Episode 2: The Animal Agenda - Part 1
Darkness.
The dungeon was like an ice box.
Surrounded by dripping stone, light filtering through a glass roof and onto a lone hyena that lay on the hard ground. Blood matted the fur on the side of his face and has crusted to a dull brown color. One of his ears was now a bloody mass on the side of his head as if it had nearly been torn off his head.
At the sound of a clunking noise, he slowly opened his yellow eyes, glaring through the bars out into a large circular room, constructed of thick stone. A shadow was appearing from down the hallway. The only light besides the glass window fifteen feet above his head came from flickering torches, fire leaping up with tiny crackling specks that floated and then snuffed out in the cold. The pain he felt, he ignored entirely.
From the darkness shuffled first a large tiger. His arm was bandaged from the attacks he had taken the night before, an eye patch covered his left eye, but his right eye glared at the Hyena, his arms folded across his broad chest. Behind him appeared a helmet all too easily recognized.
The Kuro Kabuto.
The famed helmet that had passed through the Foot Clan line for centuries.
The one wearing it stopped at the iron bars that stood between the two.
"Well, well, looks like the dog has awoken."
The Hyena met the ruler of the Foot Clan's eyes with a glare, "Saki." He hissed.
"Do not speak that name." Shredder hissed, "You are beneath me, scavenger."
The Hyena did not reply. Instead, he continued to glare at Shredder, baring his teeth, his yellow eyes burning as he tried to keep the rage he felt down. Neither one of them said anything for some time. The tiger known as Tigerclaw stood by the door, fingering a silver, square barreled gun now, his eyes not leaving the cage. "So, did you just come to stare at me like a bunch of creepers or what?"
Shredder gazed at him up and down. "You do not work for the Rat." He said. "Your tactics in that fight were unusual. More experienced. Deadly and accurate. Merciless. Tell me, where did you come from and why are you helping the Hamato Clan." It wasn't a request.
The Hyena cackled, his high pitched voice rising up towards the skylight as if to escape the iron bars that insulated him. "Me? Hamato Clan? I would never associate myself with that back-stabbing filth." He grinned up at Shredder, "No, I work for someone much more deadly and experienced in the art of Ninjitsu."
"Shinotomo." Shredder hissed like it was a curse word to him and then he too laughed, silencing the Hyena. "Your clan died out centuries ago. You cannot possibly think that the Foot Clan see's you as a threat."
Tigerclaw slammed his hand against one of the pillars, shaking the building. His one eye had widened, bulging from his skull and he pointed the gun at the cage. Shredder and the Hyena both turned their gaze to him, surprised at the sudden outburst. "The Shinotomo? It was you fools who sliced off my tail!" He yelled, the gun beginning to power up as red light gathered around the barrel.
The Hyena looked amused, a smirk on his face. "Shame that it wasn't me who had the honor."
"Tigerclaw." Shredder snapped, "Enough."
Hesitantly, his gun lowered, but he did not take his eyes of the Hyena, nor his finger off the trigger. Shredder turned back to face the Hyena and the two stared at one another silently for several long moments. "I will contemplate what I shall do with you later." He said turning, his cape swishing behind him, the blades that adorned his shoulder and head glimmered in the torchlight. "Perhaps I will let Tigerclaw have some sport."
Tigerclaw growled, baring his teeth and then followed after Shredder. They both vanished into the darkness and the Hyena watched, slowly sitting himself up, his feet padding against the wet stone. When the sound of footsteps faded away, he shook his head, "Freakin' morons."
Detention was Ethan's new favorite place apparently. He opened the door, a blue note in his hand telling the attendant that he was here to take a test. It had been one he missed. Master Hamato had insisted he take a day off school to recover and think about the events of the previous night. He didn't need a day off to do that though. His mind had not rested from reliving the memory. Over and over again, he wondered how they could have changed their tactic. Even now as he walked across the speckled and stained carpet of the detention center, he was going over the details.
Maybe if we had done a full on ground attack and rushed them. We could have been in and out.
