Episode 2: The Animal Agenda – Part 3

If Ethan were able to imagine being sucked down a drain pipe, that's what it was like to walk through the strange pink film of the portal. For a moment it felt like he was walking into nothingness and then he realized, as his eyes adjusted, he was in a warehouse. He spun around to see Jess and Kaela burst through the pink triangle. Ethan's legs were shaking, but he was relieved that they were out of the rain. He could feel drops of water bleeding off his hair and onto his hands, still grasping his weapon like his life depended on it. Which it probably did.

Kraang droids were following behind them, guns still aimed to fire at the first sign of trouble. Ethan turned, his eyes adjusting to the dark now. They were forced to continue following the crowd of Kraang directly in front of them. Immediately, they were immersed in green, glowing light. "Wow." Ethan said breathlessly. A giant glass vat the size of their house sat in the middle of the cement room, filled to the brim with mutagen ooze. The place was filled with noise. Meows, cawing, barks, roars, chirps and chatters.

"That is a lot of animals." Kaela said as she moved next to Ethan and halting at his side. Cages surrounded the vat of mutagen, each stacked up on top of one another until they nearly reached the ceiling. Birds of many kinds flapped their wings frantically against the bars. Cats curled up in corners of their cages, dogs gnawed at the metal bars and even a nearby bear stared hungrily at them, leaning it's front paws on the door of it's cage.

Several of the Kraang droids separated themselves from the crowd and strode nosily over to two large glass panels the size of doors. Numbers, figures and diagrams of every kind blinked across the touch screens as the two Kraang began to work, their fingers moving hurriedly over the strange shapes and symbols. With a prod in the back, Ethan winced and complied to move closer to the large, glowing tank.

"The subjects – known as the specimens – must be bolted – in the place which is used – for bolting."

Ethan glanced past several metallic bodies to see three metal tables, not much larger than their floor table back at the dojo stood, bathed in glowing green light from the mutagen. Several other Kraang left the group, moving towards the cages of animals. Ethan shivered. "I have a bad feeling that they are going to be doing some testing with that mutagen. And I doubt they brought us here to watch."

Jess and Kaela's eyes widened.

One of the Kraang had returned. In his hand he gripped a sloth which wasn't putting up much of a fight. Without any issue at all, as if he were strapping a bag of flour, the Kraang bolted the sloth down to one of the tables. The little animal blinked in boredom and other than that, it gave no sign at all that it was alive.

The Kraang droid turned to look over at Ethan, his wide violet eyes glowing in the semi-darkness. "The one – known as – the male ninja – will be mutated first – with the mutagen – used for mutation." He was pointing at the sloth. Ethan felt the color drain from his face. Two Kraang snatched at his arms and began to pull him towards the table. "No!" Ethan tried to wrench his hands free, but these droids were strong, their metal hands cold on his skin.

A second Kraang had returned, an armadillo held in it's arms. Just like the sloth, it was strapped down onto the metal table. Jess was forced to follow close behind Ethan until he was standing next to the table with the sloth and Jess stood within an arms length of the armadillo.

"Guys!" Kaela cried, "We need to do something now!"

Ethan tried to slow his heart down, to breath in deeply and to look around. Surely there was an answer in this giant, dirty warehouse. There had to be a way out.

A third animal had appeared. A monkey – apparently sedated by it's zoned out look and total lack of energy. Two Kraang quickly bolted it to the third table and then motioned for Kaela to be brought over. Her eyes had gotten even wider. "I am not going to be turned into a monkey!" She shrieked, "Not happening!"

Ethan tried to ignore her calls while equally trying to keep his own heart rate down. He could see other animals, freaking out in their cages. An idea had sprung into his mind, but it was crazy. He turned to the others, "Get ready to block laser blasts." he said it quickly and lowly to ensure that the Kraang didn't get a chance to hear over the racket the animals were making. A Kraang was approaching them, in his hands was – not an animal – but a large canister of mutagen. Panic attacked Ethan's insides again, making his hands tremble. He shook his head as if ridding it of thoughts and fears. I got us all into this mess – I'm going to get us out.

"Prepare to be – mutated – teenagers who are known as – ninja's."

Ethan spun on his heel, his fingers reaching inside his belt and with a toss as precise as he could get it, the lock on the bear's cage snapped off, a shurikan thunking into the metal. The door swung open as the weight of the bear caused it to fall back onto it's front paws. Ethan let another shurikan fly right after it and it struck the bear on the shoulder.

With a roar that shook the building, the bear charged forward, it's eyes glazed over with blood lust.

"Stop – the ones who need to be stopped!" The Kraang shouted.

Kaela let her ribbon fly and it wound around the canister of mutagen, flinging it up into the air.

Ethan and Jess jumped out of the way as it smashed onto the floor, spilling it's green insides all over the warehouse cement. Lasers blasted in every direction and Ethan tumbled, falling to the floor for cover. He used the momentum to fling himself behind one of the touch screens and he hit it's top with the butt of his weapon. The glass shattered and it's frame fell forward, crushing several of the Kraang droids.

