Chapter Text
You shivered as a sudden chill seemed to wake you up from a dreamless sleep.
The room was bright, too bright, and you closed your eyes again.
Soft whispers and touches made you open them again to see what was happening around you.
You could only look down, away from the lights and away from the faces that whispered at each other. Although you couldn't make out the words you knew they weren't talking to you.
Am I in a hospital?
Alarmed by a sudden sting, your eyes shot to your left arm. A strange green substance was injected and…Is that a turtle? Why is there a turtle? Why does it look so flat?
The animal shot out its head and bit your finger, refusing to let go. You wanted to retract your hand, scream, something, but your head felt so light and your eyelids so heavy.
----
You woke up again, staring at an empty wall in a dimly lit room.
Slowly, you turned on your back, trying not to worsen the nausea you were feeling.
Breathing in through your nose and out through your lips you let your eyes wander the room.
2,3, hold, 5,6,7,8,9. You held your breath for another second before repeating the cycle.
You were on a bed, placed against the wall, white sheets to match the white walls and white floor. No windows, one door on the far left of where you were. You swallowed the lump in your throat away.
Am I still at the hospital?
You tried to sit up and rubbed your face before pulling them back at a speed that almost hurt.. Two hands, 6 fingers and a green colour you shouldn’t be even when you considered how nauseous you felt.
No matter how long you looked at them and moved your fingers, your brain refused to acknowledge these green, three-fingered limbs were yours.
A loud knock snapped you out of it and you looked at the door, noticing how a small opening on the bottom let in a bright light from another room, perhaps a hallway, before a shadow blocked it and pushed something inside. A bowl?
"Dinner." The voice was booming, bordering on a yell and made you aware of the headache you apparently had. The small door closed again with another careless bang that rang in your ears.
Well, this is definitely not a hospital. Way too hostile and a serious lack of hospitality.
After eating half of the flavourless meal you walked around the room. There was another door on the wall you couldn’t see from the bed earlier and inside you found a toilet, shower and wash basin. It had a glass, toothbrush and toothpaste resting on it. You filled it with water and returned to the main room, checking out if you could open the little door from the inside.
After what seemed like hours of pacing, lying on bed, playing with the rim of your shirt and thinking about how you got here the door opened and you were greeted by two people in lab coats who beckoned you to come with them.
You placed down your glass of water on the sink on your way to the door and followed them down a long corridor not stopping until the last door on the right with a green light above it indicating it was free to use.
You were led inside and sat down. If you weren't as preoccupied with your heartbeat racing in your chest, you might have asked what was going on. At least that was what you made up as an excuse because a large guard was glaring at you with a gun in hand.
The female doctor took your arm and placed her fingers on your wrist. She frowned as she looked at the small clock and she let go of your shaky hand before writing down what must be your heart rate. You couldn't blame her for frowning at that.
"Subject 3C."
Your eyes were focused on your shaky legs as you tried to hold them down with your equally shaky hands. Why is my skin green? I’m sure I’m not meant to look like this. Shouldn’t I look more like the doctor?
"Subject 3C." She repeated louder and it caught your attention. "Subject 3C, do you understand what I'm saying?"
She was talking to you, but it was not your name. What kind of hospital uses Subject to refer to their patients?
You nodded.
"Subject 3C, please repeat the number 298."
"298." A rather raspy rendition of the number left your lips. How long has that been? You thought. Asking questions would prove difficult yet that wasn’t a reason to hold back. The guard’s glare was a good reason though.
"Excellent. Permission to continue." The woman didn't look at you and nodded at the man behind her. You swallowed as he told you to follow him for another long walk.
Several doors opened and you were told to go inside a large empty room. Your eyes quickly took in your surroundings. White walls, white floor, a stick?
"Eliminate all ten opponents."
The harsh voice made you want to hide inside yourself and you were sure you could pull up your shoulders way higher than what felt humanly possible. Guess I’m not human, wait- what opponents? With what? The stick? You hurried to pick it up when you heard a lot of noise on the other side, metal clashing and something that almost sounded like a car alarm that went on long enough for you to drop the stick and to cover your ears…you didn't have ears…not like the people in lab coats. Not like you expected. Placing your flat palms on the sides of your head did dampen the noise, so you tried not to worry about it too much.
"Done." You heard a voice as the wall separating you from the loud noises on the other side opened up and you saw a green man with a similar stick to yours in his hand, rolling his shoulder and looking rather smug.
