Episode 4: A New Serpent in Town – Part 2

Feet pounding against the dirty building tops, Ethan let the cool wind rush into his face. Finally, he was back where he belonged, and this time, he wasn't going to let Tigerclaw, or the Foot Clan, or the Kraang, or anyone else mess it up. Nothing would stand in the way of his patrols. The weight of his naginata on his back put a smile on his face,and he could feel the flaps of his white bandanna brushing against the nape of his neck.

Jess and Kaela ran on either side of him, each in the same stance, leaning forward, arms behind them to throw their momentum in front of them. Pushing off from the ground, he launched across the divide between two buildings and landed, rolling carefully onto the roof of the next, letting his momentum carrying him back up to his feet. Jess and Kaela weren't far behind him. Ethan was sure that if she wanted to, Kaela could move quicker than him, but she seemed happy to let him lead for which he was thankful. "So, where are we going?" Jess asked, her own green bandanna moved through the air behind her, her long, light brown hair she let loose, flying behind her with the green flaps.

Ethan found it difficult to focus on movement and talking at the same time, but tried it anyway, "Back to that warehouse where the Foot Clan were stealing mutagen!" he called back to her. They weren't far now. He turned right dodging a large satellite dish and kept his feet moving towards their destination.

"What if Tigerclaw shows up again?" Kaela asked nervously.

Ethan smiled, "I'm counting on it."

The absence of his bruise drove him forward and he half hoped that he would get the opportunity to return the favor. This quickened his pace. Jess called from just behind him, "Even though that sounds like a really dumb idea, I'm kinda liking it." Ethan suppressed a chuckle and then skid to a halt. This place was eerily familiar. It had been the place of their first defeat and the total failure of his plan of attack.

Peeking over the edge nervously, he glanced around the alleyway to the warehouse door that Tigerclaw had emerged from. The van that had sat there before was gone. Nothing moved in the alleyway, save for a stray cat that was meandering around a pile of garbage. The doorway to the warehouse was closed.

"I don't hear anything." Jess said.

Ethan hadn't noticed how close behind they were, both now stood to his right and left.

He nodded in agreement. "Let's go down. But, full ninja mode. It wouldn't be the first time we have been wrong." If there was one thing Ethan had determined, it was that this time they were not going to face another embarrassing failure. Ethan then turned to Kaela, "Kaela, you go down first. Jess and I will be right behind you."

Kaela's mouth dropped open. "Why me?" She whispered.

"You're the stealthiest."

Kaela sighed and then without another complaint, she slowly slipped her leg over the edge and used the fire-escape, moving quietly in the darkness. The yellow of her bandanna could be seen for only a moment and then it vanished into the darkness. Ethan followed close behind and Jess took up the rear. Besides the occasional clang of their feet on the metal stairs, they managed to stay relatively quiet. Kaela had already reached the ground, silent. Ethan held up his hand to pause Jess at the bottom of the stairs.

Kaela looked up at him and Ethan could see the yellow of her mask again. "I don't see anyone." she said. "The coast is clear."

Jess dropped down before Ethan gave the 'okay' but he didn't let it bother him too much. He jumped down behind Jess and landed catlike on the concrete floor. He glanced around, his hand ready to snatch the weapon from his back at any moment, but not even the cat in the corner who was now rubbing it's face along the trashcan's side seemed to have noticed them. "Okay." Ethan said quietly. "I'll go first." He straightened himself and then slowly moved into the light cast by the nearby street and reached the doors. He could still remember dizzily looking at the figure of Tigerclaw from the opening and he half expected the door to burst open and a pack of talking animals to attack him.

But that didn't happen.

Ethan grabbed the rusty handle and carefully pushed it open just enough to get a look inside. No green glow met him and not a sound could be heard inside. It was dark, but Ethan could see the warehouse pretty clearly from the light that filtered through the grime on the glass roofing. He pushed the door the rest of the way open and then quickly slipped inside, keeping his body close to the ground in case someone felt like shooting something at him.

They were on the second floor apparently. The floor they were on was a railing running in a square around the warehouse. The main floor lay visibly below them and the glass ceiling above. Old dusty boxes were stacked in the corners of the walkway, and below, piles and piles of them stacked so high that they brushed the top of the second floor, within reaching distance.

Ethan turned to see Jess and Kaela had come in behind him. Jess had quietly closed the warehouse door with the tiniest thump. As small as the sound was, it echoed in the dusty emptiness. Ethan frowned. Nobody was here. He straightened himself up and pulled his weapon from his holster. His feet tapping as he went, he made his way to the nearest stack of boxes and shoved the blade of his weapon into the crevice. With a grunt he pushed up and the lid burst open, the sound of breaking wood echoing loudly.

"Shh!" Kaela whispered nervously, looking around. "I don't like this. It feels way too quiet here."

"It's an empty warehouse." Jess stated blandly.

