Content warning: This chapter is not as detailed as chapter 25 from The Girl Next Door (in which April is held captive by Shredder), but it directly implies very unpleasant things. If you don't want to read this but want a completely non-explicit summary, I will provide one at the beginning of the next chapter.
Tang Mei kept her eyes squeezed shut the whole way to Shredder's lair. If she let the world in for even one minute, she was going to break down. She focused on her husband's last words like a mantra: Be strong, Mei. Be Strong.
She was stronger now than she ever had been. If she had put up any kind of a fight at all, she would have been able to escape capture. But she had lived too long merely preserving her own safety. Her self-preservation instincts had led to April's capture, and if she had let them win out now, Karai would never have a chance to know the truth.
She knew the risks. Donatello and Miwa were worth any amount of risk or sacrifice that Mei had to offer.
Though tied and helpless, she was not weak. She would never be weak again.
She heard unfamiliar voices around her. She shut them out. All of her being was focused on three words: Be strong, Mei.
"Well done, Karai."
Mei shuddered at the voice she knew all too well. She squeezed her eyelids together even harder.
Be strong, be strong, be strong...
"Here, Father," Karai said. "She had these weapons and this phone with her."
"Excellent. Bradford, get Baxter Stockman. I want him to decrypt that device and see if it can help us locate Splinter. Xever, take our guest to the south prison chamber."
As they carried her to the chamber, she could hear faint voices behind her.
"Father, I have to ask you something."
"Not now, Karai. Prepare yourself. I am going to see if Kobayashi is willing to give up Splinter's location; I want you to be ready to leave at a moment's notice."
"But, Father!"
"Go, Karai!"
After that, Mei could hear nothing but the sounds of the Footbots as they carried her through the dungeon. She was glad that Shredder had set someone to the task of cracking her phone; it was rigged to send a distress signal the minute the encryption had been forcibly opened. But the encryption was tight. She had developed it herself. It could take someone else an hour or more to unlock it.
An hour or more until hope of help would be on the way.
"You should consider yourself fortunate," an accented voice said. "Master Shredder has given you our most comfortable chamber. It's one of the few that has a working toilet, and it's the only one that has a bed."
Mei forced herself not to vomit.
When they arrived at the chamber, she finally opened her eyes. She was surrounded by a small group of Footbots and a dark-complected man.
"Untie her, and we'll go," the man said.
Coiling her muscles in preparation to attack, Mei waited while one of the Footbots started to untie her wrists.
"Xever! What are you doing?" Shredder's bellowing voice filled the chamber. "She's highly trained in ninjutsu. Don't untie her."
"Apologies, Master," Xever replied, bowing. "I thought that the chamber would be enough—"
"You thought wrong," Shredder snapped. "Just put her on the floor for now. Leave us. I don't want to be disturbed for any reason."
"Yes, Master Shredder."
Mei couldn't control the physical shudder that ran through her body.
Shredder laughed. "Mei. So good to see you. I've waited for this reunion for a long time."
Be strong.
"Imagine all of the lost time we have to make up for." Shredder lifted her bodily from the ground and threw her onto the bed.
Be strong.
"I admit, I was surprised to learn that you had allied yourself with Hamato Yoshi, Mei. Especially considering that he was the reason all of this happened to you."
In your darkest hour, remember that Hamato Yoshi did this to you.
No! Be strong!
Somewhere deep inside of Mei, the box that contained all of her fears broke open. Exhaling, she let them all flow out of her body. There was no room for them amidst her newfound courage and hope—courage and hope that came from April, her nephews, and her brother-in-law.
She had grown too strong to be ruled by fear anymore.
"But if you tell me where he is, then perhaps we will be able to skip all of these unpleasantries."
Mei burst out laughing. She looked up into Shredder's surprised face. "All this time, and that's still all you care about? Hamato Yoshi, Hamato Yoshi-because my sister loved him instead of you!" She laughed again, letting it flow through her like madness. "Tang Shen always hated you, Oroku Saki. Even when we were children! Do you really think any of this will change that?"
