Raph's pov
The torturers came back. "We have a new way to torture you, turtles!" said one of them. Raph didn't bother to look. He hated those guys so much. They hurt his little brother! He still wasn't over that. Those guys were despicable poop heads. "We're gonna take you to a room with-"
"-Cool machines that'll shock you when you get questions wrong!" There was a sound of someone being smacked.
"Shut up, Phobo! Don't interrupt!" Raph still didn't look up. "ANYway, let's go, turtles."
Leo's pov
Those dumb torture guys unchained them and held them tightly. So tightly, he couldn't move. The torturers walked down a hallway with them in tow, bickering as they went. Leo wasn't listening. He was too busy being nervous. What kind of torture would they be put through next?! These guys had a sick imagination. There was no telling what they would do.
"We're here."
Leo looked around. The room was large and had a couple machines that were big and white, with a screen, keyboard, and a chair each. The chairs had several straps.
They were taken over and each strapped to a different machine. And then they turned on.
Donnie's pov
The straps on his chair were tight and uncomfortable. There was one over his mouth so he couldn't speak. That was to be expected, as this was torture. It was still annoying though.
The screen made a buzzing noise as it turned on. A question popped onto the screen. 'What is 2398 x 765? You have 30 seconds.' A countdown appeared next to the question.
Okay, he thought. This won't be too hard…
2398
X 765
1834470
Pretty easy to solve. He typed the answer into the keyboard with 25 seconds left. He figured another question would pop up, but that didn't happen. The countdown continued even though it said he got the question right. The countdown got to zero, and then-
Donnie got the question correct.
"AAAAAAAAAH!" he screamed. He was suddenly being electrocuted. It was agony; he felt like he was on fire. His body convulsed and tingled painfully all over.
His vision was blurred as he looked at the screen.
Mikey is now answering a question.
Mikey's pov
The screen on Mikey's machine thingamabob said: Donnie is answering a question.
30 seconds later: Donnie got the question correct.
Donnie screamed in the background. Mikey didn't know why. A new problem was on the screen. 9875 x 587? Mikey's sluggish brain couldn't find an answer in time. He keyboard smashed numbers. Maybe he'd get lucky?
(He didn't get lucky.)
Mikey got the question wrong.
His brothers yelled in the background. What was going on?
Raph's pov
What is 12 x 6? You have 30 seconds.
Raph stared at the screen. This question seemed like one his brothers would say was easy, but Raph wasn't good at math. 12 x 6…? 2? No, that was division… or was it?
Raph failed to answer.
He braced himself for the shock. Before when Mikey got it wrong he had been shocked. But the shock didn't come. Instead, he heard his brothers screaming. He tried to look towards them. Why was he not being shocked? He got it wrong! They didn't do anything!
Oh… oh no…
Were they being shocked because HE got it wrong? HE did this?
No… he hurt his brothers!
Leo's pov
The shock stops. A new question pops onto the screen. His vision swimming, he could barely make out the question. But… there weren't any numbers! He looked closer.
What year was the constitution written? You have 10 seconds.
Ten seconds? Umm…. When was it… 1776? That's it! He typed the answer into the keyboard just in time.
Leo got the question wrong.
Wrong? Oh no… 1776 was the Declaration of Independence! The Constitution was 1787!
He heard Mikey, Raph and Donnie screaming. Why wasn't he being shocked? He was the dumb one who got it wrong! They must be being shocked because he got it wrong… So it's his fault they are hurting!
Why did he always mess up? He was useless.
No. Now's not the time to doubt himself. He has to get the questions right!
Donnie's pov
Donnie watched as a new question popped onto the screen. The math questions were over and they were onto history. Donnie wasn't amazing at history like he was at science. But he had memorized everything that Splinter had taught him when he was seven. He knew a brief history of the United States, all the dates and places and whatnot.
When was Norway liberated? You have 10 seconds.
What the- ? Norway? Oh jeez… um… probably somewhere along the lines of when the US was freed… 1776, or something…
Time was running out… he needed a date! 1780!
Donnie got the question wrong.
Well, of course he did. He didn't expect his wild guess to be correct! But why wasn't he being shocked? And his brothers were screaming, were they being shocked? Thinking back, he realized he was shocked only when his brothers got it wrong. But he never heard said brother's screams when they got it wrong. And he had been shocked when he got it right… Maybe he was shocked when he got it right, and his brothers when he got it wrong. That made sense, and it was a good move strategically by the torturers.
He was shocked as Mikey got his question wrong. Soon another one for him would be popping up. Might as well get it right, for his brothers' sake.
Mikey's pov
He got his question wrong. His brothers yelled again. By now he had realized it meant they were being shocked. But why wasn't he shocked when he got it wrong, and why was he shocked when he got it right? Oh… he got it. Good move, Gorgophone.
Mikey hated that his stupidness hurt his brothers, not him. Obviously he would have to get the questions right so his brothers wouldn't get hurt. The shock hurt a lot, and he hated that his brothers had to feel it.
Soon his next question popped onto the screen.
What is 6÷8(1+2)? You have 30 seconds.
Mikey considered the question. He knew that the parentheses meant he had to do that first, and since it was directly next to the 8 it meant to multiply what he got from inside the parentheses by 6÷8. Inside the parentheses was 1+2, which is 3. So 6÷8=... 0.75. Right? Yeah, probably. And now the problem is 0.75 x 3. Mikey couldn't do it if he thought about it like decimals, but he could if he thought about it like quarters. $0.75 was 3 quarters, and he had three sets of that. 3x3 is nine, so he has nine quarters. 9 quarters is $2.25. So, that was his answer. 2.25. He typed it into the keyboard just before he ran out of time.
