Golden Angel

Tightening her grip on the leather reins, Artemis bit her lip.

“Baby, I need you to find the others.” She whispered.

The Sky Bison raised her head, shaking it slightly.

Pulling down on the reins, she fixed her spirit guide with a serious look.

“You get Mizu and Chi out of here. Find the others.”

“United States military! Stay where you are and do not move, or we will open fire!”

“Oh, dear…I’m afraid it’s out of the frying pan and into the fire…”

Mitsukai bristled, roaring softly as the vehicles drew closer.

“On the ground! Hands behind your heads! Assume the position now!”

“I got yer position right ‘ere!”

“RAPH-!”

He skewered two guns with his sai, and Artemis released the reins.

“Neutralize them!”

Lasers came for them, and the gold-banded turtle ran forward, tornado blocking the blasts.

The Sky Bison looked ready to fight, but one look from Artemis sent her flying through the air.

“ARTEMIS!”

“ARTIE!”

“Shoot it down!”

The jade-skinned turtle growled.

“NO!”

Boulders came up, smacking into soldiers, and some trees were sapped of their strength as the water was used to cut open guns.

“Remember, Bishop wants them alive.”

Artemis stopped, praying for that adrenaline high she needed to keep going, as something pressed against the inside of her shell.

Another truck came up, and she raised her hands warily.

It shot a bolt of electricity, and she turned her shell to it, hoping her carapace would take most of the blast.

The cries of pain echoed in her ears as she fell to her hands and knees, panting for breath as her vision began to blur and darken…

“Get ‘em.”

The glow came back, surging through her, and it was almost like someone else took over the wheel as her eyes glowed and the arrows became more prominent.

“Don’t touch them!”

Earth came up around her like a tornado, and the soldiers backed up at this savage energy.

Other blasts of electricity were blocked with earth, and the ground literally flew up under their feet.

Her shell seemed under so much pressure, she felt it might crack, when a laser found it’s mark over her chest.

With a stunned gasp of pain, the glow died, and she fell hard onto her shell.

As her vision blurred and darkened and consciousness began to leave her, she saw SOMEONE stand over her, gun in hand…

“I didn’t think she’d put up such a fight…Still, she’ll make a good specimen…Round them up.”

She would’ve snapped at him if she hadn’t lost her connection to the world…

‘I’ll show YOU when I wake up…’

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Cold metal on her shell, cold metal on her wrists and ankles, cold metal around her shoulders and waist…

‘What’s with these people and cold metal?’

Artemis groaned in discomfort, her shell feeling hyper-sensitive to the cold, and opened her eyes heavily.

“Where are we?” Leo asked into the darkness, though he knew the others were with him.

Bright lights came on above them, and the gold-banded turtle closed her eyes.

“At the end of the line…for you all.”

“OW…Thanks for trying to BLIND me…” She snapped, eyes easily adjusting now.

“It’s me you want. Leave my friends alone!” Honeycutt reasoned.

“Actually, Professor, it is you I DON’T want.”

“Who are you?” Don asked the still-shadowy figure.

“Well, Donatello, I’m the man the government comes to for…projects.”

The needle in his hand SURE looked sharp…

“The kind of projects they’d rather not dirty their own hands with.”

“How do you know Donnie’s name?” Artemis questioned suspiciously, eyes narrowing.

“An’ the Professor.”

“I know all of your names, Raphael. Artemisia. And much, much more.”

“And yet WE know nothing about you.” Leo replied.

“Not even YOUR name.”

“How rude is THAT?” Mikey agreed.

“Very well, Michelangelo…”

The man pulled up a circular saw, and everyone’s hearts sped up…

“When you scream my name, pleading to make the pain stop, begging for mercy…You may call me…Bishop.”

“I don’t understand it…” Honeycutt muttered.

“Everybody has always been after ME in the past…”

“Actually, Professor Honeycutt, you’re a valuable commodity.”

Bishop headed towards the only door.

“To a certain…INTERESTED party.”

The doors slid open, revealing…

“Hello, Professor.”

“General Blanq?!”

“GREAT! That’s the guy that was chasin’ the Fugitoid back on D’Hoonib!”

“What’s HE want?”

He caught Artemis’s look, the slight irritated twitch of her eye…

“OH…right.”

“Sometimes, I think you’d lose your shell if it wasn’t attached…”

“Escort the Professor the lab Agent Bishop has so graciously offered us.” Blanq ordered.

“Alright, general. You have your robot. Our deal is concluded.”

“Yes. The Federation thanks you and your government for the assistance. The Professor’s Teleportal device will finally be ours. And, with it, the Federation will once and for all annihilate those accursed Triceratons!”

“You know what I want to annihilate? All the annoying IDIOTS who won’t leave me the shell alone!!!”

They seemed to ignore her, and she blew a raspberry as the Federation left.

“Do as you will with the terrapins…”

“NO-!”

The door closed behind them, and the crimson-eyed turtle huffed.

“Like he scares me…”

“ARTIE…” Mikey seemed to whine.

Two strange balls seemed to come down, attached to the ceiling, with different strange attachments.

“Yer makin’ a BIG mistake, Bishop! Ya can’t trust that Blanq guy! ‘E’s no better than the Triceratons!”

“Federation…Triceratons…It makes little difference to me. I help one destroy the other, and they promise to give me what I need, and leave the Earth alone. But enough talk. Time for your dissection.”

Artemis gave a blank look, then shook her head.

“Wait, did you just say ‘dissection’? Is this some kind of weird movie with the mad scientist or something?”

The strange light started at Don’s feet, moving up.

“You guys know how I like to take apart the toaster to see how it works? Well, now I suddenly know how the TOASTER feels…”

“Fascinating…Your genetic composition is almost identical to the only other specimen I’ve been able to find…”

He snapped his fingers, and a girl seemed to step out of the shadows.

