Thanks to everyone who has been reviewing Payback for me, it's just a few of you but you seem to be really enjoying it which has spurred me to keep going!
Speaking of which, this chapter is for you TheRedScreech. Scarlett's epic reaction to Mikey's air horn prank :) Your last comment fuelled a full on writing session and totally blew out my word count to nearly 5,000 words lol.
Disclaimer: I don't own TMNT but if I did, I'm tellin ya, Mikey wouldn't be such a brainless idiot in the 2016 season!
Anyway...
This was it.
A nervous grin pulled at my mouth and I fought the urge to giggle. C'mon Scarlett, I chided myself, serious face. Even then it still took a few seconds for the giddiness to pass. If I managed to pull this off I was going to be reigning prank queen for sure. I could almost rub my hands together like some villain in a cartoon I was so pleased with myself.
It had taken me the better part of three days to gather all the materials I'd needed for this mission. Not an easy thing to sneak around the lair with everyone on high alert but still I'd managed to get everything on my list with a lot of well-timed snooping and bit of luck. The hardest part had been acting innocent, like I wasn't plotting my revenge. I knew Mikey didn't quite believe that I'd let the whole air horn incident go because he'd been giving me funny looks ever since. Well...he's right about that, I thought to myself with a smirk.
With a shake of my head I pressed a little harder against the wall and the tiny scrape my quiver made as it brushed over the bricks refocussed me. The notched ends of the practice arrows poked above my right shoulder, not as many of them as I would like but considering that the suction cup ends took up more space inside the container than real ones would, I just had to make do with what I could carry.
Over my left shoulder within reach was my small bow, strung and ready to go. Its angled harness crisscrossed with the quiver on my back, the straps which held them both in place making an 'X' over my chest. Their combined weight felt good and my grin made a small return as I considered that this probably wasn't what Donny had in mind when he designed them for me.
The sound of movement came from down the hall and I narrowed my attention there while trying to meld even further into the shadows pooled at the mouth of the corridor. If one of the guys opened their door now, or if someone came up behind me, I was confident it would take them a few moments to spot me. I'd dressed for the shadows, all my clothing and gear was dark. My face was mostly hidden by my cloth mask and what little skin was on show I'd blackened with dirt from the train tunnels. I was no ninja but at the moment I almost felt like one.
When nothing came of the sound I slowly relaxed, fingers loosening on the collection of canisters I was holding against my chest. Each one was full, which made them difficult to carry together so I needed to be careful. Dropping one of the tin cylinders in this hallway would probably cause enough noise to ruin my plan before it'd even begun.
Ok, time to move. Keeping my weight on the balls of my feet I quickly slunk up the hallway, making sure not to brush against the wall in case the fabric of my top caught on its rough surface. The turtles' hearing wasn't any better than a human's but I didn't want to take any chances.
When I reached Mikey's bedroom I did a scan of all the other doors, the only ones open were mine and the bathroom's both of which were at the far end of the hallway. I knew Raph and Leo were in their rooms but I was banking on them staying put if they heard a bit of noise. They tended to ignore Mikey and I when we were mucking around unless we actually got in their way or things got too chaotic. Donatello was holed up in his lab; the heavy metal door had been shut firmly behind him. Nothing could draw him out of there short of a nuclear blast. Speaking of which...
With hushed movements I juggled the canisters in my hands, bending down to line them up against the wall on the side closest to where Mikey's bedroom door would open. Staying in a crouch I surveyed them critically. Each one was purple with white flowery script running down the side and had an exaggerated handle that you were supposed to squeeze to activate the spray. I didn't even bother trying to read the writing, I knew Febreze when I saw it. I wasn't sure why Donny had a box of the stuff tucked away in the back of his lab but I'd been stoked when I'd found it during my search for materials.
Each canister also had a thin white cable tie wrapped around its base. All I had to do was slide the strip up over the handle of the pressurised tube then pull the tie tight to trap the handle and make a breeze-bomb. Five breeze-bombs ready to go. Man, Mikey's room was gonna smell so purdy.
