Sequel: Angel's Child ›
Golden Angel
Chapter 75
Artemis sat back against a wire cage holding pigeons, watching her brother’s train…
At least, most of her brothers were…
The three human girls had stayed at home, wanting a day off from intense training.
The only reason the gold-banded turtle had come along was because she was worried for her brothers.
Mitsukai had hardly let the turtle leave, since her steadily-growing stomach was un-centering her balance a bit now that it had been a couple more weeks.
She watched Mikey reading a newspaper, wondering when they would notice he wasn’t participating…
“Michelangelo!”
‘Leo noticed…’
“MICHELANGELO!”
Paper ripped, and the orange-banded turtle found himself holding two halves of a newspaper.
“HEY…I was reading that!”
“You’re supposed to be training!”
“Uh…I was doing mental exercises. Ya know, reading. Little symbols on paper. They make words. Words form sentences.”
“Mikey, didn’t you learn ANYTHING from your Battle Nexus rematch? We have to be ready! All the time!”
“Ah…Young Leonardo…Remember what Master Splinter says…”
Artemis rolled her eyes, looking up at the stars…
“Worry leads to fear, fear leads to anger, anger leads to worry…wait, hold on…”
Her eye twitched…
“Mikey, let me help you out…First off, it’s ‘worry leads to fear, fear leads to anger, anger leads to hate, and hate leads to suffering’…And second…THAT WAS YODA FROM STAR WARS!!!!!!”
“…How do you know?” Don wondered.
“…He was cute and old and…Did you SEE him in the new movies? He jumped around like a frickin’ FROG! He’s COOL!”
She tensed, head snapping up…
“MOVE!”
Managing to jump away, she missed the shattered debris as two strange forms crashed into the pigeon coop.
Two figures zoomed out of the debris, looking like winged men, one with metal black wings and the other with feathery white ones.
“SO…who do we help?” Don wondered.
“Well, THAT guy sure doesn’t seem friendly…” Mikey noted, referring to the black-winged man.
One of the men was thrown into a water tower, which began to crack and leak from the force of the collision.
“OH…That’s going to hurt tomorrow…”
“Maybe we should take ‘em both out.”
Artemis looked at both of the eldest brother’s in mild confusion…
“Since when do YOU TWO agree on anything?”
The white-winged man was rammed into a brick wall, and the crimson-eyed turtle felt her shell prickle familiarly.
“Wait a minute! It can’t be!” Mikey exclaimed, eyes snapping back to his ripped newspaper.
“I don’t believe it!”
“What?” Don wondered.
“That guy with the wings! He’s the Guardian Angel!”
“That’s nice…WHICH ONE?”
“White wings.”
“Who’s the what?” Don asked, confused.
“You really should read a paper once in a while. The Guardian Angel is all the rage! He’s the new superhero in town!”
“GREAT…we needed another one of those…”
The black-winged man landed on the roof, and she unfurled her own wings, the feathers bristling into steel…
“ARTEMIS-!”
Too late…
She had already rammed him with her wings, knocking him through the air, when he lashed out at her own.
He went down into the alley with a few dinged metal feathers…
“THAT was your own damn fault! JERK!”
Landing on the edge, Artemis almost swayed as the others ran up to check on her…
A black wing cut through the concrete under her feet, and red eyes widened when she saw Mikey start tumbling through the air…
“MIKEY!!!!”
Swooping down, she grabbed his wrists, pulling up as hard as she could to stop his descent.
“You need to cut down on the pizza!”
Strange black projectiles came at them from behind…
‘SHELL!’
Wrapping her large wings around him, she felt the black metal bounce off as they headed for the ground at an alarming rate…
Someone grabbed her around the middle, and air stopped rushing past them…
“Whoa…thanks…” She managed.
The strange black metal flew at them once more, injuring their rescuer’s wings, but the three fell safely on a large pile of trash.
Mikey managed to free himself, making sure his sister and the ‘Guardian Angel’ were alright.
“You guys okay?”
“Yes…I think so…”
“I’ll live…”
The crimson-eyed turtle sat up, shaking her head as her wings flexed…
“That wasn’t fun…” She joked.
Mikey grinned a bit, offering a hand to help her up.
“Sure wasn’t!”
