A/N: So I took a few liberties with this one. It's really a crossover, and something I've been thinking about doing. I also want to write a fanfic based on the antagonist of this one shot. Tell me what you think of this one and whether or not a full on story would be interesting. I kinda had fun writing it, and hope you all enjoy reading.
Title: Welcome to the Jungle (2k14)
Rating: T (Violence)
Leo and his brothers had kept a tight formation tonight. Before the grisly murders happening in the gang-ridden slums all over New York, they had been fanning out and patrolling their designated portions of the city. There was a deadly gang turf war going on, and for the most part the brothers were content to stay out of it unless the violence got too close to their patrol areas or their home. That had been rare. The police were having a tough time of it, but by now they were used to the Purple Dragons and factions of the mob battling it out from time to time. The turf wars were always bloody, but this time they were downright gruesome. It was a rare thing for local NYC news stations to actually blur the film footage of crime scenes. The citizens of New York had long been desensitized to the images of carnage happening in and around the city, but this was different.
As more and more bodies piled up between both gangs, they'd stopped blaming one another and started looking for the enemy that was picking them off. They weren't being picked off one by one either. In one incident, the police had been called to a location near the docks where several bodies belonging to both gangs, were found hanging upside down. Some were skinned, and horrifically some had been de-boned for lack of a better term, with their spinal cords and skulls torn from their dead carcasses.
That was two weeks ago. The gruesome discovery had forced a sort of truce between gangs, and had set the brothers on notice. This they couldn't ignore. At first they had wanted to keep on with the separate patrols figuring to cover more ground, but Leonardo hadn't liked that idea one bit. At first his brothers had balked, even Donnie until Leo had reminded them that the guys who'd been killed weren't the two bit low level gang members. Big Sal and Anthony Carbone of the mob, and Dave Da Killah of the Purple Dragons were the ones who'd been killed. Both mob guys were known to be top Capo's and Dave was known to have earned his moniker as well.
Whoever this killer was he was taking out the top dogs, the crème de la crème so to speak. Whoever this was, he wasn't to be taken lightly. Not to mention that despite the messiness of the murder scenes, there had not been one shred of evidence left behind. According to police not even the smallest piece of DNA had been detected. This killer was an expert and this fact had set Leo on a razor's edge.
At first he thought it might have been a faction of the Foot, but even at the height of his power Shredder had not been this sadistic when doling out death and destruction. Vaguely he thought of the Kraang, but quickly dismissed it. Those slimy excuses for life forms could be counted on to mutate, experiment on, or kidnap you but not hang you like a trophy on a hunter's wall. That thought stopped Leo in his tracks as they neared the area where the mob guys had been found.
A hunter's trophy. Something about that thought set alarms off in Leo's head and sent a shiver down his shell. Trophy hunters do not hunt for need they hunt for sport. And what do they do with the quarry? Why, they show them off of course. They hang the big buck's head on a wall, skin the bear and use his hide as a rug, and take pictures next to the dead lion. Hadn't they been hanging there on the tallest piece of construction equipment parked on the docks for all to see? Yes my dear Dr. Watson, they had.
"Trophy hunter," Leo muttered.
"Huh?" Donnie queried landing silently next to his brother who seemed lost in thought.
"Huh? Nothing," Leo said, being pulled from his thoughts by his brother's presence. They were all there now.
"What do we do now bruh?" Mikey asked, although he knew the answer.
"We wait. He may come back here again, whoever he is. We'll be waiting for him if he does," Leo said, narrowing his eyes and focusing on the shadows as his training dictated. You always focused on the negative space, not on what was apparent. You couldn't always trust what you saw or heard.
Mikey settled back quietly. Leo could tell he was uncomfortable, they all were. The city had been gripped in a heat wave when these killings began, and the night brought little relief. Leo could see the sheen of sweat coating his arms as he crouched down in the shadows created by the stacked shipping containers.
With a simple hand motion, they got to the top of them so they could have better sightlines. They could see now in every direction, but that didn't make Leo feel any better. If anything he now had a distinct feeling of being watched. Stalked even. On the instincts of almost twenty year's worth of ninjutsu training, all four brothers slowed their breath and all but melted into the shadows such that the naked eye could not detect them until it was too late.
Leo narrowed his eyes, peering into the darkness. It was only by chance that he saw the three triangular dots align on Raph's shell. His eyes went round and the next few moments happened in slow motion.
