Keep you're Friends Close, Keep Your Enemies Closer

A certain stench enters my nose, the feeling of nostalgia washes over me. The murky, moldy smell of sewage wasn't a good one. But it was a smell I had grown up with. The lair wasn't that clean of a place, hell it was never clean. But the smell brings back memories of a better time. A time with my brothers.

Now look at me, sitting in a kitchen, no idea where I'm at, no idea what's going on, left hands been cut off. I don't know how this happened…I don't even remember what happened last before I woke up here. I sigh and lean back on the chair I put down near the table.

I stare at the sink that the figure came out of, I expect to feel a tingle of some kind when I look at it. But I feel nothing. This place is getting to me. I don't feel anything anymore. Well of course I'll feel scared if something really scary happens, but other than that, I feel nothing.

I felt no guilt when killing Hun, I felt no remorse, no sorrow. Nothing. I'm also scared to know if my brothers are ok. I really hope they're not here. I don't want them to go through what I'm going through.

I can't just sit here and waste away, I have to look for a way out of here.

I push myself to my feet and peek outside the door, seeing if that one dude is around. I'm alone. Good.

I lurch forward and keep moving down the hallway. I glance down at my bloody stub, wishing my hand was still there. I clench my teeth at the pain I'm feeling inside. The pain in my stub has lessened, but the memory of what Hun did to me haunts the crap out of me.

I continue down the hallway when I hear a noise. A voice.

"Mommy? Is daddy ok?"

"I don't know sweetheart" Another voice said, weeping.

I turn around and everything changed. The walls are a blinding white, floors are shiny clean, chairs, gurneys are in the hallways. It looked normal. I also saw a mother and a little girl sitting in a chair opposite of a door, the mother was crying and the little girl was watching her.

"Mommy?"

"Yes dear?" The mom sobbed.

"Why are you crying?"

"Because…Because daddy's hurt" The mom uttered.

A doctor came out of the door opposite from them, "Mrs. Hollen?"

She looked up at him, "Can we have a minute of privacy?" He asked.

She nodded and looked at the little girl, "Sweetheart, I'm going to go see daddy now…go along and go see Uncle Rick…he's in the kitchen" The mom said.

The little girl nodded and slowly walked away, she walked closer and closer to me. Then she ducked down right next to me behind a cart. I watched her, she peeked out and looked at her mom.

"Mrs. Hollen" He said softly.

"Please" She begged.

The little girl inhaled sharply.

"He's gone" The doctor said finally.

The mom fell to her knees, sobbing uncontrollably, begging and pleading for it not to be true. The little girl sat behind the cart and started sobbing. I watched them both, then everything began to fade, returning to the normal, gloomy hallways that I am use to.

I sighed, depressed and slightly confused. What did I just see? Was it a hallucination? My head began to pound in a matter of seconds. I turned away and continued down the hallway. Wanting nothing but to get out of here.

Then at the end of the hallway, I see a door at the end of the hallway, splattered with black paint. Then I remember the key.

I dig it out of my belt and start toward the door. I wonder what lies beyond the door, could it be my brother? Or another one of those foot zombie guys. My heart races as I stop at the door and take a deep breath. I slide the key into the door and turn it, hearing the door unlock.

"Here goes nothing" I mutter, then push the door open.

Wasn't my first guess, but I was suprised none the less.

Dr. Stockman was hanging by his wrists on the ceiling, feet dangling.

"Turtle?" He says.

"Stockman?" I say back.

"What are you doing here?" He asks.

"Just thought I'd drop in" I joke.

"Is this really the time for jokes?" He says strictly.

"Guess not" I shrug, then look around the room, it was much like my room, only there were no hooks. It was small and bland, but something did catch my eye. The dead dog in near Stockman.

"What's with the dog?" I ask.

"Someone put me in here with him, he kept trying to attack me, but after a couple kicks to the face he finally bit the dust"

"Impressive" I say, then spot the door at the end of the room. I walk toward it.

"Where are you going?" He asks, trying to get out.

"Leaving"

"You're just going to leave?" He asks, sounding shocked.

"Listen, the last guy I tried to help did this to me" I hold up my stub, "So don't expect any help from me, plus you already put us through enough shit in our lives" I cringe at the curse word, still not use to it.