She was thin, more like fragile porcelain than anything, with large, innocent-looking gold eyes.

Her deep gold/red hair moved over her face, as if shielding her from where she was, and she took hold of a strange cabinet with shaking fingers.

There was Leatherhead, covered with tubes and wires and looking too weak to move…

Probably feeling sympathetic, the girl put a hand on the large crocodiles forehead.

“Leatherhead…” Artemis breathed in shock.

She seemed to break the spell on her tongue, and felt it come to life with a vengeance.

“You sick bastard!!! How could you do that to him!?!”

Bishop smirked, shaking his head.

“Artemisia, you can still be so naïve despite your age…”

“I’m smart enough to know what you’re doing is wrong!” She snapped back.

He seemed to ignore her, taking hold of a strange attachment to the orbs.

“Years of research, and I’ve never seen a mutation like yours…or that of your crocodilian friend over there.”

The girl tried not to look, but she couldn’t help herself.

She KNEW what would happen, but something in her was telling her to stop him…

“The actual source of your mutation is going to accelerate my ability to create an army of super-soldiers by at least two decades.”

Bishop cut straight through the metal by Mikey’s head, and a growl of frustration escaped Artemis.

“Don’t you dare!”

The agent paused, turning to her.

“And what will I get if I don’t cut him open?”

“…”

She brought up her courage, eyes hard.

“Dissect me.”

“Artemis-!” Leo protested.

“I’m different from my brothers. There’d be more to find.”

“ARTIE!” Mikey and Don pleaded.

The gold-eyed girl watched this curiously, heart clenching.

The laser was redirected as Artemis, slowly cutting through the metal towards her arm.
She didn’t even flinch, gaze unwavering.

“Pity you won’t survive the next two minutes, Artemisia. I was hoping for a demonstration of those strange powers of yours.”

“Bite my shell.”

Realization spread across the girl’s face, and she moved forward.

“W-Wait!”

The laser paused in its course, and she flinched under the cold gaze.

“M-Maybe we sh-should wait…” She stuttered softly, crossing her arms over her stomach self-consciously…

“I-It won’t h-help to r-rush things, r-right?”

“True…But I don’t trust these ninja to stay here if left alone, Kasai. Now go.”

Still looking unwilling, she started stepping back, realizing crimson eyes were locked on her…

‘Kasai…Fire…’

‘Help her…’

‘Help HER? Help ME!’

‘You’re both prisoners here…You must save her.’

‘Oh, alright…I’ll try…’

Her table was pushed down flat, and Bishop pulled out the circular saw again…

‘I’m NEVER watching another Sci-Fi or Slasher movie AGAIN…’

“Sorry I can’t administer a sedative, but it might corrupt my findings.”

“Well, SORRY that my pain is trying to get in the way!”

“I can’t look!” Mikey exclaimed, trying to look away.

The saw was about to nick her plastron, and she breathed in as deeply as she could.

A vent moved, and she blasted Bishop back with a gust of wind.

The saw flew, freeing Mikey, and she used Metalbending to free herself from the table.

Splinter jumped up from the vent with Casey and April, and the ground shook once Chi landed beside him.

“Now, that ain’t fair…”

She lifted her hands, and the walls shook…

“Let me even the score…”

Shards of earth flew out, cutting the other turtles free, and Mizu came up, water flying up to defend them from Bishop.

“Stop them!”

Water lashed out, knocking the two soldiers away, and Artemis turned to the timid girl.

“Help me free Leatherhead!”

Kasai gave a light nod, running to start unhooking the large crocodile with the jade-skinned turtle on her heels.

“We can’t leave without the Fugitoid!” Don stated.

“Don’t worry, we won’t!” Leo assured.

“Leatherhead, can you hear me?” Artemis asked, undoing the straps.

Mizu ran up as well, worry on her face.

“Leatherhead?”

“My friend…”

“How’d you survive? Our old lair caved in on you!” Artemis questioned as she helped the crocodile stand.

“Well, I am very thick-skinned…Quite literally.”

The doors opened, letting in more soldiers, and the walls shook again.

“Why can’t ya guys get the hint?”

Boulders flew, knocking them back and blocking the others path.

“Ya can’t beat an Earthbender…”

Mizu brought water up, knocking some back with wave after wave.

Casey and April joined in, doing a good job at fighting off the soldiers.

A nice mist smokescreen worked well, and Chi finished the job rather effortlessly.

“Hey, Raphie!”

Casey threw a duffel bag towards the turtles.

“Christmas came early this year!”

“Thank ya, Santa!”

“Cowards…” Bishop muttered as his soldiers ran.

Leatherhead had only knocked away soldiers coming towards him and Kasai, who was on his back as if searching for comfort.

The mist cleared, showing the group as they faced off against the government agent.

“Let’s take care ‘a this guy an’ get outta ‘ere! We need ta fin’ the Fugitoid!”

“Bishop, you want a genetic sample? Sample THIS!”

Mikey charged, ‘chucks whirling, and was disarmed and thrown at a table before Artemis could blink.

“MIKEY!”

Flipping the circular saw into his hand, Bishop started it up and held it threateningly over Mikey’s plastron and neck.

“Anyone moves, and you can say goodbye to Michelangelo.”

“Oh man…I really HATE goodbyes…”

Artemis felt something hot pressing against the inside of her shell, pushing and forcing and trying to get out…

Chi was trying to restrain her earthquake-liken rage, but felt the force coming from the jade-skinned turtle…

“Artie…”

Leo was startled by a strange cracking sound, and Artemis’s cry of pain…

“ARTEMIS!”