"So I guess the Mutanimals keep growing." Raph said as he ran the rooftops with Leo, Aaliyah, Karai, Casey and his girlfriend Jennifer. "The Mutanimals are taking the night off of to get Hawlita set up in their lair."
"They're growing just like you guys are." Jennifer said with a small smile. "Though I guess they're growing a bit more."
"Yeah, I guess you got a point there." Raph agreed.
"Sometimes that's a good thing." Karai said. She wasn't sure when it happened but she was finding it hard not to find herself getting fond of her brothers and their girlfriends. Add Casey on top of that, as well as the Mutanimals and their new friends Adelita and Angel, and it was becoming a full house. "It sounds weird but I'm finding it a little harder every day to be so…detached from all of you."
"Score." Casey laughed. "We're growing on you. It's that pea pod that Mikey put under your mattress. You fell asleep, and that's when we get you."
Karai looked at him blankly. Jennifer did as well and then the kunoichi said to the blonde, "And then sometimes it's a good thing that some of us don't know what some others are talking about." That elicited a small giggle from the lithe blonde.
They had just landed on another rooftop when several laser blasts caused all of them to have to scatter backwards. They saw Tiger Claw land on the rooftop, accompanied by Hector and Rahzar. "Well, we went looking for a fragment but found some reptiles."
"And a pretty little girl." Hector added with a leer at Jennifer that made her shrink back a little and actually seemed to piss of Karai.
"What the hell am I, chopped liver?" Casey asked.
"Like that's a compliment." Raph reminded his friend.
"We're going to put you out of our misery, once and for all." Tiger Claw vowed.
Meanwhile Mikey, Donnie, April and Renet were following a signal that had come up, one that could possibly be a fragment of the eye of sarnath. They decided to make sure what they were really finding before calling the others together.
"You really sure you want me around for this?" Renet asked them. "I mean I'm not really a fighter."
"You're not defenseless either." April reminded the apprentice time mistress. "You've proven that time and again. You're still the only one to have ever deflected that black burn thing that Fulcanelli tried to use."
"Too which I am still eternally grateful for." Mikey added. Renet had to giggle at the huge grin on his face.
"Try to keep it down." Donnie said to them. "Remember we don't know what we're going to be running into down here."
They had gotten a few more feet down the tunnel, which both Donnie and April recognized was pretty close to not only the location where the Kraang had been bringing in Kraathatrogon's onto Earth but also where they had their first confrontation with Rat King's rat mutants. Mikey shook his head. "I think my brain must be fried, I'm hearing this buzzing sound." He said.
Donnie thought it was probably a good thing Raph wasn't here to capitalize on their younger brother's words. Then he realized that Mikey was right, they could hear buzzing. And it somehow sounded familiar.
April thought so too. "That sounds like wasps…uh oh." She started and as they turned the corner to see Parasiticaqueen in that area now. She seemed to be nursing a dozen wasp eggs. "Not again." The red head sighed.
"How is she doing that?" Donnie wondered. "She shouldn't be able to nurse those eggs; they'd eat her upon hatching." He remembered that she had worked with another mutant named Snake Eyes to take control over the adults of New York to tend her eggs and be their meal upon awakening. He didn't see the cobra mutant though.
"I think that's how." Renet interrupted quietly as she pointed to the corner, where there was a small generator that used to be what opened up the Kraang portal. Donnie couldn't be sure how but wires were connected between the eggs and the generator. And powering the generator was none other than a fragment to the eye of sarnath.
"We have to get that away from her." April said. "Hopefully before those eggs hatch."
"Agreed." Donnie said. He glanced around for a moment. "Okay, April and I will try to make out way stealthily to the generator and take out the eye of sarnath." He looked to Renet and Mikey. "You two stay here. Get ready to attack when we get that fragment or if we somehow screw up the stealth maneuvers."
"You got it dude." Mikey said. He watched as his purple masked brother and their first human friend then started to sneak to some debris and toward the generator. So far Parasiticaqueen seemed oblivious but the orange masked turtle was smart enough to know how quickly that could change.
Tiger Claw landed and drew two swords, a katana and a short sword before charging at Leo and Raph. Both turtles drew their weapons and blocked the tiger assassin's strike. Facing off against the mutant tiger was not Raph's favorite idea if Hector was around to threaten his girl though.
