Written for the TMNT FanFic Challenge 2002.
Universe: Mirage
Rating: M (for violence & mild cussing)
These were the original guidelines for the challenge:
1. The conflict, or central threat must be something that threatens one of the TMNT specifically. In other words, a threat to one of them specifically because of the way he is; something about him. The other three can be endangered also, but one must be more vulnerable to this particular situation than the others.
2. All four turtles must be included.
3. Splinter must be alive.
4. You must include one totally new, never-before-seen, original character of your own.
5. Any official Universe is ok- Mirage, Archie, movie, cartoon, NT;TNM. Oh heck, even Image if you *really* must. Just keep it consistent within a given Universe.
6. Limit to ten pages, or around 4500 words. You can write less, but let's cap it off at ten pages, 'kay?
Vengeance and honour
By kklo
Written Feb 8th-16th 2002
It was raining in the sewers below the city of New York.
Thick water drops fell down from the brick ceiling and created rivers that sought their ways into the sewer's depths.
A rain storm had recently passed the world above, but it still lived beneath the city, as its water was absorbed by, and flowed through, the earth.
Slowly, the rain found its way down through the hollow bricks and dripped on the four shapes that were out on their evening patrol.
"It must have been rainin´ up there." Michelangelo stated quietly. "I bet the sun's shining now."
Nobody answered his statement because an unknown sound had just alerted all four of them, and eventual discussions of The World Above really would have to wait.
Leonardo slowly unsheathed his swords as he proceeded.
Behind him, he could hear his three brother get their own weapons ready.
All four were prepared for whatever that waited for them in the darkness.
As they carefully proceeded forward, they also noticed that the roof of bricks raised above their heads, opening for a wide underground chamber.
Now, new sounds broke out from every directed and the four of them positioned in the middle of the large chamber, keeper their shells together.
A war cry echoed from above was like a starting shot, and out of the darkness flew humans, bearing the emblem of the Foot on their backs.
Their weapons gleaming coldly in the faint light.
One of the them, a tall one armed with two kamas, charged at Raphael.
The turtle grinned wickedly and beckoned to the human with his own weapons.
"Com'on, if you dare!"
With a cry, the man launched at him, only to feel a searing pain when metal met flesh.
His body collapsed and didn't raise again.
Raphael turned around only to meet an attacker armed with a spear that kept him busy for some time.
Leonardo suddenly realized that there was a strange pattern in the way these Foot-soldiers fought.
They seemed to be more eager to attack his brothers, rather than attacking him.
Then, all by a sudden, he noticed that two soldiers were approaching him carefully, armed with samurai swords, and without making as much as a gasping sound, they jumped at him.
The turtle parried their first attacks with his katanas and yet they came again, insisting to fight furiously.
Something that puzzled him were their movements, because these two didn't appear to be trained in the Foot's school at all.
He couldn't remember that he had seen such a fighting style before, but they were all too impetuous and callow to be a notable threat to him.
Only one thing was certain: that they definitely weren't Foot.
The two began to encircle him like predators, moving very quickly, waiting for him to let his guard down.
Leonardo moved along with them, holding his katanas ready for assaults from behind as well as from the front.
Both fighters stopped at the same time, stepped back and then leapt. Their swords flew through the air and ricocheted with bright sparkles as they met the turtle's katanas.
After the failed attack it seemed like the courage failed them, at least when they recognized that the rest of the Foot soldiers were either dead or unconscious
The two masked warriors exchanged gazes and then retreated into the shadows like mice.
Raphael was about to start pursuing them, when his brother held him back with words.
"No, Raphael. They are already gone. We should inform Splinter about this."
"What for? We met some Foot, we beat ´em. So?"
"Those two dudes who were at your shell really wanted to getcha!" Michelangelo told Leo who was looking into the dark tunnel where the two mystical fighters had escaped.
"Let's go, now." He said slowly and the brothers came together, then left.
"They couldn't be Foot." Don said, as he sat cross-legged on the floor. "Their style was different and amateurish."
"It seems like they were using mixed techniques altogether, sensei. Almost as if all they wanted was to simply test me, for some reason. Like Don says, they fought like rookies. I get this feeling they were just playing around."
"The others were usin` the old-fashioned way of fightin`." Raphael said, scratching his cheek. "Nothin´ new underneath the sun."
Splinter thought for a while.
"Hmm, this is most peculiar. It is not very like the Foot to harbour inexperienced fighters who does not apprehend their traditional techniques of Ninjitsu."
"You think it was all a decoy?" Leonardo asked.
"If it indeed was, I sense we will learn about it soon enough." Their sensei answered slowly.
"Besides that, what´s that note stickin´ in up from your belt, Leo?"
Raphael grabbed the piece of paper before his brother had a chance to stop him, unfolded it quickly and read what was written there.
