"That's the second patrol in the last half hour." Mikey whispered to Raph, Jennifer, Karai and Pidgeon Pete as they hid below the rooftops edge as the over a dozen Footbots were running past on the other side. "Do they know where they're going any better than we do?"
"For what it's worth, I don't think so." Raph answered. They had split into a few different teams to start a manual search for the next fragment for the eye of sarnath. Donnie, April, and Rockwell had stayed at the lair to work on the multiple projects that had to worry about. Along with them of course were Splinter, Renet and Adelita.
Leo, Mondo, Aaliyah and Candy were also on patrol as a team. Rounding out the patrol teams was Slash, Leatherhead, Casey and Angel. The Latina girl had been a bit reluctant as she was not used to having to work with so many people but she had reluctantly gone along with it. All four teams were keeping in contact with each other and the lair aka home base via the T-phones.
"Too bad they can have more teams out on the streets than we can." Jennifer said softly. "Their odds of stumbling upon it are much better than ours."
"At least it's only Footbots." Pete noted. "None of those mutant minions that Shredder has don't seem to be out."
"So far." Karai reminded him firmly. "That could change very quickly."
The five of them continued on their patrol and saw the three Purple Dragon goons Tsoi, Fong and Sid hassling an old man for his money. "We should stop that, right Raph?" Mikey asked his older brother.
Raph gritted his teeth. Letting something like this pass was basically against every fiber of his being but at the same they did technically have larger problems to worry about. Namely finding the fragment. "I…" He started.
Karai too was agitated. Given how she was raised by Shredder, helping others was not a second nature to her. That was something she was working very hard to rectify and this was a good example of what she should now be willing to stop.
Then they saw a blur of motion and something landed in the alley behind the mugging and they heard a voice call out, "That's enough." They turned to darkness. "Let him go."
"Why should we listen to you?" Sid asked.
Fong looked uncertain. Usually from the shadows came a garbage mutant, turtle mutants, other assorted mutants and even lately the armored vigilante. "Maybe we should just…"
"I'm not running from these things anymore." Sid snapped.
"I agree." Tsoi now spoke up. "No more running from these freaks."
"Three on one, huh?" The voice asked. "Then just bring it." Then from out of the shadows, so fast it was hard to see, the figure rammed right into the stomach of Tsoi, flipping him over at least once before he landed hard. They now saw a female mutant bird, her hands on her hips as she looked on amused. Jennifer was able to recognize the markings as that of a hawk.
"See, told you it was another freak." Fong said. "Let's just get out of here already."
"Not yet. Never give up, never surrender." She stated and jumped up before performing something very similar to a frog splash onto Fong. Then she turned to Sid. "Time to lock up bucko."
Sid looked at her like was kind of crazy, and Raph was wondering the same thing though he had to grant she had taken out two of the three dragon's single handedly. Of course as Mikey pointed out the dragons were like clearing a video game on easy.
The remaining dragon charged right at her and she met him, locking her wings with the talons on the end that were like hands with his and they seemed locked for a moment as if it were some kind of test of strength.
"This bird is nuts." Raph remarked.
"She must think this is a game." Karai added dryly with a roll of her eyes.
"That bird is so neat." Pidgeon Pete said. "And pretty too."
She then moved quickly and was behind him, wrapping her arms around his waist before flipping him over her and releasing him where he hit the ground hard. Mikey quickly identified that as a suplex.
"What does she think this is?" Raph asked. "A wrestling ring."
"She's winning." Jennifer reminded her boyfriend simply.
"Yeah, true." The red masked turtle grudgingly admitted.
Karai thought about each of their individual fighting styles despite everything. "I guess as long as she's winning then it doesn't really matter how she fights." She relented as well.
The female hawk mutant waited to see what Sid would do and as a result was grabbed from behind by Fong. She slammed her head backward and collided with his face, and as he released her the hawk girl lifted him up onto her shoulder and then dropped him on top of Sid.
"Talk about an attitude adjustment." Mikey said with a laugh.
It was then Hun appeared from the shadows and kicked her hard in the stomach. It sent her flying into a trash can. "Nice moves, bird." Hun said. "But this isn't a ring."
