Chapter 3

A man with thick, curly, dark brown hair cradled in pain on the bottom of the pit, pulling his body into foetal position. He soon lifted his head from the ground, revealing a nasty bruise on his left cheek, probably from the fall. When looking up at the others sitting in the cave, his small, brown eyes widened in shock.

"Mi Dios!" he breathed, staring at the turtles where they sat huddled at the other end of the cave.

"Date prisa!" a man yelled from the surface, kicking some dirt down onto the man's back.

The man tore his eyes away from the four mutant turtles and pulled himself up with the help of the ladder leaning against the cave wall, using his chin as a replacement for his hands. When he finally stood his tall ground, they could tell he was about five feet eight with a solid built. He wore a pair of dirty, beige jeans, along with a black T-shirt that sat fairly tight on his chest. He stumbled inside the cave, both his feet and his hands cuffed, never setting his eyes off of the turtles over by the left side of the cave. He hadn't even seemed to noticed the four other men in there, one of them still holding the tranq gun in his hand.

Had it not been for the fact that he was chained just like they were, they would've guessed he was one of them. Because he definitely had Latin origins. He appeared to be in his thirty's but looked fairly good for a man of his age. As the light from the lantern finally reached his entire form, the turtles noticed he had a large golden cross hanging around his neck, bouncing off his chest as he stumbled inside.

Pedro finally lowered his gun from Raphael and looked at their new prisoner as if he was a walking million dollar check. "So," he said, finally earning the stunned man's attention. "You're the Phinehas?" he mused, looking him up and down. "Samson will be pleased," he said, glancing at Javier sitting on his right. He then turned back to the guy. "Have a seat," he said, motioning with his hand towards the empty space next to Esteban on his left.

Phinehas, as Pedro had called him, suspiciously eyed him before stepping over next to Esteban to sit down, although as he was about to, Esteban sent his foot into his lower legs, causing him to lose his balance and fall flat on his face.

The guards laughed at the prank as Phinehas lifted his head from the ground; spitting soil out of his mouth. "Monstruo," Pedro spat at him, before he turned his attention to another guy that came climbing down the hole. "Ah, Antonio!" he greeted. "Bienvenido! Qué tal?"

"Bien," Antonio answered as he closed the entrance to the cave. "Hambre?" he questioned, holding up a plastic bag in his right grip.

"Si," Pedro smiled, pushing at Esteban next to him to make room for his friend. "Pase." He pointed to the empty seat next to him.

Antonio adjusted his black ponytail and stepped over the fallen prisoner on the floor, as if he was a puddle of water. He then sat down with the rest of his friends and started talking to them, once again returning to Spanish.

Donatello studied the man who tried to get up from the ground, although he could only manage to get into a sitting position. "Are you okay?" Don asked quietly, looking at him with concern in his eyes.

Phinehas instantly turned to look at Donnie once he realized he had spoken to him. "You... you talk?" he murmured, his small eyes not looking so small anymore.

"Don't you?" Don questioned, trying to offer him a friendly smile, because that man was just a prisoner like themselves. Although for what reason, he still didn't know.

Phinehas only gaped at the turtles, trying to comprehend what had just happened.

"Hey!" Raph snapped, glaring at Phinehas. "Enough with the staring, a'right?"

Phinehas mutely nodded, lowering his eyes in apology. "Sorry," he said, carefully looking back up at Raphael.

Don pointed with his head to the empty spot next to him, offering some company to the loner. Phinehas nodded a few times before he scooched over next to Donnie, looking both curious and afraid.

As soon as he had seated himself among the turtles, Pedro looked up from their loud conversation, staring at the prisoners across from him. "Aww, look," he said, causing his friends to look up at the others. "The freaks are bonding." They all laughed at his comment.

Raphael narrowed his eyes in anger, knowing the guy had said it in English only so they would understand the insult. Pedro noticed the look Raph sent him but only grinned and ignored it, reached inside the bag Antonio had brought, pulling up a carton of chicken wings and patting his friend on the shoulder for his choice of food.

Mikey felt his stomach rumble. Sure, he had never been a guy for chicken; too much bone and not enough food. Bur right now he felt like he could go for anything, only to dump something in that empty stomach of his.

Javier noticed Michelangelo staring at him as he bit into the meat. "Don worry, tortuga," he said, putting his chicken wing aside and motioning for Carlos to hand him the cooler. "We have not forgotten about you." He opened the plastic box and reached inside it, pullingout two old, although very big sandwiches. He tossed them across the cave to Mikey, who could do noting but watch as the old sandwiches landed before him. He looked at Javier, who only laughed and picked up his chicken wing again, before he turned back to the sandwich, that wasn't only covered in dirt, but both the bread and the cheese had a good case of penicillin. Still, Mike had to eat and bent forward, picking one of them up with his teeth, only causing their enemies to laugh even harder.