Rahzar dashed at Casey and Aaliyah and tried to take off both of their heads, but the vigilante and female turtle managed to duck and roll under the attack. Both of them turned to face down the double mutated dog man. "Always wanted to fight a zombie wolf." Casey remarked.
That did unfortunately leave Jennifer to face off against Hector. As much as her fighting skills had improved she still found she couldn't shake the fear that seeing the man who had tormented and abused her for years always brought to the surface. She took out her batons and got ready to try to fight.
Hector laughed as he shifted into a large mantis like creature. "Such nice little toys, sweet girl." He said lustily. "I know exactly what to do with those." The blonde shuddered in fear at his comment.
"She's not the only one you have to contend with." Karai said as she jumped in front of Jennifer with her tonta raised. That lasted only a moment before she leapt up and kicked the shifting mutant straight in the chest. The kunoichi thought she heard a couple of his ribs crack and found some comfort in that.
"If I bring you back to Shredder I'll get a huge reward." Hector laughed. "I just hope he doesn't mind if you're missing a few pieces."
Karai laughed at him too. "You think you have what it takes to take some of my pieces, feel free to try." She taunted him. He tried to use the scythe arm to chop her in half but the kunoichi dodged the attack easily.
Jennifer followed through by bringing one of her batons straight down on his face. Rather his nose broke from the impact or not was hard to say but some blood did come from his nostrils. He looked at her furiously. "You have some nerve to hit me, you stupid little sl…" He started to yell.
Karai came right down and delivered a kick across his jaw. "You watch what you say to my friend…brother's girlfriend." She responded. Jennifer never the less caught Karai's original statement and felt some pride in that.
Raph felt a bit better knowing that Karai had his blonde girlfriend's back. That made it easier for him to minimize the trouble that he and his older brother were having with Tiger Claw. The fact they hadn't lost their weapons while fighting the tiger assassin was a pyrrhic victory in itself.
Casey and Aaliyah were having an easy time dodging Rahzar's attacks but attacking him was proving a bit difficult. The female turtle got a good snap kick to the mutant's jaw but he only roared at her in frustration.
Hector lashed out at Karai and she blocked it with her tonta. She then brought her knee up straight into his face. Jennifer swung her leg out and against his ankles to bring her former tormentor down onto his back. As Karai moved in to try to bring her weapon down on into his chest he shifted into a large snake and slithered away for a moment before taking his seemingly preferred mantis form.
Tiger Claw shot his ice laser and struck Raph in the chest hard. The red masked turtle fell to the ground and had some ice form on his chest. "One turtle down." Tiger Claw gloated.
"We'll see about that you overgrown fur ball." Raph growled even as he started to chip at the ice with his sais.
With that Tiger Claw turned his attention to Leo. "Just you and me now, reptile." He said.
Leo got his katana ready for combat. "Let's go then Tiger Claw."
Donnie and April easily found their way to the generator. Donnie looked at the hookups. "Should be easy enough to disconnect the fragment from the generator." Donnie whispered softly. "The challenge will be getting out of here once we get it."
"We'll have to cross that bridge when we…" April started but even as she heard Mikey yell out a warning she felt a sharp pain in her left shoulder. She looked to see the stinger from Parasiticaqueen sticking out of her left shoulder, which was followed by her scream of pain. The mutant wasp lifted her up a little before tossing her hard toward one of the walls, but Renet was there to barely catch her though they both hit the ground hard.
"April!" Donnie gasped and glared at the wasp mutant. "I am going to make you pay for that!"
"I owe you, you and your brood." Parasiticaqueen hissed. "You destroyed my children."
"Before they could eat the people of New York." Mikey said as he smacked her with his nunchuck. "Who's really the bad guy here?" In response she tried to stab the orange masked turtle but he dodged it.
"April." Renet said. "Hold on." She wanted to ask how she was but thought that was kind of a stupid question.
"I'll be okay." April said to her, though she flinched as she tried to move. "We need…need to staunch the bleeding."
For a moment Renet wished she had Jennifer's healing powers. She did however know what to do as she took off her cape, the one concession she made to her otherwise normal outfit while in the 21st century with her friends and started to apply pressure to the wound to stop the bleeding. "I wish I knew if she had hit a major artery." Renet said softly.
Donnie tried to attack Parasiticaqueen with his staff but she dodged out of the way of the attack. She then tried to shoot her stinger at the purple masked turtle but he blocked it with his bo staff and shook it off. He was annoyed, though slightly curious, to see the stinger grow back.
