Strongest United Part 3
A/N Hi guys, in case anyone was wondering about the song Donnie was singing. The song is called You Raise Me Up, this was the Japanese version that was used with the Romeo and Juliet anime. I used it because I thought it would be an appropriate song for the Turtles to sing together to help comfort each other.
A day had passed since the Turtles had gone missing. While it didn't take many guesses who had abducted them. April and Casey forced themselves to attend school as though things were normal.
When Splinter had left the dojo, April had known he was aware that his sons were in trouble. Unfortunately at that moment she had received a call from her father asking her to come home because she still had homework to do. April tried to convince him that most of it was completed and that she only had a humanities report to do, but that wasn't due for another month. Kirby O'Neil however still insisted it was high time she returned home because it was a school night. Splinter had agreed that April should listen to her father and return.
Reluctantly April and Casey complied with heavy hearts and left the lair. When they returned to her apartment, April at once informed her father of what had happened to the Turtles. Kirby had been concerned since the Turtles had proven themselves as caring friends to his daughter, and he knew they mattered to her.
"We know who has 'em, Mr. O'Neil." Casey said as he punched his hand into his fist. "And where they are likely being kept, Red and I would bust in and out faster than you can say 'Goongala'. "
"Absolutely not!" Mr. O'Neil firmly said. "I'm sorry, I know you are worried about your friends…but you two need to have faith that they will be able to get out of this situation on their own. They are trained ninja after all."
"Come on, Casey. It's late…let me walk you to the door." April said as she grabbed the dark haired boy's wrist pulled him out the door after her.
"What gives, April?" Casey asked as they reached street level. "I thought your Dad knew you were being trained by Splinter?"
"He knows Splinter is training me…but he believes that I'm only learning self-defense." April said
"Huh?" Casey asked in confusion.
"Ever since he was abducted by the Kraang…My Dad he…" April explained. "He's always been protective, and after the Turtles finally rescued him…he became almost obsessively protective. He would barely let me out of the house even for school because he was so afraid that the Kraang would abduct me if I wasn't in his sight. If he learned I was being taught how to be a kunoichi…he…he…I don't know what he'd do, but I'm certain he wouldn't approve. He'd probably never let me see Donnie or the Turtles again."
As much as the two teens knew they should have faith in their friend's abilities, they couldn't help feeling like they were forsaking them. The school day seemed to drag by every time they glanced at the clock…it felt like time had slowed to a snail's pace. April was so distracted by what must be happening to her friends, particularly whenever her head spasmed in pain whenever she could sense their distress. And the horror of the flashes she would see before her eyes…bloody strips of green skin slowly being pulled away, volts of electricity pulsing through a green form as they screamed in agony, the strike of a whip against a shelled back. April grit her teeth to keep from screaming out herself.
When her 3rd period US history teacher asked her if she needed to go to the nurse's office because of the headaches she seemed to be having, April gratefully accepted. However instead of going to the nurses office to go lie down…April went to one of the girls toilets and softly cried. Pressing balls of toilet paper against her mouth to muffle her sobs as tears rolled down her face so that she wouldn't attract suspicion or concern from the other girls at school. Her friends…her pseudo-brothers…her family…they were suffering she could do nothing to prevent it.
Breathing in through her nose she tried to calm her thoughts in the way Splinter had taught her. Glancing at her watch she took note what time it was and saw it was nearly time for her english class. Wiping away her tears with the ball of toilet paper she finally left the stall and rejoined her classmates. Even if she had made use of excuse note for the school health center, the school would call to inform her father that she had missed one or more classes. Or they would call to ask if it was okay that she be given some medication for her headache, and that would be the last thing she needed right now.
~Hang on guys…!~ April said to the ether as she returned to her life as a normal high school student.
Michelangelo's stomach growled as he rolled over onto his plastron. He felt so hungry and it felt like it had been days since he's eaten last. And on top of that he was bored…ever since the sing along that Donnie had started nothing had happened. Occasionally his brothers and himself would talk to one another, it had been rather quick for them to figure out they could use the one way audio their advantage by passing messages to one another.
