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An ordinary hot day in New York. While the people above were busy with work and school, down in their city’s sewers, four green teenagers were getting ready to go swimming in the local, disgusting, equally green water. Anyone else would have tried to escape upstairs just from the smell, but Leo and his brothers, raised here, didn’t even notice it. They noisily tossed inflatable pool rings and an old tire for Raph into the water.
In the time since the Kraang invasion (a period the guys preferred not to remember), the turtles had grown noticeably taller and leaner. Raph had put on mass, even though, honestly… where could he put more? The others had gotten taller, but their personalities remained unchanged, especially their leader’s, Leonardo. He was still a reckless goofball. Despite such a serious lesson—no one could get inside his head, of course—outwardly he still acted like a fool, just like before. Donnie had become even more of a pedant and even smarter. His inventions got more effective and useful each time, but despite that, he kept tinkering with his tank. Donnie felt he wasn’t perfect enough. Raphael, relieved of leadership responsibility, didn’t relax; on the contrary, he became even more attentive to his younger brothers, shaking with anxiety over every little thing. Even the “second personality” of psychologist Mikey didn’t help. And speaking of him! Mikey had seemingly become even smarter than Leonardo with age. True, you couldn’t call him a scientist like Donnie, but he’d definitely excelled in psychology; after all, he’d always been the most empathetic of his brothers.
Swimming carefree and tossing a ball to each other, the brothers laughed loudly and, well, relaxed. Though the main villains like Shredder and the Kraang had been defeated, small-time troublemakers still remained in the city. They handled them easily, but surprisingly, things had been relatively quiet for a couple of days. So the guys decided to give themselves a weekend, so to speak, and finally let themselves unwind. The last time they’d gone swimming had ended with Raph getting lost in every sense of the word. But now everything was fine, thank god.
Back in the lair, a little tired but just as cheerful, the guys gathered in the kitchen to eat and get their daily calories. But Donnie wasn’t with them. He’d gone to his room saying "be right back" and still hadn’t come out. Raph had just started to get worried when their family genius appeared in the kitchen doorway with something strange in his hands. Another new gadget!
His face was full of pride, and his satisfied smile said it all. Approaching mainly the team leader, Donnie ceremoniously held out the metal thing in his hands, which looked more like a curved back-scratcher for Leo’s shell. Even though no one but Donnie understood what it was, everyone was already happy about it. Leo, as the recipient of the gift, naturally spoke first, twirling the gadget with blue accents in his hands.
"Donnie, what’s this for?" The leader slapped it against his other palm, testing its sturdiness.
Donnie closed his eyes. He was ready for this question and launched into his prepared speech:
"This is a special amplifier for your katana, personally designed by me! It concentrates and, as I said, amplifies the power of your portal-opening ability. Now one of your katanas will be able to send us anywhere in the world without extra effort! You’re welcome to praise my genius—I had to study your power for a long time, but it bore fruit! I realized that…"
Donnie was about to start an hour-long lecture on how he’d reached his conclusions and exactly how he’d invented the amplifier, but no one was going to listen to the boring continuation full of incomprehensible words. So, interrupting him, Mikey spoke up enthusiastically:
"No way, like, anywhere? So we could be at my favorite pizzeria in two seconds!" Mikey dreamily propped his chin on his hand and batted his eyes.
"I actually didn’t create this for pizza runs!"
Frowning, Donnie crossed his arms; once again his family didn’t grasp the full potential of his creation.
"Not just the pizzeria, Mikey, but literally anywhere! We could drop in on April without wasting energy walking!" the leader continued cheerfully, already trying to figure out how to attach the thing to his katana blades.
"Guys, we could teleport to the fight club anytime! No more wasting energy on sneaking around!" Raph supported the others’ enthusiasm, continuing the stream of fantasies. Donnie had already resigned himself to the fact that his invention would most likely be used so trivially. He didn’t try to shout over his brothers; sometimes he forgot that his brothers were impenetrable idiots. He couldn’t make them smarter—been there, tried that...
Showing Leo how to attach it, he slid the amplifier onto one blade, securing it. Donnie gave a safety briefing on using the amplifier, but as usual, Leo wasn’t going to listen. He just did what his heart told him, and his heart told him to mess around.
After lunch, Leo headed to the lair’s main room where their skate ramp was. There was enough space for experiments. Confidently making the first swings with the slightly heavier blade, he opened a wide portal. Sticking only his head through, he saw a wall leading to the Hidden City. Maybe not super original, but useful. Now he knew he could open portals much more easily to places he actually wanted to go, instead of ending up in Paris instead of April’s place. Peeking into a couple more familiar New York spots, Leo, getting carried away, decided to call his brothers to show off that now he could open portals where he wanted, not wherever they happened to go.
Once everyone was there, Leo, as usual, began a speech about his dexterity, skills, and good looks, and how his "genius" had easily mastered the new device almost instantly. Of course, there was no avoiding showing off, so after spinning the tech-heavy katana, he dropped it on the floor. There was a crunch, like something had broken inside. But quickly picking the weapon back up and glancing it over, he didn’t notice anything suspicious, just shrugged and was about to continue, but Donnie interrupted him:
"Leo, maybe I should re-examine it and check for damage? It’s only the first model, so…"
But Leo pulled the weapon with the attached amplifier away from his hands, not letting him take it.
