Jell-o.
It was the only thing that Mei could think of to describe the way her legs felt beneath her. While she'd had time to start building up strength and doing physical therapy with her arms, they had done minimal work with her legs. Even the little bit that they had done after the cast was removed made her feel like she had partaken in a triathlon.
Nevertheless, she slipped into the form-fitting black outfit that she used for her kunoichi training. The soft, breathable, flexible fabric allowed her wonderful freedom of movement, even if it wasn't necessarily traditional. Plus, the dark clothes would help her be less conspicuous – and considering that she had been given crutches, she needed to be as inconspicuous as possible.
As she tucked her sai into her waistband – hopefully she would have no cause to use them – she found herself feeling no small amount of trepidation.
The Kraang.
She had never actually seen them, but she had been regaled with enough stories of them by her nephews. These were the creatures that possessed the mutagen that had changed her brother-in-law into a rat, that had changed Kirby into that horrific bat-creature…
Yet if it hadn't been for them, her four nephews would simply be turtles in a bowl in the sad, cold apartment of one very lonely Hamato Yoshi. And without the turtles, without April's befriending them, there was no way Mei ever would have found Splinter again.
Whatever horrors the Kraang might bring, Mei owed them thanks for at least that much.
She hooked her crutches under her arms to support her Jell-o legs and left her bedroom. Kirby and April waited for her in the living room.
"I love the super-spy look," April said, with a grin.
"Yes, all super-spies have crutches, I'm sure." Mei lifted one of her crutches and nudged April with it. "I suppose they could be serviceable weapons in a pinch."
April stood up and put one arm behind her back. With the other, she stroked an imaginary beard. "For the ninja, anything can be a weapon."
Mei chuckled. "You seem awfully calm, considering we are readying to invade the enemies' nest."
April shrugged. "Honestly, I'm going in fighting, not being a captive, so that already makes this better."
"I wish you wouldn't do this, April," Kirby said, deep frown lines in his face.
"Dad, think of all the people that will die if this goes sideways. They need me."
"I couldn't stop you anyway. Either of you. Well, I guess go. Mei, since you're not exactly at ninja strength, do you want to take my gun?"
Mei looked at the weapon and was assaulted by the visual of shooting Shredder. Thinking about that night…about what she had just been through…
It made her stomach toss.
"No. I have my sai and several throwing knives."
Kirby frowned. "All right. You two…be safe."
April planted a kiss on Kirby's cheek and then headed for the door. Mei followed, and they made their way to the elevator down the hall.
"I figure we'll take a cab to just a few blocks away from Meatburger, since it's quite a ways," April said.
Mei's wobbly legs made her think that even a few blocks sounded like a sizeable distance, but she nodded. Once down to the street, they hailed a taxi. They said very little on the ride, but halfway there, April took Mei's hand and squeezed it.
April was apprehensive, no matter how in-control she was acting.
Once they were dropped off, they stuck to the shadows and made their way for the alley. Mei started putting more and more of her weight on her crutches, and her armpits began to ache.
This was not an auspicious beginning to the evening.
When they arrived in the alley, the Shellraiser waited for them. April hurried ahead to the door and tapped on it. The door opened.
"C'mon, dudes, where've you been?" Michelangelo said.
"Sorry," Mei said, as she finally made it to the door. "It has taken a little longer than I anticipated. Help me up, Michelangelo."
Michelangelo pulled her into the Shellraiser. The large vehicle was already crowded. Karai, Casey, Splinter, the three turtles, and now Mei and April too were all inside.
"Here, Auntie M," Michelangelo said. "You sit at Donnie's station."
Once Mei sat down, she was not sure if she would be able to stand again.
"Are you all right, Mei?" Splinter put his hands on her shoulders.
"I am well enough."
"Okay," Leonardo said, as he pulled the Shellraiser into motion. "We'll pull into a spot near the back of TCRI. Their back door is where they accept deliveries. Me, Raph, Mikey, and Karai are going to scale the building until we get inside the right location, and we'll do a little stealth Kraang disposal."
"Alien hunting!" Michelangelo shouted, throwing his hands up in the air. "Yeah, boy! Just like a video game!"
"Can it, Mikey. Remember your job?"
"Oh, yeah. Me an' Raph are gonna…um…"
"We're gonna clear a path back down to the delivery door for Mei and Splinter," Raphael said, smacking Mikey on the head. "And we're gonna make sure they get back up to the floor with the project safely, genius."
"And stealth is key," Leonardo said. "Meanwhile, Karai and I are going to hide out near the project, to keep the area clear of Kraang – and keep them from setting off any alarms. April, Casey, you two wait out here unless we signal for backup…in which case, you'll do whatever we tell you to."
Casey flipped down his hockey mask and smacked what appeared to be a cricket bat into his palm. "You got it." He leaned over to April. "I so totally want to smash some aliens…"
"Alien hunting, dude," Michelangelo said. "It's the bomb."
Mei gave Casey a good look. He'd dressed up in hockey gear – his mask had been painted to look like a skull – and he had two hockey sticks strapped to his back as if they were swords. She wondered if this was a getup he'd had for a while, or whether this was something he'd put together just for the occasion.
