Side note: The drug Leo has been given to paralyze him is what we give to a patient when we intubate them and connect them to the ventilator/breathing machine. In real life, their diaphragm would also be paralyzed, so the person stops breathing and the machine is able to take over and do the work for them. I'm cheating here for the sake of the story since we can't have Leo, you know, not breathing.

Needle and Brain are just random OCs I created since I don't find many of the cannon TMNT villains that threatening.

Chapter Four:

Sleep

You're feeling the rush of anguish settling
You cannot help showing them in

Hurry up then
Or you'll fall behind and
They will take control of you
And you need to heal the hurt behind your eyes
Fickle words crowding your mind

-Poets of the Fall

{Leo}

The air was already taut with terror and fear—but it snaps in two when Shredder enters. I can't see him; the man I call Needle closed my eyelids awhile ago, robbing me of one of the few precious senses I have left. All I can do is lie here, strapped to a cold, metal table with no control over my body. I can't even open my damn eyes to see what's happening.

But I feel him in the room. I hear his heavy steps, the strangled grunt with each movement. Angry, ragged breaths. I picture him in my mind, hunched and broken. I remember him fleeing from our last encounter when things got out of control and the building collapsed. Sensei had bested him—we all knew it. Shredder has been in a gradual mental decline, losing his mind in his psychotic story as he tries to convince himself that he's the one who was betrayed. But people can only lie to themselves for so long. And what I'm hearing now is only the shell of whatever man Oroku Saki used to be.

"Saki."

The deep voice—Brain, as I've named him—greets Shredder. They're both standing beside me. My skin crawls, knowing they're so close and I can't do anything. My heart hammers away at ribs, desperate, skipping beats while my mind rushes with nightmares.

Shredder is quiet for a moment. The silence is agonizing—I know he's looking at me, admiring the way his enemy lay captive before him. Knowing he has the son of the brother he hates so much. I wonder if he'll torture me to death and dump my broken, disfigured body at Splinter's feet. If he'll use me to lure my family into a trap and kill them in front of me. My family would do anything to save me. Imprisoned like this, we're all as good as dead.

"He's been medically paralyzed, but he can hear and feel everything. He knows you're here."

Brain click clacks more on some computer. I hate that sound.

"His brain waves are being monitored on the screen above. I've tried several different EMF levels—turns out his mutant brain operates a few frequencies higher than the human brain."

Shredder grunts, still standing too close to me. "Can it be matched?"

"Of course—the worm's already been calibrated. And since it's a mutation between organic and inorganic materials, we'll be able to control it once it's inside the brain. I'll need to be careful maneuvering it—don't want to pop a vessel—but once I have it positioned posterior to the frontal lobe, we'll hook you up to the EEG as well and match the frequency."

"You gave me the impression earlier that this isn't total mind control," Shredder mutters. I know he's still staring at me, his eyes boring holes through my flesh.

Brain clicks his tongue. "No, not exactly. Your brain waves will be…connected, so to speak. What you think, what emotions you have—those will transfer over and manipulate his own thoughts and emotions. His personality, everything that makes him him, will be blocked off, or drowned out. I've designed the worm to continuously emit that frequency, so whatever ideas you place in him within a few moments will remain, almost on a loop. But no, there's no joystick or buttons to press. It functions on the subliminal, the subconscious."

Another stretch of silence leads me to believe Shredder isn't entirely trusting this. It sounds crazy enough to me. Connecting our minds? Shutting my personality off? Mind control?

The fear just gets worse and worse. They're talking about putting a worm in my head. Everything inside of me is so tense and wired and terrified—I just want to rip my arms from the restraints and tear my eyelids off. I need to see, I need to move, I need to do something, anything but lie here helpless while they talk about putting a freaking worm in my head—

"I can sense your…hesitation, Saki," Needle mutters, standing somewhere on my left. "It's understandable. You're wounded, vulnerable—and we're talking about connecting your brain to a machine."

Somehow I know Shredder is staring daggers. The way Brain and Needle talk to him makes me feel as if they're on the same level. They don't address him as Master, and now Needle is practically flaunting Shredder's weakness in his face.

"Show me," Shredder growls. "Put on a frequency and show me what it does to the mutant."

Here we go.

I try to prepare myself—I try to steel over and find a calm place somewhere in my head. Even as a button is pressed and Needle chuckles, I try.

But it isn't a shock like I expect. It isn't a sting or a burn or the blunt force of an object cracking bone. It starts as a slow hum. Almost like a vibration, but one that I can only hear. My heart skips and beats and skips in anticipation, waiting for the pain. But still, the hum.

"Nothing's happening."

Shredder's voice sounds far away.

"Wait for it. Keep a close eye on his vitals."

The hum turns into an ache—and the ache begins to spread along my skull, dulling my thoughts, my focus. When the ache has encompassed my brain, it begins to split; sharp stings from panicking tissue, the deep groan of aching bone, the shriek of vessels as they enlarge. It feels like a migraine—like my whole brain is going to burst inside my head and leak out my ears. I want to shout, beg them to stop; I want to twist and turn and grab my skull, but I can't move, I can't see, I can't do anything—

Make it stop, make it stop—

The memories tear through my brain, scattering. I see Raph, Mikey, Donnie—I hear them crying out for help somewhere in the smoke. They need me. I can't die here. They need me—

Several loud beeps interrupt the chaos ripping through my body. The searing pain begins to decline, slowly, leaving a dull ache behind to remind me that I could die with the press of a button.

I'm breathing hard, heart flopping around in my chest—the only movements available to express my torment. My senses drag along, gradually returning to me.

"…obvious spikes in his heart rate, blood pressure, and brain activity. It is quite effective, Saki."

Shredder grunts in response. The room grows quiet—I know they're all watching me struggle to regain my composure. Watching my breathing slow, my heart rate slip down to two digits. I want to vomit.

"Very well." The atmosphere in the room shifts with those two words. "We shall proceed as planned."

Needle chuckles beside me, brimming with excitement.

"Have a seat then, my friend—let's get started."