7. Send a Message

This was a mistake.

Ardyn had known from the beginning that calling Ibis was a last resort. All that woman had ever brought her was misery. What made her think this time would be any different? Hope? Desperation?

Idiocy.

It was stupid of her to think this would've gone well. Ibis had chosen the life their father had forced upon them. She had embraced the curse he'd infected them with before they were old enough to reject it. It had been a battle since their childhood. Ibis was adamant that they should live in the shadows of normal society, using the alterations for vengeance. All Ardyn had ever wanted was a normal life.

Now she had to abandon her chance, and Ibis knew about the turtles.

The way Mikey had looked at her after Ibis had walked out made her chest ache. The disappointment; the betrayal. Donnie looked more nervous than ever. Raph left before Ardyn could look him in the eye.

Leo wouldn't meet her gaze.

He'd dispatched the two brothers that hadn't leapt out into the night almost immediately, and left not long after. Her stomach twisted in knots.

For the first time in her adult life, she was completely at a loss. She had no plan. Ibis was going to get herself killed, she'd completely betrayed the trust of the boys, and it was only a matter of time before she was found.

All she could do was stand in the center of the kitchen and cry. God, she was scared.

What she wouldn't give to go back to Paris.

...

Raphael followed Ibis after she left the apartment. She walked down back alleys as he leapt from rooftop to rooftop.

He was too angry to stand back and listen to any instruction Leo could come up with. Ibis was an easy target for his rage, and if he had her pegged right, she could take the raw emotion of his fit.

She turned down an alley, walking with her hands in her pockets. She looked completely unbothered by her surroundings, which was surprising considering her chosen path was leading her to an area known for trouble.

She pushed through the busted chain-link fence and walked directly into the nest.

He stared after her, brows pinched. Didn't she know where she was headed? If she did, he would've thought she would look far more anxious.

He hopped between the storage containers, doing his best not to make a thumping sound every time he landed. If Ibis heard him, she didn't make it known.

Just then, figures dressed in black with masks over their faces stepped out of the shadows.

Ibis slowed to a stop, only the slightest twitch of her head signifying that she was taking them into account.

There were two before her, one on her 2 o'clock and one on her 10. Another three filed out behind her, standing at her 4, 6, and 8. Her head turned to point an ear back their way.

"You lost?"

One more stepped out, several feet in front of her, facing her openly and directly. The band around his head was red, signaling to her that he was in charge.

"Do I look lost?" she retorted.

"You must be."

Ibis scoffed, pulling her hands out of her pockets. "You must be one of the low-end supervisors. You got a pen on you?"

The five black-banded soldiers started to move in on her.

"A pen?" The leader tilted his head, amused.

"Yeah, a pen. You know, to write stuff with?" Ibis retorted. "Or does the next guy up get the office supplies?"

The soldiers drew nearer still.

"What for?"

"I have a message for you boss."

The leader crossed his arms as laughter peppered the crowd that was now only a few yards from her.

"Karai doesn't take messages."

"Not her," Ibis scoffed. "I couldn't give a rats ass about her. I'm talking about Shredder."

The laughter stopped immediately.

"Nobody speaks to him," the leader snapped.

"I know," Ibis replied, irritated. "That's what the message is for."

She drew two pistols from the holster at the back of her jeans and shot the soldiers at her 10 and 2, then whirled around to shoot the one on her six.

Another shot came from each pistol, but the bullets missed their intended targets. Ibis's arms were forced up and twisted until the pistols fell. With a soldier on each side, she was turned to face the leader, who was still several yards from her. Her arms were pulled roughly behind her back.

Raphael narrowed his eyes in the darkness. She had to have known she would encounter trouble. She killed three men before they were even able to lay a hand on her. But she was human, wasn't she? Three on one wasn't a fight she was likely to win. Besides, he'd never get answers if she got taken.

"Now, just what was the point of killing your messengers?" The leader quipped.

Raphael crouched down, ready.

The red-banded soldier drew his fist back and struck Ibis across the face. She let out a grunt, her head swinging to the side with the impact.

"Didn't you hear me, bitch?" he pushed up on her shoulder as she spat blood, forcing her to look at him. "I said, 'what's the point of killing your messengers?'"

"It sends a message," Ibis growled.

She threw a leg out, kicking the leader in the torso and sending him flying back. Then kicked in the knee of the soldier on her right, making him release her arm. She used it to knock out the soldier on her left, then brought her elbow back to knock out the first.

Raphael saw the leader draw his blade, and hopped down, ready to charge.

A metallic clang rang through the night, giving him pause.

The leader's blade was held in Ibis's palm as if it was no more than a cardboard tube. He met her gaze, a look of shock on his face as he took in the feral look on her face. Her eyes burned, as if illuminated, and she grimaced at him with bloody teeth bared. She yanked him forward and threw her forehead into his nose, dropping him to the ground. The sword was tossed down without a second thought.

