Chapter 11: City Fall
Shredder sat on his throne in the Foot Clan hideout in New York city, staring at the viewscreen in front of him. On the screen was an image of the observatory room on Magneto's Asteroid M space station, in orbit above the earth. In the room was Victor von Doom, dressed in his usual suit of armor and a dark green cloak. Magneto had already given Shredder and Doctor Doom the access codes to his station, so they were able to come and go without any issue.
But their trust in Magneto had been shattered. After his appearance at Shredder's lair in New York City, the mutant leader had disappeared, presumably with Red Skull. No one knew where either of them had gone. Hydra was unable to make a full appearance on Asteroid M, due to the fact that many of their number were searching for their lost leader. Red Skull's temporary replacement was Baron Wolfgang von Strucker, a former Nazi officer and one of the leaders of Hydra.
Shredder's throne was eclipsed in shadow. The reason behind this was that to remove the shrunken kuro kabuto from his head in order to save his life, the Footbots had literally had to saw through the helmet. Shredder now considered himself disgraced, as no Foot Clan leader made a public appearance without the kabuto. He spoke to no one save Tigerclaw, who served as Shredder's mouthpiece.
As Doom spoke, Doctor Octopus worked in the background, using his tentacles to suspend himself above the ground. He was pushing buttons on a control pad, linked to a large circular device on the outside of the observatory, in front of the viewport.
From the radar dish outside, a purple beam appeared, ripping through the blackness of space. In a burst of purplish light, a giant circle appeared, small but growing steadily. Doc Ock turned to face the camera. "The portal has been activated," he said. "It will take some time before the army from the next dimension is able to come through."
Doom nodded and turned again to face the camera. "You and your army of Footbots must overthrow the city of New York," he told Shredder. "It is important that we cripple the municipal before our attack. Our Hydra sleeper agents in Washington, D.C. have already begun their assault on your nation's capital, and no military aid will arrive in time for our assault. It is time for the Masters of Evil to rise from the shadows."
Shredder motioned Tigerclaw down and whispered his response in the mutant's ear. The big cat straightened and looked back into Doom's eyes.
"The Shredder agrees to your plan, von Doom," he said. "But make no mistake: if you try to betray us as Magneto did, the fury of the Foot Clan will fall on you swiftly and ruthlessly." He snarled slightly.
Doom appeared unfazed. "I understand," he said. "Have your forces rendezvous at Fisk Tower. The Kingpin's henchmen will help lead the assault." The viewscreen blipped out.
Shredder muttered instructions in Tigerclaw's ear. The cat nodded, then said, "Rahzar, you and Fishface will lead the assault. Report to Fisk Tower as soon as possible."
After the turtles had been processed and entered into S.H.I.E.L.D.'s database and spent nearly thirty hours in a holding cell before their release, they were finally back home. Agent Coulson had told them he'd stay in touch, but no one was exactly sitting around waiting for a phone call.
Leonardo sat cross-legged on the floor of the dojo, one katana out and lying across his open palms. Back straight, eyes partially closed, he turned his attention to his breathing. He breathed naturally through the nostrils without attempting to control his breath, slowly becoming aware of the sensation of the breath as it entered and left the nostrils. Something told him he'd need all his mental energy for the coming days ahead.
At first, his mind was very active. He could hear his turtle brothers in the other room; Donatello and April were working on the lair's electric generator in the lab, Raphael was grunting and heaving during a workout. His mind whirled with the recent encounters, all the new superhero friends they had made, all the villains they had fought. Part of his mind worked on the puzzle of the Foot Clan, trying to anticipate their next move. Leo resisted the temptation to follow the thoughts as they arose, and remained focused single-pointedly on the sensation of the breath.
Gradually Leo's distracting thoughts subsided and he experienced the familiar sense of inner peace and relaxation. His mind felt lucid and spacious and he felt refreshed. He stayed with this state of mental calm for a while. And then, suddenly, shock waves rippled through his mind. Someone is in trouble.
Leo's eyes popped open. He stared at the large tree in the center of the room, growing through the dojo floor. A patch of its bark was stirring like the disturbed surface of a pond. Puzzled, he drew closer, his katana in hand.
And then, surprisingly, the bark became a human face. Or something like it. The face of a woman, with Oriental features, two head antennae, and shoulder-length hair curled at the ends, stared out from the bark of the tree at him. Leo paused, rubbing his eyes to make sure this wasn't a dream.
The face was still there. "W-Who are you?" he asked finally.
"Leonardo." The voice was soft and lyrical, and the dark almond eyes full of urgency. "Brave warrior of Earth. Please do not speak. Only listen. My time here is short. Your world is in danger. And so is a world beyond yours, a world of a different reality. Soon you will be taken to fight for this world, so that in turn your own might be spared. Prepare yourself."
