Disclaimer: No hablo inglés. El Pretendiente no pertenece a mí. He he, there's something for those lawyers to chew on!! (Run it through a translator if you really, really want to know what it says... hint, it's in Spanish)
A/N: I want to formally apologize to everybody for my mistakes. I read over all I have written for this story so far, and I was shocked. This wasn't how I wanted to portray my character (Takara). I made the people in the story seem super human like as if nothing could make them angry or sad. I am terribly sorry for that and will be trying to fix that in the coming chapters (starting with Jarod in this one). I am really sorry about that, and I hope you forgive me!! *Smiles*
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8:00 am
Miss Parker's Office
SL-5
The Centre
Blue Cove, Delaware
Miss Parker sat at her desk going over the reports to Jarod's latest hideout when Broots scampered in, looking once more behind him to make sure no one was following him. Parker sat back in her chair, knowing the "I got something big to tell you" face when she saw it. She twirled a pencil between her perfectly manicured fingers and leaned back as she waited for the "big news" to come. Broots sat down in the opposite chair and the expression on his face changed from his "big news" expression to his "now I'm gonna ask you something so please don't kill me" face.
"Miss Parker... uh, Lyle ordered me to go to Africa with him for a week. He said there are some technical difficulties down there that only I can deal with. I can't find anybody to watch Debbie. Uh... do you think that you could watch her?"
Miss Parker was too preoccupied with wondering about Lyle to make some rude remark towards Broots-- much to his relief. She muttered that she would watch Debbie for the week and Broots broke into a big smile and left her office.
Miss Parker stopped fidgeting with the pencil in her hand. Africa had a ton of technicians. Why would they need Broots? Miss Parker made a mental note to get to the bottom of Lyle's shenanigans the moment she had time. She heaved a deep sigh and went back to reviewing the reports.
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A few hours later
Testing room 148
SL-26
The Centre
Blue Cove, Delaware
"You know, I really don't like this knock-us-out-and-take-us-where-you-want-us thing," mumbled Ralph as he tried to shake off the effects of the drugs.
He opened his eyes to see that he wouldn't be able to get up even if he wanted to. He was strapped into a chair by steel cuffs around his arms, elbows, knees, ankles and neck. He couldn't even move his head to see if anybody else was in the room. He heard moans around him and accurately identified them as his brothers. He didn't hear Kara, though.
"Where's Kara?" He asked once he figured his brothers were all awake.
"I dunno," Leo answered honestly.
Ralph was about to make a snide remark about the scientists when he felt a tingle run through him.
"What the heck was that!?" He yelled.
"I don't like the look of this," he heard Donny say to the right of him.
"It looks like Electro shock. They want to see how much pain we can with stand."
Just as he finished another tingle came-- this one slightly stronger.
"So... I take it that we'll be here awhile?"
"I think so, Mikey. They can only go to four hundred volts or so. It feels like they're starting at ten or so just to scare us. They'll work their way up until... well, you get the idea."
"Hours of fun with electrical currents. Yippee," Ralph mocked.
Yet another current came through their bodies. This time it felt like it had originated in the upper arm. The one after that was enough to make them all grunt.
"So is it like possible to mediate right now?" Asked Mikey hoping that he wouldn't have to feel the effects of the rest of the test.
"I don't think so, Mikey. That's why the shocks are coming so close together. They don't want us to be able to mediate," Leo explained.
Another shock.
"Son of a..." Ralph muttered.
The shocks started coming more intensely and more frequently. It was past the point of yelling curses or expressing any displeasure. Now all they could do was sit and wither in the chairs they were bound to. Their muscles contracted repeatedly in protest against the amps going through them, and they were quickly tiring. Once in awhile one of them would let out a growl of frustration, but other than that and the constant buzzing of pent up electricity, the room was dead silent.
After about an hour of intense pain, the locks to the cuffs suddenly popped open. All four of the guys jumped out of the chairs, afraid that they might still be able to be caused pain, despite their obvious exhaustion from the test. They were able to walk to the middle of the room, and then fell to the floor in a heap. The sweepers came into the room and Leo struggled to his feet. He helped his brothers up, and walked out of the room, not even waiting for the sweepers to "persuade" them with their tranquilizer guns.
They bearly got into the door of their cell before they fell to the floor-- all of them refusing to take one more step. The scientists came in to clean Ralph's arm and check out the others. One bent down to Ralph's level.
"Touch me and die," he growled from his position on the floor, sprawled out and spread-eagled.
The doctor, seeing how serious Ralph was, backed away and out of the cage. Food was once more placed next to their door, and then all the scientists took their leave.
"If I eat anything I'll puke," commented Don as he tried to roll over on his side.
"That was the work out of my life, and all I had to do was sit there," joked Mikey as he closed his eyes against the bright lights outside their cage.
"All I want to do is sleep for the rest of the week," Leo slurred, already starting to drift off to la-la land.
"Maybe a nice, long, non-drug- induced sleep would do us all some good," Don suggested as he rolled once more so that he was resting on his plastron using his arms for a pillow.
Soon they were all snoring. A scientist rushed around, grabbing data from the tests, jotting down notes about the sleeping turtles, and running genetic tests from the blood, skin and shell fragments that had been taken from the turtles while they were knocked out.
Dr. Kozwell sat in her chair facing the cage that held the mutant reptiles. They all lay sprawled near the entrance of their cage, snoring for all they were worth. The food lay untouched in one corner. What were these strange creatures, and why were they in the New York sewers? So far a lot had been discovered about the animals. The endurance test was a complete disaster but they did find out that they had a somewhat high endurance level and liked to challenge it. They also knew about personal hygiene from the fact that they took showers. The results from the Electro shock were not back yet, though. Kozwell was in charge of the next test. Chutuck was originally in charge, but he had messed up the endurance test and was probably going to pay dearly for it.
Kozwell snapped out of her thoughts as she noticed movement in the cage. The orange turtle kicked the red turtle in his sleep. The red turtle whacked him across the head in return. Where these animals really sleeping? They had to be! With the test that they had just endured there was no way that they could just be pretending to sleep. The orange one went to punch the red one but the red one blocked it. They seemed to settle down again and all was silent. Kozwell got up to make sure someone had made a note of what had happened. She didn't need to worry about the subjects waking up any time soon; they would be out for the next few hours.
