Reinbeauchaser – Why Melbourne Zoo when there's Taronga Zoo only ten minutes away from where he lives? Just kidding. School's quickly getting stressful… you know it's stressful when the teachers hand out free books titled 'Survival Guide'. Ugh! Believe it or not, English is currently my worst subject! I ditched maths last week, we made nail polish remover in Chemistry (it's an ester!), got dumped with another ridiculous sized art assignment, finished reading an absurdist play in Drama, and in Biology… actually Biology's the subject I completely tune out in and plan future fanfics instead… o.0 We had a substitute teacher today though… his name actually is Michelangetti Raphael… scary, all my fics are Biology inspired…
Disclaimer: Don't own anyone except Joseph, Diana, Sarah, Leeroy and RJ… you know what I mean. The zoo in New York is a fictional place and is not based on any specific zoo.
Chapter 14: Return to the Glass Prison.
Flight 161. London to New York.
After a couple of hours filled with debate, it was finally decided that the zoo in New York was the best place to house and care for the reptiles, due to their experience and suitable facilities. And so began the arduous journey of transporting the turtle family across the Atlantic Ocean.
Raphael listened to the long and continuous drone of the airplane's engines. He rested his head on one of the many metal bars that surrounded him. A small tear traveled down his cheek at the thought of being in a cage for the rest of his life, but he wiped it away as soon as it appeared.
A sob was heard beside him. Peering through the bars of his personal cage, Raphael watched as Diana heaved a few tears. "Hey… It's gonna be okay," Raph tried to calm her down even though he was extremely frightened himself. The little female turtle sniffled.
"Are, are Mummy and Daddy… dead?" Diana whispered with a terrified tone, sniffling back another tear. Raphael tried his best to give her a warm smile.
"No. They're just sleeping. They'll wake up soon," Raphael comforted. He looked around the airplane's storage compartment and stared at the unconscious adults in separate cages. Raph looked back towards the saddened form of Diana. "But we have to be strong for Mum and Dad. They need us now…" the boy continued. Diana crawled over towards her older half-brother and reached out for him, squeezing her arm past the metal bars. With a slight smile, Raphael did the same and clasped hands with his sister. In an instant, Diana's tears stopped falling. "See, I'm here. I'm here for you…" Raphael reassured her.
They held each other's hands for the rest of the flight. When the plane had landed, the airtight doors opened. One by one their cages were removed through the use of heavy machinery. Diana squealed with fright at the amount of noise and the bright lights, not used to being topside. Raphael wildly looked about his new surroundings, frowning at the unknown tall buildings. Yet somewhere deep inside he knew that he was in New York, thousands of miles away from home. The turtles weren't outside for long as the cages were transported and loaded in to the back of a large truck.
The drive was fairly long, obviously from being held up by traffic. It was dark in the back of the truck and Raphael couldn't see any other members of his family. Yet above the jostling noise from the vehicle, Raph could still hear his sister's sobs, no matter how much it hurt his heart to acknowledge them.
By the time they reached the zoo, Raphael was very weary of traveling and was on the urge of falling asleep. Straining to stay awake, Raphael watched as his cage was wheeled down a white corridor before coming to rest in an oddly designed room. He stared at the five weird glass cells that jutted out from the perimeter. A waist high metallic control panel lay to his left. Just looking at the room produced chills to roll down his spine.
He watched in horrified silence as two scientists – a man and a woman – performed blood tests on the unconscious adult turtles. After getting the samples they needed, they approached Diana's cage, needle in hand. "How are we going to do this?" the female scientist, Dr Aquel asked.
"Well, open the door and pull it out," Dr Yesmal, the other scientist answered simply. With a shrug of the shoulders and a click, Aquel opened Diana's cage door. Immediately the little turtle scooted back to huddle in the corner. Raphael could tell from her uncontrollable shaking that she was highly distressed.
"Hey! Leave her alone!" Raphael quickly interjected. The two humans were startled by his sudden outburst yet they still continued in their fussing over Diana only a short while later. The little female turtle gasped in discomfort as Dr Aquel hastily grabbed onto her arm to drag her out of the cage. Wrapping one arm around the reptile, the scientist tried to take a blood sample using her free hand. Diana began to freak when she saw the size of the needle. "Run!" Raphael urged her from the confines of his cage.
