Golden Angel

“My children, tonight our training will work on two essential disciplines. The way of balance-.”

Splinter clapped, turning the lights off as they balanced on the bamboo poles.

“And the way of invisibility.”

“Dude, you put in the clapper?” Mikey asked loudly.

Artemis lowered herself into a crouch, hearing Mikey get whapped.

“Michelangelo, the way of invisibility also includes the way of silence. I suggest that you employ both if you wish to avoid my walking stick.”

Tense and ready, Artemis felt something shift in her mind.

Her normal sight, now useless thanks to the lack of light, was switched with another.

Like the shift of the air was visible now, and she could see the slightest movement.

The push and pull of the air…

Ducking her father’s walking stick lightning-quick, she did a back-flip, knocking the ‘weapon’ into the air.

Jumping up, Splinter caught it, and she sensed the approving nod.

“You have done well in the mastery of invisibility, my daughter.”

Nodding, she tried to mask the sound of her breathing.

“Thank you, sensei…”

The elderly rat went after the others, and Artemis felt dazed when the lights suddenly came on.

Rubbing at her eyes, she tried to stay balanced.

“Peek-A-Boo. I see you!” Mikey joked.

Said turtle was thrown off balance.

“Hey! Don’t I at least get points for creativity?”

“A creative mind must be balanced with a disciplined body.”

Artemis nodded, vision now ceasing its strange swim.

“We must learn stillness and alertness.” He continued, clapping and turning the lights off again.

“For they are the only defense against the-.”

The elevator door opened, causing Mitsukai to raise her head and Artemis to find her balance in desperation.

“Hey, guys!”

A body hit the bamboo poles, and most of them fell.

Artemis breathed out in relief when hers stayed standing, and she glared at Casey.

“What the shell, man?!”

Splinter pounced on him, and she almost fell over from surprise.

“SENSEI!”

“Master Splinter, no!” Leo shouted as he and Don ran towards the elderly rat.

“He’s okay!”

Artemis clapped the lights on before joining them.

“Sensei, this is Casey! The nutca-! Uh…The GUY we told you about!” Don stated.

“You remember! The igilantevay?” Mikey added.

“We figured it’d be ‘kay ta give ‘im access ta the lair. Ya know, fer emergencies an’ stuff.”

“…Please forgive my rash action.” Splinter apologized, the turtles helping Casey to his feet.

“No problemo…”

“Though, next time, you would be wise to heed the ancient Japanese proverb…Phone first.”

The gold-banded turtle nodded, smiling a bit, as Mitsukai nuzzled her hip.

“I agree with that.”

Casey shrugged, looking around.

“Whoa! Raph, yer crib is even more rad than ya said it was!”

Artemis sighed.

‘I feel the impending doom…’

Picking up a bamboo pole, she smacked the man upside the head.

“Future warning. Don’t touch my stuff. I mean it.”

“Ya didn’t come all the way down ‘ere fer the tour. What’s the four-one-one street side?”

“Graffiti. It’s everywhere. All over town.”

…

“…You can’t be serious.” Artemis stated, a laugh in her voice.

Casey would’ve been more offended if the sound hadn’t seemed so…

FOREIGN…

Her normally sharp tongue seemed softer with laughter, which rang clear like a silver bell.

Her brother’s enjoyed the sound, too.

She rarely laughed that freely anymore, and even Mikey had a hard time forcing it out of her.

However, the chance to jab at Casey was TOO GOOD to waste…

“I think I speak for everyone when I say…DUH…”

“We’re New Yorkers, Casey. We’ve seen graffiti before.” Don added.

“Ah-Ah. Not THIS kind.”

The vigilante held up a picture, and Artemis looked more closely, crimson eyes narrowed.

“I think somebody’s tryin’ ta send ya a message.”

“…NICE…They want to skewer us…” She muttered, Mitsukai gripping her wristband with her teeth gently.

“MAN…talk about getting the point!” Mikey added.

“Do all of the tags look like this?” Leo questioned.

“Some are a little MORE graphic…Hey. Cool sword. Looks just like the one in the graffiti.”

Her senses pricked, alerted to some sort of danger.

“CASEY-!”

Said human was thrown back by the swords power…

“…Don’t…touch that…”

“Remind me whose idea it was to invite him down here?” Don asked as Casey nearly knocked down his bookshelf.

“I thank you for this information, Mr. Jones.” Splinter stated, helping the vigilante up.

“But now we must return to our training.”

“Wait! Don’t ya guys want ta put the smack-down on the scum who did this?”

