Dr Don - Chapter 7b

Donnie looked baffled at the question, as if he had just received an unexpected reaction from mixing two chemical components. After a minute, he pointed uncertainly at the lab doors.

"… I put on the TV for him?" Donnie answered. "There's a hockey game on channel 6. He seemed so immersed in it when I left that I doubt that he'll mind waiting an hour. Or five. To be completely honest with you, my knowledge about sports in general are pretty much zero to none. I've basically no concept of how long those guys have the stamina to chase an inch thick rubber disk with all that equipment. Looks exhausting… Anyway, are you ready?"

Donnie looked at April expectantly and made a gesture towards the chair. April hesitated and glanced at the doors behind her. She should leave. Leo had told her to leave. But at the same time, she couldn't. At this point, she had no idea of what Donnie had done to the others. Except form almost drowning Mikey in a water tank as part of some kind of scientific experiment… But other than that, she had no clue of how dangerous Donnie really was. Or what he could possibly do to his brothers if he was left alone with them...

April narrowed her eyes at the door. No. She wouldn't run away. Not a chance. She had the upper hand here. Donnie trusted her. She wasn't in any danger as long as she played along. And besides, Donnie would never hurt her. That was one thing Leo was wrong about. She didn't just know this, she could feel it.

"Sure," April smiled, and followed Donnie who had started walking back to the desk. "Can't wait to lend you some of my blood…!"

"Well, technically, you won't be lending it to me," Donnie corrected her. "I mean, it's not like you're gonna get it back. Unless you want it, of course. But I really don't think you do. Trust me. Once I fiddled with it, you don't want that stuff back in your body."

"You keep it then," April said, with an awkward smile. "I probably got way too much of it anyway-"

April had to stop in the middle of a step in order to not walk right into Donnie. He was suddenly staring blankly in front of himself, as if his brain was processing an unusually large file. April flinched when Donnie without warning slapped his forehead.

"Stupid, stupid, stupid…!" Donnie exclaimed while hitting himself repetitively with every word. April instinctively took a step back, making Donnie look up and quickly realize that his outburst might have come off as mildly unsettling. "No, no, no. Not you. You're not stupid. My head is," Donnie explained, with a reassuring smile that soon changed into a pained expression. "… Which hurts even more now. Ow, ow… Why did I do that, why did I do that…?"

Donnie grimaced in discomfort while rubbing his temples. April looked concerned. "Are you okay…? Should I get you something from the kitchen? Just tell me what you need."

"… A dozen unbroken vials would be nice," Donnie mumbled. "It's just so typical…! I knew I was forgetting something. But you see, knowing that you've forgotten something doesn't really help you unless you know what it is you've forgot." Donnie sighed and glanced at Mikey's direction. "Seems like the remnants of Mikey's redecorating deeds are still messing with my work… And he's not even conscious!"

April watched Donnie close his eyes and take a deep, calming breath. "Okay, there has to be another way. There's always a way, I just have to find it... Think outside the box, think outside the box…"

While Donnie closed his eyes in concentration, April looked around in the lab. She wasn't sure how soundproof it was. Maybe she could try to get Casey in here? But with the TV on, she didn't dare to call for him, in case he wouldn't hear her. She would have to come up with an unsuspicious plan to leave the lab and fetch him, but she couldn't think of one. Plus, something told her that Casey wouldn't as much help the situation as just adding a lot more chaos to it. A bit like using a wolf to chase out a fox from a henhouse. It could go either way.

Donnie suddenly opened his eyes with a pondering look. "... I think I have an idea of how to solve this," he said before turning to April. "Unless you could consider staying for another six hours or so? 'Cause that would be the easiest solution."

"I would love to. But unfortunately, I can't," April told him, with an apologetic smile. "Math test tomorrow, remember? And I can't be home late again. My aunt is probably already sitting at the phone with one finger on 9 and another on 1."

"Understandable," Donnie nodded. "Anyhow, I believe I've figured out a way to get all the blood samples that I need, and," Donnie added proudly. ", you won't even have to worry about getting home late."

"That's all I ask," April said truthfully, and gave Donnie a nod. "Go for it."

The scientist beamed and hurried over to his desk where he sat down. As April followed him with her eyes, she noticed the jar of boiling mutagen. She watched it brew from afar, and her look grew wary. Donnie was busy moving around stuff on the messy table and didn't even bat an eye at the fumes that were surrounding him. April walked up to the desk while studying the mutagen intently.

"So, Donnie," April began, still with her eyes fixed on the jar. "Let's talk about your… Scientific explorations. Like, for example…" April made a gesture to the mutagen on the hot plate. "What's this stuff for?"