"Think of it like that game we played as children." Leo suggested. "Telephone…the one where we would sit in a circle and pass a verbal message between us."
"I loved that game." Mikey had informed. "Hey D…or Raph…Leo says we're going to use the audio system like the game Telephone." It was still was disheartening to not hear his brother respond, and it felt even weirder that no one from the Foot Clan was stopping them from communicating with one another. If the Foot Clan's goal was to break them…wouldn't allowing them to communicate even in this awkward fashion be considered something to give them hope. Or maybe they were allowing it because they were hoping one of them would let something slip…such as him for instance…some form of information the Foot can use to their advantage.
"So hungry…want pizza." Mikey groaned as he rolled over on to his shell.
"Hang in there guys." Leo said trying to be encouraging. Though there was a tone in his voice that did suggest that he was unsure about their predicament. "I know we all want to be free to return home. But we need to hold out for however long we will be here."
"Hey guys…" Mikey conveyed. "Leo says we need to be chill and hold on for however long we will be here."
"Hey guys…Leo says we need to be chill and hold on for however long we will be here." Raph heard Mikey say through the audio feed.
"Great…" Raph grumbled though he was not surprised. "We're already holding on as hard as we can, Mikey." In the meantime Raph's patience worn extremely thin. All that was happening was that they were being kept in isolation. The only way to communicate with his bros was the through the one way audio system that had been set up. From what they had been able to figure out through communication through one another was that Mikey could hear Leo…Leo could hear Donnie, Donnie could hear him, and he can hear Mikey. Unfortunately messages ended up being lost in translation from Turtle to Turtle. And at times they needed to be careful what they said as they didn't know if the Foot Clan was actually paying them any attention.
It didn't take a brain as big as Donnie's to know why the Foot Clan had been largely ignoring them for the past hour or so…they wanted the Turtles to be off their guard. If they had a regular schedule as to who would be tormented then they would learn to anticipate the beatings. By having indeterminate lengths of time was one tactic to get them to break…and the lack of food and water also added to the stress. Raph doubted that the Shredder would simply let them starve to death…at least not this early on.
Donnie leading them in a chorus of "You Raise Me Up" had certainly help keep up their spirits, though they had all unconsciously agreed to save the singing for when things were starting to go bad. There was no sense in losing their voices just for the sake of comfort.
And yet Raph couldn't help feel a sense of tension whenever he heard the Foot Bots or even any of the Foot Clan's hench mutants walk by his cell. Parted of him itched for a fight…he wanted Fishface to show his slimy mug so he could have something to vent on instead of the same boring walls. And the rest of him feared they were on their way to attack his brothers..
"Oh No! Get Away!" Mikey yelled before he screamed in protest. Raph stiffened in horror.
"MIKEY!" Raph yelled his baby brother's name.
"Strap him down!" Karai ordered coldly and without remorse.
"Karai…it's me…your brother." Mikey pleaded.
"I don't have any brothers…" Karai spat. "Least of all a freakish turtle like you."
"You better pray I don't find a way out of here, Karai!" Raph snarled as he began to beat the wall with his fists. "If you harm Mikey…Splinter's daughter or not, you are as good as dead to me. And I'm….I'm going to kill you myself!"
"Leo…Karai's with Mikey!" Donnie yelled when he heard Raph's statement. Standing up he hissed in pain and brought his hand to the bandage around his arm. He had recently changed the bandage with the remaining piece of cloth that had been wrapped around his bo staff…but with no other way to keep the injury clean it would fester with infection within days.
He had known that it was only a matter of time before one of them suffered…but Mikey being the chosen target of Karai was distressing. While he was glad he wasn't able to hear or see what was being it did nothing to change the fact that he knew Mikey was being tortured. Raph screaming his brother's name in rage and anguish did little to alleviate the stress he was feeling.
"MIKEY!" Raph screamed over the audio feed. Donnie bit his bottom lip to fight back the distress he was beginning to feel. He couldn't let Shredder or the rest of the Foot Clan get the impression that they were starting to break. They had to hang on…they had to be strong until they found a way to escape or Splinter came for them.
