Donnie groaned as he came to, his head and his shoulder screaming at him painfully.
Since when was his bed so hard? And why was his head pounding so viciously?
"Rise n' shine genius." Raph grunted from somewhere around him.
Maybe Raph had pushed him off his bed to wake him up and that was why he was on the ground.
Very possible, now that he thought about it. Definitely something Raph would do.
"What time is it?" Donnie grumbled.
"Dunno, but we definitely slept for a while." Raph answered him.
"What do you..." Donnie began to ask only for the memories of the fight to hit him like a truck, taking his breath away instantly.
He jumped up, his breaths short and erratic as he stared around him.
The bars were the first thing he saw, reaching from the ceiling to the floor, looming over them all like a death sentence. He and Mikey were together in one cage while Leo and Raph were separated by bars right beside them.
"No." Donnie choked out, the plea catching in his throat. "No! No!"
With panic overriding every sensible thought, he jumped up and threw himself at the bars to test their hold. The moment he touched them, he felt his body seize and he fell to his knees as an all too familiar pain faced through his body.
"Donnie! Donnie stop!" Leo yelled at him, but Donnie couldn't find it in himself to listen.
"Don! Stop it would ya? You're hurtin' yourself." Raph tried to reach through the bars, only to be zapped himself and thrown back.
Donnie sat back, trying to make himself breathe normally to no success. His hands were shaking and he couldn't find a way to make his legs support him.
"Donnie, no more throwing yourself at the bars. Okay?" Leo pleaded, getting as close to them as he could without actually touching them.
Donnie managed a nod. It was clear- obvious from the beginning, really- that the bars would not give. And electrocuting himself trying wasn't going to help anybody. But the thought of being in another cage...
"Guys?" A voice beside him asked. "What truck hit us?"
With his sanity returned to him, Donnie helped Mikey to sit up and checked him over to make sure there were no injuries that needed immediate attention. It was what he should have done the moment he realized where they were.
"You okay Mikey?" Leo asked, wary of getting too close to the bars.
"I'm good bros." Mikey turned to Donnie. "Why are your hands shaking like that?"
"Don't touch the bars." Donnie advised as way of explanation.
"Don decided he was gonna play with electricity, that's what happened." Raph answered for him gruffly.
Mikey eyed him for a few moments before shaking his head.
"Leave the crazy stuff to Raph, D." Mikey you him with a smile and Donnie felt himself relax.
"Oh yeah? Well, we'll just leave all the stupid stuff to you Mikey." Raph shot back.
But Mikey just grinned back at him.
"Okay, now that we're all awake-" Leo glanced at Donnie and he could almost hear the, "and sane again" in his eyes. "- what does everyone have on them?"
The four brothers checked themselves over for any weapons they might have, and any injuries that needed to be taken care of.
Donnie's staff, satchel, and all of his tech had been removed which didn't surprise the turtle at all. He hadn't really expected to find anything. Actually, he was surprised to find that all of their masks and wraps had been left alone. Surprised, but grateful.
"Nothing here, Leo." Donnie said.
"Dirtbags took my Sais!" Raph growled, which his brothers took to mean that he had nothing either.
"I don't have anything." Leo said, though Donnie had already guessed as much.
"They even took the Shell Cells bros!" Mikey groaned.
"Is that what these are?"
All four turtles were immediately on their feet, facing the man responsible for their misfortune.
"You!" Raph snarled and went to run at Baron when Leo pulled him back inches away from the bars.
Baron smirked and held up a Shell Cell, turning it over in his hand and looking at it curiously.
"What do they do?" Baron asked, eyes narrowing at the brothers.
For a moment, Donnie's heart dropped as he thought about the tracking mechanisms in each of the Shell Cells, and how it could possibly lead Baron to Sensei if he so wished, but tried to calm himself with the knowledge that Baron couldn't use them. He had specifically designed the Shell Cell's screens with this very situation in mind.
"Where's Casey?" Raph growled.
Donnie perked up a that, shame creeping in at his lack of notice prior to his brother's demand. How hadn't he picked up on the very obvious fact that their friend was gone? He supposed that he had been more preoccupied with his brothers' safety, but he still should have noticed. That's what you get for panicking, he thought to himself.