Leo had watched April in silence the whole time. If she did have a plan, he had no idea what it was. He couldn't see what Donnie was doing from his angle, but whatever it was; it apparently kept him too busy to even look at April. Or notice how close she was to the mutagen.

"In layman's terms? Not much," Donnie answered, without looking up. "I was originally just trying to find out the temperature at which the vapor pressure of mutagen equals the pressure surrounding the liquid."

"… You mean the boiling point?" April asked, remembering the same sentence word for word from her chemistry book.

"Bingo. And it's around 490 Celsius, by the way," Donnie added, and picked up something from a drawer. "But I also wanted to check if the mutagen loses any of its properties in the boiling process, and if I possibly could use that favorably in my attempts to create a retro-mutagen."

"Wow, really? That's amazing," April said, in a perfect imitation of a person that was barely listening. She was standing right next to the jar now. The bluish ooze lit up the desk with its glow while expelling green, dancing clouds of smoke. It looked even creepier up close.

Leo saw in dread how April carefully reached out a hand to the jar. He had to bite his lip in order to keep quiet. If she knocked out the jar on purpose, not even Donnie's dimmed mind would let her get away with it. She could justify pulling up Mikey from the tank. It was the sensible thing for anyone to do, and Donnie had accepted that without a problem. But Leo doubted that he would be as understanding if April, without a reason, poured out his experiment. Donnie would finally realize that April had no wish to help him with his research, and his messed up brain would deal with her as a threat. With no ethical or moral guidelines. The source of Donnie's madness would be gone, but there was no telling when he would go back to normal. Or if he ever would.

Leo tried to tell April this by staring intently at her, but then noticed something. April wasn't reaching for the jar. She was aiming for the hotplate's power switch. Leo blinked a couple of times and then exhaled in relief. It seemed like April was thinking strategic. Right now, Donnie trusted her. He thought of her as an assistant, an ally. And April was planning on keeping that status. Donnie barely ever looked at the jar. It would take him a good while to notice that the green smoke was gone and that the mutagen had stopped boiling.

You clever girl, Leo thought with a faint smile.

"… so this way," Donnie continued, without checking if anyone was actually listening to his lecture. "I can safely test every batch of attempted retro-mutagen without worrying about the blood samples growing limbs or turning into something that's gonna try to eat my face. So what do you think? Pretty nifty, huh?"

Donnie suddenly looked up at April who quickly retracted her hand before she could touch the switch. Donnie looked at her for a second and then at the mutagen before picking up something.

"Here," Donnie said and handed April something that Leo couldn't see. "You should probably put this on."

It took a few seconds before Leo realized what it was. It was a disposable filter mask. April looked at it in surprise before quickly picking it up. "Oh…! Right."

April hurriedly put it on and gave Donnie a thumbs up. Donnie nodded approvingly and Leo could hear him putting away some glass bottles that apparently were in the way. The leader in blue looked perplexed. Donnie had stated earlier that he didn't think the mutagen fumes were dangerous at all. But if he really believed that, then why would he care about protecting April from them? It didn't make any sense.

No, wait... It did make sense. Protecting April was a sensible thing to do. It was what the real Donnie would have done.

Leo could feel a small light of hope taking form in the thick darkness in his chest. A Donnie that made sense was a good sign. It meant that their brother was still in there somewhere. That they could get him back.

April grimaced at the smell as she leaned closer to the hotplate. She made sure that Donnie had his back to her before she took a closer look at the ooze. It was bubbling gleefully. April gave it a glare and then swiftly turned off the power switch. The flame silently died underneath the jar and the bubbles soon diminished in size. April wrinkled her nose with a frown.

"How the heck can something that looks like toxic puke smell sweet…?" April muttered, with a sick expression. "Yuck…! I can smell it through the mask."

"That's impossible. The mutagen fumes are almost completely scentless," Donnie explained, and spotted a half-eaten, green lollipop resting on a forgotten sheet of paper. Donnie observed it in the same manner a cat watches a fly on a window.

"Are you sure about that…?" April asked with an uneasy look. She could almost feel the sweet vapors in her throat but wasn't sure if she was just imagining it. The smell made her head hurt.

"Heh, trust me. I'm like the leading expert on mutagen by now," Donnie chuckled and picked up the candy, but watched in surprise how the paper followed it like a sticky stalker. "Well, at least in this dimension," Donnie added before tossing the lollipop and its lover in the trash. "Anyway, I wouldn't worry about breathing it. I haven't seen any evidence indicating that the fumes would be hazardous in any way, so you should be fine. How are you feeling?"

