TMNT – The Alien Agenda – Chapter 4 – Heroes
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Unsung hero: (noun) a person who makes a substantive yet unrecognized contribution;
a person whose bravery is unknown or unacknowledged.
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The Krang laboratory was immediately filled with hundreds of hot pink laser blasts; the noise reverberated off the walls and echoed around the circular room. It was enough to give less trained and less seasoned warriors shell shock. Of course, it didn't faze Karai, or the turtles. They were teenagers, but they certainly weren't "newbies" in battle.
Karai launched a knife into the metal skull of the nearest Krang droid before jumping onto its chest with both feet. Leo was engaging another bot, but smiled giddily to have Karai fighting alongside him. "Look! See?" he called happily to Raph. "She's on our side!"
"Are you even listening to yourself...?" Raph replied over the din.
Karai was running toward a trio of bots, keeping her head low and avoiding the laser fire. "I like your brother, Leo." She leaped over the heads of the bots, landed neatly behind them in her signature stance (right knee bent, left leg extended), and sliced through the abdomens of all three with one swing of her blade. The robots dropped like flies around her. "He's almost as entertaining as you."
Raph spun to face her with a frown, and a twitching robot hand skewered on one of his sai. "Oh, when this is over, I'll show you how entertaining I can be."
The noise in the room died down without warning. The five ninja all looked 'round, wondering what the cause for this sudden lull in laser fire could be. The turtles moved together, their backs to the wall, and watched dismayed as a huge laser cannon was wheeled into the lab, escorted by at least another dozen Krang. "Krang is now arriving to provide the help that has been requested by Krang."
"We're trapped!" Leo exclaimed.
"No...you're trapped," came that impish voice. The brothers looked past the Krang standing in front of them and saw Karai leaning causally against a console beneath the vat of mutagen. The Krang turned to face her, and they all saw the pointer finger of her left hand hovering over a square button. "What happens if I do...this," she said with relish. The turtles' eyes grew to the size of saucers.
"NO!" shouted Raph.
"Don't do that!" yelled Leo.
"Highly undesirable outcome," a Krang chimed in.
"Well now I gotta." Karai grinned devilishly behind her mask, and lowered her finger.
The square beneath her digit went from white and teal to red.
All around the circular room, black liquid began to shoot up the multicolored columns built into the wall. The DNA of all sorts of animals contained within the columns surged up, then across the ceiling and into the gigantic vat of mutagen; jellyfish, beetle, octopus, and viper, among others. Mikey held his head and screamed like a little girl as the "cat column" emptied its contents into the mixture.
Every creature in the room turned toward the vat and watched in horror as the rainbow of liquids combined with the glowing mutagen. Flashes of colored light lit up the room; steam and smoke began pouring off the now open top of the giant container. A large organism dragged itself up and over the vat's edge, landing on the floor with a wet splat. It was too obscured by billows of green smoke for anyone to determine what it looked like yet, but as it moved about the room, they could sense its enormity from the air it displaced.
Thick, muscled tentacles lashed out from the smoke and snatched one droid; then two; then one more. A huge tentacle shot out at Karai; she leaped out of its way and over to where the turtles stood as the smoke began to clear. The mutant looked like an octopus at its base with its eight appendages spread concentrically upon the floor. Above this was a bulbous, round, black...head?..with one eyeball the size of a beach-ball sticking out from either side. Behind these eyes were relatively small...bat wings? As Karai and the turtles stared at it, it gave a tiny kitten Mew.
"Awwww, he's so cute!" Mikey exclaimed.
He spoke a moment too soon. The dark, reddish-colored octopus base of its body stretched upward so that the creature was now at least 12 feet tall. The eyeballs that had previously been tucked close to its body were now outstretched on eight-foot optic nerves as thick as a man's arm. The main cavity of its...torso...split open into a gaping, triangular mouth; as it roared, its tongue lashed out between two viper fangs, each a foot long, protruding from the base of its orifice.
The Krang opened fire on the mutant. It seemed unaffected by the blasts and turned on them, moving with surprising speed toward its attackers. "Whoa! That is wicked!" Karai remarked as they watched it. "How the heck am I gonna name THIS?!" Mikey asked helplessly. That monstrosity would be a challenge to name, even for a "pro at namin' stuff" like Mikey.
"Good question," Karai replied as she picked up the Krang-less upper half of a droid that was lying on the floor near her feet and slung it over her shoulder. "Well, see ya." She leaped up onto the vat, then through the air across to the upper walkway that went around the room and led to the elevators and stairs. She pushed a button on a panel near the double doors to open them.
"You're not gonna help us beat this thing?!" Leo yelled up to her. "It's your fault!"
"I'll let the heroes handle it!" she called, hoisting the droid half against her back.
"I...I trusted you!"
"I know! That's messed up, right?" she acknowledged, and darted from the room.
Leo stood in shock. I can't believe she just DID that! He blinked, and his vision was filled with the mutant monster's eyes, which were, unexpectedly, crackling with electricity. Krang-bots appeared on Leo's right and left, shooting at the creature to no avail. Its tentacles smashed them easily before coming after Leo. He sprinted around the room, avoiding the bolts of hot pink electricity now shooting from the monster's eyes.
