TMNT 2003 S1: Four Turtles More

by Fanficteller

Fifteen years have passed since the accident. Now, eight turtles, six brothers and two sisters, born as mutants in the sewers and trained as ninjas by a rat, are forced to leave their destroyed underground home and take the first step into a surface world where they face many adventures and meet new friends and foes, until they meet their toughest opponent ever, The Shredder.

53. The Girl and the Turtle, Part 1, Part 3

Guest 1: I think that when I was writing the episode, I mixed up Splinter's two names in different languages. In English it is: Master Splinter, and in my language, Finnish, it is: Mestari Tikku "Tiku". Well, it's fixed now. And yes, Raph is older than Dom, who is fourth oldest turtle in the team after Leo, Raph and Mary. It's just Dom speaking of his own to make an excuse to secure the leadership.

Girl Anime Club: No reason to why he wouldn't.

CT311998: Well, that's true, and perhaps it will be so. In the original series, it was Raph who usually took the leadership role whenever Leo was absent or out of commision, yet his impulsiveness and lack of patience clashes greatly with Mary's more collected and patient attitude too - even though so far these two have no rivalry between of each other.

---

= TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES 2003 =
= THE GIRL AND THE TURTLE P3=

Meanwhile on the surface, Angel and Ellie were returning home from the store. Angel carried two full shopping bags, grunting slightly from the weights in her hands, while Ellie went through both the shopping list and the receipt to see if they got everything on the list.

"Let's see... we got milk... eggs... bread... butter... sugar... frozed berries... cheese... honey... cooking cream... canned chicken and beans... potatoes... carrots... tomatoes... salad... cucumbers... mushrooms... parsley... celery... cereals... oats flakes..."

Angel rolled her eyes at her grandmother in slight annoyance.

"Oh, please, grandmother." Angel said, or more likely pleaded. "No need to go through that list for the third time. I'm telling you, we already have a lot of everything."

"I'm just trying to be precise here, honey." Ellie said before putting the shopping list and the receipt back into her purse. "You can never be too sure of anything. Sometimes there is always something on the list that goes unnoticed."

"Hopefully not, 'cause I ain't going to make the same trip there and back again if we really forgot something." Angel said jokingly.

Ellie gave her granddaughter a look, as if she had something in mind to counter that.

"Really? Not even for your grandmother's sake? Or not even for a hot waffles with ice cream and strawberry jam." Ellie teased.

Angel let out an annoyed groan! Of course, she had to bring up her biggest weakness in her favorite dessert: a delicious hot waffles with ice cream and strawberry jam.

This wasn't the first time she had purposely used that same old himmick before to get her to do her requesty, whether she wanted it or not. When she was a little girl, she never couldn't say to such a delicious offer and would naively do anything to get a treat for her work.

And even if she had grown out of her childish naivety, she unfortunately hadn't done so in the case of her sweet tooth for the hot waffles. She just couldn't help it if those sweet treats tasted so fresh and juicy in her mouth, especially when covered with melted ice cream and strawberry jam.

And yet, her grandmother was still trying that same technique, as if not minding if she wasn't the little girl anymore.

"Grandma! You know I'm too old to fall into that trick anymore." Angel whined. "Besides, weren't we out of waffles, ice cream and jam at home the last time I checked?"

"Oh, are we?" Ellie confirmed, before she pointed into one of the bags with the sly smirk.

Confused, Angel looked into the bag and noticed, to her surprise, that there was a waffle pack, a vanilla ice cream pack and a jar of strawberry jam. Angel looked up at her grandmother with an raised brow, because she didn't remember them to be even in the shopping list.

"Where did those things came from?" she asked, baffled.

"I bought them when you weren't looking, dear, just in case we were missing something and that I needed you to go back to get it." Ellie said with the chuckle.

Angel frowned, annoyed that her grandmother once again had the leverage against her, and looked away from her as they kept walking.

"I think I hate you, grandma." she added with the low voice, causing Ellie to chuckle heartily, while knowing that Angel didn't really meant that last one.

###

Few hours earlier in the Lair, whilst Leo, Donnie, Mary and Arcee were sitting on or leaning against the edge of the upper level of the floor near the Dōjō, Louie, Raph, Dom and Mikey were lined up before Master Splinter, who paced back and forth in front of his four sons, not even close of being pleased with their progress in the training.

"My sons. I am disappointed with your performance today." he said in a calm but stern voice until he stopped right in front of Louie, making the turtle in black to look up at him.

"Especially yours, Lorenzo. Do you know why?"

"Because I failed to catch Arcee and Leo by surprise while I succeeded to take out Mary and Dom?" the turtle in black questioned.

"NO!" Splinter said, banging his staff hard against the floor, making Louie jump a little. "Not only because your team lost, but because you rejected the instructions I gave you! and what exactly was that one particular instruction I gave to you?"

Submissively, Louie lowered his head a little, but otherwise said nothing for a few minutes, prompting Splinter to tell him in case he'd either forgotten or had not paid attention earlier.

"My instructions were..." Splinter started as he held his fore finger up. "Work as the team, as a unit, not as a indivituals."

Splinter then lowered his finger down. "And yet, as I've been told, you abandoned your team and went on solo rather than working with them. And more than that, you used your brothers as the bait to lure the other team out so you could take them on yourselves. In other words, you turned your brothers from teammates into "Ashigaru-sha"!

When that particular word left Splinter's mouth, both Raph and Dom turned towards Louie, glaring daggers at him for taking them as such during the training, though Mikey was a bit confused of Master Splinter's last word. Hoping for answers to clear up his confusion, Mikey leaned towards Dom and nudged him in the arm with his elbow, catching his attention.

"Umm... Dom? What's Ashigaru-sha?" the turtle in orange asked.

"Trust me, little bro. You do not want to know." Dom said in warning, but clarified the matter to his little brother nonetheless. "In traditional japanese warfare, the ashigaru-sha were the expendable soldiers who were sent in first to waste the enemy's ammunition and set off traps before the real soldiers arrived. In other words, "cannon-fodder"."(1)

"Ohh! Okay. Thanks, Dom." Mikey thanked, satisfied for the answer but oblivious about the whole meaning of the matter, making Dom roll his eyes at his brother's naivety.

About three minutes and thirty-eight seconds later, Mikey's face morphed into disturbed look when the whole meaning of "Ashigaru-sha" quickly dawned to him, like a sudden cannon blast right at your feet, literally!

"HEY!" Mikey exclaimed offended, before leaning forward to scowl darkly at Louie. "Do we really mean that much to you, Louie?! An expendable cannon-fodder?! How could you?!"

"Silence, Michelangelo!" Splinter said sternly as he turned from Louie to his youngest son.

Mikey's went wide-eyed at Master Splinter's stern words, before the turtle in orange submissively withdrew back in line... but not before casting another scowl at Louie.

Splinter then turned back to Louie. "In the real situation up there, our enemies, Foot Clan for example, may rely on this cowardly technique by sending a large number of their expendable henchmen against you, to wear you down, before attacking you either with their full force or with their bests to finish you off when you have no strength to fight back. But since you are brothers and sisters, family to each other, you cannot afford to sacrifice your own for such a thing."(2)

"And yet this shell-for-brains did so by ditching us and leaving us at the mercy of the other team." Dom snarled with the scowl.

"Yeah. And it doesn't seem to bother him at all." Raph snarled as well, his narrowed eyes flashing from anger to his brother for his actions during the training.

Louie scowled back at them, offended by their accusatory words against him and shouting his own accusatory words at them in his mind.

"Do you have something to say to explain your rash actions, my son?" Master Splinter said, offering Louie a chance to explain himself.

"Oh, I do, Sensei." Louie said eagerly, dying to open up about his own accusatory against his brothers - at least Dom and Raph - so that he could take them down with him.

"We COULD'VE worked as a team like you said...if it wasn't for these two idiots who started arguing with each other about who gets to lead our team. Both were immediately at each other's throats, throwing insults, criticizing and underestimating each other. They wouldn't even let me and Mikey express our opinions, let alone volunteer to be leaders to break up the argument. Both wanted leadership for themselves." Louie explained.

Both Raph and Dom glared angrily at Louie for bringing up their quarrel into this as an excuse to get away from this with his own actions... except Mikey, who couldn't help but reluctantly agree with him.

"Yeah, well, that's kinda true." Mikey stuttered in agreement.

However, because of him agreeing with Louie, both Raph and Dom turned their storm dark scowls at Mikey to intimidate him into silence, which Mikey timidly did in order not to get to his older brothers' bad side.

"Is this true, Raphael and Domenico?" Splinter questioned, turning his frown from Louie - and briefly from Mikey - to his two sons in the middle of the line.

Raph spoke up first. "Well, Dom started it. I took the lead until he started openly questioning it...saying I was too brash, impulsive and too impatient to lead." the turtle in red said, slapping his hand against Dom's stomach.

Dom looked at his brother with greatly flabbergasted look for his words.

"EXCUSE ME?!" Dom exclaimed. "What do you mean "I started it"?! It was YOU ALONE who started this whole thing when you started openly underestimating my leadership, remember?!"

"Yeah, that's how it exactly went..." Mikey added, backing up Dom, thus making both turtles in red and white turn from each other back to their younger brother.

