- Chapter 55 -

Reinforcements

Richard ran for his life through the streets of New York, carrying a visibly pregnant Sydney. Sadly, he didn't get too far before he was cut off by a squad of Krangdroids.

"End of the line, humans," the leader said with malice.

"Please…" Sydney pleaded, tears in her eyes. "Don't do this. I'm pregnant!"

The leader just chuckled. "Somehow, I just can't seem to care."

"Well, we do!" a voice cried out. Out of the blue, Tai jumped down from a building, standing between the couple and the Krangdroids. "So back off!"

Arrows rained down, piercing the Krangdroids' heads until only the leader was left.

"You really think anything you do will matter, boy?" he asked. "The Turtles are dead, along with your hope."

"There's always hope," Tai replied, drawing his swords.

"No matter how many of us you kill, more will spring up to take their place!" the leader gloated. "You are one, while I am a thousand!"

With lightning speed, Tai sliced the Krangdroid vertically in half, Utrom and all.

"Well… nine hundred ninety-nine more to go," he quipped before wiping his blade off and turning to the couple. "Richard. Sydney... been a long time."

"T-Tai?" Sydney let out.

"Yep," Tai replied as Mizuki jumped down from the roof.

"You guys okay?" she asked.

"Yeah," Richard answered with a relieved nod. "Thanks to you."

"We run a safehouse for the refugees," Tai told them. "At the risk of sounding cliché…" he offered them a hand, "come with us if you wanna live."

Sticking to the shadows, Tai and Mizuki led the couple to the Chinatown apartment building. After a quick glance around, Tai knocked on the door in the secret pattern, and the door slot opened, revealing Asuka.

"Quick, get in," she said, ushering them inside.

"Welcome to our safehouse," Tai said to the two new refugees.

Out of the blue, Sydney let out a pained yelp, clutching her belly.

"Are you okay?" Mizuki asked in concern.

"Yeah…" Sydney told her. "The baby's giving me karate kicks."

Mizuki waved Erika over. "Make sure those things didn't hurt her or her baby."

Erika nodded and led Sydney over to the couch. She gave the older woman a thorough examination, moving slowly and carefully so as not to disturb the baby. While this was going on, Seiko came into the room, glaring at Oyuki, who was seated off to the side reading a magazine.

"Excuse me, Oyuki. I hate to interrupt your reading, but…" Seiko held up a ceramic ashtray filled with cigarette butts, one still smoking slightly, "would you mind explaining this to me, please?"

Oyuki slowly lowered her magazine and gave the tray a small glance. "It's called an ashtray. It was created for the purpose of dumping cigarettes and cigars to prevent litter from discarded butts."

"Very funny," Seiko sighed. "Oyuki... how many times do we have to tell you not to smoke in the house?"

"Where did you find the ashtray?" Oyuki challenged.

"On the roof at-"

"At the look out spot, exactly." Oyuki closed her magazine and faced Seiko fully. "Last time I checked, being on the roof does not constitute being in the house."

"That's besides the point!" Seiko dropped the tray onto the coffee table. "Krang's troops are everywhere! You smoke like this up there, you'll risk giving our position away!"

"I remain under the cover of the awning, and I highly doubt Krang's gonna notice a tiny cigarette lighter, especially when I cover said lighter with my hand. Plus, I only have one or two during my shift. What, you think I smoke that much in one sitting?"

"Look, I know we're all stressed out here, but it's too much of a security risk." Seiko held out her hand. "Your lighter, please."

"Oh c'mon, Seiko!"

"Hand it over." With a groan, Oyuki handed over her fancy lighter. "And the bic lighters too."

Oyuki reluctantly did so, dumping about half a dozen little lighters into Seiko's outstretched hand. "Say, why not stick a kunai in my neck while you're at it?"

"This is only temporary," Seiko insisted as she scooped up the ashtray and walked off, taking the lighters with her. "I promise"."

