a/n: Thanks to kaaayyytteee, Diana Fay, Dontgotaclue88, Giai Kame, syzygy101, and The Silent Hunter for reviewing the last chapter! I'm glad you all seem to have welcomed Beta Squad with open arms! =) I love these girls. Also, I've gotten a few ideas from some of the reviews you guys have left. I will be definitely trying my hardest to incorporate them in later chapters. Anyway, I hope you guys enjoy this one! Please read and review!
At the lair...
"Commander?"
"Yeah, Jubilee?"
"I like your boyfriend."
Juno looked at Jubilee who was grinning. She couldn't help but laugh. Putting her arm around the young corporal, she said, "That's good. I made sure to choose one you'd like."
"Sweet digs!" Feral stepped into the lair with an approving nod. "Woah, who's the rat?"
"Master Splinter! Juno's back! And her squad is here too. Come and meet them! Master Splinter? What's wrong?" Leo stepped forward towards his father.
"Leonardo my son, I...it is the Daimyo. He is very ill. I must go to his side, he has asked for me," said Splinter gravely.
"Is everything alright?" asked a worried Donatello.
"No, Donatello. There is no time to lose. Juno, I must apologize for my quick exit. There is no time for me to meet your friends-"
"It's okay Splinter. Just do what you have to do."
Splinter nodded and a blue glowing disc began to form under his feet. "I will see you all soon..."
Everyone watched as Splinter disappeared down into the bright blue pool.
"I hope everything will be okay..." said a worried Michelangelo.
"Don't worry Mikey. Let's just focus on getting everyone settled in first," Leo said, turning to face the others.
Hours later...
Donatello was in disbelief. Between Jubilee and Feral, the amount of hardware they had brought with them was massive. And by hardware, he meant weapons, computers, ammunition, explosives. The two girls could have filled an entire supply depot! In fact, Don's lab, the warehouse and the living room were full of gadgets and various armaments.
"How the hell did you girls carry all this?" Donnie asked, rubbing his eyes in disbelief.
Jubilee skipped past him, carrying a bag of chips. "Matter compression coupled with phase shift technology, duh!"
"Right! If you compress the matter, the density doesn't change. But if you use a phase shift calculation and apply the right energry..."
"Don't forget to take into account the phase variances!" yelled Jubilee, her head now buried in a comic book.
"Genius! Why haven't I thought of this?" exclaimed Donnie.
"Don't take it too hard, okay? Jube's mutation includes heightened intelligence. Not that I'm putting her down, but she was quoting Schrodinger by the time she was potty trained." Feral patted Donatello's shoulder.
"What I don't understand is why you guys have brought it all out." Juno had her arms crossed and was giving her two squad mates an accusatory look. "Something you two wanna tell me?"
"I think Scorpion will brief you when he gets back," said Jubilee still buried in a comic.
"Brief me on *what*? It looks as if I've been kept in the dark on something!"
"You have, Ma'am. I apologize."
Juno whirled around as Psylocke and Scorpion materialized through a wall of flame.
"Woah...how'd you do that?" asked Mikey, mouth agape.
"Scorpion, explain," stated Juno, ignoring Mikey.
"Juno-"
"Now."
Sighing, Scorpion put down the bags of groceries he was holding. "Ma'am, let's just get these put away, and I promise you I'll tell you everything."
"Goddamn right you will," she said before storming off.
"I don't get it. Why's she so mad all of a sudden?" Raphael jerked a thumb in her direction.
"Well, she was told by someone convincing enough to look and sound like Rain that she'd be stuck here forever. But, that's obviously not the case. And we all knew about it," Scorpion explained. "Where does the cereal go?"
"Aw, she must'a told ya Lucky Charms was my favourite!" smiled Raphael, yanking the box out of Scorpion's hands.
"So if you add to that the fact that we are all her subordinates," continued Psylocke, "It makes for one pissed off Commander."
"She's gonna be soooo mad," squeaked Jubilee.
"And I betcha she hasn't been meditating or doing any of her anger management shit." Feral smiled as she pulled out a large, fresh salmon from another grocery bag.
"Anger management?" Leo raised an eye-ridge. "She did sort of...lose her temper twice-"
"What do you mean 'lose her temper'?" Scorpion interrupted.
"Well, she almost punched a guy to death. And then there was the Christmas episode where she killed five men."