"You thought I was asking for your help?" He shouts a laugh, "I don't need you"

"Sounds to me like you were worried when I left" I smirk, "Like you wanted me to stay"

"I wasn't asking for your help, I don't need you to get out of here" He says with pride, as usual.

"Oh? This I gotta see" I lean up against the wall and watch him.

He looks at me with confusion.

"Go ahead" I reassure.

He grins and then begins to work with the rope.

….

An hour passes and he's made no progress what so ever.

"You sure you don't need help?" I ask.

"I said I don't need you" He says sternly.

"Alright" I throw my hand and stub up.

He continues wiggling and flailing to get out. I yawn. Then spot the glass shard at the end of the room, I walk over to it, pick it up and fling it at him. It cuts though the rope and Stockman yelps as he falls and hits the ground. I walk over to him and offer to help with the rope.

"Don't touch me!" He shouts, "I said I could get out myself"

"Looked like it"

He manages to get to his feet without the use of his hands, then tries to undo the ropes around his wrists.

"It's impossible Stockman" I try to reason.

As I finish, the rope falls to the ground. He sighs and rubs his wrists.

"How the-"

"I told you I could do it myself" He utters, then walks to the door.

"Don't know if you care, but I don't think you're going to like what's on the other side of that door doc" I tell him.

"No matter, I am ready for anything" He tells me.

I glance at him, "You're a doctor…not a fighter…I mean without you're robot stuff, you're pretty much useless"

"Wrong again Turtle, I happen to know enough to defend myself"

"Oh do you?"

"Of course I do! And if you're offering to help me I decline, I mean didn't you say yourself that you don't want help" He asks.

"Maybe, but you're more reasonable then Hun…I think"

"Hun? He's here?" He says surprised.

"He was…"

He glances toward the ground and begins pacing, "If Hun is here...and you're here…Then this isn't a coincidence"

"What are you thinking?" I ask, rubbing my chin with confusion.

"My theory, we aren't alone. There are more of us here…I'm guessing Shredder…Karai…Bishop…and if you're here…then the other turtles are most likely here"

My heart sinks to the lowest part of my body, for once I actually agreed with him.

"What are you saying?" I query.

"That this is no mere coincidence, I think we were put here for some reason" He explains, "We all have connection, and I think more of that connection is here"

He's actually making sense.

"Alright, this is bigger than I thought" He says.

"Bigger then you can ever imagine" I add.

He shots a look at me, "What do you mean?"

"Doc…you actually make sense…but there's something else here"

"Explain" He snaps.

"I can't really…it's like an entity…it's been following me ever since I woke up" I drone.

"Excellent, I'm not the only one" He shouts.

"What?"

"I know what you're talking about" He begins to pace "…when I woke up, there was someone standing in this room. It looked human but I could tell it wasn't. And it just…stared at me. Then it took this little girl and left"

The girl! Stockman has been seeing them too.

I groan, "What the hell is going on here"

I see Stockman's eye's gaze over the dog, "What happened to you when you woke up?" He asked.

"Well…My hands were impaled through hooks and there was some kind of monster in the room with me. Tried to rip my jaw off but it killed itself before it could"

Stockman rubbed his chin, "Now what about Hun?"

I thought back, Hun was never in any real danger.

"Not that I know of" I say.

Then I remember the window and the balance beam.

"Wait, in the room there was a window, two small openings and a balance beam inside. We had to put something on the balance beam to make the other come up with the key" I explain, "But…There wasn't anything in the room we could have used"

"And I'm guessing Hun used your hand?" Stockman asked.

I nod grimly.

"I understand, was Hun easy to get out?"

"Yeah, he was tied to a chair"

"Then whosever doing this knew Hun wouldn't help you and made it so one of you had to shed blood to get the door open, they put you two against each other to get out" He inquired.

I thought about it, he made a good point, "So they put us through death situations to see if we get out alive"

"Something close to that" Stockman said.

We stand in silence, Then I watch him feel the back of his head, "Ah ha!" He says.

"What are you doing?"

"Turn around" He orders.

"Why?"

"Just do it!" He commands.

I grunt and twirl around, "Just as I thought" He says.

"Care to fill me in?"

"Someone's been digging in our heads" He says.

"What?" My hands flies up to the back of my head, in no time I felt an unnatural feeling scar on the back of my head.