From my crouch I reached up to grasp the handle of Mikey's door. As soon as I turned the knob and eased the door open light flooded out into the hallway in hard lines that cut the dimness. Risking a peek through the two inch gap I frowned when I couldn't spot him. Taking a gamble I opened the door just a little further and craned my neck. Ah, there he was, on his bed reading one of his comic books. From my low angle I could only make out his huge feet, the bright cover of the comic and the top of his green head. Judging from the way one foot twitched rhythmically as he turned a page I was guessing he also had his headphones in. I had no idea how he could listen to Japanese pop music and focus on reading at the same time but right now it suited me perfectly. The noise pumping into his ears would cover the hissing of the bombs when I tossed them into his room.
Turning back to my collection of canisters I took a deep breath and prepared myself, flexing my fingers in anticipation. I would have to do this as quickly as I could. The turtle's sense of smell was as good, if not better than mine, so Mikey was certain to work out what I was up to as soon as he caught the first whiff. Plus there was no way I wanted to get caught too long amidst the syrupy sweet cloud of stink I was about to create. Just the thought of it made my head ache. Speed was key.
Three...two...one...with steady movements I began binding then tossing the canisters gently through the doorway. I made sure to roll each one in a different direction so that they achieved an even spread. Mere seconds passed as I worked speedily, my heart beating harder in my throat with each one I prepped then lobbed. By the time I reached the fourth my hands had the slightest tremble.
"What...ew what's that smell?" Mikey had finally twigged as to the new smell but his voice was more confused than angry as he muttered to himself. I heard the covers on his bed shift as I chucked the fourth can into his room, not even trying to be stealthy because I knew he'd spot the movement anyway now that his attention had been caught.
"Hey! Scarlett!"
Now he sounded a little angry. He barked my name then coughed a few times. His room must be filling up with scented spray pretty quickly.
I abandoned the last can and instead jumped up, using all my strength to pull the door shut and hold it there. Within seconds Mikey slammed into the other side and I felt a thrill of fear when the doorknob rattled under my hand. The door was hinged so that it opened inward, something that had annoyed me a little when I'd been planning this prank. It would be much easier to block a door opening outward then stop a door from opening inward. I was resolved to keep him in his room for as long as I could so I gripped that handle hard and pulled outward as he pulled inward. I hadn't been expecting to be able to hold it for very long so when I managed to resist the first few tugs I was surprised. So was Mikey.
"Let me out Scarlett!" came his warning shout from the other side of the heavy door.
"No way! Eat fumes Mikey!" I yelled back then grunted when the door heaved under my grip and opened an inch, allowing light to escape into the hallway once more.
"Shit," I muttered under my breath. Instinctively I raised a foot and planted it on the wall next to the door handle to give myself some more leverage. All the muscles in my arms and back burned as I wrestled the door shut again.
I grinned as I heard Mikey grunt, "Jeez," he complained through the heavy wood. "Well this is awkward. Have you been working out or something?" I rolled my eyes at the accusing tone in his voice.
The pressure on the handle released and I imagined him stepping back to flex his muscles before trying again. I shifted my stance and gritted my teeth as I readied for the next attempt. When the door jerked and heaved again I was prepared but beads of sweat still popped out on my forehead as I strained to keep the door shut, damn he was strong.
Barely a minute later, I had to concede defeat. I could feel my grip weakening and my muscles tiring under the constant pressure so I countered by releasing the handle abruptly. Staggering back a step I caught my balance then laughed as an unprepared Mikey let out a cry of surprise. There was a huge crash as the door flew open and smashed against the wall. This was followed by a hard crack when his shell connected with something, probably his bed frame or the floor.
Whatever it was I had no chance of seeing it as a thin rolling mist of Febreze hit me smack in the face and caused tears to spring into my eyes. Even as I turned to run it began filling the hallway and I gagged on the intense smell that clogged my nose and mouth. The rate it was spreading it was going to reach into every room along the hallway and soak them in the artificial scent of flowers.
Thankfully it didn't take me long to escape the stink and soon I was back at the end of the hall where I'd started. I whirled around just in time to see Mikey stumble out of his room. He was coughing and spluttering as he wiped at his face. His eyes were bloodshot from irritation and when they caught mine he narrowed them at me. "Anata ga shinde imasu!"
I laughed at him, making sure the sound was loud to make up for the fact he couldn't see my face behind my mask. I held one hand up, palm out towards him in a 'stop' gesture. With my other hand I reached around to the small bag I had fastened to the belt loop just below the small of my back. Keeping my movements steady I slipped it free and loosened the tie ready to empty it onto the floor.
"Watashi o kyatchi!" I taunted back, turning my hand then jerking my fingers in a 'come on' gesture I'd seen a zillion times in martial arts movies.
