Prologue

Surrounded by shadows, the Master watched in glee as the turtle before him slowly regained consciousness. It moved a little at first, a brief twitch of the hands – and oh, what damaged hands they now were, broken and useless – but then as a more determined mind-set of consciousness reared its head, the turtle began straining on the tight leather straps which held his limbs to the four corners of the metal table, the one across its throat biting into the skin making it gasp.

"Do not struggle, my little friend." The man purred, moving forward, causing a new look of hatred, anger and – was that really fear he now saw in the creature's eyes? How delightful. "What I have lined up for you today is a special treat, even more special than your usual… punishment." This earned a snarl, but the Master could see that the look of fear increased in the beautifully coloured eyes. "Did you know," he continued, pulling a knife from his belt and dangling it above the turtle's front, lazily tracing a circle across the plates of its chest. "Did you know that your fascinating plastron contains only nine bones?" He allowed the knife to scrape the area, watching the tension build up in the turtle's bloodied face. "But unlike a human – if I were to break any of these, it would be almost impossible to mend without actually opening up your chest." The turtle's eyes went wide at this, making the man laugh. "Fortunately for you, I am merciful. What I have planned will heal…" He heard the ceiling open above him and a wave of heat blew down. He didn't need to look up to know what was there, he had designed this himself. He watched the turtle freeze as it worked out what was to happen, then desperately attempt to struggle again. "But it will take a very, very long time…"

The Master stepped back, retracting his knife and watched as the metal grid was slowly lowered down, the metal red hot – most probably hovering somewhere around 600˚C – towards the exposed plastron of the turtle. As it touched, the creature gasped, stifled a scream, and screwed up its face in agony while the Master watched intrigued by the way the metal was melting into the plastron. He waited patiently for the pain to heighten and was not disappointed.

The turtle opened one wide eye, saw the metal burning into its chest and, before he could control himself, he screamed.

"Oh god! Stop! Please, stop! No more! PLEASE NO MORE!" The small body wracked with pain began to tremble and tears flowed freely down its cheeks. The Master raised a hand and the metal stopped its descent. He waited a full ten seconds before giving the order to raise the grid.

The look on the turtle's face said it all.

He had won. The turtle's spirit was broken, its body forever scarred by the Master's work.

Below them, he knew the other three creatures had been listening, and imagined what their faces would be like when their brother was brought back to them.

So yeah, I woke up at 3am this morning with this idea and this is what happened!

Let me know your thoughts in a review.

LL99 out.