Ethan glanced into the box hopefully, but he already knew it wasn't going to be mutagen. The glow would have appeared the moment the lid had splintered. All he found were folds of black cloth. He sighed and then turned to the others, not bothering to keep his voice down anymore. "Nothing." he said. "This place is totally empty."

"Hm." Kaela muttered. "When we came here last, I remember seeing that they were taking a lot of mutagen. I don't see how it could all just be gone."

Jess shrugged, "Obviously they got it all. There's nothing here."

Ethan folded his arms across his chest. "Let's go down the main level. Maybe there is something that will help us figure out where all the mutagen came from." The three trooped across the steel walkway and past rusted handrails until they reached a pair of stairs. They walked down, their feet echoing so loudly that Ethan began to fear that maybe they weren't alone and all of this noise was going to be the beginning of another defeat. I'm not sure I could handle that. He thought.

Once they reached ground level, Ethan was not surprised to find that, once again, there was nothing but big brown crates, likely full of cloth and nothing else. If there had been mutagen here before, it had to have all been taken by the Foot Clan by now.

"Well, well."
A voice echoed in the dark and Ethan spun towards the source, Jess and Kaela unsheathing their weapons. Ethan saw a shadow by the door and without another thought, let one of his shurikans fly. It struck something metal and pinged to the floor.

A girl stood by the door and she was surrounded by a crowd of Footbots, their glowing LED red eyes staring blankly down at the three. The girl had, what at first appeared to be black hair, short enough to be a pixie cut, but as she stooped down, Ethan could see blonde on the backside of her head. Her metal armor glimmered off her chest and shoulders, a metal mask covering her face. In one of her hands was a short, wicked blade. She picked up the shurikan and glanced at it before tucking it away in a purple belt around her waist. "Hamato clan." She stated with a high level of sass in her voice. "My lucky day. Interesting though. You seem to be human." she pulled away the metal mask that covered her face to reveal a smile and Ethan felt his heart beat against his chest. She couldn't be much older than them.

"W-who are you?" Ethan stuttered back. Nothing about her really scared her, but for some reason she made made his face go hot and flush.

Her smile grew wider, coy and dangerous and Ethan felt an odd sensation to smile back. "The name's Karai." she said.

"We don't care!" Jess snapped up at her, eyeing the footbots on either side of her. "If you came here to fight us, then let's get it over with." Her kama's gleamed in the light as she twisted the weapons in her hand, readying them in battle stance.

Karai raised her eyebrows and then turned to the footbots as if she just barely noticed that they were there. "Oh, I hoped I wouldn't have to use these." She said. "I'm sure we could take care of this without anyone getting hurt." Then her eyes became deadly serious and for a moment, Ethan thought they turned emerald green. "Tell me where the turtles and Splinter are."

There were those words again. Turtles. Splinter, however, was a first.

"Why do people keep asking us this?" Jess sighed, "We have no idea what you guys are talking about when you say turtles."

Karai glared. "Don't try to lie to me. It won't end well for you. I'll ask one more time. Leonardo, Raphael, Michelangelo and Donatello. Where are they?"

If Ethan was unsure before, now he was downright confused. "Why did she just name off a bunch of Renaissance artists?" Kaela whispered. Ethan was drawing a blank.

"Um." Jess called loudly. "So, this may come as a shock but those guys have been dead for like five hundred years."

Ethan flinched.

Karai's eyes flashed dangerously at Jess. A smile then spread on her lips again and for a moment, she looked paler, as if her skin had become white. "Footbots, make sure you keep one of them alive. And make sure it's not her." As soon as she had spoken the words, the black-clad robots moved, blades appearing, some of them were their own arms, bringing out large saw-like contraptions.

"Crap." Jess's face fell.

The footbots lunged and the three split from one another, dodging as sparks flew in every direction from one of the bot's buzzsaw slamming into the concrete floor. Jess slammed another strike out of the way with her kama and spun it in her hand, slashing through one of the footbots arms which clunked the ground, writhing in a series of electrical currents that scampered across the floor, illuminating the warehouse.

Kaela shrieked, jumping out of the way as two stabbed at her with long blades. "Not close range! Not close range!" She cried loudly as she jumped up on a stack of the old boxes and let the dart of her weapon swing through the air.

Ethan spun his naginata, feeling it's flow as he cut through the waist of one of the footbots, but then, suddenly, he was faced with Karai and his weapon paused. Her foot slammed into his side and he gasped in pain, his ribs taking the brunt of the blow, but he quickly recovered. Why did I hesitate? He already knew the answer. Why did Karai have to be so awesome?

"You're pretty good." Ethan complimented as he dodged another one of her strikes from the blade glimmering in her hand.

Ethan whirled his staff for a striking blow, but realized that he wasn't using the pointy end anymore. She slammed it out of her way, using the metal that guarded her forearm. She sneered back at him. "You're not so bad yourself." She threw her blade out again and Ethan had just enough time to recover from the compliment. He could feel he was blushing. "You know me, but I haven't seen you with the turtles before."

