TMNT, et. al, are owned by Mirage Publishing and 4Kids TV. I am owned by Fate to take care of my mother and never have Turtle children of my own...

Detour: Shredder Again

Farewells are usually sad.

Farewells are something that most people hate to participate in, even if that farewell will result in a better life, or situation. or job, or whatever for the person who is leaving.

Sometimes farewells are as permanent as the grave, unless one believes in the afterlife; then the farewell is just a temporary thing, like someone going on ahead, and you know that someday you will follow them, catch up with them, and be reunited with them.

For Karai, farewell held the promise of never seeing the being she regarded as her father again.

This party was not only a celebration of the recovery of the City; it was also a farewell for that most munificent of men Oroku Saki.

He was leaving for "home"- Japan, everyone naturally assumed. Such a shame! Such a nice man, but on the other hand, it was good to know that whatever had prevented him from ever returning home had been rectified. He certainly seemed very happy.

And everyone could tell he was so very sorry to leave New York- his adopted home.

Such a sincere, caring man! Everyone wished the best for him, and though they fully regretted it, no one begrudged his having to go.

Except perhaps Karai.

And knowing what she knew of him, having been raised by him, having been privy to nearly all of his personal life and true identity- information even Hun had no inkling of- she knew that he was not sorry to leave this city, leave this planet, leave even her behind.

She knew. She understood. She had been raised to understand. She expected nothing.

Yet she grieved.

She had been abandoned, alone, starving- no one cared about her, and she cared for no one.

Her so-called parents could not handle their situation, their poverty, their hatred of having been forced to marry- and the only child of that union had been a girl- a useless girl.

Even her mother had been disappointed in not having a son, a son that would care for her, obey her, always be there for her in her old-age, as was the tradition.

As soon as her paternal grandparents were dead, both her father and mother were gone- no regrets, no remorse, no farewells.

Alone, dirty, hungry, surviving as best as she could- she needed no one!

And then, one day, out of the blue, during a rainstorm, when she could safely cry out loud in the abandoned place she had called home, where she could vent her tears and anger without anyone hearing due to the storm- he had suddenly opened the door.

He had looked at this dirty, defiant, crying girl, huddled and shocked at her discovery, trying to look as if there were nothing wrong, trying to look as if the world didn't matter-

He had looked at her, and for some reason even unknown to him, he had taken her in.

What was it that Oroku Saki, the Shredder, the Utrom Ch'rell, living in this human world, had seen in this hungry, angry human girl? What was it that had caused him to take her in, let her train with him, raise her as his own?

Surely a purely cold-hearted person- or Utrom- wouldn't have bothered.

What had he seen in this girl that he hadn't seen in others? The streets were full of hungry orphans. The planet was full of hungry orphans. Why Karai? Why her?

Even Saki couldn't say. Even now, after all these years, he couldn't say what it was that had made him look in that door, look at that human child- and feel- pity? Did he really feel this? Was he even capable of such emotions?

A cold-hearted person recognizes those that are useful to them, but not as children.

And Ch'rell, though he hated to admit it, had actually come to love his persona here on Earth, here in Japan- he had found "something" that not only fueled his revenge, but touched his spirit- if, indeed, he could be said to have one.

And there was something about this human that told him it would be purely to his advantage to take her in.

And in spite of his inhuman nature, he took great pride in her loyalty, her accomplishments, her ruthlessness.

If only he could get rid of her odd beliefs about honor.

She was raised to honor her master without question, and she had always done so unfailingly- until he had nearly been killed by those hated Turtles and their equally hated allies, his fellow Utroms.

She had come from Japan, where she was in charge of his operations there, to restore order to his New York empire- the senseless gang war and power struggle between his remnants of the Foot, his right hand man Hun and the Purple Dragon Gang, and the Mob had nearly caused the U.S. Government to consider moving in and taking care of the entire situation- but she had come from Japan, and had for some twisted reason dictated by Karma, made an alliance with the Turtles- and had settled the war.

She had given her word of honor to Leonardo- to the great warrior who had spurred his own advances of "cooperation".