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4:30 pm
SL-22,
Jarod's cell
The Centre
Blue Cove, Delaware
Jarod sat on the floor of his cell counting the black specks in the concrete. It took him nine hours to get one sixteenth of the floor done. After he was done with that, he was going to count the scratches in the bars. Lyle was definitely giving him the silent treatment. He was brought meals twice and let out of his cell to do his business three times. Nothing was on a schedule. Lyle must have made sure that everything was completely random so that the pretender could not plan things by when guards changed and meals were brought. They had let him out of the cuffs six hours ago, but nobody had said anything. Jarod was on dot three million eight hundred sixty-two when the door beeped. Jarod looked up to see Lyle walk in with a trademark grin on his face. Jarod didn't bother to stand up. He just sat in his corner looking up at Lyle. 'I want to wipe the grin off his face so bad' he thought as Lyle stepped inside the room, his hands stuffed in his pockets nonchalantly.
"I wanted to be the first to welcome you home, Jarod, and to tell you the good news."
"You just saved a bunch of money by switching to GEICO?"
Lyle looked at him, confused for a second, then shrugged it off and continued.
"We have customers by the hundreds lined up just because of those freaks you were with. Doesn't it feel great knowing that you're the reason they're in a cage performing tricks for the crowd?"
As Lyle talked he slowly stepped closer and crouched down right in front of Jarod. Jarod's jaw noticeably set at the mention of the turtles, and Lyle straightened and took a few steps back having made his point. Two sweepers came forward in his place and pulled Jarod to his feet. They all walked to the sim lab, standing in a straight line, though sweepers flanked Jarod on the way. The pretender counted five doors until he got to the sim lab. There was no other hallways or corridors. The sweepers shoved him into a chair that was set in front of a metal table. The table's top was covered in files. Jarod picked one up and looked at it. It was a blood analysis. The blood, although having some human components in it, was not normal. Jarod figured that he was either looking at Kara's, or one of the turtle's blood work. Whatever Lyle had planned, it wasn't good. Jarod picked up another file. It contained the chemical break down of some object. It contained large amounts of calcium. 'This is definitely the file on the turtles. Now what do they want me to do with them?' thought Jarod as he continued to sift through what was in front of him. There was different test, notes, and theories. There was a lot there for only nine hours.
"What are they?"
Jarod looked up to see that Lyle was right in front of him.
"There is a chemical that our scientists could not break down into any elements. Your job is to find out what it is."
Jarod grinned. The Centre scientists were unstoppable. They did everything first and nothing ever stumped them for too long, especially a simple blood analysis or chemical breakdown. There were things that they could do with this that could harm people. Splinter had told Jarod about their mutation, and unless he was wrong, this unidentified chemical was probably what made them what they were. If The Centre could find a way to manipulate this chemical then they could have other uses for it.
"Nope. I'm not going to help you Lyle."
Before Jarod could get any more furious then he already was, he felt a stinging flame hit his back with a snap. He winced and looked back to see a sweeper wielding a whip with three small sharp metal balls attached to the end. 'It's gonna be a long day,' thought Jarod glumly as the sweeper readied himself for another strike.
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2:30 pm
SL-26
Sim lab 201
The Centre
Blue Cove, Delaware
Kara awoke with a start. Someone was close... too close. She jumped up into a crouch. Someone was behind her, and she didn't even take time to turn around to see who it was. She threw herself to the left and watched the offender fall as he missed the target he was trying to tackle. Kara looked around. She was in the sim lab that was built to be a forest. Last time was kind of fun, but Kara felt that this time was not going to be the same. Nonetheless she was still mad about getting darted. This room was huge and she could elude the sweepers for a long time if she wanted to. Plus, if she wasted their time that meant that she wouldn't have to go back to her room so soon. Her ears pricked at the sound of someone trying to walk silently and the sound of someone else trying to move through the trees with stealth. She moved off in the opposite direction with out a sound. The best place to hide was always in plain sight.
She walked over to a huge rock that was at least three times her height and stayed in sight long enough for the sweeper at ground level to see her. She then went around the other side of the rock, making them think she was going to play the walk-around-until-someone-makes-a-mistake game. The sweeper in the trees came down to sandwich her in. One sweeper went around one side of the rock the other one went the opposite way. Kara quickly scaled the rock with little effort on her part. The sweepers snuck around the side of the rock with their guns drawn. They ended up telling each other to freeze. Kara silently chuckled to herself and leaped up into the branches above her. She balanced there for a second, and then darted off. She stayed in the trees until she got to a wall. She sat there, waiting patiently for her opponents to betray their position. She didn't have to wait long. To her left she heard two sets of feet coming in her direction. They were not the same. These footsteps were heavier and they walked on their toes, not their heels. Not knowing how many sweepers she was up against, Kara decided to start knocking some out. As the footsteps got closer she quickly decided on the moves she was going to use. A man passed under the tree she was sitting in and another one was three feet to the right of him. Kara took a chance. She jumped out of the tree and tried to perform the split kick that she had been practicing. The extra height the tree gave her was an advantage. She successfully knocked the two guys to the ground, three more running towards the sound when they heard the bodies falling to the ground. Kara took to her feet and ran through the simulated woods, dodging trees and hopping over bushes. The sweepers had no chance whatsoever of keeping up.
Kara slowed down when she thought she had lost them. She was about to go back and try a different tactic when sweepers with guns stepped out of the surrounding foliage. They had her cornered. She sat down right in the middle of them to show her submission, and the lights came on fully in the room. The sweepers led Kara out of the woods, and she saw Dr. Bo sitting just outside of the fake tree line. Kara walked over to him and allowed gave him a smile, inwardly seething. He smiled back at her and gave her a curt nod.
"I hate you," Kara stated.
"Hate is a very strong word, Kara."
"And it is appropriate for this situation. You lock up every person that is different all for the sake of science. You don't seem to have a conscience. You spend every waking moment in this depressing place. I think I have a right to hate you."
Bo sat there, and understood what Kara wouldn't say. She didn't hate him... she hated The Centre. She was expressing her feelings safely by replacing the true object of her hate with him. Bo couldn't blame her, personally. The poor kid had her life uprooted and now she was back in a place she didn't want to be. Bo smiled at her again to show that he understood her need to yell at him. The sweepers moved closer to take her back to her room for the night. She went in a huff, completely enraged about her predicament.
