A large crash awakened Michelangelo, Leonardo heard it too, and Raphael jumped out of bed to see what had happened this time in their underground lair. Leo was already awake, due to his early training hours, and was first to the scene. Being more concerned of intruders, Raph was there next. Still groggy from being woken so early, Mikey rolled out of bed only to see that the small alarm clock at his bedside said 5:31 am. After finally getting to the area where the crash occurred, Mikey stood awestruck at the mess created by another one of his brother Donatello's failed experiments with the mutagen.
"How could I have been so stupid? I should have known not to mix…" Mikey tuned out Donnie's rambling as usual and bent down to lend help to his brothers. Leo was checking Donnie over while Don sat in the lab stool babbling something about chemicals that do not mix, and how he should have used the whatever to counteract the who knows what. Raph was picking up pieces of glass that were flung all over the lab. Mikey went over to the exploded chemicals blobs on the wall. He stuck his finger out to poke the odd colored substance.
"Don't touch that!" Donnie screamed as he noticed his younger brother's curiosity once again get the better of him. "That is radioactive mutagen!" Mikey yelped as he was pulled away from the glob of goo still stuck in place on the wall. "Who knows what that will do to you? My guess is that you would turn out even uglier than the last time you messed with the mutagen!"
Mikey sighed, having a flashback to the day he woke up covered in tiny bumps that later resulted in a saggy mess all over his body. He shuddered remembering how he was so close to exploding like a big zit. "Ewwwww," was Mikey's reply." Um…I'll go…somewhere…um…not here." With that, he raced out of the lab not wanting to mess with the mutagen ever again.
Raph snorted as he watched his brother run out of the lab looking a little greener than usual, they were turtles after all. "Was that really mutagen Donnie?"
"No, but Mikey doesn't know that," He smirked at his older red clad brother. "I'm just sure that he will mess something else up!"
Leo nodded at this. "Then what did happen in here Donnie? Why are you up so early?"
"Says mister early worm himself," Raph beamed.
"You mean early bird Raph, you got the expression mixed…uh, oh never mind,"*/ Donnie gave up as his hotheaded brother shot an uninterested look his way. "I was sleeping in my room when I was suddenly awoken by an epiphany! I thought that I had the right mixture of chemicals here that could counteract the mutagen. I thought I might be able to bring back April's dad…and Timothy." Donnie looked down as the realization of his true failure kicked in. "I must have put them in the beaker the wrong order. Then…" He trailed off, looking around his destroyed lab as if this answered the question.
"It's alright Donatello," Leo grinned at his grief stricken brother and placed a comforting hand on his shoulder, "you'll figure it out."
"Yeah, but next time," Raph added, "Could you try to blow the place up a little quieter?"
Don rolled his eyes and began scraping at what was left of the strange goo that had barnacled itself to the wall.
After three hours of cleaning up the lab, the group finally sat down for some much-needed rest. That was until April O'Neil called.
Next thing the guys, or turtles, knew was that they were running across rooftops trying not to be seen in the bright daylight.
"Since when do the Kraang operate during the day?" Leo thought aloud, thinking back to their brief conversation with April.
"Yeah," Raph stated in agreement, "why change now?"
"Maybe these aren't the Kraang!" Mikey chimed in, "They must be their evil cousins the…the Graang!" He was then struck on the back of the head.
"If your brain was any smaller…" Raph trailed let the statement have no answer.
"Guys! Quiet down!" Leo glared back at his younger brothers, "We are almost there!"
"Leo's right. April knows the Kraang better than anyone." Donnie looked down, ashamed of how he had failed her time and time again in letting her be taken by them. "If she says it's the Kraang, it's the Kraang! That means be on your toes because we do not know exactly what they are up to."
The rest of the few seconds was spent in silence as the brothers anticipated the upcoming battle. They stopped on a rooftop at the place described by April. Looking down they could see in the alley that many Kraang were moving large boxes and crates.
"Yep, it's them alright," smiled Raph who was looking forward to beating on something that was not his punching bag.
"What are they moving?" He laughed at his incoming thought, "Zoo animals?" Again, his adrenaline-filled brother Raphael gave a smack atop Mikey's head.
"Quiet," groaned Leo, "We are too exposed out here. Let's get closer, but do not engage! We need to find out what they are up to first."
Raph's shoulders slouched with disappointment, "Come on Leo, I need to kick some butt and they are the only butts available to kick!"
"Think Raph!" Leo blurted, "We need to get inside first. Without the cover of night and the shadows, it will be too easy for us to be seen."
The turtles stay low knowing that every move was to risk being noticed by the Kraang or even a civilian with a wandering eye.
Getting to the rooftop of the warehouse wasn't easy, but it was done without being spotted or any alarm tripped. Finding a loose windowpane, the teens slowly lowered themselves into an attic of sorts. Lifting a ceiling panel out of the way, Leo peered down into an empty hallway. Motioning for his brothers to follow they dropped down into the long white corridor.
"Where to now?" asked Mikey innocently
"Down would be the most logical option," Donnie pointed out, "The Kraang were moving the boxes from the bottom floor to be shipped…somewhere."
"Yeah but how do we get down?" Raph snapped, "There are too many doors in here! How do we know where they lead?"
"There is only one way to find out." Leo stated
"Find a map?"
"No Mikey, we have to check each door." Donnie sighed, as if it was obvious even for Mikey to figure out.
With that, the boys split up, checking each door hoping that it would be the one to contain an elevator or ventilation shaft. Mikey wandered around the corner only to find a dozen Kraang droids headed towards his brothers. Sprinting back, he caught up with Raph who looked at him with a bored expression.
"Raph! There are Kraang robots headed this way!"
"Then keep your voice down," Raph clapped a hand over Mikey's mouth. "You want them to know we are here?"
With that, the two took off to find the others and alert them of the situation. Soon all four ninjas were running down the white hallway. That was, until they came to a dead end. This dead end, however, turned out to be an invisible wall that went unnoticed until Leo smashed his beak into it with full force. Not reacting in time, the boys all landed in a mess of limbs and weapons. Donnie was the last to land on the pile, and so he was the first up. He persisted in pulling Mikey with him into the nearest door, while Raph and Leo went through another. Still rubbing his snout, Leo looked around to find that they were in some sort of lab. Raph was closely looking at one of the interesting machines plugged into a large cylinder.
"Ahhh! This is Donnie's expertise!" Raph growled, "I have no idea what any of this stuff is!"
"I wouldn't doubt that he does, but he isn't in here." Leo was also eyeing a particularly odd machine with flashing lights and colorful buttons.
Raph began to press buttons randomly, "Raph!" Leo yelled, "What are you doing?"
"This is basically what Donnie does," was his reply, "He presses buttons until he hits the right one." Then, like magic, the next button he pushed must have been the correct one. The once completely metal cylinder in the room became transparent to reveal a floating figure submerged in pink liquid.
"What is tha…?" Leo began, "Is that a turtle?" Sure enough, this submerged figure did resemble a turtle, but not just an ordinary turtle.
"A mutant turtle?" Raph also questioned if his eyes deceived him
