Shredder wanted to know everything about Donatello, how many they were, what kind of weapons were at their disposal, everything that could determine whether they were a threat or not. When he realized that they weren't, he allowed Leonardo to take Donatello away, declaring that he now was under Leo's command.
As they walked back, Leo stopped to retrieve a shackle before they went to his room again.
Donnie prayed to whoever was listening that his sensei would forgive him for telling their secrets. It would have been more honourable to die, and he had no doubt that if he’s been alone he would have.
He only hoped that his sacrifice could keep Mikey safe.
Now he was under Leo’s command. He didn’t know what to think about that, he wasn’t sure exactly what it meant, but he wasn’t looking forward to finding out.
He vaguely registered that they were heading back towards Leo’s room.
Once inside, Leo pushed him up plastron first against the wall next to his bed. "Stand still."
He let out a small yelp of surprise, nodding his head to show that he understood. He didn’t know what was going on, but he doubted that it would pleasant.
Leo reached down, putting the shackle around Don's ankles before attaching it to the wall on a metal ring.
Don’s eyes went wide, turning his head as much as he could while keeping his plastron pressed to the wall.
Finally, Leo moved away, looking at Don with dark eyes. "If it wasn't clear already, I don't trust you."
“The feeling is mutual.” Donnie assured him. “You’ve already deceived me once. At least you master honoured his word.”
Leo gritted his teeth, raising his hand and backhanding the other across the face.
Donnie winced but took the hit, his hands clenching into fists. “We may both be mutant turtles. But that’s where our similarities end.”
"You're in no position to speak that way to me. Make no mistake, vermin, my master didn't make you a part of our clan, he made you a slave of it. And you better start acting accordingly."
“I honour our agreement.” Donnie snapped. “As long as Mikey is alive I belong to your Master.” The anger faded from his voice as he spoke of his brother. His face only showed his concern as he rested his forehead against the wall.
"My brother and I have power over 'Mikey' too, so you better make sure we're pleased with your efforts as well, or there's no telling what could happen."
“Don’t hurt him.” Don shivered involuntary, hearing his little brothers name from Leo’s mouth sounded wrong. “You call the other turtle your brother. Wouldn’t you do the same for him in my position?”
Leo stared at him, but instead of answering his question he said: "In the Foot clan, you earn your respect, and start at the bottom." He pointed at Don. "Right now, you are of the lowest rank. Do you understand what that means?"
“That I have no control of my own life. I’m a slave.” His eyes shut tightly, somehow saying the words made it worse then knowing them.
"Exactly." Leo watched him a moment, then moved to sit on his bed. "You can sleep on the floor. I'll give you something to sleep on once you've earned it."
Donnie nodded, sliding down the wall to sat on the hard floor, his shell leaning against the foot of the bed facing away from Leo. He lowered his head into his arms, curling up as tight as his shell allowed.
Once again the other watched him, then he turned off the lights, taking off his gear and getting under the sheets to rest himself.
Don pulled the black kimono off, curling up on the floor and using it to throw over him like a blanket.
There was no way he could fall asleep though, his mind was racing with thoughts of his family. Their father would be out of his mind with worry and he had no idea what was happening with Mikey. It wasn’t fair that Mikey had to suffer.
Donnie felt like everything that happened to his brother was personally his fault. If he’d told Shredder what he wanted to know right away then Mikey wouldn’t be hurt. His guilt only got worse as he realised there was hardly any physical damage to himself… Only to Mikey.
---
The next morning, Don received a kick to the side. "Get up."
Donnie woke up with a loud yelp as he gripped his side, taking a few seconds to work through his confused mind and remember where he was. He hadn’t long managed to finally doze off.
"I said get up." Leo repeated, giving him another kick.
Don’s movements were sluggish, stumbling to get to his feet and forgetting to grab his kimono. He whimpered slightly, rubbing his sore side as sleep-deprived eyes focused on Leonardo.
Leo's eyes were unsympathetic as he reached down to release Don from the shackles. "Get dressed." He spoke as he straightened up.
Don almost fell over as he grabbed the fabric from the floor. It took him a couple of attempts to put the kimono on properly, but by the time he’d managed he was more awake. Out of instinct he brought his hand up to check his mask, frowning as he remembered that it had been taken the day before.
When he was done, Leo pointed towards a bucket with water and a scrub brush. "I want you to clean this floor, and I expect you to be done when I get back so you can clean my brother's room too. Understand?"
He nodded and made his way over to the bucket. He supposed there was worst things he could be expected to do then cleaning duty.
Leo watched him to make sure he started, but then he made his way to the door. "Don't even think about escaping. Even if you do manage to break the lock to this door, this place has the tightest security in the city. You can't get out - and any attempts to will only make your brother suffer more."
"I gave my word." Donnie snapped. "I'll honour it."