Mikey turned his nunchuck into the kusarigama chain and tried to wrap it around the mutant wasp, which would be bigger than the drones of her species, and tried to enrapture her but she dodged that one too. "Is that the best you can do?" She taunted.
"We got to try to get some help." April said as she reached for her T-phone, thankfully in her right pocket. She was disturbed though to see that for whatever reason their signal was being blocked. With a sigh she took a deep breath and reached out to deliver her call for help a different way.
Aaliyah was not thrilled to see that Leo was now dealing with Tiger Claw on his own. That distraction cost her though as Rahzar lashed out with his large paw and it slammed into her chest hard. She went flying and crashed onto the ground hard. Casey swung his hockey stick at the mutant dog and he caught the attack mid swing and then slammed the vigilante down hard on Aaliyah, knocking the breath out of both of them.
Hector changed his 'hands' into large crab like claws and shot them at Karai and they both struck into her shoulders, knocking her to the ground as well. Jennifer tried to rush over to help her get free and Hector lashed out and slammed the back of his hand brutally against the blonde's chest, and the only thing that stopped her from flying backwards was because he grabbed her by her arm and lifted her up. "Let's see what kind of fun I can get away with right now." He said leeringly.
Leo saw all of this but was not in a position to do anything about it; it was taking everything he had to evade Tiger Claw. Then he saw movement from the rooftop. In what was practically a blur Hector was tripped up. He lost his grip on Jennifer and she was able to use the momentum to somersault over to Karai and finish helping the kunoichi, who had used her snake form to work around the claws.
Then in with another speedy blur Rahzar was kicked back hard and then the figure moved on as Aaliyah and Casey were ready for the next round. The final one came when the figure actually landed a hit on Tiger Claw, and a quick slash which destroyed the short sword the mutant assassin was using. The figure then landed by Leo and the blue masked turtle was shocked at what stood before him.
Their savior was the same size as the turtles, but he was a white rabbit. He wore blue cloth that vaguely resembled the top of a robe and loose black pants. He held a sword in one hand while another remained sheathed. He and Leo exchanged nods and then went over and pulled Raph free of the ice.
Tiger Claw growled. "Miyamoto Usagi." He glared hatefully at the rabbit.
"You thought you could run from me Tiger Claw." The rabbit, Usagi, commented as he glared at the mutant assassin. "I swore that you would pay for what you did."
"Wait a minute." Karai said as she smirked. "You're telling me a ninja rabbit took your tail?" She questioned her former superior.
"I think he's a samurai." Jennifer corrected the kunoichi.
Karai laughed again. "Sure, fine. The point is the big bad mutant tiger had his tail chopped off by a rabbit." She mocked, drawing Tiger Claw's ire for just a moment before he focused again on Usagi.
"If you think you can do better than you did last time, then take your best shot." Tiger Claw said as he glared at the rabbit warrior.
Usagi ran over and the two of them clashed their weapons and then Tiger Claw tried to sweep his legs out from under him but he jumped up. He tried to kick Tiger Claw but the assassin caught him and tossed him hard. Leo and Raph came in from behind and both landed on him though he easily tossed the two mutant turtles off.
Karai looked to Aaliyah. "Hey, time to switch it up." She called out.
Aaliyah nodded. She raced over and slammed her elbow right into Hector's stomach even as Karai used her natural speed to rush over to Rahzar and brought her knee into his gut before tossing him right to Casey who used the hockey stick to smack the mutant dog in the face and right off the roof. They heard him land in an open dumpster.
Hector tried to swipe at Aaliyah but she blocked it with her bunrei's and then delivered a hard frontal kick to his jaw. Jennifer moved in and slammed one of her batons into his stomach and then the other again against his head. Then before the shifter could respond back at either the female turtle or his obsession Casey was skating right into his line of sight and slapped him with his hockey stick and he too fell off the roof.
With that they were all ready to deal with Tiger Claw if needed but the contest between the mutant tiger assassin and what everyone assumed was a mutant rabbit samurai was very interesting, much like seeing Aaliyah and Leo spar but with a potentially deadlier outcome.
Jennifer cocked her head, swearing she heard April in her mind saying something about being in trouble at the portal locale. "Leo, Raph. April and the others are in trouble." She said. "Where you guys fought Rat King's minions."
