In a few minutes Raphael was completely passed out, and Shredder tried to avoid feeling guilty. The fact that the turtle was unconscious would actually make the next part of the day much easier, he reminded himself. For both of them. With a turtle by his side there was no way he could negotiate with Foot soldiers, but with Raphael out of the picture there was a chance that they might opt to side with him, first against the aliens and eventually against Krang. That was definitely better than just letting them all get killed.
Shredder hid Raphael under a tarp and rehearsed his story. When the Foot soldiers came, he delivered it without a hitch. They were still wavering – was he really on their side or was Krang right about him – when the monsters showed up. "See?" Shredder said immediately, gesturing to them. "I'll prove it to you. If I was betraying you I'd leave you alone with these beasts. Instead, I'll help you kill them."
Working with Raphael had made Shredder realize exactly how incompetent his Foot soldiers actually were, and he was determined to get more satisfactory henchmen as soon as possible. So, even though human decency suggested he make an honest effort to save their lives if possible, he decided it wasn't too big a deal if the Foot soldiers here all got converted to monster chow. He backed into them. "Aim for those things' eyes," he ordered, positioning himself so that there were at least three or four warm bodies between him and the rampaging creatures. Within seconds the aliens were upon them, stepping on Foot soldiers left and right in an effort to get at their favorite meal. Body parts were soon flying through the air and the Foot soldiers were beginning to panic. "Focus on one at a time!" Shredder shouted. "Kill that one first! All together…that's it…come on, get up, it's only a leg…keep going! Forget about him, you have lots of brothers…that's it, climb! – watch the spikes….oh, ouch, that must hurt..."
He kept moving through the throng of soldiers, hoping to disguise the fact that he (being the only one covered in turtle soup) was the monsters' prime target. He coached his men through one alien and cheered when it went down. But then, as they re-formed to fight the second alien, it lashed out with its huge tail, bashing six or seven people into a wall and knocking them all out at once. The handful that remained standing gave up. They turned and ran, leaving Shredder alone with the last living monster. He stared after them resentfully for a moment before turning to face his enemy and get down to business.
Shredder crouched low, watching its tail. "Go ahead," he muttered. "Try." If the thing swung its tail again, he would just duck and come up under it. Its baby-making days would be over.
Unfortunately the alien didn't attack with its tail. Instead, it just charged at him, mouth open and claws out.
For lack of a better plan, Shredder charged too. They ran head on at each other, and as they were about to collide Shredder leaped into the air, somersaulting forwards and landing straddled on the alien's snout. The alien was bellowing and shaking his head around. It was like the bucking bronco from Hell.
Luckily Shredder didn't have to stay mounted for too long. The monster was cross-eyed because it was trying to glare at him, which caught Shredder's attention. Aha. Cross-eyed. Eyes.
"KI-AAA!" He drove his claws straight in, sinking his arm as deep as the elbow. The monster went rigid, teetered, and crashed to the ground with Shredder still on top.
When he was satisfied that it was really dead, he pulled free from the steaming eye socket and went to go find Raphael before the Foot soldiers came back.
The turtle was unconscious. Since they had to get out before the Foot soldiers came back with reinforcements, they were in need of an immediate exit. Shredder dimly recalled having seen the plans for this wing, and seemed to remember which wall might lead outside. He revved up some machinery – he was no construction worker but he thought it might be a bulldozer – and aimed it at the wall and set it on autopilot. The vehicle clunked forwards, plowed through with horrible screechy metal sounds, and crashed to pieces a hundred feet below. Shredder moved cautiously to the hole and peeked out. He sighed. How nice: they were pretty damn high in the air.
TBC. It looks like only about two more chapters. So please, if you've been lurking, now's the time to pop in and say hi!