Chapter 9
Stranger Danger
The next few weeks passed in a blur of crazy missions, and strange happenings.
It started with Donnie training cockroaches to wear little security cameras and go spy on the Kraang for them.
Unfortunately, on the Spy-Roach's first mission it promptly fell into a vat of mutagen, causing the spy gear it bore to take on a cybernetic quality and for it to grow ten times its original size.
All this would not have been as big an issue, if the roach hadn't decided it wanted to kill Raph for trying to squish it earlier, and began pursuing him relentlessly.
Add to that the fact that the red wearing ninja was deathly afraid of cockroaches and was utterly terrified of this new cyber-roach that was out for his blood, and the Hamato teens had been in for a wild night.
"Did you really have to make your spy bug a cockroach?" Miwa had to ask as she and Donnie watched Raph run away screaming from the giant cyborg bug.
"Scientifically speaking, cockroaches are an evolutionary marvel, what with the way they are hard to kill, and seem to get into everywhere and everything. So I thought that would make them ideal for spying purposes," Donnie explained, trying to look innocent.
Miwa sent him a look that told him that she was not at all fooled. "And you wanted to freak Raph out."
Donnie sent her a sheepish grin. "Well… at the time, it seemed like a bonus."
Unfortunately, the Spy-Roach couldn't have picked a worse time to go rogue. The Kraang were hatching a plan to use a giant laser to drill into the Earth's crust, causing the city to become a sight for a new volcano. They needed all hands on deck to stop them, which was hard to do with Raph cowering every time the insect came close.
It wasn't until the roach attacked Mikey instead of Raph, that the ninja was able to muster up the courage to fight back against it (no stupid bug was going to hurt his baby brother on his watch). Thanks to this, he was able to defeat the roach, as well as destroy the laser almost single-handed.
When they got back to the dojo afterwards, Miwa convinced Donnie to fake orders for hundreds of trucks of cement to go fill the hole the next day.
When asked why, she pointed out, "We stopped the drill, but they came pretty close to cracking the crust. If we don't get it filled up, they could probably finish the job on their own with shovels."
No one could argue with that, and as an added bonus, Donnie managed to pay for the cement by hacking one of TCRI's bank accounts. The Kraang ended up having to pay for the clean up of their own mess.
The next crazy things that happened was more encounters with Dogpound and Fishface.
One such encounter happened when the teenagers were spying on the Kraang, and Donatello identified their newest weapon as a Subspacial Endoparticle Disrupter, which in the Kraangs hands was very bad news.
Bad news that apparently went 'Zwee-Choo-Pop' as it seemed to shrink whatever it blasted into nothing.
Knowing they couldn't leave a weapon like that in the Kraang's possession, the five teenagers had prepared themselves to go steal it from the aliens, only to see Dogpound and Fishface with a patrol of Foot Ninja charging in to do the exact same thing.
After that, the fight became pretty much a free-for-all, as the teens fought the evil mutants and the Kraang, the mutants and their ninja flunkies fought the teens and tried to steal the Disrupter, and the Kraang just tried to shoot at everybody.
While everyone was busy fighting each other, Miwa managed to sneak over to the truck holding the Disrupter and swipe it, leaving a some trash she'd found in a nearby alley that had a similar shape to replace the weapon.
She then got to watch as a Kraang grabbed the weapon up and attempt to fire it at them, only to look down in confusion when it didn't work.
Thinking it had malfunctioned, the Kraang jumped into their van, and drove away. With no weapon to fight over, and police sirens drawing near, the teens and the Foot members bolted. They'd continue the fight another day.
"This stinks, they got away with the Disrupter thingy," said Mikey, looking at the former fight scene from a nearby alley as police crawled all over it trying to make sense of what had happened.
Miwa smirked behind her scarf. "Or did they?" she asked, pulling the Disrupter out of where she'd stashed it.
