Disclaimer: No, I have not acquired the rights to TMNT within the past week *eyeroll*
When Karai finally came to, she found herself wondering why she was lying floor-level; did one of her brothers break her bed-frame or something? Of course, it didn't take long for the horrible realisation to hit: This wasn't her bed. Or even her place of residence, any more.
She moved to sit up, then noticed the ties around her wrists and ankles. Since Japanese beds didn't have frames like Western ones, the ties were attached to weights rooted into the floor to hold her in place. Surveying her surroundings as best she could, Karai recognised the room despite only having entered it a handful of times before. She was in the Shredder's personal sleeping quarters. Which could only be a bad, bad sign.
"Well, I'm screwed," she sighed to herself, before shaking her head. He wasn't going to win this time. This time, her family knew what he would do, and they'd be here as soon as they could.
As the door clicked, Karai could only hope that 'as soon as they could' was pretty damn soon.
Eyes white, Leo peered out of their alcove momentarily, before quickly ducking his head back inside when he heard a buzzing.
"Why do I always get the boring jobs?" Stockman mumbled miserably to himself. "Stockman, do this, Stockman, do that. Stockman, scout for intruders that are obviously already inside by now!"
As the fly mutant continued ranting, Leo gestured to April, then the end of the corridor, where there was an elevator. She gave him a confused motion in the fly's direction and pointe to her eyes, and he produced a smoke bomb in response. She grinned deviously.
After manoeuvring his shell for a quick escape, Leo pitched the smoke bomb right into Stockman's face. As the cloud of smoke erupted, the mutant shrieked, "Ow, my eyes! I wish I had less eyes!"
Meanwhile, Leo and April slipped past in his distraction, camouflaging themselves in the corridor's shadowy corners.
Once the smoke had cleared enough for him to see, Stockman groaned in annoyance. "Aw, great!"
April tried to meet Leo's gaze, but he was focused entirely on the mission. Still watching Stockman, he crouched to pick up a small stone from the floor, then threw it down another corridor. Hearing the clatter, Stockman quickly flew after it.
As soon as he was out of sight, Leo pressed the button on the elevator. It seemed to take forever, but soon it opened silently. Leo shoved April inside before following.
"Which floor?" he whispered.
She winced as she tried to concentrate, before a stab of fear hit her gut. April frowned; the emotion wasn't hers. "Top floor... and hurry, she's scared."
He pushed the highest button on the control panel, and they began their ascent. Unfortunately, the ride was equally as quiet as the elevator itself, so April felt awkward breaching the silence. "So, uhm…" She swallowed. "Strangely easily-accessible elevator for a secret lair."
"Donnie put a hacking app on my phone."
"… Ah."
Leo made no sound for a few minutes, before suddenly blurting, "Is he with her?"
April didn't need her powers to answer his question, but she used them anyway. "Yeah. Sorry, Leo."
"I'm not the one to worry about."
"… Yeah, but we'll help her, Leo. Don't worry."
The redhead knew as soon as she said it that she had jinxed them, which was confirmed when the elevator suddenly shuddered to a halt. All light in the contraption disappeared, and April grabbed Leo's arm for comfort.
The turtle sighed. "Nice…"
"Oops."
"Stockman must've seen us and stopped the elevator," he theorised. "Let's find a way out before they gas us or something."
Since they were searching such a small space, April soon looked up and saw a panel in the ceiling that was slightly discoloured. "Hey… Reckon we could get that panel off?"
Following her gaze, Leo hummed thoughtfully. "Worth a shot."
Shiiing!
Karai squeezed her eyes shut as a metal gauntlet extended towards her. She had wondered how much it would take to push Shredder over the edge into blind fury, and apparently she had reached that point. Fear curled in her stomach, but at no point did she regret telling him that Shen would have chosen death over life with him any day. The best part was she hadn't even needed to lie.
As she heard the sound of ripping fabric, she opened one eye tentatively. A chill shuddered through her, but she didn't know whether it was from anticipation or the wide slash in her jumpsuit. The tear travelled from the neck of the garment down to her hips in a straight line. The blade thankfully hadn't caught her skin or underwear, but she still felt naked; like he was staring straight through her.
As his lips parted, she prepared herself for a lewd comment, or some insulting comment about her mother. Instead, however, he hissed out, "What is that?"
With a start, Karai realised he was staring at her neck, where a red sakura blossom pendant had lay for several months now. She smiled. "Master Splinter gave it to me, to remind me that he loves me."
Shredder huffed. "How dare you wear that in my presence, and how dare you address him as 'Master'?!"
"Well, he's my father and sensei," Karai answered confidently. "And I wasn't planning on ever being in your presence again, so that one's on you."
