Chapter 9: The Helicarrier Part 2
Raph finally calmed down enough to climb off of Mikey, who lay sprawled on the floor seeing stars. Suddenly klaxons and alarms went off, and a blinking red light lit up the laboratory. The turtles glanced around in alarm.
"Um, guys," Donnie said, "when a flying aircraft carrier starts blaring alarms and warning systems, that's not usually a good thing, right?"
"Add to that the armed guards running past us right now!" said Leo, who was peering out through the glass on the lab doors. S.H.I.E.L.D. agents bearing automatic weapons charged down the hall.
Hill glared at the turtles through the glass and said, "Stay right where you are," before she ran off after the agents.
Raph grinned. "Does she really think we're this stupid?" he asked no one in particular. Leaping across the room, he took out the door with one powerful kick. He would have gone further but Leo stopped him.
"Wait, Raph!" said Leo. "I'm not sure we should go out there."
Raph stared at his brother in disbelief. "Dude, are you serious? You're gonna sit here like that bullhorn chick told you to?"
"Think about it, Leo," said Donnie, trying to add some logic to the equation. "We'd be better off helping out those S.H.I.E.L.D. agents, because if we don't and they lose, this ship'll go down - with us in it!"
Leo finally saw to reason. "Okay, guys, let's go," he said, drawing his katanas. "But we're in unfamiliar territory. Wait for my lead."
The turtles stepped out into the hallway and ran off after the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents.
Once they reached the deck, they saw the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents taking cover on one side of the deck, firing across it at about a dozen heavily armed mercenaries. Leading the mercenaries were two familiar, but not very friendly faces.
"Rocksteady and Bebop!" Mikey said.
Hearing his name, Bebop spun around to face the turtles. "Mm-mm-mm," he said, nudging Rocksteady. "Look who we have here. It's those turtle freaks!"
Rocksteady turned and aimed his Gatling gun at them. "Turtles? Here? On floating aircraft carrier?" he asked. "I going to pop your heads like the blueberries!" With a roar he opened fire.
The turtles took evasive action, dodging the spray of bullets. Leo dove for Bebop but the warthog mutant anticipated the move and ducked out of the way. "Whoops!" he said. "Too slow, shellhead!"
As Leo landed, Bebop let fly with a burst of energy beams from his belt. The blue turtle blocked the blasts with his katanas as Donatello leaped forward. "Try this on for size!" he shouted, spinning his staff over his head before bringing it down in a double-handed smash onto Bebop's head.
Bebop stumbled backwards, reeling. "Ouch!" he cried. "Oh, man! You gave me a knock on my noggin!" He looked up, glaring from behind his purple visor at the turtles. "Now it's my turn!"
He went into a ballerina spin, rapid-firing blasts from his belt. The turtles couldn't block them all. First Leo hit the deck, then Donnie. Bebop stopped spinning. "That's right!" he crowed. "You mess with the warthog, you get the tusks!"
"Seriously?" asked Raph, tackling Bebop to the ground. "You need to come up with a better catchphrase!" He punched the warthog mutant several times in the chest area, producing squeals of pain.
Rocksteady came to the rescue, charging forward and slamming into Raph like a tank. "Get off of friend Bebop!" he roared, turning a hand to help Bebop to his feet.
It was then that Iron Man landed on the deck, between the turtles and the villains, dressed in his Mark 47 armor. "Turtles, you guys got Pighead and the One-Horned Wonder?" he asked.
Bebop quivered with rage. "I am not gonna be called Pighead, got me?" he shrieked. "That is the dumbest name ever!"
Rocksteady agreed. "Nyet nyet, not so good names," he growled.
Iron Man took off to help the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents, who had been flanked by the hired guns. With the scales now tipped towards the good guys, Bebop knew it was just a matter of time before they were captured. "I think it's time to move on to stage two, Baby Ivan," he told Rocksteady. He pressed a button on his belt, and light-bending technology in his suit flickered, turning him invisible. "I'm going to the holding cells. You head for the engine room!"
Rocksteady nodded his head, as the turtles charged him. "I will be following the plan by comrade Zeck," he said, leaping into the air and coming down hard on the deck. The vibrations knocked a hole in the deck, which Rocksteady fell through into one of the Helicarrier's hallways.
The turtles moved to follow but were stopped when the ceiling caved in, causing debris to fill the hole that Rocksteady had made. They quickly started to clear the rubble away, but soon realized it was useless.
