18. Duke it Out

One week. That was how long it took for the tension to almost completely dissipate. Ardyn and Ibis trained with the boys, Leo and Ardyn resumed their language sessions, Donnie and Ibis worked on the truck...

Raphael and Ibis had a rather intense sparring match that seemed to get their anger out. For a moment, the brothers were concerned they might need to break it up.

The session had started normally, supervised by Splinter. He had announced pairs, when to begin, and called the winner at the end.

"Raphael," he called, swift-tongued and with no room for argument.

"Hai, Sensei," Raphael stood.

"Ibis," Splinter called in the same tone.

Ibis's brows lowered as her eyes widened, "Sensei, I don't think-"

"Now."

Ibis stood, giving a defeated "Hai, Sensei."

They squared up, Raphael drawing his sais and Ibis drew the tonfa she had been briefly training with. Their stares met, tension building as they waited for the go-ahead.

"No weapons," Splinter instructed.

They broke their stare as Splinted stepped between them and held out his hands for their weapons. Ibis set her weapons gently in his hand as Raphael made a show of twirling his to hand them over handle-first.

"Naturally, you are to refrain from using your claws," Splinter said to Ibis.

"Hai, Sensei."

Ardyn and Donnie exchanged apprehensive looks as Ibis and Raphael squared up.

Leo knew Master Splinter had a plan. He had purposely put them together. Instinctively, the four spectators took a step back.

Raphael had a fire in his eyes, burning gold beneath the lowered ridges of his brows. Even with Ibis mutated and only half a head shorter than him, he was still considerably bigger. They had sparred before, sure. He was the one to train her. But never before had there been such a charge behind it.

After all, she'd taken Leo's side.

Ibis's fists clenched as she raised them. She'd been told she had a feral look to her when she was human, but the boys had never looked at her like she was anything other than Ibis after her mutation.

Until she dropped from the ceiling in front of Raphael.

He thought she was a monster too. He loathed being a mutant, and couldn't accept her as one. No matter how close they'd become, he was no different than all the others. He'd proven that. It set hot coals against her ribs. She scowled, damn-near bearing teeth.

Master Splinter gestured for them to begin, and neither hesitated.

They both charged in head first. Ardyn gripped Leo's forearm as the two collided. Their hits rang through the lair like an earthquake. Ardyn had never seen anything like it. When the boys sparred, even if they had a bone to pick with one another, the hits were controlled. Their training was practiced, their hits precise.

This was not.

This was grappling, hard hits, and anger that could be felt off the mat. Raphael wasn't pulling punches like he usually did. Ibis was using her stone armor to its fullest extent. Her face and arms had solidified, blocking his hits and deflecting them easily. Though it sounded like he was fighting a rock.

Ibis deflected a wide swing and took a shot at his gut. He grunted with the impact, catching her retracting arm and throwing up his knee at her elbow. The crack could be heard across the lair, as could the animalistic roar that came from Ibis's throat. She scooped the leg that had come up with the arm she'd used to block him and pulled up, knocking him back. She spun with the force of the sweep, kicking him in the chest and sending him flying back.

He rolled on his back until his feet and stood. Ibis was holding her injured arm close to her side when he charged. She ducked low, using her wing to roll him up and over her, throwing him back. he stuck the landing not far from her and charged again. He came in too low for her to deflect, knocking her to her back. She let out a growl of pain as he landed on her, his legs on either side of her torso. Anyone else would've been trapped, but Ibis used her wing and tail to roll him off of her, freeing her arm to swing and collide with his cheek.

The sheer force would've broken any regular person's face entirely, but Raphael wasn't regular. He would have a fractured cheekbone for sure, and a black eye without a doubt. But he rose from his position on the floor, panting as hard as Ibis was.

"Enough."

Master Splinter's voice cut through the tension like a sharpened blade. The sound alone made Ardyn jump.

Ibis's red eyes tore from Raphael as the boys' father stepped into the fighting area. He eyed them both, his expression difficult to read. Raphael wiped the blood from his lip gruffly as Ibis flexed the hand on her undoubtably-broken arm.

"You are both very powerful opponents," Master Splinter began. "Your strength is only an asset if you wield it with conviction and a level head. You let your emotions get the better of you, and you become sloppy." He paused, altering his gaze between the both of them as the other four looked on silently. "You become vulnerable."

Ibis's jaw muscles worked as she bowed her head. Raphael took a heated breath.

"Donatello."

Donnie stood up as Master Splinter turned around.

"I believe Ibis's arm needs medical attention," he instructed, keeping his hands behind his back.

Donnie nodded, but didn't speak.

Master Splinter turned back to her, "You are excused."

Ibis straightened her form and bowed respectfully, as Leo had taught her, before walking out of the dojo with Donnie.

"You two as well," Master Splinter looked over at Ardyn and Leo. "Dismissed."

They stood, bowed, and left quickly, leaving Raphael alone with his father.

He looked down at the old rat, face throbbing and pride wounded.

"Kneel, my son," Master Splinter instructed.

Raphael obeyed.

"You have something on your mind."

"I'm working through it."

He felt his father's patient gaze on him.

"The two of you have become close very quickly," Master Splinter began gently. "You and your brothers have accepted her as one of your own."

Raphael grit his teeth, feeling his cheekbone throb. He recalled the first night he'd met her. They'd been enemies then. He'd watched her fight off those Foot soldiers like it was a game, and she looked at him with little other than annoyance. Until he pushed her. What a right-hook that had been. This one blew it out of the water. Strange as it was, he was proud of her for it. His mouth pulled to the side.

