A Million Miles Apart
A/N: Woo-hoo! I'm on a roll this week! A new chapter is already up, and I hope to have one up this weekend too! And we're still in the Triceraton Prison, and Donnie had decided to become stronger and won't let himself get pushed around or walked over like a doormat. Sounds like a smart decision to me!
Now, I hope that you're looking forward to 'new' characters, cause new characters are coming! And just a heads up, I am not going to follow the 2k12's canon, since first of all, we haven't seen enough of the characters to know their personality yet, and second, I wanted to give them my own spin on them! So no hate for making them different, okay!
Hope you'll enjoy this chapter and please review, favorite and follow!
Chapter 11, Welcome to Hell!
Well, so far this escape had proven to be rather unsuccessful. I had been separated from my friends, captured by my planet's sworn enemies, and I had no idea of what had become of my two companions. At the moment I was being lead through a corridor towards Prime Leader Zanramon's chambers and I knew that they wanted the Teleportal for themselves. Most likely as weapon, just like the Federation do. But what was I supposed to do now? How could I escape from here without the help of my friends?
The doors to the Prime Leader's room opened, and I was lead rather forcefully by two Triceraton guards. In a big throne sat Zanramon, waiting for us to come close enough to him. Zanramon was a short, stocky Triceraton and was rather small; well, at least compared to the other Triceratons that I had seen- barely reaching up to the shoulders of the other Triceratons in the room. He wasn't very strong or intelligent, but he had all these Triceratons in the palm of his hand and his word was law. Although how he had received that position was a total mystery to me.
"Ah, Professor Honeycutt! It's a pleasure to finally meet you. I hope that my soldiers have treated you well on your trip." His smile made me feel uneasy and because he sounded so nice, I knew he was going to turn out to be bad news. I nodded slowly and rubbed my arm absentmindedly.
"Yes, Prime Leader." I lied. They had, of course, been rough and not all that careful with me. But I had to play my cards right, or I would end up in trouble. Zanramon smirked at me with sinister eyes, rested his elbows on the desk in front of him and intertwined his fingers, looking me in the eyes.
"Let's get straight to the point, shall we? We have proof from a reliable source that you have an invention that could be used as a weap-I mean, to teleport one thing or being from one place to another. Is that correct?" I gulped. Or at least I would if I was human and could swallow. But I nodded anyway and twiddled my thumbs behind my back. Zanramon's smirk grew wider and stood up from his chair and walked over to a window, looking out over space and the planets, the stars and the space ships outside.
"Well, as you may know, we have a bit of a rivalry with your people, and we've had a rocky relationship for the last few centuries. But if you build the Teleportal for us, without any fuss or fighting, we will overlook out past with the Federation and move on with our own lives. And we will make sure to let you live on a planet where you don't have to worry about being hunted by soldiers or other aliens. What do you say?" I thought it over. I knew that they were lying, and that they would most likely stab me in the back. But what would they do if I said no? I took a deep breath and looked up at Zanramon.
"I... I appreciate the offer, but I designed the Teleportal as a means to spread peace and harmony throughout the galaxy, and I don't know if I can trust you with it. I don't know for sure if you'll really use it for the right reasons. I'm sorry, but I can't build it." The Triceratons gasped at me, then looked at Zanramon with fear in their eyes, but he didn't seem that surprised by my answer. He just walked over to the desk again and smirked at me like he knew something that I didn't.
"Oh, is that so? You won't build it, even to save these creatures?" He pressed a button and a display appeared over the desk, showing both Jhanna and Donatello in a small, locked room. Another Triceraton appeared on the screen and looked up at Zanramon.
"Prime Leader Zanramon, we found these two with the Fugitoid on D'hoonib! What do you want us to do with them?" I gasped and walked up to up the display, looking at my friends.
"No, please, don't hurt them! Please, I beg you!" Zanramon had me wrapped around his finger, I knew that, but I couldn't help it. I didn't want them to hurt my friends. The Prime Leader shrugged.
