The streets of New York were quiet this evening. The citizens had retired back to their homes, exhausted from the hectic day. A knock on the glass of a window caught the attention of the inhabitant. The window slid open to reveal a girl, one with pale skin, adorned with freckles and topped off with short vibrant red-orange hair. Her blank expression melted into a smile at the sight of the one who knocked on her window.
"Pizza delivery for April O'Neil!" A turtle with a bright orange mask stated as he held two large boxes of pizza. Behind him were three other turtles, each one wearing a red, blue, and purple bandana.
The orange one is named Michelangelo, the blue one is named Leonardo, the red one is Raphael, and the purple one Donatello.
"You guys know that I have a door right?" April said to the turtles, moving aside to let them in her home through the window. "We're ninjas. We don't exactly use the front door." Raphael told her as he climbed through the window.
"Casey!" Raphael shouted, getting the attention of said person who was sitting on the couch in the living room. Casey got up and went to greet the short but masculine turtle.
"Hey! Pizza's here!" Casey said as he and Raphael shared their own secret high five. "So what toppings did you get this time?" Casey asked as he eyed the two pizza boxes that had been set on the coffee table by Mikey.
"Supreme with extra jalapenos, as usual," Mikey answered. He sat in the bean bag near the tv.
"Movie Master! What movie are we watching tonight?!" Mikey questioned April who had the remote in hand.
"We're watching that one ninja movie we found last time," April answered as she started up Netflix.
"Ohh~ Sounds interesting."
Everyone took their seats. Leonardo took the armchair while the others sat on the L shaped couch. April was sitting on top of Donnie on the short part of the couch while Raph and Casey took up space on the larger part. The movie started.
Outside the home and a few streets away was a parked white van. Inside were two men who were identical in appearance. They surveyed the area, eyeing the cars and people passing by. A nice family of three walked down the street.
"They should do." The driver said to the passenger.
"Let's go."
The film ended and April switched the lights back on, revealing the sudden trash of the room. The boxes of pizza were completely empty, cans of soda littered the coffee table, and crumbs of popcorn and bread crept its way into the cracks of the couch.
"That movie was good! Made me tear up at the end." April expressed her opinions to the group.
"You should've seen Raph! He was crying like a little kid." Casey roasted as he wrapped his arm around his best friend.
"Not even! You should've seen Casey. This guy was balling his eyes out the entire time. You can even see the watermarks on his face." Raphael countered back as he brought Casey into an arm crushing hug.
"You're both pussy's," Donnie said, roasting both of the hotheads much to their dismay.
"Suck it up you two and help me clean up," April said before throwing them the role of trash bags. All of them cleaned up the apartment until everything was spotless. Once that was done, the turtles made their leave.
"Movie night at our place next time," Leonardo said before opening up the window he and his brother came in.
"Sure thing. See ya later guys." April bid them farewell, giving a kiss on the cheek to Donnie who happily returned it.
The turtles climbed out through her window as before and started making their way to their home.
They ran through the roofs, seeing it as the fastest way to travel the city. They had memorized everything about the city, knowing where each street is based on certain rooftops. They jumped another rooftop when they heard a cry for help. The turtles stopped in their tracks and headed towards the source. They peered over the edge of the roof.
"Let us go!" A man cried out. The two men from the white van, with an additional two men, surrounded the family of three. Two of the men dragged both the mother and the daughter to the white van but both hostages resisted. They tried to pull away with all their might.
"They're kidnapping them!" Mikey stated in a low whisper. "We gotta help them!"
"Alright, guys. Looks like we gotta little late night brawl." Raphael said as he cracked his knuckles. Each turtle took out their weapons and lifted their hoods, concealing their faces.
"Let's go," Leo said and jumped down from the roof, followed soon after by his brothers. They landed on the ground and took position. Leonardo kept his katana pointed at the kidnappers. "Let them go!" He ordered.
The men were not fazed by them and continued to drag the family into the van. The driver lifted his hand and pointed at the turtles.
"Get rid of them."
The three men dropped what they were doing and took out strange looking guns. They took aim and fired at the turtles. The turtles dodged the bullets which weren't real bullets but energized beams of plasma.
"Laser guns? These guys have laser guns?!" Mikey stated as he dodged a couple more.