Her brothers gaped, and Mikey squealed in delight. "You're the best, sis," he said cheerfully.
Miwa laughed. "I know, but I'm still not going to let you shoot it."
"Worth a try," said Mikey with a shrug.
The next time they ran into the two evil mutants, they were lured into a trap designed by Stockman. Unfortunately for the mutants, Stockman didn't intend for any of them to leave alive, so they were at the mercy of Stockman's weapons as well.
For an incompetent goof of a scientist, Stockman managed to make a Maze of Doom that could actually make good on the doom part if they weren't careful.
In desperation to get out of there alive, the teen ninjas and the evil mutants agreed to a truce until they escaped and stuck it to Stockman for putting them in there.
During their travel through the labyrinth that Stockman had created, they ended up getting separated when a magnetic wall suddenly shot up, cutting Raph and Miwa off from the rest, and leaving them stuck with only Fishface for company.
As the three of them went through the maze dodging traps, they learned Fishface's back-story. How he was an orphaned thief who had impressed the Shredder with his skills and ruthlessness, thus leading to his employment to the man.
He also tried to make Raph uncomfortable by pointing out that the two had a good bit in common, such as a hot temper, a love for the fight, and a dislike of following orders from those like Leo and Dogpound.
But once he had told them all this, he began subtly pumping the two for information. Information they refused to give until he asked why Miwa had turned the Shredder's offer to join him down.
"Because he murdered my clan, and killed my mother," Miwa replied coldly, only having to lie about the latter.
After the arrival of the Shredder in New York, Yoshi had subtly sent out messages through secret channels to be found by their hidden clan mates, calling for their aide. Only to discover to his horror that the Shredder had spent the last fifteen years ruthlessly hunting them all to extinction. The five Hamato teens and their parents were the very last of their clan who were still alive.
Fishface frowned. "He killed Tang Shen?" he asked doubtfully. "Are you certain? I was always told that it was Hamato Yoshi that had killed her."
Miwa's face hardened. She knew Fishface was trying to instill doubt in her head. Trying to turn her against her family and join the Shredder. But she was far from fooled. She had heard the story from both her parents, and had seen the scars marring her mother's back with her own eyes. There was no doubt who was to blame for it, and it sure as heck wasn't her father.
But all she said to Fishface was "Yes, I'm certain. The Shredder lied to you about that."
The fish mutant hummed as he thought over that information. "That is cold. But it doesn't matter to me. The Shredder is my Master, and I suppose I can no more stop following him than you can stop following yours."
"I wouldn't be so sure about that," said Raph gruffly, not liking all the attention the fish had been giving his sister. "So the Shredder got you out of some prison time. Big deal. There's nothing really stopping you from just going to some beach and leaving to find Atlantis or something where he can't find you. Far as I'm concerned, you don't owe him anything, and you don't really strike me as the type who's big on loyalty. So why stick around?"
Fishface glared at the red wearing ninja. "I have my reasons," he said firmly, and that was that.
Eventually they met back up with their brothers and Dogpound, and went to where the tracker Donnie built told them Stockman was hiding.
Working together the Hamatos and the mutants managed to send Stockman fleeing with his tail between his legs. By the time they were done with that fight, both parties were too exhausted to continue their battle, and decided to take a rain check on their fight for another day. Despite this, Fishface still attempted to throw a cheap shot at Leo's back as they left, only to be stopped by Raph's sai.
They returned home to find Yoshi in the dojo with April, and watched as the girl tried and failed to make use of some of the weapons in their collection.
Miwa stifled a giggle as April attempted to swing a weighted chain, only for the weapon to fly out of her hand and hit Donnie on the head, knocking him out cold. Her brothers had no such reservations, and once they were sure Donnie was okay they began laughing at the redhead's misfortune, making her very miffed at them.
"How long have you been at this?" she asked her father in amusement.