"You've grown insolent in our time apart," Shredder hissed.
Mei could hardly speak through her laughter. "You're right. I've changed. But you haven't. You're still just a small, pathetic man who thinks himself tall!"
"Silence!" Shredder punched Mei's face so hard that she felt her jaw dislocate. One of her teeth cracked. "You know what happened the last time you were my prisoner, Mei. You would do well to fear me."
Her laughter was gone; her courage was not. Reeling from pain, Mei looked Shredder in the eye. "I am not your prisoner. You may have my body, but my spirit is free. I don't fear you. There is nothing you can do to me that you haven't done already. I will never betray the man who truly loved my sister."
Shredder punched her again; her ears rang.
"You think you are strong?" he growled, gripping her by the throat. "That your spirit is free? That there's nothing else I can do to you? I promise you, by the time I am through with you, I will scatter the shattered fragments of your spirit to the ends of the universe!"
"Do what you want," Mei choked. "It will just make it that much more satisfying when I kill you."
"I'll make you regret those words."
Mei was done with fear. Her spirit was unbreakable; it rose above the situation, full of confidence and hope. There was no fear.
But she couldn't ignore the physical pain, or contain the screams that tore from her throat.
"It's been hours," Leo said, pacing the den. "She should have called us by now!"
"Leo, they have a lot to talk about," April said. She reclined against a beanbag on the floor, with Donnie sitting on her knees. "It's probably really hard for Karai to take it all in, you know?"
"You're giving Karai too much credit," Raphael said. "I say we just call, and if she doesn't answer, we know that there's trouble."
"I'm pretty sure that Mei can handle herself," Kirby said. He sat on the sofa, leafing through an instruction manual of some sort. "I've been on the receiving end of those sai of hers. Besides, if you call her, it could upset the delicate balance of the situation. Psychological behaviors are a very tricky thing."
Leo wasn't convinced, but he didn't have a choice. Aunt Mei had told him to trust—that their trust would be the only way that Karai would come to trust them—but his ninja instincts told him that all of this had gone wrong. "Come on, April—you get those 'feelings' about stuff. You can't tell me that this doesn't feel wrong to you!"
April hugged herself. "It does feel wrong. But we have to trust Mei."
Leo cast about for something to distract himself; he tilted he head to see what Kirby was reading. It had a gun on the front. "What are you reading, Mr. O'Neil?"
"This?" Kirby chuckled nervously. "Well, I'm not exactly ninjutsu material, but I can't be defenseless. So, well, I got something so I can protect April." He reached inside his jacket and produced a handgun.
"Dad!" April cried. "It's illegal to have those in the city limits, isn't it?"
"This is New York. It's illegal to have a soda larger than 16 ounces," Kirby replied.
"Good point."
Suddenly, all of the t-phones started going off. Leo scrambled to look at his; it had a text message from Aunt Mei on it. All it said was, I have been compromised—send help, followed by a series of numbers.
"Aunt Mei is in trouble!" Mikey said. "What do the numbers mean?"
"Let me see," said Kirby. He squinted at the phone. "Those are latitude and longitude coordinates. They're really precise. I'll get you a map you can follow."
Leo's head spun. "We've got to get her out! I'll get Master Splinter. Mr O'Neil, April—you stay here."
"No way!" April shouted, startling Donnie back into his shell. "I'm coming too!"
"April, you're still too weak," Kirby said.
"But Dad!" April burst into tears. "Mei is my friend! My best friend! And Shredder—"
"You're staying here, April," Leo said, starting toward the dojo.
"No, I'm not!" screamed April.
"April, calm down," Kirby said.
Splinter emerged from the dojo, his face alight with concern. "What is going on out here?"
"It's Aunt Mei, Sensei. The Shredder has her," Leo said.
Anger and horror raged in Splinter's eyes. "Then we must go. Now."