Venus was ready, she was prepared . . . or so she thought. With how little energy she had it was hard for her to barely even hold her Wakazashi the right way. Yawns threatened to escape her and her auburn eyes showed her weakness. If these people and mutants around her, her enemies, saw her weak form, she would be overpowered in seconds. It's not like she already was, but she would be beaten to the ground before she ever got the chance to actually fight. She hid her tiredness, her weakness, and instead focused on the obvious leader of this unit: the mutant tiger. She watched as he called out orders to the fish and dog-like mutants that stood behind him. They disappeared into the crowd of soldiers, a command she really didn't want to know about, but that she had the feeling she'd discover later on.

The mutant tiger suddenly turned his eyes to her, watching her. She crouched down lower to hide her identity, to hide what she looked like. Her eyes darted around the area, looking for a way out. She couldn't fight this many enemies off alone, and Leo was far away by now. Even if anyone she knew could come to her aid it would be too late. Everyone she knew was far away from her general vicinity, and calling anyone in may end up in more injured people than she needed. She cringed suddenly as she felt her muscles scream at her, her body trembling from her stance. If she moved up however, he could easily discover what she was, and there was more than ten consequences to that choice. She looked around again, trying in vain to find a way out, a hole in their line to escape from.

"It is useless trying to find a way out. Give up and come easily. We do not want to use violence on you or harm you, female turtle." The mutant tiger commanded. Those words made Venus's heart stop. He knew what she was already, and this had obviously been a trap for her. They'd seen her at one point, and they had followed her, waiting for when she was alone and weak from her tiredness to strike. Not a bad plan, but not an easy one either. She gave another growl, low and filled with anger, to warn the tiger that she wasn't going to give up easily. She watched as he sighed, his left paw coming up to rub his face before he looked back at her. "I ask you one more time, terrapin. Give up and come quietly. We will not harm you, I promise. I cannot ensure your safety if you continue to put up this fight. You are outnumbered, and even so we do not, I repeat, do not want to harm you. Please, lower your weapon." The mutant tiger asked once more, his face showing mercy and pleading. Venus, however, knew better. She didn't know these people or mutants and she didn't trust them either. Besides, there was one other thing she didn't like. The tiger may seem pleading and passionate in his words, but he was lying. She could see it in his yellow eyes. They had the tinge of a dark spirit, one that was deceitful and menacing. She didn't trust him, or his unit, and she wasn't going to anytime soon. She readied her stance and glared dead into his eyes.

The tiger sighed before raising his left paw, his eyes trained on her to see of she would retreat her previous decision. But Venus made no such move, only holding onto her blade even tighter. He growled at her persistence, but he should have known better. She was, after all, a kunoichi. She was deceitful and sharp, but she wasn't a fool. She knew when she could and could not trust a person, and he assumed that it was her common sense to not trust those who threatened and trapped her like this. He held three fingers up and slowly put each one down. He was hoping she would have enough common sense left to not fight an entire unit of trained soldiers and advanced robots, but she was as stubborn as a bull and refused to let her guard down. The tiger sighed once more. If they were going to capture her, than the only way to do it now was by brute force. The tiger suddenly swooped his hand in a downward arc, each and every soldier following his command and jumping and attacking the lone kunoichi.

"STOP!"

The voice rang out loud and clear through the cold night. At the command not a person moved, not even Venus, as the echo died away. Silence fell onto the would-be-battlefield, no one moving a muscle for a few moments. They stared quietly at one another, their eyes darting around at each other and everything, weapons poised in mid-air in swings and attacks on the kunoichi. Venus herself had her Wakazashi in a ready stance of defense, ninja stars gripped in her hands carefully as she held the handle of the sword. The silence stayed for a few more moments, not a movement nor a breath being seen or made.

Wait, what am I doing?! This is my perfect chance to get out of here! Venus's mind suddenly screamed, her mind awakening back up from the sudden command. Before anyone could react, Venus took out the few soldiers that surrounded her, arousing the others to defend the fallen warriors. They had only been robots that had been able to get to her first, but they were no less spurred to avenge the fallen warriors. Before they could react Venus was running through the crowd, making her way to the outer edge and jumping onto a different building. A few of the soldiers were chasing after her, but they were easily knocked out by the handle of the blade and a few ninja kicks to the head. The kunoichi looked back to see the mutant tiger screaming at a few other higher ranks to get her, but she ran off before they got the chance, making her escape with as little effort as possible.

~ TigerClaw ~

"YOU IDIOTS! WE HAD OUR CHANCE TO CATCH THE FEMALE TURTLE AND YOU DIMWITS DESTROYED THOSE CHANCES!" TigerClaw screamed, his anger directed at Rahzar and FishFace. The two lower mutants had gone off to get more soldiers in case the kunoichi would best the ones around her. However, they had instead drawn the attention of the Shredder himself. When Shredder had seen the two mutants getting more Foot Soldiers to help with TigerClaw's plan, he had become suspicious about the fact that maybe TigerClaw's plan was failing. He had followed Rahzar and FishFace to where the ambush was taking place and had witnessed TigerClaw attacking the kunoichi . . . something that had not been according to plan. The truth was that it was The Shredder's fault for stopping the attack, but TigerClaw couldn't yell at his master without getting his head cut off afterwards.

