"A what?" Mikey asked, giving me an odd look.

I took a step closer to the containers and Donnie answered for me, "A genetics lab… Of some kind."

"This feels an awful like the lab back in the Kraang compound," I muttered. I lightly placed my hand on the glass. It was all familiar. Green liquid. Large containers. Lights. Panels. Research. It was all a bit hazy and I couldn't quite place my finger on what exactly it was, I just knew this was a part of my childhood with Stockman. There was just no other explanation of why this all seemed like a distant memory. I was curious as to why I didn't feel this familiarity when we were in the Kraang lab.

"They're definitely similar but I think for different purposes. The Kraang looked like they were researching different species while this place is…" My brother trailed off. He couldn't seem to find the right words.

"This place looks like they're making people," Spider-Man said eerily.

"Jade?" I heard Donnie speak up again, he was closer to me now. Maybe a few paces behind me.

I shook my head, "I've seen this kind of stuff before."

"How would have seen anything like this before?" Leo held me with steady eyes but I was sure he already knew the answer to that. I was thinking he asked because he didn't want his fears to come to light, that his sister may have been in one of those containers before.

I turned over my shoulder, my hand leaving the glass, "Do you really need me to answer that?"

"I'm hoping the answer isn't what I think it is."

I faced the containers again, this time eyeing the poor souls that floated within. One was extremely tall, had to have been close to nine feet in height. He was thin and incredibly flexible looking which seemed rather normal compared to the extra pair of limbs he possessed. Four arms. Another was normal height and looked entirely regular except that both hands were replaced with enormous claw-like grapples. Almost like elephant tusks had been glued onto the wrists. The last was the most natural-looking of the three. No abnormalities, he was just very short. Miniature. Perhaps the size of a small child.

They all had one thing in common. My family and I had all seen the face of Oroku Saki before, we knew what he looked like. These people looked uncannily like him.

"What are they?" Mikey asked.

Donnie cringed, "I'm guessing they're the Shredders genetic clones."

"Because one Shredder ain't enough?" Raph put in, bile rising in his tone.

"Exactly." Donnie nodded.

I felt my teeth grind, "Just when I thought his ego couldn't get any bigger."

"Uh, Jade?" I heard Spider-Man ask from across the room.

"Ya?" I called out, peering to where he stood, in front of another container. Another floating person. Another Shredder?

"No," Spider-Man looked over his shoulder but pointed his finger to the container, "Jade."

It hadn't been a question. There was a me in that container. A girl, my height and age by the looks, but her face was… wrong. Seriously twisted. Her mouth was closer to the side of her cheek than it was to her chin. One eye was higher than the other and her nose was almost non-existent. She also missing a leg. Everything from the knee down was gone.

"Why are they trying to clone you?" Spider-Man asked, keeping the eyes of his mask on me. He was waiting for an explanation of a backstory he hadn't heard yet. Oh, I knew why Shredder and Stockman were trying to clone me. They were trying to replicate my powers for whatever their future plans were, which I still wasn't sure on. But I knew they wanted me so badly that making another me was perfectly reasonable.

"That's creepy," Mikey looked a bit disgusted. You're telling me.

"Mmm, okay," I turned to my brothers, "I want to go home."

"She doesn't look like you," Donnie squinted at the weird-looking me floating, "They've failed with that but let's hope that this clone doesn't have your powers too."

"Powers?" Spider-Man asked.

Before I could think of a reason to deflect that fun question, alarms blared. Red lights flashed and the control panels in front of the containers went crazy.

Mikey looked at us all frantically, "I didn't touch anything this time! Honest!"

"We've been here too long," Leo cut, glancing at his little brother.

Then the containers began to open. The glass slid upwards and the substances inside slushed out, wetting the floor. The Shredder clones and the me clone inside also splattered down in heavy thuds. All groaned from their impact.

"Maybe they're friendly?" I said hopefully.

The tall and thin Shredder's neck snapped up, eyes blaring an alienated red.

"I don't think so," Raph gripped his sais.

In seconds the clones were up and moving, no words wasted, not even a few breaths. It quickly became apparent that these clones weren't made to speak, only to fight. Made in a petri dish and turned into physical weapons. They only seemed to have the knowledge not to fight each other.

Tall and thin Shredder was faster and a lot stronger than he looked, and his extra limbs and height advantage really knocked me out of the fighting enjoyment zone. I didn't thrill even in the slightest while I stood alongside Mikey, trying to manage some kind of damage to our opponent. There was a moment where I had swung my wakizashi and missed, the Shredder clone took advantage of this and grabbed my wrist. In a second, he'd also somehow taken Mikey in a tight grip as well. I hardly had time to breathe, let alone be ready to be thrown across the entire room. My brother and I were airborne and the empty containers came into our view a little too quickly. One second I was flying, and the next I was in a pile of broken glass with a turtle on top of me.

