Ch.9: A Dangerous Turn
While Raphael and Karai were beginning to experience the difficulties of their trials, the Lady Daimyo was facing troubles of her own, in order to get the Turnstone back from Lord Dregg.
How had the wicked bug even managed to escape? The cell couldn't be opened unless someone actually pulled the shield down.
"Only one of my own could perform such a deed," thought the Lady Daimyo, and she already had an idea as to who.
Flashback to a few moments before the Lady Daimyo would face Dregg…
As their lady guided Raphael and Karai over to the Trial, Ninjara offered to take Shingami away so that she could wait more comfortably in her chamber, while Alopex stood alone in the area holding the Turnstone. Depression loomed deep in the red fox's eyes.
Alopex was grateful that she had been taken into the Nexus. After her grand failure, the ability to live peacefully and train with Ninjara and the Lady Daimyo brought some sense of solace to heart. Both figures hand been very kind to her, healing the grievous wounds that were inflicted upon her long ago by her kin; A loved one, who was now the sole subject of her hate.
The sting of his betrayal still burned brightly in Alopex's memories. Her voice spoke out in a harsh whisper.
"Brother…Why Takashi, why?"
Why would he ever do what he did? The question threatened to break tears from the fox's eyes. Alopex had pondered over the answer for so long, but even if she found it, she doubted it would do anything to heal the pain. Taking a deep breath, Alopex slowly closed her eyes, and thought back, remembering, her mind slowly going through the events that had led to that horrible night.
(FlashBack)
The roar of the crowd could be heard as another day at the circus came to an exciting end. The circus's two star attractions, a fox and a tiger waved to the audience, accepting their praise, not showing how tired they were from all the hard work they had done.
Alopex looked over to her brother, Tiger Claw, as Takashi called himself now. Getting jobs here at the circus was the best thing that they could do, given what they were, but she still felt sick for home. But they could never return there, never see their family again.
Alopex cursed the day she and her brother ever found that portal and decided to enter through, only to get experimented on by the Kraang. They were freaks now, monsters. Only here could they be accepted for who they are.
The fox knew that her brother bore the same pain she did, but his pride refused to show it. He was trying to be strong, strong for her, but Alopex knew that it was just an act. Tiger Claw was frustrated with being a freak, yet at the same time, he admired the power he could now wield.
Alopex would be lying if she didn't that she admired her power as well. The Kraang's mutagen have given abilities she had never dreamed of, but she didn't obsess about it like her brother did. As their time at the circus increased, Tiger Claw started to make strange statements about the waste of his potential. He longed so much to break free from their bonds, and take over the world by storm. Alopex started to worry, fearing what her brother might do. But surely he would never act on those selfish whims right?
Then, that man appeared and signaled the end for her brother's soul.
After finishing yet another performance, Alopex and Tiger Claw disappeared backstage to confront a mysterious figure who just stepped out of the shadows, and dropped a proposal into their hands. The stranger didn't speak his name, and Alopex had an immediate disliking for the man. Evil clouded all over his aura, and the glow of his eyes only proved to her that the man was up to no good.
"You're wasting your talents here at the circus," said the man " Why don't you come with me? I can give you everything you desire."
Alopex growled, but Tiger Claw held out his hand for her to stop. He questioned the reason the strange man was offering.
"I've been watching" the man replied " I know all of your darkest thoughts and secrets. What you want most right now will never be. I can lead you to a new path."
Unknown to Alopex, at that moment, it seemed like the man was taking a peek through her brother's mind. A memory popped up in inside of Tiger Claw's head, and he started to remember a circus show that occurred only a few days before.
That day, after Tiger Claw finished his performance, he noticed two familiar faces sitting in the crowd. It was his mother and his father! Both of his parents were here! It seemed like ages since he had last seen them.
Instantly, Tiger Claw walked off in the tent in order to find them, desperate to inform that them that he was their son, and both he and Alopex were alive. But when he did find them, there was a third party, a child, a little girl holding on excitedly to his mother's hand. After an awkward moment of being praised as a circus star, Tiger Claw asked about the child and was informed that she was adopted after the couple believed that their previous children died.
The mom was in great depression when her children never returned, the dad wanted to see her smile again, so he adopted a new child in order to get her to heal. It worked, slowly erasing the memories of their unfortunate loss away.
Tiger Claw was stunned by the news. His parents didn't want to remember him? Didn't want to remember him and Alopex? He glared at the little girl now, anger burning in his eyes. His dreams of home were smashed, and as the family turned to walk away, Tiger Claw's claws flexed. Nothing could be done to repress his rage.
"Takashi,Takashi! Snap out of it!" said Alopex, shaking her brother's arm.
