't want to eat the waste from the trash can."
"Look, I don't give a damn what color the walls will be, and what disgusting food you'll give me. I can live through a room the color of feces and fish burned to coal."
"Hmm, I do not see any sense of this statement. If I am to understand correctly, you are saying you're strong enough to survive our 'tortures' and it would be a weakness to make any deal with us?"
"Yes, that's exactly what I think. But you know what? I know perfectly well that if I don't answer your stupid questions, you'll harass me verbally until you make me lose control, and my anger, as far as I know, gives all of you great entertainment. And guess, what?" he asked with a mean, luscious smile on his face. "I won't let that happen and I'll tell you everything you want to know about my food preferences just so I won't give you the satisfaction of upsetting me, because that satisfaction would have been bigger than the satisfaction from my simply answering your pointless questions."
"Wow," the Japanese murmured as he readied his pen. "Then I'd love to write down your monologue about 'your food preferences'."
Meanwhile, Kiwa and Morisaki bent over the task of removing the catheters from the turtle's cloaca. "I'm afraid we won't be able to do this in this position," Dr. Kiwa murmured without unnecessary emotions, pointing at the mutant's straight legs, thighs almost touching, as well as knees and ankles.
"If we free his legs, he will resist whether he surrenders or not," Morisaki replied, confident in his words. He had already managed to get to know his patient a little after all, and besides, what is a doctor who doesn't want to study the whole being of his patient?
"We have no other choice. If he is to move, we have to remove the catheters."
Morisaki cursed silently under his breath. He knew well that if he freed the reptile's legs, the mutant would fight them even with the knowledge that it'd be pointless. The mutant was full of pride, maybe not completely presuming, but he looked like he was fighting desperately for his good reputation. The man had no intention of losing to him, so he had to step forward and risk a kick to the face from a huge, green foot.
The project's boss reluctantly removed the latches from the mutant's ankles. Donatello was explaining in an extremely monotonous voice why pizza should have been the food of the gods instead of ambrosia. Only him looking at his own feet for a split second showed the doctors that the reptile already knew about having control over his lower limbs. The worst thing was that Morisaki was unable to predict what might happen. For now Donatello continued his boring tale of milk shakes, so Dr. Kiwa, with a little help from Morisaki, spread the patient's heavy legs.
"Why am I not surprised by you love for pizza, I don't know." Kuroba did note down everything he heard from the turtle. "Americans love it, and it was created in Italy. Okay, so from the general information, you prefer light food with a mild taste. Is there anything in this category you'd rather not touch?"
"Hmm, actually, there is one thing I wouldn't touch..." Donatello said slowly, looking down his body, where Dr. Kiwa's hands, wrapped in latex gloves, were only inches from the turtle's crotch. "This!"
Without any warning, the reptile's left leg shot in the air, bent quickly at the knee, and a second later its foot hit the short man's chest, sending him against the wall. Kuroba covered his mouth and nose with his notebook, so it was hard to guess what his reaction to the incident was. Dr. Kiwa held his head, trying to stand up. Morisaki made an angry expression and shouted something to Eika.
Donatello relaxed with a smile, pleased with himself and his muscle control. None of the humans present could have expected it, the mutant hadn't let them know, his legs relaxed all the time. He didn't care about the consequences, they couldn't do him much harm, he was too precious for that.
The visit to the mysterious room turned out to be a king of a final nail in the coffin to Donatello. The constant sedatives injections, serious surgeries after which the healing lasted long and required as little movement as possible, recovering, getting used to changes in his body, and constant lack of control, blackmailing, lack of freedom, all these made him believing that there was no way to escape. Constantly chained, either to the bed or the wall, with limited movements, no equipment, no windows, nothing to help him escape. His life was over. He had lost, he would never get out of there, he knew it perfectly well.
Morisaki waited impatiently for Eika, who was apparently preparing a sedative, the man never taking his furious glare from the mutant. When the woman appeared at the patient's side with a needle, he stopped her with a wave of his right hand, frowning. The reptile slowly put both legs on the bed, exactly as Dr. Kiwa had wanted. His large chocolate eyes stared at the ceiling with sadness, but also with a strange melancholy, so incompatible with the behavior he had just displayed.
"Eika, put the needle down, maybe we won't need it anymore," Dr. Morisaki muttered, touching his hand to his chin.
The woman obediently moved aside. Meanwhile, still slightly shocked Dr. Kiwa approached the bed hesitantly, glancing at Donatello over Kuroba's shoulder. "Has he calmed down already?" he asked, rubbing his sore ribs, his voice trembling slightly.
"I will gladly verify it for you, sensei. Donatello, are you calm now?" The young Asian leaned over the bed, blocking the patient's view of the ceiling.
The mutant shifted his gaze to Akira's face, leisurely, calmly. He blinked sleepily, took a deep breath, and nodded lightly, keeping eye contact. Pleased with the good cooperation, Kuroba nodded to Kiwa, still hiding behind the younger Japanese. The doctor touched the turtle's plump tail uncertainly, the mutant offered no resistance, apart from its harmless staggering reaction. Suddenly the good mood returned to Morisaki.