Something caught her eye…
“DOWN!”
She managed to shove her youngest brother back, barely avoiding the gravity-enhanced slam from their black-winged opponent.
“Stay out of this, turtle freak!”
“Then don’t try to throw my little brother off a roof!” She countered, unable to stand easily because of the baby inside her.
He just turned away from her, grabbing the headband off the other winged man’s head, and seemed ready to strike a killing blow…
Two turtles knocked him away before anymore damage could be done, and Artemis managed to get to her feet.
Seeing he was outnumbered, the black-winged man took off into the air.
The gold-banded turtle only flexed her wings before folding them against her shell.
“Artemis, are you okay?” Leo fussed, feeling her rounding belly and checking her over for injuries.
“I’m alright…”
“What do we do wit’ this guy?” Raph wondered, drawing everyone’s attention to the still-downed ‘Guardian Angel’.
Before anyone could suggest what to do, he fell unconscious…
Unconscious, because, OBVIOUSLY, men can’t FAINT…
“I think we should take him back to the lair.” Don reasoned.
“We can’t just leave him here.” Artemis agreed.
The four brothers managed to heft him, and carried him back to the lair.
The crimson-eyed turtle would have helped, but Leo didn’t want her to strain herself…
They got back, Mikey complaining all the way, and all three human girls looked up at them in confusion.
“Whene’er ya guys go topside, ya ‘lways fin’ somethin’, don’t ya?”
“Yep…”
Artemis was settled on the couch after the ‘Guardian Angel’ was put in the med bay.
Mizu healed his wing rather well, and everyone waited for him to wake up…
Artemis just waited by sleeping…
She was woken up when the story had been told and the mission set, and asked indignantly why she hadn’t been told.
Leo had replied that she wasn’t going to be going along…
“…So the turtle with the angel wings, wielder of all four elements, and defender of their SHELLS, is not ALLOWED to go with you?”
“Yes.”
“…I don’t think you got my POINT…”
“No, I did. But you were almost killed today. Let’s leave that for a time LONG in the future, alright?”
“…I’m still not happy about it.” She reminded stubbornly, sitting down on her Sky Bison.
She was put in her room with the girls as ‘company’ as Don wandered off to work on something, and all were advised not to come out until Master Splinter said so.
Chi put on her MP3, Mizu pulled up a medical book on giving birth, and Kasai played with a videogame Mikey had lent her.
Artemis spent her time moping…
It took a few hours, and some escape attempts, before they were allowed out.
The boys had already left, and the girls were left to their own devices…
Chi went off into the kitchen to get something to eat, Mizu went into Don’s lab to study, and Kasai wandered off.
Artemis cuddled with her curled-up Mitsukai, watching TV and grumbling irritably.
Sometimes, she felt like this baby was messing with their lives too much…
They led dangerous lives, even if they didn’t want to, and she felt her instincts screaming at her to protect her brothers…
Hugging her stomach, she rubbed it lovingly as ‘House’ came on…
“Oh, House…how sarcastic can you get?”
“A-Artie?”
She blinked, looking down at the gold/red-haired Firebender.
“Is something wrong?”
“N-Not exactly…”
“…Kasai, you’re shaking…”
And indeed she was, though the gold-banded turtle couldn’t tell if it was out of fear or excitement…
“I-I just…”
She looked up at the she-turtle with wide gold eyes…
“I-I’m pregnant, Artie…”
Crimson eyes widened…
“Are you sure?”
The Firebender nodded, shaking almost violently now…
“…Come on up here…”
Kasai hesitated…
“It’s alright…”
Finally, the girl climbed up the shaggy fur, nestling into the fur.
Artemis put an arm around the girl’s shoulders in a comforting hug, trying to soothe her.
The gold-eyed girl relaxed, hugging back gently…
“It’ll be okay, Kasai…”
“Are you sure?”
“Positive.”
“…It’s just…I didn’t think I could have a baby anymore…”
“Why? What happened?”
“Just…something from my past…”
“Kasai, I’m your sister, remember?”
“…Bishop gave me a bunch of fertility drugs and…”
A flinch…
“I got pregnant three times…”
“What happened to…?” Artemis asked warily, not sure she wanted to know…
“They were all cut out prematurely…”
Artemis could feel her friend’s pain vibrating through her…
“I’m so sorry, Kasai…”
“…It’s all in the past, right?”
