The Glasses of Life
Chapter 21
They'd said it was just a dream. They'd said he'd imagined it. Donnie had checked his air tank for punctures. But he eventually got them to listen, and told them what Tiny had said last night.
"You can see it through the trees." Then the acute interest of the group died.
"That's it: he's crazy," murmured Raphael. Others mumbled in agreement.
"I am not!" Michelangelo huffed. "You don't know what's on this planet, I saw her." Had he not cocked his head ever so slightly, had he not had a stiff neck from sleeping in a tree, had he been standing in any different spot; Mikey would have missed it. "Hey," he said and approached the crystal trees. He stood on his toes.
"What the hell are you doing?" Mikey smirked, stood aside, and pointed down the line of forked crystal trees.
"Who's crazy now?"
It had taken them minutes to climb out of the sewers. More minutes to trash droids that got in their way. More minutes to fight off the ambushes. Minutes, minutes, minutes; minutes Kennedy couldn't afford to waste. She had to reach The Shredder, had to kill him, had to. Every breath he took was a stain on her pride that had to be wiped clean.
"Ambush!" Kennedy had assumed they'd run into one, being about one block away from Shredders dojo. Even without her powers Kennedy was fast. She'd destroyed three bots before the others heard her warning. Perfect old me. Kennedy kicked another in the head and it sling-shot with a sickening snap. The bot was flung to the ground by gravity. And then Kennedy saw it: blood.
Flying the Technodrone was easy, but stealing it had cost them 20 minutes and an even more messed up knee for Casey. April had been trying to heal it since boarding the drone. Mikey flew with cool confidence, enjoying the fact that he was the only one that could fly the thing. Kraang codes were just the right amount of crazy for him.
"How's the retro mutagen coming, Donnie?" Leo asked for the third time. Donnie grunted while twisting away with his screw driver. He'd been working with what little retro he had, and managed to find a way for it to convert regular mutagen into retro mutagen by making the liquids touch. Holding him back; however, was unscrewing the hinges on the top of the mutagen so he could poor it in.
"Bloody screws," he murmured.
Mikey didn't have to think to know the feelings that pushed air out of the drone and forced their way down his throat: anxiety, fear, determination. Once the mutagen was in place, and the humans were cured; April would use her powers- as Kennedy had instructed- to teleport the humans back to Earth, and then she would teleport them. "Uh, dude? Humans, dead ahead."
Crash!
"Whoa!"
"What was-!?"
Crash! Crash!
"It's the Kraang! They found us!"
She'd ordered them to keep running. Sam had cried. Splinter had looked like the Grim Reaper had told him he had hours to live. Karai had been frozen by the venom of shock and terror. Kennedy hadn't even flinched. Oh well, it's The Shredder's fault for putting him out in the field… Kennedy noticed a bulge in the soldier's chest. Her. The woman- no older than Kennedy- looked with wide eyes and a gaping mouth at her killer. Kennedy had probably broken a vital organ… Spinal Colom? Or was it called the spleen? Amazing how much she'd forgotten after missing a year of school. Whatever, it hadn't been enough to kill the kid.
For a brief moment; Kennedy imagined what the girl's life was like, Foot Clan aside. She was very good-looking: short blond hair, a cute little nose, baby pink lips that looked as soft as cashmere, light blue eyes, and skin the pigment of boiled pork. Kennedy would totally go for her if they'd met anywhere else. But the girl had a scar across her cute little nose and a cut on her top lip that was still healing. Kennedy hadn't hit the girl on the mouth or nose. They didn't look big enough to be from training either. Kennedy visualised the girl in frilly lingerie with a feather boa dancing around a pole. And then in an alley, meeting a customer, some lonely old guy or a very fit man about five years older than her who was really into BDSM.
Kennedy shuddered, took out her tanto, and sliced the girl's neck. Shame that you had to go this way. Once the tears and shouts had calmed down, and the rest of the ambush had retreated, Kennedy ran her fingers through the girl's blood, and smeared some on each cheek.
"In honor of you," she said, then kissed her two bloody fingers and placed them on the girl's forehead.
Whaaaahhhh! Whaaaahhhh! Whaaaahhhh!
Donnie stumbled off of the top of the mutagen when the alarm sounded. April had caught him with her powers, which she was impressed and surprised by. The side of the drone was dented from the ramming and the starboard lasers were crushed. Mikey did a summer-sault and shot the attacking drone with his good lasers. They were flying above the mutated slaves.
"Give the one to Kraang that Kraang has come to demand you give to Kraang!"
