Chapter 8: Only Fools Rush In

As the sun began to set behind the tall buildings of the bustling city, two, dark hooded figures walked side by side down the busy streets, one slightly shorter than the other, as well as slightly wider. They made no eye contact with any pedestrians that passed them by or sent them strange glances as they walked, nor did they speak to each other at all, lest they blow their cover. Keeping silent and their heads held low all the while, the two of them walked at a steady pace to where the taller boy, Keno, directed the hideout would be.

Raphael remembered him saying something about it being not too far away from the docks. For all their sakes, he'd better be right. Normally, this would be something he would've done with Casey, but when he went by his house he'd found that he wasn't there. So it was after remembering that Keno knew – or at least Raph hoped he knew – the location, he'd gone back to find him and bring him along instead.

Keno nudged Raph's arm. "Raph," he whispered, cocking his head towards an alleyway on their left, "we're here."

Raph nodded once, and after discreetly looking behind him in case anyone was watching them, they made their way quickly down the alleyway, and stopped as soon as they reached the hidden door that Keno pointed out. Raph couldn't fight the smug grin that found its way across his face once he noticed the symbol of the Foot embellished on the door.

No wonder Keno managed to find it; for a clan of ninjas, they weren't very subtle.

Making sure one last time that no one else was present, they took off their hoods. "You sure you know what to do, kid?" Raphael asked as he took off his sweater and dropped it in the trash can nearby.

The boy nodded with an eager smile. He knew he'd be able to help them somehow. "All I gotta do is sneak in, find out what they're planning, sneak out, give you guys the info, and then you guys go and take them out later tonight and grab the mutagen. Easy, right?" Keno replied with a confident smile, taking off his own hoodie and throwing next to Raph's on the ground.

Raph nodded, but put a firm hand on his shoulder and drew him closer so he could whisper, "Yeah, but listen, don't try to be a hero. Don't do anything stupid that might give you away; remember, a ninja is one with both himself and his environment, meaning 'blend in'. Grab a foot soldier and take his suit or something, and just act like you fit in. Got it?"

Keno frowned at him, raising a brow. "Yeah, maybe I should write this down," he said, his voice dripping with sarcasm. "Trust me, Raph. I can pull this off, no sweat."

Raph scowled at him as he opened up the hidden door and let Keno sneak in first. Before he entered after him, he looked up to the sky. "What? I'm being punished, aren't I?" he muttered to the heavens as he let himself into the hideout. Once they were inside the junkyard, the two leapt silently from shadow to shadow, keeping their heads low and eyes and ears open. Keno took the lead with Raph at the rear, his Sais at the ready should they be spotted and attacked.

He watched Keno with somewhat approving eyes as the boy treaded lightly across the littered ground, his eyes darting this way and that with intense focus. Raph had to admit, even though this kid was no ninja, he was still pretty good at stealth. A whole lot better than Mikey, at the very least.

The two finally reached the mouth of the hideout, crouching down low behind a wrecked car door as they peered over the top, surveying the area. It was a massive abode, surrounded by a colossal wall of piles upon piles of garbage that hid it from view. There were many broken vehicles littered across the area, ranging from mini vans to average sized trucks, and in the centre of all this was a large, old wooden building that seemed on the verge of crumbling to the ground. Raph whistled quietly. "Wow. These guys can pick a location, huh?" he mused aloud.

Behind him, Keno nodded. "I'll say. This place is almost perfect. It's pretty well hidden from view, as well as roomy, which makes it a great place for training –"

"Sshh!" Raph hissed as he covered the boys' mouth with his large hand. Keno was about to protest, but he was forced lower to the ground as two Foot soldiers, armed with naginatas, walked right by them. They hadn't noticed the mutant turtle and the boy hiding behind the car door, for they were too busy talking amongst themselves, something to do with giant dogs and fish which Raph couldn't understand, but he chose to ignore it as he looked to Keno. "Now's your chance to prove yourself, kid," he whispered, "Show me what you got and take them down. Quietly."

Then Raph suddenly grimaced. He was starting to sound like Leonardo.

Keno nodded in understanding as Raph removed his hand from his mouth, and Keno silently moved out from behind the car door, keeping his steps light as he hurriedly snuck up behind the two guards, who remained completely unaware of his presence. What kind of ninjas were these guys supposed to be if they couldn't even sense his presence?

Smirking to himself, Keno decided to have a little fun as he reached up and tapped them both on the shoulder. Startled, they spun around to see him grinning and waving at them. "Hi there," he said pleasantly, before launching a spinning back into both their heads, knocking them out cold as they fell to the ground. Keno dragged their unconscious bodies toward a hill of garbage, and a few minutes later, he came out fully dressed in The Foot Clan attire with the naginata in one hand.

