Okay, so I know parts of my story are a little cheesy, but that's just how I write, I guess. Heh, once the story gets going, I promise it'll get interesting! And there's something for fans of ANY of the turtles, I guarantee you of that!
Chapter Two
Splinter's Deception"So Aphrodite..." Oroku said as he paced in front of the fox-girl. "You're a very strange creature, you know that?"
"That's a matter of opinion," she replied. "I prefer the term 'unique.'"
"Yes, well I think you could be of some use to me," he smiled. "That is, if you're willing to cooperate."
"And why would I wanna cooperate with you...?"
"Because I can give you what you have longed for all your lives," he bent down to her level and whispered into her hear. "...freedom..."
Aphrodite raised an eyebrow in confusion. "Freedom, huh? I hardly think kidnapping me and hand cuffing me can be classified as freedom."
One of the guards chuckled at her comment.
"Silence!" the Oroku yelled, bashing the man in the face, knocking him to the floor. He then turned back to the woman and smiled. "How did you like your life at that science lab?"
"It felt like hell." She saw no harm in answering the question. Of course, she was still skeptical of the man. However, she was curious to know where he was going with this. What freedom was he talking about? Could he really help her break free?
"Look what those people did to you, Aphrodite," the man coaxed. "They turned you into a monster, an animal of war, just for their own twisted pleasures."
"..." She gave him her full attention now.
"What would you do to free yourself? What would you give to never have to return to the hell those humans put you though?"
"...I'd give anything..." she answered, deep in thought of his words.
"I can make your dream come true," his words caused her to finally look up at him, her eyes wide with hope. "I can protect you from the humans that held you captive...if you do something for me in return."
"..."
"But I must have your word," he added, disappointed that she still said nothing. "It worked out perfectly that you happened to kill one of my men. It proves that you truly do have the skills I hoped you'd have. Do you accept my proposal?"
The blonde haired fox girl stared at the floor, sadness in her eyes as she contemplated the scar-faced man's words. Her fox ears drooped down in silent sorrow. "What about my sisters?"
Oroku looked at her with slight confusion that he skillfully hid.
"My three sisters..." she repeated. "They're just like me. Born only to be used as lab rats for an inhumane science project. They're no more human now than I am...I refuse to leave them behind!" she argued her case with confidence.
"Very well," he replied. "Then if you accept my terms, I will not only free you, but I'll send my followers to free your sisters as well. You have my promise."
"Then I'm yours."
Oroku Saki smiled with satisfaction. "Good... Now here's what you must do..."
-- --meanwhile-- --
"Yeah, we'd like to purchase three pounds of Japanese Sassozai mozzarella cheese."
"Oh, I'm sorry, Sir," the lady behind the deli stand said to the four freaky looking figures who were all wearing long trench coats and funny hats. "We're fresh out of that cheese."
"Out?" Raphael butted in. "You can't be out of it, we're drove all the way from New York City to buy this shit!"
"...why didn't you just buy it there?"
"Huh?" all four of the turtles exclaimed in unison.
"Well, I mean we sell them at every one of our stores, why did you drive all the way to Albany to buy it? Was every other store out as well?"
"No...we...you..." Leo stuttered. Then he glared in realization. "Boys, I think we've been had! Master Splinter just wanted to get rid of us!"
-- --back in the sewers of NYC-- --
"Ah, finally," Splinter the rat and surrogate father of the turtles exclaimed in a relaxed tone. "Now I can watch the weekend marathon of my stories in peace and quiet." He sat down on the sofa and flipped the television to Soap Net.
-- --and back in Albany...again-- --
"Ugh, so we made that whole long, damn trip down here for nothin'!" Raph complained as they made their way back to the car.
"Down?" Mikey asked. "But I thought we went north." He turned to Donnie.
"We did," he answered.
Raphael just glared away from them. "Whatever..."
"Aw, don't get mad Raph," Mikey teased, grabbing his big brother's arm. "Just 'cause you're not as smart as 'Mikey the Genius.'"
"Genius, huh?" Raph joked back with a cynical smile on his face. "Genius my ass!" He put my Mikey in a headlock.
"Ow ow ow!" Mikey fought to break free, and in the process, his giant hat fell off.
"Mikey!" Leo freaked out. "Put that back on!" he whispered in frustration. Raph let go and Mikey obeyed. "Do you want people to see what we look like?"
