Serpentine Embrace

Worm/Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles alt-power

She glanced at the target ahead; it was in residential area, with overgrown hedges and dead tree on the front yard. The car in the driveway indicated people were inside, yet the lights were out: a perfect time.

Slithering forward, she moved silently across the yard, before stopping at the front door. A quick transformation later, she was kneeling in front of the door, picklocks at hand as she quietly worked the lock. Soon enough, she was done, silently opening the door as she transformed back, entering the dark hallway as she closed the door most of the way, leaving it just slightly ajar. Sticking her tongue out, she smelled the air as she looked at the living room, before moving on to the kitchen.

If someone were to look inside, they would see a white scaled, lamia-like figure, with snake's head looking like horned viper's and two arms ending in snake heads, slithering across the room wearing a purple armor melded to her skin, acting as second skin.

She wasn't too worried; the house lacked alarms, most likely due to their… 'Special' occupant, currently sleeping upstairs. Glancing around the kitchen, she saw nothing of interest, before she began to quietly slither up the stairs. Her tongue picked out five smells, though only four of them were new; that meant someone wasn't here tonight.

As she stopped on top of the stairs, she tilted her head while listening; her enhanced hearing gave no indication anyone was awake, so she slithered across the hallway to door left ajar; inside, in the bed, her target slept. As she glanced at the bed site clock ticking 3:52 AM, she moved away from the door, slithering towards the other occupied rooms. The first door was on the right, so she extended her arm towards it, the serpentine head at the end slowly and softly turning the knob, until the door opened.

Inside, she saw a black young man, around nineteen to twenty one, sleeping in bed with his back turned towards her. Quietly pushing the door fully open, she slithered inside, stopping next to him as she towered over her prey.

She struck quickly and silently.

Her fangs sank into his neck, pushing the venom inside her fangs in as the sensation jolted her victim awake, her snake arms quickly biting into wrists of the man and pressing him against the bed. The struggle was over in moments, barely a sound as the man's body stopping moving, before going limp. Releasing her hold on him, she used her hearing and taste to check his status while observing his lack of breathing.

No pulse.

Satisfied, she slithered back towards the door, she glanced at the previous door, before slithering down the hall on opposite direction: in the smaller room, she saw a little girl sleeping in her bed, oblivious to the word around her as she slept peacefully.

Moving on, she entered the last bedroom; a young woman, most likely in her 40's, slept alone peacefully, while she smelled of booze and sex. As she stopped next to the bed, she looked closely at her victim, before striking; this one had almost no reaction, before the venom inside of her stopped the beating heart, too drunk to properly resist.

She felt excitement course through her, as she slithered through the hall towards her real target, before stopping next to the little girl's room, glancing at the sleeping girl. Her mind told to move on, to ignore the small one and focus on the real target. Her instincts told her to strike, to get even, and to make her target suffer in hell. As she glanced at the little black girl beneath her, sleeping peacefully under blankets, her mind tried to rationalize sparing an innocent one last time.

Her instincts won.

Few moments later, she slithered out of the room; she tasted the air once more, before slithering down the hall to the first door, towards her last victim of the day.

Carefully peaking inside, she noted that the black teenage girl was still asleep, lying on her back while breathing deeply. As she pushed the door open, she slowly and carefully slithered across the floor, taking her time to approach slowly.

As she finally stopped next to the bed, she left her serpentine form, leaving a young woman in her place, wearing black, form-fitting jumpsuit and silvery armor, with black mask and hood hiding her features. Standing over her sleeping victim, she reached behind her back, slowly drawing a tanto knife (though some might mistake its length for a short sword) from its sheath.

She felt her heart pulsing in her ears, as she looked at Sophia just lying there; the girl had everything she wanted and deserved none of it. Taking hold of the red handle with both hands, she lifted the blade over her head, before bringing it down with all of her strength.

The blade cut through flesh and bone swiftly, before the sleeping girl had time to react…

Walking outside the bedroom with duffel bag full of money (found underneath the floor boards) over her shoulder, she pulled out a green spray can, before starting to paint ABB symbols all over the house, while also packing the most valuable things to a small plastic bag.

As she worked, she dropped a couple of cigarette stumps here and there, taken from merchant territory, while also leaving a used needle, with little of her venom inside, on the floor of the little girl's room.

It was nearly 4:45 AM when she was done, taking a last look towards the stairs leading to the second floor, before moving on.

As she walked down the hall, she pulled out a black sphere no larger than tangerine with red button on it, before pressing said button and tossing it in the living room as she exited the house. A small pop later, flames spewed forth, as the incendiary device exploded; igniting the living room couch and the carpet, the flames slowly spread throughout the house, burning their way through wood and cloth, spreading uncontrollably.

