Golden Angel

Monster hunters…

They had to become MONSTER HUNTERS…

For Artemis, this officially SUCKED…

“Can you guys be more careful?”

Mizu froze one of the mutants to the bricks as it shrieked…

“We can’t kill them!”

“We KNOW!” Chi replied, brow furrowing as she maneuvered sand around the legs of another…

“You know what would make this easier?”

Artemis jumped over the savage jaws, barely escaping a harsh gash…

“Burning them to a crisp!”

“The pressure might cause them to explode!” Don protested.

“Alright, alright…”

A rope of water around the neck, and the sand crept along the abdomen…

“Sorry I mentioned it…”

“SOMEBODY GET THE TRANQ!” Mikey shouted, running around as one persistently chased after him.

The tranq, pulled from a bottle around the gold-banded turtle’s waist, froze into a spear in her hands…

“Mikey, DUCK!”

He wasn’t about to be fooled THIS time…

The orange-masked turtle hit the deck, and the ‘spear’ penetrated the mutants flesh before melting into its bloodstream.

The monster hit the ground, out cold, in record time…

“…Good aim…”

“What did you expect?” Artemis joked.

“I think that’s enough monster hunting for one day.” Leo stated, toting his tranq gun.

“Let’s head home.”

“We ‘ave ta pick up Kasai.” Raph reminded gruffly.

“Right…”

“But I don’t WANNA…” Mikey whined.

“Why don’t Raph and I go pick up Kasai and Angela?” Artemis suggested.

“You guys can go ahead of us.”

“You sure, love?”

“I’m positive.”

“Then lets go…”

Splitting off from the group, Artemis capped any open vials and sped up in order to keep pace with her brother.

They were almost at the apartment building when the crimson-eyed turtle distinctly heard something crash…

A sharp crying…

A baby’s crying…

“ANGEL!”

Both turtle’s sped forward, but were stopped by a closed window that refused to budge…

“SHIT!” She cursed loudly, looking inside as her heart pounded…

Baxter Stockman, or at least she suspected he was, though he looked like he was decomposing and pieced together, stood in the frame of a cracked doorway.

April was unconscious on the floor, Casey not far behind by the far wall, and Kasai seemed stuck under an over-turned coffee table.

Angela, shielded by her aunt’s body, was crying and shaking the Firebender’s arm in what seemed to be worry.

Stockman lifted April over his shoulder, but was surprised when a little green arm wrapped around his ankle…

‘Angel, NO!’

Seeming interested, the crazed scientist lifted the baby turtle by her leg as Raph began banging on the glass.

He was almost out the door when it shattered under Artemis’s fist…

Ignoring the shards embedded in her knuckles, she jumped through to save her friend and daughter, but Stockman was already gone…

Raph was helping up Kasai, whose large stomach made it hard for her to stand on her own, and Artemis tried rousing Casey.

“Damn it, Jones! WAKE UP!”

SMACK!

“I’m up-I’m up!”

With a slight glare, Artemis opened her Shell Cell, hitting a speed dial.

“…Hello?”

“Donnie! We’ve got a problem over at April’s! It’s Stockman! He’s got her and Angela!”

“WHAT?!”

“NOT MY FAULT! Just get over here NOW!”

“Hang tight! We’re on our way!”

“Come on, Raph.” Artemis called, helping Casey to his feet.

“They’re coming to pick us up. We’d better get downstairs.”

Nodding, the red-banded turtle lifted his mate into his arms and headed out the doorway, his sister following behind.

What looked like a redone…delivery truck…stopped at the curb.

“…Donnie?”

“Just get in…”

Casey had grabbed his gear on the way out, and he explained exactly what had happened while Don drove.

Artemis was starting to panic, thinking of all the things he could be doing to her baby, and could hardly calm down even under Leo’s soothing touches.

“We need to go to StockTronics.” Leo stated.

“The lab where Stockman and April first worked together.”

Don made it to the crumbling building in record time, and everyone jumped out in order to bolt inside.

Persistent crying echoed off the walls, and Artemis followed it unerringly to its source.

Stockman seemed ready to bash little Angela on the head from the looks of it, but he was deterred by a fiery-armed turtle-mother.

“Stay away from my baby!” She snarled, and the little turtle-baby seemed to squeal in joy at the sight of her mother.

“April, run!” Mizu ordered, bringing water up.

The red-head obeyed, running out the door Chi herself had managed to bust down before Artemis could wreck her shoulder on the metal.

“She can’t leave! I forbid it!”

“You know what? Screw you!” The crimson-eyed turtle replied, jumping back only to make sure her little girl was alright.

“You little bitch!”

Stockman was MUCH stronger than she remembered…

He kicked her side, making the she-turtle fly into a wall…

Shielding her baby from the force, Artemis winced as some debris rattled on her shell…

“Don’t use bad words around the baby…”

Air flew from her feet in a blade, and knocked Stockman into a wall.

