Donnie pulled out his t-phone and glanced at the time before turning on the Greentooth capability and syncing his headset to the phone. It was already ten past midnight, and Leo had said they would be leaving precisely at midnight. However, Leo had gone into the dojo for a few minutes, while everyone else stood outside the Shellraiser waiting.
Donnie pulled on his headset, watching with envy as April hooked her simple earpiece on. "Man, there are some days I would kill for a pinna."
"A piñata?" Mikey said.
"A pinna. You know, the outside part of the ear. Like humans have. Then we could wear the earpieces instead of these bulky things."
"I dunno. I like the headphones—they're retro." Mikey screwed up his face for a minute. "Dude. How hilarious would piñatas on the side of your head be? People would beat you up for candy!"
"Let's stay focused, people," Leo said, hopping over the turnstiles. "We've got a little girl to rescue. Don—did you get that tracker fixed?"
"It'll do, but only just," Donnie replied, frowning.
"I'll take it. Let's move out."
Donnie offered his hand to April as she stepped up into the Shellraiser; she rewarded him with a smile. Donnie couldn't help but smile back—after everything they had been through as a couple, things were solid now, and whatever crap the Kraang would throw at them, they would face it together. The thought warmed him down to his toes, and he followed after her.
Once they had reached an intersection a few blocks from the lab, Donnie stealthed his way through the alleys until he found the little window they'd gotten in through earlier. Fortunately, the Kraang didn't know that was how they'd entered the first time, so they hadn't seen fit to block it off. In a moment, Donnie slipped inside and surveyed the room.
It was dark except for the eerie purple glow of computer consoles. Donnie held his tracker in front of him, keeping one hand free in case he needed to reach for his bo-staff in a hurry. He saw movement out of the corner of his eye and melted back into the shadows away from the computers. Three Kraang walked down the corridor, dragging a box on wheels behind them. Donnie's human tracker slowly started to blink. He put his hand over the light so the Kraang wouldn't see it.
Then he heard it. The distinct sound of a child crying.
Memories of the botched experiments on the kids rushed to Donnie's mind. Along with them came the most powerful surge of anger Donnie had ever felt in his life. All the logic telling him to stay hidden evaporated. Red hot rage flared along his perceptions as he felt himself drop the tracker and draw his staff in one smooth motion. He burst from the shadows, triggered the naginata blade in his staff, and struck a vicious blow at the first Kraang. He took its head off in one clean slice. With the blunt end of his staff, he struck a second Kraang's vulnerable squishy face; the droid shut down and collapsed to the floor as the Kraang passed out.
The final Kraang pulled out a communicator. "Experiment 272, Kraang is that which is under attack! That which is known as Experiment 274-"
Donnie wheeled his staff around and brought it down so hard against the droid's head that the staff snapped in two, leaving a huge dent in the droid's head. The Kraang popped out of the droid and made a break for it. The rage in his mind told him to kill the Kraang, but somewhere, a calm rational voice reminded him not to kill unless absolutely necessary. Donnie gave it a swift kick instead.
"After what you did to those kids, you ought to be that which is known as dead," Donnie snarled. He slid half of his broken staff back into its sheath and ran to the rolling case.
"Don, what the heck is going on?" Leo's voice said through the headset.
Donnie popped the lid of the case off. Relief surged through him. "I found the girl."
The little girl stared up at him with huge blue eyes that were vividly familiar. Her red hair curled in wisps around her ears.
April, Donnie thought. Another April clone, but not grown up?
"Don, Donnie! Are you there?"
"Yeah. I've got the girl. I'll bring her out. But you guys should know-"
Something collided with Donnie's head and his headset went flying.
"Get away from her, you mutant freak!"
Dazed, Donnie shook his head and focused his vision. April's double was grabbing the girl from the box. "Put her down!" He shouted, charging her.
She pulled out a laser gun and with one hand and started blasting at him. He leapt to the side and grabbed the other broken half of his bo-staff and flung it at her in a spin, knocking the gun from her hand.
"Hide, 274," April's double said. She set the little girl down, then took a defensive stance and glared at Donnie with challenge in her eyes. The little girl ran.
Donnie started after the girl, but April's double attacked in a blur of motion. She cuffed the sides of his head, making him dizzy. Reeling, he fought for his balance as he attempted a high kick. She grabbed his leg and threw him to the floor. She drew a sharp knife from her belt and dove on top of him. He grabbed the broken part of his bo-staff from its holster just in time to block her attack. She shifted and aimed a vicious slash at his right arm. He jerked his left arm up and hit her in the face with the broken staff, then raised a knee to catch her in the gut. In a second, she was off of him, backing away slowly.