Raph charged one of them and readied his sai to stab him but the man grabbed hold of Raph's arm and kicked him in the stomach, sending him flying back through the fence that divided the alleyway.
Donnie charged at another guy and readied his staff to electrocute him but the guy grabbed it and used it against him, electrocuting the purple turtle. He then threw him into the nearest wall where he fell into the garbage tank.
Having been distracted by Donatello, Mikey went and threw his manrikigusari chain to wrap up his enemy. To his surprise, the man grabbed the chain and pulled him towards him. The orange turtle received many kicks and punches to his plastron and was then wrapped up with his own chain. The man hung him to the emergency stairs on the building next to them.
Leo charged at the last man and readied his katana to slice him. Leo took his swing but the man jumped high in the sky. He straightened his legs and knocked Leonardo to the ground when he began to fall back to the floor.
With the turtles knocked out, the men took the family and forced them into the van and drove off. Groans filled the alleyway as the turtles began recovering.
"What... just happened?" Leonardo asked, picking himself up from the ground and rubbing a bruise on his head caused by the impact to the ground.
The lid of the garbage tank opened and out appeared Donatello. He let himself rest on the side of the tank, one hand holding him up while the other was dangling holding his bo staff.
"Did we just lose... to three guys?" Donnie said, panting between his words.
Raphael had gotten up and headed back to his brothers, going through the fence he had been thrown through. He held an arm around his torso, stilling the pain from the kick.
"Those guys hit like trucks," Raphael claimed to his brothers who wholeheartedly agree. "Just who were those guys?" He asked.
"Definitely not the purple dragons," Leonardo responded, already speculating on the identities of the kidnappers. "The mob perhaps?"
"Nah, they were too skilled and they don't have that kinda tech." Donnie reasoned. "Those laser guns were kinda cool though."
"So it's not the dragons or the mob. Then who is it?" Raphael repeated his question. All of them went into deep thought, figuring it out. Raph gave a small smirk. "The Illuminati," Raphael suggested half-jokingly.
"Raphael, for the last time the Illuminati doesn't exist," Donatello responded angrily, tightening the grip on his staff. Raphael put his hands up in defense, "Just putting it out there."
"Uh, guys?" A voice spoke out. The turtles turned to the source and found it to be their little brother who was still dangling from the stairs. "A little help here?"
"Hold on, I got you," Leo said before heading to help his brother down. The middle brothers stayed together and continued to stare at each other.
"I still think it's the Illuminati." Raphael restated his answer, much to the annoyance of his slightly younger brother. Donatello was done with Raphael's shit and started made his way home, "I'm done... I'm too exhausted to deal with your shit."
"H-Hey! You know I'm joking!" Raphael said before going after his brother.
Morning came for the turtles, thankfully they didn't have to worry about early morning practice. They were all in the kitchen sitting at the island that was placed in the middle of the room. Raphael and Michelangelo sat opposite of each other on the short sides of the island while Donatello and Leonardo sat next to each other on the longer side facing the stove.
The turtles ate their breakfast in silence, still too exhausted and bruised to initiate conversation. The orange turtle ate a bowl of his favorite cereal. The red turtle was eating a sandwich he had made with the leftover ham that was in the fridge. The blue turtle was eating toast with a cup of green tea. The purple turtle didn't eat but instead was drinking coffee straight from the pot while staring at his laptop screen.
Raphael groaned as the headache that had been coming and going had come back. He held his hand on his head as if to stop the pain.
"We got any Tylenol?" He asked his brothers.
"In the cabinet, bottom shelf," Leonardo responded, his brother moving to the said cabinet to grab the medication. Leo turned himself over to his insomniac brother, noticing that his systems started rebooting.
"You find anything about those guys last night?" Leo asked him.
"Huh? Oh, uh..." It still took a minute or two for Donnie to get his thoughts together. He yawned and rubbed his face to get himself awake. He continued, "I was able to... track down the van to see where they ended up. I tracked them down to an abandoned building in the lower east side of Manhattan."
"The hell they doing in the east side?" Raphael asked as he stood next to Donnie. Mikey, joining in on the conversation, leaned closer to Leo. Just then another turtle came into the kitchen.