"The human that was with you?" Baron questioned, smirking in that way that Donnie knew all too well. It was the smirk he used when he knew something the other person didn't and wanted to gloat about it. "I don't believe that's what you should be concerned about."
Donnie's heart dropped into his stomach at the words. Had Baron just meant to scare them, or was he actually trying to tell them- no, until they knew otherwise, Casey Jones was alive. He had to believe that.
"You're lying." Leo spat.
But was he? The more Donnie thought it over, the more sense it made. What reason would Baron have to leave Casey alive? Baron wouldn't have considered him a threat by a long shot, but the man also didn't like to leave any loose ends.
"Am I?" Baron questioned. "Why don't you ask Donatello if I'm lying. I believe he's worked it out."
Donnie held himself stiffly, trying not to react to Baron's words while his brothers glanced at him.
"We don't know anything." Donnie told them, glaring at Baron. "And he has no proof, or he would be shoving it in our faces right now."
"You'll probably be able to smell his corpse if you go outside, stinking up New York." Baron grinned at them, and that was when Raph inevitably lost it.
He threw himself at the bars, much like Donnie had done when he first woke up, yelling profanities in both English and Japanese as Leo tore him off. Both Raph and Leo were shaking with the amount of electricity racing through them but both still had the will to glare at Baron.
"Believe me now, turtles?" Baron taunted.
"Go to hell, Baron." Donnie spat.
Baron observed him for a moment with narrowed, hateful eyes before his lips lifted into a smile.
"I think you'll find that you're already there, Donatello."
The words almost sent shivers down his spine, but Donnie was careful to school his expression to appear bored, relaxed, as Baron looked back at him but Donnie was determined not to let Baron read anything from him.
When Baron realized that he wasn't going to get anything from Donnie's expression, he gave another insufferable smirk and locked the metal door behind him.
Donnie breathed out a small sigh of relief, somehow feeling safer even in the cage.
This time, Donnie couldn't suppress his shiver. He really hated cages and he hadn't quite realized that fact until he was stuck in another one.
"You don't really think Casey's dead, do you, D?" Mikey asked beside him, big eyes pleading with him.
Donnie struggled for an acceptable answer and saw Leo and Raph looking at him too. What could he say? On one hand, Donnie truly believed that Casey was dead. There was no reason to keeping him alive. On the other, Donnie didn't want them falling into grief.
"I- I don't know." Donnie mumbled.
Mikey sat down beside him, leg bouncing on the cement floor.
Donnie wanted to tell him that everything would be okay, that they were getting out of this, but the last thing Donnie wanted to do was give his little brother false hope. He remembered being in cages. It never ended well.
Donnie's eyes flew open at the sounds of locks clicking and a door opening and tightened his hold on Mikey.
Mikey had been the first to fall asleep, after extensive complaining about the lack of food, and the others had followed suite with little else to do.
He saw Leo tense up in his cage, positioning himself in front of a still sleeping Raph, hands balled and expression angry but contained.
No fear, he told himself firmly. Don't give him the satisfaction
Baron was still wearing that horrible smirk when he came into the room.
A memory, far too precise for his liking, bombarded Donnie's mind at the too familiar sight and he squeezed his eyes closed and struggled to keep his composure.
Baron coming to take him to Roland for punishments in those early days and throwing him back into his cage afterwards.
Where that had come from, he didn't know.
He must have squeezed Mikey's arm too tightly because the younger turtle groaned and opened his bleary eyes, jumping slightly when he realized who else was in the room.
Raph must have woken up too because it didn't take long for him to jump up, glaring venomously at the man before him.
"Miss me already, Raphael?" Baron taunted. "I was going to bring back your friend's body but I couldn't stand the smell. Have you ever smelled a rotting corpse, Raphael?"
Raph snarled his contempt and Leo had to physically restrain him from running at the bars again and Baron wasn't even done.
"How long do you think it'll take for him to be found? Think he'll start to rot?"