Yoshi sighed. "Since you left," he admitted. "April wishes to have her own weapon to train with. And with the Kraang after her, that may be a wise thing to have more to defend herself than just her fists. But so far, every weapon she had tried has been ill suited for her."
Miwa tapped her chin. A weapon for April to use, that was a hard one. Miwa had to admit she still didn't know what to make of the redhead even after the few weeks she'd known her. Miwa didn't have many friends outside her clan, and being able to talk about ninjutsu with another girl was a novelty that she felt she could get used to. Not to mention the way Donnie would light up whenever April was around (and inevitably make a fool of himself, much to her amusement). At the moment, that was all their relationship was, a novelty to Miwa, and she was not sure when she would be able to accept the girl as anything more than that. It wasn't easy to shake off sixteen years of secrecy and deception that came with the life of a ninja to let in someone new. But in order to keep that novelty, they needed a way to make sure April wouldn't get carted off by the Kraang the second they turned their back.
Which brought her back to the weapon problem.
Just then, an idea occurred to Miwa, and she snapped her fingers and made her way out of the dojo.
"Let me go get something," she called over her shoulder, making her family and April stare after her in confusion.
She came running back a few minutes later holding something in her hand which she held out for April to see.
"Father made this for me when I was still a baby," she said, Yoshi's eyes lighting up as he realized what she had. "But I always liked the tantō more, so I ended up not using it much. Which is a shame, really, it's a good weapon. Maybe you can have a better use for it."
Miwa gave a flick of her wrist, and a metal fan unfolded in her hands, showing the Hamato crest.
"It's beautiful," said April as she admired the tessen.
Miwa nodded. "Yup, but also-" she paused and threw the tessen like a Frisbee so that it embedded itself into the wall between Mikey and Leo's heads, making the two yelp and jump back. "-dangerous."
"I think we found my weapon," said April with a wide smile. She turned to the other girl and gave her a hug, "Thanks, Miwa."
Miwa shrugged it off, but was secretly glad she could do this to help Donnie's little crush defend herself. She hated to think of how he would react should anything happen to her.
But deep down, she couldn't help but feel a bit hurt her father hadn't protested her giving the tessen he'd made specifically for his daughter to someone else.
Another day, another stakeout on TCRI.
After their failed attempt to take out the portal, it had become a habit of theirs to spend their evenings studying the building, making note of everything they saw the Kraang do, and trying to find some weak point to allow them to break back in and take another crack at the portal.
Leatherhead was hard pressed to even move from their lookout spots, and more often than not the ninja teens had to bring him up his meals because he had not left a stakeout all day. The gator used to stalk April in her daily life in order to protect her from the Kraang, but after they all explained how that was creepy and for the most part unnecessary, since the five of them went to school and hung out with her anyway. Plus, April's Aunt had spotted him one night and had freaked out before April convinced her that it was just a trick of the light.
So with protecting April out of his hands, the mutant gator spent most of his time and energy focusing on taking down the Kraang (though April did report that she had noticed him still following her sometimes on weekends).
Usually staking out TCRI was pretty boring, but this particular night the storage device Donnie had decrypted said there was supposed to be some sort of shipment coming through the portal, and they were determined to find out what it was.
At first TCRI looked how it did every night, just a tall, oddly shaped tower in the city skyline. But then the entire roof lit up with an eerie purple light, and a set of hanger doors on the front of it slid open and something flew out.
"A Stealth Ship," said Leatherhead with a growl as he recognized it.
The five teens looked the ship over critically. It was rounded with domes on the top and bottom, and tentacles dangling out of bottom dome. The entire ship was silver with glowing pink lines and what looked like a large eye in the front.
It was creepy looking, sure, but not all that subtle.
"On what planet is something like that stealthy?" Miwa asked, voicing what she and her brothers had been thinking.
Before Leatherhead could answer, the ship seemed to spot them, and a blast like pink lightning shot out at them. The ninjas and the gator scattered, avoiding the blast.