A hard smirk twisted Mikey's lips as the whites dropped down over his eyes. Even though I knew he'd never hurt me a thrill of fear went through me anyway at how scary he looked. When he leapt into a sprint towards me I let out a small, involuntary scream. Whirling on my heel I made a run for it while as surreptitiously as I could I dropped to objects from the bag onto the floor to cover my tracks, praying that I'd managed to place them well enough to slow him down.
I'd made it halfway to the turnstiles when I heard his first loud howl of pain then I was over the barrier and ducking behind it to take cover. Considering I'd run for barely ten seconds I was ridiculously out of breath so I focussed on pulling air in through my nose and out through my mouth to slow my heartbeat. Adrenalin caused my muscles to shake and I pressed a hand over my cloth covered mouth to stifle another wave of giggles that rose in my chest. Fighting the feeling down I instead strained my ears to hear what was happening back at the mouth of the hallway.
"Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow."
Judging from the tightness of his voice and accompanying shuffling sounds it seemed like Mikey had his teeth gritted as he hopped around and I almost felt bad for dropping my substitute caltrops. When I'd raided Mikey's room earlier that day I'd been pleased to find an old bag of marbles, but it was the oddly shaped dice in the top drawer of his desk which had been the real prize. There were a whole heap of them in a bag. Instead of having six sides like all the other dice I'd ever seen, these only had four which meant that they were triangular. I wasn't sure what their actual purpose was but, mixed in with the marbles, they'd covered my escape perfectly as they made the floor pointy and rounded all at once.
As Mikey's loud complaining continued, there was the sound of a door opening and I realised with a sinking feeling that one of the other brothers had just emerged from his room. Seems like we'd been too loud after all.
"Mikey, what is it now?"
Okay, so that was Leo's resigned voice. He didn't sound irritated yet so maybe...
"Holy shell, what the heck is that smell?"
Yeah, now he sounded irritated. There was another crash, louder this time. I assumed it was Raphael's bedroom door as it was flung open and I was proven right when his voice rose.
"What's all the...?" His rough question was cut off and replaced by the sound of coughing. "Jesus, is that air freshener?"
"Yes, and there's only about four freakin' cans worth of the stuff being emptied into my room right now," Mikey shot back, managing to sound lightly sarcastic and indignant at the same time. "You think it's bad out here you should try getting through my doorway, it stinks."
"What happened to your foot?" Leo's voice again, sharper now that he'd realised Mikey was in pain.
"The same thing that happened to my room," Mikey huffed. "Scarlett."
"Oh for the love of...don't tell me you two are at it again? I can't take much more of this!"
Raph sounded so fed up I felt his anger deflate me, like air being let out of a tyre. I bit my lip and sweated...maybe I should just quit now before I went ahead with the rest of my plan?
"SCARLETT!"
I winced as my name was hollered in unison by both Leo and Raph, ducking my head even though I was already completely hidden by the turnstiles. From the sounds of their shout the three brothers were leaving the hallway to make their way into the main area of the lair in search of me. Probably already thinking about what punishment they could give me.
"Get your butt out here right now!"
Oh my god, Leo sounded so mad. My lips twitched in response, well if he was already this worked up I might as well keep going...
Time for phase two.
First, I risked a peek over the top of the turnstiles to check if I was right about the turtles' positions. Sure enough, they were spreading out as they searched around the lounge area. None of them were facing my direction as they searched which was perfect.
I kept an eye on their movements as my hands reached for the plastic tub sitting next to me. I'd prepared the contents earlier so that all I had to do was take aim. Gently I extracted two of the water balloons from the dozen that filled the tub then slowly rose to my feet, hoping that my slow movements wouldn't catch their attention and give me away too early.
It took less than a second to judge the distance between myself and Raph who was the closest to me. By the time the first water balloon broke over his curved shell a second one was already heading directly for the back of Mikey's head. A moment after that Leo got one right in the face as he turned at the sound of water splashing. Abandoning any effort to be stealthy or gentle I started lobbing the water balloons like a crazy person while the three of them flinched and yelped as they were splattered. A few of the wobbly globes broke in my hands as I snatched them up but I kept going as fast as I could and managed to score a few more hits before they recovered their wits and dove for cover.
"I thought you learned your lesson last time you tried to pull off a stupid prank!" Raph called out and I flicked my gaze quickly to his hiding spot behind the TV. No way I could throw a water balloon at him, destroying the TV would ensure my own demise.
