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Sharpshooter

Yes, this chapter does have character death.

... Don't give me those looks. I'm really telling you the truth this time. People die, honest. Though it may not be who you think ;)

I almost made this two chapters but I decided to be nice. You can thank me later.

Chapter Eleven

The room was so quiet that a pin could have been dropped and everyone would have known. The atmosphere remained tense as the four groups squared off, each waiting for the someone else to make the first move. Warriors shifted about slightly as the ready themselves for the up coming battle but, with no orders to attack forthcoming, they remained where they were.

Artemis wondered if she even stood a chance in the upcoming fight. She was having bad memories from when she first found herself ambushed, injured and out numbered. The Bently Massacre had scared her to the very core of her being. She still had nightmares of that night. Trapped in a mansion full of people out to kill her, all of them armed to the teeth, and all with two buck shot wounds already they were leaking her blood everywhere no matter how she tried to stop the bleeding. Her memories of that night were blurred but she remembered fearing that her ammo was going to run out before she was able to leave and the look of shock surprise on everyone's faces as she went through them both figuratively and literally. At least this time she didn't have to worry about an injury, just yet anyways.

The tension and waiting was bound to get to someone and it finally did. A Foot soldier took a step forward. His foot shifting on the debris that came from the collapsing wall making an audible shifting sound that seemed to go through the warehouse like a bomb had gone off. The noise paled in comparison to the sound of the gun cracking through the air barely a second later.

Artemis had reacted on instinct, hearing the Foot ninja taking a step towards her was all the excuse she need to shoot. A T-Bird Five was in her hand and without even looking she aimed and fired it at the ninja, dropping him like a sack of potatoes as the bullet entered his chest. She hadn't even graced him with a look instead keeping her own eyes fastened on Leonardo's as the two of them tried to stare each other down in a contests of wills.

That was about when the room descended into chaos. The echo of the gun had barely even begun to travel around the room when the commando leader yelled out, "FIRE!" Hun's voice bellowed, "Attack!" followed by the near silent rush of feet as the ninjas charged forward. Leonardo and Artemis staring contest was suddenly broken as the terrapin charged forward brandishing both his swords intent on wiping the smug look of Artemis' face.

Artemis was smiling. She was smiling because this was it, the fight of all fights. Artemis was never one for blood lust but even she enjoyed a good row every now and then. From what she could tell this was going to be a good fight –if not the best- she had ever had the honor of participating in and that little thought was all she required to spring into action.

She pulled out her other T-Bird even as she flipped backwards to avoid the incoming fire from Bishop's men. The secret to fighting any gun slinger was to stay on the move and always be turning in a different direction. Even staying still for a moment could be all it took to be shot. The more random the moves the harder it was to be tracked by the rifle man. She had learned all the tricks to the gun fighting in her seven years of business.

She landed and opened fire with both guns. Her left gun was firing into the line of commandos aiming mostly for the guns themselves. She had encountered laser rifle before and found they made a rather impressive explosion if the gun was hit just right. An explosion from the left side of the room followed by cries of pain told her that she still knew where that spot was. As far as she could tell there was seven dead and another fourteen wounded men but she was too preoccupied to get a definite body count.

The ninjas faced the gun in her right hand which she aimed for the less fleshy but still vital parts of the body. The throat was the easiest target, allowing the bullet to pass through with almost no resistant as long as it didn't directly hit the spinal column. Even though the T-Bird wasn't known for it's fire power it could still travel through certain parts of the body seriously hurting or killing the first one hit and then going on to wound or kill the poor ninja behind them. She unloaded all of the T-Bird's nine shots into the men without so much as a blink leaving twelve ninjas dead and another six seriously wounded.

Her first attack was devastating and barely lasted ten seconds into the actual fight. With in that time span she had killed nineteen and left another twenty or so men injured. She hoped that the message was clearly broadcast to those she fought she was not to be taken lightly. She continued to smile as she moved forward again. Maybe this fight wouldn't be half as hard as she had originally thought is was going to be.

Moving forward meant she ran head long into a furious Leonardo. He lashed out bring both his swords down towards her head. Instead of dodging like she had in the past, Artemis brought up her arms so that her elbows were touching making a 'V' shape. She caught the blades in her forearms, pinched the blades between them effectively trapping the katanas for a moment.

Using Leo as a fulcrum, she jumped bringing both her legs up and lashing out at Raphael. The reinforced plates on her boots crashed into Raphael's sais as he block the kick. He had been stepping around Leonardo to help free Leo's blades from her arms. The resulting kick sent him backwards, throwing him off balance just enough that he lost his footing and fell to the ground.

