Disclaimer: Do I really have to say this again? Ya'll know the drill, right? Great. Ok. On with the story!
Ch. 12 - Love is Blind
"I bet you anything that girl has something to do with Leo's capture," Raph sneered.
"The note didn't say anything about Brianna," Mikey pointed out.
"Raph has a point," Donnie said.
"He does?" Mikey asked as he tried to duck from his brother's headlock but failed. Soon the two were wrestling on the ground.
"Michelangelo! Raphael! Enough!" Splinter yelled out while tapping his cane on the floor. The two brothers got off of each other but anyone could tell that they weren't done picking on each other.
"I've really got to go to work but I want to hear why Donnie thinks Raph has a point," April said. She was over 30 minutes late and would've only been about 20 minutes late had it not been for that note stuck to her front door.
"Judging from certain words used, I believe the government has Leo. Since they are after Brianna and considering how close those two have become, the only logical assumption is that she's involved somehow. However I don't think that she's responsible for his capture,"
"Ah, I see. Well I really hope you guys get Leo back," April said as left for work.
"I suggest you three prepare for tonight. I fear this new 'enemy' is a much bigger threat than Shredder ever was," Splinter said to his sons.
Leo had wanted to stay awake and alert but his captors had other plans. As soon as Brianna returned, one of them climbed into the back of the van and injected him with some kind of drug. Still under the effects of the stun gun, he had been unable to resist or to fight back. First his vision went blurry then there was nothing. He could only hope that his brothers would not get captured.
"Aren't you going to take it with you when you go to capture the others?" Lt. Nitwite asked Capt. Carter, referring to the huge turtle-like creature on the gurney table that Dana and her assistant were examining.
"No. As long as those other creatures meet us tonight, that's all that matters. I don't intend to return the one we have now. Least not alive," was Carter's reply. Lt. Nitwite nodded his head in understanding. There was a lot their scientists could learn from this turtle. And it would take time for them to complete all their experiments and examinations.
"What have you discovered so far from this creature?" Capt. Carter asked Dana, the head scientist in charge of the turtle project.
"The creature is a male and has three digits on his hands and feet. We took a blood sample among other things. We'll know more as soon as the results come back from the lab," She answered.
"Well here we are," Donnie said when they arrived at the designated alleyway. They had practiced, slept, and meditated during the day. They were both physically and mentally prepared to handle this new 'enemy'. At least that's what they thought until they all felt the sting from a stun gun.
"What the shell is going on?" Raph asked as he went down and found he couldn't get up. He looked over at his brothers and saw that they were in the same predicament.
"We're going to reunite you with the other one," A man's voice said as the turtles were put into a van and drugged like Leo had been.
"I have one more task for you to do," Capt. Carter said to Brianna. She nodded without even looking up.
"I order you to test your abilities on those turtles. Now follow me," He instructed as he lead her into the room where the turtles were being held.
"Gawd, my head hurts. Oh! Hey, LEO!" Mikey said as he noticed that Leo was with them.
"Welcome back Mikey," Leo said as he smiled. Mikey was the last one awake but the others had only just awoken a few minutes before. Leo had been going out of his way to prove to his brothers that he was fine. Truth was that he hurt in the worst places imagined. He didn't feel that his younger brothers should hear about the little 'examination' he went through.
Just then the door was open and Capt. Carter and Brianna walked through. He whispered something to her and quickly shut the door before the turtles could react. Leo was the first to jump up and run over to Brianna. Mikey soon followed as he was glad to see her too. Raph just glared and Donnie stayed right where he was.
"Are you okay? Have they hurt you?" Leo asked her. She didn't seem to hear him for she just stood there. A moment later she threw both brothers clear across the room. Raph charged at her but she used her teleportation and got out of his way in the blink of an eye. So he crashed into the wall with full force. She reappeared behind Donnie and kicked his legs out from under him, causing him to fall on his face. She then teleported back over to Leo who once again tried to reason with her.
"Brianna! Please listen to me! We are your friends! We did not wish to hurt you! Why are you attacking us?" She continued to attack him as he tried to defend himself. Raph soon got up and rushed over to help Leo.
"I told you she'd betray us and she did!" Raph said as ducked from the punches that she threw at him.
"No! I don't believe it!" Leo cried out. Brianna quickly jumped out and kicked Leo and Raph in the gut, sending them down to the ground.
"You've got to believe it!" Raph said back. He was getting quite irritated with his brother. The only reason they had even been found out by the government was because of her. They had tracked her to their home and planted a little tiny camera so they could watch them. When they found out about the four large walking turtles, they decided to exploit them for their own hidden purposes. And they had used Brianna to get them! It was so obvious what she had done to them, not to mention the fact that she had attacked them before and had tried to kill Leo twice the night before! Now here she was attacking them yet again! Why couldn't Leo see what was in front of his face? Oh yea, right. He's in love with her. Just the thought of those two made him sick.