"Patético," Antonio said, reaching down his bag for a bottle of water.

Leo angrily glared at the bullies as they ate their food; leaving his baby brother to eat a rotten old sandwich off the ground.

"Hey, Mikey," Raph said from where he sat on Michelangelo's right, causing Mike to look up at him with the sandwich held in between his teeth. "Try it this way," he said and reached over for the other sandwich with his teeth, sitting up straight with it in his mouth. He then drew up his legs to his plastron, pinching the sandwich in between his knees; making up for the hands he couldn't use.

Mike quickly followed his example, placing the sandwich tightly in between his knees and biting into it, ignoring the bad taste it had. It was food and he knew he had already gone without it for too long. How long, he didn't know.

Carlos swallowed the food in his mouth and slapped Javier on his shoulder, both of them looking up at the two eating turtles.

"Oh?" Javier mused, crossing his arms. "Maybe tortugas have brains, after all." All five men laughed and Antonio reached inside his bag for another bottle of water.

"Let's see how you solve this," he said, tossing the bottle to Leo. Without him being able to catch it, the bottle hit him square in the plastron, bouncing off of him and landing a few feet away.

Leo knew they weren't doing it out of concern. They simply found it entertaining how they fought and worked for the food. But he wasn't about to give up the bottle of water because of it. They needed water to survive. He had no idea how long they had been out, perhaps for days. And the cold walk though the desert hadn't exactly helped. So he moved closer to the bottle, clutching the cork with his teeth. He lifted it off the ground and moved back against the wall, in between Donatello and Raphael. There, after casting a glance at his captors, he drew his legs up to his plastron like his brothers had done and placed the plastic bottle in between them. Then he started working on the cork, slowly unscrewing it with his teeth, so it wouldn't slip away. Soon he had the cork in his mouth and, after spitting it to the ground, he clenched his teeth around the top of the bottle; closing his mouth over it and leaning his head backwards, allowing fresh water to run down his throat.

Antonio and Carlos applauded at the small stunt he had performed, although it was more out of mocking Leonardo than anything else.

Leo ignored them and set the bottle back in between his knees, turning towards Donatello to his right so he could have some. Don followed his older brother's example and grabbed the bottle with his teeth, holding his head back to drink some. After he was done he passed it over to Phinehas, who smiled gratefully.

"I'll wait till after the others have had their share," he said, nodding thankfully.

Meanwhile Mikey and Raphael passed over their sandwiches to their other two brothers, watching as they hungrily bit into them. Don passed over the bottle of water to Leo, who gave it to Raph to drink. Finally after Mike had treasured the sensation of the clean water pouring down his throat, he gave it back to Raph, who with the others' help passed it back to Phinehas.

"Gracias," he bowed and accepted the bottle from Donnie, drinking what was left of it. Once they were done and there was nothing left to feed on, they certainly didn't feel very full, but it was at least something compared to nothing.

An hour later, Mikey had already fallen asleep; his head leaned against the wall. Usually he was never one to check out before the rest of them, but being as he was so used to eating a lot of food, it really took it out of him when he wasn't allowed any.

Raphael obsessively stared at his five captors, who only once in a while looked up at him, a mocking grin plastered on their faces, as they soon returned to the Spanish conversation with each other.

Leo leaned his head to his right in order to talk to Donatello. "Think they'll take us back out in the desert tomorrow?" he wondered, keeping one eye on his enemies.

"I'm pretty sure they will," Don agreed, nodding slightly without looking at his brother. "Wherever we are right now, it's too insignificant to be the final stop. There has to be more to these guys than this underground cave."

Leonardo nodded, leaning his head against the wall. "We'll sleep in shifts," he decided. "Why don't you get some sleep and I'll take the first one."

"No," Don protested, turning to look at Leo. "I slept on the bus while Raph and you were awake. If anyone needs their sleep, it's you, Leo."

"I ain't sleepin'," Raph said, as he had obviously overheard their conversation. "No way in hell I'm closin' my eyes with these guys aroun'," he hissed, staring at Don.

"Raph," Leo said, turning to him with a stern look in his eyes. "This is not the time or place to play rebel. You don't know for how long we'll be walking without water tomorrow."

"Yeah well, that's my problem, ain't it?" Raph shot back, locking his eyes with Leonardo's.

"Look," Don said, trying to break them up. "What if Raph and I take first watch while you and Mike get some rest. Deal?" He patiently looked at his oldest brother, who quietly considered the idea before turning back to him.

"All right," Leo agreed. "Just make sure to wake us up in a few hours."

Donatello nodded, glancing at a grinning Raphael. Leo gave a final nod before he leaned his head against the cold wall and closed his eyes. He was surprised at how easy it was for him to fall asleep. He hadn't even realized he was tired.