Artemis wasn't done there. Using the momentum from the kick she pulled at the swords still caught between her arms. Like she hoped, Leo refused to let go of his weapons and she pulled him off his feet and whipped him around in a circle. Using Leo as if he was an improvised bo staff she brought him around and slamming simultaneously into both Michelangelo and Casey Jones. After knocking Aside Mikey and Casey, Artemis let go of Leo who landed in a jumbled heap with his friend and brother.

Now Artemis found herself facing Leatherhead again. Instead of backing down she charged the enraged mutant and let him reach for her. Just before he could grab her, Artemis faked to the left side before suddenly spring to the right. Her hand caught on his wrist and she used it as a spring board to help her leap over him.

Leatherhead was not to be out down there. He brought his head up as she vaulted overhead and attempted to snap his jaws down on her. Artemis saw him turning his head upwards and twisted herself around in midair. She placed her palms on the points of both his lower and upper jaw. Using his jaws as if they were a vaulting horse, Artemis pushed off and began to flip through the air as if she was in the Olympic Games.

As she flipped through the air, Artemis released the cartridge from her right hand gun. She then brought the gun back to her belt and slammed the butt down into a specially designed pouched that she had created after Bently tried to cheat and kill her. The pouch was open on top and looked more like a reinforce pocket so that remained open at all times. She had six on her belt each capable of holding a total of three magazines for her hand guns. A thin magnetized metal plate in the bottom of each pouch prevented the magazines from falling out but wasn't strong enough to hold them in the pouch after they had been locked into a gun. It cut her reloading time drastically and allowed her to reload her gun one handed, a plus in both columns as far as she was concerned.

She hit the ground in a roll and came up facing the commandos again. Using her left hand gun, she fired off the remaining three shots at the troops. They seemed to have figured out her strategy when dealing with them because when she brought her gun up they tucked their weapons down out of her sight. Her first shot hit a soldier in the chest rather then his gun. Realizing what they had done, her second shot hit a soldier in the forehead and he reeled backwards from his crouched position with his gun still clutched in his dead hand. Her third shot hit the gun in the side and the mini generator used to focus light particles exploded with a resounding boom.

As the debris went flying behind her, Artemis turned back to the other side of the building to see where the ninjas were and what they had been up to in the past fifteen seconds her back was turned to them. Her eyes widened a fraction when she saw a wall of shurikens flying towards her. She didn't have a chance to dodge so she brought up her arms to cover her face and neck.

Her arm guards took the hit as well as the thin metal plate she had put into the back of her gloves. She had learned a hard lesson after getting hit with one of Raphael's sais. The skin on the hand was constantly being moved and flexed making deep cuts hard to stop bleeding and heal. She had hoped that the thin plates would prevent her hand from being cut open again in case another sai hit it, but they seemed to do an admirable job at stopping the shurikens as well.

After the last strike, Artemis lowered her arms. She wasn't expecting to come face with katana as several ninjas rushed forward following the barrage. she was able to side step the first one and slammed her left arm into the back of his neck hoping that the heavy metal arm guards would knock him out. What she had expected was the sound of flesh being stabbed or the slight jerk as the man died. Taking a second to glance down at her right arm she noticed that the shurikens had become embedded in the Kevlar in the arm guards. It had the shurikens pinched just right so that she now had spiked arm guards instead of blunt ones.

She smiled at the modification and decieded to sent her thanks to the ninjas. She jumped up, twisting herself in the air and letting the center of her shin strike another ninja barreling down on her. She could tell it was a direct hit because she could feel the man's face buckle inward as the bones were shattered. His body flew backwards knocking down several of his companions in his flight. She caught a flicker of black off to her right and turned her head just in time to see a ninja stabbing at her throat.

She jerked her head to the side, narrowly avoiding the katana aimed at her neck. Instead it cut into the collar of her jacket and bounced off part of the reinforced metal she had there. Gritting her teeth, Artemis slammed the gun and her fist up into the ninjas stomach and pulled the trigger. The bullet tore through his torso and exploded out his back in an explosion of red. Another Foot soldier coming up from behind his comrade was killed as the bullet impacted his chest and a third was seriously injured when the bullet finally came to a stop in the side of his face.

After the bullet had left the chamber, the gun had slid up inside the ninja's body and he slumped over the gun. Artemis spun to build up the momentum require to heave the man and let him fly into another group of ninja. She had to admit that these ninjas weren't very good -at least no where's near on level with the turtles- and the only thing that the Foot soldiers seemed to have going for them was their numbers.