"You better." Leo said, before leaving, slamming the door shut and locking it behind himself.
With a sigh Don got to work, scrubbing the floor. He looked at the door, he had no intention or breaking his word, but he was tempted to pick the lock just to make a point that he was here willingly and not trapped.
xXxXxXx
Slowly, Michelangelo's eyes fluttered open. His head was spinning and he felt kind of sick. It felt like something heavy was on his upper-body... he couldn't feel his shoulder. Panic shot through him, and when he tried to move, pain replaced it. He moaned loudly, tears forming in his eyes as he opted to lay still.
"If ya don't stop moving, your arms gonna be paralysed" Raph grunted from where he was sat across the room. He had a fresh bandage on his arm from where he'd lost concentration during his morning practice. The sound of him sharpening one of his sai filled the room
Mikey startled, snapping his head to look at the other turtle. He hissed when the action sent new waves of pain from his wound. "Wh-where am I? Where's Donnie?"
"Donnie? So he's got a name." Raph shrugged."Ain't my problem. Shredder handed him over to my brother yesterday."
"What's he doing to him?" Mikey asked stubbornly.
"Like hell If I know, I'm not his keeper." Raph's eyes grazed up and down Mikeys body. All his gear had been removed to treat his injuries, apart from the bandages covering his wounds he was completely naked. Raph tucked his sai back into his belt, leaning forward to get a better look.
Despite himself, Mikey cowered, not having forgotten the way this guy stabbed him in the shoulder without hesitation. "Back off!"
Raph ignored him, still looking over every inch of the smaller turtles body. "You're lucky your bro started talking when he did. Ya so small I doubt you coulda handled much more."
The way Raph was looking at him made him feel uncomfortable, but his words just pissed him off. "I could handle more than you think!"
"I'd love to test how much, but I'm under strict orders not ta kill ya." Raph reached out and traced along the edge of a bandage across Mikey plastron with his finger. "I was going easy on ya." He lifted the bandage slightly so he could see the deep hole his sai had made.
Mikey whimpered, not looking at the wound, big wounds always made him a bit squeamish - especially seeing them on himself. He slapped Raph's hand away on instinct.
Raph growled, his hand shooting out to grab the turtles neck, stopping just before his fingers wrapped around his throat. He took a deep breath before pulling back. "Don't push me kid."
Mikey jumped, and he continued to be tense even as Raph moved his hand away, staring at him with his big blue eyes.
Curiously, Raph brought his hand back up to run a finger down Mikey‘s neck where he'd left bruises the day before. He'd never really got a chance to study their bodies before. Most of his bruises were coved by his uniform, and him and Leo weren't that close.
Mikey backed away, wincing when it made his wound ache. "I-I said back off!"
"Stay still." He growled. tracing down the muscle of his neck until he hit the bandages, running his fingers over the edges, fingers catching slightly as it ran over the lip of his plastron.
"Not until you back off. Why don't you touch yourself instead?" Mikey smacked the hand away again.
Raph didn't answer him. Pulling away only to grab a roll of bandages, grabbing Mikey's wrist and tying it loosely to the bed. "I'm warning ya kid."
"Hey!" He tried to raise his other arm, but the pain from his shoulder was too great, making him wince. Instead he tried to kick at Raph.
"Ya not getting it are ya." Raph growled, grabbing both of Mikey's legs together, pulling them closer to the edge of the bed so he could pin them down. " you don't get a say in this. Your the first turtle I've seen that's not my bro, I intent to get a good look at ya.
"Take a picture! It'll last longer!" Mikey said, squirming and struggling.
Once again Raph ignored him running a finger down the centre line of Mikey's plastron, seeing if it was as sensitive as his own
The action sent a shiver through Mikey's body, and he tugged helplessly against his restraints. "H-hey, I said back off!"
"And I said to shut up." Raph reminded, repeating the action, watching Mikey's face as he repeated the action. "Do I gotta gag you again?"
Mikey's face flushed, but he glared at Raph, his mouth a small pout.
Raph moved away from the others plastron, moving to the skin between plastron and shell. He kept looking up at Mikey face curiously, watching his reactions carefully.
Eventually the look and the touches got to Mikey, and he turned his head away, blush still apparent on his cheeks while he squirmed and bit his lip.
Raph watched his reaction with interest, moving his hand down to pinch his tail and roll it between his fingers.
Mikey's whole body twitched, and he let out a small yelp.
Raph pulled away at the yelp. Looking Mikey up and without touching him, taking in the way his face was flushed and the blush on his cheeks.
"Don't you know that's private!" He asked, glaring.
Raph grunted, his eyes narrowing slightly but he moved back releasing Mikey legs.
Mikey continued to glare at the other, squirming a bit away from him for good measure.
