Chapter 1

Chapter song: Army of Me - Bjork

"…and that was P!nk's newest single here on The Big Picture, giving you the Big Picture on music. Coming up, an old radio favorite by Bjork. I know! She actually had songs that we'd play on here!" The radio spouted in the apartment.

Miranda wasn't really paying attention, she left it on to give the impression to anyone around that she was up and about, but she also used it to hide her interactions with her friends as well as her double life. Fact of the matter was, behind her façade of a boring social worker by day, she was a crime fighter by night. Sounds clichéd, yes, but honestly, who would suspect her? By day, she was just 'Miss Mejia,' the uninterested, quiet but focused social worker who worked hard to make the lives of less-fortunate families better. She had some friends, sure, but only a few of them actually knew about her double life, everyone else just thought of her as just a boring girl with a boring life to go home to her apartment that she never let anyone in. Some of her employees had their rumors; she paid little attention to them.

If they had known her other side, they wouldn't even have tongues to spread rumors.

By night, she was Miranda, an Ex-Foot Clan soldier, recruited when she was a child and taken away from her family to be turned into a killing tool for Shredder until she was 15 when she fled and returned to the world she was denied growing up in. But she couldn't dare let her family see her, how could they possibly see what their daughter had become? She couldn't let them suffer that, so she ran away to Manhattan, there, she lived in a Care Center for Orphaned Girls until she was old enough to be on her own. She tried to find work, she managed to find work in a bar with an owner who was lenient towards her age and allowed her to work in a bar where she was able to build up her social confidence and reenter society.

But she felt she wasn't contributing to those who needed just as much help from poverty and job loss than ninjas. Thankfully, one of her foster sisters from the Care Center she grew up in was able to help her get a job for the Manhattan Office for Family and Children. She was happier for it. It felt right for her to contribute and help people without having to shed blood for it. It was the one bit of normality she got in her life to feeling like a human being instead of a monster.

But at night, she felt free. Work felt constrictive, she had so many instances she wanted to break someone's arm out of anger, but she couldn't. Nighttime was when she could slip out of her chains and feel free to fight back without having to break this boring character she was playing in real life. She removed her glasses and let her hair down as she applied a bit of face paint to her face to hide any recognizable features. She walked out of her bathroom, adjusting her belt around her waist, her katana knocking against her leg. She looked in a mirror to check if any of her main features that people could recognize her were hidden as she threw her jacket on, her mid-drift revealing a new naval piercing she recently acquired above one she acquired long ago.

She was good to go.

Miranda grabbed her bow and quiver of arrows, turned down her lights, and opened the window, looking down on the street below her and breathing in the New York air. Granted, it wasn't anything fresh, but it vitalized her, energized her, pushed all the right buttons. She walked out onto the ledge of the window as she closed the window behind her. She closed her eyes and raised her arms above her head as she leapt off and took a swan dive off the building to the street below. But before hitting the ground, she grabbed the light post and quickly used her body motion to swing herself back up into the air as she grabbed the window closest to the roof of the opposite building and she quickly climbed up to the roof. Once she made it to the top, she broke out into a sprint, fueled by her adrenaline after a dangerous stunt like that, she ran and jumped from building to building, Occasionally, she would employ some impressive parkour to leap from one building to the next, keeping a fluent motion. Sometimes she would just run towards a wall and use it to leap off of to grab the ledge to the next rooftop, or literally run across a wall and leap off it to head to the next building, grab the edge of a fence and flip over it to land on a lower rooftop below and roll onto the ground to lessen the impact, all the things most people would call "suicide" or "crazy," she felt invigorated to run like this.

She was on her way to meet her other friends, the ones that were part of her night life. Although she denied believing in them at her day job, she indeed knew the group the tabloids referred to as "The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles," she was their friend and they were hers. They were the ones who managed to help her feel that she could use her battle-hardened skills she had learned over the years to help people. But not all of them were that trusting of her. Their master, Hamato Yoshi, alias Splinter, was still wary of Miranda whenever she entered the Turtle's lair. Could she blame him? She was trained by Oroku Saki, the same man who had betrayed and tried to murder Hamato decades ago. As Hamato went into hiding, Oroku regained control of the Foot Clan and dubbed himself Shredder.