Donnie swallowed the lump in his throat and fought back a smile. There was no way that Baron would miss that kind of opportunity to give them proof of Casey's death, no matter the circumstance. It meant he didn't have any proof, but not necessarily that he wasn't dead, if he was being honest. April and Sensei might have found him-
The thought of that particular situation made Donnie want to scream at the unfairness. He hadn't known April for nearly as long as his brothers, but he never wanted her to have to experience that.
"I'll kill you, do you hear me? I'll rip you apart!" Raph snarled.
"I'd watch your tongue, Raphael. Roland is getting bored, and I'm sure that he would enjoy any assignment right about now." Baron warned.
At the mention of the doctor's name, every muscle in Donnie's body abruptly froze and his mouth opened in horror, his carefully molded composure shattering at the mere name.
"Take him to Roland, start on the conditioning.."
"Get the damn freak on the table!."
"Initiate procedure 01, Doctor."
The cold of the cells had absolutely nothing to do with the bone-racking shakes that slithered down Donnie's spine at that moment.
Stop, he thought desperately. There were few instances where he could find any disadvantages to his near perfect memory, but this was certainly one of them.
God, he could practically feel the table beneath him.
"D?" Mikey whispered. "What is it? What's wrong?"
One more thing that he couldn't explain. How was he supposed to put that into words? The voices spoken so clearly in his head that he swore they were right there, the feeling of being there and that fear that made everything in him scream with panic. How does one put that into words?
"M'fine, Mikey." Donnie grounded out.
Mikey didn't respond, instead simply gripping Donnie's hand in his and squeezing tightly.
"-Roland was Shred-head's lackey?"
Donnie struggled with his composure again sad he caught the end of Raph grunted question.
"Dr. Roland saw an opportunity and I extended a position to him. There are few geneticists who are willing to do whatever it takes for the advance of science." Roland replied.
For the advance of science.
For the advance of science?
He had been used as a guinea pig on how many occasions for science?
Of all the experiments that Donnie had ran over the years, not once was he ever inclined to harm another life in that way. WAS that science? If it was, then he wanted no part in it.
Roland was here! Too close to Donnie's brothers for him to be anywhere near comfortable with it. Roland could take them and do whatever he wanted with them and Donnie would be truly powerless to stop it.
"Roland will be helping with a few... projects that I have in mind." Baron hinted, smiling coyly.
"They would make great soldiers after all."
One thing popped into Donnie's mind at the thought, freezing him in place even as his heart pounded in his ears.
"Take it to the Fishbowl for conditioning."
"The Fishbowl." Donnie breathed.
Baron's lips turned up.
"Among other things." He confirmed. "Speaking of which."
Donnie couldn't think through the fear clawing at his throat to realize that Baron had drawn closer to his and Mikey's cage.
"Don't even think about it, or I swear, I'm gonna take that Kusarigama and shove it so far down your throat-" Raph yelled, but Donnie couldn't listen, he couldn't concentrate.
He was vaguely aware that Leo was yelling something too, but he was more concerned with Baron, who had pressed something on his wrist and opened their cage.
Donnie and Mikey immediately stood, prepared to defend themselves even if they were weaponless. If he could just get ahold of that gauntlet...
"If you think I'm going anywhere with you, you're stupider than you look." Donnie spat at him.
"Stupider than I look, is that right?" Baron smiled before pressing something on his wrist that Donnie still couldn't see.
Donnie heard two very distinct screams and turned to see Leo and Raph fall to the ground, faces contorted in pain.
It only took Donnie a moment to understand that the bars of their cages must not be the only things that Baron could electrify.
"Leo!"
"Raph!"
"Raphie!"
"Leo!"
Donnie's heart was pounding and his mind was whirling. He couldn't help but conjure up the times that his brothers had been brought to Roland's lab. He could remember perfectly every poor soul that was brought to Roland and made to lay on that table, and the times that he had to stand witness to it, and how powerless he was to stop it.
But this time he could.
"Stop! Stop it!" Donnie screamed. "You win! Alright? You win!"
Baron was wearing that stupid smirk as he brought his hand away from his wrist.
Leo and Raph fell to the ground in a heap of low groans and shaking limbs and all Donnie wanted to do in that moment was run to them and make sure they were okay but he knew that wasn't an option.