Master Splinter put a hand on Raphael's shoulder, "Family may disagree, but that does not mean they are any less."

Raphael nodded, "Hai, Sensei."

...

Ibis sat on the exam table in Donnie's lab as he carefully wrapped her arm. Her free hand pressed the tender side of her face where Raphael had gotten in a good hit. Had she not used her armor, she'd surely have a broken jawbone. She'd settle for a bruise any day. Ardyn put a cold hand on her cheek, causing Ibis to flinch, then sigh.

"Thanks."

Ardyn nodded, a sympathetic smile on her face.

Donnie made a makeshift sling for her arm, lifting the strap over her head, "Keep this on. At the rate you're healing, you should only need it for a day or so, but it'll keep it from healing funny."

"Thanks, Doc," Ibis rasped.

He nodded, then opened his mouth to say something else when someone cleared their throat in the doorway.

Three pairs of eyes turned to see Raphael, looking somewhat sheepish, sporting the start of a shiner.

"Hey, Sparky," he grunted, uneasy. "Can I talk ta ya?"

The two pairs of eyes that had been on him now fell on her, unsure. Ibis pressed her lips into a thin line and looked down at her lap. Her voice came out in a sigh, "Yeah, fine."

Ardyn and Donnie exchanged glances and stepped out without a word, neither of them making eye contact with Raphael as they passed.

He seemed uncomfortable as he stepped forward. Ibis looked up at him, her free arm gripping the edge of the table she was sitting on. She looked like she'd been through hell. Her eyebrow had split, and was held together with a butterfly. Her cheek was darkening and a little swollen over the bone, and the corner of her mouth still had a little blood on it. He played with the jelly ice pack in his hands for several seconds before speaking.

"How's, uh...how's yer arm?"

"Broken," Ibis answered sharply. "That's what that move is designed to do."

Raphael looked back down at the ice pack again, "Yeah, I..." He sighed, then looked back up, guilty, "I'm sorry 'bout that."

Ibis gave a nod, looking down at her lap. The knuckles on her unwrapped hand were discolored, and she wiggled her fingers stiffly on the table's edge.

"Ya still got one helluva punch, though," he all but whispered.

"Yeah?" she kept her eyes down.

"Broke my face."

Ibis looked up at him, surprised. She expected him to be upset. Maybe angry. But he was sporting a tired smile. It had been a compliment, not fishing for guilt. He was proud of her for it.

Her expression softened a little, "I did?"

"Hell yah," he let out a breath of a laugh, reaching up to touch the sore part of his face. "Gotta be careful, sweetheart, or you'll make me pretty."

She pressed her lips together to keep from smiling, looking down at her lap, "Nobody wears a shiner quite like you, Big Guy."

He stepped closer to her, making her lift her head.

"Well, nobody gives 'em like you do," he smiled.

Her mouth pulled to the side, tired but happy. His gaze met hers, relief in them. It didn't matter what he wanted, or what she wanted. Like Splinter said, family was family. She was his, and he was hers. That's all there was to it.

She lifted her good arm over his shoulders and pulled him in close. He wrapped his arms around her, careful not to crush the bandaged arm that hung in a sling between them. Her temple rested on his cheek and she closed her eyes. She was tired of fighting now, and so was he. This was a surrender.

...

Her arm was healed the next day, though it was a little stiff from being confined. The mutagen had it's advantages, for sure. The rapid rate of healing was one of them. She flexed her fingers and stretched her arm contently.

"Impressive," Donnie said, peering at it through his goggles. "Less than twenty-four hours to heal."

"You said it was a small fracture," Ibis shrugged.

"Yes, but fractures take weeks to heal," Donnie explained. "Haven't you ever broken anything before?"

"Pff," she scoffed. "A better question would be 'what haven't I broken?'"

An alarm on one of the monitors interrupted whatever sarcastic comment was about to come out of Donnie's mouth. He whipped around as Ibis hopped off the table, both of them moving to stand behind where Ardyn had taken over the screens.

"Oh my god," Ardyn gaped at the screen. "Donnie, you did it!"

"Leo! I got something!" he called as Ardyn stepped aside to let him in.

Leo came in not seconds later, quick steps pattering up the ramp, "Talk to me, Donnie."

"The computer's pinpointed the isotopic signature of the purple ooze. I can track Bebop and Rocksteady's exact coordinates," Donnie explained, fingers flying over a few different keyboards.

Mikey and Raphael entered the lab behind them.

"I got 'em," Donnie exclaimed. "They're at 36,000 feet, traveling at 490 knots."

"Wow, they've achieved the power of flight," Mikey nodded his head. "Good for them, ya know?"

Ibis just looked at him with a smirk on her face.

"They're on a plane, Mikey," Donnie corrected.

"Oh."

Ibis elbowed him, a small chuckle in her throat.

"It looks like they're headed to Brazil," Ardyn pointed to the screen.

"How do we get there?" Leo asked.

"We hop on the next plane out of JFK," Donnie answered.

"Sure, but you'll have to check a bag for your throwing stars," Ardyn remarked sarcastically.

"How do ya expect us ta get on a plane?" Raphael asked. "There's workers everywhere!"

Ibis cocked a smile, "Let me make a call."

They all turned to look at her as she exited the lab.

She could feel their eyes on her as she dug through her duffel bag in her makeshift bedroom. Her phone had been turned off most of the time since the mutation, but she'd specifically requested it be in the bag with her clothes.

It rang twice when she dialed, and she still felt the five pairs of eyes on her as she spoke.

"Hey, Yodie, its Ibis," she looked over at her spectators. "Listen, I need a favor."