Rise of the Turtles Part 2
"Whoa~"
They all stared in awe of the somewhat beautiful glowing substance.
"So that's the-" Leo started before Donnie finished for him. "Mutagen that turned us all into what we are now."
Excited, Mikey shouted, "Let's drink some!"
"What? Why would you do that?" Raph asked, disbelief at the idiotic idea that his brother just shouted out.
"'Cause if you mutate a mutant, you get a super mutant!" was Mikey's only brilliant reply.
"Or a pile of goo on the sidewalk," Donnie said nonchalantly.
"Either way, it's an improvement," Raph added.
Shaking her head, Emi stepped in, "Alright, enough. We're getting nowhere with this."
Leo stepped to stand next to her, "Emi's right guys. This is huge. Whoever kidnapped those people are somehow connected to what happened to us fifteen years ago."
Curious, she looked at him, "How is that possible?"
They looked at Mikey when he spoke, "For alien robots, anything is possible."
"Stop that. There are no such thing as alien robots!" Donnie said irritatedly.
"Oh, yeah?"
Walking away from them, the orange terrapin walked over to the kidnapper who finally dragged himself out of the vehicle.
"Well, if there's no such thing as alien robots, how do you explain this?"
He roughly grabbed the man's head and started trying to tear his face off.
"Aah! Aah! My face!"
"Ugh! Man, this mask is glued on tight!"
Taking a step forward, Emi stopped him, "Mikey, stop! It's not a mask." She would know since most of the men, all looked the same. This kidnapper didn't look like the rest. His scent was too human.
Looking at the man closely, Mikey pushed him away, "Okay. He's in the clear. But those other guys were totally alien robots."
Irritated that they're not getting anywhere, Raph shouted, "Enough! Time to get some answers." Walking over to the kidnapper with the mutagen container in hand, Raph grabbed him by the front of his shirt, "Who are you and what's goin' on?"
Knowing that he isn't able to escape them, the kidnapper glares up at him, "Name's Snake, and I got nothing to say to you hideous freaks." He then takes a look at Emi, who had walked to stand next to the red terrapin, and smirks, "Though I might change my mind now that I see you, beautiful."
Angry at him throwing a flirtatious look at Emi, Leo growled at the man. He pulled the girl behind him so she was out of the man's sight.
She was confused by the blue terrapin's action and tilted her head, "Leo?" He didn't answer her as he kept his glare on the man. Sighing, she put her attention back on the situation.
Raph didn't like how he had flirted with their little sister either. Pulling the man up close to his face, he glared with a smirk, "Oh, well, that's 'cause you don't know us yet." He then threw him to his brothers.
Both Donnie and Michelangelo caught him by each of his arms and held him tightly. They too glared at him, not liking how he tried to flirt with their sister. Walking over to them, Raph opened the canister and brought it up to the man's face, "See, we were just regular guys until we got hit with a little of this.
Frightened on what he was going to do to him, Snake tried to get out of their grasp, "Wha-What are you doing?"
"Playing a little game I like to call Mutation Roulette," Raph smirked. "Now you could turn out handsome like me, or you might end up disgusting and deformed like Mikey here."
"Hey!"
Ignoring him, he finishes, "So, you feel lucky?"
Slowly, he started to pour the sticky mutagen. It slowly made its way down, getting closer and closer to Snake's face, who started yelling. When it was really close, he finally gave in, "Okay, okay! They call themselves the Kraang. They been grabbing scientists from all over the city."
Impressed, Leo went to stand next to his red terrapin brother, "Well, that worked pretty good."
"Of course it did. Would you wanna look like Mikey?" said Raph, gesturing to their baby brother.
Mikey glumly replied, "I'm right here."
Frowning, Emi walked to wrap her arms around the orange terrapin's neck, pulling him to her, "Don't be mean to him. I find Mikey quite adorable." She smiled at the end of the sentence, rubbing her cheek on the top of his head.
Happy by her words, Mikey stuck his tongue out at the two older terrapins before rubbing his head under her chin, earning himself a giggle from her.
Eye twitching, Leo took a deep breath to calm his temper before slowly letting it out. Turning his attention back to the man in question, he asked, "What do they want with Scientists?"
"I don't know," Snake blandly replied.
Shaking the mutagen in front of him, he quickly gave them the answer that he only knew about, "All I know is they're taking them out of the city tonight, but I don't know where!"
Before any of them could think about the information that they were given, Donnie suddenly shouted in excitement, "This is awesome! That girl's dad is a scientist. I'm a scientist." He then giggles in glee, "She is so gonna like me."
"I don't think you're her type," Snake said frankly.
Not liking his words, Emi let go of Mikey and slapped the back of Snake's head before going to stand next to the purple terrapin. She hugged his arm, glaring down at the man, "What's there not to like about him? He's kind, smart, and knows how to fight. Any girl would be very lucky to be with my brother."
The only response she received from the man was an eyebrow raised when she had called the purple terrapin her brother.
Donnie smiled down at her, "Aw, thanks Emi."
He got a smile and a tighter hug from her before she let go to stand next to Leo, who was trying really hard to reassure himself that she saw their brainiac brother as only a brother. Raph elbowed him in the plastron, gaining his attention. The red terrapin gestured his head to Snake, mentally telling him to focus.
Nodding, he looks back down at the man, "Where are they now?"
~After getting the information~
Emi stood on the edge of the roof next to their leader, looking down at the building that the Kraang was holding the family at. Though they were quite far from the building, she could clearly see that it was heavily guarded. Turning to look at Leo, she asked, "So how is it?"
Looking through the telescope, he answered, "There's gotta be like, twenty of them down there."
"Yeah, and that's just the ones we can see," Donnie added, earning a nod from the girl.
