Winston Churchill is famously quoted as saying 'Dogs look up to man. Cats look down to man. Pigs look us straight in the eye and see an equal.'

Pigs are quite a bit more resourceful than the average human gives them credit for. They can be more intelligent than some primates and their sense of smell exceeds even that of a bloodhound. Some countries have taken advantage of this combination of skills, training pigs to sniff out gourmet truffles and even hidden drugs for the police. One particular pig had recently trained himself to hunt down his favorite variety of plaything.

Anton Zeck sniffed at the cold city air, searching for the tell-tale scent of ozone that would lead him to the location of some piece of electronic equipment he could 'permanently borrow' from its current owner. His vision was a mass of vague, colorful shapes, his visor displaying his surroundings in the infrared spectrum, mapping the heat signatures of everything around him. Even with all this, he found nothing that piqued his interest.

"Tsk, maaan... 'Dis place already been picked clean...Ain't shit worth my time ta steal here." the lanky warthog complained, kicking an empty soup can down the length of the dark, dirty alleyway. He heard a gruff grunt behind him, heavy footsteps lagging just behind his own.

"Could have told you that, урод..." grumbled a deep, very Russian male voice behind him. Ivan Steranko trailed behind his comrade, keeping a vigilant eye on their surroundings. The rhino's ears swiveled about, scanning for any sound that might reveal a would-be attacker hiding in the shadows. He carried an old Kalashnikov at his side, which was more than he'd normally bother with. Something was wrong in this city, more so than normal, but he couldn't quite place what it was. He'd learned long ago not to ignore his soldier's instincts when they alerted him to unseen dangers.

"Why we waste time looking for more machine? You have big one to play with." Ivan grumbled out, clearly irritated with his companion's little pet project that he'd been working on for the past week. "You beg me to bring for you. Why you not use?"

"I can't just flip the thing on! I gotta examine it more!" Anton retorted, visibly less concerned with their surroundings than his militant friend. "That things one funky piece o' gadgetry! S'a work o' art, ya dig? A guy like you aught'a appreciate that. Like... If I stole ya one o' them scrolls they found in Pompeii, ya wouldn't just unroll the damn thing, would ya? It'd crumble! Ya'd lose everythin'! This machine's like that. Ya gotta take yer time with it, figure out what makes it tick b'fore ya go flippin' switches. S'pose it turns out ta be some bad-ass bomb? Boom, baby! Blow our happy asses sky high 'fore we know what happened!"

Ivan replied with little more than a grunt of acknowledgment, having stopped paying attention to the lanky pig's rambling little more than halfway through. For someone whose job relied so much on stealth, that man sure didn't know when to shut up.

"So why we look for more?"

"I wanna see if that's the only one. It don't look like somethin' meant ta work by itself. Looks more like a piece of a bigger system. If I find more pieces, I might be able to figure 'dis one out."

Suddenly, Ivan heard something beyond his companion's incessant chattering. He stopped, readying the rifle at his hip. The rhinoceros' mismatched eyes scanned the darkness of the alley, ears swiveling as he listened for movement. Anton, aloof as he was, managed to pull himself out of his own little world long enough to take notice of his friend's odd behavior and stopped.

"Yo, Ivan! Wazzup? You alright back the- H-hey!" he exclaimed, turning around to find himself suddenly staring down the barrel of an AK-47. He immediately held up his hands in surrender, backing away a few steps. "Wh-whoah, hold up, G! Wuzzit sumthin' I said?! We already had this discussion, man! If I fuck up an' accidentally say sumthin' bad in Russian, I totally mean sumthin' else in English!"

"Cвинья..." Ivan replied, his voice low as though trying not to startle the prey he was hunting. The warthog gave an irritated huff, his ears flattening as he let his arms fall back down to his sides. He didn't know too much Russian, but that was one word he was starting to pick up on.

"Hey! What'd I tell ya 'bout usin' the 'P' word 'round me? That counts in any language, mu'fucker!" Anton retorted, hands balling at his sides as though he was planning to start a fight with the muscular brute. Not that he could really do anything, still staring down the business end of a rifle and all. Even so, he didn't like being casually referred to as 'pig' like that. Ivan knew that by now.