"The names Ethan." he replied, not exactly sure why on earth he was giving out this information. Her blade glanced against the sharp end of his weapon and he felt another kick land itself on his back, but it felt lighter this time and he threw the pain off easily.

Karai lifted her blade and for a second, he thought he heard a strange, snake-like hiss as she slashed at him. He ducked out of the way and backed up out of range of a second swipe. "Good to know!" She said. "I'll make sure to remember that so I can carve it on your gravestone!" Ethan jumped out of the way again.

Focus, Ethan! Attack! Don't let her get in your head! He swung again, spinning the naginata around his back and this time, he used the blade. Karai flipped out of the way easily, landing crouched. She smiled and this time, Ethan was positive that he saw fangs. For some reason, this didn't make her any less attractive. His eyes met hers and this time, he was right. They were emerald in color and her pupils had become wicked slits. Danger signals fired in his mind and he prepared himself for another strike.

"Ethan!" Jess called. "Can we stop chatting and get out of here?"

Jess danced out of the way of two striking footbots and then slashed both of their chests. Electricity and metal showered the floor as she spun out of the way of the debris.

Kaela had swung herself up and was perched on the railing. Footbots were making the way up the stairs towards her, as she picked some of them off, swinging her ribbon dart furiously, panic in her eyes as they closed in.

Forcing himself to say it, Ethan cried, "Yeah! Let's get out of here!"

Karai hissed – Ethan was sure it was a hiss this time. She wasn't a human at all, but some kind of mutant. "Leaving so quickly? I thought we were just starting to get to know each other." She chucked her blade with a spin and Ethan dodged it, jumping up onto a pile of boxes and the blade thudded into the wood below him. He climbed up the boxes quickly and with a holler, jumped and grabbed the railing, flipping up over the top and landing on his feet. He tried to ignore the words she had said, but they rang in his ears.

Ethan gave her one last look. "Later, Karai!" And then he burst forward. Kaela hit the floor hard as one of the Footbots kicked her from the perch.

Ethan slashed with the end of his staff and the footbot screeched as he fell over the railing and smashed into the floor, making Karai have to back up further to avoid being crushed. All of her coyness had vanished in a poof of smoke as she glared at them. "Don't let them escape!" She shouted.

Jess helped Kaela to her feet. A bloody red slice was across her cheek. Ethan turned back towards the door and the three teenagers sprinted. Karai ran for the stairs but before her or the footbots had reached the landing, Ethan had thrown open the warehouse door and the three ran into the night.

They didn't bother going for the roofs, but ran down the street. People called out angrily as they saw them. Some screamed when they noticed the weapons and the bandanna's. Cars honked in their wake and Ethan took one look behind them to make sure they weren't being followed. They were safe. They kept running until they finally managed to make it to their alleyway and they stopped at the dojo doors, panting heavily. "Are you okay, Kaela?" Ethan asked after he had caught his breath. She rubbed the blood on her face and an angry red smear appeared there. She winced, "Yeah, a few bruises and cuts, but I think I'm fine." her voice was shaking.

Glancing at Jess, he could see that she appeared to have managed to get out without a scratch. Jess put her arm around Kaela, "Let's get back inside." She said and Ethan pulled open the dojo doors. Although they had technically lost their fight, all Ethan could think about was Karai.

Stone doors slammed open as Karai walked in, her feet pattering against the ground. The fire inside her had grown into a bonfire that seemed like it would never burn out. Her thoughts were blurred. Water bubbled on either side of her. Tigerclaw and Rahzar were waiting at the bottom of the steps that led up to the large stone throne that Shredder sat on. "Karai." He said quietly, "I didn't expect you to return so quickly. Did you find the Turtles?"

Karai threw the shurikan to the ground at the bottom of the first stair. It pinged loudly and stopped there. Tigerclaw and Rahzar leaned in curiously, looking at the gleaming Hamato symbol on the top of it. "Even though they are Hamato clan, they insist that they know nothing of the turtles or Splinter." Karai snapped. "They even use some of the same moves as the turtles."

Shredder narrowed his eyes into a glare as he stared down at the symbol. He then looked up again at Karai. "They lie." He said, his voice menacingly metallic from his mask.

"It didn't seem like it." Karai hissed back.

Shredder slammed his fist against the arm of his chair and rose. "They are liars!" he shouted and Rhazar flinched, his ears flattening against his furry skull, his glowing orange eyes closing at the noise. Shredder didn't seem to notice or to care. "Those three children are Hamato Clan. Yoshi has trained them – I can tell!"

Karai bowed her head submissively and yet an urge rose inside her, urging her not to give respect to her . . . Father? The feelings and thoughts of rebellion burst into flames inside her, consumed by the sudden lust to destroy Splinter and the turtles. "What would you have me do, Father?"

Shredder pointed at the doorway. "Get back out there and find Splinter and his disciples! Kill them all! I want no more of this petty chase of cat and mouse."

Karai bowed lowly. "Yes, Father." She then stood and turned back to the door, walking back out into the darkness, something deep down inside her screamed in protest, but it vanished as the doors shut behind her.