"As you wish." He pushed another button and talked into a small microphone. "Lock them in the Prison, but keep them alive. For now, anyway. Our friend, Professor Honeycutt, wants to keep his friends alive." The other Triceraton answered with a salute and the screen disappeared again. Zanramon intertwined his fingers again, and his smirk had been wiped off his face now.
"Let's skip the negotiations, I'll just put it to you this way. I'll give you three days; if you don't build the Teleportal or give us the blueprints for it by then, your friends will be executed!" I gasped sharply and was then lead out of the room and to a lab. I was shoved in and one of the Triceratons sneered down at me.
"You'll stay here until you have made your choice! We'll check in with you every hour. Happy thinking!" He laughed and then closed the door behind him, locking it. I sighed and buried my face in my hands. What had I gotten myself- and my friends!- into?
The next day Jhanna and I were rudely awakened by the prison guards, and we were told to get up and go the 'dining area' where we would have breakfast. Seeing how this place didn't seem like a five star hotel (or even a one star hotel, for that matter) I figured the food would be pretty bad, but what to do? I had to eat in order to live for another day. So Jhanna and I followed the other aliens down the hallway. I looked around at the other aliens, and just like on D'hoonib, all these creatures looked different from each other in every way possible. Hmm, go figure.
I was so caught up in my thoughts that I didn't look where I was going, and I walked straight into the alien in front of me; a big, fleshy alien with orange skin and red, beady eyes glaring down at me with anger and annoyance.
"Hey! Watch where you're going, kid!" I took a step back and held up my hands, trying to calm him down. I know I had promised myself to change and be stronger, but that didn't mean I had to cause fights with other aliens in this place!
"Oh, I'm sorry! I didn't see you there, are you okay?" I tried to sound nice, but it was clear that this alien was ticked off, and he shoved me back, making me almost fall to the floor.
"Oh, aren't you just adorable? Trying to be all nice and sweet in this place, are ya? Well, you should learn your place in this cellblock, and here I'm the boss! Got it, freak?" The rational side of me told me to ignore him and keep walking, but I had made a vow to myself to stand up for myself and fight back, and that's just what I intended to do! So I glared back at the alien and shoved my finger into his chest, inwardly cringing at how squishy to the touch he was.
"Hey! Who are you calling adorable? Or a freak, for that matter? You're just a big lump of flesh; I wouldn't call you all that fantastic or magnificent!" The alien growled at me and raised his fist, ready to punch, and I got ready to dodge and attack again, but we were interrupted before the fight could start.
"Rynokk, that's enough!" We looked up, and my jaw hit the floor. I saw a tall, lean and muscular Triceraton glared down at the both of us, but mostly at the alien he called Rynokk, who cowered slightly under his eyes. "Do you always have to pick on aliens that are smaller than you? Have you no dignity or honor?" Rynokk just sneered at the Triceraton and rolled his eyes him.
"Mind your own business, Traximus, nobody asked you about your opinion! And besides, nobody cares about honor or dignity! Nowadays, it's every alien for himself and he has to fight to stay alive; that's the way it's supposed to be!" He shoved me and then kept walking. I looked up at the Triceraton, Traximus, who looked down on me with critical eyes and a raised eyebrow. I was surprised to say the least that there was a Triceraton in this prison. They put their own kind in their own prisons? However, he had helped me, so I tried to smile at him in thanks.
"Uh, thank you for the help." He just shrugged, so slightly you could barely see it, and then he kept walking down the corridor. Jhanna, who had stayed in the background this whole time, walked up to me, shoved me playfully and looked at me- slightly more impressed than last night.
"See? That wasn't so hard, now, was it? You don't have to pick a fight, you just have to show that you're not gonna let them push you around! Now, come on. Let's go eat!" We kept walking and arrived at the dining hall. It wasn't much to see, it was just about forty tables with aliens sitting at most of them. Jhanna and I got in line and received food from a disinterested Triceraton, walked over to a table and sat ourselves down. I looked down at the food, and immediately had to swallow so I wouldn't vomit. The food (if you could even call it that) was just a big yellow and green mush that smelled like puke, and I could swear that I saw hair in there, too! Jhanna also wrinkled her nose at it, but still lifted her spoon, scooped up some of the disgusting mush and shoved it into her mouth, cringing as she swallowed and then gagging loudly once it was down.
