"Breathe." Bri whispered.

"I am breathing." Aiden responded.

"No. You're a very loud breather. I can tell when you're not breathing." Bri stated.

"I- wow. I could say several things in response to that." Aiden muttered. "But I'm kinda busy at the moment."

It was true. As they stood there, Aiden was currently controlling Shelby via the mind serum. She had been running all the way to Bridgeport from somewhere in upstate New York on foot. She was much faster than a human running on foot, of course, but it was still taking a substantial amount of time. Once she got to the outskirts of the city, a group of ninja loaded her in a van and were now traveling to the dojo. And even now, while Shelby was currently being moved by a vehicle, it still took great mental effort on Aiden's part to keep her under control.

And now, Bri and Aiden stood in the meeting room of the Bridgeport Bradford dojo, impatiently waiting for everyone to arrive. The meeting room was nowhere near as foreboding as the the throne room back in New York City, but it was where Brianna and her most trusted ninja met to coordinate attacks with her mutant soldier. It would do the job to keep the instructions they were about to receive from being overheard by anyone who wasn't on the need to know basis.

The doors were suddenly opened by two Foot Clan soldiers, who stepped inside to hold the doors. The Shredder ducked and stepped inside, followed hesitantly by Baxter Stockman. Brianna eyed her father nervously. She wasn't aware that he was coming today.

Either way, as the Shredder approached them, both Aiden and Bri kneeled and bowed their heads. "We're so honored to have you here, Master." Bri stated. 

"Indeed." The Shredder muttered, stopping in front of them as they rose to their feet. "Is the asset on the way?"

Bri glanced at Aiden with a frown. It seemed Shelby was no longer worthy of being referred to by her name. If Aiden was bothered by this, he remained unfazed. "Yes, she should be arriving any minute."

"Very good, Bradford." The Shredder nodded, placing his hands behind his back. "I am very impressed by your success. With your sister being a traitor and your brother and father often failing in the missions I deal out, it is refreshing to see someone of the Bradford lineage succeed."

"I do it all in the name of the Foot Clan." Aiden stated.

"I must inquire about how successful this second iteration of the Alpha-X and Beta-X serums are working." The Shredder continued. "How easy are you finding it to control her? Any difficulties? Malfunctions? And do not lie to me. There is no room for error."

Bri watched Aiden eyes drop for a second in thought. "The first time I took over, there were absolutely no issues. However, I will say that yesterday, Shelby managed to put up a small fight, and it took much more effort on my end. But again, once she gave in, there was absolutely no resistance."

"Interes-zz-ting." Baxter Stockman muttered. "However brief thes-zz-e s-zz-truggles-zz s-zz-eem, there should be no resisting orders-zz-s once the alpha gives-zz-s them."

"My theory is that it's possible that the serums become less potent with each use." Bri commented. "Of course, I haven't had time to properly test it. I've been very occupied with coordinating mutant attacks while avoid both police and military detection."

"Are you having any issues with connecting with your mutant soldier, Brianna?" The Shredder asked.

She shook her head. "No, Master. But my soldier was subjected to Beta-X voluntarily. Whereas this is the last thing Shelby wants. I believe that could explain the differences, but like I said, I haven't done any actual tests."

The Shredder turned away. Even under his metallic armor, Brianna could tell that his muscles were tense. "We cannot have another failure. The power our asset possesses is far too powerful to be fraternizing with the Hamato Clan." He turned to Baxter. "I want you to make another serum. I want something that will erase Bradford's memory."

That made Brianna's eyes widened, but she did not move her head in any way to indicate that she was alarmed by this request. She could only imagine the impression that would give Shredder, and that was not something she was willing to cast out for him to see.

Her father hesitated. "That may be difficult. I would have to figure out a way to dis-zz-rupt the impuls-zz-e-zz amongst the neurons-zzz without totally s-zz-evering the connection, as well as-zz-s only targeting the  hippocampus-zz without dis-zz-rupting the areas-zz in the brain res-zz-ponsible for motor skills-zz-s, like-"

"I do not care about the science of the matter, Stockman!" The Shredder snapped. "Just make it happen!"

