Chapter 4 The wolf and the snake
Erin pulled her hood over her head and slid up her small face mask. She had also slid on fingerless black gloves. The girl stood completely black except for her pale fingers and the pale strip of skin where her golden eyes looked out from.
New York was still infested with invading Kraang so she walked through the woods until she found the sewage tunnel that she had led Splinter out of only a couple of days ago. The girl looked up at the moon that had gained a bit of weight since that night, turning from a mere sliver to a better sized chunk of its full self. With a nervous swallow, the wolf slipped into the sewers to search for the snake.
"Master Splinter!" April and Donnie rushed out to greet him. Mikey and Raph were helping to support him, since Leo still wasn't at full strength yet.
"Hello, my son. Hello, April." He smiled tiredly at the two teens.
The happiness at Splinter's return was nearly tangible in the air. They brought him inside and settled him on the couch. April brought him a plate of cheese and they all settled around him to hear his tale. They waited a few moments then April spoke up. "So, what happened to you master Splinter? Last we saw you, you and Shredder had fought and he had thrown you into the sewer water. We thought you were gone..."
Splinter nodded. "Yes. I vaguely remember being pulled out of the water and then waking up with a black wolf beside me. It led me out of the sewers and I..."
"Black wolf?!" Everyone looked to Donnie, startled by his outburst. "It had to have been Erin!" As he took in their faces, he smiled sheepishly. "Errr...please continue, sensei."
"Very well. The wolf led me through the sewers to the forest. I was drained from my fight with the shredder, so I rested for some time. Just a few short hours ago, the wolf reappeared and changed into a girl. Perhaps this 'Erin' that you mentioned?"
"Yes! It has to be! Do you know where she is sensei?" Donatello looked at Splinter eagerly.
The man shook his head. "I am sorry, Donatello. I'm afraid we only talked a few moments before she made me fall unconscious."
"See?!" Raph looked at his brothers angrily. "She attacked master Splinter! She can't be trusted!"
"On the contrary, Raphael. She injected me with something that made my body fall unconscious. Although she forced me to lose consciousness, it was in one of the least forceful methods I can imagine." This made Raph fall quiet. He was sullen, but didn't speak up against Erin again.
Leo looked at his sensei. "So where is she now?"
Splinter shook his head. "I do not know. She did, however mention about going after Karai." His brow furrowed as he remembered. "She said she needed some of Karai's blood."
"She needs her blood? Ewww..." Mikey stuck out his tongue in revulsion.
Casey chuckled. "Hardcore..."
April looked at Donnie. "Why would Erin need Karai's blood?"
The turtle shook his head. "I have no idea..." He stood clenching his hands and looked around the room determined. "I'm going after her."
Leo sighed. "Donnie...we've been over this..."
"No. We discussed what we'd do if Erin came back because we didn't know if she was a friend or foe. She saved master Splinter and led us to him! It's obvious she's our friend!" He looked at Leo. Their gazes were steady with neither backing down. "I've never gone against your orders before and I'm not saying you guys should come with me, but I have to help her."
Angrily, Raphael slammed his hands on the table. Mentally, Leo was already going over how to calm Raph down again this time when his brother said something completely out of left field for his character. "Donnie, we're going to go bring her back as soon as Leo makes a plan so stop your whining!"
The room seemed to come to a stand still as everyone processed what he had just said. Leo broke the silence first with a very profound question. "Ummm...what?"
"I said we're going to go get her as soon as you come up with a plan."
Donnie turned to his usually brash and unreasonable brother. "Well, I never thought I'd say this, but...thanks for taking my side, Raph."
"Yeah, yeah." Raphael leaned back and crossed his arms, trying to regain his tough guy image.
Mikey patted Raph's head lovingly. "There's the mopey Raph we all know!" Raph silently glared daggers at his younger brother, making him remove his hand in fear.
After that, everyone seemed to be on the same page. They threw out different ideas on how to find Erin and what to do when they found her. Finally, they decided that Donnie would search the sewers for her and the others would wait not too far away. If he needed help then he'd call on the t-phone. Casey and April would stay with Splinter since he was still fairly weak.
Mikey pouted at Leo. "Why can't I go with Donnie? I miss Erin too!"
