A disheveled Raph slowly reemerges from the alley way, gazing weakly in the direction Luca had retreated with his `fiance' and the stupid feline guard. Sighing softly, Raph goes over to the pile of fliers that were spilled during the unpleasant reunion when something caught his eye.
It was one of the pills Luca was given by the guard. Frowning at it, Raph picked it up and looked it over.
`Luca didn't need medicine before........aside from smoking, Luca was in perfect health.......so what is this?'
Knowing he's not a scientist or a doctor, Raph could think of one resident genius who happened to be in pharmaceuticals that could tell him what this little pill was. With that thought in mind, Raph carefully wraps the pill in a red bandanna and tucked it into his pocket. He then resumed picking up all the fliers and whipped out his phone.
XXX
``Raph, I think you're dreaming. If it was really Luca you saw, then he wouldn't have a body guard, fiance or not know you. And I doubt there is a pill that could magically erase memories of a specific person or timeline,'' Donatello explained in an exasperated tone after Raph explained what he saw and what had happened.
``If that's the case, could you tell me what this is then?!'' Raph demanded as he slammed down the pill he had picked up.
Don rolled his eyes at the flared temper of the infamous hothead before turning his eyes to the pill. That's when his expression changed. It was almost like watching someone flip through pictures of each of his emotion. First there was confusion. Then understanding. Followed by disbelief. And finally horror. When the last emotion flitted across his face, Raph started to grow antsy and kinda excited there might be a lead to all this.
``You know what it is, don't you?'' the hothead demanded accusingly.
``But.......that's not possible........'' Don muttered to himself as he picks up the pill and runs to a corner littered with chemicals and small bottles of pills.
``Oi, earth to Don? Mind sharing with the class?'' Raph called out to the scientist as he goes through all the bottle nearby.
``It was just a test, a sample. I only made so much, so there shouldn't be any except......'' Don's muttering halted as he finally comes across what he was looking for. Scowling in irritation, the genius comes over and sets down two bottles and the pill. ``What do you see Raph?''
``Uh......the pill and two bottles of pills?'' Raph said slowly, looking at Don carefully.
``To be more specific, there's the pill you brought me that matches this bottle of pills,'' Don emphasized by lifting the bottle close to Raph before setting it aside. ``And a second bottle containing candy with similar shape and color of the pills I created. Someone swiped my experimental medicine and left a decoy.''
``So what does this medicine do?'' Raph questions carefully.
Donatello groans at that and sits down on his stool, rubbing his face with both hands to clear his mind. ``In theory, they are suppose to help addicts get over their addictions by making the mind pliant to suggestions. But this specific pill completely wipes all desire to think for yourself and allows your mind to be subjugated to the whim of who ever is nearby. The effects last 19 hours at a time and during that time, the patient is vulnerable to any suggestions.''
``So, you're telling me that I was right?'' Raph clarified with an irritated look that was poorly hidden by a smug smirk.
The scientist groaned and hung his head in defeat, conceding to Raph's point.
``But if Luca is being fed these on a daily basis to keep him pliant, that means that whoever swiped them are the perpetrators who took Luca in the first place. And if my calculations are correct, which unfortunately their 87% accurate most the time, then Luca's going to have one hell of a ride when he stops taking the medicine. This was meant for a weekly dose for suggestion to make the process of quitting easier on the body. But if he stopped cold turkey, then the reason's for his addiction will hit him at full force,'' Don explained with a grimace.
``What does that mean genius?'' the worried lover asked quickly.
``What I mean is that Luca smokes for stress and anxiety, right? And his addiction helps him deal with it. Well this pill made him forget his stress and anxiety, so when the pill stops working, there is a good chance of his body having a panic attack against his wishes,'' Don explained.
Raph frowned at this new information and crossed his arms. ``Well he can't keep taking it forever, I don't want a zombie for a lover.''
``So that means we need to get him to stop taking the medicine and he'll have to go through any negative emotion that was bottled up then,'' Don said regrettably.
``Alright, so we have a plan. Kinda. Now we need to find Luca and who took him,'' Raph said.
``That shouldn't be too hard.....'' a new voice from the doorway said.
Whipping around, Raph locked his eyes on Leo and Mikey. Leo was in his detective get up from his work and Mikey looked like he just came out of his art classes.
``What do you mean it shouldn't be too hard?'' Raph questioned with a frown, still annoyed with the smug detective.
``Meaning I know who took him, why they took him, where he is and a warrant,'' Leo said with a smug grin on his face.