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6:00 pm
Parker's house
Blue Cove, Delaware
"I already have the guest room made up for you, Debbie."
Parker stepped into the house and set her stuff down to take off her coat. Debbie followed her into the house, still holding her backpack full of clothes. She followed her to the guestroom and set down her bag, and then walked around the room and looked up, giving Parker a big smile.
"Thank you for letting me stay here, Miss Parker."
"No problem, Kiddo. Your dad says he's going to be gone for awhile, so I was thinking-- how would you like to go to the zoo with me this Saturday?"
Debbie's eyes lit up like the forth of July.
"Really!? Oh, Miss Parker, I would love that so much!"
Parker laughed. "Ok, but you have to promise me you will be good this week. Deal?"
"Oh I will, Miss Parker! Don't worry, I will!"
"Good, now get ready for dinner. How does spaghetti sound? The boxed kind, though; I don't want to kill you with my cooking."
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5:00 am
SL-26
Kara's room
The Centre
Blue Cove, Delaware
Kara sat on her bed staring at the ceiling. Being in her cell was deadly boring. She sat thinking about her situation. Jarod was nowhere insight and as for Splinter, she didn't have any idea what they would do to him. He was old and he would be stubborn about the tests. There would be no way they would get him to do even the simplest ones.
Her mind wandered to Dr. Bo. She felt kind of bad for him. He wasn't meant to be here. The poor guy must have been forced into being in The Centre. Everyday he came in with the same expression on his face. He had a hidden fear of this place. Kara couldn't figure him out. He was here, yet he didn't want to be. Didn't he have a family? He really needed someone to rescue him before he becamecorrupted like all the others.
And what would happen to them when the hard stuff came? What would happen when the terrorist Sims were apart of daily life for her? What would happen when the scientists got bored of seeing what the turtles could do?
Kara got up and started to pace. She needed to get some anger out. In one fluid motion she got on the flow and started doing push-ups. When she got tired of them she went to sit ups, then crunches, and then she started fighting imaginary opponents. She repeated everything over and over again. She only got more furious as she worked. She punched her imaginary Lyle in the face, and then kicked him in the gut. Her pretend Lyle was killed quite a few times before she started to tire. She let off her attack and went over to the corner to sit. She was breathing heavily and still had the fire of anger in her eyes. Without realizing it, she went into meditation. She sat on the floor, her eyes closed, thinking about the upcoming day one second, and the next second she was at peace and wandering through her own mind again. Once she realized what she was doing she almost came out of it, but she stayed, knowing that she had a few hours to herself before everyone came to work.
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8:00 am
SL-5
Miss Parker's office
The Centre
Blue Cove, Delaware
Miss Parker walked into her office with Debbie at her side. She motioned for Debbie to sit, and the girl walked over to the computer chair and took a seat.
Miss Parker sat at her desk to start reading over memos. She informed Debbie that she could play on the computer or work on the things she brought, and that they would go out to lunch at noon. Debbie didn't have to go to school because it was an in-service day, and so Parker had no choice but to bring her to work with her though she hated Debbie being in The Centre.
Parker started through the large pile of memos on her desk. One by one she went through them and signed them, or filed them. Then she got to one that was not hers. The sweeper that delivered it must have gotten the wrong office. She read it any way. It was a memo to her father from Raines, and it was about Jarod! It said that he was coming along on project Mutate. How was that possible? Jarod was outside The Centre. Parker had just chased a lead on him yesterday. Then it hit her. Leaving her stunned in shock and rage. Lyle was setting false leads for her!
"Debbie, stay here. I have to go talk to somebody."
Parker swept out of the room and down the hall towards Lyle's office. He was going to get a piece of her mind. NOBODY set false trails for a Parker! She was mad at him the last time he did this, but this time she was furious. 'He had better have one heck of an alibi if he wants to get off the hook this time!' She stormed down the hall with the crumpled memo still in her hand.
She threw the doors to Lyle's office open and strutted in, ferocity in her steps. Lyle was not there yet, but she could wait. She could wait forever to ring his neck for this one!
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8:00 am
SL-26
Turtle's cell
The Centre
Blue Cove, Delaware
Mikey stood and stretched. He may have slept for eleven hours, but it sure didn't feel like it. He had been woken up numerous times during the night from the beeps of different equipment or just the constant droning of the computer terminals. No scientist had stayed during the night, but no doubt they would review the tapes from the security cameras to makes sure they had missed nothing. Don was in the corner practicing his kattas. Leo was on the floor meditating and Ralph... Ralph was just pacing back and forth waiting for his chance to clobber someone. Mikey sat on the floor beside Leo and closed his eyes. He had learned long ago that there was no snapping his brothers out of kattas or mediation, and if he tried to talk to Ralph, well, it just wouldn't turn out good. Mikey did figure out years ago that he could tease his brothers somewhat if they were mediating.
Each person has a vibe that they give off. When they are in mediation their vibes become stronger. They are so strong in fact that it can turn into a way of communication. The brothers could sense feelings through the vibes. Mikey would often meditate when his brothers were and send them intense feelings of happiness right when he sensed they were trying to concentrate. They would get quite mad. He had no intention of doing so right now, though. He just wanted to let Leo know how he felt about this whole thing of being captured.
An hour later the scientists came in with their breakfast. Dr. Chutuck followed in behind them. The sweepers were there too, but they didn't have dart guns. Mikey promptly jumped up and lightly punched Chutuck in the face. Nonetheless he fell to the floor with his hand over his face.
"What was that for!?" He yelled, his voice muffled from his hand.
Mikey looked around as if he was he didn't know who the doctor was talking to then he smiled at the realization it was himself. He broke into a grin and pointed a finger at Leo.
"Leo told me too!"
Leo opened one eye and glared at Mikey.
"I told you it wasn't a bad idea. Dude bro, you need some practice."
He then closed his eyes again and was gone to the world. Mikey glared at Leo jokingly.
"Thanks a lot, dude."
Mikey turned back to Chutuck who was now back on his feet again but still had his left had over his now broken nose.
"Uh... er... he he, no hard feelings?"