"… Not fine," April mumbled, the mask hiding her pained expression. Her head was hurting more now, and it didn't help that the room refused to stop spinning. She glanced at Donnie, but could barely distinguish him from all the blurry colors. The moving room and her distorted vision made April feel nauseous, and she quickly closed her eyes. "Donnie, I don't think I'm… The mask isn't working, it's… I-I'm feeling weird…"

"Oh, that's not because of the mutagen," Donnie explained, and studied her with a curious look. "That would be the effects from the chloroform. You should probably-"

April rapidly tore the white mask off her face and threw it as far away as she could. She immediately regretted the action, as the sudden motion made her feel even dizzier than before. Her head was spinning so fast that it was making her sick. April could feel panic flow like venom in her veins when she realized that it grew increasingly difficult to move. As if her body had stopped listening to her. She tried to take a step, but immediately lost her balance and stumbled backwards. Donnie quickly got up from his chair to aid her, and April instinctively grabbed on to him just to hold on to something steady.

"Whoa…! It's okay, it's okay… That's to be expected. Don't worry. I got you. I'm right here…" Donnie soothed, and held April firmly in his arms to prevent her from falling. "Okay, careful now. Careful… Just hold on to me, I'll help ya. Here, come sit over here. That's it… There you go."

Donnie pulled over his chair and gently let April sit down in it. April looked up groggily before her eyes flickered closed. She seemed barely aware of what was going on as her mind struggled to stay conscious. Donnie patted her shoulder. "That's better… Don't be scared. You're okay. You'll feel a little woozy, but you'll be fine. I diluted the liquid to make it less concentrated, so it should be completely harmless," Donnie explained, but then hesitated with a pondering look. "Well, fairly. Even penicillin has a small percent chance to have a lethal outcome depending on the circumstances… But it's okay. I'll keep an eye on ya."

Donnie wheeled April away from the desk and placed the chair between Leo and Raph. The two brothers gaped at the scene in unmatched shock.

"What the heck did you do to her?!" Raph shouted. He didn't care that Leo just recently had told him to be quiet. Donnie, however, was strangely unfazed by Raph's outburst. Almost as if he hadn't heard him. Donnie studied April's dazed face for a minute before tousling her hair affectionately.

"You'll feel better in a couple of minutes, I promise. It's only temporary," he reassured her and reached for something in the pocket of his lab coat. "And so are these… I'll take them off once we're done, okay?"

Donnie picked up a couple of cable ties and started to secure her wrists to the chair's armrests. Leo felt anger rush through his blood mixed with desperation. He glared at Donnie with gritted teeth. "Donnie… What are you doing?"

Donnie casually tightened the first cable tie, without showing any intention of answering the question.

"She was helping you!" Leo yelled at him. "She wanted to help you! Why would you knock her out like that? She even said that you could take her blood, don't you remember?"

"… I don't remember removing that duct tape," Donnie answered, and looked at Leo with a mystified expression, as if he was considering the possibility that the lab was infested with mischievous leprechauns. He then shrugged and went over to secure April's left hand as well.

Leo went quiet. The guilt gnawing in his chest was so intense that it threatened to corrupt him. This wasn't supposed to happen. He had told April to leave. He had told her how dangerous this was. How dangerous Donnie was... Leo still couldn't believe how his brother had managed to do this. He had thought for sure that by simply knowing not to trust Donnie, April would have been safe. She was smart, she was careful. And she was April O'Neil. Leo still didn't want to believe that Donnie would hurt her… But right now, that felt more and more like wishful thinking.

Leo clenched his fingers around the tiny, sharp knife in his palm. His eyes suddenly widened in realization. He could clench his fist. He could move his fist.

The blue masked turtle looked down at the seatbelts securing him to the table. He had memorized every single one of them by now, and he soon found what he was looking for. One of them was unbuckled. The seatbelt that had kept his lower arms from moving was now hanging from the table with no purpose whatsoever. April must have managed to press the button on the belt right after she had removed the tape. In the stress and chaos that followed, Leo hadn't even noticed it until now.

Leo quickly tried to reach the other belts with his nearly free arms, but he could barely touch them. There was still one particular buckle that prevented his upper arms from moving as much as he'd like, and thus also preventing him from reaching any release buttons. Leo eyed the belt for a second and carefully wrapped his fingers around the small weapon. He stretched his arm as far as he could towards the seatbelt until the tip of the knife touched it. After some force, he witnessed how the thin metal left a visible notch in the sturdy fabric. Leo glanced at Donnie and then at Raph.

