Chapter 10
Diplomacy
Like spectres of violence and evil, the six reptiles moved across the rooftops of New York, completely unknown to the residents of the city.
It was common for the mutants to patrol the city, searching after the turtles and family to capture and present to their masters, but this night they were on a very special mission.
"So, let me see if I've gotten this straight." Gila started. "They want us to go and negotiate with the Purple Dragons? Why? We ain't no diplomats."
"Those are our orders, Gila. And we do what we're ordered to." Komodo half growled.
"I've heard of the Purple Dragons, a fearsome gang here in the city, but I do not know their importance to us." said Coral.
"They work for us." Mamba snarled.
"They work for the Foot." Komodo clarified, giving Mamba a quick glare. "A few weeks ago, their leader, Hun, was killed by the brother of Monalisa, the lizard whore of those turtles, and now they've started fighting among themselves over who is going to be the new boss. The masters want us to remind them of whose really in charge."
"Word is one of their own, someone who knows that, sent us a message." Nile added.
"A loyalist then." Coral concluded.
"I still don't get why we have to do this." Cobra complained. "They could just as well have sent a couple of ninja instead."
"Cobra's right." Mamba agreed, much to both snakes' surprise. "Having us deal with this is wasting our potential."
"Those are our orders!" Komodo snapped. "Now shut up and keep moving, we're almost at the junk-yard."
As the mutants keep leaping from building to building, Coral mused on the current development.
'Last night, Komodo refused to report our encounter with Michelangelo, proving his disloyalty, yet tonight he focuses on our orders and keeps the others in line, showing the loyalty that we should have to our masters. Is he being erratic, or is there some form of logic to his behaviour?'
Minutes later, they arrived at the junk-yard. In addition to the on-site lights, several bonfires were lit, illuminating almost all of the area. Several hundreds of Purple Dragon members where gathered, and not for any peaceful talks, as they could be heard shouting, yelling, and cursing at each others from quite the distance.
The six mutants entered the junk-yard on the east side, where it was still dark and unguarded, as their contact had specified, and there they were met by the member that had reached out to the Foot.
It was a male, scrawny thug in an open vest and rough pants. He had a tattoo of the gang's logo on his chest, short brown hair with patches of grey, and ordinary glasses.
"What the hell?!" he exclaimed upon seeing the six mutants, his eyes wide with terror, but when he noticed the Foot's symbol on the reptiles' belts, he began to calm down. "Oh, you're from the Foot, what a relief, at first I thought you were some new friends of those turtles."
"We're no friends of those freaks!" Mamba hissed.
"Then we got something in common." the thug said, lighting a cigarette. "Actually thought we managed to off one of them years ago. I'm Kyle."
"What's the situation here… Kyle?" Komodo asked.
"About what you'd think. After Hun was killed, there were a bunch of people that stepped up to try and fill the spot. Needless to say, none of them agreed with their… competitors. They've all gathered here now to decide whose gonna be in charge, and it's not gonna be peaceful, I can tell you that much."
"We saw hundreds of you when we approached, how many are actually vying for leadership?" Coral asked.
"No more than a dozen, but they all got their own crew of loyal members. The vast majority, however, are undecided. When the fighting breaks out, I figure most will back whoever that they are closest to on the field right now."
"And who will you back then, Kyle?" Komodo asked, fixing his eyes on the human.
"My allegiance was always with Hun." Kyle said with a confident smile. "And Hun answered to the Shredder, so that's whom I'll back."
"At least someone here has some brains." Gila scoffed. "Anyone got any idea on how we get Kyle here 'elected'?"
"Let's just go out there and tell them that if they don't, we will get really nasty!" Cobra suggested, licking her lips at the mere thought of getting to hurt someone.
At that moment, the shouting and boasting of the gathered members just nearby became far more agitated and aggressive, which could only mean one thing.
"Sounds like they're about to tear each other to pieces." said Komodo.
"Oh, goodie!" Cobra almost cheered, drooling a bit as she did. "This will be fun to watch!"
"Can it, Cobra!" Komodo barked. "The masters sent us here to stop this, so that's what we're going to do!"
"And how do you suppose we do that?" Mamba asked defiantly, crossing her arms.
"We're here as the muscles of the Foot!" Komodo continued. "We go out there and set them straight with our power! Intimidation!"
"Damn straight!" Nile agreed. "Scare the little shits into doing as we say!"
"Move out, Venomous Five!" Komodo shouted, and the reptiles all cheered at his war cry. Yet, when they headed out, Komodo blocked Coral's path.
"Not you, Coral. You stay here and guard Kyle." he said. "We will deal with the others."
Coral frowned at Komodo, but nodded as she understood her orders. But that didn't mean that she, nor Kyle, wouldn't keep an eye on what was about to happen from a distance.
It didn't take very long for the gang members to stop their arguing once the Venomous Five took centre stage, with Komodo reminding them that they all worked for the Foot in the end.
Unfortunately, that was a good as it got, for when Komodo and the others pressed the groups to agree on a leader for the gang, hostilities and discord flared up once again, this time with the five mutants caught in the mess of an argument as well.
Whatever intimidation value the reptiles had had was washed away, despite their best efforts to get some order without resorting to just killing the humans until they surrendered.
"Doesn't look like your colleagues could handle it as well as they thought." Kyle noted, adjusting his glasses.
"It doesn't, no." Coral agreed. "It would appear that more drastic measures may be needed."