Chi joined in, using columns of earth to knock the scientist around roughly in the air.

He managed to crush one of the pillars in a psychotic rage, knocking the Earthbender through a wall as Mizu tried to delay him further.

Unfortunately, ice isn’t as sturdy as earth, and the Waterbender had difficulty avoiding his blows and trying to wash him back.

Stockman was rather…INSISTANT on going after April, and everyone ended up hurt on the floor…

Artemis managed to lift herself up a bit, checking on her shaking little baby.

“Angel? Angel, are you okay?” She whispered softly, cradling the little body against her chest.

A little sniffling sound, no more tears, and the gold-masked turtle relaxed a bit.

“It’s alright, Angel…”

Chi pulled herself from the rubble of a wall, shaking the dust from her hair, and put a hand to her head.

“Yo, ain’t we gettin’ up? Stockman’s getting’ ‘way!”

The group managed to get onto their feet, and headed out of the building to an empty street.

“Where’s Kasai?”

“And the delivery truck?”

“ARTIE!”

“Where’d they go?” Casey wondered.

“Maybe we should split up…” Mikey suggested.

“Or better yet, search from the air.” Don replied, spotting a helicopter nearby.

The eight of them piled in, Artemis handing her baby over to her mate before spreading her wings.

“I’ll search ahead. Try to keep up.”

Letting the air pull her off as the helicopter started to lift off, she spiraled up into the air, scanning the night sky.

Spotting something swaying dangerously over the river, she flew towards it with a new burst of speed.

A gondola, swaying as Stockman ripped at its roof…

Wings bristling, feathers hardening to steel, Artemis bull-rushed the scientist from the side.

The spotlight hit them, flashing off her wings as the two wrestled, snarling and growling and fighting as dirty as they could manage.

Screw Ninjitsu!

She was going to kill him!

Raph, Mikey, and Casey slid down on a rope to join her, while Mizu and Chi went to check on April and Kasai inside.

Stockman, however, managed to break free of the jade-skinned turtle’s hold and grabbed Kasai through the destroyed roof.

The Firebender yelped in fright at the sudden free-fall, and barely missed Raph’s hand as he tried to catch hold of her.

“KASAI!!!”

Artemis would have jumped to help her, but Stockman caught her off-guard and knocked her inside.

Before he could grab April, a whip of water slashed him across the face and a slab of metal smacked into his chest.

The crimson-eyed turtle groaned, sitting up and rubbing her head…

“He’s going down…”

The three benders jumped out, and everyone had Stockman surrounded when the sound of flames caught their attention…

“Kasai?”

She was managing to use streams of fire to keep aloft, and landed awkwardly on the gondola.

“KASAI!”

Raph was knocked back in his moment of distraction, and Chi shielded April with a metal-armored slab as Stockman leapt for the red-head.

“We’ve got to get out of here!” Don shouted, and they started climbing up the rope to the helicopter.

Artemis grabbed hold of April and Kasai, starting to fly up with her load, when something grabbed her ‘belled’ tail.

With a yelp at the completely uncomfortable, UNWANTED pull, the gold-banded turtle was thrown into the machine holding the gondola over the water.

The two girls yelped in her arms, though shielded from the abrupt force, and Kasai hugged her large belly in worry.

“Now we can set things right…”

Artemis glared, stretching her sore wings and shaking her tail to rid herself of that strange, horrible feeling…

“Please, don’t do this, Dr. Stockman!” April pleaded.

“Can’t you remember when your work HELPED people? When it was about the SCIENCE? You were a brilliant man! The sky was the limit for you, Dr. Stockman!”

Stockman paused, as if those words had reached through the cloud of craziness and brought a new Stockman to life…

“Momma?”

‘OKAY…’

April still continued to talk as the young Avatar spread her feathery wings, Kasai clinging to her side as best she could as the turtle hovered…

Something seemed to be shaking under the tension, and the gondola threatened to fall into the river…

Before the winged turtle could pick up her friend, the pieced-together scientist actually handed her up.

Confusion crossed the she-turtle’s face, but she still flew a bit further away…

‘I think he’s finally realized how far he strayed…Maybe…’

Swooping up to the helicopter, Artemis tried to ignore the massive splash as it struck the water…

Landing inside, she released her friends and pulled her wings in, plopping down on her rear against a wall.

“Man…Do you think that’s the end of Stockman?” Mikey wondered, hugging his girl.

“We’ve seen him come back from worse…” Leo reasoned, handing Angela over to her mother so the baby turtle could calm down.

“Only time will tell…”

The jade-skinned mother-turtle smiled, cuddling her little angel…

‘Still…I hope he had a gentle trip to the Spirit World…Maybe his mother’s there…’