Forgotten Key

by AutumnHills10

Chapter Two:

Barely Started

When Raphael woke, he was not in the hovering tube. Instead, he was strapped down to a metal table, his wrists and ankles held down by thick shackles. He distantly remembered being forced to breath the Kraang air so he would get knocked out.

He looked around. He was in a room full of Kraang computers, but with no Kraang.

Before he could even think about escaping, the door slid open and about five Kraang droids walked in. So much for there being no Kraang. Raph glared at them, fury rising in his chest.

The robotic alien's seemed completely unfazed and crowded around the stone table where the turtle was strapped to.

"Prepare the operation that is the operation that we are to do in this place on the turtle known as Raphael." one said.

Raph's glared hardened. Operation? What operation? He wasn't going to let these stupid aliens do any kind of operation on him!

The turtle in red began to struggle, his green eyes narrowed and his movements fueled by rage. Rage of how they'd been captured, of how he'd been separated from his brothers, of how he couldn't protect them. But it was no use. Even his rage could not break the heavy metal shackles that bind him.

A Kraang walked up to the table and took a black marker off a silver tray sitting on a wheeled table. Raph's frowned in confusion.

The Kraang droid pressed the marker to his right forearm and began to draw a zig-zag, starting a little ways from his elbow until it just touched his wrist. The Kraang droid capped the marker and put it away.

And then another Kraang picked a scalpel from the silver tray. Raph's blood went cold, but he didn't show it and he glared all the harder. He gave one last, useless tug at the shackles.

The Kraang droid pressed the tip of the scalpel to the beginning of the zig-zag, near his elbow, and very slowly began to make a deep cut. Raph bit his tongue, wincing.

The Kraang droid was purposefully making the progress slow and painful and, if they had the ability, Raph knew they would be smiling a sick, twisted, evil smile.

When the Kraang took the blood covered scalpel away and sat it in a small tray of water to wash the blood off, Raph looked down at his forearm. It was covered in his crimson blood.

Raph glared at the Kraang droid's again, his face twisted into a down right I-am-so-gonna-kill-you-slowly-and-very-painfully look. Another Kraang picked up a little instrument, one Raph recognized but didn't know the name of. But he knew it was meant for opening wounds, like that time Leo had gotten shot and Donnie had to open the wound with the instrument to get the bullet out.

The Kraang droid opened his wound and Raph had to bite his tongue again to stop himself from making a sound. He wouldn't give them any satisfaction. And he was still determined to not let them "operate" on him. Though he wasn't really sure how he could get out of this one...

Another Kraang droid stuck it's robotic fingers into the turtles wound and Raph felt a shudder go down his spine as it began poking at his revealed muscles and prodding at his vain's.

Raph bit into his tongue and suddenly had a coppery taste in his mouth. He refused to make a sound and blinked away the wetness creeping at the corners of his eyes. The Kraang droid's ignored his useless struggle's and continued with their operation. Raph was awake the whole time.

Not once did they give him anything for the pain.

Michelangelo blinked as his eyes stung from the sudden light from the hallway as the heavy metal door opened for the first time in- wait, how long had he been in here? It felt like days...

The Shredder walked in, head held high as always. But he wasn't wearing his armor like Mikey would have expected.

Shredder wore a black suit with a red tie and shiny black shoe's. He didn't wear his Kuro Kabuto, so his scarred face was shown for all the world to see. This only made him look even more terrifying.

Behind him came the mind controlled Karai, in human form, also not wearing her armor. Instead she wore the jeans and black leather jacket she wore when she first met April.

At first, Mikey was confused- and then his blood turned to ice.

A man, probably in his late thirty's or early forty's, entered behind Shredder and Karai. He had neat brown hair, a square jaw and dark- almost black- brown eyes. He wore small spectacles and a white lab coat.

"This is it, Dr. Jay." the Shredder said, pointing at me. I glared.

Dr. Jay gasped in astonishment, his eyes wide with wonder and delight. "Marvelous." he muttered, studying the youngest turtle. He took a step forward.

"Get away from me!" Mikey hissed. He didn't like the spark in Dr. Jay's eye. It was... greed. Insanity.

Dr. Jay gasped, his hand going up to his mouth, which was forming a perfect 'O.' "It talks!"

It.

Mikey felt a stab of pain in his heart. Was that all he was to this man? An 'it' that he could study? An 'it', as if he had no emotion- no mind?

"This could be the world's greatest discovery!" Dr. Jay exclaimed, turning to Shredder. "I'll give you anything you want for it!"

Mikey couldn't hold back the gasp.

"You know what I want." The Shredder said. He glanced at Mikey and gave him an evil smirk.

"Yes, yes, of course." Dr. Jay said. Shredder was a full head taller than him. "Just have your- ah- workers pack it up for me."

The Shredder nodded and they left Mikey's cell. Karai gave the turtle a long piercing look.

