Disclaimer:…. I obviously do not own Ninja Turtles. Peter Lair and Kevin Eastman do.

"Frail! The skin is dry and pale, the pain will never fail!

And so we go back to the remedy...

Clip, those wings they get you high, just leave them where they lie,

And tell yourself you'll be the death of me."

"Remedy" by Seether

"Geeze Mike," Venus DeMilo said as she drew herself and her blade away from her brother "Ever heard of calling first? I almost had your head."

"Sorry, it would have ruined the surprise." Michaelangelo shrugged – his sister slugged him in the shoulder with her good hand. "Drop the vodka." He commanded when he saw his daughter pick up a battle of Sake from a wooden crate propped up against Venus's splintery desk.

"Come on, it's been a long trip – just a couple of shots, please?" Moth begged – Michaelangelo sighed; in the Hamato clan, the 'legal' drinking age was eighteen, and Moth was twenty. On her eighteenth birthday, he had gotten her a bottle of vodka and expected her to hate the stuff like some people did. Unfortunately, not only was Moth an extreme lightweight, but she liked it.

"It is alright." Venus said and took out a few shot cups from the drawers of the desk "I was about to have a couple jorums of skree myself. I wouldn't mind a carouse and you know, catch up over drinks."

Michaelangelo sighed again; that actually sounded pretty good right now, he needed time to unwind and let the stress of the past couple of days be washed down with the calming effects of alcohol. "Oh hell; why not?"

Venus overturned a three wooden crates for them to sit on and set them up in a triangular circle with a bottle of Sake, spice rum, and vodka along with a couple of Mountain Dews as 'shooters', each of them had a shot cup.

"Venus you are a life saver," Michaelangelo groaned and quickly downed some spice rum, and drank some soda from the green aluminum can "you have no idea how hard it is to get booze in the mountains when you aren't a moon-shiner."

Venus smirked "As much as I hate Chicago; the Liquor stores are still relatively easy to sneak into at night." The female turtle-ninja eyed Moth, who was still silent "You have grown much, girl." Venus told her "Are your scars bothering you?"

"They tore up again." Moth told her, amber eyes drooping – she would not tell Venus exactly how, though the female mutant was likely to figure Moth had gotten them in training.

"How unfortunate; here, I have a few herbs that will help heal them faster and stop infection." Venus reached for a wooden medicine box before Moth could protest; back before the Hamato clan fell apart, Venus was the doctor and herb-master of the family. The position would have been taken by Donatello, but he was more engineer than doctor; Venus DeMilo studied human medical science and learned about herbs from Master Splinter. It was almost sad how now a days she took more lives than she saved…..

Moth made a face when oddly scented salve was rubbed onto the raw-pink, scabby scar-tissue on her face. Actually, it seemed to make the earlier stinging go away.

"Thanks Aunt Venus." Moth thanked and poured herself another shot of sake "Hey, don't the Japanese drink sake from bowls?"

"Yes; but we aren't Asian pond sliders." Venus shrugged.

"Funny; your accent says otherwise." Michaelangelo mocked; Moth giggled and Venus made a face. For some strange reason, Venus always had a slight Chinese accent.

"Surfer." Venus mocked in return; Michaelangelo's face flushed bright green.

Moth was confused "Surfer?" She questioned her father with a raised brow.

"Don't ask." Michaelangelo said, rubbing the back of his head "Let's just say three of us had weird accents."

"Raph had a Brooklyn accent; and we were from Bronx!" Venus told her "It boggled even Master Splinter how only two of us talked normal."

"Did Donatello have an accent?" Moth asked, almost stupidly. Then again, it was likely the alcohol.

"No; I did." Michaelangelo admitted, the sake taking effect "Man, when I look back, I realize I was a huge moron."

"Yeah," Venus added "you and Raph would have raves every weekend and get really wasted."

Moth tried to image that; her father having raves and getting drunk every weekend in the sewers? But no, she couldn't, it just…. It wasn't like her sensei Master Michaelangelo to do anything foolish…. Or fun. He was just too serious for that kind of stuff.

"You know," Michaelangelo said to his sister "we came here because your bastard twin found us and ran us out of our own home…"

Moth, buzzed now, got off of the crate she stood on, and instead sat against the wall; her eyes staring drunkenly into space as her unfocused mind reflected on things she normally didn't reflect on.

Home…

"Daddy, I'm cold…" Seven-year-old Moth said and battered the cold cloth her turtle father was trying to put on her forehead – she was freezing, why was he trying to make her more cold.

"Moth; you're burning." Master Michaelangelo said worryingly, and put the cloth on her forehead again.

"Nu'uh c-cold…" Moth mumbled; she was so tired, but she couldn't sleep. Her eyes and nose were burning, she was coughing so bad her chest somehow felt itchy.

