Mutants Misplaced

Chapter 5

The Obsidian Wolves

"You were what?!" said a large man clad in a metal chest plate with a leather loincloth, leather gloves and boots and a metal helmet with two curved horns pointing downward.

"Beaten up, boss." said the larger one of the three bandits.

"And by lizards?! You three idiots have some nerve showing your faces after that!"

"But, boss, they ambushed us, and they were more than us. It ain't our fault." said the second bandit.

"I don't care whose fault it is! I won't have anyone make fools out of my gang, least of all members of my gang!"

"Then how about we teach those lizards not to mess with you? Give us a chance to get even and show them who's boss. And we could use some new boots and belts." said the third bandit.

The leader thought about it for a while, they hadn't had any major hauls for a while and while he doubted that these Argonians would have much of value, the gang was starting to get restless. Some action would do them good.

He looked out over their camp, a couple of hide tents and many bedrolls around a fire pit. Empty bottles that once contained mead, ale and wine lay here and there, as did swords, axes, armor pieces and even the odd pair of underwear, not to mention one or two of the gang.

They weren't soldiers in an army, so he never expected that kind of discipline, but they were getting out of shape, some senseless violence might just be what they needed.

Grabbing his weapon, a large hammer that he needed to use both hands to wield, the boss walked into the middle of the camp.

"Listen up, you slobs!" he bellowed, making sure that all were awake and could hear him. "It's time to stop sitting on our arses and start doing what we do best! There's a bunch of those Argonians not far from here, they may not have much gold but when has that ever stopped us from killing anyone who so much as looks at us the wrong way? Never!"

Though the bandits had initially been a bit confused, they were now riled up and cheered on their chief as he continued.

"We are the Obsidian Wolves, and we are the most feared gang in the west of the hold! Before the sun sets today, the road will run red with lizard blood and everyone will know that we rule this land! Ready yourselves, for today we hunt!"

The mutants continued their walk towards Whiterun and as they got closer, they could make out a few details of the fort, Dragonsreach. Walls stretched from the top of the hill and circled the entire city, having a couple of towers built into it. The fort itself looked more like a palace, built in stone with a large wooden house on the top, the overall style was medieval Norse with dragon or serpent like figures on the ends of the roof ridges.

"Okay, everyone's clear on our 'origin story'?" asked Leo, having discussed a long time on what they would say to people that they met.

"Yeah, we got it memorized, Leo." said Sephie and the other nodded.

"Good, let's keep to it and hope that it works. And Mikey?"

"Yeah?"

"Try not to speak as you would with us, you might offend someone."

"Ah, come on Leo, what's the worst that could happen?"

"Aside from them killing you on the spot? Trust me, you don't wanna know." said Tyroth.

"That bad?"

"Worse. Much worse."

'gulp'

Passing by a forested area, the snap of a branch caught Leo's attention. Stopping to listen, he peered into the forest, looking for whatever had made the sound.

"I heard something." he whispered to the others and drew his katanas. "Come out, whoever you are. We know that you're there." he called.

Nothing could be heard from the forest, meaning that someone was hiding amongst the trees and bushes, an animal would have been spooked by Leo's voice and run off, unless it was a predator.

A couple of seconds passed and the rest of the mutants had drawn their weapons, they all stared into the woods, looking for any sign of movement. They knew there was something in there.

"Damn if you ain't alert, lizard." said a voice. A tall man clad in metal and leather armor walked out from behind a large tree, carrying a large hammer with a long handle. "Most wouldn't know that I'm here until it's too late."

"Who are you and what do you want?" asked Donnie.

"I'm Argulf, leader of the Obsidian Wolves. And I'm here because you beat up some of my men not so long ago."

"They had it coming." said Tyroth.

"Maybe, but no one messes with my gang." Argulf said, tightening his grip on the hammer.