Chutuck glared at Mikey and tried to regain some dignity by straightening his posture and puffing his chest out.
"You didn't come in here for nothin'. What do you want?" Ralph quipped irritably as he itched at his unwounded arm. His fingers ran over an unfamiliar bump and he looked down at his upper arm. There, injected into his green skin was a tattoo... an ID tattoo. The rough spot he had felt was just below the mark in his arm that read CT12. He looked up at his brothers to see all their arms coded in a similar fashion. Ralph walked over Chutuck, and in a blink of an eye he had him by his shirt collar, shoved up against the far wall of their cell.
"What do you think this is?" Yell Ralph motioning towards his arm.
The doctor tried his hardest to smile a bit. Ralph slammed him into the wall again for emphasis.
"I'm not going to be branded like some cattle stock!" He screamed.
Chutuck made eye contact with someone out side of the cage. Suddenly Ralph let go of Chutuck with a yelp and went down to the floor clasping his ID coded arm. Ralph continued to lie groaning on the floor until Chutuck was out of the cage. His brothers rushed over to him but Donny motioned for them to stay back. Finally the pain seemed to let up and Ralph got up with a grunt. He scratched some more at the bump, knowing that whatever it was it was causing the pain. He tried to scratch it out, but to no avail.
"What I wouldn't give for fingernails right now," he mumbled.
Another scientist came to the door.
"You are to come out one at a time. You are to be separated for your IQ tests."
The door beeped and Leo stepped out when all of his brothers gave him the "you go, not me" look. A scientist led Leo off to another room. The sweeper didn't tag along, because each scientist now held a remote control device that caused the electric shock Ralph has suffered from. One by one they were led out of the cage to different rooms to start their second day of tests.
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8:08 am
SL-22
Jarod's cell
The Centre
Blue Cove, Delaware
"... the call is free, one-eight-hundred safe auto. Play it safe, safe auto."
"What? No more cree craw toad's foot?" Lyle mocked.
"The techs up in the lab get bored with that one. I decided to give them a variety," said Jarod, grinning at Lyle.
His stay in The Centre may not be pleasant but there was no way he was letting Lyle know that. Jarod stood with a groan as the sweepers came in. The whipping that he had endured the day before had left his back in tatters. There was no sense in wearing a shirt anymore, seeing as the material touching the still open and much-agitated wounds only caused more pain. The sweepers surrounded Jarod and shoved him out of the cell.
'Here we go again' thought Jarod as he was led to the room he had deemed "The Torture Room".
To Jarod's surprise they didn't stop when they reached the correct door. The sweepers kept on going until they got to the door for the elevator. While they waited for the elevator to reach ground level one sweeper pulled out a pair of manacles that bound the subject's hands together and ran down and around the feet. He put them on Jarod and all the sweepers drew their guns and pointed them at the master pretender. They certainly weren't taking any chances.
They got out of the elevator and the sweepers pressed in close to Jarod, making escape impossible. To Jarod's surprise they walked right out of the building. The sweepers ushered Jarod over to a black van and shoved him in. A few sweepers climbed in after him and chained him to the bench he sat on. A driver climbed in the front and they were off. If they were going somewhere why didn't they just drug him? There was much more of a chance of him escaping while he was awake than if he was knocked out. A MUCH better chance!
They drove along for what seemed like forever. There was no use in making false turns and delaying the time it took to get to their destination. Jarod knew these streets like the back of his hand. They drove for about a half hour before the van finally stopped in what Jarod thought was the middle of nowhere. The sweeper to Jarod's left opened the back door to the van but remained sitting. Then they waited. Jarod could see that they were facing a pretty desolate back road. When a car finally did come, Lyle, who came in another car, tried to flag it down but it kept on going. Two more cars came and went before the forth one finally slowed down. A middle-aged women stepped out of the car. Jarod could see two children in the back seat playing some childish game to ward off the boredom of the long drive. Lyle gave the women a relieved smile.
"Thank goodness you stopped!" He exclaimed as he walked towards her. "We have been here waiting forever for someone to help us! Bless you."
He pulled out a gun.
"You're going to need it."
Two sweepers stepped behind the lady cutting off her escape route. Her eyes widened and she tried to scream but someone covered her mouth. She was led to the van where Jarod was being held. She struggled the whole time but the man behind her kept her from going anywhere but where he wanted.
When Lyle came strolling up, Jarod's eyes where like saucers and his jaw was working angrily. He tried to spring up but the chains were holding him down. Lyle smiled and waved his gun about aimlessly.
"Someone once told me don't gamble anything you aren't willing to lose. Now, everything back at The Centre that means something to you, I'm not willing to lose, but there is one thing that means nothing to me that you would be willing to die for, Jarod. Human life. Now seeing as this young lady was kind enough to volunteer I'm going to give you a choice Jarod. Be a good boy and behave, or let her get killed execution style in front of those kids over there.
The kids had stopped playing their game and now had their noses pressed up against the window calling for their mommy in fear. The lady looked back at them, angst written all over her features.
"So what's it going to be, Jarod? I can start off by killing her and just keep on grabbing people from the street, their homes, their offices... or you can be a good boy. For every wrong you do and every disrespect you show me another person will die."
Jarod's mind worked furiously. He balanced his choices. Either he continued to refuse to do Sims and watch people die before his very eyes or he do the Sims and people die because of what he thought up. He could always botch the Sims or delay them as long as possible.
"No Lyle, don't. I'll do the Sims, just don't kill her."
"Well I think I'm going to have to, purely for insurance of your corporation."
With that, Lyle shot the lady in the head as Jarod watched, screaming in horror. The kids in the car screamed for their mommy, but cowered in the far corner when a sweeper came to retrieve them from their tiny alcove. Lyle shoved his gun back in its holster and walked off the car awaiting him, stepping over the lady's body as he went. A sweeper climbed into the van and closed the doors. The driver started up the engine and they started their way back to The Centre.
Jarod sat on the bench with his eyes closed tightly, trying to get the image of Lyle shooting that poor girl down out of his head. He was the cause of all of this. If he hadn't been so stupid as to get himself caught in the first place that lady would never had been killed and those kids would still have a mom. He raised a manacled hand to rub his face in silent anguish, wondering "what next?"
