Thank you for whoever left the review saying my fanfic feels like sumn that would happen in canon. It made my day ngl, anyways I don't have much to say for this chapter os enjoy!
"Are you sure this is the place, April?" Donnie asked over the phone. Mikey could hear April's voice through the t-phone's tiny sneakers but not enough to distinguish what she was saying. She sounded just as exasperated as his brother, though.
Michelangelo sat cross-legged on a bed, holding a crumpled up black blanket. He looked around the bedroom. The walls were boring, with nothing on them. But, every surface in the room was covered with various objects and figurines, from big to small. When they first snuck in here, Leo fangirled over some figurines from Space Heroes before Raphael reminded him why they were there. Mikey watched as his brothers tore through the room, searching every drawer and closet. Donnie stood over a desk staring at some papers. Mikey had already looked through them. They were just a pile of creepy Kraang drawings.
An hour earlier, April rushed into the lair totally freaked out. Somehow, she had figured out who the mysterious "Crow" was. Some girl in her school named Cori. It did not really matter much to Mikey who she really was. He still found her Crow persona cool. When April told the turtles that Cori had been stashing mutagen, they all hurried to her apartment and they have been there since.
"You know Mikey," Leo complained, "you could actually help us search the place."
"Nah, you guys seem to got it down."
Leonardo rolled his eyes but continued his search silently.
"I know, April," Donnie continued over the phone, "but there's nothing here! There's no mutagen anywhere. No mask. No nothing!" He was silent as April replied back. "Yeah, the drawings are here. But, that's not helpful!" He winced as April yelled in a shrill tone, holding the phone away from his ears.
"I don't get why we're still doing this," Raphael said as he slammed a drawer shut.
"She's not here. The mutagen's not here. Let's just pack up and go."
"We can't leave until we find that mutagen," Leo argued back.
"Well, it's obviously not here. And we've already checked the rest of the place! Let's just go out there and find her already."
Leonardo turned away from his brother and mulled the idea over. He knew Raph was right but did not want to admit it. "I agree," Mikey chimed in.
"See, even Mikey agrees with me."
Donatello looked back and forth between his brothers and talked into the phone. "I'll call you later, April." He hung up on his friend and impatiently asked, "What do you expect us to do? Run around the city hoping to find her?"
"Why not?" Raphael responded. "It's not like we have anything better to do."
"Oh yeah, sure. Let's all go on a wild goose chase in a city that's over 300 million square miles! I'm sure we'll find her in no time."
Raph's frown deepened as his brother continued to raise his voice.
"Why don't we just stay here? Where we know she lives? She has to come back eventually."
"If she comes back," Leo interjected. Raphael looked at Leonardo in surprise. For once, it sounded like the leader was actually agreeing with him. Leonardo continued. "We don't know where she is, but we do know she has the mutagen. She could be a threat to others and herself. We can't let her get away a third time. Not to mention, April said that she lives with her mom. We can't stay in the apartment all night only for someone else to come and find us. It's not safe staying behind, and it isn't helping anyone." Leo walked over to the window and opened it. A cold breeze rushed in, sending a chill down his spine. He motioned for his brothers to follow as he jumped through. "See? Sometimes I know what I'm talking about," Raphael teased Donnie. They made some faces at each other as they followed Leo through the window. Mikey followed close behind, closing the window as they disappeared into the night.
The four roamed the rooftops, not able to find anything. While the turtles took a break from their manhunt, Raph crouched alongside a ledge. He looked down into the street below. It was strangely empty. "I told you this was useless," Donatello complained as he paced back and forth. "Keep your voice down," Leonardo chastised quietly, but his brother continued to grumble.
Leonardo stood and stared at his feet. He stroked his chin while in deep thought, something he picked up from his master. Mikey was lying on his back, staring up at the starless sky. Raphael ignored Donatello's whines and continued scanning the street. A sly smile spread across his face as he yelled for his brother.
"Hey, Donnie! Donnie!"
Donatello was too deep in his rant to initially hear his name being called. Raph tilted his head back to the others and yelled, "Don! Check this out." The turtle stopped pacing and marched over to the edge. He opened his mouth to say something when Raphael pointed to a figure on the street below. They were crouched on the ground next to a body. When they stood back up, the figure turned their head slightly. Their bird mask emerged in the light.
"What were you saying earlier?" Raph taunted his brother. Donnie scoffed and turned away from the crouching turtle indignantly. Leonardo and Mikey stood behind the other two, wanting to see what they were looking at. "It's Crow," Mikey gasped loudly. Leo hit him on the back of his head and pressed a finger to his lips. "OW! I mean, ow…" Mikey rubbed his head as he watched Crow fire a shot from her newly acquired laser gun.
"Great, now she has a gun. Let's go," Raphael said as he twirled his sai. "Wait," Leo said as they watched Crow enter the building. The door closed behind her. Raphael stood up and turned to Leo.
"What's the big idea? Let's just go down there and kick some shell already."
"We should at least have some semblance of a plan before we rush in," Leonardo responded.
"I don't know Leo," Mikey added, "following plans really isn't our thing."
"Well, it is now. We need to figure out what to do once we get inside. The place could be crawling with Kraang."
"What's to figure out," Raph said as he gestured his hands in the air. "We grab Crow, smash some heads, and leave. Sounds pretty straightforward to me."