The thundering of heavy footsteps and growling alerted her that Leatherhead didn't like to be used as a springboard. She quickly turned to the mutant who was charging her with his one shoulder lowered and his arm tucked up under it. Artemis braced herself as he rushed forward. It was time she stopped dancing away from the crocodile and faced him head on.

When he was still a good ten feet from her she caught a blur of movement coming at him from the side. "Back off, freak," Hun said as he punched the reptile in the side. "She's mine!" The force of the hit was extensive. Leatherhead had been caught completely off guard and had been knocked clear off his feet to go sailing through the air and crash into a group of Bishop's men who had been preparing to take aim. Members of the commando unit who hadn't been hit by Leatherhead's bulk attacked him as he stood again. Growling and swing his massive arms the crocodile began to fight back against the black clothed men who seemed to be swarming him like ants.

Artemis didn't get much more of a chance to watch the fight because she had larger problems at the moment. Hun was adamant about smearing Artemis into the floor. She found herself retreating as the giant advanced swinging and trying to grab onto her to make her stop moving around. Unlike Leatherhead, Hun had obviously had some martial arts experience which made it harder get a hit in on him especially since he tried to grab her after each and every block.

A swish of blond caught her attention and a giggle escaped her. After all she was a girl, why not fight like a stereotypical girl? When Hun swung again instead of jumping backwards she leaped forward ducking underneath his arm. Using his confusion against him, Artemis used one of his knees that was slightly bent to get her some additional height as she reached for her goal. She flipped over his head and as she went over him she reached out and grabbed his blond ponytail as it whipped around his neck. She landed on his back in a crouch pulling on his hair for all she was worth.

"GGGGAAAAHHAAGAGGAAAA!" Hun roared as she pulled on his hair. She tried to line up a shot at the back of his neck but seeing him reach back for her made her rethink her strategy. She released the hair, narrowly avoiding his hands as they clutched at her, and flipped backwards onto the ground. The momentum from her jump made her do another flip to help get rid of some of the excess kinetic energy so she wouldn't fall over when she landed.

She wasn't expecting to come out of her flip to come face first with a hockey stick.

She counted herself lucky as the hockey stick slammed into her chest, at least it hadn't been across the throat. Being clothes lined was anything but a fun time. She figured that Casey had just misjudged the hit and had been intending to nail her in the throat but she had come out of her flip faster or higher then he anticipated. Either way it still hurt to be hit like especially as her legs kept going forward as her upper torso came to a complete stop.

As her legs came up she curled them into her body and wrapped an arm around the hockey stick. "WOAH!" she heard Casey say as she did a complete flip over his hockey stick and landed on the other side. The moment her feet touched the ground she jerked the hockey stick back towards Hun. Casey, who wasn't prepared for her to be back on her feet let alone fighting was pulled off his feet and thrown backwards when he lost his grip on his hockey stick. Hun, who was turning to see where Artemis had gone to, found himself with a face full of vigilante butt as Casey bounced off his face.

"Why you little-" Artemis dropped the hockey stick and ducked as she spun around. She just barely avoided the knuckle of the sai that had been directed at the base of her skull. She rolled off to the side as a green foot came flying in at her head and then popped herself back up in time to block another sai, this one all business as it came at her face. She then twisted again dodging the kick that came in at her side so that Raphael was now between her and Hun.

Artemis risked a quick glance at Hun just in time for her to see him slam Casey down by the shoulders and pin him to the ground with one hand. The other hand was being pulled back in a fist. Artemis could just imagine how easy Hun could shatter Casey's skull. Feeling partially responsible for Casey's predicament, Artemis decided to send him a little help by express airmail.

As Raphael lunged towards her again, Artemis flipped over him. She reached down and grabbed his bandanna tails as they streamed out behind him. As she went down she pulled on his headband as hard as she could. The turtle was the catapulted over her head and as she let go he went flying. Artemis smiled as Raphael's shell collided hard with Hun's face. The dull cracking noise followed by Hun's roar of pain told her that he was less then thrilled about his little present.

For the first time since the battle began, Artemis found herself able to catch her breath. She stayed crouched down where she was watching as Hun began swing at Raphael and the turtle began hitting back. Casey suddenly popped up over Hun's shoulder and wrapped his arms around Hun's neck, squeezing for all he was worth as Raph began hitting and kicking Hun in the solar plexus. "That's gotta hurt," she mummbled glad that she wasn't being tag teamed like Hun was.