"You're a freak," April's double hissed.
"Who are you?" Donnie said. His eyes darted down to the knife in her hands, and he spied '272' tatooed onto her wrist. "Wait—you're experiment 272?"
The double's eyelid twitched. "I'm going to kill you." She charged again and Donnie leapt to the side, following the motion with a sweeping kick that took her legs out from beneath her. She fell to the floor with a grunt. Donnie stood over her, waiting for her next move—and got a good look at her for the first time. Wisps of gray blended in with the ginger-red locks on her head. Subtle differences in the shape of her lips and jawline distinguished her from April, and now that Donnie thought of it, her voice was a little lower than April's, too. If she was a clone, she was an imperfect one, and somehow had prematurely aged.
She jumped to her feet and slashed her knife at Donnie again; he blocked her with two quick strikes of his forearms to her wrists, grabbed her by the arms, and flipped her to the ground again. Snarling, she got back up. The motion flipped her hair out of her face, revealing a blinking purple device at her temple.
"You're being mind-controlled," Donnie said.
"Shut up."
"I don't think you want to be here at all, do you?"
"I said, shut up!"
"Who are you, really?"
She threw the knife at him. In the time it took him to evade the blade, she pulled out a communicator from her pocket. "Kraang! Intruder alert on level 1!"
"Sewer apples," Donnie muttered. He kicked the communicator from her hand, sending it flying across the room. "Why'd you have to do that?"
Within seconds, Kraang poured into the room. Donnie made a mad dive for his headset and slipped it on. "Guys, I am down by one weapon and up by like, fifty Kraang—get your shells in here!" Taking the half of his bo-staff with the naginata blade in it, he extended the blade and held it like a short, awkward spear. Master Splinter did always say we'd have to improvise, he thought.
One after the other, his brothers burst in through the window, followed by April. Leo's weapons flashed in the dim purple light as the swords cut through one of the droids like it was nothing. One after the other, Raph's sai punctured through droids' heads, and his furious feet kicked soft Kraang in the face. Mikey's kusarigama swept several droids off their feet. April's reflective tessen sparked with light in the dark as she sent blast after blast back into the mass of attacking Kraang.
Donnie wheeled around. April's older double was gone.
"Did you find the girl?" Leo called.
"Long story!" Donnie answered.
"She's over there!" April pointed toward a stack of crates.
Donnie strained his eyes in the dark, but couldn't see the girl. Nevertheless, he charged through the wall of Kraang in his way, taking out one with his half length naginata and breaking through to the other side. He dove behind the crates for cover, where he saw the little girl huddled up against the stack. She whimpered at the sight of him.
"I'm going to get you out of here," Donnie said, as gently as possible. He went to pick her up, but she bit his arm. "Hey! You little-I'm trying to save your life!"
She fled from him, out into the mass of chaos and violence. Donnie charged after her, snatched her up like a sack of potatoes and tucked her under one arm, while punching his way through the line again with his broken staff in the other. "I've got her! I've got her!"
"Fall back!" Leo shouted.
April ran to the window and crawled out first, and Donnie handed the little girl up to her before climbing out himself. In a minute, the rest of his brothers were out too, and they ran for the Shellraiser.
The little girl clung to April, apparently pacified.
A single blast flew through the air, catching April between the shoulder blades almost exactly where she had been injured before. She went down in a swoon. Mikey caught the little girl.
"Run, Mikey," April whispered. "Get that little girl out of here."
More Kraang seemingly appeared out of nowhere. "Seize the one known as April O'Neil! Retrieve 274!"
"Get out of here," Donnie called to the others. "I'll get April—just save that little girl! We'll catch up!"
Mikey obeyed, following after Raph and Leo.
Within seconds, Donnie and April were hemmed in by dozens of Kraang. Donnie could not hold them off. April's eyes flew open, and she let out a panicked scream. All the street lights flickered out. There was the sound of metal hitting the pavement, and the streetlights flickered back on to reveal dozens of Kraang lying motionless on the ground.
April had passed out.
Dumbfounded, Donnie went to pick her up, but within seconds more Kraang had poured out of the lab and swarmed them. Cradling April in his arms, he could not fight against the Kraang who clubbed the back of Donnie's head with its gun.
Donnie went down, knocked unconscious by the blow.
He woke again to find himself strapped to a table in the Kraang's lab, with five Kraang all around holding various medical instruments poised above him.
Sewer apples.
Hope everybody liked that chapter; reviews are always welcome!