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TMNT – Enemy of My Enemy – Chapter 1 – Ship in the Night

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Here we are, the next episode! I hope you like it!

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I do not own TMNT.

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It was a cool, clear night. Perfect for a stake-out.

Two blocks lay between the turtles' chosen lookout (a simple apartment building rooftop with some AC units and a water tower) and the skyscraper so clearly enlarged in the spyglass Leonardo held up to one eye. Its pinnacle was triangular, topped with two prongs that reminded him of Donatello's needle-nose pliers.

"Nothing happening at TCRI," he told his brothers, lowering the optical device. With one foot up on the roof ledge, a spyglass in his hands, and the wind whipping his mask tails like a ship's sails, Leo rather resembled a pirate captain. If he could've seen himself, he would have very much enjoyed the picture.

"Yet," added Donnie. He was about to elaborate when Michelangelo interrupted.

"This game is awesome!" He sat cross-legged behind his captain and genius brothers, thumbs tapping like mad on his T-phone. "The combat is so realistic!"

Raphael folded his arms over his plastron and looked down at their youngest brother. "You want me to make it more realistic?"

"Guys! Stop messing around!" Leo ordered. Although they didn't like it, Raph, Mikey, and Donnie were used to the constant shushing of their leader, and couldn't entirely blame him. He stayed pretty tense on any given mission, knowing he was responsible for whatever happened to his brothers.

"According to the Krang storage device that I decrypted, some kind of scouting ship is coming through the Krang portal, tonight." Donnie's brown eyes scanned the screen of the T-phone in his hand.

Leo turned and frowned at Raph and Mikey. "So we all have to stay alert."

"Yeah, you never know what could sneak up on you," a mischievous female voice came from above them. They all looked up to the water tower; saw her standing there. Leo's heart mutinied against his head and skipped a rebellious beat.

Karai sprang into the air and did a single flip on the way down, landing on the rooftop with about as much noise as a cat jumping from a kitchen counter to the floor. She straightened her stance, shifted her weight so that her left hip jutted out slightly, and rested her right wrist on the crimson hilt of her tanto. She grinned smugly all the while. You're still not good at hiding from me, Leo.

Leo gave her one mocking chuckle and took a step toward her. "Heh. Cute, Karai; but I'm not in the mood."

But I am. She gripped her sword and slid it from its sheath with a metallic scrape. Without uttering a word, she held the tanto with both hands before her and moved in. She attacked him twice, and twice he blocked with the katana he had so quickly unsheathed. She gave him the same roguish, playful look she always did when they sparred. Leo only frowned. Why does she keep toying with me?

He put some space between them, but held his katana horizontally in defense. This time, he was determined not to let his guard down, having learned at their last meeting that he couldn't trust her. That ship has sailed. "We don't have time for this! Guys...!?" He looked past her to his brothers, who hitherto had been watching from a distance.

Karai spun toward them as they readied and attacked. Mikey yelled his trademark, "Booyakashaaaah!" Backing up as they charged her, she stopped a few yards from one corner of the roof. Donnie was the first to aim a blow at her side with his staff. She easily blocked it, flipped onto Donnie's shell, and leaped over their heads. The three turtles blinked at her for a moment, stunned at the speed and ease with which she evaded them.

Karai landed with her tanto resting casually on her left shoulder and grinned. "Booyakasha?" she sniggered. "What does that even mean?"

"I dunno," Mikey replied, readying his kusarigama, "But it's fun to yell!" He launched the scythe at her. The long chain attached to its handle jingled as it flew through the air. She caught the weapon with her own, spun once so the slack in the chain was wound around her, and stomped down on the length of which Mikey was still holding the end. "Whoa!" he yelled as he was yanked off his feet, unprepared for her to use his weapon so expertly against him. He flew through the air toward her and she kicked him aside.

Leo gritted his teeth. Enough. He swung his swords at her; she blocked and smiled at him through the trio of crisscrossed blades. "You really know how to make a girl feel welcome." Karai pushed his katana away, and he took a few steps back, speechless. She really knows how to get under my skin. There was a time I wished I could welcome her, but…

Karai ignored Leo's flabbergasted reaction to her statement and pointed her tanto at Donnie with a smirk. "I heard the scrawny one mention the Krang. What's going on?"

"None of your business." Leo advanced.

"And I'm not scrawny," Donnie added, moving in to attack. "I'm svelte!"

Karai dodged them easily. After exchanging a few blows with Raph's sai, she pushed him away from her. "Aw, come on," she said in the pause, resting her tanto once more on her shoulder. "Let me in on the fun!"

Raph was out of patience. "Look, we're a little busy trying to stop the beginning of an alien invasion here, so do us a favor and – get – LOST!"

The impish expression on Karai's face was instantly replaced by one of concern. "An alien invasion?!" She lowered her sword. "Are you serious?"

The Krang didn't keep her waiting long for an answer. She and the turtles looked toward the TCRI building; lightening was flashing above and around it, as peals of thunder rumbled and echoed through the city streets. Purple light squeezed through the cracks above two huge, hidden sliding doors near the top of the building. Were it not for the light shining around them, Karai and the turtles would never have known they were there.

The moment the light vanished, the doors began to slowly slide apart, revealing a large corridor lined with glowing purple and magenta floor, walls, and ceiling. But that wasn't the strangest sight. An elliptical craft was exiting the passage, hovering in midair with no visible means of propulsion. What appeared to be a giant black and pink eye covered the front where a human craft's windshield would be. Four stout antennae protruded from the top and bottom, and a half sphere with three squirming tentacles extended from the center of the underside.