“Right. We won’t let Bishop anywhere near you. Raph will rip him apart first.”
“…Thanks, Artemis…”
“Don’t mention it. It’s what I’m here for.”
“Still…I’m grateful…”
Mitsukai lifted her head, roaring dully and nudging her owner’s side.
“I know, baby…” Artemis soothed, patting the mighty head.
“You just stay there a bit longer, alright?”
“…What am I going to tell him?”
“…Well, you’ll have to find that out on your own…”
The gold-banded turtle yawned, stretching a bit before carefully sliding down.
“I’m heading off to bed…You coming?”
“Actually…I think I’ll wait up…until they get back…”
“Alright…Mitsukai will stay with you…”
Kasai nodded as Leo’s bedroom door closed…
The girls that had already…slept with their turtles shared bedrooms, but Chi was adamant not to do so anytime soon.
Kasai was beginning to doze, snuggling into the warm fur…
A warm hand shaking her shoulder made her jump awake out of unnerving habit, but the Firebender relaxed when she saw it was Raph…
“’Ey, darlin’…time fer bed…”
“Raphie…” She slurred sleepily, wrapping her arms around his neck as he lifted her up carefully.
“Yeah?”
“I need to tell you something…really important…” She murmured, nuzzling his neck.
“A’right…but it can wait till mornin’…”
“No…it can’t…” She insisted tiredly as the dark-skinned turtle nudged his door open with his foot.
“Make it quick, darlin’. Ya need ta sleep.”
“Raphie, I…I’m pregnant…”
He paused in putting her down on the hammock, looking at her wide eyes as if trying to find the truth…
“Really?”
She nodded, smiling sleepily…
A grin spread over his face, and he gave her a deep kiss…
“You’re okay with it?” She murmured, nuzzling his cheek.
“’A course I am…I guess…I ‘lways wanted a kid…”
She almost purred, pulling him down into the hammock.
He held her close, a hand over her still-flat stomach…
“Thanks, Raphie…” She murmured, falling asleep…
“Nah…Thank ya…”
She’d already given him the greatest gifts he could hope to receive…
At least, most of her brothers were…
The three human girls had stayed at home, wanting a day off from intense training.
The only reason the gold-banded turtle had come along was because she was worried for her brothers.
Mitsukai had hardly let the turtle leave, since her steadily-growing stomach was un-centering her balance a bit now that it had been a couple more weeks.
She watched Mikey reading a newspaper, wondering when they would notice he wasn’t participating…
“Michelangelo!”
‘Leo noticed…’
“MICHELANGELO!”
Paper ripped, and the orange-banded turtle found himself holding two halves of a newspaper.
“HEY…I was reading that!”
“You’re supposed to be training!”
“Uh…I was doing mental exercises. Ya know, reading. Little symbols on paper. They make words. Words form sentences.”
“Mikey, didn’t you learn ANYTHING from your Battle Nexus rematch? We have to be ready! All the time!”
“Ah…Young Leonardo…Remember what Master Splinter says…”
Artemis rolled her eyes, looking up at the stars…
“Worry leads to fear, fear leads to anger, anger leads to worry…wait, hold on…”
Her eye twitched…
“Mikey, let me help you out…First off, it’s ‘worry leads to fear, fear leads to anger, anger leads to hate, and hate leads to suffering’…And second…THAT WAS YODA FROM STAR WARS!!!!!!”
“…How do you know?” Don wondered.
“…He was cute and old and…Did you SEE him in the new movies? He jumped around like a frickin’ FROG! He’s COOL!”
She tensed, head snapping up…
“MOVE!”
Managing to jump away, she missed the shattered debris as two strange forms crashed into the pigeon coop.
Two figures zoomed out of the debris, looking like winged men, one with metal black wings and the other with feathery white ones.
“SO…who do we help?” Don wondered.
“Well, THAT guy sure doesn’t seem friendly…” Mikey noted, referring to the black-winged man.
One of the men was thrown into a water tower, which began to crack and leak from the force of the collision.
“OH…That’s going to hurt tomorrow…”
“Maybe we should take ‘em both out.”