They turned to Raph when he took out his weapons, excited for a fight, "All right! An All-You-Can-Beat buffet!"
Before he could take any step further, Leo quickly stopped him, "We can't just rush in there. We need a plan."
"Why?" he asked, not understanding why they can't just go down there right now and beat the crap out of them
Backing their elder brother up, Donnie exasperatedly explained, "Think, you shellbrain. There are innocent lives at stake. If we screw this up, they're all goners.
Emi nodded, "Donnie's right. There's no point in rushing in there now. We'll lose before we could even get inside."
"Then we won't screw it up," was Raph's only reply to their cautious statement.
Emi sighed, putting a hand to her head while shaking it. Their attention was then grabbed when Mikey suddenly joined them, "Boy, I could sure go for some of that pizza right now, huh?"
They all looked at him, blinking.
"What? I can't be the only one that's hungry."
Looking at each other, they all turned to look back at him.
"Where's Snake?" Leo slowly asked.
Mikey gasped, remembering that he was supposed to be watching the said man. Turning their heads to look at where he was supposed to be, they saw that he was gone.
He grimaced, "Oh geez."
Ear's flickering, Emi heard fast running footsteps and laughter. Turning to the direction where she heard it from, she saw him running. Before he could fully run away from them, she pointed, "There he is!"
"Get him!" Leo ordered.
No argument there, the terrapin brothers started going after Snake down the fire escape while Emi decided to stick to the rooftops so she could spot him easier. As the brothers split up into two groups, Emi ran and jumped on the rooftops, not letting Snake out of her sight. While he ran, not once did he noticed that she was following him, which was good for her.
Arriving at a park, she slid to a stop when she saw him quickly hid on the side of a dumpster in the alleyway. Her gaze was turned away from him when she saw both Leo and Raph making their way to the park, stopping at the entrance of the alleyway. They both looked up at her, getting a confirmation nod from her that Snake was indeed hiding in the alley. It was more confirmed when they heard an accidentally kicked can.
Swiveling her ears, she focused her hearing onto the two, wondering on what they were going to do next when she saw Raph nod to Leo's gesture.
"Oh, great. We let him get away," Leo said, in a fake normal tone. She raised an eyebrow at that. She was surprised that not even Snake caught on to the fake tone about them not knowing where he was hiding.
Seeing this as an opportunity to get him back at his title, Raph replied with a mischievous smile, "Whoa, whoa. You're the Leader. That means you let him get away."
Leo lowly growled in frustration, "You're not helping."
"I'm not trying to help," Raph smiled with a shrug. Emi couldn't help but shake her head at the two.
Rolling his eyes, Leo decided to let it go, "Okay, okay. You want me to lead? Fine." He then spoke up a little louder for Snake to hear, "We go back to the Lair, gear up, and at midnight, we drive Snake's van right up to the gate. They'll think we're him, and we'll cruise right in."
"And then we bust some heads?"
He smiled, "And then, we bust some heads."
"I love a happy ending."
Smiling at those words they started leaving the park, heading back to meet up with their brothers. Leo waved an arm at Emi's direction, gesturing for her to come down. Doing as he asked, she silently jumped and landed next to them.
He smiled at her, "You heard?"
Smiling, she gave a thumbs up, "Loud and clear."
~Back at the Lair~
Before returning back to the lair, Leo had gone over the plan to the other two. Donnie, agreeing with the plan, had separated himself from the group once they got back home to get things ready for their mission back in his lab. Raph and Mikey went their own ways while Leo took Emi with him to the dojo. They were both sitting in the room, going over the pros and cons of the plan.
"We'll use Snake's van as a distraction so the enemies attention will be turned away from the other surroundings," said Leo, going over the plan once more.
Nodding, Emi smiled, "And then we'll use the Tegaki that Donnie is making for us to climb over the wall. Just hope we don't encounter any of the enemies once we get on the top of it."
Right when she finished, Mikey's scream was heard with Raph yelling after him. Looking away from the plan, she blinked when she saw the orange terrapin running away from the red turtle, who was chasing after him with a wooden spoon.
"I'm gonna shellac you!"
Shaking her head, she turned her attention back to Leo when he spoke, "I think this plan is gonna work."
They looked up when Splinter walked up to them, "No plan ever survives contact with the enemy. It is how you react to the unexpected that will determine if the both of you and your brothers succeed."
Seeing as how this was between the two of them, Emi put a hand on Leo's shoulder, "I'll wait with the others."
He nodded and watched as she left the room. He could hear her trying to break the fight between Raph and Mikey before squealing in excitement when she saw Spike. His guess is that she forgot about the chasing brothers when she saw the pet turtle. Turning his attention back to their father, he voiced his worried, "Sensei, do you think I'm ready for this? I think you should've made Emi the Leader after all. She's calm and actually knows the best routes to get us in and out safely."
Sensing his anxiety, Splinter put a hand on his shoulder, "That may be true. But Leonardo, I made you Leader for a reason."
Wondering what it was, he asked, "What is that reason?"
"That is for you to discover on your own."
He frowns, "There's so much riding on this. What if something goes wrong?"
"Failure is a possibility every Leader must face, Leonardo. It is something I had to face in Japan during my final battle with my enemy, the Shredder." Splinter then re-tells his story to him, "Years ago, Oroku Saki, as Shredder was called then, had been my friend. But the love of a woman came between us. He could not accept it, and his jealousy turned outward in a vengeful attack. And while he could not defeat me that day, my world fell and crumbled around me as the battle took the life of my beloved Tang Shen, and I lost my baby daughter, Miwa."