"Raphael move!" He shouted. Raph was rolling away before Leo could finish warning him. Literally not a second later a bright blue flash followed by a powerful impact had blown a hole right where Raph had been. He could see Raphael make his way back onto another stack of shipping containers. What Leonardo saw next he couldn't really explain. It was as if the shadows themselves were moving and alive somehow.
"Raphael look out its aiming again!" Donnie shouted leaping from behind Leo and starting to attack the moving shadow.
Donnie's staff was a blur and from the sound of the blows he landed he was hitting something solid. Donnie must have gotten a good whack because Leo could hear a muffled scream or roar, and then Donatello went flying backwards with a hard thump. What appeared to be electricity crackled all around the thing until it phased into view.
Leonardo couldn't believe his eyes. He didn't chance to look at his brothers but he knew they were just as stunned as he was. Whatever this thing was it was huge, taller than Raphael though not as wide. It appeared to be decked out in some sort of tribal gear, complete with netting and a loin cloth with minimal armor. What appeared to be some sort of gun was perched on the thing's left shoulder, and Leo was willing to bet money that it was the same weapon the thing had shot at Raph. In its hand it also held something like a spear or naginata weapon. It wore a mask that covered not only its face but part of its large head, and hair-like tendrils that looked like dreadlocks spilled over its shoulders and down its back. It was well muscled with broad shoulders, and claw tipped fingers and toes. This creature was impressive and very much not a human being. It was vaguely reptilian if Leo had to put it in a category, although he knew that was way off the mark.
Mikey had run to Donnie's aid who had gotten up in the time it took for Leonardo to make sense of what he was seeing. Raphael meanwhile had circled around the creature in an attempt to attack it. Without his customary cry, Raph leaped into the air pointing his sai downward, obviously intending on driving them through the creature's back but it was too fast. It wheeled around and caught Raph right in the midsection with the blunt end of his spear-like weapon. When Raph thudded on the top of the shipping container, the creature was on him in a flash. It was all Raphael could do to bring his sai up in defense lest his throat be slashed right then and there.
His brothers all rushed to his aid, although not quietly. Their attacks would have felled a lesser foe, but this creature was anything but that. Although scant, his armor seemed to be more than enough to provide it protection from the turtle's weapons. Donnie and Mikey both had blunt weapons, making it much more difficult for them to hurt the being before them. They were giving it a good run for its money, but ultimately were doing little in the way of damage. Only Raphael and Leonardo had a chance of really harming it.
Through a combined attack Raphael managed to disarm it of its spear. They'd wrongly believed themselves to have gotten an advantage before it produced long double blades from its wrist guard. The large creature shook its dreads, bent its knees, and spread its arms in a challenging display.
'Come and get me,' the motion said. Come and get him they did.
The brothers surrounded the human-like creature searching for any opening or weakness in its defenses.
"Now would be a real nice time ta come up wit' a plan Fearless," Raph growled out, keeping a very watchful eye on the creature.
"Working on it Raph," Leo growled back. With a motion none of the other brothers saw Leo had thrown several shuriken at the killer, relieving it of its shoulder mounted gun before it could move out of the way. The thing grunted almost in disgust of being disarmed again, and reached for a weapon sheathed on its thigh. It was a disc like thing that Leo couldn't make sense of until the thing blocked his sword strikes with it.
Mikey came around to its side to attack but the thing was too fast again. It caught Mikey's arm on an upswing cutting it severely. With a shocked cry Mikey held his profusely bleeding forearm and jumped back out of the way of another strike, this one aimed at his head.
"Mikey!" Donnie and Raph yelled simultaneously.
Donnie ran to Mikey's side hurriedly trying to stop the bleeding. Raph leaped at the creature that was advancing on Mikey and Donnie's position perhaps to finish them off. The creature turned to Raph in time to partially dodge a sure death blow to the back of its large head. Instead, Raph caught its mask and tried unsuccessfully to sink the long points of his sai in its eyes. The sai didn't penetrate, but it did manage to damage the mask. A hissing sound came from it as Raph withdrew his weapons and caught one of the hoses, ripping it loose.
Quickly the thing jumped onto a different stack of shipping containers and proceeded to take its mask off. The brothers knew this was probably the best time to attack, but they were mesmerized. They wanted to see what this thing looked like. Leo and Raph jumped containers to stand before it although at a short distance. Almost ceremoniously it removed its mask, which appeared to also serve as some sort of breathing apparatus judging from the air spilling from the disconnected hoses. Finally it dropped its mask and stood in all its glory. As Leo suspected its head was elongated with a crest of small bones lining the edge. Its eyes were golden and recessed into its head with an overhanging brow ridge. Its mouth had two upper and lower mandibles each tipped with a tusk at least a couple of inches long. Suddenly the thing roared loudly, flaring its mandibles to reveal a smaller but very toothy inner mouth.