“Well, yeah. But it smells WAY too much like a setup.” Mikey replied.

Artemis smirked.

“Like Mikey’s farts.”

“HEY…”

“Someone’s just trying to get under our shells. Why should we stoop to their level?” Dom added.

“But this is a matter ‘a honor! What about all that Bushi-doo-doo ya guys are ‘lways talkin’ ‘bout?”

“That’s BUSHIDO. Which has NOTHING to do with getting payback for a bunch of nasty wall-doodles.” Leo replied.

“Sorry, Case. But I gotta go wit’ my bros on this one.”

Casey turned to Artemis, hoping for a glimmer of agreement.

“Look, I don’t like these guys. I don’t. But I’m not going to get them for some evil graffiti, Casey.”

“What would you say about some of the…more graphic ones?”

Quirking an eye-ridge, she put her hands on her hips.

“Why? What’s wrong with them?”

“Let’s just say they’re not exactly…PG-13…”

Her eyes narrowed in slight understanding.

“So?”

“…They involve you and…other things…”

“They’re calling me a whore, aren’t they?”

“Well…not using THAT word in particular…”

“…Shell no…”

Her eyes seemed on fire, fists clenched, grinding her teeth to hold in the rage.

Leo put a hand on her shoulder, almost feeling the anger under her skin.

If there was one thing important to her, it was respect.

She even gave the smallest amount to her enemies, and plenty to her family and friends.

But something she always, ALWAYS respected was herself and her body.

When, at twelve, Raph had called her flat-chested, she’d caught him in a headlock and choked him until he’d apologized.

He was surprised that she calmed down at all, let alone so quickly, under his hand.

“…I’m okay…I’m cool. I’m in control.” She started muttering, closing her eyes to calm down.

Mitsukai whimpered, tail between her legs and ears back.

When the fire in her eyes had died down to smoldering embers and her breath wasn’t heavy anymore, she smirked.

“Well, let them think it.”

Even Casey seemed surprised.

“As long as it’s not true, I won’t sweat it.”

Mitsukai barked, licking Artemis’s fingers.

“That’s it, girl. Let’s get you some food.”

Mikey was hardly fooled at the feigned shrug-off of rage, but Casey doesn’t see the signs.

Pale knuckles, the sound of footsteps, the way her fingers played with her small fans at her belt…

When she was petting Mitsukai and drifting off in thoughts of torture and dismemberment, apparently, Casey had found their TV’s…

‘One of the shortest attention spans EVER…’

She peeked out to see him start eating the pizza Mikey had left on the couch, and turn on the TV’s.

Hours passed, most of which she spent in either the kitchen or her room, as the vigilante known as Casey Jones annoyed the shell off of her brothers.

Mitsukai, who sometimes wandered from Artemis’s side out of curiosity, came back slightly snappish and irritated.

She only came out when shouts came from the vigilante and Raph.

Seeing them wrestling, Artemis sighed, rubbing her forehead.

“Raphael. Normally, I discourage excursions to the surface. But I think it wise for you to take our guest out for a breath of fresh air.”

“Topside? I’m all o’er it!” The red-banded turtle replied.

“BOOYA!”

Artemis looked ready to leave, back to her plans of pain and misery and revenge.

“Perhaps Artemisia would like to join you?”

Turning sharply, she locked eyes with her father.

“B-But-!”

“Do you not want some fresh air?”

Thinking over the repercussions of her answer, she sighed.

“Oh, alright…But I’m not going to be WITH them…just AHEAD of them…”

Mikey grinned.

“I’d do the same thing, Artie.”

The trash talk had started before they even got into the elevator, and Mitsukai whined, hiding under the couch.

“It’s okay, girl…I don’t blame you…”

The door closed, and she leaned against a wall.

“I DEFINITELY don’t blame you…”

“Come on, princess. It won’t be THAT bad.” Raph reasoned.

“Princess?”

She smacked Casey in the forehead, and he pulled back, rubbing the spot.

“Not Raph? Then you can’t call me princess.”

He seemed ready to retort, and she smacked him again.

“AH! My nose!”

Raph chuckled at the sight.

Artemis, who was shorter even than her brothers, picking on such a large man as Casey.

When the elevator opened, she headed straight for the door, and got to the roof in a flash.

Jumping across rooftops as quickly as she could, she made sure to keep their bickering within hearing range.

When it suddenly stopped, she did, wondering what was wrong.

‘Don’t tell me they found trouble…’

The sound of fighting reached her, and she sighed.