"In your Kraangy dreams!" Mikey retorted. "You'll never get April!" silence, and then:
"It is the ones called the turtles!? And they have the one known as April O'Neil!? This is being a good day for Kraang."
"MIKEY!" Mikey flinched and glanced at the angry faces behind him. He laughed nervously and shrugged.
"Oops."
"Sensei…?"
"Let's go, Sam." Tigerclaw took Sam's hand in his monstrous paw and lead him away from the grotesque scene like a toddler, walking away from a dead animal with his father. Kennedy had always been a bit empty on the inside, which he could understand; she filled her parentless void with academics and work hours. Kennedy had always been, as her nicknames suggested; Kennedy the Genius. Kennedy the Cook, Kennedy the Creator. But Kennedy the Killer? Tyler didn't think he could live with that, and he sure as hell didn't want Sam or Mikey or anyone else living with it, especially Kennedy. Cliff's little girl, his pride and joy, his reason to live: a smart little killer.
Kennedy showed no signs of grief or guilt, only walked away with the child's blood smeared on her cheeks, head held high, fists at her sides, face a mask of 'I'd take the amount of fucks I give out of my pocket, but it's a fake pocket'. That was when Karai realised the bleeding soldier wasn't going to get up, and she fell to her knees and shook. Tigerclaw had never liked Karai, but after she'd saved him and Sam, he'd grown a small sprout of respect for her. During the months they'd lived together, she'd taken care of the sprout of respect, watered it, fed it; gave it reason to grow. At the moment, Tigerclaw wished she hadn't.
Kennedy walked to her friend, knelt, and wrapped her arms around her. She stayed like that for a very long time, until Karai lifted her head and stopped shaking. She extended her hand and Kennedy pulled her up. They walked ahead, but Kennedy didn't let go of Karai's hand.
The Kraang shot mercilessly at the turtles. Raph prayed thanks Mikey played all of the video games he did. Donnie had been levitated to the top of the mutagen by April and was hovering over the last few hinges to undo them.
"You guys have the aim of April in Smash!"
"Hey!"
"Give to Kraang the one known as April O'Neil, the one known as April O'Neil need help Kraang find the one of-"
"-Kraang, give vocal accelerator to Kraang!"
"Kraang is to wait Kraangs turn!"
"Kraang is that which is known as: a doo-doo head."
"Do not make Kraang turn that which is known as the Technodrone around!" Mikey bit his lip to keep from giggling.
"Wait," Leonardo said. "The one of what? I think we may have them on board too."
"What are you doing?!"
"Stalling, Donnie, keep working." Donnie made a mock salute and kept twisting.
"Kraang demands that you give the one to Kraang!" Leo smirked and crossed his arms.
"Which one? We have a lot of 'ones' on board."
"Give to Kraang the ones!"
"I don't think so. Why don't you tell me what one and I'll think about it?"
"Kraang is for needing the one of pure white. The one of pure eyes. The one of pure brain." A glance around told Leonardo he wasn't the only one lost.
"Uh, can you say that in English?"
"Yipe! Hey… where's April?" asked Donnie. Leo, Raph and Mikey looked around the drone. No April.
Before he could freak out or demand the Kraang return their friend, Mikey noticed the air next to him swirling, materialising. April appeared looking pale as death. A moan like a creaky floor escaped her.
"Found her," Mikey said. April hiccupped, groaned again, and flopped onto her butt.
"I hate teleporting…"
The ambushes were growing like mold. Thankfully no one but the foot soldiers had been injured, but Splinter knew better than to let his guard down. Why? Why did Shredder have to have his stupid revenge? Couldn't he have found someone else, someone besides Shein, to share his life with? Why did he need to kill him and his family? Why did he need his daughter and need to turn her against him? Couldn't he just let it go?
"Apparently not," Splinter muttered as a soldier thrusted his sword at him. Splinter chopped the man's shoulder and he collapsed.
"Well, well, well," barked a gruff and familiar voice. Splinter turned and stayed in position. "Look who let the rat out of his cage." Bradford emerged, growled, clenched and unclenched his fist, then sprung. Splinter blocked, did some jabs and punches, then hopped backwards using Bradford as a launch pad.
"I have no interest in fighting you-"
"Shame, because I can't wait to see the look on Shredder's face when I drag you to-" Kennedy was a comet, her kick, an arrow. Bradford yelped and crashed, and then he was still. Splinter stared with wide eyes at Kennedy.
"I hate dogs," she growled.
"April, what-?"
"I know what the Kraang want."
"I've got it!" Donnie said, and lifted the lid off the mutagen.
