"MIKEY!" Leo shouts his brothers name as he rushed over to the smaller turtle. And what he sees makes him want to cry and throw up at the same time. He knew bad things were happening to Mikey...had happened to him...but this...
The whole left side of Mikey's face was a raw bloody sore. The yellowish green skin had all been peeled away. Both his right and left hand were the same way. How could any person do this? How could any sane person consciously do this to someone as innocent as his youngest brother?
"Mikey, hang on." Leo says as he gathered the childish turtle into his arms so that the unpeeled side of Mikey's head rested against his plastron. "Oh gods, what did they...why?" A tear slowly fell down Leo's cheek as he continues to cradle his baby brother against him. Mikey's eyes slowly opened as he gaze up at his older brother. Their light blue depth have lost that gleam that always seemed to look like they were smiling. Instead they were dulled by the pain he was feeling both physically and emotionally.
"Leo…?" Mikey softly said a clear note of pain and exhaustion in his voice.
"Mikey…" Leo said with a small sob as he tightened his arms around his youngest brother. He wanted to break down and cry right there...cry for Mikey, cry for Donnie, cry for all of them. His brothers were being forced to suffer because of him, and now he was forced to witness what had been done to them. "I'm so sorry."
"Leo…" Mikey soothed as he tried to smile up at his older brother reassuringly, but the raw side of his face gave it more of the resemblance of a pain filled grimace. "It's okay...I'll heal...just seeing you and having you here makes me feel so much better already."
Leo curled his body closer to his brother, he didn't want the Shredder to anyone else to overhear him. He knew this would prevent Raph from hearing the news about Splinter...but he possibly would be able to talk to Raph next, so he would have to convey the message in person.
"Mikey, I need to trust that won't breathe a word of what I am going tell you." Leo softly whispered, loud enough for Mikey to hear, but too soft for any of the audio feeds to pick up. "I got in contact with Splinter, he said that he has contacted the Mutanimals and they on their way."
Leo noticed a bit of the old mikey, briefly appear in the sky blue orbs that serve as his younger brother's eyes. It was a sign of would be coming for them, they would be saved. Leo couldn't help offer a smile of his own.
"Have you heard anything about D or Raph?" Mikey asked hopefully. The smile on Leo's face fades at that question. In his mind could still hear the sound of a whip as it sliced through the air with a sharp crack. Hearing Donnie giving a shrill but raspy strangled cry of pain as the lash struck him over and over and over. For Leo the whole event had been like nails on on a blackboard, painful to hear. It was bad enough to know his brothers were suffering without being forced to listen to the event. He remember leaning his forehead against the wall as he fought back tears. One fist punctuating his words as it beat against the metal wall of his cell. "Stop it…" He had whimpered. He didn't bother screaming out in protest, that would have solved nothing more than show the Shredder he had succeed in breaking them. "Stop it...please. Donnie *small sob* i'm sorry."
"I don't know anything about Raph," Leo answered as an overwhelmed looked crossed his face. "But D...he was, oh gods. He was beaten...and then before I was brought to see you. Rahzar came and took him to the Shredder. I don't know anything beyond that." The look on Mikey's face was as if his brother had informed him Ice Cream Kitty had melted. Leo couldn't blame his brother for being distraught at this. Donnie and Mikey were fairly close finding companionship in just being the younger boys of the family.
"Donnie's strong, Mikey" Leo said calmly said trying to reassure his brother's fears, "He'll be just fine." The leader-in-blue didn't want to let on that he was extremely worried about what was happening. Leo would openly admit that while he had teased Donnie as being a weak fighter in the past. He could still describe his second brother hundreds of ways, but terms such as weak and and useless would not have been one of them. And yet against someone like the Shredder, Donnie at his best would still have been at an extreme disadvantage. He wanted to have faith in Donnie's abilities, but the odds were not stacked in his favor. Mikey nodded in agreement though he also understood that things did not bode well.