She looked around to see where every one else was. Leatherhead seemed to be cleaning house with Bishop's men. As she watched the large gator twisted around slapping three men away with his tail then he bit through one poor guy's gun which backfired and split his hand apart. Leatherhead didn't even pause a moment and punched the screaming guy who was clutching the bloody stump where his hand had once been. He flew backwards with the force of the hit and impacted into one of the beams actually denting it. "That's got to hurt," she said again.

She looked off to her right to see how the rest of the Foot soldiers were fairing. Unfortunately for them, the Foot soldiers were getting the clocks royally clean by a Michelangelo and Leonardo. Michelangelo used a crescent kick, fell into a roll, came up behind another ninja and kicked him hard in the back at the same time Leo was punching one ninja, elbowing one trying to sneak up on him then delivering a roundhouse kick on a third member that had just been picking himself up off the ground. The two flying ninjas met each other in midair. The two turtles hadn't been idly this whole time, running after their respective ninjas. Seconds after the ninjas hit each other and before they could fall to the ground the turtle brothers spun around and slammed their shells back into each other with the poor ninjas caught in between. "Nope, that's gotta hurt," Artemis said wincing in sympathy as the brothers bounded off as if they hadn't just squashed two people between them to take on more Foot ninja.

She turned around, staying low, and looked to where she had left Donatello. He was missing, only a chain hanging in the air showed where he had been, but before she could worry about him -which still didn't make any sense to her- she caught sight of that red headed girl peaking up over a set of crates near the back wall watching something that Artemis couldn't see. Suddenly she ducked down and Artemis saw Bishop back peddling into view as if he had been hit by something. Master Splinter came into view following his opponent and whipping around a long chain which Bishop caught around his arm and grabbed hold pulling the improvised whip out of his hands and then attacking Master Splinter the same way the rodent had just attacked him.

Since everyone seemed to be to busy to notice her, Artemis decided that it was high time that she headed out. Casting about to make sure no one was watching her she swiftly ran across the room, ducking and weaving her way through the debris that had piled up and avoiding anyone who might give away her position. She slipped into the shadows behind a stack of crates, put away her guns, and silently began to scale them.

Two Foot ninjas were up on top of the crates as well but they seemed to focused on their aiming to notice Artemis slip past. She became curious and looked over their shoulders to see what was up. They were watching Michelangelo and Leonardo's fight with keen interest. One suddenly pointed a finger at himself and then at Michelangelo before jabbing his thumb at his cohort and then pointing to Leonardo. The other ninja nodded and they both brought up their bows while reaching to the quiver on their backs for arrows.

Artemis rolled her eyes. Really? she thought. She glanced down at her arms happy when she saw their were still a few shuriknes stuck into the weaved Kevlar. She moved forward and before the ninjas could pull forth their ammunition she wrapped her arms around their throats, making sure that the shurikens pierced into their necks. "Hi," she whispered into their ears. She moved quickly dragging her arms across their throats tearing valuable muscle, tissue and blood vessels. "Bye," She brushed her hands together and then moved on her way. "There's my good deed for today," she whispered as she went about her way.

Reaching the upper supports with no other enemy encounters, Artemis found herself creeping across the network of beams heading towards where she had last seen April. She knew it would have been smarter to just quietly sneak out a window, go back to her penthouse, take a nap and then fly out on the first available plane heading for Greece the following day. Besides, this entire assignment had been nothing but a flop. She hadn't even had a chance to kill her targets before her business partner sent someone in to kill her. Usually they at least waited until after she had already done the killing.

She knew why she couldn't leave. She had to make sure he was alright and maybe figure out why she was so obsessed with that turtle's well being. What was there about that turtle that preoccupied her thoughts more then the other turtles or even anyone she had ever met? Ever since she was young and vowed to become an assassin she swore she would only look after herself and no one else. Then this turtle comes along out of the blue and she finds herself bending over backwards for him. It was really beginning to aggravate her to no end.

She perched above them looking down as the small group hid behind a crate. April kept watch on the fight between her friends and their enemies. She always ducked her head down if someone came to near to their location or if someone seemed to look their way. After a few seconds she would look back out onto the battlefield. Behind her and kneeling next to Donatello supporting his head was Honeycutt who looked as if he was monitoring his vital signs or something. Occasionally his voice would float up to where she was hiding usually addressing April about Donatello medical needs or responding to one of April's quiet queries that Don was still alright just unconscious.

A loud crash brought her out of her observation enough to see what had happened. While the crash was loud enough for her and those she watched to hear, the turtles and their friends contiued to fight on as if nothing had happened. Artemis turned around on the beam and leaned out slightly to catch the glimpse of the action. As far as she could tell from the way Bishop was walking away from a caved in crate and the rat tail snaking its way out of the splintered wood pile, Bishop had won the round against Splinter.