Oyuki crossed her arms, mumbling to herself indignantly.

"You shouldn't smoke, anyway," Richard chimed in. "Those things'll kill you."

Erika withdrew from Sydney, pocketing her stethoscope.

"The baby's got a good, strong heartbeat," she reported. "It's all good."

Sydney looked over at Tai. "What that Krangdroid said… The Turtles... are they really-?"

Tai looked down. "We... honestly don't know, Syd."

"All we know for sure is that they were on the front lines during the attack," Asuka added. "But we haven't seen or heard from them since."

"We're looking for them even now," Mizuki included. "But… we're a little worried."

Sydney looked downtrodden at that, and Richard put an arm around her.

"This place is isolated, and has plenty of room for everyone," Erika assured them. "You're perfectly safe here."

She ushered the couple out of the room to find a place to rest. As she left, Tai looked out the boarded-up window to the abandoned streets, seeing Krangdroids patrolling the roads looking for victims.

"Leo… guys…" he muttered, "where are you?"

Later, Seiko hoisted a makeshift backpack onto her back, preparing to go out for a supply run.

"We're running low on medical supplies, and our water stores are depleting fast," she reported to Yukio.

"Understood," said the older man. "Watch your back, Seiko."

"Always do," Seiko replied. "If I'm not back in two hours, do not come looking for me. And… tell Makoto and Akemi I love them."

With that, she carefully slid open a window and went off into the night. Her first stop was at a local convenience store. Taking a small knife, she cut open a hole in the glass window next to the door before reaching in and unlocking the door.

"Like riding a bicycle," she muttered before going in.

As soon as she crossed the threshold, Seiko got to work, grabbing as many boxes of bandages and bottles of medicine as she could find, along with bottles of water and small snacks. As she closed her bag, Seiko stiffened, hearing the sounds of footsteps approaching. She stiffened, a hand going to her weapon.

From a small window, a black cat entered the store and jumped down from its perch, transforming into Shinigami. She was pale, battered, and bruised. Her face was gaunt, her eyes were sunken, and her clothes were in ruins, revealing multiple wounds. It was clear the former Foot witch had been through hell.

"Shinigami?!" Seiko exclaimed.

"S-Seiko-san?" Shinigami let out.

"What are you doing here?" Seiko approached her, concern etched across her face "We haven't seen you since before the invasion."

"Krang's men… and the Foot…" Shinigami managed. "Both of them are after me."

Seiko looked the younger girl up and down, her face going grim. "You're a wreck. The clan and I have been running a safehouse for the refugees. Please, come with me."

"No…" Shinigami staggered forward and nearly collapsed, propping herself up on the counter. "I have to find Karai... I need to save her…"

"You need to take care of yourself," Seiko insisted. "You're in no condition to help anyone."

She grabbed Shinigami by the arm, hoisting her up. The girl was too weak to resist, and Seiko carried her out the door. As she went along, Seiko quickly ducked into an alleyway as a Krangdroid patrol passed by.

"Damn…" she muttered. "They're getting more and more frequent." She looked down at the semi-conscious Shinigami in her arms. "There's no way I can fight them like this. Better keep my head down."

She did exactly that, slowly and carefully sneaking around the patrols.

"I'm... slowing you down…" Shinigami wheezed. "Just go… I'll be fine."

"There's no way in hell I'm leaving you here, Shini," Seiko told her flatly.

"It's too dangerous…" Shinigami insisted.

"Nobody gets left behind," Seiko said firmly. Shinigami opened her mouth to protest, but Seiko shook her head. "Enough, Shinigami. I'm not leaving you, and that's final."

-X-

Eventually, they managed to sneak past the patrols, and hurried to the safehouse, with Asuka ushering them inside after Seiko performed the secret knock.

"Is that… Shinigami?" Asuka asked in surprise. "Kitsune's daughter?"

Seiko nodded. "Get Erika."

Asuka did so, and Seiko sat Shinigami down on the couch as Erika got to work.