The mother of the turtles, Tang Shen. She was smaller than the turtles already present in the room. She wore the lightest green out of the turtles and was decorated by teal marks similar to her sons, chocolate eyes popped out her similar color scheme. She wore a loose dark navy robe that looked very comfortable and held a jade colored staff. She walked to her sons quietly like a mouse and hovered behind them, listening in onto their conversation.
"That's what we're gonna find out. We're gonna find them tonight." Leo responded to Raph.
"Find who?" Tang Shen finally spoke, giving a spook to her sons. They quickly relaxed at the sight of their mother who chuckled at their reactions.
"Oh, hey mom." Leo greeted her with his brothers following suit.
"What is all this going to the east side?" Shen asked as she went to grab a cup from the cabinet and poured hot water from the kettle that was sitting upon the stove before inserting the tea bag into the cup.
"We're looking for these guys that kidnapped a family last night," Mikey answered. Shen came close to her sons and inspected each of their wounds.
"That would explain all these bruises." She stated.
"You boys know you don't have to keep saving every single person in the city. That's why there is the police." Shen said to them. She was starting another one of her worry rants. Ever since the turtles had turned 14, they had decided to use their skills to protect the city. As the years had gone on, things have become more serious for the turtles which had begun to worry their mother.
"You know we can't help it. Ever since we were little you told us that we should do the right thing and we're doing that." Raphael responded to her.
She sighed, "I know you four love protecting the city but..."
"Mom... there's nothing to worry about. We know how to take care of ourselves. We can handle this, we always have." Leonardo reassured his mother who sighed in defeat. She gave a small smile to her sons, "Come back in one piece, okay?" Her sons promised before she left the kitchen, leaving them to continue their search.
Night came for the turtles who were already on their way to the east side in their own van. They had salvaged it about a year ago from the local junkyard in the mutant city, it was in rough condition but Donnie had managed to get it running again. Since then the turtles have used it to get from one area to another faster than they were to go on foot.
Leonardo is the driver since he is the least likely one to not run over things for the fun of it. Donatello was at the computers which he had installed into the van. Raphael and Michelangelo sat opposite of Donatello. They were not in charge of anything but were kept as back up. Next to them was Raphael's motorcycle, again also salvaged from the junkyard and repurposed.
"Alright, fearless leader, what's the plan?" Raphael asked his older brother. "The plan is to infiltrate the place and find the family and get out of there without getting caught," Leonardo explained to the group.
"Take a right here and park the van." Donnie direct Leo who followed. Leo parked the van in an alleyway, two buildings away from the building. "There's an entrance through the roof," Donnie said. All the turtles climbed up the building and jumped over the roofs to the one they needed to be. They smashed opened the roof access door and headed down into the building.
They venture through the building, going down hallways and stairs. The walls were decorated with metal, electric conductors coursed through the ceiling, bright magenta lights guided the floor, the walls, and the ceiling. This wasn't right.
"Not your typical villain hideout," Raphael stated as he moved slowly through the narrow hallway. "I think their favorite color is magenta." Mikey chirped.
"There's something fishy going on in here. I can feel it. Stay sharp ninjas!" Leo warned his brothers.
Donnie took a better look at the material around them, "This material... I don't recognize any of it. It's… It's not native to earth."
Footsteps came from the upcoming hallway. The turtles hid around the dark corner from the upcoming figures. It was the family they were gonna rescue but that was quickly forgotten. What surprised them the most was that they were escorted by alien robots.
"Alien robots..." Mikey whispered.
The robots entered a room that led to what the turtles thought was a lab.
"Let's go," Leo ordered as the turtles made their way to the room. Raph keeping the door open with his bare strength for his brothers to get through. Once they were in the closed the door. They all gathered together to make sure they made it.
"Holy shit..." Donnie said aloud as he gazed at the contents of the room, his brothers following suit.
The lab was about two and a half stories high, all covered in electric conductors hanging from one part of the ceiling to another. One wall was nothing but cages with mutants inside. Another wall sported what appeared to be computers. Robots filled the room, some being scientists while others being soldiers.
The center of the room is what caught the turtles eye the most. A giant tub of green ooze was held tightly by metal rods from the ceiling with a tube coming down from the bottom.
