Disclaimer: I don't own the TMNT

Warning: Sensitive Issue

A/N: I had asked my reviewers from my other fic 'Expecting' about this story before I even started and they gave me the OK pretty much. One thingthat I told them I would tell is the facts. Of last chapter; I personally know someone with the ear, the eye, andI've met someone with the burns. I researched about the amputations and from what I foundmy character really did get off easy with that. I have done research on many other aspects of this story so that I could be as accurate as possible. Keep in mind that these injuries happen to both soldiers and to people in the Middle East. Adults and children. I encourage you to do some research of your own. It can be an eye opener.

Jessiy Landroz: Thank you so much for reviewing. I appreciate the heads up warning system you said about 'sensitive issues.' Don't worry, he has a name. It just managed to slip by me in the first chapter until I had already posted it. And also not all the stories are gory. There are quite a few stories that I know that are amusing, even cute. Reijiro: I appreciate that. You'recompletely right about that human nature thing. We'll never get overthat so we just have to make due and try to fix what we can. Sailor Vegeta: Yes, it will be amusing to see what happens when he meets the turtles (hey, that's this chapter!) Review again! greshunkai: No, thank YOU for reviewing. I can't tell you how nervous I was about actually posting this story! I need all the support I can get! Dierdre: Thank you so much for the compliments! engelina: Thank you. Don't worry, his luck will change eventually. After all, he's with the TMNT now! Leo Oneal: thank you so so much for reviewing. Your request has been granted, he's meeting the guys!

Chapter 2

Captured by Aliens

Smoke clogged my nostrils. The smell of burning flesh and hair was thick in the air making me gag unconsciously. I tried to move, but something held me down. My right leg was stuck on something. It didn't hurt. I knew it was supposed to hurt. I panicked. It wasn't supposed to be this way.

Suddenly I realized that I was the only one moving. I certainly wasn't in this truck by myself, what about the others? I couldn't see the people in the back, but what about the passenger seat? Suddenly terror siezed my throat as I remembered exactly who that was.

"Johnny? JOHN!"

My friend, my companion, my buddy. My mentor. He was shorter, an entire foot shorter. We were together in our first dut station, then we got sent here together. We spent half the time playing jokes on each other, making time pass more bearably. All the other times we just sat, watching the beautiful Iraqi sunset. He was only about ten years older than me, yet somehow he had taken the place of the father that I never had...

I saw him. He hadn't moved. He was still right next to me, but his eyes weren't blinking. A slow trickle of blood made it's trail across his skin. It reached his eye, yet he didn't flinch. He just stared at me with unblinking eyes. I knew in my gut what it was but my brain refused to cooperate. Why wasn't he blinking? He's supposed to be blinking!

Hurriedly I reached for him, stroking his cheek with my left hand. Strange that it would be so cold when it was so hot. Why was the truck upside down?

I didn't think. I searched for my pack in desperation. "Don't worry John. I've done this before, this is what they trained me for, that's what you always tell me, isn't it? A medic's job is never done, remember all the stuff you taught me..." Something caught in my throat. Must be the smoke. It was getting in my eyes too, making them water. Why else would they water? That's the only excuse for watering eyes after all...it must be responsible for the knot in my throat as well.

I couldn't find my pack. A strangled sob reached my throat. I failed him. I reached for him with both hands. It was then that I saw the flames dancing on my right arm.

My eyes jerked awake. Cold sweat displaced the intense heat broiling in my gut. Slowly I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, taking a chapter of the deep breathing excercises that I learned from a volunteer at the hospital. It seemed silly at first, but it always helped me after Iwoke up from another dream. I should've stuck with what I said earlier. No one needs sleep. Dreams are for wussies.

Wait a second, where the hell was I?

First thing that I noticed was that everything hurt like hell. Especially my right leg. It throbbed so painfully that I was surprised that I wasn't swinging back and forth in the bed with the momentum of the thing. I gritted my teeth hard, refusing to make any sound of pain. Slowly my body became somewhat accustomed to it, and I released the breath I held. Accustomed. Sounds like Iraq and the hospital all over again.

It was then that I realized that the pain in my stump wasn't nearly as bad as it should've been. I eased myself to my elbows to have a look, gritting my teeth at the newfound pains that were eager to make themselves known at the motion. Man, must've broken at least a couple ribs. Probably cracked the rest of them!