The face shimmered, then vanished. The bark returned as normal.
Leo was stunned. He reached out and touched the tree; everything felt as it should be. What could it all mean?
He was about to go and tell Master Splinter; his father would know what to do. But as he left the dojo, the turtles were yelling at something on the television.
"Leo, check this out dude!" Mikey's eyes were like saucers.
Leo looked at the screen, on which a blonde woman stood facing the camera. "This is Joan Grody, from Grody to the Max. The Japanese ninja clan known as the Foot has teamed up with the Fisk crime syndicate and is menacing Manhattan! Police stations from the Bronx to Washington Heights are under attack, taken completely by surprise by this bewildering barrage."
The screen changed to show an image of Footbots detonating a police car and armed thugs robbing citizens. "They're taking hostages," Raph said.
"Go, my sons," Splinter said. "Save this city. Save your home."
It looked like the meaning of this vision would have to wait. Leo sheathed his katanas and ran for the Shellraiser.
Mikey sat at the navigation station inside the Shellraiser, listening to the police comm chatter. "19th Precinct down." "Taking heavy fire at the 33rd Precinct." "94th Precinct is under attack. I repeat, 6th Precinct is under attack."
"Dudes, this looks pretty bad," he said. "The police are getting their shells kicked."
"We're coming up on the station now," Leo said. He made a hard right, and the Shellraiser screeched to a halt in the parking lot of the police station in the 105th Precinct.
The turtles jumped out, weapons drawn, to see Footbots and armed thugs engaged in a shootout with police who were trapped inside the building. The Footbots had all been modified so that their right arms converted into cannons that fired bolts of purple energy. The remaining police were huddled behind the wreckage of a police van that had been thrown through the outer wall of the station, firing back at their attackers with shotguns, pistols and the like.
"Looks like those Footbots have been upgraded with Kingpin's stolen tech!" Donnie said. "That tech isn't Kraang, but it's definitely from out of this world."
"Let's see how their tech helps them against this!" Raph shouted. He had climbed inside the retractable top-mounted garbage cannon, and now fired a ball of explosive sewage trash at the enemies. There was an explosion, and when the smoke and dust cleared the Footbots were in pieces. Some human thugs had been taken out, and the rest, vastly outnumbered, quickly surrendered.
The turtles moved to secure their prisoners as the police began to come out of the precinct. One of the officers approached Leo. "Who are you guys?" he asked.
"Well, sir," Leo said, sheathing his katanas, "We're ninjas."
"We're mutants," Raph growled, as he punched one of Kingpin's thugs in the face, knocking the man out.
"Well, technically we're turtles," Donnie piped up.
"And we're teenagers," Mikey added. "Totally rad teenagers, except for Donnie, he's kind of a nerd. I'm probably the only rad one here. You can call me-" He paused for dramatic effect "-the Mike-anator."
The turtles groaned. "I'm supposed to be the nerdy one," Donnie said. "Really. Imagine that."
"I want to thank you, teenage turtles," the older officer said. He extended his hand, and Leo shook it. "Captain Stacy, 105th Precinct. You saved my men. I don't know how much longer we could have lasted."
"I advise you to take your men and get to safety, Captain," Leo said.
Captain Stacy cocked his pistol in response. "Sorry, junior, we're cops," he said. "Our shift never ends. And this city needs our help."
"As you wish, sir," Leo said. "Have your men arm up and then follow us in the Shellraiser. We're going to the next precinct over."
Their next stop was the 66th Precinct police station in the Bronx, which didn't look too good. Smoke rose from the building, with massive holes ripped in its walls. "Turtles, on me," Leo said. "We're going in."
Followed by Captain Stacy and a few other officers, the turtles advanced into the building as the rest of the cops spread out to secure the area. The building was eerily empty. Mikey gulped. "I have a bad feeling about this, dudes."
Suddenly there was an explosion, and a voice came over the intercom. "Hello, turtles!" the voice said. "That explosion you just heard means you're trapped in the building. If you want to free the hostages, I suggest you continue forward."
Leo wanted to kick himself. How could he have let himself walk into a trap like this? He wasn't thinking straight. The vision had distracted him. Pull yourself together. Your team needs you.
"So what's the plan, fearless leader?" Raph asked.
"We go forward," Leo answered.
The turtles advanced through the cell block and the station and into the yard out back, where a group of bound and gagged police officers crouched in the center of the yard surrounded by Footbots. The Footbots turned towards the turtles and charged, their weapons glinting in the sun. Also among them stood a strongly-built bald man, shirtless and wearing the striped pants of a convict uniform. He picked up a metal ball and chain, and spun it in the air menacingly.
"Hey there, freaks," he said. "Come take a bite out of Absorbing Man!"