Or, what if we had just waited, and not attacked at all. We could have followed them without confrontation and then we would have gotten the same information we know now without having the crap kicked out of us.
His side had not completely healed. His ribs felt sore there and he was sure Tigerclaw had bruised them pretty bad. He passed the note to the teacher absentmindedly and took his test back to the desk and sat down quietly, ensuring that he didn't disturb the student that sat in the next cubicle over. Ethan's own personal favorite had been taken by a freshman who was writing away the same line over and over again. It looked like torture. Ethan was glad that he had never been sent here for doing something wrong.
Scratched straight into the middle of the desk were the words: Casey Jones was here! With a little drawing of a skull beneath it. Ethan didn't have time to think about that mystery today. He pulled out his pencil and tried to empty his mind as he scanned the page of text that he was supposed to analyze. The short story felt dry and the pain in his side kept acting up, distracting him. Why can't I just heal already? He thought angrily. Spending every single day without being able to patrol was the worst. The very second they finally got the chance to use their skills, he had ruined it for them by getting beat up.
He tapped his pencil against the paper and tried to read the essay again:
Many ancient countries are known for their diverse and deeply influential religious behavior. Although to modern American's some of these can seem ritualistic, they are filled with cultural context and historical impact. . .
"Yo."
The voice startled Ethan from his reading which he was already staring to tune out and he looked up to see that the person sitting next to him was none other than Mako. His purple tipped hair was in it's usual spiky place, his seat leaning back on it's hind legs. He was picking at his nails with a mechanical pencil, but had looked over to see what Ethan was doing.
Nervously, Ethan looked over at the attendant, but her nose was stuck in a thick book. Ethan looked back at Mako. "What's up?" he realized that he had never had a proper conversation with the kid, although he had admired a few of the antics he had pulled.
Mako shrugged his shoulders and gave a yawn so large that Ethan was sure that it had to be fake. "Nothing really." he said. "You're too good of a kid to be ending up in my turf every day." he said cockily, letting his pencil fly onto the table with a loud clacking noise. The attendant didn't even budge. Mako pulled his arms behind his head, a sly smile on his face.
Ethan shook his head, "Don't know if you should be proud of calling detention 'your turf'." he pointed out, "I'm just here to finish a test." He watched Mako who had closed his eyes and nodded with a sense of fake intent, like he was deeply pondering what Ethan had just said. Ethan raised an eyebrow, "Why are you here this time, Mako?"
"Punched a kid in his stupid mouth." he said it like he was talking about his trip to the grocery store.
"Why?"
"He was annoying."
"So you punched him?"
"In the mouth – yeah. My mom always said, if you have something stupid to say, best not say it at all."
Ethan seriously doubted that. "Hm." He said, wanting to cut the conversation short. "Interesting." He then returned to his paper with renewed vigor. He had no desire to be anything like this Mako kid and talking to him was just making him angry. Mako took the hint and didn't speak to Ethan again. Instead he spent his time making it difficult for Ethan to concentrate by repeatedly chucking his pencil and picking it up again, as if trying to skewer the wall with it like a dart.
As soon as Ethan finished, he picked up his paper and walked back to the attendant, moving slowly so as not to strain himself too much. He cursed his wounds again for making his life so dang hard. The bell rang just as she grabbed it. Time to go home where Master Hamato would hopefully be waiting with something to eat.
The one good thing about his injury was he knew that he wasn't going to have to face gurandori or motekotegyaku or seyonage or . . .
His thoughts trailed off as he opened wide the door to detention. Jessica was leaning against the wall waiting for him already. The hall immediately filled with noise as kids burst from the classrooms. Excitement for the weekend was the conversation of the day and Ethan was just as excited as they were.
Jess snapped shut her young adult, demon romance novel and peered up at Ethan with a smile. Ethan mustered one back, ignoring the pain in his side. "Geez," he hissed through his teeth, rolling his eyes, "You would think that Tigerclaw's hand was made of metal or something."
"You mean paw right?"