Suddenly, Ivan barked out what could only have been an order, judging from the tone. Anton froze instinctively, not understanding at first. He got a fairly good idea what he had been told to do when he felt something hard and heavy slam into his back. Ah, yes. 'Duck'. Of course. The warthog was sent flying across the alley, slamming against the brick wall that was Ivan Steranko's torso. The impact was enough to send the rhino's rifle flying from his hand, but he managed to remain standing even as Anton collapsed at his feet.

"Dawg... Seriously... English!" the scrawny thief gasped out as he tried to reclaim the wind that had been knocked out of him.

"Will work on. Later." the rhino replied shortly, readying his fists as he continued to stare down the spot where Anton had just been standing. Confused by this, the warthog looked over at where his friend was staring, finally understanding what he'd been aiming at this whole time.

The creature stood easily as tall as Ivan himself, with muscles that rivaled that of the bulky rhinoceros. It stared at them from under a raggedy hood of bandages with beady little brown eyes, bestial ears twitching at any sound that echoed down the alleyway. Its pig-like snout twitched as it sniffed the air, trying to figure out what these two strange mutant creatures were in front of it.

Anton scrambled up to his feet, quickly hiding behind the cover that Ivan's form offered.

"Is relative of yours?" Ivan asked with a slight smirk on his face. Anton gave an indignant snort at that.

"That ain't funny!"

The exchange between the two seemed to be all it took to set off the Manpig's hair-trigger temper. It let out a loud, screeching roar before dropping to all fours and charging at the two mutants.

"Hey, fuck you! My mother's a saint!" Anton managed to retort at the pig creature just before being tossed to the side like a ragdoll by his partner. An instant later, Ivan had the beast locked in a grapple. The rhino's heels dug into the concrete as the Manpig pushed him back several feet, its brute strength threatening to over come even that of the Russian Naval Officer. Ivan ducked down to put his scarred horn at the beast's throat, pushing with all his might to gain the upper hand.

Ivan caught a flash of movement out of the corner of his eye. Knowing instantly what was going on, he relinquished his advantage to the beast for a split second, just long enough to ready a fist. He drove a sledgehammer-like uppercut squarely into the Manpig's gut, earning a loud squeal of pain. He broke away from the creature as it stumbled backwards in pain. It only made it back a few feet before it found its hooves stuck to the cement below. Anton let out an amused laugh from his perch on a nearby dumpster, contact juggling a few of his glue grenades in one hand.

"Hate ta do 'dis ta a fellow swine, but hey; dat's how it be, Cuz'." the warthog commented with a shrug of his shoulders just as Ivan retrieved his rifle. Within seconds, the rhino had placed five closely-grouped shots into the Manpig's skull. The creature fell backward, collapsing dead onto the concrete.

"Man, didja hafta kill it?" Anton asked as he hopped down from on top of the dumpster. Ivan made his way over to the creature's body, using the barrel of his rifle to turn the Manpig's head and get a better look at the thing.

"Did not look like talking type." Ivan replied, not sounding even the least bit winded from his little tussle with the beast. Their break seemed short-lived, however. Both their ears perked at a strange yet familiar sound coming from above. They looked up, just catching sight of a Kraang as it flew by in one of their smaller hover units.

"Kraang? What they doing here?" Ivan thought aloud, still not trusting the little brain-like aliens. Anton was just as curious as his companion, quickly sweeping through all known Kraang radio frequencies with his visor. It didn't take long to get a hit.

'Kraang has located the escaped subject. Kraang will proceed to retrieve the escaped subject and return it to the area designated as the 'pig line.''

"Woah... Looks like dis fella's one o' the Kraang's freaky experiments. Musta got loose or sumthin'." Anton explained once he got the gist of the transmission. Ivan quickly rose to his feet.

"Do not think Kraang would be happy to know we kill it."

