Title: Obedience
Day: Febuwhump 2024, Day 4
Prompt: Obedience
Fandom: TMNT 2003
Word Count: 1722
Author: aquietwritingcorner/realitybreakgirl
Rating: T
Characters: Leonardo, Donatello, Raphael, Michelangelo
Warning:
Summary: Dr. Tamara Alexander's career was ruined two years ago when four remarkable creatures escaped and the company was exposed for unethical practices. However, fortune is in her favor, and she's not about to pass up another opportunity to look at these creatures.
Notes: This story links back to a story from last year's Febuwhump, Captivity. I'd suggest reading that one, just so you have the full effect. (this one isn't as good, darn it, and I strayed a little from the prompt here, just because of lack of time)
Obedience
Dr. Alexander tapped her pen on her lips, watching carefully. This facility wasn't as nice as the last research facility that she had worked at, but it was a step up from the subpar places she had been working at for the past two years. Ever since that debacle, she'd been stripped of her license and forced to work underground. It was demeaning, but it was what it was.
She supposed that she could have traveled to another country to work there. There were quite a few countries that weren't as particular about licensing or the sorts of experiments that they ran. She was highly qualified and probably would have been welcomed in one of them. However, that would have meant giving up certain chances and opportunities here—ones like she happened to have now.
Dr. Alexander didn't look too closely at her employer or the methods that he employed. She didn't care to. They really didn't matter to her. Not as long as she got what she needed out of the deal. And so far? So far, he had delivered.
The four creatures were back in her control. Her employer had managed to capture them. Their enclosure wasn't as spacious this time, about half as big, and with a much smaller aquatic area. Still, it suited their purpose, and the creatures didn't seem bothered by their proximity to each other. They did, however, seem bothered by being captured once again. Then again, Dr. Alexander had expected that. After all, when a creature was captured once, it naturally became more wary of captivity a second time.
Overall, though, their behavior wasn't that different than what she had expected, given her previous observations of the creatures. Red was pacing around the edges of the enclosure, glaring at the walls, obviously certain that someone was on the other side of them. Orange was in a fake tree, knocking at it curiously. Blue was talking quietly with Purple, who seemed to be pushing on the walls and other areas, as if testing them out. It was much as it was before.
Dr. Alexander frowned as she considered this. Purple's intelligence, while intriguing, was also a threat. It was how they had escaped last time, and it was obvious that Blue was relying on him quite a bit at the moment. If she was going to keep them, this time, then she would need to find a way to break Purple.
"Take the blue one," she said, tapping her pen on her lips again. "I want to test something."
The aide next to her nodded. "Right away, Dr. Alexander," he said, and scurried off.
Dr. Alexander's lips curled in a smile. She had theories to test.
She knew from her previous studies that the four creatures were quite protective of each other. It was also clear that, after the last time, the four were more reluctant than ever to cooperate with them. She was fairly certain that she could use this against them and find a way to keep the creatures obedient. Blue and Purple were the key, she just had to figure out how.
She stumbled across it later that week. She had her assistants take Purple and take him to an area that had been set aside for a specific purpose—sensory deprivation. She had put Orange in a similar situation before, and he had not reacted well. Purple, like Orange, always seemed to ground himself in the world around him. Orange did it through the other creatures. Purple did it through observation and reason. Perhaps Purple would react similarly.
The sensory deprivation room had been specially designed. It was pitch black and had layers and layers of sound absorbing materials on the walls, absorbing almost all sound. The room was big enough that it would take a little time to move around, and the material padding it was very soft, the kind that you almost couldn't feel. It was an odorless room as well, something that they had taken pains to ensure. They put Purple in it, releasing a mild, odorless sedative as well, to muddle his thinking a bit, and sat back to observe.
Within just a couple of hours, Purple was showing signs of distress. Dr. Alexander tapped her pen to her lips and smiled. She could work with this.
For the next trial, she had just Blue and Purple brought out. When they refused to be obedient to the instructions given, she had them separated. She had Purple put back in the sensory deprivation room, while Blue was put in the observation room.
She watched Blue as he watched Purple for the next five hours. Blue watched as Purple went from uncomfortable to trying some way, anyway, to get any sort of sensation happening. Dr. Alexander could see how distressed that was making Blue, and she smiled to herself.