Jess immediately silenced herself as soon as the door opened again and Mako walked out. Ethan couldn't help but notice that she stared at him as he walked by, hands in his pockets, the usual bored expression on his face. As he passed, he made eye contact with her and gave one of his cocky smiles, nodding his head to her, the little purple spikes bobbed as he did so.
"Hi." Jess said weakly.
He didn't reply but continued walking and turned away from them, vanishing into the crowd – purple serpent embroidered jacket and all.
Ethan raised an eyebrow at her.
"You didn't tell me he was in detention with you again!" Jessica hissed, clutching her book close to her chest as she leaned in at Ethan, but her usual fire had been doused in the wake of Mako.
"Sorry," Ethan replied, nodding down the hall, signaling that they should go grab Kaela. "I felt like texting you in detention for something as dumb as that would be a waste of time." Ethan and Kaela knew very well how Jess felt about Mako. Her locker was decorated with lots of things, but dead center was a picture of Mako's yearbook photo from last year. Ethan had always found it amazing that he had even showed up on picture day. "I have no idea what you see in that guy." He continued as they shoved past students. "You know he punched a kid in the face today?"
Jess seemed to have ignored the last part. "I don't see anything more in him than I do in other guys." She was trying way too hard. Realizing that she had just made the least convincing lie of the century, she sighed, "He's just cute and – I dunno – rugged."
Ethan snorted, "You've been reading too many teen romance novels."
"Probably true." Jess admitted.
Kaela appeared, shoving herself through a group of freshman that had taken up a lot of the room in the hallway. One of the new teachers, Mrs. Campbell was directing traffic, a weird smile plastered on her face. "Hey guys!" Kaela said with one of her usual cheery smiles. "Ready to go home?"
Ethan nodded and the three walked past the metal detectors and outside.
"I spoke to Jess' boyfriend in detention today." Ethan mocked loudly.
Jess swapped his arm with her book.
"Ooo, you mean Mako." Kaela matched Ethan's teasing tone and grinned at Jessica widely.
Jess raised her book threateningly, "I'm warning you, Kaela!" She said it with a serious tone, but her smile betrayed her.
"I didn't get a warning." Ethan muttered.
"You don't deserve one."
"Ouch."
Kaela laughed at their banter as they crossed one of the busy streets, passing the Sack's Industries Tower. Ethan wasn't done yet though, "Yeah, he was in detention today because he punched a kid in the face! Isn't that so romantic!"
"Soo manly!" Kaela simpered, making Jess' face turn red.
"Cute, right?"
"Super cute."
"Okay enough!" Jess shouted, "I get it, he's a little rough around the edges, but – I dunno, it makes him more interesting than the regular kids who just sit around doing their homework all day and playing sports."
"Yeah," Ethan nodded, "Punching people out is a way more interesting extracurricular activity."
Jess struck him again with the book and this time, Ethan winced as it hit one of his bruises, but he didn't show that he was in pain. Jess opened her book, but then before putting her nose down into her page, she looked around. "Where'd Kaela go?"
Ethan stopped, hands in his pockets and turned.
Kaela had stopped at one of New York's thousand newsstands and was holding one of the papers, reading it over eagerly as the boy working there watched her apprehensively. Ethan and Jessica turned and walked back to her side. "What is it?" Jess asked, tucking her book under her arm and grabbing the paper.
Ethan leaned over her shoulder to take a look.
The front page had a large black and white photo of the New York City Zoo entrance, a group of police officers right outside it, a cloud of smoke behind. A large black headline read: ZOO ANIMALS MISSING – ANIMAL THEIF AT LARGE.
"Hm." Ethan said. "Weird."
"Do you think that has anything to do with the fact that all of Shredder's goons were animals?" Kaela asked.
Jess folded her arms across her chest, "Seems like a bit of a stretch to me." She admitted.
Kaela shrugged and set the paper down and without much more thought, the three continued on their walk home, the story of the animals and Mako, forgotten.
Master Hamato was home with food. He sat, Indian style on the tatami mats, three steaming bowls of rice waiting for them on the table. He had a cup, decorated with sakura blossoms in his hands and had a large scroll opened in front of him, Japanese kanji decorating it from top to bottom. He looked up with a smile. "Good afternoon! How was school today?"
