Episode 15: Signaling Devastation – Part 1

It was quiet in the old dojo – as it usually was. Melted candles stood on long black, rusted poles in the corners of the room, the flames flickering against the old wooden walls. Ashina watched from one of the broken windows, dreading the return of Lord Nightshade to their hideaway. From across the path, in one of the other broken down, Japanese-styled homes, the glow of mutagen could be seen from the window. McGrath would be working on whatever it was Lord Nightshade had him doing. Does that guy ever take a break? Ashina thought to herself.

It was at least a relief to have some down time herself. EmberEye was out doing training exercises all day in the woods outside the city, miles away. Gore was near the gate of their hovel, guarding, his massive grizzly bear form practically took up the entire doorway into their complex of ruined buildings that they called home. Bloodmaw was in the corner of the room, leaning against the wall, his head slumped in slumber.

That left her in blissful silence with her own thoughts – which was sometimes good and sometimes terrible. Just at the thought of being alone for a few moments began to awaken memories that she wanted nothing to do with. Most of them involved Lord Nightshade directly. Others, not as much. She glared out into the night and ruffled her fingers through her black fur – the fur of a wolf. She clenched her fangs together. Those thoughts aren't helping. She told herself.

Feeling like she needed to move, she slowly padded her way across the old, broken and cut up tatami floor and snatched up her katar. The blade glimmered in the moonlight, the bracers on either side moved up her arm like serpents and she slipped her arm through and held the bar, swinging it through the air with the quick strikes she had been taught by the leader of the Shinotomo Clan. Although she hated to admit it, without Lord Nightshade, her fighting prowess wouldn't be anywhere near the skilled level that she was at.

She moved again, her tail swishing behind her as she struck at nothing in particular. She swung again and again, her blade singing through the air so quickly that she imagined cutting the embers from the candles out of the air.

She paused and perked her ear up at the sound of the gate closing from outside and the low gruff voice of Gore. Ashina clung to her katar and strode across the tatami back to the window. A shadow was moving towards the dojo, up the gravel path. By the flighty movement of their scarfs, she knew that it was Lord Nightshade. She quickly ducked out of view and then nudged Bloodmaw with her foot hard in the arm.

He snorted and shook his body as if throwing off water from his fur. He glanced around and when his gold eyes met her own, he glared and bared his teeth, curling his lip, violence sparking in the pits of his optics and brought is one pointy ear up in annoyance. "What was that for?" He hissed.

Ashina rolled her eyes, "You should be thanking me." She whispered back. "Lord Nightshade is about to come through those doors. So, I'd look busy if I were you." Bloodmaw's eyes immediately filled with fear, his violence doused as if hit by a bucket of ice water, his ear flattening back again. Ashina felt the same way, but she didn't show it.

She folded her arms, the katar still glimmering as she held onto it tightly.

The doors opened and Lord Nightshade stepped into the candle light. He was alone.

Gore must still be guarding at the gate.

From the eye slits of his mask, piercing blue could be seen. He gazed at Ashina in the corner and then to Bloodmaw who was picking himself off the floor. "You were sleeping, weren't you." It wasn't a question as he gazed at Bloodmaw.

"I apologize, Lord Nightshade. I will be more proactive." Bloodmaw bowed his head, his one ear flattened against his head pitifully.

"Once again you seek to embarrass and insult the Shinotomo Clan, Bloodmaw." Lord Nightshade said it like it was a daily chore to take care of and then walked past Ashina and Bloodmaw shrunk into the corner, but Lord Nightshade stopped at the front of the room and turned, hands behind his back to look at Ashina. "What of the mutagen?"

Ashina fought desperately at the girl inside her that wanted to bow in fear under his intimidation. But she did not allow it to control her. "Bloodmaw and I have taken more from the Kraang. But, it has become more difficult to sneak around at night. Ever since the power outage several weeks ago, the news have been reporting mutants and both citizens and police have been looking for us."