A dozen more humans walked into view as they exited the forested area, three of them the mutants recognized, the same ruffians that they chased off at Torleif's. The rest were dressed in similar clothing or armor, whichever it was, five of them were women and the remaining four were men. All of them carried a sword, axe or metal mace, some had an extra weapon while some had a shield.

The two groups stood ready to fight, waiting for the other side to make the first move. The mutants didn't really want to fight, aside from Raph, but these bandits didn't seem any better than Purple Dragons, so they wouldn't mind terribly.

"Kill them!" Argulf roared as he and his gang charged at the mutants, but the seven reptiles responded by charging as well. If they would give no mercy, then they would not receive any in return.

Mona's fans met two swords as she engaged a woman with long blond hair, skillfully parrying and dodging any attacks her opponent threw at her. While Mona fought the woman, another woman and one man tried to flank her, only to be stopped by Raph. Catching the mans sword with his sai, Raph pushed him away and kicked at the woman, who had to block with her shield. The force of the kick almost caused her to drop her axe, an opportunity that Raph took advantage of and struck at her hand, knocking away the weapon.

While her mate dealt with with them, Mona could take care of her opponent. Using the gaps between the blades of her fans, she caught one of the woman's swords and with a flick of her wrist, Mona wrenched the weapon out of the woman's hand. The female bandit didn't understand what happened and that confusion gave Mona an opening. Using her other fan, she slashed the woman's throat and sent her falling to the ground, choking on her own blood.

Meanwhile, Raph continued to fight the swordsman. Striking away an attack from the man, Raph closed the small gap between them and jabbed one of his sai into the man's gut several times, puncturing many organs. Once the man fell, Raph turned around to face the woman he had kicked earlier. Having retrieved her axe, she charged at Raph.

Mona saw this and moved to protect her mate, kicking the woman in the side causing her to stagger and fall to one knee. Once she was down, Mona jumped and brought down her elbow with as much force she could muster, hitting the woman's skull shortly after Mona landed, cracking it with a horrible sound.

Mikey smiled in that goofy way that only he could while he swung his nunchaku in front of him as two female bandits tried to make out what kind of weapon the turtle was using. Trying to attack him, a woman with a dark colored mohawk swung her mace at the orange-masked turtle. The first couple of attacks missed as Mikey easily dodged them, he then blocked an overhead attack, stopping the mace with the chains of his nunchaku.

Jumping over Mikey from behind, Sephie struck the woman with a roundhouse kick to the head, sending her to the ground. As soon as Sephie landed, she was attacked by the other female bandit with long raven black hair and a sword in her hand. Using her daggers to parry the sword, Sephie prepared to counter.

Pushing away the sword with her daggers, Sephie kicked her opponent in the face. The bandit was shocked when she felt that her aching face was stuck on the sole of Sephie's foot. Using the gecko-grip of her foot, Sephie pulled down the bandit into the ground head first, hitting it so hard that the neck snapped.

A third bandit, a bald man with an axe, had joined the fray and tried to bury his axe in Mikey's head. Some quick dodging and ducking saved Mikey's head from that fate and he struck back with his nunchaku, hitting the side of the mans face, giving him a black eye. Furious, the man lunged at Mikey, intent on killing him.

Doing a back-flip, Mikey avoided the attack, and as the man continued to try and hit Mikey, the orange-masked turtle continued to do back-flips. While doing so, Mikey jumped over the woman with a mohawk, who just had gotten back on her feet. Realizing too late that she was in the way, the man couldn't stop his axe before it buried itself deep in her face, killing her instantly.

Angrier than before, he glared at Mikey. Pulling out his weapon from his former comrade he was about to lunge himself against the turtle again. But he never got the chance as a well thrown dagger embedded itself in his throat. As the man fell, Mikey looked over at Sephie who smiled and winked at him and he nodded in return.

Leo and Donnie stood shoulder to shoulder when two male and one female bandit attacked them. Using his katana, Leo parried the attacks from the woman and one of the men, both using swords with the woman also having a shield. Pushing back his attackers, Leo kicked the man in the stomach, making him fall onto his back, holding his gut in pain.