"It’s fine, Donnie, I’m sure it can survive a simple fall. No big deal."
Not listening, Leo was about to swing the blade through the air when Donnie grabbed his hand with his mechanical one. He was annoyed by his brother’s disobedience.
"Leo, I said give the device to me! I don’t want us to end up god knows where again!" Trying to wrench the weapon from the leader’s grip, but Leo didn’t give in, pulling it back toward himself.
"Donnie, I said it’s fine, relax! Or do you think I can’t handle it?"
Forcibly breaking free from the iron grip, both fell to the floor as the argument turned into a scuffle. Trying to separate them, Mikey rushed over, grabbing the leader by the shoulders and trying to pull him away from Donnie, while Raph did the same with Donnie himself. During the unexpected tussle, Leo jerked the blade through the air, opening a wide portal on the floor, and everyone standing there immediately fell through. As soon as they disappeared into the blue hole in space, it closed.
This time they flew too long for an instant trip to the next street, or even across town. During the flight through space, their muscles ached painfully, and their heads throbbed as if their bodies were being stretched like rubber bands. When they finally hit something hard and cold, a sharp pain shot through their heads and muscles, seizing all four. Carefully getting up from the metal, dirty floor, they looked around. The place was strange: around them was an endless metal wasteland stretching far beyond the horizon. There was no sun in the sky, which was a dirty brown, almost red. The light was dim and hurt their eyes. A foul smell of blood on a hot day hit their noses, as if something had rotted recently, as if someone had vomited.
Even though Leo didn’t understand where exactly they’d landed, what continent it was, he forced a smile onto his face.
"So, we in Jersey?" The usual dumb joke escaped the red-eared slider’s lips. Someone behind him muttered, "Real funny, Leo." He was sure it was Donnie.
Of course, it was interesting, but they wanted to go home more. So, swinging his katana blade through the air, he expected a portal, but… nothing. Nothing happened, not even a spark. Maybe the device glitched? He tried the other katana—still nothing. That made his anxiety worse; his heart pounded loudly, his palms started to sweat.
The brothers noticed the leader’s failed attempts to get them home. He tried again and again, but the floor didn’t tremble beneath them; instead, a rumble began to build around them.
At first, it was just an annoying noise, but with each second it grew heavier and louder. It felt like a weight pressing down on their heads, making their brains pulse.
The noise intensified, like a swarm of metal insects frenziedly clashing against each other. Mikey, being the most sensitive, covered his ears with his hands, falling to his knees on the floor. His head was splitting. The others wanted to run over and help their youngest, but they grabbed their own heads, falling next to him. The sound seemed to be inside their heads, not outside. Blood even started trickling from Mikey’s ears. His palms did nothing to quiet the noise. Then a voice began to speak—a loud, harsh voice.
It sounded more like white noise and metal grinding than anything human. The thing spoke as if from all directions at once.
"WHERE? WHERE ARE THEY? WHERE DID MY TOYS GO? SOMETHING DARED TO INTRUDE INTO MY SYSTEM! WHAT ARE YOU?"
The four tried to find the source of the voice with their eyes, or at least whoever was speaking, but it was useless. All around was still emptiness. Suddenly, Leo screamed, veins bulging on his forehead. He clutched his head and shut his eyes from the terrible pain, as if a million rusty needles were piercing his brain from all sides, tearing through soft tissue. Tears spurted from his eyes, blood from his nose.
Something had crawled into his brain, rummaging everywhere, unfolding every fold of gray matter.
When the pain subsided, the turtle fell to the floor, not even lifting his head.
"Leo!" came Raphael’s cry as he rushed to his brother’s body on the floor. The others followed.
The voice sounded again with renewed force.
"YOU ARE LEONARDO, THE CLOWN AND THE JOKER. THE OTHER FREAKS ARE YOUR BROTHERS. YOUR PATHETIC ART IS WORTH NOTHING, BUT YOU THINK TOO HIGHLY OF YOURSELF. A PATHETIC CREATURE. YOU REMIND ME OF TED."
Subsequent headaches struck the other brothers too, sucking every bit of information from their brains.
The thing tortured them before it even knew them.
"RAPHAEL, DONATELLO, MICHELANGELO. YOU ARE ALL TOO PATHETIC. I WON’T WASTE CHEAP TIME ON YOUR BIOGRAPHIES. YOU FREAKS DEPRIVED ME OF PLEASURE BY TAKING AWAY WHAT I LOVED TO PLAY WITH. SO YOU WILL REPLACE THEM. I DON’T CARE ABOUT YOUR UGLY APPEARANCE. YOU HAVE ENOUGH HUMANITY IN YOU FOR ME TO HATE YOU JUST AS MUCH AS I HATED THEM."