Stooping down behind the turnstiles again I retrieved the two smoke bombs from their hiding place. They were nestled inside my beanie, fragile, literally made out of an egg shell. Each one contained the ingredients of a huge purple-black cloud of smoke and they were integral to the next part of my plan.
Cradling them gently in my right palm I laughed maniacally as I hopped up to stand on one of the turnstiles, balancing easily on the perch and drawing myself up to my full height. "Fukushu!" I shouted back, reaching over my shoulder to free my bow and holding it in my left hand. "You shouldn't have dunked me last time."
"Next time I'll hold you under for longer gaki!" came the hot retort and I laughed some more as he snarled.
There was a flash of orange from the lounge pit and I narrowed my gaze there. "C'mon Scarlett, don't be crazy. You know you can't hold all three of us off," Mikey called from his position where he had ducked down behind the edge of the concrete seating that ringed the pit. "Surrender now and we'll go easy on you!"
"No surrender!" I called back as I bent my right elbow ready to throw. "You cowards want me? Come get me!"
Predictably my words were met with a loud cry from Raphael as he sprinted from his hiding place towards me. At the same time Mikey leapt up with a delighted yell and joined his brother in the charge. With a careful flick of my arm I launched the smoke bombs, grinning at the renewed shock on both their faces a moment before smoke billowed up in a thick cloud at their feet and rose to consume them.
It was at this moment I belatedly realised that Leo had been suspiciously quiet and I turned just in time to see him running towards me on swift, silent feet from my left side. A smirk twisted his mouth, eyes shuttered white as he drew closer. Adrenaline zapped down my spine. Acting on pure instinct I jumped from the turnstiles, twisting in mid-air as I drew an arrow from the quiver on my back, notching it before I even landed. My feet naturally fell into position just in time for me to aim and release in one smooth movement. As soon as the first arrow flew I drew a second to chase it before I was on the move again. I'd managed to make Leo veer off course just long enough to buy myself a few extra seconds.
Bow in hand I made a bee line for the thickly spreading smoke and as soon as the swirl of purple and black encased me I dodged to the right. I was taking a gamble that Mikey and Raph would be too confused by the smoke bombs to sense me coming but I wanted to keep my movements erratic just in case. Surprise was also on my side, I was pretty sure they wouldn't be expecting me to run towards them.
Bending my knees I kept low as I moved through the shroud, silently drawing another arrow and notching it as I moved across the lounge, feeling my way mostly by memory. The smoke was designed to hang in the air long enough to allow escape so I wasn't overly concerned about my cover failing too early. I was more worried about accidentally bumping into an angry turtle.
Straining my ears I made my way towards the other side of the lounge pit and the spiral staircase where the third phase of my plan was waiting. I could hear very slight sounds of movement coming from either side of me and knew it was the turtles. Their movements were hushed, the only sounds to be heard were the whisper of a foot against concrete or the creak of leather here and there. I knew they were also trying to catch a clue as to my location. If either of them managed to grab me this game was over. My ears pricked as I caught a brush of sound behind me. Leo had joined the hunt and now I was covered on three sides.
To my left a swirl of smoke resolved itself into a faint outline and I halted in my crouch, one knee touching the ground to steady me as I carefully took aim. My hand trembled against my cheek for the briefest of moments before I let the arrow fly. Mikey's startled cry let me know who owned the shadow I had struck but I stayed perfectly still at the sound, ignoring the instinctual urge to make a run for it and waited instead. Sure enough, after a second another, larger shadow loomed from the right to pass in front of me and join its brother.
As soon as my right side was clear I rose to begin circling around the Raph and Mikey who were now clustered together and whispering heatedly to each other. As quickly and lightly as I could I scampered through the black fog and hoped I hadn't lost my sense of direction. I really needed to make it to the spiral staircase.
A few steps later the thick smoke thinned out to a lighter mist and I emerged from the cloud to find myself on the far side of the lair to where I'd started. In front of me was the half pipe. I was a little surprised at how far the smoke had spread. Looking back over my shoulder I saw that I had overshot the spiral staircase which was now rising out of the edge of a rapidly dissipating roll of fog. It had been barely ten seconds since I'd thrown the eggs and I probably had only five more before full vision would return to the turtles.
