Author's Note: I know saying this is not really necessary for most people, but I wanted to apologize for the long wait. Anyway, this chapter is going to be based on the episode "The Gauntlet". I hope you folks like it 😃 Also, there's going to be a special appearance from a member of the Avengers; be honest if you like it or not.
Enter the Shredder
It had been about a week since the K fiasco, and things were starting to get back to normal. April had started improving in her ninja training, thanks to her sparring with her friends. During which time Donnie discovered how April looked with her hair down, and he liked what he saw. Nobody expected anything too unusual to happen for sometime, until this day.
The day started out normally enough like any Saturday, kids and teens we're going out to spend time with their friends, while adults either went to work or stayed home and spent the day with their families. In the case of the Hamato family, they were planning on spending the day together training and then a movie night; Shen was even planning on closing the store early so that they could have extra time to spend together. Shen had woken up first and got ready to make breakfast for the family; today she planned to make omelettes. Shen got out the eggs, a mixing bowl, and a wisk, and took one egg from the carton. She cracked the egg against the bowl was unexpectedly greeted by a thick dark cloud of smoke to the face. Shen screamed in surprise and then coughed as she waved the smoke away with her hands. Once the smoke cleared up, Shen got a really good look at the eggs and noticed that they had all been sealed with wax. She was quite irritated when she realized who was responsible for it.
In the bedrooms, Yoshi and the kids were making their beds and getting dressed for the day. They had all just finished getting ready when they all heard an angry scream from the kitchen.
"DONATELLO!" Shen screamed, making the family shake.
Mikey to his immediate older brother and said, "Mother sounds mad."
"I know," said Donnie, sounding nervous.
Raph poked his head into his little brother's room and said, "We all just heard mother yelling your name, Donnie. What did you do?"
Donnie sighed and answered, "You're about to find out."
The family found themselves in the kitchen with an irritated Shen looking down at Donnie as he sat in a chair.
"Would you kindly explain why I got smoke in my face when I cracked an egg to make breakfast?" Shen asked, holding up one of the eggs from the fridge.
"That's not an egg, mother," said Donnie, "It's a smoke bomb."
"Excuse me?" Shen asked.
"Last night I figured out how to make ninja smoke bombs. I figured they could come in handy," Donnie explained, "You see, what I did was I carefully drilled two holes in an eggshell, slowly blew out the contents, waited for the insides to dry, filled it with flash powder, and then sealed the holes with wax."
"Really?" Mikey asked, "That is so cool! I love you, bro!"
Yoshi looked at his son and said, "Very clever, Donatello."
Shen shot Yoshi and Mikey a warning glare and said, "Don't encourage him." She then turned back to Donnie and said, "And you, Donatello. What possessed you to think it was okay to make smoke bombs out of eggs?"
"Well, it was less conspicuous and less expensive than buying smoke bombs," said Donnie.
"I see," said Shen, "And did it occur to you to ask me first?"
"Must've slipped my mind," Donnie nervously said as he twiddled his fingers, "Sorry."
Shen crossed her arms and said, "Sorry doesn't replace the eggs that I bought specifically for the purpose of eating, nor does it clean the soot off my face and shirt."
"Sorry," said Donnie, feeling guilty, "I could clean your shirt for you along with today's laundry. And then I could go to the store and buy new eggs."
Shen thought about it for a second and then answered, "I think going grocery shopping first might be the better option."
"Okay," said Donnie, standing up from the chair, "I'll head there right now."
"I will get some grocery money for you," said Yoshi.
"No need," said Donnie, "I've got some. You know, from my job."
"Oh, right," said Yoshi. Just as Donnie went to his room to get his wallet, Yoshi remembered something and said, "Donatello, while you're at the store, would you mind picking up some tea? You know the kind I like."
"Sure," said Donnie.
"And some milk," said Leo, "We're getting a little low."
"No problem," said Donnie.
"How 'bout some spicy gummy worms?" Mikey asked.
"Mikey," said Donnie, shooting his little brother an annoyed look. However, as soon as he saw Mikey's puppy eyes, Donnie sighed and said, "I'll see if they have any."
"Thanks, D," said Mikey.
"Anything for my only little brother," said Donnie as he put his wallet and cellphone in his pockets. He then headed out the door to go to the store.