A weird expression washed over his face, that was remarkable alike pure amusement.
"What does it say?" Michelangelo leaned forward, curiously and his brother handed the note over.
"Gee, guys! Listen to this:
Swordfighter. Meet us at the abandoned factory at Williams St. at 11 tonight and we'll settle this score once and for all. Come alone, if you dare, that is. Signed 'A & D'."
"'s seems like some damn kiddo-joke!" Raphael slapped a hand over his face and almost giggled. "You ain't gonna go there, are you, Leo?"
There was a short moment of silence.
"It doesn't really seem like a trick by the Foot." Donatello said, reached for the paper and read the message as well. "Whoever these A & D persons are, they seem to be swift enough to deliver a message without having you notice."
"What do you think of this, master?" Leonardo asked.
"My belief is that this is an action committed by two young and impetuous souls who seek vengeance, although they are not capable of delivering it in the way they intend."
"But for what? If they aren't Foot, then I just can't figure out what it might be." Said Leonardo truthfully.
"Hate is an emotion all too easy to turn to, my sons. I suggest that you four carefully investigate and see what you can learn."
"But they want to see Leo alone." Michelangelo commented.
"Then accompany him. But watch in stealth."
"Do you really think they will come here?"
"They will! I bet my life on it."
"Do you think we even stand a chance?"
"No, of course we don't! Not even against one of them. But we know of this little, chess move, that will assure our victory."
"What's the time?"
"Almost 11. Don't worry, it will be here."
"Shouldn't we have told them?"
"The Foot? Are you mad, sister? Do you have any clue of how many times they have tasted bitter defeat? We two have a better chance, since that mutant isn't prepared for US."
"I hope we'll live through this, little brother."
"Don't you say so! Quiet! Look, the silent alarm has went off. It is time. Our guest has finally arrived. Let's go and give him a warm welcome, what do you say?"
"No objections, little brother. Absolutely no objections, at all."
Self-assured and attentive, Leonardo proceeded forward into the large building, well aware of that his brothers were following him but keeping a good distance between them.
The place itself appeared to be totally deserted.
Rain fell in from the broken roof and steamed as it hit the floor.
Rusty chains in iron and hooks still hung from girders high up above, providing a perfect way down for anyone who might lurk in the darkness up there.
Leonardo stopped and said loudly "I am here! Show yourselves!"
His words echoed mutely against the walls.
Almost immediately, the reply in form of a soft female laughter rang in the air.
Sudden movements betrayed the existence of two humans who moved towards him, gliding forward between the shadows of old vehicles and machines.
The faint light of the moon fell through the broken ceiling, creating a well-lit spot on the floor. The two humans stopped in the moonlight, assuring that he could see them.
They were, just as Splinter had predicted, quite young. Probably about fifteen and definitely not older than seventeen.
The boy's hair was dark and quite curly, as was the girl's, and their facial features were similar enough to convince anybody that they were siblings.
Over their bodies, both of them wore the typical clothing of the Foot.
Leonardo immediately noticed the sword sheaths on their backs as well as their feline movements.
"Leonardo, is it? We have waited a long time for this." The boy said, and bowed his head slightly, before he went on with his speech.
"I am Daedalus, and this is my sister Anastasia. No, we are not members of the Foot, although they have been training us, and supplied us with the information we needed to lure you here."
"You see... We are here to put things right, you know. Some things that happen to the stream of time are not logically valid, and thus they cause problems for the ones whose roles were already decided." Anastasia said slowly and brought her sword out of its sheath.
The two of them advanced on the turtle, their eyes filled with menace.
Leonardo easily pulled out his katanas and moved into the right defensive position.
Anastasia and Daedalus stared at him weirdly, then they attacked, the swords twirling in their hands.
Sparks flew around them when the metallic blades met each other, over and over again.
Daedalus tried to get the turtle from the side while he was distracted by Anastasia.
But his cut was successfully fended off by Leonardo.
The young boy stumbled over the rail tracks that were forged in the floor and fell into a pool of water.
"Why do you do this?" Leonardo asked, as he and the young woman circled around each other like wolves around a wounded moose.
"Shut up! You are our ancient enemy!" Daedalus shouted as he jumped up from the floor and lunged, his sword hitting the turtle's with an uncomfortable noise.
"We have never met."
"Oh, you think not? I believe you are wrong." Said Anastasia coldly and pounced at him again from the side, the sword whistling in the air. "We are going to stop you, mutant!"
"Why me? What did I ever do to you?" Leonardo tried to remember but he just couldn't place these faces.
"It could have been you, or any of your three brothers. But you are the weakest, and thus the perfect prey." Daedalus said, attacking from the side again, spinning.