"Did I hurt you?" There wasn't much concern in the voice, but it was there. Raphael honestly hadn't meant to take things that far, he especially didn't expect his touch to start affecting the other turtle. Apparently his anger and violence wasn’t the only thing he had a lack of control in.
"Duh," The younger turtle pointed at his shoulder. "Getting a sai stabbed in my shoulder isn't something I think feels good."
Raph rolled his eyes, relaxing slightly as Mikey didn’t seem to badly affected by his touch. “Just following orders.” He shrugged. “Like I said, your lucky I went easy on ya.”
"You got a weird definition of 'easy', let me tell you that..."
“You‘re still breathing ain’t ya?” Raph adjusted his own bandages on his arm, there really wasn’t any need for him to stick around apart from the fact that Mikey was here, which made it hell of a lot more interesting than anything he’s be doing instead.
"Barely." Mikey fiddled with his bandages. "When can I see Donnie?"
“I got no Idea what Leo’s got planned for him. He’s probably a slave.” Raph shrugged. “Doubt he’s gonna let you two meet up though, so it doesn‘t matter anyway. You’d just start trying to plan an escape.”
"Slave?!" Mikey burst out, feeling anger and worry grow inside him. "You have to let him go!"
“No my problem. Besides you’re probably gonna end up in the same position once you‘re healed up.”
"As if I'd slave around for you foot-creeps," Mikey huffed.
“You honestly think you have a choice.” Raph couldn’t hide the slight chuckle in his voice. “Shredder don’t care what happens to you two, the only reason your still alive is to keep your brother in line. And No one said anything about keeping him alive.”
Mikey grit his teeth, not really having any good answer for that. "Well... no honourable turtle would ever work for Shredder! What are you guys anyway? Just copycats or clones?"
Raph suddenly had Mikey by the throat again, glaring down at him. “Don’t insult our Master’s honour.”
The orange-banded turtle flinched, holding his breath while staring at Raph with big eyes.
Raph’s hand tightened slightly his eyes narrowed dangerously. “Our Master has honour.”
Mikey's hand landed on Raph's wrist, tugging at it, having worked the loose bandages from restraining him. "Stop."
“I warned ya kid. Don’t push me.” For a moment Raph’s hand squeezed tighter, but then with a deep breath he forced himself to pulled back. “Never insult Master shredder in front of me and my brother.”
He coughed a bit, rubbing his neck. "Yeah, got it."
“Now what’d ya mean about copy cats and clones.” Raph crossed his arms over his chest as he looked down at the other.
"I don't know if you've noticed," Mikey said. "But being giant turtles? Kinda me and Donnie's thing."
Raph scoffed, then suddenly realised something. "How old are you guy's?"
"Sixteen. Why?"
"Same age as us." He frowned, surely that can't be a coincidence.
"Woah," Mikey straightened up. "what if we're bros too? But you guys were taken by the Foot instead of master Splinter?"
"That doesn't matter." Raph's eyes suddenly had a hard edge to them. "Me and Leo are Loyal to the foot and you guy's..." He trailed off not really knowing what to call them anymore.
"Yeah, we don't really have an official name yet, but whatever we pick it's not gonna be a smelly body part, that's for sure."
"I wonder if Leo know we're the same age." Raph mused to himself. Surely there had to be some connection, what were the chances of four mutants turtles showing up in the same city, and it was strange that both sets were trained in the art of ninjitsu.
"You know, you don't really look sixteen. More like... thirty."
Raph's eyes narrowed but he didn't rise to the bait. "An you act more like ya twelve"
"At least I don't act like a total hard case."
"Who's acting." Raph scoffed. "Seriously kid, you keep pushing my buttons and your gonna regret it." He warned. He didn't know why he gave him a warning, no one else ever got one, and in all fairness he'd killed people that weren't half as bad as Mikey.
"Oh good, and here I was worried I wasn't getting on your nerves." Mikey said with a sly grin.
Raph suddenly stood a little straighter as he heard foot soldiers walk past the door. It really wasn't right to be stood here talking to a prisoner like this.
Mikey heard the footsteps too, listening until they passed until he glanced at Raph again. "You know, you don't have to do what the Shredder says. You could be good too."
"You still believe in the whole good, bad thing." Raph shook his head, returning to the cold foot soldier he had been before.
"I don't even know what that's supposed to mean." Mikey leaned back on the bedding. He was starting to feel tired and his wound ached. "All I know from looking at you is that evil seems really boring."
"The foot aren't evil." He didn't sound angry, just stating a fact. He turned away from Mikey and started to head for the door.
"Yeah, keep telling yourself that." Mikey huffed, but he closed his eyes to rest.
Raph shot one last Glare at Mikey before leaving the infirmary. Once outside he sighed and leaned against the wall. The other turtle had given him a lot to think about.
