Abducted (rottmnt fanfic)

Puzzles

Donnie's pov:

When I woke up, my caregiver was still there, but they had fallen asleep, so I was technically alone. The door was closed, but I could take their badge, right? That would open the door, which would get me out. I could even take it a step farther and take their outfit. But... if they were to wake up, I'd lose my chance to get out. They were still sleeping though, it would be so easy to take their badge. They were a human, the other scientists would let them out once they realized I was gone. Plus, I was a ninja, I was going to do just fine now that I knew to sneak around rather than run. As long as no one realized I was gone, it would be fine. I slowly slunk out of their arms and started searching for their badge, they likely didn't keep it in plain sight to avoid it being stolen by someone like me. I eventually found the badge despite it being hidden surprisingly well and took it, I almost had it completely out of the concealed pocket when I saw movement. I looked at them and realized they were waking up. Before I could do anything to make it seem like I hadn't been trying to pickpocket them, they looked at me. "What?" They laughed softly. "Why are you doing that? That's not a toy, you strange little smol bean, I'm sorryyyyy." they gently took it from me, I basically let them take it from me for some reason, I let them take my ticket to freedom out of my hands. Why did I do that?! I was trying to get out, not play pretend or something! 

"Did that thing just have your badge?" A scientist walked in and pointed to me, referring to me as a thing. Wow. 

"He was just playing with it when I woke up, he wasn't even trying to do anything with it." My caregiver gave an explanation of what they'd seen, even though it was completely wrong. "I don't think he even knows what it does."

"Alright. Well, we have a new test set up for it." The scientist sighed. "We were going to try dropping it off into the real woods today, but it's raining and new regulations for watching over it have prohibited that test since it attempted escaping before." On one hand, I was extremely glad I wasn't going to be put in the woods, especially while raining, but on the other hand, I'd ruined my chance of a better chance to escape by failing my first attempt. That part was rather frustrating.

"So what's the test then?" My caregiver picked me up again and held me close, the way they did before.

"We're going to see if it can solve basic puzzles made for human babies." The scientist explained. "If it can, then we'll have to start changing up some of the tests, and if not, we'll know it's not anywhere near the level we are and never will be." Well those were some stark differences in the possible outcomes. If it was about socializing, eye contact, or any other social norms, then I was doomed. 

"Alright, that shouldn't be too bad." My caregiver patted my head. "C'mon, buddy, let's get you taking the baby tests." they giggled quietly. "Baby tests for the smol bean, that's so cuuuute!"

"That's enough of that. It's gonna end up getting attached and that'll ruin the results." The scientist led us to a different room with multiple puzzles. A simple shapes puzzle was in the middle of the room, just putting the different blocks into the correct holes based on shape. I would've taken offense to the fact that they assumed so little of me, but I was a bit tired and was glad that I didn't have to do anything difficult. 

"Okay, go ahead and put the blocks in!" My caregiver softly encouraged me. "You can do it!" Of course I could, I didn't need encouragement for such a menial task. It did still feel nice to have someone excited about me completing the smallest of tasks though, they were giving me quite a bit of support for something that was way beneath me. I handled the puzzle quickly, then removed the pieces from the inside properly before doing it again. I did the second part just to show off, knowing that they had no idea I knew how to work latches. "Yayyyyyy!" they clapped softly for me, not being too loud since they were being considerate of my sensitivity to sound. That was actually very thoughtful, it somewhat warmed my heart.