"What are you even fighting for, mutant? The code of honour was constructed by humans, for humans. Not for animals. You are just trying to fit in, animal." Anastasia commented as she drove her sword through the air where the turtle had been standing the other second.
"You speak of honour, and yet you keep on killing young humans in the Foot, simply because they do what THEIR honour demands!" Daedalus went on. "Your thirst for honour has only caused a cycle of vicious violence and death. Sacrifice yourself, Leonardo. That will grant you your honour and save many lives. Don't you understand that?"
His sword swept down and almost cut into Leonardo's forearm.
The turtle jerked backwards and ground his teeth in pain.
"Or are you a selfish dog that gladly kill for your own benefit?" Anastasia asked, as she advanced from the side, holding the sword firmly in both hands, rain washing over her as a shower. "See, you are even ready to kill us, who haven't even sworn an alliance with the Foot. We only try to negotiate. What will your lives be, animal? Compare your life to the life of a human. What will you do when your master is gone, and when your brothers are gone? Crawl out of those sewers and ask humanity to accept you? Is that what you're going to do, animal?"
Leonardo took one step backwards, his entire concentration focused upon the approaching female, when a heavy blow from above made him fall and lose the grip of the katanas, which were quickly swept away by one of Anastasia's feet.
"Now, do the right thing", Daedalus voice echoed from above him, "and die with your stupid honour."
He raised his sword for the final cut when a loud war cry interrupted his upcoming action.
Raphael, fuming with rage, came running with the obvious intention to cut the youngster in little pieces.
"Damnittohell!" The teen boy screamed and delivered a blow against the attacking mutant, who in his turn let his sais meet the hard steel of the sword.
Clang!
"It really doesn't matter if you're all here!" Daedalus whispered and defiantly met the mutant's hateful stare. "Your leader is done for, and without him you're all lost, just like the bees when their Queen dies."
As to prove his words, the boy kicked the already weakened Leonardo in the head, making him groan.
That saucy action caused a wild flow of adrenaline to break out inside Raphael's body, and he instinctively stabbed one sai into the boy's left shoulder.
Daedalus fell backwards with a stifled yell, feeling the bodily fluids flowing out of the wound.
From above, the rain seemed to intensify, washing away the blood that constantly pumped out of the wounded shoulder.
"You have hurt my little brother." Anastasia said calmly as she came running from behind.
"You shouldn't have done that, animal." She continued and slashed the turtle's scalp.
"Anastasia, watch out! The others are behind you!" Her brother yelled, as he tried to get up from the concrete floor.
The girl reacted remarkably fast and made a sweeping move with the sword that kept Donatello and Michelangelo off her for the second she needed to move into another position.
"You are quite good for being amateurs!" Raphael snarled lowly as he focused on the boy on the ground.
"Thank-you for the compliment, but I am not through yet." Daedalus answered and got up to his feet, the sword in his right hand again. "And I am still quite capable of driving this exorcism knife through your demonic heart! Come, if you dare, you freakish mistake of nature!"
A roar of rage exploded in Raphael's throat as he lunged forward.
But the kid had obviously foreseen that move, because he quickly slipped aside and when the turtle missed him, he took the liberty to thrust the sword's hilt square into Raphael's breastplate.
Moaning, the turtle stumbled and as quick as a vessel, the boy stabbed a sharp needle into his arm.
"Whoopee! Gotcha good, didn't I?"
Raphael felt how his rage began to drain and the world began to spin.
A manically laughter echoed from above somewhere, followed by the voice of the one who was supposed to be HIS prey:
"Nice try, but you're out of the game, beast. We knew about you and you don't know about us. Everything has an Achilles' heel, and I think we have pin-pointed yours pretty well, animal. That needle is drenched with a mild soporific that will render you helpless. Killing you now is almost too easy. But... it has to be done after all. Get ready."
Daedalus was just about to drive the sword into the crawling turtle's chest when suddenly the blade of a was pressed against his throat.
His arms relaxed and the sword fell to the floor with a metallic sound.
"Now, it's YOU who dies!" Leonardo said into his ear.
To his big surprise, the boy laughed softly.
"Go ahead then. And kill me. Expose your animality within, to the entire world!"
"I will!" Leonardo heard himself say as he increased the pressure of the blade, and it slowly buried itself into the surface of the skin.
Blood slowly began to pour out of the wound.
"STOP THIS AT ONCE!" The familiar voice of Splinter rang through the air and interrupted everything.
Anastasia, now holding her own sword in the right hand and one of Leo's lost katanas in the other, had been encircled by Don and Mike, froze totally when the new voice broke into the situation.
Leonardo allowed his sword to fall down.
Daedalus, now free, tumbled forwards and fell to his knees gasping, holding a hand against his neck that slowly was colored with his own blood.
Nevertheless, when he spoke, the tone in his weakened voice was as obstinate as earlier.