"I'm going to wash my face and soak this shirt," said Shen as she walked out of the room.
Yoshi and the remaining teens stood where they were in silence for a moment until Raph said, "I'm gonna have a pop tart. You guys want one?"
A few minutes later, Donnie came out of the grocery store with two bags in his hands; one with a half gallon of milk and the other with a dozen eggs, a box of tea, and a bag of spicy gummy worms. Donnie them put the bags in his backpack, unlocked his bike, and mounted it. He was just about to take off when he heard screaming coming from across the street. He looked and saw April running away from a giant pidgeon that appeared to have a cross between arms and wings.
The giant bird was chasing April and was getting closer with it's talons open, ready to grab her. Seeing this, Donnie wasted no time in rushing to his crush's aid. He took out his collapsable Bo staff and peddled towards April and the pidgeon man at high speed. The pidgeon man was just inches away from grabbing April when he was hit in the face by Donnie's staff. The pidgeon man flew to the left and landed hard on the ground.
"You okay, April?" Donnie asked.
"I am now," said April, catching her breath, "Thanks, Donnie."
"No problem," said Donnie, "Now let's get out of here before he gets back up."
"Good idea," said April.
Donnie gestured to the back of his bike and said, "Hop on. I'll take you to my place."
"Okay," said April, and then she hopped on the back of Donnie's bike.
"Hang on tight," said Donnie, "I don't do this very often."
April wrapped her arms around Donnie's neck, causing him to blush, and then he took off as fast as he could towards the antique store. After they left, the pidgeon man woke up and was dizzy. Once he recovered, the pidgeon man looked around for the girl was supposed to find, but found no trace of her or the guy that hit him with a long stick.
"Oh, man," the pidgeon man whined.
After some peddling, Donnie and April finally arrived at the antique store. Donnie chained and locked his bike and then he and April rushed inside to the upper level. Donnie quickly opened the door and allowed April to enter first and then he followed close behind and closed the door behind him. Mikey heard the door close and went to greet his brother and get the groceries.
"Hey, D! Glad you're back! Did you get my gummy worms?" Mikey said as he went to greet his brother. He stopped in his tracks when he saw that Donnie was not alone, "April?"
"Hi, Mikey," said April, still freaked out from before.
"Donnie, you didn't tell me she was coming over," said Mikey, "I thought we told each other everything."
"Nevermind, Mikey," said Donnie, "Get the family into the living room. It's an emergency!"
"Okay," said Mikey. He got ready to do just that, stopping only once to say, "Don't forget to put the milk and eggs in the fridge."
Immediately, Donnie had April go into the living room while he put the groceries away. After the family gathered into the living room, Donnie took a seat next to April and together, they told Donnie's family about the giant pidgeon that went after April; Raph and Miwa laughed at first because it sounded so crazy, earning them each a disapproving scowl from their parents.
"April, can you describe the creature?" Yoshi asked.
"It was about your height, maybe a little shorter," April explained, "It had hands on the ends of it's wings. It's talons were razor sharp. It would've torn me to pieces... If Donnie hadn't whacked him in the head with his staff."
Raph and Miwa laughed once again, earning them more looks of disapproval. "What?" Miwa asked, "Donnie hit a pidgeon man square in the face with his staff! You gotta admit that's a pretty funny mental image."
"Sure is," Raph agreed, laughing a bit.
"Raphael! Miwa!" Yoshi scolded, "Clearly April is upset!"
"Yeah, guys," said Mikey, "Don't be so insensitive."
"Guys, we weren't laughing at April," said Miwa, "We were laughing at the pidgeon man."
"It doesn't matter," said Leo, "The point is April is being stalked. As her friends, we have to do something to help her."
"I agree," said Shen, "Something must be done."
"We could try setting a trap for it," said Raph.
"That could work," said Miwa, "And I know just what to use for bait. Now, I want to stress that it's not my first choice, but it might be the only way."
"Are we using bread crumbs?" Mikey asked, "Pidgeons eat bread crumbs."
"Actually, Mikey, I was thinking about using something that we know for sure that the pidgeon man will be after," said Miwa.
"Begals?" Mikey guessed.
"April," Miwa said.
"What?!" Mikey shrieked. And then he blocked April and said, "Sis, she's our friend! And Donnie likes her!"
"Yeah!" April agreed.