Lord Nightshade was quiet and his blue eyes bore into Ashina's own. "Hm." He finally muttered under his breath, his voice echoing off his mask. Ashina had never seen him take it off, nor his gloves or any of his armor for that matter. "Interesting. It seems without having to play my own hand, things are falling into place."

"What?" Ashina asked but immediately she regretted it. "I apologize." She bowed, head to the floor and Bloodmaw flinched. But it seemed that Lord Nightshade had no interest in punishing her question.

Lord Nightshade watched her quietly for a few moments, as if deciding how to react. He spoke and his voice was quiet, almost a whisper, "Our long term goals will require an animosity towards the mutant population in New York city and already this is beginning to fester in the hearts of its citizens." He then turned to look at Bloodmaw who winced again and backed further into the corner. Ashina cursed in her head at him for being such an idiot. Lord Nightshade would eat that up and manipulate the hyena. "There is no time for rest, Bloodmaw. My plan requires perfection in its execution and we do not even have a fraction of the mutagen we still need."

"Understood, Lord Nightshade." He said quietly, his voice several octaves highers than it usually was.

He then turned his chrome mask back to Ashina, "There is a Kraang facility near the docks. I want you to go and analyze how much mutagen they have on hand. Then report so I can devise a plan to take it."

Ashina bowed again, happy to finally be able to leave. "Hai, sensei." She then turned to go, nodding to Bloodmaw as she did so. He made a move to follow her to the door but Lord Nightshade held out his arm to halt the hyena who shrank back again.

"You will stay here." Lord Nightshade's voice had become deadly and Bloodmaw's eyes widened and if Ashina wasn't wrong, he had begun to tremble. She then turned and quickly strode out the door and down the dark pathway, ignoring the glow of mutagen from McGrath's window. As much as she detested Bloodmaw, she prayed that he would be okay.

Ethan had never felt more dizzy in his life when he found himself suddenly tumbling from the terribly upside down Dimension X to the hard, cold alleyway street in New York. A cat squealed in surprise and burst from a pile of trash, tail waving behind as it fled from the alleyway. Feeling tired, he allowed himself to lay on the ground, his fur both softening his landing and warmed his skin. He kept his eyes closed. His muscles were sore, his feet hurt, and his head was still spinning from everything that he had just experienced and heard.

"Well, I guess we have more to deal with now." Kaela spoke first and Ethan could hear her getting back up next to him. The familiar sound of police sirens, shouting, and car honking were starting to ground Ethan again to where he was. Can't anything in this whole crazy situation be easy? He thought to himself. Now we have to deal with a Kraang Invasion, Shredder's private army, the Shinotomo Clan constantly getting in our way, and a vision about the whole world getting sucked into a Black Hole. Thinking about it made his head hurt even more. "Can we sleep for a while before dealing with all of that." Jess groaned, her voice muffled by the stones beneath her. She – like himself – must have not gotten up yet.

"Yeah, I think that's a good idea." Ethan said.

His body still protesting his movement, Ethan slowly got to his feet, the pads on the bottom were burning already. He turned to see that Jess' fox face was straight in the ground in front of her. Kaela was leaning against the nearby wall, looking just as exasperated. The portal that they had fallen out of must have already disappeared, for they were totally alone in the dark alleyway made of old stone and covered with an assortment of dumpsters of all shapes, sizes, and colors. "C'mon Jess." Ethan leaned down to grab her around the arm and she groaned again as she got up to her feet.

The three walked together sluggishly over to the manhole cover and they stared down at it between their feet. "Kay, whose gonna lift that?" Kaela asked, wiping the her hair from her face, her voice sounding breathless.

Ethan sighed and slowly bowed down, his knees hurting as well. He put his fingers under the lip and before he began lifting, his phone went off, along with Kaela's and Jess'. Only one person would have done that. "Sam." Kaela said, confirming what Ethan was thinking as she pulled out her phone.

Not wanting to get his own phone out of his pocket, Ethan asked, "What does it say? Did he find the turtles?" He knew that was much too wishful of thinking.