Miranda was Shredder's favorite student and he trained her personally.

Although she had proven her good-natured intentions time and time again, Splinter's distrust for her kept him distant from her, so Miranda had learned it was best to avoid trying to argue with him and just let Splinter be by himself as he spent most of his time meditating whenever she was around to ignore her.

It was just going to be another night of fighting off Foot Clan ninjas to prevent them from taking more children, go back to the sewers with them and take in the sights of the city. But she was in mid-jump over an alleyway when a shriek down int eh streets below disrupted her course. She was originally aiming for the building ledge so she could grab ahold of it, shift her body weight to swing her body onto the roof and keep running, but the distraction from below made her lose her direction as she found herself falling again. Thinking fast, she grabbed the clothes lines that hung from side to side as she used it to swing herself over to the fire escape, landing hard on the edge. She bit the bullet and held onto the railing, realizing had these clothe lines not been here, she would have plummeted 10 stories from the rooftop. She looked out to the streets as she saw a lone woman backed into a corner by these street punks. They must not have been more than 13 years-old, it was a dis-heartening sight for Miranda, considering earlier in the day, she had met with a poor young child who had been moved into foster care after the child's father was sent to prison for committing grand theft auto and two counts of homicide, leaving the mother to drink her sorrows away. It broke Miranda's heart to hear this young child blame herself for all her troubles in her biological family.

She couldn't let it happen to another family.

Miranda leapt from her spot to the wall opposite of her and wall jumped the remaining 3 stories until she landed on the ground with a gentle thud, the hoodlums didn't even notice as she walked out of the alleyway and into the street where she whistled to grab their attention.

"Ya'know boys, it's usually customary t' greet a girl with flowers 'nstead of pocket knives." Miranda called out, their attention immediately shifted from this poor woman to her, some of these teens ogled at her midriff.

"Damn girl, don't it get cold?" One of the hoodlums said.

"Cause if' dat's th' case, we could warm ya up REAL good…" the older one said, clearly trying to make his voice sound deeper and more intimidating.

"That's what this jacket's for boys." Miranda retorted as she laid a hand on the edge of her sword while the hoodlums slowly surrounded her. They all snickered to one another immaturely, the closest one tried to come in for a feel, without warning, Miranda's blade suddenly appeared underneath his nose, forcing him to back off in shock. The other Hoodlums began speaking to one another in shock at her speed.

"Woah!"

"Did'ja see that?!"

"The fuck jus' happened?"

"When did she pull that thing out?!"

"Now let's not get nosy kids. Jus' make it easy on yourselves an' go home." Miranda said to break through their muttering. The oldest one stood strong and held up his knife.

"We will fuck you up so bad!" He rushed towards her.

"I don't do requests." Miranda quipped. She could have easily cut his head off right here and now, but she made the decision well before she even jumped down from the fire escape these kids weren't worth the bloodshed. She quickly turned the blade in her hand as she skillfully dodged his pathetic attack and she placed her back up against his before he realized she had dodged. When he turned around, she whacked the flat of her katana up against his face, causing him to recoil as he dropped his knife and cupped his face.

"Fuck!" he yelled out as the other hoodlums just stared with their jaws wide open from her speed. She smirked as she rested the katana behind her head as she mockingly looked at her nails.

"Ain't too late to say yer sorry, ya'know." Miranda said mockingly.

"Kick her ass!" the oldest hoodlum yelled out, his voice clearly cracking, as the other punks rushed at her all at once.