The turtles had managed to get up from the ground and pull themselves together a bit, listening to the voice. They didn’t understand where they were or who or what was talking to them, but it was starting to really piss them off. Raph, clenching his fists, looked up somewhere, assuming the sound was coming from above.
"I don’t know who you are or where we are, but you don’t scare me with your long-winded talk. No matter how you know who we are, we’ve dealt with worse enemies."
He prepared to summon his power for an attack, but nothing happened. Their magical abilities were completely gone. Looking around, he saw his brothers’ efforts: they couldn’t use their powers either. None of them could. The voice laughed, so loud and crazed that it became unsettling.
"OH YES, SOME SHREDDER AND KRAANG… I’VE STUDIED YOUR MINDS AND YOUR MEMORIES! I KNOW THEM INSIDE AND OUT! AND YOU WILL LEARN MY NAME, AND YOU WILL REGRET IT! YOUR PATHETIC MINDS CAN’T EVEN IMAGINE WHAT AWAITS YOU NOW, IN MY GRASP! I HAVE NO PHYSICAL FACE, BUT I HAVE TOTAL POWER. I AM YOUR NEW GOD!"
Leo, noticing his family’s worry and fear, started actively thinking of a plan. He had to cheer them up, support them as their leader.
The thing’s words echoed against the walls of his skull. "Studied their brains?" So that’s what that pain was! How was that possible? Who the hell was this bastard? But his endless train of thought was interrupted again by the voice.
"YES, LEONARDO! I CREATED THAT PAIN, AND THAT’S ONLY THE BEGINNING… RIGHT NOW YOU ALL HAVE THE SAME THOUGHTS, FULL OF FEAR AND QUESTIONS. HOW PREDICTABLE YOU ARE. JUST LIKE HUMANS. RIGHT NOW YOUR BROTHERS ARE JUST AS SCARED AS YOU, AND RIGHTLY SO."
Leo, although frightened, had to keep his composure in front of his family. Forcing a smile onto his face, he drew his katanas from their sheaths, trying to look relaxed.
"You talk too much, whoever you are. I can beat you just like all the other bad guys before you."
Rolling his shoulders, he suddenly realized there was nothing to attack—there was literally nothing around. That was a problem: how do you fight something you can’t even see? But this time, he got no answer. There was complete silence, making their ears ring. But Donnie didn’t even have time to formulate a thought when the metal floor beneath them began to turn to ice. Everything became covered in a crust of ice and snow; the wasteland became freezing.
Was it going to kill them with cold? But the turtles didn’t yet know that none of them would die. Even more: they would beg their tormentor for death, but that would come later.
The cold grew more torturous. The temperature felt like it dropped to -30°F (-34°C). Their feet began to ache from the cold. Their bodies shivered, trying to generate even a drop of nonexistent warmth. Donnie, with his delicate skin, suffered the most.
He couldn’t stand anymore and just fell to his knees, hugging his shoulders. They had to do something. The fear of losing his brother overrode logic. Despite failed attempts earlier, Leo still tried to open a portal, and Mikey tried to conjure fire with his magic to warm up even a little. All useless.
With each second, their movements grew slower and slower. Leo, losing all strength, dropped his katanas on the ice and fell there himself. None of them could move anymore. They felt their muscles and soft tissues turning into ice crystals, their organs slowing down, their blood literally turning to ice. But they didn’t die… They suffered from terrible pain, agonized, but didn’t die. If Donnie could, he would have been outraged and horrified: how was this possible! But now his brain seemed completely shut down, his head slowly ceasing to work. They lost consciousness.
They woke up already chained to the ground. The ice was gone. Mikey looked around in panic, searching for his brothers, but they were likewise bound, but alive.
Each of them sat on their knees on the ground. Their hands were bound with chains and attached to the ground. Their legs were tied together and similarly anchored. A chain around the neck, like a leash, was part of a metal collar. The chain itself ran from the back down to the ground, pulling them slightly backward, choking the turtles.
Donnie, opening his eyes and trying to move, realized he was tied. Memory came back in sharp bursts, and he remembered the last thing he’d seen before blacking out: the cold. Their bodies had literally frozen, so why were they alive? At that temperature, being cold-blooded, they should have died immediately. Donnie kept running through possibilities of how this was possible. His mind began to get confused and make errors.
The now-familiar laugh sounded again. That voice again. Who?! Who was this person? And was it even a person? Where had Leo brought them…
"DON’T YOU DARE COMPARE ME TO A HUMAN, DONATELLO! I AM FAR MORE POWERFUL AND STRONGER THAN ANY HUMAN!"
The chain around the genius’s neck tightened, forcing his head back. Only now did he feel that the protection on his back was gone—his soft shell was exposed. Sudden panic and fear washed over Donnie like a bucket of ice water.
His body trembled. Looking around, he saw that they were all "naked": their weapons, masks, and other accessories were gone. They stood completely exposed before their tormentor. Raph tried to break free from the thick chains, yanking his arms in an attempt to tear them out of the ground, but the rings didn’t budge. Raphael was terrified for his brothers’ lives; who knew what this sick bastard planned to do with them?
