Chapter 4

Chapter Song: The Thieving Magpie Overture - Gioachino Rossini

The night air was warm, yet the temperatures read 50 degrees. A lone pigeon who had been flying about the city all day scavenging on scraps of food touched down on a rooftop to rest it's wings. It barely got a five minutes of rest before five figures leapt towards the roof, scaring it off as it flew away. The figures that let from the roof were the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Leonardo, Raphael, Michelangelo, Donatello, and their Ex-Foot Clan friend, Miranda. They all made skillful leaps and bounds across the rooftops, though Miranda's leaps were more parkour based than the Turtles' leaps and flips, nevertheless, she was keeping up to their pace as they all made an elaborate leap across a street to the next building to keep in motion. Eventually, they all stopped at the ledge of a building looking over a lone warehouse with a rusty fence around it.

"Typical, an abandoned warehouse, why not just put out a sign that says 'Evil Things Goin' On Here, Do Not Disturb.'" Raphael said sarcastically.

"Hughes said th' Wutang filmed their televised message here an' tha' they also use it fer' fencing stolen goods and weapons t' distribute to their 'Killer Bees' 'round th' city." Miranda said looking over the quiet warehouse. Her entire day was rather hectic. At work, the Wutang's televised murder was all the talk of the town, but what surprised Miranda the most was how many people thought it was a fake and everyone in the video were actors. Herbert himself complained about the murder, making a "violence on television is effecting the kids" speech which made all his employees roll their eyes to hear this speech. Miranda had a client that day where she was to meet with an urban family of three boys and one mother, but the woman had to cancel her plans as she had told Miranda that her boys had gone missing that morning. Miranda had her suspicions, but she concluded they had seen the Wutang Message on TV and ran away from home to join them.

For a group of guys claiming their methods differed from the Foot Clan, the use of small children in their dirty work clearly didn't stop them from being hypocrites.

"Oh well, guess we should go down and say hi." Raphael said before he leapt down from the roof, with the others following behind.

They entered the warehouse and found old crates, some broken-in windows and some old graffiti, not much here from a first glance.

"Spread out, but keep your eyes open, there's no telling what's in here." Leonardo warned as they all walked into the warehouse cautiously, their weapons out and and ready should any ninjas be seen. Miranda walked slowly with Raphael as they checked around dark corners and crates, finding nothing but a few rats scattered about. The thought of Hughes lying to Miranda came to her mind, a theory she pondered on considering she wasn't hearing anything or finding anything that suggested anyone was here. Eventually, Miranda the boys had spent a half hour silently looking over the entire warehouse but found nothing but a few rats and leftover shipping materials, but nothing to suggest anyone had been here, they all grouped together to the center of the warehouse with light shining on them.

"Well, that sure was a waste of time, there's nothin' here." Raphael complained.

"I found a few rats here and there, so this place isn't exactly lifeless." Donatello replied.

"Shut the fuck up Donnie." Raphael quipped in frustration.

"Raph, why do you gotta be mean to Donnie like that? It's not his fault we can't find anyone here." Leonardo said to Raphael.

"Because we just wasted all this time lookin' around in this empty crap house when we could have just gone out interrogating street punks for their location." Raphael complained to Leonardo.

"Look, it is disappointing, but you shouldn't take it out on Donnie." Leonardo said, his tone rising.

"And what else should I blame? The fuckin' wall? Oh sure!" Raphael sarcastically said pulling out his sai blade, "Fuck you wall! You wasted my time! The Wutang ain't here!" He threw the sai at the wall in frustration when, to the surprise of all the turtles and Miranda, the wall fell back as a large group of people working away behind it suddenly looked up at them.

Everyone froze.

On the wall, hell, on all their arms, whether it be tattoos or arm bands, the Wutang symbol was displayed with pride. There was this awkward silence that settled in the room, you could have heard a pin drop with this really awkward moment for both them

"…I guess they are here Raph…they were just hiding behind a fake wall…" Donatello pointed out the obvious, Raphael just lowered his head and shook it.

"Donnie…please…just shut the fuck up…"

"Get them!" the one Wutang worker in the hidden room yelled out as all the workers rushed out, swords and other weapons in hand, Miranda and the other Turtles readied themselves as they began to fight with the Wutang workers.