"You can come out now, Red," Ibis called, looking at him directly as she spat to the side again. "The big, scary bad guys are dead."

Raphael tensed, then emerged from the shadows. This woman was more dangerous than the Foot, he'd need to be ready for anything.

"Did you get an eyeful, big guy?" Ibis asked as she grabbed the two dead soldiers by the belts and started hauling them to the open container. "I figured you were gonna jump in and knock some heads together."

"I didn't come here to help ya," he snapped.

Ibis tossed the two bodies into the container, only half paying attention to him, "No?"

"No."

She turned back to get more, "Why'd you follow me out here then?"

"I didn't like the way ya were talkin' ta Shorty," he stepped into her path, making her halt so she didn't run into him.

He was a good half a foot over her, and twice as wide. She looked up at his heated gaze, brows low.

"That's none of your business," she shouldered past him.

"Ya don't just come in here and treat 'er like that!" he continued.

She picked up the next two with a grunt, "Your crush on my sister really isn't my problem, Red."

Raphael was stunned to silence for a moment. When the embarrassment kicked in, it fueled the rage that was still burning. "What?"

She tossed the bodies into the container, "You heard me fine."

She turned and bumped right into him.

"This ain't about me," he growled, looming over her. He looked like he was about to attack, eyes ablaze and muscles tense. "This is about you, turnin' yer back on yer family."

Ibis's reserve broke in a moment, igniting a feral fire. She shoved him back, a surprising feat to him. "You don't know a goddamn thing about me. Everything I've been through, all the things she has done. You know nothing." She had him backing away now, stepping so they were out in the open where he could move freely if she decided to attack. "Quit sticking your nose where it doesn't belong."

He stood tall over her, "Shorty's family. She called you," he poked at her chest roughly, "'cause she needed help. I heard all about ya. Yer no saint."

Ibis whacked his arm out of the way, "Neither is she!"

She shouldered past him to grab the last two soldiers. "You don't know anything about her, Red." She hefted the limp bodies up and turned back to him. "What she is, who she is. Nothing. She's kept everything from you."

"Why should I believe ya?"

She threw one body into the container and shut the door, "Did you know about the ice?" She cast a gaze over her shoulder. "Or about her dad?" She shook her head and dropped the leader in front of the door. "I bet you even thought you guys were the only mutants she'd ever known."

He was seething, losing ground in the argument and not liking it.

"The little bit she told you about me is probably true."

"What little bit?"

Ibis looked at him with a smirk on her bloody lips, "That I'm insane."

She stabbed the sword through the leader's shoulder and into the metal door. He awoke with a gasp and a garbled cry of pain. Ibis's crimson stare turned back on him as she knelt down.

She put a hand on his uninjured shoulder and looked into his eyes as he squirmed, "Shh, shh. Look at me."

His wide, fearful eyes met hers, breathing raggedly. She removed his mask and bound his hands with it, "The more still you sit, the less time this will take."

He let out whimpers as she tied his headband as a gag, then rested her arm on the top of her thigh.

"You're going to deliver my message, okay?" Her other hand gripped the blade menacingly slow, pulling more whimpers and whines from the leader. "You're going to tell Shredder himself just who ruined you and your team. And just before he kills you for being so goddamn useless," she spat the word through clenched teeth, "you'll say my name. It'll be the last thing that you cry out before you beg for your miserable life." She twisted the blade agonizingly slow, making sure to draw out as much pain as possible from the motion. The metal door behind her creaked with the force. "My name is Ibis Rheys, think you can remember that?" She twisted harder, making him start to cry out, "Or do have to carve it into your skin?"

He plead incoherently around the cloth in his mouth, and she released the blade. "Good."

She stood, then drew back her arm and knocked him out with a single punch. His head fell limply to the side, the cheek she had just hit starting to bruise and swell. The smell of blood hung in the cold breeze that came from the docks. When she turned back around, Raphael was giving her an unreadable look.

"Ain'tcha ever dealt with his type before?" she brushed past him nonchalantly.

"Ain't never had to kill anyone to get the point across," he snapped.

"The fuck do you want, a gold star?" she grumbled over her shoulder as she picked up and reholstered her pistols. "If I wouldn't have killed 'em, they would've done worse to me."

"Well, don't that just make it all better."

"Don't you have some hole to crawl back into?" she snapped.

"What, ya got more people ta murder afta dis?"

Ibis whirled around in an instant. If he'd been paying better attention instead of trying to egg her on, he might have seen it coming. But he didn't. Her tightly balled fist connected with the side of his face with the force of a Mack truck. It was much more than he would've expected from a human her size, and he staggered a little bit before turning back to look at her incredulously.

Her red eyes were ablaze, her still-bloody teeth were bared, and she neared him without restraint, "You don't know a goddamn thing." She took a breath and her words stuck behind her teeth. Her fingers clenched into a fist before dropping harshly. "Forget it. What could a city turtle like you possibly know?" She turned and started walking again. "Fuck it. I ain't got the time, anyways."