The Kraang.
Just thinking about them still made shivers creep up April's spine, even three years after her first encounter with the awful brain-blobs. But with a deep breath and a focused exhale, she chased the feeling of dread away and flipped open her tessen.
"Just come and try to get me, you freaks," April hissed, opening her eyes in a deadly glare.
Twenty-some Kraang stood in the street in front of her, with half a dozen of their white vans setting up a blockade on either side.
The first Kraang droid raised its weapon. "The challenge which has been issued by the one called April O'Neil has been accepted by Kraang."
"Good." The street lights flickered with a sudden surge of power, making pain twinge in April's forehead. "Stop running your mouth, then."
Purple lasers started blasting through the air. Moving with the fluidity she had learned in her lessons with Splinter, April dodged each blast. She pulled out a second tessen from her belt, this one coated with a glistening iridescent paint. She angled it at one of the laser blasts and the light bounced back at the Kraang who fired it, blasting the gun right out of its hands.
April did an aerial flip out of the way as another droid charged her. She slashed the sharp edge of her plain black tessen right through the droid's neck, then landed on the other side of its collapsing body. With her left-hand tessen, she reflected another laser blast.
"I could really use some help over here, guys!" April shouted. She tapped the Bluetooth (or as Mikey called it, the Greentooth) earpiece with her wrist. "Hello? Is anyone even listening on this?"
"I read you loud and clear, brah," Mikey's voice came back.
"Anybody else?"
"Dude, harsh. I saved your life once, in case you forgot."
With a grunt, April dropped to her knees as another blast flew over her head. "I'm just a few blocks south of their weapons depot. I need backup!"
"I read you, April," Donnie's crackled over the line, tinny and small. "We've gotten into a bit of a tight spot ourselves…Raph, look out!"
"Don. Raph. What's going on over there?" Leo said.
"They're everywhere!" Raph replied, following it up with a string of curses.
"Hold your ground. Mikey and I are on the way."
"What about me?" April said.
"Fall back, April. We can't get to you in time. We'll pick you up at the intersection of—"
Interference. Ear-splitting feedback.
"Hello?" April called.
Silence.
"That which is known as the signal has been blocked by Kraang," said one of the droids. "The one called April O'Neil is alone."
Crap…
"April O'Neil will yield her DNA to Kraang for research. Come that which is 'quietly' and Kraang will reduce pain to a minimum."
"Why? Just what the heck is it that you think my DNA will do for you? How is it supposed to perfect the mutagen?"
"That is known as 'classified.'"
"This is classified too!" April threw her tessen, slicing clean through the droid's head. She took off at a run and leapt into the air just in time to catch the spinning tessen with two extended fingers. A volley of laser fire chased after her.
A single blast caught her in the back. With a cry of pain, she fell to her knees. Great. I'm about to be a frickin' damsel in distress. Again. Anger pulsed through her at the thought. The street lights surged again, and more pain shot through her head. She shook it away, wondering fleetingly why it was that flickering lights seemed to bother her these days.
She forced herself up from the ground and turned to face the Kraang. All of them were closing in on her position. In her mind, April could almost hear Donnie scolding her. I told you getting separated was a bad idea.
"Surrender, one known as April O'Neil," one of the Kraang said.
"Make me," April growled.
"Very well."
Laser fire commenced. April closed her eyes. She could almost see where each blast was, a powerful intuition guiding her. With her reflective tessen she deflected each blast, knocking each Kraang who fired at her flat on their backs. She opened her eyes. Only five droids remained standing.
Five? Cakewalk.
Sudden intuition screamed at the back of her mind. Another laser bolt flashed toward her from behind.
Not five. Six.
She realized her error too late. The blast landed between her shoulders and she felt herself collapsing as if she was watching herself fall to the ground. She heard screaming; maybe it was her own. She heard the sound of metal hitting the pavement just as her own head did.
April's eyelids fluttered open. The first thing to register was the screaming pain in her back. But then, she began to realize where she was.
A lab.
She sat up with a gasp, reaching for her tessens.
"Whoa, April!" Donnie's voice said.
April whipped her head around to the side, only to see Donnie sitting next to her. He held a stethoscope and wore a look of supreme concern. She looked around, realizing that she was in the lair, not a Kraang lab.
"What happened, Donnie?" April asked, trying to stretch out her back. She winced as she did. Searing hot pain screamed from between her shoulder blades.
"By the time we found you, you were passed out. But all the Kraang were…well, they were all dead."
"What? What do you mean they were all dead?"
"Just that. They were all spread out on the ground, dead. It looked like six of the droids weren't even damaged, just shut down."
April's mind spun. The lights flickered, causing more pain to stab through her forehead.
"Huh. Wish I could figure out why that keeps happening," Donnie said.
"It makes my head ache."
"Here, let me get you some painkillers." Donnie stood up and walked over to his carefully organized drawers and pulled out a bottle of acetaminophen. "Thank goodness you're okay. When we couldn't find you…I was scared."
April sat up a little taller. Even in the middle of this whole ordeal, the fact that Donnie had felt something was huge. "You were?"
"Yeah. It startled me. I thought I was having a full blown anxiety attack before I realized no, I'm just scared. But after going so long without having any emotions…and with not having them consistently, when I do have them, it always startles me really badly at first. But now I can put two whole emotions on my list of things I occasionally feel: Happiness and fear."
April smiled. "That's encouraging, though! You just need to add anger and sadness to the repertoire and you'll have the full base of emotions—my dad always lists the range of human feelings as 'mad, glad, sad, or scared.'"
"I remember things being a lot more nuanced than that. Right now, my emotions are about as subtle as Mikey."
"Well, they've only been back for three months. Give them some time."
"I'm just waiting for them to stop sneaking up on me without any warning."
April laughed. "That's kind of what emotions do."
"Yeah, but if you're used to nothingness, then having something there is really off-putting. I mean, I wish I could have them consistently, not having them show up at inconvenient times."
"Emotions are never convenient."
"I know. But if I had them consistently, I could manage them better. You see what I mean?"
April reached out and brushed the side of Donnie's face with the back of her hand. She could almost feel something like worry emanating from him. "Are you feeling anything now?"
"Concern," Donnie said. "If you can call that an emotion."
"Close enough for me."
"Enough about me, April. You're hurt. I need to put something on those laser burns—they're pretty serious. Lie down on your stomach—I'll have to cut your shirt open from the back. Sorry about that."
"You're just going to cut off my shirt? Shouldn't you buy me flowers first?"
"Hah," Donnie said flatly. "This is serious, April. It's not like I'm actually trying to get an eyeful or something."
April rolled her eyes. "I know, Donnie. I was trying to be funny."
"Yeah, well, there's never anything funny about you being hurt. Now lie down."
Sighing, April lay down on her stomach while Donnie went about treating her injuries. She winced as the lidocaine gel stung for just a moment before bringing relief. When he was done wrapping the burns, he brought a soft cotton shirt over for her and looked away while she put it on.
"All right," Donnie said. "We should go talk to the others now. You'll want to hear about what we found at that underground lab we discovered."
"Why, what happened? Did you find the kids?"
Donnie frowned and stared at the floor. "Not exactly."
"What do you mean? Donnie, what happened?"
"Well, among other things…you were there."
Thanks for reading and stay tuned for the next chapter! I have lots of other stories and I also write original novels, so if you're curious about any of that stuff, be sure to check out my profile! Reviews are always appreciated. :)