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Life has been nothing but a long string of loss for the mighty Tiger Claw. A warrior such as himself is not pampered or loved, raised under sunshine and rainbows. No, a warrior carries scars that will not heal, raised by suffering and hardship, shaped by grief, born in the dark.
First he lost his humanity, a name he does not wish to recall, his parents and his friends. The mighty Tiger Claw, then just a young cub, was now his sister’s one and only guardian. He needed to provide food, shelter, and safety from those who would try to exterminate what they did not understand, and he did that in the best way he could. The life of crime led to Alopex’s growing hatred for what they had become, and his missing tail soon became a loathsome memory of his last all– his own sister– who tried to end his life after all he had done for her.
Then, he met the Shredder. Tiger Claw had become cold and uncaring, hardened and emptied by everything he had been forced to leave behind and the life he was made to lead. He’d vowed to never connect with another living thing again, but he didn’t realize how lonely that would be, or how impossible.
It was just another job, one that took him far from his home and into a new, foreign place, but at the time it seemed simple. It was doing something he was good at, and the Shredder respected him, had faith in him– more than could be said about his entitled brat of a daughter, Karai.
Never could he have anticipated the cost. His eye, another piece of himself he would lose for his failure, but he did not lose his connection with the Shredder. Despite his ruthless nature, Oroku Saki granted his desire for vengeance, and even after all the times he failed he was never cast aside. He soon realized he had broken his vow to himself in a way he’d never anticipated, growing dependent on his Master’s orders. Then he nearly lost him, lost his arm, and his sister once again. His hatred only grew for the turtles, who somehow had everything he wanted.
The world shunned them, hated their disgusting mutant selves, and yet they persisted. Together. Then their rat master perished and still they persisted, becoming stronger from their grief just as he once had, but they never turned on their leader. He kept his eyes, his hands, and his shell despite his failings.
Tiger Claw was– no, is jealous. How could Alopex have been so ungrateful and yet these disgusting turtles remain a family? How could the blue cub handle the weight of not one, but three siblings to protect on his shoulders? How are they not shattered by the loss of their Master?
He does not understand, for the loss of Master Shredder shattered him. It was a grief unlike any he had ever felt before. It was close to Alopex’s betrayal, yet it hurt in a unique way. Oroku Saki was all Tiger Claw had left, the man who had broken his vow of coldness.
The man who had captured Tiger Claw’s heart without even trying.
When the mutant found a hope to resurrect his fallen Master, to be his savior, there was no chance he wouldn’t take it. Kavaxas was a demodragon from another dimension, Tiger Claw was well aware of the risk he was taking, but it was worth it. It was worth it to get his Master back, to have purpose and guidance once again.
He worked tirelessly to get everything they needed to restore him, but his body had greatly decayed. When he speaks his tongue is visible through gaps in his jaw where teeth had once been, the skin from his face sloughed off completely. His eyes and heart glow a vibrant green, arms reduced from large and powerful muscles to simply skin and bone, and the way he shambles… It’s unsettling. It’s wrong.
He watches him fight the turtles with a rock in his stomach. Somehow, this isn’t what he wanted. This isn’t what he’d wanted at all. Then, distracted by his own thoughts, the Seal of the Ancients is snatched right out of his paws by the littlest turtle. He watches in horror as Kavaxes attacks the Shredder and the rest of his own allies before the warthog calls for his attention. He catches the seal, snarling with rage and holding it out to Kavaxes.
“You obey only me, your Master!” He hollers. Loyalty means nothing to this otherworldly, dishonorable devil.
He turns his attention to the turtles, acknowledging that their threat is greater than the one posed by Kavaxes while he wields the seal, but they vanish in a cloud of dust.
He shakes his head and turns his attention to the demodragon with a snarl, “How easily you turned on us. What is your game?” His eyes dart to the headless yet moving body of the Shredder and his fur stands on end.
“Only to serve the one who holds the Seal, Master.”
It’s dangerous to keep this monster around– if the seal gets into the wrong hands he could be used to destroy them all! He turns to Shredder, hoping the man will still see sense despite his decaying mind. The wise, powerful Saki is still in there, he knows it.
“Shredder, what will you have me do? Banish the demodragon back to the Netherworld?”
“No.”
Tiger Claw’s face contorts in confusion as he stares into those hollow eye sockets, at the white bone of his jaw as he places his own head back on his neck. Could he be wrong?
“Kavaxes is a powerful ally.”
Is Saki’s mind simply warped?
“He will remain on earth with us…”
The Shredder he knows, the Shredder he loves, would not make such a daft decision, right?
“As my second in command.”
“What!?” Tigerclaw exclaims, though his tone is empty of rage, simply confused and hurt. The devil has messed with Saki’s mind, that is for certain, but then the question becomes whether its grip can be removed. Is the Shredder still in there, or is Kavaxes simply puppeting his corpse? He would never make such a ridiculous decision, not after seeing how dangerous he is if the Seal is misplaced, and he certainly would never betray Tiger Claw in this way!
Somehow, after thinking things could not get any worse, Shredder speaks again from his throne.
“Tiger Claw.”
On instinct he stands at attention. He’s never felt so confused by just the sound of his name– grief, loyalty, anger, it all swirls around in his chest and in his head as he looks at the desecrated form of his Master.
“Now that Kavaxes is my second in command, you will relinquish the Seal of the Ancients to him.” His voice is hoarse as always, but he speaks as though this is a punishment. “Right now.”
His chest clenches with the decision he must make– disobey his master, or do the stupidest thing he could think of.
“No.” The word burns like acid coming out of his throat. “It is too dangerous, Shredder. I will not allow it.” He tries to stay respectful but the inferno of emotions shows in his tone, harsh and stern.