Kaela shook her head. "No." Jess had pulled out her own phone as well and was scrolling, her claws making tapping noises on her screen. "He gave an address to a Kraang outpost nearby the docks."

"Makes sense." Jess said. "That Sub-Prime guy was dealing with Shredder on those docks."

"Looks like the answer is 'no'." Ethan said, slowly getting back to his feet with a grunt. "We can't take a nap before we keep going."

"Goodie." Kaela closed her phone with a beep and slipped it into her pocket, pulling out her ribbon dart from her belt. "Looks like the party isn't over yet."

Ethan tried to suppress all of his complaining and then pulled out his naginata and let it whiz past his head as he held it close to the backside of his arm, the wood running down his elbow. "Let's get moving." He turned and, ignoring the pain in his feet, he ran up the fire escape stairs nearby to go up to the roof of the building.

This had to be the most difficult and the most painful run he had ever been on. For some reason it reminded him of when Tigerclaw had whacked him perfectly in the rib cage and knocked his lungs loose for a week. Recovery time for feet sounded much worse. He closed his eyes for a few moments as he leaped over a building and tried to pretend he was already at the docks. When he opened his eyes, it wasn't long before he finally saw the black waters moving slowly in the New York bay. Large crates and shipping containers were stacked in every which direction. Ethan remembered that particular fight with Karai, Shredder and Sub-Prime.

Karai.

He shook his head to clear his thoughts.

Nope! I'm not thinking about your right now.

He jumped down from the roof and slid his nails across the wall to slow down his fall towards the road. When he landed he quickly jumped out of the way to give both Kaela and Jess room. The shipping warehouse wasn't very far from here. Ethan quickly scampered to the door, Jess and Kaela on his tail. "Alright, let's just open the door very slowly." Ethan whispered more to himself than the other two, and then he pushed his fingers into the crack of the door and slowly, inch by inch, began to slide it open.

Immediately the sound of beeping could be heard, but as far as Ethan could see, there wasn't a single Kraang in the entire warehouse. Lights from nearby screens were flickering, and the tell-tale glow of mutagen was thrown across the walls and floor, making eerie shadows. Ethan pulled open the doors wider, but no terrible English or droid noises could be heard from inside. He stepped into the warehouse and ruffled the fur between his ears curiously, but he did not loosen his grip on his naginata. He had learned from every other scenario they had been in in the past few months that it would be the biggest mistake of his life.

As soon as all three were in the room, the door slammed shut with a click, on their own. Ethan looked up into the rafters to see that three floors above were all covered in Kraang droids, and near the top, was Kraang Sub-Prime. Ethan shook his head and pushed his fingers into his temple from exhaustion. "Y'know, it really isn't that surprising anymore." Ethan said quietly to the other two as they caught up with him.

Jess and Kaela looked up. Kaela's face fell and Jess groaned again. "Seriously?" she said. "This is – this is getting ridiculous. They might as well just send us invitations from now on. We are going to wind up fighting them anyway."

"Not funny." Kaela said in a sing-songy voice. With a slam, Kraang Sub-Prime landed across from them, cracks splitting the ground in every which direction.

The horrifying Herma body moved, the sounds of sleek metal rotating against itself echoed through the warehouse all the way past the Kraang droids to the ceiling. The vat of mutagen bubbled eerily next to him. Sub-Prime's eye zoomed in at them and he grinned. "You stupid brats that you could just waltz right here, didn't ya! Well, I got news for ya, I'm going to rip you in half! Why? Because I'm awesome!"

"Somehow I knew he was going to say something like that." Ethan muttered.

Jess replied, "You'd think he would have thought of something more original at this point."

"Maybe now isn't the time." Kaela said, spinning her dart in the air and glaring at Sub-Prime, the yellow bandanna like gold around her face.

Ethan smiled, his white fangs glimmering green in the light. "Let's do this!"

They lunged forward to meet Sub-Prime.