Artemis looked at both of the eldest brother’s in mild confusion…
“Since when do YOU TWO agree on anything?”
The white-winged man was rammed into a brick wall, and the crimson-eyed turtle felt her shell prickle familiarly.
“Wait a minute! It can’t be!” Mikey exclaimed, eyes snapping back to his ripped newspaper.
“I don’t believe it!”
“What?” Don wondered.
“That guy with the wings! He’s the Guardian Angel!”
“That’s nice…WHICH ONE?”
“White wings.”
“Who’s the what?” Don asked, confused.
“You really should read a paper once in a while. The Guardian Angel is all the rage! He’s the new superhero in town!”
“GREAT…we needed another one of those…”
The black-winged man landed on the roof, and she unfurled her own wings, the feathers bristling into steel…
“ARTEMIS-!”
Too late…
She had already rammed him with her wings, knocking him through the air, when he lashed out at her own.
He went down into the alley with a few dinged metal feathers…
“THAT was your own damn fault! JERK!”
Landing on the edge, Artemis almost swayed as the others ran up to check on her…
A black wing cut through the concrete under her feet, and red eyes widened when she saw Mikey start tumbling through the air…
“MIKEY!!!!”
Swooping down, she grabbed his wrists, pulling up as hard as she could to stop his descent.
“You need to cut down on the pizza!”
Strange black projectiles came at them from behind…
‘SHELL!’
Wrapping her large wings around him, she felt the black metal bounce off as they headed for the ground at an alarming rate…
Someone grabbed her around the middle, and air stopped rushing past them…
“Whoa…thanks…” She managed.
The strange black metal flew at them once more, injuring their rescuer’s wings, but the three fell safely on a large pile of trash.
Mikey managed to free himself, making sure his sister and the ‘Guardian Angel’ were alright.
“You guys okay?”
“Yes…I think so…”
“I’ll live…”
The crimson-eyed turtle sat up, shaking her head as her wings flexed…
“That wasn’t fun…” She joked.
Mikey grinned a bit, offering a hand to help her up.
“Sure wasn’t!”
Something caught her eye…
“DOWN!”
She managed to shove her youngest brother back, barely avoiding the gravity-enhanced slam from their black-winged opponent.
“Stay out of this, turtle freak!”
“Then don’t try to throw my little brother off a roof!” She countered, unable to stand easily because of the baby inside her.
He just turned away from her, grabbing the headband off the other winged man’s head, and seemed ready to strike a killing blow…
Two turtles knocked him away before anymore damage could be done, and Artemis managed to get to her feet.
Seeing he was outnumbered, the black-winged man took off into the air.
The gold-banded turtle only flexed her wings before folding them against her shell.
“Artemis, are you okay?” Leo fussed, feeling her rounding belly and checking her over for injuries.
“I’m alright…”
“What do we do wit’ this guy?” Raph wondered, drawing everyone’s attention to the still-downed ‘Guardian Angel’.
Before anyone could suggest what to do, he fell unconscious…
Unconscious, because, OBVIOUSLY, men can’t FAINT…
“I think we should take him back to the lair.” Don reasoned.
“We can’t just leave him here.” Artemis agreed.
The four brothers managed to heft him, and carried him back to the lair.
The crimson-eyed turtle would have helped, but Leo didn’t want her to strain herself…
They got back, Mikey complaining all the way, and all three human girls looked up at them in confusion.
“Whene’er ya guys go topside, ya ‘lways fin’ somethin’, don’t ya?”
“Yep…”
Artemis was settled on the couch after the ‘Guardian Angel’ was put in the med bay.
Mizu healed his wing rather well, and everyone waited for him to wake up…
Artemis just waited by sleeping…
She was woken up when the story had been told and the mission set, and asked indignantly why she hadn’t been told.
Leo had replied that she wasn’t going to be going along…
“…So the turtle with the angel wings, wielder of all four elements, and defender of their SHELLS, is not ALLOWED to go with you?”
“Yes.”
“…I don’t think you got my POINT…”
“No, I did. But you were almost killed today. Let’s leave that for a time LONG in the future, alright?”
“…I’m still not happy about it.” She reminded stubbornly, sitting down on her Sky Bison.
She was put in her room with the girls as ‘company’ as Don wandered off to work on something, and all were advised not to come out until Master Splinter said so.