"Leo, want to know what would make me really feel better?" Mikey softly said as he curled as close as he could against his eldest brother. "I liked it when we were all singing together earlier, could you sing for me right now?" Leo gave a small nod and prayed his voice could spread some hope and comfort to Raph and if possibly Donnie, before he softly began to sing.
When the waves are crashing down
Pulling you to sorrow
I will sail you back to shore
When there are no more heroes
Over under, near or far
I'll be right beside you
Standing here with open arms
When there are no more heroes
And through it all
And through it all
When you're tired and you stumble I will carry you
When starlight falls, my love will guide you home
You'll never be alone
When there are no more heroes
It was you who showed me how
Brought me back to glory
Through hopelessness and darkest days
It was breath you gave me
And through it all
And through it all
When you're tired and you stumble I will carry you
When starlight falls, my love will guide you home
You'll never be alone
When there are no more heroes
Consciousness didn't return easily to the hapless mutant turtle. The first thing he registered was pain, both from the lacerations caused by the whip and from the bruises and other injuries he received from Rahzar. Everything hurt and felt light headed both from hunger and from blood loss. His eyelids felt like they had been sealed shut with staples.
He had remembered being released after Tiger Claw had finished beating him. While Donatello was glad the torment was finally over, he also felt distressed by it too. He knew his brothers were in the same building and Leo had heard the whole thing, but he couldn't help feeling incredibly alone. He wanted his brother's to be there...to draw strength from. To feel the comfort of his brothers arms around him, to let him know he wasn't alone. To remind him that no matter what happened,they were still there for him and each other. Fighting back the emotions he started to count to himself, all the while the middle finger of his right hand drew out the strokes for the Kanji character for 'faith' over and over again to the point where one would believe that it had been permanently etched into the concrete floor.
That's when Rahzar entered the room. "The master has need of one of you turtles," Rahzar's growled, his long tongue licking over his bony teeth. "And you're the lucky one he picked. You can come along quietly or...you can make it fun for me and struggle."
Donnie instantly got to his feet and moved into a defensive stance. He may not have his bo staff, but he at least knew how Rahzar fought. He was swift, but he was also savage and aggressive. Perhaps he could get past the wolf like mutant if he was able to stun him long enough. And even if he couldn't escape on his own, there was no way he was just going to obediently allow himself to be led to the Shredder.
Rahzar gave out a loud barking laugh in amusement over the scrawny turtles action.
"You're going to play things my way, is that it?" Rahzar answered with a feral grin. "I'm okay with that!" With a roar the former martial artist launched himself at the turtle. Donnie dodged out of the way of the mutant dogs path and quickly had to dodge again as Rahzar recovered himself and charged again.
Unfortunately Donnie miscalculated how far he would have to dodge to avoid Rahzar. Rahzar seized the moment by raking his clawed fingers up Donnie's arm. The purple-masked turtle yelped in pain as the makeshift cloth bandage he had wrapped around his arm blossomed with red before it sluffed away. The long boney claws had torn through the wound Donnie had received from the Shredder causing it to bleed anew. Donnie's hand instinctively put pressure to staunch the bleeding on the wound which stung painfully. While Donnie was momentarily distracted by the reopened injury, Rahzar's hand clamped around the Turtle's leg and forcefully pulled him causing him to fall over. Donnie cried out in pain as he landed on his wounded arm. The unbearable ache that spread throughout his nervous system causing the wounded Turtle to feel slightly nauseous and dull headed. Rahzar's seized Donnie's shell into his large jaws like an oversized tennis ball, dagger like teeth painfully threatened to punch holes into the his carapace.
"Let me go! Let go!" Donnie yelled out as he attempted to pry open Rahzar's jaws. Instead Rahzar shook him back and forth like a ragdoll before tossing him into the closest wall with a hard thud. The purple-masked terrapin groaned as he felt his brain go numb...and then finally blackness.
