Chapter text

Donnie groaned. He was lying on his side, his head pounding. He pushed himself up slightly, looking around and not recognizing where he was.

At first glance, he appeared to be in a clearing. There was a nice, clear pond to his right, a forest to his left, and, just ahead of him, a path that led around the forest. Donnie stared at the trail,where it led to, then turned his attention back to the right.

There was a big, metal wall.

Panicking, Donnie bolted to his feet and rushed over to the wall, just to make sure it was actually there. He felt the cool metal under his fingers, a stark contrast to what must have been around 70 or 80 degrees in the clearing. He started banging on it, then he started kicking it. He was almost completely out of breath before he stopped, finally realizing that the wall would not budge.

Donnie's vision started swimming. He sat down to try and lessen the effect of his sudden rush, feeling pleased when it worked. He glanced down at his hands and frowned when he didn't see the wraps that are usually around his wrists and knuckles. He also didn't see any of his padding, or his belt, and he didn't feel the familiar weight of his bo staff, either.

So, he was trapped, had a headache, no weapons or materials, and he was starting to feel too warm.

He reached up, hoping that he at least still had his mask.

No such luck.

What is going on? Someone must have captured him at some point, surely. Who could it have been? Stockman? Tigerclaw? Rahzar?

The most likely candidate was Stockman. The recreated environment was accurate enough to pass for real if not for the giant metal wall in front of him. But why give him a comfortable-looking environment? Why not toss him in a cell or something?

No, someone else, an outside force, was holding him hostage. Donnie eyed the path that led around the forest for a moment. As dangerous as it was, he was going to have to follow that path in the hopes that he would run into someone and demand some answers, though he knew he was in no condition to demand anything.

Rubbing his temples, Donnie stood back up again, slowly this time. He walked the path, admiring the work done to make it look nature-made. He was surrounded by trees on his left, more field on his right.

After a while of walking, Donnie found a little picnic table sitting in front of another metal wall with a door in it. His heart beat a little faster when he saw the door, but what really shocked him were the ones sitting at the table. He didn't notice them at first, but as they all fell silent, Donnie studied each one of them.

There were five turtles sitting at the table, all of which appeared to be 5 or 6 years old by human standards. Four of them were boys and there was one girl. Two of the boys had lime green skin, except one of them had a big splotch of brown across his muzzle. One of the other turtles had a pale green color, and the other boy had dark green skin. The girl's skin was more of a rich emerald green.

They all stared at each other for what felt like ages before one of the kids, the pale green turtle, picked up a bowl and offered it to Donnie.

"Food!" he exclaimed. Donnie blinked.

"What?" he asked. The kid's smile grew.

"Food!" he said again. He got up and handed Donnie the bowl, big smile still on his face. Donnie was confused at first before noticing the multicolored things inside the bowl.

Food pellets? Donnie wondered to himself. Sure looked like it...

He looked questioningly at the kid, who wasn't paying him any attention anymore. He had gone back to his friends, who also weren't paying attention, and happily accepted the offer of food one of his friends made.

Donnie decided right then and there that no, he was not going to eat this... whatever it was.

He walked over to the table and set the bowl back down, alerting the children once more to his presence.

"Um... no thank you," Donnie said. It got a little awkward with the kids staring at him, so he added, "I'm not very hungry..."

"Food?" asked the pale-skinned kid. Donnie's eyes darted up to the door, then back down to the kid. He smiled at the little turtle, who smiled back.

"I'm just not that hungry," he said. The kid turned to his friends.

"No food?" he asked them.

"No food," they confirmed. He nodded his head and turned to the door.

"No food!" he shouted. Donnie's eyes shot to the door once again when it opened, revealing a Hispanic-looking woman with long, dark hair braided behind her back, warm, brown eyes, and a nice, warm skin color. She was wearing green scrubs, and under her shirt was a pink long-sleeved shirt with the sleeves rolled up.

Donnie gasped upon seeing her. So that's who his captors were... scientists...

He backed away from her quickly, glancing at the children. They didn't seem scared of the woman, or of what she could possibly do to them. He debated the best way to grab all of them while continuing to back away from her. He glanced at the door behind her- closed. Donnie scanned her outfit for a card or keys of any sort.