"Five *armed* men, Leo! *And* she was protecting that lady. ...Oh, but she shot through the lady. But only to get to the bad guy!" Mikey exclaimed.
Psylocke looked relieved. "Good. Then again sir, if she had gone berserk, I'm sure we would have heard through the news or something like that."
Scorpion nodded. "You're right, Psylocke."
Donatello stepped in the middle of the room. "What do you two mean by 'berserk'?"
Silence pervaded the room.
CLICK
The sound of a gun clicking made everyone jump a little. They all looked at Feral. She had sat down on the couch and was cleaning one of her 'babies'. "That's on a need to know basis."
"Yeah?" sneered Raphael. "Well I need to know."
Feral eyed the imposing frame of the large mutant turtle now standing over her. She grabbed the loose ends of his belt and tugged lightly. "I can see why she likes you." Feral grinned wickedly and let the leather snap back.
"Shut it, Feral," scolded Scorpion. "Come on, let's give the Commander her briefing." He put away the last of the groceries and followed where Juno had gone.
Juno was in the dojo. She was using the punching bag.
"Kiyaah!" she yelled, hitting it with a roundhouse kick. The bag flew off its hinge and thudded against the far wall. "Shit," she muttered.
"Juno." Scorpion walked in just in time to see it happen. The rest of Beta Squad and the Hamato family was in tow. "You haven't been venting."
"Geez, is it that fucking obvious?" she retorted.
"Why not?"
"Why not? Well maybe 'cuz we're not fighting a goddamn war here!" Juno was pacing, clearly agitated.
Psylocke put a hand on Scorpion's shoulder. "She's getting angrier. Perhaps we should move to a...safer location."
"I don't get it. I ain't eva seen her like this," said Raphael. He was confused. Juno was never this agitated or cranky.
Ignoring him, Scorpion spoke again. "War or not Juno, you can't ignore what's inside you. Remember what I've taught you."
Abruptly, Juno stopped pacing. She threw a harsh glance at Scorpion. "Are you gonna tell me what's going on here or what?"
Scorpion sighed. Juno leaned against a wall, her eyes closed, her arms crossed in front of her. A small gesture of his head let everyone know Scorpion wanted them all to hear this.
"I received word from Chairman Pliskin that we had intercepted enemy communications talking about 'getting rid of that monster'."
"Me."
"Yes. That's what they call you. Anyway, he wanted me to investigate. For all we knew, it was just a ploy or ruse-"
"Investigate to what end?" asked Juno.
"Like I said, we knew nothing. It was a civilian channel though, they didn't know we were monitoring it. I decided to send an infiltrator."
"Liz?"
"No. Ermac." Scorpion paused to see her reaction.
"Mac? Seriously? That guy is the opposite of subtle! No way he can get in and out without being caught!"
Scorpion smirked. "He's a soul-eater, Juno."
Juno shut her wide-open mouth. "Oh yeah. I forgot. Nice work, Scorpion," she nodded.
"I don't follow..." said Leo, speaking up.
Jubilee smiled at him. "He's an astral being, too. Immortal so long as he devours souls. He keeps 'em all bottled up inside, but at any given time he can sorta vomit one back up and use it."
Donatello scrunched up his face. "Vomit up?"
"Well, for lack of a better word," Jubilee shrugged.
"Mac used a recently devoured human soul. You remember him, an 'Agent Bishop'?" Scorpion raised an eyebrow at Juno.
Juno smirked. "Sure do."
"She disemboweled him," whispered Jubilee to the group.
"Bishop! That dude was in our reality too! Total bad news guy. He wanted to cut us up-"
"And study you, right?" Juno interrupted Mikey. "Yeah, same asshole, different universe. Go figure. He still around?"
The turtles looked nervously at Raphael, who huffed smugly and crossed his arms. "I took him out to dinner," he said, leaning his weight on one leg. "Who'da thunk he liked knuckle sandwiches?"
"He shoved his sai down his throat," Mikey whispered loudly.
Juno smiled at Raph, who nodded silently back at her. "So," she continued, turning towards Scorpion. "Mac used Bishop?"
"Yeah. He used his aura to disguise himself. Long story short, he came back with everything we needed to launch a counter-plan."
A dark look crossed Juno's face. "A counter-plan to what, Scorpion?"