As he spoke, first his hand, and then his arm began to transform, turning into the same metal as the ball and chain until his entire upper torso was solid metal.
"That's such a trash name," Mikey said, as the ninja turtles attacked the Footbots. "I think I'm gonna call you . . . wait, no, actually, Absorbing Man works. For now."
"Will you shut up already!" Raph growled, charging Absorbing Man in a flying kick. The turtle bounced off with a crack, as his leg struck Absorbing Man's solid metal chest, and he screamed in pain.
"Raph!" Leo shouted, running towards his brother. Suddenly, something stopped him short. Behind me . . . He turned, and a playing card flew past his head a hair's breadth away at lightning speed. He could see the card revolving in the air as it spun; it was a jack of spades. At that speed it likely would have killed him.
Glancing up at the rooftop of the precinct, Leo was startled to see a man in a tight-fitting black costume with white boots and a white target on his forehead. He leaped away, dashing off across the rooftops.
Leo glanced around. It looked as though Mikey was handling Absorbing Man fairly well, and Captain Stacy's men had taken out most of the Footbots. He signaled Donnie, and the two leaped up the side of the police station and took off after the mystery man.
Mikey glanced up to see Leo and Donnie pursuing a costumed man across the rooftops. He swallowed hard. He knew his brothers would be back soon, but it looked like he was going to have to take down his first big bad guy all by himself.
Facing Absorbing Man, he spun his nunchuks. "You ready to eat some shell, metal man?" he asked.
Absorbing Man merely laughed. "I grew up in the Bronx, turtle freak. You got nothing on me." He hurled his ball and chain at Mikey, who nimbly dodged the attack.
Mikey rolled and got to his feet. Come on, Mikey, you're smart! Think! How do you beat a guy you can't hurt? He backed away, and the NYPD began opening fire on Absorbing Man. The bullets bounced off of him, but it bought Mikey some time.
It looked like Absorbing Man got his power from touching things, which he turned into. If Mikey could get him to touch something fragile or weak, maybe that would work. Looking around, Mikey spotted the windows on the police station. An idea formed in his mind.
"Hey, Absorbing Man!" he called. The supervillain turned to see Mikey shaking his shell at him. "Over here!"
Enraged, Absorbing Man charged towards Mikey. At the last second before his punch would hit, Mikey leaped upward, flipping over the villain's head. The Absorbing Man's fist shattered the window easily, and his upper body began slowly turning into glass.
Mikey landed, and spun so fast his nunchaku were a blur. "Booyakasha!" he cried as the wooden sticks shattered Absorbing Man's glass body. Shards fell all around him as he pumped his fists in the air. He'd just defeated his first big bad guy, and without any help from his brothers! "WOO! Yeah!"
"Nice," said a voice behind him. Mikey turned to see another costumed man, decked out in red with a pair of short horns on his forehead, drop from the police station roof to the ground. "I would have helped, but it looked like you had everything under control."
"Oh, yeah, totally dude," Mikey said, dropping his arms.
The man extended his hand. "They call me Daredevil."
Mikey shook it. "And I'm Michelangelo. But you can call me The Big M. Or Dr. Name-enstein. Either one works."
Daredevil nodded. "There were others that looked like you. Where are they?"
"Leo and Donnie went off after some costumed guy with a target on his forehead," Mikey said, jerking a thumb over his shoulder. "And Raph—"
The victory of the battle was quickly sated by the memory of Raph. Mikey looked around to see his brother lying in a crumpled heap on the ground. "Raph!" He ran over.
Raph didn't look too bad, but his leg was bent at an awkward angle. He moaned softly, unconscious.
"His leg is broken," Daredevil said. "You should help him. I'll go after the target man." He leaped into the air and was gone, using his billy clubs to swing through the night.
I hope Leo and Donnie are okay, Mikey thought. He loved his brothers immensely, and always worried for them when they got in trouble. Picking Raph up gently, he headed back for the Shellraiser while Captain Stacy's task force freed the prisoners.
Leo and Donnie finally caught up with the masked man on a rooftop a good distance aways from the police station. "Stop right there!" Donnie shouted.
"You're outnumbered, so just give up!" Leo added.
The man turned to face them. On this roof, with nothing but a water tower, he had little space to hide. "Outnumbered, maybe," he said, chuckling. "But Bullseye is never outmatched."
Leo suppressed a snort. "Bullseye?" he asked. "Dude, my little brother could come up with a better name than that."
"You gonna beat me by talking me to death?" Bullseye asked. He flung a handful of playing cards at Leo, whose ninja skills enabled him to dodge the deadly missiles just in time.
