Alone in the throne room sat the Shredder himself, Oroku Saki, waiting impatiently for his guests to arrive any minute. Standing at the foot of the stairs was his daughter, Oroku Karai, obediently silent and staring expectedly at the door across the hall.
The sun had just settled on the horizon, and the city began glittering against the pink sky. Shredder and Karai could not hear the usual, noisy horns of the cars inside the throne room; all there was to hear was the calm, serene waters from the water tanks.
At last, the front door opened, catching their attention.
There, entering the room and approaching toward them, were two identical men in business suits. One of them was carefully carrying a small, dark box.
Saki and Karai waited until the two identical business men stopped right in front of Karai.
"Well?" Saki finally spoke, his voice low and threatening as ever.
"The technology that the Kraang has created on the one called the Shredder's request has been completed in the precise time. And the Kraang is here to deliver the technology on which the Shredder has requested for the Kraang to create." The man raised the small box to Karai.
Karai went up to them and opened the box. Satisfied at what she saw inside, she closed the box and gave her father a confirmed nod.
"And now, the Kraang wish to trade the technology the Kraang has created for another on which the one called the Shredder promised to deliver to the Kraang," the other business man said.
"Yes, yes, of course," Shredder waved at them impatiently. "Karai."
Instantly, Karai took the small box and placed it on the stairs. Beside the box was a briefcase. She picked up the briefcase and handed it over to the men. The two business men opened the briefcase, on which a pink glow illuminated their hard, blank faces.
Closing the briefcase, one of the business men looked up at Saki. "The Kraang is grateful to be, as the earthling say, 'doing business,' with the one called the Shredder."
And with that, the two business men turned and walked out of the throne room, leaving the Shredder and his daughter alone again.
Karai picked up the small box and walked up the stairs to her father, giving the box to him. The Shredder opened the box and examined inside.
"These devices will work perfectly for me." Shredder looked up at Karai. "Go and give the orders to the Foot Clan. Tell them to bring me those four turtles. I want them all here as soon as possible. And I want them all alive."
"Ugh, I'm getting tired! Can we go home now?" Mikey complained for the fifteenth time.
"Not until we find more Mutagen," Leo answered, trying to stay calm and patient.
Mikey groaned loudly, leaning dramatically against a chimney.
The four turtles have been searching the city of New York for hours, finding at least two more Mutagen, luckily before the strange substances could mutate anyone.
They were now up on a rooftop, watching Donnie walk away, staring at his Mutagen scanner.
The night was clear under the full moon and the city sparkled like stars on the earth. The streets below them were dark, empty, and quiet.
"Come on, Leo, let's just call it a night," Raph said, his hand holding a bag full of the two Mutagens beside him. "It's getting late, and we've already got enough for now."
Mikey grabbed Leo's arm and shook it desperately. "Come on, Leo, please!" he pleaded like a child.
Leo, of course, didn't want to leave the search now, desiring to save as many as possible from the fate of mutation.
He turned his head toward Donnie, who was still focusing on the scanner. "Donnie, anything?"
Donnie sighed tiredly. "No. Nothing around here."
Leo looked back down at Mikey and quickly noticed huge, puppy dog eyes staring at him, a whimper coming out of his baby brother.
Mikey's secret weapon.
At last, Leo gave in. "All right, let's head back to the sewers."
Mikey threw his arms around Leo and squeezed him joyfully. "Thanks, bro! You're the best turtle ever!"
"I thought I was the best turtle ever," Raph said.
"That was when you gave me the last pizza slice, Raph."
Raph rolled his eyes, pulling the bag over his shoulder.
"Come on, guys," Leo said to his brothers. "Let's go."
They all ran off and jumped from one rooftop to another and so on.
All of a sudden, Leo stopped, holding his hand up to halt the others.
"Oh, what now?" Raph groaned.
"Did you see a Mutagen," Donnie asked Leo.
Leo scanned the roofs around them, very suspicious. "I think we're being followed," he whispered to his brothers behind him.
Donnie and Mikey exchanged looks, but Raph just rested his fist on his hip.
"Come on, Fearless," Raph said, making his way over to Leo. "Who could be following us this late at night?"
Leo didn't respond. He stood still like a statue, his eyes scanning his surroundings.