Saddened by the memory, he walked away from his son towards the tree in the dojo and put a hand on it. Thinking about the story, Leo walked up to him, "But that's my point, sensei. You lost everything."
"I lost many things. My family, my home, my name," he started. Turning to look back at his son, Splinter saw the sadness on his face. Smiling, he finishes, "But I gained many things as well, like the four of you and your sister, Emi."
Smiling, Leo decided to push his worried aside, "Don't worry. We can handle this."
Their attention was then grabbed when Mikey ran by with a pot on his head, screaming. Raph chasing after him not too far behind with a wooden spoon still in hand.
"Raph! Stop chasing after Mikey!" Emi yelled, running after the two with Spike who sat snuggly on the top of her head.
Both father and son blinked before looking back at each other and sighs. Leo jumped when he heard Emi's voice behind him, "So, everything okay?" Turning around, he saw a smiling Emi, who still had Spike on the top of her head.
Splinter chuckled, "Yes. Leonardo just had some concern that he had needed to voice out."
She looked at the said boy in concern, "Are you alright?"
He nodded, "Yeah, I'll be fine."
Smiling, she put a hand on his cheek, "You'll do fine, Leo." With that, she left to gather everyone, shouting that it was time to go.
Leo smiled at her words, feeling reassured that they will succeed on their mission.
~Executing the plan~
Tying the rope on the wheel, Emi gave a thumbs up to Donnie, "Everything's secure here, Donnie."
Nodding, he set a timer on the gas pedal before gesturing for the both of them to head back to the others. Running into the shadows between the alleyway, Donnie gave a thumbs up to the others, who nodded back. Waiting, it didn't take long for the van to start up, the headlights automatically flash on, and started driving full speed straight towards the guarded entrance.
"Alright, come on!" Leo ordered.
No arguments, they all nodded and ran towards the shadowed side of the building. Putting on the Tegaki, they quietly started to climb the wall. Emi smiled when she saw all the guards focusing on where the van exploded, "Wow, the plan worked perfectly."
"Yeah, and lucky thing that van showed up to distract them," Mikey added.
Sighing at his idioticness, Donnie face-palmed himself, forgetting that he had the Tegaki on his hands, "Ow!"
"That was the plan, Mikey. We knew Snake was hiding in the alley, so Raph and I made him think we would be in the van," Leo explained.
"But we weren't in the van," he stated confusedly.
Shaking his head, Leo was about to tell him to keep climbing until he was interrupted by Emi, "What's taking you guys so long?"
Looking up at her, he saw that she was already at the top of the wall and was now waiting for them. Mikey waved at her, "Wait for us, Dudette!"
They then started to finish climbing, standing together with her. Flashing them a smile, it quickly disappeared when she went back to being serious. She turned and pointed down at the building, "We won't be able to go through the front door either seeing as how that's also heavily guarded."
Standing next to her, Leo looked down and saw that she was right. There were four enemies together guarding the steel metal front door. Narrowing his eyes, he hummed, "There has to be another way in. If we take those four out, the ones in the front gates will notice us for sure."
They then quickly looked around to find another route to get inside the building. Seeing a square like shape on the side of the building, Donnie pointed, "What about the air vents? It seems pretty big enough for us to fit in."
Smiling, Leo patted him on the shoulder, "Good eye, Donnie." He then turns to look at the others, "Alright, let's go ninja's."
Nodding, they all silently jumped off the wall and ran straight towards the vent. Getting the vent door opened took quite a while to pry open, but with Raph's temper, he ripped the thing right off in mere seconds. Not arguing about his way of getting things opened, Leo gestured for Emi to enter, "You go in first Emi. With your hearing, you'll be able to pick up if the enemies talk about the family in their conversation."
Instead of getting a nod, he didn't expect to get a glare and a pout from her. Blinking, he asked, "What?"
He watched as she pulled her kimono skirt down a bit, "You better not look."
His face became so red that even it could put Raph's mask in shame. Quickly correcting himself, he stuttered, "T-That's not- Emi I-"
He stopped his stuttering when Raph slapped him on the back of his head. Growling, the red terrapin glared at them, "Now's not the time for this!"
"Yeah, you two. So let's hurry up. Or unless you both actually want us to get caught!" Donnie whispered-shouted.
Still blushing, Leo coughed in his fist, "I promise I won't look Emi."
Satisfied with his answer, she smiled, "Okay." Without waiting for them, she grasped onto the edge of the vent before pulling herself up and started crawling.
Leo was about to go next until Raph slapped his shell, making him stumble forward a bit. Grunting, he glowered at his tempered brother, who held a huge smirk on his face, "Yeah, Leo. Make sure you don't look."
Blush still evident, he mumbled, "Shut up," before climbing in after their sister.
Confused, Donnie looked at Mikey, "What's up with those two?"
He shrugs, "I dunno."
Shaking his head, Donnie knew he shouldn't have asked him and followed after their brothers.
Crawling into the tight space of the air vent was a bit of a challenge for the turtle brothers, seeing as how they have shells on their back. Emi, on the other hand, had no problem with it as she easily crawled through the large space with ease.
As they crawled through the vent, Leo had kept his word and hadn't looked up at Emi's skirt. Though it was kind of hard seeing as how he needed to see where he was going. But, he had decided to let just follow Emi's direction while he looked down at every vent door that they passed. So far, every hallway that they had passed by had too many of the enemies.
Stopping, Emi had made Leo accidentally bump his head on her rear. His face turned beet red, "E-Emi. What's going on? W-why'd you stop?"
Instead of answering him, she moved herself to the other side of the vent, gesturing for him to come over next to her. She whispered, "There's no point in trying to crawl our way through the air vent the entire time. We should just take our chance and go down there."