"Dom kinda took the lead first until you started to openly question and criticize his leadership, even called him "boring", "overcautious", "wussy" and "unable to handle the stress". That's kinda what you said, didn't you?

An irritated growl escaped through Raph's gritted teeth as he shot another pair of daggers from his narrowed eyes at Mikey. Dom, however, gave Mikey a satisfied smirk before he turned back to Raph.

"You heard him, bro! Does that ring any bells, if you even have them in that thick skull of yours?" Dom said, pointing at his head to get his point through.

Listening from the sidelines with his arms crossed over his chest, Master Splinter turned to Raph with a raised left eyebrow, waiting for him to say something either in his own defense or in denial.

Mikey, however, spoke up first, literally adding more fuel to the fire. "So technically it was you who started the whole argument in the first place. Right, Raph?"

That was the last straw! Raph tried to push his way past Dom towards Mikey, intending to pummel him for siding with Dom over him!

That was the last straw, and Raph tried to push his way past Dom advance towards Mikey with intention to pummel him for siding with Dom over him!

"Shut your hole, Mikey, before I'll shut it myself!" Raph snarled threateningly, making Mikey to nervously back away.

However, Dom refused to let Raph go past him to get to Mikey and pushed his hot-headed brother back by his chest with his both hands.

Dom shielding him from Raph's desire to vent his steaming mood on something - like him for example - allowed Mikey let out the sigh with relief.

"Back off, you bull-headed doofus!" Dom demanded strictly.

"Out of my way, Dom!" Raph snarled.

"Why? So that you can vent your steams on Mikey just because you can't handle the truth?" Dom shouted. "Also, he's right that you started the fight because you wanted to take the lead without other people's opinions, and you know that's true! So don't even try to deny your fault by blaming someone else for it like some childish immature jerk!"

"Jerk, am I?!" Raph snarled, not liking to be called with such of insults. "Perhaps you're in need of some reminder what I think about being called "jerk"."

"Don't make me laugh with your puny threaths 'cause they ain't working on meh!" Dom shot back.

"Oh, I ain't planning to make you laugh, bro!" Raph snarled, punching his palm with his fist. "I'm gonna make you whine!"

"Don't you dare, bro...!"

Before the quarrel between two brothers could've escalated, Master Splinter took the situation quickly under control by whacking his sons on top of their heads with his staff.

(WHACK!) "OWW!" Dom gasped.

(WHACK!) "AGH!" Raph whined.

"My sons, ENOUGH!" Spinter ordered harshly, banging his staff hard to the floor again.

Heeding to Splinter's strict command and the impact of his staff on the floor, Raph and Dom immediately backed down and lined up again before their master, chins up and chests up, though still grimacing at the stinging pain in their heads.

"So, if I understood correctly from what you've told me that you…" Splinter said pointing his staff at Raph and Dom. "... started fighting and criticizing each other over the leadership of the team, even trying to take it for yourself just like that without the opinion of others, even though you should have decided about it together. This leads to nothing but resentment and lack of cooperation, leading to even worse consequences. This cannot be the case when you're in a real situation. Do you boys understand?! You cannot fight evil effectively if you're at each other's throats at the same time."

Realizing that Master Splinter was right, and that how foolish and childish they have been for wasting time in their stupid argument, the turtles in red and white lowered their heads down in shame... though they still shot narrowed glares at each other sideways, hinting that in the back of their minds, both of them still considered themselves a better leader than the other.

Master Splinter then turned back to Louie, the disappointment in his son's rash actions still clearly visible in his eyes under his white eyebrows.

"And Lorenzo... Abandoning the team to go on alone is never the right move, especially if the situation calls for teamwork." Splinter said before continuing after short pause. "Remember this, all four of you, that the true strength of a team is in numbers and in each other, but a broken team is weak and easily picked off, no matter how powerful and skilled you are. Am I understood?"

"Yes, Sensei." all fou turtles said in unison.

Master Splinter then raised a hand over his scarred muzzle and let out a deep sigh, knowing that now he had to go to the hard part and punish his boys for both their failures in training and disregarding his instructions.

"Now... due to your team's failure, there will be a doubled hours of stealth and teamwork training for a month." Splinter said, before turning to Louie, Raph and Dom piercing gaze, while strangely leaving Mikey out.

Louie, Raph and Dom swallowed nervously the lump from their throats, knowing that their master wasn't done with them yet, while Leo, Donnie, Mary and Arcee held their breath in anticipation for what Master Splinter had for their unfortunate brothers.

"Ohhhh...! They're definitely going to die!" Arcee said tensely.

Then, Splinter voiced out his final assignments. "And Lorenzo, Raphael, and Domenico... for pursuing your own interests instead of teamwork and ignoring the direct instructions, your training periods will be prolonged with two months more."

The turtles in black, red and white stared their father with wide-eyed and slack-jawed looks, stunned with disbelief that they were going to train with extended hours compared to their normal training routine not only for a month, but for two to three whole months!

"Oooohhhhhhhh!" Leo, Donnie, Mary and Arcee gasped!

"WHAT?!" Raph and Dom exclaimed in unison. "Two-three months?!"

"Yes!" Splinter confirmed.

"Oh, brother!" Louie muttered with facepalm, knowing that they were screwed because of that little ditching-trick of this.

However, both Raph and Dom immediately began to protest.

"You can't be serious, Sensei?!" Raph exclaimed. "Exceptionally extra training hours for a couple of weeks is one thing, but three whole months?!"

"Have I ever been less than serious with my decisions, my son?" Master Splinter questioned.

"Well... uh..." Raph hesitated to answer, slightly taken aback by Splinter's question, until he finally got words out of his mouth. "No, you haven't. But what about all the late-night bike races I've been planning with Casey? This will force me to skip most of them!"

"This is almost an outrage, Sensei!" Dom whined. "Louie should be punished with such a long training period for ditching us, not me...or Raph...despite our stupid fight! Can't you... Can't you even reconsider this?!" he begged desperately.

"I have spoken, my son." Splinter said strictly.

Both turtles in red and white groaned in crushing defeat and realization that there was no way they could sway Splinter into reconsidering.

Splinter then pointed his staff up at his three sons on his left. "Three months for all three of you... and one month for Michelangelo." he added more calmly anf softly, as he turned his staff towards Mikey.

Mikey was left surprised by this, while Raph and Dom, and even Louie, turned to him in puzzlement and confusion that the turtle in orange got away with just one month.

"Why does Mikey get away with this easy and we don't?!" Raph questioned loudly, not bothering to hide the hint of envy in his voice.

"Ease?!" Mikey questioned. "You try to last the extra hours of training for the first month, and you'll come to know that I ain't enjoying about this either."

"I wasn't asking from you, Mikey!" Raph snapped.

"Because, Raphael..." Splinter said, getting Raph's attention. "I don't remember you telling me Michelangelo either ditching you or joining in your argument. But..." Splinter paused to point his ear with his finger. "...I did hear him volunteering himself as your team's leader to break up the fight. And while there was pride and self-centeredness in both you and Domenico, Michelangelo had nothing but confidence."

"Does that mean you would have chosen Mikey to lead our team?" Dom questioned.

"Perhaps, Domenico." Splinter answered simply.

This left Dom taken aback by his answer.

"Wha...?!" Dom gasped with raised eyebrow. "Why?"

"While he may not have the natural leadership qualities like Leonardo does, he does at least have a potentiality and even capability to take the charge if necessary... yet you two rejected him to pursue your own interests. So, that's why." Splinter finished.

Reluctantly admitting to themselves that Master Splinter was speaking the truth, both Raph and Dom ceased protesting and submissively stepped back, begrudgingly accepted their punishments... though mumbling and grumbling under their breaths while looking slightly away.

"So, um..." Mikey said meekly, getting both Raph's and Dom's attentions. "No hard feelings, right?"

None of the two said the word, only stared at him expressionlessly, though they eventually gave Mikey a slight nods, wordlessly telling him that there was no hard feelings between them.

Having nothing more to say, Splinter turned his tail and began marching towards his room, leaving his children to the center of the Lair.

"Get some rest, all of you." Splinter told them as his room's paper doors slid open, allowing him to enter. "We'll continue training tommorow morning." he finished and disappeared from the sight as the doors closed behind him.

Louie, Raph, Dom and Mikey stared at their father's room's door in deep silence for a moment, while Leo, Donnie, Mary and Arcee walked up to them, eyes on Splinter's room as well.

It was until then when Louie broke the silence.

"Well! I think that was it! Things are back to normal, all is forgotten and forgiven, no hard feelings, end of story!" Louie said, sounding and acting like nothing never even happened. "Right, bros?!"

However, Louie's nonchalant attitude and voice about the situation earned him dirty looks from Raph and Dom, as the turtles in red and white were still angry about their defeat, failure, and subsequent punishment, which they openly blamed on Louie.

"What?" Louie said with the shrug.

"Things may be back to normal, Louie." Raph growled angrily under his breath. "But nothing's definitely forgotten or forgiven! And there will definitely be hard feelings between us!"

Fuming, Raph began to walk towards the common area, but not before rudely and deliberately shoving Louie out of his way with his right shoulder, and not bothering to even apologize from it.

Louie looked after his brother wide-eyed, taken aback by his behavior.