"We could say that your food preferences are already written," Kuroba said. "We can talk about smells and music now..."
Dr. Kiwa immobilized the tail, examining the outside of the cloaca with his fingers.
"It's rather obvious that I don't like smells which are also not pleasant for you, humans," Donatello grunted, trying not to think about what was happening between his legs.
"We don't take into accounts odors that are unpleasant to humans. Remember, you won't be alone twenty-four a day."
"I really dislike strong scents, such as perfumes, but still I like the smell of gasoline or meta~aa~al! What the?!" The turtle turned his head quickly, alarmed by the cold and unpleasant sensation.
"Don't worry, we have to pull out those catheters and we can't do that without spreading your cloaca a little. Unfortunately, the device we're currently using is cold because it's made of metal," Morisaki explained. "You'll live."
In all the uncomfortable chaos, the mutant had already forgotten the question. The young psychologist must have sensed it, because he turned the page to the previous one. "When asked about your favorite smells, you answered: gasoline smell and metal smell. I don't know if you wanted to say more, but if there is anything else, then I encourage you to answer. There are no wrong answers to such questions, although we were expecting some pleasant smells for, for example, Dr. Morisaki's daughter."
Ah, yes, these madmen were trying to turn him into something like a pet for the girl. Such a shame, because the turtle had some very unusual favorite things, including scents, that children didn't like much. Well, he wouldn't lie just because some kid wants a collar and a muzzle on him, oh no!
"Colza..."
Meanwhile, Dr. Kiwa's chubby hand slipped inside, searching for the tip of the thinner catheter attached to the copulatory organ. "By the way, it's really fascinating how this individual's reproductive system seems to have a lot of human characteristics," Kiwa purred during his work. "The penis is built surprisingly similar to a human one, it doesn't resemble a typical turtle copulatory organ. Still, it hides inside the cloaca and extends when the individual feels the urge to urinate or the strong urge to copulate. Amazing, I've never seen anything like this before, this creature surprises in so many ways."
"Yes, it is indeed unusual," Dr. Morisaki added, waiting patiently.
"Oh, it worked," Dr. Kiwa said smugly, slowly extending his hand.
"Ouch!" Donatello grunted, offended. The unpleasant feeling made him stop his interesting story about the calming impact of the sound of water. "You were supposed to be careful!"
"Sorry, but slight discomfort can't be avoided. Don't whine, you've gone through worse things already."
"But...!"
"What about that water sound?" Akira interrupted. "Because, for example, I think that such sounds only increase the urge to pee."
Donatello growled softly, going back to his monologue. Dr. Kiwa took out the thinner catheter and, after a quick inspection, started on the second catheter attached to the anus.
"Well, the sound of water has a calming effect," Donatello defended his opinion. "You must have mistaken the sound with that one of pouring water, that's the sound that increases the urge to pee."
"Perhaps..."
"Can't you two talk about something nicer?" Dr. Morisaki asked, frowning. "Kuroba, go to the music questions section."
"Hai. Any preferences regarding the sound of a specific instrument?"
Dr. Kiwa examined the thicker catheter carefully, and after a few careful movements, the catheter quickly went out without causing any harm, just some more discomfort.
"Sss... That's why bagpipes are evil," Donatello hissed as the catheter was detached and pulled out.
"That makes the two of us," Akira murmured, snapping his pen.
"The catheters have been removed, now we can release you from the bed and let you move more freely. Kuroba, report new information to Russell. Eika, help Dr. Kiwa with the latches."
The psychologist left the room in hurry with his briefcase under his arm. Eika and Kiwa set apart the latches that fastened the mutant to the bed, then quickly took a few steps back to avoid a potential kick or hit. Kiwa was terrified of the optional replay of that kick, and there was a certain fear in Eika's eyes as well.
Donatello propped himself on his elbows and lifted his upper body. He shook his head slowly, satisfied with the crash in his neck, and looked at the woman. "I don't beat women," he announced in broken Japanese. "But I still defend myself against them if I have to."
"Fortunately for you, Eika is anything but dangerous," Morisaki laughed. "You can stand up now and check the new ribs and skin."
Donatello narrowed his eyes hatefully at the doctor, but rose obediently to a sitting position and turned to sit on the edge of the bed. For the first time in several days he was able to get up legally, which immediately made him think about whether he was able to stand on his own. His feet touched the cold floor, which looked like it was made of rubber, but when he touched it it was clear that rather a different material was laid as the ground. His thick toes tapped several times against the floor, as if his feet were contemplating whether it was safe there. The mutant himself bent slightly, raising his shoulders and lowering his head, ready for the unexpected... he himself didn't know what.
