Leo repressed a shiver against the coastal air as he lay on his plastron atop a large storage crate at the docks. Behind him, an uncountable number of identical crates stretched, hiding his clanmates. Silently, Leo rose and leaped forward onto the next one. He landed next to Karai who had her eyes on the next box.

With a ninja's speed and patience, the pair reached the last row. From here, the two had a clear view of the empty lot below where supply trucks were moving slowly or parked to unload.

Karai nudged Leo in the arm. Her gaze flicked across the docks. Leo spotted a number of guardsmen making their rounds.

"Can you tell if they're armed?" he whispered. Karai nodded and didn't say more than he had to. Leo heard a thump come from the crate beside him. Raph and Casey had reached the final crate and lay watching just as Leo and Karai were.

Thankfully, both had the sense to keep the volume down. The two shot questioning looks in Leo's direction. The blue masked turtle signaled for them to wait. The others were still catching up and Leo had told some of them to scout the area.

Another thump sounded, this one on his own crate. Rahzar and Donnie were now crouched beside the two ninjas.

"Whoever the Foot is dealing with, they're not here yet," Rahzar reported. "But there's a strange smell in the air."

"Salt?" Karai asked.

"Other than that I mean. It's like… like…" Rahzar trailed off and shuddered. "It's hard to describe. Did you ever play with that weird rubbery stuff that came in those plastic containers with the pink thing with a face on it as a kid?"

"No. We lived in a forest remember?"

"Right. Well, it smells like that stuff. Real artificial. And oil but that might just be because there was an oil spill here recently or something."

Leo looked to Donnie. He had flipped the goggles he usually wore on his forehead down and was probably looking at something on the screens on the lenses. "Does any of your technology sense anything?"

Donnie shook his head. "Just the mobsters and some Foot snooping around. It looks like the Foot paid them off to let them use the docks for this deal."

"Hey!"

The four turned their heads to look at the next crate over. Mikey and Bebop had reached the line. Bebop was waving his hands around in some sort of incomprehensible hand signals.

"What?" Leo whispered. "I can't understand you."

Bebop deflated. "Check out the way they're lining up."

Leo looked down to the lot. Foot Soldiers were lined up into a few rows and a number of them were scattered around the area. They were in strategic striking places. And they all stood behind an invisible line.

"This is a prime standoff position," Bebop explained. "Foot goes on that side, other dudes go on that side. Each one parks some kind of vehicle on their side where they keep the goods. Anything happens, they start shooting at each other and use the cars as cover."

"There are Foot Soldiers hiding in the shadows," Karai pointed out. "If a fight broke out, they could jump out unseen and take out their opponent with the element of surprise."

Bebop nodded. "The Foot don't trust these guys. They're preparing to be double-crossed."

"How do you know all this stuff?" Rahzar asked, impressed.

Bebop smirked. "Master thief… formerly."

Leo looked to the crate on his other side. Raph and Casey were watching them. "Did you get all that?" He got a thumbs up. Leo looked down. Standing in the spaces between the crates, Leatherhead, Slash, Rocksteady, and Fishface slunk. Tiger Claw and Rockwell hovered low around them. Leo dropped down. "Spread out. Get to a good vantage point or a good place to attack. Try not to use comms, we can't risk being overheard."

"Or hacked," Donnie added from above. Leo glared at him, reminding him to keep his voice down. They'd all been talking far too much already. Silence was one of a ninja's strongest weapons. "Don't just use the comms to make April and Mondo not feel left out."

The Hamato clan members on the ground nodded. The quickest of the group darted away while the slower backed back into the shadows. Leo bunched up his muscles to take a flying leap back onto the crate.

He looked to his clanmates. "Stay in pairs. Spread out more over this line."

Rahzar, Donnie, Raph, Casey, Mikey, and Bebop all gave sharp nods and leaped off onto other crates to scope out the docks.

Leo and Karai eventually found a good hiding spot. They were still standing on the crates but they were situated near a light so that they could clearly see the docks and they were also in a shadow. Plus, they were close enough to listen in on any conversations and leap out fast enough to attack with the element of surprise.

Leatherhead and Rockwell were hiding behind the same crate on the ground. Neither had a clear view but they were close enough so that the two ninja could signal them and Rockwell could also report to the leader telepathically without straining himself.

"Someone's coming," Rockwell's voice said in Leo's mind. Leo nodded and focused on the sound of oncoming vehicles.

A large truck pulled up and a number of identical black clad men clambered up. Their similarities were unsettling.

At the same moment, four figures appeared out of nowhere on the side of the Foot. Each was tall, taller than any of the Foot Soldiers, and armored in red and wore wide brimmed straw hats. They too were identical other than their weapons. A trident, a spear, an axe, and a twin bladed sword. The metals caught the light as they appeared, sending a gleam through the air. Leo felt Karai shudder beside him.

He heard Leatherhead give a low growl as more of the newcomers appeared. Leo hit him lightly with one of his remaining bamboo shurikens, reminding him to keep quiet.