Michelangelo spotted the family, "Guys look!" There they saw the family being escorted to the center of the lab, underneath the tub of ooze. They were locked in by a capsule that connected to the tube. A couple of robots added a special vile of unknown contents into the tube to mix with the ooze. After a few clicks on their computer, the ooze from the tub began to flow through the tube and into the capsule.
The sudden contact with the ooze was agonizing. They felt like they were burning up from the outside and inside. Their bodies contorted in gross and horrific ways, bones shifting and changing inside their bodies. The sounds of screams filled the lab, the robots not fazed by it. The ooze now absorbed within their bodies, it showed their new forms, wolfs.
"Experiment successful. The mutagen has responded to the human body as desired." One of the robots said as they typed it down in their tablet. A few guards escorted the newly mutated family straight into a cage.
Shock didn't begin to describe what the turtles felt. They couldn't believe what they had just witnessed. They were frozen in place, not sure of what do next. Something inside Donatello's mind clicked, stepping back from his sudden realization.
"Oh god..." Donnie began, "I think we just discovered who's responsible for the M-Bomb."
"Intruders!" A robot shouted, pointing a gun at the turtles.
"Shit," Raphael said aloud. "Guys run!" Leo shouted. The turtles began running away in different directions from the robots who began firing at them.
"What do we do now, leader?!" Raphael asked as he punched a robot in the face. "We get out of here!" Leo responded as he kicked down another robot. They kept swarming in large numbers, giving the turtles a hard time trying to reach the door.
"But what about all the mutants in the cages?! We can't leave them here!" Mikey argued as he kicked down a robot. "Mikey's right! We can't leave them here, who knows what these guys are gonna do to them!" Donnie argued as well.
"Fine! Donnie, get to the control panel and find a way to set them free from there! We'll deal with these robots!" Leo ordered.
Donnie made his way towards the computers that were on the other side of the room, taking down the robots that got in his way. Once at the computers he began typing away while his brothers continued to fight against the robots.
As the turtles fought the mysterious robot aliens, they quickly discovered they were no match for them. Leo fought one of the robots and swung his katanas at it. They broke on impact, the tips landing on the floor. Leo froze at the sight, his eyes going back and forth between the katanas in his hand and the blades on the ground.
"Oh no..." Leo mumbled as the robot punched him right in the face.
Raphael and Michelangelo struggled with their own batch of alien robots. Both strike at a robot but their weapons too broke. Raph's sais broke into four pieces while the wood of Mikey's nunchaku broke in half, scattering splinters of wood on the ground. Both too were totaled by the robots. As the three brothers faced new problems, so did Donatello.
"Ugh, guys! We have a slight problem!" Donnie yelled out. "Slight problem?!" Raphael shouted before getting punched by a robot. "What's wrong?!" Leo asked as he dodged the robot's sword. "The controls are in an alien language!"
"What?!" Mikey blurted out. "So what do we do now?!" Raph asked as he was able to gather up with his brothers. "We break them ourselves!" Leo said.
All the turtles began to break the glass of the cages, releasing the mutants from inside. Each mutant headed out through the open windows that were at the near ceiling of the lab.
"That's all of them," Leo said as he gathered up with his brothers. "We still got these guys to deal with." Raphael reminded as more robots came swarming in. "They just don't stop coming!" Mikey shouted as he backed up against his brothers.
"You four will not interfere with Kraang's plan anymore! Surrender mutants!" A robot ordered, pointing a gun at the turtles.
"We'll see about that!" Leo retorted. "Come on ninjas!" The turtles began to make their way through the hoard of kraang, punching, kicking, and pushing their way through to get to the exit. Out of nowhere Raphael was grabbed from behind and thrown at the main computer, destroying it in the process. The lights suddenly blared red, alarms filling up the entire building.
WARNING! WARNING! SELF DESTRUCT SEQUENCE ACTIVATED! I REPEAT! SELF DESTRUCT SEQUENCE ACTIVATED!
Everyone froze up on the spot, the kraang glared angrily at the kraang robot that threw Raphael into the computer.
"You fucking idiot! Look at what you've done! All kraang evacuate!" One of the kraang shouted. All the kraang began making their way out of the building, pushing and toppling over each other. The turtles looked at each other blankly. "Run!"Leo yelled out.
The turtles ran as fast as they could, making their way out of the building the same way they came in, pushing through the large hoard of kraang that too was trying to escape. They jumped down from the roof and scurried towards their van that was a couple buildings away.