He smacked her across the face, but she just grinned at him. That is, until he cupped her cheek in his hand. "Oh, my child… How that vile rat has corrupted you…"
"That rat is my father, and I love him!" she snapped.
The sociopathic man shook his head. "He has changed you, broken you… but you can be fixed. You will be fixed."
"Don't touch me," she spat, but he ignored her, advancing slowly but steadily. The kunoichi swore in her head, straining to lean further away from him but being hindered by the futon underneath her.
Shredder loomed over her, unbelievably close. He unclipped his faceplate and discarded it, his breath ghosting over her lips as he murmured, "Shen…"
Just as he was about to meet her lips, a smoke bomb sailed towards him and slipped through one of the helmet's eye-holes. Purple smoke poured out as he coughed and spluttered, lifting the kabuto to air it out. A battle cry alerted him to the weight about to slam into him. As he had been vulnerable, the impact knocked him off-balance and away from the bed.
Karai blinked in shock. "Angel?!"
The girl wasted no time in leaning over her to cut the ties around her wrists. "Hi."
"How are you here?" she exclaimed, sitting up.
Angel shrugged. "Blind chaos is a good cover." She cut the ties around her friend's ankles.
"But-"
Whatever she planned to say was forgotten when Shredder rose. With his back to them, he extended his gauntlets.
"Don't worry, Rai-Rai," Angel said assuredly as she stepped between her friend and her enemy, seeming incredibly like Casey, "I'm here, and I won't let him-"
Angel didn't comprehend that Shredder had struck her until she collided with the far wall, a sharp pain in her forehead.
Karai wanted to scream but her throat was dry. There were three long, bloody gashes curving along her forehead and down the side of her face. Thank goodness none of the blades caught her eye. It was a head wound; head wounds usually looked worse than they were. Karai knew this, but it was the last thought in her mind as she watched red mix with purple and pool beneath Angel's head.
Pure fury pushed the kunoichi to her feet. She had no weapon, but that wouldn't stop her trying to fight. "You're going to regret that."
Shredder refastened his faceplate. "You are making me do this, daughter."
She snarled. "Do I really need to say it again?"
The kunoichi lunged for him, planning to go for one of the pressure points Splinter had been teaching her. Shredder saw this coming, however, and seized her arm, twisting it at an awkward angle behind her head. Since she was pressed up to him, he punched her roughly in the stomach. She doubled over and he elbowed the middle of her back firmly.
"Did you really think you could fight me?" Shredder asked as he held her forcefully in place.
As he moved closer to whisper in her ear, Karai jabbed him in the throat. Though to her dismay, Shredder merely coughed, his hold not loosening at all. In retaliation, he sliced three long cuts across her bare stomach, and she choked back a shriek. A metallic fist connected with her nose, and as a sickening crunch rang out, Karai understood how lucky she had been when Raph only fractured it.
Panicking and confused, Karai tried to go for his throat again, which he easily saw coming. He caught her arm and twisted it behind her head alongside her other one. "When will you learn that you cannot beat me?" he sighed to himself. "I suppose I will have to reinforce the lesson again…"
With Tiger Claw incapacitated for the moment due to pressure points, Splinter quickly scaled the wall and slipped through the same gap Leo and April had exited through, knowing his sons and Casey could handle the battle alone for now.
Seeing the dismantled control panel for the elevator, Splinter resorted to prising the doors apart with brute force and leaping onto the elevator cable. Moving nimbly and swiftly, he climbed up the elevator cable until he saw the elevator itself suspended halfway up. A hunch setting in, Splinter switched to climbing the side of the elevator shaft, until he spied a head of red hair poking out of the elevator's top.
Once she saw him, April gasped. "Master Splinter!"
She was suddenly boosted up, and grasped the cable for support as she lifted herself through the small opening. The girl reached back down, presumably for Leonardo, but clearly struggled to lift his muscular frame with her slimmer one. Splinter joined her atop the elevator and took his son's hands, hauling the turtle off his feet and through the opening enough for him to grab the cable.
As the blue-clad turtle pulled himself up, he smirked at his father. "Thank you, Sensei."
"Come; the danger has not passed yet."
The trio scaled the elevator shaft, until April confirmed that they were at the right door. Leo helped Splinter push the doors open, then held an arm out to catch her if she slipped as she clambered through the gap. Leo and Splinter followed her down the hall, all three in what April had long ago nicknamed 'Ninja Mode'.
However, the room turned out to be surprisingly easy to find, since Karai's screaming echoed down the corridor. As they stealthily advanced, something slammed into the double doors at the end of the hall with a slam, and one door creaked open slightly. Splinter, being the most level-headed, peered through the gap, and his blood boiled at the sight.