They tried to vanish from sight, but the ship started scanning the area, and would always find them again no matter where they hid.
Leo ordered his siblings and Leatherhead to get underground to avoid the scanner. He then rushed off to draw the ship's attention while they opened the way.
Leatherhead pulled the manhole cover open, and they all dived in. Raph hung back at the edge, and called to Leo, "Come On!"
Leo meanwhile was jumping and dodging the ship's blaster, using the walls of the alley as a springboard to launch himself away from the blasts.
But despite his best efforts, he still found himself cornered in the alley, with the ship's eye glaring down at him menacingly.
The eye lit up as it prepared to fire, but before it could blast Leo to bits, a streak of red light struck the ship with enough force to make the ship change its direction and miss its shot.
Leo wasted no time darting past the ship and running towards the manhole where Raph was still waiting for him.
But Raph wasn't looking at him anymore, his eyes were focused on a nearby roof where the blast that had saved Leo had come from.
Leo spared a glance at the roof, and saw a large shadowy figure standing there holding some type of gun.
But neither teen had time to dwell on who the figure was, because the ship had righted itself and was now closing in on them again.
Leo and Raph leapt down into the sewers, and shoved the manhole cover back in place.
From a storm drain across the street, they watched as the ship attempted to scan for them again. Apparently finding nothing it flickered and vanished from sight.
"And that is why it's called a Stealth Ship," said Leatherhead, angry that there had been so little they could do against it.
"Oh great," said Raph sarcastically, scanning the sky for the now invisible ship. "'Cause it wasn't scary enough when we could see it."
Leo angled himself so he could look up at the rooftop with the figure again, only to find that whoever had saved him had vanished.
"Who was that guy?" he asked mostly to himself.
The next night Donnie rigged up sonar devices for them to plant on rooftops around the city. Using the sonar, they planned to track the invisible ship try to take it down using the Shellraiser.
As Leo was placing the last beacon on its rooftop, he became aware that someone was behind him.
In a swift movement, Leo unsheathed his katana and wheeled around.
Standing in a dark area across the rooftop was a shadowy figure.
"If I was here to fight you, you'd be dead already," the figure growled with a Japanese accented voice.
But Leo didn't lower his guard, and instead glared at the figure in the shadows. "Who are you?" he demanded.
Slowly, the shadowy figure stepped into the light, and Leo had to gape in shock at what he saw.
It was another mutant. A tiger mutant to be exact. He was standing almost as tall as Leatherhead, armed to the teeth with all sorts of weaponry, and what looked like a jetpack strapped to his back.
The tiger smirked at the sight of his shocked expression. "Not what you were expecting," he asked rhetorically.
Leo picked his jaw up off the ground, and looked at the tiger suspiciously. "Who are you, and what do you want?" he asked, still keeping his swords ready if the mutant turned hostile.
"I am called Tiger Claw, young cub," the mutant replied with a slight bow. "And what I seek is information."
Leo shifted uneasily. "What kind of information?" he asked hesitantly
"Information about the creatures you and your comrades fought against last night," Tiger Claw replied bluntly.
Leo's eyes widened, then were drawn to one of the guns holstered at the tiger's hip. "It was you!" he said in realization. "You saved me from that ship last night!"
"Indeed," said the tiger, seeming indifferent about the fact. "What can you tell me about those creatures that were piloting that flying machine?"
Leo hesitated, and the mutant added, "I only ask because it holds key information as to what happened to me as a boy," His face darkened. "I was once as human cub as yourself, but events in my past led me to be transformed into this." He gestured towards his mutant body. "Fortunately, a man took me in, and trained me to be who I am today. But I wish to know why this happened to me, and who the culprits of it were."
Leo slowly lowered his swords just a bit. Just enough that he could bring them up again in an instant, but low enough he no longer appeared as hostile.