"And don't act like none of this doesn't bother you, Louie." Dom snarled, as he began to follow Raph. "And don't even bother to hide from us the fact that you enjoy our misery, even though you equally share it yourself."

With that, Dom pushed past the turtle in black with his left shoulder, before moving on, not bothering to apologize to him just like Raph did.

"And this is not so easily forgotten, so don't even bother coming to us when you want to ask something or need us in anything, because you never do that anyway, unless you first learn to appreciate us a little more than what you did today." he finished without looking back at Louie.

However, he did slightly tuen to look over his left shoulder, though not at Louie at all. Rather past the turtle in black and at Mikey, who hadn't moved from his spot.

"Come on, Mikey." Dom said.

Mikey felt a little torn between the two options when he looked at both Dom and Louie, though the former didn't stay there to wait for him to follow, but instead continued forward towards the common area.

Although he was given one month instead of three, unlike his older brothers, he was left with disbelief that they were still willing to allow him to hang out with them - or at least Dom did. He wasn't sure if Raph felt about it too.

But at the same time, Mikey felt sorry for Louie, even if this was indirectly his fault, although of course it didn't justify the others so rudely - and maybe a little selfishly - pushing him away and leaving him out like that. Mikey wasn't even sure if Dom had invited him to follow him in good spirit or just out of spite against Louie.

However, he quickly decided to remain in his brothers' good side, so he timidly walked past not-so-surprised Louie towards the common area, though the turtle in orange offered him an apologetic look.

"Sorry, bro." Mikey said quickly and regretfully, before he turned around and left.

Being left alone in the center of the Lair, Louie at his brothers as they sat on the couch to watch TV, with their shells rudely turned on him. The turtle in black was offended tby being pushed away like that, even though Raph and Dom too bore the blame for their team's failure.

Annoyed, Louie decided to get back at themk... by playing their own little game.

"Fine! You can be mad at me if you want, but I'll do exactly as you suggested, Dom! I know when I'm not needed here!" Louie yelled. "You can just sit there and wail in your self-pity thinking about nothing but your own shells!"

Louie then turned around and marched angrily towards the front door.

Mikey looked over his shoulder at his brother with pity, while Dom and Raph were purposefully indifferent about it.

From the other four turtles who had witnessed this from aside, only Arcee stepped forward, worry and pity wrapped over her face.

"Hey, Louie! Where are you going?" the turtle in pink called innocently.

Almost at the door, Louie didn't stop his pace, but was honest enough to bother to answer his sister's question.

"Up to the surface." the turtle in black said. "To be on my own for a while... and far away from those three!" he added with the raised voice, pointing a finger towards Raph, Dom and Mikey.

Arcee was about to follow him, but Leo stopped her by gently grabbing her by her right shoulders. "Let him go, Arcee. I think Louie indeed needs some time for himself right now."

Reluctantly, Arcee nodded before turning back to Louie, whi had already disappeared into the tunnels.

"Let's just hope he doesn't end up into any trouble up there." Leo added.

###

A few hours later, Louie was on the move on the surface. But instead of moving along the rooftops, out of sight as usual, the turtle in black was walking on the street level of New York tonight.

Although he was still angry with Raph and Dom for their rude and selfish treatment of him, he couldn't let it affect Master Splinter's most important rule while on the surface.

Do not let yourself to be seen by humans!

Which is why he had utilized the ninjas' ancient mastery of disguises, before jumping to the streets.

The turtle in black was wearing a long gray-brown trenchcoat, a blue-grey hat and a black scarf, which he had wrapped around his head to cover his face from all passers-by and other bystanders.

Dressed up, Louie walked slowly, silently and almost aimlessly down the street, passing on the way many citizens, who had no idea that there was 5′2 foot tall mutant ninja turtle walking among them in disguise.

Unlike on the rooftops, where there was freedom to move around without the need to hide so much because of the darkness, the rules were different at street level and the risk of being exposed was even greater even if you were wearing a disguise.

For this reason, Louie remained very alert, glancing from side to side for possible danger or trouble, while keeping his three-fingered hands hidden in the pockets of his jacket at all times, except when he had to occasionally adjust the long collars of his coat and wrap his scarf properly around his face.

So far everything was going smoothly and without any problems, because even though there were a lot of people around him, both coming and going, none of them really paid any attention to him. In their eyes, he was just an ordinary New Yorker, one among others.

However, Louie noticed that he DID receive a few curious glances from some onlookers: They probably found his slightly more rounded and bulky shape - which was his natural physical shape compared to the humans' more thinnier shapes - as well as his need to cover his face with the black scarf either funny, curious or even suspicious.

However, as long as they didn't bother him any way, Louie paid them no attention.

But despite constantly observing his surroundings, keeping his secrecy up and avoiding trouble, Louie was still irritated and frustrated from earlier, so much so that he wanted to take it out on someone.

However, even after walking through a few blocks, there was nothing worth of his time, which only increased his bad mood.

"Ugh! Come on! I'm getting bored out here!" Louie mumbled irritably, only a moment later realizing something. "Great. Now I'm starting to sound like Raph."

However, luck seemed to be on Louie's side when he arrived to the fifth block.

Not far ahead of him, an old woman was walking towards him. Her hair was gray and upturned, and she was dressed in a black canvas jacket and dress, and she wore glasses. The woman was also using a walking stick to facilitate her rather arduous walk, while carrying a leather pursue over her shoulder.

But when she walked past the next alley, two man came out of there and sneaked up behind the lady.

One of the crooks was tall, slender and cunning-looking orange-haired guy wearing brown pants, white shirt, amber-colored vest over it, red cravat and green checkered jacket. The other was more muscular and brutish-looking guy with bluish-gray hair (dyed most likely) and he wore black pants and spiked leather jacket, under which he had a red shirt.

The pair quickly looked around to see if there was anyone witnessing this, before the taller guy proceeded to catch the woman by surprise by putting the bag over her head and wrapped his long arms around her to hold her still, while his muscular partner grabbed to the woman's purse and tried to pull it from her hands.

The woman, surprised and horrified upon realizing that she was about to get mugged, began screaming for help, but the bag muffled her voice so that no one couldn't hear her.

Louie was disgusted to see these two honorless crooks attacking the old defenseless lady like that, but also glad he didn't have to wait too long for something to happen.

"About time." the turtle in black said.

In any case, knowing that the old woman's well-being, perhaps even her life, was at stake, Louie sped toward the scene, but not too fast to let the crooks know of his presence. The last thing he wanted was for them getting away without him punishing them for attacking the old lady.

Though blinded by the bag over her head, the lady tried to hold on to her purse and wildly swung her walking stick around, hitting the Crook 2 three times in the face. However, as soon as the crook 2 ripped the purse out of her hands, the crook 1 rudely threw her to the ground like a man-sized rag doll, not caring at all if he ended up hurting her.

Leaving the mugged lady behind, the crooks took off running, unknowingly right towards Louie, while the woman pulled the bag off her head and screamed after the crooks.

"Help! Help! Somebody, help! Police! I've been mugged! Help! Somebody stop them!" she screamed desperately.

"Well, for an old hag, she put up a good fight! I like that. Plucky bit a spirit of the woman, don't you agree?" Crook 1 told his partner.

However, Crook 2 wasn't as impressed as his partner. He'd received some pretty nasty bruises on his right cheek and forehead, one eye was black and swollen, and he had a nosebleed from one of the blows.

"That's easy for you to say. You didn't even get whacked all over your face." Crook 2 said grumply.

"Whatever!" Crook 1 shrugged indifferently. "Now let's get out of here before the cops get here!"

However, before they could get far, Louie, who was hiding around the corner of the alley, surprised them by putting his foot in front of theirs, causing crooks to trip over it... and also causing Crook 2 to drop the purse.

"AGHHHH!" the criminals cried in surprise as they fell face-first into the asphalt, with Crook 2 on top of his partner!

"Oh, sorry, buddy!" Crook 2 hastily apologized.

"I can't believe it! You just keep tripping over my feet all of time, you clumsy idiot!" Crook 1 cried irritably. "Get off me!"

"It wasn't me, I swear it! Someone tripped us both over!" Crook 2 defended as Crook 1 pushed him off.

"Oh, yeah! Right! Excuses, excuses! Do you see anyone here besides us?!" Crook 1 questioned irritably, gesturing with his hand the almost empty streets to prove his point.

Crook 2 looked obediently around to see it himself but he saw nobody, save for the mugged woman in the distance.

"Uh... no one." he said, turning back to Crook 1.

"That's right! There's no one!" Crook 1 snapped, before he pointed at their stolen purse that was lying on the ground nearby. "Now get that purse and let's scram before you mess up something else, you muscle-brained moron!"

"Sheesh! No need to call with names! I already said I'm sorry." Crook 2 defended as he knelt to pick the purse up.

However, before he could, Louie stepped out of the shadows and put his right foot on top of Crook 2's hand, pinning it down and preventing him from retrieving the ill-gotten purse.

"AHHH!" Crook 2 screamed in surprise and pain.

Crook 1 looked on wide-eyed, especially when he saw Louie's two-toed leg, before he looked up a Louie, who pulled his scarf down, revealing his face to the crooks smug.

"Evening, boys." Louie smugly greeted. "Having some late night fun, eh, even if it isn't even that late yet?"