‘I should’ve known…You can never put those two together and NOT expect fighting…’

With a roll of her eyes and a breath of irritation, she turned to join them.

Moving at a comparatively slow pace, she headed for the alley.

Everything had seemed fine from a distance, then she’d seen two shadows enter the alley.

‘Ninja…’

Speeding up, she stopped on the ledge, looking down.

She didn’t SEE the ninja anymore, but her senses were shifting again, letting her see the air currents and their shifts.

She sensed the ninja, their movements, and saw them beating on Raph and Casey.

Pulling out one of her large fans, she opened it slowly.

‘Three…two…’

One seemed ready to get Raph through the wall…

‘ONE!’

Jumping down, she managed to smack him away.

Grinning at her brother, she shrugged.

“Guess I really AM better at this ‘sensing everything’ thing, aren’t I?”

“Ya couldn’t ‘a come sooner?”

“Well, SORRY…”

She punched one invisible ninja in the face.

“But I thought it was street thugs, not high-tech ninja.”

Swinging around, she did a hurricane kick to the others face.

“You know, this isn’t so hard.”

Ducking, she elbowed the ninja in the stomach.

“As long as you don’t let them grab you.”

Moving out from under the falling ninja, she back flipped over the other.

“Come on, guys. You’re making this too easy.”

She grunted in pain when one managed to land a kick to her chest, and her shell smacked into a wall.

“Well…that’s one way to kick it up a notch…”

Gripping the wall with one hand, she used it to push off, dodging a brick-shattering punch.

“Whoa there, big guy!”

Doing a handstand, she kicked him in the chest.

“That’s no way to treat a lady!”

“What lady?” Raph joked, trying to dodge.

“The one wearing the red mask.”

“HEY!”

Both ninja decided to gang up on the gold-banded turtle, and she did her best to weave around their blows.

Some landed, and one particularly hard punch smacked into her face.

Flying back, she fell into the wall, dazed.

“OH…My head…”

Something crashed, and she lifted clouded red eyes to see them pulling Raph from some wreckage.

“Raph…”

Lifting herself from the wall, she put a hand to her head.

“OW…”

One of the ninja came towards her, and, with her senses shifting and blurring and mixing, she couldn’t tell if he was visible or not.

“You’re coming with us.”

A growl escaped her, and she felt her legs shake.

“Not if I can help it…”

She tried to punch him, and something flew from her fist.

It smacked into his pretty hard, and she thought she heard a grunt before his fist hit the side of her head.

Her vision darkened, and her head swam…

She hardly felt her body hit the ground…

‘Leo…’

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Her brain seemed to spark to life, her lungs filled with air, and her muscles felt sore.

Her eyes throbbed, even though she hadn’t opened them, and ground her teeth in pain.

‘At least I know I’m alive…’

Light invaded her pupils, and she groaned a bit.

“Ow…I hate light…”

Looking around, she quirked an eye-ridge at the lack of light, except for right above her.

She was even strapped to a table.

“OKAY…where’s the good cop/bad cop?”

Something large loomed in the shadows, and the metallic glint showed he was holding something metal.

“You seem talkative…Why not answer some questions?”

“RIGHT…Am I dreaming? ‘Cause you’re too stupid for real life.”

Her own fan hit the table near her head.

“…WELL…Maybe I should wait till you calm down, mister antsy.” She replied almost boredly.

“Besides, your aim’s off.”

“Who says I was trying to hit you?”

The large man stepped into the light, and she narrowed her eyes with a smirk.

“I have my ways, smart guy. Now what the shell am I doing here?”

His large fist pulled out the closed fan near her head, and she didn’t flinch.

“This is an interrogation. Now, what are you doing with our dog?”

“Oh, you mean MY dog.”

His fist slammed next to her head, and she was trying to free her right leg.

“We made her!”

“But she obviously likes me better.”

She smirked.

“So you’re not getting her back.”

His hand went over her throat, and she hardly swallowed as her eyes narrowed and her smirk fell.

“Answer my questions. And let’s have no more backtalk.”

“Then you came to the wrong turtle, bub. I’m known for my sharp tongue.”

Her foot was free, and she subtly pulled it back.

“And my lower body strength.”

Before he could even try to understand what she’d said, her foot smacked in between his legs, and he fell like a ton of bricks.

“Nighty-Night.”

Kicking him across the face for good measure, she managed to lift her foot high enough to free one of her hands.

In doing so, she pulled out a kunai and cut her bonds.

Grabbing her small fan from his weak grip and pulling on her other ones, she looked around.

“Raph?!”