"I think it's time to jump in." Jennifer said to Raph.
He nodded. "Let's do it." He agreed. As the hawk girl was getting up the three of them flew across the two rooftops as Pidgeon Pete flew the way and then all five of them landed in front of Hun. "Not so fast."
Hun took a step back. "Ah, where one freak is more are not far behind." The dragon leader commented. He saw that Tsoi had now joined Sid and Fong, who were getting up gingerly. "We'll deal with all you later." And with that remark the dragon's fled.
Then Pete, Jennifer, Karai and the two turtles turned to the newest mutant to show up on the scene.
"This is almost so romantic." Candy said to Aaliyah as the two of them roof jumped with Leo. Mondo chose to skateboard across the roof instead. "It's almost like we're on a double date."
Aaliyah laughed, the ends of her white bandana flowing behind her. "Yeah, so romantic." The female turtle said amused. "I mean we are searching for a jewel fragment too. Of course we may very well have to kick some major butt to get it, which could lessen the romantic appeal."
"That depends on your definition of romance." Leo reminded his girlfriend as he ran on her other side with the ends of his blue bandana flowing behind him.
They quickly ducked behind a small shed structure as they heard the approach of Footbots. "Looks like we're not the only ones trying to find this shiny little trinket." Mondo noted. "I just hope they're as clueless as the rest of us are."
"I sure hope so." Aaliyah said. "They already have one of the fragments and we don't even know for sure how many there are out there."
"Are we even sure what do with them?" Mondo asked them. "I mean just because that armor Angel has has places for the fragments, does that really mean we should be giving them to her?"
"Are you saying you don't trust Angel?" Aaliyah asked back.
Mondo shook his head. "Nah, nothing like that." He responded. "But when it comes down to it Angel don't even know much about that armor. What if by putting the fragments in it we end up having it take over her something."
"I think you've been watching too much science fiction stuff." Leo said to him. Aaliyah found the statement a bit ironic considering how much he watched Space Heroes. Granted she was a fan too but she wasn't the one who said another person was watching too much of the type.
"Look, we're just collecting them now." Aaliyah reminded them. "We're not going to do anything else with them until Donnie and Rockwell have had the chance to study it all further."
"They're gone." Leo reported. "Let's move out." The four of them went on their way.
Slash led the group and Leatherhead brought up the rear. In between them was Casey and Angel. The Latina girl had chosen not to activate the Nightwatcher armor as she called it until they actually needed to use it. It the meantime she had her black, purple streaked hair flying behind her, except one strand which seemed to insist on getting into her eyes, which made Casey laugh hard enough to hear it even though they were running, or skating in Casey's case, and through his mask.
"I got to remember to tie it up in a ponytail or something next time." Angel muttered to herself.
Slash came to a halt and held up his hands. "Hang on." He announced.
"What's up? More foot?" Casey asked as they skidded to a stop. They were all aware of the chances of running into the Foot as they were searching for the fragments too. They were also aware of the chance of running into Kraang too.
That was not what stopped Slash however. "No, it's some of those goons that were there when Bishop took Aaliyah and the guy's hostage in the sub labs." He answered.
Angel came to his side and took a look. "Almost militaristic in their movements." She noted softly. "But something is off about them."
"What do you mean?" Casey asked.
"I had noticed that too." Leatherhead replied. "They possess reflexes similar to soldiers but at the same time they seem to be more…slow witted for lack of a better term."
"Almost like they were zombies or possessed or something." Angel voiced. "I mentioned something about that to Donnie before we came out and he was going to try to look into it but between those Superfootbot's, the Thanosoids, and tracking any sarnath fragments I don't know if anyone is going to get to that."
"Whatever they are, they're going about pretty easily." Slash noted. "I can see their firearms on them even from here but something tells me the average citizen isn't going to see that."
"They're still creepy." Angel observed. "Even if I didn't know they were packing heat I'd still be wary of them. Kind of reminds me of a little gang group that would be looking for trouble, and I don't mean the dragon types either."