The next thing he registered was the sound of voices. The deep growl of the Shredder's voice, the snarl of Rahzazar, even the slithery hiss of fishface. They hadn't noticed he was starting to regain consciousness as of yet which was good. So long as they thought he was unconscious, they were likely to leave him alone.
No such luck unfortunately as he heard the sound of Fishface's leg gyros before he heard the giant mutant fish yell.
"Time to wake up, Turtle!" Before one of his robotic legs struck him in the chest. Donnie let out a gasp of pain as his eyes tore open. Blearily he looked about the room he had been placed. He was the room where they had fought Raph, Rockwell, and Slash after they had been brainwashed by those mind worms. Donnie's wrists were shackled over head by steel cables that seemed to coming out of the mouths of two mousers what had clamped themselves to the rafters overhead.
"Leave us." Shredder commanded. Both Fishface and Dogpound left the room all the while idly talking about what they Shredder intended to do with the turtle. As soon as they were out of earshot the Shredder's hand shot forward and grabbed a rough hold of Donatello's chin. Donnie could feel bruises begin to form where the insane human's hands were gripping his face.
"You are playing a very dangerous game, Donatello." The Masked Man snarled "I don't know what circumstances led you and your brothers to appear in Japan all those years ago. But I will not allow you to interfere as the four of you did back then."
Donnie didn't respond or retort to the Shredder's comments. He wanted to tell the Shredder to his face that no one interfered, they were only making history the way it was supposed to be. But he didn't dare.
"It would be so easy to end you right now." The Shredder stated, his grip becoming surprisingly harder. "One move and your life will be over. However, you are beneath me and not worthy of dying by my hand. But I have other plans for you…" Pulling away from Donatello, he pressed the button on a small remote an arc of electricity traveled down the cables wrapped around Donnie wrists causing him to scream out in pain as several dozen volts of electricity coursed through his body.
Karai angrily kicked her bedroom door. Her father had sent her to her room with no explanation. And it was that sniveling insect Stockman, who had delivered the order to her. She had wanted to storm to her father and demand an explanation, but Bradford had told her that the Shredder was busy tormenting Donatello and didn't wish to be disturbed.
This made her even more upset as she felt she had every right to watch them suffer. But also knew annoying her father would not win her any favors. Sitting on the bed she scowled at her reflection in the mirror. She liked to imagine she would see her mother in her features, but she couldn't even remember her mother's face. She had only been a few months old when her mother had been killed...no murdered by Hamato Yoshi in a fit of jealous rage.
"I'm...sorry." Donatello's words filled her mind. "Sorry this is the sort of person the Shredder made you into." And what was worse was how sincere he had been when he said it. He had looked into her eyes and said that he was sorry for her because of who she was. What did did he mean, she was perfectly fine with who she was. No one made her into anything, her father trained her as a Kunoichi, but it was her choice to be one so she could avenge her mother.
"Please Karai, if your Mother were alive she would not want you to do this!" Leo had shouted over the audio feed between his cell and Michelanglo's.
"She was a sweet and kind hearted woman," Michelangelo also had said sincerely. "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." How could they act like they knew her. This whole story about time travel was ridiculous, they were making it up to insult her mother's memory.
"I'm...sorry...Sorry this is the sort of person the Shredder made you into."
"We're your family." Another fabricated story from Leo."Listen to me, your true name is Hamato Miwa, your mother was named Hamato Tang Shen and your real father is Hamato Yoshi. The Shredder abducted you when you were just a baby and raised you to believe his twisted sense of reality…"
What was with the Turtles dictating that her true father was the man who had heartlessly slaughtered her mother years ago? And her father didn't kidnap her, he rescued her, he loved and cared for her. He had trained her so that she could get justice for her mother's death.
"I'm...sorry...Sorry this is the sort of person the Shredder made you into."
Why did that pathetic turtle's words bother her so much? He couldn't possibly know what he was talking about. It was absurd for him to consciously feel any sort of remorse for her, he never had a mother who was taken from him. All knew was the pet store where he was hatched.