"My God…" the medic managed. "Malnourishment, dehydration, untreated wounds… most people wouldn't even be standing by now."

"Well, she's not most people," Tai let out.

"I wonder if she's even human," Mizuki muttered.

"Karai…" Shinigami whimpered. "She's still out there…"

"Just rest," Erika soothed. "She's on our list of people to find."

Shinigami looked at her for a few minutes, then gave in and laid back, closing her eyes.

"All this time, she's been looking for Karai…" Seiko said in awe. "The city's gone to hell, and she hasn't stopped."

"One dedicated friend," Mizuki remarked.

A week or so later, an old houseboat floated up to the abandoned New York Harbor. At the wheel was a Chinese man in his early-to-mid thirties with a small chunk cut out of his right ear, dressed in a dark brown robe with black trim. Eventually, from the inside of the houseboat came a woman around the same age, dressed in a black gi with a white belt and a white hood and cape. The hood was pulled down, revealing a pretty pale face with long black hair and dark brown eyes.

"Li, what's the word?" she asked.

"We've arrived," The man, Li, replied.

The two looked out at the city, the woman letting out a sigh. "So this is how low he will stoop. Allying himself with these… creatures."

From within the houseboat emerged the third member of their group, this one a mutant Arctic fox dressed in a purple bandana with a metal tag on the front, a long, red scarf around her neck, a light purple, long-sleeve shirt with net opening and a brown chest-plate over it that extended across her left breast, and large holes on the sleeves, and dark purple pants that also had large holes on the pant legs. Around her waist was what appeared to be a tiger-print belt.

"Shredder's cruelty knows no bounds," the fox muttered.

Li's hand unconsciously went to his cut ear at the mention of Shredder. "A fact we know all too well."

"Li, take us in," the human woman instructed. "Quietly."

Li nodded, and quietly directed the boat into the harbor. The trio retrieved their weapons, Li's being a shikomizue (1), the human woman's being both a naginata and kusarigama, and the fox's being a pair of curved daggers, and then pulled a tarp over the boat to hide it.

The human woman pulled her hood up over her head, and a white bandana around her neck up over the lower half of her face. "Let's go make some noise."

-X-

Some time later, Seiko was out on another supply run with Asuka and Oyuki, and all three nearly jumped out of her skin when she heard a massive explosion.

"What the hell?!" Seiko let out, turning to see a mini-mushroom cloud in the distance.

"Someone's fighting back…" Asuka managed.

"It could be the Turtles!" Oyuki said, excited.

The three immediately hurried off in the direction of the explosion, and stopped short to see two human ninjas and a mutant fox clashing with Footbots in front of the smoldering remains of a building.

"Is that… a fox?" Asuka questioned.

"Who are those two?!" Oyuki demanded.

Seiko and Asuka squinted, both of them seeing something familiar about the man, and then it hit them.

"Seiko, is that-?" Asuka began.

"It is!" Seiko exclaimed. "Chung Li!"

"Who?" Oyuki asked, confused.

"Master Yoshi's star pupil," Seiko explained. "He disappeared after Shredder killed Shen. We thought he was dead."

"Quite the opposite, from the looks of it," Asuka mused.

The fox suddenly stiffened, and then vanished from sight. Out of the blue, she appeared behind the trio, her weapons at their throats. "Drop your weapons if you wish to live."

They obediently did so, though Oyuki did not go without protest. "Whoa, whoa! Same team! We hate Shredder as much as you do!"

"We have not lived this long by blindly trusting others," Alopex said before going to the edge of the roof. "Li! Amaya! We have company!"

The two figures on the ground quickly climbed the building and both stiffened at the sight before them.

"Seiko?" they both let out, the woman dropping her hood and mask.

Seiko gasped, then grinned at the sight of the other woman's face. "I don't believe it. Tang Amaya, you little knucklehead!"

"Alopex, let them go," Li ordered. "They're friends."