With the raising of one of Morisaki's eyebrows a gigantic reptilian body raised, slowly, anxiously, in absolute silence. The turtle was able to hear his own heartbeat, and he had the impression that his swallowing was loud enough that it didn't escape the attention of the others in the room.
Well, nothing unexpected came, the huge reptile stood up, straightened his back and didn't even sway, keeping his balance as though he hadn't been bedridden at all for more than, em, again, how long had it been?
"It will be nice if you tell us how you feel right now?" Morisaki murmured in a bored voice. Nevertheless, his eyes showed a real fascination with something new.
"I'm not dizzy, if that's what you're asking about," Donatello said hollowly, shifting his weight from foot to foot every now and then and making a few small moves with his feet. His hands were busy, lightly jabbing against his 'new' chest and abdomen with his fingers. "Hmm, it doesn't hurt."
"Very well. However, your body has only just recovered from the surgery, so I'd be grateful if you didn't fumble around with your hands. We don't want another surgery as it would take hours and then at least a week of rest before rehabilitation." Morisaki watched with dissatisfaction for a moment as the mutant's thick fingers tapped hid entire front. "Okay, can we move on to checking your height and weight?"
"I'm as excited as I can get," Donatello replied sarcastically, studying the chains.
Meanwhile, Kuroba returned to the room, just in time to take over another folders, where more data about the captured mutant would be written in a few minutes, such information as height, circumference of some parts of body, length of limbs and tail, weight and fuck knows what else. The young psychologist picked up one folder from the table, snapped a pen several times, an annoying habit, and walked slowly over to Dr. Morisaki. He covered his face with the folder and turned to the doctor. "Russell-sensei has gathered all the new information and now he's starting to create a patient profile," he muttered softly. "He said that a lot of data was still missing and pointed out that the full profile might not be ready in a few months."
"That long?"
"He said that a rigid interview alone was not enough. We have to get to know him."
"Like another human being?"
"Russell-sensei believes that since Donatello-kun is a rational and logically thinking being on the same level as us, he should be treated in a similar way as we would treat another human, at least from the psychological point of view."
"I see. I just hope Russell doesn't rummage through aspects of the project that don't concern him. If this happens, you are to inform me immediately."
"Hai, Morisaki-san."
"Ekhem. Sorry to interrupt your small chat, but are you going to do those tests or not?" A huge shadow covered both Japanese.
Both Morisaki and Kuroba found themselves in such a situation for the first, the situation where their 'patient' was standing, fully conscious, so close to them that they could feel his calm breath on the top of their heads, their hair moving slightly because of that. Donatello was looking down at them with a glare that was a mixture of boredom ad some kind of authority that he didn't really have because he was on their mercy. Still, the men felt less confident for a moment, as their instincts dictated.
Morisaki grabbed Kuroba's folder and lowered it, putting on a stoic calm face. "Someone's impatient. Okay, you can now stand by the measure glued to that wall. Eika, bring the ladder with Dr. Kiwa," he ordered, waving his hand at the woman.
Eika took a bunch of keys from her skirt pocket, it immediately caught Donatello's attention. It was obvious that such an unimportant person in the team couldn't have the keys to the most important rooms in the building, but the woman couldn't have them just because. The Japanese woman walked to the yet another mysterious door, looked at the keys, picked one and firmly inserted it into the keyhole and turned it. Donatello leaned in slightly, trying to see what was behind the door.
Dr. Kiwa entered the room first and turned on the light, Eika following obediently. The turtle didn't want to arouse suspicion, so he stayed in the corner with the tape measure and couldn't see much. The room wasn't large, but it was stuffed with objects. Fragments of big hospital machines caught his eyes.
After a short while Donatello, Dr. Morisaki and Kuroba heard the characteristic thud of a metal ladder. Dr. Kiwa and Eika lifted the ladder and closed the iron door. The ladder stood right next to the mutant, Donatello took the place by the measure on the wall and stood straight.
"Eika, check his height," Morisaki ordered, folding his hands.
The woman snorted silently, but began to climb, taking a small ruler out of her pocket. What did she need it for, no one knew. And what else did she keep in her pockets? Kiwa, Morisaki and Kuroba waited patiently. Akira squeezed the folder in his hands, waiting for the inflow of new information. The older Japanese men began to mutter something to each other, but Donatello caught nothing but the woman's name. Then he heard the younger man. "Disgusting morons," he muttered in French, his eyes narrowing slightly.
The reptile made a mental note to ask the young psychologist one day about what the older men had said.
Meanwhile, Eika climbed to the very top of the ladder and pulled out her ruler, sticking it to the top of the mutants head. Now it became clear why she had the long piece of plastic for, it was useful for a more precise measurement. "Head closer to the wall," Eika ordered, sounding like a robot. Fortunately, she seemed to understand that the 'patient' wasn't a master of the Japanese language, so she had used a simple sentence.
Donatello took a small step back as the woman had told him to do, throwing another glance at the men in the process. Morisaki and Kiwa were still talking to each other, but the conversation probably started to be more casual, something about wives and chores to do. Kuroba snapped his pen, ready to write down what Eika was about to say.