"Ugh, this is just nasty! The things I do for survival..." She muttered and scooped up some more of the gunk, continuing to eat. I looked down at the mush and decided not to be worse than Jhanna; I scooped some of it up onto my own spoon and lifted it to my mouth. The smell was gagging me and I felt ready to throw up, but before I could think of putting the spoon down again, I shoved it into my mouth and had to clench my jaw so I couldn't spit it out. It tasted like moldy cheese, actual puke, worms, algae, and Mikey's pizza shake all combined into one! My stomach was screaming at me to stop eating and I was sure that I was going to faint because of the taste. I gagged and tried not to spit it out as I finally swallowed, and then looked up at Jhanna while lifting more goo to my mouth.
"Tell me about it." I muttered and swallowed down some more, cringing at the taste and placing my hand over my mouth to keep myself from vomiting it back up again. I was about to shove some more into my mouth when the sound of loud voices and taunts got my attention. I put the spoon down, turned around to look over my shoulder and saw a group of four aliens apparently picking on someone a lot smaller than them. I recognized one of them as Rynokk, but none of the others looked familiar. I sneered at them, looked over at Jhanna who had also noticed them by now, and then looked back at Rynokk and his 'friends'.
"Four against one? Don't they have any honor at all?" Jhanna nodded slowly, then lifted her spoon again, swallowing down some of that goop, cringing wildly at the taste and then looking up at me.
"Yeah, well, just ignore them, Donnie. They're not worth the energy. Just let them have their fun, they'll get sick of it soon enough." Wait, what? I turned to Jhanna with wide, unbelieving eyes, but she didn't even look at me. She just kept on eating and ignored the aliens fighting eyes glued to her plate. Then she seemed to sense my eyes on her and finally looked up at me, looked surprised before shrugging.
"What?" I couldn't believe it. Back on D'hoonib I could understand that she thought it was too risky to save all those other aliens since we had to get the Professor to safety; but here, a bunch of bigger aliens were picking on one smaller alien, who obviously couldn't fight back, and she didn't want to do anything? I looked at her incredulously and pointed at the aliens with my thumb.
"Are you serious? They're picking on someone smaller than them who can't fight back! Don't you think we should try to help? I mean, if we don't we'll be just as bad as anyone else in this place- criminals!" Jhanna just shrugged again, ate some more goop and then looked up again.
"Look, I told you before: it's an alien-eat-alien world out there. It's every organism for themselves in this world- so sit down, eat your food and shut up!" She turned back to her plate, and I tried to follow her example and ignore the aliens, but everything in me told me I had to go and help. But then, I heard a particularly alarming exchange between Rynokk and his victim.
"Well, whaddaya say, boys? Doesn't this one look hot or what? Think she's got a chance to survive around here? You know, I could use a bit of fun in this place."
"No, please, leave me alone! Please, I'm begging you!" I tensed, dropped my spoon and my eyes got wide. They were picking on a girl? Four guys picking on a smaller and weaker guy is bad enough, but a girl? And what did he mean with 'a bit of fun'? I had a feeling I knew, and I wasn't about to let that happen.
I had a quick flashback to that first night my brothers and I went topside, and we saw April and her father get attacked by the Kraang. Leo had said we shouldn't get involved, but I had defied him. Well, okay partly I had done it because I thought that April was pretty and I started to develop a crush on her, but another part of me told me I had to defend those who couldn't fight back themselves. I don't know, maybe it was because I had never really fought back against my brothers when I was little, but still, I fought to defend not offend. Also, that Traximus had defended me against Rynokk, even though he knew nothing about me, so why shouldn't I do the same? So I pushed away my plate, stood up and clenched my hands.
"Okay, that's it!" I walked over to the group with angry eyes and got ready to battle, in case they wanted to fight. "Hey!"
Everybody in the dining area looked up from whatever they were doing and looked over at us, but especially Rynokk and his friends. "Well, aren't you guys just a bunch of strong, noble warriors, picking on somebody smaller than you? Why don't you pick on somebody your own size?" It was easy to see that Rynokk was uncertain of what to do. He obviously wasn't used to people standing up to him. But he tried to look tough and angry, raising his fists and getting ready to fight.