Alopex did so as both Amaya and Seiko laughed and embraced.

"Tang Amaya?" Oyuki repeated. "As in… Tang Shen?"

"Actually, yes," Seiko turned to Oyuki, her hand on Amaya's shoulder. "Oyuki, this is my old friend Tang Amaya. She's Tang Shen's little sister."

Oyuki's jaw nearly hit the ground at that. "The Turtles have an aunt? Didn't see that coming."

Amaya raised an eyebrow in confusion. "Turtles?"

"Long story," Seiko said. "Can we walk and talk? It's not safe out in the open."

Amaya nodded. "Our boat's not far from here. Come, we'll be safe there."

They hurried to the houseboat, where Seiko quickly explained everything. By the end, all three were in shock.

"Master Yoshi survived?" Li let out.

"Believe me, we were equally shocked," Seiko replied. "Especially when we learned what he had become, and whom he had come to raise."

Amaya stood up, pacing. "So... Yoshi came to New York with Kasumi and her daughter. He bought five baby turtles from a pet shop, and then got in a fight with Krang's goons and got all three of them exposed to mutagen."

"That's pretty much it," said Seiko. "Then ten years later, a psychic kid Krang kidnapped and tortured from infancy managed to break out and found her way to them."

That got Alopex's attention. "Psychic girl... with Krang?"

"You know Hisako?" Asuka questioned.

"If it helps, they called her Project Oracle," Seiko offered.

That really got Alopex's attention. "So she survived… and she escaped…"

"You do know her," Asuka realized. "How?"

"Do you know of Shredder's henchmen, Tiger Claw?" Alopex asked.

Seiko got it at that. "Hisako said he escaped from the Technodrome with another mutant. You... you were that other mutant, weren't you?"

Alopex nodded, her eyes full of regret. "Yes. Tiger Claw and I escaped from the Technodrome many years ago. I wanted to bring her with us, hating seeing a child in that state. It... pains me to say that I listened to Tiger Claw and left her behind."

Oyuki scowled. "Stupid, selfish fuck."

"We had a falling out a few years back," Alopex assured him. "I have no association with Tiger Claw any longer."

"Good," said Oyuki. "If you did, we'd probably kick your ass."

"Oyuki!" Asuka said reproachfully.

"What? It's true," Oyuki replied. "Any friend of Tiger Claw's is an enemy of ours. Along with any other dumbass psycho who sides with Shredder."

Amaya chuckled. "I like you, kid."

"Thanks." Oyuki pulled out a cigarette, placing it between her lips before leaning over a lit scented candle to light up.

"Oyuki, what are you doing?" Seiko demanded.

"Hey, let me have my damn cigarette, alright?" Oyuki snapped. "I haven't had one in days."

Just before she could take a drag from it, an unseen blade cleaved it in two. Oyuki looked at the split cig, then over at Alopex, who was flicking ash off of her sword.

"I do not care for strong smells," she remarked as Oyuki slowly plucked the broken cig from her mouth and tossed it into a trash can.

"Oh, for God's sake…" the younger woman grumbled. "What do I have to do to get a smoke around here? Kill somebody?"

Seiko looked at Li, wondering something. "Li… what happened to you? We thought you died during Saki's coup."

Li sighed, looking out at the city. "I went after him during the attack. We fought, and I lost."

"How'd you get away?" Oyuki asked.

"I didn't. Saki was cruel enough to let me live…" Li ran a finger along the notch in his damaged ear, "and to leave a reminder of my failure."

All three of them winced at that.

"I found him the next morning. He'd lost a lot of blood," Amaya added. "I did what I could for him, and then we fled Japan."

"I was furious," Li admitted. "Saki had not only betrayed our clan, but he had killed my master, and spat all over my honor and pride as a warrior."

"Not to mention he killed my sister," Amaya went on. "We wanted payback for everything we'd lost, but we weren't foolish enough to go after him by ourselves."

