Captured For Interrogation: part two

"Nothing personal", the blonde teen says calmly and confidently, the tone of her voice very nonchalant. She bites back a smirk and keeps a straight face as she watches Leo, Raph and Mikey grasp tightly onto Casey's arms; holding him back from reaching her. Her response to the raven haired man irritated him, and Astraea smiles inwardly. Think I struck a nerve.

"Nothing Personal?! You strangle me with your whip, and you don't call that personal?!" Casey shouts at the teen tied to the chair. He growls when she shrugs, and it irritates him even more. Why would his friends not want to release him and let him have a go at this extremely confident girl? They probably wanted the same thing; it's not like he'd hurt her that badly, but Leo of course, wouldn't allow it.

This was the second day they had been trying to talk to her ever since she woke up, and she was playing them like a violin, each of them a string of the instrument; when she plucked them, she sent shivers down their spine like the vibrating of the strings. Not that she scared them, but more that she annoyed them because she dodged the questions they threw at her.

She thinks she's so cunning and clever, Casey grumbled in his mind; his struggling gradually decreased until he was still, and Raph was the only one left gripping onto his arm.

The red banded turtle feared that his friend would charge at Astraea once he let go; he didn't want that happening because she could have essential information, but secretly, he wanted to teach her a lesson through Casey since her attitude was a nuisance.

"Raph, I won't do anything", the twenty year old mutters under his breath roughly, and glances at April who stands aside next to Donnie, with the scolding look on her face and crosses her arms. He scowls in defeat and pulls himself away from the turtles behind him, shoving his hands in his pockets moments later, though Astraea was enjoying his brief rages; decides to taunt him through her truthful words and casual tone.

"It was merely something I had to do to teach you a lesson. I do not care for the Purple Dragons that much, but it is my job. You were interfering with…whatever they were doing", the sixteen year old states, her lips curling into a mischievous smile. She blows a strand of hair dropping over her eye with the corner of her mouth, and in the same split second, she feels herself raised off the ground rapidly, and viciously. Her smile vanishes and her arms and legs are weighed down by the chair as she could no longer feel the ground beneath her feet. Her sweater is tugged as Casey grips onto the smooth, green fabric with both of his hands, bringing her closer to meet his blazing eyes filled with anger, along with his glaring expression.

"Hurting a shopkeeper!" He barks directly at her face, answering the question that was unasked. "I tried to stop them from continuing, but you helped them! I think you're the one that was interfering, while I was rescuing!"

Astraea's hair flows behind her from the wind caused by Casey's yelling. She shuts her eyes when he talked, and slowly opened them one by one when the twenty year old's temper had died down. Raph and Mikey stepped up beside Casey and grabbed his upper arms with both their hands reassuringly, and so he would loosen his grip; put Astraea down gently.

Casey, still dazed from his yelling, loosened his grip on Astraea's clothes, but instead of putting her back on the ground carefully, he let go completely of her, and she collapsed to the floor with a thump, landing on her left arm and the side of her face hitting the floor. The wheels of the chair scraped against the ground from the impact, with an ear-splitting sound ripping through the air. The blonde teen winced, then whimpered from the pain, but fought he urge to ask for help, thinking that it would show them she had given in, and she was oddly in luck, as no one seemed to have noticed yet.

"I'll take Casey home guys", the red headed woman offered abruptly and made her way to the raven haired man. Raph nodded to indicate he accepted as he released Casey; grabbed Mikey's arm to motion for him to do the same.

As April led Casey out the lab, a groan escaped Astraea's lips accidently. She grumbled at her mistake, but she was scrambling to get back to her regular position. Nice going girl, you just got their attention without trying to, she growled at herself and followed it with a roll of her eyes.

"C'mon, get up", She mumbles inaudibly, and pushes herself off the ground with her hands pressed flat on the cold surface, but is distracted at a warm liquid tricking down the side of her face. A thought crossed her mind, and she instantly figured the liquid was not sweat, but blood.