"Dumb move." Miranda whispered to herself as she skillfully dodged each of their pathetic attacks, keeping her katana over her shoulder and behind her head, giving a relaxed and bored expression to taunt the hoodlums. Two of the actually had the brains to come up from behind, but Miranda just leapt over their heads, her feet delivering a solid heel to their chins as she landed on her feet behind them, her elbows knocking the back of their heads as they fell forward. But the two hoodlums rushed at angrily, Miranda finally decided to let her katana dot he talking as with one swift slash, she knocked the knives out of their hands and the extended her arms out as they ran right into her arms and landed back on the asphalt.

Two other punks grabbed poles from the trash and ran towards her with them, this time, she held up her katana to deflect their attacks as the oldest hoodlum rushed at her from behind. Effortlessly, Miranda deflected her attacked in front of her as she swiftly used her katana to slap the hoodlum rushing from behind her in the face again, only to quickly return her focus to the punks in front of her. She continued to parry their pathetic attacks, backing up as she noticed another punk trying to sneak up from behind her, she timed one of the attacks perfectly as dodged an attack that instead whacked the hoodlum from behind her as he fell over rubbing his head. As for the punk who had accidentally hit his cohort, Miranda quickly grabbed his arm and forced him to drop the pipe as she delivered a quick kick to her other attack in the stomach.

"Ya ain't left-handed are ya?" She asked this scared delinquent.

"N-No."

"Good." She twisted his wrist as his screams drowned out the cracking of bone in his arm before she delivered a sound kick that made him land on his back, babying his broken hand in pain as Miranda delivered, yet another, katana slap to the oldest hoodlum trying to sneak up from behind her again, this time, not even looking back at him. The three remaining hoodlums regrouped for one last attempt to surround. Miranda looked around as she saw them keeping their distance, but trying to keep her distracted, she smirked, "they're catching on," she thought to herself. She held up her blade as the youngest one rushed at her, Miranda was ready to give him a firm slap but he quickly stopped in place as the one with the pipe ran towards her from behind, but Miranda quickly held the blade behind her and blocked the pipe.

"Hm, clever." Miranda said softly, she swept her leg as she caused the hoodlum to land on the asphalt, the other hoodlum was rushing towards her, Miranda quickly used her leg to kick the pipe up to her free hand as she quickly turned and threw the pipe at his legs, causing him to trip and fall on the asphalt. Miranda then looked back at the one hoodlum who had stopped in place as he stared at her frightened, a wet spot in his pants clearly enough to tell her.

"Ya ought ta run along home now…" Miranda said, the hoodlum didn't need anymore convincing as he ran down the street, the other hoodlum laying not he ground groaned as they slowly began to pick themselves up and leave, all except for the oldest one, she was still rubbing his face. Miranda walked over to this punk. "An' then there was one…"

"Yo-you bitch…" his voice cracked, he was clearly crying. Miranda rolled her eyes as she grabbed him by the collar of his shirt as she quickly turned him around and began to soundly spank him with the flat of her katana blade.

"If I" slap* "catch you" slap* "or yer pals" slap* "trying to steal" slap* "from people again" slap* "I will personally" slap* "find where you live" slap* "and cut" slap* "your dicks off" slap* "and feed 'em to the dogs!" She turned him around, his scared and pained face looking at her, "Got it?!"

"Wh-who are you?!" he cried out.

"Yer worst nightmare…" Miranda growled as she gave another slap to his rear end and forced him on his way to join his other retreating hoodlum pals. Miranda gave herself a nod for being able to resolve this without shedding any blood, apart from the bloody noses that is and the broken hand she gave, but those could heal.

"Th-thank you for saving me…" the woman finally spoke out, Miranda looked back at her, her wardrobe suggested she may be a hooker, but Miranda recognized the insignia on her shoulder was for an escort service, the coat suggested she may have just been going home after work. She was probably in her 30's, the hair was blonde, obviously dyed, the makeup was a little too much for her taste, but Miranda was here to be a savior, not a critic.

"Don't mention it. I was just in th' neighborhood." Miranda nodded, sheathed her katana and turned to leave when the woman spoke again.