"Man, ya took the words right outta my mouth. Time ta book it!" the warthog agreed, more than happy to run away from an unfavorable situation. The instant he turned to run, however, a glowing pink portal opened up just in front of his snout. He glanced over his shoulder in time to see the Kraang now barreling down the alleyway, heading right for him. It was aiming to push him into the portal.

"W-woah, wait a minute! Ya got da wrong pi-" But his protest was cut off as the alien tackled him through the portal.

"Anton!" Ivan called out, sprinting back towards the portal as his friend disappeared through it. He was just a second too late, the portal closing as he came within inches of it. The rhino was left alone, just the body of the dead Manpig there to keep him company. Ivan barked out a string of profanities in Russian, slamming a fist against the building next to him so hard it threatened to collapse the entire wall.

The Kraang had interfered with his plans before, but this was something he simply could not stand for.

Raphael had taken to pacing back and forth in front of the entrance to the Lair. To say he was agitated would be quite the understatement. The three of them had spent the past week combing the entire city for Michelangelo's stolen device, but they found no trace of it. The shielding they'd installed to keep the Kraang from locating the power crystal had worked, perhaps too well. Their enemies couldn't track it, but neither could they.

Finally, after what felt like ages, Leonardo made his way back into the Lair.

"Any luck?" Donatello asked. Leo shook his head.

"Nah, couldn't find anything. It's like it just vanished into thin air. I don't get it... We've looked everywhere. We should have found something by now..."

"Ya know where we haven't looked?" Raphael started, earning an exasperated sigh from Donnie.

"Not this again... Raph, you really gotta let it go, alright? I've told you a million times; Michelangelo didn't steal his own device. It makes no sense! Why would he?"

"To keep us on a wild goose chase while he does whatever the hell he wants!"

"And what, pray tell, would he want to do that he'd need us distracted for?!"

Raphael was a bit caught off guard by the question, hesitating for a moment. He knew he was making some bold claims, that he had no proof to back him up, that he was going purely on gut feeling alone, but he couldn't just stand by and do nothing about it.

"I... I don't know..." he admitted, "I just know something's really wrong with that guy. Look, let's go check his workshop. All of us. It's the only place in the city we haven't looked."

Leo and Donnie looked to each other, as though trying to decide whether they should indulge their brother in his crazy accusations for the second time. After a moment, Leo nodded.

"Alright, we'll check it out... but only because we have no other leads. Maybe we'll find something there that will lead us to whoever's behind this."

With that decided, the three of them left the Lair, making their way down to the warehouse where Michelangelo had established his workshop.

The three young ninjas converged on the warehouse in silence, not wanting to alert their 'guest' to their presence. This was one investigation where stealth would be crucial. Michelangelo, paranoid as he was, hated even them snooping around his workshop when he wasn't there to supervise their every movement. They would jeopardize the Brit's trust if they were caught here like this.

Donnie slipped on his infrared goggles, scanning the building for heat signatures. He gave Leo a signal that meant all was clear. The ninja leader nodded, and the three proceeded inside.

Much to their surprise, the workshop looked virtually untouched since they'd last been in there, with the exception of the missing equipment, of course. A fine layer of dust now covered Michelangelo's laboratory equipment, having sat unused for more than a week. There wasn't a trace of the device left, just as their guest had claimed, no hints to be had of whoever may have taken it. It seemed they'd been the victim of quite the skilled thief.

"See, Raph? Nothing. This was a waste of time." Donnie grumbled, fully prepared to just leave the warehouse as it was. Raphael gave an indignant huff, turning towards the worktable.

"Oh yeah? S'pose ya wouldn't be interested in this, then?" he asked, holding up an old leather journal. Donnie couldn't hide the spark of intrigue in his eyes. He'd wanted to look through that journal since the first moment he'd laid eyes on it. Now might be his only chance. Raphael tossed the book over to his brother, who immediately began flipping through it with captivated interest.