“If you shall not obey me, then you shall be destroyed!”
Tiger Claw doesn’t even get the chance to be hurt by the betrayal before Rahzar, another reanimated corpse, tackles him to the ground. The Seal is knocked out of his metal paw as they roll dangerously close to the edge, but the mutant tiger kicks the zombie off of him and lunges towards the Seal–
But he is too late. It is crushed beneath the Shredder’s rotten foot and dread settles over him like a thick blanket. The destruction of this world weighs on his shoulders as Kavaxes speaks, having manipulated Tiger Claw with his grief over Saki’s death.
Desperate, he looks back to the Shredder with one final plea. “Master Shredder, we must stop him!”
“Don’t you understand, Tiger Claw? You were right.” It’s the most genuine thing he’s said since his resurrection, and the first time he has heard Oroku Saki in months.
“Kavaxes is my master now.” He’s gone. Saki is really, truly gone, and Tiger Claw has brought upon the end of the world over a stupid crush like a cub.
Now is not the time for mourning, he tells himself, it is his duty to fix the mistake he has made. He lunges at Rahzar, a puppet under the devil's control, too. He dodges a swat from Rahzar’s sharp talons then swings his sword over his head. It’s caught in the puppets bone-like jaws before his claw slams the tiger backwards, sending him careening over the edge of the platform to the one below. The warthog and the rhino flee like the cowards they are, but Tiger Claw understands. This was his mistake, it is nobody's duty but his own to fix it.
While he is getting to his feet, trying to analyze the situation and figure out any way to stop the destruction of his world, Kavaxes’ evil laughter is cut off by a groan of pain. His attention turns to the beam of light and the turtle that wields it, their leader in blue, coming to clean up the mess Tiger Claw has caused.
The ground begins to shake below him before the rocks give way, leaving spires of stone still standing. He leaps to one of these spires, Rahzar in close pursuit. The dog clings to the edge of the pillar with a poor grip and, without mercy, he kicks the zombie in the snout and sends him plummeting back to the hell he had arisen from.
He looks around to plan out his next move, keeping one thing in the back of his mind– stay out of the turtles way. Tiger Claws eyes land on the puppet staining Oroku Saki’s name and he knows what he must do. He has to be the one to put an end to him this time, to give himself closure, to fix what he broke.
Leaping from the stone platform he stands on to the next, he makes his way to the throne Shredder’s corpse had sat upon and aims his guns at the undead puppet. Steeling himself, Tiger Claw shoots his master and watches as he reels away from the pain of ice and fire. He drops to the ground, and for a moment Tiger Claw lets himself believe that it is done, but the hope is crushed as quickly as it had appeared.
Shredder stands and turns, raising his open palm to Tiger Claw and, by some magical force, sending him over the edge once more. His gun flies out of his hand and into the abyss, but he miraculously lands on one of the spires. He pulls himself to his knees and then to the edge of the platform, just in time to see his master fall into the pit below.
His eyes find the smallest turtle as he uses his jetpack to rise back to the safety of the main platform, watching and listening to the cub as he puts the Seal back together and commands Kavaxes to put everything back to the way it was. He uses his sword to pull himself to his feet after a messy, unbalanced landing, watching silently but not really listening. Tiger Claws ears are ringing from the adrenaline and his chest is a hurricane of emotion. The feelings inside are echoed when the ritual circle falls away to a raging green portal, pulling Kavaxes in. The demon struggles and Tiger Claw steps forwards to set things right but, once again, the opportunity is taken from him. The corpse of the Shredder leaps upon Kavaxes.
“We do not belong here, demon!”
The last words of Oroku Saki, and perhaps the most honorable thing the Shredder has ever done. With one final headbutt, he and the devil are sent into the portal, the pieces of the ritual circle rising back into their places to hide the madness that had just unfolded.
Tiger Claw stares vacantly at the place where his master had just been, now cold and calm. He wishes his own feelings could be quelled in such a way. He grows older, regretting each second that passes him by while he is still the monster he has chosen to become. The tiger spares one glance at the turtle in blue and Shredder’s stolen daughter, guilt, rage, jealousy, all stirring in his chest.
This error may have been righted, but there’s so much more time to make up for. When the turtles clear out he remains sat by the ritual circle in rumination. One word is at the forefront of his mind: revenge.
Revenge turned Oroku Karai into a serpent. Revenge took his tail and his arm. Revenge killed his master.
It is a cycle, a dirty, vicious cycle that's nigh impossible to break but… He will not let it kill him, too.
“Tiger Claw.” A raspy voice startles him out of his thoughts.
“Huh–” He stands and turns on his heel to face the voice. It belongs to the alligator, grey-green scales and white belly riddled with scars.
“You helped us.”
“Hah! I would hardly called what I did ‘helpful.’” Scowls the assassin, turning away from the empathetic look on the mutant's face.
He grumbles in thought, then speaks, “What will you do now?”
“I will leave this city, I have caused enough trouble for you and the turtles.”
The alligator looks shocked, but pleased. “I am no stranger to making mistakes because of emotion, Tiger Claw. If you have turned over a new leaf…” He thinks for a long moment and Tiger Claw looks back at him with a raised brow. “The Mighty Mutanimals would be lucky to have a mutant such as yourself.”
The offer comes from a place of kindness, but he cannot accept. “No. I cannot ask that you, your friends, or the turtles forgive me for all I have done. I must take my leave.” He sighs, “Besides, this city holds nothing but painful memories for me now.” With that Tiger Claw begins his walk out of the sewer caves, unsure if he’ll ever find the redemption he’s hoping for.