It'd be rather complicated to explain to the youngest turtle brother why it was different for Donnie missing her and Mikey missing her. Leo sighed. "Because it's less likely to scare her off. She did basically run away in the middle of the night, Mikey. If too many of us approach her, she may get scared and run off again." Glumly, Mikey looked down so Leo continued. "Besides, I'm sure she misses you and it'll give her motivation to hurry back quicker if Donnie says you're waiting for her." This seemed to do the trick because Mikey's frown did, indeed, turn upside down. "Now. Let's move out."
Donnie approached the sewage exit slowly. He knew his brothers weren't far away, but being by himself in the sewers below a city invested with Kraang wasn't all that reassuring. There was no turning back, though. Donnie had to save Erin because she saved Splinter and because he...because she saved Splinter. The turtle wasn't willing to look into those feelings, not now. Right now, he had a job to do and to do it he needed a clear head that wasn't being distracted by a confused heart. He took a deep breath of the afternoon air and climbed into the dark.
Erin's sneakers made light squishing noises in the muck, but besides that she was completely silent. She paused and smelled the air. It was hard to smell with all the sewage for most people, probably counting her reptilian friends, but her nose was sharp and she caught the faint odor of snake here and there. It would go quicker if she was in her wolf form, but this would suffice. Besides, it couldn't take her too long. It was dangerous with so many Kraang moving around on the surface.
Erin frowned as she moved on and held her sleeve to her nose. Due to her mutated state, her sense of smell was so powerful that if there was an extremely strong scent it could make her pass out or light headed and she'd act loopy. Fortunately, despite this being the sewer, the odor wasn't strong enough to do that to her. Although in some corridors, it was strong enough to make her cough and in others it was strong enough to make her want to puke.
She marched along, until the scent of snake got stronger. Erin broke into a run and rounded a corner. The girl stood for a moment wondering where the scent had come from when something shot out of the water and knocked her feet out from under her. "Oof!" The girl landed square on her back and butt, but quickly scrambled to her feet. "What the heck was that?!" She crouched at the edge and peered into the murky water. All she saw through the sludge was a faint reflection. The water was completely still. For what seemed like years, she crouched at the water's edge. Finally, her voice came out in a whisper. "...Karai...?" As if her voice was a trigger, something burst out of the water and wrapped around her middle, pinning her arms to her sides. In an instant, Erin was pinned against the wall. She squirmed, grunting, but then looked at her captor. "Karai." The snake woman stared at her with vacant eyes. "I know you understand me!" She writhed in her grasp. "Let me go and let's talk!"
The snake stared at the wolf for a moment before peeling her scaly tail away from her. She shifted back into a girl more gracefully than when Erin transformed. Karai crossed her arms, eyes narrowed suspiciously. "Then talk."
Erin brushed her hands over her clothes then looked at the girl as she pulled her hood further down over her face. A snake and a wolf in the wild weren't particularly friendly so their animal instincts didn't help them be friends, but Erin still had something she had to do regardless of that fact. "The turtles, your adoptive brothers, have found a safe place. They live in a farmhouse some miles from the city with April, her friend, and your father." At the mention of her father, Karai hissed. "I mean Splinter, not Shredder." Karai seemed startled and she looked away, her tongue flicking between her lips then disappearing back inside her mouth. It was an old habit thinking of Shredder as her father, he'd raised her for roughly sixteen years after all. She had accepted Splinter as her father, but her head was often murky since her transformation. "Come with me...I'll take you to them...you can be with them..."
"I...I can't." The ex-footclan member looked down dejectedly. "I don't belong with them."
"Karai, don't be stupid." The kunoichi looked up in annoyance. "You're Hamato Yoshi's daughter and the adoptive sister of the turtles. You should be with them. There's nothing stopping you from being with them after all, except for your own hesitation."
The girls stared at each other for a long moment before Karai finally spoke. "I..."
"Found you!" The girls looked over startled at where Donatello stood panting at the end of the corridor. His eyes darted to Karai and he gasped. "Karai?! You're human?" His brown eyes took in her fangs and eyes after just a moment. "Sort of..."
The snakewoman seemed to sneer, ready to say something snarky, so the werewolf stepped in. "Donnie! What are you doing here?"