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A/N: Once again, please review! (Hint: R&R doesn't mean rest and relaxation!!)
A/N: I want to formally apologize to everybody for my mistakes. I read over all I have written for this story so far, and I was shocked. This wasn't how I wanted to portray my character (Takara). I made the people in the story seem super human like as if nothing could make them angry or sad. I am terribly sorry for that and will be trying to fix that in the coming chapters (starting with Jarod in this one). I am really sorry about that, and I hope you forgive me!! *Smiles*
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8:00 am
Miss Parker's Office
SL-5
The Centre
Blue Cove, Delaware
Miss Parker sat at her desk going over the reports to Jarod's latest hideout when Broots scampered in, looking once more behind him to make sure no one was following him. Parker sat back in her chair, knowing the "I got something big to tell you" face when she saw it. She twirled a pencil between her perfectly manicured fingers and leaned back as she waited for the "big news" to come. Broots sat down in the opposite chair and the expression on his face changed from his "big news" expression to his "now I'm gonna ask you something so please don't kill me" face.
"Miss Parker... uh, Lyle ordered me to go to Africa with him for a week. He said there are some technical difficulties down there that only I can deal with. I can't find anybody to watch Debbie. Uh... do you think that you could watch her?"
Miss Parker was too preoccupied with wondering about Lyle to make some rude remark towards Broots-- much to his relief. She muttered that she would watch Debbie for the week and Broots broke into a big smile and left her office.
Miss Parker stopped fidgeting with the pencil in her hand. Africa had a ton of technicians. Why would they need Broots? Miss Parker made a mental note to get to the bottom of Lyle's shenanigans the moment she had time. She heaved a deep sigh and went back to reviewing the reports.
________________
A few hours later
Testing room 148
SL-26
The Centre
Blue Cove, Delaware
"You know, I really don't like this knock-us-out-and-take-us-where-you-want-us thing," mumbled Ralph as he tried to shake off the effects of the drugs.
He opened his eyes to see that he wouldn't be able to get up even if he wanted to. He was strapped into a chair by steel cuffs around his arms, elbows, knees, ankles and neck. He couldn't even move his head to see if anybody else was in the room. He heard moans around him and accurately identified them as his brothers. He didn't hear Kara, though.
"Where's Kara?" He asked once he figured his brothers were all awake.
"I dunno," Leo answered honestly.
Ralph was about to make a snide remark about the scientists when he felt a tingle run through him.
"What the heck was that!?" He yelled.
"I don't like the look of this," he heard Donny say to the right of him.
"It looks like Electro shock. They want to see how much pain we can with stand."
Just as he finished another tingle came-- this one slightly stronger.
"So... I take it that we'll be here awhile?"
"I think so, Mikey. They can only go to four hundred volts or so. It feels like they're starting at ten or so just to scare us. They'll work their way up until... well, you get the idea."
"Hours of fun with electrical currents. Yippee," Ralph mocked.
Yet another current came through their bodies. This time it felt like it had originated in the upper arm. The one after that was enough to make them all grunt.
"So is it like possible to mediate right now?" Asked Mikey hoping that he wouldn't have to feel the effects of the rest of the test.
"I don't think so, Mikey. That's why the shocks are coming so close together. They don't want us to be able to mediate," Leo explained.
Another shock.
"Son of a..." Ralph muttered.
The shocks started coming more intensely and more frequently. It was past the point of yelling curses or expressing any displeasure. Now all they could do was sit and wither in the chairs they were bound to. Their muscles contracted repeatedly in protest against the amps going through them, and they were quickly tiring. Once in awhile one of them would let out a growl of frustration, but other than that and the constant buzzing of pent up electricity, the room was dead silent.
After about an hour of intense pain, the locks to the cuffs suddenly popped open. All four of the guys jumped out of the chairs, afraid that they might still be able to be caused pain, despite their obvious exhaustion from the test. They were able to walk to the middle of the room, and then fell to the floor in a heap. The sweepers came into the room and Leo struggled to his feet. He helped his brothers up, and walked out of the room, not even waiting for the sweepers to "persuade" them with their tranquilizer guns.
They bearly got into the door of their cell before they fell to the floor-- all of them refusing to take one more step. The scientists came in to clean Ralph's arm and check out the others. One bent down to Ralph's level.
"Touch me and die," he growled from his position on the floor, sprawled out and spread-eagled.
The doctor, seeing how serious Ralph was, backed away and out of the cage. Food was once more placed next to their door, and then all the scientists took their leave.
"If I eat anything I'll puke," commented Don as he tried to roll over on his side.
"That was the work out of my life, and all I had to do was sit there," joked Mikey as he closed his eyes against the bright lights outside their cage.
"All I want to do is sleep for the rest of the week," Leo slurred, already starting to drift off to la-la land.
"Maybe a nice, long, non-drug- induced sleep would do us all some good," Don suggested as he rolled once more so that he was resting on his plastron using his arms for a pillow.
Soon they were all snoring. A scientist rushed around, grabbing data from the tests, jotting down notes about the sleeping turtles, and running genetic tests from the blood, skin and shell fragments that had been taken from the turtles while they were knocked out.
Dr. Kozwell sat in her chair facing the cage that held the mutant reptiles. They all lay sprawled near the entrance of their cage, snoring for all they were worth. The food lay untouched in one corner. What were these strange creatures, and why were they in the New York sewers? So far a lot had been discovered about the animals. The endurance test was a complete disaster but they did find out that they had a somewhat high endurance level and liked to challenge it. They also knew about personal hygiene from the fact that they took showers. The results from the Electro shock were not back yet, though. Kozwell was in charge of the next test. Chutuck was originally in charge, but he had messed up the endurance test and was probably going to pay dearly for it.
Kozwell snapped out of her thoughts as she noticed movement in the cage. The orange turtle kicked the red turtle in his sleep. The red turtle whacked him across the head in return. Where these animals really sleeping? They had to be! With the test that they had just endured there was no way that they could just be pretending to sleep. The orange one went to punch the red one but the red one blocked it. They seemed to settle down again and all was silent. Kozwell got up to make sure someone had made a note of what had happened. She didn't need to worry about the subjects waking up any time soon; they would be out for the next few hours.