"Leave me alone..." Karai whimpered. She was battered and bloody, her jumpsuit was ripped wide open, and she was visibly straining to clamp her legs together. The Shredder had her pressed against the wall, and to Splinter's horror, the man reached forward and tore away Karai's underwear.
"No!" he yelled as he burst through the doors, swinging a polished sword at the man he once called brother. Level-headedness be damned. His daughter was at risk, and there was no way he would let her be abused again.
Karai gasped as she saw him. "Father!"
Splinter tackled the Shredder away from her, slashing furiously with his sword. Leo and April rushed in, the latter dashing to Angel's side as soon as she spotted the unconscious girl. Leo, however, was ready to leap into the battle and help his sensei, but a heartbroken squeak of protest from Karai had him gathering her into his arms and kissing her.
"I'm so, so, so sorry!" he murmured into her lips. She didn't say anything, she just kissed him back with all of the energy she had left.
Hearing a cry of pain from Splinter as Shredder sliced his leg, Leo cupped her face and looked her in the eye. "Karai, just stay here, okay? I have to help Father."
"I'll-" she began, but as she tried to step forward she fell against him.
He shook his head and sat her down by the door, just in case she needed to run. "Stay there, please."
As Leo turned to attack, he realised with a sinking feeling that April had rushed in to help while Splinter was down. She swung her tessen like a frisbee, hitting the side of Shredder's helmet but doing no damage. The redhead caught her weapon and ran at her opponent, hoping to catch the small amount of flesh he had exposed. Karai seemed to have gotten a few good hits in, since he was bleeding and his left arm didn't seem to be hitting as hard. This didn't register to April when he twisted her arm and punched her in the face, though.
"Foolish girl," he taunted. He scraped a gauntlet down April's side, and she screamed. The cuts were long and blessedly shallow, but April still found her system badly shaken. A series of rapid punches had her slumping to the floor, only just able to crawl away.
In retaliation, Leo and Splinter charged the Shredder in unison. Leo occupied Shredder's arms with a dual-strike, while Splinter used controlled, deliberate strikes to hit several pressure points. This knocked Shredder's guard down momentarily, and father and son took that moment to attack. Shredder recovered quickly though, and sent a precise and forceful kick to Leo's knee. The knee that had taken months healing at April's farmhouse, and was still a weak point to this day. Leo dropped instantly as familiar pain ripped through his leg, a cry slipping free before he could stop it. Shredder raised a gauntlet above him, but Splinter blocked the swing and shoved him back.
The two fought viciously, each determined that this would be the end of their rivalry, one way or another. Both had trained in Ninjutsu for almost all of their lives, and Splinter felt a brief pang of longing for the boy he had trained with, grew up beside. Then he took one glance behind him at the damaged members of his clan - children, they were just children - and that longing was gone as quickly as it came. Seeing no progress with traditional techniques, Splinter found himself reverting into rat-like combat, which Shredder struggled to adapt to. Splinter's main intention was to finish the Shredder, but also to keep him away from the clan members that were already out of the battle.
Although, Leonardo didn't seem to be counting himself out just yet. Despite his re-injured leg, the turtle was inching towards the battle, one katana braced for battle, the other dragging his body along the floor. He swiped his free blade at Shredder's leg as he used the other to push himself up, but the armoured man merely spun and kicked the turtle in the centre of his plastron, sending him skidding across the room on his carapace. A wounded April shuffled towards him.
"Now, where were we?" Shredder said darkly as he turned back to Splinter. His opponent was not focused on him, however, and had a look of sheer terror in his eyes.
Shredder looked back to see Karai trying to run at him, wielding one of Leonardo's katana blades. Unimpressed, he waiting until she launched herself forward, then seized her ankle and slung her to the ground on her back like a rag-doll. She choked back a cry of pain. Splinter watched in disgust and anger as lust entered Shredder's eyes, and as he watched his enemy drag his partially-unclothed daughter closer, his vision turned red.
"You will never harm my family again!"
Splinter leapt at his rival, jabbing his wrist to make him release Karai before his momentum sent them both backwards. Then, as three shocked pairs of eyes observed, Hamato Yoshi slit Oroku Saki's throat.
After seeing his former friend and worst enemy's eyes fall shut forever, Splinter glanced around at his family, panting for breath. They too seemed breathless, but it was more due to what they had witnessed than their battle. Understanding that it must have been a chilling experience for them, he fought for the courage to face his daughter. Karai's eyes were wide and glassy, and she looked as if she wanted to cry, cheer and throw up all at the same time. She settled for the latter, jerking to the side and emptying her stomach onto the worn floor.
Sighing to himself, Splinter addressed the room, "Come, my family. The fight is over."
So the Hamatos' war with Saki is finally over. Next chapter may be the last, guys.
I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and didn't find the action too terribly written *smiles sheepishly* Thanks for reading, and I'll see you next week :)