Crook 1's mouth dropped when he saw Louie's face. The shock of this revelation was so great that he couldn't get a word out of his mouth no matter how hard he tried.

Crook 2 was shocked as well when he looked up and saw Louie's face, though he was able to get a few words out of his mouth.

"Wha-wha-wha-wha-wha-wha-wha-wha-wha-wha-wha-wha-wha-wha-wha-what-what-what-what-what, what are you?" Crook 2 asked, shaking from shock and fear.

"The guy who's gonna teach you no-good punks a lesson not to prey on helpless and defenseless old women." Louie said, punching his palm. "Unless you get the hell out of here and never show your ugly mugs on these corners again!"

At these words, Crook 1 snapped out of his shock and quickly pulled out a knife from his belt's sheath, pointing it at Louie in self-defense.

"Don't come any step closer... MONSTER! Or I will make you bleed before I do." he snarled through of his bared gritted teeth.

Louie, however, wasn't impressed at all, as he could see Bobs' hand around his knife's handle trembling uncontrollably. Even his eyes were telling that the criminal was failing miserably to put up the brave facade one.

But how could Louie say no to play with the punk's own game.

"Put the knife away, boy." Louie warned with a smile before heput his left hand into his coat and drew out one of his Butterfly Swords, revealing its blade that was two and a half times longer and significantly wider than Crook 1's knife. "Or we end up playing your game with uneven odds."

Crook 1 stared utterly dumbfounded at Louie's sword's overwhelmingly larger blade, unable to belief (as the small-time crook, mugger and pickpocket) that the people, or even freaks, would be allowed to carry such of steel weapons.

"Be a good little boy and turn around and leave with your chubby little friend here, or things would get ugly for you." Louie cautioned, pointing his sword at the crook.

Although still afraid of Louie's face and unsure how this would turn out for him and Rocky, Crook 1 decided to give it a shot and threw his knife at Louie with the scream, hoping to cause some sort of damage on the turtle.

However, Louie reacted faster before Crook 1 could even throw his knife by pulling his second sword with his right hand and swung it forward, deflecting Crook 1's knife from its initial course and sending it flying upwards with the sharp KLANG-shound, leaving the criminal surprised by how easily Louie had deflected his knife.

Louie then put one foot on Crook 2's back and jumped after the knife, making the flip in the air and kicking the knife with his right foot back at Crook 1. The Crook 1 gasped from fright and shielded himself with his arms from the upcoming knife, only for it to masterfully and impossibly slip back into its sheath in Crook 1's belt like it had never been pulled out.

Feeling a small jolt at his waist instead of cold steel cutting his arm as he had expected, Crook 1 looked down and was shocked again to find his knife back in its sheath, without even the slightest stain of blood in it.

Crook 1 looked back at Louie, who landed in crouched down pose onto his partner's back, pinning him to the ground, and held Bobs at knife-point.

"That was a warning." Louie smirked. "The next round will be played for real."

To make his point, Louie began to spin his swords in his hands for a brief moment, before he swiftly spun around to his right and swung his swords one at the time at Crook 1 from below, then he spun around again and swiftly slashed Crook 1 horizontally in the chest... twice or thrice.

Crook 1 gasped in shock that Louie actually slashed him with his swords, though he couldn't feel the cold steel cutting his flesh.

When he looked down to his chest to see the damage himself, he was dumbfounded to find out that Louie had only cut through of his shirt, leaving there a big L-letter in Zorro-style, which vertical line was in 70 degree angle and the two horizontal lines on top and beneath the line were both wavy and curly at the ends.

Finally realizing that the odds against something that "fought like a demon" were overwhelmingly against him, Crook 1 backed away from the turtle in black, whimbering in fear, before he turned around and fled the scene.

"Hey! Wait for me!" Crook 2 shouted as he quickly got off the ground - after Louie had stepped off his back to let him go - and ran after his partner.

Louie watched them go with satisfaction, although a little disappointed that there was no fight in the end, and that this felt more like a warming up.

"Pity. Two-on-one fight would have been nice." the turtle in black lamented, before he quickly put his swords inside his coat and re-wrapped his scarf around his face. "Oh, well. It's still a young night. Maybe next time."

Louie then knelt down to pick up the stolen purse from the ground before walking there where the crooks had left the old lady they'd mugged.

But when he got there, the old woman was no longer alone. She was surrounded by a group of local residents, probably from the building right next to them, as there was light in some of the windows. They must have heard the woman's cries for help and came to the street to see what was going on.

A man with wavy hair, a blue shirt and a gray jacket, and a black-haired woman wearing a brown-gray and multi-colored striped blouse were holding the woman by the hands, as she looked visibly shaken by the incident, comforting her, while the other woman, with auburn hair and a pink tank top, was talking to someone on a cell phone, probably the police.

But when they saw Louie walking by, they all turned to the disguised turtle in black. Their gazes turned wary instantly they noticed the old woman's stolen purse in his hands. And the scarf covering his face seemed only to intensify the situation, as it was from their point of view seemed an obvious way for a thief to hide his identity.

The man on the old lady's side stepped forward towards Louie, apparently to confront him for the possession of the mugged old lady's purse. But before he could say a word...

"Hey, dude! Think fast!" Louie called and tossed the purse at the man, who clumsily caught it with the surprised grunt.

"Make sure the lady gets back what's hers." Louie told to the man, regarding the old lady.

The turtle in black then turned his shell to the crowd and continued on his way, leaving people staring after him, still confused as to what this was all about.

###

A little further away, Angel and Ellie were still on their way home, walking down the street that looked almost empty.

Suddenly, Angel spotted something ahead and narrowed her eyes to look closer.

Their way was blocked by the group of six tough-looking people.

They all had a fine 1920's mobster-like suits, fedora hats and black bodyguards' shades over their eyes.

The First was a woman with a very slim figure and broad shoulders, rose-red lips, permanent hard look on her face and her long golden hair was braided into a long ponytail against her back. She was wearing almost glowing emerald green suit with darker toned stripes, a brown fedora hat, ruby-red high heels and golden brown leather gloves. She was holding a long blood-red cigarette holder and was apparently only one in the group that was blowing smoke clouds out of her mouth.

The Second one was a slender man with long black hair that was tied into two long ponytails that fell over his shoulders and he was wearing an ash-gray suit and fedora hat.

The Third one was slender but rather tall, muscular, heavy and broad-shouldered man with a shaved face and short well-kept black hair, thick arms and large hands. He was wearing a brown suit with shoulder taps and fedora hat, which had the light brown lines. He too had a quite hardened and strict look on his face.

The Fourth and Fifth were both as tall and muscular as the Third, although they had a prominent pot-bellies and quite long arms. They all had quite identical facial features, including the colden earring in each of their right ear, making them apparent twins, but the Fourth one had a long mustache, shaved face, cleaned sideburns, and well-kept short black hair, while the Fifth had a smaller mustache, a smooth face. Fourth was dressed in the blueberry-blue suit and Fifth in the blackberry-colored suit and fedora hats, with Fourth having the light colored checkered lines in his suit and Fifth had the dark pink lines in his own.

The Sixth and last man was a pretty slanky and he had a long narrow egg-shaped head and sharp facial features such as sharp chin. He had a long black hair, which braided ends with bow ties in the ends fell over his shoulders, and balding top side. His skin was pale ash gray, eyes yellowish and he had the dark rings under his eyes. He wore a bluish-gray suit and fedora hat with bone-white stripes.

They were watching them silently and patiently as if were waiting for them to come, causing Angel to suspect that these guys were up to no good.

Thanks to her "training" by the Purple Dragons, according to which the one had observe passing bystanders and the surroundings while looking for a suitable target and choose the right moment to strike without being caught, Angel could tell that these thugs had chosen this spot perfectly now that there was nobody around to witness anything suspicious.

She was outnumbered six on one. Though that didn't scare her even if the odds were stacked heavily against her, but her grandmother was here with her and she didn't want to risk her life with this if she had to fight them.

"Grandmother! This way, quickly!" Angel said in whisper as she began to guide her grandmother towards the next alley. "Let's take the shortcut here."

Ellie was surprised and confused by this, but she wasn't allowed to ask what was going on when Angel hurriedly and half-rudely pushed her into the alley, which Ellie did reluctantly.

Before entering there herself, Angel turned to the group one more time to make sure they weren't following them. And though they weren't, they hadn't averted their gazes away from her either.

The alley they had entered wasn't very long, but it was dark and rather messy and dirty. On both sides of the alley were many overflowing or empty garbage bins and metal trash cans standing against graffiti-covered walls, and above were a couple of fire escapes and several clotheslines with several loads of laundry.

Not minding about all the trash or anything, Angel led Ellie down the alley towards the other end, while peeking over her shoulders to make sure those people weren't following them.

"Angel, what's going on?!" Ellie asked frantically. "What's got into you, honey? Why are we taking this route?"

"No time to explain, grandma, trust me!" Angel whispered, looking suspiciously from side to side into the shadows.

So far, nothing had happened since they entered the alley, and those people with clinging stares still hadn't followed them here. It would otherwise seem like a good thing, but having experienced this, Angel began to suspect, frankly even fear, that they might have been led into a trap set in here.

That's why she needed to be very cautious if she wished to escort her grandmother safely back home.

