Raph's Nightmares

The serum

I can't handle it, he's way too strong. It doesn't matter how fast I dodge or the way I attack, he always finds me, hits me, sends me flying back. My whole body is sore and I have lost track of the time I've been fighting him. I'm tired, and the mere fact that I have to lift my sais once more to block another blow, takes a toll. But he isn't tired. He seems as fresh and active as he was when this madness started.

I pant and lift my hand over my head, curled up in a corner. I'm sure that the next punch is going to knock me out. I taste blood in my lips and see nothing in his eyes. Nothing but an endless abyss. 

"Leo... Please, it's me... Snap out of -"

I can finish my sentence. His oversized fist meets my head and I black out.

==

The voices grow louder and louder, until they get really annoying. I cringe and open my eyes, swearing that if I find them, I will kill them on the spot.

"What is... this place?"

Why am I even asking. My sight is blurry and the only thing I can hear is those irritating voices. I really feel as if there was a hammer inside of my head, pounding his way out. I squeeze my eyes shut and only then, when I try to lift my hands to hold my head and see if that diminishes the pain, I realize I am chained up. My eyes snap open at such realization and I don't care about my blurry vision anymore. I am, indeed, chained to the wall. I'm totally aware I'm not strong enough to even get up, so I'm not surprised by the fact that my weak struggles don't move an inch of the iron chains. I slide down to the floor. 

"Ugh... Can this get any worse..."

Again. Why the shell do I have to ask these things? Of course it can!

The door flings open and something similar to a nurse comes in. The sudden light dazzles me and I am forced to close my eyes again; I groan, but the creature that has just entered doesn't make any sound, any gesture that indicates  it has seen or even noticed me. I open my eyes only a tad, and just in time to have a glimpse at the corridor outside. I doubt I can ever forget that place, I recognize it almost immediately. It is that white, hospital like hallway that Mikey and I have seen before, the one behind that hidden door. Maybe that is the reason why I am not surprised that the being next to me looks like a kind of doctor, or a nurse. It is a female, but I can't be sure what has given me that hint. Perhaps the way she moves, so gracefully, as if she is floating. Wait a minute, maybe she is floating. At this point, nothing puzzles me anymore.

"W-who are you...?" I stutter after a couple of minutes. Her head finally turns to look at me and guess what, I was wrong. She is able to startle me, at the very least.

It is a kraang female. And I mean a female alien, not a brainy thing stuffed into a robot's stomach. Her features are those of a kraang, she has a wrinkled face on top of a slender body, yellowish eyes with tiny pupils. Her arms are long squishy tentacles, and so are her legs. I can't tell much about her body, since she's wearing a lab coat. But she, together with my surroundings, give me the creeps. I clump my mouth shut and simply watch her, petrified. 

She moves over a desk, taking beakers and looking at their content, putting them down and opening and closing drawers. When she walks, or slides, she makes a swishing sound that gives me goose bumps. I guess I speak just not to hear that sound, so my voice can muffle it.

"Where's my brother? What have you done to him?"

She merely glances at me, and sneers. She lifts a vial and points at it with that slimy tentacle of a hand. So that's it. I narrow my eyes at the object, trying to make out the color, the density, anything that might be useful telling Donnie. 

As if I'm seeing him again. 

I try to conceal my surprise; apparently we have been wrong all along. This serum is not blue, but of a strange yellowish color. My eyes dart to the desk nearby and it's only there where I can find some traces of that blue liquid we retrieved from TCRI like ages ago. So the blue samples were only the first experiments. Perfection came later, and that's the serum we couldn't find. 

"I guess you're going to do to me the same thing you did to my brother" I say, my voice calm and relaxed, even though I'm feeling the opposite. The kraang doctor nods repeatedly, and whatever is happening to her lips must be a kraangy way of smile. Yikes. 

"Well, before you do that... I'd really love to know how that stuff works. And what exactly I'm going to feel. Is it a mind control serum? Does it simply upgrade my body and skills? Because honestly, I could really use some more muscles..." I smirk a little, hoping she starts talking, I can distract her and think of a way out. Or at least, time can go by and my brothers can return to rescue me. More accurately, Mikey can. 

Oh gee. I'm relying only on Mikey?

Let's take that serum then.

"Since when does the stubborn Raphael want to have a complicated scientific explanation that he will be unable to understand?" 

My eyes widen. The doctor hasn't moved her lips to talk,but her voice - or at least a female voice - is speaking inside my head. And it sounds horribly familiar. 

"Ugh not you ag-"

"Listen up if you want to satisfy your curiosity!"

I roll my eyes. Dang it, two scientific speeches in less than 48 hours. When did I become a jinx?

"Unfortunately, you and your brothers have become an annoying issue we need to solve once and for all. You've proved yourself as powerful warriors and we have alredy given up on defeating you. Therefore, we have come up with the best solution: you are going to join us, either willingly or by force". 

"We are not gonna join -"

"SILENCE!"

I flinch, and the chains dig into my flesh. I know being yelled at is not a big deal, but that voice was sounding inside my head, so when she shouted, my brain almost melted. 

"We aren't stupid. Hence the development of the serum. After many experiments - and the waste of insignificant mutants we created for this purpose - we have achieved the ultimate version. It makes you invincible. But also mindless. You will be at our mercy. And there is absolutely nothing you can do". 

By that point my heart is beating so fast it's almost the only thing I can hear. The rest seems muffled and unreal, and even though my mind seems to be working at top speed to find a way out of this mess, it can't find anything.

"You just  need to be patient. You've seen how long and tiresome the process is... But we really hope this time it'll go quicker. Thanks to your brother, we have been able to adjust some things..."

"How could you even inject him with that thing...?"

The only way I can think of keeping out of trouble is making her talk, distract her. Kill time. Wait for Mikey. Pray.

She laughs.

"Ms O'Neil helped us with that. Although she'll probably deny it if you ask her..."

That makes no sense. April was attacked by Leo. April hadn't been alone with Leo in ages. We would have noticed. Donnie has always an eye on her, he would have noticed.

"You're lying!"

She laughs again.

"What difference does it make? You're not going to remember any of this by the time you get out of this room..."

The kraang nurse walks over to me, bends over. The vial in her hand gets dangerously close and I feel sweat all over my face. I try to scoot away, but those straps make it impossible.

I scream my head out when the vial lands on my chest, together with the tentacle that was holding it only seconds ago. That slimy thing still sways and wiggles but I don't have time for that, my eyes are already looking for my savior.

I smile at him.

"Thanks, bro".