"The door!" He called, not sure where Jess and Kaela were in the crowd of lights and sound. "Get to the warehouse door on the far side!"

"Those who are in this place – cannot be allowed to leave this place – otherwise –." The Kraang didn't get to finish his sentence as Ethan spun on both his legs, cutting through it's body's upper torso with a solid stroke before spinning it back around to block a volley of shots aimed at him. Pink glanced off in every direction and several more Kraang went down.

The bear roared, finally having reached the Kraang and it smashed them to the ground but winced backward as lasers struck it's shoulders. In even more rage than before, he dispatched a few more by ripping their heads off with his giant maw.

Ethan fell behind a large metal table and he threw it on it's side to block a series of shots that zoomed past him. His heart was beating fast, but it felt like life had been breathed back into him. The pain in his side and the uncomfortablility of his drenched clothes vanished away like insubstantial mist. All that existed was him, his weapon, and his enemy. Where were the others?

He peeked over the corner.

By the vat, Jess spun like a tornado in mid air, her kama's beheading a pair of Kraang droids as she dove out of the way of several blasts behind her. She winced as she fell backward, one of the lasers managing to nic her shoulder, throwing her off balance. Ethan nearly jumped up from his cover to help, but she was already back on her feet and tore through another Kraang, the brain fleeing in terror in the shadow of it's old shell.

Kaela had taken Ethan's example, using her ribbon to fling the second large screen computer into the crowd of Kraang, but she was uncomfortably close to the bear that was going loony on the Kraang.

Ethan had to turn his focus back on his own fight as a hole blasted through the table. They had managed to wear through it. Ethan lunged from behind his cover, barreling back onto his feet. His naginata twirled like a solitary whirlwind to ricochet the lasers back at their owners. "Guys! We need to move!"

If they stayed there a second longer – they weren't going to make it. More Kraang would arrive and they would be dead – or they'd be going home as a sloth, armadillo and monkey. His blade slashed through one of the Kraang and it fell to the ground, screaming loudly in his ear. More Kraang were coming through the triangular portal from the zoo.

"I don't think so!" Ethan jumped out of the way of more fire, dodging one of the saws at the bottom of a Kraang gun as it buzzed in his face. With a swipe of his weapon, the little electronic portable portal projector tumbled to the ground, the triangle vanishing into nothingness with a odd popping noise. He snatched it up and shoved it into his belt.

Jess had managed to back up away from the vat. The bear had slammed it's way towards her. "Let's go!" She grabbed at Kaela's wrist and the two ran towards Ethan, knocking Kraang out of their way as they went.

Ethan turned his back to them and sprinted, arms behind his back to throw himself forward as quickly as he could until he managed to reach the large metal doors. Adrenaline pumped into his veins as he threw the large bolt out of it's place and with a grunt of effort, pulled the doors apart enough to admit them back out into the night.

"Move!"

Jess and Kaela both ran out from the entrance. Ethan spun around and with their help, shoved the doors closed again.

Jess let out a loud breath of air. "Geez!" She panted, "What the crap is happening to our lives?"

"Run now, talk later." Kaela said, hands on her knees.

The three burst off into the night. The rain had stopped; the gray clouds had moved out towards the ocean. Ethan's cloths scraped uncomfortably against his skin and the pain from his bruise seemed to explode, now that the craziness had passed. It took him a few minutes before he realized that they were at least ten blocks away from the zoo.

To be safe, they climbed their way up one of the escape ladders and onto the top of the buildings and resumed their sprint again until they were all so out of breath that they had to take a break near Murakami's Gyouza shop. Ethan's throat felt like he had taken up fire-eating and his limbs shook, either from being soaked through with water, from the adrenaline still working it's magic or the pain in his side, he could not tell. "Never again." He managed to get out as they walked.

Jess turned to him. She was grinning ear to ear. "That was crazy!" She said. "You did it, Ethan! You got us out of there!"

"I didn't." Ethan replied. "We all did."

Kaela was quiet. She was looking off into the distance as they strode the expanse of the last few rooftops to get to their familiar alleyway that spelled home for the teenagers. They moved past the silhouette of the Sack's Tower. "You okay, Kaela?" Ethan asked. His breathing he noted was coming out unevenly.

Kaela looked over at him sadly, brushing the drenched hair from her face. "All those animals. . ." she said, "They were trapped there."

Not another word was spoken between the three as they climbed down slowly, landing with far less grace than usual in their alleyway and quietly, Ethan slid the front door open. The whole dojo was dark, but the shape of Master Hamato no longer could be seen out in the garden. He had gone to bed.

Each of them removed their muddy shoes and wet socks and slowly pressed their raw feet onto the tatami mat, careful not to make any noise. Before they had gone another step, the lights flicked on.

Master Hamato was standing by the light switch near the weapon's cabinet which was flung open to show how empty it was. His mouth was in a stern frown and for a moment, Ethan almost wished the Kraang had managed to kill him. "Out for a midnight snack are we?" Master Hamato asked.