I was covered in an old, but soft blanket. It was then that I realized that I was in a strange place. I was basically on a mattress that was resting on the floor. The room was realatively small and somewhat dingy, as though the dirt was helping to hold the place together. And it smelled like that too. Like a sewer kinda. I've seen plenty of places like that...The walls were adorned with simple pictures of Japanese landscapes, and caligraphy. There were bookcases loaded with books up to the yin yang. The wierdest thing were the titles. Some were in what I could only guess to be Japanese. Others said things like: The Art of Swordmaking, History of the Samurai, History of the Ninja, Martial Arts Moves and How to Employ them, Assorted Japanese Weapons and their Uses, and stuff like that. A small weapons rack was against the far wall. Small and long swords, some spears, and other hard pointy objects were neatly stacked on it, all of them glistening with polished precision. A low table was in the middle of the room with pillows, obviously meant for sitting. Old fashioned cups without any handles were set on the table with a worn looking teapot, all obviously long forgotten.

Great. I was captured by akarate freak.

It was about then that my leg let me know exactly the purpose of me propping myself up like that. Taking a moment to balance myself on one elbow, I reached across with my other hand and tugged off the blanket. What I saw surprised me. This karate freak was a nice one.

A cool compress was on my stump, held on with someguaze and paper tape. That was probablywhy it didn't hurt as much as it should have. I could see the redness peeking out from the edges of the compress. I wanted to see what it looked like but was loathe to touch it, both because I knew it hurt like hell and also because that compress felt rather nice and I didn't really want to move it. They should do more of those at the hospital. My other leg had taken a beating as well. Red and purple bruises swelled up as though someone was trying to push golf balls through my skin. I knew what those would feel like as well. Then my eyes traveled up and I realized something else (yeah, I know, I'm slow today. Who can blame me?) I was dressed in nothing but my boxer shorts.

This is both peculiar and irritating. It reminded me of when I was put under for some procedure at the hospital and woke up in a different hospital gown than I fell asleep in. Its freaking annoying. This was also peculiar because I didn'tknow who the hell decided to undress me, I didn't know how much they looked; for all I know they could be perverts!

I got over my irritation rather quickly, considering the obvious reason I was undressed in the first place. Because the rest of me didn't look any better than my 11/2 legs. My right side would never look pretty, but it looked even worse. It always had that mottled look, like someone poured multicolored wax on my skin and then stirred it up to a hideous paste. The scarring started at the point of my right hip and slowl spread up until it was encompassing my entire right peck and arm. It continued up the middle until it reached my adams apple, then narrowed to a point at my ear. I was understandably a bit self conscious about it.I still haven't dared go in a swimming pool, in fact no one has seen my chest other than hospital workers and it unnerved me that someone else now knew how ugly I looked.

Now the bumpy flesh was covered in darker bruises more colorful than it's original scarred appearance. Places here and there had obviously cracked or split, because bandages covered them. That happens sometimes if your not careful with freshly healed burns. Funny, I thought that I'd gotten over them. A large bandage was swathed around my entire chest. It was a bit tight. I knew that this was probably for the broken ribs, helping to hold them in place a little. Don't want me to move wrong and puncture a lung.

I obviously couldn't see my face, but one light, yet very painful touch told me it probably wasn't a pretty sight.

Overall, the patchwork was pretty good. I've done just the same for my soldiers on the battlefield and in the MASH.

But I wasn't about to just lie here, either.

Quickly I searched around the room once more. My prosthesis was nowhere in sight. Was probably busted beyond repair anyway. Then I spied my crutches. They were propped up on the far wall in a corner next to the weapons right, with my rugsack at their foot. Might of well been on the moon for all I could reach them.

Immediately I contemplated a way that I could somehow reach them without screaming like a girl (gotta have a sense of humor, right?) My thoughts were interrupted.

"Do you think he's all right, Don?"

I was on edge in an instant. Who was Don? Don like the Don? Wasn't that some sort of foreign lingo for the leader or something? I peered at the thin door, where the voices emanated.

"I'm pretty sure that he will, Mikey, though it's hard to say at this point. I won't promise anything."

"We can keep him until he gets all better, right?"

"Mikey, Raph and Leo says that he's military. They found his dogtags around his neck, remember? That means that someone will definetly be missing him. And trust me, we don't want to get involved with the federal government."

