Little Brother
By Maikafuiniel


Chapter 19
From Whence He Came

Mikey sat in the small room with the other scientists for what seemed to be hours- but was apparently only about twenty minutes. He should have known how long it would take, he knew, seeing as he had taken part in battles against the Shredder numerous times… but he was just so bored by the time he was finally able to leave.

Tobias had insisted that this would be the best time to go down to the science labs and get him looked at, seeing at the attack had messed up the class schedules and what not that he would have otherwise been performing.

"Alright," Tobias said with a smile, "this is it."

He opened the door to the lab, and Mikey's jaw dropped open like a bundle of bricks- it wasn't like the labs they had run into randomly while fighting the Shredder- this was a room so massive it had to be ten times larger then the lair… contraptions and technology he would never really recognize hung from the ceiling and walls. Things that sounded like they had motors, some of them covered in flashing lights and beeping buttons jutted right out of the floor.

Robots moved about the room on their own accord, making Mikey wonder exactly what they were doing… "If Donnie were here," he whispered quietly, "He would have a heart attack."

"Donnie?" Tobias asked, "One of your uncles?"

"Yeah," Mikey replied, "He's the techno nut… he would love this place."

Tobias smiled silently, and asked, "What about your other uncles?"

Mikey turned to the taller man, looking up carefully as he considered how he should answer- and decided that any three year old who didn't say a word about his family during his kidnapping is too obviously a plant. "Well, Leo is the leader, and Raph is kinda' the violent one…"

"And the fourth?"

Mikey blinked, before starting. He had totally forgotten- "Um, yeah… my uncle Mikey… he's, you know, the party guy. Loves a good time."

"And he was the one protecting you?"

Mikey shook his head, trying to dispel the conversation. Looking around the room again, he missed the glint in Tobias's eyes. After all, one didn't get into Shredders or Krangs ranks by actually being a nice guy.

"I wonder where they are?" The human asked, "I mean, they usually respond so quickly to Shredders attacks- I would have thought you'd be rescued by now."

Mikey shrugged, though the comment stung. He had been here for days now, and really Tobias was right… there had to be something wrong. The little voice in the back of his head said something about them thinking he was useless- that had been the start of this whole debacle after all…

Before the nasty thoughts could continue to circulate in his head, however, Tobias grabbed a strange looking hand-held device from one of the nearby tables. "This is a scanner," he explained, "I'm going to run this around your entire body, and tomorrow the computers will tell us what kind of stances and moves will be best for you- understand?"

Mikey nodded, and smiled. Yep, Donnie would have had a heart attack.

One Hour Later
Shredder stood quietly, watching as one of the classes attempted to get back on their feet after having been defeated by their teacher, but turned when the door opened to admit Tobias Gris. One of the best fighters he had, and the one he had assigned to the young Giovanni.

Taking the hint, Shredder moved out to the hall and closed the door behind him as to not inturrupt the class behind it. "What have you learned?" he said, straight to the point.

"I've taken his scans- the next time you fight the turtles, master, we'll have all their information. Where their blind spots are likely to be, what ways to force them to move as to slow them down or even hurt themselves, everything you need to know about them physically, we'll know."

"Good- and the turtle?"

"Giovanni, sir. He's been responded to the thought of classes quite happily… but he's not like any three year old I've ever met, sir, and I'm a father of five."

"How so?"

"He seems to know who we are, what we stand for, and yet doesn't care. Almost as if he's putting on an act, but for what I can not understand. He acts like… He acts like he thinks a youngster is supposed to act, rather then how he wants to. There is no toddler on this earth, however, that doesn't do exactly what he wants to- especially after the removal of his parents and guardians."

"I see…"

"There is, master, a plus…"

Shredder gave him a long look, before raising one eyebrow in question. "Pray tell, what might that be?"

"He's starting to doubt his family, master. Nobody has told him yet that those who attacked were his uncles, so now he's questioning just why they haven't come for him. If you include the thought that we're helping him to become a ninja, and have good food for him whenever he asks… I do believe, master, that his loyalties could be swayed if we were very careful."

While Shredder knew it was possibly to trick a child into giving up information, he really hadn't thought of anything long term with Giovanni- it was an interesting development, that was for sure…

But combined with the fact that there were only three turtles in the last attack…

Oroku Saki was not a stupid man. He knew something was going on here, and he just had to figure out what it was. Having his own turtle, however, was something he could work on right now.

Smiling, he waved Tobias away.

Interesting developments indeed.