Chapter Sixteen: Establishing a connection
As much as he thought he wanted to go and be a part of the welcoming committee, and by rights he should be the one at the forefront, opening up the Lair and telling this individual that everything would be fine; he was the Leader after all. But there was a part of Leonardo that refused to get involved, he instead distanced himself by sitting alone in his room, massaging his temples with firm fingers. They had made the decision to have her here and so they could take the responsibility when it all goes wrong - and he was in no doubt that it would, he had always insisted that they keep with what they have and that it was safer this way. He had a hunch that this female was bad news, why else would he have had visions about her? Yes, she had appeared in his mind long before she arrived here and yet nobody would listen, not even his father, did they not trust his judgement anymore? Perhaps they saw him as a joke, perhaps they were laughing at him right at this moment?
Her removed his fingers from their position and glanced at himself in the mirror:
They are laughing at you, all of them, right now.
"Why?" Leonardo spoke aloud "Why would they do that? We're family"
Oh no. You're not family. Not anymore. You're the outcast now. Nobody wants you here and nobody will listen to you again.
Leonardo stood up "Not true!" He clenched his fists, standing firm as the mirror cracked right through his reflection.
He took a step to the forward, examining the broken glass a little more closely. Dark eyes stared back.
Another thing that you've broken. You're losing it now Leo.
"No.. No, I'm not"
The steely determination in his voice didn't do much to improve his confidence levels and he felt like a fraud. Just what the hell was happening here? He sat back down and put his head in his hands. Usually he would speak to Donnie about things like this but on this occasion he felt like he couldn't.
Donatello was held up in his lab going through the documents which Casey had shared with him from TCRI. He leaned back in his chair not quite believing what he was reading. He worked his way through the materials and found that alongside the usual testing and trials for new drug treatments (which Leeanne had said she worked on) scientists were also testing chemicals that may change the personality and behaviour patterns of living subjects.
Of course, he already knew that such treatments already existed; it was well documented that anti-depressants altered behavior by the enhanced production of naturally occurring chemicals such as serotonin but this, this was something way beyond. Of course they were burying the reality underneath a lot of scientific jargon, making references to everyday medications. By the sheer size it looked as if TCRI had been running these sort of tests for a while - 6 months at least - and it also looked like they were using some subjects they wanted to keep quiet. Using animals as part of research was nothing knew, Donatello himself had been a test subject as had his brothers and father. Sacks, the scientist, had injected them all with mutagen on a daily basis and not once had it nibbled at his conscience. Moving the mouse over the words he allowed it to land back on one set of letters in particular: Sub13/Hmxx54. No species was entered into space for which it allowed but by a process of elimination, and he loved to break codes, he theorized that this species was a human and was female.
"The question is did she know she was being tested on or not?" He scanned the page.
BLN. Those three letters said it all. Blind. Which in usual terms meant 'blind test'. Either the subject did not know they were being tested or they were unaware which drug (including placebo) was being tested on them.
"13 is a low number of test subjects" mused Donatello to himself "I think somebody isn't playing fair here Mr Sacks and I kinda think it's you"
Leeanne jolted her body awake. She felt odd. Uncomfortable. The type of feeling you get when you feel as if you are being watched but on inspection, the space around you is empty. Scooting herself forward she swung her legs over the edge of the bed and ran her hands through her sweaty ponytail, removed the band and went to re-tie, her eyes once again scanning the rows of books in front of her. Standing up she went for a closer look. This turtle was a worse geek than her and obviously didn't like fiction though there was a pile of comics at the end of one of the rows.
"For the child within" she muttered and reached to pick one up.
"So how about you and I have a little chat?"
She yelped, the comics slid forward off the shelf and onto the floor, landing in a pile at the feet of the turtle in the blue mask; the one named Leonardo and his attention on her was unwavering in a stare which made her blood run cold, thick arms folded across his broad chest. His presence was more than a little intimidating.
Once again she couldn't move. Her body seemed to move back of it's own accord, almost as if it were trying to disappear into the bookcase. He took a stride towards her and within that his body stood mere inches from hers. She felt him pick up a strand of hair in his fingers and sniff.
"You smell good"
She squeezed her eyes closed and attempted to turn her head away. Praying that he would disappear but even in the darkness of her own mind she could still see those eyes.