There was a silence. I was puzzled. Dogtags? It was then that I realized that they were the only other thing that I was wearing besides my boxers. When you wear something all the time, you don't even realized that they're there anymore...Then another voice popped in, one that was obviously eavsdropping in on the conversation as I had been.

"Remember, Don, we don't want him to see us since he's involved with the federal government like that. What did you give him?"

This one sounded more authoritative. Like he was used to being heard and obeyed. Reminded me of some of my NCO's...

"Oh, just a mild tranquilizer. He should be asleep for at least a few more hours. I'll give him another dose before he wakes up."

I couldn't help but grin. Little did he know that I had a very high drug tolerance. It drove the nurses in the hospital bonkers when I asked them for stronger stuff 'cause the stuff they gave me just wasn't cutting it.

"Well, let's just check on him real quick..."

"Can I come too!"

The two voices in unison blandly answered "Yes Mikey."

Wait...they were coming in? The gangsters? Or were they gangsters? Oh, who the hell cares. I steeled myself to meet them. I only wished that I didn't have to meet the ones who helped me while confined to a freaking bed.

The doorknob jiggled, then it slowly opened.

What I saw completely blew my mind.

My jaw slaked open, and my eyeballs bulged despite the fact that I could only see out of one of them. My entire body froze in complete shock. I just couldn't freaking believe it.

I was in the care of aliens.

All theree of them froze when they saw me staring at them. At first they didn't move, as though unsure what to do. Nervously they looked at each other. And they had every right, because they really did look bizarre.

Thier heads were kinda blockish, with beaks instead of noses and brown eyes. They all wore some type of scarf around their heads with eyeholes punched through them. I have no idea if the color scheme was important, but one was orange, the other blue, and a purple. All three of them had three fingers, and two toes, as though their original digits fused together to form the green sausages that they had. They had what appeared to be turtle shells on their backs, with that yellow stuff that turtles had in the front. What was it called? Plasticon, plaston, aw hell with it. They were well muscled, their cords moving beneath their skin like dolphins under the waves. Their skin was green, as are nearly all TV aliens, with freckles and spots here and there. What I certainly saw was thier weapons, which were held in place by leather belts around their waist, er, shells, er, whatever. I especially noticed the blue ones double swords.

The orange one hopped up first, with what I could only describe as a grin plastered across his face. He jumped up closer towards me and cirped a "Hey, dude! How's it goin?" in a strong California accent.

I can hardly describe to you what it might feel like, being presented with such unusual being and letting common sense tell you that these must be the ones that were caring for you. It's like you just stepped into the wacky world of some popular science fiction show where aliens co-habiting with humans were the norm. But when one of them hops up in your face, well you tend to react.

"ACK!" I scrambled away from him, ignoring the sudden spikes of pain shooting all over my body. It was...it was...what was it? Aliens? Monsters? Freaks? Mutants? He gave me a perplexed look, then the thing leaned in closer. My scrambling continued with frantic haste...until I managed to scramble off the mattress.

My body thumped on the floor hard, jarring my entire body. For the second time in the past two minutes I was speechless in the complete shock of the new waves of pain. I clenched my teeth and squeezed my eyes shut and groaned in agony.

"Hey dude, you all right?"

Shit, this can't be happening. Why is this happening?

It was then that the other two moved. The blue one responded by reaching over and yanking on the orange one's headband. He fell back with a yelp and whined while clutching his head. "Aw, Leo! What did you do that for!" He whimpered.

The purple one shook his head. "Mikey, you seriously need to stop doing that. One of these humans is going to punch your lights out one day."

So they had names. And they weren't human. What did I get myself into?

'Don' looked over at me and smiled. He crouched down to my level but didn't make any move to come closer to me. Instead he just spoke. "Listen, I'm sorry for bonehead over there. I know that our appearance may be striking to you right now, but trust me when I say that we mean you no harm. In fact, the reason that we brought you over here was to help you. You were pretty badly hurt, and you needed immediate medical attention. But please trust me when I say that we mean you no harm."

Damn. He sure was polite and really sounded 'educated' for a green-shelled-humanoid-thingie. Well, if he was educated, then maybe he could answer questions. How bizarre, yesterday at the same time I never would've thought that I'd be talking to - whatever.

"What are you?" I said it real slow, not really meaning to. It's just that when you see something that's not human making speech you automatically expect-hell. I hope I didn't offend it.