She would be almost perfect if she weren't so human, he thought to himself.

But though he brooked no dissent, no disagreement from anyone- he found at times that he tolerated from her more than he would others.

Did he indeed have "fatherly" feelings for this human?

And so, as he stood there, while the guests were still enjoying the night's activities, he and Karai were inside, making final preparations. He was excited- he was finally leaving!

She was trying desperately to be what he wanted- cold hearted, unfeeling, and in charge.

And yet she couldn't help asking him, "..and what of me, Father?"

She didn't cry- she would never cry.

Shredder looked at her, and found himself actually praising her. He came as close to admitting his feelings for her as his ruthless nature allowed.

"My time on this planet has not been wasted," he had said. "I have forged an empire, and raised a daughter to rule it until my return."

She forced her weak emotional hint for love from her face, voice, and attitude, and once again became the dependable right arm of the Shredder, returning to the party to entertain the guests while he got the final preparations underway.

On the roof, Leo and Splinter were shocked to hear Don's report on his discovery.

"A space ship?" Leo had repeated, incredulous.

Splinter observed that Shredder had finally found a way to leave the planet.

"And that would be a bad thing?" Leo had asked, for the moment not fully seeing the big picture.

"The Utroms will be at risk if he can leave here and return home," Splinter had said, and Leo realized that this was what part of his father's vision had meant.

On another roof top, Bishop observed the departure of Saki and his daughter, the arrival of Leonardo and Splinter, and little else.

Something big is going down tonight, he thought. Something big that their "man" on the inside had failed to notify them of.

"I get the feeling someone is holding out on us," he mentioned to his second in command.

Don, Leatherhead, and the Professor (for some reason once again in Don's palm top) had managed to take over all security and lock down the place.

Casey and April, having done their jobs, were still blending in, waiting for whatever happened.

Raph, Mikey, Leo and Splinter had cornered Shredder in his library, and were pressing home their attack, making it their business to prevent him from leaving the planet.

And then Bishop stuck his greasy haired self into the mix.

"I don't know and I don't care what Saki is up to, blow this tunnel!"

And the guests above suddenly felt the earth shaking, heard the rumbling noise.

Karai was nothing if not prepared. A quick whisper to an attendant, a quick, humble speech to the Mayor and the guests, and the fireworks that they had planned to mask the sound of moving the rocket through the tunnel were set off, earlier than planned, but it couldn't be helped.

Bishop was positively drooling at the sight of the rocket.

"How was he able to do this?" he kept muttering, truly in awe at the sight- and the possibilities. But why did Saki require a rocket? Who the hell cared? It was going to be his! There was no way in hell he was going to let that two-bit Yakuza reject take this baby anywhere! This was the jackpot!

How he would get it back to his own base of operations didn't matter- he was going to have this!

As he was looking at his new prize, allowing himself to daydream of the possibilities, the shocked announcement from one of his subordinates broke through his fantasies-

"They've initiated launch sequence!"

"What? How?-"

And then a table nearly missed him! He looked up and saw that the "ceiling" was opening, and evidently the party had been going on above him. Chairs, plates, tables, a few unfortunate guests- all fell into the silo, as the engines began to rumble to life.

Lower down, Shredder was desperately trying to get aboard. Hun and the elite showed up to stop the Turtles and their Master from preventing this situation-

Bishop and his crew found their way to the same place-

"Destroy them all!" he ordered gleefully! He would be rid of everyone! Especially those hated mutated freaks who had destroyed so much of his work! This was indeed his lucky day!

His men, without question, opened fire, and there was a three-way battle for a time.

Shredder, in spite of the many obstacle in his way, managed to make it to the platform to enter the ship- until Donatello coated his exoskeleton with liquid nitrogen.

He was suddenly knocked from his "body"- suddenly helpless against the Rat Master and his Ninja students- suddenly about to be destroyed-

And what he'd seen all those years ago paid off.

Karai came out of nowhere, snatched him up, and sprinted for the open rocket door, ordering Chaplin to accelerate the launch.

Such a daughter!