Miranda's experience with the previous assassin had proven to Miranda that it was inadvisable to fight against them alone, to her luck, these Wutang workers were no more experienced at fighting than drunken blue-collar dock fishermen. They had some skill to hold a weapon, but not enough to force Miranda on her knees. Miranda backed up to Donatello as they coordinated their attacks together, Donatello would skillfully manage to wave his bo staff behind him to knock the workers behind him in their faces as Miranda would skillfully lean back and leave cuts on their hands or faces, which distracted them long enough for Donnie to sweep their legs and knock them on their asses. Raphael, who was one weapon short of a sai, ran up to the Wutang worker that had grabbed his sai as Raphael grabbed his attacker's hand and took the sai out of his hand.

"I'll be takin' that back, thank you." Raphael quipped before he delivered a head-butt to his attacker before spinning the sai in his hands and going to town with more adversaries.

Michelangelo was backed up into a corner, using his nunchucks to deflect attacks from the workers before Leonardo arrived and skillfully sliced their weapons from their hilts, making them all pause to stare confused at their broken weapons before Michelangelo used this distraction to sweep their legs, forcing them to fall on their asses again.

"Now stay down!" Michelangelo yelled out as though they were dogs before moving on to continue to smack more workers.

At one point, the Wutang Workers knocked Donatello's bo staff out of his hand as it flew over towards Miranda's direction. Miranda skillfully threw her blade over to Donatello to at least arm himself as she grabbed the bo staff and skillfully began to spin it around and about her body as she skillfully slapped, tripped, and jabbed many of the Wutang. Soon enough, she found herself surrounded by a group of knuckleheads as she skillfully knocked them all on their asses, one guy was dumb enough to run up to her, Miranda smacked his head as she spun around, her back to his as she spun the bo staff around his neck and flipped him over her body, slamming him on the ground, a groan indicating she hadn't snapped his neck. Two knuckleheads rushing her from in front and behind, Miranda skillfully swept the leg of the one behind her as he pinned one end of the bo staff onto his back as she flipped over, her feet delivering a kick to the other's jaw as she landed back on her feet after performing a flip like that, quickly raising the staff to her head to deflect a sword about to slash her face.

"Miranda! Switch!" Donatello called out he managed to use the handle of Miranda's katana to smack a Wutang worker's nose as Miranda skillfully threw the sword that had been pinned in the bo staff across the room as she rammed the other end in between the worker's legs before throwing it across to Donatello's hand as Donatello threw it across the room, Miranda noticed a Wutang worker about to stab her from behind, she ducked down as the katana she was about to catch her hand instead rammed into the worker's chest. Miranda put her hands on the handle and pulled it out to slice an attacker's bo staff in half before delivering a roundhouse kick to another Wutang knucklehead that was running towards her

Raphael and Leonardo used their own shells to act as shields from most of the attacks as they dispensed with their adversaries, Raphael used mostly his the handles of his sai to grab arms while Leonardo would deliver non-lethal slashes to their arms and legs. They could deliver killing blows if they wanted to, Miranda clearly wasn't holding back, but their intense training under Splinter, they were choosing to refrain from using deadly force. They saw Michelangelo being pushed to the ground as Leonardo grabbed Raphael and tossed him over to the Wutang workers about to jab Michelangelo's soft spots, knocking those knuckleheads over like bowling ball pins, before Raphael used his legs and another Wutang worker trying to get up to force that worker on his back with Raphael back on his feet as he went over and pulled Michelangelo up.

"These guys aren't that tough." Michelangelo said in between his panting from the fighting.

"Yeah, maybe The Wutang are just a bunch of pus-" Raphael found a boot to his head cutting off his sentence as soon, he and Michelangelo found themselves squared off with a few guys wearing hood-like masks with the Wutang symbol on their faces and chests, their arms revealed through torn sleeves as the one who delivered a firm kick to Raphael's face wielded a pair of butterfly swords as he spun them in his hands to show off his skill to the Turtles. Raphael just grinned in delight.

"I knew those guys were just a warm-up, looks like the real fun just arrived…" Raphael said, leaning his neck from side to side, small cracks were heard before he returned his head to it's upright position. Miranda was just done dispensing another worker when she turned and saw the new guys entering the warehouse.

"Well, looks like th' calvary arrived…" she said to herself as she ran up to Leonardo, "Leo, remember back with that woman in the streets the other night? She couldn't handle both of us then."

"Yeah, I remember Miranda. Though it looks like they brought their own backup…" Leonardo said, spinning the katana blade in his hand.

"Intruders…we are the Killer Bees, soldiers of the Wutang Clan…we offer you a choice…drop your weapons and join us…or die where you stand…" The biggest Wutang solider called out. Miranda looked over what she and the boys were up against.

