By Maikafuiniel
Conversations With the Boss
Shredder watched as the young turtle blinked a few times, trying to bring his mind back to the world around him. He almost laughed when the word cute popped into his head. This was a turtle. A freak. His enemy. He most certainly was not cute.
But then, it was hard for Shredder to deny that the little tyke was cute. There was no other way to describe it. He looked scared, yes, but he was obviously hiding a lot of his fear. Something that was incredible for a child his age.
It looked to Shredder like he was holding back anger as well. Probably for the whole kidnapping bit.
Strangely, he also looked incredibly… disgusted. He wondered about this for a only a moment when the turtle stood up suddenly, looking for a place to throw up. Motioning that he needed something to do it in, Shredder passed a small bucked through the bars.
After a few minutes of retching Shredder had stood up and was watching. Had his hench men hit him that hard? Evidently they had, and obviously it wasn't at all healthy for a boy of his age to have blacked out.
When he finished throwing up the little turtle looked up in a daze to where Shredder stood, and slowly pushed the bucket between the bars. With a quick movement of his hand, Shredder had a foot soldier there.
The turtle looked like he was getting ready for a fight, but the ninja simply took the bucket from the room to throw it, and it's disgusting contents, away.
Shredder stood there for a moment, eyes locked with the child, before he spoke. "Hello there. What might your name be?"
The turtle looked at him, and in an annoying, obviously sarcastic voice, he replied, "I'm not supposed to talk to strangers."
"Ah," Shredder replied, trying hard not to put his hands through the bars and choke the turtle, "But I am no stranger. I'm Shredder."
"What kind of name is Shredder?"
"It's mine." He still wanted to wrap his hands around the turtles neck, and it was getting harder not to. This turtles was an insolent little- "Please tell me your name turtle."
"Why should I?" He responded, seemingly holding back the urge to stick out his tongue at the older man.
Shredder immediately responded with, "Because if you don't tell me, I'll figure it out for myself. And believe me, you won't enjoy that. Though believe me, I will," before he could stop himself. Thankfully it did the trick, because the young turtles eyes grew a little bit wider and he looked around for a place to escape.
He was indeed trapped, and young as he was, obviously knowing that Shredder could do some very… painful things to him were he to refuse to give his name again.
"My name… is… Giovanni," he muttered slowly, as though the name were new to him. It only enhanced Shredders idea that he had only recently began to live with the turtles again.
Shredder smiled. "Giovanni eh? Who gave that name to you, your uncle?"
"My… uncle?" the young turtle replied in growing confusion.
"Michelangelo, right? He's raised you? That's why you're dressed in his colour?"
The young turtle- Giovanni apparently, immediately nodded in relief. "Ya. Um, Uncle Mikey named me. That's right. My name is Giovanni. Gio."
"Well, that's nice!" Shredder said in a sickly, sweetly voice, "Now. What else can you tell me about your uncle Mikey Giovanni? About all of your uncles. Tell me everything."
"Everything?"
"Everything."
An hour later
Shredder stood up from where he was sitting and sighed in exasperation. The entire hour had been wasted, as the turtle had refused to give up barely anything after his name and family, let alone anything useful.
He was about to walk out of the room, perhaps Krang would have something interesting to talk about, when Giovanni's voice called him back in a slightly scared voice. "Um… Shredder?"
"What?" Shredder replied in a tired, angry voice.
"…When do I get something to eat?"
"You're hungry?"
"…I never ate dinner today. Am I gonna get fed here?"
"I can't have you dying kid. I'll get Bebop to find you a pizza." It was the first thing that came to mind, and he knew that the turtles ate them almost constantly.
"Pizza?" the child asked in surprise, "You're going to give me pizza?"
"That is what you turtles eat, isn't it?"
"Well ya… usually I get vegetables for supper though is all."
Shredder recognized this as a chance he could use against the turtles and walked back up to the cage. "Well Giovanni, you can have all the pizza you want while you're here! Anything you want in particular?"
The turtle was obviously confused at this sudden display of kindness, but not giving up a chance to have pizza he said, "…Pepperoni?"
"No problem Giovanni, one will be brought down for you really soon, okay?"
Both nodded, though the turtles was confused and a bit scared, and Shredder walked out of the room. As soon as the door closed, he began to laugh his head off.
"What's so funny boss?" Bebop said, coming up behind him.
"Ah Bebop, I've just found the way into his heart. Give his what his family wouldn't, and he'll soon be doing anything I say! Telling me whatever I want!"
Bebop obviously didn't understand this really, and simply nodded his head. "Oh."
He began to walk away, but Shredder called him back. "Oh, and Bebop!"
"Ya boss?"
"Our guest would like a pepperoni pizza. Make sure you get one for him within the hour."
"Okay boss."
Back at the Lair
Donatello stood, hunched over his desk, with goggles on his face and gloves on his three fingered hands. Gloves he had had to make himself, due to the problem of humans have five fingers. 'Well,' he thought, 'Four and one thumb, but it's still two too many.'
His computers were spouting off knowledge that nobody but he could understand, the microscopes were set up in more then one place, each one looking at a different sample of the liquid found in the container.
Donatello know that there was somebody behind him, and turned around. Leonardo.
"Donny, what've you found?"
Donatello sighed angrily, "Nothing of any use. This… whatever that Shredder invented is pointless! It doesn't do anything, it doesn't induce anything, it doesn't even make that big of a mess! I don't know what this is, but it isn't what made Mikey change.
"That is," he continued, "By itself. It seems that by itself is useless, but whatever got on Mikey definatly had this stuff in it. I think that what Mikey got on him wasn't straight out of the container, but had been in the sewer, mixing with other substances first."
"What does that mean?"
"It means we all have to be very careful. It means that we can't go through the water without protective covering. It's completely possible that there's more in the sewer, and although the chances of it mixing in just the right way with just the right stuff again are small, it's completely possible. We all have to be careful, or we'll end up like Mikey or worse."
"How could it be worse?"
"Well, we could always be regressed to the point before we were touched by the mutageon, then we'd have to grow up as actual normal turtles. Turtles that belong in a pet bowl."
"Ouch."
"No kidding."
"So, you come in here just to talk or what?"
"Actually I came to get you. Were going out."
"Where and why?"
"We're going to see if we can't find Shredders hide out. He's got Mikey."
"No."
"Yep."
"Why the shell does he get all the bad luck?"
"Probably because he's the only one we keep driving out of here by making him feel confined and angsty."
"It was a rhetorical question."
"Ya, I know. Now come on. We got a little brother to save."
"Fine." He stood up and walked into the living room where Raphael was waiting for them. "But I was serious, we all have to wear protective coverings. Boots."
"Boots?" Raphael said, "Why do we need to wear those?"
"Because," Leonardo explain, "Donny thinks that the stuff that turned Mikey into a kid could still be mixing with the water. It's a low chance, but we could end up the same way or worse."
"Worse?"
"Think of a bowl, a rock, and a fake palm tree."
"Ouch."
"Ya. That's what I said too."