A couple of things were wrong with this. Mikey was on top of me for one. All my brothers were extremely heavy. I couldn't push one over even if I used every ounce of muscle my body could produce. They were turtles. Their shells were like fifty to eighty pounds on their own, add a large body with nothing but pure muscle and you were stuck with a couple dozen cement blocks on your ribs.

"Mikey," I managed to crack out his name but nothing more. The breath had been knocked out of me and I had him compressing my lungs into paper, "Get up."

"Getting up," Mikey groaned, catching his own breath from the impact, "You okay?"

"No," I heaved.

The other thing wrong with this was that I could feel glass puncturing my flesh. My left upper arm, my right calf, and the back of my right shoulder were the most painful. Plus I could feel hot blood oozing out the back of my skull.

Great.

Mikey was about to kneel down beside me but was lifted into the air. The Shredder clone had my brother by the shell, two hands already taking a hold of his throat. I was still recovering from the winded landing, but I had enough energy to pull a shurikens from my belt. I was honestly aiming for one of the arms but my blade ended up in the clones neck. Almost an instant kill. Mikey was dropped and the Shredder clone collapsed.

"Nice throw there, slick," Mikey coughed out. He took a moment to recoup before looking up at me. The blood must have really thrown him off because moments after getting choked out, he was crawling to my side, "Jade!"

I leaned up to my forearms, wincing, "Screw that guy."

"You're bleeding."

"So are you." I pointed out.

"No biggie." He shrugged, ignoring the glass in his arms. There was blood staining his mask.

"Then no biggie here."

My brother didn't overwhelmingly look like he believed me but he didn't question me and instead, offered a hand. I took it gratefully and got pulled gently to my feet.

There was a series of screams and screeches. The other Shredder clones had fallen to ground, defeated. This fight was quick but felt more like we had been banking on some luck rather than skill. These clones had been strong but wasted times on the prize of their kill, giving plenty of opportunity for a killing blow.

My clone across the room hadn't made it far from it's container. Without a leg, it was stuck shimming across the floor, glaring murderously. It's right arm didn't seem to be working either, it was limp. I grimaced, watching for a second more before taking my wakizashi and piercing my clone through the head.

"You good?" Leo asked beside me.

I held a frown, "That was a really weird feeling. Killing… myself?"

"It was probably for the best. It won't stop their research but it will slow them down, I'm sure," Donnie tore his eyes away from my clones body and tapped his headset, "April. Can you find us a way out of here?"

I didn't hear the reply this time. Donnie listened for a moment before walking over to one of the control panels in front of the now broken containers, underneath one was some kind of switch. A panel on the far wall that displayed the Foot symbol slid away and revealed a hidden doorway. An elevator.

When we stood inside, I picked at a small piece of glass in my arm. It stung, but felt much better after being pulled from my flesh, "Don. Wanna hand me a couple rolls of gauze?"

After quickly wrapping my arm. I turned to Mikey. He was watching the numbers light up next to the elevator door when I pulled two pieces of glass from his arm.

"Ow! Warn me next time!"

"I thought it was no biggie?" I asked, feeling the corner of my lips curl into a small smile. My brother still looked a bit butthurt, even when I wrapped the gauze around his arm.

"It still hurt."

The elevator opened up to a long hallway. Completely empty. The only thing remotely interesting about the hallway was the large Foot symbol on the far door. It was quiet.

"April we need the 411 on our current location." Donnie said into his headset.

"Did you see a floor number?"

Donnie glanced over at me since I was still in the elevator. I looked over at the floor buttons, "Seventy two."

Donnie repeated.

"Hmm… That's weird. There's a glitch in the schematic between the seventy first and the seventy third floor. Let me run a quick diagnostic."

"April, can you at least find us a way up? A stairwell or something?" Donnie spoke again.

"Nada. Afraid you guys are on your own this time."

Splinter took a cautious guarded step forward, "We must proceed with caution. With the wrong footing, I believe the consequences would be severe."

"So, traps?" Mikey asked. He received a nod from Sensei.

He was as light as a feather in his footing, using the walls and jumping from one end to the other like it was child's play. For us, it was. Wall jumping was relatively easy, thank goodness, otherwise we'd probably be screwed here. Donnie followed and Leo nudged me forward, having myself go next. I repeated just as my father and brother had just done, safely reaching the other side. Spider-Man easily webbed to the other side with a single shot from his wrist.

"Show off," I muttered. Spider-Man snorted.

I turned around to see Raph mutter something under his breath and Leo suddenly trying to stop him, "Wait, Raph!"