"… keep him talking," Leo whispered to him.

Raph couldn't see what Leo was doing, or what kind of plan the leader had in mind, but he nodded anyway. Donnie had by now tied both April's wrists to the armrests. Her head tilted slightly to the side in a sluggish way, before dropping to her chest in defeat. Too tired to fight the drowsiness anymore. Donnie eyed her with a concerned expression.

"Are you comfortable?" Donnie asked her kindly. "I can get you a pillow if you want?"

April looked heavily asleep and didn't appear to even have heard the question. Raph looked at Donnie with a raised eyebrow.

"Really? You're handing out pillows now?" Raph asked, with fake enthusiasm. "How come I didn't get one?"

"I'm just being polite, Raph," Donnie explained in a matter of fact voice. "Besides, she's a guest."

"Guest? Really, that's the term you're going with here?" Raph asked in utter disbelief. "Hey, I have a suggestion. How about guinea pig? Or hostage!"

"She's not a hostage," Donnie corrected him, with an unamused look. "Confining someone against his or her will and depriving them of freedom is called 'false imprisonment' which, in case you didn't know that, is considered a felony! If April wants to go home, I can't stop her. I won't. The cable ties are not meant to keep her from leaving; I'm only using them to keep her from moving."

"Interesting how they kinda do both, though," Raph pointed out, with a scornful look.

"Why is it that everything I say or do automatically has to be something antagonistic in your eyes?" Donnie asked, with a narrow look at his brother. "Would you mind giving it a rest? It's getting kinda tiresome…"

"Oh, sure. You're totally the hero here. Especially that time you knocked out the princess with chloroform and tied her to a chair!" Raph reminded him. "What do you call that? Good hospitality?"

"It was for her own good. I did it for her, okay?" Donnie exclaimed, and buried his face in his hand with an exasperated sigh. "I can't believe that I have to explain every tiny detail… You if anyone should know by now that a lot of these procedures require the specimen to keep still. I admit that chloroform isn't what you'd call 'optimal' when it comes to anesthesia, or anything else for that matter, but I needed something that worked quickly. She was in such a hurry to get home, and this way I can get it over with faster."

Raph and Donnie glared at each other intently for a minute before Donnie turned his attention back to their female company. "And besides, this will make it a lot easier for the both of us. And safer for her."

Leo stopped cutting at the sound of the last sentence. He hid the knife in his palm before giving Donnie a confused look. "Safer? You're just gonna draw some blood, right? Why can't she be awake for that?"

Donnie went over to one of his cherished trash piles and started looking for something. Leo looked even more confused. "… Donnie?"

"You know, if I had thought about this a little earlier, I probably wouldn't have drawn as much blood as I did from you. Sorry about that, by the way…" Donnie said, and quickly looked up with an apologetic look at the leader before continuing his search. "My point is that I really needed those glass vials… But since I don't have any spare ones left, I'm gonna have to use up your blood first before I can start getting any samples from April. But that's not gonna work, and do you know why? Because April can't stay for long. She's human, she doesn't live in the sewers, she's got school, a social life… And I'm simply not gonna be able to finish up all your blood samples in time before she'll be forced to leave."

Donnie picked up something that at first glance seemed to be a mechanical clown riding a bicycle, but which at a closer look turned out to be an alarm clock that just looked like a mechanical clown riding a bicycle. He tossed it back in the pile and kept digging. "However, I think I've figured out a way for April to stay a little longer."

"… What are you looking for?" Leo asked sternly.

"Something that looks like a… Aha! Here we are," Donnie declared triumphantly and dusted off something. It looked like some sort of black metallic tube with roughly the same shape and size as Mikey's nunchucks. The end of it sported a trigger-looking feature that was similar to a hand brake on a bike.

"Um… What the heck is that thing?" Leo wanted to know, and wasn't sure if he even dared a guess.

"This? Oh, it's a captive bolt gun," Donnie answered casually, and studied the device in the light.

"… Did he just say 'gun'?" Raph asked, and snapped his eyes at Donnie and then immediately back to Leo. "Are you telling me that the guy who sticks needles in people for fun, now has a gun…?!"

"Bolt gun, genius. They're two completely different things," Donnie explained. "One is designed to kill, and one is… Well, designed to do the exact opposite, actually."

"Do what? Revive someone?" Leo asked, with a doubtful look at the device.

"More like 'not' to kill someone," Donnie corrected him, with a somewhat awkward smile.

"… Why am I not feeling comforted over here?" Raph muttered bitterly.