"They're called the Kraang," he explained slowly. "They're an alien race from another dimension who came here to take over. They were the ones who created the mutagen that changed you. We think they plan to use it to mutate the entire planet so that they can live here… and we can't."
Tiger Claw stroked his chin thoughtfully. "Then they are your enemy?" he asked.
"They're the enemy of everyone who lives on this planet," said Leo, gesturing to the city for emphasis. "If they mutate the Earth like they plan to, the air will turn toxic and monsters will run rampant. Everyone on the planet will die."
"And the reason they mutated me?" Tiger Claw asked, looking at Leo expectantly.
Leo shrugged, not really knowing the answer to that. "Probably as an experiment. I've met some other mutants they've done stuff like that to. Just be glad you got away from them as a kid. They're completely merciless to the mutants they keep ahold of," he said, thinking of how Leatherhead had the scars to prove it that for a fact.
The tiger continued to ponder Leo's words, before turning to leave. "Thank you for the information, cub."
"Raion," Leo called after him, giving him the codename he went by on missions when he had to give out a name, similar to how Miwa went by Karai. Aside from her, they all had code names based on the meanings in their real names.
Tiger Claw glanced back at him.
Leo shrugged again. "You saved my life, so I owe you. The least I can do is give you is a name to call me other than 'cub'."
The tiger nodded, and leapt out of sight.
Later that evening, the five Hamato teens were in the Shellraiser driving through the city. Leatherhead decided to stay behind and keep a look out at TCRI, in case the Kraang brought anything else nasty over from their dimension.
As they drove around the city, Leo told his siblings about his conversation with Tiger Claw.
"Aw, he named himself," moaned Mikey in disappointment once Leo was finished. "That's not fair. I'm the one who names stuff."
Raph glared at his pouting little brother. "Seriously, that's all you got out of it?" he asked incredulously.
"So what was your take on him?" Miwa asked Leo, focusing on more important matters.
Leo shook his head. "I don't really know," he said. "He saved my life last night, and he really did seem to want to know about the Kraang, and what they had to do with his past, but…"
"But?" Donnie asked as Leo trailed off.
Leo frowned at the steering wheel as he tried to put his impression into words. "There was just something, I don't know, off about him. And I don't mean the fact he was a giant cat. It just felt like there was something he wasn't saying, and I can't shake the feeling that whatever it is was important."
"So we'll keep an eye out for him," said Raph sullenly. "As if we didn't have enough to worry about."
Leo gave his brother a shrug, "Maybe I'm just being paranoid. He could really be a nice guy. Er, maybe."
"A 'nice' giant tiger man who walks around armed with guns strong enough to make an impact on a Kraang Stealth Ship," Miwa pointed out in a deadpan tone. "Please, as if we're ever that lucky."
Donnie took that moment to remind them of the mission at hand. "Guys, I think I've got something. It doesn't match any authorized flight patterns. It's gotta be the Kraang ship."
"Or Santa," said Mikey brightly.
The Shellraiser sped around the corner to find the Stealth Ship hovering in the air as if waiting for them.
"Nope, it's the Kraang ship," said Mikey in disappointment. "That's a bummer."
Leo immediately had to floor it, as the Kraang ship geared up to fire at them. As they sped through the streets, Miwa did her best to take aim with the garbage cannon. A tricky thing to do since they kept swerving all over the place to avoid getting blasted. She eventually managed to get a few hits, but the compressed garbage only bounced off the ship harmlessly.
"I am really starting to hate this thing," Miwa growled once she knew her attacks were useless.
Unfortunately, they drove into a dead end while trying to escape it, and became trapped.
The ship bore down on them, and began blasting at the rear of the Shellraiser. The vehicle shook with the force of the blast, and the teenagers knew it was only a matter of time till it broke through and fried them.
Just as things were beginning to look bleak, once again a red blast shot from a neighboring roof and hit the ship hard. Startled, the Kraang piloting the ship began veering left and right trying to avoid more blasts like the last one.