Focusing on the dark haired woman, the blue-masked turtle sidestepped and avoided her strike. Kicking the shield with his knee, Leo struck the woman in the face with it, staggering her and knocking out several teeth in the process. A quick slash from the katana separated the woman's head from her body and it collapsed, blood gushing from the neck.

While Leo dealt with the bladed foes, Donnie fought the man wielding a mace with a shield. Donnie easily deflected any attack with his staff and occasionally struck at the shield to keep his foe at bay. His defensive style made the man very frustrated, no matter how he attacked, Donnie simply blocked it, and with a stick on top of that, adding to the frustration.

Ducking under a slash from the man Leo had kicked earlier, the blue-masked turtle gave the man another kick to the gut, sending him backwards. At the same time, Donnie dodged a charge from his foe and used his staff to trip him, making him stumble forwards. The two bandits collided with each other, but still stood upright, only keeping their balance thanks to each other. Leo didn't waste any time as the two tried to regain their stance. Stabbing the swordsman in the stomach with his two katana, Leo also managed to impale the one on the other side as well. Both men fell to the ground when Leo pulled out the blades.

Tyroth found himself facing the same bandit that he had slugged earlier as well as another bandit with a mace.

"Your quite bold to fight in nothing but your underwear, lizard." the mace wielder growled as Tyroth blocked his attacks.

Tyroth didn't say anything in response, instead he grabbed the collar of the bandit's hide tunic and threw him to the side like a rag doll. The other bandit tried to slash Tyroth across the back, but the dragon was aware of his foe and quickly turned around and parried with his sword. A third bandit, wielding a sword and axe, joined his comrade in fighting the dragon.

Sparks flew as Tyroth blocked the many attacks from his foes, looking for a good opening to strike back. Crouching slightly, he pulled back his wings and pushed back his attackers' weapons with his sword, getting closer to them. Without warning and with great speed, he jabbed the talons on the top joints of his wings, into the throats of the two bandits.

They never saw it coming. They only felt a sharp and sudden pain in their necks and shortly after they started to cough as they started to choke on their own blood. As Tyroth pulled out the talons, the two men dropped their weapons and fell to the ground, desperately trying to stop the blood by covering the wounds with their hands.

Backing away from the two, Tyroth barely managed to avoid a swing from the leader's hammer as it went past his head by an inch. Blocking another swing with his sword, Tyroth saw that the bandit he had thrown away earlier had gotten up and was running towards him. Blocking yet another attack, the dragon delivered a powerful punch to the chest of the bandit leader, sending him backwards and denting the chest plate.

The bandit swung his mace at Tyroth, who sidestepped it and ran his sword straight through the mans chest, killing him instantly. As Tyroth was about to pull out his sword from the body, he heard footsteps behind him. Turning around, he saw the bandit leader charging against him, ready to bring down the hammer on Tyroth's head.

Leaving the sword in the body, Tyroth would fight with only his body as a weapon. The leader roared when he swung the hammer with all his might. He was shocked beyond belief when Tyroth caught the weapon with his left hand, seemingly effortlessly. His eyes widened in fear as Tyroth pulled back his right fist and a red glow encased it.

The fist hit the mans head with such force that the skull was crushed despite the metal helmet protecting it. The body of the man was thrown away several meters before landing at the edge of the forest, the head little more than a bloody pulp and the iron helmet crushed into the remains of the head.

Looking around, the mutants saw that all the bandits lay dead on the ground, the battle was over.

"Well, that was refreshing, and easy." said Raph. "These punks were almost no match at all."

"They were still stronger than what we're used to, but not as fast as Foot ninja. We were to swift for them, but had they hit us, it would have hurt a lot." said Leo.

"Speaking of pain, what kind of move was that one you pulled just now? The one with the wings?" Mikey asked Tyroth.