"What are you gonna do, kid? There's four of us and one of you! You won't stand a chance!" He smirked while his friends laughed behind him.
I smirked back and, as quickly as I could, punched Rynokk in the face. Everyone in the room gasped in fear, surprise and awe. Even Rynokk didn't seem to understand what had just happened, placing his hand over his face and rubbing his cheek. Then he glared down at me, and I got into a defensive stance and readied my body to fight.
"Want some more? Come get some." Rynokk growled, lifted his fist and got ready to hit me, but I slapped his hand away and kicked him in the chest, sending him into the wall and cracking it due to his weight. Aliens started to get closer to us, I guess to see the fight, and started to chant their demand for one. Rynokk's friends slipped away and suddenly, he didn't look as tough as he had a few seconds ago. I guess he was all talk and no action.
"What's the matter, tough guy? Is a little kid too much for you to handle?" I heard someone in the crowd yell from behind me, and for a second, I felt a little sorry for the guy. But still, he was a jerk and obviously didn't have any morals. He stood up slowly, his pride obviously damaged, and glared at me.
"This isn't over, you little brat!" He pushed his way through the crowd, trying to ignore the laughs and taunts that were thrown at him. I smirked after him, ignoring the pity I had felt for him, and yelled after him.
"Oh yeah? Well, if you're gonna pick on aliens who are smaller than you, then you'll have get through me first, you big bully!" I turned around to see his victim and what I found was a really sad sight. On the floor was a small green alien, standing on her knees with four fingers and toes on each hand and foot, a yellow belly and a long tail; she looked like a lizard of sorts. Only she had brown hair down to her waist, turquoise eyes filled with fear, and tears all over her face. I slowly got down to one knee and reached out my hand for her, but she immediately cowered back in fear, her hair falling in front of her face, almost covering it, making her look like a trapped and desperate animal. Terrified and distrustful. She thought I was going to hurt her, like those other guys had. I looked her straight in the eyes, had my hand reached out for her and tried to look honest.
"It's okay. Don't be scared, I'm not going to hurt you." She looked at me with less fear and more suspicion, with narrowed eyes and a raised eyebrow; she kept her arms and hands close to herself, like she was afraid I was gonna force her to grab my hand. I lowered my hand and settled for looking her in the eyes.
"You don't have to be afraid, I promise you, I don't bite." I tried to sound a bit funny, and it seemed to work. A smile tugged on her lips, and she slowly reached out her hand this time. I grabbed it and slowly helped her up to her feet. She stumbled at first, but she managed to find her balance and stood without any problems. I carefully placed my hand on her shoulder, making her jump in surprise, but she calmed down quickly and looked up at me.
"Are you gonna be okay, Miss? Do you need any help?" She shook her head, smiled up at me and played a little with her long hair.
"No, thank you." She whispered and looked up at me through her bangs, looking grateful, bashful and a little humiliated. She smiled, though, then looked down at the floor for a second before she looked up at me again and twirled a string of hair around her finger.
"Thank you." She whispered, although a little louder this time, before she picked up the bowl of food that she had probably dropped on the floor when she got surrounded by those guys, and started to clean up the mess. I bent down to help her, but she held up her hand and shook her head.
"No! No, thank you, I can do this myself." She wasn't whispering at the moment and spoke with a bit more confidence this time around. I nodded slowly, picked up the spoon and gave it to her. She smiled in thanks and then looked back down at the mess.
"Are you new?" She asked, looking at me through her hair. I nodded, and she nodded back. "Figures. Nobody who's been here for a long time would ever stand up to Rynokk. He's sorta the unofficial ruler around here. Well, except for Traximus, of course, but he's earned the respect he has around here." She had finished cleaning up and stood up. She smiled at me and brushed her bangs out of her face.
"What's your name, anyway? And where are you from?" I smiled bitterly when she asked me where I came from. I didn't want to talk about Earth, or anything about where I came from at the moment, especially with a stranger, but I had to. I couldn't be rude to her since I had helped her.