Leo voiced what they were all thinking: "This can't be good."

The teens watched, wide-eyed, as the Krang ship glided smoothly through the air – directly toward them.

"Um, guys, I think I need to change my shell." Mikey said simply.

The center of the black-and-pink "eye" began to glow, casting its rosy beam over their standing forms. Within the ship, the two Krang pilots addressed one another. "The ones who are called turtles have been detected by the scanner which scans for turtles."

"They are knowing too much of Krang's plan."

"Attack."

"I hope you have a plan for fighting that thing," Karai said to Leo, standing behind him. They all took a step back as the ship drew even nearer. Leo wiped the fear from his face and put on a front of confidence. Be the brave hero. "Of course I do," he chuckled. "Step one…" A bolt of hot pink energy shot from the center of the ship's "eye" and zigzagged through the air, striking the rooftop at their feet. They scattered. "…RUN!" Leo yelled.

They leaped from the building as another blast hit the roof where they had just been standing. All five ninja swung nimbly from balconies and fire escapes to land safely in the alley below. They were no longer clearly visible to the Krang ship, so a row of thin, pink beams of light shined from the center of the ship's belly and began to sweep over the streets.

Karai and Leo found themselves running from the hover craft side-by-side. She called to him as they ran, "What the heck was that?!" She looked to him, but he never took his eyes off the ship, watching over his shoulder as it approached them from behind. "I dunno," Leo answered hastily, "But off the top of my head, I'd say they use it for flying and shooting at things."

Just as they ran onto a main street, another blast struck the pavement behind them. Karai and Mikey had to roll out of its way, and regaining their feet, kept running. "It's right up our shells!" Mikey yelled in a panicked voice.

Karai ran across the street and down a narrow alley, barely avoiding the ship's scanner; the turtles ran further down the street before turning into a large alleyway and hiding behind a car parked there. They waited breathlessly while the ship continued past them. "Do you think it knows where we are?" Mikey fearfully questioned his big brother. "Yeah. Maybe." Leo, Mikey, Donnie, and Raph all froze as the vehicle they had been leaning against was suddenly lifted off the ground, and they were left sitting stupidly in the open, bathed in the scanner's pink light.

They looked up and stared for a moment at the car being held over their heads by the ship's tentacles. The brothers simultaneously yelled in terror and dove away from their former hiding spot as fast as they could. No sooner had they rolled out of the way than the tentacles released the car; it fell to the pavement with a loud whump, landing and rocking on its tires.

"Man, we gotta get underground!" Donnie exclaimed. With no hesitation, Leo stood and drew his katana. "I'll draw their fire!" Before any of his brothers could comment or protest, he was running toward the ship. They watched for a moment as he leaped up onto a wall and flipped off it, darting beneath the alien craft. It spun to face him. "Over here, Cyclops!" he taunted. It fired.

Raph lifted the lid of the nearest manhole cover, and Donnie and Mikey jumped in. No sense in wasting Leo's selfless act. Raph stood near the hole and looked at Leo, who was now running back down the alley toward him with the ship on his tail. "Leo, come on!"

Leo bounded off the opposite wall, threw a trio of Hamato throwing stars at the ship upon landing, and sprinted for the manhole. The steel stars vainly bounced off the ship's hull, but Raph and Leo both managed to jump into the subterranean passage before the craft reached them. Leo quickly pulled the cover into place over their heads. The pink light of the Krang ship's scanner passed slowly over the manhole, but detected nothing.

The ninja had moved through the sewers up to a storm drain where they stood on a ledge and looked out at the ship through the grate. As they watched, the ship hovered in place over the manhole; its surface appeared to crackle like static on an old TV screen, and the entire craft disappeared. "Oh, great," Raph commented sarcastically, "'Cause it wasn't scary enough when we could see it."

They could hear sirens approaching the alley, and retreated from view before a police helicopter's lights could illuminate them. A police car moved past the grate slowly. From her hiding spot, Karai watched the vehicles drive up and down the streets and alleys, searching for the source of whatever commotion had been reported. Red and blue lights flashed across her face. She backed away gradually, avoiding the cops as much as she did the Krang. Father needs to know about this. Maybe NOW he'll see how dangerous the Krang are, and actually do something to stop them.

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Dawn was still hours away when Karai returned to Foot Clan HQ, the darkness in the throne room deeper than the night outside.

"It's true. The Krang are plotting an invasion; I saw the ship myself!"

Karai was bowed in a dogeza before Shredder, who sat proudly on his throne above her. He listened to her passionate petition, unresponsive.

"They've got some serious hardware. We gotta do something before it's too late! Father…?"

His voice was deep and unmoved. "We shall proceed as planned."

"But…!"

"Tomorrow night we will receive a shipment of new weapons. These shall help us put an end to the turtles and Splinter."

"We can deal with that later. Didn't you listen to a thing I…?!"

Shredder slammed his fist onto the arm of his throne, silencing her. "Karai! You have said your piece. Now you will do as I say." Even when he spoke calmly, his voice was always edged with malice, his tone laced with warnings of the consequences of defiance.

Karai's face became a mask of rigid determination. "Yes, Father." She knew it was futile to argue. She rose, bowed with her head, and turned toward the door. With each step she took, her resolve grew stronger. If he won't do anything to protect our home – EARTH – then I'll have to without his help. But I can't do this alone.

There's only one person I can turn to.

If I can ever get him to trust me again.