Predators and Prey
The full moon hung low over the New York skyline. Asha stood on the edge of an old warehouse roof, peering over the side. She tracked them right into the city before the trail had gone cold. Asha had been here for at least two weeks which was unexpected, and she felt it was unacceptable given what was at stake. She fully expected to have found, possibly interrogated, and summarily dispatched her prey. She had been watching the adjacent warehouse for any sign of them. She didn't have any particular leads, but decided that such disgusting creatures would only be found in the dirtiest most crime ridden part of town.
As Asha crouched and peered over at the side door, she saw figures coming out. The doorway was to the side of the building and shrouded in shadow. Three men emerged from the door. Two of them appeared to be tall and thin, and the third was short and kind of fat. Walking over to the front of the seemingly abandoned warehouse they paused. Tall guy number one fished out a pack of cigarettes, and doled out one to each of his buddies. The fat one lit them up and seemed to relax.
"So when's this guy gonna show up, eh?" asked tall guy number two. He took a long drag and looked around. He was hunched as if against the cold, but the night was a warm summer night.
"Just shut the hell up an' wait will ya? Always so damn nervous, but you ain't got shit to do tonight no way." Tall guy number one scowled briefly at guy number two, and took his own long drag. Fat boy simply looked annoyed at his two companions, as if he were above the petty bickering. After a few moments of awkward silence, tall guy number two piped up again.
"So what's his name again? It was something stupid like rock slide or rock candy….Rocksteady!" Tall guy number two seemed very pleased to have remembered it without being told.
At the mention of the name Asha's ears pricked up. This was the name of the disgusting monster that had attacked her family's dojo, killing some of the students, kidnapping a couple of the younger ones. She had heard his companion say his name in the midst of the attack. Asha and many of the students were knocked unconscious by the sudden blast that knocked down an entire wall of the dojo. When she came to, she awoke to nothing but chaos. The younger children were screaming and running, the older students and any of the Sifu's that were able were fighting a losing battle. Many of them had been wounded, and the sheer number of enemies coupled with a surprise attack had them on their heels. Asha was tempted to join the fighting, but saw that no one was paying attention to the children, and they were being rounded up. Quickly she gathered her wits and grabbed her staff and went after all the children she could see, fighting any intruder she saw. Asha managed to get to three or four children before she was confronted by what she thought was a large man-like rhino. In the moments it took her to register what she was seeing, it shouted for men to attack her. The men appeared to be ninja or something similar. She fought them off with relative ease given the circumstances and without a transformation on her part. When they were defeated she realized it was only designed to distract her attention, while the younger students were either killed or taken.
At the thought of it Asha began to transform. It was quick and relatively painless for her to do. Asha in her human form was beautiful. Her ebony skin giving way to a medium thick layer of light to dark brown fur. Her short but muscular 5'6" frame extending to a full 6'8" of pure muscle, sinew, and raw power. Of the Mfalme tribe of West Africa, and born of noble lineage, Asha was a were-lion. Her eyes shone a beautiful amber color to match the stones set in her tribal jewelry, an ornate necklace and matching bangles. Her long tail she wrapped around her slender waist, and she grabbed her trusty staff that was near at hand. Coiled and ready to strike at a moment's notice, Asha was both beautiful and terrible in her current form. Just at that moment she heard the rumble of an old van make its way down the deserted stretch of street below. An old gray van ambled to a halt only a few yards from where the three men were standing. Immediately the back doors of the van swung open and several of those ninja types rushed out. They began to take large crates out of the van, three in all, and line them up in front of the three musketeers who seemed to have suddenly become extremely nervous. The passenger door opened slowly and a large figure stepped out. The van groaned in relief to be freed of the figures weight. Dressed in a very large black hoodie, military style camouflage pants, and impossibly large black boots, the figure moved towards the three men. They cowered and shrunk before his immense size.