"We have to go." Raph said.
"We can't leave Usagi." Leo countered.
Usagi overheard the conversations going among the people he had helped save. He had also heard the blonde mention that others were in trouble. Being one who always tried to help those in need, he knew that had to come before his desire to redeem himself. "If we must go, then we must go." He said.
The three turtles nodded and each of them tossed smoke bombs. As the smoke cleared Aaliyah grabbed Usagi's hand and helped to guide them off the roof and to the nearest manhole cover as the smoke cleared and left Tiger Claw growling in annoyance that changed into a roar of frustration.
"Would you stand still?" Mikey demanded as he tried to smash the chain into Parasiticaqueen but she didn't listen as she dodged out of the way. She then tried to stab Mikey as she had April but the orange masked turtle wasn't being ambushed and was able to dodge it.
"Donnie." April called out, ignoring the pain in her shoulder. "The eggs are starting to move."
"Ah, sewer apples." Donnie murmured and then used his bo staff like a baseball bat to slap the fragment out of the generator. It went flying across the tunnel. No one was currently in a position to get their hands on it.
To make matters worse April's warning and Donnie's actions were too little too late as several of the wasp eggs had hatched. "Double sewer apples." Mikey said.
"My children are here, and now the four of you will suffer." Parasiticaqueen gloated eagerly as she had almost a dozen wasps floating around her now.
Donnie and Mikey quickly took a defensive stance around April and Renet. To both girls' credits Renet got up and prepared to help with her time scepter and even April got one of her tessen ready with her non injured arm to help out.
"Finish them off!" Parasiticaqueen commanded her drones and they all rushed forward, seemingly eager to plunge their stingers into the four of them.
So focused were the wasp drones on that they weren't paying attention when Leo, Raph, Aaliyah and Karai attacked one each directly. Casey smacked one with an explosive hockey puck and Jennifer tossed one of her bladed batons at another one. The final strike came from their new ally Usagi, who took out another one as the ninjas had. That left four plus the queen as they approached their brothers.
"Hey, it's a new mutant." Mikey said as he smiled at Usagi happily. "How does Cottontail sound to you?"
Usagi seemed confused as if he wasn't sure what the orange masked turtle was talking about. "You may call me Miyamoto Usagi." He told the four new allies.
"You think my children will have a problem feasting on rabbit any more than they do turtles or humans?" Parasiticaqueen asked with a laugh.
"Let's go ninja on these." Leo suggested as he withdrew a smoke bomb. He tossed it to the ground and as the area clouded over Leo and Aaliyah took out one. Raph and Jennifer took out another. Donnie and Mikey took out a third one, Usagi and Karai finished up the last drone.
The smoke cleared and Parasiticaqueen was not happy. "You've taken out my children. I promise you will pay for this." She declared before floating up rapidly and shooting several stingers that caused a rock slide, not enough to hurt anyone but distracting enough to get away, right before she grabbed the fragment of the eye of sarnath she was using.
After the dust settled Donnie ran over where he thought he saw the fragment and then when he saw there was nothing there he groaned. "Parasiticaqueen must have gotten it before she got away."
"Got what?" Raph asked his purple masked brother.
"A sarnath fragment." Donnie sighed. He then went over and lifted April up into his arms. "But we can worry about that later, right now we need to get April to the lair so I can clean and check her wound before Jennifer heals her up."
Angel was helping Adelita make dinner; they had made beef and chicken enchiladas. It was kind of nice for them to be able to talk without interruptions from the boys and even to a lesser extent Aaliyah. Though Adelita was glad to be on very good terms with her little sister again there was still a huge gulf that needed to be filled, if it could be at all.
"So do you cook often?" Adelita asked her as she rolled the now filled tortilla shell.
Angel shook her head. "Nah." She answered simply. "Not normally but when I was growing up I helped my Abuelita…my grandmother in the kitchen of her small restaurant." She was taking some out of the oven. With the big group they had dinner wasn't exactly a quick task.
"What about your parents?" Adelita asked her.
Angel sighed a bit. "I…never really knew them." She admitted. "My dad left us when I was very young and my mom was an addict. She was in and out of rehabs for most of my life. That's one of the reasons I helped my Abuelita in the kitchen."
