Eye to Eye, Claw to Claw (A TMNT fanfiction)

It all started when me and my Dad had to move from Toronto to Manhattan, to the city that never sleeps...

- - -

"LIEZEL! GET AWAY FROM HIM!"

I stood, frozen, caught between two sides as Mikey yelled a warning to me with a harsh voice I never would have thought could come out of his mouth. On one hand, I knew the turtles had good intentions. They were terrified for me- rightly so- as I stood between them, and what they believed were horrific monsters. Shredder's minions; his goons; his henchmen... And the Shredder himself. They stood, menacingly, mercifully allowing me to hesitate enough to choose for myself for once. The turtles' faces were riddled through with anxiety, fearing, perhaps, what had been done to my mind via Baxter to make me hesitate going towards what, to them, was the blatantly correct choice.

On the other hand, however, despite the Shredder's harrowing stance, and his growing impatience, and his little "pack" behind him... I could see their faces. They hid their fears exceptionally. I faltered.

They were afraid?

I hesitated. My feet shuffled cautiously on the thin beam threatening to drop me into a vat of mutagen; subjecting me to a fate similar to that of Miwa's. I dared another glance at the Shredder. His eyes narrowed and he huffed through his helmet in a warning. I was losing time. And they were all afraid, I finally realized. Afraid...

For... Me.