A cat moved quickly out of the way as Karai made her way across the roofs with an equal level of skill and grace. The small contingent of Foot Soldiers were struggling to keep up with the young Kunoichi. She paid no heed. Her eyes, mind and body were focused as one on the task at hand. Her ears were also alert, aware of the sounds of New York City fading as she moved further from the heart of the city. If she allowed herself a moment of reflection she would be glad of the fact. Ever since she joined her father in the city just a few weeks earlier she had felt suffocated by the noise and the constant movement of people and vehicles, which disrupted her training and meditation. Here, among the warehouses that lined the rivers it was as quiet as Karai assumed it would ever be, with an occasional car or burglar alarm cutting through the still of the warm, dry night. Karai and the Foot made no noise. They had been trained too well.
The only lights were the streetlights that shone on the narrow road that separated two rows of warehouses, far below Karai. The moon was obscured by a row of clouds so she was relying on her own memories. She had spent the last several days and nights running and vaulting over these same buildings, slowly finding every dip, crevice and handhold that could either aid or assist her for this night. It was one of the first lessons her father taught her when her training began. Learn everything about your surroundings and use them to your advantage.
Karai leapt on to a slanted roof and lowered herself into a crouched position. A raised fist told her followers to hold their position. She looked around, seeing nothing. Her trained ears picked up no sounds. She motioned with her fist. One by one her group dropped from the roof to the entrance of a warehouse. Karai watched as they moved into formation, protecting the comrade working on the padlock on the door. They had not enquired why they were there. They had obeyed their leader without question. Karai knew why they were there. She moved back into the shadows and waited. Soon she saw movement on the warehouses opposite and heard what sounded like a war cry. Booyakasha! Four green shapes leapt from the roof to the ground. A smirk broke her mask of concentration for a second. They were here.
The Turtles. Two simple words, but words that her father always said with venom. She had almost laughed when he first told her about them, but managed to stay composed when she saw the flash of anger in his normally cold eyes. They had cost the Foot much in the brief time both sides knew of the other's existence in New York. It was why she was here. He wanted her to study their skills, their techniques so a weakness could be found. She obeyed her father of course, but on a personal level, she was intrigued. It was rare her father showed any emotion. She wanted to see what caused such fury.
There were four of them, each wearing a coloured mask. Karai quickly took the one in blue to be the leader. It motioned with its katana blade before running towards Karai's second-in-command that night, a tall bulky man whom Karai had trained herself. He stepped into the shadows, the Turtle following. Karai tried to watch them when her attention was caught by a loud crash. Karai looked to see one of her Soldiers slumped unconscious around a pile of upturned garbage cans. The red-masked Turtle stood over him, sai daggers drawn. It had a scowl on its face, eyes darting from one side to another. A second Foot Soldier ran out, kusarigama in hand. Karai watched as the red-masked Turtle let the chain wrap around the sai, then pulled the Soldier sharply to within range. A sudden burst of fists, elbows and knees had the Soldier lying in the garbage alongside his brother. Karai could hear her henchman moan in pain. She scowled that it took so little for the Foot to break their silence this night.
A loud yell drew her eyes to the one wearing the orange mask. It was ducking around another Clan member by leaping off the walls and fire escapes while spinning its two nunchaku in a pattern Karai could not decipher. It seemed to her that it moved from style to style with no thought as to how they would work together, but was doing it so fast that she felt dizzy. She looked away for a moment. It was all it took. The Soldier was on the ground, eyes up at the sky. The orange Turtle had its arms raised in celebration, asking aloud who ruled.
Karai was getting annoyed that her henchmen were being defeated so easily. The only one that was still standing was battling the Turtle who wore purple. He was striking hard with his naginata, hacking away at the Turtle's simple bo staff. Karai leaned forward. The Turtle was caught in a defensive stance, but it showed no fear. It was calm, almost like it was waiting… It saw the opening at the same time as Karai did. A wild backslash left the Soldier's body exposed. Karai saw at least five points on the body that could broken or dislocated, but the Turtle didn't go for any of them. It stabbed the tip of its staff into the soldier's collarbone, where Karai knew there were pressure points that, when touched, disrupted the nervous system, leading to momentary paralysis. The Soldier had barely froze and dropped his weapon when the Turtle dropped, twisted and swept the soldier's legs out. The Soldier landed heavily, but could move again when the Turtle pressed the tip of the staff into the Soldier's chest. He raised his hands in surrender. Karai shook her head in disgust.
The three Turtles were tying up the Foot members when the last Turtle and Karai's final henchman came out, the sound of steel hitting steel echoing through the alleyway and up towards Karai's position. The Foot Soldier was on defence, but for once, Karai did not see the Soldier as weak. The Turtle moved with a grace and fluidity that even Karai sometimes struggled to achieve. She considered it as pure as ballet. Every placement of the Turtle's limbs was in sync with the cut, slash and parry of the katana, overwhelming the Soldier. Karai watched with rapt attention as the Turtle finally twisted the Soldier's own katana out of his hands, before striking him in the chest with a perfectly executed spinning kick. Karai felt privileged to have seen such a performance, however brief.
The Turtle in blue dragged the unconscious soldier to the bound group while the purple-masked talked into a communication device. The orange Turtle was still yelling about who was 'ruling' this night, until the red one slapped it on the back of the head. Karai briefly heard names and which belonged to which, before the sirens grew louder. She knew it was time to leave, but stayed to watch the four Turtles climb up to the roof. Three of them quickly vanished into the shadows. The one in blue - the one the others called Leo - was about to follow when it stopped and looked round. Karai froze. She chose her position for the specific reason that the shadows offered plentiful cover from the roof opposite. The Turtle turned and stood at the edge. Karai crouched as low as she could, unsheathing her weapons. The Turtle did not approach. Instead it turned and followed the others.
Karai stood and ran, caring nothing about the bound Foot below. She had much to consider about her father's enemies. She knew that he would consider them leaving the Soldiers alive would be a sign of weakness, echoing thoughts about the man he believed to be their Sensei. Karai herself thought that their Sensei - whoever that may be - had trained the four of them well, and that they would be worthy opponents on the inevitable day they would meet in battle. But above all, Karai thought about the Turtle in blue. It was the best warrior, of that she was sure. Its skills and the way it sensed her there… Karai smiled. She was already looking forward to the day when they would meet face to face. She was already planning ways in which they could…