Thinking about her words, he nodded, "You're right." He then turns to the others, "Raph and I will go down first. You guys follow after alright?"
They nodded.
Looking down through the vent, they watched as two of the enemies walked by. Not wasting any time, Raph raised a fist and pounded the vent door right off. The sound had caught the enemies attention when they looked up. Before they could fire their weapons at them, the older brothers jumped down and quickly knocked the enemies out.
Seeing a job well done, Emi jumped down, the other two not far behind, and looked at the interior of the strange building. The place looked quite familiar to her and yet, at the same time, doesn't. She frowned at where she had seen this before but pushed it aside when Donnie spoke in awe, "Wow, I've never seen anything like this. They're using a metal alloy that I don't even recognize."
Raph came up to him and replied sarcastically, "Gosh! A metal alloy even you don't know about! It boggles the mind."
Shaking her head, Emi couldn't help but sigh that the brothers couldn't go on one mission to not argue with each other. Not wanting any throwdowns between the boys, she walked over to them.
"Dude, you wanna talk metallurgy with me? Bring it."
"I don't, and-" Raph was interrupted when the white-haired girl came up behind him and started pushing him forward, away from the tech geek turtle.
She huffed, "Enemy Lair. That means no arguing, no fighting each other, only focusing on the mission at hand."
Walking on his own, Emi let go of his shell when the two started to follow the others who had gone a bit ahead. As they walked down the hall, they all stopped a bit ways when they saw alien robots standing in the middle of the intersection.
Breaking the silence in the group, Donnie spoke in awe, "Whoa. Alien robots."
"Alien robots, huh? Hmm, where have I heard that before?" Mikey thought sarcastically until he started to shout, alarming the others. "Oh yeah, I've been saying it for hours!"
His shout had gained the attention from the enemies when they started to open fire at them. The boys, seeing as how their cover is blown by their idiotic brother, drew their weapons and ran to fight. As for Emi, the memory from ten years ago floated itself back into the front of her mind. The sound of the firing plasma guns. The burning sensation when the lasers graze her flesh. The anger from back then rose and started to swim its way throughout her entire body. Letting out a low deep growl, she glared at the enemies and ran.
Dodging each and every laser that was being aimed at her, Emi took out her tessens and started to decapitate each and every one that was near her. Running toward a far back enemy, she deflected every laser that was fired at her and flipped over them. While she was in the air, she threw her weapons, decapitating its head and arms off, and caught them back in her hands once she landed.
Twirling it in her hands, she glared straight down at the alien brain when it popped itself out of its compartment and screech at her. It started to fast crawl its way towards her, baring its teeth at her. Not afraid of it, she bared her own teeth at it and growled before kicking it straight down the hall towards where the boys were.
They blinked in surprise when they saw it passed by and slid on the ground a few feet away from them. Turning their heads to their little sister, they could see the anger evident on her face and body. Her hands tightened around her weapons while she was taking deep breaths to calm her anger down.
Concerned for her, Leo took a step towards her, "Emi? Are you alright?"
With her eyes closed, she took one last deep breath before opening them and nodded, "Yeah. I just… remembered what happened ten years ago. Don't worry about it."
Nodding, he walked up to her. She had put her weapons away when he stood next to her. Grabbing her hand, he gently pulled her back to the others, "Come on."
She didn't argue as she let him. Once they were back with the others, Mikey grabbed the Kraang, that Emi had kicked, by its tentacles and held it up for them to see, "See? See? It's a brain thing! I told you! I told you! But did any of you believe me? No! 'Cause you all think I'm just some kind of bonehead! Out of all you, only Emi believed me!"
They could only watch on when Mikey's loud voice had woke the Kraang up and started biting his arm.
"Ow!"
Creeped out at the brain alien gnawing on his arm, Mikey started to wave his arm around in the air, trying to throw it off. But when he succeeded, he had accidentally flung it onto a button on a wall that started to set off an alarm. Sirens blared loudly in the hallway, alerting any nearby enemies.
Angry at his idiotic self, they shouted, "Mikey!"
Grimacing at his mistake, he turns and pointed at them, "Okay! But I was still right about the brain thing. You gotta give me that."
Shaking their heads, they sighed and started to think on where to go next. They couldn't exactly hide anymore since the entire facility now knows about their whereabouts. Looking down at one hall, Leo ordered, "Let's move!"
"Move where?" Raph asked, confused how they're supposed to find the family in such a huge facility that just looks the same every which way they look.
Seeing Donnie walking somewhere while looking up at the ceiling, Emi asked, "Donnie?"
He turned to them and pointed at the black bars on the ceilings, "I think those are power conduits."
Irritated at his scientific talk, Raph sarcastically replied, "Oh! That's really interesting! Thanks for sharing, Donnie."
"Meathead, the conduits are all converging that way, which means that whatever is going on that direction is important!"
Leo smiled at him, pointing at their brainiac brother, who started walking in the direction where the power conduits were all directing towards together and followed him.
Mikey laughed, pointing at him, "You got spanked."
Not in the mood for his baby brother's remarks, Raph grabbed his finger, squeezing the life out of it.
"Ow! Ow! Mercy!"
Once he let go, Mikey stuck his throbbing finger into his mouth, grumbling, "Not cool."
Emi sigh and shook her head at the young turtle before patting Raph on the shell. He looked at her. She smiled, "You didn't know. So don't be too down about it."
He grunted before following the other two. Looking back at Mikey, she waved for him, "Come on, Mikey." He nodded and started running with her to catch up with the others.
Following the power conduits, it took them a while until they came across a door that they have never crossed before. Donnie took a look inside and announced, "We found 'em!"
