Chapter 5: The Battle Begins.
-
Gabby stared at the phone hanging on the wall for the longest time. Every time she was about to pick it up and dial the numbers she faltered for some reason. Come on, this is what she wanted. She knew who she was partially thanks to Hun, or is that Hunter now? He had filled in eight years of her life. It was hard to think of him as his chosen name or by sir, and considering how they feel about each other she now just saw him as her client.
She grabbed the phone and just held her arm in that position. Thanks to Bishop she was able to find where here parents were with his resources. They were still in Iowa and Bishop was able to provide her with the number she needed. It was just trying to muster up the courage to actually dial it. She had no idea what to say. All this time of wanting to say something and there was nothing to say.
“There is something wrong?” the gruff elderly voice belonged to the turtles adopted father.
“I can’t go on,” Gabby said weakly. “I want to. I want to call but I just can’t.”
“You are trying to call your parents?” Splinter asked.
“Trying and failing,” Gabby said. “I don’t know what to say to them, or how they would react.” She had no idea if they thought she had been dead this time or just missing, or if they felt she was being an ungrateful brat who was purposely ignoring them. She had no idea how their relationship was before she left for New York.
“You have no idea how they would react until you speak to them,” Splinter said. “As for what to say tell them that you love them and miss them.”
“I do miss them and while my memories are unclear I do love them.” She had felt that way ever since she got actual pictures of her family and knew their first names.
“If any of my son’s went missing for a year and then contacted me I would be ecstatic just to hear his voice.” Splinter placed a hand on her arm.
“I know but-“
“No more buts,” he cut her off. “There is also time. The blackouts are coming closer.” He was right. The first blackout had lasted for hours, but Lucy and her team caused another one that spread out even further. If this keeps up then there would be no way for Gabby to contact her family.
“I’ll do it,” Gabby said and stared at the phone. “It’s now or never.” She pulled the receiver and placed it next to her ear and dialed.
The phone rang for three times at the other end. Gabby wondered if anyone was home and if they were could they be in the front or back yard, or in the middle of doing something where they couldn’t hear the phone.
“Hello?” A woman’s voice on the other end greeted. She sounded matronly. She had to be Gabby’s mother.
“Hello, may I speak with Mrs. Talbot Mr. Talbot?” Gabby asked.
“This is Mrs. Talbot and if you are trying to sell something neither myself or my husband or interested.”
“Mom? It’s me, Madeline.” Gabby managed to get out. She waited for a reacting from her mother on the other end. All she received was silence. After a minute she spoke again. “Hello?”
“Can’t be,” her mother said. “It just can’t be.”
“It is,” Gabby said. “We used to live in the apartment on Houston Street at the 368 address in 2D right across from the Mason family. They had a son named Hunter who was about three years older than me.”
Her mother had started to sob. “Go on.”
Gabby told her everything that Hun had relayed to her. She mentioned how her father taught her how to bake, how grandma taught her how to play baseball. She wanted to learn some type of martial arts when she was twelve but wanted something different and unique and her parents signed her up for the French fighting style of Savate.
“I wish your father wasn’t at the store right now,” her mother said. “I’ve been trying to reach him on his cell while we were talking but of course he has it turned off.”
“I need you to do something for me,” Gabby said. Was she going to continue to think of herself as Gabby or as Madeline now? “Tell me everything else.”
“Honey?”
“The reason why I had been gone so long. I was attacked over a year ago at a gym. Someone hit me hard on the side of the head.” She decided not to give her mother the name of the hit man. Those details were not important right now. “After he hit me he shoved me the pool. I nearly drowned. It was because of a lifeguard and two security guards I survived. I lived, but my old life was erased. Mom, I have amnesia. Clues and puzzle pieces have been given to me and I’m putting them back together.”
“No.”
“Mom, I’m sorry.”
“It’s not your fault. I’m just glad you’re alive.”
“Those eight years that I relayed to you. Hunter told me.”
“Hunter Mason? How is he? He was always kind to you and us. He helped us move. I hope he got out of that gang.”
“He used to be a body guard for one of New York’s elite,” Gabby said as she tried to put a positive spin on her client. Her parents like the old Hunter back in the day. She wasn’t sure if the would accept the fact that he was in a gang, not to mention mutated into a half human half turtle creature. “He runs his own business now.”