Casey Jones…that was his payback. Dropping me on the ground…

She was silent once the thought was gone, and the thin stream of blood ran down her face, the drop moved every passing second; the silence in the room thickens and stretches, as if time was like the bread dough being stretched and kneaded when handled. She felt all the eyes of her enemies laid on her, the color of her face reddening when she places her hands and feet under her in an attempt to get back up, but to no avail. She wished for the ground to swallow her up to avoid the embarrassment, and she felt so sure her enemies would leave her there, mocking her after all the stress she caused them.

Astraea was more than ready to give up and lie on the ground, becoming one with the floor, when tough hands grabbed the back of her chair and settled her upright again. She didn't think it was possible for her face to turn a darker shade of red, but it did, and she realizes they may not be as evil as she thought, or was described anyway.

"I – uh'', she stammers, and looks up to meet the dark blue eyes of Leo, who helped her get up off the ground. The teen tries to smile for gratitude, though her lips do otherwise. They remain in a straight line.

The second time, she begins to open her mouth again and a voice cuts in. "Yeah, you're welcome. I know you were gonna say 'thank you', and couldn't just…like…Karai", the blue banded turtle says; slows down when he mentions Karai's name. He then nervously laughs quietly, so his siblings wouldn't hear it, like he was reminiscing some special moment.

Seems like he had something special that he just remembered, Astraea smirks as the turtle averts his eyes away from hers and looks behind his shell as if his brothers knew what he was thinking and was about to tease him, but only one person sensed his thoughts, and it wasn't any of the turtles.

"Leonardo", Astraea whispered.

He was up on his feet, no longer kneeling in front of her, but paused at her voice when his back was turned on her. The blonde teen wished she could reach out and touch his hand to comfort him because she spotted the hurt on his face straight after he laughed–hysterically laughed–to himself, but her hands were restrained. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She shared the same problem with him, with the same person.

"I know Karai was the kind of person to not show gratitude, and, I have been doing the same thing", the teen admitted, and strangely, her chest felt lighter than heavier from regret. "Apologies", she said, but spoke louder this time, and made sure the others in the room heard her.

She took another deep breath, and she chose what her heart and mind were both telling her to do. "I have not been very fair, I have figured."

"You got that right", a voice–Raphael's voice–mumbles from the other end of the room, though louder than he wanted it to be, and Astraea sighs exasperatedly in return. What is his problem?!, she screams in her mind; her nose twitches from keeping her expressions neutral while her mind was sharpening mental daggers to throw at the turtle.

"Yes, thank you for the help Raph. I am feeling certain that I will not be released until I answer a few questions", she states and stresses on the word 'few' to make her point clear.

She is disappointed by her enemies' reactions though, when they exchange uncertain looks at each other, and she is baffled by this. Great. My only escape option, and they do not trust me, she thought angrily.

There were several whispers and hushes, with the turtles having their shells facing her, and they huddle in a small circle, discussing what she said and what they should ask.

"Obviously we need to ask her if she knows anything about…Jaylene", Donnie says after the whole time of silence and stillness. The others nod without hesitation knowing that was the top priority, and quickly glance over their shoulder to check if Astraea was listening, and she had heard every single word.

She was too busy in her thoughts to respond to their little discussion though, and the word that stuck out the most was 'Jaylene', or, it was rather a name. A piece of her felt like she knew the name, but the rest of her didn't. And why was that?

The voices of the group huddled across the room had died down, in the blonde teen's head anyway. Despite her excellent and accurate hearing, she flicked her senses off on listening to their hushed whispers, and dug deep into the knowledge she has to find out if she knows the person with the name 'Jaylene'. She bows her head and steadies her breathing as her eyes are squeezed shut, deep in thought.

A minute passes and she gasps when she exhales the breath she had been holding and opens her eyes. Why was I even holding my breath? Astraea questions, and shakes her head at the realization of how it usually helps her to concentrate.