Finally, someone emerged from the truck who did not look identical to the others. Leo couldn't make out any distinguishable features on the man due to the white wrapping covering every inch of his skin. The most notable thing about him was the rat perched on his shoulder whose pure white fur stood out against the darkness of the man's cloak.

"Rat King," one of the red armored Foot Ninja stated as the man approached.

"Foot Elite," the Rat King stated in response. He looked around. As he did, the rat did too. "I expected to be dealing with some… higher ups."

"The Terminator has better things to do than deal with the likes of you," Trident said.

Leo glanced at Karai. She shrugged. Neither had heard that name before.

"Hmm. If he doesn't want the Kraang's supply…" the Rat King started.

"Of course he does. You know how essential mutagen is to the Foot's goals," Spear said.

Simultaneously, Leo heard Leatherhead snarl and Rockwell gasp. He glared down at them and reminded them to be quiet.

"And we know how much the Kraang needed what the Foot has to offer," Axe added. He rose his hand and opened it, sending a signal to the Foot Soldiers. A two pairs stepped out of the shadows, each one holding a limp human with a bag over their head between the two of them.

"They have hostages!" Karai hissed.

"I don't think so," Leo whispered. "It sounds like the Foot are trading people for whatever this mutagen stuff is."

The Rat King stepped forward cautiously and lifted the masks of the limp humans. "I don't recognize them."

"Of course you don't, they've kept quiet about their work," Spear told him.

"Noah Wood and Lily Allen," Trident introduced. "Zoologists.

"The Kraang has that which is known as enough of the humans known as zoologists," one of the identical men said. The Rat King looked at him.

"Quiet," he snapped. The man did not say anything more. The Rat King looked back to the Foot Elite. "What's so special about them?"

"They have experience with mutants," Twin Blades told him. "That is why you need so many scientists, yes? For your mutant experiments."

Leo and Karai exchanged another glance. They weren't expecting this.

"Yes. You're not as dumb as you look," the Rat King said. "How do they have experience with mutants? All mutants in this world are created by mutagen and all mutagen comes from the Kraang. There are no mutants that we do not know of."

Leo and Karai looked at each other again. This time, Leo saw his own fear reflected in his sister-figure's eyes. These people created mutants? All of them? And they knew about all of them?

"According to the files that the Foot Hackers found on them," Spear explained, "they worked under a businessman you probably know of. Adrian Fulner. The Collector."

The Rat King nodded. "Yes. The Kraang knows of him."

"Well, these two worked under him for years to preserve the animals in his collections," Spear continued. "At an unregistered auction, he bought a mutant turtle from an unknown source."

Leo could feel his heart beating in his chest so hard that he feared that the Foot and these Kraang would hear it. They were talking about one of his brothers.

"A mutant turtle?" the Rat King questioned. "I know nothing of a mutant turtle."

"Kraang database has no data on that which is known as mutants turtle," one of the identical men said.

"Quiet Norman!" the Rat King hissed.

"There are rumors about strange turtles among the Foot Clan but they appear to be mere rumors," Axe said.

"Hmm. This is not a concern right now. Continue," the Rat King said. "You were telling me about these humans' significance."

"Yes, these two humans worked with a mutant turtle for a time but it is unclear what happened to it," Spear went on. "But afterward both developed an obsession with mutants, convincing the Collector to buy more for his collections though it doesn't seem he has them anymore."

"What mutants did your files list?"

"A cat, a pigeon, some reptiles, an owl, nothing important."

The Rat King nodded. "Yes, the Kraang is aware of all these mutants. You say these two studied them all?"

"Yes," Trident confirmed. "And they could be all yours. Provided that you keep your end of the deal, that is."

The Rat King snapped his fingers. From the truck emerged several new figures holding a glowing canister. Leo could only assume that was mutagen. The beings were strange, clearly robots. When they raised their arms to hand the glowing canisters to the Foot Soldiers, Leo got a clear view of their abdomens. In their bellies rested some kind of organic life form. He gagged in disgust. They looked nasty.

All of a sudden, a savage roar echoed through the docks. Leo's eyes widened as he looked down at Leatherhead. "What are you doing?"

"Kraang!" Leatherhead bellowed to the nightsky. His huge teeth caught the moonlight, showing how sharp they were. His eyes were glazed over with a white membrane.

Leatherhead dropped to all fours. HIs tail lashed behind him, smacking into a crate. It went flying. Rockwell tried catching it with his telekinesis but it was moving to fast.

"Kraang!" Leatherhead screamed again. He lunged forward. "All Kraang must die!"

Then all hell broke loose.

Author's Note: This is the last prewritten chapter. It was written in November 2018. Over two years and I can't believe I left it off on a cliffhanger. Or I just gave up at a really good time. I really have no idea.

Updates will continue. I will finish this story but don't expect it to happen anytime soon. I really don't remember anything about this story's plot and I'm not really into TMNT anymore so it may take me awhile to review what's happening and get motivation.