She watched as Bishop headed right towards the crate where those she had been watching were hiding. She could hear April take several deep breaths and the Professor voice telling her to stay down. She laid down on the beam so she didn't have to worry so much about falling off it as she leaned further over the side wrapping her arms around the beam in a hug to help her stay on it. April stepped around the crate and brought her hands up in a classic defensive pose. Despite the obvious intent to protect Donatello, Bishop just kept walking toward her. Artemis reevaluated April. She may be overly emotional at times but she had guts standing up to Bishop like she was.

"I won't let you take him," Artemis blinked as April's voice rang out loud and clear with only a small trace of fear at the end. Take him? Take who?

"I doubt very much you or the Professor can stop me from taking my prize."

Artemis gritted her teeth and drew herself back up into a crouch on the beam. He was going to take Donatello? The unfamiliar surge of protectiveness over the turtle welled up in her again. She didn't make any noise as she calmly hopped off the beam and flew almost twenty feet to land with a gentle thump next to and slightly ahead of a startled April. "What about me?" she asked the government agent before her. "Think I'll be a little more of a challenge."

"Doubtful," Bishop said not surprised in the least that she had suddenly fallen from the ceiling. "You take your opponets by surprise in a straight out fight your skill are thrid rate at best." He gave her a smile she had only seen on the most learchous of men, "The only reason you are vauble to me is as a barginning chip to gather some help from some other nations who would love to see your head on a silver platter. Other then that, you are almost as worthless as these two."

Artemis quirked her eyebrow at him and tried not to let her anger tint her voice, "I think you'll find me a lot tougher then you think. I'm not a lightweight." For a second she and Bishop tried to glare each other down. Both of them smirking at the other. Artemis decided that the previous fights had just been the equivalent of foreplay or a warm up before a workout.

This was going to be the real battle.

All it took was a slight twitch -though Artemis wasn't sure if she did it or if Bishop had moved- to have them both lunging at each other. Artemis threw a small round house punch that was blocked with ease. Bishop lashed up trying to catch her in the stomach with his free hand only the have her step back. Artemis spun around sweeping out with her foot at about waist level making Bishop step back. He then came forward with a quick feint to the left and a punch to the right. Artemis easily blocked both with her forearms. There was something off about his movements, they seemed slower then they had been when fighting Splinter, more thought out and methodical. "Are you done playing?" she asked as the agent stepped back again.

He brought his fist up, "I thought you would never ask."

This time when they lunge at each other there was no holding back. Blocking a punch coming at her face, Artemis could feel the power in it shake her to the very core. Bishop's movements had become much stronger and faster. She was able to match him in speed, if not exceed him, but he had her outmatched in strengh. They danced around in circles like that for awhile, trading punches and kicks, sidestepping and blocking. It was like a dance. A dance in which only one could lead and only one who could walk away from it.

They had moved away from the source of the conflict and closer to where Splinter had fallen. As she dodged a punch aimed at her stomach and blocked a kick that came in at her head she spared a second to glance towads the rat only to see the crate where he had fallen was empty. She hadn't the time to spare Master Splinter anymore thought then that. Bishop seemed to sense her momentary distraction and lashed out, this time making contact with her ribs.

She jumped with the kick, helping to absorb some of the impact, but pretended that he had actually kicked her to draw him off balance. She fell back twisting slightly to the side and letting out a little whimper as she 'struggled' to maintain her footing. Predictably, Bishop took a step forward and that was all the time she needed to fall backwards into a flip, catching him in the chin with her feet.

The result was even better then she had hoped. Out of all her attacks she knew that she had the most power in her back flip kick even if it did have a habit of leaving her open to attacks. Her Sensei had always explained to her that the best offense and defense is not how many moves you know and can preform but how many circles you can complete before your opponent could. Bishop learned this the hard way as he flew backwards and through the stack of crates out into the main floor. The second she landed on her feet, Artemis was off and running after him. After all she had heard about Bishop she found it hard to believe that a little kick like that would have taken him down.

As she run through the hole he had left and jumped over the rubble she heard Mikey's voice say, "I just found Bishop but I still don't see Artemis!"

"Then you should open your eyes," Artemis said as she used the turtle whose was back to her as a spring board. Bishop had caught himself and was currently brushing the dust from his suit like he was going through a daily occurrence for him. Now that she was higher then him she could put all her weight behind the punch and -thanks to Michelangelo- she would have gravity on her side as well.