"Angel Bridge! I demand the explanation!" Ellie demand frantically.

"I'll explain later, grandma, once we're back in our home. I promise" Angel assured. "Now I just have to get out of here and... AHHH!"

Angel screamed in surprise when she turned around and noticed that she was staring at the Dual 12 Gauge Sawed-Off Double Barreled Shotguns, that had came out of nowhere and was aimed at her face. When Ellie noticed the weapon aimed at her granddaughter's head too, she let out a terrified scream.

"Shut the trap, old hag!" a deep, raspy voice behind the guns' barrels snapped before turning them from Angel directly at Ellie, much to the old woman's horror.

"Granny!" Angel gasped, but was prevented from stepping in between when one of the shotguns was turned back to her.

The holder of the guns then stepped out of the shadows, revealing himself to be thuggish crook with shaven face and dressed up in the amber-colored pants, blue shirt, black coat and greenish golf cap.

"Stay where you are and don't move, or I'll blow your pretty brains out!" he threatened, glaring warily at both of them.

"Control yourself, dear brother Marcus." came another but more calmer and smoother voice from the darkness in the other side of the alley, making the thug named Marcus, Angel and Ellie turn towards it.

The speaker emerged from the shadows, revealing himself as a tall man with a bald head and a small moustache, dressed in a white shirt, red tie, and a fine silver-grey suit with a beautiful red rose attached to his right shoulder, and a shiny black bowler hat. He seemed to have a much calmer, more patient and significantly more sophisticated and charismatic emeanor compared to this trigger-happy lunatic friend.

"I don't think that's a very polite way to treat the ladies." the man added with sleek sarcasm.

"Don't worry, brother! I know how to treat the cooperative ladies, alright!" Marcus snarled.

The man only rolled his eyes in annoyance at Marcus, his apparent brother's attitude. "Oh, save it for the uncooperative ones, will ya? Remember, we're here on business, so be a good boy and put the guns away before you hurt yourself or someone else."

Grumbling irritably under his breath, Marcus lowered both his guns reluctantly.

The man then walked next to Marcus and turned to Angel and Ellie, but not before adjusting his suit and cravat.

"Good evening, ladies." he greeted them with the polite smile. "Allow me to introduce myself so that we won't be strangers here. My name is Sir Johannes Victor, and this is my brother and partner, Marcus Victor.(3)

The man, Sir Johannes Victor, held out his hand towards Angel and Ellie in greeting, but instead of a handshake, he received a narrowed, grim and suspicious glare from Angel. Ellie neither didn't reach out to grab Johannes' hand to shake it, instead looking at the men before them worriedly.

"Ah, yes, yes, yes, I understand." Johannes muttered, getting the picture and pulled his hand back. "I must humbly apologize for the bad first impression my brother gave about us. But I assure that there's no need to be alarmed."

"Well, I don't think so, not with that trigger-happy flea-bitten mutt of yours running on the loose waving guns like some sort of toys." Angel spat back rudely.

Angered for this, Marcus was quick to lift one of his guns barrels against Angel's forehead. "Watch your tongie, brat! My trigger-finger happens to be very sensitive to insults!"

Johannes was quick to put his hand over Marcus' gun and lower it half-forcibly down, before such of calm-toned and sophisticated man abruptly gave the reprimentive slap across Marcus' left cheek, making the thug grunt in pain and glare daggers up at his brother afterwards, while rubbing his cheek with his hand.

Johannes then turned back to Bridges. "I apologize for you having to see this, and you must forgive Marcus his attitude. I'm afraid my little brother failed the class on good manners when we were still toddlers."

"Enough with the sad details of that mutt's past failures!" Angel snapped, disinterested and impatient. "What do you even want from us, mister Victor. You even said something about the businesses you two were on, right?"

"Exactly, Mrs. Bridge. Angel Bridge, I presume." Johannes said.

Angel blinked her eyes in surprise. Did Johannes just mentioned her name as if it was familiar to her? She looked this man over, from head to his polished shiny shoes with the raised eyebrow.

"You know me?" Angel asked.

"Of course. Angel Bridge, the recent recruit of the street gang known as Purple Dragons , last time I checked." Johannes explained.

Angel closed her eyes tight and frowned, fuming in sheer frustration for being reminded of that, And to add the insult to injury, that was brought out in the presence of her grandmother, who still believed that her absence from home for weeks was only because she was hanging out with her friends hunting Dragons and other criminals on the street.

Ellie's eyes widened at this revelation before she slowly turned to look at Angel. She couldn't imagine in a million years that her own granddaughter would have ever even consider joining the notorious street gang on the East Side of New York.

It also stirred a suspicion in her that maybe Angel hadn't told her anything she knew about her absence or those mysterious friends of hers.

"Honey?" Ellie said calmly but suspiciously. "What is this man talking about? How does he know your name? Do you know him? And most of all, is any of this true?" she asked repeatedly, demanding to know the truth.

Angel, however, ignored her questions and opened her eyes to look defiantly at Johannes, determined to enlighten him with one tiny detail he had presumably missed or ignored.

"No longer, Mr. Victor. Defected, former, ex-recruit." Angel said. "I quit them at the very last moment... and I'm proud of my decision."

Johannes was slightly taken aback by this.

"Oh, did you now?" he said.

Marcus, however, didn't look surprised about this revelation at all. The thug merely folded his arms together and let out an unimpressed scoff.

"Well, ain't surprised 'cause such of wench like yourself don't have a guts to be in the "big boys" zone." the thug said sarcastically.

"Oh, I do!" Angel countered. "I've been in much cooler, bigger, meaner and greener boys' zone."

The Victor brothers glanced at each other, taken aback by Angel's "no sense making" words. Even Ellie looked confused, not understanding what Angel meant.

"Well, what does anything of this have to do with me and the Dragons? What do you two really want from me?" Angel demanded impatiently.

Johannes cleared his throat before speaking again. "Well, if you really must know. Since our employer was not informed of this unfortunate turn of events earlier, my brother and I have been assigned to give this to you if only you were interested."

Johannes then took out a white card from his pocket and showed it to Angel, who glanced at it and noticed that there was apparently someone's phone number.

"(137) 913-1521? What the hell does that mean, anyway?" Angel questioned.(4)

However, Angel had taken a notice that Johannes was holding the card so that his fingers and thumb covered almost everything except the phone number, which looked suspicious. Butjust when she was memorizing the whole number just in case, Johannes quickly pulled it away and put it back in his pocket.

"I'm sorry miss, but if you were still with the Dragons I would have been more than happy to explain this to you in more detail, as it would have been something you couldn't have refused, mark my words Mrs. Bridge." Johannes said in a rather charismatic apologetic voice. "But since you no longer have a ties to the Dragons as we originally assumed, I cannot tell you what my case behind this card, the phone number, and our visit here tonight is really about. I'm really sorry, but I can't."

At this point, Ellie took a nervous step towards Johannes, but she never left Angel's side for a moment.

"So, if that was all you wanted to tell my granddaughter, Mr. Victor, even though I still don't know what all of this is about, but I'm sure as hell going to figure it out when we get home, will you now let us go without further trouble?" Ellie asked, thinking it would be easier to talk with Johannes since he's more civilized with the people than his friend.

After saying that, Ellie turned towards Angel and grabbed her firmly by the shoulder, turning the girl's attention from the two men into her.

"And you, young lady, you own me the biggest explanation of your life about all of this." Ellie said dead seriously, holding a finger at Angel's face.

However, what Johannes said next caught them by surprise.

"I'm sorry, Miss Bridge, but... unfortunately, that isn't the case. You see, we cannot allow either of you to leave here at all."

Shocked, both Angel and Ellie turned to him and Marcus.

"WHAT?! WHY?!"

"Nothing personal, but... we've been ordered to do so." Johannes clarified. "Now don't get me wrong, ladies, we have no any intentions to hurt you. So all I'm asking is that you come along nice and easy. That won't be too much to ask, isn't it?"

"But just in case..." Marcus added, pulling out some ropes and cloths. "... we should tie them up and blindfold them. And perhaps we have to even gag them so they won't make the sound."

Angel narrowed her eyes, realizing that this was about to turn into kidnapping, while Ellie backed away from Marcus in fear as the thug came closer.

"Now, princess." Marcus said as he turned to Angel. "Hold out your pretty wrists over here, will ya?"

He only earned a scowl from Angel, who defiantly refused to cooperate.

"Careful there! Because there's one little problem in your plan, pal." Angel cautioned.

Marcus chuckled at this with amusement. "And what it is, babe?" he asked tauntingly.

"I ain't some damsel-in-distress waiting for the rescue."

Then, Angel caught Marcus by surprise by kicking him right into his unprotected groins. Marcus couldn't even blink his eyes before Angel's foot made the impact.

"ARGHHHH! OHHHH!" Marcus cried aloud in massive amount of pain in his groins, making him to drop the ropes and cloths from his hands before he pulled them instinctively over his groins to ease the pain.

However, Angel wasn't done with him yet and flash-kicked Marcus right in the face with her left foot, causing the crook's head to fly back before he himself fell over onto his back to the ground. Marcus was thereafter left lying there, curled up into a ball and moaning in pain, with his nose bleeding heavily from Angel's kick.