"Ah, that's just because you don't know what it does yet," Donnie said cheerfully and held up a finger in a demonstrative way. "Here, I'll show you. It's pretty simple but ingenious actually…"

Donnie walked over to Raph and crouched next to him, holding up the item in front of him so that Raph could see it better. "See? This tube here is connected to a canister of pressurized gas which, when I press this trigger, will fire a blunt, metal rod through the tube a few centimeters before it immediately retracts. It's as if a bullet would only leave the barrel of a gun for a split second before immediately being pulled back inside-"

"Get that thing out of my face…" Raph said, with an uneasy look at the metallic object. "I don't care how it works, what is it good for?"

"You aim it at the forehead," Donnie explained casually. "Like this."

Donnie had without any warning put the end of the bolt gun against Raph's forehead. The red masked turtle stared at it. His green eyes darted from the cold metal tube touching his skin, to the turtle that was currently holding it.

"… And squeeze the trigger," Donnie described, still holding the bolt gun in place and slowly moved his finger as if he was pulling the trigger. "The metal rod will hit the skull at such a tremendous velocity that the force effectively impairs the part of the brain that feels pain. Among other functions, but nothing life threatening."

Raph looked nauseous when Donnie finally removed the device from his head, but Leo on the other hand stared at Donnie in horror.

"Impair? As in brain damage? Permanent brain damage?!" Leo asked, but shook his head before Donnie could answer. "No. You wouldn't do that to April. Not to the girl you've had a crush on from the moment you saw her…! No way, not the Donnie I know."

"Yeah, 'cause the Donnie we know has been so sensible so far…!" Raph pointed out sarcastically, and pulled at his restraints to emphasize. "How are those straps treating ya? Tight enough?"

"Guys, calm down. There's no reason to freak out," Donnie assured them, with the compelling voice of a kindergartner teacher. "I know that you're just thinking of what's best for April, and so do I. With this method, she won't be feeling any pain or distress during the upcoming procedure. Or ever again, assuming that the damage is permanent. But I promise you that this is totally safe."

"Safe? Are you kidding?!" Leo yelled, and almost felt an urge to laugh, despite the seriousness of the situation. "In what book does potentially permanent brain damage spell safe!"

"Well, for starters," Donnie began, and studied the object with a contemplative look. "Bolt guns have been widely approved by animal protection laws as a very humane way of stunning animals prior to slaughter, so I don't see any reason to why it wouldn't work just as well on humans," Donnie explained, as if he'd just compared apples with oranges. "And secondly, this is the most merciful thing to do. This way, she won't feel any discomfort at all when I draw blood from her. She won't even feel the needle. Plus, now she doesn't have to leave anymore…"

"But… Then you lied to her!" Leo protested. "You told April that she wouldn't be home late!"

"Actually, I said that she wouldn't have to worry about getting home late," Donnie clarified.

"What difference does it make?!"

"A lot, I think," Donnie maintained. "I mean, she literally won't worry about anything, since the major part of her insular cortex probably won't survive the first hit… That's the part of the brain that's linked to your emotional functions. Besides, this is all part of a research that eventually is gonna cure her dad, so I'm sure that she'll understand."

"… How can you do this?" Leo asked, with a pleading look at Donnie. He desperately searched his brother's eyes for a sign of hesitation. A sign of the real Donatello.

"She said that she wanted to help me, Leo," Donnie told him sincerely. "And this way, she can do just that without having to even think about getting home to dinner or studying to that math test. But more importantly, she won't be in any pain."

"Then why didn't you just sedate her instead?" Raph demanded to know. "You got enough stuff here to dose a freaking football team for crying out loud! Why not her?"

"I could. If I want the blood samples to be contaminated…" Donnie answered tiredly. "I need clean samples for the tests, so this is a much better solution in that regard. And since it lasts a lot longer, you could also say that it's very cost-effective."

Leo watched how Donnie walked over to April, and he quickly pulled up the knife again. It was impossible to argue. Donnie already had his own idea of where to cross the line, and he conveniently changed it depending on the situation. Probably subconsciously.

April's chin was resting on her chest, blissfully unaware of what was going on around her. Donnie smiled and carefully lifted her head and tilted it backwards so that her neck leaned against the headrest. April's face was now looking up at the ceiling, like at a dentist's office. Leo had barely cut through half of the belt. He needed more time.

"Donnie, stop listening to that deranged voice in your head and start listening to what you're actually saying…!" Leo tried, and hoped that Donnie wouldn't look in his direction and notice what he was really doing. "We're talking brain damage. She won't recover from that…! Not even your screwed up mind can justify this! Nothing can!"

