Golden Angel

Zooming through the sewers on Don’s new creation, the boys looked back to see if the girls were keeping up.

They were, and soon sped by the four on strange tentacles of water.

“Come on, slowpokes! I thought you were supposed to be faster!”

However, when Artemis turned back…

“What?”

Skidding to a stop, the water rippled around her as Mizu stopped beside her.

“Hey, guys! What’s with the hold-up?”

Mikey noticed the figure, and everyone stopped as Artemis’s eyes widened.

“A Triceraton…”

“It CAN’T be…”

They all prepared for a fight, confused as to why one of the large aliens would be in the sewers.

“You don’t think it’s an invasion, do you?”

“I hope not…”

“Enemy…sighted…”

The Triceraton sounded like he was in pain…

“Enemy engaged!”

He ran right past them, tackling one of the rides and smashing it.

“Um…What’s up with that?”

Once the machine sparked, the large three-horned alien started coughing.

“It’s the air…His breather mask is cracked. He’s breathing our air and it’s affecting his brain. The Triceraton Home World has an air of nitrogen and sulfur, remember? Our oxygen must be making him delusional.”

“Is that a good thing?”

“Sirs…Trooper Zog, reporting for duty, sirs…”

“…I take that as a good thing…”

“You’ve got me there, Mizu…”

Unsure, Leo saluted back, and the Triceraton relaxed.

“I think ‘e thinks we’re some kind ‘a Triceraton officers or somethin’…”

“What should we do?”

“Anything to keep Mr. Big Horn from tearing us limb from limb!” Mikey answered, hiding behind his sister.

“For lord’s sake…Have a shell!”

“I do!”

“…”

SMACK!!!

“OW!!! ARTIE…”

“Ah…At ease, soldier.”

“Leo, what are you doing?” Artemis asked under her breath.

“Relax.”

He turned back to the Triceraton.

“Situation report.”

“Must…complete mission…sir…”

“And what mission is that, soldier?”

“Must…capture Fugitoid…at all costs…sir…my squad was…pursuing target…when we were caught in energy beam…transported to coordinates…unfamiliar to this soldier…engaged Federation forces…also targeting Fugitoid…in heat of battle…became separated from my unit…”

He took in a big breath in order to continue…

“Target…not captured…unable to reconnect…with squad…and…lost weapon, sir…request permission to terminate self…for disgraceful failure of mission…sir…”

“What? Oh-wait! No. I mean…The Fugitoid mission was a success! You are to be commended for your…uh…”

“Survival skills?”

“Survival skills!”

“Yes…sir…Thank you…sir…”

“This poor guys breathing poison…” Don stated as the Triceraton coughed, wheezing for good air.

“Maybe I can rig up a temporary breather from the nitrogen tanks on the Shell Sled…”

“Hey, hold on! Are ya nuts? If horn head ‘ere gets a clear head, he’ll realize we’re the enemy and try ta wipe us out!”

“We can’t turn our backs on him.” Mizu insisted.

“That’s just wrong.” Don agreed, taking the temporary breather to the Triceraton soldier.

“Here…Let me hook you up, big guy…Okay…I don’t know how much this will help, but you should breathe a little easier now…”

“Sir…Thank you, sir.”

“My children…”

Everyone turned sharply at the sound of a wounded Splinter’s voice, but Artemis froze.

‘Something’s not right…’

Her eyes narrowed, though Don and Mizu ran to his aid.

“Master Splinter, are you okay?”

“An intruder in the lair…I was attacked…You must take me back…defend our home…”

‘He wouldn’t want us to fight an enemy strong enough to injure him…’

He fell over, and she didn’t feel that instinct to go to his side…

‘Something’s up…’

“He’s hurt pretty bad…He’s hardly breathing! And he’s cold…”

“What do we do?”

“We’re gonna do what we’re told! We’re going back to the lair and-!”

“An’ beat the shell outta whoever did this ta Master Splinter.”

“Guys, stop.”

The five gave her a curious look, ready to go.

“…What about Zog?” She covered, not wanting to show her distrust just yet.

“Bring him. But let’s go.”

Zog rode with Mikey as the group set off, and Artemis felt something tug at her stomach painfully.

She stopped suddenly, something catching her attention…

“Artemis? Love?”

Hardly hearing his voice, she looked around.

“Sensei?”

“Artie, he’s right here…”

Silence, and a whip of water wrapped around the ‘injured’ Splinter’s neck.

“No he’s not…”

“Artemis, what are you doing?!”

“Proving this isn’t Splinter!”

“Put him down! Now!” A familiar voice stated, an elderly rat coming out of the shadows…

“Master Splinter?”

“Artie…how do you know THAT’S the real Master Splinter?” Don asked as everyone dismounted their vehicles.

“I feel it…his life force…This one.”

The whip started to crystallize, gaining spikes.

“Doesn’t have any. I KNEW something was wrong when we found him…”

“THAT is what attacked me…She’s on his side…”

“LIAR!” Artemis growled, fingers clenching as the water became an icy claw.

“Artemis wouldn’t!”

Suddenly, it’s eyes glowed red, and ‘Splinter’ attacked Artemis in a flash of movement.

Crying out as it palmed her over the heart, she flew and smashed into a wall, making a crater.

Instinctively, Mizu brought water up to protect her dazed and injured ‘sister’, using some to make tentacles to strike at it.

The ‘rat’ moved quickly, almost inhumanly so, but was still batted around quite a bit.

Splinter joined in with the other turtles, and Mizu ducked a flying kick.

The other Splinter soon became more vicious, punches shattering ice.

Artemis jumped back in, smacking the enemy away with powerful gusts of wind and sometimes chunks of earth.

Mizu pulled it into high-gear once Don was thrown back onto his shell, and a wave of water crashed over the robot, who was soon stuck in a liquid tornado.