Mikey got the question correct.
There was no time to celebrate as Mikey was shocked. But at least he had kept his brothers from feeling the pain.
And he got the question right! He would have to tell Donnie about his rad math skillz when they were rescued.
Because they would be rescued. He knew it.
Raph's pov
Raph knew that if he got the question wrong, his brothers would be shocked. And if he got the question right, he would be shocked. He needed to protect his little brothers and get the questions right.
But, he had gotten almost every question so far incorrect. Raph had never been super great at school stuff; that was Donnie's thing. His other brothers (Mikey and Leo) weren't as good as Donnie at academic stuff, but they had still gotten the majority of their questions right. Raph knew he wasn't great with numbers and facts, but come on.
He was hurting his brothers.
Every time he got a question wrong, he hurt them. And he hated that, because he was supposed to be their older brother. He was supposed to keep them safe. He was the Red Angel of Preventing Harm, not the Red Angel of Causing Harm. Not only did that not make an acronym of his name, but it was completely against his ideals. Heroes help, not hurt. But yet here he was, hurting his brothers with every stupid answer he typed into that keyboard.
He was so stupid.
A new question was on the screen.
What is 9-3÷1/3+1? You have 30 seconds.
Wtf? (Normally Raph didn't use even dirty abbreviations but he thought this warranted it.) Okay… What was it Splinter taught him when he was 11? Order of operations? PEMDAS? Yeah… and what did that stand for? Parentheses, exponents, multiplication, division, addition, subtraction. So… the problem?
Raph failed to answer.
Frick!
Leo's pov
Why did he keep getting things wrong? Why was he so stupid?
Every time a question popped onto the screen, Leo's dumb ass would get it wrong.
(Ignoring the times he got it right was his specialty.)
But he knew that he was hurting his brothers with every wrong answer. Every incorrect answer was a failure.
(He was a failure.)
He failed his brothers over and over as he kept missing questions and they kept getting shocked. He hated himself for it. And he was sure they hated him too. After all, he was the reason they were being shocked. He was the idiot who was hurting them. Leo was useless. He was a failure. He always messed up. His brothers were getting hurt and it was his fault.
Failure. Failure. Failure. Failure. Failure. Failure. Failure.
Why was he like this?
A failure.
Donnie's pov
Questions kept popping up. He kept being shocked. Over and over. His brothers got questions wrong, and he was shocked. He got a question right, and he was shocked.
(He deserved it.)
He got every question he could right. He couldn't be useless. He had to do it perfectly. His brothers didn't deserve to be shocked. He couldn't be any less than perfect, or else he would be tossed aside.
(Why was he thinking this way? He knew it was wrong.)
He had to be the smart one. That was his role on the team. He had to be the smart one, or else he would be replaced. The way he saw it, Leo was the strategy guy, Mikey was the heart, Raph was the muscle, and he was the brains. Nothing else. No other places on the team. And the way he saw it, he was expendable. The least needed member of the team. He needed to be perfect, otherwise he would be gotten rid of. If he fell short he would lose his role. He would be cast aside and replaced.
He's the tech guy. That's it. That's his role, that's all he is.
He got another question right. He got another shock. At least that was one more second that his brothers wouldn't have to be in pain.
(It didn't matter if he was in pain. He was expendable.)
Mikey's pov
Things had fallen into a pattern of sorts. Mikey got the question wrong. Everyone else was shocked. Raph got the question wrong. Everyone else was shocked. Leo got the question wrong. Everyone else was shocked. Donnie got the question right. Dee was shocked.
(Poor Dee.)
Mikey felt bad that he was hurting his brothers. He got some of his questions right. So did Leo and occasionally Raph. But for the most part the three of them got things wrong. He didn't blame Raph and Leo for his being shocked at all. He knew that the questions were hard and he knew they were trying their best. Knowing Raph and Leo, they were both probably doing their absolute best and putting every ounce of being into getting the questions right. They were probably trying to protect them or something. Donnie was probably trying to validate himself or something. Donnie was harder to read than Raph or Leo because if he wanted to hide something he had an amazing poker face.
Mikey missed another question (8754 x 807) and his brothers were shocked again. How many times has it been now? It felt like they had been at it for days, but he knew it was probably just a few hours. Was it nighttime yet?
"Turtles! It is nighttime now!" Speak of the devil! Ozul was the one speaking, at the front of the room. The other torturers were still in another room. "Tomorrow will be another fun day of torture. But for now, I will be taking off some of your straps and you will eat. After that you will be tranqued and taken to other rooms. Understood?"
There was silence.
"Oh yeah, I forgot you guys can't talk with those straps on. Anyway," he said, handing them plates, "Here's your food." He undid the strap covering their mouths and left the room.
A/N: I'm so, so sorry I got this out so late! I was busy but I worked really hard on this chapter and I hope you enjoyed it. This was seven pages on google docs, but it looks a lot shorter on here.
My mom was reading my story (she's only on chapter 4 lol) and she said that this is too scary and I need them to be rescued soon. I laughed and said OF COURSE they'll be rescued... eventually. Only one more round of torture to go!
Also, what do you think of the changing perspective approach I went with? Should I do it again? Please tell me what you think. Feedback is appreciated, more than you know. (Unless you do know because you write stories too.)
This story has more that 500 views! You have no idea how much that means to me. Thank you so much to everyone who clicked on this story and took the time to read it. I appreciate every single one of you!