She counted 10 Killer Bees; at least three of them had tonfas in their hands, two of them had Monk Spades, she saw the only female Killer Bee had hook swords in her hands, there was, of course, the tall thin soldier behind her was wielding dual butterfly swords who had given a kick to Raphael's face, on the far right, a Killer Bee spun a chain whip in his hand, the remaining Killer Bees held yard-long blades in their hands. They all looked strong and like they all knew how to use these weapons. Perhaps their offer to just drop their weapons wasn't that unreasonable.

"I got a better idea, why don't you all get your five dollar asses out of here before I make change?" Raphael quipped, so much for diplomacy, looks like it was on now.

"Kiler Bees…bring the motherfucking ruckus!" The largest Killer Bee called out, prompting them to go forth and attack our heroes.

Miranda leapt over Leonardo, going straight for the female Killer Bee with the hook swords, the woman immediately blocked Miranda's attack, leaving her open to Leonardo's swords to come from behind Miranda as she caught them in the handles of her blade, Miranda used this distraction to deliver a firm kick to the woman's throat before the sharp end of a monk's spade nearly clipped her face as she soon found herself facing off against a Killer Bee, this felt like she was back in the streets with the woman who wouldn't give Miranda an opening to attack, all Miranda could do was dodge and deflect attacks from this skilled fighter who clearly wasn't as sloppy as the last assassin she fought. She hoped Leonardo could back her up, but in the corner of her eye, she saw that Leo was having his own difficulties against the Wutang soldiers. Michelangelo was struggling against the one with the chain whip and the tonfa, Donatello was doing all he could to keep his distance from the men with the huge katana blades, Raphael found himself head to head with the Killer Bee with the butterfly swords as well as constantly trying to hold off the other Wutang soldier with his monk spade, Leonardo was still trying to contend with the woman with her hook swords and the other soldiers with tonfas batting away at his shell whenever Leonardo wasn't deflecting them with his katanas; they were kicking their asses.

They were deadly fast and it was the Turtles' refusal to kill that was keeping them from trying to take the fatal shot that could end this battle fast. The workers Miranda was fighting before were mostly just blue-collar workers that had no training with weapons, these guys did, so, by her logic, they were worthy to spray her blood.

In a split second, Miranda quickly flipped the katana blade to her other hand just as the crescent side of the monks spade was being thrust towards her, Miranda grabbed the Monks spade as she spun her self around and rammed her katana blade into the back of the neck of the Killer Bee she faced off against. A Killer Bee with a tonfa rushed towards her, Miranda quickly spun herself around, throwing the corpse at the Wutang soldier, pulling her katana blade out of his neck as well as the monk spade in her other hand, it was heavier than a bo staff, but she could manage. She quickly switched the katana blade from holding it backhanded to front-handed style as she used the monk Spade in combination with her katana to fight off with the Killer Bee, spinning the spade in her hand to deflect his. In a quick moment, she threw both weapons in the air to switch hands as her katana blade focused on the Wutang soldier while Miranda used the crescent side of the spade to grab the hook that the female Killer Bee was about to use to surprise Leonardo at his neck before she delivered a swift kick to the kneecap of the tonfa wielding soldier in front of her as she pulled on the monk spade to pull the hook sword girl over to Miranda as the hook girl managed to block a killing blow from Miranda and even managed to pull the blade out of Miranda's hand and threw it across the room, coincidentally hitting the back of a Killer Bee that was about to decapitate Donatello. Miranda quickly grabbed the wounded tonfa fighter next to her as the hook sword girl delivered a killing blow to him instead of Miranda, using this dead body as a shield, Miranda quickly grabbed the other arm of this girl as she rammed the spade end through the girl's chest.

At this point, the other Wutang solider with the huge katana blade shifted his focus away from Donatello to go after Miranda, allowing Donatello to finally get a moment to breathe before he shifted his focus to the Killer Bee with the chain whip, grabbing the end of the chain whip that was about to hit Michelangelo, causing the Killer Bee to look behind ins surprise.

"Lights out bozo!" Donatello called out before pulling down on the chain, forcing the Wutang soldier to lose his balance as Donatello flipped his bo staff and rammed the back of the Killer Bee's head so hard he fell down to the ground, stunned. Donatello unwound the chain before going over to help Michelangelo back up. "You all right brother?"

"Y-yeah…yeah I'm fine…" Michelangelo managed to say through his heavy panting, he was losing energy from this fight, Donatello spotted a few welts made from the chain whip on Mikey's green skin as well as a few lines on his turtle shell. "I think I prefer the guys from before…they were easier…"

"Yeah…me too Mikey…" Donatello said to his brother comfortingly, but their moment to relax was ruined as a Killer bee with tonfa ran up to them, catching them off guard as Michelangelo found himself pushed over into a row of barrels, Michelangelo crashed through them as this brown liquid spilled out and landed on his face, some going down his mouth. Donatello managed to regain his composure as he looked back to his brother, "Mikey! You all right?!" Michelangelo was being soaked in this liquid that had long been forgotten, he sat up, feeling a little woozy.