“That’s good,” her mother said. “Sounds like it is starting to rain over here. You used to be so afraid of thunder when you were real little. I would hold you and sing to you during storms.” She filled in more of the gaps relaying to Gabby about her best subjects at school, her favorite television shows, the names of her friends including past boyfriends. She went to the university of Louisville in Kentucky where she majored in business and had dual minors in literature and psychology. Her original dream was to own a bakery. After graduation she got a good job in Louisville and lived there until that fateful trip to New York. Her mother had neglected to mention any names of possible boyfriends or husbands.
“Am I married?” Gabby asked.
“No, and you were not seeing anyone either if that was the follow up question.”
“It was.” She paused to exhale an lower her shoulders. She was still single. If Hun wanted to they could start a relationship once she was no longer his Protector.
“I hate to tell you this,” her mother said. “Your old boss was murdered.”
“Murdered?” Gabby nearly dropped the phone.
“Jeremy was found dead with a gunshot wound in his forehead. Two of your coworkers were attacked. Darlene is dead but Hector lived. He has a scar on the side of his face and has to use a cane to get around but he lived.”
“Why?” Gabby asked. “Why would someone attack them?” Why did someone try and attack her?
“There was some embezzling going on in your company. You, your two coworkers caught it and thought it was a mistake. You brought it to your boss and he brought it to the senior CEO partners. Two men named David Armitage and Jacob Wilson. Wilson was the one who was embezzling under his partner’s nose. While you and your co-workers thought it was a mistake, Jeremy and Armitage thought differently. You called me just before you left to speak with your company’s office in New York.” Her mother paused to sniffle. “Oh God, I shouldn’t be telling you this.”
“It’s fine. It’s helping me remember and answering some questions.”
“What have you been doing in New York? Where you working for your friend?”
“No,” Gabby said. He was a client of hers, but she was not exactly working for him. “I am helping people in a way.” She filled in on her mother about what kind of work she has been doing and was talking about the last girl she assisted when the power went out.
There were a few yells in the background, mostly from some of the Purple Dragons and the turtles and frogs from what Hun had called the goofy dimension.
“Looks like I ran up Bishop’s phone bill,” Gabby joked as she hung up.
“The outages have spread here,” Splinter said as he turned on a flashlight. “We knew this would happen.”
“That means it’s going to happen soon,” Gabby said. Everyone was prepared for battle and Charlotte was in a constant state of prayer and meditation. Bishop wants to know when the attack will begin. Sending out his troops to early would risk to many questions.
A figure nearly crashed into them and yelped. Splinter’s beam found the figure. It was one of the turtles from the goofy dimension and this turtle had a belt buckle with the letter M on it.
“Hi Mike,” Gabby greeted him as she pulled out her own flashlight. It was hard to address the turtles properly with four different versions. The females were easy, but they had to find ways for the others. Goofy world Donatello was called Don, this world was Donny and the prime world was Donatello. The goofy world was called Mike. They couldn’t call him Michael since that was the call name of one of the other Protectors, of course they had their own Raphael but everyone just called him human Raph.
“Hey uh Protector with the ring,” Mike said. Gabby was given the ring of Chastity to wear during battle. They thought she was most fitting since due to her amnesia was still a virgin in her mind.
“Did you forget your flashlight?” Gabby asked.
“Of course not, dudette,” Mike said as he pat down his belt and frowned. “Bummer.”
“You can walk with us,” Splinter said. “I am certain both Bishop and Charlotte will want to see us right now.”
-
“It’s almost time and I don’t know what to wear,” Lucy said as she searched through her closet for the right dress. “Jay, sweetie, I need your help.”
“By your side as always,” Jay said. He had found the bell. It was no bigger than a dinner bell and covered in black enamel and trimmed in gold.
“I need to find the right dress. I want to look my best when I become the Dark Mistress.” She pulled out her favorite LBD. “Oh no, black is too cliché.”
“What about red?” Jay suggested.
“I always wear red when I do something important,” Lucy said as she grabbed a dress by random. “I want something different.” She stared down at the powder blue gown that she grabbed. No that would not do at all. She couldn’t wear green because that color was too triggering for her warrior.