She wasn't all surprised when Bishop caught her fist a split second before it hit, though she had been wondering if she could knock him out with that single punch. Gripping her fist tightly, Bishop swung her around and downwards so that her back was going to slam into the concert that made up the flooring of the warehouse. Deciding that she liked her back intact, Artemis grabbed Bishop's wrist with her free hand and tucked her legs up so that they bent back against themselves with her feet pressed into her butt. Instead of being slammed into the ground she caught herself and then pulled Bishop forward and off his feet as she stood.

Instead of launching him forward like she had done earlier with Raphael, the agent kept a grip on her wrist, caught himself like she had done and then pulled her off to her one side. Unable to free herself or resist his strength, Artemis went through with the throw. Again when he let go of her she continued to hold on. She planted her feet and twisted taking Bishop off his feet again and slamming him into a group of Foot soldiers that were standing there patiently for her to make use of them. Bishop then caught himself and the process was continued.

Artemis wasn't sure how long they were both going along trying to see if they could throw the other off or put them through some random object or person. It felt like hours of the same moves over and over again when it could only have been a few minutes at most. Artemis was beinning to tire of this little stage in the game so she purposely let go and let Bishop therow her across the room.

She flew through the air, end over end, trying to right herself. She doubted the wisdom of her actions until she impacted with several soft and cushy things that fell over. They were soft and she took a moment to relax before sitting up to go back to the fight. Seeing a green face in the pile of dazed ninjas she had landed on she reached out and patted his head as if he was a dog. "Thanks, Raphael!" she said as she jumped up to continue her fight with Bishop.

Instead of meeting her halfway, Bishop scooped something up from the ground spun it around and then threw it at her. She put her arm up in the way and the ball and chain wrapped around her forearm several times before it was pulled taunt. Her arm was jerked forward and she found herself being pulled forward, off balance and stumbling.

Bishop suddenly appeared in front of her and before she even had time to react he punched her in the gut. She could taste blood in her mouth as the force of the impact was so great that Artemis was thrown backwards. The chain was suddenly jerked and she found herself flying forward again this time to take a kick in her side the set her flipping through the air. She impacted with something that felt like a steel beam before she was pulled back towards Bishop by her arm. She was beginning to understand what it felt like to be a paddle ball and she decided she didn't like it one bit.

As she flew towards him again she drew one of her guns and began firing it in Bishop's general direction. She heard several pings coming from the bullets bouncing off his armor and growled under her breath. Of course, his outfit just had to be bullet proof. Her luck was seriously looking bad at the moment.

She was hit again and lost the grip on her gun that went spinning off to somewhere. Instead of pulling her back like he had been, Bishop suddenly pulled the chain up sending Artemis up and over his head to be slammed hard onto the ground behind him. The impact was enough that Artemis was sure that the concert below her was cracked and that Sensei was in serious going to be in serious need of repairs. She also found herself glad that she employed the use of body armor, it was probably what saved her life.

Even though the body armor had taken the majority of the hit, Artemis still found herself dazed and hurting. She moaned as she forced herself to sit up rubbing the back of her neck. Heavy footsteps coming up behind her reminded her what was going on and that now wasn't the time to be sitting around in pain no matter how much she wanted to have a five minute break. She waited until Bishop was almost on top of her before she made her move.

With the hand not tangled in the chain, Artemis grabbed a good sized rock and threw it behind her. By the sound of the grunt she had caught Bishop by surprise and had hit him in the face, something she had been hoping for. While the other hand was heaving the rock, Artemis spun the other chain, looping it several times around Bishop's arm, then pulled on it. Now both for them were tangled in the chain.

After the rock had been thrown Artemis planted all her weight on that hand and swung her legs up and around. Both her feet caught Bishop in the face and left her in a single handed hand stand. Instead of continuing the circle, Artemis pinched Bishop's neck between her feet and then fell into a roll, pulling Bishop's head forward. The action not only allowed her to get back up onto her feet but also threw Bishop over her to land on his back in front of her dragging the chain with him.

Artemis took a precious second to look at the chain wrapped around her wrist. She did not want to have a repeat performance of being the human paddle ball. She was just reaching towards the chain when a resounding explosion rocket the warehouse. The epicenter was less then twenty feet from her and Bishop and both of them found themselves flying through the air with the shock wave. They landed in a tangled heap of limbs and chain. As she struggled to free herself from underneath Bishop, Artemis heard a dull roaring noise that made her blood freeze in her veins.