"You're one ugly muthafucka," Raph said more as a passing observation than an insult.
The thing trilled, and made a series of clicking and chittering noises that could almost pass for laughter and speech. Leo raised an eye ridge. Perhaps the thing understood their speech. Leo took a careful step forward intending to try to communicate.
"Are you what's been killing people and taking their skulls?" He asked. The thing tilted its head to the side as if processing what was being asked. Then as if figuring it out, it nodded in the affirmative.
"What are you? Are you an alien?" Leo asked. The thing tilted its head again and punched something on its wrist guard. The action made Leo and Raph bring up their weapons, and that seemed to amuse the alien a bit as it made another short trilling noise.
'Pred-a-toooor,' said a human-like voice that emanated from the device.
"Predator?" Leo queried. He supposed the name fit the bill. The predator nodded.
"Why're you trying to talk to it Leo? What's next, you and him gonna take trip to Starbucks's and a shoppin' spree at the mall?" Raph asked, confused and more than annoyed at Leo's behavior.
"Look at its eyes Raphael, he's no dumb animal. He understands me," Leo said. He turned to speak to the predator again.
"Why didn't you kill those women? They were witnesses? Can you understand me?" Leo asked.
The predator played another voice recording. It was the sound of a baby crying.
"Ba-by ma-ker" the predator growled out to the utter surprise of everyone else.
It all made a sort of sick kind of sense to Leonardo. There were women left alive at two of the crime scenes, both too shaken to describe or talk about what they saw. Being face to face with this alien made Leo understand why. Then suddenly another thought occurred to him. If this thing refused to kill women because perhaps he felt they were weak or defenseless, then that meant it worked on some sort of code or honor system. Leonardo was struck with a very crazy idea that might end in his death, but he had to try.
"It seems clear that you have some sort of honor. If that's true then you should have no problem fighting me, and only me. Leave my brothers out of it," Leo challenged before he could talk himself out of it.
"What the fuck are you doing Leo?" Raph asked furiously. Leo felt Donnie and Mikey creep closer. Leo didn't answer them.
"Do you agree to that, predator?" Asked Leo again looking for confirmation from the creature. Predator nodded its assent.
Raphael was absolutely livid. Donnie and Mikey were more afraid than angry. Master Splinter had always warned them against engaging an enemy before you knew anything about them. They all knew how rigidly Leo sometimes stuck to those teachings. For him to betray them now spoke to the urgency of the situation. Not to mention it seemed that Leonardo understood something intuitively that they did not. Reluctantly his brothers stood back. Without any more conversation the terms of this agreement were crystal clear. This was a fight to the death.
Leonardo raised both his katana and struck his stance. The predator's golden eyes gleamed with the anticipation of battle. With a deafening roar he brandished his double blades. They circled one another slowly each taking stock of their foe. It was Leonardo who struck first. The alien was strong. Leo could feel the terrible resistance whenever he struck it.
There was no way for the leader if the small band of ninjas to know that he was up against roughly three hundred years of hunting instinct and fighting ability. That this predator had been hunting all manner of lifeforms, and that it was highly ranked among the clan it belonged to. He couldn't know that this predator had been disappointed in this last hunt and was reveling in the fact that it had finally found worthy opponents. The alien was more than happy to oblige Leo's challenge. Leo seemed to be highly skilled even though predator had never encountered such a creature on Earth before.
Attack and counter attack, the battle waged for what seemed like ages. Leonardo's brothers desperately wanted to join him and end the fight as quickly as possible, but they knew how Leo felt about situations involving honor. In spite of that fact, they still called out moves or weaknesses as they saw them.
The predator's defenses were for all intents and purposes impregnable. This was no mere street thug, or even another highly trained ninja. Leo had never in his life faced a foe of greater skill. The Shredder paled in comparison. Leonardo had to bring to bear every ounce of his experience as a warrior, and it still might not be enough to best this creature. The predator still had his disc blade in the other hand, and was using it to block. Leo had seen what it did to Mikey and he was more concerned with it than the alien's double blades.
At first Leonardo was showing off his athleticism, jumping and flipping in an attempt to distract but the predator was not fooled by any of it. He kept up with the mutant ninja step for step and in truth didn't seem to be using one hundred percent of its effort either. That actually pissed Leo off. He stopped using the fancy moves and narrowed his focus with pinpoint accuracy. He never entered into a berserker rage or anything of the sort, but when he calmed his mind and focused solely on himself and his opponent, he did enter into a sort of hyper-awareness. He began to anticipate the predator's next moves. The alien had a tendency to favor his left side, and it was this observation that allowed Leonardo to land his first wounding strike.