He turned back to where Raph was hiding, who gave him an approving thumbs up. "Nice work!" he praised in a loud whisper. "Now get out there and get some info. And remember, 'Blend in'."

Keno nodded back once, putting his black mask over his head and walked deeper into 'The Dome', striding purposefully through the junkyard as though he belonged there. Just like Raphael told him earlier, a ninja is one with himself and his environment. He had to blend in.

Blend in, Keno, he told himself over and over again. No need to make a scene. Just blend in…

Though he had to admit; he felt like a real ninja right about now.

Keno decided he would scope the outside first and see if he could spot anything that either looked like or had traces of any glowing ooze. If there was only one canister left, then it shouldn't be too hard to find, right? But he had to make it seem as though he was just checking on it; if another Foot soldier saw him get too close to wherever it was, they'd get suspicious. Or worse, they would call him out and make him take his disguise off.

He gulped at the thought. He couldn't mess this up now. He had to prove to Raph and the others that he could do this, and that he could actually help them just like Casey and April could.

As Keno walked around towards the back of the building, he saw two other Foot soldiers standing a few feet away from him, talking to each other. Before he could move away, one of them turned and spotted him, and they both approach him. His heart was beating so fast he feared it would explode, but he kept his cool.

"Hey, is the perimeter secure?" one of them asked as they reached him.

Keno cleared his throat and stood up straight. "Yes. No sign of any disturbances around here," he replied evenly. He was quite proud that he did not let his voice betray the nervousness twisting inside him, and he thanked his endless hours of watching T.V for the convincing performance he gave them.

The two nodded their approval, buying his act. "Good. We don't want any surprises spoiled when those freaky ninja turtles get here. Speaking of which, I wonder what's going to happen when they do get here," one of them mused, looking to his companion.

The other shrugged and leaned lazily on his staff. "Dunno. The Master said that he was gonna set those new robots on them to see if they're able to take them down. And if that doesn't work, well then…they'll be fish and dog chow," he chuckled darkly. The other sniggered along with him, and for the sake of not looking awkward, Keno feigned amusement as well, but in reality, he was very scared.

Robots? What robots? And what kind of Dog and Fish were they talking about? This sounded really bad. What if they'd already used the last mutagen canister to make more mutants? What if they're just as powerful as the turtles?

Another thought then came to him. Raph had mentioned something about a guy or an organization called 'Kraang', and that they were working with the Foot Clan. He needed to find out who or what they were. "So, what about that, uh…that Kraang guy?" he asked, making himself sound just as casual as they were.

"What, you mean those alien brain blobs Master has with him?" one answered. "They're just here to make weapons and more mutagen for the Master until we can get to that girl…uh…I forgot what her name was. But anyways, against these new weapons they made, the turtles won't stand a chance!"

"Yeah!" the other smirked, "I can't wait to see what the Master has planned for them!"

Keno felt his heart drop down into the pit of his stomach. In the space of a few seconds, things had gone from bad to worse. First robots, mutants, and now there were aliens?

The mutagen was created by aliens?! And to make matters worse, they had more mutagen with them?!

He needed to get out of here now and tell Raph, right away.

The two soldiers waved goodbye at him and turned to leave, going back to whatever they were supposed to be doing before they get caught slacking off. As soon as they were out of sight, Keno made a mad dash to where Raph had hidden, forgetting everything about blending in and just wanting to get to the red clad turtle and tell him the news. Once he reached the broken car door, and after a slightly startled Raph had made sure that it was actually him and not another soldier, Keno hunched down and quietly told him everything that he'd heard from the two Foot soldiers.

He explained the production of more mutagen, which had shocked Raph. There was more mutagen now?! Oh, great; with Leo's stupid 'Operation: Relocation' plan, they'd come too late in stopping the Foot from making matters even worse. Who knows what they'd do with so much mutagen now.

However, at the mention of 'alien blobs', Raph had simply stared at him, raising a brow. "Aliens? Are you kidding? First Mikey, now you! Do you need your ears cleaning, kid?" he sassed with a deep frowned. This really wasn't the time for playing stupid games.

Keno rolled his eyes in exasperation. "I'm telling you, that's what he said! He said 'alien brain blobs' or something, I swear it!" he insisted.

Raph merely scoffed, folding his arms over his chest. "Sure, kid. I'll believe it when I see it."

"Kraang, it is one of the ones known as the Turtles!"