_________
4:30 pm
SL-22,
Jarod's cell
The Centre
Blue Cove, Delaware
Jarod sat on the floor of his cell counting the black specks in the concrete. It took him nine hours to get one sixteenth of the floor done. After he was done with that, he was going to count the scratches in the bars. Lyle was definitely giving him the silent treatment. He was brought meals twice and let out of his cell to do his business three times. Nothing was on a schedule. Lyle must have made sure that everything was completely random so that the pretender could not plan things by when guards changed and meals were brought. They had let him out of the cuffs six hours ago, but nobody had said anything. Jarod was on dot three million eight hundred sixty-two when the door beeped. Jarod looked up to see Lyle walk in with a trademark grin on his face. Jarod didn't bother to stand up. He just sat in his corner looking up at Lyle. 'I want to wipe the grin off his face so bad' he thought as Lyle stepped inside the room, his hands stuffed in his pockets nonchalantly.
"I wanted to be the first to welcome you home, Jarod, and to tell you the good news."
"You just saved a bunch of money by switching to GEICO?"
Lyle looked at him, confused for a second, then shrugged it off and continued.
"We have customers by the hundreds lined up just because of those freaks you were with. Doesn't it feel great knowing that you're the reason they're in a cage performing tricks for the crowd?"
As Lyle talked he slowly stepped closer and crouched down right in front of Jarod. Jarod's jaw noticeably set at the mention of the turtles, and Lyle straightened and took a few steps back having made his point. Two sweepers came forward in his place and pulled Jarod to his feet. They all walked to the sim lab, standing in a straight line, though sweepers flanked Jarod on the way. The pretender counted five doors until he got to the sim lab. There was no other hallways or corridors. The sweepers shoved him into a chair that was set in front of a metal table. The table's top was covered in files. Jarod picked one up and looked at it. It was a blood analysis. The blood, although having some human components in it, was not normal. Jarod figured that he was either looking at Kara's, or one of the turtle's blood work. Whatever Lyle had planned, it wasn't good. Jarod picked up another file. It contained the chemical break down of some object. It contained large amounts of calcium. 'This is definitely the file on the turtles. Now what do they want me to do with them?' thought Jarod as he continued to sift through what was in front of him. There was different test, notes, and theories. There was a lot there for only nine hours.
"What are they?"
Jarod looked up to see that Lyle was right in front of him.
"There is a chemical that our scientists could not break down into any elements. Your job is to find out what it is."
Jarod grinned. The Centre scientists were unstoppable. They did everything first and nothing ever stumped them for too long, especially a simple blood analysis or chemical breakdown. There were things that they could do with this that could harm people. Splinter had told Jarod about their mutation, and unless he was wrong, this unidentified chemical was probably what made them what they were. If The Centre could find a way to manipulate this chemical then they could have other uses for it.
"Nope. I'm not going to help you Lyle."
Before Jarod could get any more furious then he already was, he felt a stinging flame hit his back with a snap. He winced and looked back to see a sweeper wielding a whip with three small sharp metal balls attached to the end. 'It's gonna be a long day,' thought Jarod glumly as the sweeper readied himself for another strike.
__________
2:30 pm
SL-26
Sim lab 201
The Centre
Blue Cove, Delaware
Kara awoke with a start. Someone was close... too close. She jumped up into a crouch. Someone was behind her, and she didn't even take time to turn around to see who it was. She threw herself to the left and watched the offender fall as he missed the target he was trying to tackle. Kara looked around. She was in the sim lab that was built to be a forest. Last time was kind of fun, but Kara felt that this time was not going to be the same. Nonetheless she was still mad about getting darted. This room was huge and she could elude the sweepers for a long time if she wanted to. Plus, if she wasted their time that meant that she wouldn't have to go back to her room so soon. Her ears pricked at the sound of someone trying to walk silently and the sound of someone else trying to move through the trees with stealth. She moved off in the opposite direction with out a sound. The best place to hide was always in plain sight.
She walked over to a huge rock that was at least three times her height and stayed in sight long enough for the sweeper at ground level to see her. She then went around the other side of the rock, making them think she was going to play the walk-around-until-someone-makes-a-mistake game. The sweeper in the trees came down to sandwich her in. One sweeper went around one side of the rock the other one went the opposite way. Kara quickly scaled the rock with little effort on her part. The sweepers snuck around the side of the rock with their guns drawn. They ended up telling each other to freeze. Kara silently chuckled to herself and leaped up into the branches above her. She balanced there for a second, and then darted off. She stayed in the trees until she got to a wall. She sat there, waiting patiently for her opponents to betray their position. She didn't have to wait long. To her left she heard two sets of feet coming in her direction. They were not the same. These footsteps were heavier and they walked on their toes, not their heels. Not knowing how many sweepers she was up against, Kara decided to start knocking some out. As the footsteps got closer she quickly decided on the moves she was going to use. A man passed under the tree she was sitting in and another one was three feet to the right of him. Kara took a chance. She jumped out of the tree and tried to perform the split kick that she had been practicing. The extra height the tree gave her was an advantage. She successfully knocked the two guys to the ground, three more running towards the sound when they heard the bodies falling to the ground. Kara took to her feet and ran through the simulated woods, dodging trees and hopping over bushes. The sweepers had no chance whatsoever of keeping up.
Kara slowed down when she thought she had lost them. She was about to go back and try a different tactic when sweepers with guns stepped out of the surrounding foliage. They had her cornered. She sat down right in the middle of them to show her submission, and the lights came on fully in the room. The sweepers led Kara out of the woods, and she saw Dr. Bo sitting just outside of the fake tree line. Kara walked over to him and allowed gave him a smile, inwardly seething. He smiled back at her and gave her a curt nod.
"I hate you," Kara stated.
"Hate is a very strong word, Kara."
"And it is appropriate for this situation. You lock up every person that is different all for the sake of science. You don't seem to have a conscience. You spend every waking moment in this depressing place. I think I have a right to hate you."
Bo sat there, and understood what Kara wouldn't say. She didn't hate him... she hated The Centre. She was expressing her feelings safely by replacing the true object of her hate with him. Bo couldn't blame her, personally. The poor kid had her life uprooted and now she was back in a place she didn't want to be. Bo smiled at her again to show that he understood her need to yell at him. The sweepers moved closer to take her back to her room for the night. She went in a huff, completely enraged about her predicament.