She senses a movement beside her and tilts her head up to face all four of the turtles surrounding her with questions that'll burst out of their mouths soon enough, but when her eyes drift over their faces, she became aware of how different they all were. Leonardo, whom she guessed was the leader, since he was the eldest by the looks of it; had dark blue eyes, kind and bold, and a small smile snuck up her lips at the thought, This is why Karai used to tease and spar with him. He's quite the opposite to her…

Donatello and Michelangelo seem to be younger than Leo, so both are the younger brothers. Donatello has the same look of kindness as Leonardo, but not as bold, and more…gentle. Michelangelo has a cheeky look, probably being the youngest after all. Has the sort of young, adventurous expression, but both do not look like they trust me very much with the unsure part in their eyes, a voice says in her mind as she carefully eyes them, but when her green orbs come to a halt at Raphael's, a cocky grin settles on her face.

She knows in an instant that this was the turtle she had seen a few years ago. The one that kicked me in the back when we had just met, she adds. Her mind flashes images of when she battled him in her room, and she realizes that this Raphael in front of her was different from the Raphael she met recently; two years ago. He hadn't changed a lot with his physical features, but this one had confidence and more maturity. The emerald green orbs she'd seen before had anger, too much anger, and now, they showed calmness, with only a twinge of fury in them.

She then drops her gaze to her lap at wondering how long she had been staring at them for, and she couldn't help it. But like she said before, 'It is easier to take down your enemies when you know what they are like', though her observations on them weren't to take them down. At the moment she was neutral to them, and vice versa, so it was only a couple of thoughts to her head, nothing she would use to cause any harm.

One of the turtles gave a cough for her attention, and she lifted her head to face whoever made the gesture. Turning her face to Mikey, who held his fist close to his mouth indicating he was the one who made the gesture, he asked, "Um, why were you staring?"

"You looked like you could read our minds Y'know, sort of odd…" Raph added curtly, though with an unsure tone.

Astraea gulped, taken aback by the question, and sucks in all the counter comments that she would have said. "I cannot read your minds, but I was interested to see what you all were like up close. For two years Shredder and Karai have told me you were all evil, and I believed them, but now, aside from a battle, you all seem…different. Better."

She spoke every word with truth and flushed when no one replies for a while when she expected them to murmur to each other or chuckle. But their reactions were nothing like she imagined. They were stunned from her reply, but Leonardo was the first to crack a smile after minutes pass of no responding, sending a wave of relief to wash over her. Thought for a second that they were going to mock me…

"Thank you Astraea, but one thing I did catch was that you worked with Shredder for two years? Why two years?" the blue banded turtle inquires. Smart, smart turtle, Astraea sighs.

She did her best to not emphasize on her time training with the Shredder, which would eventually lead to explaining her whole life story since there were many holes that she couldn't fill herself, and with the help of others. The Shredder told her to forget about her broken past and focus on her new, improved life with the Foot Clan, but how could she forget when she doesn't even remember all of it? Between the lines, he was ordering her to erase all the traces of who she was and create a new identity for herself. In some ways she wanted that, but inside her would always remain her small fragments of memories that she had of her life before.

The teen rolls her head in a circular motion in stress. Shredder wants her to forget her past life, and the turtles want her to remember them now, but she had no other choice because she was desperate. Well, this is my only escape route, she thought to give herself encouragement and huffs as the cogs and wheels in her mind spin rapidly to find where to begin.

"Well, the story is complicated, but quite short. There is not much to my life anyway", the blonde teen informs the group so they would listen in closely.

"I guess I could begin at the fact that I am an orphan. Yep, ran away from the orphanage because I was not enjoying my time there, and moved to another one. I was put in a foster home care at eight, but I ran away from that as well. Did not like it there. Kids were always beating me up constantly, and bullying me. So, I am a runaway orphan AND runaway foster child", she spoke, but paused, and Donnie hurriedly pushed in a question at the second.

"What happened to your parents?" he asks.