"You have nothing...to gain...trying to speak to us...oldie. What's needed…to be done…HAS to be…done."
"What is the reason to this outrage, child?" Splinter asked mildly and walked towards the bleeding youngster who had sunk down to the floor and didn't answer.
The rain-water flushed down from the open ceiling and hit his shaking body with a dull sound.
Two metallic sounds interrupted the monotonous sound of the rain, as the girl let go of the swords and leapt forward to her brother's aid.
Just as Splinter reached the boy and he extended his arm holding a tissue, Anastasia glided up between them, successfully blocking the way.
"Don't you touch my brother, rat! You should know that I can do well enough without weapons."
The mutated rat was silent, then spoke again.
"You have potentials, children. Yet you lack the knowledge of self-control and honour."
"Honour and ethics...are only...theories!" Daedalus spitted angrily as he kneeled on the floor, choking slightly. "In practical life...everything's about money! We were...trained...in ninja...so that we could deliver our..vengeance...in a cool way...tha's all! We should have used...armed forces...instead!"
The aging rat looked at him and then smiled.
"Still, you are capable to become a good warrior, my son. As are your sister. Did you not say that the thirst for honour only created further sorrow? Might it not be time to end the cycle of hate, as well?"
"Keep your lectures!" Anastasia said in a voice that was as warmth as an ice storm. "We're outta here!"
"What makes you think we'll just let you go?" Donatello asked her, menacingly.
"Because you have no choice, since the trump card is now being used!" A new voice said, causing them all to turn around.
The voice belonged to an average Japanese man dressed in dark clothes.
He was holding an automatic rifle in his hands and it was aimed right at Raphael who was still lying down, lost in a delirium caused by the drug.
"Let go of the children, or your friend is no more. An easy deal, is it not?" The stranger said, his eyes glittering with amusement.
"Konjiki! I knew you'd come!" Anastasia exclaimed and helped her brother up to his feet.
"We'll retreat, for now..." Daedalus said weakly. "But don't…believe…this…is fin-ished. Not by...long shot..."
"A car is waiting for you outside. Now go!" The man obviously called Konjiki said to the two teenagers.
They obeyed and headed for the exit as quickly as they could.
"Don't try anything. Don't speak, don't move, or he will be turned into cat food." Konjiki said causally and nodded toward the lying turtle.
The two teenagers had disappeared in the rain outside, and Konjiki waited stoically without moving a muscle, until a car horn honked outside.
"Well, that is my signal." He said with a smile. "I must leave you, now. Have a nice evening."
With that, he backed off, then ran.
"Shall we follow?" Leonardo asked, turned to Splinter.
Their sensei slowly shook his head.
"I believe we will not get any further in this affair. Raphael is our concern now. Let us leave."
"But, uh, they almost swore they'd come back." Michelangelo said. "And we still didn't find out why they're so mad at us."
"The Foot has probably force-fed them with some story about us being the evil Kappas who've destroyed their future." Donatello spat angrily.
"We will probably know what, sooner or later." Leonardo sighed and looked at the two abandoned samurai swords. A horrible headache throbbed inside his head and all he wanted now, was to leave.
"Aren't we going home now, sensei?"
"Yes, Leonardo. We are."
"GODDAMNIT! We had him pinched!" Daedalus yelled, enraged, as he pressed one wet compress against his neck and one against his shoulder. "Why the hell didn't we use some mercenaries instead from the beginning?"
"Do you believe it would have turned out differently?" Anastasia asked him, angrily, as she drove the car through the city. "And it was your idea from the beginning!"
"And that Foot-soldier, Konjiki! Now we owe him one as well! If we had defeated those freakish mutants, they would have agreed to train us for REAL!"
"The Foot is a snake pit! This battle is not about them, it's about family-honour!" Anastasia snarled back. "That Leonardo is the one who shattered all that we had, remember? And he's gonna pay for it, sooner or later, with his blood!"
"Oh, hell yes, sis! We'll have to do lot better than we did today... Damnit! Shitty compresses won't work!"
"What did you expect, getting yourself all worked up? Calm down, have some valium! Act like a man."
"We allowed them to win over us, again!"
"Might be so, but not next time, little brother. Be sure that the last page of this book ain't written yet. We have much to do, and I am sure we'll be able to put the Foot out of the way as well. You're totally forgetting what resources we have at our disposal. They cannot operate properly in the daylight, and we can. And may I remind you that we have full access to the Foot's sources of knowledge, although they think we know nothing."
Anastasia's mouth curled in a broad smile.
"One can really say we're screwing with many sides at once, brother."
"So, I suppose you have a plan B?"
"Of course, brother. Isn't that my duty as your big sister? Oh yes, I have a plan B. You just wait and see."
...END...