Her uniform had a lot of pockets. Maybe she had something useful in one of them. He searched for a bulge in one of the pockets, formed from a key.

Unfortunately, he didn't see anything. He glanced at the badge pinned to her pants: Amelie Mamen. Occupation: healthcare, nanny, nurse.

Okay... maybe she wasn't a scientist. But she could still be working for them. No doubt they would want something like him.

She stopped walking towards him, finally sensing that he didn't want her to come close to him. She smiled nervously at him, making Donnie frown. Seeing that she posed no real threat, Donnie stopped backing away from her, though he didn't get any closer.

"Hello there," she said slowly, as if he was a baby or a child. "I'm not going to hurt you."

Donnie shifted his left foot behind him, ready to back away or run if necessary.

"My name is Amy Mamen," she introduced herself. "Everything is alright. There's no need to continue backing away from me."

"Where exactly am I?" Donnie demanded. He glanced at one of the trees in his peripheral. Maybe he could snap off one of the branches and use it as a temporary weapon until he could find his staff.

"You're at the Mutant Control Center," she answered him. Donnie froze on the spot.

"M.C.C.?" he repeated. She nodded, still smiling, and all thoughts of escape fled his mind. If he was at M.C.C., he was never getting out of here, not on his own. He might be able to do it if his brothers were with him, but-

My brothers! He almost started looking around, trying to see them, but he managed to curb the instinct, his heart sinking when he reminded himself that if they were there, he would have seen them already.

M.C.C.... He couldn't be there. He and his brothers had heard of the place, but it was somewhere even Raph wouldn't go. Mutants in general feared the area. They say that if a mutant goes in, they don't come back out…

"The M.C.C. isn't what you think it is," she said. "We don't want to study the insides, just how mutants live a day-to-day life."

"And you do that by locking them in a giant metal cage and watching their every move?" Donnie asked, forcing some anger into his voice but not really feeling it. She didn't seem to notice, though, as her expression faltered for just a moment.

"It's better than what other organizations would do, is it not?" she asked. Donnie thought about that for a moment and decided that was correct. As inhumane as it is to lock someone in a room and study their actions, it was even more inhumane to stick needles in someone's arm and cut them open. Donnie shivered with that image.

"Will I be released?" he asked. Amy frowned now.

"It isn't really safe for mutants out in New York..." she said, and Donnie had to agree with that statement. But he had somewhere to go, someone to see. He had something outside.

"Just say yes or no," Donnie told her. "Don't give me any filler or sorry excuses."

Amy frowned apologetically and bit her bottom lip.

"No, you won't," she said. Donnie nodded, feeling hollow. That was that, then. It was either attempt to bust out on his own and most likely fail, or accept his new life here.

He thought about that for just a second. If his brothers weren't in the cage with him, that meant that they were still out there, somewhere, running around New York. Donnie wondered what they were up to now. Were they looking for him? Did they even know he was gone? How long had he been here already? Would Mikey have tried one of those food pellets? Most likely, he would have.

"Enjoy your stay here," Amy said to him. She then turned around and walked away down the path. Donnie hadn't realized that he backed this far away- he could see the pond where he woke up.

He heard the kid's laughter from where he was standing, but he couldn't see them anymore. He took this alone time to sit down and stare at the ground, trying to absorb everything he had just been told.

He knew he shouldn't give up this easily, but what was there to do? The place was swarming with guards armed with tranquilizer guns and tasers- Donnie would know. All the amounts of times he and his brothers had been chasing after a mutant, then watching as that mutant got too close to the building...

Donnie had tried back then to find a way into the building, coming to the horrifying realization that that was the easiest part. The impossible part was getting back out again. After hours of studying the place, seeing how many guards were posted in and around the building, the turtle brothers had decided that it was best to stay as far away from the building as possible.

Donnie wished he knew how he had gotten caught. Most likely, a trank was used on him, muddling his memory.

He had no idea how long he had been lying there, but he must have fallen asleep at some point, because next thing he knew, he opened his eyes and there were five pairs staring back at him.