He seemed to be just coming around as she cut him free, and she put his arm around her shoulders to support him.

Grabbing his sai and her Shell Cell, she headed out as fast as she could.

Coming out at the end of a hallway as Raph started fully waking up, she saw the large deck of a boat.

“…I HATE my luck…it sucks shell…”

Shaking him as she reached the edge, she furrowed her brow.

“Come on, Raphie. Time to take a dip, bro.”

Shaking his head a bit, he took his own weight.

“Princess?”

“Just jump into the water, tough guy.”

“Why-?”

She pushed his shell, and he fell into the water.

“AH…The joys of being a sister…”

Diving in after him, she held her breath as the cool water hit her skin.

Surfacing, she found her brother sputtering.

“What the shell, princess?!”

“Evil boat. Big angry guy that got kicked in the crotch. SWIM!”

He followed her, but she was a pretty fast swimmer.

They came up on the docks, and she grabbed Raph’s wrist before starting to run.

She felt the air shifting, and narrowed her eyes.

‘They’re tailing us…’

She didn’t say anything, but kept her free hand on one of her belted fans as they entered the sewers.

Heading into a sewer junction, she skidded to a halt.

“Princess?”

“Stay down.”

Pulling out her fan, she snapped it open and let it fly.

Two of the invisible ninja went down, sparking slightly, and she caught the fan on it’s way back.

“WHOA…Nice throw.”

Artemis smiled a bit.

“Thanks.”

She was surprised, however, when Don and Leo jumped down, fighting the invisible ninja with strange goggles.

They were kind of…thrown, though…

“Guys, I love that you made it, but come ON…”

Casey and Mikey joined them, wearing similar goggles.

“Did I ferget ta mention that these guys are really strong, too?”

Leo groaned in pain.

“Might have been useful info…”

Pulling out her large fans, Artemis snapped them open.

“Let’s roll…”

Raph seemed to be having a hard time, but Casey helped with a little mud.

The gold-banded turtle jumped up, her fans slicing through metal and such.

“Their cloaking devices seem to be around their chest plates.” Don noted.

Artemis felt the air shifting around her, and she smirked.

“You mean here?”

Spinning in a full circle, her fans sharp edges cut the five devices, and she skidded to a halt.

Jumping up, she snapped her fans shut and spun in the air, hitting the ninja away with hits to the head.

The ninja seemed dealt with, but, apparently, they’d missed one…

Said ninja was dangling Casey over the swirling waters of the junction.

“Drop your weapons and surrender. My grip is loosening…I advice that you drop your weapons. Now.”

“Don’t do it, guys! I’m not worth it!”

“…Ya know, he’s got a point…” Don stated.

“Donnie, that’s mean. Sure, he breaks everything, but he’s TECHNICALLY our friend.” Artemis replied.

“You’re starting to sound like Mikey, Don.” Leo added as the four turtles dropped their weapons.

The jade-skinned turtle furrowed her brows for a moment.

‘Where IS Mikey?’

Said turtle had found his way above the other ninja as his brothers and sister were surrounded.

He jumped down, kicking the ninja off into the water and having Casey start falling.

Don managed to get to him in time, and Artemis picked up her fans as she forward-flipped.

Snapping them open, she hit three more ninja away.

It was actually rather easy, beating the rest into the swirling water.

“Thanks, guys. I really owe ya.” Casey stated.

“We take cash, personal checks, and most major credit cards.” Mikey joked.

Artemis snapped her fans shut and strapped them to her shell, sighing.

“MAN, I’m beat! Maybe I should just crash at yer guys’ place tonight.”

Everyone looked panicked, and Artemis held up a hand.

“I’ll take care of this…”

Confused, the brothers stepped back as she walked up to the vigilante.

“Casey…”

SMACK!!!

“GO HOME!!!”

Leo sighed, rubbing his forehead.

“Crude…but effective…”

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The behemoth of a man was before his master, the Japanese man looking over pictures.

“…What do you know of her?”

“A sharp tongue, but she’s a skilled fighter.”

“Any weaknesses? Strengths?”

“She could somehow…SEE the Foot Tech Ninja, even cloaked, and managed to fight them until she got a couple blows to the head.”

“…What is her name?”

“From what I’ve heard, her brother’s call her…Artemis.”

The Japanese man smiled a bit.

“The Goddess of the Hunt…has become the prey…”

“What of the dog?”

“Once she’s on our side, the canine will follow.”

“How do you know if she will come to our side?”

Closing the folder with the pictures, the leader closed his eyes.

“I have my ways…”

‘And she WILL be mine…’