Chapter Text
Raph had…calmed down.
Sorta.
He’s not sure how long it's been but…but it had to have been at least an hour…maybe two. He didn’t know.
Raph was in the corner of the box. He…felt better knowing there were two walls just to the side of him instead of none…like there had been when he was in the middle of the box.
Raph breathed slowly and deeply, all that stuff. It helped. Kinda. Sorta. It…
He kept trying to think of a way out but all his plans always involved some kind of punching and whenever he did it kinda really hurt and it didn’t do anything to the floors and walls and…well…he hadn’t tried punching the ceiling but he’d long decided it would be the same as everything else. Weird buzzing and fist hurting and all that.
So Raph sat there. Thinking and trying not to panic.
He wondered when his brothers would notice he was missing and then…what they would do? Donnie would do some sciencey thing and find out who turtle-napped him and then Mikey would razz his tazz and then Leo would portal them all home and…
…and then they would watch Jupiter Jim. It was movie night. Raph knew that but…
Raph wasn’t there. He wasn’t…
He couldn’t get out. He felt so useless. Raph could punch things, he was really, really good at that but this..? He couldn’t punch the walls. He couldn’t punch the people that kidnapped him. He couldn't do anything.
He was stuck.
He hated it. He hated the feeling of not knowing how he got here. Who kidnapped him and what they wanted. If…if they somehow got his brothers too.
No. He reminded himself. They didn’t get his bros. His bros were safe. They were safe, they were safe, they had to be.
Raph steadied his breathing and focused on massaging his palm. He glanced around, and was met with the same pinkish, reddish walls.
He wondered if they would change.
They did but it took longer than he wanted them too.
—||—
Raph was still sitting in the corner of the box when the walls rippled.
Raph jumped and scrambled away, stumbling back into the center of the cube. He glanced around nervously and watched as the walls turned all see through. He could look out now, everything had a pinkish reddish tint but he could still see out.
He looked around, half desperate. He noticed there were a lot of tables, filled with lots of stuff Raph could probably name if he took the time too. (There were bones too, all kinds that Raph definitely couldn’t name if he took the time to.)
He finally saw another person as he spun around, his tail moving with him.
It was…an..otter? Thing? Brown and creamish fur. Long, silvery whiskers. Large, wet black eyes. It was dressed in a lab coat and a stylized shirt was tucked in black, baggy pants. The feet that poked out from the pants were scaly and sharp, with hooked claws ending each digit, looking shiny and gold. The hands were a similar story. Sharp, small, hooked claws. Painted gold.
Raph noticed its otter-y tail was really long, with beads and little badangles all along it. Raph wasn’t sure but it might’ve been around his bros’ height. Leo, Donnie range. Though it was hard to tell from where he was.
The otter yokai(?) was looking at him. It had a clipboard looking thing. It looked up at him, face not showing anything.
Raph narrowed his eyes.
“Hello,” It said flatly. “Personally I’d like for this not to take too long. As much as I would love for this project to stretch for as long as its able, it’s my wife’s Emergence Day in a couple weeks and everything took a little longer than I expected to,”
Raph blinked, feeling very off balance. “..uh…wh…huh?”
The otter glanced up at him. “All I’m saying is I might have to rush some things. It shouldn’t affect the end product but it might be more stressful on you…er…what was your name again? Phillus never mentioned a name,”
…who the shell was Phillus?
Raph opened his mouth but then paused. This was a bad guy that kidnapped him. He wasn't gonna tell them his name.
“Raph ain't telling you his name!”
The otter…raised an eyebrow? And looked vaguely amused. “Raph it is then,”
Raph’s brain stalled for half a second. “Wait—no! That’s not—uggghhh—” He fumbled for a second. “Why’d you kidnap me?!”
The otter glanced at him, only half interested. “ I didn't kidnap you. I hired Phillus to do that,”
“Wh—who’s Phillus?!” Raph demanded, palms sweating. This was bad. Really, really bad. (At least he knew who kidnapped him.) And…wasn’t there more than one guy? There was a whole group of them. That’s what he remembered anyway.
The otter sighed, sounding more and more done with the conversation. “A hired hand,” The otter looked over the clip board thing again. “Look, Raph was it? I don’t have time for useless questions. I’ll give you two more, because I’ve been told I need to explain things before they happen. And then I’ll start with the blood coaxing,”
Raph paled. “..b-blood coaxing…what’s…what’s that?”
The otter leveled him with a look and Raph’s stomach flipped. “It's a form of vitalopathy whose main use is to gain access to the mystic core. Good for finding magicks clots and…other things,”
Raph felt a little dizzy and he was breathing a little too fast. The words were going in and over his head but regardless that did not sound good.
His mind desperately dragged itself over the words. Trying to figure out what they meant and, and what blood coaxing was.
“You…uh…” Raph’s mind scrambled for something to say. Something to help him get outta here. “Why?”
The otter paused for a second. Whiskers twitching. “Why what?”
“Why uh…” Everything. Why did you kidnap me? What do you want? Why me specifically? Why? Why? Why? Raph couldn’t choose just one, he…
“Why’d you kidnap me?” He settled on, because..because it seemed like a good start at least.
The otter hummed for a brief moment, looking up at. Its (his?) black eyes slick from the lights in the room. “You were the first one that was alone and reachable. Though I suppose the smaller one wouldn’t have been bad…” The otter spoke quieter towards the end but Raph still heard it.
He straightened, breath coming in sharp. “You–you were gonna take Mikey?”
The otter glanced up. “I personally didn’t care which one Phillus grabbed as long as he grabbed one of you,”
“But–but why me?” Raph asked desperately, hands shaking. “Why us? Can’t you let me go? It’s—I–I have to get back to my brothers. They’re…they’re real bozos when it comes to safety ‘n stuff. L-Leo once set the toaster on fire and–and Mikey tries to eat rocks all the time and-and—”
The otter continued to look disinterested. “Yes, yes and I have a wife to please. So if you could make this easier it would be much appreciated,” He turned and walked towards one of the tables.
“W-wait—couldn’t you just–uh, let me go? Please?” He asked again, wringing his hands and sweating bullets. His stomach was twisting itself into knots and Raph was really starting to worry.
“No,” The otter said simply. He picked some fancy looking knife and Raph’s eyes snapped towards it. He examined it for a moment before putting it down. Raph couldn’t help but let out a shaky breath. (Hopefully he didn’t pick up the knife again.)
“Now…do you want to do this the easy way or the simple way?”
Raph’s lungs were shaking and he swallowed thickly. “...e-easy?” Raph paused and then frowned, trying to be angry instead of scared. “No! No easy or-or simple way—you have ‘ta let me go!”
“No I don’t,” The otter replied, sounding bored. “Easy way it is,”
Raph stood, tail cowed around his legs. “No! Let. Me GO! I have to get back to my brothers!”
The otter did a motion with his oil black eyes that looked an awful lot like he was rolling them. “And I ,” He said, voice dipping into condescending. “Have a wife to please, now would you please shut up,”
“N-no you—”
The otter then knocked on the box twice and soon after the walls of the box started glowing.
What was happening? What was—
Suddenly—there was a pressure on Raph’s brain, he blinked and tried to clear his head. It was like brain fog but ten times worse. He shook his head and groaned. Mind slowly down and all of his thoughts jumbling together.
He—
What—
Raph blinked, swayed and promptly crumpled to the ground. A whine building in his throat.
What was happening? He–he didn’t like it—he….
Raph’s eyes drifted shut.
And he was still shaking.