COLLARED CHAPTER 2:
Mikey groaned, feeling an unrelenting coldness around him. He lazily reached out an arm, trying to pull his blankets up higher and escape the chilly temperature. However, when his hand felt nothing but air around him, he jerked upright with a gasp.
He was in a cage of some sort, the patchwork pattern of metal wire reminding Mikey of a dog enclosure. It was about five feet high and six feet long, providing enough room for him to lay down at full length but so low he needed to stoop his head to sit up in it. The bars of the cage alternated between polished metal and rust, showing that it was an object that had been used often through several years.
Raising his head as much as he could in the enclosed space, Mikey was able to spot three other cages around him, each one containing one of his brothers. A whimper escaped his mouth before he could stop it, scared that they all seemed to be prone and unconscious. He didn't see any obvious injuries, but it was scary to see that they were all in the same boat…locked up and helpless at the hands of a mysterious enemy. The other times he'd been in this situation, he'd had at least one conscious brother he could talk to, and they'd helped set his nerves at ease and come up with plans to escape. But judging from the clouded looks over his brother's faces, it seemed like they would be out for some time.
That doesn't mean Mikey wouldn't try, though.
"Hey, dudes, wake up!" Mikey whisper-yelled, kicking his cage as loudly as he could. "We've got a problem to deal with!"
"Oh, I wouldn't bother with that. The poison should still be in effect for twenty minutes, at least."
Mikey whipped his head to the left, jerking to the far edge of his cage as a human walked into the room. Judging off their crisply pressed clothing and the stiff white lab-coat, Mikey guessed it was a scientist. The human had slicked-back dark hair, glasses, and a swarthy complexion that made him seem in his 30s or 40s. He snapped latex gloves on, picking up a small metal object that looked suspiciously like a scalpel.
Mikey gulped, his mind instantly turning back to the time the Earth Protection Force had captured him. He had nearly gotten his shell scraped off, but this time, his brothers wouldn't be able to save him from a dissection.
"Who are you? What do you want with us?!" Mikey yelled, acting a lot braver than he felt. Since his elder siblings couldn't talk with the enemy right now, Mikey knew he needed to get as much information for them to work with as possible. He could already picture the three of them drilling him for details about where they were and what was going on, and he refused to have no answers for them.
The man hummed slightly in response, the edges of his lips curling into a smile. "Fascinating. Do you truly not recognize me at all?"
"I've never met you in my life, psycho!" Mikey shot back, jutting his lip back angrily. This guy had the smug attitude and fashion sense of Dr. Falco, but there was an even more sinister air around him. Even though he hadn't spoken any directly hostile words or threatened them, the man had a condescending tone that seemed almost like that of an owner towards a pet. Hearing him speak made Mikey feel cold and gross, an inescapable shiver making its way down his shell.
The man's next expression made Mikey feel confused…a look of shock overcame his face, and he spoke in a mockingly hurt voice. "Really? Aw, that's too bad…. I was hoping my four cutest terrapins might remember me, even after all this time."
"We're not yours, dude!" Mikey yelled, trying to stand up but falling back down in his cage with a pained whimper. He rubbed his head, glaring with blue eyes full of indignation.
"Look, I don't know who you are, but me and my brothers don't belong to you! We're our own independent selves, thank you very much." Mikey crossed his arms and dipped his head sharply, entirely confident in his words.
"Ah, but that's where you're wrong." The man responded excitedly, taking out a piece of paper and starting to read from it unprompted. "Four box turtles purchased by Ricky Takashi, Owner of Manhattan 'Pet Corner,' September 19, 1997."
Mikey scoffed. "In case you haven't noticed, we're more than simple box turtles. We're mutants! And that doesn't prove anything, you could have bought any four turtles other than us."
"True, but I have undeniable proof that you four are the same turtles." Takashi continued, his overly eager behavior continuing. He turned his back to Mikey, opening a shelf and then taking out what looked somewhat like a childish gun.
"Every time we pet store owners receive a new specimen; we place a permanent UV mark on them." The man explained, juggling the gun-thing between both his hands.