Donnie turned to Mikey, who was as close to the bars as he could get without shocking himself.
"Watch over them, okay Mikey?" Donnie told him and started walking toward Baron before he could respond.
"What?" Mikey seemed to realize a moment too late what he was doing and couldn't stop him before he was already
Donnie made sure to keep his hands up and visible empty at all times as he walked toward Baron, not wanting to give him any reason at all to hurt his brothers any more than he already had.
"D? What're you doing?" Mikey demanded with rare seriousness.
"Look after Leo and Raph." Donnie responded.
As soon as Donnie was away from the door, it slammed shut and Baron gave him a pointed look that said, "start walking" and Donnie hesitated only slightly before he did. He tried not to make it obvious as his eyes flickered around the rooms they passed, his mind automatically trying to find an exit and memorizing the hallways they went down.
The entire time, Baron said nothing. Absolutely nothing, only yanking on Donnie's arm to pull him in the direction that he wanted.
Baron opened a door and shoved Donnie inside, stepping inside after and closing the door with a droll smirk.
Fear threatened to sneak it's way up Donnie's throat but he fought it off. He wouldn't be afraid right now. He couldn't be, not when his brothers' safety depended on him having a clear head and thinking reasonably.
"What do you want?" Donnie demanded, not waiting for Baron to begin his tirade.
"So eager, huh?" Baron mocked then his mouth tipped into a grin. "Look how hard you fought to stay away from me, and here you are. And you dragged your freakshow with you."
The reminder was like a slap in the face but Donnie made sure there was no evidence of it in his face. The last thing he was going to do was show that Baron had any effect on him. He refused to give him the satisfaction.
"Nothing to say?" Baron taunted.
"Oh, are you done now?" Donnie asked, his tone bored. "I was waiting for you to get all that out of your system."
Donnie decided that he didn't care what Baron did to him- the swift change from smug to fury was so satisfying that Donnie would've accepted anything happily.
"I see the attitude is still intact." Baron growled.
"It's a family trait." Donnie responded easily, trying to ignore the way his heart sped up at the word 'family'.
"I've helped to squash undesirable traits before." Baron said, the smirk back in full force.
"Glad that you can be proud of that." Donnie hissed before trying to regain his composure. Don't let him get to you, he reminded himself.
"The technique combined with the technology Dr. Roland used was truly a marvel. You especially should have an appreciation for what he did."
I should be what? He thought as he turned toward Baron furiously.
"You think I should appreciate it?" Donnie repeated venomously. "You call what he did- what you helped him do- a marvel?! He made me forget my family! Forget me!"
Baron observed him with an expressionless face for a moment before sighing and shaking his head.
"Just for this reason is why Saki wanted Roland to work on you." Baron said in such a calm tone that it completely threw Donnie for a loop. "So you wouldn't be so... emotional."
The disgust was obvious in his tone and that just added to Donnie's fury.
"Emotions make us human." Donnie spat. "Not that you would know anything about that, though, would you Baron?"
"And neither would you, Donatello." Baron reminded him. "You're a freak of nature that was never supposed to exist- far from human by any means."
The words hit harder than Donnie wanted to admit. A freak. For as long as he could remember, that was how the Foot ninja treated him- as a freak. And he had accepted it because it was true.
Baron smiled at his silence. "What do you want, Baron?" Donnie repeated, his fury audiable in every word.
"At the warehouse, you refused to tell me what Saki wanted with that mutagen." Baron said. "What did he want with it?"
"To create more mutants. Stronger, faster, better ninjas for the Foot. Stockman and I were supposed to refine it and make sure the ninjas who got it only got the best parts of the mutation, but we never got that far." Donnie told him.
He had very little quarrel with giving that information to Baron. On one hand, Donnie was almost entirely certain that Baron had probably figured this out by now and simply wanted confirmation, and on the other, he wasn't willing to risk his brothers' lives just for some harmless information.
"How far did you get on it?" Baron asked. "Stockman was beginning human trials, but I wasn't involved in that part." Donnie told them, feeling dread seep into his stomach at this line of questioning. "Why are you asking me this?"
Baron gave him an amused look.