"Okay, okay, Leo, listen. I can feel another headache coming along, and I really don't have time to stand here and explain every single thing I do to you," Donnie said in mild annoyance as he rubbed his head. "So why don't you let me finish this and then I'll answer your questions after I'm done? Will that make you guys feel better?"

"NO!" both Leo and Raph yelled in reply.

Donnie rolled his eyes at his bothersome brothers and used both hands to gently place the end of the bolt gun against April's forehead. The cold metal made her groan a little and move her head to the side, but Donnie quickly placed one hand under her chin to keep her steady. He used his right hand to hold the bolt gun straight and aim at a certain spot. Donnie looked pleased with the angle and put a finger on the trigger.

He didn't move. After almost a minute, Donnie suddenly removed the tube, to both Leo's and Raph surprise. He then picked up the, at least to Leo, all too familiar black marker.

"Can't be too careful," Donnie said, unclear to whom. He softly brushed her bangs aside and drew a small X on April's forehead. He inspected it and seemed happy with the placement as he picked up the bolt gun once more. "The angle has to be perfect… This is why it's so important that she doesn't move. I don't wanna risk accidentally damaging any respiratory functions in the process. She'll probably have a minor to strong headache after the impact, but hopefully, she won't feel any pain at all."

Leo had almost cut through the belt. His hands were getting sweaty from the stress and the effort, and he feared that he would drop the knife. One slip up and it would be his fault. One second too late, and he would be to blame. And he felt terrified. He had to make it. He had to.

Leo quickly looked up at Donnie, but then blinked in surprise. Donnie wasn't moving. He was still resting the end of the bolt gun against April's head. All he had to do was to pull the trigger. It would only take a second. Leo tried to read his expression but it was completely blank. As if his mind was miles away. The bolt gun then slowly slipped down from April, as if it had grown unexplainably heavy. Donnie observed April's sleepy features for a moment. He then promptly turned around and walked back to his desk. "… I need to fix something."

Leo swiftly hid the knife when Donnie passed him, but pulled it out again as soon as he could. He had been granted more time. Leo started to cut the belt again, and glanced at Donnie to make sure that he was too busy to notice him. Leo stopped cutting for a second and raised an eyebrow. He saw how Donnie was moving around papers, tossing post-it notes, putting away some bottles in the drawer, picking up a pencil only to put it down again approximately two inches away from the very same place he had found it…

Leo shared a look with Raph who seemed to have realized the same thing he had. They stared at each other in confusion. Donnie wasn't fixing anything, he was just stalling. The question was why? He had no reason to. He was clearly intending to use the bolt gun. Nothing he had said so far indicated anything else. Yet, he had stopped himself with one finger on the trigger to go and clean his desk…?

Leo watched Donnie redecorating the working area in silence. He didn't want to ruin the moment, but eventually spoke up. "… You don't wanna do this, do you?"

Donnie didn't look up. His voice was deadpan when he answered Leo. "I have to."

"No you don't!" Leo told him, with authority. "No one is forcing you! No one! This whole thing is a really, really bad idea, and nobody here thinks that you should go through with it. And apparently, that includes you! Somewhere deep inside that seriously messed up head of yours, there's a voice screaming to you right now that this is wrong-"

"Please stop talking like that!" Donnie yelled fiercely. Leo went quiet and stared at his brother. Donnie was rubbing his head again, clearly in pain. He took a deep breath and then exhaled calmly before giving Leo a look. "Sorry… It's just that you're sorta making it sound like I'm going to kill her, which is as inaccurate as it is offensive. Look, this is a non-penetrating model; it would be highly impractical to kill anyone with this. On the contrary, it's cleverly constructed to not damage the brainstem and thus make sure the heart keeps beating so that-"

"It will kill everything that makes her April!" Raph interrupted, his eyes glowing with rage. "It will HURT her!"

"So would a needle," Donnie stated, with a shrug. "Sometimes pain is an inevitable consequence from necessary procedures. And April knows that."

"She'll hate you!" Raph lashed out.

"She won't feel hate."

"That means that she won't feel love either," Leo told him, with a grave look.

"I know," Donnie replied, with an unreadable face. The lack of emotion in his voice was as disturbing as it was heart wrenching. Leo watched in distress how the scientist unenthusiastically wandered over to April again, like a hangman on his way to a snare. "Donnie, you can't do this, it's April! You'll never forgive yourself…! Trust me on that! Just don't- APRIL!"