His eyes wide and his heart skipping a beat, Raph spun around to see two identical men dressed in suits aiming two, very large and very strange looking guns at them, preparing to open fire. Without hesitation, Raph shot to his feet and took them both out in the blink of an eye, jabbing the ends of his Sais into their faces before kicking them both in the back of their heads. They went down like rocks, and no one had noticed. Raph folded his arms smugly as he stood over their motionless bodies. "Well, that was easy," he grinned, twirling his Sai.

Suddenly, their chests burst open at the seams, revealing two small, pink brain, looking creatures…two brain looking creatures with eyes and mouths that were snarling at him.

Raph's grin fell comically as his eyes went large with horror. "Ooookaaay…"

He was completely unprepared when one of them launched itself into his face, and clung onto him with its pink tentacles. He let out a muffled high pitched scream as he desperately tried to claw and bash the creature off his face with his fist. Still sat on the floor, Keno could do nothing but watch in utter revulsion at the sight of the pink alien as it finally released him, and then the creature and its companion scrambled away, screeching all the while. Raph fell onto his backside and watched in terror as the two creatures slid away, panting heavily with fear.

Keno had a similar look on his face as he turned to Raph. "…believe me now?" he asked, his voice shaking slightly.

Raph nodded his head vigorously. "Y-yeah. Now I do. Uh…c-come on, let's get outta here and go tell the others," he stuttered as he climbed to his feet, albeit a little clumsily. He took Keno by the arm as he prepared to lead him away from the Foot infested (and pink alien brain infested) area. He turned one last time to check if they were being followed, when his eye caught a moving figure inside the wooden building.

His eyes grew wide. He remained frozen in place as a large shadow passed the window of the crumbling structure.

That silhouette...even his very shadow had haunted him ever since their first, and he prayed last, battle with him, though he always denied it to his family.

It couldn't be…

Keno came to a halt upon seeing that the turtle had stopped. "What? What is it?" he asked, "What did you see, Raph?"

Raph blinked several times to snap himself out of his daze. "I...I-I thought I just saw a ghost..." he breathed. Then he shook his head. "N-never mind! We've gotta get outta here before we get –"

"Hey! Over there! Halt!"

"...caught."

Raph spun around as he growled at the dozens of Foot soldiers closing in on them. Damn! They'd been spotted. Some ninja he was.

"Oh boy," Keno whined behind the turtle. There weren't that many ninjas before when he'd scoped the area, so where did these guys come from?

Raph stood in front of Keno protectively and took out his Sais, spinning them between his fingers. "Hey there, fellas! Long-time no see! You guys ready to get your butts handed to you again?!" he mocked.

The Foot soldiers made no comment, but they moved into a defensive position. In perfect unison, Raph noticed with a hint of confusion. They were never usually this organized. What happened to them all of a sudden?

He quickly brushed the thought off as he turned to Keno. "Get out of here, Keno! Go tell the others! Go now!" he barked. He didn't wait for an answer as he charged into the army of soldiers with a loud war cry, thrusting the handle of his Sai into the head of one and drop kicked another into the ground as he began to pick them off one by one.

Keno stood his ground. There were far too many soldiers for Raph alone to handle, and he knew that. Keno could fight, and there was no way he would leave the turtle to fend them off for his sake. "No way! I'm not just gonna leave you here!" he protested, "I can help you!"

Raph spun around and glared at him with his intense emerald eyes. "Go now, or I'll kick your butt!" he growled at him before charging once again to the fray.

Reluctantly, Keno left the red turtle behind and ran back the way they'd come when they arrived. He felt like a coward, but he knew he couldn't stay; if they both got caught, there would be no one there to bail them out before it was too late.

He was stopped in his tracks by two Foot soldiers that stood blocking his path. He narrowed his eyes and raised his fists. "Oh, so you wanna fight me too?!" he challenged. In the blink of an eye, he flipped over their heads and sent them both down to the ground with a hard, spinning kick. To his shock however, just as he landed on his feet again, he watched as their red eyes actually glowed, and they stood up as if they hadn't been knocked down at all.

What the heck?

Eyes widening, Keno gulped nervously. "Ummm...ok then. Gotta run!" he cried as he bolted for the exit, the two Foot soldiers in hot pursuit. Once he got passed the exit though, they abruptly stopped in their tracks. He turned back just in time to see them turn and leave. And the realization hit him that they were going back after Raphael.

Despite Raph's threat, and despite the possibility that they could both be caught, he was ready to charge back in there and help his turtle friend. He was helplessly outnumbered, and they would surely defeat and capture him if he didn't go and back him up. He could fight too, though maybe not as well as the turtle could, but two were better than one.

