FRIEND OR FOE

CHAPTER 10

FRIEND OR FOE

The downed tri-fighter was not salvageable at all. Terrapin quickly identified that one of the wings was nearly severed and fluids had flushed out onto the grass. Some of the outer hull was charred from a fire, but luckily it didn't penetrate the cabin. Gently running her fingertips along with the metal, Terrapin stepped quietly towards the hatch. Just touching the familiar spacecraft made chills go down her body. How she missed her home. Second time of entering the security code gained her access into the craft. Quickly the smell of death entered her nostrils and she fought the urge to vomit as bile came up her throat. Her reptilian skin tingled as goose bumps spread across. A voice in the back of her mind ached for her to turn around to protect the sickening memory of what she may find in the now tomb. Shaking her head to clear her mind of the fear, she pressed ahead. She needed to see this. She needed to see what became of her comrades, her family. She needed to see what the terrapins did to her adopted kind. Being away from her father may make her weak and she couldn't let him down.

The tri-fighter was just for short range missions such as combat or reconnaissance. A short hallway led to the cabin where the pilot and gunnery would have sat single file. The impact of the crash seemed to violently jar their bodies to where their restraints were snapped apart and their bodies became projectiles like everything else in the ship. Both appeared to have quick deaths: The gunnery's body was bent in an unnatural position, his head snapped back, severing the spinal cord. The pilot had a major gash to his head to where he was thrown back against his seat and then forward into the glass canopy. The trajectory caused his cranium to shatter the glass that allowed oxygen and carbon dioxide to pour in. If she was wrong and they didn't die from their initial wounds then they were poisoned and had to suffocate. Her knees became wobbly as she let her eyes linger longer than they should have had. Bracing up against the side of the cabin, Terrapin steadied herself and felt hot tears come to her eyes. At least these two died with bravery in fierce combat for the Republic and the gods would greet them in the afterlife as warriors.

Hearing unfamiliar voices at the hatch, Terrapin reached for one of the dead Triceraton's weapons and checked the magazine. It was fully loaded and charged. Whoever was following her had to be dealt with.

"Donnie, we shouldn't be near this thing. It's right in the open!" Raph raised his voice as high as he would allow to not draw any more attention to them.

"I've never been close to one before like this…fascinating." Don was in the darkened hallway studying the exterior layout of the ship. He ran his hand along the metal. "I don't think it's alloy..."

Raphael rolled his eyes. It was his mistake to team up with the resident genius. "Bishop is going to say the same about us if we do not get our shells out of here." He gave a weary glance back to where they came. If the authorities did come to their location, they were trapped in this thing. He didn't like it. When he turned back around, Donatello was nowhere in sight. Groaning, he went inside to pursue his brother.

Donatello meanwhile was distracted at the find, and came nose to nose with a Triceraton blaster. Tensing up, he froze and tried to resist the instinct to reach for his bo staff. Whoever, was holding the trigger on the other end, better not be justified for their choice to pull the trigger. Looking around the weapon, he saw the unthinkable! A humanoid turtle just like them! However, she seemed to have some sort of Triceraton features to her. "What the shell-"

"That's far enough, terrapin scum." Terrapin clenched her teeth as she gripped the handle.

Seeing his brother in trouble, Raph pulled out his sais and charged in. Hearing his brother, Donatello whirled to stop him before he made the situation worse. "Raph, wait!" Luckily, he was able to stop his hot headed brother in time. Now the two of them were at a show down with her.

Raph growled, but even he blinked to see their attacker. "What the-?"

Terrapin dropped her arm a bit seeing them. They looked a lot different than what her imagination played them off to be after hearing Triceratons talk about their entanglements with the creatures. Realizing that she was losing her focus and making herself vulnerable, Terrapin shook her head and raised her arm back up. "Back up."

"This is our turf!" Raph shot back as he looked at her.

"Raph!" Donatello nudged his brother. "Let's not provoke her. She does have the blaster." He proceeded to take a few steps back to put more space between them. Raph reluctantly complied but his finger itched on his sais. "I didn't mean to scare you. You-you're not-"

"A Triceraton? So?" Terrapin kept the blaster still.

"You're a turtle," Raph said flatly. "Why hang out with these horn heads?"

