꧁𝑴𝒂𝒎𝒂'𝒔 𝑩𝒐𝒚꧂

Chapter 10

All Subject V felt right now was pain. He was in constant suffering as wounds marred his leathery skin from the harsh training earlier, and the weird tracker-like device being inserted into his flesh as of now didn't help at all. He screamed, desperately trying to get the pain to just stop. He knew he couldn't escape from the experimentation table once he was on it, but he instinctively continued thrashing around in desperation to leave the cold metallic surface.

"Silence, Subject V!" Draxum finally snapped, which made the soft shell terrapin flinch and tense up. "Your insufferable escape attempts are making this much more difficult to do. And your annoying screaming. . . It's rather- irritating." The alchemist added, gritting his teeth frustratedly. "This is to make sure you do not try anything, so you do not escape. You are my property as of now, and I am to make sure it stays that way."

Subject V silenced himself, though he realized he was shaking uncontrollably, and his breaths were quick and heavy. God his arm burned so badly, and his back was still burning from earlier. His shell—the least likely place to be able to hide such a mark—had been branded, marked with a hot iron rodded stamp with the man's insignia carved into the metal. He was told he was to be branded twice—once on his neck, his given name carved into the smaller rod, and once on his shell, just in case, but he wasn't sure when. His arm stung from the tracker being inserted into his skin, the other one having been cut out to be replaced and destroyed. Unfortunately, it wasn't like any of his normal, metal trackers that stayed in one place, no. Because of course things couldn't be easy. It was rather a mystic worm-like device of sorts, that moved aside whenever something penetrated the skin where it once lay below and didn't allow anything to touch it. That made it significantly harder to remove, he assumed. So that way no one was to try and cut it out or anything.

Oh how he wished he could just go back to the extensive training instead of this agony—

"This is going to hurt. There will be dire consequences for resisting." The sheep man said bluntly, readying the smaller branding iron after stitching up the wound from the tracker. The terrapin squirmed a bit as the worm-like device shifted slightly, adjusting into its place in his arm like some sick knockoff of an Aliens® character. He swallowed thickly, nodding up at his commander and attempting to ready himself for the burning pain that was to come.

There was another broken scream of anguish.

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Leonardo woke up in a cold sweat, his breaths quick and unsteady. He was shaking, and bad. He folded his arms over himself for comfort, staring at the bed with a horror stricken expression.

Big Mama had quickly woken up, feeling the bed shake a bit from the slider's panic. She turned after a moment, trying to see who the culprit was. Oh— It's little baby blue. . She thought, blinking as she peered at the young boy beside her. "Are you alright—?" She quietly asked, unsure of how to talk to him since she knew he still disliked her (and even that was likely an understatement, she thought). She didn't want to frighten him and make things worse.
The blue turtle tensed, his hold on himself tightening ever so slightly more. "I— Y- erm—" He didn't know how to respond, the words dying on his tongue as soon as he uttered them. She doesn't deserve to know— What if she uses it against me? What if— He was suddenly pulled close to Big Mama, feeling her embrace him in a gentle hug. He gave a startled chirp, tense and cautious. That was. . Unexpected. But, he quite liked it, it felt comforting. Like one that he would have expected more from Mikey or someone similar, maybe even Raph. He hesitated for a moment, before slowly returning it.

"Shhh, It's alright little turtley-boo. I already know the answer to that question." She cooed softly, patting the young turtles back in a soothing pattern, earning a jerked nod.
"I- I had a dream. . " Leo finally croaked, unknowing of how to continue without sounding practically insane or just really sick in the head.
"Oh? And what was it about?" She asked calmly, continuing to pat his back.
"It- it was about Dee. ." He said, his voice wavering and threatening to give out on him. He swallowed thickly, tearing up and biting back a sob.
"Was it a good or bad dream, hun?" She questioned, knowing the answer but hoping that he would calm down a bit. Dear titan what happened?