Author's Note: This is hard to write. Just so you know. Hope you guys can understand.
Chapter's Rating: PG, for brief language.
WARNING: PLEASE DO NOT CONTINUE ON IF YOU CAN'T HANDLE ANGST/HORROR. THIS STORY WILL GET GRAPHIC AND HAS THE POTENTIAL TO DISTURB YOU. PLEASE BE ADVISED.
CHAPTER ONE: LEONARDO
He had a headache. No, worse. A whole Bodyache.
It was a struggle to force his eyes open, and when he finally did, a blinding, fluorescent light flooded his eyes. He squeezed them closed tightly, and uttered a mute groan.
His head was pounding; he could hear his heart throbbing loudly in his ears. All of his joints burned from either over or under use, and his legs felt cramped. From the way his head rested sharply to the side, he could tell he was laying on his side, and he could also tell by the lead feeling in his arm, pinned under him, that it was asleep.
The word 'bodyache' was the understatement of the year. It felt almost like a hangover…but he knew he didn't drink. Trying to ignore the aches and pains, he moved his arms to try and stretch.
Slowly, the realization that he hadn't moved his arms, or any part of his body yet, crept over him. Sighing painfully, he tried to pull his arm out from underneath him, and again nothing happened. Feeling slight alarm starting to build in his tight chest, the Turtle yanked at his other arm, his eyelids snapping open when he now discovered he couldn't move either of them. Ignoring the irritating lights, he scanned his surroundings, squinting his eyes as his vision blurred randomly. He was disoriented, and with the way the room seemed to sway back and forth, he had a feeling he was drugged. When his eyes finally adjusted and focused, his body went rigid when he recognized nothing.
He was in a tiny, white room, with a large mirror on the opposite wall.
In a vain effort he pulled again at his arms that were both pulled behind his back, desperate to get loose and off of his side. He felt a sharp jerk on his shoulder sockets when he tried to unbend his legs, and soon the Turtle figured out that whatever was restraining his arms was also connected to his bound legs.
This is bad. Not only was he immobile in what appeared to be shackles, he was in a place that was not recognizable to him.
Fighting off panic that screamed in the pit of his stomach, the Turtle focused on remembering what happened last night, closing his eyes slowly. He went over to Idania's…he came home…spent an hour in the dojo and went to bed.
That was it. No; that couldn't be it.
Racking his brain, he forced fuzzy memories to surface, trying to block the fading effects of the drugs that flowed through his system.
He got a call…right after he went to bed, he got a call from Idania. She needed help, something was wrong. She thought someone was watching her through her window…and then she got cut off after he heard a crash.
She was attacked.
His eyes opened and dread filled his chest. That's right. She was attacked and he asked his brothers to help him find out what happened…but when they got to her apartment…they were—
"Leonardo!"
Ida's desperate and frightened voice came over a loud speaker somewhere in the room, and the focus Leonardo was trying to maintain vanished. The Turtle cried out to her as he rolled to his knees, almost falling onto his face when he realized how weak his body was. Pain sparked in the joints under his kneecaps while his weight pressed forward, and through gritted teeth he steadied his breathing. It was anger, more than the pain, that was straining his breath.
"Do I have your attention now, freak?"
The anger coursing through Leonardo's body rose several decimals when he recognized the voice of the second speaker, the rage he was trying to hold at bay now bubbling under the skin that was stretched tightly over his muscles. Booming over the loud speaker, and into the Turtle's pounding head, this husky voice was over-confident, callous, and dangerous. And Japanese.
Son of a BITCH.
"Saki…!"
Leonardo almost choked on the venom in his voice. He was surprised he even spoke. Breathing fiercely through his nose to keep his body from trembling, the Turtle focused on keeping control. Feelings flooded him; rage, remorse, fright, worry, confusion…but he didn't let any emotion slip passed his stone-set face. Nothing except those he wanted to show. Raising his head up to look at the mirror, Leonardo glared maliciously.
"What. Have. You done."
Speaking through is teeth, Leonardo struggle to keep up right. His muscles quivered and ached from the drug still flowing through his veins, but his expression and stance never faltered.
"Tell me, freak. Are you lonely?"
Leonardo's demand went ignored, and the patronizing tone he heard over the loud speaker only fueled the fury building under his calm exterior. Gradually, Saki's question sunk into the Turtle's skull, and underneath the mounting rage, a pang of fear tickled his mind.
He was alone. And his brother's whereabouts were unknown. Where are they?
"What have you done with them?"
The Turtle forced his voice to remain calm and emotionless, his eyes set on the mirror in front of him. He mustn't worry…he mustn't fear; fear leads panic and that was the last thing he needed to do. Guilt, however, was starting to seep through his emotions, and with the silence that seemed to be lasting forever, the guilt grew quickly.
"Why should I tell you? I don't answer to freaks."
"Tell me where they are, Saki!"
A throaty and arrogant laugh from The Shedder answered the Turtle.
"If you're so eager to know where they are, ask yourself. They're your responsibility. You're the leader. You should know everything about you clan."
Saki was playing mind games, and the worst part was they were working. Leonardo cringed slightly at distant and terrible thoughts of his brothers being hurt, and he hung his head. He hated mind games.
"Shut up and tell me."
"You tell me: Does the thought of your tortured brothers bother you? Or the fact that it's your fault for them being tortured in the first place?"
The arms held sorely behind his back trembled from anger and weakness, and Leonardo fought to keep control of himself.
Nothing's wrong…they're fine…they have to be fine. If anything's happened to them, if they're hurt— the Turtle stopped himself from imagining the worse, feeling his stomach clench nauseously.
"Let them go, Saki, and let Idania go too…!"
The fear he had been struggling with slipped into his weak demand, and earned him another wicked chuckle from The Shedder.
"No. I'm not finished with them yet. Or you. My employer, however, would like to see you."
Confusion was slowly swirling through the mass of fear and anger pounding in Leonardo's head. Employer…? Since when has Saki ever allowed anyone but himself to give orders? Further more, who would be bold enough to hire The Shredder?
Leonardo didn't have time to contemplate these questions, or any other he hadn't thought about; Several foot soldiers silently piled into the small room. With energy he had to concentrate on gathering, the Turtle pulled desperately at his shackles, trying to break them with a feral growl. The fact that none of the ninja's had rushed him hadn't registered, and it wasn't until Leonardo felt the prick of the dart that he realized they were readying a dart gun.
Another sedative, Leonardo assumed, or maybe a depressant. Whatever it was, it was traveling through his bloodstream quickly and burned like hell.
Weakly, his head lolled toward his shoulder, the blood that trickled down from his dart wound switching in and out of focus. It was a fight to keep his body from falling to the floor. His legs trembled violently under him as he struggled to keep in the kneeling position, and with a defeated groan the Turtle crashed to the floor after only ten seconds, his body buzzing with numbness.
The thoughts that passed sporadically through Leonardo's head brought attention to a large cage, approximately six feet tall and three feet wide, that was being wheeled into the room. Being unable to move any of his major body parts, he could only watch as some of the ninja's scooped him up and threw him into the cage. They disconnect the mechanism holding his feet and legs together, but shackled his hands above his head and each foot to a bar on either side. The only things keeping the Turtle upright were his arms, and even though his body was numbed, he could still feel the painful pull on his shoulder joints from his dangling weight.
His pain, however, was not what Leonardo was paying attention to. The thought of Idania and his brothers screamed at him, and he stifled a silent sob. He prayed they were okay. He prayed they were safe.
He prayed they were still alive.
...This get's worse. Be warned!