"It's not true!" Leo responded. Leo and Raph were too busy fighting with each other and Mikey was busy trying to keep them apart and distract Brianna that only Donnie noticed the silvery glare from her neck. What the heck is that? He focused his attention on it and saw that it appeared to be some electronic device of some kind. Is that what caused her to attack Leo and almost kill him at Shredder's hideout? And what made her trick Leo into getting caught and thereby getting the rest of us caught? And also why she's attacking us right now? Hmm.. I wonder. Donnie rushed over to her right as she about to execute a deadly blow against Leo. He yanked off the electronic chip as fast as he could. She screeched out in pain and collapsed to the floor. The other three turtles turned to look at their brother in shock. What had he just done? Here they were fighting for their lives and he had simply put his hand on her neck and she was out?
"Damn that turtle to hell!" Capt. Carter shouted. He, Lt. Nitwite, and Dana had been observing the fight through the looking-glass mirror. Apparently the purple one was pretty smart. He had been the only one to discover the little device on her neck used to control her. None of the others had.
"I think the purple one would be a better choice for dissection. We could discover what makes that mere turtle so smart," Dana said thoughtfully.
"Yes perhaps you are right," Carter agreed. He excused Dana and Lt. Nitwite to get everything set up for the procedure. The turtles and Brianna would be alright. The door was heavily secured and there was no way out for them so he left himself to go report to the Commander.
"She's coming to!" Mikey excitedly called out. Leo, of course, had been the one to rush over to her and had laid her head in his lap. He had been trying to get her to wake up for 15 minutes now. Mikey had been pacing around the room occasionally checking on her to see if she had awoken yet.
"Finally! Now maybe we can get some answers!" Raph said.
"Back off Raph. Give her some space," said Leo.
"No! I warned everyone that she was a threat to us and I was right! Now I want some answers and she's gonna give them to me!"
"She is NOT a threat! And I TOLD you to BACK OFF!" He said as he glared at his brother.
"You know what your problem is Leo? You're too blinded by love to see what is right in front of your face!"
"What's going on?" Brianna asked.
"That's what I'd like to know!" Raph yelled.
"Never mind him. What's the last thing you remember?" Leo asked her as he brushed the hair out of her face.
"I remember those men attacking us in your home. I remember going with you and April back to her place. I remember the foot attacking and I remember getting shot with something. I think it was a tranquilizer," She answered.
"What about after? Do you remember what happened next?" Mikey asked as he sat down next to them, eager to hear why she had been acting funny lately.
"I woke up in this room. I think it was a lab of some kind. I was strapped onto some table so I couldn't escape. This man calling himself Shredder and some scientist named Thomas walked in and he told me that he was going to use me to get rid of you guys!" She started to cry when the memories of what Shredder had done to her and what she had done to them slowly started coming back to her. Leo just held her and let her cry onto his shoulder. Donnie had also joined them and was eager to hear more. Raph was still angry and wouldn't sit still. He started attacking invisible enemies.
"Go on. What happened next?" Donnie asked.
"I told him that I wouldn't do it and he said it didn't matter. Thomas had invented a small microchip that could be used to make me do Shredder's bidding. Shredder than showed me this little control box and that whoever controlled was in charge of me. He then had Thomas put the chip in me. I tried to fight it! I really did!" She cried.
"It's okay. It wasn't your fault," He soothingly said.
"I vaguely remember the things I did while under the control of that chip. Oh god! I'm so sorry! I never meant to try to kill you! I never wanted to hurt you or your brothers! I'm sorry! I'm so sorry!" She apologized as she cried even more.
"It's okay. I forgive you," He whispered in her and started to rock her to try to calm her. She looked over at Donnie and remembered how he was going to find out how to make her normal. There was no question about it now. She just had to be made normal. It was the only way to stop this madness! The only way everyone would leave her alone and let her live her life.
"Donnie you've got to make me normal! Get rid of these abilities! All they do is cause people harm! Please help me fix the damage that I've done! Make sure that I can never cause this kind of damage ever again! Please help me," She pleaded. Donnie wished he could help her, but he couldn't. It just couldn't be done.
"I'm very sorry Brianna. There's nothing I can do. Whatever the government did to you is irreversible," He told her.
"Nooo!" She sobbed. She was doomed to live out the rest of her life as a freak. She could never have any kind of a normal life. Not with the government still interested in her.