The Enemy

Disclaimer: I deny any ownership of any adult or adolescent transformed shadow warrior chelonians.

Chapter Five – Yukio's Daughter

Michaelangelo:

I hurt everywhere; I couldn't even move a finger or toe without feeling pain. About the only thing I was sure of was I hadn't suffered any broken bones, as of yet, though I knew that what I had been put through was only the start and an omen of what I could expect later on.

I was keeping my head resting on the cool concrete wall behind me because it seemed to help a little. Not much but every little bit was worth it.

I moaned wearily, exhausted and spent and wanting desperately to forget the games the Elite soldier had put me through. I slowly opened one eye a crack to see Raph was back, hadn't even heard anyone come in. Yeah okay, I was definitely out of it.

Raph looks at the current moment sort of matched the way I felt.

" Have fun with your Elite Raph?" I managed to croak.

" Elite hell, you must have been unconscious Mike" Raph replied staring vehemently out at the guards. " Rama did this to me" Raph finished glancing my way.

Seemed I had been out of it in more ways then one. I might not recall being unconscious but I should have heard Rama coming in with Raph.

" Your sweet little daughter is any thing But!" Raph declared.

" You forgot innocent Raph" I corrected weakly, " Sweet innocent little daughter." I amended for him.

" That Elite must have really hit you too hard in the head Mike, Rama was never innocent" Raph muttered.

I smiled wistfully " You were partly to blame Raph. After all you always encouraged her to act up, get into trouble and break the rules. Like when you got her to call Leo a baka."

Raph grinned and chuckled " Well he is!" Then he sobered as a look of deep pain and sincere regret crossed his face " Mike I hate to say it. I know what you want but I don't think it is going happen bro." Raph paused, " Leo and Don are right she's not really Rama not anymore."

I raised my eyes to look into his dark orbs and opened my mouth ready to deny his words.

Raph slashed one hand slightly to one side, or at least as far as the chain would permit as he cut me off " The Foot have gone and made her into some thing, someone else. She has no love for us" Raph explained, " Hell she doesn't even know who we are any more Mike. You know how she used to love me. Look at me!" He ordered.

I did seeing the welts the bruises, the wounds open and bleeding and it was a sad chilling sight to see.

" If she can do this to me with not a hint of remorse, or recognition then trust me, she is fully willing to kill us all." Raph insisted.

"Seven years of her life just can't vanish Raph," I protested, " She might not know us right now but she can" I pleaded with him.

Mostly because I couldn't believe that it could be otherwise. I had to know that Rama was still attainable, and not forever lost to me.

" No Mike" Raph spat the words out his voice hard a snarl on his face, " She is gone and you have to accept that."

" I can't!" I almost yelled at him.

Raph cursed looking the other way for a minute or two muttering under his breath about all the idiotic foolishness. Then he turned back to look me in the face again.

" You know all the things Don has learned about Yukio and what he has told us about him since he took over the Foot clan."

I nodded knowing fully Yukio reputation, how the man could constantly slip under and away from authorities was a miracle, though surely not a divine one.

" He is a cold heartless bastard who gets off on making any of his enemies suffer, in the worst possible ways" Raph said " Those who work for him fear him, and they don't dare try to leave or betray him, because they know what will happen if they do. The police have never been able to protect any one from Yukio, yet some how they never get the goods on him." Raph snorted, " So anyone who works for him watches their back constantly."

" I know all this Raph it isn't news to me okay?" I replied bitterly.

Raph continued as if he hadn't heard me " He is into big business and big crime. Lives a charmed life. How much you want to bet Rama is his executioner?" Raph demanded, " She is the one who has been getting rid of the thorns in his side for a few years at least. She is his bodyguard and his assassin."

" Raph!" I snapped not wanting to hear any of this. Raph being the sort of person he was though wasn't going let up.

" Mike face it he is worst then any mob boss that ever lived, he is far crueller then Shredder ever was at his worst. That man has been Rama's father for nine years and he has made her a kunoichi, who is with out equal" Raph's voice was no more then a low whisper not wanting Karena and the twins to hear all we knew about Yukio. " She is as cruel as he is. That isn't your little girl Mike. That just happens to be Yukio's daughter."

I hung my head, crushed by his words wanting desperately to deny them but knowing they were true.

" Raph I know what you are saying, but try to understand that I have to try to get her away from Yukio. I feel I owe it to her Raph" I insisted, " If I try and fail then I will die knowing I did all I could for her. You know, as well as I do Raph we are all going die here eventually." I said keeping my own voice low. " Since that is the case Raph, I really have nothing to lose by trying to get through to Rama and doing everything I can to help her. Maybe by helping her I will be helping us too."

" You really think that she gives a damn about any of us, or be made to give a damn before it is all over?" Raph shot out.

" Maybe. She might, I won't know if I don't try. You know it is like winning the lottery you have a better chance of being hit by lightning then winning that big jackpot, but you can't win if you don't play." I grinned a bit " Besides what else is there to do for entertainment around here?" I teased a bit then looked into his gaze again " Tell me some thing honestly Raph if you were in my place, and Rama was your daughter would you do it any differently?"