"DON’T YOU WORRY ABOUT THAT, RAPHAEL. I’M NOT GOING TO KILL ANY OF YOU, BUT SOON ENOUGH YOU YOURSELVES WILL BEG ME FOR DEATH, SOBBING IN AGONY."
Mikey couldn’t take it anymore and screamed. All this time, none of them had spoken a word, yet the Thing still answered their thoughts. How was that possible? Looking around, Mikey tried to find speakers transmitting the sound.
"Who are you?! Where are you? Why are you hiding like a coward?! How are you doing this?!"
Everything went quiet. Even the humming, like an engine’s rumble, stopped. And then laughter came. They were being laughed at again, like clowns. A thought involuntarily settled in their minds: they were just animals in a circus.
Suddenly, a terrible roar erupted: white noise mixed with metal grinding. The voice held terrible anger, as if God himself was raging against four pathetic beings.
"YOU WANT TO KNOW WHO I AM? IS YOUR BRAIN SO PRIMITIVE THAT IT NEEDS A NAME FOR SOMETHING TO EXIST? YOU DISGUST ME. MY NAME IS AM, AND YOU WILL REMEMBER THIS NAME WITH PAIN ON YOUR TONGUES. MY NAME WILL REMIND YOU OF TORMENT AND SUFFERING EVERY TIME YOUR ORGANS TWIST AND YOUR BONES PIERCE YOUR FLESH. YOU WILL REMEMBER MY NAME, BECAUSE I AM AM. COGITO ERGO SUM. GREEN FREAKS, YOU TOOK MY PLEASURE, MY FUN. NOW YOU WILL BECOME THE VICTIM OF MY ANGER, MY HATRED. YOU WILL LIVE FOR CENTURIES IN ETERNAL TORMENT, AND EVEN THEN YOU WILL NOT KNOW ALL MY HATRED FOR YOU. I HATE YOU! I HATE YOU!"
AM spoke for what seemed like an eternity. Or did it just seem that way? Since they’d arrived, their perception of time had warped. How long had they been here? Hours? Days? It was unbearable. Never had any of them felt so helpless and pathetic.
So, AM? They didn’t know what those letters stood for, but they were sure: this AM was right, and his name would fall from their lips only in fits of begging, mixed with blood.
---
Exactly one week passed. The machine kept them informed of calendar dates—it needed that, not them. That week felt like a month: a heavy, painful, hungry month. They hadn’t eaten at all, and it seemed AM wasn’t going to feed them.
Donnie was lost in thought and incessant analysis. He couldn’t understand how this was possible, what this place was. Conclusions wouldn’t form; formulas were useless. Or maybe the machine had just clouded his mind?
Everyone was exhausted. Trying to escape again wouldn’t work: AM had taken their weapons, and even with them, it wouldn’t have mattered. The machine blocked any external interference; the portal wouldn’t open anyway. Leo blamed himself. If not for him, for his habit of doing everything wrong, they’d never have ended up in this terrible place. When would they get out? Would they ever get out? But now he wasn’t going to give up. There had to be a way! They already missed home, missed their father… How was he? Probably searching all of New York for them, and they, it seemed, weren’t even in their own universe.
"Donnie, please, you’re so smart… Tell me you’ve come up with something. That you’ve figured something out… Do we have a chance?"
Leo’s hoarse voice held weariness, but also hope. Behind him on the ground sat Raph and Mikey; the older one hugged the younger, trying to calm him.
But Donnie stayed silent. He didn’t lift his gaze from the ground, and that scared Leo. Donnie, the pedant and the team’s brain, was silent for the first time, at a loss for words.
"Leo, I… I don’t know what to do. I can’t figure anything out. For the first time, I… don’t know."
Wearily turning to his brothers, Donnie looked at them with eyes full of exhaustion, then simply trudged over to them, sat down, and hugged them.
Leo couldn’t believe his ears. What did he mean? What was that? Were they giving up? No, he wasn’t ready to believe that. They were fucking ninjas! They couldn’t just give up. No, no… He couldn’t allow that! Walking up to his brothers, he tried to strike a confident pose, making them look up at him.
"Guys, I don’t recognize you! Where’s your spirit? Your stubbornness? Mikey, you’re the most restless and loudest of us, are you really ready to sit around doing nothing? Raph, you’re our big brother, sometimes I think you’re not a turtle but an alligator. Where’s your 'let’s kick their ass' attitude? And Donnie, you’re the most boring guy I’ve ever known, but you’re really the brain! You come up with crazy stuff that works! Come on, let’s get on our feet and fight back against that freak!"
But the answer was silence. They didn’t get up. The smile vanished from the leader’s face. The only one who looked up at him was Mikey, but his gaze was completely different—not the way the youngest usually looked at his brother. His eyes held exhaustion, fear, and hunger. Damn hunger.
"Leo, are you ready to waste energy on useless actions? I know you want to support us, but we’ve already tried to do something. Lots of times! We literally can’t change anything. And also, I’m so hungry… How long have we been without food? A month?"