"I just hope they're as clueless as we are." Slash noted. "We don't even have a general direction down."
"Hello." Jennifer said as she cautiously stepped toward the hawk girl. "That was some impressive moves you did. I'm Jennifer Quinn and these are my friend Michelangelo and Pidgeon Pete and my boyfriend Raphael."
"Hey." The hawk girl said a bit uncertainly. The fear of people was still kind of ingrained in her. Granted three of them were mutant people rather than human people but the flight instinct was still there. She however couldn't keep the pride out of her voice as she said. "Those were wrestling moves that I've seen on TV."
"That was so cool." Mikey said. "Giving the attitude adjustment to Fong and making him land on Sid."
"How are you here?" Pidge Pete asked her. "I mean where did you come from?"
"It started about two years ago." She answered, and Raph and Mikey flinched just a little. Just like Mondo she was a mutant that had been created when the Kraang were trying to deliver mutagen to Shredder. The turtles had intercepted the stealth ship but a huge mishap had caused dozens of mutagen canisters to escape, also causing April's dad to temporarily mutate as well. "I was sitting on a telephone wire watching Smackdown through a window when all of a sudden this canister falls from the sky and smacks me in the head and back. I fall to the ground hard and the next thing you know I'm standing up on my legs and my wings feel like they're made of something like actual bone."
"How'd you learn how to talk?" Karai asked her.
"I started learning to hide, though I had to change my places since I was bigger than before." The hawk girl answered. "That's when I would hear snippets of conversation and I found other places to get my wrestling fixes, which is always full of talk."
"Yeah, especially smack talk." Mikey said.
"But what is your name?" Pidgeon Pete asked.
She shrugged. "Don't have one." She admitted.
"Then this is your lucky day, I am the master of names." Mikey said, causing Raph to groan and slapping his hand against his face and Karai to laugh a bit exasperatedly. He looked at her. "You're a hawk, and you like wrestling, even got some sick moves of your own…" The orange masked turtle murmured. He then reached behind her and found a dark purple shirt that had been discarded for whatever reason as it seemed neat enough. He used a shuriken to cut it up and make a mask that he tied over her face so that it covered her from the beak up except for her eyes. "There, I christen you Hawlita, named after one of the most excellent female wrestlers in history."
"Oh brother." Raph sighed.
"I think that's great." Pidgeon Pete volunteered.
She however laughed. "Hawlita…I like it." She said. "You are good at this."
"It's what I do." Mikey agreed with a laugh. He had named Leatherhead as well, as well as many other bad guys they had faced with a few exceptions.
Donnie glanced around at the computer he had set up as he was going through some of the information scrolling on the screen. "I can't help but wonder where this polyzerkonium stuff came from." He murmured to himself. "It's not in the stuff Renet brought back."
"Probably for good reason." Adelita reminded him gently as she poured him some coffee. She had taken to making sure their 'techies' were set up for their endeavor. In truth she wasn't sure she could do much else to help right now. "What if that information fell under the hands of someone less responsible than us?"
"She has a good point." Rockwell agreed. "What if someone like Falco got his hands on that stuff after all?"
April was working the tracking app on her laptop for the third fragment when something caught her eye on the screen, an energy signature. It had been almost two months since they'd seen it but she hadn't forgotten it. "Donnie, I'm detecting something. A portal just opened." She announced.
"Portal?" Renet questioned.
"Yeah." April answered. "The kind of portal energy that was present when that large guardian like thing that Mikey and Casey fought in Central Park."
"Does that mean that Fulcanelli is back?" Donnie wondered. He shook his head. "It doesn't matter; we have to get out there. Contact the parties and have them get there and we'll meet them."
April moved to do just that and then cursed softly. "Slash, Angel, Casey and Leatherhead are already there." She said. The others got up quickly after hearing that. They knew the demons were nothing to trifle with. Renet even volunteered to open up a portal to get them there quicker.
"Be careful guys." Adelita said as the door closed.
As Angel and her teammates followed the EDF guys she was starting to think they were not looking for the fragment but none of them were sure what they were doing. If she didn't know any better she swore it was a search pattern of some sort, but not the kind of thing one would expect from an inanimate fragment piece.