Mikey dared to look back and saw a small hoard of kraang following them, aiming their guns and starting to fire at the escapees.
"The kraang are after us!" Mikey warned his brothers, barely dodging a shot. "Hurry guys!" Leo shouted to the group as they continued to run towards their van.
Leo was the first to make it to the van, he pulled the doors and held them open for his brothers to get in, then getting in himself once his brothers were inside. Leo hastily took out the keys to start the engine, dropping them from the stress.
"Start the truck, Leo! Start the truck!" Raphael frantically shouted at his eldest brother as they saw the kraang coming close. "Got it!" Leo said as he finally managed to get the key inside the start engine. Putting the van in reverse, he slammed his foot onto the gas pedal and drove out of the alleyway and onto the street, running over the kraang that had kept following them. The turtles gave themselves a second to relax as they drove away from the kraang.
Suddenly the building they were just in exploded, engulfing the old brick and wood in bright raging blue flames. The force of the explosion shook the ground, making Leo lose control over the van, making a 180 turn facing the flames. They all took a moment to gaze at the blue light.
"Holy shit..." Donatello mumbled under his breath but it was still audible to his brothers, seeing as that is what the rest are thinking as well.
Everything felt so surreal to the mutant turtles. Just within the span of an hour so many things have changed for the turtles. What seemed to be a simple rescue mission turned itself into a full out battle against alien robots who happened to be the ones responsible for the infamous M-Bomb. It was so much to process for the turtles. Unfortunately, they won't be able too as the sounds of sirens started to fill in their ears, breaking the reptiles from their stunned trance. Leo took off before the cops could catch them, making their way back to their home back in the sewers of Manhattan.
It was around midnight when the turtles arrived back to their home, which was the usual time they returned home, the only difference is the abundance of bruises and wounds covering their entire bodies. They spotted their mother sitting on one of the armchairs watching late-night soap operas. They would always find her there after a patrol over the city, patiently waiting for her son to make sure her sons came home safe and sound, tending to their wounds if there were any.
She turned her head over to her sons, what was a welcoming smile turned into a worried frown. She got up from the chair and walked towards her sons, inspecting their bruises.
Cupping Raphael's cheeks in her hand, she asked worriedly, "What happened out there?"
"Ugh... a lot... actually," Raphael said, rubbing the back of his head as he took a seat on the couch next to his youngest brother who laid spread out, his legs dangling from one side of the couch.
"It may sound completely *yawn* wack but..." Mikey tried to continue his sentence but immediately fell asleep on top of Raph's leg, the owner who began rubbing his head.
"We fought aliens," Donnie stated. He got a strange glare from Tang Shen, confused and a little bit concerned. Before she could say anything, Donnie interrupted her, "No we're not high."
"Are you sure?" Shen tried to reassure herself. "It's true. We fought aliens..." Leo confirmed who only seconds later let himself process what he just said, "Holy shit we fought aliens."
"You boys really need some sleep," Shen said, seeming too tired to deal with her son's shenanigans much to the dismay of Donatello. "We're... ugh fine. We'll explain everything in the morning."
With that, the turtles all retreated to their rooms, with the exception of Mikey and Raph who both fell asleep on the couch. It was better to leave them be than to wake them. Besides, the couch was comfy enough to be a bed. They all laid in their beds and slowly fell asleep.
It was the next morning and the turtles were slowly recovering from their mission of the previous night. Leonardo was sore all over, his carapace was stiff as a rock and any slight bending shot a slight pain through his body. There was also a large bruise on his right cheek. Raphael too was suffering from a sore body but was managing it more than his older brother. He was the most bruised out of his brothers, having a large bruise on his right cheek and his head, accompanied with a black eye on his left eye. Michelangelo heals the fastest out of his older brothers and thus doesn't feel as groggy. Though he still does have a slight soreness and a couple of bruises, luckily none were on his face. Donatello was the least sore and bruised from his brothers and was very fortunate, he heals the slowest compared to them.
All the turtles were sitting around the living room, sipping some tea their mother had made and eating some pizza that was brought over by their human friends. April and Casey heard the news about what happened last night and decided to come over and to check up on the turtles. Currently, they were talking about what happened to the turtles.
