Mutants Misplaced

Chapter 34

Revenge

Mona glared at the towers. This had to be the place, it had to. From their hiding place behind a large rock, Raph and Mona could see that there were a lot of activity at the towers and on the bridge connecting them, easily a dozen men moving around, and there were probably just as many that they couldn't see, if not even more.

"The place sure is well guarded. Getting our stuff back ain't gonna be easy, but we'll find a way." said Raph.

"I say that we kill them, all of them." Mona half growled. "We would be doing everyone a favour."

"Keep it together, babe. I hate to admit it, but they might be too many for us, we have to think this through first."

But Mona didn't want to wait, she had done enough of that these past few days. All she needed to do was to get inside and kill every bandit she would come across, and being trained as a ninja, she wouldn't have any problem, but obviously, Raph wouldn't let her. She needed to distract him, long enough for her to make sure that he couldn't leave it be.

Using her tail to pick up a small rock, she tossed it as far behind them as she could. When Raph heard the rock hitting the road behind them, he instantly spun around and drew his sai, looking into the dark, yet he saw nothing.

"I don't like this." he whispered. "Be on your guard, Mona. Mona?"

Not hearing any response from his mate, he looked at where she was, only to find that she wasn't there any more, nor was she anywhere within sight.

"Mona? Babe, where are you?" he whispered as he started searching. When he finally spotted her, he was horrified. She quickly and stealthy dashed between rocks, making her way towards the towers.

"What the shell?! What is she doing? Why- Oh no! Damn it, Mona!" Raph cursed, he knew what she was after. Those responsible for the murder that had upset her so much, had to be there. And now she rushed ahead to kill them. As it were, the only way for Raph to catch up with her, was to make a mad dash for her, but that would make him so much easier to spot for the lookouts, so he had no other choice than to do the same as her.

As he hurried to reach her before it was to late, a thought crossed his mind. This must be how Leo felt whenever Raph did the same. Now he truly understood how annoying it was for his brother.

Arriving at the tower, Mona leaned against the wall as she looked around the corner, seeing two bandits guarding the door leading into the structure. Both wore simple fur armour and had swords at their sides.

Going over her options, Mona saw that there were several wooden support beams sticking out of the wall just above the bandits. She could easily use them to her advantage. She took off her boots so she could feel where she placed her feet and to have the best grip possible. Right now, she felt a bit jealous of Sephie's gecko-grip, but she had done fine without such an ability before.

When one of the guards left the door to throw another piece of wood into the firepit a few meters in front of them, Mona made her move and easily climbed up on the beams, running along them, out of sight. Judging that she was close enough, she jumped off and drew her fans while still in the air, and landed in front of the bandit still by the door. A quick dual swipe of her fans, cut the throat of the man before he even had a chance to react.

Taking the man's sword, Mona dashed against the other bandit, and as soon as he turned around, she skewered him with his comrade's sword and he fell backwards into the fire.

"Burn in hell, murderers!" Mona growled.

With the two guards dead, Mona entered through the door, hoping to manage to take out as many bandits as possible before they discovered her. That hope was quickly shattered when she stood face to face with another two bandits on the other side of the door.

"What the..?" the first bandit started, only to be cut off when Mona jabbed her folded fan into his neck, piercing the throat and then giving it a quick turn, snapping the neck. While the other bandit still struggled to fathom what had just happened, Mona was already done with the first one and

moved against the other.

A swift kick at the man's knee fell him to the floor and he soon found himself with Mona's foot against his throat, giving him difficulties to breathe. Looking up, he met her gaze, and it was dark and murderous.

"Your leader, is he here?" Mona asked with a stern voice.

"...y-yes..." the man said weakly.

"Where?"

"...t-the other t-tower… t-the t-top..."

"Good." Mona said, then she pressed down hard on the man's throat, crushing it and killing him.

Walking up the stone staircase to the second floor, from where you reached the bridge, the lizard lady kept her eyes peeled for any more bandits. So far, it seemed like no one else had noticed her. As she checked her surroundings a little, she felt a presence behind her. In the blink of an eye, she spun around and slashed with her fan. Her bladed weapon struck metal as her attack was parried, and her eyes widened when she saw by who.

"Raph? What are you doing here?"

"Yeah, good to see you too, babe. What the shell do you think you're doing?" the red-masked turtle asked, separating his sai from his her fan.

"What does it look like, I'm avenging the murder."

"So, you knew that they where here, just like I thought. We had an agreement that you wouldn't go after them on your own!"

"What's going on in there?" a voice asked from out on the bridge and another bandit walked in and saw the two mutants, as well as the blood on Mona's weapons. The couple was so into their argument that they were caught off guard by the man.

"We're under attack!" he shouted as loud as he could.