Geez, these turtles take in everything they get. Was hoping they would not ask me about that…

Astraea sucks in a sharp breath and slowly replies, "I…do not know. Been told that I was dropped off at three years old and had…bruises and cuts all over. Yeah, I am a messed up kid."

Really hoped they did not take in so many details. Definitely did not want to explain that, she thought.

But without permission from her brain, the words are blurted out from her mouth and she feels a punch of remorse in her gut after speaking.

"I have a photo of me when I arrived there in the pocket of my sweater, want to see it?"

She felt as if she was under some kind of truth potion to have the craziness to blurt out the suggestion. She wished her arms were free so she could face-palm.

Raph raises his right eyebrow at her sudden question, but does not react with any other action to answer her. Donnie only stares at her with a quizzical expression, speechless at why she would ask such a thing, while Mikey, is the lone turtle who responds differently and reaches his hand out as a gesture conveying he wanted to see the photo, but Leo disagrees and slaps the back of his brother's hand to stop him.

The orange banded turtle retracted his hand from his brother's signal of slapping and frowns, indicating for Astraea to continue telling her story. "So, when I was ten, I was living in the streets for a long time, four years to be exact, and somehow wounded up lying next to the Shredder's car, though I did not know it was his at the time. A figure came out of the car and was about to beat me up because I was doing so, but I apparently flipped him on the car hood and he fractured a shoulder."

"Apparently? Why did you apparently do those things?" one of the brothers ask, but the blonde teen does not look up to see who asked the question, though replies without hesitating.

"I do not remember any of this as the Shredder witnessed this. He took me in and took care of me because he says he sees the potential in me. He told me what had happened afterwards. He even found my birth certificate, and a certificate of the orphanages and the foster home care I stayed in. Some scientists he hired helped research my background before I was allowed in the Foot Clan. I have been training with them for two years now", she finishes, and waits for the questions to be thrown at her or and conversation between them breaking out. Three seconds pass, and everything comes at her at once. It sounded like a million comments and questions had flooded out of their mouths, regardless of the fact that there were four figures and four mouths.

"Is the Shredder that nice to take you in just like that?"

"How come you didn't remember everything that happened to you before you met Shredder, and his scientists had to research it to find out?"

"What happened in the two years?"

"Did you meet Jaylene?"

Those were the questions that stood out to her, but all stopped coming when the name Jaylene popped up in the sea of words. Four pairs of eyes were laid on the youngest turtle, who had said the name; blushes and shifts his weight nervously at the orbs frozen, and staring at him. He felt, and looked like he was a five year old who had stolen and eaten a cookie when not told to, with the nervousness, guiltiness, and sheepishness all flowing off him in waves. The young turtle gathers all the pieces of his confidence left and says bravely, "Yeah you heard me. Did you meet Jaylene? Because if you were with the Foot Clan two years ago, Jaylene would have been there at the time…when you joined I mean. You should have seen her before."

What is he talking about? I have never met Jaylene, let alone know who she is, the thought comes to her mind as she puts on a look showing her perplexed expression.

"Michelangelo, I do not even know who she is, so please, enlighten me", she replies and is shocked when the orange banded turtle smoothly uses his thumb and jabs it in the direction of Raph who stood adjacent to him. The young turtle was being cocky, and she couldn't believe she was younger than him by a year.

Her focus averts to the red banded turtle and she gives him a look so he would talk immediately. The seventeen year old lifts his hand and rubs the back of his neck uncomfortably, lacking the feeling of need to inform her about Jaylene, but he reminds himself that this was a small part to play if he wanted girlfriend back. "She has chestnut-brown long, wavy hair and is shorter than Mikey by a couple of centimeters. Steel blue eyes, very strong, she was brave, skilled in taijutsu, kunai jutsu, and she was–"

"Special?" Astraea offers the word abruptly, at seeing the same glint of happiness in his eyes that Leo had when he thought of Karai. It sparkled, and she swore she saw a smile twitch on the corner of his lips at thinking about Jaylene. Her best bet was that Raphael had something special for this, Jaylene, and that girl did have too. But as much as she was fond of love like any other girl was, she had to focus on answering their questions so she could escape. No time to help a couple in love, she said to herself.