"You're supposed to be smart, Donatello. Are you telling me that you can't guess?" Baron asked.
Donnie could, in fact, guess what this was about but that didn't mean he had to like it.
"You want me to..." Donnie lost his voice, swallowing hard.
"This clan will make the Foot look like toy soldiers, and how better to do that than get a start on the next evolutionary step of man?" Baron said.
This must have been part of the reason that Baron wanted Dr. Roland here.
"It's not evolution." Donnie spat. "It's warping DNA to make monsters that you can control."
"That's for me to be concerned about. You just need to work on the mutagen." Baron cut in.
"I don't even know if I can!" Donnie yelled. "I never did! There's no guarentee that it's even possible!"
Baron fixed him with a glare.
"And now you have incentive to try a little harder." Baron said evenly.
"They have nothing to do with this." Donnie said, nearly pleading, but he didn't care. He would grovel if it meant his brothers went free. "They have nothing to do with any of this, Baron."
"Oh but they do." Baron said with that sick grin on his face. "Don't you remember what I said?
They're going to make great soldiers.
Red flooded his vision and Donnie felt his entire body tense at the words before he lunged. He didn't care that he was weapnless or that Baron was a skilled master, the only thought that crossed his mind was that he had threatened his brothers. And no threat from Baron was ever to be taken lightly.
It wasn't fear that stopped him from trying to tear the man apart. It wasn't even the man himself, who made no move to defend himself. It was the guantlet on his wrist, how his fingers grazed it threateningly, promising that any move Donnie made toward him would be paid dearly in return by his brothers.
That froze him to his spot, made him immobile, complying. And he hated it, how easily Baron could control his actions, but he knew in his soul that he couldn't risk it.
"I don't think that's a very good idea, Donatello." Baron said slowly, fingers still hovering over the screen on the gauntlet.
One twitch of his fingers, one tap...
"You're a coward." Donnie spat at the man, regretting it as soon as he said it, watching in batted breath as Baron's fingers moved again. "No! No, don't!"
Baron smiled, his fingers still on the screen and not quite touching it.
"Any more comments you want to make, freak?" Baron asked.
Donnie swallowed down his hatred and every single remark that sprung to mind and gave a simple shake of his head.
"I thought not." Baron said. "I suggest that you get to work, then."
He didn't like this. At all. Leo and Raph had collapsed after Baron had stopped shocking them and neither of them had shown any signes of waking. Mikey had tried to reach them, to lay them down in a more comfortable position. When he realized that he couldn't, he resorted to running around the cage to let out some of his pent up energy.
Images were flashing in his strung-out mind, making him even more restless than usual. Leo and Raph shaking, tremors racing along their skin before collapsing to the ground. His terror that they were both going to have heart attacks, like Raph had last time.
Donnie's anger, how he just willingly went with Baron.
It had been hours since then and nothing had changed. Raph and Leo were still unconscious on the ground. Donnie hadn't come back and neither had Baron.
Mikey gave a faint shiver in his cell.
He hated the dark. In that way, he and Donnie had always been opposite. He hated that dark since a young age; Donnie sought it out. And the silence, he hated that too. It was oppressing, choking him, blinding him.
"What the shell happened?" Raph groaned sad he came to.
"Raphie! You're awake!" Mikey cheered, reaching carefully through the bars but still couldn't reach him.
Maybe it was how scared he sounded, or the uncertainty of their situation, or the fact that the strongest turtle was afraid himself, but Raph reached through the bars and grabbed his hand, giving it a tight squeeze.
"You okay, Mike?" Raph asked, his voice tense and gruff in a way that Mikey knew meant he was hiding something.
"Yeah." Mikey answered. He wasn't sure why exactly he was whispering, but it felt right.
"Where's Donnie?" Leo demanded, shooting upright so quickly that it gave Mikey whiplash.
"Calm down, Leo. Just sit down damn it." Raph growled and forced a very anxious Leo to sit down on the cold floor.
Slowly, Raph turned his head toward Mikey while keeping Leo in his sights.
"Where IS Donnie, Mike?" Raph asked, his hands shaking.