"Ye should probably get some sleep, too," Raphael said, looking at the prisoner next to Donnie.

"No," Phinehas said, while nodding his head in appreciation. "I think I've gotten all the sleep I'll need for the next few days."

Don turned to look at him. "They drugged you, too?" he asked.

"Yeah, they shot me," Phinehas confirmed, looking over at the guards, noticing that two of them had fallen asleep. "Shot me and brought me to the desert. I've heard it's pretty common to bring people out here to kill 'em. What with this place being one huge sand-pit, I'm not surprised. Has to be hundreds of missing people lying buried out here."

"Well aren't you Mr. The glass is half empty," Raphael commented, leaning back against the wall with a smile.

Don turned from his brother to the human on his right. "Whether that's true or not, they haven't brought us out here to kill us," he said.

"How do you figure?" Phinehas asked, arching an eyebrow.

"Cuz they woulda' done it already, that's why," Raph said, shifting his cuffs behind his shell to be able to look at the him. "Who are ya anyway? There has ta be some reason for these punks ta need ya alive."

"My name is Francisco," the man introduced himself. "I come form a small village outside of Puebla."

"Puebla?" Don questioned, narrowing his eyes in confusion.

"Yes," Francisco nodded. "It's in Mexico."

"Wait a minute," Raph said, thinking about something Francisco said earlier. "Yer name's Francisco? I thought those guys called ya somethin' else."

"Phinehas," Francisco confirmed, causing both turtles to nod. "Yes, it's Hebrew. It means 'Serpent's mouth.'"

"Why would they call you that?" Don wondered, trying to tie up the loose ends.

"If I told you, you wouldn't believe me," Francisco said, turning away from them with a faint smile.

"Try us," Raph said, referring to the fact that they were mutated turtles.

Francisco smiled. "Yes, I suppose nothing would surprise a bunch of talking tortugas."

"What does that mean?" Raph asked, narrowing his eyes at the recognition of the word their kidnappers had used several times. "Tortuga."

"It's 'turtle' in Spanish," Don said simply, looking at Raphael as if the answer had been obvious. Raph's eye ridges shot up in surprise.

"Si," Francisco confirmed, nodding at Donatello with enthusiasm. "Hablas español?" He then excitedly started talking in Spanish, confusing both turtles.

"Um, no," Donnie said, interrupting his rambling. "I only know that word.. and a couple of phrases."

"Oh," Francisco nodded, noticeably a little disappointed.

"So are ya gonna tell us what's up with that snake mouth thing?" Raphael reminded, eager to find out what kind of skeletons this guy hid in his closet.

"Of course," Francisco said, nodding apologetically. "He referred to my..." he paused to find the proper words, "..poisonous saliva."

"Wait?" Raphael said, leaning slightly over Leo's sleeping form as he eyed Francisco. "Did ya juz say 'poisonous'? As in lethal?"

"Yes and no," Francisco said, trying to explain the complexity of his being. "I do have poisonous saliva but it's not deadly. If coming in contact with it, and by contact I mean mouth to mouth, your body will reject it and you'll vomit."

"Like alcohol poisoning," Donatello said, staring into thin air.

"Yes, I guess it is," Francisco considered. "Only my poison works a little faster than that. First time I kissed a girl and she threw up on me, I thought I was simply that bad." He chuckled lightly at the memory. "Don't know how I've gotten three women to marry me.."

"That poison," Don said, turning back to Francisco. "Any reason that's why you're here?"

"I wouldn't be surprised," Francisco nodded. "Although I don't know how they know about it? It hasn't exactly been in the paper."

"Yeah well, neither have we," Raphael added, glancing at Mikey who slept next to him

"If you do not mind me asking," Francisco said, looking in between his two new friends. "Where are you from?"

"New York," Raph answered, turning back to Francisco.

Don sent Raph an unimpressed glance. "I don't think that's what he meant, Raph."

"No," Francisco interrupted. "It was," he ensured them. "But please tell me what you thought I wanted to know."

Raph grinned confidently at his braniac brother before Don turned around to tell their new friend the story of how they came to be. He glanced at their kidnappers, only now realizing everyone had gone to sleep except for Carlos, his face hidden underneath the shadow of his cap.

"Well, long story short," Donnie said carefully, so his enemy wouldn't be able to hear him. "Mutation in result of a chemical accident."

Francisco nodded understandingly.

Donnie wouldn't have minded going further into the subject, explaining the uniqueness of their chromosomes in careful detail. But with the enemy only a couple of meters across from him, he figured the truth was safest kept with them.

Next morning Mike and Leo woke up their other two brothers as Esteban, the one guy who had been awake to keep an eye on them, woke up his four friends.