As the other turtles watched their leader being chased around the lab for a few moments, Raph asked Mike and Donnie, "So, guys, we all fans of Karai yet?" Donnie could answer that easily: "I don't know who she is, but I know I hate her!" They all dodged the pink bolts now coming their way.
The Krang's laser blasts were all directed at the ferocious mutant; fighting the turtles could wait. Raph caught up to Leo and grinned sarcastically at him as they ran. "Hey look, Leo! The Krang are on our side now!" Leo glared at him. "Save it!"
They could only avoid the creature for so long. A long tentacle caught Raph by the foot and wrapped around his body, lifting him into the air and constricting him. Raph managed to break himself free with his sai and strength, and landed unhurt on the floor. "Nice try, octo-punk!" Raph yelled. It smacked him sideways into the wall.
That gave Mikey an idea. "No, No!" he exclaimed excitedly. "Call him...Octo-Eyeball-JELLY-Bug!" He blinked, and his enthusiasm deflated. "Ehhh...let's just call him Justin." A tentacle threw him aside. Donnie shrieked; one of "Justin's" pink lightening bolts had hit its mark and electrocuted him for several seconds. When the contact was broken, Donnie dropped to the floor with his eyes closed and tongue hanging out.
Leo looked at his brothers: Donnie lay unconscious; Raph and Mikey were groaning on the floor, still too stunned from being thrown into the wall to get up. Leo looked away and frowned. "Raph's right. It is my fault."
Justin roared at Leo. Leo roared back, his eyes burning with rage. Justin looked startled.
Leo began running as the pink lightening, now anticipated, resumed shooting from Justin's eyes at him. Leo was too quick. He closed the gap between them and began striking the creature as hard and fast as he could, leaping back and forth to avoid the tentacles, and landing a hit or kick to its body with each pass.
A tentacle darted beneath Leo's feet and threw him high into the air of the cavernous room. On the way down, he crossed his swords over the top of the appendage and rode it like a zip-line all the way down to Justin's face (if it could be called a face). He landed on what he supposed was the top of its head and knocked it sideways so it hit the floor. The mutant was only stunned for a moment, but it gave Leo the opening he needed. By the time it righted itself he was in position.
"Hey, Justin!" He pointed a katana at it's head. "This ends now!"
As Leo expected, the monstrosity aimed its pink electro-ray at him. Leo caught the blast with his katana, his hand protected by the wood and leather of the hilt, and brought the hilt of his second katana to butt up against the first. Electricity surged through them both. Leo yelled with exertion as he stabbed the blade of the second sword into the console behind him, keeping both weapons perfectly aligned. The circuit closed, the electricity began surging through the console, the swords, and Justin's body into the floor.
Leonardo was thrown back as part of Justin's body exploded, but managed to land on his feet. What was left of the mutation was covered in green fire. It shrieked, ran into the wall, and disintegrated in a burst of smoke and flame.
Leo's mostly recovered brothers had gathered at his back. "HAH!" Mikey yelled and pointed at what was left of the monster. "Take THAT, Justin!"
The entire building shook; chunks of wall and ceiling began falling around them. The explosion was causing fires to break out and spread throughout the edifice. "C'mon, let's get out of here!" Leo called to his brothers, and led the way out of the burning structure.
The ninja made it to the fire escape of a building a safe distance from the flaming Worldwide Genome Project building. They watched as the fire burned through the roof and smoke poured into the night air. Sirens sounded in the distance. For a while, none of them said anything, but finally, Michelangelo, then Donatello, spoke up.
"Sooo..."
"We're thinking somebody should start talking."
Leo closed his eyes and sighed. This was not going to be fun.
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I'm SURE they can handle that...thing.
Karai ran through the halls to the roof of the building, where she could escape unseen and get the Krang-bot she'd scavenged back to Foot headquarters.
I've seen them fight – I know they're good. They should be able to destroy it, easily. At least, she hoped. But she certainly wouldn't have left Leonardo in a situation she thought he couldn't survive. I have too much respect for him to do that.
It wasn't the easiest thing, keeping out of sight and running silently with about sixty pounds of metal on her back, but she managed. I have to get this to Baxter Stockman and Xever – TONIGHT. My father's already in a foul mood, and will be until Splinter – and the turtles – are dead. Who knows how many corpses he'll leave in his wake when he's like this? He raised me to fight – and kill – without mercy...but I can see no justification in such needless deaths, simply because he is impatient to get to Splinter.
Karai felt a twinge of regret creep into her thoughts. Leo defended me...told his brother I was NOT bad news. She sighed. I guess he'll never see me that way again.
Her resolve grew stronger as she neared HQ. Tonight wasn't about me. It was about saving two lives from wasteful deaths. She frowned. I have no good name to uphold, anyway.
Karai bit her lip.
No matter what Leo thinks – or, thought - of me.
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(Thanks for reading! Helpful feedback/advice welcomed and appreciated! The next chapter will conclude "The Alien Agenda." I hope you'll like it! Also, the first episode Karai was in, "New Girl in Town," is the first fanfic I wrote, and comes before this one. If you haven't read it yet, doing so might help "The Alien Agenda" make a little more sense, since I do occasionally reference Leo and Karai's first meetings. It's really optional, though, not necessary to understand this one (I hope). Thanks again for reading!)