“What about that vermilion gown with copper colored lace?” Jay suggested.
“Oh Jay that sounds perfect,” Lucy said as she searched for the gown in question. “What would I do without you?” She found the dress. It had a plunging neckline and ended at her calves, from hips down it was covered in a copper colored lace mesh. The bell shaped sleeves were also trimmed in the lace.
“I’m sure you would have been able to manage,” Jay said. He was wearing a blue and gray three piece suit with a sleeveless top of chain mail over his shirt and under the jacket.
“I doubt it,” Lucy said as she removed her regular clothes and slipped into the gown. While Jay zipped her up in back she slid her feet into matching pair of peep toe pumps with a thick one-inch heel. “Still got to do my hair, make up and jewelry, but first I need to check on my Pooky.”
Her warrior was dressed in an off white undershirt, long shorts that were made out of a light and thin material and a long pair of socks. He was going to need it to prevent chaffing from the armor that was before him. It was made out of a metal like substance and resembled the armor of a samurai warrior, except it had sharp blades on the shoulder and knee pads and even more attached to the gloves giving the appearance of claws.
“Do you like your new shiny?” Lucy asked as she slipped up behind him. “I have tried to match it as close to the description you gave me as possible.”
“It is quite remarkable,” Ch’rell said as he admired the suit. “I hope to find it quite lethal.”
“Oh you will,” Lucy purred. “The helmet has a special feature where you can alter and adjust the sound of your voice. I hope you find one that is close to your old voice.” She placed a hand on his shoulder.
“I will give it a try.” He gave her an admiring look. “You have been quite beneficial.”
“I can benefit you in more ways than you can imagine,” Lucy breathed. “As a human there are many ways that you can indulge in and find pleasure.” She made her fingers on her other hand tiptoe up his thigh. “And I want to help find you find that pleasure.”
His eyes widened. He tried to speak but his words came out in choked gasps.
Lucy smiled when she saw a certain hardening and planted a kiss firmly on his lips. “Enjoy that for now. The best is to come much later.” She pulled away from him and headed to the bathroom, passing by Jay.
“What was that about?” Jay asked.
“Just giving him a sample of dessert,” Lucy said before she stepped inside and closed the door.
-
“Dragons follow,” Hun gave the command to his Purple Dragons. They were all divided into several groups. There were Bishop’s Earth Protection forces, Karai’s ninjas and mutants, the Protectors and the turtles and their friends. He knew he was part of both the Purple Dragons and the twenty turtles in the prophecy.
“I wonder if we get to keep these,” Two Ton said as he continued to admire the new high tech gun he received from Bishop’s crew.
“I doubt it,” Hun said. Bishop was not the type to just hand out such weaponry as gifts. He viewed it as loaning them out for a higher cause. “Doesn’t mean we can’t try and take them later.”
“That’s our boss,” Raz said. She was proud to be walking with the Dragons but the look on her face whenever she looked at the turtles was that she would rather be walking besides Mikey. Hun didn’t blame her. He wished he were walking alongside Gabby, correction Madeline.
He still couldn’t believe that he wasn’t able to recognize his old neighbor and friend. A part of him wished they had kept in touch better. He might have gone with her to the gym and she would not have been attacked and her memories would have still been intact. Then that would have meant someone else would have been his bodyguard.
“You like her a lot,” the voice belonged to Hun, except Hun didn’t say it himself and for a few seconds he thought it was his conscience. It took him another second re realize it was coming from his left. It was that silver skinned clone of his.
“How is this your business?” Hun asked. He thought he had made it clear that he wanted nothing to do with his clone.
“I’m just noticing,” the clone said. Gabby had told him his name was Mace. “You knew her when she was a kid.”
“When we both were kids,” Hun said and had to do a double take. “Where did you hear about this?”
“She told me,” Mace said and smiled. Did He look like that when he grinned? It was almost frightening.
“If she wants to share that’s fine, but I’m not sharing.”
Mace shrugged. “I guess I’m just relieved to see that you do have a good side.”
“This is about us sharing DNA?” Hun asked. “Don’t come to me thinking we would have a relationship because you are my copy.”
“Would you have any problems with me if we both were human?”
“Didn’t you hear him?” Two Ton asked. “Quit messing with the boss.”