"How do we know Crow isn't working with the Kraang? This could be a set up."
"I'm guessing she's probably not working with them since she just took one out to get in."
Leonardo paused. "Fair enough. But still, this is a Kraang base. Every time we go to one of these places there's always some evil mutant or giant robot that tries to kill us."
"Good, we know what to expect."
"Crow won't," Mikey said.
"Mikey's got a point," Donnie added. "We've dealt with the Kraang before, but she's probably never been in a base full of them before. The longer we take trying to make a plan, the more likely it is that she'll get herself hurt."
"I can't believe you agreed with me," Mikey said in surprise, placing his hands on his cheeks. Donnie pushed his face aside and rolled his eyes.
"Fine," Leonardo said, "We'll go in and as soon as we find Crow, we're leaving. We can explore the place some other time."
"Sounds good to me, so long as I get to bash some bots," Raphael commented.
"No, we need to be stealthy. The last thing we need is to draw attention to ourselves while looking for Crow."
Raph groaned but did not argue. The other turtles nodded in agreement. Together, the four of them jumped to the street below and ran over to the building. Without a word, Donatello easily hacked into the pin device near the side of the door. It slid open, and the turtles disappeared into the dark.
With the little light that leaked from the windows, all the turtles saw was a mostly empty room filled with boxes. Mostly empty. Standing near a bare spot on the floor were two Kraang bots. They were dressed in their human disguises; their black suits almost blending them into the darkness. They were staring at the floor when Leonardo ran up and hacked them in half. The pink Kraang squealed as they fled their robotic bodies. They crawled around but made no effort to attack the turtles. Mikey kicked one across the room, squishing against the wall. Raphael stomped the other one with his foot. It twitched for a moment until it lay limp.
"What now," Mikey whispered to his brothers. Donatello turned on the flashlight on his t-phone and walked over to where the Kraang once stood. He crouched down and pressed his hand against the floor. He wiped away dust and dirt as he searched the cold surface. "What is it," Leonardo asked as he watched his brother. Donnie stopped moving his hands when he felt an indentation in the floor. He wiped the dust off and shone his light towards the spot. There was a crease in the floor. It continued around in a large rectangle. "It's some sort of trap door," Donnie finally answered. "Everyone, look for some kind of hidden button or switch."
The other three turtles searched the room, looking inside and moving various boxes. Mikey flattened himself against one of the walls and felt around with his arms. "Found it," he declared. He stood away from the wall and flicked a switch confidently. Above them, dated light fixtures turned on, casting the room in yellow light.
"Mikey, that's the light switch," Leonardo said, unimpressed.
"Oh…"
"I found it," Raphael said as he shoved a box aside. On the wall was a hexagonal button, looking very out of place. It sat inside a glowing blue panel. The turtle pressed it and a low rumbling reverberated through the ground.
Donnie, who had been standing on the door when it began to open, stumbled about before staggering off onto stable ground. The others walked over and looked down the hole. A long flight of steps appeared below.
"Ah, stairs. My mortal enemy," Mikey said as he peered down.
"I thought your mortal enemy was squirrels with lasers," Raph said.
"I can have multiple mortal enemies."
The turtles stealthily crept into the depths below. Once they finished descending, Leonardo whispered to the others, "We need to find Crow."
"Let's check the control room. They should have a camera feed of the whole place," Donnie suggested.
"Great. Any idea where it is?"
"Nope."
Leonardo sighed. "Alright, just stick together—"
"We should split up," Raphael whispered.
"What?"
"We don't know how big this place is. It might take us ages to find her."
"Oooh, can I be on Leo's team? I wanna be on Leo's team," Mikey whispered excitedly.
"What? No! Nobody's splitting up. I'm the leader and I get to say when we split up and we are not splitting up."
Raphael leaned against a wall and peeked past it before saying, "Well as the turtle who already had a great idea today, I say we split up. We'll cover more ground and get out of here faster."
"So," Leonardo argued, "we make it easier for the Kraang to find and capture us. We're stronger together. We're not splitting up."
"You just don't want to hang out with me, do you?" Mikey pouted.
By this point, the team's whispers were loud enough for any Kraang to hear them sneaking through the base. Yet, they continued speaking in airy tones, unaware of their true volume.
"No! It's not like that. Besides if we were splitting up, which we're not, I'd put you with Donnie." Donatello scoffed and said, "You always put us together."
"That's because you make a great team!"
Donnie crossed his arms and looked away. "Maybe, we should split up."
"How about the three of us go and Leo can be on his own," Raphael said. Leonardo ditched his whispering tone and yelled out in frustration, "No one is splitting up from anyone!" His voice echoed throughout the room. At the end of the hallway, a Kraang bot emerged from a passageway and chirped. Leonardo slapped his forehead as it turned to look at them.
"What was that thing about being stealthy, again?" Raphael taunted his brother.
Leonardo growled and pulled out his katanas. He rushed forward, dodging the robot's lasers. He slashed at it, slicing off its arms. The Kraang bot turned to run down the passageway that it had come from. Leo looked over only to watch it run past a small group of the Kraang. They all turned to look at the mutant turtle. "Aww man," Leonardo said with a sigh as the alarm rang loudly throughout the base. His brothers rushed to his side with their weapons drawn.
"Hey, at least it wasn't me this time," Mikey teased. They all stole a glare at him before running into the fight.