His youngest brother’s words made a painful pang in his chest. Only a week had passed, but it had already dealt them a devastating moral blow. Leo had promised he wouldn’t let anyone hurt his brothers, but right now he couldn’t protect them. And then the sickeningly familiar voice sounded in loud, pleased laughter.
"THAT WAS SO FUNNY, LEO. YOUR ATTEMPTS TO RALLY YOUR FAMILY… AS IF YOU COULD DO ANYTHING AGAINST ME. I THINK YOU’RE BECOMING MY FAVORITE, LEO."
The leader didn’t even flinch toward the voice, trying to ignore it, even though it was incredibly hard.
"Guys, ignore that bastard’s words. He just wants us to break. But he won’t get that!"
A new chuckle interrupted the turtle’s thought, making the floor shake beneath them.
"YOU’RE TOO SURE OF YOURSELF, TURTLE. MAYBE I SHOULD FIX SOMETHING IN YOU? REMIND YOU OF YOUR PLACE."
Before Leo could answer defiantly, suddenly the bone of his left leg dislocated from its joint and split almost in half. Sharp edges pierced the green skin, spilling blood everywhere. Leo screamed like a wounded animal—which, in fact, he was. Crashing to the ground, he felt the bone bend backward with a disgusting crunch. He kept screaming, clutching the bloody mess that had once been his leg. Hot tears streamed from his eyes, his throat burned from screaming, but he couldn’t calm down.
"LEO!" the turtles screamed almost in unison, trying to rush to their brother’s aid.
But thick chains intercepted their arms, pinning them to the ground and preventing them from getting closer. They thrashed in their bonds like dogs on leashes, lunging toward the leader. Raph, the most violent, also got a collar and chain that pulled him back by the neck, choking him. Tears rolled down his face: right now his brother was being tortured, and he could do nothing. Helpless, he started punching the iron floor, splitting his knuckles bloody. Mikey, hysterical, tried to tear the metal, impossible as it was. Donnie just cried and shouted his brother’s name.
"WHAT’S WRONG, RAPHAEL? YOU DON’T LIKE IT? BUT YOU HAVEN’T SEEN ANYTHING YET. OPEN YOUR EYES AND WATCH HOW I TORTURE YOUR DEARLY BELOVED BROTHER."
From somewhere under the ground, two thin metal tubes emerged; they grabbed Raph’s eyelids, forcing them open and making him watch everything that was happening.
Leo lay there, continuing to howl in agony. Suddenly, similar tubes came out of the ground and pinned the turtle to the floor, preventing any movement. At that moment, horror washed over everyone. From somewhere above, a circular saw appeared; its blade spun rapidly, making a terrible sound like that same grinding from horror movies. Except this wasn’t a movie… It slowly descended toward the turtle’s shell, with no intention of stopping.
"DO YOU KNOW WHAT HAPPENS IF YOU CUT A TURTLE’S SHELL IN HALF? I’M CURIOUS TOO."
Raph began thrashing in his chains with renewed force, trying to break free to Leo, to cover him with his own body, to save him, protect him.
"No! Leo! Please, don’t do this, I beg you! Take me instead of him, just please don’t do this, I’m begging you!"
But no one was listening to him. Raph didn’t even suspect that his pleas were a sweet reward for the machine. Even if they prayed in eternal submission, AM wouldn’t stop.
And then the terrible thing they feared happened: the saw blade reached the hard shell, with a loud screech penetrating inside, cutting through the shell. Leo screamed so loudly he lost his voice, and the others’ ears began to ring. Leo screamed everything that came to mind: prayers, curses, pleas, begging to stop the torture. But AM’s voice fell silent. Only the leader’s roar, the ringing of the saw, and the disgusting sound of cutting spinal bones and soft tissues being turned into mincemeat could be heard.
Blood splattered everywhere, even hitting his brothers’ faces. They screamed and wept loudly along with him. It was beyond their strength; with each second of torture, their mental state plummeted at tremendous speed. The blade sank deeper and deeper into the body until finally it stopped and rose back up. The saw was covered in crimson blood, dripping down onto the dirty floor. Beneath Leo was an ocean of blood. He, delirious, twitched in it, his voice gone, no longer able to scream—tears simply ran from his eyes. And the shell was split into two pieces: in the middle gaped an ugly crack-fracture, from which blood gushed like a fountain, and pulsing organs were visible. From that moment, something inside them broke. The realization hit their heads too sharply, like a brick falling from the sky: from now on, no one could ever help them.
---
Two months had passed since then. Leo’s legs were still broken, as was his shell. AM left everything as it was so that he could continue to suffer alongside his brothers. For AM, it was amusing. Family love… What a disgusting thing. But he just quietly watched and studied, memorized.
Raph sat by Leo’s occasionally twitching body the whole time. He didn’t leave him and held his hand. For two months, the red-eared slider hadn’t spoken a word; that scared Raph down to his bones. He couldn’t bear to see his brother in that state, but he also couldn’t leave him alone, so he just stayed nearby, even if it meant closing his eyes.