“Fine,” Mace said and ran up to where the rest of the turtles were.
“Halt,” Bishop said from ahead. “This door we are about to go through will lead into a subway tunnel that will eventually bring us into city.” He turned to the direction of Charlotte. “Are you certain she is starting?”
“Yes,” Charlotte said. “She is about to read from the book.”
“Then proceed,” Bishop said as he dialed a number on one of the Turtles’ phones.
“I wonder who he is calling,” Raz said.
“I’m pretty sure we will find out,” Hun said as he cracked his knuckles.
-
Tonight was the beginning of a new era. Lucy had donned her most expensive jewelry. Precious gems hung from her earlobes and the gold chain around her neck, and dotted the gold bands around her wrists. She thought of putting her hair up, but she would rather have it swirling around in the breeze.
She, Jay and Ch’rell had gathered on the top of the hotel and watched as the sun had set over the powerless city. Her servants had done a good job with the power outages even if the pesky city workers kept on insisting on turning back on. Now it will be off for good.
Lucy held up the Naturan Demento. The dark leather cover of the book as well as the pages were said to be made from human flesh. The hard accents of the corners were rumored to come from human bone and it was written in blood. Lucy wasn’t sure how true the rumors were. All she knew was the book had worked. It worked for Eddie before someone had to pull the plug on his dreams and send him to Hell.
“Everything is prepared, Mistress,” Vorst said. He held the bell in his hands. “All of your servants are on the sidewalk below.”
“Excellent,” she turned around to face her warrior. “How are you doing my dear?”
“Quite well,” Ch’rell said. He was now wearing the full armor of the suit and due to the modifications he asked for the helmet not only altered his voice but made it appear as if he had glowing red eyes. Oh and that voice. It was smooth and commanding. This was the perfect voice for such a warrior. When Lucy takes him to bed later he will keep that helmet on.
“Once the bell has rung I want you to make your way down to command my troops,” Lucy said. “Our troops. Feel free to slice anyone up on the way down that will try to stop you.”
“I will take great pleasure in that, my lady,” Ch’rell said.
“Now for this,” Lucy opened the book to the right page and read out loud. *“Fires beneath me burn, fire beneath all burn and consume. Darkness surrounds us. I command you gateways to the underworld open. Release your armies, release your undead legions. The army of the damned is mine to command.”
She paused to stare at her ring. The red jewel was throbbing. *“Allow darkness to slither across your land, may the dead rise, may the abyss open it’s mouth. Allow me to take control as the Dark Mistress. Allow my voice to ring out.” She grabbed the bell from Jay and rung it.
The sound of the bell echoed through out the city. In the horizons in front of where Lucy was standing she saw red geysers shoot straight up into the sky. She wasn’t sure if it was fire or blood. One the streets below the pavement cracked. Glowing red seeped through and various creatures slithered and crawled out. Skeletal beings with scraps of flesh hanging from their frames climbed out, each one was carrying a weapon.
Lucy smiled. “This is for you, Eddie.”
-
The subway stations were half deserted when the allied forces have arrived. Leo wished he could provide some comfort to the people who were trying to hide in the stalled trains, but he knew he had to move on. There was no way if his appearance would have frightened them even more and he knew the best comfort to them would be destroying the demonic armies.
“Ready,” Bishop commanded as the front of the line reached the bottom of the stairs. “Now.”
Everyone ran up the stairs and onto the city streets. Everywhere was chaos. People were trying to leave in cars and on foot. All were trying to avoid the glowing holes in the asphalt and the hideous monsters that were climbing out.
Both Bishop’s forces and the Purple Dragons opened fire on the monsters with their high tech guns. The Justice Force sprang into action. Those that could fly were in the air and taking down several winged monsters. The Foot ninja and mutants had also sprung into action and were fighting the undead.
Undead soldiers were running towards the Turtles faction. Leo was ready. He unsheathed his katanas and sliced them down, only for one of the blades to come into contact with Charlotte. Leo slowed down and eased the force but he still cut into her hand, to the bone.
“What are you doing?” Prime Leonardo asked. One of his Katanas met with Charlotte’s other hand.
“Leo, you need to use the sword of the ancient hero,” Charlotte said. “The rest of your weapons need to be touched by my blood.”