Leo's eyes widened at what he saw from the monitors in his station. "That was Tiger Claw," he said in surprise.
Wasting no time, he used the opportunity the mutant had provided to drive the Shellraiser back out of the alley, and away from the ship. "Miwa, take the wheel," he ordered, unbuckling himself.
The oldest Hamato jumped into the driver's seat, and took over their speedy get away.
"What are you doing?" Raph asked as Leo jumped into Raph's Stealth Bike that was attached under the Shellraiser.
"Repaying a debt," said Leo, as he disengaged the bike, and took off after the Kraang ship.
"Is he crazy?" Raph had to ask his remaining siblings.
Donnie and Mikey both shrugged at him, and looked like they wouldn't be surprised if he was.
"He just doesn't want to keep owing a guy we can't be sure we can trust," Miwa explained, understanding the reason behind Leo's actions. "It's an honor thing."
Meanwhile, Leo was speeding back towards the stealth ship. Tiger Claw was still shooting at the ship, but the Kraang had caught on to him and were preparing to blast him to smithereens. To avoid the blast, the tiger leapt from his rooftop perch into the alley below, narrowly escaping being fried.
Leo pulled the Stealth Bike up next to him. "Get on!" he yelled.
Glancing up at the Stealth Ship, which was targeting them in its sights again, Tiger Claw gripped the back of Leo's seat and he crouched on the back plating of the bike. With the tiger perched behind him, Leo revved the bike, and shot back out of the alley, leaving the ship in his dust.
"My thanks, young Raion," Tiger Claw said once the ship was out of sight.
Leo nodded to him. "Now we're even."
Leo didn't stop driving until he was certain he'd lost the Stealth Ship, and then pulled to a stop in a deserted alley.
Tiger Claw stepped down from the Stealth Bike, and looked down at the young ninja.
"Why'd you save us again?" Leo asked.
"I have my reasons," Tiger Claw said. "I also needed to speak with you again about our common enemy. I believe I have a way of getting rid of your current UFO problem. That is, if you are interested."
Leo frowned, contemplating this. "I'd like my whole team here for this, if you don't mind," he said finally.
Tiger Claw actually smirked at that. "The more the merrier."
One quick phone call later, the other four Hamato teens joined them in the alley.
Once they'd all gathered, Leo decided to make introductions. "Tiger Claw, these are my teammates. Guys, this is Tiger Claw."
Mikey smiled at the tiger and waved in a friendly fashion. "Hi, I'm Tenshi."
Donnie gave a small bow to him. "I'm Gifuto."
Raph only nodded his head. "Iyasa," he said in a guarded tone.
"I'm called Karai," said Miwa. She then looked over the tiger mutant, and noticed that he was missing something. "I thought tigers had tails," she said in a teasing tone.
Tiger Claw's face darkened. "Don't mock me, child," he said scathingly. "It was a rival who sliced off my tail. One day I will find it. And he will PAY the price!"
His face then cleared, and he regarded the five teens seriously. "Now for your problem with the Kraang, I do believe I can help you with it."
The teens exchanged looks, before looking back up at the tiger. "How?" asked Raph skeptically. "We threw everything we had at that thing, and none of it even left a scratch."
"Yes, I saw your 'weapons'," replied Tiger Claw in a tone that said he didn't think very highly of them. "But I know where to find more useful weaponry which are far more likely to cause some damage, if you are willing to get them."
Miwa frowned. "What's the catch?" she asked skeptically.
"The weapons are part of an illegal shipment, being carted off to criminals within the city. To get what you need, we would have to steal it from them from them," he replied.
"We, so you're going along with it?" asked Donnie, raising an eyebrow. "Why? What's in this for you?"
Tiger Claw gave them a grin showing off his sharp teeth. "The chance to pay the aliens back for what they did to me all those years ago," he said sinisterly. "The shipment is at the docks tomorrow night. Meet me there if you wish."