___________
6:00 pm
Parker's house
Blue Cove, Delaware
"I already have the guest room made up for you, Debbie."
Parker stepped into the house and set her stuff down to take off her coat. Debbie followed her into the house, still holding her backpack full of clothes. She followed her to the guestroom and set down her bag, and then walked around the room and looked up, giving Parker a big smile.
"Thank you for letting me stay here, Miss Parker."
"No problem, Kiddo. Your dad says he's going to be gone for awhile, so I was thinking-- how would you like to go to the zoo with me this Saturday?"
Debbie's eyes lit up like the forth of July.
"Really!? Oh, Miss Parker, I would love that so much!"
Parker laughed. "Ok, but you have to promise me you will be good this week. Deal?"
"Oh I will, Miss Parker! Don't worry, I will!"
"Good, now get ready for dinner. How does spaghetti sound? The boxed kind, though; I don't want to kill you with my cooking."
___________
5:00 am
SL-26
Kara's room
The Centre
Blue Cove, Delaware
Kara sat on her bed staring at the ceiling. Being in her cell was deadly boring. She sat thinking about her situation. Jarod was nowhere insight and as for Splinter, she didn't have any idea what they would do to him. He was old and he would be stubborn about the tests. There would be no way they would get him to do even the simplest ones.
Her mind wandered to Dr. Bo. She felt kind of bad for him. He wasn't meant to be here. The poor guy must have been forced into being in The Centre. Everyday he came in with the same expression on his face. He had a hidden fear of this place. Kara couldn't figure him out. He was here, yet he didn't want to be. Didn't he have a family? He really needed someone to rescue him before he becamecorrupted like all the others.
And what would happen to them when the hard stuff came? What would happen when the terrorist Sims were apart of daily life for her? What would happen when the scientists got bored of seeing what the turtles could do?
Kara got up and started to pace. She needed to get some anger out. In one fluid motion she got on the flow and started doing push-ups. When she got tired of them she went to sit ups, then crunches, and then she started fighting imaginary opponents. She repeated everything over and over again. She only got more furious as she worked. She punched her imaginary Lyle in the face, and then kicked him in the gut. Her pretend Lyle was killed quite a few times before she started to tire. She let off her attack and went over to the corner to sit. She was breathing heavily and still had the fire of anger in her eyes. Without realizing it, she went into meditation. She sat on the floor, her eyes closed, thinking about the upcoming day one second, and the next second she was at peace and wandering through her own mind again. Once she realized what she was doing she almost came out of it, but she stayed, knowing that she had a few hours to herself before everyone came to work.
____________
8:00 am
SL-5
Miss Parker's office
The Centre
Blue Cove, Delaware
Miss Parker walked into her office with Debbie at her side. She motioned for Debbie to sit, and the girl walked over to the computer chair and took a seat.
Miss Parker sat at her desk to start reading over memos. She informed Debbie that she could play on the computer or work on the things she brought, and that they would go out to lunch at noon. Debbie didn't have to go to school because it was an in-service day, and so Parker had no choice but to bring her to work with her though she hated Debbie being in The Centre.
Parker started through the large pile of memos on her desk. One by one she went through them and signed them, or filed them. Then she got to one that was not hers. The sweeper that delivered it must have gotten the wrong office. She read it any way. It was a memo to her father from Raines, and it was about Jarod! It said that he was coming along on project Mutate. How was that possible? Jarod was outside The Centre. Parker had just chased a lead on him yesterday. Then it hit her. Leaving her stunned in shock and rage. Lyle was setting false leads for her!
"Debbie, stay here. I have to go talk to somebody."
Parker swept out of the room and down the hall towards Lyle's office. He was going to get a piece of her mind. NOBODY set false trails for a Parker! She was mad at him the last time he did this, but this time she was furious. 'He had better have one heck of an alibi if he wants to get off the hook this time!' She stormed down the hall with the crumpled memo still in her hand.
She threw the doors to Lyle's office open and strutted in, ferocity in her steps. Lyle was not there yet, but she could wait. She could wait forever to ring his neck for this one!
____________
8:00 am
SL-26
Turtle's cell
The Centre
Blue Cove, Delaware
Mikey stood and stretched. He may have slept for eleven hours, but it sure didn't feel like it. He had been woken up numerous times during the night from the beeps of different equipment or just the constant droning of the computer terminals. No scientist had stayed during the night, but no doubt they would review the tapes from the security cameras to makes sure they had missed nothing. Don was in the corner practicing his kattas. Leo was on the floor meditating and Ralph... Ralph was just pacing back and forth waiting for his chance to clobber someone. Mikey sat on the floor beside Leo and closed his eyes. He had learned long ago that there was no snapping his brothers out of kattas or mediation, and if he tried to talk to Ralph, well, it just wouldn't turn out good. Mikey did figure out years ago that he could tease his brothers somewhat if they were mediating.
Each person has a vibe that they give off. When they are in mediation their vibes become stronger. They are so strong in fact that it can turn into a way of communication. The brothers could sense feelings through the vibes. Mikey would often meditate when his brothers were and send them intense feelings of happiness right when he sensed they were trying to concentrate. They would get quite mad. He had no intention of doing so right now, though. He just wanted to let Leo know how he felt about this whole thing of being captured.
An hour later the scientists came in with their breakfast. Dr. Chutuck followed in behind them. The sweepers were there too, but they didn't have dart guns. Mikey promptly jumped up and lightly punched Chutuck in the face. Nonetheless he fell to the floor with his hand over his face.
"What was that for!?" He yelled, his voice muffled from his hand.
Mikey looked around as if he was he didn't know who the doctor was talking to then he smiled at the realization it was himself. He broke into a grin and pointed a finger at Leo.
"Leo told me too!"
Leo opened one eye and glared at Mikey.
"I told you it wasn't a bad idea. Dude bro, you need some practice."
He then closed his eyes again and was gone to the world. Mikey glared at Leo jokingly.
"Thanks a lot, dude."
Mikey turned back to Chutuck who was now back on his feet again but still had his left had over his now broken nose.
"Uh... er... he he, no hard feelings?"
Chutuck glared at Mikey and tried to regain some dignity by straightening his posture and puffing his chest out.