"Master," Aiden interrupted, causing everyone to lock eyes on him. Since the beginning of this conversation, his skin had paled significantly and a noticeable sheen of sweat enveloped his complexion. He looked like he was currently expending a profound amount of energy even as he just stood there. "She's here. They're bringing her up now."

"Excellent." The Shredder flexed his fingers in and out of a fist as he turned towards the door. It took a few tense minutes of silence before Brianna could hear what sounded like several footsteps approaching. One of them carried to soft scrape of claws against the hardwood. When the door opened, two Foot soldiers entered, following by a menacing canine with featherlike, white fur, then two more soldiers. Her eyes were icy blue but vacant. However, the she-wolf still carried an unnerving aura, her muscles tensed under her thick layer of fur. 

"Ahhh, she is perfection." The Shredder stated, approaching the mutant. She did not react. "This is exactly what I envisioned. I had once imagined an army of mutant wolves, exactly like this one." Brianna's throat tightened as the Shredder casually left out that she and the rest of squad Beta-X were supposed to comprise this pack of mutants. "However, since Brianna's personal experimentation revealed that the original mutation mixture created less than advantageous wolf mutants without Stockman's original blunder, I've found that it is much more practical a vision to allow my most skilled henchmen to handle my more... diversified mutant soldiers." He explained, placing a hand on Shelby's back, as if he was a judge admiring prized livestock. "It brings me great joy that the original envisionment of my perfect weapon has finally returned to me." 

As the Shredder wrapped up his speech, Aiden's knees began to buckle slightly, and Brianna was quick to provide him support. 

The Shredder eyed Aiden distastefully. "What seems to be the problem, Bradford?"

"I-" He stopped himself, evening out his tone and settling his words. "Controlling Shelby is taxing after so long." 

Shredder let out a stark grunt, shaking his head. "This is unacceptable."

"I know, Master Shredder." Aiden bowed his head. "I can improve. I just need training and practice with her. I swear."

The room was silent except for the steady beating of Baxter's wings in the air as the Shredder's good eye scanned Aiden up and down. "I will permit time for you to practice controlling the weapon before we continue with our plans to destroy the Hamato Clan with her. Brianna," the Shredder turned to Bri, causing to her muscles to tense as she stood up a bit straighter, "you will call off any plans with your mutant soldier that you and your team have devised. Your full attention is to go to helping Aiden better his ability to control his beta."

"Yes, Master Shredder." Brianna bowed.

Aiden did as well. "Thank you, master."

"Do not thank me yet, Bradford..." The Shredder growled, each of his armored feet stepping heavily towards him like a predator stalking its prey. "If you fail me, you will not live to regret it."

Bri bit the side of her tongue hard to keep from gasping. She could feel Aiden's body stiffen against her as he paused, his mind almost glitching for a moment or two, before he gave a brief nod. "I will not let you down." 

The Shredder only scoffed, turning quickly on his heels and storming out of the room, leaving the two Stockmans, Aiden, and the four Foot soldiers alone with Shelby. 

Once the Shredder was gone, Aiden fully collapsed to the floor, his hands flying up to his head as he shouted in pain. As soon as Aiden fell, Shelby's body hit the floor as well.

"Aiden!" Bri yelped, stooping down and grabbing his arm.

"I'm fine, I'm fine." Aiden muttered, staggering back up so that he was kneeling on one knee. His hard gaze found the four Foot soldiers standing awkwardly around a passed out Shelby. "What are you doing, just standing there? Take her down to the detention center. I want her chained up so Brianna, me, and any caretakers can enter and exit her cell without worrying about being attacked. Now."

"Yes, sir." They muttered in semi-unison, shuffling so that they surrounded Shelby before working together to pry her off the floor.