"Shhh…" Michaelangelo soothed and picked her up from her sleeping mat, she was feeling to bad to really wonder why "Just go to sleep, my daughter… Just close your eyes and go to sleep…"

She closed her eyes.

And she woke up; she was at a Mercy hospital in Shasta County; Fred was with her and told her she had come down with pneumonia, which was why her fever had been so bad. She was put on antibiotics and she, along with her father, stayed with the McLeod's for a couple weeks. She also had 'shots' which Fred told her would make her not get sick anymore.

But she had to wonder; how long was she out? She always wondered if her father had panicked over her bad fever and ran down the mountain as fast as his legs would carry him, and continue on even when he was tired.

She'd never minded that she was pretty much raised to be a weapon….. But at the same time, Moth never doubted once that her father didn't love her as if she was his own. She remembered, back when she was a toddler back at the Orphanage, he would visit her at night while everyone else was asleep; give her piggy-back rides on his shell, carry her around Jersey for a couple hours to show her how big the world really was outside of the Orphanage. Out of all of the other poor waifs, he chose her, even over the boys.

She often wondered why Venus had not adopted any children herself… Venus seemed to love them. The mutant kunoichi was always nice to her when she was little, and caring as well. Venus would have made a great mother and sensei….

Maybe….. Maybe after having lost so much, all Venus knew was hate. She couldn't let anyone else into her heart, because of her fear of losing them and being crushed all over again. Moth knew her sensei was like that; that was why he was so over-protective of her, that was why he made her train so hard; so that she may protect herself and not get killed. That was why he killed the bear….

A long time ago, when Moth was ten, her father had found that all of the fish they had caught was stolen by a black bear, which made him furious. And over-time the bear continued to steal their food, which was dangerous during autumn because that was the time of year they had to store food for winter.

Being a stupid ten-year-old at the time, Moth thought she could impress her father by trapping the bear and killing it.

On her part, it was a stupid idea.

She did manage to catch it, and she used her tomahawk to try to get it's head off. Too bad at the moment she hadn't realized that the fur-and-skin of bears is very thick, and can't be broken through very easily. Because she was only a little girl at the time, she didn't have much strength anyways so hacking at the bears neck only managed to piss it off.

It broke free of the trap and mauled her.

She was thrown at a tree by it's powerful paws and it slashed her face – which was why one side of her face was as scarred as it was. She had been screaming loudly as it attacked her, and if she hadn't been screaming she would have died, because Michaelangelo heard her screams and rescued her.

The bear was driven off, but the damage was done; one half of her face was practically torn off, both of her legs were broken, her arm was broken, her ribs were shattered and her collarbone was broken. And not to mention she was covered in deep claw-gashes.

Michaelangelo had panicked – he took her back to the cave, did a poor first aid job of stitching together her gashes and covering her in bandages before he rushed down the side of the mountain; Moth was unconscious the entire time, dangerously close to death.

She woke up in the hospital, and she had been a total mess – with braces, bandages and tubes and machines, even a breathing mask. It was night and her father was at her bedside at the time, having snuck inside.

Moth had only seen her father cry once – that was that time. He was crying his eyes out and holding her much smaller hand in his, apologizing over and over, and swearing up and down that he would not let the bear walk away to lick it's wounds. Moth remembered being so puzzled over his tears, but not being able to say anything because it was so painful to do so.

She spent months recovering with the McLeod's, and coming back home with her arm in a cast, her legs with braces and crutches, and her chest and collarbone being in some kind of a body-brace. The day she came home, Michaelangelo gave her a present – a cape, gauntlets and boots; all made skinned off the bear itself. She didn't ask how he killed it. And even if those things were too big for her back then, she still wore them – they made her feel proud, for she had lived past a bear assault, and wearing the bears fur made her feel less afraid….

But her father was guilt-ridden, believing that it was his fault because she tried to kill the bear to impress him and show she was a good ninja. So guilty was he, that even when she healed he insisted she didn't train; she studied and meditated, but that was all. It took until about two months after she completely recovered for her to convince him to train her again. Still, even to this day, ten years after the accident, he believed it was his fault, and he would probably go to the grave with it.

She knew he had always struggled being a parent….. He was a first-time father, with no partner to help him…. He didn't know the rules of being a parent… He really had no clue…

Michaelangelo looked back when he saw his daughter sitting propped against the wall, twitching in her sleep…. She must have dozed off.. "S'not…. Y… fault…" She mumbled "Di..nt…. Know…" She mumbled.

"Wondering what she's thinking, brother?" Venus asked; she was more inquiring than questioning.

"Yeah," Michaelangelo admitted "Venus… Sometimes I think I made too many mistakes."