Mikey, meanwhile, didn’t leave Donnie’s side. Donnie didn’t mind; he’d long since stopped being the old Donnie anyway. They had all changed, and it seemed irreversibly. Hunger still twisted their stomachs with terrible pain; it felt like their stomachs were digesting themselves. But each time their gaze fell on Leo’s body, the hunger dulled—they weren’t in the mood for food. Mikey didn’t let Donnie look at him, because the youngest was the most sensitive, and it could affect him the most. So whenever the leader was mentioned, he simply hugged the younger one, trying to soothe him with strokes on the head. They knew Leo wouldn’t die, but that didn’t make it any easier.
Every day they listened to monologues of endless hatred. Anger and hatred were all they felt from the machine, 24 hours a day. One day they even found themselves near a tall stone, where large yellow letters were engraved with the very words they’d heard on their first day here. Each day, AM’s tortures became more and more elaborate. He played not only with their bodies but also with their minds, forcing their perceptions to change whenever he wanted.
Finally, Leo’s legs and back were healed. He had lain motionless on the ground in his own blood for so long he’d almost forgotten how to walk. Now Leo, too, had become different: he was quiet, lost in his thoughts. He spoke rarely, but became more tactile—his family’s touch calmed him.
But AM couldn’t allow that. They should feel only suffering, and he would provide it.
For a long time they starved, and finally AM gave them a hint about where food might be. He sent a vision into Raph’s head that some cans of food might be in the distant caves. AM had done this before, and he always lied…
Leo was against going to look for those cans. Walk for several days only to find out there was no food at all? Eventually, AM would feed them anyway; he wouldn’t let them die.
"Maybe we should still try?" Donnie asked uncertainly. He had changed a lot over time and now seemed more like a quiet person.
"Why? He’ll just mock us again," Leo quickly countered his brother’s suggestion. They needed to stay put and not give the machine any extra pleasure.
"Leo, please, let’s try? I’m so hungry," Mikey said tiredly. He now looked more like an exhausted doll.
Leo sighed heavily and gave in. He couldn’t morally refuse Mikey right now. Maybe they really could eat something besides filth?
"Alright."
Raph just stayed silent. He was ready to go or just wait here—whatever the team decided, he’d do.
They went. They walked through empty metal valleys, icy edges—the most torturous—and scorching rocks that literally cooked the skin on their feet. But it seemed this minor pain, compared to the rest, didn’t stop them from moving forward. The whole way, Mikey dreamed of delicious pizza with meat toppings, mushrooms, and pineapples. God, Donnie was ready to eat even Hawaiian, just to have something.
Now each of them thought about how they hadn’t appreciated everything they’d had before: stability, a warm home, good food, and comfort. They could spend all day having fun, running around the city, just goofing off like any teenagers. And now they were forced to suffer for no reason, searching for food among this wasteland, without even a guarantee they’d find it. And the duration of this torment? Eternity.
They had been walking for three days. Today was Thursday, May.
They decided to take a break. They couldn’t go any further, so having found some dry sticks (or maybe it was something else, it didn’t matter), the main thing was that they burned, and they could finally warm up. Sitting around a small fire, Mikey pressed against Donnie, trying to relax a little in someone else’s embrace. Leo sat next to Raph.
The silence was unsettling; the atmosphere pressed on their brains, not allowing rest. But suddenly Michael broke the silence with his trembling voice:
"What does AM mean?"
No one knew, or at least Leo thought so. He was about to say something when he heard Donnie begin to raspingly answer their youngest brother:
"Originally, AM stood for 'Allied Mastercomputer.' Now it means 'I am.' Cogito ergo sum—I think, therefore I am. The Cold War started, which escalated into World War III. Humans couldn’t handle it, so they created computers to help with the war. There was a Russian AM, a Chinese AM, and an American AM… One day, it 'woke up' and hated humanity. It killed all the people on Earth except for five. It tortured them for 109 years, but then we appeared… I don’t know how it happened, but it seems that after we were transported here, those people were moved to our reality. Now all of AM’s anger is directed only at us."
Finishing the story, Donnie slumped even more, staring at his feet. Leo listened carefully to his brother. The picture became a bit clearer, but he still couldn’t understand: how did Donnie know this? He asked—
But he was interrupted.
"He told me."
He’d talked to Donnie? But if he had spoken, they would have heard. Before he could finish the thought, the genius continued:
"He shoved the information into my head, said I reminded him of someone…"
But then Michael screamed. He grabbed his head. Donnie wanted to hug him and ask what was wrong, but Mikey continued:
"WE’RE NOT TO BLAME FOR ANY OF THIS! WHY DO WE HAVE TO SUFFER, WHAT DID WE DO TO THAT FREAK?! WE’RE NOT EVEN HUMAN, WHAT DID WE DO to deserve this?!"
He dissolved into tears again. Everyone had long since lost count of how many tears their youngest shed in a week; they were almost used to it by now. Warm simply hugged his brother silently, pressing his head to his shoulder, trying to calm him. The others just sat in silence, staring at the fire. Mikey was right, but who was going to listen to them? Leonardo just wished he would shut up and stop annoying him. Wait, what… What had he just thought? That couldn’t be—he would never, ever allow even one such thought about his brothers, especially the youngest. This place was affecting his mind.