Terrapin took a quick look back to see her dead comrades once more and growled. "I'm Prime Leader Zanrammon's daughter, Terrapin. I came here because…" She paused. "I have nowhere else to go…"

Donatello gave his brother a concerned look. He knew that following the attack on Earth, eventually Zanrammon was overthrown by Traximus and his followers. The Republic was no longer to be corrupt and they would have a new focus now. Hopefully that would lead Earth out of it. Still, her appearance dabbled with his scientific mind. He needed to know more about her origin. Was it a pure coincidence that she was found right after they discovered Sango? How many more terrapins were there? Sango wasn't talking yet, but maybe he would get some answers with her.

Raphael drew them back to reality. "I hate to cut this short. We probably need to get out of here. We can continue introductions somewhere else."

Donatello nodded his head, "I agree."

"No offense, you won't fit in out there," Raphael pointedly said to Terrapin as he motioned to her form. "Best you come with us."

Terrapin shook her head. She had to keep her distance from the terrapins. After all, they were the sworn enemy of her father. "I'm not here to make friends." She openly said, but it was more of a command for herself.

"The people out there definitely do not want to be friends. I'll explain later but if you stay here, you are going to be Agent Bishop's next experiment." Donatello urged as he peeled his attention towards the hatch. They did linger too long here. He was afraid if the debate continued, they would have to carry her. Leaving her was not an option.

Looking back at the fallen Triceratons, Terrapin knew that she didn't have a choice and cursed for putting herself in the predicament. Silently agreeing, she followed Raph and Donatello out of the tri fighter and back into the refuge of Central Park's darkened areas.

Donatello led the group on a zig zag trail before finally stopping in a deserted alley. They stood near the middle to keep from the attention of passerby's and cars that continued to travel down the busy streets bumper to bumper. Now he had to decide on where they would go. He definitely couldn't consider her an ally to take her back to the lair nor with their friends, April and Casey.

"You said back there that you're Zanrammon's daughter." Raph cut to the chase as he watched her with his arms crossed. "Care to explain that."

"Not to mention that he hates turtles." Donatello mumbled.

"He hates you terrapins." She corrected as she let the busy streets distract her gaze.

"The feeling is mutual. Trust me." Raphael propped one knee up against the alley's wall as he listened in attentively.

Terrapin glared back at him. "Because of you. My father is in prison, awaiting a trial and the Triceraton Republic does not trust me because they think I'm a terrorist just like your four. That brand was placed on me after you attacked my home world!"

"It's a long story," Donatello decided to pipe in to keep things cordial. "Believe me, we wanted to get home, but we had to help our friend, Professor Honeycutt. Both the Triceratons and the Federation were after him.

All the talk about Triceraton involvement made Terrapin's heart twist. She desired greatly for things to be the way they were. Even during the time her father was obsessed about finding the robot. Why did she leave him? "I just want to go back home…"

"Huh?" The statement threw Raphael off and he stood back on both feet once more.

"Are you from the home world? Is that where you were born?" Donatello pressed with his curiosity seething at his lips.

Terrapin shook her head as she thought back to what General Blanque said to her. "I know I was raised by Zanrammon, but he never really talked about where I came from…not until the other day….." Blanque's facts still jumbled around in her mind like a complex equation. "Blanque was muttering about an experiment and some guy named Bishop."

"Bishop!" Raphael growled angrily as he pounded the wall with his fist. "I knew that whack job was involved."

"Who is he?"

"Someone who is very dangerous…" Donatello sighed. Their recent run ins with the government funded agency and their founder were becoming too frequent and exhausting. It was bad enough that years ago that they had to deal with the Shredder. He then smiled at their guest. "I can try to help you return to your home world…uh.."

"Terrapin."

"That's your name?" Raph scratched his head lightly with the tip of his sai.

"That's what they gave me. And no. I'm not going home. I was exiled." Terrapin accepted the obvious and slid down along the wall into a sitting position. She hugged her knees to her chest.

"They exiled you?" Raphael moved in closer with concern.

Terrapin shook her head. "I exiled myself. It was either that or watch the fate of my father. If I stayed, I would either befall the same or constantly be reminded of how I'm not them." She growled lowly as she pounded the ground beside her with her fist.

Raphael looked up at Don before standing up to rejoin his brother to give her some time. "We can't leave her here."

"I agree, but is the lair safe?" Donatello tried to keep his voice low so she wouldn't hear his concern.

"You know I'm careful. I'll talk to her, bro. If I think we can trust her, I'll bring her there." Raph noticed Don scrunched his face at the last part of his sentence. "I'll be careful. I'll blindfold her." He grinned.

"Just let us know.." Donatello motioned to his shell cell and climbed up the fire escape steps to the roof tops. "Boy will Mikey be surprised."

Just as he jumped the nearby rooftop, a shadowy figure followed him.