Courting a Salamandrian

Chapter 16: Raphael Vs Bishop

The mere sight of the small piece of jewelry that rested in between Raphael's fingers caused Bishop to feel uneasy. He must be joking. He's not actually going to try to propose to her now. The confidence glowing on Raphael's face however said it all. Bishop's eyes widened, looking at the red turtle with fear as he continued to give him a devious smirk.

"Yo-You're bluffing," Bishop argues, desperately trying to hide the shakiness of his voice, "And besides, it's too late. She's not a being of Earth anymore. You can't propose to her!"

"She still is until midnight," Raph explains, beginning to walk past Bishop, confidently waving the ring above his head, taunting him. "So, I have every right to ask her and she has every right to say yes if she wishes."

"NO!" Bishop snaps, launching at Raph, trying to grab the ring from his clutches. Raph swiftly dodges Bishop. The Utrom falls onto the sidewalk, his face hitting the concrete ground and ruining his clean black suit, "ACK! You little-"

"Now Bishop, if I didn't know any better, I'd say you are trying to stop me." Raph sneers, watching the Utrom get up from the dirty floor. His fake human skin that is used to disguise his robotic body was flayed, slighting exposing his exoskeleton.

Bishop huffs, "You're really determined to marry her, are you? You couldn't just follow my laws like everyone else?" He chuckles in amusement, his tone was unnerving as he fixes his suit and tie, "I was patient for a long time. I was praying to the stars that Y'gythgba would eventually come to her senses when being courted by you, that she would realize that she's wasting her time being with someone like you and leave on her own... but that did not seem to be the case. I should've taken matters into my own hands years ago."

"The lengths you are going to all because of Mona and I," Raph smirks. "Quite pathetic, don't you think? You got nothing better to do with yourself?"

Bishop took a deep breath, annoyed, "I have many things to do, this is just my top priority for now. Once you're finished and Y'gythgba is sent back to her home planet, I can put the rest of you mutants in your place and things will finally go my way."

Bishop charges for another attack, this time grabbing Raphael and tossing him over his shoulder back away from the Mutanimals lair's entrance and onto the abandoned streets. Raph quickly gets up from his feet, unfazed, glaring at Bishop.

"You're not even trying," Raph mocks.

"Don't have to. You have 35 minutes," Bishop grins, "as long as I don't let you get to her, then you can't ask her."

"You know it's not too late to back out of this. There's no harm in change, even Rook believes what I want to do can lead to new opportunities."

"And it could also lead to chaos, which my people have already been through enough! Mutant kind is getting out of line, you are getting out of line, and there needs to be order. An order that I have full control over. My word is now law on you mutants and soon on your whole planet!"

"That's exactly it," Raph said in a calm tone, "you always use your position and your words to get what you want. You manipulated the Utrom and mutant kind with your words just to have power and control."

"Words are a very powerful thing," Bishop says with confidence, "and unlike you, I am slow to anger, but you are reaching dangerous grounds with me right now."

"No, Bishop," Raph replies in a serious, but threatening tone of voice, "You've reached dangerous grounds when you started going after my woman."

"Be careful what you say next, Raphael," Bishop glared, "or else I'll just have to put you in your place."

"And how are you going to do that?" Raph challenges.