"300 cm exactly," the Japanese woman said softly, making eye contact with Kuroba.
Akira nodded right after writing down the number. Eika left the ladder hurriedly, as if she had some fear of heights, dusted her clothes, and stepped aside with a small bow to both physicians. Kuroba rolled his eyes, awaiting more orders.
Morisaki finally detached himself from Kiwa, cleared his throat, and looked at Donatello. "Very well, now step on the scale right next to you."
The turtle stood on the platform the doctor had indicated and wondered whether these guys had any idea that the shackles they had put on him along with the chains would add a few pounds to him. The counter on the scale started to go crazy with the numbers, it looked like a scale failure which somehow didn't surprise the mutant. Finally the counter stopped the numbers. "256 kg," Kuroba murmured, writing down the result.
The counter showed about 20 kg more, so they still had some knowledge of their tin latches. Donatello quickly left the scale since it swayed slightly under his weight and he didn't want to know what would have happen if he had accidentally destroyed any device in this crazy place.
Morisaki took a long tape measure with a metric system of the hook in the wall that served as a hanger. At this point, the reptile decided to think about why they hadn't measured him while he had been asleep or unconscious. They could have done it then after all, and now they wouldn't have to go through it anymore, they would just check his weight and move on. That whole project was more and more embarrassing.
The doc and Kuroba walked closer while Dr. Kiwa withdrew from the room. Apparently he was no longer needed. Eika was leaning on the wall, standing like a good puppy while Morisaki carefully measured the length of Donatello's legs, the circumference of his thigh, waist and, with a little help from the patient himself, the circumference of his shoulders and his head. Kuroba measured his elbow height and made some remarks on the side of his folder.
"Is it the end of today's torture?" Donatello asked sarcastically as the ladder was being hidden and the folders and measures put in their proper places.
"I wouldn't call it torture, and neither should you," Dr. Morisaki pointed out. "Or at least not if you consider yourself a scientist," he added in a low voice. "Well, now that we're done with the basics, we can now take care of your, ehm, new places on your body."
Donatello had returned to his white room for supper, but something had changed. He wasn't completely chained to his bed anymore, more precisely, he had a little bigger ability to move. He could sit up and even stand up, and the sensors in the bed had been removed. Instead, they were located within two meters from the bed and made an annoying sound whenever the mutant left that zone. Another, almost magical change was the sudden appearance of a toilet next to the bed, so no more catheters.
The mutant was sitting on the bed sheets with his legs crossed and a plate full of some eatable pulp. The pulp probably contained cooked minced meat, some spices and vegetable leaves, it could include also carrots and another green crunchy something. Donatello hadn't been given any cutlery, so he had to to eat the meal the traditional way, with his hands it is. It didn't bother him much, he thought it was better than being fed by one of the women.
The schedule and his deduction gave him the idea that nobody would visit him that day anymore. Maybe someone would come and take the plate, but other than that, no visits were planned. Dr. Morisaki had found the reptile too thin for his size and had ordered to bring him a lot of food. Donatello wasn't going to eat more than he thought he needed.
Even though the working day had officially ended, a sudden movement to the right disrupted his supper. The door swung open to reveal a very pleased Dr. Morisaki, followed proudly by his niece, Aigo. For some reason, Donatello felt great anxiety whenever the girl was in the same room as him. It could be seen right away that the doc tor was breeding a pretty degenerate. 'Pity,' the turtle thought to himself, his eyes never leaving the unexpected and unwelcome guests as he continued to eat his supper.
"Good evening, Donatello. Enjoy your meal," Morisaki greeted culturally, although the tone of his voice had very little to do with maintaining propriety, actually it had a lot to do with contempt. "Don't mind us."
Aigo said nothing, only nodded barely noticeably. Morisaki walked over to the bed and opened a folder different from the one Kuroba had been showing off with earlier. Aigo stood next to her uncle who showed her some data. They began the exchange in low voices, using Japanese, of course. The mutant felt like he was the ugliest girl in high school and the biggest school stars were dishing him.
The Japanese didn't pay attention to him at all, staring at the statistics and other stuff. "Very good, Aigo. Now look, I'll show you and explain to you the way the substance we had used impacted the cells."
It was clear that Donatello became a little worried when the teenager walked over to his other side as if she was some aggressive dog let loose by a reckless owner. She stood calmly beside him, hands clasped casually behind her back, her expression impassive just like some robot. Her gaze drifted lazily from Donatello to her uncle, the girl awaiting next orders.
Morisaki cleared his throat, adjusted his white coat, and leaned over the bed, pointing his hand to the reptile's chest. The turtle stopped chewing on his meal, feeling more and more anxious and uncomfortable.
"You saw today the structure of the substance isolated from his body that had caused his mutation," the doctor went on calmly. "The other vial Dr. Harrison showed you contained the substance we had used in last week's surgery. Please, have a look at the effects." The man put his finger dangerously close to the freshly healed area.