"Alien robots? You gotta be joking." Casey gave a hardy laugh.
"Bro, we ain't lying. We really did fight alien robots! Sure we look like shit but we beat them! We even rescued all the mutants they had captured there." Raphael insisted.
Casey and April eyed each other knowingly, their gaze went over to Leonardo. They knew they could get a definite answer from him.
"It's true, we fought aliens," Leonardo confirmed much to the surprise of the two humans.
"But that is not the strangest part about last night." Donnie chirped in, gaining the attention of the confused faces of the humans. "It's not?" Casey frightenedly asked.
"Those aliens... we discovered they were the ones responsible for the M-bomb," Donnie told them. "No way..." Casey blurted out. "You're not being serious are you?" April questioned.
"We saw it ourselves. The family we were supposed to rescue… we saw them be mutated with the green glowy ooze that mutated everyone." Leo confirmed again. The other turtles gave nods to confirm it. April leaned back into the couch, sighing and letting herself process everything that was entering her mind.
"Too bad that place exploded, we could've ratted them out." The youngest turtle said as he took another bite of his pizza in his hand.
A thought crept its way into April's head, "Not entirely. What if they have other places in the city? Think about it. If they are mutating people then they should have multiple places around the city, just in case one gets compromised."
"April's onto something there," Leonardo said. "But we're gonna need some serious upgrades if we're gonna go up against them again. They kinda... broke our weapons." Leo said embarrassed, rubbing the back of his neck. "Mom is definitely not gonna like that," Mikey added in as he took another bite of his pizza.
"Making new ones won't work, they'll break like the last ones." Raphael pointed out as he crossed his arms over his chest.
"Unless we use their own tech..." Donnie said. "Use their tech?" Leo questioned. "If regular earth weapons can't destroy them, perhaps using their own tech against them," Donnie explained.
"But where would we even get that?" Raphael asked. "We use the metal from the robot bodies," Donnie answered. Everyone gave Donnie a frightened gaze. "Kinda morbid but it could work," Leo said.
"Are you sure you can make us new weapons?" Raphael asked his brother. "Of course I can... hopefully," Donnie said with the utmost confidence, muttering his last word. Raphael eyed him doubtfully then turned to face his leader, "Alright so what's the plan?"
"The plan would be to make our weapons first and then to track down all their hideouts and take them down," Leonardo explained to the group. "I can get started on the search using the city's cameras," Donnie stated. "I can help with that," April added. "Count me in on bashing some alien ass," Casey stated.
"It's a plan then!" Leo shouted out loud.
The sun was bright and high in the sky, no clouds to obstruct its light except for the black smog filling the air. The smell of burnt wood and metal engulfed the air around it. The source of the smell came from a burnt down building, one closed off to the public and gone into an investigation. The bright yellow "Do not cross" signs bordered the building. People in white hazard suits were spread out throughout the ashes, gaining any piece of evidence that could help investigators figure out the cause of the
burning of the building.
A tall, broad shoulder but a slender man wearing a black business suit with black sunglasses with his black hair combed back walked through the ashes. He gazed upon the ashes, also pondering the possibilities of the destruction of the building.
It hadn't been the first time he was out near a crime scene. In fact, he had already lost count. Someone of his occupation, this was just another day at a 9-5 job filling out paperwork. Though there were days where he would be involved in much grander things, today however was nothing more than another place to clean up.
"Sir!" A man in a suit called out to the one in black.
The man in black turned to face is caller, "What is it, agent Whittaker? Have we found the cause of this incident?" The man in black questioned the agent.
"Not yet sir, but we have discovered something strange about this building. Multiple substances that we don't know about, various types of chemicals not known to us, and the structure of the building being built by materials we do not recognize." Agent Whittaker explained. Coming close to the man, bring his hand to make sure no one else heard, he whispered: "We think it could be what we have been looking for, Agent Bishop."
The features on Bishop's face relaxed as he gave a smile toward Whittaker. Bishop turned around and started walking towards his car that was parked outside the scene.
He laid a hand on Whittaker's shoulder, "Keep me updated on everything you find on this investigation and get my team on it. It seems the fruits of our labor have finally been paying off from the past 16 years."
With that he retreated to his car and drove off, leaving the investigation team to further their work.