April didn't react to her name. Donnie made a barely audible sigh, with the look of someone who was leaving home for a depressing job he wished to be fired from. He put the end of the bolt gun against April's forehead and carefully angled it, looking for perfection. He watched her for a moment. Leo thought that he looked tired. He seemed mentally drained. Donnie eyed April's face closely, as if he was taking one last picture of this version of her. An April O'Neil that soon would be gone forever.

Leo looked down at the belt. Almost through. Once it was off, he would be able to move his arms freely and take off the rest of the buckles. He could stop this. It was just a matter of time now.

But they didn't have time.

A loud clank of metal made Leo almost drop the knife and he snapped his head towards the noise. He stared at the scene in front of him. The sound had been the bolt gun hitting the hard floor. It was now lying next to Donnie's left foot, but the scientist wasn't even looking at it. He was still watching April with the same unreadable expression as before. Without as much as a word, he suddenly took one step forward. He tilted his head curiously and squatted in front of her. Leo saw how Donnie's blank expression slowly changed before his eyes. He almost looked surprised.

"… April?" Donnie said in a low voice. He didn't make any attempt to elaborate. He just kept looking at her, seemingly unable to say anything else or look away.

April moved her head slightly, still feeling dizzy. She opened her eyes groggily and immediately saw Donnie crouching in front of her. Her eyes shot wide open. The next thing happened very fast. A split second later, April's right foot flung up from the floor with devastating speed and kicked the first thing that was in its way. There was an unpleasant cracking sound when Donnie's head was knocked back by the incredible force. Leo cringed at the noise and caught a glimpse of his younger brother's shocked expression before he fell to the floor with a painful thud. He didn't try to get up. He didn't even move.

April's expression made an amazing journey from fear, to relief, to surprise, but settled for regret at the sight of Donnie's limp body on the floor. "… Sorry Donnie!"

"Don't be," Raph growled to her in an almost threatening voice as he shot the purple masked ninja glare, but then added in a calmer manner: "You okay there, April?"

"Yeah. I am, but…" April began, but trailed off as the room almost on cue started spinning again. "I-I don't think my head is… Ugh, what happened? What did- Whoa!"

April had tried to get up from the revolving chair without realizing that both her hands were tied to it, and thus she was immediately pulled back down again. Raph stared at her. "You know… You were actually pretty cool right up until four seconds ago."

"What the…?" April said, and frowned at the cable ties around her wrists. She immediately tried to pry them off, but with little success. "Um… Guys? What's going on? I don't exactly remember sitting in a chair. And to be completely honest, I don't remember being tied to one either!"

Leo had finally cut off the belt. The sensation when the tight seatbelt came off felt almost unreal. He had gotten used to the discomfort, and feeling it disappear so suddenly made him almost gasp. He hadn't realized how constricted his bindings truly had been until now. He tried to carefully move his arm. It felt stiff, to say the least, but he could move it. It hurt a little where the belts had been pressing, and he noticed several bruises from the times he had tried to break loose. Or was it from all the needles? Leo winced a little when he noticed a wound where the straps had cut through his skin. It was bleeding slightly.

Leo suddenly realized that this was not the time or place to examine injuries or enjoy the moment of freedom. He glanced at Donnie on the floor. Why had he dropped the bolt gun? What exactly had gone through his head that moment…? Leo knew what he wanted to believe, but he didn't dare to. Not yet. Instead of dwelling on the haunted house known as Donnie's mind, he started to cut off the next belt. And the next. And the next.

"Hang on a sec, April," the leader in blue said as he sat up on the table, but nearly ended up falling back down on it. Everything was moving around him. The shapes and colors mixed together into an unrecognizable blur before everything gradually turned into a thick blackness. His eyes were open, but he couldn't see. He couldn't see. A feeling of sheer panic jabbed Leo right in the chest, but in the next moment he could see a light. The darkness soon dissolved and he could distinguish lights, colors, and even shapes again. He exhaled in relief. He had almost passed out from just sitting up.

April observed Leo from her chair. He was still sitting on the table, but made no attempt to move. He was resting his head in one hand, looking almost sick. April peeked down at her revolving chair and checked if she could reach the floor with her feet. In the next second, she pushed away the chair from her spot and made it roll over to Leo's table. Leo flinched when April's ride bumped into the table right next to him and he looked at her in surprise.

"The knife" April asked, and nodded at her hands. "Do you think you can reach my wrist?"

"S-Sure."

Leo easily cut off the nearest cable tie, freeing April's left hand. But before he could cut off the next one too, April quickly relieved him of the tool to save him the trouble. She swiftly cut off the last cable tie, and flexed her fingers a little. "There… That's a little better."

"I bet it is," Raph said dryly from the cot.

