A/N: I can't get my lines separating POV to stay when I upload the document, so a double space will be filling that capacity for now. -
When the door opened, Leo looked up blearily. He'd been dozing, his wings spread like sails to catch the heat coming off the walls. Raph and Don were asleep, though they woke up when Stockman walked in grinning evilly. Mike was sitting in the shade of Leo's wings and toying with his fingers, running them up and down the floor. All four turtles stood up and Stockman seemed to look over each of them.
Regally, Leo closed his wings and faced Stockman. On his right, Raph squared his shoulders, and on his left, Don and Mikey took on defensive positions. They were telling Stockman to leave them alone.
But the robot just smiled and its three arms shot out blindingly fast. One caught Leo around the waist, the other two pushed his brothers aside. Raph leapt at Stockman, only to be batted away. Then, he was gone, Leo with him.
Mike sat down and hugged his knees. Raph stormed around angrily, and Don wrapped his arms around Mikey's still form.
"Why him?" Mikey said suddenly, his voice hollow. "Why Leo? He's only ever suffered for us. Why can't we protect him?"
"Because he doesn't want protecting," Raph answered. "He's always protecting us. He thinks that's all he has to offer this family."
"It's wrong!" Mike shouted, pounding a fist into the floor. "Wrong." He broke down and cried into Don's shoulder, and the purple-wearing ninja was startled. Who knew Mikey, the jokester, would understand so well? Tears fell down his beak as well.
Raph went over and hugged his younger brothers, letting them lean on his strength.
They would get through this, together. As it should be.
Stockman growled as Leonardo struggled futilely. His wings were open and flapping like a startled bird, and it annoyed Stockman.
"Stop that or I'll pick one of your brothers next," Stockman growled. That shut the turtle up; Leonardo quieted and folded his wings wordlessly.
Bishop was waiting in the lab room, a table prepped next to him. None too gently, Stockman dropped the turtle onto the table, on his shell, and bound his hands and legs to it before he could jump up. Then, he pulled out the wings from behind the pinned turtle and strapped them to handing wires so they were accessible but out of their immediate way.
"What're you doing?" the turtle asked as Bishop came forward with a breathing mask. Stockman drew in a breath to speak, but Bishop beat him to the punch.
"We're taking away your rational thoughts," he said simple. Leonardo's eyes widened, or at least, so it seemed.
"You can't do that!" the eyeless turtle laughed.
"Watch me," Bishop snarled, grabbing a needle filled with the red liquid of the preparing serum that would shut down all functions, sending the turtle into "death". He plunged it into the turtle's collarbone, and the beast jerked silently.
When the needle was drawn out, Leonardo shifted again and then went limp.
"Heart rate slowing," Stockman reported, looking at the monitor fed from the signal on the turtle's metal-coated plastron. "Nervous system shutting down."
"Good," Bishop purred. "Get a vial ready and then inject him with the first dose."
"And afterwards, when he wakes?" Stockman crossed to a computer and started calibrating the correct first dosage.
"Take a sample of his blood and then toss him back. We'll see how differently the high and mighty Leonardo behaves." Bishop walked out of the lab, his hands full of a tube with a small sample of Leonardo's wing membrane.
"Stockman do this, Stockman do that," the robot muttered, glancing at the still form of Leonardo. His chest didn't rise, and he really did look dead. Well, he is, technically. Stockman strapped an oxygen mask over the turtle's beak and grabbed the vial that was filled with RTS.
"Goodbye, humanoid turtle. Hello, draconic shell-back," Stockman laughed, filling a large needle with the serum and plunging it into Leonardo's neck, right into a vein. The nano-bots inside would waken the dead turtle and keep part of his brain in a coma-like state so that he couldn't think rationally. He'd just be an animal both physically and mentally.
Stockman hummed quietly as he worked, changing the metal on the dead turtle's plastron for a stronger type that was also more flexible. Then he removed the shell carefully, raising the table and removing the panel for easy access to it. In its stead, he put a metal one shaped exactly like the old one. Then, he replaced some of the sagging scales on Leonardo's tail.
Slowly, Leonardo would be turned into a cyborg like Stockman.
Then, he watched as Leonardo came to, moaning in pain as his nerves flared and calmed. His wings twitched and the turtle moved, then turned his eyes to fix on Stockman. He seemed to open his eyes, and his mouth opened in a snarl. When it came out, that noise was bestial enough to send shivers down Stockman's spine, if he had any.
"Calm down, Leonardo."
"Kavara," the turtle croaked, struggling against his restraints. "I am Kavara. Where is Kalian?" Well, it seemed that he had retained enough memory and intelligence to speak and understand what he was saying.
"Kalian? Who is that?" Stockman asked as he looked up from his notes.
"My… son." The dragon-turtle, Kavara now, frowned. "Kalian."
"I see." Stockman buzzed for Bishop to join him and turned back to Leonardo – Kavara. "Why do you call yourself Kavara?"
"Mother Dragon," the animal whispered, seeming to tire. Stockman took out a shot of caffeine and other chemicals to keep the turtle awake for a while and jabbed it into Kavara's arm.
"Hm… But you are male, no?"
The dragon-turtle was silent, merely flexing his wings. Bishop came in, his mouth twisted into a frown.
"What's this about, Stockman? I told you to throw Leonardo back when he woke, not summon me."
"Meet Kavara," Stockman said simply, returning to his notes. Bishop stared at him, then slowly his gaze traveled over the creature strapped to the table.
"Kavara?"
"Yes?" Leonardo answered, trying to lift his head but finding it tied to the table.
"Kavara has told me about his – or her? – son, named Kalian. I think he's talking about Michelangelo," Stockman explained, adjusting a light over the dragon-turtle's head.
"Kalian, huh? Are there others?"
"Two," Leonardo hissed angrily. "Koriat and Thohar. Black Fire and One Who Seeks True Wisdom. They should not be near Kalian."
Bishop was smiling widely. "They hurt him, you know." Leonardo stiffened angrily, then gave a might roar and tried to break free. "Koriat and Thohar hurt Kalian."
The mutant struggled further, and managed to break his wing free from its restraints. Stockman hurriedly shot him with a serum that was supposed to calm him down, put the creature to sleep.
However, Kavara kept struggling, his roars now pure anger and fury. Bishop backed up hurriedly as Kavara's arms bulged with muscles and then tore free of the straps, quickly followed by the rest of him.
"For a turtle, you move quickly," Stockman drawled. He clamped a lock around Kavara's wrists, binding them together with a very strong magnet. Then, the did the same for the mutant's ankles and wing joints.
"Take him back, but make sure to keep those restraints on him. I don't want the others killed."
"He wouldn't touch Michelangelo," Stockman argued. "But with what you told him, he'll tear Raphael and Donatello apart."
"Give him a sedative, then, and make sure he can't hurt them. Or, if you still think it's risky, put him in a separate cell. I'd rather see how they interact, though." Bishop looked at Kavara's heaving form, trying to break free of Stockman's vice-like grip.
"I think that would be the best, for now," Stockman agreed, attaching a collar around the dragon-turtles neck. It punctured his skin in several places causing him to cry out, and pumped a calming drug into his system.
Stockman deposited the turtle in a cell separate from his brothers, but right next to them.