Tiger Claw's mind snapped out of his daydream as he looked towards his sister confused. Alopex gripped her brother's arm, and glared at the stranger before turning them around to walk away, saying that they refused to meet his demands.
"Very well" said the man, as he watched them go " but you will regret your decision tonight."
A few hours later, the circus tent and everything around it was up in flames. The circus had been attacked, and dozens of people screamed as they were being killed. Alopex and Tiger Claw barely managed to escape alive. After they finally did, the man found them, and this time they were forced to join his cause.
"Your decision led to this fate," the man whispered "Don't ever let this happen again."
They were assassins now, destined to destroy anything that stood in their master's path. Brainwashed into being killers, and losing what was left of their souls.
Alopex fought against the darkness with all of her might, but Tiger Claw kept getting dragged deeper and deeper into the shadows. He barely left the man's side, and was becoming as horrible as him, brutal, slaying lives without a care. Alopex didn't know him anymore.
Once again, she wished for her mom and dad, and tried hard to get Takashi back on her side, but the man stood in her way, and told her a truth that was hard to ignore.
The next thing Alopex knew, she was caught in a fight with Tiger Claw, filled with rage and determined to kill. Never so fierce had she lusted for blood.
The battle was lost though, and she suffered greatly, until the Lady Daimyo appeared.
( End Flashback)
Slowly, Alopex's mind snapped out of her flashback, and she turned her gaze away from the Turnstone. So much loss and so much gain, yet she never had her fill of revenge. She was glad Takashi was suffering right now, but that man…Alopex wished to never see that man again.
Unfortunately for her, in the next few seconds, she would.
Meanwhile, over in the cells where he and his former partner were trapped, Armaggon sat grinning slightly in amusement as Lord Dregg kept trying to find a way to break out of his cell. It was nice seeing Dregg suffer like this, though he wished he didn't have to suffer the same fate. Not that the shark wasn't used to prison after Dregg threw him away.
He had helped him when Dregg was just a nobody. They had even done some good together before turning to a life of crime. Then, when a horrible accident occurred, Dregg was mocked and began to snap.
Using his knowledge of machines, Dregg said that if he was going to be treated like a bug, he would be a master of all bugs, attacking all who stood in his way.
"Even me" thought Armaggon angrily " and then he had the nerve to make me suffer for his crimes. He became feared, and I was rotting on death row."
In the end though, Armaggon managed to escape, and became the fiercest bounty hunter the galaxy had ever seen. But Dregg didn't matter as a bounty to him. He mattered as a kill.
"One day" thought Armaggon " I'll watch as he suffers a horrible scream."
Then, as if fate served to grant his wish, a scream was heard, but it was not Dregg's. The scream had been female, no doubt coming from one of the many woman hanging around.
Suddenly, there was a black out and a hiss as the doors to their cells dropped. Gleaming eyes could be made out for a second in the darkness before they vanished and completely disappeared.
Armaggon and Dregg were stunned, but Dregg didn't hold his amaze for long. He saw an opportunity for an escape and seized it, quickly dashing out of the room.
"Hey!" called out Armaggon as Dregg ran, but he was hesitant to move.
What was going on around here? Which woman screamed? And why did the shark have the feeling they were all heading for doom?
Ninjara was just walking away from Shingami's room when she was caught in the black out and heard the scream. Instantly, the kitsune knew who this person was.
"Alopex!" screamed Ninjara, running towards the Turnstone Chamber.
She wondered for a moment if the Lady Daimyo had noticed the black out, and immediately knew that the answer was "No". This darkness was unnatural, centered, only covering a portion of their happy palace home. The scent of evil could be felt lingering in the air.
Finally, Ninjara made it to the Turnstone Chamber, and was surprised to see that Alopex was nowhere to be found. Where had she gone? Where was the danger? Surely Ninjara had not just imagined that scream.
The Turnstone still glowed silently on its pedestal, and Ninjara looked towards it, checking if it was alright. In the next second something attacked the fox, and Ninjara collapsed, laying beaten down on the ground.
The cause of the attack had been Dregg, sealing up the hole within his chest from which the missile launched. A wicked grin lit up on his face. That was one nuisance down.
Oh, and what did we have here? This must be the Turnstone the Lady Daimyo bragged about that summoned him before she trapped him in this place. With that kind of power in his hands, who knows what kind of havoc he could cause.
Whoever started this black out had offered Dregg a blessing, not only freedom, but the power to rule over all.
Reaching out a sinister hand, Dregg clutched the Turnstone from its pedestal, raising it up to meet his eyes. Darkness banished itself from the room as the Turnstone's glow increased, and a few second later, the Lady Daimyo herself ran in, horrified of the terrible sight.
