*Disclaimer: I do not own the characters Donatello, Leonardo, Michaelangelo, Raphael, Splinter, April O'Neil, or Casey Jones. The rest of them are mine; please don't borrow them without permission. Thanks!
Chapter 6
Donatello:
I woke up feeling rested. I stretched my arms above my head and yawned. The plastic tube going into my arm reminded me that I was in unfamiliar surroundings. I quickly looked around the room and realized that aside from my brothers asleep in their beds, I was alone. I couldn't really remember where we were or why, but for some reason I felt at ease. The room seemed familiar although I couldn't remember ever really seeing it before.
I sat up and looked over at Mike. He appeared to be sleeping peacefully. I turned my head and saw that Raph was also lost in sleep. There were monitors on the wall on the other side of his bed and I squinted, trying to read what was on them. I couldn't make it out from where I was sitting. I wanted to go over there, but I knew that my short little IV tube wasn't going to let me get that far.
I felt fine and figured I probably didn't really need the IV. I looked down at my arm to see if I could just pull it out, and immediately saw something that wasn't right. I tilted my head down completely, starting at my own chest. Tentatively, I brought my right hand in and carefully touched one finger to the skin there. I pulled it back immediately; the sensation of it was completely foreign. I studied the skin carefully; it looked just the same as the skin everywhere else on my body, but I felt as though I'd never seen it before. Well, technically, I hadn't. I gently poked at the skin again. My plastron had prohibited almost any feeling to the area that it covered. To feel such a light touch was strange. I touched two fingers to my stomach. The skin felt just the same as on the rest of my body. I was so fascinated by my new form, and yet somewhere in the back of my mind I knew that I was upset about it as well. Right now I didn't really care though; I was only thinking how I wanted a mirror so I could see what my back looked like.
"Is that what I look like now?" Michaelangelo's interruption startled me and I looked over to see him staring at me. I quickly studied him and nodded, "I think so."
"Wow. It's weird." He touched a finger to his chest just as I had done, and I watched as his body twitched at an involuntary chill. "It kind of tickles."
I almost laughed, but thought better of it. I wasn't really happy about this, I reminded myself. Someone had taken something from me that they had no right to take. At the same time, it was hard not to be entertained by the sheer wonder in Mike's eyes.
Raphael:
It was quite a picture watching those two sitting there inspecting themselves like alien specimens. I was pretty curious to see what my own body looked like, but I didn't want to let them know that I was awake and I kind of wanted to be alone when I did look. They still looked the same, sort of, but smaller. They definitely looked smaller. We'd been pretty upset about the loss before, but you really wouldn't know it now, watching them. Even I felt sort of ambivalent about it. I carefully placed a hand over my stomach. Mikey was right; it did feel weird. I mean, it wasn't like I never felt anything through my plastron before, especially a well-planted punch or kick. This was different. I smiled in spite of myself; it did almost tickle.
Athena:
I wanted to go run and get Panaceia, but I wasn't sure that I should leave them alone any longer. They looked pretty occupied, but still, she had sent me to check on them. We'd both been so wrapped up in getting Leonardo all set that we'd left them alone for a while. It was obvious my earlier efforts were successful. They weren't exactly jumping up and down over their new, lighter forms, but they didn't look too upset about it either. Even Raphael, who was doing a great job of pretending to sleep down on the end, seemed more curious than anything. Panaceia would love this.
I quietly entered the room; I didn't want to startle anybody.
"Hi there."
Michaelangelo and Donatello snapped their heads to look at me, and Raphael lifted his off the pillow.
"I'm Athena; Panaceia's sister."
Michaelangelo narrowed his eyes a little and looked me up and down. "You're taking care of Leo."
"Um, usually, yes, while Panaceia's in here with you. Right now she's taking care of your brother so she sent me in here to check on you."
"How is he?"
"He's doing much better. We're hoping to bring him in here with the three of you in the next day or so."
Raphael:
I hate it when other people have the upper hand. I didn't know this chick from a hole in the wall, but she obviously knew enough about us. Still, she was at least partially responsible for the fact that we weren't dead, so I was willing to give her a shot—a small one.
"Where exactly are we?" She apparently hadn't been expecting me to speak, and I ignored my brothers' surprise that I was awake. She stared at me for a few seconds before speaking.
"Well, you're in the medical center of my home. This whole area is in the basement of the building."
She and I both knew that answer wasn't what I was looking for. I gave her another shot.
"Where is this building?"
She sighed and looked at me seriously. "Look, this is all rather complicated, but I'll try to give you the simple version. I have four sisters. We live here alone…here being a small island base in the Pacific Ocean. We are human, but we're different from any other human beings you've ever met. You'll figure that out later. We work for someone called Rhea, she's sort of like our surrogate mother. Mostly we try to keep this planet a little safer and better for its inhabitants; essentially we're trying to protect them from themselves. Anyway, we found the four of you during a mission and brought you back here. Our technology is not exactly standard, so we knew we could do a much better job of healing you than anyone else. And I guess that's pretty much about it."
Yep, that was the answer I was looking for, but definitely not the one I was expecting.