Both Johannes and Ellie looked on in surprise and amazement, not expecting this to happen at all, until Angel took a fresh new fighting pose and turned to confront Johannes.

"When was the last time you took your suit in the laundry, Johannes?" Angel taunted. "Because I can't guarantee that you'll get out of this alley without getting your suit dirty at all."

However, instead of responding, Johannes just calmly adjusted his tie again. "As to old saying goes: "Why to fight when you can leave the fighting for others". You see, Mrs. Bridge, we brought in some friends of mine to back us up if things turned out like this."

Johannes then looked behind of Ellie and Angel before addressing to someone. "Gentlemen? Will you do me the honor to seize these ladies... as gently as possible, of course."

Angel quirked her eyebrow in confusion at Johannes' words until...

"AHH! HEY! AGH! WHAT ARE YOU... DOING! UGH LET ME GO! NGH! LET GO OF ME!"

Her grandmother's struggling and demanding voice behind her stirred a dreadful feeling inside her guts before Angel turned around to see what was happening.

Angel let out a horrified gasp as she saw those same six mobsters from earlier having appeared behind her and her grandmother without their noticing and blocked their way to the other end of the alley while Johannes blocked their way out in this side. Two of them, the twins, Thug 4 and Thug 5, had roughly grabbed Ellie by her arms, forcibly holding her still.

"Grandma!" Angel gasped frantically, but her was blocked when four other thugs stepped forward and moved towards her menacingly.

"Run, honey! Run!" Ellie urged frantically,

"No! I won't leave you here with these slugs!" Angel said determinedly, unable and unwilling to leave her grandmother at the mercy of these cowards.

Angel looked at all four thugs one by one as they surrounded her from all sides, boxing her, and remained alert in case she tried to escape.

"Grab on her!" the emerald-suited woman, Thug 1, snapped.

"Come here, you!" the big brown-suited gangster, Thug 3, growled as he stepped forward and attempted to grab Angel with his big hands, but the purple-haired girl ducked down and slipped under of the larger and clumsily moving thug's arms and past him from his right side.

Then Angel made a run for it towards her grandmother and the Thugs 4 and 5.

However, she didn't get far when the ash-gray and bluish-gray suited thugs, Thug 2 and Thug 6, quickly ran at her from either side and grabbed Angel roughly by her arms. The thugs forcibly turned her around and Thug 2 grabbed her under her armpits while Thug 6 grabbed Angel by the legs and lifted them off the ground.

All this time, Angel fought hard back as if the wild cat fighting back for its freedom, giving the thugs little trouble to keep her still.

Then, Angel managed to pull one of her legs free from Thug 6's grasp and proceeded to kick the thug right in the face, knocking his head back and forcing him to let go of her legs.

When she landed onto her feet, though still in Thug 2's grasp, Angel thought quickly something before she raised her leg up and stamped it onto the thug's leg with the full force.

"AGH!" Thug 2 groaned when Angel's foot flattened his toes and was forced to let go of her, before starting to hop on one foot while holding from his sore foot.

Free again, Angel quickly turned back to Thug 2 and kicked his leg - the same one with which he was hopping on - from under, causing the thug yelp in alarm when he fell onto his side to the ground. The thug snarled through of his gritted teeth as he got up and looked up at Angel, only to get punched in the face by her, knocking him back down.

After beating up Thugs 2 and 6, Thug 3 then came upon her from behind and wrapped his arms around Angel, his left hand wrapping around Angel's head and covering her mouth, However, out of instinctive reaction, Angel opened her mouth, baring her teeth and biting the thug in the hand between the thumb and forefinger. The thug's eyes went wide and he cried in pain as he felt Angel sinking her teeth into his hand.

"OW! You little bitch!" Thug 3 cursed as he unwrapped his hand from around Angel's head and shook it to try to ease the pain.

Thug 3 growled angrily and shoved Angel roughly against the wall on his left, before he moved forward and tried to throw a punch at her with his right fist. Angel eyes shot briefly wide when she saw this coming before she quickly ducked her head down and somersaulted to Thug 3's other side, while he ended up to punch the wall instead!

"AGH!" thug 3 cried in pain again, shaking his hand with bruised knuckles.

Thug 3 growled and spun around in attempt to punch Angel again with his left fist, but Angel ducked under the swing again, before she picked up the trash can's lid from nearby and lifted it up with the right uppercut, punching the thug in the face, before she spun around and roundhouse-kicked the thug in the face again with her left foot, knocking the thug back.

Thug 3 collapsed against the wall before falling onto his butt, partially dizzy from Angel's counter attack.

"Oh! Enough with this shit!" Thug 1 spat impatiently as she came forward. "If something must be done, you gotta do that yourself." she muttered under her breath as she took out the nightstick.

She moved right next to Angel so quickly that she didn't notice her coming due to her attention being in the Thug 3. But when she finally turned to face Thug 1, she swung her nightstick violently at Angel's face with such of force that it knocked her head to the side... and left a visible bruise in her right cheek.

Though momentarily stunned by the strike, Angel recovered from it quickly and spun around back to Thug 1 and tried to throw a right straight at her, but Thug 1 caught her arm by the wrist with her left hand surprisingly easy and squeezed her surprisingly stone-hard grip around it, causing the pained groan to escape through Angel's gritted teeth.

Angel then attempted to punch her in the face with her left fist, only for the thug woman to slap it away by whacking it with her nightstick.

"Get down, Pony-tail!" she demanded harshly, before she savagely whacked Angel in the guts with the stick, hard enough to force most of the air out of the girl's lungs.

"ANGEL!" Ellie cried in horror and struggled in vain against the Twins' rough grasps, but they forced her to stay still and watch her granddaughter getting viciously manhandled.

In immense pain and nearly out of all her air from her lungs after Thug 1's brutal strike, Angel collapsed half-limply over her knees, bent deep down and arms wrapped around her stomach. The pain was so huge that it made her head go dizzy and gave her an urge to puke.

She took in a long, hoarse and labored breaths as she weakly looked up at Thug 1, who looked down at her with contept.

"Get down, Pony-tail!" Thug 1 demanded harshly as she brought her nightstick down and whacked Angel in the face again, knocking her head to the side again.

"You liked that?! Huh? Then take that, bitch!"" Thug 1 mocked as she spitefully kicked Angel in the side/stomach, forcing more air out of her while knocking her over her left side to the ground.

"NO! STOP IT! LEAVE HER ALONE! PLEASE!" Ellie desperately pleaded with the teary eyes before she turned to Johannes, who was coolly yet indifferently just standing there and watching Thug 1 torturing her granddaughter. "Please! Please, make her stop! Tell her to leave my baby alone! Please! I'm begging you!"

Uncaring of Ellie's pleas, Thug 1 kept mercilessly beating already downed Angel over and over again until Johannes - paying a brief but considering glance at Ellie due to her pleas - raised his hand to end this.

"Helga, that's enough!" Johannes ordered.

Thug 1, named Helga, was just about to hit Angel for the twelfth time until she halted her hand when she heard Johannes' order. Begrudgingly, she lowered her nightstick and paid a rather disappointed glance at Marcus before looking back down at Angel.

Angel had suffered several bruises in her forehead and both cheeks, a swollen spot beneath the right eye and some bleeding from the scratch in her forehead, nose and right corner of her mouth. She moaned miserably in pain while curling up in the ball in Helga's feet, who spitefully added the insult to the injury by spitting on her.

Johannes then turned to Ellie, offering her somewhat sincere apology for this. "I'm sorry, ma'am. I did offer her a chance to come with us willingly and without the resistance, yet she chose the hard way." he said with the disappointed tone. "Too bad, though, cause we were not assigned to do anything to you until we reach to our destination."

"Ugh!" Marcus groaned as he pulled himself up from the ground with painful effort. "Although I wish we had been given such instructions for that scheming scumbag at least."

An annoyed sigh escaped from Johannes' mouth as he turned to his brother. "Ugh! But we're not, brother. Our instructions were just to bring them back to headquarters so that the boss can decide what to do with them." Johannes reminded.

Johannes then turned to the thugs 2, 3 and 6, as they pulled themselves up.

"Please, escort them both in the car and then let's go." he ordered, as he turned towards the end of the alley and started walking, Marcus laboriously following him right behind.

Obediently, the Twins began to shove Ellie forward while thugs 2 and 3 picked Angel up from the ground by her arms and dragged her with them as they followed Johannes and Marcus, leaving only Angel's and Ellie's shopping bags behind.

However, before they could get too far, pair of chains all of the sudden flew out of the darkness and wrapped around of in the back of the group walking Thug 6's legs before pulling them from under, causing Thug 6 to scream in surprise as he flew to the ground.

"Hey! Whatta?!" the thug muttered and turned around to see where he had so suddenly tripped on.

However, before he could, the chains were suddenly pulled back to the alley, along with the Thug 6.

"AHHHHHHHH!" Thug 6 let out surprised and terrified scream as he vanished into the darkness.

This caused Johannes, Marcus and their goons to halt and turn around to see what had just happened.

"What's going on in there?!" Johannes called.

"Yeah, what's the hold up, you slugs?!" Marcus irritably questioned.

It's Lou, boss! Lou's missing!" Thug 5 reported.

"What?!" Johannes exclaimed. "What happened?! Where is he?!"