And as the fire trucks arrived to extinguish the full inferno of house fire, Taylor was long gone…

Emma cried out, as she stumped and slammed against the locker door, falling to the floor as laughter echoed around her.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't see you there. Must be new glasses" a familiar voice mocked, causing Emma to look at up at Taylor, who looked down at her "Then again, maybe it's just your coordination: I hear you're still crying after your girlfriend" she laughed, before walking past with a kick to her hand, causing Emma to cry out.

Emma held her hand as she watched Taylor walk down the hall, two skinheads stepping aside as she passed them. While she wasn't affiliated with Empire, after Sophia had died Taylor had started coming to school with no fear, hanging with them in cafeteria and otherwise showing much more confidence in herself.

Emma on other hand had experienced a reversal of roles; her popularity had plummeted, with even Madison leaving her alone as Taylor and her friendly skinheads took their opportunities to inflict harm on the "queer race traitor" as one of the other girls had called her in the locker rooms.

She hadn't actually dated Sophia, but rumors about it had spread all over the school, during the week she had stayed home, crying over her friend's death... Ironic, that Taylor twisted her own words against her, mocking her for 'Crying a week over a weak little shit stain'. Now, she was the victim while Taylor was the abuser.

As Emma picked herself up and took out her books, she felt a bitter regret inside her. In the last two weeks, she had begun to realize just how toxic her relationship was with Sophia, when she was abandoned by everyone to be treated like trash. Now, even as she held her bag close while she walked down the halls to her next class, hunched over in fear as she glanced at the glares of others around her, all she wanted was to return to the old days.

When she had real friends, when she wasn't such a bitter, abusing bitch, when she was actually a genuinely nice, when all she had to worry was normal teenage stuff, instead of whenever she'd get knifed in the gut by her former friend.

When she was excited to go to same school with one person, she considered a sister in all but blood…

As she listened to Marcus brag about yesterday's beating he had given to some Hispanic student, Taylor felt bitter about the charade she was forced to play. It left a bitter taste in her mouth, as she hurt Emma, imitating what the trio had done to her.

After she'd begun harassing Emma for being a 'queer race traitor' as Jennifer had called Emma few days ago in locker rooms, she had grown closer to those people affiliated with the Empire.

Of course, once Frank (A upper classman, in charge of recruiting) had approached her for a possible membership, she had gently declined directly joining for the same reason that Frank had been instructed to recruit her; explaining that she couldn't openly join, because it might cause her dad, the head of recruiting and spokesperson for Dockworkers union, to lose his job.

Of course, she had also stated (well, lied) that was willing to spend time with 'true citizens' as she implied. Frank had taken her offer, inviting her to spend time with fellow 'Friends'. It seemed that even if she wasn't a direct member, a close affiliation to daughter of one of the people in charge of Dockworkers union was a win in Empire's book. Of course, couple had given her bad looks at the start, until she'd corrected their preconceptions; she was a catholic girl of French heritage, not a Hebrew as one of the younger, stupid kids had insulted her. After Frank backed her up, the rest seemed to accept her quite willingly.

Phone vibrating in her pocket brought her back to the present, as she dug out her cellphone (Danny didn't need to know about it) and checked the text message, reading it carefully before standing up.

"Sorry I can't stay and listen, but something came up. So, same time tomorrow?" She asked, as she picked her backpack and looked at the gathered group.

"Yeah, see you tomorrow" Jennifer waved, as Taylor nodded and after picking her half eaten hamburger left, exiting the Fugly Bob's as she ate her food on the way. A bus took her home, with half an hour there changing clothes before she left, waving her dad as she lied to him and told she was going to the library.

Danny barely looked up from where he was sitting on the couch, work papers spread across the table as he checked the news.

Drawing up the hood, she entered the bus, as she took a long route to the docks, switching couple of times just because she could. After she made sure no one was following her, she exited the bus, walking down the street with hood drawn and gloves covering her hands.

After a couple of blocks, she entered an alleyway next to a butcher's shop, before stopping at the door with number pad. Making sure no one else was near, she entered the nine digit code, door clicking as she pulled it open, before closing it behind her with a click as the lock re-engaged.

Walking down the stairs, she entered the empty basement, before stopping in front of a faded red, trident-like footprint symbol painted on the wall.

It took a moment, before two blue beams came from the wall, scanning her slowly, before disappearing as the wall split open, revealing a room inside "Welcome, Lady Karai" automated voice said, as she entered the room, before kneeling on one foot as she bowed her head.

"Greetings, Master Shredder. How may I be of service?"

Au notes: Omg, Taylor as 2012 Karai serving a Shredder? What will happen to Brockton Bay? Let's hope you find out.

So yeah, a common theme among these shorts is that they're… well, short. Between 2k to 5k at most, they're to purely display potential powers and setting the stories will take place, though I might convert some of these scenes into full stories.

Enjoy the next, final chapter of this collection.