However, he froze on the spot when he caught a glimpse of a tall figure that watched he battle from the shadows…

The breath left his lungs and his heart seemed to stop. "Oh no...not him..." he gasped, terror running through his veins. He'd never actually seen the man himself, but he knew from how the turtles had described him that he was no ordinary Foot soldier.

He was so much worse.

His mind made up, he wasted no more time as he spun on his heel and ran back the way they had come. He really needed help now.

Surrounded by a flood of ninjas, Raph fought fiercely with everything that he had in him, but no matter how hard he hit them, those Foot guys just kept getting up again and they wouldn't stay down. It was as if they felt nothing at all!

And over time, Raph realized that after every move he made on them, they seemed to know and evade, or even mimic, in seconds. Not only that, to make matters even more bizarre, he could've sworn he saw one of their eyes glow for a fraction of a second.

Just what was going on here?

As one leapt at him for another attack, Raph used the tongs of his Sai to grab his outstretched wrists and fling him into a broken-down truck. The soldiers' head popped clean off his body on contact with the vehicle.

Raph gasped in horror for a moment, believing he'd actually killed someone, but then he caught sight of the...wires hanging out of his neck?

"What?! These guys are freaking robots?!" he exclaimed. That explained why they were so much stronger than the regular Foot they fought, and why every blow they landed on him felt like being hit with a metal ball. But robot or not, he knew he could still beat them eventually. They were no stronger than the non-jas he and his brothers fought before.

However, he was proven very wrong when one of them was able to plot a jaw splitting punch into the side of his face, sending him flying into a pile of trash.

Okay, maybe a little harder.

He barely had time to get up again, still disorientated from the blow, before the Foot robots swarmed him again. They were able to grab him and pin his arms behind his back, disarming him despite his intense struggles. "Gyah! H-hey, I'm curious, you guys ever heard of a fair fight?! Let go of me!" he grunted as they dragged him towards the old building. "What? You gonna take me to your leader now?" he growled sarcastically.

"As a matter of fact, turtle, they are."

Eyes wide with fear, Raph snapped his head upwards and stared at the bladed figure before him. His blood ran very cold. "Shredder!" he gasped.

Standing before the short, red clad turtle, The Shredder glared down at Raphael, his bloodshot gaze all but piercing his very being. He chuckled conceitedly at the fear he could see in his eyes. "It seems that you were foolish enough to charge straight into my headquarters, Raphael," he scoffed darkly. "Well, at least now you have met my newest weapons; The Foot Robots."

Raph glared up at Shredder viciously as he struggled against the robots' hold, but they wouldn't release him. It seemed that they were just that little bit stronger than him. "Yeah, yeah, whatever, Shred-Head; you've got a couple of fancy new robots! Big deal! We'll trash them just like we trashed you!" he snapped with a smug grin, despite his rapidly pounding heart.

Shredder growled at his remark, narrowing his eyes dangerously. "Enough!" he bellowed as swiped his blades across the side turtle's face, earning a pained cry from him. Blood dripped profusely down his face, and the wound stung like hell, but the mutant continued to glare up at him with green eyes full of hatred.

Shredder scoffed again. "Take him," he ordered the Foot Bots, but keeping his eyes on Raphael. "He may be useful to me in luring the rest of his pathetic clan right to me."

He then reached out and gripped his chin with a vice-like grip, forcing the turtle to look him in the eye. "Thank you, Raphael," he sneered through his metal mask. "You have just made the imminent demise of your master so much easier to carry out."

Raph's eyes widened in horror as the immense stupidity of what he had done finally hit him full force. Instead of helping solve to their problem, he'd made things so much worse by putting his entire family in danger.

Keno's heart beat furiously in his chest as he ran as fast as he could through the cold, empty streets, not stopping once as he headed back to April's apartment. What had he done? How could he have let Raph take on all those guys down on his own?

He'd screwed up, big time. If only he'd just stayed and helped him fight…no. What he should have done was just listen to what the others said, and to never have stepped foot into the hideout in the first place. They had been right all along; he really was in way over his head.

He needed to fix this mess he'd created. He needed to get to Master Splinter and the brothers. They had to save Raphael somehow.

After what seemed like hours, Keno finally reached the bakery, and after swinging the door open and running up the stairs through the back door, he reached the apartment door and knocked as loud as he could. "April! Leo! Donnie, Mikey, it's me, Keno! You've gotta come out of here! Raph's in trouble! Please, open up!" he cried, still gasping from his running.