Shaking and scared, Diana managed to bring the needle bearing hand into a wrist lock, causing the sharp object to fall harmlessly to the floor. With a spin of the body, Diana somehow broke free of Aquel's hold. She hastily ran away, moving further into the glass prison room. Diana squealed and nearly tripped over when the scientists tried to pursue her. She quickened her pace, not really knowing where she was going.
Diana stopped when she reached a dead end in the room. Frantically looking for a way to escape, Diana locked eyes with the occupant of one of the glass prisons. She hadn't even seen him when she first entered the room, yet now she wished she hadn't seen him at all. He was a large humanoid ape with silver fur. It wasn't that what bothered her. What made Diana feel uncomfortable was the way the ape looked at her. He had a wild and dangerously untamed appearance and a horrible angry glare to match. She shuddered where she stood, allowing the two scientists to take hold of her again. This time Dr Aquel held Diana while Dr Yesmal performed the test. Tears dripped down the little girl's face in fright as her blood was extracted.
Raphael growled as they approached him after they had carefully returned Diana to her separate cage. Starting to wise up, the two scientists decided not to open Raph's cage at all. Instead, Dr Yesmal left the room and returned a short while later with a long pole combined with a noose on the end. Tediously, the man poked the object through the metal bars and managed to catch Raphael off guard by swiftly hooking his left arm through the tightening loop. Although Raph struggled as best he could, the two scientists dragged him towards them so that his arm poked through he bars. Hanging his head in defeat, Raphael waited as the prolonged stinging blood test was completed.
*****
Sydney, Australia.
Donatello concentrated on his twiddling hands as beads of sweat dripped down his brow. Using a screwdriver, Don tightened the final screw to his new and improved radio alarm clock. He smiled at his accomplishment. It was times like these when he appreciated being alone, remembering all the hardships he faced when his family intervened when creating his inventions.
Donatello looked at his watch as a reference for what time to set the clock for. He almost jumped in disbelief when he realised the nightly news was on. Anxious, Don turned on his television before sitting down on his beanbag chair. He watched the local news with only slight interest; a new State Government transport policy, a late night shooting in a usually quiet suburb, a lethal car accident out in the country and a recap of an environmental issue. The world news section began with the first story being about the Queen of England. Donatello groaned and sighed, knowing that it must have been a slow news night. But the next story intrigued him greatly.
A short and limited amount of footage was shown as a news reporter detailed what was happening with a voice over. The television screen depicted several large cages containing unconscious members of his family being transported to the back of a large truck. Donatello immediately recognised the airport to be one of New York's. Nothing much was really said, yet it clear that his family was captured and they were going to be taken back to the same zoo.
Donatello sighed to himself as the ad break came on. In a weird kind of way, he was relieved that they were finally captured because he now knew where they were exactly, and that they wouldn't be leaving any time soon. After all these years, Donatello could begin to plan some more finalised ideas. Of course, he decided to wait a few days, knowing that the heightened security around the zoo would make a rescue plan rather useless.
That last thought made Donatello feel queasy. What if he failed his mission? He would be taken back to the Pentagon and his family would never know what happened. Don shivered at the thought. He was scared. It was as though he was addicted to his life of solitude; no one knew he lived in Australia and therefore no one would ever purposefully capture him.
Out of seemingly nowhere, a bitter and twisted thought entered his mind. Why should he save them? They never came to rescue him! Why should he put himself in danger when the others never bothered to do the same? The tables had turned. Donatello was the free one while all the others were in captivity.
The turtle shook his head, trying to shake out the nasty bothersome thoughts. Although he had learnt to accept and sometimes enjoy his extremely solitary life, deep inside was an empty void that could only be filled by seeing his family in person again. Over the years he had built up so many questions to ask them and now it seemed he was closer to having them voiced. Naturally, he had tried contacting them in other ways, mainly through email, yet whenever he sent something he received a notice saying that the address had been expired. Obviously his family didn't have Internet access when they were staying in England. Then again, he never really did expect to hear from them considering how computer illiterate his family was.