"Wait…I must reward you for saving me…"

"That won' be necessary ma'am." Miranda spoke, trying to leave and continue on her way.

"Oh but it is…I could have handed those punks myself, but what you did was amazing…" the woman replied, then a familiar sound came to Miranda's ears, the sound of a sword exiting it's sheath, within a split second, Miranda quickly pulled out her katana and managed to block a surprise attack from this woman Miranda had just saved.

"Huh, guess ya really could have handled yerself." Miranda quipped, without warning, the woman began an onslaught attack against Miranda. Miranda was surprised, this woman wasn't an average undercover Foot Clan ninja, this woman was intense. Sloppy though, but still, fast and precise. Miranda herself was struggling to try and keep this mysterious attacker from getting past her defense. Miranda tried to duck down and sweep the leg, but this woman used her own foot force Miranda to fall to the ground, Miranda managed to roll away as the woman jabbed her sword into the asphalt where Miranda had fallen. Miranda quickly got back on her feet, but the woman came back, just as dangerous as Miranda had to keep moving to avoid getting cut. Eventually, the woman did manage to get through Miranda's skillful defense as she landed a deep cut above Miranda's hip, just missing the stomach area, Miranda recoiled back, falling on her knees as she placed a hand where she was cut. More than pain, Miranda felt shock to find someone that could take her on and actually land a cut on her while leaving none on her opponent. Miranda was good, but only when her enemy would give her an opening, this woman wasn't giving Miranda that opportunity.

Before this stranger could finish off Miranda, in leapt a large figure that deflected her attack and kicked the woman back, from the figure, Miranda could already tell who it was.

"This lady giving you problems tonight Miranda?" he said as Miranda managed to stand back up.

"I could have handled her Leo." Miranda replied holding her katana blade up, she was just joking of course, she could use the extra hands against a superior fighter like this one, Leonardo wouldn't exactly be her first choice for a Ninja Turtle to back her up, she would have gone with Raphael or Michelangelo, but pickers can't be choosers as they say. The woman just grimaced as she swung her sword towards Miranda and Leonardo. She was fast, but she couldn't handle the onslaught of Leonardo's twin katana blade attack and Miranda's fighting prowess, now, the tables had been turned. Leonardo managed to time his attack just right when the woman's focus was on Miranda as he managed to uses his blades to get her to fall to her knees, a distraction which Miranda wasted no time to disarm her opponent, by literally disarming her hand with the blade in it. The painful shriek filled the air as blood gushed out on the asphalt.

"That's a little extreme don't you think Miranda?" Leonardo commented, clearly exhausted from the fight this strange woman had put up.

"Well, ya know what they say Leo…" Miranda replied through her exhaustion "If yer right hand causes you t' stumble, cut it off and throw it away…"

"When did anybody ever say that?" Leo said exasperated to hear something so brutal.

"I dunno, I just read it somewhere…" Miranda said as she walked up to her attacker and she grabbed the edge of her outfit, "all right missy, who sent you? The Foot Clan? Krang?" The blonde attacker just stared at Miranda with disgust and complete distain. "Talk damn you, or my katana will help pry open yer mouth for ya!" The woman just spat at Miranda.

"Wu Tang forever!" she shouted aloud before her body began to convulse and shake uncontrollably. Miranda let her go as the woman continued to convulse until her eyes rolled back and she became still.

"What the hell?" Miranda said under her breath, Leo got on his knees and looked this woman over.

"She's not dead…I can still feel a pulse…it's almost like her brain just collapsed on itself…even if she could talk, I doubt she would have anything insightful to tell you." Leonardo said. He stood up and sheathed his katana blades before looking back at Miranda.

"I doubt there's much insight when yer last words were 'wutang forever.' What's a wutang anyway?" Miranda questioned.

"I know of a mountain range in mid-China that bears that name. Stories tell Zhang Sanfeng originated T'ai Chi there."

"Ya think this woman could've learned T'ai chi there?"

