EPILOGUE

Oroku Saki left his Soldiers inside his private helicopter as he leapt to the grass. Running past the whir of the spinning blades, Saki made his way across the clearing to the small wooden house he had fled a week ago.

Saki stepped onto the porch, took a moment to straighten his shirt and tie, then knocked on the door.

After some time, Heitchi opened it. A look of total hatred permeated his face. "Damn you, Saki!"

"I want to see Miyoko, Brother."

"Do you not know what you have done, fool?!" Heitchi began sobbing. From the redness of his eyes, Saki could tell he had been crying for some time. "Dare you show your face here again?"

"What has happened?"

"Pig! Just a few minutes after you ran away…Mother suffered a heart attack. The doctors could do nothing."

"No…" Saki stepped back, aghast at his brother’s words. He felt his eyes watering. "I…I only wanted to…I…"

"You ran away from her for the second time! Do you not know what ordeals I went through to avoid what you so blindly, so arrogantly embraced?" Heitchi poked at the black business suit Saki now wore. "You have become the Shredder again, have you not?"

Saki nodded gravely. "My memory is repaired." He stopped, then looked down so he would no longer have to look into his brother’s eyes. "But…I…I did not wish any harm upon anyone. I loved her, Heitchi. She was my mother."

"The Shredder is not a man of family!" Heitchi snarled. "Your only family is that damned Foot Clan of yours! Go now! Go back to your thievery and assassinations and God knows whatever else it is you and your flunkies are doing in America! There is nothing for you here!"

A teardrop ran down Saki’s cheeks and fell from his chin. "Farewell, Brother."

"Go back to hell, Shredder!" Heitchi slammed the door in Saki’s face.

In grief, in shame, Saki lowered his head. His brother had been right about him. They all had. He at last understood what he had become.

Solemnly, Saki walked back to the helicopter that patiently awaited his return.

The Foot pilot in the cockpit gave him a wary glance. "That was quick, sir. Everything go all right?"

His gaze drifted out the windows, past the village and at the distant mountainside of Fuji-san. "Just take me back. Back to New York."

The man frowned, then shrugged. "Yes, sir."

He had been resurrected, perhaps, but vengeance and retribution still awaited him in America. He would embrace it someday, but even the needs of the Shredder would have to allow for the soul of Oroku Saki.

END

This story was a short story I submitted to Erik Larsen (and later, Gary Carlson), the editor of the new TMNT comic series in the hopes of having it turned into a special or mini-series that would appropriately resurrect Shredder. If my bid was successful, you’ll have just read the revised first draft of that forthcoming Image Comics project. But don’t hold your breath.

"Oroku Saki is dead, and he’s going to stay dead."
- Gary Carlson, TMNT Vol. 3, #13 lettercol

On the other hand...

"As of this issue, everybody is still alive (except Oroku Saki—he’s still dead! Or is he? Hmmmm?)"
- Gary Carlson, TMNT Vol. 3, #15 lettercol

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