Hoping that she was wrong, Artemis spared a second to glance at where the explosion had taken place. She recognized the area as one of the places she had stored some grenades and some of her other explosive charges for her gun. Something -possible one of the laser rifles- must have scored a direct hit on the charge and activated the explosives. The roaring she had heard was from a fire that had been ignited by the explosive hitting the dry wood that made up the crates. The crates acted like kindling and in the few seconds it took her to get back to her feet half the warehouse was ablaze and the fire was still spreading.

With even more inscentive to finish her fight with Bishop and get out of there, Artemis wrapped the chain several times around Bishop's neck. Bishop, who had just been getting ready to stand up found his lower legs being stepped on and the chain wrapped around his throat and pulled back on effectively choking him. Stranglation was one of her lest favorite ways of killing but at this point Artemis was willing to do just about anything to get rid of the agent.

What she hadn't been prepared for was for Bishop to suddenly flick his head backwards sending his sunglasses flying at her face. The sunglasses bounced off the bridge of her nose causing her eyes to water and making her instinctively clutch at her nose. Part of her brain not caught up in going 'ow!' wondered why she hadn't noticed the sunglasses before which raised the question of why Bishop was wearing sunglasses in the first place. It was the middle of the night and they were inside a building so why would he need a pair of sunglasses?

Artemis was so caught up in her thoughts that she had forgotten about the fight she was currently in. A sudden yank on the chain reminded her of where she was and what was going on. Her reaction of pulling back on the chain came to late and she found herself being thrown through the air to be slammed against a beam. Before she could react, a kusari-gama was slammed into the beam at such and angle that the blade and the handle of the scythe was pinning her arm to the beam. If Bishop let up on the chain then she could pull her arm but until he did she was effectively pinned.

"Tell me something Artemis," Bishop didn't even sound winded as he spoke. She turned her head towards him from where she had been trying to pull the kusari-gama free. His arm wrapped around the chain was keeping it taunt while in the other he held a discarded katana. "How well will you be able to operate as an assassin with only one arm?" With that, he raised the katana and brought it swishing down.

Artemis couldn't believe that he could actaully cut through her arm in one slice but as she jerked away from the beam screaming in pain she knew she was wrong. She stumbled backwards and off to the side clutching at where her arm had once been as she fell to her knees. She clutched at the injury futilely trying to stop the bleeding as the blood fell throguh her fingers and onto the ground at an alarming rate. Her eyes were wide and she beginning to feel tears beginning to well up in her eyes as she gasped for breath.

Movement behind her reminded her of her advisory. She needed a second to slow the bleeding before she could even hope to defend herself. Out of all other options she tucked her head down to her chest as her hand slipped under her jacket and pulled out the Orion. Not really caring where she was aiming, she pointed the gun behind her ad fired off one of its explosive rounds.

The explosion sent her flying in one direction and Bishop in the other. She lost the grip on her gun when she hit and fell into an uncontrolled roll finally coming to a stop against a beam. She wanted to close her eyes but the warehouse was really beginning to heat up as the fire raged and she had to slow down the bleeding. Trying not to look at where her arm had once been, Artemis took some of her jumping cable and wound it around her upper bicep pulling it as tight as possible with her teeth and hand.

She let her head thump back against the beam she was leaning against and held the would again praying that the bleeding would stop. Judging by the blood she could still feel spurting out of the cut her improvised tourniquet was doing little to prevent her from bleeding to dead. She needed to do something else to stop the bleeding.

She rolled her head listlessly to the side and looked at a burning chunk of wood nearby. It would hurt and she doubted that she would even be able to remain conscious afterwards but it might be her only chance at surviving. Besides, Bishop had to pay for what he did. With that thought firmly placed in her head she snatched up the wood and held the burning end to her wound.

She gritted her teeth to prevent herself from screaming as she let the fire burn her arm. She desperately thought of anything to avoid the pain. She found that her thoughts were ironically turning to Donatello and if he was alright. She chided herself. Why on earth would she be worried about him? It was because of him that she was in this predicament and possible about to die. If anything she should be angry at him for doing whatever it was that made her want to protect him.

What the hell had he done to make her feel like this anyways?

She tossed the board away. The deed had been done. She placed a hand over the wound only to jerk it away with a cry of pain. The burns made the remains of her arm hurt horribly and made the area tender as hell. She finally forced herself to look at where her arm had been to confirm that the bleeding had finally stopped. She had one more thing to do before she died.

Revenge.

She forced herself to her feet ignoring both the stench that threatened to make her lose what little was in her stomach and the blinding pain coming from her… stub. She was going to make him pay. No one hurt her -especially as serious as this- and then just walked away. It didn't matter that he thought she was dead, no one turned their back on her without regretting it.