Leo saw the disc strike coming and turned his shell to it. It was a lucky hunch on Leo's part and really simply the comfort of realizing that there was very little that could truly penetrate his shell. Had the predator hit his carapace straight on, Leo would have been cleaved in two, but the blow had hit near the edge of Leo's shell and gotten momentarily stuck there. It was the very small opportunity that Leonardo needed to deliver a hit that wouldn't miss. Leo ducked down bringing one katana across the front of the alien's thighs cutting them, and using the other to block the blow coming overhead.
The thing let out an angry growl, and Leo was astonished to see fluorescent green blood spill from the wounds. Both Leo and the alien quickly recovered to a short standoff. It was only at that point that Leo realized he had been cut several times, and that the sharp disc was still in his shell. He reached around carefully to get hold of it, being mindful of the edge. He dislodged it and threw it to the ground below them.
Leo didn't waste time standing around. He attacked again this time with more ferocity and focus. The alien was still taking Leo for granted but that was to Leo's advantage. As long as he was being underestimated he had the element of surprise on his side. Leo feinted but caught a blade to his tender side. He gritted his teeth against the searing pain. He kept his wits about him enough to deliver a deadly strike with his swords, driving one of them through the predator's midsection causing him to howl in pain and stagger back. Clutching his stomach, the creature fell to the ground below, but was still alive. Leonardo jumped down along with his brothers who wouldn't dare miss the last moments of such an intense battle.
As the turtle approached, he saw that the predator was now spitting up copious amounts of green blood. As Leo stood above him the creature peered up at his opponent, anger and shock reading on its strange face. He raised his arm guard and began to press buttons on it. Not trusting this, Leo trapped the arm underneath his foot and leveled the katana at the thing's throat.
"Any last words, predator?" Leo asked. He hadn't really expected an intelligible response, and was surprised for the millionth time when he got one.
"Shit…hap-pens," it said and seemed to chortle a laugh afterwards as if it were the funniest thing he had ever heard or said.
"Yes it does," Leo said. He wanted to hesitate, but he thought about all the grisly murders, the missing spines and skulls, and the way this creature had hunted them down for sport. Without compunction Leo made quick work, dragging the end of his katana quickly across the things neck. He pierced through its neck guard and decapitated the alien beneath him.
Exhausted, wounded, and bleeding profusely from his side Leonardo staggered back and sagged against the containers. His brothers rushed to his side, grateful that it wasn't him lying there dead.
"Leo we gotta get you bandaged up, your side is a mess," Donnie said fretting over his brother, and bringing out what few bandages he had.
"You're a fuckin' idiot ya know that Leo?!" Raph said storming up to get in Leo's face. The eldest turtle just looked up at his taller brother, and offered a tired smile.
"I love you too Raph," Leo said.
Behind them they heard a loud rumble. As If by magic several of those predator alien appeared before the turtles. Each of them drew their weapons, readying for another battle and inwardly making peace with themselves. One of these things had been more than enough, and the brothers were certain that facing no less than the fifteen that made their appearance would end only in all of their deaths. However, it quickly became evident that these others were not here to fight. They collected their dead friend, circling around in a ritualistic manner.
One of them was quite a bit larger than the others. He wore a red cape, and his tendrils were greyed instead of black. The tusks on his mandibles were much longer, somewhat obscuring the rest of his face. He seemed older than the others, and Leo took him for the leader. Leo stepped forward, ready to give his life for his brothers if need be. He would find that was totally unnecessary. The elder predator looked over Leonardo carefully. He handed him what appeared to be a double edged spear. It was clearly not crafted on Earth and it seemed old, like it was ancient and valuable. The elder predator gave the weapon over with what seemed like reverence. It was obvious that this was important for them, and Leo was relieved that they did seem to honor the outcome of the one on one battle without trying to get even.
Despite the noble show, Leo didn't feel good about any of it. These creatures were extremely dangerous and he hoped never to encounter them again. With great flourish and a dramatic fling of his cape, the elder predator turned and signaled the others to follow. A large ship appeared just as magically as its occupants had, and roared to life. In a flash, the ship lifted and took off into the air.
The brothers stood in dumb disbelief. They had no words to say, no witty banter. Even Donnie was subdued at the events surrounding having actually laid eyes on an extraterrestrial being. Sluggishly they made their way home with a tale to tell their father.