The Enemy

Disclaimer: I deny any ownership of any adult or adolescent transformed shadow warrior chelonians.

Chapter Seven - Don Theories

Michaelangelo:

The startled shocked expression that came to her face was enough to assure me that Rama did know something about having too many fingers at one time.

I wasn't even the least surprised to realize that Raphael still had a strong influence on that girl. How many times had I seen Raph perform those very same stunts with his sai to amuse a youthful Rama? More times then I could count she was fascinated with the weapons and was intrigued with the skills her uncle showed that went above and beyond the fighting techniques.

Now, like her once favourite Uncle, Rama would haul out a sai and fiddle with it.

More importantly though was the fact I had proven, to my self at least, that Rama could remember certain things about us, and that gave me hope because it meant that my plan might actually be possible. It wasn't as unattainable as perhaps the others thought.

Once she knew the truth it ought to be an easy choice for her to make, I mean why would she want to stay with Yukio when she could be with her own family. She could help us escape, and in return we could help protect her, from Yukio's wrath and desire for revenge.

No matter how I looked at it, or turned things over in my mind Rama was still the best chance we had to survive this hell hole.

I waited until she left before grinning wide " Did you see the look on her face Leo?" I almost crowed with delight.

Leo scowled my way " I'd be very careful baiting her Mike. She is dangerous and if she is ever allowed to torture you she will get her revenge on you" he cautioned me, " Don't give her a reason to go there Mike."

" Leo don't you get it? Didn't you see? She does remember some thing of her time with us and I'm sure she can recall more with some help" I insisted refusing to give in. " Look at how she handled the sai, who else does that? If she can be reached Leo then…"

Leo cut me off " I don't hold out for much help from Ramiela" he remarked dryly " Perhaps things might have been different if she hadn't been gone for the amount of time she has been missing from us." Leo sighed, " Mike you have to understand we are against nine years of Foot training, so what if she recalls the fact that at the age of four she felt she had too many fingers to use a sai. What will it give us Mike?" Leo shook his head sighing wistfully and glanced over towards Karena and the twins cell.

Rama had spent a great deal of time near their cell looking in at them. Karena and Leo had both tensed, whenever, she had drawn close to the bars as if expecting the worse from her, even though Rama had prevented an attack on Karena.

Of course I, and the rest of the family was fully aware the only reason Rama had stopped the attack was because Yukio hadn't authorized it, sparing Karena from being repeatedly raped in front of her children.

" When Rama was younger she caught on to things very quickly Leo, she is very smart and I am sure she will be able to add a few things together. Once she knows the truth what would stop her from helping us?" I wondered. " I haven't heard a better plan offered at all but you don't even want to try it, simply because Rama has been a Foot Soldier for the last nine years."

Leo frowned a bit then turned to look towards Don " Is there a chance, a possibility that I don't see?"

Don grimaced " I was hoping that both of you would leave me out of this" he muttered.

" Why Don?" Leo inquired curious to the reply.

Don glanced at Leo " Well I've been turning things over in my own mind, ever since I saw Ramiela here and it just" he sighed shook his head a bit " Isn't very promising is all," He concluded uneasily.

" That is what I suspected." Leo agreed, " It is why I wish that Mike would just give up on Ramiela."

" Never!" I growled low at the thought.

" It isn't promising just for the reasons you are thinking of Leo but for other factors as well" Don hastened to inform us.

" Such as?" Raph asked curious, he had to be bored if he was asking Don questions like that.

" Well Mike is correct in assuming that Ramiela can be made to recall certain memories of us, and therefore recall bits of her past as well" Don began hesitantly " In fact Rama might have been remembering little things about us for some years now, but since we have reappeared in her life we can present her with larger chunks of missing memory." Don grinned " Sort of fill in the blank spots in her past."

" I don't understand you Don how in the world do we give Rama a chunk of her memory. Isn't memory connected to that person?" Raph demanded.

" Memories are often attached to certain stimuli or senses. The colour red could be a trigger for blood or anger. Smells, certain sights, or sounds even the things you feel or taste can trigger a memory in any one." Don explained simply.
" So you are saying Rama does remember us and that helping her to recall more ought to be fairly easy to achieve?" Leo asked sounding like he might actually be starting to consider my plan.

" I told you Leo" I grinned wide in triumph. Rama could be helped Don had just said as much.

" Hold on Mike" Don held one hand up slightly, " While you are right Leo is also correct in his views that she has been gone so long that her Foot training won't be ignored. Judging on the sort of person, we all know Yukio to be, it is a good bet that Ramiela hasn't been trained as just another Foot soldier."

" Of course not, she is being trained to take his place as the leader" I admitted.

" I think it goes much deeper then that even, Mike. I think Yukio has insured himself of Ramiela's obedience and loyalty to him by using the Stockholm syndrome, or to put it simply, he has most likely brainwashed her."

" Brainwashing? Come on Don even you don't believe in that garbage!" Raph sputtered. " No body does that."

" Actually Raph it is often used by kidnappers, people who take hostages of children or adults for what ever reason often use the technique many time the original victim becomes so compliant that they will help ensnare future victims for the perpetrator" Don corrected calmly, " Any one can be brainwashed Raph it is simply a matter of how much terror, loneliness, time and repetition it takes before the victim accepts the story they are told" Don went on to explain the matter further, " There are four steps to brainwashing a victim 1) The subject must suffer a profound psychological trauma such as a beating, torture, or rape. 2) The subject must be taken from every person or place that they feel safe" Don ticked the points off methodically, " 3) The programmer repeats his message over and over until it is accepted. 4) He holds out the promise of a reward, usually the victim's life. In many instances the victim assumes that because they haven't been killed they might be allowed to live as long as they please the programmer."