"Well, that went downhill fast." Raph complained mumbling, as their cover had been blown.

As the bandit ran back out on the bridge, Mona didn't waste any time going after him, forcing Raph to follow her. Once out on the bridge, Mona quickly caught up with the bandit and attacked him with her bladed fans, while they were still running. She easily scored several hits leaving the man with bleeding wounds and causing him to trip and fall. Another quick slash with her fans, and she slit his throat as he fell.

With Mona engaging three more bandits that had come from the other tower, Raph covered her back by taking on another bandit that had been on the third floor of the first tower. Catching his sword with his sai, Raph easily twisted the blade out off the man's hand and jabbed his other sai into his chest several times.

As the bandit fell, the red-masked turtle saw another bandit running away on the road below. At first he didn't think much of it, but then a frightening thought crossed his mind.

'Shit, what if that guy is running for reinforcements. If that's so, we could get overrun. I have stop him before it's too late, but… I can't leave Mona here alone. But if I don't… argh! Sorry Mona…'

Hurrying down the tower again, Raph desperately tried to catch the runner, and he was so tormented about leaving his mate behind to fend for herself, even if she seemed to have preferred it that way.

"Man, that short-cut of yours was totally a waste of time." said Mikey, as he and the others emerged from a cave.

"How was I supposed to know that the tunnel had caved in? It's been nearly fifty years since I've been here." said Devina. "And look on it from the bright side, it could have been collapsed near the end instead of by the crossroad. Now we could take this exit instead of heading all the way back."

"Well, at least we got closer to Ivarstead, even if we are further to the north than before, judging by the mountain and the stars." said Donnie. "So if we head south, we should reach the village within a couple of hours."

"Hey… does anyone else hear something?" Sephie asked, looking to the north.

"Now that you mention it, I do hear something as well." said Leo, also looking to the north. "It sounds like shouting… and it does sound familiar."

"Better check it out then." said Tyroth, and the group headed to the source of the sound, and it didn't take more than ten minutes before they could see the what the source was.

Running on the road, was a man with fur clothes. All of a sudden, something struck him in the back of his head and he fell to the ground, blood running from his head. Shortly after, they saw a familiar figure running over to the man and kneeling by him.

"Hey, isn't that… Raph?" said Sephie. And she was right. At the moment, he had just pulled out his sai from the man's head.

"Raph!" Leo called out as they got closer, and his hot-headed brother heard him. Looking up, he couldn't believe his eyes.

"Leo? Guys? Boy, am I glad to see you again!"

"Likewise, but what were you thinking? Running off like that?"

"If you're gonna scold me, Fearless, save your breath. Mona's already done that, and she's better at it than you."

"Speaking of big sis, where is she?" Mikey asked.

"Shit! I almost forgot! We have to save her! She just raided a bandit nest belonging to this guy's friends!"

"What?! Why would she do that?" Donnie asked."And why aren't you there?"

"I'll explain on the way, but we have to hurry!"

"Where is this base?" asked Tyroth.

"Further up this road, near the river, looks like half a fortress, can't miss it."

"Then I'll fly ahead, I move faster in the air than you on the ground."

"I'm coming with you." said Devina, surprising everyone. She noticed this and decided to clarify.

"My beast-form is also capable of flight, so I can keep up with you in the air."

"Well, I got nothing against that, in fact I welcome any help I can get in this." Tyroth responded.

"Then you two go by air, while the rest of us follow on foot." said Leo.

"Just give me a moment, and a little space, and I'll be ready to go. Oh, and don't be afraid."

Black swirls of her shadow rose up and covered Devina, as her body changed. It grew and convulsed while her limbs became more beastly and wings sprouted on her back. When her transformation was complete, no one could believe that she used to be human.

She stood almost as tall as Tyroth, despite being slightly hunched due to her wolf-like body. Raven black fur covered all but the clawed hands and feet that were sickly pale. The membranes of her batwings were also pale, as were the large bat-like ears and snout on the otherwise wolf-like head. Her dark red eyes shone in the dark, looking very demonic due to the whites being completely black.

"Let us hurry then." she said in a much darker, more growling tone than her usual voice.

Tyroth quickly shook his head to regain his composure, then he nodded in response and the two used their powerful legs to jump into the air and take flight.

"Man, the things that happens to us just keeps getting weirder and weirder." said Mikey as he looked at the dragon mutant and werewolf/vampire hybrid flying away into the night.

"Come on, we have to move as well." said Leo, and the reptiles hurried after the flyers.

And another cliffhanger, and after Mona has found the bandits she was looking for, Raph reunited with the others and we got to see Devina's beast form. If this ain't a place for a cliffhanger, I don't know what is. It was either this, or have you wait another five or six days, more or less.

Keep your eyes open for the next chapter.