"Shredder…" Leo said as he surprisingly struggled against the poison that had seeped through his flesh. "Used some kind of brain worm on you."
Another pathetic lie...why did these turtles insist that she was being forced against her will? No one was forcing her to do anything or be anything, least of all her father.
"I'm...sorry...Sorry this is the sort of person the Shredder made you into."
"I'm...sorry...Sorry this is the sort of person the Shredder made you into."
"I'm...sorry...Sorry this is the sort of person the Shredder made you into."
"I'm not asking you to believe me…but I am asking you to at least hear me."
Karai grit her teeth as Donatello's words continued to pulse in her through her brain. And what was that last statement about...not asking her to believe, but to listen to him. What is the point of listening if she wasn't required to believe? It just didn't make any sense...
"Then think back…think back to your earliest memories…"
Sighing through her nose in disgust, Karai had flopped onto her back and glared up at the ceiling before she closed her eyes. Slowly she cycled through the memories she had.
Leonardo defeating her venom defeating her with that strange spiritual power he somehow possessed.
Her father attempting to slay Splinter, only for the rat to escape with the help from his sons.
Attempting to slay April O'Neil only for Donatello to show up alone. A stupid sentimental act on his part as it advertized a means to his downfall.
Leo insisting her father was lying to her and he would kill her if she went after his family again.
Leo betraying her…
Bringing that kraang robot to her father.
Being summoned to New York from Japan.
Undergoing her ninja trial earning her title as a kunoichi.
Her father introducing her to Bradford and Xever during one of his trips to the New York branch of the Foot Clan.
"Leo, no!" A sudden memory of Donatello yelling...she didn't remember that happening in all the times she'd known the Turtles.
Her father beginning her training.
Her father falling to his knees in front of the stone lantern where her mother had placed her to protect her from harm His face burnt and disfigured forever by the fire that would eat away at her mother's body until all that was left was ash. Tenderly he gathered her tiny body into his hands as she cried...calling out for her mother. Longing for the security of her mother's arms. "You'll be mine to care for now...little one. I will call you Karai."
"Your name is Miwa." Leo's voice shouted in her mind. Karai's forehead wrinkled in confusion. Why would her father name her Karai at that moment in time...didn't she already have a name for her.
"Leo, no!" Donnie shouted again. "I'm sorry...I know you want to save her."
"Save me, why would he want to save me?" Karai asked herself unconsciously.
She could see the tails of a mask, a blue mask. She was being cradled in someone's arms. Someone with green skin. She could see her puggy arms reach out and pull on the mask tails lightly wanting to pull off the band of blue fabric.. The green skinned person smiles down at her, but the smile turns to a grimace of discomfort as she pulls harder on the mask tales.
Glancing around her, she could see three other green figures. A gruff looking one with a red mask sitting on the counter, a tall one with a purple mask stands close to her mother. Then there was a funny one with an orange mask hungrily biting the small prep table. The one who had entertained her with that silly dance when the green beings approached them.
"It can't be…" Karai mentally said to herself as she recognized the Turtles. But why were they...how did...there was no possible way they could have been in Japan when she had been an infant.
"I was raised in Fukukoka." Her mother had said conversationally as she prepared a snack for the four mutants. "But my grandfather is Chinese. I moved here to be closer to Yoshi."
"To be closer to Yoshi…?" Karai gasped as a searing pain filled her head. She tried holding on to the memory, to see what it was trying to tell her. To catch a glimpse of her mother's face. To hear her mother's voice. Something was trying to surpress the memory, to prevent her from seeing it. But the harder she held on the more the pain increased until it became to painful. When she let go of the memory it was like it had been locked away never to be seen again. All that was left was a blank void in its all nothingness.
There had to be another memory, something that could help her. Something that could help clear the confusion that filled her mind.