"I doubt it. Her moves were sloppy, it seemed closer to Shaolin style fighting. Like she was trying to use your attacks against yourself, but at the same time, like she really wanted to kill you. Shaolin isn't about trying to directly attack your foe, it's about using deflecting attacks to go after your weak points and bring you down."

"Heh, you're starting t' sound like Splinter now, Leo." Miranda teased, Leo just frowned.

"At any rate, I think we should cancel our stake-out plans tonight."

"Like hell you will." Miranda said, wiping the blood off her katana blade before putting it back in it's sheath. "We prepared this stake-out for two weeks, I'm not gonna let a little fight in the street with a vegetable ruin that."

"And you call that?" Leonardo pointed to the wound on Miranda's hip, blood trickling to her waistline.

"It's nothin'. Never better." Miranda responded defensively, staring at Leonardo with a stern "I'm fine" look. Leonardo looked back with an equally stern look before he finally shook his head, she knew Leo meant well and was just looking out for her, but they had planned this stake-out intensely and she didn't want to call it quits because she had a cut on her hip. She could cover the wound of course,

"Well, I still think some first aid would be best for that. The last thing I need is for you to pass out from blood loss in the middle of a fight. I don't want to be the one who has to carry you out."

"And I thought you enjoyed plain' the hero Leo. Saving the day and rescuin' damsels in distress." Miranda laughed as Leo made his way to the alleyway he opposite of the one Miranda came from.

"As if, you're no damsel." Leonardo replied jokingly as he ran into the alleyway, Miranda began to follow before she stopped in her tracks.

Something felt wrong.

Almost like…someone was watching her…

From nearly 3 miles away, someone was watching. A man with a shaved head watched everything through a pair of binoculars. He pulled out his cell phone and dialed a number, putting a blue tooth in his ear as the phone rang before someone picked up.

"Yeah, it's me. Someone took the bait, but they didn't look like Foot Clan…" he listened in with his caller. "I don't know, she was fast, but she didn't stand a chance against Cherry…no, someone came in and helped, Cherry failed…I don't know, I couldn't get a good look at his face…no, they haven't seen me yet…I can take her out from here, she wouldn't even see or hear it coming."

"No, Wesley. Your mission is to follow her and watch her every move." Wesley's mysterious caller responded on the phone.

"Understood sir." Wesley responded. "Her back-up, this Foot ninja I mean, he seemed to be wearing heavy armor."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, call me crazy, but it looked like a giant turtle shell." Wesley's caller went silent for a moment.

"…A turtle shell?"

"The night sky may have been playing tricks on me."

"Or perhaps not…" the caller said to himself.

"Excuse me?" Wesley questioned.

"Nothing. I have to go, The Masters, are calling me."

"Wu Tang Forever!" Wesley called out energetically.

"Yes, yes, Wu tang forever." his caller replied unenthusiastically before hanging up. Once he did, Wesley leapt from the roof and continued to shadow Miranda.

In an office near Times Square, Charles Hughes, president for Color Hughes Advertising, was responding to a phone call to his new clients. Charles was just as you'd picture for a late 30-something man as successful as he was, dark blonde hair combed perfectly, suit was from Men's Warehouse, Rolex watch, you name it, he had it all.

"Sorry for the wait,' masters,' I had another call to take care of." Charles spoke to the video conference speaker.

"See to it that it never happens again." A voice on the speaker replied, "what is your status on our premiere?"

"It's all going accordingly. Your televised message will be shown on all the televisions across the city on Thursday as planned and my people are having the newspapers insert your recruitment ads." Charles replied, fixing himself a glass of scotch.

"Excellent. My followers are tagging the streets with our sign as we speak. Once we've made our presence known, we will strike against our enemies." the voice replied. "Remember this well Charles, for soon, the whole world will have it burned into their memories…no force on earth can stop The Wutang Clan." Charles took a drink from his glass, letting the alcohol burn his throat.