"Hey!" Donatello leaned back as far as possible, trying to cover his front with his arms and the plate. "What now?! I'm trying to eat!"
"Easy, Donatello. We're not here at all."
The turtle growled softly, putting his hand in the pulp on his plate. Dr. Morisaki touched him a few times eventually, encouraging Aigo to do the same. The man seemed to want to introduce his niece to the project's progress and teach her something new.
"The turtle plastron is nothing more than the abdominal ribs and the collarbone, in his case only the ribs. It was completely removed during the surgery and one team of surgeons started to modify it quickly with one of the variants of the so-called mutagen. As a result, we were able to create the ribs very similar to ours, as well as the sternum. It's quite interesting that this individual already has collarbones identical in structure to human ones. The other team of surgeons were to prepare the inside of the turtle for new bones, to examine a small layer of skin under the plastron in more detail and prepare it for a new top layer of muscle and skin, just like in our bodies. The new ribs aren't ready yet, because the plastron is made of only abdominal ribs. Our patient's new front you can see was initially a shredded mixture of poor muscle and skin that, when treated with the mutagen modified by us, created a decent layer, and it's working well so far."
The mutant didn't understand much of what Morisaki was saying, he knew for sure that the conversation was about new bones, muscle and skin, and the mutagen. Glaring at Aigo, he noticed that the girl was extremely focused and even fascinated by news. Her hand was touching his chest gently, pressing lightly from time to time.
"The exact structure and functioning of the mutagen is still a mystery to us. We're only able to experiment and predict the result of given substances," Morisaki continued.
"What else is quite unusual about this individual's anatomy?" Aigo asked. "I'm not talking about the most obvious, like the humanlike shape or teeth."
"Apart from the collarbones, when our surgeons cut Donatello open, they noticed that his internal organs are identical to the human ones, their shape and location in the abdominal cavity don't quite agree with the known appearance of a turtle insides. Today Dr. Kiwa-san and I talked about his reproductive system. His copulatory organ looks more like th human's than a turtle's, yet its mode of action remains very turtle."
"Could she stop touching me?" Donatello finally spoke, irritated, he had just finished eating.
"Oh, of course, we're done anyway," Morisaki laughed. "I think that after this visit you already know what awaits our patient, don't you?" The man's eyebrow rose, the doctor expecting an answer from his niece.
"Hai, sensei. The vertebrae and the rest of the ribs are here." The girl pointed to the carapace with her hand.
"That's my wise girl! You should be proud of yourself, you deserve a passive participation in the next surgery."
"Really?"
"Yes. Now you can go to the kitchen and ask your aunt for a great supper."
Aigo bowed slightly to her uncle, there was a strange glow in her eye that hadn't been there before. The teenager took another look at the modified front of the mutant, nodded slightly, then walked vigorously to the exit. When the door closed behind her, Donatello dared to reach for a wet tissue on the table.
"I'd like you to be nice to Aigo, she's my niece after all."
"I don't see any reason to have any positive feelings for her," the mutant muttered.
"Come on, don't be so rude. Remember that there are ways to make your life miserable here without jeopardizing our project. Are you willing to talk with Russell for four hours each day?"
"You wouldn't dare!"
"Russell has nothing better to do anyway, he and Kuroba will be happy to accompany you."
Donatello gritted his teeth, face frowning. It had no impact on Morisaki, of course. The man smiled brightly, bid him good night and left the room.
Fortunately, the first person he saw this morning wasn't William Russell, nor Kuroba Akira, nor Dr. Morisaki or Kiwa. When he woke up, there was no one in the white room, no breakfast plate, which meant that most likely no one had entered the room in the morning.
So he had a moment to focus and summarize everything he had learned so far. There were cameras in the white room and the multifunctional room, so tiny that he had no chance of finding them. He received each meal at the same hour, so breakfast should have appeared in less than ten minutes, if the clock was working correctly. The doses of the weird weakening drugs were smaller than before, but still strong enough to simply resist them. Since yesterday, he undoubtedly was to spend a certain amount of time in the multifunctional room under the watchful eye of Morisaki every day, and given the visit from last evening, Aigo would probably be there as well. They would need someone to write everything down, so he could only pray that it wouldn't be Russell, although they would give up on Kuroba for his sake. Perhaps Eika would appear there, or any other woman, by the way there should have been more of them on that team. Dr. Kiwa wouldn't be needed anymore probably, at least for now, until they were going to cut him open again.
He still didn't know exactly where he was, whether it was somewhere in the city or town or out of it, in what region, on which island, or how far from an airport or port he was. So it seemed he still had little information, yet from the very first meeting with little Kyoko it had been obvious what the purpose of his surgeries, changes and torture were. It couldn't be denied that Mr. Morisaki wanted to play some kind of god, but on the other hand, how many people in the world thought of themselves as as powerful as that kind of being?