"Leo, no!" She heard Donatello cryptically yell in the darkness. Focusing she tried to find that moment, perhaps it would tell her something. Her eyes opened as she found herself laying underneath a stone garden lantern. The last she remembered she had been safe and asleep in her mother's arms. Where was her mother...she wanted her mother. She wanted to feel the security of her mother's heartbeat. There was also an odd smell, the smell of smoke, the smell of fire.
"Tang Shen!" Michelangelo yelled out in alarm.
"Shen, wait!" Raph also yelled as he tried to stop her mother from running into the building.
"Whoa!" Michelangelo exclaimed as the entrance to the dojo collapsed.
"We have to get in there!" Leo hurriedly protested, when he noticed where her mother had placed her. He had heard her cries and gently scooped her up into his arms. "Shhh…" He soothed as he started to move away. "It will be alright, little Miwa. I'll make sure you'll be where you belong." There was a gasp before Donatello yelled out.
"Leo, no!" The purple-masked exclaimed. "I'm sorry...I know you want to save her..."
"We can't just leave her, Donnie. You know what the Shredder would do to her," Leo shot back in protest. "What he would make her into! She deserves to be with her true father...our Sensei. This is the only way to make things as they should have been."
"I wish thing could be different, but…" Donatello showed Leo his t-phone and the image on it. The images of the four of them and the backdrop of their lair kitchen was also slowly fading from existence into a flat grey nothingness "She must be raised by the Shredder, even if...even if it means she must become our enemy for a time." Leo looked torn, he knew his brother spoke the truth but it was a truth he didn't want to hear. Raph suddenly let out a horrified gasp as his fingers became transparent and started to fade into nothing.
"I'm turning into a ghost!" Mikey cried out in alarm as he also began to disappear.
"But…" Leo said torn between hiding the infant in his arms and what his brother was telling him. "She...she should be with her father."
"I know it sounds selfish, but please understand" Donnie answered solemnly. "If we save her, we will be forsaking Karai, Master Splinter, and everyone else we will help and befriend in the future. Sensei would never have gone to the pet store in New York, we would never have been mutated, leaving the world to be taken over by the Kraang. Perhaps there is a way to help free her from the Shedder and maybe restore her to human for good...but not this night."
Lep looked about him once more before he reluctantly Leo placed back underneath the lantern.
"Were through!" Raphael yelled.
"Let's save, Sensei." Leo said as he ran towards the door open door to the flaming building brothers following close behind him. Karai blinked as insecurity caused her to cry out once more. Mere moments passed by until Oroku Saki staggered out of the burning building, severely burned and disfigured. Hearing her cries he fell to his knees and gathered her tiny body into his arms.
"You'll be mine to care for now...little one." He said his voice a pain and grief filled rasp. "I will call you Karai."
Karai's eyes opened wide as she shot up into a sitting position. Her head suddenly swam with dizziness as her stomach roiled with nausea as she brought her hand to her mouth she hurriedly looked about her for waste paper basket, something anything. Pitching forward she spewed forth bile and other matter onto her bed room floor. Clutching her head she closed her eyes and breathed a few minutes as the body settled itself following the sudden wave of sickness. When she finally settled, she opened her eyes and glanced down at the puddle of vomit.
To her horror she could make out something alive and moving. Something that looked like a big, fat, ugly worm. Disgusted she quickly crushed the nasty thing, killing it instantly. Her confused brain trying to process why that creature would have been inside her body.
"Shredder…Used some kind of brain worm on you." Leo's voice filled her mind. She couldn't believe it, her father wouldn't do that to her would he? Her head pained her as suppressed memories bubbled to the surface of her mind. While whatever force that the worm had inflicted upon her had certainly weakened. But there was still something there and because of it she didn't know which memories were real, and which ones were fabrications of the truth.
Morphing into her half mutant form, she gazed at her reflection. Her eyes a slitted dark green as her skill became bone china white and covered with smooth scales. Shredder could not be trusted, the Turtles could not be trusted. All that mattered was that her mother was avenged, even if she had to kill them all.