Raph seemed to ponder the question I had put before him before he answered " I would not do any thing different Mike" he finally spoke with great conviction " She has all ready hurt our family enough and I doubt she will throw away nine years of training just like that" Raph snapped his fingers, " If by some miracle she remembered us and decided to help us, she would know from experience alone, that Yukio would hunt her down and kill her in the worst possible way he can think of." Raph sighed forlornly " I'm sorry Mike but I truly think the kindest thing we can do for her is give her a quick merciful death to end it all. All that pain and suffering Yukio has been putting her through since the day he got a hold of her would end, and she'd finally be free Mike" Raph's voice choked up a bit " It would be the best thing for her. If I get the chance so help me I'm going do it." Raph declared.

I gasped shaking my head no. Raph was our family's executioner I knew he could do it with ease and I also knew he would. He was warning me what he planned to do if Rama ever presented him that opening.

I finally managed to speak the word " No Raph don't do that to her."

" I probably won't get the chance Mike. If I do it is the best thing I can do for her, and the best way I can honour the niece that I once loved and would die for."

" You just want to do this for revenge!" I snapped at him.

" No Mike revenge has nothing to do with this, the whole ninja honour thing has nothing to do with this" Raph declared emphatically. " Serena and Kei they died quickly never suffered. Might have been afraid for a moment or two. The rest of the family same thing they might have been afraid for a little time a minute or two but it was over quick" Raph raised his head looking across the way.

He gave a weak grin " Yeah Mike I would like a chance to get revenge a thousand times over" He admitted, " For every thing that they have done to our family but they died quick deaths in the invasion." He looked back at me " the survivors of the infiltration are the unlucky ones."

I knew he was right Yukio would see to it that we would all suffer before he killed us off, we expected it and so far he was doing an incredible job of living up to those expectations.

Leo who loved and cared for his family above all else was bound to be the last one killed, he would die knowing he had failed all of us, he would see each of us die before that. I was sure of that much, because we did know enough about Yukio to realize that was his intentions.

I knew it all and I suppose that is why Raph felt killing Rama would be the kindest thing we could do for her.

Still I couldn't bear the thought of someone in my family granting Rama a mercy killing. I wanted to see if I could get through to her and help her break free from the pain so that she could have a few years of no pain, no fear and a feeling of what a family really was.

" I don't think you will get that opening Raph. I know if I get that opening I wouldn't be able to kill her. If it was a case of her or me, I'd sacrifice myself first." I spoke honestly " I hate the fact Yukio has had her all this time. I hate how he has turned her against us" I ranted, " I hate that hard cold killer look in her eyes instead of the laughing playful look I remember. I hate how cruel and vicious she is now" I fumed striking my fist against the concrete wall behind me battering and scratching the skin against the rough wall. " I have to wonder how he turned my loving little girl into that monster, taking from her everything she should have been," I snarled vehemently.

I paused taking a few deep breaths to calm myself. I couldn't recall ever feeling this much anger in my life before.

" I have to try Raph. I have to try something more because it is all I can do for her and it is the last thing I may ever do for her."

Raph sighed and rolled his eyes as he leaned his head against the wall " She'll kill you Mike."

" Her or some other Foot yeah" I agreed reminding him that it didn't matter really who killed us; we would still be just as dead.

Sure we would make a break for it if we got a chance. We had played the odds numerous times before and won, we had gotten out of places and situations that seemed entirely impossible, but this time the deck was stacked against us.

Leo wouldn't leave without his family and the twins weren't old enough to manage the numbers of Foot at the headquarters alone. If we tried to escape then the guards on duty would shoot us dead before we had even slipped a hand free of one shackle. Perhaps later they would grow bored and slip up, but right now they were too new to guard duty. I also figured we'd be dead by the time the guards on duty started to show signs of laziness.

Raph had lapsed into silence he had done all he could to convince me.

I thought of the time when he had loved Rama and she had loved him. The hours of roughhousing with one another, the intense fascination Rama got on her face when she saw Raph spinning his sai or performing the other tricks with it for her amusement. Raph had spoiled her but he had been far more strict with his own children, not allowing them a quarter of the liberties he had permitted or encouraged Rama to have.

If Rama could do this to him then maybe I didn't stand much of a chance, but I still felt that as Rama's true father, and because I still loved her dearly even now, that I owed it to her to try.

I had to try no matter what the cost or odds against it.

TBC

Reinbeauchaser: See no torture in this chapter, unless you count Mike's suffering for Rama as torture. Sort of a break, in between torture from last chapter and torture in next chapter. Ah yes timing is everything and Kirra is not ready to accept them as family yet. A gratitude for your insight.

Lenni: Another fast update, of course it helps that it is a rewrite, nothing really to get writer's block on. You can't save Raph and you are probably right that he would take offence at you helping him. A gratitude for your insight.