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"I… don't think that's going to work," Michelangelo said, looking uncertainly at his hotheaded brother.

Raphael was repeatedly stabbing along the sides of a forcefield that was blocking them from progressing in the hallway of the Kraang facility. "It－ will－ work－ if－you－try－hard－enough," was his reply, another stab between each word.

Donnie put a hand on Raph's shoulder and gently led him away from the wall, allowing himself room to get closer to it. "Raph, don't hurt yourself. I got this." He took his T-phone from his belt along with a wire, plugged it into a panel on the wall, and started working on the phone. Within seconds the forcefield came down.

Donatello shot Raphael a smug grin, receiving a hand pushing him aside in response as Raph continued down the hall. Michelangelo grinned at the exchange between the two, admitting to himself that Donnie's tech was pretty cool－especially when it came in handy for ticking Raph off.

Leonardo signaled for them to move forward before dashing to his usual position in front of the team. He stopped at the next corner where hallways intersected and pressed his back against the wall, gesturing for his brothers to do the same. Raphael, already annoyed enough, gave Leo an irritated glare before stepping forward to advance. Leonardo pushed him back against the wall beside him and gave him a warning glare, drawing a sword.

Rhythmic electronic whirring and metallic footsteps drew closer, and soon, a group of eight patrolling kraangdroids passed in the hallway intersecting the one where the turtles were hiding. They took no notice to the ninjas, however, as their focus was straightforward and the ninjas against the walls in the corridor beside them made not a single movement that would attract their attention.

Once they were out of the kraangdroids' peripheral vision, Leo held a finger to his lips and then pointed in the direction where the bots had gone. His brothers nodded in understanding, then he led them out behind the patrol group. They picked off the kraangdroids one by one until they were all down, the Kraang not having realized that there were intruders in their lair until it was too late. They watched the pink brain blobs scurry away, exchanging alien cries, before turning to go in the direction from which the patrol group had come.

Passing an alarm on the wall just outside the intersection, Leo nudged Raphael with his elbow and inclined his head towards it. The words were never spoken, but the meaning of Leo's gesture was clear. Look at what the Kraang could have done had you decided to charge in instead of going with my plan.

Raphael adopted an unperturbed expression and shrugged, earning himself another disapproving glare.

The ninjas snuck forward, gliding silently over the metal floors with nothing to alert anyone that they were there but a subtle whoosh and a split second of their shadows flicking over the floor. They came to a door at the end of the hall. Leo again gestured for them to hold back before nearing it any more, but Raphael leaped towards it with his sais drawn. Something beeped, and several laser guns emerged from the walls and started shooting at the oncoming intruder. They didn't have long to fire, though, before a blur of red and green picked them off. With a smirk, Raph flicked a bit of machinery that was stuck on his sai at Leo. Leo batted the object out of the air as it sailed towards him, maintaining a death glare all the while.

A few seconds gave Donnie all the time he needed to bypass the door's code, and then they were in. They found spaces to hide behind crates and the like and each took a few moments to survey the scene.

There were about a hundred kraangdroids in the massive room, each busy with their own places at the control panels on the walls or at consoles. It would be hard to get into the next room at all, let alone without being noticed, especially with the next door all the way across the room.

"Okay, here's the plan," Leo whispered, gaze settling on the wires and pipes on the ceiling above them. "We climb across the ceiling to the other side, then we throw shurikens at the consoles and panels on this side to distract them while sneaking into the next room." He gestured to the high pile of crates beside them, which luckily was piled high enough for them to climb and then jump to the ceiling, and was constructed in such a way that they would be blocked from view while doing so.

One by one, they climbed the crates and started crawling upside-down on the wires and pipes that stretched across the ceiling.

Donatello chanced a glance at the kraangdroids below when they were about halfway across. They all still seemed immersed in their individual activities. So far, so good. Looking at the Kraang, he failed to notice that his foot had gotten tangled up in the wires. He felt them tug his foot and stopped to look at the mess, then back at his brothers. They were getting far ahead of him. He looked back down at the tangle of wires and began to shift his foot around in an attempt to free himself.

POP.

A glance ahead told him that one of the metal plates used to fasten the wires to the ceiling had come loose.

POP. POP. POP.

The plates clattered to the floor, attracting the attention of some kraangdroids before the wires snapped and Donnie came crashing to the ground. He chuckled nervously, feeling the pressure of the stares of both his brothers and a number of Kraang upon him.

"Kraang is to attack that which is known as turtles."

Leo, Mikey, and Raph dropped from the ceiling to take down the first kraangdroids that had started to attack their brother. Lasers flew everywhere, almost drowning out Donatello's cry of "Sorry, guys!"

Just as the first few dozen Kraang had fallen and it seemed like they were about to win, one sounded the alarm. The door from which they had come opened again and a towering biotroid stepped out. It stomped into the center of the room where Donnie stood.

The purple-banded turtle twirled his staff, extending the blade, and made a jab for the biotroid's chest, where the main circuits were located. With a wave of its hand, it reduced his bo staff to splinters.

"You have got to be kidding me," Donatello breathed.

As the biotroid made another swing, this time for his head, Raphael jumped in front of his weaponless brother and punched holes in the robot's hands with his sais, which, Donnie noted bitterly, didn't break upon contact. A few more strong jabs to the biotroid had it out of operation. Raphael looked at the pitiful half of a broken weapon in Donnie's hand. "The Kraang break that thing more than it breaks them."

"Oh, shut it."

In another part of the room, Mikey looked over a console. "There has to be something here that can help us…" He spotted a section on the console labeled EMERGENCY and studied the buttons under it. "Got it!" He slammed a button that seemed to draw his attention and waited for the results.

More laser guns descended from the ceiling and joined the Kraang in firing at them. An angry chorus of "MIKEY!" could be heard above the lasers.

Mikey laughed nervously and went back to taking kraangdroids down instead of looking at the consoles.

Leo noticed how quickly Mikey seemed to adjust to the lasers from the ceiling shooting at them, skillfully weaving through the field of beams like a dance he had practiced a thousand times and destroying Kraang all the while. It was infuriating to him that no one else was having as much ease dealing with the problem that he created.

More biotroids and Kraang entered the room.

"Ninjas, fall back! There's too many of them!"

One by one, they found their way out of the room of chaos. They ran back down the halls and out of the building, chased by kraangdroids all the way. Leonardo opened the door of the Shellraiser parked a distance outside and waited for all of his brothers to get in before boarding the vehicle himself, shutting the door, and driving away.

They lost what little Kraang were still chasing them within a minute of driving. Yet everyone in the Shellraiser was silent.

Leo had a nagging feeling that this failed mission was going to bother them for longer than the usual one…

Next chapter on Wednesday. Have a wonderful day everyone!