I had a deep sinking feeling while Don was saying all of this I gasped and whispered " Yukio could have done that easily. Some of Rama's scars are very old. He must have taken her to Japan and beat her into it." I gulped at the very thought of what Rama must have endured back then.

Don nodded I could sense his empathic touch reaching to console and comfort me from the sting of those words " Exactly Mike, and once she accepted the initial training from him then all he would have to do was reinforce it once in a while to keep her consistent to what he wanted." Don sighed wearily, " Rama is like a machine now Mike, she has been programmed to be obedient to him and to please him." He paused for a moment, " The will to survive is strong in all of us. For Rama to survive she had to forget her past and accept Yukio as her father and what ever else he was willing to allow her to have. She has been programmed to him for so long that it would be highly unlikely for her to oppose him."
I shook my head wanting to block Don's words out, to ignore what he was saying, but I couldn't help but acknowledge how much my daughter must have suffered at Yukio's hands both, before and now. It hurt deep inside me.

" Yukio could probably tell her that the colour black is orange and she would look at something black and insist that it was orange until Yukio told her otherwise" Don admitted, " for nine years she has had to live her life to appease him and gain his favour."

Leo nodded grimly " In other words she won't be of any help to us, she will probably see any kindness towards us as a weakness, especially if she feels that she must please Yukio and to do so would mean her hating and hurting us" Leo essayed his tone was full of regret and pain. " He is fully aware that Ramiela is from our family though."

" Of course he is Leo" Don agreed " he probably even knows that Mike is her true father." Don replied, " Since I have told you this let me tell you a little more. I hope that I am wrong about this but the way things are playing out and Yukio's nature alone well…" Don's voice trailed off as he bit his lip gently.

" What Don?" Leo asked probing for more details, while I personally had enough of my share.

" We all know Yukio is sadistic bastard but he doesn't usually do things without a reason, which means he is using Ramiela to hurt us for a reason" Don replied, " I think he could be testing his programming, maybe to see if she will obey his every command when put against her family. He also wants us to hate her."

" No problem I'm all ready there," Raph growled.

Don gave a frustrated shake of his head " He wants to sever all ties between her and us" He concluded, " Yukio realizes that we might be able to bring up memories for Ramiela and that the more she is around us, the more she could relearn."

" You sound like bringing up her memories aren't such a good thing Don" I said feeling the bit of elation slip away.

" It may not be Mike. Look if she sticks to her programming she kills us. If she recalls her past enough to realize we are her family, well, she knows enough about clan rules to realize we would demand her life, for the death of our family members who died during the infiltration" Don explained gently as he could " In that instance she would still stay with Yukio and the Foot she has a life with him. We will want her dead, or so she might suspect according to clan rules. Now then, add to it the fact that she starts to remember the past and she will have a great deal of conflict to deal with."

Leo gasped as Don's words sunk in " Yukio is only using her as a pawn then, he is using her wisely to get what he really wants but in the end she is expendable."

Don nodded sadly " Exactly and expendable might be the word" Don took a couple of deep breaths " I have a feeling after we are dead Yukio might kill Ramiela as she would have served her purpose to him."

" No way Don, after all, that she has done to help Yukio, he wouldn't just kill her…" I protested but I knew in my heart that Yukio was just the sort of son of a bitch to do such a thing.

Don choked back a sob " I'm sorry Mike but you really can't believe she'll live. Years of programming can't be stopped. She doesn't have free choice other then to obey Yukio." He insisted, " I might be wrong about him killing her but I don't think so Yukio wants to eradicate all of us, how can he do that if he allows Ramiela to live?"

Leo hung his head in defeat " Sorry Mike but it seems as if Ramiela is truly lost to us. She can't and she won't help us we shouldn't hold out for it."

I felt hot bitter tears burning at my eyes I understood now I had thought that it would all be so simple however, every thing Don had said made it seem that a snowball would stand a better chance in hell.

Rama lived in fear of Yukio whether she showed it or not, and she might not be able to break free of the chains that bound her to him.

I ached for Rama then wishing very much that she had died years ago instead of living her life in fear, a constant slave to the sadistic heartless, bastard she called father.

A deep rage built up inside of me. I wanted Yukio dead. I wanted him to suffer for every thing he had done to my little girl.

He was enjoying her pain as well as ours.

Rama was well and truly lost, so lost it was a wonder that she was still alive. I realized then and there that Raph had probably been right about Rama the kindest thing we could do for her, might be ending her pain and suffering if we got that chance.

I personally wanted a chance to end Yukio's life even more and I prayed the opportunity would show itself.

TBC

Reinbeauchaser: So glad the torture was doable for you. I know how hard it is for you to read it. Yes just being around her family is a big memory trigger but that in itself may, or may not be such a good thing. A gratitude for your insight.

Lenni: Yes Rama/Kirra is recalling what happened when she called for her family when Yukio first got her and started to turn Rama into Kirra. At the moment I don't think that Kirra would be happy to go. A gratitude for your insight.