Before they could do anything to get them out of the cell, gun fires were heard. They all looked to see Kraang droids running down the hall towards them, firing their plasma guns. Taking out their weapons, Leo gave his orders to Donnie, "We'll hold them off! You pick the lock."
With that said, they ran and started to decapitate every droid. As they kept destroying, more of the enemies kept on coming. Deflecting a laser, Emi threw one of her tessens, decapitating two droids of their head and limbs. Catching her weapon, Leo grabbed her attention, "They got the door opened."
She nodded at his words and started following him and the boys to the cell. When they got there, the cell had been opened on the other side. Seeing lasers being shot at them, they didn't stay long to fight and ran to follow where the enemies took the family to.
They kept running down the hallway until they couldn't see where the family had gone. Stopping at an intersection, Leo huffed, "Great. Now which way did they go?"
Sniffing the air, Emi sniffs for the girl's scent. It didn't take her long until she caught a whiff of it. Pointing down at their right, she started running, "This way!"
Without any complaint, the turtle brothers followed her down the hallway while trying not to get shot at. The hallway seemed to not have any more intersections since it led them straight to a metal door. Looking behind them, Emi could see that the Kraang droids were catching up to them and they needed the door opened.
Slowing down her breathing, she exhaled slowly for a few seconds before pumping her legs with a burst of speed. What should've taken them at least three minutes to get to the door, it had taken Emi at least thirty seconds as she ran and pushed the double doors wide open. Screeching to a halt, she turned back around and held the doors wide open, "Come on!"
They didn't need her to tell them twice as they kept running until they finally got out of the building. Once they were all out, Leo shouted, "Get the door!"
Grabbing the doors from their little sister, Raph was about to shut it until he saw a Kraang droid almost out of the door. He quickly tried to close the door on it however, he wasn't fast enough as the droid was caught between the closed doors, trying to reach for his face. Grunting, Raph down elbowed its arm before grabbing a hold of it and kicked its face, sending it through the doors, its arm in his hand.
Before he fully closed the doors, he saw that more droids have come right after it. Quickly closing it, he stuck the arm between the handle as a lock. Relief that none of them were able to get through, he looked at his siblings, "That'll hold 'em."
They all blinked at him, surprised at what he just did.
Confused, he asked, "What?"
"You are seriously twisted," Leo answered.
Seeing that as a compliment, Raph smiled, "Thanks."
Their attention was quickly grabbed when they heard the girl shouted, "No! Let me go!"
Looking over where her voice was heard, they watched as the girl and her father were being escorted up on a ramp towards a helicopter.
"Let's get 'em!" Leo ordered.
They all followed his order and started running towards them. They didn't get too far, however, until a giant plant stopped them in their tracks. Slowly looking up at it, their eyes widen.
"Uh-oh," Mikey quietly said.
Once they fully looked at it, the plant screeched before angrily looking down at them, "You did this to me! Now you're going to pay!"
They slowly took a couple of steps back with their weapons drawn at it, ready in case it decided to attack. Flickering her ears, Emi slowly asked, "His voice… Is that…?"
"It's Snake! He mutated into a… giant weed!" Leo answered her unfinished question.
Hearing his words seemed to have upset the now mutated man as he angrily screeched and growl at them.
Not understanding something, Mikey turned to their red terrapin brother, "That's weird. You'd think he'd get mutated into a snake."
"Yeah, you would, if you were an idiot," Raph angrily replied.
"But his name is Snake."
"So?"
Mikey rolled his eyes, "You don't understand science."
Running between the two, Emi put a hand on their plastron and pushed them a bit away from each other, "Now's not the time, boys. Focus your attention on plant guy for now."
They turned their attention back to Snake when his stalk was split in two, creating legs for him. He growled down at them, "I'll crush you turtles."
"Oh cool. Guess he doesn't hate me," she replied, smiling at the boys. They ignored her.
"Uh, would it help if we said it was an accident?" Donnie asked, trying to see if he could apologize.
His words of apology seemed to not be accepted when Snake screeched and readied his clawed hands towards them.
Donnie chuckled nervously, "So, heh, I'll put you down for a no?"
Instead of answering him, Snake waved his vine arm straight at them. Donnie, Leo, and Emi jumped, dodging the attack. Raph and Mikey, on the other hand, were too slow, getting hit instead. Both Emi and Leo ran toward the mutated man and slashed at his vine arms, cutting them right off. He hissed, waving his now decapitated arm around, sending purple like saps around.
Mikey, who was still on the ground, scooted backward, dodging the fallen saps while screaming, "Eww! Eww! Don't let it touch me! Don't let it touch me!" His scream went unheard as it touched his leg, "Aah! It touched me!"
Running towards him, Emi grabbed his arm, pulling him up, "It's just sap, Mikey! Not like it's going to mutate you into part plant!"
"You never know!"
They focused their attention back on Snake when his decapitated vine started to regenerate.
"It grew back? No fair!" Donnie complained.
Hearing the engine of the helicopter powering up, they all looked up towards it. They could see the girl almost being escorted into the vehicle. Sheathing his sword, Leo looked at the brainiac, "Donnie! Go!"
Doing as he said, Donnie sheathed his bo staff and started to run towards the helicopter, getting a boost from Leo on the way.
While they waited for him to save the girl and her father, the rest of the siblings focused their attention back on Snake. They all ran at him and started to attack, cutting off his vines. Jumping over a vine that was about to slam into her, Emi looked up when she noticed that she had caught his attention.
He bent low until he was face to face with her, smirking, "You know. I'll let them live as long as you agree to be with me, beautiful."
Hearing his words, ticked Leo off as he growled lowly at the mutated man. Rolling her eyes, Emi put a hand on her hip, "How about no, weed face."