"I'm sorry." Adelita said as she reached out and gently placed her hand on her shoulder. "I had some equality issues with my parents but I know they loved me and Aaliyah dearly. Even the turtles have Splinter who loves them like a true father, it's too bad you didn't exactly have that."
Angel shrugged it off. "Not that I don't appreciate the sentiment Adelita but I think about the times with my Abuelita and honestly I don't feel cheated or that I missed out on something or anything like that." She replied.
Adelita giggled a little. "I'm glad to hear that. You made the best of what you had and you don't feel sorry about it." She sighed just a bit. "Actually in that way you're smarter than I ever was. Then maybe I wouldn't have to make up so much where Aaliyah is concerned."
"Don't beat yourself up over it." Angel told her friend. "Everyone is different and that's no one's fault. Just because one person handles a similar situation one way doesn't mean that another handles it the exact same way."
"You didn't have to stay with me." Adelita pointed out softly. "I mean I know you rather like being out there and beating down the bad guys and all."
Angel laughed softly. "True, but everyone needs to take a little time off. And I like spending time with you. It's a nice change of pace from the other fighters that are around here, much as I can see on their level." She responded. She sighed a bit. "Besides Donnie thought it best I hang back until they can determine what the best idea is to do with my armor and the fragments."
They heard commotion and they assumed their team was back. Then they both looked at each other uncertainly as they heard Donnie say, "Leo, run into the lab and get me the first aid kit." Adelita's thoughts went to the idea that Aaliyah had been injured.
Her fear only abated slightly when they heard Aaliyah say, "Couch is clear Donnie." That only said to her that while her sister was okay someone else was not. Both girls came out of the kitchen to see Donnie lying April on the couch. She was still conscious and aside from the huge wound on her shoulder she seemed fine.
"I'm going to go get her a new shirt." Jennifer said and then dashed off toward her room.
April understood as she let Donnie tear the sleeve of her shirt to get a look at the wound. "Not exactly how I would have liked to get my shirt off around you." She said to Donnie as she winced a bit in pain. The purple masked turtle managed to blush just a bit as he took the first aid kit from his older brother to look at the wound.
"What happened?" Angel asked.
"We ran into Parasiticaqueen again." Mikey answered and then hesitated. "Of course neither of you weren't around then, so I guess that doesn't mean too much."
Then Angel noticed Usagi. "Hey, what's with the trix rabbit in the samurai get up?" She asked.
Usagi wasn't sure if he should be offended or not. It was Karai who spoke up. "He's a new friend, and he's the one who took Tiger Claw's tail." She laughed again at the thought as she added jokingly, "Might want to remember that the next time you consider teasing him again."
Angel laughed too. "Duly noted." She said.
Splinter had come out of the dojo because of all the commotion and saw their new samurai friend. Usagi saw him as well and bowed before him. "I am honored, Hamato Yoshi." He stated. "I am Miyamoto Usagi."
"How do you know who our dad is?" Raph asked suspiciously.
"I heard about him from my teacher." Usagi explained. "He was very impressed with you even though you were a ninja." He then told them his father's name.
Splinter nodded in understanding. "I see, Miyamoto Usagi." He then bowed to the mutant rabbit. "I too am honored by your presence within my home." He looked to his students and then back to mutant rabbit. "After Donatello has attended to April perhaps you can tell us what brings you all the way to New York."
After a few minutes Parasiticaqueen stopped flying away from the battle site to consider her next move. She had to find yet another place to get her eggs placed and create her army.
She never heard the approaching figure and jumped slightly when a lilting and arguably seductive voice asked, "Having a bad day are we? Troubled by those mutant freaks and their allies?"
Parasiticaqueen turned and found herself face to face with Kitsune. Despite her appearance of being a slim Asian woman the mutant wasp knew there was more here than met the eyes. "What do you want?" She demanded to know.
Kitsune laughed. "Spoken like a true queen, even if the true queen is right here." Her voice turned cold. "Give me the fragment, now. Or else."
Parasiticaqueen got ready to attack. "Or else what?" She asked.
Then from either side two figures darted from the darkness and struck her down. A small white hand caught the fragment and then both figures were bowing before Kitsune, the fragment extended as an offering. Kitsune reached down and took it. "Excellent. Now for the next stage in our plan; collection." With that she laughed and led her two shadow companions away.
What will Usagi do now? What are Kitsune's plans? Who are these new allies of hers? The adventure continues.