"I…I think so…I feel weird though…" Michelangelo struggled to get up, this wooziness was really strong, he must have gotten hit harder than he thought.

While Michelangelo was trying to overcome this new sensation, Miranda found herself facing off against a Killer Bee with a katana blade almost as long as a child, he sliced the monk spade in half as he managed to keep Miranda on her toes to use both sides of the sliced monks spade to fight off her attacker, as she fought hard, she looked again at the boys, Leonardo could now focus on a Wutang soldier with tonfa, Raphael was still going head to head with the Killer Bee with the butterfly, neither showing any signs of giving up, Leonardo was now going up against a Killer Bee that dropped his tonfa and was now using the abandoned hook swords to battle with Donatello, Leonardo somehow found himself going hand to hand against the Killer Bee with the tonfa.

Thankfully, the odds were now in their favor instead of against them.

Miranda suddenly found her hand in pain as she realized her opponent had slashed her left hand, blood stating to surface, She dropped the weapons in her hand as she rolled underneath the Killer Bee, coming up from behind as she grabbed his legs and stood up with his legs in her hands, forcing him to fall on his hands, Miranda smirked as she delivered a firm kick to his chest, making him fall on his back. Miranda quickly net over and picked up the katana blade as she turned back to the Wutang soldier with the huge katana blade as the both of them began to clash swords intensely.

Donatello began to struggle with the Killer Bee as he found himself back on the floor, the Killer Bee was about to finish Donatello off when Michelangelo threw his nunchucks at him, he was looking to good, he was swaying left and right as he held his hands up.

"Why don ya go- hic* pick one someone your own size?…" Michelangelo slurred. The Killer Bee just smirked underneath his hood mask, he dropped the hook blades as he walked over to Michelangelo, ready to just push this disoriented turtle over, to his shock, Michelangelo managed to grabs his hand and slap him in the face, this surprised the Killer Bee.

"Impossible…." He said to himself through his hood mask, he rushed towards Michelangelo again, delivering a barrage of swift fists towards Michelangelo, not only did Michelangelo managed to deflect each other, but he suddenly became a fast array of fists and elbows as he knocked the Killer Bee on his ass, looking up at the disoriented turtle who was still swaying left and right, holding his right hand out while his left hand remained close to his chest, giving an occasional hiccup. Donatello stared in shock.

"Mikey? What did you do?"

"I never would have believed it unless I saw it with my own eyes…" The Killer Bee muttered before getting back on his feet, "a reptile is skilled at Drunken Fist?"

"Hic* Dr-drunk waht?" Michelangelo slurred as he swayed in place, The Killer Bee picked up Donatello's bo Staff and rushed at Michelangelo, Michelangelo only moved his body around skillfully, though disoriented, as he found himself knocking the end of Donatello's staff away from him and occasionally switching his footing around, confusing the Killer Bee greatly until Michelangelo knocked the bo staff out of the Killer Bee's hand, flying over the warehouse and hitting the back of the Killer Bee attacking Miranda, giving Miranda the opportunity to ram her katana up through the bottom jaw of the Wutang soldier and up the roof of his mouth before she pulled it back out, letting her opponent fall over, she looked over to Michelangelo in surprise to see fight moves she had never seen Michelangelo perform before.

"Mikey?" Miranda questioned in disbelief as Mikey was literally on his knees, spinning, while serving swift punches to this Killer Bee soldier. Her attention quickly turned back to the others as she saw a Wutang Soldier throwing Leonardo down on the ground and was going to deliver a killing blow to Leonardo. Miranda quickly flipped over the two, slashing the Killer Bee's fist off just before he could land it on Leonardo, getting blood sprayed on his face before Leonardo would just use his hand to deliver a nerve stun to the Killer Bee's neck and pushing him over, sitting up in exhaustion as he looked up to Miranda.

"Don't say it…" Leonardo said before Miranda could repeat her "if your right hand causes you to stumble" quote from before. Miranda looked over to Raphael who had his opponent's head in his arm.

"Need a hand over there Raph?" Miranda called out.

"Nngh! Back off! This pretty boy's mine!" Raphael yelled out before squeezing his arm around the Killer Bee's neck hard enough that he finally passed out. Once he stopped moving, Raphael finally let him go, but not before Raphael picked him up and dunked the Wutang soldier into a garbage bin. "Well, that's one way to take out the trash, so who's left?" Miranda pointed to the Killer Bee Michelangelo was dispensing with as Michelangelo deliver a sold blow to the Killer Bee's face and stomach sliding on his knees before the Killer Bee stood there for a moment before falling back.