"It is like they are searching for something." Leatherhead noted.
"Us maybe?" Casey wondered.
"Somehow I doubt that one." Slash said. "Bishop seems to have done enough studying about the turtles to know the streets aren't the best place to be looking."
There was a brief but bright flash and the four of them had to cover their eyes. "What the hell was that, a freaking flash bomb?" Angel asked.
"I think it's worse." Casey told the girl. "Last time I saw something like that was when Mikey, Rockwell and I sent a large demon thing running in Central Park."
"Right that Guardian thing while the rest of us were dealing with those Hell Hunters and that psycho Hector." Slash recalled with some annoyance. He had been there when the newly mutated shifter got the drop on Raphael and tossing him off the stadium roof.
The light and presumably the portal faded away and the last thing the four of them were expecting was what looked to be a slim Asian woman dressed in what looked to be samurai armor but it was in no way the kind of armor one would expect, more like a second layer of skin.
"What the heck?" Casey asked. "What are we missing here?"
Something about this woman set them all on edge. She watched as the soldier's approached her. "I don't know who's creepier man." Angel mused. "This woman or the soldier's."
"A welcoming committee I see." The woman noted. She had a rather deep and throaty voice. Angel almost got the somewhat contradictory impression of seductive and yet no nonsense. She wasn't even sure that was possible and yet it seemed they were looking at it. "Rather appreciated but completely unnecessary."
The soldier's simply raised their weapons and aimed. They made no further moves, not even to talk. That in itself was unusual as if they expected her to understand what they wanted.
The thing was she seemed to. "I'll indeed have a talk with your bosses." She said. "In my own time." Then with that she brought her hands out and then like lightning she moved and before any of the four knew how to react she had rushed past the soldiers, and moments later each of them lost their heads as they fell to the ground. Blood glistened off of long fingernails.
"Man that is harsh." Casey said.
"What the hell is she?" Angel asked.
"She must be a demon." Slash answered. "Though more human looking than any demon I've ever seen."
Then the woman seemed to glance around and was then gone. "What the hell just happened?" Angel asked as Casey added, "Damn, that was bizarre."
Then from behind them; "It's not polite to spy, or to curse. Particularly from a lady." They turned to find themselves only inches away from the same woman. She had her hands folded seemingly delicately over her chest as she gazed at them amused.
Each of them went on their guards and the woman laughed. "If I wanted you two humans and you two wondrous creatures dead then you wouldn't be standing here right now." She reprimanded.
"Don't sell any of them short or us for that matter." She glanced out of the corner of her eye and saw Donnie, April, Rockwell and Renet there.
"There's more than meets the eye." She heard and glanced to the other side as well where Leo, Aaliyah, Candy and Mondo Gecko landed.
"There are some very interesting beings in this world now." The woman noted amusingly. "Very powerful beings." She added as she glanced over at April. "Powerful artifacts." She looked now to the time scepter and Renet kind of took a step back, closer to the red head who in turn moved to protect the apprentice time mistress and more importantly the scepter.
"Where did you come from anyway?" Rockwell asked her.
It was Angel who answered him. "This is what came out of that weird portal thing."
The woman seemed to harrumph. "Quite a rude little girl aren't you?" She questioned Angel haughtily. "Are all children so ill-mannered when addressing a woman, not to mention an elder, as you are?"
"I'm not sure I question that you're older than us." Slash now said. "But you're not a woman. You're a demon. If how you showed up here isn't proof enough, decapitating those soldiers with your nails is proof enough?"
"She killed soldiers?" Aaliyah asked, sounding slightly horrified.
"Perish the thought." The woman said dismissively. "I killed undead soldiers. For the ones responsible for their actual death, you're going to have to look elsewhere for that."
It was still slightly disturbing to know that someone out there had killed men to make at least one platoon, and everyone would have put their money on Bishop, his scientist guy or his sergeant.
"If you'll excuse me, I'll be on my way." She announced.
"We can't let her walk away." Casey said. "She's still a dangerous thi…pers…individual."