I should had known Raph would think this was some kind of joke. He blindly ran through the middle of the hallway and ultimately set off every single damn trap there was. Giant saws and axes, fire, a pit of spikes…

All of it was incredibly extensive. Almost laughable.

But watching my idiot brother try to dip and dodge all of these traps was giving me the highest amount of anxiety, I covered my eyes until I heard a nervous chuckle. He barely made it to the other side.

"Raphael. Your rashness will be the end of you yet!" Splinter scolded coldly.

Raph held up his hands, "Hey, I made it didn't I?"

Donnie rolled his eyes, "What about Leo and Mikey?"

"What about them? They'll be fine!"

Sure, Leo was fine. Mikey on the other hand, was goofing off. Not that that was a surprise or anything, but my stomach lurched indefinitely when one of the giant saws nearly took off his head.

Once safe, Leo swatted Mikey across the back of the head, "Stop fooling around!"

"Hey! I'm trying to make the best out of a situation that Raphie made!"

"Watch it," Raph growled, holding his hand up to give Mikey another smack on the head but Leo managed to grab his arm before that could happen.

"He is right about that," Without another word, the eldest pushed through to the doors behind us. Beyond them was a place that looked completely out of the ordinary. A temple. Japanese. Completely out of the modern element of New York. I looked upwards. The top floor wasn't far now.

Master Splinter placed a paw on a stone pillar, one with a symbol engraved. In fact, there were four more just like it but all had different little symbols. On top of each pillar were stone figurines.

"These each represent one of the five elements. Earth, fire, water, wind and metal."

"How spiritual," I commented.

"What exactly is this place?" Spider-Man asked, opening his arms to the middle of the courtyard in front of the temple.

"Training grounds," Master Splinter replied, "Oroku Saki has replicated the old Hamato clan temple from our youths."

There was a sadness in his tone. Memories he was replaying, conversations he was remembering. The replica of a time with a dark past.

Suddenly, stone turned to flesh. The figurines on top of each pillar were no longer rock, but now human. So to speak. Each wore clothing that easily represented their component. They spoke no words and attacked without hesitating.

I got caught fighting with Fire. Compared to all the crap we've had to deal with before, from Foot ninja's, to Mousers, to Shredders genetic clones... fighting an unearthly being was far harder and more challenging than any of anything we'd fought combined. These elements were a sorcery we couldn't have been familiar with and they were powerful. My weapons were basically useless. I'd thrown one shuriken and the Fire elemental had melted into a small pile of silver muck.

After a pair of dangerously hot fireballs were thrown in my direction, I glanced around. Nobody was doing any better than I was. Leo and Sensei were battling Metal, whom was not taking a beating from any hit given. Raph and Spider-Man were attempting to work together against Water but finding that trying to get control over a liquid substance was nearly pointless. Mikey was stuck spinning in the air from Wind, and Donnie was drowning in mud from Earth.

How do you fight the five elements with nothing but metal and wooden weapons?

Then I remembered that I was the one who had no mere metal weapon on my back. Avoiding another hot attack from Fire, I sheathed my wakizashis'. The Sword of Tengu was heavy on my back but even more so in my hands.

I swore Fire's eyes popped at the sight of the sword. In one swift motion, I tested its limits by plunging the blade within the elements shoulder. It worked exceptionally. No melt.

Now for the big test. Perhaps I could use the elements against themselves?

I yelled, "Sensei! Leo! Back away!"

Master Splinter stopped what he was doing and noted my stance. He was curious of course but he seemed to know what I was on to, "Do as she says!"

"Jade, what are you doing?" Leo called.

"I think the only way to beat a mystic enemy is to fight with a mystic weapon," I gave my older brother an even look. I could see he wanted to argue but under the circumstances, he really had no choice. He nodded and hurried away.

Fire stood before me and Metal a ways behind. I swung the sword, conducting a large blue force that turned Fire into a torch. Metal wasted away in the fiery fumes.

Fire melts metal.

This could work. This could actually work.

Water extinguishes fire.

Raph and Spider-Man, whom had both been drowning in bubbles of water, fell to their knees gasping for breath.

Earth swallows water.

Donnie, covered in mud and dirt, rubbed his eyes in an effort to see what was happening.

Wind scatters earth.

Mikey was flown into one of the original elemental pillars. Sensei was by his side in an instant.

Only Wind remained. The element looked around at his fallen comrades distressfully before staring back up at me. He knew he'd met his match.

I would have to tame the wind.

I felt the sword's power surge in the death grip I held on it. I swung the sword above my head in circles, feeling the power of a tornado. Wind was caught, swallowed in the cyclone I created.

There was an explosion. Wind detonated as if blown up from the inside. I'd won.

I just didn't think about the explosion bringing the temple right down on top of me.