Note: Some elements in this chapter come from Fury Within Her, it also contains some strong language.

Chapter Twenty-One

Start of a Vendetta

A couple of days past slowly, Master Splinter hadn't tried to rush everyone back into training since they were all still recovering from having one less member with them. Instead he had decided they all needed to grieve in their own way.

The old rat spent a lot of time meditating in is quarters and only coming out if he needed too, it was a horrible feeling that he had lost a son but he had to remain strong for everyone during this time and he knew that they would soon have to get back into action as the Ninja Turtles, but during this horrible grieving period, it felt almost impossible to get back into any kind of normal routine.

Michelangelo spent a lot of time in his room, never leaving unless he had too, often Leonardo and Donatello would find him laying on his bed staring at the ceiling. His comic books lay untouched, his video games sat in their places where he had left them, he didn't even play his music, it was if everything seemed to remind them of Raphael.

In a way, everything in the lair had some part of Raphael left, apart from his Shell Cycle and the gym area in the lair, the films in the TV area, the video games they played on, the food in the fridge, there was a small something of Raphael everywhere.

Donatello spent a lot of time in his laboratory, burying himself in his work to forget everything or at least distract himself from the grief.

He like the others missed his brother like hell and he tried everything to keep himself busy, despite the fact that looking after his family and grieving Raphael had taken a toll on himself, he tried to keep busy, whether it was working on his experiments or on another gadget.

Leonardo meanwhile would sit in the TV area staring into the air wondering what to do, despite the fact they had lost a team member, they still had their duties topside, he wondered what the Foot were doing or how the Street Crime was since they they had been at the Farmhouse.

He knew there was no rest for the wicked, and he knew the ninja turtles would have to throw themselves back into action. But what worried him more was how Monalisa was coping.

The Lizard Lady was starting to show signs of being aggressive, especially after he saw her when they returned clawing at the sand bag, he saw that she was demonstrating a more angry and aggressive side, rather than the graceful crane style fighting Kunoichi warrior he knew her to be.

In the days that had passed, Mona hardly spoke, her tearful eyes had been replaced with a dark soulless look, a look Leonardo believed she had when she woke up as a mutant lizard in the sewers.

Also she no longer wore her black and pink floral ninja outfit, but she wore black clothes, whether they be a black sun-dress or the black ninja suit and she always wore her hair loose.

Most days she would either sit in her room or she would be seen by the sand bag clawing and punching at it as if her life depended on it.

There were times that Leonardo wanted to talk to her, but was unsure of how to approach her, even Donatello wasn't sure how to approach the lizard lady.

Sighing sadly, Leonardo looked towards Mona's room and wondered what she was doing now, she had been in her and Raphael's room for hours since everyone awoke at dusk.

In her room, Mona lay on her and Raphael's bed staring at everything around her. She remembered how about two months after she and Raphael had gotten together as a couple she and him had started sharing a room.

Donatello had made them a king size bed and they all helped to move Raphael's things into the room.

It made Mona's heart pound as she looked at everything that Raphael owned, she hadn't touched them almost in the fear of damaging them, but she left them there, almost preserved, not daring to move them or even dust them as if she would wipe away Raphael's fingerprints or scent.

Mona would have hated to sleep in the bed they shared in the fear of loosing the creases where Raphael had slept, but she had made the bed that evening when they awoke the day he died so they was nothing left, but the only thing that was left was the smell that remained, she could still smell his natural scent as well as the cologne he wore, she didn't think she would ever wash these sheets again, yes she would have to change the bed when it had to be changed but she could never clean it and wash away the scent of her deceased beloved.

The longer she lay there, Mona thought of the events that had transpired, she thought of the way she had snapped at Leonardo, even though he showed no signs of anger or resentment to her, even helping her in the days following Raphael's funeral, she felt bad for snapping at him and shutting him out but she felt so angry, she didn't know what to do or think and just looking at the blue masked turtle, she could see Raphael laying in his arms as he brought him home.

Mona felt the tears in her eyes as she saw the blood on Raphael's chest after he'd been stabbed, she remembered how Leonardo had explained to the others how he had died, it tore at her heart and soul that Raphael had died like that.

Sitting up on the bed and tearing at her hair, Mona felt the tears flow. Raphael was always so strong, he never gave up without a fight, never backed down, never begged for mercy...never let anything happen to him...until now.

"You promised you'd never leave me!" Mona sobbed "You promised you'd always be there for me...you promised you'd come back safe..."