Growling, he swung a vine at her, "Your loss girl!"
Jumping out his range, she landed next to the boys. Leo grabbed her hand, "You okay?"
Looking at him, she smiled, "I'm fine."
Before he could say any more, their attention was grabbed when Raph was thrown back at them. All three of them caught him. Righting him back up on his feet, they all scowled at Snake until Mikey spoke in fear, "Snakeweed is really powerful!"
They all looked at him.
"Snakeweed?" Raph asked.
"Yeah! His name was Snake, and now he's a weed, so-"
Shaking their heads, Raph stopped him, "We get it!"
"I actually like weed face. But Snakeweed is good too," Emi added.
Taking steps forward, his katanas in hand, Leo focused back at the problem in hand, "We just have to hold it off until Donnie gets back."
Right when he finished, the door that they had just locked was slammed open. Kraang droids after Kraang droids came rushing out of the building, plasma guns in hand.
Emi looked at them and sarcastically said, "While not getting shot by alien robots. Whoopee."
"With brains!" Mikey added.
Rolling his eyes, Raph exhaustedly replied, "Let it go, man."
Readying their stances, they looked at both sides of themselves. Contemplating their enemies, Emi readied her tessens as she came back to back with Leo. He looked at her when she spoke, "I'm going to get rid of the alien robots. You guys do something about Snakeweed."
Worry about her safety, he quickly denied it, "No. You and I will take care of the alien robots. Raph and Mikey, take care of Snakeweed."
Without any complaints, they followed his orders and went to fight their opponent. Dodging a laser that was aimed for her shoulder, she deflected another and sent her weapon flying, decapitating three Kraang droids at once.
Before she could catch her weapon, a laser was blasted at her hand, searing her hand in flame. She yelped, gaining Leo's attention. He looked at her when he saw her holding onto her hand, "Emi!"
Taking care of the droid in front of him, he quickly ran to her. Standing next to her, he hovered his hand in front of her, "Emi? Are you hurt?"
Instead of receiving an answer, a growl was emitted from her. When she lifted her head, his eyes widen when instead of seeing her golden eyes, they were now blood red.
"Emi?"
His voice seemed to snap her out of her anger as she closed her eyes and took a couple of deep breath. Once she got her anger under control, she opened her eyes and looked up at Leo. He sighed in relief when he saw her eyes returning back to normal. She nodded at him, "I'm fine, Leo. Thanks."
Still concern, he nodded.
Feeling something about to slam into them, Emi wrapped her arms around Leo's waist, making the blue leader blush, and jumped. Landing them safely back on their feet, she looked around and saw that Snakeweed had slammed their brothers onto the ground, including the Kraang's.
Groaning, Raph looked at them, "What's the plan again, chief?"
Shaking his head from the blush, Leo focused his mind back at the battle in hand. He looked over at the red terrapin, "I'm working on it."
"Oh. Yeah. Sure you are. By making sure that your girlfriend is okay!"
"She's not my-"
Before he could finish, his ankle was grabbed by Snakeweed, dangling him up in the air.
"Leo!" Emi shouted. She picked up her discarded tessen and started running toward him to help. Snakeweed kept swinging his vines at her, not letting her get any closer to the blue terrapin.
Avoiding another vine aimed at her, she jumped back and landed back next to Raph and Mikey. Growling lowly in her throat, Emi was about to swing her tessen at the vine that was holding Leo up until he shouted at them, "The power conduits."
"Are we really gonna start talking about that again?" Raph frustratedly asked, still not over about the whole thing earlier.
Emi put a hand on his shoulder, making him look at her. The look in her eyes made him calm before nodding at her, silently thanking her before turning their attention back to their leader.
Leo looked over at the power conduits, which was connected to a power generator by the wall.
"Perfect."
Looking back at the others, he shouted, "Raph! Mikey! Emi!"
They looked up at him when he put one of his swords in his mouth and started signing to them. Knowing exactly what he wanted, they nodded and started running to gain the enemies attention. Once Leo cut himself off from Snakeweed's hold, Emi ran next to him, "That was very unsanitary you know that?"
He raised an eyebrow at her, "What was?"
"Putting your sword in your mouth. You had cut many things with it and yet you stuck it in your mouth." She then points at him, "Once this is over and we're back home, you're washing your mouth."
Chuckling, he nodded, "Later."
Smiling, they focused back on the plan and started to gain the Kraang's attention. When they got the enemies firing where they wanted, Leo went over to Snakeweed and started to insult him, making Emi giggle at his antics.
After they made the Kraang explode the power generator with Snakeweed connected to it, they ran towards where Donnie was with the girl and ran. Both Leo and Raph helped boosted them all over the wall, besides Emi, who stayed on top of it and helped them over.
Once they were all safely together, they nodded and started running towards the buildings, up the fire escapes, and up on the rooftops. Before any of them could calm and make sure they were all okay, Leo silently gave them a signal that they should be far away from the enemies base first. Nodding at his plan, they ran and jumped.
Making sure that they were far enough, Leo stopped them, "Alright. This is good enough. I doubt the Kraang will be able to find us here."
They all nodded. Turning their attention back to the girl, everyone smiled at her, besides Raph. Taking a step forward, Leo introduced them, "Hi, the names Leonardo. Leo's fine though. And this is Raphael, Michelangelo, and Emi. I think you already met Donatello."
The girl nodded, "April."
Mikey went up to her, "Just call me Mikey. Or Mikester. Or-"
He was interrupted with a slap to the head by Raph, "Shut up. She gets it already."
Knowing the boys too well, Emi intervened before they started another argument in front of the girl, "It's quite late. Do you know anyone whom you are able to stay with, April?"