But he took no offense. The blue one, 'Leo' answered this time. "We're turtles." Ah. That explains the shells."Regular turtles that were mutated into what we are, many years ago." He might be speaking to me, but he obviously gave no inclination of trusting me quite yet. This must be the 'leader.' Come to think of it, I'd be freaked out too. They obviously live away from human eyes. Bringing a human down, especially one with military affiliations would put me on edge too. I may not like it, but I don't really blame the blue boy.

"Hey! Why the Hell you been in there so long!"

A gruff voice came from outside the door. When it banged open once again I could see another turtle. This one wearing red.

"Shit! How many are you!"

Leo looked at the red turtle with an annoyed look on his face. "This is it. No more turtles."

"We do have a rat!" Mikey piped up.

"A-who!"

"Guesheunteight!"

I rolled my eyes and ignored him. By now 'Don' was approaching me slowly, as though I was a frightened animal he was afraid of scaring off. Which technically I was, if you think about it. I knew from experience that I can still pack a punch even when I'm down. He gently grabbed my arms, offering support so that I could get back on the mattress. Mikey scrambled over to help him but Don stopped him with a glare.

"No, Mikey. You've had too much sugar today." He pouted but didn't retaliate.

The red turtle and Leo seemed to be in a heated argument. Their voices were lowered so I couldn't make out everything but I could tell that they were pissed. I looked at Don. "What's wrong with them?"

He shrugged without even glancing at them "Oh, don't pay them any mind. They do it all the time."

Their argument was becoming a bit more heated. Couple that with Mike talking to no one in particular and the fact that a mutatnt turtle was helping me into a bed, well, let's say I was about ready to flip my lid.

This still seemed to bizarre to believe. I wasn't sure quite how I was taking it even now. As Don helped me shift back on the mattress, the red one suddenly separated from Leo and stomped towards the door.

He didn't make it all the way out.

"Raphael! Calm down." An ancient sounding, somewhat scratchy voice said.

The reaction was nothing short of miraculous. The red one, er, Raphael, immediately assumed a more demure position, his head slightly bowed and his arms at his sides. I could see that he was still tense and was still pissed off but at least he had calmed down. I hadn't seen that kind of discipline since the Army.

What I saw next must've been what Mikey was talking about. It was a three foot rat.

It's head was about the size of a german shepard's, and to tell you the truth looked kinda similar. I could tell immediately that this one was up there in years; it's furr was somewhat scruffy and turning gray here and there. The ears, er, ear was rough looking, and his whiskers drooped. The rat walked with the aid of a walking stick and was somewhat haunched over. Unlike the turtles, this one wore clothes. A simple robe, a bit moth eaten, covered it's torsoe.

The moment it walked into the room Mikey piped up. "Master Splinter! He woke up! Soldier dude woke up!"

The rat, uh, Master Splinter answered with practiced patience. "Yes, Michelangelo, I can see that." He continued his progression into the room. The turtles moved aside to allow him passage. He approached me and smiled. "Although, I can guess that your name isn't actually, 'soldier dude,' now is it?"

I was willing to be a bit ballsy with the turtles, give them some lip, retaliate if necessary. But this one, this one seemed to demand immediate respect without ever really meaning to. He was just so used to it that it flowed to him naturally. The kind that got respect because he gave it as well to those deserving. He smiled again, and although I must honestly say that I was substantially freaked out by this whole thing, I smiled back; if a bit weakly.

"If your dogtags are correct, you are a Joseph Ransom." He said with utter kindness.

I nodded dumbly, shock still setting in. "Uh huh."

"And I am quite sure that you have a few questions that need answering."

No shit. "Uh, yes sir."

He warmed me with another one of those smiles. "Well now, let us begin..."

A/N: Here's the end. As per the usual, I think that I might've gone a little too slow with this chapter, maybe had it a little boring. Please prove me wrong. That's usually what happens with most of my stories anyway. I tried to go at a faster pace but the words just poured out of me like this, and I feel disinclined to change it despite my opinion. Well, despite that I hope that you enjoyed the chapter. Next chapter I should start to get the ball rolling, I'll also reveal a little bit of stuff about him and Emily (this is important in the storyline.) That's enough! I'm jabbering. Well, let me know what you think. Remember, if you Read it, Review it! Toodles!