It tried to break free, and ice spikes stopped its attempts rather well.

When ‘Splinter’ finally broke free, it actually pounced on the young Waterbender, and her head hit the bricks with a crack.

“MIZU!”

Her eyes closed as unconsciousness swept over her, and an angry Avatar jumped the culprit in a, literally, fiery rage.

Zog was ordered to join her, since the two seemed able to take massive punishment and give it just as well.

Their enemy, once he started sparking, was revealed to be a robot.

‘THAT’S why I couldn’t find his life force…He doesn’t have any…’

The robot was soon torn apart, and Leo ran in before Zog could completely obliterate it.

“Stand down, soldier! Mission accomplished! …Definitely accomplished…”

“What I wanna know is where did robo-Splinter come from, an’ who sent it.”

“It does not matter. Whoever they are, I will not stand by as they use my likeness to attack my family! We must strike back immediately!”

“But…Mizu…”

Artemis turned to see if the Waterbender was alright, and her eyes widened.

“Hey, a remote control module! If this Splinter was remote-controlled-!”

“GUYS!”

Everyone turned to a nearly-panicked jade-skinned turtle.

“MIZU’S GONE!”

“WHAT?!”

They looked around and found that, indeed, the young Waterbender was gone.

“Where could she have gone? She was unconscious!”

“Someone has taken her…” Splinter surmised.

“But who?”

Don held the remote control module in his white-knuckled grip, determined.

“I’ll need some stuff from my lab, but I’ll find out!”

Jumping onto his Sewer Sled, the purple-banded turtle sped off down the tunnel.

‘I hope she’s okay…’

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They were at the docks, looking up at a large cargo ship that wore a Foot symbol on its side.

“This is it. The signals are coming from inside that freighter.” Don stated, ready to go.

“So then it WAS the Foot that sicked that Splinter robot on us!” Raph accused.

“But Karai leads the Foot now…And she promised to leave us alone…”

“Maybe she lied…”

“Artemis, I’m sure she didn’t.”

“I am sorry, my son…But this time, we must believe what we see.”

They spotted Foot ninja moving crates into the large ship.

“Something tells me we’re going to be really, REALLY outnumbered…” Don muttered.

“We always are.” Artemis replied.

“What we need is somethin’ ta even the odds…”

“Boys, meet Zog. The Equalizer.”

“…Mikey, how lame can you be?”

“Pretty la-! WAIT A MINUTE…”

“Alright, here’s the plan. We’ll search the ship and see what we’re up against.”

The group nodded as they put on headsets.

“Ready for action, sir!”

BAM!

“SHELL.”

Catching the boxes and crates on air and managing to put them back, Artemis gave the Triceraton an irritated look.

“Be more careful next time, soldier. JEEZE…I can’t keep doing this…”

“This is the recon part of the mission, soldier.”

“Sorry, sir, but stealth is not one of my strong points.”

“We NOTICED…”

“…Mikey, you stay here and watch Zog. Donnie…You stay here and watch Mikey.”

“HEY…”

“Don’t be mad, bro.” Artemis soothed, patting his shoulder.

“Would you rather be in there with a bunch of Foot ninja, or out here with a Triceraton?”

“…Good point…”

“Be ready to move. We’ll contact you once we know exactly what the Foot are up to.”

The three turtles and their elderly father went to check out the freighter.

It was a simple matter to get aboard, and Artemis scanned the ship warily after two Foot ninja were taken out.

“Looks like our way in.” Leo muttered, pointing at a vent.

Crawling through, they looked down into a room, where some scientists seemed to be working on something…

And there was…

“Shredder…” She muttered, inching closer to Leo for comfort.

“Not again…”

“I see ‘e still gets ‘is suits at the hardware store…”

“Look. More robots.”

“They are manufacturing deadly assassins…They must be stopped.” Splinter said decidedly.

“This facility must be completely and utterly destroyed.”

“Don, here’s the plan.” Leo said into his headset.

“We need to blow this ship sky-high. To do that, we’ll need to get it out to open sea and away from the city. Raph, Master Splinter, Artemis and me will take the bridge and get this thing moving. Mikey, you and Zog cast off the mooring lines and meet us on the bridge. Don, can you sink it?”

“If I can’t figure out a way to take out a floating Foot lab sitting on thousands of gallons of diesel fuel, I might as well hang up my tool belt.”

“Well, that’s what you’re good at.” Artemis assured.

“Go get ‘em, Donnie.”

Moving through the vent system some more, they finally reached the dark control room, and jumped down.

“OKAY…Who knows how to work a freighter?”

The three turtles shared a glance…

“Donnie…”

There was a muffled scream, like someone’s mouth was being held closed, and the gold-banded turtle’s head shot up.

“Mizu?”

“Be careful, Artemis…”

“Aren’t I always?”

“…No…”

“…Well, I will be.”

Fire blossomed on her fingertips, she scanned the corner and found a bound Mizu, tape over her mouth.

“MIZU!”

Running forward as the fire died, the jade-skinned turtle pulled out a kunai and cut her friend free, careful of the tape.

“Are you okay?”

“I’m fine…but…”

“What’s wrong-?”

The lights turned on suddenly, revealing Hun.

“Welcome aboard, freaks. I’ll be your cruise director for the trip, and I’ll be happy to announce that you’ll be feeling pain. Lots and LOTS of pain.”

The Elite busted in through the windows, and everyone got ready to fight.

“Uh, Mikey? Now might be a good time to bring in our friend…the Secret Weapon…”

When there was no answer, Artemis got worried.

‘Mikey, you’d better be okay…’

Two Foot Elite surrounded her and Mizu, but the crimson-eyed turtle just smirked, lifting her hands.

“Bring it.”