Using a shortcut that went behind the crates and the wall, she headed towards where sh had last seen Don. She was positive that was were he was going. She soon reached the spot she wanted, partially hidden in shadows despite the raging inferno that was growing hotter and hotter by the second. She pulled out her last T-Bird Five and checked it over, thrilled that it looked to be in prefect working order.

Calm and collected footsteps caught her attention. She held her breath and did her best to become one with the crates she was hiding behind. She hoped that he wouldn't smell the burnt flesh on her arm. Actually if he did it might just give her the extra second of surprise to get him back one for tearing off her arm.

Just as his boot came around the corner of the crates, Artemis exploded from her hiding place. She gave didn't even give him a second to react before she pulled the trigger repeatedly. Each bullet connecting with Bishop's face and neck where he didn't have any bullet resistant material. She didn't stop pulling the trigger until she was out of bullets and even then she kept pulling the trigger. The gun making hollowed clicking sounds.

Finally she forced herself to stop. "That's for the arm," she growled at Bishop's lifeless body laying on the ground before her.

Artemis gasped for breath as she fell to one knee clutching just above the stub that was all that remained of her arm. She was exhausted and felt like she could faint at any moment. She idly wondered again if Donatello was alright. Her mind was still trying to understand why she had just fought to protect him at the cost of her arm. A smile spread across her face despite the pain she was in. Her only regret was that she never figured out what was so special about him.

"Artemis!" a voice called through the roar of the flames and minor explosions going off through out the remains of the warehouse. She knew it would only be a matter of time before the fire and explosions ate away at the infrastructure enough to cause the whole building to cave in. She didn't think she had the strength to move and found herself closing her eyes waiting for the end.

"Artemis!" the voice was louder then it had been and through the flames and she opened her eyes to see who was calling for her. As she watched, Leonardo came into view. He was looking every which way as if searching for someone. He finally looked in her direction and called out her name again before running towards her.

She shook her head, after all she had put him through, he actually ran around in a burning building to try and save her. The turtles were tenacious bastards she would give them that. She forced herself to stand on shaky legs, finding a strengh she didn't realize she had. He was running hard but she knew there was no way he could reach her in time. Giving him one of her trademark smirks, she raised her hand and gave him an American military salute.

An explosion rocket the building and Leonardo found himself scrambling to remain on his feet. He was forced to take his eyes off Artemis for a moment as he dodged a falling roof panel that was on fire. When he looked back to where she had been there was nothing but flames and debris littering the ground. "Artemis!" he hollered hoping to hear anything to indicate she was alright.

A series of explosions came from the other side of the building and a massive crack that chilled Leonardo's blood came from above him. There was no way he could reach Artemis and get her out before the building fully gave way. There was no guarantee that she was still alive he told himself as he reluctantly started back the way he came.

Leonardo ran through the remains of the warehouse keeping an eye on his surrounding as the building began letting out disturbing creaks and groans. He knew that it was only a matter of time before the whole building collapsed. He jumped off to the side and the shimmed to the left dodging objects as he neared one of the side doors that led out of the building. There was a popping coming from somewhere behind him that only made him run faster. Someone's ammo had grown hot enough that the shell were beginning to explode. The last thing he needed was for one of the bullets to hit him in the leg and trap him inside the building.

As he emerged from the flaming building he realized how much of a temperature difference there was. The night's cold air caressed his overheated skin as he ran for the Battleshell parked in a nearby alley. "Leo!" Raphael was standing at the entrance of the alley waiting for him. "You okay?" he asked as Leo slowed to a walk next to him.

Leo glanced into the alley to see the back doors to the Battleshell were wide open. Donatello was laying on a gurney inside while April, Leatherhead and Honeycutt looked over him. Master Splinter, Casey and Michelangelo stood just outside the doors watching him as he panted for breath. Everyone was alright and made it out no worse for the wear. Reassured his family and friends were safe Leonardo said in a regretful tone, "I couldn't reach her in time."

"Don't sweat it, bro," Raphael said punching him gently in the shoulder. "Ya tried. Even if I think it wasn't worth risking yer life for her, at least ya gave it a shot."

Leo glanced back at the fiery remains of the building. She hadn't deserved to go like that, despite their differences Artemis had protected Donatello, April and Honeycutt from Bishop and that was something that had Leonardo giving her an ounce of respect despite what she had done. She could have left but instead she stepped forward and took on an agent that even he ad his brothers had a hard time beating. The distant sounds of sirens were beginning to draw closer and he began to move towards the Battleshell with his family. As he crawled in the back and closed the doors he couldn't help but think that he should've at least tried to reach her in time.

Told you there was going to be character death! ;)