"Yeah," Raph butted in. "We wouldn't want 'em to get suspicious." He gestured to their outfits. "Leo, we look like we're in a gang or somethin'. Whatever we look like underneath these coats probably wouldn't surprise 'em much."
Leo glared. "But still...you guys have to be more careful!"
"Yeah, whateva'," Raph and Mikey kept walking towards the car in the big parking lot, while Leo stopped to rub his head.
Donnie stopped next to Leo and smiled, noting the frustration and the signs of an early migrane. "All for tying those two to the roof on the way back, say 'aye.'"
Leo moaned with a hand over his face. "...aye..."
-- -- -- --
The turtles were now back in New York City after an agonizing car-ride with Mikey and Raph. Leo was sitting in the passenger seat, with his head in his hands telling himself how nice it would be when they got home and he could finally take the strongest pain killer he could find. Donnie had just stopped at a red-light when...
The windshield crashed open, covering Donnie and Leo with shattered glass.
"What the shell?!" Mikey yelled.
"Leo!" Donnie exclaimed. "Are you okay?"
"Y-yeah...I'm fine," he said, carefully brushing pieces of glass off his blood-covered arms.
"What the shell is this?" Raph said, picking the object that had flown through the window off of Donnie and Leo.
"It looks like a fan," Leo replied. The object was a giant Japanese style fan with fox-spirits painted in delicate patterns throughout. It was approximately three feet tall and six feet wide, made of a dense wood.
A humanlike figure leapt onto the hood of the car, slashing a tanto at Donnie's neck.
(A/N a tanto is a type of small knife)
"Ah!" The tiny blade wasn't long enough to reach Donnie's neck. Noting that fact, Donnie slammed down the gas petal and the woman was thrown off the car.
Pedestrians outside were running for away, mostly because of the woman attacking the car, but also because of the woman's appearance. She was wearing a traditional Japanese Kimono, had a knife in her hand, and what really freaked them out were her pale fox ears and white tipped tail.
"Mama, it's a monster!" a little kid shouted as his mother hurriedly dragged him away.
The woman glanced at the child as she picked herself up off the street. She then dashed away to follow the car.
Leo sighed heavily. "Well, that was weird. I think we should hurry back to the lab and tell Master Splin...Mikey! I hardly consider this to be an appropriate time for you to have a laughing fit!"
"I...can't...help it!" Mikey barely got out in between gasps for air. "Mr. Perfect Driving Record...just ran a red-light!"
"Yeah, hilarious..." Raph sarcastically replied. "And now the police are followin' us."
Donnie glanced out the rearview mirror. "Ah, damn it!"
"We can't let the police see us," Leo pointed out. "Donnie, speed ahead! Raph and I will keep an eye out for whoever attacked us. Mikey, keep an eye on that cop car."
"Sir, yes, Sir!" Mikey saluted.
Donnie then sped off to try and out run the cop car. He turned onto a highway to try and lose him, but found the road clogged with traffic, as New York usually is...
"Any sign of her?" Donnie asked, glancing back to check on the police as he stopped again in the traffic jam.
"Nope," Leo and Raph replied in unison. "I don't think she's coming back," Leo added. "At least not yet."
"Oh crap," Donnie exclaimed. "Another police car up ahead with his lights on. And another one just came up the on-ramp."
"He must have called for backup when we wouldn't pull over," said Leo.
"Should we bale?" Mikey asked.
"Not yet," Donnie answered.
Donnie inched his way forward in traffic, changing lanes further to the left as the opportunity opened.
"Now!" he yelled finally at the furthest lane to the left. Mikey and Raph opened the door and hopped out, breaking immediately into a run, while Leo and Donnie leapt out the broken windshield and followed closely behind, leaving the car abandon in the left lane. They quickly made their way away from the highway as to not be seen, and found themselves in a back alley.
Mikey breathed heavily, placing his hands on his knees to rest. "Dude, that was awesome!"
"Awesome...isn't exactly the word that came to my mind," Leo replied, holding his head as he gasped for air.
"You sure you're okay, Leo?" Donnie asked with concern.
"It's just some cuts and bruises," he answered. "I'll take care of 'em when we get home." He began walking down further down the alley to lead them there, he knew exactly where they were.
Donnie glanced back at Mikey and Raph with apprehensively. Mikey and Raph said nothing, but obviously felt the same. They then followed Leo back towards their sewer known as "home."