As they were working, Bri helped Aiden back up to his feet while Baxter buzzed around them nervously. "I can't be the only one who thinks-zz-s that Shelby is-zz-n't worth this-zzz-s much grief." 

"She is." Aiden muttered. "Trust me, she is more than capable of destroying the Foot Clan by herself than the three of us combined, or any Foot Clan member besides Master Shredder himself. This will be well worth it in the end, especially if you figure out that mind erase serum."

Baxter nodded slowly. "As-zzz-s long as-zz-s Brianna is-zz-s willing to help me, I have no doubt I will be able to create exactly what Mas-zz-ter Shredder is-z-s looking for."

Brianna sighed. This was already quite exhausting. But now not only was her father in danger of letting the Shredder down, Aiden's life was now hanging in the balance as well. "Between helping Aiden train and helping you create the serum, I can already see myself losing sleep. But if it means keeping you two safe, I will do what I must." She stated.

~~~~~

Shelby groaned, placing her hand on her forehead, even though the pressure did absolutely nothing to relieve the pounding pain. Her muscles were numb except for a slightly painful pins-and-needles sensation that shot through them whenever they were forced to move. As a result, her movements were extremely slow as she propped herself up on her elbows, looking around with squinted eyes.

All she could see was that she was in a dim room that had only a single light barely keeping her surroundings visible. There was a toilet in the left corner with a small bed sticking out from the wall on her right. Shelby could recognize a Foot Clan cell anywhere, but she cursed under her breath. Could they at least have the decency to put her on the bed instead of the cold, dirty floor?

Suddenly, the door open, and a small figure stepped in. "It's good to see you awake." A familiar voice stated, and Shelby growled at the sight of Brianna Stockman. As she approached, she dropped a pile of black clothes in front of Shelby's face. "This kimono I found laying around will have to do for now, but," without warning, Brianna leaned forward, grabbing Shelby's arm out from under her before quickly wiping down the inner part of her elbow and sticking a syringe in her skin. Purple blood filled the vile quickly, and before Shelby's groggy mind could comprehend, Brianna had dropped her arm, "with this DNA sample, I might be able to create clothing that matches your genetic signature. This will come in handy for you and Aiden's training."

Shelby's ears were pounding as she paused, her thoughts travelling to the turtles as Brianna continued on about how this DNA sample would also be useful to see how Shelby's mutation differs from the mutation of the Foot's other mutant soldiers. Donnie had made those exact same clothes for her before they had fought in Philly. 

Her memories of attacking the turtles and fighting against the transformation at the farmhouse came flooding back. Guilt mixed with anger, and as Brianna made her way towards the door Shelby mustered up the energy to pick herself up off the ground and attempt to lunge at her. However, the numbness of her body prevented Shelby from realizing one crucial thing- she was chained by her ankles to the back wall. She only made it about 6 inches from her original spot on the floor before the chain caught and she was yanked back to the ground by her own momentum.

Brianna seemed unfazed by all of this, turning to face Shelby from beyond the cell's doorway. "I'll send word to the cafeteria that you're awake and have someone send some food and water up. So... maybe get dressed."

Shelby glared at her, the temperature in the cell dropping exponentially. She would expect nothing less than this treatment from any other Foot Clan member, especially her father or Aiden. But even though Brianna tended to get on her nerves when she and Shelby were both part of Squadron Beta-X, Bri was definitely the most sympathetic Foot member to Shelby, aside from Tyler. The sudden switch up from "what your father did wasn't right" to standing in front of her, watching Shelby struggle in chains after having to run away from the family she'd unwillingly tried to kill made Shelby livid enough that the dust particles around her crystallized and swirled around like an armed tornado. "You need to get out of my face, Stockman, before I chew my legs off just to get to you."

Brianna frowned, taking a deep breath as if to settle her nerves. "I'm sorry it has to be this way, Shelby, I truly am. But it's you or my father and Aiden. And they will win every time." And with that, Brianna shut the door, leaving Shelby alone in her half-lit cell.