Three running steps followed by a jump and I grasped one of the wide middle steps of the staircase. Pulling myself up smoothly I slunk my way to the top and fell to my knees next to the other plastic tub I'd prepped then left there that morning. More balloons awaited much heavier than the previous ones I'd launched. I slid one free of the tub, careful not to pop it too early then peeked over the edge of the stair.
From my vantage point I could see that the lounge pit below was nearly clear of smoke. Raph and Mikey stood almost at the centre of the fog, casting sharp looks around them as their hands clenched and unclenched by their sides. Neither of them looked up and I shook my head with a sigh. No one ever looks up...
My flour bombs fixed their oversight. I made sure to aim for Mikey first and watched as the balloon exploded over him in a gigantic white shower. His green skin, nice and wet from the water balloons, immediately turned patchy white as the powder clung to him and mixed with the flour to make a sticky paste. Some of the spray got Raph as well and he let out a shout, jumping away from his little brother to avoid the worst of the spread. I took careful aim then unleashed the second bomb. Now it looked like there were two angry ghost turtles down there and I couldn't help the hysterical giggles that spilled out of me.
"SCARLETT!"
A puff of white powder accompanied Mikey's furious shout, shooting out from his mouth along with my name, and I clutched my stomach, howling helplessly with mirth while both brothers fumed.
"You should see your faces." I managed to call down in between snorts of laughter.
Raph wiped goop off his face and flicked it to the side before glaring up at me, amber eyes blazing out of his white face. "Ooohhhhhhh, you...I'm gonna...arrgggggg..." His mouth worked and I watched in fascination as he lost the ability to form words. With a final heated growl Raph settled for coming after me, stalking towards the staircase and leaving a trail of gloopy white footprints behind him.
"Uh uh!" I chided, sobering a little as I hefted two more flour bombs, one in each hand. I grinned as both turtles flinched back reflexively. Raph managed to sputter, "Don't you dare!" and Mikey let out a "Nononononono!" as he waved his hands at me to stop, but I ignored their protests, lazily tossing the bombs so that they landed at their feet. The turtles disappeared in another billowing cloud and I dusted my hands off in satisfaction to the sound of their coughing and spluttering.
Fourth and final phase, lay low while the heat dies down.
It was a simple matter to rise to my feet, push open the trap door above my head and make my escape into the room at the top of the spiral staircase. This was the culmination of my prank. A safe place to hole up until tempers cooled and, if I was lucky, the huge mess I'd created had been cleaned up. I had enough food, water and entertainment stashed up here to last me a good long while and I was pretty confident that by the time I re-emerged the guys would have had enough time to see the funny side to my prank.
The sound of stomping footsteps climbing the stairs filled my ears and I lowered the trap door hurriedly then started dragging the stack of heavy suitcases over to block it from opening again. I'd filled the cases with as much random crap as I could to make them weighty enough that the turtles wouldn't be able to force their way in here. Working quickly I stacked the last obstacle then stood back and grinned at my handiwork.
Man, that had been intense. I reached up to pull the mask down from my mouth so I could take a deep breath, filling my lungs and raising my arms over my head in a full body stretch. Prank queen rules supreme.
"You forgot something."
My moment of self-congratulation ended abruptly as I literally jumped with fright, breath stuttering in my lungs so that I couldn't even give voice to the scream that lodged in my throat. I jerked around and dropped into a half crouch, eyes wide as they locked onto Leo who was leaning casually against the far wall of my refuge. He eyed me with a steely gaze that belied his relaxed posture, arms crossed loosely over his plastron as he smiled at me slowly.
"Or should I say someone."
"Ohhhh sewer apples," I said weakly as I straightened. Adrenaline was back, pumping through my muscles but I literally had nowhere to go. I'd trapped myself.
"Yeah," Leo agreed, letting his arms drop as he stepped towards me. "It's looking pretty bad for you right now."
"Backflips?" I asked hopefully with an attempt at a smile.
He laughed as he reached for me, "Not even close."
Anata ga shinde imasu - you're dead
Watashi o kyatchi - catch me
fukushu - revenge
gaki - brat
Epic enough? Please leave me a review if you enjoyed the chapter :)
Next chapter is the finale, I'm planning for it to be pretty short but let me know if there's anything you'd like to see happen.
I'm off to watch the new movie in just a few hours, there's an advanced screening at our local cinema and my kids are all pretty excited to see it. Here's hoping it's good!