"Donnie went with him and he hasn't been back and I-"
"Calm down Mikey." Raph snapped. "I don't need two of you freaking out."
"You're one to talk." Leo muttered before shoving Raph off him and standing, seemingly much more composed.
"How long ago has he been gone?" Leo asked, his voice calm and firm.
"A few hours?" Mikey shook his head. "I dunno. I don't think he put a clock in here anywhere."
Leo sighed and began to pace the floor anxiously.
"Did he say what he wanted? After he zapped us?" Leo asked. It wasn't hard for the leader to guess why Donnie had gone with Baron after that display.
"Not really." Mikey said quietly.
Raph let out an outraged yell and Mikey heard something crumbling. He assumed it was the floor.
"What were you saying about calming down?" Leo asked him snidely.
Raph merely grunted in response.
Silence, once again, reigned in the shadowed room and Mikey didn't hate it any less even now that his brothers were awake. If anything, the silence was worse now, because before it was silent because there was no one to talk to, but now it was silent because no one wanted to talk.
Baron was a lot of things.
He was skilled, cunning, intelligent, conniving, murderous, insane...
He was all that and so much more. But he wasn't stupid.
Donnie already knew this of course, all of it, but he had to remind himself of it every single time that his brain thought up a new way of escaping their predicament.
He thought of grabbing the nearest object and blindsiding Baron, but pushed the idea away when he realized just how armed to the teeth Baron seemed to be. He wouldn't stand a chance.
Donnie was tempted to grab the mutagen that Baron was making him test and throwing it back at him, but Donnie had no intention of fighting an enraged, hideous monster-Baron.
Nope. Definitely not.
And even if he did manage to get past Baron, there was still the fact of getting by the dozens of ninjas that they had passed. He was fairly certain that he could find his way back to his brothers, but getting them out? That was an entirely different story. He didn't even know where they were for shell's sakes!
But none of that stopped him from thinking about it as he worked, well aware of Baron's glare on his shell.
No, Baron wasn't stupid. He knew better than to leave Donnie in a room alone with chemicals and tools and mutagen all at his disposal. So he kept one hand on his weapon, his eyes tracking Donnie's every movement.
Baron was a lot of things, but he wasn't a scientist.
It showed in the way he had gathered the 'supplies' for the mutagen project. Random assortments of chemicals and practically anything that looked scientific were scattered around the room.
"What do you need that for?"
Definitely no scientist.
Anything Donnie touched, he had to explain the exact reason he needed it for to Baron before he could use it.
"For the DNA sequence. Are you going to ask me that every time I pick something up?"
That was a total lie, but Baron didn't have to know that.
Maybe that's why it was so easy to create the explosion, to lie and say he needed to add this chemical and that chemical together so the mutagen could bond correctly.
A distraction, that's exactly what he needed. He would figure everything else out from there.
He carefully poured the dissolvent into the breaker, which was already filled with a particularly explosive liquid of his choosing before ducking under one of the lab tables.
Then the room quite literally exploded.
The table he was hiding under cracked and he could feel the heat that was slowly eating at the wood and rolled out from under the table.
Flames licked at the walls and climbed to the ceiling. Swerving his head, he found Baron crumbled on the floor, blood dripping from a nasty gash on the side of his head.
Donnie hesitated.
If he left Baron here and the fire was left unattended, Donnie had no doubt that he would die of smoke inhalation.
But they would be safe, wouldn't they? Baron wouldn't be on their shells, but Donnie would be responsible for Baron's death.
Donnie's lungs tried to repel the smoke, making him cough so violently that he doubled over for a moment before lunging back up on his feet. Moving quickly, Donnie knelt beside Baron and shook him, not caring how rough he was being, and sighed in relief when the man began to stir.
Deciding that Baron's fate was now up to the man himself, Donnie stood back up and ran from the room, coughing to dispel the smoke that still lingered in his lungs.
Left, right, straight, turn here. He told himself. Up, straight.
Donnie was more than a little cautious as he made his way down the halls, hiding whenever someone came his way. By now, the fire had already been noticed and a hoard of ninjas were attempting to put it out. Donnie tried to name the feeling that had settled in his gut when he didn't see Baron among them.