"I have one as well" He informs.

I close my eyes and catch my bearings. "Ok…so there's more of us here…something's following us…someone put us here…and someone messed with our heads" I murmur.

"In layman's terms…yes"

I let out a tiny chuckle, "Great"

We stand in silence, I glance at Stockman and it looks as if he's trying to solve long division in his head.

"So…what do you say?" I stick my hand out toward him.

He looks at the hand, then back up at me, he lets out a sigh, "Considering the circumstances…" He takes my hand, "I will offer my assistance, but after this…we go our separate ways"

"Fine by me"

…..

Stockman wasn't my first guess to actually agree to help me, but it beats being alone.

"Tell me why I'm walking in front again?" Stockman asks.

"Because the last time I turned my back on someone I lost a hand" I explain.

"Listen turtle, I care about my life just as much as you do, and I do have a deep hatred for you"

"Gee thanks"

"But! I want to get out of here, and I'm willing to do whatever is necessary, that doesn't mean killing you, because believe it or not I will need your help to get out"

"What happened to mister 'I can get out of here myself'" I mock.

"Look around…this is bigger than both of us, I'm curious to see what exactly is going on here"

I sigh, "I just want to find my brothers and get out of here"

He looks sideways at me, "I had a feeling that was you're top priority".

We continue walking down long hallways, turning corners, unknowing where we're actually going. Stockman ends up behind me and I begin to feel uneasy.

"I never did like Hun" Stockman broke the silence.

"I always thought there was some tension between you two" I admit.

"More then you could ever imagine"

Silence breaks thought again, not a big fan of silence. We keep walking and turn a corner, continuing down the hall.

"What do you think is really going on here? " I ask, partly for the answer, and partly to take the silence away.

But after a second, no response.

I freeze and quickly turn around, he's not there.

"Stockman?" I call out.

No response.

"No" I said softly, quickly running back down the hallway.

Part of me thinks he slipped away and now is planning on getting out without me. Another part of me thinks he was just a hallucination. I turn the corner and freeze in fear.

He wasn't a hallucination, or planning on leaving me.

He was currently being held up against the wall by his neck, the creepy guy staring into his eyes. The little girl was standing next to the creepy guy. "No" I mutter under my breath. Then charge full speed at the guy, he doesn't see me coming and I tackle him to the ground, smashing my fist in his face.

"DADDY!" The little girl shouts.

I don't see Stockman, but I heard him hit the floor, not sure if he's alive. But I keep throwing my fists at him, his skin feels weird, like clay. He grabs my neck and throws me to the ground, then sits on top of me. I try to kick out of his grip but then he looks into my eyes.

I freeze, not knowing why. It feels like my whole body has been shut down. His eyes, it felt like they were staring into my soul. My vision goes blurry as my life begins being sucked out of me. Then a shout stopped him.

"HEY!"

The creepy guy looks away from me and I inhale deeply, regaining my life back. I catch my breath and look up, seeing Stockman holding a knife to the little girl's neck.

"Let him go" Stockman shouts.

The creepy guy didn't move at first, but then he slowly got off of me and stood up.

"Back away" Stockman ordered.

The creepy guy obeyed and stepped back from me.

"Come here turtle" Stockman said.

Didn't need to tell me twice, I jumped to my feet and hurried next to Stockman. We all stood in silence for a second.

"Tell me what's going on here?" Stockman asked him.

The guy didn't answer.

"Tell me or the girl gets it!" Stockman says.

I feel like something else is here. I slowly turn my head and watch the foot ninja things start piling into the hallways.

"Umm…Doc?"

"What?"

"Behind us"

Stockman looks behind and I watch the color leave his face.

"Shit" He mutters, throws the knife and the guy and pushes the girl toward him.

"RUN!" Stockman orders, then bolts down the hallway.

I follow closely as he sprints away from the foot creatures, the same kind that I was faced with in that room.

"What do we do?" I yell to him.

"Find a door!" He yells.

I franticly look at all the doors, trying to find one that looks open.

"THERE!" I shout, spotting a door that is open slightly.

Stockman reaches' it first, opening it all the way and waiting for me to enter. I literally jump inside and he moves in and slams to door close, forcing his strength against it. I lay on the ground, staring dumbly at Stockman as something hard slams against the door, he forces the door to remain close.