"Good." They replied in unison, sitting down at the tiny table and grabbing their bowls. Ethan was so starved that he could eat just about anything right about now.
"Itadakimasu."
Master Hamato nodded his head thoughtfully, "Very specific." He stated, eyes closed as he blew on his warm mugi-cha, the steam drifting over their faces. Ethan scarfed down as much of his rice as possible. Deep down he wanted to train, but he knew that Master Hamato wouldn't have it.
"Sensei," Jess said suddenly, setting her empty bowl down on the table. "Let's say someone likes another someone. Is it bad if that certain someone is a little more aggressive than the average teenager?"
Ethan and Kaela went deadly silent as Master Hamato opened his eyes and gave Jess a pointed stare. "Yes. That is bad." He said with a smile, "But, what would be worse, is if a student of martial arts decided to date that said someone and adopt their criminal behavior. That would be fifteen rounds of gurandori level bad."
Ethan and Kaela erupted into silent giggles as Jess bowed her head back down to her rice.
As soon as the three of them had finished eating and Master Hamato had retired to the garden for some of his night meditating, they retired to their room together. Ethan grabbed his naginata from the closet and held it close to him, twisting it in his fingers forlornly as Jess turned on the TV. She sat near the screen and flipped through the channels, her bored expression lit up by the light of the screen. Ethan slumped into one of the bean bags they had and sighed, watching the blade of his naginata in the light of the TV. His injury was making him so mad that he almost wanted to hit it out of anger – but, that certainly wouldn't facilitate the healing process.
"Wait, stop!" Kaela suddenly said, nearly scaring Ethan out of his mind, dropping the naginata with a clatter on the floor. Jess dropped the remote like snake. It was Channel 6 News.
"Hey!" Ethan said eagerly, leaning in, "Isn't this the news team that has the 'Grody To The Max' program? I love that show!"
Kaela and Jess ignored him in the wake of the news reporters voice. The New York City Zoo sat behind the dark skinned Chang O'Brian Gambe with his usual large hair. Smoke clouds were billowing up from the gates which appeared to have been blown off their hinges. "That's right, folks! A large number of over thirty animals are missing! These include but are not limited to the Kangaroo's, Kola Bears, and even the rare and endangered Red Panda. We were able to receive amateur footage of the attack, and I do stress amateur."
His image cut away to those same gates, fiery smoke billowing in every direction. Ethan leaned in closer as a shadow moved in the smoke and then – two pinpricks of violet light.
Glowing robotic eyes.
"The Kraang!" Kaela said excitedly, "See, I told you! I told you there was a connection!"
Ethan narrowed his eyes. The dream they had had with the strange orange glowing ships and the circle shaped tech descending on Washington Square flashed through his mind again.
"The Kraang are stealing those animals for some sort of experiment, I bet." Jess replied.
Ethan felt his heart beat faster. We could stop them!
As if Jess had read his thoughts, she turned around and tugged the green bandanna from her backpack, "We should stop them!"
Kaela's face immediately fell. "Well, someone has to do something . . ." She trailed off guiltily.
Ethan sighed, "Sensei said no patrols until I'm better. Maybe you two could go without me."
"No way." Jess said. "We are a team! C'mon Ethan."
He felt his stomach churn again. "Sensei doesn't need to know. It's not like we are doing something bad. We are saving animals!" She added.
Ethan gripped his naginata more tightly. The image of the Kraang repeated on the screen in terrible cell-phone quality.
"Okay." He said slowly. "Tonight – we will go quick. Strike hard and come back home before Sensei finishes his meditation session."
Kaela and Jess nodded solemnly and Ethan immediately felt a strange mixture of excitement and guilt. But, he had made his decision. He couldn't sit around and do nothing anymore. They had been looking for the Kraang for weeks – months even. Now it was time for some payback for what they had done to New York a few months back.
Ethan searched through his backpack and gripped his white bandanna.
Night couldn't come any sooner.