Well, there wasn't much time for further thoughts, as Eika entered the room with some other woman whom Donatello surely had yet to meet. Both ladies served him breakfast and said nothing to him. Eika of course didn't know English, but the other woman was new to the mutant and he didn't know her English skills. They were chatting casually, as if he wasn't there. So he decided to use the opportunity to try to find out more, as long as they didn't use too big words.
"Last night I talked with Kuniko about Ichirō's behavior, but she insists so much," Eika said in soft but irritated voice.
"Maybe she should seek the help of a psychologist," the second woman, tall and thin, looking older than Eika, replied.
"Maybe..."
The unknown woman made eye contact with him at the moment, she seemed interested, so it was most likely her first visit to the white room. "Amazing," she said in an airy voice. "Has Morisaki-san's daughter seen him yet?"
"Yes, before and after the first surgery. Aigo-san has also seen him and from now on she will be seeing him more often, also during the surgeries."
That only confirmed the information Donatello had had about Aigo for several hours.
"And he speaks English?"
"Yes, the doctor says he has an American accent. But he also knows a little Japanese. However, I don't think he understands everything we talk about. According to Dr. Russell-san, he also knows French on a decent level."
"He's intelligent."
"Oh, very intelligent!"
"I'll have to observe the whole process during and after the next surgery."
So the new face was someone needed for the next surgery, whatever it would be. The woman was looking at the changed parts of the reptile's body where the plastron had used to be. She didn't look thrilled, but something was telling Donatello that it wasn't about a poorly carried on surgery, because the job had been well done.
"I wish I returned earlier from Chiba," the woman sighed.
So she was unhappy that the surgery had taken place while she had been away. She must have been someone important in the team then and she didn't trust the others one hundred percent with playing with the mutant's body. She didn't seem to be a seasoned old professor, she was rather tall, with hair dyed copper color, a few wrinkles on her face, big blue eyes and glasses. She couldn't be older than forty-five.
"Anyway, let's give him breakfast," she sighed again, and Eika walked over to the bed with the tray on her hands.
"Arigatō," Donatello muttered.
Breakfast wasn't much different from any other meal. It was mostly cooked minced meat with the addition of vegetables. The only thing that differentiated breakfast was some fruit. It was a pear that day, not one of Donatello's favorite fruit, but fruit is fruit and you should take what they give you. As usual, he had to eat with his hands, but he had long stopped worrying about that. At the moment he was more concerned with the stranger touching him across the transplanted skin and murmuring to herself.
Meanwhile, Eika walked out with an empty trace, passing Aigo in the doorway. The teenager paid no attention to her, walked over to the bed and clasped her hands behind her back, watching the woman examining Donatello in silence. Aigo was a weird person, certainly above averagely wise for her age, but still weird. She didn't appear as a typical Japanese teen, getting excited about everything and often ashamed of a lot of things. She rather resembled an always grumpy or sleepy or a robot designed to look like a girl. Her emotionless face disturbed and even kind of terrified Donatello.
"Who are you?" he asked the woman doing research.
"Professor Yuiragi Midori, a veterinarian, reptiles are my specialization." The woman bowed slightly. In fact, it was the first time anyone there had treated the turtle with any respect. "I've heard you don't know much Japanese, lucky you that my English is a bit better than the twisted 'japanglish' you've probably heard before from average Japanese people," she added in English. "You can call me Midori, I don't mind."
He was immediately relieved. The more people who could speak English there, the easier it would be to communicate with them.
"I was hoping to have been here and watch the surgery where they removed your plastron." Midori frowned as she ran her fingertips over her patient's chest. "I can see that there aren't any problems and everything's already healed. From now on, I'll be present at all surgeries, there will be one surgery and medical treatments different than surgeries."
"What are those treatments about?" he asked hurriedly, taking the opportunity that the woman had shared some information with him.
"Dr. Morisaki calls them modifying treatments. They're going to be extremely painful and unfortunately we won't be able to give you morphine or any other pain reliever because then we won't get the desired results."
He could feel his face turning as pale as some old book pages in a split second, all the blood drained from his face, and the temperature in the room seemed to drop a few degrees for him. Staring at his interlocutor, he opened his mouth in disbelief. He must have looked terrified at the moment and there was nothing strange or incomprehensible about it. He swallowed loudly, considering his next words. "What do you mean by 'modifying'?" He honestly hated himself for the obvious tremble in his voice.
"Yuiragi-san, my uncle asked to keep his plans a secret," Aigo, who had been silent so far an Donatello had managed to forget about her presence, said. "The Object DTM15 should get to know a part of the project only if my uncle and your boss Morisaki-san agrees to share some data with the object."
"Aigo-san, I'm afraid you're no longer needed here," Midori replied. "Morisaki-san has already shown you the latest data, so you have to wait for your next lessons until the next surgery. There's no need for you to accompany me here. You better go and eat something, then go back to studying because I've heard from your mother that your math grades are getting lower and lower and math is very important subject for a scientist."