The sharp knock on the door made her jump. "Lee...?" From the other side of the door it sounded like the voice belonged to Donatello. Opening her eyes, she expected to find Leonardo towering over her, sword in hand, but just as she'd wished, there was no-one.
"Donnie?" She felt she had to ask. Hoping the sound of his voice would encourage her body to wake up.
"Yup, it's me.." A noticeable pause followed, then: "You okay?" He sounded like he was pressed right up against the wood.
She jumped round the bed and unlatched the door. Shit. It had been locked.
Upon swinging it open, Leeanne locked eyes briefly with Donatello and then looked back into the room: "There are no weird doors, hidden ones, anything like that in here?" He was after all an inventor, a scientist, perhaps he had an escape tunnel or something? Donatello noticed her eyes shifting around the room "Is there a door under the bed?" She ducked down onto her knees and lifted up the blanket.
"No doors apart from this one" He studied her carefully "Are you okay?" She was looking around the room as if she expected to see something "I know none of this is easy but you are safe here, safer than being up there" He rested his shell against the door frame "Have you got a minute? Just wanted to pick your brain"
She raised her eyebrows "My brain? I'm not sure I have much brain left"
"It's just a little TCRI query..."
"TOAST IN TWO MINUTES! BEANS IN FIVE!" shouted Michelangelo loudly
She opened her mouth to say something but he held up a hand "No probing questions, I promise, just want you to cast your eyes over some codes that's all - hey, it's all legit, they gave it to us"
Lunch was a relaxed affair with no sign of Leonardo. The one called Mikey chatted away and seemed to like nothing more than to poke fun at the large red one in an attempt to get a rise. The beans it would seem, stuck quite well to any surface once thrown, especially when thrown with force.
"You can clean that little lot up or I will be telling dad" announced Michelangelo confidently "Throwing food is wasteful!"
"You asked for it" Raphael stood up "And yes" he huffed, looking at Leeanne "It is always like this so you better get used to it girl" He picked up his plate and licked it.
"Manners!" scolded Donatello "This would not be happening if Leo was here"
"Well he isn't so it is" said Raphael before moving back to his plate.
"I can only apologise" Donatello gave Leeanne a sympathetic look "Within the lab you will not have to put up with any sub-standard behaviour"
From behind the plate, Raphael snorted.
"Does your father always abandon you at mealtimes?" Leeanne got up and followed Donatello.
"No. He usually depends on Leo to keep the peace. Hey, on the plus side, we are lucky that nothing was broken"
She wanted to ask so many questions about Leo: Why was he hiding away? How come he'd got into a locked room? How come she felt like she already knew him?
Once inside the lab she tried to force her mind round to listen and take in what Donatello as telling her. He handed her a pile of paper: "Don't be put off, that is what they want you to be..luckily with this little baby I can speed read" He popped a pair of goggles on his head, quickly replacing his over-sized glasses "And that's how I can pull off the key points so that you can see..." His large fingers sped over the keyboard that he pulled in front of him "This"
She followed his eye line and allowed the figures to assimilate in her mind. Though they were coded to her they read like a story book: Second Phase - Blind Human Testing - No reliance on medication adherence. Every person involved was also coded, non-identifiable data apart from by those who knew the system. She stood up straight.
"You see it right? I'm not being ridiculous" He turned the chair around to face her.
"No"
"No, what? no you don't see it, or no I'm not being ridiculous?"
She raised her hands to her mouth as if subconsciously trying to stop herself from saying anything else.
"Lee?"
"I see it okay, and no you are not ridiculous" Of course she knew he wasn't. She had been one of the test subjects and that had come straight from the mouth of Mr Sacks himself, but she couldn't tell Donatello that - she'd signed an order before she'd joined that little group. Oh Sacks had known what he was doing alright - promise of a new exciting role - aliens in test tubes, hell, aliens in a body..aliens that probably were all part of the plan to dupe people and run their experiments. She had been taken aback when she'd seen these things, anyone would be.
"Did you get involved in any of this?" His voice, although distant, again brought her back to the present.
"No" Perhaps her reply was too quick, or her face gave something away but he did not look like he believed her. She moved towards the door "I've only ever worked with cells" Which was technically true.
"Drug testing is a big thing at this place; What I wouldn't give to get inside - that's why Casey got access to all this, what to bet Sacks didn't count on me and Casey being connected, and he didn't count on you" announced the purple banded brother, giving her a grin.