"The plan to use the displacement beam, duh!" huffed Feral.
"Well you guys sure did a good job foiling that plan," retorted Juno.
"Actually, the plan was to let them use the beam," Scorpion clarified.
"What?"
"By letting the Human Faction think you were neutralized, we'd be in a better position to quash their upcoming attack. H-Fac needed you out of the picture to do it."
"You could have fucking let me know Scorpion! I'm your Commanding Officer dammit!" Juno yelled.
"You're more than that and you know it," said Scorpion softly. The features on his face softened and his pupil-less eyes flickered. "My hands were tied, Juno. It *had* to be believable on both ends. Our people had to genuinely lose hope that you were gone. H-Fac had to genuinely believe they had succeeded."
"So you leave me here for six months? What, did it take six fucking months to defeat their attack?"
Scorpion closed his eyes. "We didn't know about the time difference."
"And just what the fuck is that supposed to mean?" Juno hissed.
"You mean mean *you* didn't know, sir." Psylocke stepped forward to defend Scorpion. "Ma'am, the Chairman knew. He contacted us shortly after we arrived here. He did however, fail to inform Scorpion."
"Argh!" Juno turned around, slamming her hands on the dojo wall. Out of the corner of her eye she saw her sais and manriki mounted on the wall. She had a sudden itch to get them in her hands; to feel their comforting weight.
"How long?"
"Excuse me?" asked Psylocke.
"How long has it been back home?" cried Juno, still facing the wall.
"Six days."
Juno whirled around to face Scorpion. "Six fucking days and I've been here for six fucking *months*?" Juno was screaming now. "Anything else you failed to tell me?"
The turtles were looking at Juno in shock. There was a wild look in her eyes, a venom in her voice they had never heard before. And there was something else...She had an aura about her...something...that just felt...wrong.
"Oh shit..." Jubilee whimpered.
"What is it?" Leo asked as he watched the young girl shrink back.
"It's gonna happen..." she whispered, wide-eyed.
"What's gonna happen?" Raphael asked, laying his hands on Jubilee's shoulders.
Jubilee turned to face Raphael, her face covered in worry. She was about to answer Raphael but stopped. She didn't need to. They could all feel it...something in the air was different. Slowly, everyone's gaze levelled on Juno. She had turned around again and was leaning her hands on the wall. Her shoulders heaved as if she was breathing hard. Psylocke noted how perilously close her weapons were to her hands.
"Sir?" she spoke to Scorpion.
"I know," he said.
"Everyone hold on to something..." warned Feral under her breath.
Jubilee grabbed Raphael's hands (still on her shoulders) and slammed herself backwards into his chest. She shut her eyes tight as the familiar yet uncomfortable woosh of shifting between dimensions engulfed them all.
"What the-" Mikey marvelled.
"Where are we?" asked Donatello, looking around.
The group was in a hellish landscape. Rock, lava, fire and an intense heat surrounded them all.
"You couldn't have chosen a nice sunny field?" asked Feral, her voice dripping with sarcasm.
"It's the only dimension I can access while I'm here," Scorpion explained.
"Will someone explain to us where we are?" asked Leo.
"The Netherrealm. My eternal punishment." Scorpion scanned the area.
"Looks like hell." Raph squeezed Jubilee's hand.
"Close enough."
"Dude, what're you wearing? And more importantly, when did you have time to change?" Mikey pointed at Scorpion. He was now clad in a black and yellow ninja garb, a mask covering his face. He also carried with him two short ninja swords, crossed on his back.
"Where is she?" whispered Feral.
"Good question." Scorpion stepped out of the groups formation and stood in the centre of a a large rocky field. "JUNO!" he yelled.
"What's going on?" whispered Donnie.
Psylocke turned to face him. "Juno's lost it. She hasn't been venting her anger. It's been bottling up inside her since she got here. Scorpion took us here so they can fight. That's the only way to keep it at bay."
"Keep 'it' at bay? And why does Scorpion have to fight her?" Raph asked.
"The monster that's inside her," said Jubilee softly. There was something in her voice...maybe pity? "She can't help it. It's spews hatred and anger...no matter what... And Scorpion has to do it because he's the only one who can. He can't die."
"What're you sayin'?"
Raph was suddenly cut off as a loud shriek filled the air.
"She's here!" Psylocke hissed, turning around.