"I'm afraid he has a point." Leo agreed. "You did show up from a portal we know releases dangerous demons, we can't let you be alone in this town. But we're more than willing to act as guides as you acclimate to this city."
The woman seemed to be looking at Leo as if she were considering his offer, but in a matter of seconds it went from contemplative to scornful. "You really think I need insolent freaks and spoiled brats to find my way?" She asked. "Apparently the little girl over there isn't the only one who needs an attitude adjustment."
Before any of the three teams could react her sharp nails were out and she headed toward Leo as if she were going to decapitate him as well but then Karai was in front of the blue masked turtle blocking her slash attack with her tonta followed very quickly by a jump kick from Raph to knock her away from them.
Right with them were Jennifer, Mikey, Pidgeon Pete and a hawk girl that they didn't recognize, though both Donnie and Leo were sure the mask had to be their orange masked younger brother's idea. Meanwhile it didn't escape Angel, April, Aaliyah or Candy's notice that the Pidgeon mutant seemed enamored with their newest arrival.
"You wretched little beasts!" The woman now snarled as she rose. They could now almost see a fox like appearance superimpose itself over the Asian woman she was looking like. "I am Kitsune, the Vulpes Stregheria. No one disrespects me like this."
Renet was afraid of this. She wasn't supposed to be here either, and that was a really bad thing. She wasn't sure the team was ready for this.
Kitsune waved her hands and a couple of white ninja appeared out of nowhere, which was kind of a shock since originally only Chein Khan had been able to do that one. Each of the white ninja moved in to attack and were immediately intercepted by Slash and Leo and they started to clash.
Angel twisted the bracelet to activate the Nightwatcher armor, which was timed really well because Kitsune moved again with that speed and tried to decapitate her, something only the armor prevented though it did send her sprawling straight on her back. She had to dodge to avoid a fist to the face though she wasn't sure what that would do.
"Guess you rubbed a sore spot." Casey said as he moved up and tried to smack Kitsune with a hockey stick only for her to dodge that, followed almost immediately by the snap of Leatherhead's jaw. Then Pidgeon Pete tried to dive bomb her, more to impress Hawlita more than anything else, but she grabbed him by the beak and slammed him on the ground hard.
Hawlita moved in, brought her legs out and hooked them around Kitsune's and then turned her legs to bring the mystery opponent down on her feet. Kitsune recovered very quickly but by that time Leo and Slash had dealt with the white ninjas and the others were getting closer to helping their friends.
Kitsune let out a laugh though it wasn't even close to amused. "Perhaps I've gone about this the wrong way." She decided. "I'll bow out of this one, but we're not done here." Then in a puff of smoke she was gone.
"Why didn't she just do that before hand?" Angel demanded to know.
"She was testing us." Karai answered. "She wanted to get an idea of what we're capable of doing."
"I think she succeeded." Raph noted. "Just great. Another psycho around here."
"Speaking of another." Casey said as he looked to the hawk girl. "Who's the new mutant?"
"I have graced her with the name Hawlita." Mikey said with an exaggerated bow.
Casey shook his head. "Wow, first a female turtle and now a female bird." He said. "Totally metal."
Karai laughed. "You and your weird sayings." She said as she leaned her arm on his shoulder.
"That didn't go so well though." Angel noted. "We tried to find another fragment and got ourselves some psycho demon lady instead."
"Is what she said true?" Aaliyah wondered. "Did someone kill army guys to make their own zombie like minions?"
Jennifer sighed. "I wouldn't rule it out." She answered softly. "My father made some comments that made me think the demon's he served thought it was the next logical step." She looked around at her friends. "If somehow Bishop is working with anything associated with my father then we have major problems ahead of us."
Kitsune watched the group from a distance. It was odd to her to see a group composed of so many mutants. The world had changed and she decided it was time to change with it.
A/N: Kitsune is based off of the original idw TMNT comic series, just with my own take. I wanted her to be more villainous than she has appeared in the comic series.
What plans does Kitsune have? What is her connection to the demons that Fulcanelli commanded? Are they connected to Bishop and his employers? Where is the next fragment? The adventure continues.