"Guys, looks like they're splitting up," said Donnie.
"Which means we'll have to split up, too," Leo said. "Mikey, Iron Man, with me. We'll stop Bebop before he gets to the cells. Donnie, Metalhead, and Raph, you guys cut Rocksteady off at the engine room."
Mikey nodded. "Like a turtle do, bro!" he said, and they were off.
Leo, Mikey, and Iron Man took one of the Helicarrier's turbolifts down to the detention level. They stood awkwardly listening to the piano elevator music until at last the doors slid open. The three charged into the detention level, but nobody was in sight. That worried Leo; he knew that Bebop had some kind of light-warping technology.
"Hey Iron Man, heads up," he warned. "Bebop has a special suit that makes him invisible. He could be anywhere."
As he said this, Mikey gave a cry of pain next to him and went down. Bebop stood over him, cracking his knuckles. "Oops!" he said. "Too slow, turtle man!" And just like that, he was gone, with a signature "Wee hee hee!" laugh.
Iron Man turned sharply. "Wait a minute," he said. "That suit - it's a prototype of one of my old inventions. Where'd you get that?"
"Let's just say that Stark's warehouses should invest in bigger locks," said Bebop. His voice bounced off the corridor walls, making it hard to figure out where he was. "Ha ha! Snooze, you lose, Stark!"
"Okay," said Iron Man, "now he's ticked me off. Scanning the area for heat signatures."
Leo threw several ninja stars into the space in front of them in hopes of maybe hitting Bebop with a lucky shot. "Missed me! Missed me!" Bebop crowed. "I'm like a ghost, man! You can't touch this! Am I over here-or over here-or here?"
"We've got a lock," said Iron Man. He raised his right arm and fired the repulsor. A blast of blue energy flew from it, hitting an invisible object. The object shimmered and revealed Bebop, who flew down the hall a short ways and fell to the ground.
As Bebop lay there moaning, alarms and klaxons suddenly started going off, and red flashing lights activated in the corridor. The turtles and Iron Man paused briefly, trying to make sense of it.
"I'm guessing that's not good," said Mikey, still rubbing his head from Bebop's judo chop.
"F.R.I.D.A.Y., what's going on?" Iron Man asked.
"It appears as though the Helicarrier's engines have been dangerously destabilized, boss" came the reply. "Engine numbers two and three are down sixty percent, while engine number four has stopped altogether."
"Engines are losing power fast," said Iron Man to the turtles. "I'd better go help. I'm sure you can handle Bebop on your own." He flew off down the hallway.
While this conversation had taken place, Bebop had crawled over to the holding cells and entered the deactivation code. Shredder had bought the codes off of their mole in S.H.I.E.L.D. Out stepped Tigerclaw, growling. "Turtles," he snarled. "You two will pay for imprisoning me!" He drew his two pistols and opened fire.
"Hey, freak!" M.O.D.O.K. shouted. "Get me out of this cell!"
Tigerclaw turned and sneered at M.O.D.O.K. "You have failed the Foot Clan," he said. "Consider this your just dessert."
Meanwhile, Raph, Donnie and Metalhead had arrived at the engine room. Rocksteady was already there, and he was smashing every control panel in sight. "I am following the plan set by Comrade Zeck," he muttered to himself. "Get rid of all control over engines, so flying aircraft carrier crashes into ocean and destroys turtles." He turned to see Raph and Donnie, and Metalhead hovering between the two. "Guh! Turtles! And-weird robot suit that looks like Iron Man! I am not happy to be seeing you!" He gave a roar and charged, horn down. Raph and Donnie leaped out of the way, but Metalhead's reflexes were slow. Rocksteady plowed into the robot, pinning him against the wall. He turned, flushed with victory.
Raph spun his sais and moved in while Rocksteady was distracted. He dealt the rhino mutant several quick blows to the midsection. On a normal person, this would have knocked the wind out of them, but Rocksteady only stumbled slightly. It was just the thing Raph needed. He leaped into the air and landed on Rocksteady's back, putting him in a chokehold. Rocksteady stumbled around, arms flailing, trying to get his breath back. "Arrgh!" he gasped. "Can-not-breathe!"
Rocksteady's giant hands were pounding into whatever they came into contact with: control panels, walls, floor. Donnie realized the danger and shouted, "Raph! Stop! You're wrecking everything!"