As Donatello flipped through the journal, something small and metallic clattered to the ground from between the pages. Leonardo bent down to pick it up, turning it over in his palm curiously. Donnie's attention was torn from his investigation of Michelangelo's journal as he looked over to see what he'd stumbled upon. The two of them looked like they'd swallowed their tongues when they realized what it was their guest had hidden from them.

"Sweet mother of mutation... Th-that's... That's a Kraang portal generator..." Donatello stammered out in awe. Leonardo could only stare at the device in stunned silence, practically not believing what he was holding. Raphael, however...

"Oh, what was that? D'ya hear that ringing sound, Don?" Raph asked rather sarcastically, holding a hand to his ear as though trying to hear better. "Someone better go pick up that phone, because I fucking called it!"

"That's enough, Raph!" Leo scolded, though he couldn't deny it any longer; Raph had been right all along. But... Working with the Kraang? He couldn't see how that was even possible for someone who looked identical to one of their most hated enemies. The ninja leader looked up to his brother, eyes pleading for some sort of reasonable explanation for all this. Donatello could offer nothing, his mouth still hanging open in complete disbelief.

"I... I don't understand..." Donnie began softly, taking the small alien device from his brother. "Why..? H-how..?"

"Hey, ya want answers?" Raphael asked, snatching the little silver disk from his stunned sibling. "Ask the fucker himself."

With that, Raph hit a switch on the disk and tossed it over his shoulder. The disk split into three sections and flew apart before ever hitting the floor, a glowing pink portal spreading between them. The other two turtles stared into the portal with understandable hesitation. If Michelangelo truly was working with the Kraang, if he'd really gone into Dimension X, there was no telling what they'd find waiting for them beyond that gate...

Three young mutants dashed out into what looked like a massive hub of countless portals, weapons at the ready as they entered what was surely to be a hostile environment. Surprisingly, there wasn't a single enemy to be had, the huge circular room deserted of Kraang. The three relaxed a bit, lowering their weapons for the moment. Donatello sniffed lightly at the air.

"Huh... That's strange... This building's equipped with a life support system that simulates the atmosphere of Earth. Why would the Kraang bother doing that?"

"Who cares? At least we ain't gotta wear these damn things anymore." Raph retorted, pulling the straw-like air filter out of the corner of his mouth and tossing his rebreather unit on the ground. Donnie opened his mouth to point out that he might need the device later, but Leonardo had already done the same with his before the protest could be made. Don let out a sigh of defeat, removing his and placing it in a pouch on his belt.

The three turtles split up to look around the massive room, taking particular interest in the countless portal gates lining the wall. It didn't take long for them to find more oddities with this particular Kraang base.

"Hey, Don?" Leo began, brows furrowing as he stared at the silvery metallic plate mounted above one of the portals. "Why would the Kraang label these portals in English?"

"That ain't all..." Raph chimed in, walking along the line of portals across the room. "Paris, Sydney, Moscow, Beijing... These are all Earth cities!"

"Los Angeles, Berlin, Tokyo, Rome..." Donnie continued, "These aren't just any Earth cities... They're all huge Earth cities, capitols and major hubs of civilization. But... Why? Why would the Kraang want permanent portals to all these cities? They barely had enough resources to control New York before..."

"Uhh... Guys?"

Donatello and Raphael looked up when they heard their eldest brother call for their attention. Leonardo had found his way to the control center for the portals, which was situated at the far wall rather than the center where it would normally be. The control station wasn't the most interesting discovery to be had, oddly enough. Behind the large control bank was a huge window, giving whoever was there at the controls a wide view of the world outside.

The other two turtles rushed over to see outside, their jaws dropping at the sight that greeted them. Silver towers of otherworldly metals rose up for what seemed like miles, pipes and cables strung between them like massive, intricate spider webs. A great many Kraang could be seen flying around out there, but most were far too high up towards the top of the towers to take notice of their intruders. All of this spread out farther than their eyes could see, fading into obscurity past their range of vision.

"It's like we're in an entire Kraang city..." Leo breathed out in awe, having never seen a Kraang construct this massive.