He prayed they were still in there. Didn't April mention something about the guys going off to find a new home? What if they'd already left? What if April had gone with them? Then what was he supposed to do?

To his salvation, the door finally opened to reveal Mr. O'Neil, April's father. The older man smiled down kindly at the panting boy. "Oh, you're that young man that visited last night. Keno, was it? What's the matter?" he asked him, noticing the fear on his face and his smile disappeared.

"Are April and the guys in there, sir? It's really important!" he stuttered breathlessly.

April appeared next to her father seconds later, followed by another black haired, green eyed girl, to inquire of all the noise, and she spotted the young boy, noting the panic written all over his swear drenched face. "Keno? The turtles aren't here anymore. What's wrong?" she asked.

"It's Raph, April!" he cried, "They've got him! They've got him and it's all my fault!"

Her eyes widening, April shared a panicked and confused look with Irma, who had her hands clasped against her chest. "Wait, what was that? Raph's in trouble?" the smaller girl stuttered.

April felt a nervous lump form in the pit of her stomach, but she remained calm as she put a firm hand on Keno's shoulder, looking him straight in the eye. "Calm down, Keno," she eased. "Who's got Raphael?"

Down below the streets of the city, the turtles and Splinter with the help of Casey had been able to sort out their new temporary home quite nicely within the space of a few hours. The three remaining turtles had separate subway cars for their rooms, Donnie had set up cable for their television, his own small lab in the far corner in a large room, and even a kitchen in one of the spare bathrooms. He'd install some heating and lights down there in due time if they needed to. Currently however, Donnie, holding a bowl of popcorn, Leo and Casey were playing a game of Black Jack together, Mikey was playing with Klunk happily on the floor nearby, and Splinter was watching them fondly on the couch they'd found inside one of the train cars, with Spike resting happily on his lap.

Though outwardly, he remained the picture of serenity, Splinter was still quite worried about his second eldest son; it'd been nearly hours since they'd last seen or even heard from him. Leonardo had tried calling him several times, but it just went to voicemail. He'd figured Raphael was still pretty steamed up about what happened earlier, and had decided to ignore them until he called them instead.

It was during the peace that Keno and April came running in, with Keno looking breathless and April panic stricken. It was lucky that she and Irma had visited after school so that they would know the location of the new hideout, but it didn't mean that April didn't get lost at least twice on their way here this time. Her mind had drawn a blank due to the fear of what Keno had told her, and so after leaving Irma safely with her dad back at her apartment, she and Keno had run blindly through the sewer tunnels in a frantic search for the other mutants.

All heads lifted up from whatever they were doing as the occupants in the large room turned up to them. "April?" Casey asked at the sight of her distraught face, standing up and walking over to her.

"Keno?" Leo probed in concern as he stood up and hurried over to the kitchen to get the exhausted boy a glass of water.

Putting a hand on their shoulders to steady the two of them, Casey guided April and Keno over to the couch to sit down and catch their breath, something they clearly needed to do before they could do anything else. Splinter stood up and placed Spike gently on the floor next to the cat. "What happened?" he asked, resting a hand on April's shoulder.

After finally taking a deep breath, April looked up at the old rat. "It's Raphael, Sensei..." she said sadly. She tried not to notice the wary looks on the family's faces at the mention of his name.

"What about him? What happened?" Donnie asked, his apprehension beginning to surface.

Keno looked up at them all, guilt creasing his features as stuttered, his voice cracking at the edges, "H-he's been captured…by the Shredder!"

Donatello nearly choked on the popcorn he was eating. Splinter's eyes widened with shock as he stared at the boy, the hand on April's shoulder clenching ever so slightly. Leo froze on the spot, his crystal blue eyes widening and his pupils dilated. The glass of water he brought for Keno slipping from his grasp and shattering on the floor. Mikey let out a little whimper of distress, his face visibly paling.

Unable to move from where he stood behind Donnie, Casey gaped at Keno. "W-what?" he breathed, "Shredder has him…?"

Taking his hand off the girls' shoulder before he accidently dislocated it, Splinter took in a deep, steadying breath to quell his fears, at least for the time being. After all this time, the Shredder had finally resurfaced once more, and he had taken one of his sons. No doubt he had kidnapped Raphael in hopes he could possibly lure Splinter to him, and only god knew what Shredder could be doing to his son at this very moment…

However, he had to remain calm, lest he worsen the situation. He placed a firm but reassuring hand on the human child's shoulder, and looked him directly in the eye.

"Tell me everything, child."

A/N: Raph's in trouble, Shredder has new Foot Bots?! Things can only go downhill at this rate...