Okay, so I'm back again! Here's a bit of a longer chapter, I hope you all like it! The exciting stuff'll be happening soon, I promise! :D And a big thanks to BubblyShell22 for welcoming me back after a year-long hiatus.
Enjoy!
I do not own the rights to Teenage Mutant Ninja turtles or any affiliates.
Kristine
"You're real?" I asked, feeling totally dumbfounded, and a little bit scared.
"Nah, I'm a faerie. What the fuck do you think I am, bitch?" He retorted. His breath smelled like pizza.
"Don't you dare call me a bitch!" I yelled right back at him.
"As you can see, our subject hasn't been cooperative." Bishop lazily said as he strolled in. He looked cocky and powerful. I had learned that a combination of cocky and powerful meant trouble. I stepped back to give him room to see the subject.
"So you just want me to let ya cut me open and gawk at my guts? You're a motherfucking crazy asshole if you think I'm going to let ya near me with a knife! How 'bout I come near you wit' a knife, ya gonna cooperate wit me den?" I gawked at his language. Suddenly, being called a bitch didn't seem so horrible.
"Bishop, we aren't going to cut him open, are we?" I asked, feeling more than a little squeamish. I saw the purple monster's organs hanging over the table. I saw my own organs hanging over the table.
"Why not cut him open? We can learn so many valuable things from this strange vessel. It's for the good of science."
The turtle laughed. "There ya go again, bein a science whore."
I couldn't hide a smile. I loved how he was putting Bishop in his place. Somebody needed to.
"Stop talking or I'll cut off your tongue." He growled. My smile disappeared.
"He's alive, and he's intelligent. He speaks our language." I whispered. I felt sick. I thought I would throw up.
I looked into his eyes; they were brown. His eyes were very human. I gasped when he winked at me and gave me a smirk.
"I doubt he's really that intelligent, Kristine." He laughed.
"Hey!" The turtle objected.
"Yeah, but still, he's human. I mean, he's not human on the outside, but I bet his spirit is human." I doubt your sprit is human, though. I added as an afterthought.
"Don't tell me you actually believe in spirits." He arched an eyebrow at me.
I met his gaze. I wanted to back down, like I had done with my father so many times. "I do believe in them." I whispered. I could feel tears peppering my eyes, and my stomach began to churn. I wish I was more powerful. I clenched my hands into fists, trying to remind myself that I had survived beatings.
"Well then, I'm obviously not putting you on the dissection team." My eyes widened. There was going to be a dissection, and if they'd dissect him, they might dissect me when the mutation took hold.
"Y-you're going to dissect him with a bullet wound?" I stammered. I was trying to buy the turtle and me time. I couldn't handle the reality that I, too, could be dissected. "It would compromise the finishing results."
He nodded. "I see your point, Kristine. Fix it in the next two hours, after that we commence with the dissection." He walked away from the turtle and me. "I need to round up the rest of the team, until then, make sure he stays here." He glared at me.
"Yes sir." I whispered as he left.
I brought the table laden with tools for the dissection next to the table and picked out the necessary instruments for fixing the wound and pushed the rest onto the ground. "I'm, uh, sorry if this hurts. I can't find any andesitic." I had never removed a bullet in practice before. I had read about it extensively enough to do it in theory, and I was in the pre-med program, but it is one thing to do in theory and another to do in practice.
"It's okay, lady. I'm a tough guy." I gulped.
I nodded, trying to get over the weirdness of the situation and lifted his arm above his head to decrease the bleeding. "So tough guy, how did you get shot?" I asked while I began to remove the bullet from his arm. He winced.
"I got into a fight wit some thugs." He said through clenched teeth.
"Almost got it, and yes!" I proclaimed as I took the bullet from the nest it had made in his arm. "Luckily, there doesn't seem to be too much of an infection. I'm going to cleanse the wound with some sterilized water. The wound was closed by the bullet, so it isn't too nasty in there. It'll still hurt though." He shrugged.
As I cleaned the wound, I tried to make conversation to keep his mind off of the pain. "So how did you get caught up with thugs? They're pretty dangerous, even for a tough guy." Now was as good of a time as ever to perfect my bedside manner.
"Nah, nobodies too dangerous for me." He said wincing. "And I gotta take care a 'em. If I don't, dey might end up hurtin' pretty ladies like you." I looked up at him, feeling a blush creep onto my cheeks. Why was I blushing? And why were we…flirting?
"Oh, that's rather kind of you. On behalf of all the beautiful women, I thank you." I laughed and he joined me, even though I was sure I had only made our awkward situation worse. "So, um, is saving women just a hobby of yours or something?"
"Yeah, I guess. I'm hopin' that one'a these days, I'll save a dame and she'll…" He trailed off. "Love you?" I finished for him.
"Yeah. It's stupid." He scowled.
'Noted: subject seeks companionship with other humans.' A cold, sterile voice in my head stated, leaving me speechless and a bit afraid. When had I ever talked like that or subjugated other people for that matter?
A silence passed between us as I finished my handy work on his arm. "So there you go."
"Yeah. It won't help any. They're gonna open cut me open." He looked down. I felt so guilty. It could've been me on that table.
"I know how you feel." I instantly clamped my hands down on my mouth. Usually I didn't think out loud. Why was I talking to the turtle so freely?
"No offense, lady, but how would you know how dis feels?" He glared at me. I felt horrible. People probably wanted to cut him open since he was a kid.
"First off, my name isn't lady. It's Kristine. Secondly, you have no right, sir. You don't know my story or what I've been through, and you sure as hell don't know that a mutation is catalyzing beneath my skin." I showed him the purple dots. "If I get emotionally aggravated, I might turn into a "big, scary purple monster" that gets cut open and gawked at."
"Dat's fucked up…" He scowled. "You're a freak like me, but ya hang out wit da science nerds tryin to cut us open."
"I…I'm not a freak." I could feel the tears coming. "And I know. I'm really scared." My lips began to get all wobbly, and my words came out whiny.
"Hey, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to hurt ya."
"It's fine." I whispered, looking at my shoes. "You're just angry, and I'm just…" I could feel a tear slide down my cheek. Great. Great job defending yourself, you dumb bitch. He's right, you know. You're a freak!
"Don't worry about it, listen, if ya let me go, I could help ya. Mutant to mutant, ya know?" He looked at me so hopefully.
"I…I don't know. If I did, I'd be in huge trouble. I'd lose my job, and they might even put me on that table." I wanted to let him go. I wanted to be the hero, but I couldn't. Too much was at stake.
"I have a family, ya know. A knuckle-head lil' bro who loves stupid geek stuff, a nerd of a kid bro whose lookin for a girl on the web, and my asshole bro who thinks he runs everyting. I got a dad too. He's probably worried."
"I'm not going to split up a family. I'm just not. You have to be there for them. Just…just promise me…" The tears were falling down my cheeks faster "that you'll love your family, and…and be a good big brother." I sobbed. Fuck my empathy. He could be lying.
"I promise." He said, and I began to undo his straps. After I had finished unbuckling the leather shackles, he hesitated on the table.
"Just go." I whispered. I couldn't believe what I was doing.
"If you need anything, anything, just gimme a call on dis number." He grabbed a pen off the floor and wrote a number on the inside of my coat.
"Okay. I'll call." I clenched my fists. "Now get out of here."
"Thanks, Kristine." He still hesitated.
"Go! Before anyone sees you!" He nodded and jumped up the air vent and hopefully to the outside world.
After he had left, I heard the thudding boots of bishop and his men. "Whoever's up there…save my soul." I sent up a silent prayer, because I was about to meet my maker.