Was it relief? If so, did that make him a monster for being happy that he had killed a man?
If it was guilt, should he be? The man had tried on several occasions to kill him and his family.
Donnie gave a silent sigh as he slipped through a vacant hall. His brothers never had to debate these things, he bet. They probably knew what they believed and had a firm standing morals. He, on the other hand, had been raised with very different morals, all of which he could see now weren't right in any manner.
Right down here, he told himself, sneaking through the doorway that he remembered Baron had led him through. The two ninja keeping guard outside the door didn't even get to make a noise before they were out cold and Donnie carefully lowered them to the floor.
"-on't touch those bars, Raph!" He heard Leo scold. "Getting yourself electrocuted won't help Donnie."
"I might be able to break 'em apart, Leo. Then we can get the shell out of here and go find-"
"Even you can't break those bars Raph and you know it!" Leo said, his tone making it obvious that his patience was wearing thin.
"Maybe we can, like, tunnel underneath it?" Mikey suggested. "Anyone got a spoon?"
"A spoon?" Raph mocked. "How the shell are you going to make a dent in these floors with a spoon?"
"Well, that's what those people on TV always do when they're trying to break out of prison." Mikey pointed out with a pout.
Donnie couldn't help but grin as he came around the corner.
"What did we talk about, Mikey?" He asked with an easy grin that he had gotten used to wearing. "Not everything we see on TV is true. You most definitely can't get through this floor with a spoon."
"D!" Mikey exclaimed, shooting into a standing position and grinning widely.
"Donnie? Are you alright? Are you hurt?" Leo asked.
"You good, Don?" Raph asked, his voice tense, worried.
"I'm fine." Donnie promised just as his lungs decided to betray him and try to cough themselves up.
"You sure don't sound fine." Leo pointed out, his hands clenching into fists.
"It's just from the fire I started." Donnie waved it off nonchalantly and rushed to Mikey's cage.
There was no telling how much time they had and he didn't want to waste a second of it.
"The... what you started?" Leo demanded.
"Why'd you set a fire?" Mikey asked, face scrunched up in confusion.
"Oh you know, I was cold and I wanted to toast some marshmallows." Donnie deadpanned.
"And you didn't bring any with you?" Mikey questioned, looking his immediate older brother over for any leftovers.
Donnie just stared at his little brother for a good few moments, trying to decipher if Mikey was being serious or not.
Raph groaned and reached carefully through the bars to smack the youngest's head.
"Seriously, Mike? Tell me you're kidding." Raph said.
"What? I'm hungry, okay?" Mikey cried defensively.
"You're always hungry." Donnie agreed as he moved toward the lock on the cage.
"Where's Baron?" Leo asked. "Does he know you're here?"
Donnie grimaced. How was he supposed to tell them that he left the man to a burning fate and honestly didn't know if he survived?
"I don't know." Donnie replied. Not a total lie, right?
He studied the lock as he talked. It looked kind of like the electronic lock that Stockman used frequently on his more "pretentious" projects.
If they worked the same way, he just needed to short-circuit the power to the lock, and then they would be home free.
He quickly got the cover off the locking mechanism and began to toy with the wires, cautious of messing with the wrong ones in the case that it would end badly for his brothers.
"Don't mean to rush you or anything, Don, but could you hurry your shell up?" Raph gripped.
"You are rushing him, Raph. Stop and let him work." Leo chastised but Donnie could tell that he too was getting anxious.
"Just another minute..." Donnie huffed. "Got it!"
As he said it, the door to Mikey's cage gave a pitiful groan and Donnie pried it open.
"Never doubted you, D!" Mikey exclaimed as he bounded toward his older brother.
"Sure, Mikey." Donnie laughed and moved toward their older brothers. "Watch my shell."
"Sure thing, D!" Mikey exclaimed before taking up a defensive stance beside the entrance, his empty hands at the ready.
"Hurry up Genius, I don't wanna be in here any longer than I gotta be." Raph growled, his tone tense with worry.
"Can't rush perfection, Raph." Donnie chided him, worrying his lip between his teeth as he concentrated. Because that's what it had to be: perfect. One misalignment...