The foot was mostly defeated. It turned out Kennedy hadn't killed Bradford; only messed him up. That was when Shredder had appeared. He'd slashed Kennedy across her face and she'd stumbled into Splinter. He'd scolded that this was no way to act. Kennedy had thrown her tanto through his thigh.
Karai had tried to focus on Xever, but the thought of losing Kennedy to Shredder… Xever's leg connected with her face and Karai stumbled backwards. She felt tiny hands steady her. Karai regained her setting in time to see Xever's face soften when he looked at Sam, and harden quickly. Overwhelming awkwardness swallowed the air.
"Where's my brother?" Sam asked, his voice cracking on the word 'brother'. This time Xever's face stayed soft.
"Probably with The Shredder. He's become quite the teachers pet." Karai looked down.
"Shredder's a teacher?" Xever actually chuckled; the most genuine sound Karai had ever heard from him.
"He means a suck up, Sam." Sam looked at his feet.
"Oh…" a deep sigh.
"Boy," Xever said. Karai tensed, but Xever loosened. "I may be a 'villain', but I lived through prison. Your brother told us what he did to you and your friend…" the look they shared at that moment… Karai could have sworn they were reading each other's mind. "They did that in prison sometimes…" Sam looked like he was made of glass, and someone had taken a sledge hammer to his chest. Karai didn't feel bad for Xever, but after hearing that, she didn't want to hit him either. Xever clenched his fists and stepped back. Sorrow was painted all over his face. "This fight is pointless. Neither of you deserve to be hurt any more…" he was looking at Sam when he said it. Sam was looking in between him and Karai. Karai kept her expression hard. Xever didn't bother to hide behind a tough face. Karai nodded and took Sam's hand.
"Arigatō, Xever-san." Xever nodded in acknowledgment.
"Dō itashimashite." He threw a smoke bomb and disappeared. Sam looked at Karai.
"Is he our friend?"
"No. But, we do owe him one."
"One what?" Karai giggled and pat Sam's shoulder.
"Well, well, well, if it isn't whore and company." Sam's expression hardened and he glared over his shoulder. Karai saw him snarl. She pushed her lips together and clenched her fists. "So, where's my boy?" Miles stroked his claws and grinned at his prey. "I've been missing his voice; the way he screamed my name." Karai shuddered despite herself and scrunched her nose up. How had Sam lived with this monster?
Sam growled, got into a fighting stance, drew his pocket knife. Miles positioned his daggered fists at both hips and sneered. Karai forgot she was there, and shook her head, slipping into a ready position. No one moved. Miles looked to Karai, grinned, lifted his hand, split his fingers, and stuck his tongue between them. He wiggled it a bit.
"You're disgusting!" Sam shouted. Karai lifted a brow; she assumed Miles had been making a dirty reference, but it was foreign to her. Miles threw his head back and cackled.
"Why, thank-you, brother!" Sam snarled; his body tight with anticipation.
"You're no brother to me." Miles was blessedly silent for a minute, then his eyes found Karai again. He smirked.
"You're Raph's sister." Karai lifted a brow. "But you and Leo… you're his girl, aren't you?" he chided.
"I belong to no one." The words were out before she could stop herself. Miles ignored her.
"But Raph and Leo are brothers… incest." He spat the word as if it were acid. "And you call me disgusting."
"Hypocrite," Sam hissed. Karai had to remind herself that Sam was 11 years old. Miles almost looked sympathetic.
"Oh, Sammy," Sam flinched, stepped backwards beside Karai. "Don't you see? I never wanted that."
"Bull!"
"Sam…" Karai almost reached for him, but his rage burned her hand.
"All I wanted was to show you how much I love you," Miles sang, his grin returning. "All I wanted was you."
"I hate you." He had such fire, such white-hot intensity in his tone, Miles stepped back, mouth a-gape, eyes wide. Karai only stared. Sam was not a hateful person: he forgave his father after he'd thrown him against the wall and broken his elbow. He forgave his mother for calling him a lying little retard when he'd told her about Miles. He forgave Kennedy for having Miles sent to Juvy. Miles bared his teeth.
"I was going to bring you back with me. You would have loved it, Sammy. They have awesome… toys, there. But that little outburst, just earned you a spot next to that Barbie doll while I beat the pretty off of her face! See how much Leo wants to fuck you then!" Miles charged. Sam readied a block, but Miles tackled him so quickly he flew a few feet back. Miles was on him, slashing and punching and spitting and cussing. Sam's knee connected with Miles' groin, but he didn't even flinch. And then Sam was screaming.