They were all stunned.

"What the hell was that?" Raphael said in disbelief.

"I-I rightly have no idea…he got knocked over to these barrels and, well, when he stood up, he began fighting like this…" Donatello said, picking up his damaged bo staff as Michelangelo just sat there, a dumb grin on his face, swaying around with an occasional hiccup. Miranda walked over to the barrels and dipped her finger in, she pulled it out and tasted it before spitting it out.

"I'll tell ya what it ain't; it's sour wine. Mikey here is drunk." Miranda said, all the turtles looked at their drunken little friend who still seemed unaware of what had just occurred.

"Well that explain the disorientation, but it doesn't explain where all those fight moves came from…" Leonardo said calmly before helping his brother back on his feet. "Get his nunchucks, we're taking him back home."

"What about this place? We can't let the Wutang operate out of here anymore." Donatello said.

"You both go on ahead…Miranda and I can handle this…" Raphael said, looking over to Miranda, she nodded back in understanding.

"Don't take too long Raph, it's getting close to dawn…" Leonardo said, Raphael nodded as the three turtles left the warehouse, stepping over the bodies left in the fight. Once they left, Raphael went over and picked up his sai as he turned and looked to Miranda.

"You did good back there by the way." Raphael complimented, Miranda just smiled, pushing back a few strands of hair.

"Ain't nothing' to it Raph…ya would have done the same for me…" Miranda said, she wiped the blood off her katana blade before putting it back into her sheath. Raphael noticed her bleeding hand.

"Your hand…it's bleeding…" Raphael said as he stepped closer to Miranda, gently taking her wounded hand in his, she had a slight jolt of pain shoot through her arm as he inspected the wound.

"It- it's nothin' Raph…" Miranda said, Raphael didn't accept that, he reached over and tore one of the Killer Bee's clothing into strips as he softly wrapped her hand in the strips. He was gentle about it, but he managed to tie it tight enough to stop the bleeding, he looked up to Miranda's brown eyes as their eyes made contact for a moment. He tied off the bandage on her hand before giving her hand and wrist a soft pat.

"Good as new…" Raphael said softly, still looking at Miranda's eyes, almost trying to get lost in them. She broke eye contact, an apparent blush on her cheek as she slowly pulled her hand out of his.

"Th-thank you…" Miranda replied softly, stepping back a bit before turning around to look over the bodies. Truth be told, she did have something of a crush for Raphael and recently, it was starting to seem that he may have had the same feeling as well. Did she want to hold him close and never let him go? You have no idea, but the emotional scars she kept from being trained under The Shredder had told her all her life that emotion like love was a weakness your enemy would hone in on and use against you. It was hence why she would just keep most interactions with Raphael strictly professional with some friendly chatter. But lately, Raphael was starting to get close to Miranda, going on missions with her more, hanging out at her apartment more often, they clicked well, they fought well, but something deep down in Miranda's gut told her not to act on these feeling she had, she wanted to put down Raphael gently and tell him she didn't feel the same way, but whenever she would try to, she just couldn't muster the gut to do it.

"So, er- you wanna burn down the warehouse?" Raphael finally said, breaking the awkward moment.

"Wh-what about the ones who aren't dead on the ground?" Miranda questioned looking at all the bodies she had created, but also at the people who were just groaning.

"We'll drag them outside and tie them to a light post so authorities can deal with them. The dead can burn with the building." Raphael said.

"What if their families worry?" Miranda said, looking back to Raphael, he looked like hell, a few knocks and scratches here and there, but they never seemed to bother him.

"I dunno about you Miranda, but I'd rather not know if my brothers were part of a secret gang of ninjas that killed other ninjas…" Raphael replied. Miranda didn't want to argue about this matter of funeral rights and what not, but she figured it would probably be better if these families didn't know about this.

"All right…I'll get the gasoline…" Miranda said, walking off to get some gasoline bottles while Raphael dragged the unconscious or wounded outside, by the time Miranda had dumped gasoline on all the exteriors of the walls, Raphael had finally returned after tying them to a light pole to check on Miranda's progress.

"I already called 911, they'll be on their way here." Raphael said.

"Good, looks like it's time t' light his popsicle stand…." Miranda said, pulling out a cigarette and lighting it as she inhaled a puff before flicking the cigarette to the gasoline, instantly igniting it as she and Raphael left the warehouse to be enveloped in the flames.