"Just a little something I started working on when Mona started teaching Sephie kung fu. With them knowing that and you guys knowing Ninjutsu, I wanted something of my own."

"You came up with that after watching Mona train me? Wow, I thought the Crane Wing Strike was a deadly move, but that. How do you even anticipate that kind of move?"

"You don't, and that's what makes it so deadly." said Mona "A true Dragon Wing Strike, with emphasis on both 'Dragon' and 'Wing'."

"Wait, there is a real move called that?" said Raph.

"Yes, it's much like the Crane Wing Strike but from the Southern Dragon Kung Fu. That style is basically a mix between the Crane, Tiger and Snake. If I recall correctly, a 'dragon' evade with minimum motion and strike very hard at key points on the target. When one starts learning it, you focus on force, then, once you've mastered that, you move on to flow. A skilled 'dragon' strike fast, hard and in such a way that the opponent won't be able to defend properly."

"Sounds a lot like how Tyroth fight overall." said Sephie.

"Dragon style kung fu, huh? Heh, the irony." said Tyroth.

"No kidding. Now, let's see if these punks have anything we can use." said Leo as he started to search the dead bandits.

After searching the bodies, the mutants reviewed their findings. They had found about a dozen lockpicks of some sort, a couple of small flasks containing either red or green liquid, some pieces of stale bread and and dried meat and roughly fifty gold coins. The head of the coin had the face of a man with short hair and trimmed beard, with the text 'The Empire is Law. The Law is Sacred'. The other side had an image of a dragon with the text 'Praise be, Akatosh and all the Divines'.

"So even the written language is English. That's good for us." said Leo as he put the coins into a small pouch they'd found.

"Yeah, but what kind of liquids are these?" said Sephie, holding two of the flasks in her hands.

"Could be anything from fruit juice to acids." said Donnie. "The labels are water damaged, so I can't make out what it's supposed to say."

"Guess we'll have to try to find out then." said Tyroth, uncorking a flask with red liquid. Pouring out a few drops on his fingers, he rubbed it between them.

"No burning or numbing sensation, it's not even sticky." he said. Smelling it, he then carefully took a small sip of the liquid and tried to place the weak flavor.

"If this is a poison, it's so weak that I can't even feel it. There was a trace of sweetness in it, so it might just be juice of some sort."

Repeating the process with the green liquid, Tyroth found it to be just like the red one aside from it having a faint spiciness instead of the sweet taste.

"Strange. I feel slightly less tired than I did just now. Maybe the green one is some form of energy drink."

"Maybe, let's bring them just the same, someone might be able to identify them for us." said Donnie.

"Okay then, if we're done here, we should move on." said Raph.

"Not quite yet, there's one more thing we need to take care of first." said Tyroth, as he walked over to one of the dead bandits and pulled of the boots.

"What are you doing?" asked Leo.

"If I didn't hear completely wrong during the fight, we are by all terms and purposes as good as naked here, even as these Argonians. So to avoid any kind of scandals, we should check if any of these clothes fit us."

"Hey, we're turtles, we don't use clothes." said Raph.

"He's got a point, Raph. We'll fit in a lot better if we wear the right outfits, and they'll protect us against some of the cold. We still need to dispose of the bodies, either way." said Leo.

"I hope there's a stream close by, so we can wash of the blood and dirt." said Mona as she started to undress one of the bandits.

"Not to mention the stench. Yuck!" said Sephie, covering her nose as she held a boot in one hand.

So there was lizard boots after all, as in boots for lizards. Check in next time to read how the team look in their new attire and what more awaits them.

Some of you might think that the bandits were beaten too easily, but remember, the team is used to fight Ninja, who are a lot quicker and more agile than bandits. But there are many more foes that might be a match for the reptile mutants.

Note: The move Mona used to crush the skull of the bandit is a Crane Wing Strike, which she also taught Sephie in Bloodrayne666's story 'A Dangerous Captive', which uses my OC's as well. Check it out, it's good, like all her work. Tyroth referred to events from there.