"We all make too many mistakes; it comes with life." Venus shrugged "Why regret things? You can't change the way things are."

"What do you regret?" Michaelangelo asked.

Venus was still for a moment, and she seemed to be somewhere else for a moment before she answered "I wouldn't have let Leonardo trick me." She answered honestly "If I hadn't fallen for his false words at the battle, I would still have my hand." She put her hand and stump wrist in front of her, staring at her remaining hand and the metal cap over the stump.

Michaelangelo frowned "Venus; he did wrong, not you." He assured "You trusted your own brother – and he broke that trust."

"Why has he become so evil?" Venus asked miserably "Leonardo was once the most honorable turtle I knew, with a truly good heart – sure, he was kind of an ass sometimes, but I don't think there's anyone who isn't once and a while. And then he just kills us all!"

"The Foot clans wickedness probably rubbed off on him…." Michaelangelo growled lowly, his single blue eyes were aflame with the bitter hatred he had "But Venus…. It's time… The Foot clan and their Oroku overlords must be destroyed."

Venus looked him right in the eye, her own eyes were dangerous "Give me a clear date, and I'll kill each and every one those sons of bitches with my own bare hand."

Moth lay on a carpet in Venus DeMilo's 'home' as Venus and Master Michaelangelo talked about traveling arrangements; they would stay and relax here for a few days as Venus gets all of her stuff in order, than they would head to New York and find a place in the sewers to live since living 'topside' would be dangerous.

Moth liked lying on the carpet; having slept on a mat on a cold cave floor her entire life, she had rarely ever used an actual bed and something as trivial as a carpet could be comfortable to her. And she was really warming up to the war idea if it meant she wouldn't have to train as much.

Out of the corner of her eye, Moth saw a framed, dusty picture propped face-down on the floor. Curious, Moth reached for it and picked it up. She wiped the dust off and studied the picture; five mutant turtles with red masks and black cowls, a mutant rat standing between them, and two humans; one female with red hair and green eyes, and the other male with black hair and blue eyes. They were all posing for their picture.

"Hey, Father, Venus, look what I found." Moth said and pointed at it; the two siblings saw the picture and made somewhat of a grim smile.

"That was taken when we were seventeen years old." Master Michaelangelo told her. Moth studied the picture close; each of the turtles had a different skin tone: sage-green, two leaf-green, emerald green and olive green.

"This is you, right?" Moth asked and pointed at the turtle with a serious look on his face.

"No," Venus interjected when she saw her brother tense up "that is Leonardo." She said.

Moth's expression dropped and she looked at her father again; his skin was sage-green. She looked at the sage-green turtle in the picture and saw he had a cheerful look on his face, wide eyes, a bright smile and he held up a peace sign with his fingers.

"Whoa," Moth muttered under her breath and looked at Master Michaelangelo again; his expression was hard, his single eye was hard and cold like steel, and his mouth was pulled into an emotionless frown. Moth realized something;

Grief really did crush him completely. There was silence for a while, for no one knew what to say.

"Moth," Master Michaelangelo called to her and broke the silence, Moth got up on command.

"Yes, sensei?" Moth asked politely.

"Here's some money," her turtle father said as he handed her a few bills "go pick up some food we can use on our journey."

Moth nodded and began to head out, but her father stopped her "You can't go out looking like that – for Christ sake, you look like an Indian, take off your cloak and put mine on." He took his off and threw his black cloak to her.

Moth made a face and shed her fur cloak before putting on her fathers black one and putting the hood on to hide her ragged hair. Humans often judged those by appearance; and truthfully, Moth looked like a blood-thirsty savage. She also had to take off her bear gauntlets, but luckily she could keep the boots off since many human women wore fur boots. She was sure to hide her scimitar under the cloak by using a cross sheath over her back; she hated the cross-sheath, it made her think of Leonardo.

With the cloak concealing her body and deer-fur clothes, and kept the hood on so no one could see her ragged hair.

"Don't get jumped." Venus called after her.

"If I do, I'll come home with a couple heads to mount on the wall." Moth called back and she left – truth to be told, Venus was somewhat thinking that her niece was serious. When the hatch was closed, Venus saw her brother holding the picture frame with a pained, stricken expression as he stared down at the image taken many years ago.

"We were all so happy then," Michaelangelo told her in a small voice, it made Venus's heart ache, it reminded her of when he was sad when they were little "and Master Splinter and our brothers were alive, and Leonardo wasn't evil, and April and Casey didn't hate us…."

"They do not hate us," Venus tried to convince him "they were grieving parents – how would you feel if Casey's brother Sid murdered your daughter?"

"I'd blame only the guilty party, and kill him." Michaelangelo responded.

"You don't know that." Venus crossed her arms best she could with a single hand.

