The Foot weren't as careful about guarding their domain as the Kraang were. It made sense, considering they were protecting elite ninjas. The bots' purpose probably wasn't to take out whoever might stand against them, but more so to alert the better fighters of the coming danger; to stall in the few seconds they could while the Shredder's goons- or the Shredder himself- prepared.
Nonetheless, the relaxed guard stationed there made it easier for Leonardo and Raphael to slip by.
They snuck down the corridors, footsteps quiet enough to be drowned out by the wind of the storm approaching outside.
The duo ducked behind a pillar as a footbot drew near them on its patrol.
A pair of arms appeared from the shadows, and before the robot calculated a change, it had already been plucked out of sight and sliced in two.
Leonardo positioned the bot behind the pillar where it wouldn't be spotted, and carried on.
They were almost to the end of the hall now.
A second footbot emerged from an adjacent corridor and drew its sword upon spotting them. It beeped, alerting two more on either side of the doorway Leonardo and Raphael headed towards.
The betraying footbot fell to the ground before it was able to fight, head speared by a flying sai.
The door's guards joined it on the floor a second later, cut identically across the torso.
Leo sheathed his katanas and glanced back at Raph, who stepped on the impaled footbot's head and pulled his thrown sai from it.
Leonardo motioned for the vial, and Raphael tossed it to him. They continued to the next room.
Stockman's lab was brighter than usual, bathed in a green glow which emanated from the giant vat of mutagen that sat in the center. Leo made a mental note to be careful; the lighting could give them away if they weren't cautious.
Raphael leapt onto the wall, pushed off, and jumped for the mutagen container. He zig-zagged through the air between the two surfaces until he was high enough to make it to the makeshift ledge that ran the rim of the vat.
Leonardo followed and landed beside his brother. He wondered why Stockman had this ledge despite being able to fly, and found himself thankful that he did, whatever the reason. Not that he couldn't have successfully landed on a slim edge, but ninja or not, the risk of falling into the tub of mutagen was not one he wanted to take.
Leo uncorked the vial and took a step closer to the mutagen. He looked at the substance in the vial, exchanged uneasy gazes with Raphael, and slowly tipped the glass container.
Just as the first drop was about to fall, someone pushed him down.
Leo reached for his swords.
Raphael lay chest-down on the ledge beside him, holding a finger to his mouth. He pointed to the lab's floor.
Stockman followed the Shredder and Tiger Claw, all three of them seemingly unaware of their presence, thanks to Raph's quick thinking. They would have otherwise been spotted right away, if any of their enemies looked up.
"I am still not sure about this, Master," Tiger Claw growled. "Mutagen is notoriously an unpredictable substance, even if this new version is supposedly more controlled."
"Enough," Shredder said. "With the help of these new abilities, I will be able to stop Splinter from ever killing my beloved Tang Shen."
Leo and Raph exchanged horrified glances.
If the Shredder managed to go back and stop Splinter all those years ago, then what would happen to them? If the times changed, would the turtles stay on the timeline they were currently on? Would they cease to exist? Then who would have been in New York to stop the Kraang from invading? Who would be there to rescue April before they perfected their plot?
"Yezz, Mazzzzter," Stockman said. "But after your mutation, it will take a long time for your powerzzz to become that zzzztrong. Ezzzzzzpecially if it provezzz a lengthy procedure to invent an amplifying agent to zzzpeed up the procezzz."
Shredder faced the fly mutant. "Then you had better hope your amplifying agent takes shorter than expected." He curled his fist, and blades slid from the gauntlets on his wrists. "Otherwise, I will peel your wings from your body and drop you in the vat myself."
Stockman's giant fly head twitched. "Yezz, Mazzzter."
"Hurry with your preparations. Do not keep me waiting."
Stockman flew to his desk, where he had a beaker of mutagen already sitting. He brought it to the Shredder. "I have a chair prepared for the mutation over there."
Leo and Raph followed his fly claw to the corner of his lab.
The chair indicated sat atop a grate and surrounded by all sorts of monitors.
The Shredder sat, and allowed Stockman to hook him up to the monitors.
Stockman then hovered above the Shredder's head, mutagen beaker between his hands. He started to tip the beaker, then hesitated, and looked at Tiger Claw.
Tiger Claw seemed as reluctant as he.