April smiled awkwardly before she hurried over to Raph and removed his belt buckles. She had barely unbuckled the last one when Raph rose up on his knees and jumped down from the mattress. The red masked turtle landed heavily on the floor and his legs almost collapsed underneath him. He had done a good job hiding it, but it was clear that Donnie's drugs hadn't quite left the hothead's body yet. April quickly offered him her shoulder to lean on and gave the two turtles a puzzled look.

"Okay, now I'm getting worried here… What's wrong with you guys? Looks like you could use a real doctor- Hey, Raph...! Hold on. What are you-"

The red masked turtle had left April's side and his eyes were riveted on the motionless shape of the scientist. Raph was limping slightly, but the pain seemed to only fuel his determination. His green eyes were glowing with malice and an unmistakable desire to rip something into tiny shreds. April quickly realized which turtle that was about to be in the receiving end of Raph's bottled up rage, and grabbed his arm.

"Wait!" April said sternly, trying to hold him back. "What are you going to do to him?"

"Nothing," Raph answered and pulled himself free without looking at her. His voice was drenched in sarcasm and emitted a distinct, ominous vibe. "I just noticed that his head is missing a few cracks, so I thought I'd fix that for him. You know, just to be nice…"

"No, you're not," April warned him, and wrapped both her arms around his chest. Raph tried to push her away from him, his patience burning away with each second, but April refused to let go.

"Get… OFF! I mean it, April! Let me go, or I swear I'll…!" Raph growled in a murderous voice, but didn't finish the sentence. He glared at the turtle on the floor and then at April. His eyes turning white with a rage that craved a target. "Why are you defending him…?! Have you any idea of all the sick stuff he's done? What he was only seconds away from doing to you?! This is nothing compared to that!"

"I don't care! It doesn't make it right to beat up someone who's completely defenseless…!" April yelled, and had to lock her arms around the hothead in order to not be thrown off. "He's already out cold, he could have a concussion-"

"I'll make sure he does!" Raph snapped, and made an attempt to pry April off of him. "Stay out of this, April! This is between turtles- Hey- Stop tugging my shell! Knock it off! I'm gonna make him-!"

Raph and April froze on the spot at the sound of something heavy hitting the floor. Raph looked at Leo and his eyes widened in shock when he saw his brother lying in a heap below the table. Raph tried to run over to him, but his muscles felt like jelly and caused him to drop to his knees. He cursed loudly as he tried to compel his legs to get back up again. To ignore the drugs in his system that turned every attempt to move into an argument. Raph caught a brief glance of Leo in his efforts, and the vision of his brother's deathly still body filled him with a sudden fear. A fear that got his adrenalin pumping like a steam-engine ready to blow. In a matter of seconds, Raph had summoned up enough strength to force himself back up from the floor, and make it over to his brother's side.

"Leo? LEO!" Raph yelled, and knelt down next to him. He nudged his brother's shoulder, trying to wake him up. "Don't do this, not you too… Come on, say something, bro. Get up. GET UP!"

Raph's eyes were growing wider with panic with each quick breath until April joined them. She sat down next to Leo and studied him with a furrowed brow. Raph watched in silence how she put a hand on Leo's neck to check his pulse, but backed off when Leo suddenly groaned. The leader coughed and managed to get up on his knees. Raph grabbed Leo's left arm and April his right before they together hauled him up on his feet. "

"Here, I got ya, bro…" Raph told him, with a worried look. "Just don't try and pass out or anything, okay? Hold on to us until you can stand on your own."

"I can. Don't worry," Leo told him, and gave Raph a reassuring pat on the shoulder. He tried his best to sound convincing while at the same time trying to teach his legs how to stand up straight. "I got up a little too fast, that's all. I'm fine."

"No you're not. None of you guys are!" April exclaimed as she reached for the revolving chair with her free hand and pushed it over to Leo. "Here, take this. You shouldn't walk arou-"

"I'm alright, April. Go and look after Mikey instead. Make sure that he's okay," Leo ordered and freed himself from his two guardians. He tried to take a few steps. He was fairly certain that he could walk on his own now. Leo looked at the lab doors and headed towards them. "And keep an eye on Donnie. Don't let him do anything until I get back. And I mean anything. No experimenting, no fiddling with his little gadgets, and no talking… If he tries to, there's duct tape in the top drawer."

"Wait a sec, where do think you're going?" April asked in confusion. "Hey…! What exactly are you gonna do?"

"I'm gonna get master Splinter," Leo answered seriously as he opened the lab door. "This madness ends now."

Next Time: Splinter is in for a rude awakening about what his boys have been up to in his absence. Oh dear…