"Karai... Miwa... sis..." Mikey said, looking at her with wide pleading eyes.

Karai kept her face expressionless, before turning and following the Shredder.

The metal door slammed shut behind her and Mikey was once again left in total blackness.

To say Leonardo was angry would be an understatement. He was blinking furious.

The oldest brother had been looking around the giant pet turtle cage for three hours now, looking for anything that could help him escape and find his brothers. Three hours since they'd taken Raph, Donnie and Mikey and Leo's head was still spinning with crazy, panicked thoughts.

Since all the lights were out in the lab, it was a little hard to see. He had thought of hiding in the pond and waiting for someone to open the glass wall, but quickly realized that it wasn't deep enough. The walls were slick, so climbing (though he wasn't really sure how being able to climb the walls would help) was not an option. He'd tried digging but soon discovered that under the thick layer of sand and gravel was a very strong stone floor. He'd even tried digging in the pond, but eventually once again came to a stone floor. There were, of course, no windows or air vents- not even barred one's. Like Donnie, Leo had tried to find some sort of loose brick, to no avail. He'd even checked the water bottle and the rocks. Raphael had sure been right- Shredder was one crazy, paranoid jerk.

Leo sighed, slumping down against one of the boulders. What was he to do?

He looked around his cage. Shredder had made sure that there was no escape. His three only hope's was for one of the guards to mess something up, him to come up with a brilliant plan or for Master Splinter to come for them.

He wondered what his brothers were going through.

Where they okay? Where they hurt? What could the Kraang and Purple Dragons want with Raph and Donnie? And- And Shredder was doing something to Mikey. Was he giving him away like he did with the others? But to who? Why wouldn't Shredder want to keep all of them?

What was his plan?

Donatello panted, his head resting against the cold floor. He was covered in cuts, bruise's and some nasty burns, but nothing life threatening.

"Look at it." Hun snarled, kicking him in the plastron. He was grinning. "Pathetic."

Donnie glared at the Purple Dragon leader and tried to climb to his feet. Hun kicked him in the shell and Donnie found himself sprawled on the floor again.

They laughed.

Wincing, the intelligent turtle got onto his hands and knee's and continued to glare at Hun and his stupid Purple Dragons. They'd been going at this for two hours. Donnie hadn't eaten since the pizza they'd had for dinner before going out on patrol... how long had that been? All the windows were covered and there wasn't a clock in here. Probably because none of them likely know how to tell time.

Donnie tried to climb to his feet again, to fight back and find his brothers. But he was chained to the floor by thick ropes that cut into his wrists and ankles. Hun kicked his head and Donnie felt the coppery taste of blood in his mouth. They laughed and when Don spat out some blood they only laughed the harder.

Humiliated and sore, wanting nothing more than to find his brothers and go home, back to their warm beds, pinball machine, his lab, April, Casey and Sensai.

He tried to get to his feet again, tugging at the thick ropes. This time, Hun did a round-house kick and hit Donnie in the back of the head. The purple wearing turtle was once again sprawled onto the cold floor.

He glared up at Hun, but only earned a kick in the face.

They laughed harder.

Master Splinter paced the lair, his hands wringing together nervously. They hadn't done that since he was, what, thirteen?

He remembered his annoyance when he'd realized that his sons were not in the kitchen, bright and early. He guessed they had stayed out later than usual and were still asleep.

Splinter had made himself his morning tea and gotten some cheese on toast to eat for breakfast, but when he had finished to find his sons were still not up, he'd gone to wake them. That's when the panic had settled in.

Leonardo, the one he'd went to wake up first, had not been in his bed. It was untouched, blankets spread neatly over the worn mattress, as if he hadn't even went to bed. Splinter had then gone to Raphael's room, only to find it in the same condition. And then Donatello. And finally Michelangelo.

All beds had not been slept in.

Splinter had remembered his panic and had began searching the sewers, calling for his sons. He searched until late into the afternoon until he decided to call Casey and April. They two had searched above ground, while Splinter continued to search the sewers.

When night had fallen and Casey and April were sent home because of their families (of course only to sneak out again to continue searching), Splinter had called the Mighty Mutanimals.

That had been three hours ago.

He had to find his sons. What if they were hurt? What if they were lost? What if they were stranded? Or worse?

Splinter shook his head, trying to keep the thought from entering his mind fully. He looked at his shrine and sat down before it, looking into the picture eyes of Tang Shen.

He bowed his head and clasped his hands together in a prayer. The first tear ran down his furry cheek.

Okay, the only reason Splinter isn't out there looking for his son's is because the Mutanimals had told him to go home and rest, to save his strength for tomorrow. The same happened with April and Casey.

No one is going to die in this story, but there will be a lot of blood and possibly a few swear words. I'm just getting started and, just to make a few things clear for later chapters, nothing too major will be permanent. You'll have to wait and see what I'm talking- er, writing- about. :)

Lost Life will be updated by next Monday at the latest.