"M' not rushin' perfection Don, I'm rushin' you!" The older turtle snapped, but Donnie could see his lips turn up in a small smile at the banter.
"Ouch, Raph." Donnie shook his head. "That hurt."
"I think we got company guys!" Mikey warned, body tensing.
It didn't take long for the rest of the brothers to pick up on the light footfalls nearing them and Donnie quickly turned back to the wires in his hand.
Raph and Leo visibly tensed at the fact that not only were younger siblings still separated from the elder, but now they were unprotected as well.
"Donnie, they're com-"
Donnie shot up just in time to see several ninja burst through the door and he jumped to his younger brother's defense, despite the fact that neither of them had any weapons and the ninja were armed to the teeth.
"Damn it, Leo! We have ta'-"
"Help me get this off, Raph!" Leo's stern command cut the younger brother off.
Fueled by adrenaline and fear, Donnie didn't pay attention to what his brothers were doing, too preoccupied as he was with dealing with the ninja and trying to keep his little brother in his line of sight.
Donnie wasn't sure if he was relieved or not to notice Baron's absence from the ninjas, unsure if he should feel anything at all, or if he should, then what exact emotion should be coming into play right about now.
"Mikey, can you cover me?" Donnie yelled, swinging the katana that he had stolen from a fallen ninja like he would his Bo. "Mikey?"
Hearing no response, Donnie turned toward the last spot he had seen Mikey to see a ninja kneeling beside his unconscious baby brother, a tanto pressing into his neck.
Leo and Raph froze whatever they were doing, staring at their brother.
Swallowing his panic, Donnie slowly placed his weapon on the ground, raising his hands in a peaceful manner of surrender.
"Don't." He begged. "Please."
Donnie could have sworn that he knew the ninja and he knew that likely didn't bode well for Mikey if he did.
Slowly, the ninja reached up and took off his black face mask, revealing a young asian boy who couldn't have been any older than them, his face frozen in a menacing sneer.
Donnie's heart dropped to his stomach and he was suddenly struggling to breathe.
"Don't, please." Donnie managed to get out of his too-tight throat. "Takeo, I'm begging you."
This is your fault, he shamed himself. You're stupid plan.
"I suppose I should have foreseen this." A voice said from the doorway, but Donnie didn't have to turn to know who it was. "You have a knack for escaping." Baron spat the statement.
Donnie didn't look at him, too focused on his little brother and the trickle of blood making it's way slowly down Mikey's throat to care him.
"It's a family trait." Leo growled when Donnie didn't respond.
"You four seem to share many undesirable traits." Baron sneered before glancing at Takeo. "Put him back for now."
Donnie knew very well that he didn't breathe even a little bit until Takeo removed his tanto from Mikey's neck and roughly threw him back inside the cell.
Donnie winced at the thud Mikey's body made as it hit the floor but made no move toward him.
Baron had fixed him with the most furious, chilling look that Donnie had ever seen on the man in his eleven years of knowing him. There was blood crusted on the side of Baron's face and a nasty burn on his side, both of which if Donnie had to guess attributed very much to Baron's bad mood.
Donnie was frozen as Baron moved toward him, but he supposed that was preferable to shaking with fear. He certainly didn't want to give Baron that satisfaction.
Donnie was proud of himself that when Baron's hand whipped out to grab Donnie's throat, he didn't flinch too noticeably.
"Let him go!" Raph roared.
"Baron! Don't!" Leo yelled.
Donnie fought against every instinct in his body that was telling him to fight back, because he knew from experience that if he did, it would make everything SO much worse.
"You're not Saki's pet anymore, freak!" Baron seethed. "You have forgotten your place, and it's time to remind you of it."
Donnie could no longer hear his brothers and the edges of his vision had fizzled out, like the bad reception they sometimes had on the TV in the Lair before they turned black. Donnie vaguely wondered what was going to happen to his brothers once he died before the black consumed him.
Thank you to those who have waited for this, I am truly sorry for how long it has taken for this to come out. It's not been good inside my head for these last few weeks and it's been difficult to be productive. Thank you guys for staying with this I hope it doesn't disappoint.