"I don't know." Thug 5 admitted, looking around in the darkness while still holding on Ellie with his Twin. "The moment he was here and then he's just gone!"

"How could he be just gone?" Thug 3 questioned, but none of them had the answer.

"Did that idiot just ditched us?" Helga suggested irritably.

"No." Thug 2 stated. "I saw him having the weighted chains wrapped around his legs before he was dragged away. And even a fool knows that chains can't do that by themselves."

"So, what be your theory about this, Henry?" Johannes asked as he walked through the thugs next to Thug 2 named Henry, Marcus right behind him.

"Speak up! Time's wasting!" he rudely ordered.

Henry turned to look at Johannes directly in the eyes, with grim frown on his face.

"We're not alone, boss. We've being watched." he said dead-seriously.

Johannes' eyes widened slightly at Henry's response before he himself peered into the darkness, though Marcus only scoffed to it dismissively.

"PFFT! "Watched"? Watched by who, exactly?" he asked rhetorically, before gesturing into the darkness of the alley. "There's only darkness and trash around here, and nobody else but us! You fool are just letting your paranoia get way over your head and..."

However, Marcus was cut off in midst of him ridiculing Henry's assumption of the presence when Johannes suddenly shouted in warning, having seen something coming towards them fast!

"LOOK OUT!" he cried out.

Marcus and Henry blinked their eyes as they turned to look at Marcus, who had already ducked down, before they turned to look back into the darkness.

And all of the suddenly, something flew fast out of the darkness and hit bodily to Henry sending him flying away, until he hit crashed into the garbage big. Afterwards Henry fell onto his butt, while the thing that had hit him falling limply to the ground.

Seeing their comrade down, other thugs were now certain that they were not alone.

Even Ellie started to looked around to see who was this mysterious stranger, or where he was, but all she could see was darkness.

Also, taking a closer look of the thing that lied next to Henry, the thugs were left surprised when realized that thing was actually a human body.

Johannes, followed by Marcus and Helga immediately ran to Henry's side, though not out of concern in latter two's case.

Instead, Marcus and Helga ran to the body that had knocked Henry down, with Helga kneeling down next to it and lifted it roughly up from the ground to see who it was, while Marcus held up his shotguns, aiming them down at it.

The two were further surprised to find out that it was none other than Thug 6, one eye black and swollen, nose bleeding, some teeth missing from his mouth and his faces were heavily bruised and bleeding like in the aftermath of heavy beating. His suit was dirty and torn to shreds in the front, and there was neatly cut L-shaped hole in his shirt.

"What the hell...?" Marcus muttered in confusion upon the sight of L-shaped hole.

"Johannes! Come here!" Helga called. "It's Lou! And looks like somebody has been a pretty rough with him."

Surprised to hear this, Johannes left from recovering Henry's side and moved next to Helga. Looking down on Thug 6 named Lou, he blinked his eyes in mild shock of his conditon.

"Dear Lord!" he gasped, before he knelt down. "Lou! What happened?"

Johannes, Marcus, Helga, the rest of the thugs, Angel and Ellie all turned to Lou, eager to hear what he has to say.

Lou coughed and shook his head to get it clear, before he spoke. "I... I don't know. I-I just tripped into something all of the sudden. I don't know into what, until... until I felt something grabbing on my legs. Then... then felt like someone pulled me away." he moaned.

"Who was it? Did you see him?" Johannes asked.

"No... I didn't." Lou moaned. "Iit came upon me out of the blue. I didn't see it anywhere and I didn't even hear it coming. I tried to fight back but I couldn't. It was too fast, too powerful, moved in the shadows... like a ghost. But fought like a demon or something."

"Oh, no!" Thug 4 gasped wide-eyed. "It can't be! It can't be them!"

This drew everybody's, sans Lou's, attentions to Thug 4.

"Them? What the hell are you talking about, Bud?!" Helga snapped.

"Haven't you heard?" Thug 4 named Bud questioned as he looked around restlessly. "There have been rumors of eight strange creatures that appear unexpectedly out of nowhere in the darkness of the night like ghosts and hunt people outside the law. When you least expect it, they strike like lightning and pick off their victims one by one."

Angel lifted her head up once those exact words reached her ears, and she looked up at Bud with the raised eyebrow.

Everybody else raised their eyebrows at Bud in confusion.

"What makes you sure this attacker is supposedly one of "those creatures" you're babbling about?" Helga questioned doubtfully as she and Johannes stood up.

"Rumor has it that only they act like this. Outnumbered, they don't attack directly and don't even want to be seen. They use shadows to their advantage to move unseen and take us by surprise. And when they do show themselves, they don't look like noor they fight like humans but more like some supernatural beings, giving no chance to fight back... not stopping till they've taken all of us." Bud described. "And now this demon ghost has sensed our presence and has chosen us as its next prey!"

Bud's description of this guy sounded kinda familiar to Angel, as she has been in the situation like this before, so she peered into the darkness with anticipation.

"BAH!" Marcus scoffed. "There are no such things as demons and ghosts! I don't believe in demons and ghosts! I'm not afraid of demons and ghosts!"

Bud hushed at him sharply. "Don't provoke it! You just make things worse for us!"

"Your superstition disgusts me, brother!" Thug 5 spat, disgusted of his twin being afraid of made-believe things.

"Everybody calm down!" Johannes ordered after taking a quick survey of the situation. "At least we know now that there might be just one guy concealed within the shadows waiting to take us by surprise. He's cunning and knows he's outnumbered, so he won't attack us directly."

"Great! Just another coward." Thug 3 spat. "Where's the fun in that if you don't attack directly."

"Who cares?!" Marcus snapped, pointing his guns blindly in the darkness. "I'll blast him the moment he comes out!"

"Well, then I need you here to watch the back." Johannes said, before he turned to the rest of the thugs. "I suggest we split up. Divide and Conquer! Keep a small distances from each other and be ready to act if this guy tries again. Got it? Henry? Crab Lou. Bud, Bob and Leroy, you three get the ladies to the car. Me, Marcus and Helga will guard the rear. And keep your eyes open."

Said and done, Henry went to Lou and lifted his beaten comrade up from the ground and put his right hand over his shoulder, before starting to escort him towards the car in the end of the alley, but not before arming himself with SIG-Sauer P226 pistol.

Twins, Bud and Thug 5 named Bob withdrew to the left side of the alley, pulling Ellie with them, before arming themselves with the golden Desert Eagle Mark XIX pistols. Thug 3 named Leroy roughly dragged Angel to the right side of the alley and armed himself with Mark XIX Desert Eagle.

Armed and ready, the thugs continued onward at a slow pace, forcibly ushering Ellie and Angel to move.

Marcus, Johannes and Helga stayed at the back, covering the rear while following the others, with Helga arming herself with the pair of Mini Uzi, while Johannes pulled out the Colt Anaconda pistol and took a torch in his other hand, with which he illuminated the alley to see if the attacker was still there.

Nothing happened for a couple of minutes, but the thugs still remained in alarm for any further attacks.

"Come out, come out, wherever you are, hero-boy!" Helga said with the sing-song voice as she aimed her Mini Uzi around.

Nothing happened for a next few minutes either.

However, the thugs didn't get far when Marcus spun his head immediately towards the other side of the alley, instantly alerted when his ear caught the sound of the running steps that were coming right towards them from the darkness.

"GOT YOU!" Marcus let out as he lifted his shotguns up, aiming them at the sound of the steps and fired in the darkness.

BLAM! BLAM! BLAM! BLAM!

The sudden gunshots that broke the silence, the gun flashes that briefly illuminated the alley and Marcus' rather violent shooting made everyone, including Ellie and Angel jump in alarm, turn around and aim their own guns in the direction Marcus had just fired.

When the shooting stopped after Marcus had emptied his guns, the thugs heard something falling over to the ground with the heavy thud, as if somebody had just got shot - multiple times even - and had fallen over to the ground dead.

"Did I got him?" Marcus asked eagerly.

Johannes turned his torch's light forward to see whom or what his brother had just shot, only to reveal to the thugs that it was a big overturned black garbage bag with the four torn holes in it, much to Marcus' disappointed shock.

Angel, however, caught in her ear the faint sound above of them and dared to peer upwards now that the thugs' attentions were elsewhere, and she could've sworn that she saw a dark figure leaping along the walls of the alley right above of them, near-invisible like the shadow and silent as the ghost.

"No. You just wasted your ammo into the garbage bag, you trigger-happy lunatic!" Johannes said irritably as he turned to his brother.

"But... But... But...but I'm sure as hell I heard running footsteps coming right towards us! I swear!" flabbergasted Marcus protested.

Meanwhile, as Johannes and Marcus started to argue, Henry, who was with Lou in the back of the group, suddenly felt someone lightly patting him in the shoulder from behind.

"Huh?" the thug muttered in confusion as he turned around, only to get hit right in the face with the trash can lid. GONG! The blow was strong enough to leave inside of the lid the face-shaped dent and send Henry flying back, dropping Thug 6 to the ground in the process before hitting to the ground between Twins, Leroy and Bridges with the thud.

The commotion caught everyone's attention, including Angel and Ellie's, and they all turned around to see what had just happened. First thing they saw was Henry lying in the ground in their feet, nose bleeding and moaning in pain, before they looked to the end of the alley.