Chi put on her MP3, Mizu pulled up a medical book on giving birth, and Kasai played with a videogame Mikey had lent her.
Artemis spent her time moping…
It took a few hours, and some escape attempts, before they were allowed out.
The boys had already left, and the girls were left to their own devices…
Chi went off into the kitchen to get something to eat, Mizu went into Don’s lab to study, and Kasai wandered off.
Artemis cuddled with her curled-up Mitsukai, watching TV and grumbling irritably.
Sometimes, she felt like this baby was messing with their lives too much…
They led dangerous lives, even if they didn’t want to, and she felt her instincts screaming at her to protect her brothers…
Hugging her stomach, she rubbed it lovingly as ‘House’ came on…
“Oh, House…how sarcastic can you get?”
“A-Artie?”
She blinked, looking down at the gold/red-haired Firebender.
“Is something wrong?”
“N-Not exactly…”
“…Kasai, you’re shaking…”
And indeed she was, though the gold-banded turtle couldn’t tell if it was out of fear or excitement…
“I-I just…”
She looked up at the she-turtle with wide gold eyes…
“I-I’m pregnant, Artie…”
Crimson eyes widened…
“Are you sure?”
The Firebender nodded, shaking almost violently now…
“…Come on up here…”
Kasai hesitated…
“It’s alright…”
Finally, the girl climbed up the shaggy fur, nestling into the fur.
Artemis put an arm around the girl’s shoulders in a comforting hug, trying to soothe her.
The gold-eyed girl relaxed, hugging back gently…
“It’ll be okay, Kasai…”
“Are you sure?”
“Positive.”
“…It’s just…I didn’t think I could have a baby anymore…”
“Why? What happened?”
“Just…something from my past…”
“Kasai, I’m your sister, remember?”
“…Bishop gave me a bunch of fertility drugs and…”
A flinch…
“I got pregnant three times…”
“What happened to…?” Artemis asked warily, not sure she wanted to know…
“They were all cut out prematurely…”
Artemis could feel her friend’s pain vibrating through her…
“I’m so sorry, Kasai…”
“…It’s all in the past, right?”
“Right. We won’t let Bishop anywhere near you. Raph will rip him apart first.”
“…Thanks, Artemis…”
“Don’t mention it. It’s what I’m here for.”
“Still…I’m grateful…”
Mitsukai lifted her head, roaring dully and nudging her owner’s side.
“I know, baby…” Artemis soothed, patting the mighty head.
“You just stay there a bit longer, alright?”
“…What am I going to tell him?”
“…Well, you’ll have to find that out on your own…”
The gold-banded turtle yawned, stretching a bit before carefully sliding down.
“I’m heading off to bed…You coming?”
“Actually…I think I’ll wait up…until they get back…”
“Alright…Mitsukai will stay with you…”
Kasai nodded as Leo’s bedroom door closed…
The girls that had already…slept with their turtles shared bedrooms, but Chi was adamant not to do so anytime soon.
Kasai was beginning to doze, snuggling into the warm fur…
A warm hand shaking her shoulder made her jump awake out of unnerving habit, but the Firebender relaxed when she saw it was Raph…
“’Ey, darlin’…time fer bed…”
“Raphie…” She slurred sleepily, wrapping her arms around his neck as he lifted her up carefully.
“Yeah?”
“I need to tell you something…really important…” She murmured, nuzzling his neck.
“A’right…but it can wait till mornin’…”
“No…it can’t…” She insisted tiredly as the dark-skinned turtle nudged his door open with his foot.
“Make it quick, darlin’. Ya need ta sleep.”
“Raphie, I…I’m pregnant…”
He paused in putting her down on the hammock, looking at her wide eyes as if trying to find the truth…
“Really?”
She nodded, smiling sleepily…
A grin spread over his face, and he gave her a deep kiss…
“You’re okay with it?” She murmured, nuzzling his cheek.
“’A course I am…I guess…I ‘lways wanted a kid…”
She almost purred, pulling him down into the hammock.
He held her close, a hand over her still-flat stomach…
“Thanks, Raphie…” She murmured, falling asleep…
“Nah…Thank ya…”
She’d already given him the greatest gifts he could hope to receive…