With that, the tiger mutant swept out of the alley and out of sight, leaving the teens to mull over his offer.
Mikey shuddered. "Dudes, is it just me, or was that guy even scarier than the Stealth Ship?" he squeaked.
"It's not just you, Tenshi," Donnie agreed, thinking it might not yet be safe to use their real names (tigers, like all cats, had very good hearing after all). Taking the hint, they all started climbing to the roofs to gets some distance from the alley, and any listening ears that might be lingering.
"You were right, Leo," Donnie continued once they were a safe distance away. "There's definitely something not right about Tiger Claw, and I don't mean the fact that he's a mutant."
"Mutants can be nice," said Mikey. "Look at Leatherhead."
Raph let out a snort. "Yeah, with the way our lives are going, being around mutants both good and bad is almost becoming normal."
"Now there's a scary thought," Miwa added in amusement. "Still, if he can get us something to take down that ship, it might be worth a look."
Mikey nodded. "Yeah, and who knows. His off-ness might just be from how much he doesn't like the Kraang. What do you think, Leo?" he directed his question at their leader.
The other three looked at Leo as well, and his expression hardened as he came to a decision. "Here's what I think," he said, and his siblings all gathered close to hear his plan.
The next night, the five Hamato teens cautiously approached the docks, keeping their eyes peeled for Tiger Claw or any arms dealers wandering around.
But the docks were deserted. No sign of criminals or a mutant tiger anywhere in sight. Just lots of crates, boats, and water.
When they paused their search by the water's edge, Mikey turned to the others and asked, "Hey guys, do you get the feeling this is a-?"
Suddenly the dark docks were flooded with light, as spotlights mounted on the containers were suddenly turned on.
"-A trap," Raph finished for Mikey as he shifted into a defensive stance, sarcasm dripping from his every word. "Gee, I don't know, you tell me."
Mikey looked around at the bright area, and saw Foot Ninja surrounding them at all side, and Dogpound and Fishface leering at them among the ranks.
"Definitely a trap," he said with a nod.
Raph slapped himself on the forehead and groaned.
"Welcome, ninjas," said Tiger Claw, striding into view, the Foot Ninja parting so he could pass, and a large weapon held carelessly in his hand. "So good of you to join us."
"So this was all a set up," Leo said as he and his siblings glared at the cat, not really that surprised by the fact.
"It is," said a voice they had been dreading to hear.
The Shredder stepped into view next to Tiger Claw, looking at the teens impassively.
"Excellent work, Tiger Claw. Exactly what I would expect from my second in command," the Shredder told the feline as he eyed the five teenagers before him, his gaze lingering on Miwa too long to be comfortable, making the girl shudder.
"I live to serve, Master Shredder," said Tiger Claw with a small bow to his master.
"You pretended to be on our side to lure us here, I get that. But all that talk about hating the Kraang, that was a lie?" Leo had to ask.
The tiger smirked as he turned his attention back to the teens. "No, not entirely. I do resent those disgusting creatures for all that they've done to me. If it is any consolation, I intend to shoot their ship down with this," he held up the weapon in his hand, showing them a shoulder fired missile launcher. He then rested it on his shoulder and aimed it towards the boys, leaving Miwa enough room to dodge if she wanted. "After I use it on you, of course."
Far from being intimidated, Leo smirked at the mutant. "Good thing we brought our own secret weapon."
On cue, Leatherhead burst from the water behind them, roaring viciously at the assembled bad guys.
Taking advantage of their enemies' surprise, the five teens shot forward and began fighting off the assembled Foot, making it impossible for Tiger Claw to get a clear shot.
As they fought, Donnie's cell phone began beeping. "The Kraang ship is nearby!" he called to the others.
"Great, just when I thought this couldn't get worse!" Raph called back as he threw a Foot Ninja into five others, knocking them down like bowling pins.