“Why do you want to injure yourself and bleed on our weapons?” Prime Michelangelo asked. His voice actually had a bit of concern to it.
“To make them more efficient against the demons,” Charlotte said.
“She’s half angel,” Leo said. He wasn’t sure if the others knew that fact or not.
“A real angel?” One of the frogs had asked. Leo believed it was Napoleon. “You mean from heaven and all?”
“As real as you can get,” Leo said as Leona and the fourth Leonardo or simply Lee held out their blades underneath Charlotte’s bleeding hands.
The others held out their weapons and as soon as a single drop of blood had touched it they would rush off into battle. Charlotte was able to anoint the weapons of the turtles, April, Karai and her male counterpart, Mona, Lotus, both Usagi’s, the frogs and even have a little bit left for some of the sports equipment for both Casey’s.
Leo waited until the last one was done before he could thank her.
“Don’t mention it,” Charlotte said and held up her hands. They were no longer bleeding but were still wounded. They almost looked like stigmata. “I heal fast. I’m going to join up with Bishop. I know where Lucy is.”
“Lead us to her,” Leo said.
Charlotte nodded and ran up to the government agent, blasting away at anything that came near her with the small hand held laser pistol she carried.
Leo spun around when he heard the fierce growls of a strange beast. He sheathed one of his katanas and removed the bronze sword instead. As soon as the monster, that resembled a cross between a wolf and a bull, came near him he sliced at it. The demon died instantly, turning into both a puddle of goo and a puff of smoke.
Up ahead he saw Mona, Genghis and Leatherhead fighting against a small group of those skeletal soldiers. He ran into the fray kicking and slicing away.
“Leonardo watch out,” Leatherhead said.
Leo was about to turn when he felt something grab a hold of his leg. It was a large orange creature with a huge mouth and the mouth is what had Leo by the leg. Leo cringed when felt the teeth of the beast force itself further into his flesh.
“Cowabunga!” Mike jumped down with his nunchucks swinging and struck the monster in between its eyes.
The creature hissed as it released Leo from its mouth. “How dare you. You made me lose my lunch.”
“Looks like someone bit of more than they can chew,” Mike said.
Leo was ready to defend the shorter and chubbier turtle when his Mikey jumped onto the back of the beast.
“Someone needs to go on a diet,” Mikey said. “Ready, Raguel?”
“I’m ready,” one of the Protectors ran up with the Goblet of Temperance.
“Have a wafer thin mint,” Mikey said as he pried the mouth open.
Raguel spilled the contents of the goblet into the creature’s mouth. Almost instantly the beast began to thrash around and dissolved into smoke.
“Now they are in a solid form,” Leo frowned. That was the same thing that had possessed his youngest brother recently.
“That one isn’t,” Mike said.
“Nope,” Mikey said. “Pay back’s a bitch.”
“It is indeed,” Leo said and turned to where the skeletal creatures were and found out they were gone and the allies that were fighting him had run up ahead. “No use just standing around when there are demons to fight.”
-
“Keep going,” Hun ordered his Purple Dragons as they continued in their path through the city. He had repeatedly fired his gun at the various monsters that were running around. Some of them looked like they were the combination of two or more different kinds of animals. Some of them looked like they would have come from one of the paintings by that guy that made the aliens in the Alien movies, some looked like the came from the surreal like paintings of that Renaissance artist. What was his name, Hi Anonymous Boss? Some were just nasty. There was one creature that looked like a stomach covered in black and bleeding ulcers walking around on four legs.
“Boss they are coming from the sky,” one of the Dragons shouted. Indeed there were several monsters flying around that had decided to swoop down on them.
“Don’t just stand there and cry about it,” Hun said. He looked up and aimed the gun at some of the flying monsters. He pulled the trigger and brought down each one he aimed for.
“Good shot,” Raz said as she took down another monster. She did not see the freaky bluish black creature with the two mouths that was behind her, nor did she see the Protector as he swung down with his cane and smacked the monster against the side of his face.
“Watch yourself,” Hun cautioned as Raz stared in disbelief at what had just happened. “Now keep on moving.”
Everyone was fighting to their very best, even the scientists, Stockman and Chaplin were battling against the monsters. The Foot ninjas fought with grace, stealth and skill as always and Karai’s mutant army tore into the savage beasts like ,well savage beasts. Nothing like fighting fire with fire. The Tribunal acolytes used their spirit animals to distract the enemies before they attacked.
