Donnie had gotten the machine out and attached all the required wires from the box to the helmet. He placed it on Carrie's head and took a step back toward the box.
"What exactly does this do?" Carrie asks. Her confidence and determinism slowly turned into doubt. The device didn't look all that safe. It hardly even looked like a scientific instrument at all.
"It does quite a lot, actually. All these dials control different aspects. Some are testing for electromagnetic waves. Some of these dials are going to be detecting how quickly your nerves are firing off information throughout your body."
"And how will that help us exactly?"
"In theory, if this 'power' Noah created is stimulated, this machine should print out some pretty crazy electrical currents coming directly from you. That is if this power directly affects the brain as I predict. It would certainly explain the realistic nightmares."
Carrie, along with the others, really didn't understand anything Donnie said. They also didn't care all that much. As long as it showed Donnie something important, that's all they cared about.
"You ready?" Donnie asks.
"Yes."
"We're going to start small. If you start to feel uncomfortable or in pain tell me."
The turtles stood around Carrie. When Donnie had used this on April, she went haywire. They were all nervous about the same thing happening or even worse things happening.
Everyone watched Donnie intently as he began to slowly turn the dials on the radio-like machine. Nothing was happening, but the brothers were not letting their guards down. Donnie became a little more relaxed as he reached the max with the first dial. If that didn't cause any sort of reaction, he doubted Carrie would even have one.
Donnie turned off the machine and sighed. "I guess I'll start figuring something else out."
"But you didn't-"
"We can't continue it," Donnie says. "Going too far is too dangerous."
Carrie stands and walks toward the machine. "I can handle it."
"No way," Leo steps in. "We can't risk anything. If Donnie says it's too dangerous, it's too dangerous."
"It's not like we have anything to lose," Carrie says.
"It could cause serious damage. Irreversible damage."
"As I said, there's not much we can lose here," Carrie scoffs. "You guys need to learn all you can."
Leo lowers his eyes. He couldn't believe she had said such a thing. For whatever reason, it hurt him to hear. "It's not worth the risk," Leo says.
Carrie frowns. "It's worth it to me."
"I think you're too angry to be making decisions right now, dude. Especially ones you might regret," Mikey points out.
"Fine." Carrie takes off the helmet and sets it next to the machine. She would have tried to force it, but she knew all four of them would try to stop her. And she knew she couldn't do anything against them.
She left the laboratory and left the brothers genuinely questioning her sanity. They had the advantage over Shredder. He may have Noah, the inventor, but they had Carrie, who contained the invention. The experiment could have been an opportunity, but they had no choice but to pass it up. It wasn't worth risking her safety.
April returned to the lair from her morning pizza trip. It didn't matter the time of day, the turtles always wanted pizza.
The redhead watched Carrie exit the lab and head straight for her room. April could see the disappointment in her friend's face. Maybe it was anger. But there was certainly unhappiness surrounding Carrie.
Frowning, April entered the lab. The turtles were whispering to each other. Most likely about the events that had taken place.
"What is wrong with you guys?" April slams the pizza boxes onto the table. "I go to get you guys pizza and upsetting my friend is how you thank me?"
"It's not like that, April," Donnie says.
"Then how is it?! She's already freaked out by all this! The last thing she needs is for you guys to-"
"Wow, calm down, April." Mikey pulls a pizza slice from the box. "You're not you when you're hungry."
She rolls her eyes. "What did you guys do?"
"We tried a Donnie experiment," Raph says. "It got too dangerous, we stopped, Carrie wanted to keep going."
April sighs. "What Donnie experiment?"
"The one we used with you," Donnie says, showing her the machine.
"What is wrong with you?!" April shouts. "That thing is dangerous!"
"Which is exactly why we stopped," Leo says.
"You four are ridiculous."
"Oh, also," Mikey cuts in, "she's wondering about your psychic powers."
"You told her?" April growls.
Mikey smiles. "Yes." He takes a bite out of his pizza slice. April is quick to swipe it from his hands, place it back in the box, and pick the boxes back up.
"I'm taking my pizza back."
Mikey falls to his knees. "No! Please, I'm so sorry! None of this is my fault! I'm innocent! Don't take away the one thing that makes me happy!"
April rolls her eyes and leaves the brothers to discuss amongst themselves. She makes her way towards Carrie's room, knocking before entering, as she was a very respectful person. There was no answer, so April took the liberty of allowing herself in.
Carrie was laying on her bed. She stared aimlessly around the walls of the room. "What?"
"Well is that any way to greet your friend who brought you pizza?"
"I know that pizza wasn't just for me." Carrie sighs and sits up. "But thanks."
April sits at the end of the bed, placing the boxes between them. "Don't be hard on yourself about all of this."
"I'm not. I just think we should've kept going."
"They're not wrong though. That thing is dangerous."
"What did it do to you?" Carrie asks.
"I thought you'd be more freaked out by hearing about your friend having crazy psychic powers."
Carrie shrugs. "I am literally living in the sewers with mutant turtles and a mutant rat. I think that's the least crazy thing that's happened to me."
"Can't argue with that," April says. "That machine, however it works, tapped into my head. I couldn't control myself."
"I just don't understand why we shouldn't at least try."
"What if something goes wrong? You go crazy like I did. At least when I couldn't control myself, we had an idea of what we were dealing with. The power you have, who knows what it can do?"
Carrie sighs. "I guess."
"Why don't I try?"
"Try what?"
"If Donnie's right and this, whatever it is, mostly resides in your brain, like my powers, then maybe I can tap in. It wouldn't be as dangerous. All I'd be able to do is see what's going on in there."
"Like my nightmares?"
"Yeah." April smiles. "Maybe I can find something you haven't seen before."
Carrie smiles in return. "Alright."
"Turn around." April directs her friend. "Close your eyes and relax."
Carrie did as she was told and allowed April to do her thing. The redhead placed her hands on the sides of Carrie's head. She had to relax, which was more difficult than she thought. In truth, April was scared. She feared what she might find.
At first, there was nothing but darkness. Nothing to see. But that quickly changed as glimpses of the two nightmares began to appear. April had no idea of the second, so the images that flashed before her were all the more terrifying. Most importantly, she could tell they weren't just nightmares. They felt all too real, even though she wasn't experiencing them first-hand. Visions of Shredder murdering Leo... Carrie committing the same act flashed back and forth right before April. It became all too much as Carrie's evil counterpart turned directly towards April. Her eyes were completely enveloped in darkness.
"It's just a matter of time," the vision of Carrie whispers.
It became too much for April to witness. She came back to reality, heart racing, sweating, and gasping. But she noticed Carrie was nowhere in the room.
The visions April had brought back clouded Carrie's memories. She didn't have a clear grasp of reality or who she was. So it was no surprise when she entered the lab again, her only goal was to end the brothers. Then, and only then, she would be free of these horrible, corrupt feelings.
Donnie and Leo were talking about an array of plans to discover what the formula was and what it could do. Raph and Mikey sat off to the side reading comic books and eating their pizza. It took the boys a couple of moments to realize Carrie had come back. She stood silently at the door, simply glancing around the laboratory.
Mikey was the first to notice her. "You good, dudette?"
The rest of the brothers turned to her. They immediately noticed her eyes, consumed with the same darkness April had seen.