He turned to look at you and you both stared at each other.
‘’No ‘all clear’ signal?’’ he thought out loud and held up his stick, pointing it at you. He frowned and gently poked you in the chest, making you fall down on your bum.
‘’I- what? why?’’ you watched him look away, as if waiting for something. Probably that signal he mentioned.
A short loud bell rang. "She wasn't an opponent." The voice sighed, seemingly annoyed.
"Oh. " He looked at you apologetically and offered you the end of his stick to pull you back to your feet. "Why didn’t you give the ‘all clear’ then?"
"Your next objective is to teach Subject 3C basic fighting skills. She will be watching you train for the next three days." The voice clearly decided to ignore his question.
He stuck up his finger, mouth open and most likely ready to object when the door you came through opened once more and two large guards told you both to follow.
You watched him from behind. He looked like you. 6 fingers, green skin, a shell. Like a turtle.
The turtle man hummed as you walked down the corridors. You were sure you were supposed to go right at the end if you were to go back to your room, but you turned left and down a staircase. Nervously, you fiddled with your thumbs until the guard opened one of the doors and told you to enter.
You were alone again in a room very similar to your old one. Perhaps you just remembered your walk incorrectly and forgot about the stairs. After all, you couldn't even remember something as simple as your name no matter how hard you tried recalling anything in the past couple of hours.
You walked around the room, finding a glass on the sink like the other room, the bed against the wall and curtains on a small section of the wall. You sighed in relief, happy to be able to see the sky and you opened the curtains.
A yelp escaped your lungs and you covered your mouth as you stared directly at the large eyes of the, clearly startled, turtle man.
You apologized, waving your hands, forgetting you could just close the curtains again.
Only when you noticed his hands move in a more deliberate way than yours, did you calm down and pay attention.
He made two movements, one with both hands, using his, presumably, index fingers and another one where he pointed at what was probably his ear.
You cocked your head to think about his signs although you were very sure you could guess the second gesture right. Must be soundproof.
Your eyes searched the room for something like a marker when an idea popped up. Something that felt familiar as if you used to do it long ago.
You neared the window and used your warm breath to create condensation. With the limited space you simply wrote 'sorry' backwards to the best of your ability.
A grin appeared on the man's face as he mimicked you to write his own message.
"Good idea."
Many replies crossed your mind, questions about which subject number he was, if he too felt like he wasn't supposed to be green and three-fingered, how long he'd been here and if he knew where 'here' was.
You looked at the window as a new message was being written.
"My name is Donatello" He paused to take another breath to continue writing. "What is yours?"
You instantly wanted to write your reply, but Subject 3C wasn't your name. You didn't have one for all you knew.
You took a breath and simply drew a question mark, an apologetic smile on your face as you shrugged.
As if it were perfectly timed the lights went off. Apparently it was a sign it was time to go to bed.
Unable to see him or any messages you followed the nightlight to the bathroom and prepared for bed.
----
It was hard to describe what you were feeling as you sat behind a one way mirror, watching Donatello perform several tasks, mostly fights and some puzzles here and there.
The words 'awe' and 'anxious' popped up, because it was amazing to watch him fight as if it was as easy as breathing, yet you couldn't stop shaking with the humans around you who only seemed agitated as they watched him from behind the glass.
Besides, you didn't get to feel comfort with the shackles around your wrists and ankles.
There were three breaks throughout the day and you caught the time near the end of the training session when one of the researchers scratched his arm and exposed his watch.
You weren't sure what time training started but you assumed it must've been at least six hours in total, not including the breaks.
You were brought back to your room and received dinner almost immediately.
Eating the tasteless meal, you kept eyeing the room next to you through the window, waiting for Donatello to return. Not until much later did you hear a door close and a figure pass the window.
Scrambling up from your spot on the bed you almost jumped towards it and saw him sitting in front of it with his own plate of tasteless dinner on his lap.
He looked exhausted.
On closer inspection you saw his ankle was wrapped in bandages and you wondered when that had happened, you were sure you had watched him closely and not seen him slip up even once.
"Are you hurt?" You finally wrote down, pointing at his ankle.
He looked down and shrugged, taking another hesitant bite. He was clearly enjoying the meals as much as you did.
"How long u been here?" You shortened the sentence, writing backwards with a time limit was difficult.