Two blurs of white fur zipped past Hun. The two rabbits skipped, ran and leapt about with their swords swinging, leaving behind a trail of dead and dying demons behind them.
Those frogs and the goofier turtles used unconventional ways to battle against the demons. They even resorted to child like taunting to get the monster to charge them, and end up bashing their heads into things like mail boxes and abandoned cars before they did them in with their weapons. They were also throwing around exploding ninja stars. Well, whatever works.
The others from their dimension also had different skills. The salamander chick was able to leap great heights and distances and could really kick.
The woman named Lotus was a skilled warrior in Ninjitsu. She did not appear to be fighting rather than dancing and Hun may have been imagining it, but when things got quiet both Lotus and Lee appeared to smile at each other. It was the same smile that Raphael with the imaginary friend shared with Mona, the same smile Mike shared with that one alien chick and heck even the same smile Mikey and Raz shared.
The alien kids, the Neutrino’s had admitted they were against fighting and war and would rather have a good time and have fun but even they understood that sometimes you just had to fight. They also carried weapons in their vehicles since according to them it was required by law to carry them and know how to use them, and know them they did. They had barely missed any of the monsters they fired at.
That worlds Casey did not need anyone to question his fighting abilities. This guy was brutal to the point where he actually scared Hun. That Casey not only killed the demons but beat them to a pulp before he moved on. He was clearly enjoying this way too much.
The turtles from the Prime dimension fought with the same strength and grace as the two rabbits. They may have been the smallest but Hun knew from playing Superquest that size didn’t matter when it came to fighting. It was how well you fought and probably was the reason why the turtles he was used to were able to take him down all the time.
The turtles that he was used to were at top-notch performance, so were their female counterparts. Hun’s clone, Mace was also able to hold is own against the demons. Seeing all the terrapin warriors in action made Hun feel proud to be the same species as them for a split second.
“Hold her down,” One of the Protectors said. He was introduced as Raphael, making things even more confusing when dealing with three turtles that also shared the same name but it was obvious this guy was named after the angel instead of the artist.
The mutant turtle that worked for Karai along with two government agents were holding down a woman with green skin, green hair and a green dress.
“You can’t make me look,” the green woman said.
“Oh yes we can,” the human Raphael said. “Don’t you wish you had a coat like mine? It’s nice and leather and it makes me look really cool.”
“I bet she wishes she was stronger like me,” the Foot mutant said. “A coat can’t keep her protected.”
“Not fair,” the green woman said. “I want a coat and I want armor.”
“We can get it for you,” Raphael said. “I don’t know if you want one exactly like mine, or in a different color.”
“Let me see,” the woman opened her eyes. Raphael shined the Mirror of Satisfaction in front of her. “No fair.” The woman shrieked as she dissolved into smoke.
“Gluttony and Envy were taken down,” the Prime Leonardo said as he ran past. “There were still five more of the deadly sins left to defeat.”
“Now who the hell is he talking to?” Hun asked as he grabbed a spiky monster by its long tail. He lifted the beast up and twirled the tail around, using the body to knock out several more of the monsters.
“The big turtle was resourceful,” the prime world leader said. “He was able to use one of the monsters as a weapon to take out the rest.”
“That’s it, I’m taking another path,” Hun said. It was bad enough that one turtle kept making random comments to nobody, now there was a turtle that narrates the action.
There was a monster that looked like a large lump of rock with thick square shaped legs, two heads and hammer like fists. The beast was attacking both Gabby and another one of the frogs. Both Gabby and amphibian were holding their own against the monster but they were going to need some help.
Hun ran towards the rock creature while dragging the same monster he had used as a flail with him. “Get away from them you large freak.”
The monster did not listen to him. Instead it swung both fists down towards Gabby and the frog. Both jumped out of the way but the fists came into contact with the building next to it. Cracks formed on the building and large chunks rained down.
“Get out of the way,” Gabby shouted as she shoved the frog aside.
Hun cried out as he ran towards his Protector. He threw the monster at the rock creature before he jumped and placed his body over Gabby’s as the rocks fell down.
-
To Be Continued