Then, he suddenly jumped high up and threw spinning stars at a shadow beside a chimney. The sound of the stars hitting their targets were heard and a ninja fell from out of the shadows and landed face down on the floor, sparks flying out from its body.
Raph, Donnie, and Mikey stared at it with surprise.
"How bout, Foot Ninjas," Leo responded to Raph.
Instantly, all the turtles pulled out their weapons and stood in a fighting position.
At that moment, robotic Foot Ninjas flew out from the shadows and landing around the four turtles, ready to attack them.
Both sides charged after each other and began their fight.
Since these Foot Ninjas were robotic, the turtles easily slashed and destroyed as many robots as they could. However, the Foot Ninjas were difficult to defeat, since they had memorized the turtles' ninja moves and had used them against the turtles time and time again.
But that didn't stop the turtles from fighting back, and succeeding.
"Finally," Raph shouted in the middle of the fight, stabbing one of the Foot Ninjas in the stomach. "Some real fun!"
"You have a messed up idea on what fun is," Mikey commented to Raph, knocking out a Foot Ninja.
"Thanks," Raph said before kicking a Foot Ninja and punching another one.
Unfortunately, the more the turtles destroy, the more Foot Ninjas appeared.
"Donnie," Leo shouted later. "We need a way out of here!"
"Why, we can take them," Raph exclaimed with a smirk, stabbing another ninja in front of him and swiftly stabbing the other behind him.
"There's too many of them," Leo called out, avoiding the Foot Ninja's swords. "Donnie, hurry!"
"Uh, right," Donnie said, currently being held down on the floor by a Foot Ninja. Fortunately, Donnie twirled his bo staff around (which the Foot Ninja was on) and threw the Foot Ninja away, which ended up knocking down two other ninjas.
Donnie jumped to a standing position and searched his belt and shell. "Now, where did I put that . . . Ha!"
He pulled out a small egg.
"What's that going to do?" Raph called out, currently wrestling with a Foot Ninja.
"I've been waiting for an opportunity to try this out. Run as soon as it happens," Donnie shouted to his brothers.
"But, it's so tiny," Mikey said, landing on the ladder that led to the water tower. "How's that gonna help us-"
Donnie slam the egg at the floor and, immediately, thick, purple smoke covered the entire rooftop, and that included the turtles and all the foot ninjas.
Finally, the turtles made it out of the clouded rooftop and jumped down on each stairway, landing all the way to the bottom. Seeing the foot ninjas escaping the smoke too, Raph quickly pulled the manhole sewer top off. Mikey and Donnie hurriedly jumped in, and Raph followed them, closing the top right before the ninjas could see them.
"Boy, that was a close one," Mikey said while panting, leaning against the wall.
All the turtles rested against the wall, exhausted from their fight, but relieved to have escaped unseen.
"You're telling me," Donnie agreed, putting his staff back behind his shell. "Good thing I had that egg with me. I had been dying to test it out! One little egg containing a large room full of smoke! It's pure genius!"
"Hey, pure genius," Raph interrupted. "Have you seen Leo?"
"Well, yeah, he's right here-"
But Leo wasn't there.
In fact, Leo wasn't there in the sewers with them at all. The turtles looked around, hoping to catch sight of their fearless leader.
"Uh, didn't he come with us," Mikey nervously asked.
"You know," Donnie said. "I don't actually remember seeing him come out of that smoke."
"Do you think he made it?" Mikey worriedly said.
Both Mikey and Donnie turned to Raph, worry already making its way to their faces. All three looked up at the sewer cover, waiting for Leo to appear, safe and happy.
But Leo never did.
The smoke had finally passed and Leo was lying on the rooftop, unconscious. He had a nasty bruise forming on the back of his head. A single Foot Ninja stood over him, lowering his sword.
The other Foot Ninjas surrounded him, staring down at him.
Then, they turned their heads to the edge of the roof and waited.
There, other ninjas appeared. However, they shook their heads at their unspoken question.
The other turtles had gotten away.
Exchanging nervous glances at each other, fearing the wrath of their mast Shredder, the Foot Ninjas slowly leaned down and pulled Leo up.
With Leo in their grip, the Foot Ninjas disappeared into the shadows and into the night.