Karai flew into Miles like Superman. Miles pinned her effortlessly, grinning; a shark and Nemo. "Fine, if you're so desperate for me to take you to Shredder-" Karai spat in his face. Miles flinched, hissed. Karai head-butted him; it was like head-butting a steel wall. She saw stars. She was floating. Something slick clamped onto her neck. It squeezed tighter, tighter… she whimpered. Something vibrated with laughter.
"Stop it!" a voice. Desperate. Something cool and hard touched her temple. Someone wailed.
"Now," a voice, muffled, deeper than the first, "If you behave, I'll be gentle," the voice purred beside her ear. "That goes for you too! Now, sit and wait. You're going to watch what happens, Sam, when people disrespect me." A sound like thunder, and the clamp on her neck was gone, and in its place, some missing skin. Karai tried to move her hand, found that she could, brought it up to her neck, and winced. She felt blood.
"Don't touch that," a voice deep as an ocean said. Karai realised she couldn't see.
"Sensei!" the high voice said.
"Karai?"
"Uuhm… I-I can't see…" something touched her eyes. It rubbed. Then it was gone. Karai saw blurs. "Th-thanks…" She felt arms lift her, her feet touched ground, something put her palm against her head. She felt blood again. She moaned.
"I can't wait to make you do that." Karai saw his form and growled. Tiny hands steadied her.
"Leave us, Miles. Or I will shoot." His paw was on her back. Karai blinked rapidly. Tigerclaw hadn't used his guns in almost a year.
Whoosh, swipe, click-click. "I could say the same to you, old man."
Leatherhead only saw the gun and who it was aimed at. He sunk into the shadows. Circled around…
"… you doing this? There's nothing for you on this path."
"I don't need a fucking goodie-goodie lecture. Besides…" the bladed turtle smirked at Karai and Sam before continuing. "Your father has good resources, Karai. I got hoes with legs that spread like butter."
"He's not my father," Karai spat, but she was practically using Tigerclaw as a shield. Closer… the gun pointed at Leatherhead.
"You're bad at sneaking, freak." Leatherhead growled. Tigerclaw aimed his freeze gun. Miles panicked and swung his pistol around. Tigerclaw panicked. Two unbelievable explosions. Miles' foot got caught. Tigerclaw had grabbed Sam and Karai and leapt away from the bullet.
"Run! Both of you!" Sam dashed with Tigerclaw. Karai was still sitting up, dazed. "Karai!" Tigerclaw ran back just as Miles leveled his gun. Tigerclaw stood in front of Karai and aimed.
BAM!
Tigerclaw stumbled back into Karai, but held his aim.
ZAP!
And Miles was frozen from head to toe. Tigerclaw breathed for a second, fell to one knee, then onto his stomach.
"Sensei!" Leatherhead emerged, and flipped Tigerclaw onto his back. A bullet hole right where his heart would be. Leatherhead whipped at his face before anyone saw. Sam leapt next to Tigerclaw, crying, pleading, even threatening. Karai still hadn't gotten up. She was gazing blankly at Leatherhead. "C'mon, Sensei, c'mon! You gotta get up, c'mon!" Sam shook Tigerclaw by the vest. "Wake up!" and then he stopped, as if someone had hit pause. He rose shakily. Looked at Karai, looked at Leatherhead, looked at Tigerclaw's corpse, and then he collapsed.
"Sam!" Leatherhead knelt by the boy and checked his pulse. It was there, calm as ever. His breathing was fine. His heart was beating. But his eyes remained closed.
Kennedy had seen it through her peripheral vision, and the fact she couldn't help only fuelled her adrenalin. She'd kicked apart on of Xever's ro-bo legs and nearly broke Rahzar in two. Shredder had stepped in then; annoyance crossed his eyes from being distracted from Splinter.
"A lesser man would say you're more trouble than you're worth, dear." Something about his word choice was like sandpaper dragging up her spine. Kennedy used Shredder as a launch-pad and flew backwards.
"I get that a lot." A feeling; blue and pure, and then, Cliff stood before her. Kennedy gaped. "Sensei?" Cliff raised his hand, palm out, and Kennedy was silent.
"Go, sweetie," said the figure before her. Cliff had never in his life addressed Kennedy as 'sweetie' or any of those pet names. "Go to your father." Kennedy lifted a brow, debating whether or not to ask if the fumes from New York were making him loopy, and saw Shredder; arms spread, smirking, glaring. She hardened her expression.