Dr. Alexander had found her breaking point.
When Blue and Purple were returned to the enclosure, Purple was shaky and pale and Blue clung to him. Red and Orange immediately surrounded them both, Red demanding to know what happened, while Orange just clung to Purple. They all gathered around Purple that night, staying close to him, but if they thought this was over, they were quite wrong.
Dr. Alexander never was one to waste an advantage, after all.
The next day she pulled all four of them in for a trial, one she knew they wouldn't want to do. That was the point. A handler explained the trial to them, and they refused as expected. Dr. Alexander ordered Purple taken from them, while the rest of them were put back into their enclosure. This obviously caused distress between the creatures, which was what she had been hoping for. She had Purple put back into the sensory deprivation room and left him there for about half the day. When he was returned to his fellows, he was, again, shaky, unsteady, and distressed. The others reacted to his state with their own distress.
Dr. Alexander tapped her pen against her lips. Perfect.
The next day, she had them pulled for the trial again. When they refused, she threatened to take Purple away to the sensory deprivation room again. The creatures exchanged looks, and then agreed to the trial.
She had them.
For the next few weeks, Dr. Alexander put them through trial after trial, test after test, and every time they refused, she put Purple back in that room. It was clearly taking a toll on him, more than she had anticipated, working out better than she could have expected.
She loved the obedience. All it took was a threat or making good on it for just a little while, and she had the creatures docile and obedient. She pushed, seeing how far she could take this new obedience from them, trying more and more things. It was perfect, and she thrived with this new-found power.
"Cooperate, or Purple goes back to the room."
"If you do not complete this trial within the allotted time, Purple will go back to the room."
"If you do not allow us to examine you, Purple will go back to the room."
"If you resist, Purple goes back to the room."
"Obey what we tell you, or Purple goes back to the room."
Of course, nothing lasts forever. They attempted to escape. She had been expecting it, as had her employer, and their escape was thwarted. As punishment, Dr. Alexander had Purple taken to the sensory deprivation room, intending on leaving him in there for twenty-four hours. She had Blue taken back to the observation room, where he could watch his fellow creature's descent into hallucinations and madness.
It was a perfect plan.
Or, it would have been, if she hadn't of underestimated Red and Orange.
Once again, somehow, they managed to escape. Only this time, without Blue and Purple there to guide them, Red and Orange became even more volatile than any of them had expected. They tore through the facility, finding Blue first.
Blue had been growing more and more angry and upset over Purple's predicament. Purple had taken to yelling as loudly as he could to try to make noise, and turning to minor self-harm, such as pinching, repetitive hitting motions, and digging his fingers into his skin just to gain sensation. By the time that Red and Orange found Blue, Blue was more than ready to tear the walls down just to find Purple.
Unfortunately, instead of being safe in an office when the alarms went off this time, Dr. Alexander had been in the hallways. There hadn't been much in ways of places to hide, and the creatures had come across her in their search for Purple. Blue threatened her life if she didn't take them to Purple, and so Dr. Alexander agreed. She took them to the room, opened it up, and watched as Red moved in to pull out Purple.
Purple was highly distressed and agitated, shying away from the noise and lights, shaking, and still talking to himself. Orange attempted to soothe him, while Blue demanded the way out. Dr. Alexander told them, and Blue leaned in.
"Never come after me or my family again," he growled out. "Tell that to your boss, and whoever is running these experiments. It will cost them their lives."
Dr. Alexander was actually intrigued by this, as it seemed that Blue and the others had no idea that she was the one in charge of their trials. It made sense. She'd never had reason to show herself to them. However, she did not have time to think on that, as that was the last thing she knew.
From what she was told later, Blue had knocked her out, and then they had taken off, Red again carrying Purple, and escaped. It was interesting that this time they did not try to erase the data or take down her employer. Then again, she had suspected for a while that her employer had history with these creatures, and that might be the reason why.
Dr. Alexander sat back in her office chair, looked over the data they had collected, and tapped her pen on her lips, even as they curled up in a smile.
Oh yes. It would be interesting to see where this went.