"Let's do this!" Donnie shouted, and the two turtles charged Bullseye from opposite ends. Donnie whirled his bo staff and jabbed at the supervillain, who caught it between his hands. He paused briefly to kick backwards at Leo, sending the turtle to the ground. Bullseye then pulled Donnie in close and delivered two quick punches and a kick to Donnie's head, knocking the purple turtle down as well.
Leo sprang to his feet, katanas in hand. "Grah!" he yelled, charging Bullseye. Bullseye stopped pummeling Donnie long enough to turn and deliver a powerful windmill kick to Leo's face, knocking him down once again. Bullseye punched Donnie twice more, then grabbed his arm and used it as a lever to throw him into Leo as the blue turtle struggled to his feet.
He's making us look like amateurs. Enraged, Leo charged again, using his katanas this time. "You're going down, assassin!" he said.
"My skills are based on my infallible aim—and my unique ability to turn anything into a most potent weapon," Bullseye said. As he spoke, he snapped a television antenna off the roof and parried two of Leo's katana strikes with it. He then ducked under Leo's third strike to punch his stomach, knocking the wind from his lungs. Bullseye brought his leg around in a sweep, knocking Leo to the ground.
"In my hands anything is a deadly weapon!" Bullseye crowed. To prove it he flung a playing card at a thin wire cable suspended from a water tower on the roof. The cable fell and as Bullseye caught it he fashioned it into a makeshift lasso, whirling it and flinging it around Donatello's neck. The purple turtle gasped for air, and Bullseye pulled him in and delivered a series of punishing blows to the stomach and face. Donnie went down, and didn't back up.
"Donnie!" Leo cried. He was beyond angry now. Screaming wildly, he sprang at Bullseye, his katanas spinning around him in a metal tornado. The supervillain dodged Leo's first two kicks, and effectively blocked the katana attack that the turtle threw at him, disarming him and countering with his own punch at the same time. The blow stung Leo's face. He attacked with his other katana only to have that one disarmed as well, and again Bullseye retaliated, catching the turtle with three more blows to the face.
Now unarmed, he turned to face Bullseye. He wasn't going to win this fight unless he focused. Closing his eyes, he searched for his center, his senses heightening. The core of anger within him gradually shrank to a dull throb. The same feeling overcame him as when he'd received the vision in the dojo, as if the empathic spirit was guiding his movements. He remembered the words that Master Splinter had told them, "Make your movements like a river over stone, fluid, seamless."
He dodged Bullseye's next series of attacks, spinning kicks aimed at his head and midsection. Leo backflipped, catching himself on his hands and flipping himself back upright to catch Bullseye in a haymaker to the jaw then following up with a crane kick to the same spot. The mercenary stumbled backwards.
Rubbing his jaw, Bullseye glanced at Leo, who stood hands clenched in a fighting stance. He grinned. "You're good freak, I'll grant you that! But I'm better and I'll prove it." He threw a flurry of kicks and punches at Leo, who skillfully dodged them all. Leo went for a kick, and Bullseye caught his leg. Expecting this, Leo threw four punches at the mercenary's head, who was left defenseless holding Leo's leg. Leo spun in the air, loosing Bullseye's grip on him, and coming back down kicked Bullseye in the head.
The mercenary fell back against the wall. Before he could react, Leo ran forward and ran up Bullseye's chest, kicking him in the mouth with his heel. Bullseye's head hit the concrete wall hard, and blood spurted from his mouth where Leo had kicked him. He fell to the ground and lay still.
Leo landed gracefully next to Bullseye. "Guess you were an easy target," he said. Even as he spoke, he cringed at his own words. Even for you, Leo, that was lame. He ran to Donnie's side.
"Donnie, you okay?" he asked.
"Yeah, I think so," Donnie groaned, using the bo staff to climb to his feet. "That's gonna leave a few cracks in the old shell."
"We'd better get back to Mikey and make sure Raph is okay," Leo said. They started off back towards the police station.
All of a sudden, the rooftop lit up around them in a blaze of heat and rainbow light. When the light cleared, a man crouched before them on the rooftop. His hair and beard were golden, and he wore a strange armor decorated by three circles on each side of the front. A red cape was draped over his shoulders, and in his hand he held an ornate-looking war hammer.
The man strode towards the shellshocked turtles. "You are Leonardo, warrior of earth?"
"I-I am," Leo said after a few moments. "And this is my brother Donatello. Who are you?"
"I am Thor Odinson of Asgard," the man said.
Donnie's jaw dropped. "Asgard? As in, Norse mythology Asgard?"
"Aye." Thor turned again to face Leo. "I have been sent for you. We must hurry. The realms beyond your realm are under attack, and we require your assistance."
The vision, Leo realized. This is what it was about!
Before he had time to act further, Thor began swinging his hammer in circles. The rainbow light came again in a blinding flash, and then they were gone.