Raph saw the danger and let go, but it was too late. Alarms sounded over the intercom, and a flashing red light went off. Donnie ran towards the one control panel that still looked somewhat serviceable and ran his fingers over it. "Status report," he ordered. The results flashed across the screen, and he gulped.
"Uh, Raph, the ship's failing fast," he said. "Engines are losing power!"
"Well, give them power!" Raph shot back, trying not to get smashed by Rocksteady's giant fists.
"What, you think I've just got some kind of giant battery in my back pocket, to pull out at whim?" Donnie shouted, frustrated.
At that moment, Iron Man rocketed in. "Looks like the party started without me," he said, firing several small missiles at Rocksteady. The explosions did nothing more than anger the mutant. "I'll take the ugly unicorn," he said. "You guys get the power back up. This thing falls, it'll flatten the entire Manhattan district."
While Donnie and Metalhead labored over the few control panels still functional, Iron Man flew interference. He rocketed in circles around the room, firing repulsor beams at Rocksteady.
"Arrgh!" Rocksteady roared. "I will be swatting the annoying robot insect out of the sky!" With surprising reflexes he reached out and grabbed Iron Man's leg, pulling him in for a crushing bear-hug.
Inside the Mark 47 armor, Tony's heads-up displays started flickering as Rocksteady crushed him like a soda can. He grunted in pain. "F.R.I.D.A.Y., power up Unibeam," he gasped. "On my mark."
"On it!" F.R.I.D.A.Y.'s electronic voice said. The centerpiece of the Iron Man suit began glowing light blue. Rocksteady looked down in confusion. "What is-" he started to ask.
The Unibeam went off, firing a powerful blast of energy into Rocksteady at close range. This sent the large mutant flying across the room, where he hit the wall hard and sat dazed. "Ouch," he groaned.
His walkie-talkie beeped. "Yo, G-Man, we got Tigerclaw," Bebop said over it. "Let's blow this pop stand!"
"I will be waiting at extraction point for Comrade Zeck," Rocksteady said before leaping through the ceiling to make his escape.
Meanwhile, Raph was getting frustrated. "Donnie, we're dropping like a stone," he said. "What's the hold-up?"
"The computer has an algorithm that when activated starts the back-up power for the engines," Donnie said, turning to face Raph. He did not notice Metalhead approaching the control panel behind him. "Problem is, S.H.I.E.L.D. has such a powerful firewall installed to protect the algorithm that it would take me a while to hack it, more time than we have. If I had a computer program I could get in and out no problem. But-"
A beep from the control panel got both turtles' attention. Metalhead removed his computer interface from the panel, which now showed a 3-D model of the Helicarrier. All four engines were lit up, and across the screen ran the words, BACK-UP POWER ONLINE.
"Huh," Donnie muttered. "Or, that could work. Let's get after him!"
They jumped through the hole in the ceiling in pursuit.
On the deck of the Helicarrier, the Foot Clan henchmen ran towards the airstrip in the hopes of stealing one of the Quinjets to make their escape. Tigerclaw flew through the air with his jetpack, clutching his laser rifle. Rocksteady galloped along using all fours, and Bebop ran, struggling to keep up. "Head for the aircraft!" Tigerclaw said. "We need to get out of here!"
The turtles and Iron Man arrived on the flight deck to see the Quinjet speeding down the airstrip. "Oh, no!" Leo said. "We're too late!"
In just a few moments the villains would have escaped. "Iron Man, can you stop them?" Raph asked.
"Negative, Ghost Rider," Tony said from inside the suit. "My suit's still recharging from the Unibeam. I'm grounded for now."
Suddenly out of nowhere a missile flew and hit one of the escaping Quinjet's engines. Tigerclaw growled inside the cockpit. "We're losing power!" he snarled.
The Quinjet went spinning out of control and eventually fell off the side of the Helicarrier. The turtles turned to see who had fired the missile. A short distance down the landing strip stood Nick Fury, looking more awesome than usual due to the smoking RPG he held in his hands. He turned and gave them a long look with his single good eye.
They walked over to him. "Looks like I may have been hasty in judging these turtles," he said. "They can be considered friends of S.H.I.E.L.D. We'll have to get you boys registered, as per the Accords, but that's a lot of paperwork I would rather not deal with right now." He gave Iron Man a look. "And we're still having a talk about security protocols. I'll let Agent Hill handle that."
Iron Man spread his arms wide. "Great," he said. "Now it's just a matter of which fancy restaurant I want to buy out for the evening."