"Hai sensei," she muttered reluctantly and turned on her heels.
When the door behind the girl slammed Midori looked back at her patient, frowning and trying to smile apologetically. Actually, it almost worked, but to the turtle it looked more like some kind of grimace. "I apologize for her," she began softly. "Aigo-san thinks she's important here because she's Mr. Morisaki's niece. The truth is, even being his top pupil and a member of his family still doesn't make her anything more than a student. Anyway, this room is under constant video surveillance, which means that whatever I say will reach my boss very quickly anyway. I would never say anything forbidden in such situation after all, would I?"
"That would be correct..." Cameras in the room, of course.
"So I can tell you a little about those modifications, but not everything. It's about changing shapes and sizes."
"You've already changed me a little," he muttered, pointing at his front negligently.
"Yes, after your second surgery we'll end stuffing you with morphine. I'm sorry, but each treatment will be painful. I'm not sure how far can I go with the explanations, so I'll only ask you one thing: have you ever broken any of your bones?"
"Broken?" He didn't like where the conversation was leading to, but he decided to try to remember anything. "I broke my leg once, the tibia and the fibula bone in my right leg to be exact, but it's completely healed, it doesn't even hurt when it rains," he lost his alertness for a moment, looking at his right leg. To make his point clearer, he lifted it slightly and waved his leg twice.
"If you remember how it feels to have a bone broken, be prepared because we will remind you of that pain in a very unpleasant way in the next phases." Midori frowned. She felt sorry for the boy, seeing the wretched face of her patient. So she added hastily: "Today you only have a few physical exercises to strengthen your new muscles and skin layer. I'm sure Dr. Morisaki will want you to stretch a little, as much as the carapace allows you. They added more hours to your meetings with Dr. Russell, you don't really like him from what I've heard. Don't worry, you'll meet him every day except Sunday, every meeting will last three hours."
"Three?! How so?!"
"I'm sorry, they decided about it. I'd rather say it's because Dr. Morisaki wants to get your full profile faster and Dr. Russell said the full profile would be ready in a few months, so the boss decided to make changes in the schedule. Don't worry, I'm your main caretaker in a way from now on, you can talk to me in peace and I'll try to intervene wherever I am able to."
"I have a feeling that your help won't do much, but thank you anyway," Donatello said.
The rest of the day passed without any interesting events. Everything Professor Yuiragi had mentioned did happen, but it was weirdly quiet, no unnecessary chatting or comments. Russell wasn't eager to meet with the mutant, so the turtle spent the whole three hours with Kuroba who looked like he didn't want to be there either. He didn't question the reptile much, didn't gather much new data. The only purpose of the conversation was to find out how detailed the patient's knowledge of Japan is, from the history of the country to the culture of the twenty-first century.
Two days later in the early evening Donatello dared to get out of bed and walk around the room several times, using his 'freedom' for the rest of the day. Besides someone giving him his supper, he could expect no more visitors. He had learned by accident that he would see little Kyoko before the next surgery, whenever it was to happen. But what for, why, even Russell who had spilled out a word about the meeting hadn't known the reason.
That didn't matter now, the reptile was busy overthinking. By this point he had come to the conclusion that there was no way out of there about ten times. And certainly no way out until they had finished their stupid surgeries and treatments. Perhaps then they would move him, Kuroba and Russell had mentioned something about a room where he would have been held in after all this. Perhaps the opportunities to escape would be matter there. But the question was, after all the painful tortures that awaited him here in the name of pseudo-science, would he be able to move even a finger after a year in the future since the ending of the project? Maybe they'd make a cripple out of him just to be sure that he wouldn't run away? Or they'd keep him constantly on strong tranquilizers or other narcotic substances? What if they had kept starving him, giving him just enough food to keep him from dying? There were so many possible options.
Of course he could deduce it all, but he needed more time and information, data was the key. Midori seemed to be a good source, but she couldn't risk losing her job and he didn't want anyone hurt because of him, not even Russell. Wait a minute, no, Russell could go fuck himself, he wouldn't feel sorry for his downfall, not sorry at all.
For the first time in several days he had a peaceful moment to think about his family, what they were doing now, where they were, and if they had tried looking for him. Probably not, the mere fact that surviving a fall from such a height was extremely unlikely was enough to convince them that he was dead. If they had been to look for him, they wouldn't have even known where to start. And after searching the area they could have searched and, obviously, finding no trace of him, they would have been convinced that he had been already gone one hundred percent. Why would they have gotten any idea that someone had taken him from the place he had fallen on? If they had decided to look for him, had they finished yet? Probably yes, they had had to go back to America, to New York, after all.