"So, what's this, then? Their Grand Central Station?" Raph commented, turning to Donatello for answers. The taller turtle was currently flipping feverishly through Michelangelo's journal, a look of apprehension in his eyes as though he were hoping beyond hope that his immediate theory was incorrect. The sudden wilt of his shoulders as he stopped at a certain page signaled that he'd have no such luck.

"This isn't anything the Kraang designed... This is a recreation of Michelangelo's machine!" Don announced, turning the journal around so the others could see. The pages depicted intricate sketches of what had to be gargantuan pieces of machinery. Even Leo and Raph could see the resemblance to these giant alien towers. Their guest had a certain style about his inventions that was very distinctly his own.

"Wh-what does that mean? What's this machine supposed to do?" Leo asked, now extremely worried. If it was something that the Kraang would put so much effort into building, it couldn't have been anything good. Donatello continued to read hastily through Michelangelo's notes.

"From what he's got written here, this machine seems to be a huge system of components with three main purposes. The first is used to butcher pigs and extract the Vitae from their blood, the second uses that Vitae to reconstruct the Orb after pieces are broken off. The third function uses the broken-off shards in devices like the one I'd helped Michelangelo build last week, only... It looks like this machine has hundreds of them, all mounted at the tops of these tower structures."

"So, remind me again what ya said the other day? How big would that bastard's machine hafta be ta be dangerous?" Raph asked, folding his arms and narrowing his eyes at his brothers. Donatello let out a sigh.

"Okay, fine! You were right, Raph. Ya happy?! I was wrong and you were right!" Donnie barked out defensively. "But none of that matters now! What matters is the Kraang now have a device that can punch a city-sized hole in the barrier between dimensions!"

"Could they be planning another invasion?" Leo asked, but Donnie immediately shook his head.

"This machine can't function as a teleporter independently." he assured, "It acts more like a bridge between dimensions, connecting with an identical machine in the other dimension to create the link. But to even do that, this machine's array of Orb-powered units must be located in the equivalent geographic location as the one it's meant to connect to. If the array is off by even a fraction of an inch, the dangers of it opening an unstable rift and destroying both dimensions is... Gaah, I can't do math like this in my head right now! This was all in the realm of theoretical physics until a moment ago!"

"Woah, wait a minute... So this thing's supposed to open some kinda 'space bridge' to that creepy bastard's world? Why in the hell would the Kraang wanna do that? What's there that they can't get here?" Raph asked, finally climbing down off of his 'I told you so' pedestal to figure out what was going on here. Leonardo furrowed his brows in thought.

"It's the Orb, isn't it?" Leo asked, watching Donnie put his goggles on once more to get a better look at what the Kraang were working on atop the towers. "They want the core of the Orb from Michelangelo's world. That's the only thing they have that we don't. You said it yourself; even that tiny shard of it was extremely powerful. They might want the rest of it."

"That's the only thing I can think of. Michelangelo can regrow more shards with the one he has, but he can never get close to the kind of power the core must have. But they can't get to it from here. This machine has to be moved into place first." he explained as he took off his goggles, making his way quickly for what looked like the exit of the portal hub. The other two followed close behind.

"We don't have a lot of time. I can see the Kraang are up there working on a portal generator big enough to teleport this whole machine to the undergrounds of London."

"And here I'd left my Oyster card at home." Raphael joked with a light smirk.

"How can we stop it?" Leo asked, trying to get right to the point. They'd stood around talking for too long already. It was time to actually do something about it.

"If we can get to the central control room I should be able to reroute the power and overload the entire sys-..." Donatello's reply was cut short as they passed through the door that led out of the portal room, his mouth hanging open in silent awe at what lie beyond it.

The area the three now found themselves in could only be described as a prison. Holding cells lined the walls of a passage as wide as a major highway and running on into infinity. The cells stacked ever upwards, reaching at least fifteen stories high. They could hear bestial noises echoing throughout the massive ward, mixed with the occasional human-sounding voice calling out from somewhere in that alien prison. There had to be thousands of them.

This was going to take a bit longer than they'd expected.