"My name is Donatello. I come from a small planet called Earth- I don't think you've heard of it." She nodded.
"Well, I'm Mona Lisa, I'm a Salamandarian from the planet Filione, a forest planet far away from here." She suddenly looked a little downcast for a second. Then she looked up again and smiled at me. "Anyway, thank you for helping me before and..." She trailed off for a second. "Well, welcome to Hell!" She said at last, then turned around and walked away. I shrugged slightly and walked back to the table. Jhanna was still sitting there and had seen everything that had happened. She looked up at me with critical eyes, but also with a little admiration. Very little, but still more than before.
"Well, that happened. And you said that I'm stupid." I frowned at her and placed my hands at my sides. This girl was good at insulting me, and I had a feeling she enjoyed it. Also, she was hard to figure out since yesterday night she had been trying to help me in a way, and now she was her usual cold and reserved self.
"What do you mean, I'm stupid? I was trying to help a girl who couldn't fight back against four bigger bullies, how is that stupid? How is trying to be a good person stupid?" Jhanna played with her spoon and glanced over at Mona Lisa, who was now sitting down at another table.
"Well, if that girl can't fight for herself, then maybe she shouldn't be in this place- or even in this world. It's survival of the fittest, after all." I just shook my head at her, forced the last of that disgusting goo down my throat, stood up walked over to the dish station where another disinterested Triceraton stood and washed the dishes. After I had left my plate and spoon there and I started to wonder what I was supposed to do now, a loud gong was heard throughout the room and everybody looked up, most in fear or irritation. A new Triceraton, a slightly shorter and fatter one than the ones I had seen up until now, looked out over the dining area and had a gong in his hand.
"Listen up, you morons! Breakfast hour is done; now move, you all know where to go! All fresh meat, come with me!" Jhanna and I started to follow him, along with a bunch of other aliens. I looked at them all, trying to see if anyone might be friendly-ish. But no, none of them looked all that friendly; but then again, this was a prison, so I guess many of them were criminals and not nice people.
We were led into a corridor and up to a small storage closet filled with cleaning appliances. He shoved a bucket, some soap, and a mop into my arms and pushed me towards a faucet inside the small room.
"Fill this up, you little troublemaker! And don't think I didn't see the uproar you caused at breakfast earlier! I'll keep my eyes on you, alien scum." I glared up at him and tried to look as tough as Raph usually did when confronted by an enemy.
"Hey! Who are you calling alien? And besides, it's not like you can do anything to us! Your Prime Leader wants me and my friend alive, remember?" The Triceraton smacked across the face and I fell to the floor with a yell of pain. I sat up, rubbed my cheek and glared up at him with defiant and angry eyes.
"I can make you wish you weren't, freak. Keep that in mind the next time you wanna start a fight! Now, get up and get to work, whippersnapper!" I had to bite myself so I wouldn't snap back at him, stood up from the floor and I obeyed and started to fill up the bucket with warm water. Jhanna was told to take a broom, but as she walked into the storage to grab it, she leaned close to me for a second and smirked.
"You know, for somebody who wanted to lay low for the time being, you sure know how to make a name for yourself." I glared at her and she just shrugged and walked out again. I shut off the water, picked up the mop that I leaned against the wall and walked out to the Triceraton in charge. He led us back to the dining hall and gestured out over the room.
"I'll be back in on hour, and by that time I want this room to be spotless! Is that understood, you bunch of freaks?" We all said that we understood and he left again. I looked down at the floor and grimaced. It was covered in dropped food, dust, dirt stains and- was that blood? I shook my head, gagged in disgust and started to work. Jhanna had started sweep the floors over at the tables, so I decided to stay close and tidy up after where she had swept. And as we worked, Mona Lisa's words popped up in my head again. 'Welcome to Hell'. Yeah, maybe that was a pretty good description.
"Humph, yeah. Welcome to Hell, indeed." I muttered to myself, wet the mop again and kept cleaning.
A/N: Well, I gave you a chapter a few days earlier this time, and I've had a lot to do this week, so I hope you're happy for it! Now, don't expect two chapters every week or even this early in the week, I don't think I can pull that off.