She stood up from the bed and walked over to a notice board on the wall, it held two groups of photographs and small keepsakes, one was a collection of most of their favourite moments together and the other was of Mona and her family, pictures she had printed off Facebook and the memorial page she saw her family had created for her online.

Looking at the photos, Mona felt a strange sensation ripple over her body, she looked at the photos of her family and remembered how she had awoken in the sewers those years back, her pink flesh replaced by green scales, she had gained a tail, lost her nose, yet having lost her human form, she hadn't lost her humanity.

But she had gained a fire within that made her want to get even with the men who turned her into what she was now...

"I remember it like yesterday...!" she said "The attack...the rape...the poison..." she touched her face and ran her hands over her body as she felt the memories return to her, "Purple Dragon Bastards...they ruined my life...but then I got even...I got even with them, mainly because of help from the turtles..."

She looked up and caught sight of her reflection in the mirror.

Mona then saw the look in her eyes, it was almost crazed, almost lustful, lusting for something deadly, she remembered feeling the same thing when she looked long at hard first time at her reptilian features, she thought of the ones who made her what she was, she had stared long and hard into the looking glass and she had sworn on her life and for her family that she would kill the ones responsible, even if it meant killing other Purple Dragons to find them, she would kill each and every one until she found the right people.

Now that feeling was back, Mona looked into the mirror placing her scaly hand on the glass and glaring at her blue eyes almost black and soulless.

She could see the smirking face of Black Mamba staring back at her in the mirror, almost mocking her, laughing at her.

Mona closed her eyes as fresh tears fell, this time they were no longer tears of sadness, but anger, fury, vendetta.

Black Mamba killed her mate, and she was boasting about it, bragging about it, she must have bragged about it to the rest of the Venomous Five, she saw them in the mirror too, she saw Komodo, Gila, Monitor, and Cobra all smirking at her as Black Mamba killed her mate.

"You fucking bastards..." she growled as she glared at her reflection in the mirror, she clawed her hands and licked her lips as she saw the faces of other enemies, the Foot Soldiers, their leader Izo Arashi, the scarred face of Dr William Arden.

But out of all of them that flashed in her brain, Black Mamba stood out against the rest of them, she was the one who took her mate away, murdered him in cold blood, her heart as black as her scales, no remorse, no honour, no compassion, a cold hearted murderer.

"You bitch Black Mamba..." Mona snarled "You killed Raphael...you murdered the man I love...and for what? Because you want us out of your way? So your Master can keep doing his dirty deeds? Because of a fun blood sport...You took my beloved mate away from me...you destroyed me...broken the family...broken my heart..."

Mona looked away from the mirror and looked at her hands as she clawed them almost like tiger claws.

The feeling of vengeance was taking over her, almost eating at her, her heart was beating faster, her eyes burned with hatred and fury, she saw her reflection in the mirror again, she could see the bloodthirsty hatred filled lizard lady she had been when she had been living on the streets for two years hunting the Purple Dragons.

The vengeful lizard lady had awoken, she had appeared once when she had awoken in the sewers, angry she could never go home, never be in the company of humans again.

She closed her eyes as she remembered the promise of vengeance she made in the building she found to hide in after her mutation.

She had cried her eyes out at her predicament until she realised that crying wouldn't change the fact that she was mutant, like now she knew mourning her dead love wouldn't bring him back or help her get revenge on the ones responsible.

Mona remembered how the faces of her attackers flashed through her brain and she would never rest until they were six feet under.

"I killed the ones who made me what I am..." she snarled as she stared at her hands "I spent two years on the streets searching for the cunts who did this to me...I finally found them with the help of the turtles, I made them suffer...I made them feel the pain I felt...I did it once...I can do it again..."

Mona turned back to the mirror and looked at herself within the looking glass her eyes flashed with fire as she entertained thoughts of deadly revenge.

"Yes..." she hissed "I did it once...and I will do it again...this time...Black Mamba will suffer for what she did...I will make her writhe...she might be a deadly snake...but she has no idea of what I could do...she underestimates me...even if it takes me days, weeks, months...years I will find you, I will kill whoever gets in my way to get to you...and don't think I'll make it merciful, you will suffer before I snuff out your lights!"

Revenge has awoken within Mona, the start of a vendetta has begun, how will things progress now the fire, the demon has awoken in her. What will be her next move, and how will she prepare to go after the Black Mamba, stay tuned to find out!