"Help me!" Stockman shouts.

I shake my head and leap to my feet, keeping the door close. I my sore muscles ache as I strain them to give me strength. After a second of pushing, I feel no weight on the other side. Me and Stockman stay still for a second, seeing if they're still trying to get in. Nothing happens.

Stockman steps back and leans against the wall, catching his breath. I slid down the door, sitting on the ground.

"That was close" Stockman speaks.

"Tell me about it"

I look around the very small room, closet actually.

"A janitor's closet?" I question.

"Better then out there" Stockman says.

I nod my head and close my eyes, trying to catch my bearings.

"I uh…" He stammers, "I just…" He has difficulty saying.

I glance at him.

He sighs, "Thanks" He said softly, "For coming back"

I smile, "And thanks for not leaving me"

He nods.

…..

We sat in the closet for about ten minutes before we peeked outside. Once we did, we saw it was empty. We cautiously make our way out and head down the hallway again.

"I feel like a rat in a maze" Stockman admits.

"I feel ya"

We walk down two more hallways before I spot another door with black paint splattered on it.

"Oh god" I say.

"What?"

"You see that door?" I point.

"What about it?"

I took out the key and showed him, "The first one I found had Hun inside, the second one had you in it"

Stockman looks at the door, "You think someone's in there?"

I walk up to the door and slide the key into the key hole, "I know someone's in here"

I take a deep breath and turn the key, pushing the door open, my heart hits my throat.

"LEO!" I shouted.

Leo looked up at me and a look of terror washed over him.

"Oh god Mikey what are you doing here!" Leo said.

I ran toward him, "Mikey wait!" He shouted.

Then felt something light hit my foot.

Everything literally went in slow motion. I looked down at my feet and saw the small wire break and quickly reel back into the wall. Then I looked up at Leo and noticed what he was strapped to.

A guillotine.

Something went off in the twisted machine and the blade slide down quickly.

I turn my attention back at the wire, I quickly dived toward the wire and managed to wrap my one hand around it. The wire rubbed painfully against my skin, I clenched my teeth and wrapped the wire around my wrist, stopping the blade from hitting Leo.

I take a second to catch my breath, my muscles scream in agony, the blade wasn't the lightest thing ever.

"Mikey" Leo softly said, "What's going on?"

"It's ok Leo!" I reassure, "its ok I got you, we'll get you out"

I felt my feet start to slide due to the weight of the blade. The wire dug into my wrist painfully.

"Jesus" Stockman added.

"Stockman! Get Leo out of that machine" I order.

Stockman hesitated at first, then ran to him.

"Mikey…what are you doing with Stockman?" Leo asked sternly.

"Leo this isn't a good time to be the big brother" I stammer, blood drew from my wrists.

"Stockman! Hurry!" I pleaded, not able to hold it for much longer.

"I…I don't know how to get him out! The lock that's holding him in is broken" Stockman says.

"Screw the lock! Get him out!" I scream.

"Mikey…the lock broke when you hit the wire" Leo stated.

My heart cringed, tears leaving my eyes.

"There has to be a way!" I plead.

"I'm looking, I'm looking!" Stockman hurried. He grabbed the straps and pulled at them.

"Leo it'll…It'll be ok" I tried to reason.

"Mikey!" Leo said.

"What?" I sobbed.

"I love you"

"NO! NO DON'T SAY THAT! WE'RE GOING TO GET YOU OUT!" I screamed.

"GODDAMMIT STOCKMAN GET HIM OUT OF THERE!" My voice cracked.

Stockman pulled as hard as he could at the straps, it being the only way to get him out.

The wires dug further into my wrists and started slowly reeling back into the wall.

"Mikey" Leo said softly.

"STOCKMAN!" I scream.

"It's impossible to get him out!" Stockman shouted.

"NO!" I cry, I'm running out of wire.

"Mikey it's ok…Let go" Leo said softly, tears running down his face.

I inhale sharply, "I can't…I can't Leo"

"There's no other way" Leo admitted, "I love you Mikey"

I fall to my knees, "I love you too Leo…"

I close my eyes , "I'm so sorry Leo"

The wire flies though my hands and I hear the blade slam into the wood.

"I'm so sorry"