"A: you're stupid. B: daddy's dead. C: get the fuck out of my head," she said to Shredder. He scowled, and Cliff faded. Pain! And a memory. Kennedy screamed as her burning house was forced into her mind. Her mother, flames swallowed her once pretty face, her eldest brother, who's name she'd long forgotten, with the arm black as night and charred like a burned marshmallow. Yuki, Gavin. Kennedy paused, well, yeah, but… her twin baby sisters, squalling and wailing under the flaming planks, her younger and older brothers falling like a sack of bricks on fire. Emma and Komoko, Renfeild, Luka. Kennedy could only be suspicious for a second, then she saw her other younger brother and sister, sobbing as they watched her jump, and her two older sisters, who'd died when she was gone. Laura, Sohrab, Milanda, Soraya.
"Do not disrespect your father, Kiki." Kennedy saw a man approaching her charred house, a man with a little girl that looked about five. The man dropped the little girl and ran inside. The man was seeing the corpses, and Kennedy begged to look away, but Shredder held her mind and she saw them; Gavin, Emma and Komoko, her mother, everyone. The man sobbed in the memory. The little girl he'd dropped, a splitting resemblance of Karai now that Kennedy could see her face, stalked towards him cautiously, and he embraced her and sobbed into her. "You're all I have now, Karai," the man said between wheezes and sobbing. The memory faded, and Kennedy could breathe again. The air was thick and she felt sick.
"You see, dear Kiki? Now I have you back."
"Stop it… messing with my head is one goddamn thing, but-" pain, and Kennedy sank to her knees and gripped her temples.
"Watch your mouth," Shredder said.
"F-… fuck you," she sputtered, and instantly regretted it. The pain was amazing, like a blister in her brain had exploded and burst the damned thing. Kennedy chuckled: it would almost be a relief. She thought she heard her name, someone shouting to her in reality. "C'mon, Kenn-" Kiki. "Kenn… c'mon girl, think, how can you- AHH!"
"You'll do nothing of the sort." He was still talking, but Kennedy wasn't listening. Something about: 'how this is going to work, blah, blah, blah, you and Karai surrender to me, blah, blah, blah…' How?! How was she going to do it? She couldn't defeat him, not like this (admitting that was like swallowing rocks) so what could she do to protect Karai? Fuck herself, she could be damned for all eternity for all she cared, but Kennedy was not going to let Shredder have Karai, whether she was his blood or not. Death…
What the…? She could have sworn she'd heard a voice.
Die.
Die? What…?
The only way to be free is to shatter everything you were, and become new. Kennedy didn't think, but realised what the little voice meant. Shredder's clamp on her mind was still strong, but if she could break free for just a moment… the Kraang were shooting a tank from his roof, one blast from that… it would do nicely. And he wouldn't be able to use her as a hostage. Shredder's grip was gone! Splinter! Kennedy got up and flew towards the lazar. One blast was all it would take, then her friends could escape, and she would finally be free. No more Kennedy the Genius, Kennedy the Artist, Kennedy the Cook. Try Kennedy the Corpse.
The lazar swerved, and Kennedy jumped. She saw Karai, staring in horror, Sam, shouting something, and Leatherhead, gazing with sad realization. And then she kept flying, everything was white and she was flying up, up, up, into her Sensei's arms…
"KENNEDY!" Kennedy's body slammed onto the ground and went limp; a hole through her chest the size of her head was smoking. Karai screamed and kept screaming because she didn't know what else to do. Shredder noticed, turned, and a stream of curses filled the air. Splinter was at Karai's side. He was saying something, but Karai couldn't hear anything, everything was too loud. No, Kennedy couldn't be dead, it was an illusion, she was certain, and then she smelt it: burned hair and sweet decay. She started to cry then, gentle, uncertain at first, but the further they fled, the stronger the burnt hair reeked, and the more heavy her chest felt, and the more tears she shed, and the louder the chaos became.
Back at the lair, everyone was quiet, aside from the tears that just wouldn't stop falling. Karai remained burrowed in her father's embrace, and Sam, in Leatherhead's. The other Mutanimals rummaged through the lair. Pidgin Pete rested on the wooden spiral, gnawing on a stick of bread. Rockwell searched Donatello's lab for a distraction. Slash sat beside Leatherhead, staring at the ground, moping.
"Well, Donatello certainly keeps his lab put away; I can't find anything except Sudoku books," muttered Rockwell as he shuffled out, book and pen in hand.
"Yes, those puzzles are a bit of an addiction for him. That and coffee," Splinter muttered. Silence took over again. Rockwell had finished the puzzles and was long-dividing on the back. Sam had fallen asleep. Karai stared at the floor and waited for her brother's return. Pete had gone to and from the kitchen three times in search of more bread. The last time he'd only found pizza crust.
Sound.
Soft, then, louder, louder… pink, purple and blue spiked from above the distraught heroes, then, the turtles and others dropped in front of the couch.