Donatello's face scrunched up. At first you thought it was the meal, but his eyes were locked on your words. Is he being picky about my spelling and grammar? You huffed.
He placed the empty plate on the floor and scooted over, closer to the window to write his reply.
"I have been here for approximately five days." It took him forever to write, but he seemed pleased.
Five days, that's not too bad. You thought, feeling slightly hopeful.
On the window a new sentence was forming.
"Can you do something for me?"
You cocked your head and replied with a nod.
"Can you take one of their phones?"
----
The muscles in your leg started to ache after waiting for the best opportunity to take away a phone. The young man on your right seemed like the best victim since he was the only one careless enough to have it on display in the back pocket of his trousers. There have been two breaks already and you were sure training would be over soon.
You swallowed as you heard them tell Donatello the last round was about to start and he had 25 small robots to defeat.
"Stay seated."
You gulped and moved back again. The security guard was clearly keeping a close eye on you as he noticed your smallest movement to get up.
You'd tried to get a phone the day before and since you failed back then, you knew you had to get it today before you would be out on the field with him and there would probably be no way of getting close to anyone and stealing it. Donatello looked like he could’ve done it if it were possible.
Your eyes looked around the room, trying to catch the guard looking the other way in the reflection of the window.
"What is he-?" The scientist was interrupted by a loud bang and glass shattering.
You fell backwards as the young man whose phone you wanted bumped into you.
Curses and footsteps filled the rooms and you were pulled up from the ground together with the man, your hands clutching the phone underneath your plastron's bottom edge.
That night Donatello didn't return before the lights were switched off.
----
"Spread your legs just a bit, your stance is still too unstable." He nudged you with his bō and you felt what he meant. It would be easy for him to tip you over again.
"Like this?" You adjusted according to his feedback and looked for a sign of approval. He tapped your left ankle slightly until you moved it and he nodded contently.
After finding out you didn't even have any basic knowledge of fighting he started from the very beginning.
He didn't do much besides giving you verbal instructions, using his bō to guide you when necessary. You wondered if he could even train you well since he looked pretty beaten up. His distraction worked wonders to get the phone, but he had bruises and bandages that were unlikely to have been caused by the robots.
Training took longer than planned, the researchers clearly stating it was because you are a slow learner and probably a failure they'd have to replace.
Harsh…
You were glad to be back in your dumb room without any dumb researchers around.
"Do you have it?" Donatello wrote down his question as soon as his door was closed.
You walked away and quickly returned to show him the device. You might not have been a fighter, but you were able to get what he needed. The awful feeling you had earlier seemed to disappear when you saw his face lit up and his arms lifted up to his chest. You smiled just as brightly although you had no idea what he was planning on doing with it.
As promised that night you sneaked it inside your shell and he carefully took it from you the next day as you feigned to twist your ankle and dropped to the floor. Training was cut short and you were returned to your room after a quick medical examination. You ignored the second round of insults about being a failure. Donatello was already back in his room.
You watched Donatello tinker with the device, your blanket wrapped around your shoulders, until the lights switched off and you went to bed.
----
Leo stared through the window, watching the lights on the road flash by after crossing off another potential suspect and location from the list. They’ve been searching for over a week now and he knew that the longer it took the less likely it was to find him.
‘’You’re about to form your own Raph chasm if you keep frowning like that.’’
‘’That’ll need a few more years to develop.’’ Leo laughed softly, finally looking away from the road to look back at his big brother. ‘’But if I do get one because of this whole situation, Dee will have a lot of apologizing to do for ruining my handsome face.’’
‘’What’s the next stop?’’ Mikey sighed, his head resting on his arms. He’d felt useless all week, not knowing how Donnie’s tech worked, not getting any answers and not being allowed to create a portal. Leo told him not to use it before the ten day mark for it took years for his arms to fully recover from the first and only time he’d used it. Unless you counted his future self, but Donnie told him that future no longer existed since they changed it.
‘’Let’s see’’ Leo grabbed the paper and checked their remaining options. ’’Let’s go t-’’ He was interrupted by their wrist communicators that simultaneously started beeping, connecting to the tank and showing them coordinates not too far from their current location.
‘’oh ho ho, seems we got our next destination.’’ Leo smirked as Mikey had jumped up from his seat, excited to finally be reunited.
‘’Hold on.’’ Raph grinned, turning the tank at an alarming speed to race to his little brother’s whereabouts.