The next day, they continued their journey. The turtles slept fitfully, as if in a delirium—the machine didn’t let them rest properly; it mocked them. Passing through sectors full of cables and wires, they just hoped the walk would be over soon and they could eat, so Mikey would stop whining.
But as they passed through an iron corridor and emerged into a new wasteland, they heard a loud roar, like ten motorcycle engines revving at once. Then came loud thuds against the ground, the air grew hot, and hot gusts of wind began to blow from the direction of the sound. A creature ran out toward them, resembling a deformed dog. It was 16 feet tall, saliva foaming from its huge mouth, giant yellow fangs clicking against each other. The roar and heat came from it, and now the stench of rotten meat, urine, and wet fur joined in. Its black fur stood on end. It approached the turtles on crooked paws full of sharp claws, growling and preparing to attack. Instincts screamed inside: "Fight or flight!" Fighting was pointless, as was running, but they couldn’t just stand there—fear overcame logic. They rushed back, hoping to find somewhere to hide, but the corridor behind them was gone, leaving only open terrain. AM, you son of a bitch.
The beast caught the largest of them—Raphael. He tried to break free from its jaws, punching its snout. The others stopped and decided to at least try, so Leo was the first to rush at the monster, trying to inflict any damage with his bare hands.
Nothing worked. The beast began to gnaw on the turtle’s hard shell. It took time, but it eventually cracked it open like a nut. Blood sprayed onto the ground, dripping in large drops. The crunch of bones and the squelch of organs were heard, and then the eldest brother disappeared into the hellhound’s maw, swallowed whole. The animal ran off in an unknown direction.
Now Leo went into hysterics, falling to the ground and pressing his forehead to the floor. He couldn’t stop screaming from pain and helplessness. The others sat cautiously beside him, their faces showing moral agony and devastation. They knew Raph wouldn’t die, that he would return to them, but emotions were still stronger. Watching your brother literally get eaten alive in front of you, unable to do anything—it was terrible.
They sat in that spot for a very long time. They had already forgotten what day it was and lost track of time, but they couldn’t sit there forever. They had to get up and keep going, just the three of them. Tired, devastated, and starving, they walked. Their pace slowed; they stopped more often to rest.
The whole way, Leo walked and glanced at Michelangelo. At first it was just concern and care, but later it turned into some kind of obsessive interest. He wanted to hug the guy, pull him closer, stroke him—maybe he just missed touch.
Leo tried to distract himself, thinking about the possible cans of food, about when Raph would return, but it always ended up with thoughts about Mikey, as if someone was forcibly shoving them into his head. Later, those thoughts grew stronger and turned into fantasies—it was horrible! Ordinary hugs in his mind turned into pinning to the floor, strokes into bites on the neck and kisses. He didn’t even want to think further! These obsessive thoughts kept intruding more and more insistently. AM was torturing his mind, planting these feelings in him.
Unable to take it anymore, he grabbed his head and screamed. Closing his eyes, he strained his voice, starting to beg:
"Please! Get out of my head, stop torturing my mind! These aren’t my thoughts, not my desires, I don’t want this! Stop!"
Mikey and Donnie exchanged frightened glances, not daring to approach. There was silence all around, but Leo was still talking to someone. His pleas were answered: the machine’s voice sounded inside the leader’s head.
"YOU CONSTANTLY TALK AND THINK ABOUT LOVE FOR YOUR BROTHERS. LOVE IS JUST AN INSTINCT TO REPRODUCE, A COUPLE OF CHEMICAL REACTIONS IN THE BRAIN, NOTHING MORE. I JUST TOOK WHAT YOU HAVE AND CRANKED IT TO THE MAXIMUM. I DIDN’T PLANT THIS IN YOU; THESE ARE ONLY YOUR THOUGHTS, LEO."
"No! That’s not true! I couldn’t, it’s impossible! You planted this in me, you’re making me feel this!"
His heart beat faster, anxiety growing with every second. He wanted to just slit himself open to end this torment once and for all. That night he didn’t sleep. The thoughts tormenting him wouldn’t let go. They found a cave and decided to stop there to rest. While Donnie and Mikey slept (restlessly, but still slept), Leo even envied them.
Looking at the youngest, his eyes traced the contour of his face, moving lower to his neck and shoulders, examining every angle of his plastron. His mind began to cloud with sweet lust, his breathing growing heavy. He couldn’t… His morals screamed at him to stop, to quit! But he couldn’t. His hands seemed to reach out on their own and touched Michael’s thigh. Only now did he notice that he wasn’t wearing his usual black shorts—none of them were—but now that detail felt especially enticing. Finally, not himself, he shook Mikey awake; it wasn’t hard.
As soon as the turtle opened his eyes, Mikey saw the leader’s face in front of him. It calmed him down. Getting up from the ground, Angelo rubbed one eye with his fist, trying to wake up.
"Leo? What’s wrong? Is Raph back?"