"We knew we wouldn't stand a chance, and those we'd lost would not want us to throw away our lives needlessly," Li explained. "So, we decided to hit him where it hurts. Wherever we found a chapter of the Foot Clan or evidence of Saki's presence, we did everything we could to destroy their operations."

"And that's how they met me," Alopex cut in. "I was doing much the same. As long as the Foot supports Tiger Claw, they are my mortal enemies."

"We offered her an alliance, and since our goals were the same, she agreed," Li remarked.

"She's saved us more times than I can count," Amaya recalled.

"As have you," Alopex replied.

"That disappearing act you pulled earlier…" Oyuki piped up, "can you teleport or something?"

"Actually, no." Alopex rose to her feet. "Watch closely."

She vanished again, suddenly appearing right behind him before he could even blink.

"She can move faster than we can see," Seiko realized. "If I hadn't been paying close attention, I wouldn't have noticed."

"A benefit of my form," Alopex confessed, returning to her seat.

"So, I'm guessing you tracked Shredder to New York," Asuka deduced.

Alopex nodded. "We also heard of Krang's invasion on the news. We were horrified at what Shredder had done, and knew we had to help."

Oyuki scratched his head in confusion. "I don't get it. Splinter never mentioned you, not once. The Turtles didn't say anything either. Why?"

"Because he most likely thought Amaya blamed him for what happened to Shen," Seiko realized.

"What?!" Amaya exclaimed. "Never! He loved my sister! I knew he would give his life for her and for little Miwa! Their blood is on Saki's hands, not Yoshi's."

"Yeah…" Seiko began. "About Miwa…"

-X-

An uneasy silence filled the boat as Seiko explained the situation with Karai. It took a moment for the horror of it all to sink in. Suddenly, Amaya gritted her teeth, turning purple with rage.

"He. Did. WHAT?!"

"I was just as pissed," Seiko confessed.

"She punched a hole in a concrete wall," Asuka recalled.

Li had to physically restrain Amaya as she flew into a blind rage. "He kidnaps her, brainwashes her, and MUTATES HER?! When I get my hands on that son of a bitch, I'm going to reach down his throat and pull his goddamn heart out!"

"Amaya!" Li shouted. "Dammit, get ahold of yourself!"

Alopex quickly jabbed a pressure point in Amaya's neck, knocking her out. After a moment, Asuka broke the silence. "The more things change, the more they stay the same."

-X-

Eventually, Amaya pulled herself up, rubbing her neck.

"Was that really necessary, Alopex?" she questioned.

Alopex shrugged. "It's the only way I've known to get you to calm down when you get worked up like that."

"She has a point, Amaya," Li added. "Saki will pay for what he's done, but you need to control your temper."

"Now where have I heard that one before?" Asuka quipped, getting a glare from Seiko.

Li turned to Seiko. "You said no one's seen or heard from these Turtles, Master Yoshi, and Miss Kasumi since the invasion started?"

"Sadly, no," Seiko admitted. "We're trying to keep our hopes up, though."

"But it's been months," Asuka reluctantly conceded. "We've had teams searching everywhere we can, but the amount of Krangdroids out there has made it tricky."

"To make it worse," Oyuki added, "when we went to the 2nd Time Around to begin our search, the place was destroyed."

"The place had been burnt out," Asuka included. "From the looks of it, they were cooking a Christmas turkey when the attack happened, and had to leave in a hurry."

"The worst part…" Seiko finished, "there was blood on the carpet. Turtle blood."

"You don't think…" Li began.

"I don't know for sure, Li," Oyuki confessed. "One of the Turtles was hurt, that much I know. But the fire damage made it impossible to tell anything else."

"A few survivors spoke of an earthquake as well," Seiko recalled. "We have reason to believe that was Hisako. But… she's only caused such events under severe duress."

"And logic denotes that in this case…" Asuka began.