It was true, Michaealangelo realized; who knew how he'd feel if he lost one of the few family he had, he could honestly say that he'd be devastated. He had been devastated so many times before; would it drive him insane? He couldn't answer it.

"Venus," Michaelangelo wondered aloud "how come you never came to live with me and Moth?" They were family; they were supposed to stick together. And though he told Moth that it was because two turtles together would draw more attention, it was not the real reason.

"Because of Moth." Venus admitted, as she had many times before.

"I hate cities." Moth mused to herself, continuing through crowds of people and apologizing to those she ran/bumped into. Another thing she hated; other humans. Even if she was raised in a cave, in the forest, on the top of a mountain, by a mutant turtle; she still knew her manners. These people were rude and glared at her for running into them and didn't even bother to apologize.

'They would probably hit me with a car, and then yell at me for getting blood on the paint job.' Moth thought crossly.

"Gomen." (1) She said to a woman she bumped into; the blond woman only sent her a glare laced with some puzzlement before rudely brushing past her, purposely bumping her in the process. "Watashi wa shazai! (2)" Moth called back, somewhat offended by the display of rudeness.

"Rude people." Moth scoffed quietly and read the signs; if she was correct, than a store with food would be a grocery store, but she kept passing places that sold clothes and she was continually passing a place called 'McDonalds' which reeked of something she didn't like one bit.

After about half an hour of desperate searching, Moth rested her forehead in her palm and groaned, having come up with nothing. She sat plopped on a curb in front of an alley.

"I hate cities…" She muttered.

"They ain't real bad." Someone said behind her – she turned and saw a woman with a tired face and messy blonde hair, her clothes were very revealing. "I got a lot workin' 'round here."

Moth forced herself to not correct the womans grammar "Really? What do you do for a living?"

"I work the corners." The womans said and sat next to her "Our boss works our asses 'till it hurts to shit."

Moth smiled; this woman had a sense of humor. "Hmm… I'm interested in hearing about this work you do, may I meet your boss?"

The woman nodded "Yeah, you can; follow me, Little Snowbird will probably be in his usual hang-out."

'What a strange name for a boss.' Moth thought as she followed the woman, intent on finding out what 'working the corners' meant.

"Ready to go, sis?" Michaelangelo asked; he and Venus were outside of Venus's 'home' standing on opposite sides of the rooftop; Michaelangelo had had both of his nunchaku in hands, and Venus held the handle of her longsword with her hand.

"It's been too long," Venus said smoothly "since we sparred – I kicked your sorry shell."

Michaelangelo chuckled "I think you've got it wrong, Venus; I kicked your sorry shell."

"Yeah right." Venus said with a gleam in her eyes "Bring it on Mikey."

They bowed.

Then they stanced.

Then they circled.

And then they charged.

Their weapons clashed and their fists were out; Venus was at somewhat of a disadvantage because of her missing hand, but she made up for it with ferociousness. No one would want to face with Venus – due to her missing hand, she had trained relentlessly to learn how to fight without it, and it anyone was on her gimp side then they would be flanked. Her movements were fast, and whenever she fought, even in a simple spar like this, you could tell she was pissed off.

Michaelangelo clubbed at her with his nunchaku and elbowed her, but she flashed his arm away from her with her wrist and punched him.

Kicking, punching, striking. A flurry of attacks and neither of them were let up – both of them were still in pretty good shape, Venus still training and had had regular practice being a vigilante, and Michaelangelo trained so much because he trained Moth.

Michaelangelo had speed, Venus had skill – that was one thing she and Leonardo always shared, they were both naturally gifted ninja's, except Venus did not have the same leadership skills that Leonardo had, that was where the differences struck.

"Huh, you've gotten rusty; but hey, maybe it's just your old bones!" Michaelangelo taunted – only to get an uppercut.

"You are the same age as me!" Venus retorted and did a front-kick, but Michaelangelo grabbed her leg and flung her.

"Yeah, but I was always the baby of the family." Michaelangelo held his hand out "Draw?" He asked with a raised ridge.

From the ground Venus grabbed his wrist and pulled him to the ground and he fell hard onto his plastron "Draw." Venus agreed; Michaelangelo punched her half-playfully on the shoulder.

Suddenly, Moth came back to the top of the building; grocery bags in one hand, and what looked like a feathery hat in the other.

She dropped the groceries in front of them and handed Michaelangelo the hat – a pimp hat with a dismembered head still in it.

Moth angrily stalked back to the water tower.

Michaelangelo asked "What hap-?"

Moth vut him off "I don't wanna talk about it!"

When the latch slammed shut, Venus smirked "Nice daughter you raised, Mikey." She said.

"Shut up."

This was... definately filler. So Venus finally appears, and she will be a regularlly recurring character.

Read and review