"Get the missile launcher from Tiger Claw!" Leo ordered as he disarmed a Ninja and kicked him into Fishface. "It's our best bet for taking it down!"
The Kraang ship appeared in the sky, and began firing at the teens. They were able to dodge the blasts, but the opponents they were fighting were not always as lucky, and soon there were far fewer Foot Ninjas in fighting condition at the docks.
But nothing stopped the Shredder as he relentlessly went after the teenagers. It got to the point that Raph, Mikey, and Donnie had to team up just to have a slight chance against him, but despite that the Shredder still appeared to be winning.
Meanwhile, Miwa and Leatherhead were facing off against Dogpound and Fishface, and appeared to be doing just fine at holding their own.
Leo, on the other hand, had focused his attention on Tiger Claw. More specifically getting the missile launcher from him.
"You were fools to come here," Tiger Claw taunted, as he and Leo had their swords locked against each other, the tiger pushing the boy back with his superior strength. "Even with your reptilian freak helping you, you will still die here today."
Leo scowled at the insult to their friend. "Who are you calling a freak, freak?" he asked. With a final grunt of effort, he managed to disarm the tiger, and land a solid kick to his face.
Snatching up the missile launcher before the cat could recover, Leo climbed to the top of a pile of storage crates, and took aim at the stealth ship. Once he had a lock on the ship he fired, sending the missile at the metallic killing machine, before quickly having to duck as Tiger Claw leapt at him again.
The missile hit the ship and it was shot out of the sky. The now burning wreck started descending towards the docks below trailing smoke behind it as it fell.
As it went down it became clear it would crash on the spot where Raph, Donnie, and Mikey were fighting against the Shredder. The three teens bolted when they saw it coming and were able to dodge the falling ship.
The Shredder, on the other hand, didn't budge, and was plowed over by the wreckage and knocked into the river along with it.
At the sight of their master being thrown into the water by a crashing space ship, his hench-mutants abandoned their fights, and dove into the river to rescue him.
Taking that as their opportunity to escape, the five Hamato teens and their alligator friend vanished into the night. Their mission accomplished for now.
But if they had stayed just a few minutes longer, they would have seen the Shredder emerge from the water alive, and relatively unharmed. They also would have seen that he managed to retrieve a still living Kraang from the wreckage, and heard his intent to take it back with him for interrogation.
A/N I brought in Tiger Claw a bit early, and he was the mysterious figure stalking the teens. Without Karai, the Shredder needed someone else to be his second in command, and in his search for one he found Tiger Claw sooner than he did in the show. Another thing with Miwa stealing the Subspacial Endoparticle Disrupter, it was to explain why the turtles had one at the finale. The Kraang drove off with it in the show, but they suddenly had one when they tried to blow up the portal, it's a bit of a plot hole, that or I'm missing something. We also get a peek inside Miwa's head about April. She mostly puts ups with her for Donnie's sake, but isn't too sure of her own opinion on her yet. The two aren't exactly friends, and Miwa has her reasons for keeping April at a distance, which you'll see eventually.
Also, if you hadn't noticed, up until this point, the Hamatos avoided saying any names while they were in fights, or places they could be overheard by the enemy. This is an added precaution to keeping their identities secret. Donnie has some programs set up on the internet to keep the Shredder from finding them that way, but with their first names they'd stand out a lot more. I tried to be clever about the codenames, each of them is Japanese and has a tie to the meaning of their real names. Leonardo means Lion-Bold, and Raion is Japanese for Lion. Raphael means God has Healed, and Iyasa is Japanese for Healed. Donatello means Gift from God, and Gifuto is Japanese for Gift. And Michelangelo means Who is like God an Angel, and Tenshi is Japanese for Angel. What do you think?
Brittany, I read every review I get, and they are the main thing to motivate me to write. Thank you for leaving reviews, but if you want me to answer every one please sign in so that I can reply to your reviews directly.
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