"Ahem", she coughs, and the turtles are pulled out of their daze as she speaks again. "So, am I supposed to know this Jaylene?" and Mikey still having a bit of confidence in him left says, "Yes, yes you should."

He turns to look at all of his brothers and said with a smart tone, "Do the math guys…and Don. If Astraea joined the Foot Clan two years ago, who else was taken to the same place, at the exact same time?"

Mikey crosses his arms and eyes each of his brothers, like he heard their thoughts turn on to ponder on what he stated. When their faces lit up, Donnie was the first to respond. "I actually did consider that before Mikey, though I haven't done the math for that when I came up with the theory because we didn't meet Astraea yet, so I wouldn't have counted and-never mind", the purple banded turtle stops before he could continue to allow his brother to have his short while of praise. He would feel guilty for taking away the glory from Mikey since his little brother rarely had these moments.

The orange banded turtle beamed at and did a little victory dance consisting a moon walk, spinning on his shell and a wave of his arms, celebrating how he was able to think of that, despite the fact he was not the first one to think of the theory, but his happy moment is cut short at Astraea interrupting, again. "Sorry to burst your bubble, but I have not met her nor have I seen her", she repeats her first statement firmly. "And to answer your other previous questions, yes the Shredder is kind enough to take me in and train, though he was not the one that trained me", and she held bowed her head to motion to them she would continue without any outbursts.

"When I arrived at…wherever he took me–I did not know as I was blindfolded to keep me from knowing the location–these scientists told me to sit in a chair, and they asked me some questions. I heard some typing, and a few minutes later, they told me I had Motivated Forgetting; quite a worse case at that. I must have had something painful in my past, that I force myself to forget what had happened which is why I only remember some simple events."

She closed her eyes at the sentence, mind stopping at a memory, remembering only searing pain, something electric coursing through her veins, body and her limbs violently jerking as if she was having a seizure. That was the worst memory she had, and she knew that she was not doing that because of a couple of kicks to the stomach by the other kids, but the question was, why did she remember that, and what happened? All the years on the streets gave her time to think about it, but even four years didn't give her enough time to find the 'what' and the 'why'.

"And to answer Leonardo's question–I think–was that, I met Karai and I think she disliked me instantly, though I never knew why", she stopped and flicked her gaze to Raph whom she suspected, had a look prepared for that sentence, showing he probably loathed her as well.

"But, I became her henchwoman anyway, and trained under Xever."

"Ya mean Fishface?" Mikey blurts out. He grins cheekily and sheepishly.

"Is that what you call him? Well, he dislikes you all, and told me about Shredder and Splinter's story", she said and gives a cold, hard glare at each turtle, the glare becoming harder as she moves down the line, and is surprised when they wear an expression, that conveyed they knew something extremely important that she didn't. And every brother was wearing it. The blonde teen narrows her eyes as Leo speaks.

"Y'know, I don't think Xev–Fishface–has been honest with you, or he didn't know", the turtle spills out slowly, drawing Astraea in from each word. He sighs with an uncertain look before beginning to explain the real story, the truth, about what happened between Hamato Yoshi, and Oroku Saki, and once he is done, Astraea feels a mixture of confusion, slight anger, and untrustworthiness towards both the turtles and the Foot Clan, not knowing what to listen to.

Fin

Well that's finally done! I can't believe I didn't update for over a month, and so sorry to all the readers for that! I think I accidently deleted some ideas to help with each chapter, like the dialogue and main points, so I had a hard time figuring out some details for this chapter. I don't think the weekly update thing is going to work, so please be patient, and I'll try my best to update whenever I can. Please continue to read even with my sluggish updates and remember to review!

Disclaimer: I do not own TMNT 2012