Asha sniffed the air, her keen nose and eyes trained on this freakish being. It was him, the one they called Rocksteady. Her grip tightened on her staff as she readied herself to pounce on her unsuspecting victims. Something from the corner of her eyes gave her pause. Movement in the shadows not one rooftop away from her. They were silent, but not quite silent enough. Asha trained her senses in their general direction. What was that smell? She shook her head, for once not completely trusting her nose. It was distinctly a human smell, but also a reptilian undertone. Asha shook her head once more and quickly returned her attention to the men and the thing below. Suddenly, without any warning two of the ninja types went down, then quickly after four more. The men and the monster went into defense but a little too late. From the shadows there was movement. A chain came from the shadows as quick as the strike of any cobra and dragged tall guy number one away. Asha could see the glint of steel in the moonlight as swords slashed in a blur all about the remaining ninja types who appeared both too afraid to flee and too afraid to stay. In the meantime Rocksteady had produced a gun and was shooting wildly in every direction.
"You can't hit us bruh, we're like shadows! Heads up pretty boy, watch the 'chucks," a voice rang out with surprising glee. It was as though the owner of that voice couldn't be having more fun.
Asha couldn't believe it. Here she had tracked a monster successfully and her revenge was being taken by unknown assailants. Obviously they too must have been victims of this monster, but this was her fight and she wasn't going to miss out on the action. Already Rocksteady was making his way to the van, no doubt in retreat. He wasn't going to make it out of this alive tonight. Silent death leaped from the roof top to land in front of Rocksteady simultaneously knocking him to the ground with her staff. It was a long staff bamboo on the outside but reinforced steel at its core. It was heavy, but she wielded it effortlessly. Landing on her feet as cats are prone to do, she let out a blood curdling roar, and standing to her full 6'8" she towered over Rocksteady who was scrambling his large bulk to his feet. He moved faster than he looked, and in an instant he was snorting and charging at her, large horn aimed dangerously at her heart. She easily side stepped the attack and brought down her staff across the back of his skull. She desperately wanted to kill him, but held back. There were the children to think about. She needed answers and a dead humanoid rhino couldn't give them to her. Asha moved in for the knockout blow when the end of a whip chain whizzed by her head, just barely missing her ear.
"Not today Thunda'cat," a deep gruff voice half said and half growled to her. In a blur Asha was on the wielder of the whip chain. He hadn't expected her to change directions like that, but he also wasn't caught off guard. What did surprise him was the strength behind the impact of her staff as it connected with his already cracked carapace. Wheeling around to face her, she had already moved around him and was making her way back to Rocksteady who was groggily getting to his feet. She was back on him, raining fierce blows on his head and back, with exceptional skill and a great flourish, twirling her staff with each attack until it became a blur. Rocksteady wasn't used to being down. The world swam away from him as he tried to get up, but until this day since his mutation, he had not met his match in strength. He thought before long she would kill him unless he could get his gun which had fallen desperately out of his reach. Sensing her fury and this other mutants impending death at the lioness' hands, the turtles moved quickly to stop her.
"Hey Thunda'cat, I said not TODAY!" The red banded turtle screamed as he barreled into her like a freight train. She was knocked off her feet and a little ways into the air. Asha landed on her feet like a champ, but she was hit and hit hard. Quickly she registered Rocksteady's more than likely lifeless body, and felt a pang of sorrow. She had blown what chances she had for interrogation. Her other attackers then stepped out of the shadows. Tensed and still with more than enough fight left in her, she watched as the figure showed itself. It was a turtle. Asha had never seen a turtle shifter (because she hadn't known about mutagens) before and had to hide her amusement at the thought. He had a red bandana over his features as if he could have been mistaken for anything other than what he was. He snarled at her keeping his twin Sai drawn and never taking his eyes from her. Then before her appeared three more, each with a different colored head band on. The one in the blue stepped forward, katanas drawn. Asha made no moves either to escape or fight. She was trying to register what she was seeing. Of course it wasn't entirely strange given her current form, but it was kind of funny. The corners of her mouth turned up into what could have been a smile had it been seen in another dimension. Slowly she rose to her feet from a crouching position. Standing now at her full height she was surprised to find the one in purple pretty much her height. He also wielded a staff, and at this Asha raised a non-existent brow. Sensing that there was no mortal danger from these four, Asha felt content to withdraw her weapon. The four turtles looked around at each other before the one in blue spoke.
"Hello, I'm Leonardo," the turtle in blue said as he stuck out a three fingered hand to shake.