Without any hesitation, she answered, "Yeah. I have an aunt who lives here. Her home's not far from here."
Turning to look at Leo, he knew what she wanted to do and nodded, "Alright. We'll take you to her."
With a silent agreement, they all started to go to April's aunt's place, Donnie carrying her the way there.
It didn't take them too long until they finally arrived. Donnie, who was still carrying April, dropped her down in the alleyway next to the building and waited for her until she got inside. They all waited up on the roof, waiting to see if she was going to stay here or not. A couple of minutes have passed until the lights in the room near them were turned on.
Quickly hiding in case it might be her aunt, they mentally sigh in relief when they saw that it was only April. She started whispering for them, "Guys? Uh…"
Before she could say any more, they all silently dropped down in front of her, making her jump. Donnie chuckled nervously, "S-sorry."
She smiled, "It's fine."
It was silent between them until Donnie broke it, "Are you gonna be alright?"
Sighing, April answered, "I guess. My aunt says I can stay here as long as I want…" She then huffed angrily, "but I'll be a lot better when I track down the creeps that took my dad."
"Won't the police help?" Leo asked.
She dryly chuckles, "Funny thing. When you tell them your dad was kidnapped by alien brains in robot bodies, they don't take you all that seriously."
Mikey nodded in total understanding, "I hear that."
They looked back at April when Donnie spoke, "April, I promise you we will not rest until we find him."
"We won't?" Raph asked, earning himself an elbow to the plastron by their white-haired sister. She narrowed her eyes at him, "No, we won't."
April thanked them, "Thank you, but it's not your fight."
Putting a hand on her's, Donnie softly replied, "Yes, it is."
The two smiled at each other. April smiling in appreciation while Donnie blushed at the contact and her smile.
Emi elbowed Leo, smirking, "Smoothed."
He chuckled, "What? You like that kind of thing?"
Jumping up on the rail, she made a grab for the ledge of the rooftop before swishing her tail at him, "Well, it is kind of romantic in a way." With that, she started to lift herself up.
Thinking about her words, Leo smiled and started to follow after her. Once they were up on the roof, he and the others started following her as they jumped to another rooftop to go back to the closest manhole that was near their lair.
Landing themselves back into the sewers, Emi walked ahead of the others with Donnie and Mikey beside her, chatting on what they were going to do once they get back home. Leo and Raph, on the other hand, walked a few paces behind them.
It was quiet between the two until Raph questioned him, "So, you going to take what she said seriously?"
Looking at his brother from his peripheral vision, Leo shrugged, "We'll see."
"You might as well. I mean, she did say it kind of romantic."
Taking a deep breath, he sighs, "That's the thing, Raph. I don't know if she'll have the same feeling as I do her. I mean, she might just only see me as a brother. Not… not anything more."
That earned him a punch on the shoulder from the red terrapin.
"Ow!"
Rubbing his hit shoulder, he looked over at his brother. Raph grunted, his eyes narrowing at him, "Than you need to step up your game and start doing something about it. I mean, Emi's my little sister too, but at least it's better her being with you than some other guy that we may not even know about. Would you really want to lose her to some guy without even telling her how you feel?"
Imagining Emi with a guy, a human boy at that angered and hurt Leo. The jealousy of seeing her with someone else burned him. But, if she was happy with the guy than he had no choice but to let her go. Just by thinking about that made his heart broke. Closing his eyes, his breathing became a bit short as he could hear his heart thumping loudly in his ears.
No. He couldn't lose her. Not to some random guy that they may or may not know about in the near future.
"-eo… ey! -eo!"
A far away voice was heard in his ears. But he couldn't focus on their voice as his imagination on losing Emi forever ran through his mind.
"Emi! Some- is wrong -th Leo!"
"Leo? Leo, What's wrong? Leo!"
He was snapped out of his thoughts. His vision was blurry, not quite making out the forms that stood in front of him. Feeling a soft hand on his cheek, he quickly blinked his eyes and saw Emi standing right in front of him. Her face held concern for him as she looked directly into his eyes.
Running her thumb on his cheek, she asked worriedly, "Are you alright now, Leo? Raph said you started to hyperventilate out of nowhere."
Putting a hand over her hand that was on his face, he smiled warmly at her, "Yeah. I'm fine now, Emi. Thanks."
Sighing in relief, she smiles, "Don't scare me like that, Leo. I wouldn't know what to do if you had collapsed out of nowhere."
"Sorry to worry you, Emi. But I'm fine now. Honestly."
She pursed her lips, "If you say so."
Intertwining their hands together, he started pulling her towards the direction of the lair, "Come on. I think Master Splinter is waiting for us."
Agreeing, she let him pull her with him as they walked back to the lair. The others walking a few paces in front of them. Raph threw a few concern looks behind him, making sure that Leo was definitely alright.
When he saw him happily chat with Emi, he knew that his older brother would be alright.
It didn't take them long until they arrived. Splinter, just like Leo had said, was standing by the pool with the tire swings, waiting for their return. Letting go of their intertwined hand, Emi rushed over to their father and hugged him, "We're home, Father."
Smiling warmly at her, he hugged her tightly to him, "Welcome home, my daughter." Letting go of her, he looked up at the boys and smiled at them, "As to you all as well, my sons. Welcome home."
They all smiled, "We're home, Sensei."
~Next morning~
After their morning training, Emi and the brothers were about to leave the dojo until Splinter stopped Leonardo.
"Leonardo."
Stopping in their tracks, all the siblings looked at each other before looking at the said turtle. Knowing exactly what their father wanted to talk to the older terrapin about, she started pushing them out of the dojo, "It's nothing big guys. Leo's not in trouble."
Rolling his eyes, Raph replied sarcastically, "And how would you know?"