"You didn't come in here for nothin'. What do you want?" Ralph quipped irritably as he itched at his unwounded arm. His fingers ran over an unfamiliar bump and he looked down at his upper arm. There, injected into his green skin was a tattoo... an ID tattoo. The rough spot he had felt was just below the mark in his arm that read CT12. He looked up at his brothers to see all their arms coded in a similar fashion. Ralph walked over Chutuck, and in a blink of an eye he had him by his shirt collar, shoved up against the far wall of their cell.
"What do you think this is?" Yell Ralph motioning towards his arm.
The doctor tried his hardest to smile a bit. Ralph slammed him into the wall again for emphasis.
"I'm not going to be branded like some cattle stock!" He screamed.
Chutuck made eye contact with someone out side of the cage. Suddenly Ralph let go of Chutuck with a yelp and went down to the floor clasping his ID coded arm. Ralph continued to lie groaning on the floor until Chutuck was out of the cage. His brothers rushed over to him but Donny motioned for them to stay back. Finally the pain seemed to let up and Ralph got up with a grunt. He scratched some more at the bump, knowing that whatever it was it was causing the pain. He tried to scratch it out, but to no avail.
"What I wouldn't give for fingernails right now," he mumbled.
Another scientist came to the door.
"You are to come out one at a time. You are to be separated for your IQ tests."
The door beeped and Leo stepped out when all of his brothers gave him the "you go, not me" look. A scientist led Leo off to another room. The sweeper didn't tag along, because each scientist now held a remote control device that caused the electric shock Ralph has suffered from. One by one they were led out of the cage to different rooms to start their second day of tests.
___________
8:08 am
SL-22
Jarod's cell
The Centre
Blue Cove, Delaware
"... the call is free, one-eight-hundred safe auto. Play it safe, safe auto."
"What? No more cree craw toad's foot?" Lyle mocked.
"The techs up in the lab get bored with that one. I decided to give them a variety," said Jarod, grinning at Lyle.
His stay in The Centre may not be pleasant but there was no way he was letting Lyle know that. Jarod stood with a groan as the sweepers came in. The whipping that he had endured the day before had left his back in tatters. There was no sense in wearing a shirt anymore, seeing as the material touching the still open and much-agitated wounds only caused more pain. The sweepers surrounded Jarod and shoved him out of the cell.
'Here we go again' thought Jarod as he was led to the room he had deemed "The Torture Room".
To Jarod's surprise they didn't stop when they reached the correct door. The sweepers kept on going until they got to the door for the elevator. While they waited for the elevator to reach ground level one sweeper pulled out a pair of manacles that bound the subject's hands together and ran down and around the feet. He put them on Jarod and all the sweepers drew their guns and pointed them at the master pretender. They certainly weren't taking any chances.
They got out of the elevator and the sweepers pressed in close to Jarod, making escape impossible. To Jarod's surprise they walked right out of the building. The sweepers ushered Jarod over to a black van and shoved him in. A few sweepers climbed in after him and chained him to the bench he sat on. A driver climbed in the front and they were off. If they were going somewhere why didn't they just drug him? There was much more of a chance of him escaping while he was awake than if he was knocked out. A MUCH better chance!
They drove along for what seemed like forever. There was no use in making false turns and delaying the time it took to get to their destination. Jarod knew these streets like the back of his hand. They drove for about a half hour before the van finally stopped in what Jarod thought was the middle of nowhere. The sweeper to Jarod's left opened the back door to the van but remained sitting. Then they waited. Jarod could see that they were facing a pretty desolate back road. When a car finally did come, Lyle, who came in another car, tried to flag it down but it kept on going. Two more cars came and went before the forth one finally slowed down. A middle-aged women stepped out of the car. Jarod could see two children in the back seat playing some childish game to ward off the boredom of the long drive. Lyle gave the women a relieved smile.
"Thank goodness you stopped!" He exclaimed as he walked towards her. "We have been here waiting forever for someone to help us! Bless you."
He pulled out a gun.
"You're going to need it."
Two sweepers stepped behind the lady cutting off her escape route. Her eyes widened and she tried to scream but someone covered her mouth. She was led to the van where Jarod was being held. She struggled the whole time but the man behind her kept her from going anywhere but where he wanted.
When Lyle came strolling up, Jarod's eyes where like saucers and his jaw was working angrily. He tried to spring up but the chains were holding him down. Lyle smiled and waved his gun about aimlessly.
"Someone once told me don't gamble anything you aren't willing to lose. Now, everything back at The Centre that means something to you, I'm not willing to lose, but there is one thing that means nothing to me that you would be willing to die for, Jarod. Human life. Now seeing as this young lady was kind enough to volunteer I'm going to give you a choice Jarod. Be a good boy and behave, or let her get killed execution style in front of those kids over there.
The kids had stopped playing their game and now had their noses pressed up against the window calling for their mommy in fear. The lady looked back at them, angst written all over her features.
"So what's it going to be, Jarod? I can start off by killing her and just keep on grabbing people from the street, their homes, their offices... or you can be a good boy. For every wrong you do and every disrespect you show me another person will die."
Jarod's mind worked furiously. He balanced his choices. Either he continued to refuse to do Sims and watch people die before his very eyes or he do the Sims and people die because of what he thought up. He could always botch the Sims or delay them as long as possible.
"No Lyle, don't. I'll do the Sims, just don't kill her."
"Well I think I'm going to have to, purely for insurance of your corporation."
With that, Lyle shot the lady in the head as Jarod watched, screaming in horror. The kids in the car screamed for their mommy, but cowered in the far corner when a sweeper came to retrieve them from their tiny alcove. Lyle shoved his gun back in its holster and walked off the car awaiting him, stepping over the lady's body as he went. A sweeper climbed into the van and closed the doors. The driver started up the engine and they started their way back to The Centre.
Jarod sat on the bench with his eyes closed tightly, trying to get the image of Lyle shooting that poor girl down out of his head. He was the cause of all of this. If he hadn't been so stupid as to get himself caught in the first place that lady would never had been killed and those kids would still have a mom. He raised a manacled hand to rub his face in silent anguish, wondering "what next?"
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A/N: Once again, please review! (Hint: R&R doesn't mean rest and relaxation!!)