Donnie was in the gray cell again. He was alone.

He curled up in a ball and tried not to cry.

He failed.

Donnie sat in a corner of the room. He was so hungry, and so tired. He wondered what was going to happen next. What torture would he be subjected to today?

He probably had a concussion from being hit in the head. He didn't care, though. He deserved it.

Why couldn't he fix it?

He just got pummeled over and over. Why couldn't he fix it? He failed his brothers. He was useless.

Why couldn't he do anything right?

Donnie got up. He paced around the room, switching directions every ten circles, as was required. He needed to make some sort of plan to get out. He could be useless later. He wasn't dead yet; he could still do something. He's still alive, so he hasn't failed completely.

Pshh. And that weird red dude said he'd break easily.

He was just getting started.

Donnie could probably find a way out of here. He was smart, really smart, on a genius level. He could solve any problem. That's what he said, and that's what his brothers -okay, just Mikey- believed.

Donnie didn't really believe it, but he could pretend.

He stopped pacing when he reached a good number of circles; this time it was 57. He walked over and started inspecting the bars. There was probably a weak spot or something, a loose hinge, anything. He needed a way out.

"I can fix this. I can totally fix this!"

"Just keep repeating that mantra, kid."

Donnie jumped. While he had been focused on the bars, Frithjof had entered without him realizing. "You talk to yourself often, don't you," Frithjof said.

"N-no…," Donnie lied. The real answer was yes, he talked to himself all the time when he was alone. But he wasn't about to tell Frithjof and give him another reason to mock him. "Why do you keep bringing that up?"

Frithjof didn't answer. Instead he took another jab at him. "How's your brain feeling after I punched it?"

"Fine, thank you. How's yours?" Donnie smirked. "I bet it must feel good as new, seeing as you've never used it."

The Leo inside him was yelling, 'Ooooo, you burned him GOOD!'

Frithjof growled. "Shut up." He put his hands on his stomach dramatically. "I bet you're soooo hungry now, since you missed mealtime. But you won't be fed until tonight. Only one meal per day, and at only one time."

Donnie's stomach growled. He was reminded of how hungry he was. He hadn't eaten dinner before patrol; he had been too busy doing science. The last time he had eaten was… breakfast of that day? Did he eat lunch at all? He didn't know, but the point is, Donnie was starving. Not literally, figuratively. He was hungry. He was very hungry.

(Jeez, he was awkward even in thought.)

Frithjof opened the cage and grabbed his arm. "C'mon, new torture today."

He was dragged down a hallway and taken to a big room. In it were his brothers and their torturers. His brothers were chained to separate walls, and Donnie was chained to the fourth one.

The torturers stood in the middle, discussing something Donnie couldn't hear.

"Donnie!" yelled Mikey. "Where have you been? The rest of us have been in the same room… or, well, we could see each other."

"Are you okay, Dee?" said Raph. "You got hit on the head back there."

"Dude," said Leo, "Did they torture you badly? What'd they do to you?"

Donnie smiled against his will. "I'm fine." Mostly. "They didn't really torture me, just Frithjof, my torturer, took me too that glass tube and beat me up." Donnie looked them over. Raph was covered in small burns, and Mikey in bruises. Leo looked fine. He briefly saw what was happening to them: Leo was being drowned repeatedly, Mikey was running on a circular obstacle course and being whipped, and Raph was chained and tased. Their torture was worse that his. He wished he had broken that glass.

"You guys all right?" Donnie asked. They looked pretty fine, but just in case…

"We're fine for the most part, Donnie," said Mikey, smiling. Donnie exhaled.

"What're the names of your torturers?" asked Raph. "Mine is Ozul, the skinny one in long sleeves and pants."

"Mine is the lady, her name's Gorgophone," said Mikey.

"Weird name. Mine's the one in the jean jacket; his name is Phobus, but I call him Phobo to mess with him." Leo laughed. "He got all flustered and upset. It was hilarious."

"I'm stuck with Frithjof, the big ugly one," Donnie said.

"The one who took you to the tube? I wish you had broken that glass. Then we would've been out of here. Or at least had a chance." Leo stopped. "Oh, sorry. No offence. I probably couldn't have done it either…"

Donnie's insides churned. This was his fault. He could've broken the glass. He wasn't strong enough. He wasn't enough. He never was. He failed. Donnie doesn't do failure. This was his fault, his fault, his fault…

"It's fine," he said. Lying to Leo's face.

Ozul's pov

Ozul was waiting for the other torturers. He and Raphael came first. One by one the others came into the room, and they gathered in the middle to discuss the plan.

"Master says we torture the small one, Orange, and make the others watch," he said. They needed to follow the rules.