"I just do. Now come on. Stop stalling."
Not wanting to argue with her, they all started to walk out of the dojo, leaving the two alone. Splinter smiled at his daughter's understanding. Before she closed the door, she smiled and waved at them.
Once they left, Splinter looked over at his son and gesture for him to sit. Doing as he asked, Leo looked up at his father, "Is there something you need, sensei?"
He hummed, "We didn't have time yesterday seeing as how you and your siblings came home late last night. But I wish for you to relay how your mission had gone."
Nodding in understanding, Leo started to relay what happened in their mission. When he finished, Splinter smiled down at him, "I am impressed, Leonardo. You proved to be an effective Leader under the most difficult of circumstances."
Happy, Leo smiled, "Thank you, sensei. And I think I figured out why you made me Leader."
Curious, he asked, "Oh? Why is that?"
"Because you sensed inside me a true warrior's spirit that could forge us all into the heroes we are destined to become."
"No."
"No?" Leo asked, surprised by his father's blunt answer. "Then why did you make me Leader?"
"Because you asked," Splinter answered.
He stood up, "That's it? But you seemed so certain you were right."
Explaining himself further, Splinter replied, "As a Leader, you will learn that there is no right and wrong, only choices."
Understanding a little bit, Leo slowly asked, "So you could have chosen any of us?"
"Yes."
"Even Mikey?!"
Chuckling, Splinter walked up to him, putting a hand on his shoulder, "No. That would have been wrong." He then smiles fondly at him, "If you truly wished to know a reason why you have been chosen, Leonardo. Emi has suggested you herself."
"Really? B-but why?" he asked, shocked that Emi, out of all his siblings, chosen him to be the leader.
Running a hand on his goatee, Splinter answered, "It's because she saw something in you. What that reason is, she did not explain."
Surprised that the girl he had been crushing on for many years chose him to be their leader, words couldn't describe how he felt. There was excitement, adoration, but what made him love her, even more, was the admiration that he felt for her.
She was such a strong and willful girl. A very skillful kunoichi at that. So for her to choose him to be Leader, made him felt prideful and doesn't want to mess up his title even more now that he knows that she has chosen him out of all his brothers.
Smiling, he was about to reply back to their father until Mikey shouted, making the two wince from his loud voice, "Everybody! Come here! We made the news!"
Gathering together in the living area, they all watched as the News Reporter, reported ninja's being in New York. They even got evidence of it by showing an uploaded picture of their shuriken with their clan symbol on it.
Excited, Mikey shouted in glee, "This is awesome! We're gonna be famous!"
Not liking this news at all, Splinter voiced out his worries to them, "You must be more careful. The ninja's most powerful weapon is the shadows. Being brought out into the light is a dangerous thing."
"Relax, sensei. It's one little news story. What's the worst that can happen?" said Raph, not seeing what the big deal was.
Walking up to stand next to Leo and their father, Emi spoke, "Many, Raph."
He raised an eyebrow at her before shrugging. Sighing, she shook her head before looking up at their father, "Father, may I speak with you?"
He nodded, "Of course, Emi."
He started to trek back into the dojo with Emi not too far behind him. Leo had wanted to follow them as well, but seeing how serious the white-haired girl was, he decided to stay out of this.
Looking back at his brothers, he walked over and sat next to the hothead on the couch. Raph looked at him, "You alright?"
Humming, he looked at him, "Yeah. Why wouldn't I be?"
"Because of what happened yesterday."
Remembering, he sighs and nodded, "I… I'm fine, Raph. Really."
Rubbing the back of his neck, Raph mumbled quietly so their younger brothers wouldn't hear, "Look. About what I said yesterday… you know…"
Knowing exactly what he's talking about, Leo smiled at him, "It's alright Raph. And don't worry, I don't plan on losing her to anyone."
Smirking, he punched him in the arm before turning their attention back to the television.
~With Splinter and Emi~
Entering the dojo, Emi closed the door behind her and made her way to sit in front of the wise man. He looked down at her, "Is something wrong, my daughter?"
Taking a deep breath, she answered, "The enemies who we had encountered last night were the very same we had fought ten years ago."
He nodded, "I know. Especially when Michelangelo has first mentioned of them."
Nodding, she closed her eyes for a short while before opening it, looking down at the already healed injured hand. A frown made its appearance on her face, "During our fight, I got injured by one of the enemies lasers. I… I almost lost control that night. If Leonardo hadn't been there, I might've gone berserk."
Fully understanding her worries, he put a hand on her shoulder, "And yet, you did not. Emi, there will be a time when you will lose control because of your anger. But when it does happen, I know that you will be able to tell from your friends, your family, from your foes."
She looked up at him, hope shining in her golden bright eyes, "Do you really believe so?"
He smiled warmly at her, "I know so. When I had first encountered you, you had gone berserk. And yet, you did not harm me. You did, however, destroyed the enemies. So yes, Emi, I truly believe that you will be just fine."
Smiling, she hugged him, "Thank you, father."
Sighing fondly at her, he hugged her tightly to him, "You are very welcome, my dear."
~Meanwhile~
The newscast from New York that had broadcasted about ninja's being in their city was being watched by an armored man sitting on his throne in Japan. Rewinding the scene to go back onto the picture of the shuriken, his eyes narrowed at the recognizable symbol. A symbol that he had not seen for fifteen long years.
"So, my old enemy is in New York and training his own army. At last, I can finish what I started so long ago."
Without looking at his men, he ordered, "Prepare my jet."
Doing as he ordered, the man bowed and left. Standing from his seat, the armored man put on his Kabuto Helmet, not once taking his eyes off the screen.
"I'm going to visit an old friend."