"Shame, but if that's what's needed, then you do what you have to. Like Hun, he wasn't afraid to discipline those that got out of line. He really led by example."
"I see." Coral mused. "And I assume that if you become the new leader, you will also lead by example?"
"Of course, it's the most efficient way." Kyle said with a smirk.
"On that, we are in agreement." Coral said, smirking as well.
Quick as a flash, Coral lashed out, grabbing Kyle by the head and biting him in the neck. Her venom spread quickly throughout the human's body, muscles being torn apart fibre by fibre by it.
The experience was excruciating, but blissfully short, as Kyle soon collapsed into Coral's arms, his body going limp as his life ended.
An image flashed in Coral's mind.
A young woman with black hair, being bitten in the neck by a snake mutant with sand coloured scales.
In the middle of the junk yard, the different factions were about to come to blows, with the Venomous Five stuck in the middle. As much as the mutants wouldn't mind seeing, and even joining in on, some mindless slaughter, they all knew, Komodo especially, that they would be severely punished if they failed this mission, and unlike the last one, they wouldn't be able to keep this under wraps.
"SILENCE!" a shrill scream echoed over the area, causing everyone to pause and look at Coral, as she walked into the middle, carrying Kyle's corpse in her arms.
"See this?!" She yelled, tossing Kyle's body onto the ground "This is Kyle! He had done nothing but been loyal to our leaders! And I killed him! The most loyal of you, and even he had to paid with his life for this! So what do you think the Shredder will do to all of you if you don't get back in line?!"
The gang members all looked at each other in near silence, as if a wall of truth had just been dropped on them. Rumours had always been going around, of how the Foot punished its own ninja in unusually cruel ways, and only being lowly gang members, they were in risk of even worse punishment. In short, death was a mercy, one that they may not get.
Meanwhile, the Venomous Five looked at Coral in shock, Komodo especially. He had specifically ordered Coral to guard Kyle, and now she had killed him, the probably most loyal member of the Purple Dragons, the one they had tried to back as new leader of the gang.
All of their work, as much as it was, undone by an upstart newbie.
And yet, Komodo couldn't deny that Coral's display had had quite the effect on the gathered gang members. The fighting had stopped, and he could see that they were all weighing their options.
Even if Coral had disobeyed her orders, she had done something far better than putting the fear of God into the gang, she had put the fear of the Shredder back into them, and that seemed to be working wonders.
Murmurs swirled among the gang as they weighed their options, and after several minutes the ones that had been ready to fight for leadership, each looking at each other and nodding in silent agreement, stepped forward to the Venomous Five.
"We… we will comply." said a woman with neon green spikes for hair and purple low-cut bodysuit, showing the gang tattoo in her cleavage. "We will agree on who will lead us, peacefully, and we will serve the Foot as before."
"What she said." said a chubby male, and the others nodded.
Komodo narrowed his eyes and glared at each and everyone of them.
"See to that you do." he snarled. "Our masters won't be as kind as we are." he then turned back to his fellow mutants. "We're done here. Move out!"
It was with a mixture of relief and disappointment that the other four members began walking towards the edge of the junk-yard to head back home.
Coral had a proud smirk on her lips, but that was quickly wiped away, for as soon as they were out of earshot and view of the humans, Komodo grabbed her by the arms and pinned her against a car-wreck.
"What the hell were you thinking?!" he almost roared, having to really hold back so that he wouldn't be heard by the Purple Dragons. "You were suppose to keep him safe! Not kill him! You could have ruined everything!"
"Like you were doing any better!" Coral snapped back. "You were moments away from full out war! I saw a chance to achieve our goal, so I took it!"
"You disobeyed an order!"
"And you disobeyed doctor Arden by not reporting our encounter with the turtle, Michelangelo!"
This made Komodo see red, and he pulled back one hand, clawing it as he prepared to strike.
The other members watched on with baited breath. Cobra and Mamba sporting evil smirks as they hoped that they'd finally be rid of their new member, while Gila and Nile were a bit more cautious with their thoughts.
Komodo's clawed hand twitched in anticipation of rending flesh, but despite how much he wanted to, he lowered his hand and let go of Coral.
Killing her would only bring the wrath of Arden onto them, and then there was the risk of her managing to fight back, and with her very potent venom, she could kill any of them with minimal effort.
It was not a risk worth taking, at least not now.
And there was another thing as well.
"You're right." Komodo admitted, though with great reluctance. "Our orders were to get the gang back under our control, and you did just that. Probably far more effective than what we could have done. Good job."
"I can't believe this! You're not only letting her off the hook, but you're praising her as well?!" Cobra objected.
"She did far better than you, or any of us for that matter!" Komodo barked back. "Our mission is completed, and that's what matters! Now, we report back to our masters. We go, now!"
With the Venomous Five disgruntled, Coral smirked on the inside as they made their way back to the HQ.
She so enjoyed proving that she was superior to them, even if it didn't win her any friends, but at least she had proven that she was competent and willing to do what it took to get the job done.
Someone that they should both admire and fear.
It was such a pleasant feeling, and almost… familiar…
Coral has proven to be ruthless in her own way, yet memories seems to keep seeping into her mind. What result will this have?
A few references to other stories that might need a bit of explaining.
Hun was killed in Bloodrayne666's story Oh Sister Where Art Thou?
Kyle made his debut in An Angel's Touch, on of my earlier stories, but was never named despite being the 'main villain' in that story.