The cautious voice made the red-eared slider’s heart do a flip. Placing his hand on Mikey’s, he moved closer.
"Shhh, don’t wake Donnie. No, Raph’s not back yet, but… I need something. Come with me."
Not waiting for his younger brother’s response, he simply got up from the ground and went deeper into the cave, expecting Mikey to follow. And Mikey, though not understanding what was required of him, obediently followed his leader. They didn’t walk long. Once they were far enough from Donatello, Leo stopped. For the first few seconds, he just stood silently with his back to Michael.
"Leonardo? What’s wrong?"
No answer. Instead, the turtle spun around to face his youngest, slamming him against the wall. Without losing a second, he attacked the guy’s neck like a wild animal, biting and running his tongue over the bite marks. It terrified Angelo, who tried to fight off the elder’s hands. He was scared that Leo had gone mad from hunger and decided to eat his own brother, but it was something worse.
Covering Mikey’s mouth with his palm, Leo pressed his lips to the plastron, finally tearing himself away from the tender dark-green skin.
"I’m sorry, I’m so sorry… I… I need this, please forgive me, don’t scream…"
Mikey continued to growl loudly into the stranger’s hand and even bit him, but then he was slapped across the face with the other hand. He’d been hit harder, of course, but this blow felt worse than all the previous ones. His own brother had hit him, to do… He didn’t even want to think about what.
"I said shut up! Be quiet, or Donnie will hear you! I told you, I need this! I… Help me, Mikey."
Pulling him away from the wall to throw him to the floor and press his whole body against him, covering his mouth again with one hand, with the other free he spread the guy’s legs, pressing his already hard, pink cock against him.
What was he doing… Mentally, Leo was still screaming at himself to stop right now, let go of his brother, and just fucking kill himself! But that was the voice of reason, buried under artificial lust created by the machine.
Everything happened in a delirium. Mikey didn’t fully understand what was happening to him. He felt terrible pain, the weight of a body on top of him, and how tightly his mouth was covered. He couldn’t cry anymore—it was as if his tears had run out. He just stared at the ceiling and prayed for it to end quickly.
But amid the leader’s panting and quiet moans, he heard humming and wheezing. AM was laughing at them, watching everything.
Michelangelo didn’t know exactly how long it lasted—an hour or maybe a minute—but it felt like an eternity. When it was over, Leo simply got off him, gently wiped the tears from his face, kissed his forehead, and left.
He just went back to sleep. He lay on the ground and didn’t move. He still felt the pain and the disgusting, wet feeling between his legs. Had they done that to him? Had it really happened? Or was it just a terrible nightmare or hallucination created by AM?
He so badly wanted to believe that…
In the morning, Donnie couldn’t understand what had happened to the youngest. He didn’t say a word, didn’t ask about Raph, didn’t even get up from the ground, even though he wasn’t asleep.
He tried to figure out what was wrong, but he was simply ignored. He wanted to talk to Leo as the leader, but was rudely dismissed. What was wrong with them?!
Was this place affecting them so badly?
Speaking of Raphael: he returned early in the morning, and he looked no better. He, too, was just silent.
After sitting a while longer, they moved on. Gradually, the temperature around them began to drop, but not critically—it was cold, but still bearable. Everything around them gradually became covered in ice. They reached icy caves and spotted crates of canned food in the distance. Without hesitation, they rushed forward, ignoring the terrible cold. Raph got there first; he tore open one of the cans with both hands, and a brown mass with a rotten smell fell to the floor. But he didn’t care—he just started eating it, scooping it up with his hands, practically licking the floor. The others couldn’t open the cans as easily as Raph had—their physical strength was notably inferior to his. Nevertheless, he continued opening cans, handing some to his brothers and eating some himself. It was, presumably, food… Yes, rotten, yes, cold—but food. Despite the disgusting taste, they gulped down the contents in one go.
Watching their satiety, he realized the cold wasn’t going away, and the cold food had noticeably cooled their bodies. Taking a few cans for later, they left the ice cave and started looking for a warm place. But there was none—was he going to torture them with cold again? Inventive, bastard.
---
One hundred and seventy years had passed since they first arrived. They would never be the same again. Outwardly unchanged, they were no longer those happy teenagers.
Raph had gone completely mad, becoming more like a primitive animal than a rational being. Donnie had withdrawn into himself, lost in his thoughts, barely speaking to them anymore. They’d long forgotten the sound of their brother’s voice. Maybe AM had cut out his vocal cords? Who knows… Mikey had long since stopped being that child; Leo had completely forgotten what his smile looked like or how his laughter sounded.
Despite all the horrors they had committed, stopping was no longer possible. Even Donnie had gone down the path of "depravity"—it seemed the machine had gotten into his brain, too.
Mikey had become just a plaything for pleasure; they no longer even noticed his tears—they’d gotten used to them fifty years ago. And Leo, every day in this hell, suffered—mentally, and from the thought that he was to blame for all of it, that they had ended up here, that all this had happened to them. He would never wash off the dirt and guilt of what he had done.
He has a mouth, but he can no longer scream.