"I came here to bring you back." Erin blinked. He was being rather blunt, considering he was usually one of the shyer turtles. "I don't know why you left, but we know you lead us to master Splinter. Please." Without even thinking, Donnie took one of her hands in both of his, his eyes pleading with her. "We all owe you a lot. Come back to the farmhouse. We need you. I..." He paused and she could see he was struggling to actually say the words, but his eyes had finished the sentence without hesitation.
"Do...Donnie...I..." Erin gazed up at the turtle helplessly. She couldn't voice it either. She needed them too. She needed him too.
"Well, look what I found..." The trio spun around and looked at the other side of the tunnel where Rahzar was grinning at them. "Master Shredder will be extremely pleased I found you, Karai. Oh, and I found his lost little guinea pig too... Maybe I'll tell him while I give him his turtle soup. " He snapped his jaws in Donnie's direction, but Erin stepped in between them. Her eyes glared into Rahzar's challengingly. In the wild, it would be a show of confidence and dominance among animals and Rahzar, in his mutated dog state, could sense it. His eyes widened and his ears dropped.
He was quickly recovering, though. Erin saw his human desire to deal with Donnie and to bring Karai and herself to Shredder covering his animal instincts. His stance mirrored a bull getting ready to charge. There were also footsteps of approaching people from the tunnels behind him. He'd probably have back-up in just a few minutes.
Erin only had a moment. She spoke to Karai without taking her eyes off Rahzar. "Karai." The girl could feel the other girl turn to her as she spoke her name. "Once, you're in the forest, Donnie can lead you to the farmhouse, but I need you to promise me you'll get Donnie out of these sewers whether he likes it or not."
Karai nodded solemnly. She knew Erin's plan, could see it in the girl's eyes. There was a strange kinship she felt with this girl that she had never felt with April. Karai had always felt April to be more a rival, but with Erin it was different. They were both mutants and both had feelings for one of the four turtle brothers. In general, they just seemed more...alike. "I will."
Erin nodded. "Good." The girl took a deep breath. "Good..."
In a flash, Erin was at Donnie's side. She reached out and grabbed the strap across his chest, pulling him close. "Be happy with your family and live a good life with April..." Then she clipped something to the strap.
Donnie looked at her confused. "Erin? What are you...?" But she didn't let him finish. She leaned in, closing the distance, and brushed her lips softly against his. It was such a gentle kiss that he was lingering in the moment from his surprise when she put her hand against his chest.
She whispered to him faintly. "Goodbye, Donatello..." Then she shoved him. Donnie had a moment of looking at her in pure shock before he splashed into the water. Karai dove after him, transforming. She wrapped around Donnie and let the current carry them away. Karai glanced through the water at Erin, the same as Donnie was doing, and saw Erin giving them a sad smile before she would be taken from view.
"ROAR!" Rahzar's roar of fury seemed to make the floor beneath Erin's feet vibrate and then he was racing at her. He'd reach her in just a few seconds.
"It's time you learned who's really top dog!" Erin charged at him and that was the last Donnie and Karai saw her.
They drifted along on the current, until it slowed and they reached the exit. Karai slithered out with Donnie before letting him go and shifting back. She looked at Donatello who was kneeling in the water. "Donnie, I..."
"It's not your fault..." Donnie stood up. "We have to go back."
The girl looked at him sadly. "You heard others coming just as well as I did. By the time we get there, it will be crawling with foot soldiers. We can't go back." Her voice was stern.
Realistically, Donnie knew they couldn't go back, but that didn't lessen the pain he was in. Karai was right, though. The only choice they had at this point was to go back to the farmhouse. He looked at the dark entrance of the tunnel. It was night now and he couldn't see farther than maybe twenty feet in. Somewhere in those dark tunnels a wolf version of Erin was fighting a powerful and fierce Rahzar. That is if she hadn't been captured...or worse... Donnie's voice was so soft that if Karai's hearing hadn't been enhanced from her mutation, she never would have heard him. "...I'm sorry...goodbye, Erin..." Then he straightened and started to walk into the woods. "Come on. Let's go get the others...then we can go home..."
So this chapter is kinda short and it took a few days, but i rewrote this chapter few times. Writer's block is my mortal enemy. Well, you know the drill! Please review and I'll try to update soon. Till then!