"HEY! THERE IT IS!" Leroy yelled in warning.

They were surprised to see there a complete stranger figure dressed up in a trenchcoat, wearing a hat and covering his face with a scarf to hide his identity from all of them, having appeared ou of nowhere without them hearing or even seeing him coming.

While Ellie and the thugs were surprised by this stranger's all of the sudden appearance, only Angel stared at him suspiciously and scrutinizingly.

The stranger stood in dramatic upright pose, with the hems of his coat wrapped around himself like the cape in Batman-style, as he looked at the thugs with his glowing white eyes from under his hat.

"Evening, gentlemen... and ladies." the figure said with deep voice.

Angel blinked in mild surprise after hearing that voice, until the corners of her mouth curved up into a relieved but happy smile.

Despite the clothes, the scarf and the stranger's deep voice, Angel could've sworn she'd heard that voice and that familiar Scottish accent before... the last time she was with...(5)

"Louie?" Angel muttered quietly.

"KILL THAT FREAK!" Helga ordered as she, Twins and Leroy - sans Marcus, who was forced to reload his own shotguns - lifted up their guns and opened fire.

"NO! NO GUNFIRING!" Johannes cried, but the loud gunfiring drowned his voice.

Seeing this, the stranger, who was identified as Louie, as Angel had correctly suspected, quickly ran to his left - to the right from the thugs' point of view - and kept a step or two ahead of their gunfire that rained down on him.

BLAM! BLAM! BLAM! BLAM! BLAM! BLAM!

BRAKKA! BRAKKA! BRAKKA! BRAKKA!

Their relentless shooting caused the frightened and screaming Ellie to cover her head with her hands

"Grandma! Stay down!" Angel cried as she hurriedly crawled to Ellie to keep her in the ground level to avoid the gunfire.

As Thug 1 and the other thugs kept firing at Louie, the turtle in black hopped onto the trash can, then onto the garbage bin, then he hopped onto the wall and ran along it for a moment before jumping off and flew towards the Twins with the barrel roll, while bullets flew harmlessly in his wake.

Louie then straightened up in the air as he flew in between Twins, who turned to look up at him a moment before the turtle in black split-kicked the Twins in the heads, knocking them back and causing the thugs to fly onto their backs to the ground.

Louie then landed with the somersault on his feet, right next to Henry, who was getting up from the ground at this point.

However, seeing movement from the corner of his left eye, Louie turned around and saw Helga snarling at him while aiming her Mini Uzis at him, ready to fire.

Thinking quickly, the turtle in black turned back to Henry and punched him swiftly and hard in the guts, forcing the air out of him and making him gasp from the painful impact before collapsing to the ground on his all fours, grimacing in pain and holding his sore stomach with his hand.

Then Louie grabbed his suit with both hands and lifted the surprised thug up and over his head before throwing him off towards Helga before she could fire even a single shot, knocking her off her feet and down to the ground, incapacitating her for now.

This left only Leroy left.

Leroy quickly aimed his gun at Louie and fired a few shots, each of which, however, hit harmlessly to the opposite wall when Louie flipped into the air and flew over them, before he landed onto the thug's gun and knocked it off his hands, pinning it beneath his feet to the ground while landing in front of the thug.

"You're dead meat!" Leroy spat angrily and began to throw punches at the turtle in black.

Louie, however, ducked Leroy's first right punch by moving to the left, then ducked his left punch by moving to the right. Fuming angrily in frustration, Leroy tried again, but this time Louie blocked both his right punch and then his left punch with his left wrist before blocking the second right punch with his right wrist, before he punched the thug in the chest under his guard, making the thug groan in surprise. Louie then threw two punches with both fists against the thug's chest before striking him hard in the chest with the right palm-strike, making the thug gasp in pain and knocking him back slightly. Louie then spun himself around to his left before shooting his left leg upwards, roundhouse-kicking the thug right in the face, knocking his head back, and fedora-hat off his head and leaving him stunned, though it wasn't enought to bring him down yet.

However, the distraction was enough for Louie to grab Leroy's left arm in his both hands.

"And you're DONE FOR, BY KARMA!" Louie countered as he spun around, pulled Leroy over his shoulder and slammed him hard against the ground, causing a loud groan in pain to escape from his mouth upon impact, before he fell limp to the ground, knocked out.

"Whatta scoundrels..." Louie scoffed with pride and triumph as he tossed the thug's arm away. "... to think they believed they could've taken down the mean in green."

With the five thugs out of the eight down and defeated, with Louie standing triumphtantly over them as confused Ellie and proudly smiling Angel watched from nearby, Louie turned dramatically his attention towards the remaining three thugs, Johannes, Marcus and Helga, who had at this point managed to pull herself off the ground.

All three thugs were aiming their guns at Louie (Helga her Mini Uzis, Marcus his recently re-loaded sawed-off double barrel shotguns and Johannes his Colt Anaconda) while staring at the disguised turtle in black warily after witnessing the turtle in black taking single-handedly down over half of their group.

"What's the matter, cape-boy?" Marcus asked rudely as he clicked the hammers of his shotguns. "Surprised that you missed us from your counting?"

Louie, however, didn't look alarmed, even though he eas held at gun-point by three remaining thugs.

Ellie and Angel followed this closely, worried how the things might turn out.

"Not at all, Marcus and Johannes Victor and... uh..." Louie started, saying Johannes and Marcus' names until he stopped to Helga, whose name he hadn't learned just yet.

"Helga Esterson." she said with the cold and venomous voice. "And that will be the last thing you'll ever hear before I'll give you the fitting name of Mr. Swiss Cheese!"

Not indimitated by her threats, Louie merely cleared his throat and continued speaking.

"Well... Mrs. Helga Esterson... and Victor brothers..." Louie announced calmly. "Maybe I made a small miscalculation in your numbers, or else I was just saving you for the dessert."

Though still wary, Johannes began to show a small amount of curiosity in his eyes towards the turtle in black enough to slowly lower his gun, unlike Helga and especially Marcus, who was waiting for the slightest excuse to let his guns sing.

"Who are you? What are you?!" Johannes demanded.

"I know who you are, but what am I?" Louie simply said in a mocking tone.

As if to further mock their sense of having the situation in their hands, Louie stepped onto Thug 3's chest before jumping over him and taking a step towards the trio.

Marcus reacted to this instantly.

"Hold it right there!" Marcus snapped, taking aim at Louie's head with his shotguns. "One more step and I'll blast your head off!"

"Now, come on, my friends. Let's not get too hasty. Can't we talk like civilized gentlemen?" Louie said casually, holding his hands up in sign of peace, or just to buy more time. "How about this? If you lay down your guns nice and easy, leave those two ladies alone and walk away, I won't hurt you in return... not much at least." the turtle in black suggested.

"No deal, freak!" Marcus snapped in refusal of the offer.

"Marcus! Wait!" Johannes tried to say, as if in order to consider the offer though only for their own end, but Marcus wasn't listening.

"Because this is going to hurt you a lot more than it hurts me!" Marcus added and pulled first the trigger of his right shotgun and then his left one's.

BLAM! BLAM!

The fired rounds hit both Louie in the head!

The shells of Marcus' shotguns tore brutally through both Louie's scarf and hat, throwing them away in the disfigured shreds and leaving the turtle in black himself just standing there without the head!

The time itself seemed to stop in the alley after Marcus had taken the shots, which echoed in the alley's narrow space like the thunder before slowly fading away.

Everybody in the presence stared in silence at Louie's now-headless body.

Angel's eyes went wide from shock-filled horror upon seeing Louie's head getting all of the sudden blown off by the fired shells from Marcus' shotguns right in front of her, while Ellie covered her mouth in horror at the sight of this!

Angel held her breath for a moment, before she broke the silence by letting out the high-pitched scream.

"AHHHHHHHH! LOUIE! NO!" horrified Angel screamed from the top of her lungs.

TO BE CONTINUED...

---

TRIVIA

1) = "Ashigaru-sha"!", meaning cannon fodder, is the reference from the episode of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2012 series, The Pulverizer Returns.

2) = This is foreshadowing the events in the "The Shredder Strikes Back 1 & 2", where Leo is put up against the hordes and hordes of Foot Soldiers time after time, and by the time he is worn out, he is put up against the Foot Clan's best warriors, the Elite Guard. And when the Foot attacks April's, the turtles are worn down by the sheer numbers before they face both the Elite and the Shredder himself.

Note: Louie stopping two crooks from escaping with old woman's tolen purse is based on the scene, where Raph stops two crooks from stealing the old lady's purse in 1990 film.

3) = My newest bro-characters, Sir Johannes Victor and Marcus Victor are based on two antagonistic characters from Disney's The Legend of Tarzan's series, Johannes Niels and Mercus. Like Niels, Johannes Victor is more calmer, sophisticated and calculating one who uses smooth-talk and persuasion, and like Mercus, Marcus is more short-tempered, impatient and violent one of the two.

4) = The phone number in the card presented to Angel by Johannes isn't real... it's just the list of lucky numbers put together (1, 3, 7, 9, 13, 15, 21,)

5) = Because I chose Simon Pegg (who has a Scottish Accent) to voice act Lorenzo, Louie has a Scottish Accent.