"Uh, yes." Jess began slowly, "At Mr. Murakami's."

Master Hamato raised an eyebrow. "I am going to assume then that you didn't give him a tip and he proceeded to throw you out in the rain and beat you to a pulp?" he asked, his voice laced with sarcasm.

Ethan sighed and pushed past the other two, "Okay, we went after the Kraang – but sensei – they were kidnapping animals and –."

"Damare!"

Ethan went silent at the command.

"You disobeyed me, my children." the fire had returned to his eyes. "You are all grounded for a week!"

The three did not protest. They knew that they deserved what they got.

"Return your weapons and get to bed immediately."

They slumped their way over to the cabinet, not daring to look at Master Hamato as they drew closer to him. They placed their weapons on the rack and then made their way to their room. "I will expect a full report of this tomorrow morning."

"Hai, sensei." The three mumbled and they closed their bedroom door.

Jess sunk onto her futon and groaned, "Grounded for a week." she mumbled, covering her face with her hands, muffling the noise.

"At least it's not "be dead forever", like what could have happened tonight." Kaela provided optimistically as she went to the bathroom, her pajamas in her arms.

Ethan hissed through his teeth in pain as he removed the belts. His bruise felt like it had been punched all over again. He did his best to swallow the sore feeling and he grabbed some white bandages and alcohol rub from their nearby first aid kit. They had stamped the expanse of the box with stickers of their favorite bands and symbols, including kanji stickers they had found. He sat down next to Jess's futon and motioned for her to draw closer to him.

"Oh, yeah." Jess noted, looking at the singed area on her shoulder where one of the lasers had managed to graze her. Ethan pressed the alcohol rub on it silently and ignored her yelp of pain. His mind was elsewhere as he wrapped the white bandage and tied it. "Thanks." Jess muttered.

Ethan just nodded in reply. He pulled from his belt the shurikans to put them onto the red wood chest of drawers in their room, but his fingers touched the metal portal projector. He looked at it's strange and now black pentagon designs and not wanting to think about it anymore, shoved it into a desk drawer and turned off the lights.

He felt exhausted.

Somehow he knew before he closed his eyes, that he was going to have another dream about the strange tech in Washington Square again.

Clang!

Only once did the Hyena hear the noise. It was a quiet sound of metal scraping against metal. To an ear that he owned long ago – a human ear – it would have been no louder than a pin hitting the fur, but with his keen ears, it had been enough to awaken him.

No light shone through the glass window above him anymore. He had fallen asleep in Shredder's dungeon to the sound of the rain drops splattering against the walls outside. The torchlight flickered as the Hyena lifted his head.
"You found the information we were looking for, didn't you?"

Three dark figures stood just outside his cell door.

"Bloodmaw."

He grinned at the sound of his name. "Of course I did." he hissed.

"Shame you lost your ear." Ashina didn't sound so sorry about it at all. Although she stood in the shadows, Bloodmaw could see that she had her arms folded across her chest, her gray eyes flashed in the torchlight, her long busy tail waved lazily behind her.

"Let's make this quick." The largest of the bunch stood a whole two heads taller than the others, his bear fur bristling.

The third who stood at the head quickly stooped down to gaze at the lock and with a few sharp clicks, the door swung open. The falcon mutant glared down at him as Bloodmaw snuck past the door out into the torch light and straightened up, a grin on his face, showing his fangs. "Why do you always have to be so serious, EmberEye?" he asked the falcon.

She looked him up and down disapprovingly, her wings folded behind her back neatly, her piercing red eyes glared. "We are in the enemies territory. Show us where they take the mutagen that we may leave this place. Lord Nightshade wants to see you personally to report."

Bloodmaw ignored EmberEye's comment and nodded towards the long, dark hallway that led out from the prison cells and down the stairs to where he had seen the Foot Soldiers take the canisters of mutagen. "This way."

They moved quickly and silently, even Gore, the large grizzly bear was as silent as the rest. Being in the Shinotomo Clan meant stealth, and it meant swift death to anything in their way. After they made it down the stairs, they found the lab. It had multiple layers, leading to a large fishbowl shaped vat of mutagen. The place was empty of people, save for creatures behind glass cages. Bloodmaw noticed one that contained a huge purple snake, it's arms trailed into identical snake mouths. It watched them warily with emerald eyes.

The four didn't speak, but climbed down until they reached the control panel along with several large canisters of mutagen. Bloodmaw snatched it up and then nodded to the others. They moved up just as swiftly and silently as they had entered. The whole rescue and thievery had taken less than five minutes. One they reached the cells again, EmberEye spread her wings and burst upward, smashing through the glass roof. Seconds later, a rope dropped down and Bloodmaw went first with the canister, followed by Gore and then last was Ashina, the wolf. Once they were perched on to top of Shredder's fortress, EmberEye turned to look at Bloodmaw and smiled at the canister in his hands. "Lord Nightshade will be pleased. It wont be long until both the Foot and Hamato Clan are buried six feet under."

Bloodmaw cackled and the Shinotomo clan vanished swiftly into the night.