"Yes," said Frithjof. "We hit him and tase him and make him hurt in any way possible without causing serious damage." Frithjof was right, of course. Ozul didn't like Frithjof much. He was big and bulky and stupid. He didn't like Gorgophone either. She was always so cold and rude. So mean. She really was annoying. She was mean to Ozul in their torture training class. Phobus was annoying sometimes, but since they were both interns, they got along well. They weren't exactly friends, but Ozul liked and respected the guy.

"This will be fun," said Gorgophone. "I call taunting and whipping him!"

"Hey, I want to taunt him too!" said Frithjof. All of them had their signature torture techniques, things they specialized in. Gorgophone loved to make a victim do a task and hurt, preferably whip them when they messed up. Frithjof liked beating people up while taunting them. Phobus specialized in old torture techniques; long and drawn-out. Super painful. Ozul would know. Phobus had tested his form on him once.

Ozul himself specialized in psychological torture. By conversing for a bit, he could figure out how the victim thinks and exploit their weaknesses. He was also quite a good actor and could make up sad stories on the spot.

With Raphael he had acted like himself. He got overprotective brother vibes from him, so he told him about his own brother. He really did have a twin named Kiran, and he really did die in a fire. And they really were 16… and those were real tears.

It wasn't often that he told a real story, let alone really cried.

Ozul liked Raphael, and detested torturing him. He would rather torture someone he didn't like, such as Purple. But Frithjof got Purple. The assignments were random, but it sucked that he had to torture someone whom he would rather have as a friend.

But he wouldn't question it. If he did, the Master would not be happy.

"Let's just do the torture already," said Phobus.

"Yeah, okay Phobo," taunted Gorgophone.

"IT'S PHOBUS!" yelled Phobus.

The turtles all looked toward Phobus, who blushed.

"Good going, Phobo," said Frithjof, bumping into him as he walked past.

Ozul studied Phobus. He looked flustered and angry, like he always did after being teased. His face was all red and his fists were clenched tightly at his sides. Ozul walked over to him. "Hey. Don't listen to those guys. They just want a reaction."

"I know…" said Phobus.

"For the record, I like your name. It's cool."

Phobus smiled. "Thanks." They walked over and joined the others.

Donnie's pov

"Leo! That was tactless!" scolded Mikey.

"Sorry…" Leo said again.

"It's fine I said!" Donnie said sharply. He was not in the mood. He didn't want to talk about how he failed.

"What do you think they're gonna to ta us now?" wondered Raph.

"I dunno," Mikey said. "Hopefully not too bad."

Leo sighed. "I hope April and Pops find us soon." Everyone nodded.

"Yeah." Donnie looked at the ground.

There was a short silence. But then-

"IT'S PHOBUS!" yelled the guy in the black jean jacket, who Leo had said was Phobus. Everyone turned to look at him, and he blushed. Frithjof and the Gorgophone walked over to Mikey while the other two guys stayed behind for a few seconds.

"Well, turtle," said Gorgophone, "We're going to torture you now." She whipped him. Donnie felt anger wash over him. His little brother!

"Hey!" he yelled. "Don't hurt him!" Hurt me, I deserve it.

Leo, Raph and himself were straining as hard as possible against the chains to get to Mikey. They four torturers were hitting and taunting and whipping and tasing and HURTING HIS LITTLE BROTHER! Blind rage took hold of him and he was screaming and pulling as hard as he could-

And then they stopped. Mikey was crying. Donnie wanted to kill the torturers.

"This torture is lame," said Frithjof. "Super uncreative. Let's think of something else." Gorgophone nodded.

Ozul shook his head furiously. "No- Master said-"

"Shut up Ozul, we won't change the order, just how we do it," said Gorgophone.

Phobus shrugged. "I dunno. Let's discuss this somewhere else."

"Good idea, Phobo," said Frithjof, walking out with Gorgophone.

"PHOBUS!"

Ozul patted Phobus's back. "C'mon, let's go."

"I hate those guys," said Phobus. He sounded like he was trying not to cry. Ozul hugged him and walked with him out the door.

"ARRG!" yelled Leo. "I HATE those guys!"

Mikey sniffled. "Why are they like this?"

Donnie clenched his teeth. "Because they're horrible people. Mike, are you okay?"

"I'm fine…" Mikey wiped his eyes. "They didn't do any serious damage."

Donnie was still fuming. They hurt his little brother! They made him cry! This was not okay.

Donnie sighed. "This sucks."

A/N: this took a while. I've started school now, so updates will be further apart. But don't worry, I'm still very much working on this story. Updates will be about once a week, but it might be longer depending on how tired I am after school.

Also, this chapter is long! I actually really like it. The last Donnie chapter wasn't very good. I also enjoyed writing about Ozul and Phobus. I like them.

Who is the mysterious master? What the frick is this place if they have interns? How does this work? Why are all the names weird? Find out by continuing to read this fic!

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