Donatello sighed once again. Although he felt nice and secure where he lived, he knew deep down that nothing good lasted forever. One day he would have to leave for the benefit of the rest of his species.
*****
A zoo in New York.
Leonardo winced in pain from his splitting headache as he began to wake up. Sitting completely still, he opened his tired eyes slowly before blinking them once or twice. Total darkness. Leo couldn't see a thing. His heart raced faster thinking over the possibility that he was blind, but a single tiny red power light obviously being emitted from some electronic device told him otherwise.
Finally coming around to his senses, Leonardo noticed that someone's arm and head was resting on his plastron. Immediately he knew that it was Diana; peacefully sleeping near him obviously for some much needed comfort. Trying not to disturb her, Leonardo reached forward, arm outstretched. A heavy sinking feeling entrapped his heart when he felt the cold smooth surface of glass. In an instant he knew where he was; back in the glass prison.
"Venus," he whispered into the pitch-blackness. There was no reply. "Venus?" he tried again, this time slightly louder.
"Dad?" a voice asked.
"Raph! Are you okay? Where's your mum?" Leo immediately recognised the boy's voice.
"Yeah I'm fine," replied a grumble. "Mum and Uncle Mikey are in another cell across the room. Last time I saw them they were still asleep. Then they turned the lights off…" Raphael started to ramble. "Dad?… What's happening?" the boy sounded both terrified and confused. "Is this where you were captured before?" he asked.
Leonardo sighed. "I think it is Raph," he answered glumly.
"How are we going to get out?" Raphael questioned worriedly.
"I don't know Raph."
"Are we gonna be okay?"
"I don't know Raph," Leo repeated. He listened as Raphael tried to move closer through the darkness only to succeed in tripping over Diana. The little turtle woke up with a start. She screamed and flailed her limbs around underneath the clumsy body of her half-brother. "Hey, hey it's okay. It's okay. Shhh," Leo soothed her when Raphael finally got up. As he stroked the face of his daughter, he could feel the tears rolling down her cheeks.
"Where's Mummy?" she cried. Leonardo hugged her closer while Raphael moved in to sit beside her.
"She's not here right now," Leo whispered his answer, feeling tears starting to swell in his own eyes.
"Why?" Diana sniffled. Leonardo didn't answer and instead slowly rubbed the turtle's carapace to soothe her. He knew the reason. It was obvious. Venus and Mike were together in their own cell. Yet unlike the last time something like this happened, Leo knew he could trust the two, but that didn't say that he trusted whatever the scientists were planning for the pair…
Leo wiped away a tear that was slowly traveling down his face, trying his best not to think of the worst case scenario. Still holding his daughter, he shifted his eyes to look at the only source of light in the room. Leo stared at the tiny red electronic power dot, not exactly wanting to fall back asleep yet, even though Diana was already starting to. All of a sudden, the dot disappeared. Leonardo furrowed his eyes in confusion; wondering firstly at what the device was, and secondly why it had abruptly turned off. A little while later, the red dot reappeared and continued to shine for the rest of the night.
*****
New York. 4am.
Sarah stood outside the entrance of the zoo. As soon as she heard the news, she flew over to America, wanting to see what she could do. Yet when she finally arrived, all her plans seemed to disappear. What was she thinking? It'd be so obvious if she rescued the turtles during their first night of captivity. Sarah knew that it'd definitely be the end of her career. Her freedom. She doubted whether she'd get away with community service the second time around. No, it'd be straight to jail.
There were so many holes in her rescue plan. The zoo's security had definitely increased since the last time she had visited, especially when they were holding the other animal anomaly; Silver. She had so much more to lose this time around. Sarah wanted to free them, yet with the thought of wasting her life in jail, and the fact that she could fail completely and still pay time behind bars, changed her perspective.
She couldn't do it. It was as simple as that. A tear from her watery eye fell to the ground, knowing that she had just failed her best friends.