"TigerClaw. You have disobeyed me."

The mutant tiger froze in his tracks, his ears dropping in fear. The tone in the Shredder's voice was one he heard only when The Shredder was ready to kill . . . and he knew exactly who he wanted to murder. TigerClaw turned around and bowed, refusing to look Shredder in the eyes as he knew they were filled with the desire to kill. He kept his breathing as even as possible, but inside he was more scared than he had ever been before in his life. He felt his heart pump faster, the adrenaline from his fear and almost catching the kunoichi making his adrenaline rush even worse. He heard the clanking of The Shredder's metal armor, the sharp blades a dangerous weapon that TigerClaw had only been able to see in action once. He had always promised himself that he would never be at the receiving end of those blades, but now he knew that this might be the end of the line for him.

"TigerClaw. You disobeyed a direct order from me. I told you specifically to not attack the female turtle in a way that harm her. You had many other ways to do this, and instead you disobeyed a direct order." Shredder explained, his voice it's usual steadiness, but his words filled with an undeniable venom. TigerClaw gulped quietly, his eyes dilating as he heard Shredder's sharp blades slink out from their spots in his armor. He withdrew his claws, drawing them back in to their sockets. If TigerClaw was going to go out than he was going to be ended without fighting his master. That was how a respectful, an honorable soldier gave his life to his master when he knew he failed them. The mutant tiger waited patiently for the swift blade to end him . . . but it never came. His right ear suddenly twitched as he heard the pained groan of a Foot Soldier, s gurgling noise replacing it moments later.

TigerClaw looked up and gasped. Instead of the tiger's life being taken, Shredder had taken the life of a Foot Soldier instead. The poor ninja was gurgling blood, the usual black suit stained with the crimson red of his blood in both his mouth area and his stomach and chest area. Shredder yanked the blades out a mere second later, the soldier crying out in excruciating pain as blood flowed ever more freely from his open wounds. The soldier collapsed to the ground, clutching his stomach and chest, his body twitching and writhing on the ground as the pain overtook him. It only took a few more seconds before the Foot Soldier passed, his hands losing their grip and his chest no longer heaving with every pained breath. He was gone.

"TigerClaw." Shredder growled, his attention turning to the mutant tiger. The said tiger turned his head to The Shredder in confusion and fear, unable to understand why the soldier had been killed and not himself. "I would have killed you now, but you are still needed for what I have planned. However, if you fail me again . . ." The Shredder warned, grabbing the mutant tigers head fur and yanking his head up to fully face him. "Fail me once more, and I will end your pitiful life." Shredder harshly let go of TigerClaw, the mutant tiger rubbing his head in pain as he watched his master head back to where he resided. The mutant tiger held in a growl, unable to hide the anger in his eyes as he watched the skilled ninja walk back home with his followers behind him. He had been so close to death, but had only been threatened instead. He was glad to bee alive, but hid pride and dignity was wounded badly. And it was all because of The Shredder.

~ Venus ~

"AH!"

Venus winced and gave another cry as she addressed the wound on her leg. Blood was oozing from the open cut, the cut burning more as she applied the disinfectant to her injury. She gave another cry as it burned even more, her breath catching as she felt her leg pulse from her heartbeat. As much as Venus would have loved to gloat about being able to defeat a few good many enemies on her own, that was kind of hard with a giant wound on your left calf that was oozing blood and making you grit your teeth in pain. Venus had thought, when she had been running home, that she had gotten out of the ambush without a single injury. However, when she had gotten home, she had been with excruciating pain shooting up her leg and spine. The wound wasn't deep enough to need stitches, but it was deep enough that it would need a good bandaging every few hours or so often.

Venus suddenly felt nausea run through her, the kunoichi doubling over real fast so as to not throw up the remains of her late dinner in her stomach. With the urge to resist she straightened herself up and continued applying the ointment. Once that was done she applied the bandaging, wrapping it tightly around the wound so it would help stop the bleeding. She covered that with her turquoise leg wraps that she wore everyday and everywhere. It would help to conceal her incident from this night so her three younger sisters wouldn't worry and fret over her. She would have to find a way to control the limping, but otherwise she should be able to keep her injury a secret from her family. She sighed as she put on her last leg wrap, her injury now disinfected, bandaged, and concealed from everyone except herself.

"Well, at least it's not too bad. I have had worse." Venus murmured to herself as she lie down on her bed. She was exhausted and tired, having run around with Leo for a while and than having to fight off an ambush. All she wanted to do now was sleep, to just pass out and not have to wake up until tomorrow night. Sure enough she could feel her eyes start to fall and hear her breathing start to even out as her body told her to sleep. She looked at her alarm clock and sighed as she saw the giant digital numbers reading 4:30 AM. If it was already this early in the morning than there was no doubt that she'd only get two or three hours of sleep. She would either get woken up by her circadian rhythm or from one of her sisters, most likely Maleigha wanting her to have some breakfast. Venus sighed and switched off her light, curling under her covers as she stared out of her partially opened curtains. They gave a clear view to New York City and the full moon and stars that adorned the sky. She smiled and gave a deep breath as her eyes closed.

"Not a bad night . . . not too bad, at least . . ." Venus murmured as she fell asleep, drifting off into the world of dreams.