They had just made it to their street, the sun barely set below the tall skyscrapers. Donnie's arms had mostly stopped bleeding now, and he bandaged up the parts that hadn't with his purple bandana. His right cheek had also been cut pretty bad, but he couldn't do anything about that till they got back. Leo, on the other hand, paid no heed to his injuries. He kept walking, not even glancing at his wounds. But his brothers could tell he was starting to fatigue. Leo had gotten the worst of the blow that hit their windshield, while Raphael and Mikey barely got a scratch, having been in the backseat. Leo's arms were covered with blood. The fan had struck the side of his head, so not only was his forehead bleeding from the glass, but his left eye was bruised shut as well.
"Leo!" Raph yelled, jumping in front of his eldest brother and nearly pushing him to the ground. The two turtles looked up to see three shuriken stuck in a wooden fence that bordered one of the small shops on the street.
"Is it the Foot?" Mikey asked.
"I doubt it," Leo answered, getting back on his feet. "Thanks Raph. You alright?"
"Yeah, fine. But– "
Raph parried suddenly as the kimono woman attacked with a tanto in each hand. Realizing that they probably would do no good now that she had blown her cover, she placed them back in her kimono and grabbed the giant fan on her back.
(A/N if you're wondering, she went back to the abandon car and retrieved it the fan from there)
"Who are you?" Leo sternly demanded.
"You won't live long enough to find out," the woman answered, swinging the open fan at Leo who dodged the attacked and drew his swords.
"I'm warning you," Leo threatened with an almost eerie calmness in his voice. "You don't know who you're messing with."
"I know more than you think I do!" she threw her fan at the injured turtle and leapt into the air for a double attack.
She was countered however by two sais ripping through her stomach.
The woman was slammed to the ground and Raph landed in front of her, hiding the grin on his face from his brothers. He'd hate if they saw he was enjoying this.
Donnie used his bo-staff to block the fan from hitting Leo. He was about to attack, but decided against it. Instead he stood and watched as the woman got back on her feet. However, he and leo kept a close guard on the large weapon on the ground beside them.
"You think you're somethin' special, tough boy?" the woman taunted Raph.
Before Raph got a chance to come back with a snappy comment, the woman feinted an attack. Raph of course fell for it, and quickly lost sight of her. "Where the shell did she go?" he yelled in anger.
He turned just in time to see a pale colored fox leaping at him. The fox bit hard down on his neck as he grabbed its body and pulled it away. "Down, ya little demon!" he threw the fox, but it landed in its feet like some kind of cat and immediately went back to attacking. This time she went after Leo, who grabbed his swords. Unlike Raph, he didn't fall for her fake attack. He waited for her to leap into the air to bite him, then swung his sword and nailed her in the side. The little fox slammed to the ground, motionless.
"Is she...still alive?" Mikey asked.
"Who knows? Who cares?" Raph nonchalantly replied as he placed his bloody sais back in their place at his sides.
"Raph!" Mikey yelled at his brother. "How can you say that?"
"He's right, Mikey," Leo coldly butted in. "Now lets get home before anything else unexpected happens."
"But...But Leo!" Mikey had always been the most caring of his brothers. He had a soft heart for a creature in need, whether it be human, animal, or even plant. But he had a hard time convincing his brothers to have the same kind-hearted nature.
Mikey knelt down beside the tiny fox and picked her up. "She's breathing," he said, as if his brothers cared.
"Mikey, she's dangerous!" Raph argued. "She tried to kill us, if she dies then she's getting what she deserves."
"Raph, I think that's a bit harsh," Donnie entered the debate.
"But look at her," Mikey argued back at Raph. "She doesn't look like a common criminal."
"So?" Raph pointed out, "She doesn't look like a common criminal, but she is; and we do look like common criminals, but we ain't. You gotta learn, Mikey, that looks can be deceiving."
Mikey spun around to face Raphael. "And you gotta learn that you're not always right," he retaliated.
"Ooh," Donnie exclaimed, "Mikey's got some fight in 'im."
"Come on, you guys," Leo broke it up. "We don't have time for this!" He sighed as he pondered for a moment what they should do. "Lets just bring her back to the sewer with us. It would be five against one after all, so she couldn't be too dangerous. Besides, aren't you guys curious to know who and what she is?"
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(A/N "sassozai" means "rat poison")