"Be strong Mikey," He whispered a prayer under his breath.
"Leo…Karai's with Mikey!"
Leo glanced up from an attempted meditation as Donnie conveyed this news to him. He didn't know what was happening to Mikey in that moment nor did he want to. But he also didn't want to stand by and let whatever it was happen.
"Karai!" He called out. "Karai, I know you can hear me! Please listen…You don't need to do this, if you want to punish someone for your mutation, than take your issues out on me." He didn't receive an answer which didn't surprise him. But all the same he wanted to reach the girl he knew she had been once. The innocent little girl who had rested nestled in his arms while she playfully pulled on his mask tails while Tang Shen graciously served them sliced cucumber in her tiny apartment.
"Please Karai," Leo pleaded knowing his words were falling on deaf ears. "If your Mother were alive she would not want you to do this."
Mikey was alert the moment the door to the cell opened and three Foot Bots bounded in, giving their trademark electronic monkey like screeches.
"Oh no! Get away!" Mikey screamed as the Kraang built robot ninja ran at him. The orange masked ninja immediately ran about the cell, unfortunately the small room left him with minimal space to escape and he found himself grabbed and restrained as two more Foot Bots entered the room with an examination table and Karai following in close behind.
"Strap him down!" Karai coldly ordered as the Foot Bots drag Mikey to the table and pull the leather straps tight across his body before it was tipped backward ward so he lay flat on the table
"Karai…it's me…your brother." Mikey stated beseechingly as he looked up into Karai's face as though hoping that would trigger a reaction or memory. Unfortunately Karai's composure told him that she was far too schooled in all the Shredder had forced upon her to believe him.
"I don't have any brothers…" Karai spat vehemently. "Least of all a freakish turtle like you."
"Karai! Karai, I know you can hear me! Please listen…You don't need to do this, if you want to punish someone for your mutation, than take your issues out on me." The two of them could hear Leo call over the audio feed. Karai however chose to ignore Leo's words as she drew a small and very sharp knife from her belt.
"I suppose you're wondering what I plan on doing…let's just say I will get to see what you look like without skin?" Karai said as she handed the knife to one of the Foot Bots. "Perhaps once I'm done with that I'll have Steranko crack open your shell to see what's inside. Start peeling his right hand."
At once the Foot Bot made an incision on the middle finger of Mikey's right hand before slowly peeling the yellowish green skin away from the digit and forming a pile on his plastron. Mikey screamed in pain has his flesh was slowly being flayed away in bloody strips.
"Please Karai, if your Mother were alive she would not want you to do this." Leo gave a plea over the speaker. Karai jerked in surprise…the words were hardly more than a whisper, but the way Leo said them sounded like he had met her mother. That was impossible…her mother died before the Turtles were even eggs.
"Leo's right Karai…" Mikey painfully said. "This is going to sound ultra cray cray, but my bros and I met this girl named Renet who was a Time Master from the future. While we were with her we…."
"Spare me your make believe story," Karai scoffed. "A girl from the future who is a Time Master, sounds like you've been reading too many comic books."
"I know it sounds crazy, but we really did go back in time and met your mom." Mikey said before crying out as another strip of bloody skin was peeled away from his hand. "She was a sweet and kind hearted woman, who dearly loved and cared for you and only wanted what she felt, was best for her only child. We really wished we could have saved her, we wanted to."
"Why should I believe you?!" Karai snarled. "Your master is the one who took her life!"
"No it wasn't Sensei…D and I found her body," Mikey said as a tear rolled down his face. "She had."
"Enough! I don't want hear such garbage!" Karai angrily said as he back handed Mikey across the face. "It's bad enough my mother is dead! I don't need to hear made up stories about her too, least of all from any of you." She turned her attention to the Foot Bot that was flaying Mikey's flesh.
"Finish skinning his right hand and do the same with his left." She said as she left the other Foot Bots following close behind. "Report to me when you are done!"