"It's invisible to the naked eye, and impossible to remove, no matter how scarred their skin becomes. This way if an animal is stolen from the store, the original owner can be identified if the thief tries to sell the animal for themselves."
Takashi raised the gun, causing Mikey to flinch and hide behind his arms. However, the only thing that came out was a thin line of light, fuzzy and bluish as it slowly traced down his head to his feet. Mikey blinked as the gun let out a beeping sound, and the human turned the screen of the gun towards him.
"See? This scanner says that the last one to purchase you was a man named 'Hamato Yoshi,' but if lost or left without owner to be returned to the store 'Manhattan Pet Corner.'" Takashi said triumphantly.
Mikey slumped back against the bars of his cage, a deep pit in the bottom of his stomach. There it was, in indisputable proof…this whack job of a man was apparently the one Master Splinter had bought them from. And while they weren't lost, the four of them had certainly been left without their master…Splinter had been gone for nearly a year now.
"Splinter…. I mean, Yoshi wouldn't want that, though." Mikey responded in a daze, then quickly shook his head to remove the doubts arising in his mind. "He raised us to fight! To be self-sufficient, to be free! Not to listen to someone like you!"
"Animals can't own themselves, though." Takashi said, moving to stand right above Mikey's cage. The youngest turtle cowered away under his gaze, trying to move away but the store owner only bending down over him more.
"It isn't like mutants have been around forever. Your existence is still relatively new, and while you have clearly advanced to the same mental stage as humans, you are still subject to the rules of ownership as former animals." Takashi said, his voice eerily calm and sterile as he stated the facts. "No animals can own property, let alone control themselves without the surveillance of a human owner or caretaker. They are subject to minimum rights regarding adequate food, water, and shelter, but granted these are provided for, and animals are not subjected to overt abuse, their owners can treat them however they see fit."
He then straightened up, a crescent-moon grin sharpening the features of his face. "And since I'm your owner now, this is how I see fit."
Mikey shook his head, not willing to believe this man was in the right. He had even admitted that they were on the same mental level as humans, yet he was keeping them in cages and looking at Mikey with all the respect and care of a predator upon a prey. Remembering how loving and patient Master Splinter always was to them, Mikey couldn't reconcile this man as an authoritative replacement for his father.
"You'll never be our owner!" He spat out, clenching his hands into fists. "Me and my brothers will never listen to you!"
"Maybe not right away." The man's irritating tone of calmness continued, walking a few paces away from Mikey's cage. "But I think you may change your minds after some…. persuasion."
With that last word, Takashi flipped open a metal gauge, revealing a dizzying array of buttons and switches in various sizes and colors. He punched three buttons too quickly for Mikey's eyes to follow, but the orange-banded turtle quickly felt the results that followed. The temperature in the room, which had already been rather chilly, nose-dived even further. Mikey yelped as the bars of his cage became ice cold, instantly wrapping his arms around himself and rubbing his arms rapidly to bring some warmth. It was dangerous for him and his brothers to be in such cold altitudes…part of the reason Leo's coma had lasted so long was because being drenched in a river during winter had launched him into hibernation. And guessing from the malignant glee on Takashi's face, he was very aware of their weakness.
"I'll come visit you four again in a few hours." The man said, straightening the collar of his coat as he headed for the door. "In the meanwhile, try not to freeze too much…it would be such a shame if you entered hibernation before I got back."
Mikey was too cold to think of a good comeback, simply squeezing his eyes tight as he continued to shake his arms. He heard the door close with a click and sighed, trying his best to hold back tears.
This whole situation was terrible. He was locked in a small, painful space…him and his brothers were slowly being frozen into a comatose state, and on top of it all, there was no hope of a possible rescue. He didn't think any of his brothers had told April or Casey about their patrol, and even if they had, the turtles had covered many miles of New York that day. It would take hours for their two human comrades to find the same warehouse they had been in, let alone any hints about where they had been taken.
They were alone, with a controlling former owner, and it seemed like there was no way out.