"She may have seen someone in her family die. Whether that be one of her siblings or… or her parents…" Amaya deduced, sighing and leaning on the railing. "If I could just talk to Yoshi one more time… let him know that I never blamed him for Shen's death…"

Li put a comforting hand on her shoulder.

"We cannot lose hope," Alopex insisted. "Have you found any bodies? Anything at all?"

The three shook their heads.

"Then as far as we know, they're all still alive," Li said. "And we will find them."

After Seiko's team had returned from Amaya's boat, everyone had gathered in the living room. Airi was fiddling with the radio.

"Find anything, little breeze?" Tai asked.

Airi shook her head. "Just some music. No emergency stuff."

"Wait, we're getting music?"

Airi nodded, then turned the dial to the station where she had heard music playing occasionally. "Yeah. Here it is."

The song playing was Just a Girl by No Doubt.

"Well, they've got good taste in music." Jade mused.

As the song came to an end, the DJ chimed in.

"And that was a favorite song of my one of a kind sister. Never underestimate that shes just a girl. You will live to regret it."

Airi perked, slowly breaking into a smile.

"That voice…" she hopped up and down eagerly like a rabbit. "Mikey! It's Mikey!"

"There's no way…" Tai insisted. "Why would Mikey be on the radio?"

"Tai, c'mon! That's Mikey's voice! I just know it!"

Tai sighed. "Little breeze, I want to believe it's him too, but it's just not-"

"That's all for tonight, folks. Remember to keep your chins up, your family close, and never forget: Anata wa hitori janai."

Everyone perked, recognizing the ancient Hamato Clan motto.

"...Holy crap, it is," Tai realized.

"That... how…" Mizuki managed.

"Holy shit, they're alive!" Jade exclaimed.

"Airi, what exactly is this show?" Erika asked.

"They called it Cowabunga Carl's Sewer Hour. I found it about a week or so ago."

Erika snorted. "Oh yeah. That's Mikey alright."

"He's been playing music, giving callers advice, that sorta thing," Airi went on. "But I didn't really pay attention to his voice until just now."

"Don't change that channel," Tai sagged onto the couch. "Finally... hope."

Everyone was visibly relieved. Jade and Hana were holding each other, the former tearing up, and Makoto had his arms wrapped around Erika, the two not caring who was watching for once.

"Did I do good?" Airi asked.

Jade sniffled, grinning. "You did great, squirt. Just great."

Beneath the city, Kasumi, indeed very much alive, was fiddling with her own radio in the lair's dojo. She was covered in dirt smudges, and her hair and ninja uniform were disheveled.

"That song had to be for Venus," she mused. "Certainly fits her, doesn't it, Yoshi?"

She turned to the opposite side of the room, where chained to the wall was a snarling, feral Splinter. His eyes were dilated, and he was hissing and growling, but he nonetheless looked up at Kasumi's words and the music.

Author's Note:

(1): The Japanese sword stick.

Well, we caught a flash of what's going on in New York without its green knights. Pretty grim, eh?

Next chapter, it's back to the farm.

Tang Amaya is the true identity of the Mistress, a villain from the Mirage and Image TMNT comics who had ties to the Shredder. Her creator revealed that she was Shredder's lover, and was duped into thinking that Hamato Yoshi was the bad guy and the one who killed her sister. I decided to do the exact opposite.

Chung Li is the property of Writing Avenger 2016, used with his permission. I did something different, since in Writing Avenger's fic TMNT: Turtle Power, Chung Li is his incarnation of Splinter.

My Alopex is a combination of the 2012 and IDW versions, combining the former's attire with the latter's appearance and abilities.

Voice cast for this chapter:

* Amaya: Ali Hillis (Lightning from Final Fantasy XIII, Liara T'Soni from Mass Effect, Palutena from Kid Icarus, Karin from Naruto Shippuden)

* Li: Darren Dunstan (Splinter's voice in the 2003 show, Pegasus in Yu-Gi-Oh!, Mr. Tanaka in Sonic X)

Please R&R. Until next time!