Raph and Don suspiciously sat up straight, keeping their eyes on their captors as they packed up their belongings to leave. It wasn't long after that that Pedro, the one who kept his head shaved, climbed up the ladder and opened the entrance, allowing the strong sun to reach inside the dark and cold hole they had been sleeping in. He dropped his bag to the ground and yelled for one of his friends.

Javier grabbed a hold of Francisco and forced him up on his feet. He climbed a few steps on the ladder and lifted him up towards Pedro, who grabbed him by his shoulders and brought him up to the hot surface, where the sun nearly hovered straight above him in the sky. It was almost noon.

Pedro flashed his gun inside his coat, as to warn his prisoner not to try anything, and reached back inside as Javier and Carlos held up Donatello for him. After all four turtles had been brought to the surface, Antonio put the bush back in its place, hiding the cave from the world, and grabbed a hold of Michelangelo, holding him by his lower arms.

Pedro, holding Leo with one arm, brought out a package of cigarettes and lit one up for himself with the other. He offered smokes to his friends; handing over his lighter to Antonio and Esteban who also smoked.

Mikey noticed the look on Phinehas' face as the three of them breathed in the smoke, assuming he too was a smoker.

Pedro also noticed the longing stare he got from the prisoner. "Don't think you're getting any, Phinehas," he said, sucking on the filter and walking up to the man in question, while still holding onto Leo with one of his hands. He stopped right in front of Francisco and blew the smoke onto his face, grinning sadistically. He then dropped the cigarette to his feet and stepped on it, even though there was plenty of it left, only to prove that he would rather waste it than give it to him.

Then, the turtles heard something they hadn't expected. Not even after spending the nigh in an underground cave. A black helicopter appeared in the horizon, and weird enough was, it was heading their way. It didn't take long before it hovered in the air above them, deafening their ears and covering their eyes with sand as it went down for landing, only fifteen meters away from them. With their hands cuffed behind their backs, none of them could remove the sand that stung in their eyes.

Once the helicopter was on the ground, they were able to inspect it more thoroughly. All details were necessary to them. It might tell them something about these guys and what they were up to. It was a large helicopter with two propellers attached on top of it. It looked very much like the ones they used in the military, except for that fact that it was painted with a shiny black color, one that reflected the rays on the burning sun.

Antonio and Esteban put out their cigarettes and grabbed a stronger hold of their prisoners, following their friends as they walked up to the helicopter, that had barely gotten to turn off the engine as they reached up to it. Someone slid the door open from inside, stepping out of the way to allow the guards inside with their prisoners. Mikey and Antonio were the first ones to enter, with Pedro and Leo stepping inside last. But as they were inside the helicopter they quickly noticed they weren't the only prisoners in it.

There was a half naked man sitting with his back against the wall, his skin red and his hair short and black, almost a deep blue black. He looked like he was a native taken straight out of the Rain Forest. Although while it was hard to tell what age he was, he looked to be around twenty somewhere.

Don silently wondered what his quirk had been for being brought here. To even think they would go to the Rain Forest to pick up their prisoners, all of a sudden it didn't seem so odd that they knew about the four talking turtles living in the sewers of New York City.

The guards pushed them down to the floor, their backs facing the back wall and closed the door behind them. There were no seats in the helicopter, only the floor to sit on. And there were no windows, apart from the ones up front. Naturally, the pilot needed his windows. It looked like the helicopter was used for storage, which meant there was a lot of room - something they had been living without ever since they were locked inside that van.

Pedro went over to talk to the pilot as the others met up with the two guards that had arrived with the helicopter. One of them sounded like he was from Australia while the other seemed Latin like the rest of them.

It didn't take long for the engine to start back up and before they knew it - they were lifting off the ground. Leonardo and Donnie glanced at each other, both thinking the same thing. It was a real shame the back of the helicopter didn't have any windows, otherwise they might have been able to figure out where exactly they were. But then, they suddenly realized it wouldn't matter.

Javier and Pedro, who sat across from them, with their backs against the wall that separated the cockpit from the passenger room, reached inside a black backpack Javier had carried, fetching more ammo; sedative they loaded their black handguns with. Although it seemed there was only room for one shot at a time.

They pointed the guns at Raphael and Francisco while smiling. Javier shot Francisco in the shoulder, enjoying as his face twisted in pain when the needle penetrated his skin.

Raphael held his stare on Pedro as he pulled the trigger and sent the drug into the left side of Raph's throat, as close to the main aorta as he could get. He felt the drug slipping into his blood and coursing through his veins. It felt much like when getting a shot a the doctor's office. Raph oddly realized to himself he hadn't actually done that, but he imagined it felt the same. Soon, he felt unconsciousness starting to grasp him, without him being able to resist it.

Pedro and Javier quickly reloaded their guns and shot Donatello and Leonardo in their arms. The last two injections were used for the native and Michelangelo, who got it in his right shoulder.

It barely took more than a minute before all of them were out, the needles still stuck to their limp bodies.