"I do not have all day," Shredder spat.
Stockman pulled his gaze away from Tiger Claw, and poured the mutagen.
The Shredder remained entirely still, unreadable, as the ominously glistening liquid oozed down his helmet.
It spread slowly, like paint pouring over his armor. The helmet's maedate prevented mutagen from dripping into his face, and the liquid slid down the steep sides. Drops hit his chestplate and pauldrons first. Some slid down the back of the chair and fell, draining in the grate below.
Even when mutagen gathered enough at the brow of the helmet and a drop spilled over the maedate and ran to the tip of the trident-like emblem, the Shredder remained emotionless.
Stockman set the emptied beaker aside and hovered behind Tiger Claw.
The drop in the middle of the maedate swelled into a spherical bead, and fell behind the helmet's mouth plate.
Everyone held their breath.
The Shredder remained statue still. Then he winced and doubled over in the chair with a groan, hands clenching the armrests.
Tiger Claw stepped forward. Stockman backed up.
Shredder let out a roar and snapped back, almost tipping the chair over. His body convulsed.
Leonardo's lip curled. He kept a hand on his katana's hilt.
Shredder tried to stand up, fell into the chair, and jerked side to side as if being hit. He spasmed like he'd been electrocuted, then slumped over, motionless.
Tiger Claw shoved Stockman towards the monitors. The fly mutant shook his head.
Leo found some respect for Tiger Claw when the cat mutant accompanied Baxter to the monitors, keeping a wary eye on his employer as the genius reluctantly got to work. At least he had some sense.
The Shredder stirred. He pushed the arms of the chair and stood, paying no mind to the monitors' cables which came loose when he did so.
Behind the desk which blocked his hands from view, Tiger Claw readied his paw on his ice gun.
Shredder glared at his wary servants. "Did it work?"
"The only way to be zzzure would be to tezzt it out, zzzzir."
Shredder closed his eyes. Heavy silence filled the air.
Everyone stared at the armor-clad ninja, unblinking.
Then he was gone.
Tiger Claw and Stockman looked around the room.
Leo tried to keep his movements slow as he did the same, not wanting to attract any attention.
"Well?" Shredder's voice boomed from the opposite side of the room from where he had just been.
"We did not zzzee you at all, Mazzter. It izzzz like you teleported."
"Then it seems this experiment was a success."
Leonardo and Raphael couldn't hide their horror from each other when they looked to one another for reassurance.
Leo pulled his vial of retromutagen from his belt. He tilted his head to indicate the new mutant.
Raph nodded, then indicated the vat of mutagen, and made a tipping motion with his hand. We need to contaminate this first, otherwise they'll be able to mutate him all over again.
Leo crawled to the edge of the vat and readied the contaminant.
Raph crawled to his side, and exchanged yet another uneasy glance.
Leonardo took a deep breath, and poured the contaminant.
The mutagen didn't turn color.
Leo almost jumped. He looked around Stockman's lab for something that might be able to help them.
Raph grabbed his arm, his gaze still on the mutagen.
Leo looked. It was bubbling.
The bubbles sped up, the liquid boiling until it was almost to the brim.
Raphael and Leonardo stood and backed away.
The bubbles burst upon coming to the surface of the vat, spraying droplets on the ledge and into the air.
Raphael pulled him aside, and Leo realized he'd rescued him from a tiny drop he hadn't seen flying towards him.
They backed further to the edge of the ledge. If anyone looked up, they'd see them. Thankfully, the mutagen's boiling was near silent, and no one had noticed it yet.
The question now was how they were going to get a safe distance from it while not being spotted. If only there were a system of pipes or some ceiling lights to grab onto, or-
BANG.
The mutagen erupted in a flash of flames and dark, billowing smoke. Specks of ooze showered everywhere.
Raph tackled Leo, saving him from the ooze, but consequently sending both of them falling to the lab floor.
Raphael, prepared for the motion, landed on his feet, but Leo crashed onto his shell.
Leo pushed himself into a fighting stance as fast as his aching back would let him.
"My mutagen!" Stockman cried. "You turtlezz are going to pay for that!"
"Indeed," Shredder agreed, stepping towards the duo. "How nice of you to volunteer to become my practice run. You should be proud to be the first I get to test my new powers on."
Next chapter on Wednesday. Have a great day, y'all!