The thoughts about his family were haunting him, especially since Morisaki had found out about their existence by accident. The man hadn't talked to him about that so far, but the mutant had a feeling deep in his bones that the conversation about his loved ones was nearer and nearer. The question was, what crazy plan did Morisaki have that could possibly include the existence of other potential mutants? There was a possibility that the doctor would try to blackmail him, which on the one hand seemed illogical to Donatello because the guy had no idea where exactly he should have looked for the mutant's family. On the other hand, that whole scientific team gave an impression that nothing was impossible for them and the reptile still didn't know how much information he had given them during his nightmare. But wait, Morisaki had no idea if his family was mutated just like him, they could be ordinary people. Oh, Donatello had mentioned their names...
It was the middle of the second week since Donatello had woken up bedridden in the white room. After a tough night full of reflection his mind was spinning around a thought different than his family. The thought was - a meeting with Kyoko. Ever since he he had overheard about seeing the little girl before the surgery, he had been praying silently that he would have never seen that cute and innocent creature again. He was afraid that he would soon stop thinking about her as positively, that the consequence of the tortures, which the little Japanese was not responsible for, would be his deep hatred toward her. Their meeting was to be a determinant of further unwelcome changes in his body. He felt that if he only sensed the presence of the girl, he would have a panic attack which would tell everyone that he knew more than he should have. Then they would become even more mysterious, if that was possible.
The female part of the scientific team entered the room, headed by Midori followed closely by Eika and Aigo.
"Good morning, Donatello," the woman greeted as she pulled the stool for herself. "I've heard you didn't get enough sleep."
"It actually happens often to me, not only when I'm being held somewhere against my will," he muttered back, sitting cross-legged.
He watched the younger humans from the corner of his eye. Eika was only checking his vital signs and seemed to be grilling Aigo about something. Both weren't interested in him and his conversation with Midori at all.
"What are you thinking about?"
"I should have told them something different, I did something stupid and now I might face unpleasant consequences..."
"I'm sorry that this happened. But there's probably nothing we can do about it. This morning breakfast has been more colorful than before. How do you feel about that?"
"I'm looking for a trick, as always," he replied, allowing himself a barely noticeable smile.
"Your meals will be more varied from now on. Personally I don't know the exact reason for that, but from a vet's point of view it's simply good for your health."
"So what awaits me today?" he asked, frowning.
Eika finished writing down data and Aigo's answering in her notebook and left the room. Aigo stood next to sitting Midori, one step behind where she belonged as a student.
"Nothing more exciting than what you've gone through the last few days," Midori said. "From what I've heard Dr. Russell wants to talk with you about French in your session today."
"Phew, probably there won't be weird or annoying questions," Donatello sighed in relief, rolling his eyes. "On the other hand, the guy is highly unpredictable."
"Hey, just between the two of us," the vet began. "I've heard that William is able to piss off his interlocutor even when talking about carrots," she laughed softly, leaning forward a little.
Professor Yuiragi was trying to loosen the atmosphere a bit by chatting with the patient about trivial stuff and telling not very important stories about other employees, things that weren't considered taboo for the mutant. The turtle was very grateful to her for trying to cheer him up.
Before dinner, he was taken again to the now-not-so-mysterious room, accompanied by Midori while Morisaki was an observer. Eika and Aigo were staying in the corner of the room, ready to assist. Dr. Kiwa was absent, but judging by the soft murmurs of Morisaki it was clear that the short fat man should have been present. Instead, Morisaki was accompanied by another new face, a white man with golden hair, he might have been in his he was replacing Russell and Kuroba, writing down everything, but he must have had some knowledge on anatomy as well as he spoke to Morisaki using big words. Of course, the language was Japanese, because why should Donatello have known anything... The reptile wondered what nationality the man was, what his history of learning Japanese was and what his degree was.
"Hmm, the shell is very strong, the carapace being much harder than the plastron," the blond noted. "The surgery won't be easy and healing process will last longer and be less pleasant." The man tapped his pen on the shell.
"It doesn't really matter," Morisaki replied. "The surgery is possible and the likelihood of success is high enough to continue our project. If it weren't so, I would have long since disposed of our object."
The men were poking at the carapace and putting their ears to it while Donatello was performing standard stretching exercises. The turtle made soft growls of discomfort every few seconds. It was obvious they would examine his carapace and while the tapping on the shell didn't hurt him it was very distracting and annoying. If he hadn't been so damn patient, he would have grabbed both men by the necks and smashed their skulls against the walls by then.
"We're going to run out of pain relievers soon and we won't be able to use full body anesthesia," the blond carried on, frowning.
"Calm down, Mayers-san, take it easy," Morisaki muttered with a smile. "Everything goes according to the plan."
"Excuse me," Donatello said at last as the poking on his shell had stopped.
"Yes?"
"Where did this sudden interest in my carapace come from?"
Morisaki leaned slightly so that his gaze was on the same level as Donatello's huge chocolate brown eyes. The reptile was bending, hence the low position of his head. When the doc focused the mutant's hateful gaze on himself, he smiled friendly, patted the shell just behind the shoulder, and replied: "You'll find out another time, Donatello. You certainly will..."