"Everybody clear on what we're going to do?" Leonardo asked.
"Yeah, yeah," Raphael said.
"Everybody else?"
The rest of the group chorused their agreement.
Soon, they pulled into the dark alley behind the building next to TCRI.
"Let's move," Leo said. "Sensei, you and Aunt Mei wait here about twenty minutes and then make your way to the delivery door. If it opens and it's not Mikey and Raph…"
"We shall improvise," Splinter said.
Leo nodded. "All right then." Then he, Karai, and the rest of the turtles left the vehicle.
"Twenty minutes," Mei said. She pulled out her phone and set a timer.
It was oddly quiet in the old subway car. Nobody seemed to know what to say, and the whole situation was too tense for making small talk. When the timer went off, Splinter helped Mei out of the Shellraiser and they made their way to the back door.
They pressed their backs against the wall and waited.
"We may need to move quickly," Splinter said, in a voice so soft Mei could barely hear it. "Are you ready?"
Mei nodded her head.
They waited for several more minutes.
"What is taking so long?" Mei whispered.
Splinter put a finger to Mei's lips. His ears pricked up, alert. His eyes darted back and forth.
Mei held her breath and strained her eyes in the darkness. She remembered hearing Splinter say that he had better hearing and night vision as a mutant than he had as a human.
Something moved at the periphery of her vision.
Splinter tensed.
A throwing blade whizzed through the air. In an instant, Splinter drew his katana and deflected it.
At least ten men emerged from hiding – men, real men, not robots. Their movements were too fluid, too silent to be machinery.
All of them bore the emblem of the Foot.
Silent, shadowlike, Leo crawled in through the window that Karai had sabotaged on her visit to investigate the project's progress. Though the corridors were brightly lit, everything inside was eerily still.
Something in Leo's intuition clamored.
Trap.
Raph climbed through the window next. He started to stride forward, but Leo put his arm out to stop him.
"It's not right. Something's wrong."
"What're you talking about?" Raph whispered. "Seems normal to me."
"Where are all the guards?"
Raph scowled. "You don't think – "
"I've got a bad feeling."
Mikey came in through the window next, followed immediately by Karai.
Karai looked around. "Where are the guards?"
"That's just what I was wondering, Karai," Leo said, folding his arms. "Is there anything you'd like to tell us?"
"You think this has something to do with me?" Karai hissed.
"Well, let's see…" Raph said, feigning concentration. "What happened last time you sneaked us in through a window? Oh right."
"Look, I'm just as confused as you are," Karai said. "The project has top priority, so there are supposed to be guards here."
I'm supposed to be overseeing it, remember?
Leo's stomach flipped. When Karai had said that, it hadn't even registered, he'd been so distracted by Donnie and so eager to destroy the project. But she had said before that Ronin had gone behind her back to start the project. According to what she'd said, she supposedly had no interaction with it at all.
No. Maybe it was nothing. After all, she was initially supposed to be the one who spearheaded it – maybe after Ronin went behind her back she went in and took charge.
There are things I've done – things that you'll hate me for…
Was she leading them into another trap?
It didn't matter if she was. They still had a mission to fulfill, and they were going to do it, with or without Karai's help or hindrance.
"Mikey, Raph," Leo said. "You know what to do."
Raph raised his brow."Leo – "
"Trap or not – regardless of who set it – we have to pull this off. Go let Splinter and Aunt Mei in. Stay frosty, guys."
Raph nodded briskly and nudged Mikey. "C'mon, genius." They disappeared down the corridor.
"Alien hunting," Mikey whispered. "Booyakasha."
"You really think this is a trap?" Karai said.
"I know it's a trap," Leo replied. "The question is, who set it, and what's going to spring it?"
"I don't know." Karai drew her tanto. "But we'd better be ready. Let's make our way over to the research room and make sure we clear it."
They made their way a short distance down the hall, still without encountering any resistance. When they reached the room, Leo peered in through the glass window in the door. "Two Kraang, working on something."
"Let's take them out," Karai said.
Leo counted one, two, three on his fingers and the two of them burst into the room. In a matter of seconds, they had knocked both Kraang droids to the ground.
"Wait a second," Karai said. "Aren't there supposed to be Kraang in these things?"
A high-pitched whirr emanated from the droids.
"Get back!" Leo shouted.
The droids detonated. The shock wave threw both of them back against the wall.
An alarm sounded.
"Leo, I swear," Karai panted, "this had nothing to do with me."
"At this point, I don't even think I'd care anymore," Leo grumbled.
An expression of profound hurt crossed Karai's face for a moment, then she scowled. "Fine. Whatever. What do we do now?"
"Keep the area clear, until Aunt Mei gets here."
"Kraang!"A mechanical voice echoed from the hall. "Fire on the intruders which are intruding upon Kraang!"
Karai tightened her grip on her tanto and set her jaw. "Alien hunting."
Leo narrowed his eyes and readied for the attack. "Booyakasha."