"Look, I'm not any happier about the idea than you are," said Miwa, "But we have no other way to catch this creature and get rid of it once and for all."
April still seemed unsure, so Donnie put his hand on her shoulder and looked her in the eye as he told her in a reassuring voice, "I promise, April, I won't let anything happen to you."
April smiled at the promise and hugged Donnie, causing him to blush. He trembled as he inched his arms up to wrap them around April's waist until he finally returned the embrace. Once the two broke from the embrace, they started leave the others to go to the lair to gear up. They were just getting ready to head out the door when they heard Yoshi call out to them.
"Wait!" Yoshi called. The kids stopped in their tracks and listened as he said, "You do not yet know what you are facing. I suggest you study your opponent before confronting it."
"With all due respect, father, it's a pidgeon," said Leo, "Besides, Donnie knocked him out all alone with just his collapsable Bo staff. How hard can it be for the rest of us?"
"What you know about your enemy is dangerous to them. What you think you know is dangerous to you," said Yoshi, "I fear that you are all becoming over confident."
"Father, since we became active ninjas, we've fought tons of enemies. Human, mutant, and alien," said Raph, "Maybe we're not over confident. Maybe we're just that good."
With that, the kids went out the door to gear up and set there trap. Once they were gone, Yoshi sighed and shook his head. Shen put a hand on her husband's shoulder in sympathy.
"I'm worried about them too, my love," said Shen.
"I know," said Yoshi, "I am too."
Meanwhile, tensions were pretty high since they had been searching for the Hamato family and had yet to find any of them. Bradford and Xever walked into the throne room and were greated by the Shredder's dog, Hachiko, growling and barking at them.
"It's okay, Hachiko. I'm not gonna hurt you," said Bradford as he knelt down to the dog's level. He reached out to pet, only to receive a bite on his hand. "Ow!"
"He is not pleased with you," said a voice behind Bradford. He and Xever turned around and saw the Shredder approaching them, "And neither am I. I entrusted you both with tracking down Hamato Yoshi, Tang Shen, and their children, and you have failed."
Shredder looked down at Bradford, who had been bowing, glared at him and said, "I spent years molding you into my image, teaching you my darkest secrets. And you shame me with your incompetence." Xever snickered at Bradford's misfortune until Shredder turned his attention to him and said, "And you. I should've left you to root in that prison where I found you."
"Master, the Purple Dragons getting arrested was not my fault," said Xever.
"But you still haven't gotten any results," a feminine voice called. Everyone looked to see Kuro enter the room. "But that's what happens when you rely solely on street thugs."
She smiled smugly as she approached her father's throne. Hachiko saw Kuro and his demeanor changed from angry to friendly and her sat down and extended his paw so she could shake it. Kuro took Hachiko's paw and shook it.
"Good boy," said Kuro as she gave the dog a biscuit.
Bradford frowned and grumbled, "Oh, sure, be nice to the Ice Princess."
"That 'Ice Princess' is my daughter, and my greatest pupil. I would be respectful if I were you," the Shredder said, having heard what Bradford said. Bradford shrank in fear and the Shredder turned to his daughter and asked, "Kuro, what have you learned?"
"My ninjas found a man at a doctor's office who bore a resemblance to Hamato," Kuro explained, "But we don't know for sure if it's him. I'm going to have them investigate him more thoroughly and get all the facts."
"That's good for now. Excellent job, my daughter," said the Shredder, "Bradford and Xever, you will join her in investigating the man she found."
"What?!" Bradford asked while Xever looked shocked by what his master said, "Master, I can't waste my time investigating some random guy! Not when the ninjas have the real information!"
"You need not worry about the ninjas," the Shredder said, "I will handle them myself."
While the Shredder and his minions were working on investigating Yoshi, the kids were working on capturing the pidgeon man that seemed to be hunting April. April walked stand in an alley, completely exposed, while the ninja siblings hid in the shadows and waited to attack the pidgeon man when he came flying at April.
"Here I am. Walkin' around in the big city. All alone!" April said out loud, trying and failing to act natural, "I hope no crazy pidgeon man sneaks up on me. That would be the last thing I'd want."
"Ugh!" Miwa groaned. She then climbed out from her hiding place, walked up to April, and asked, "What the heck are you doing?!"
"What?" April asked, "You wanted me to be bait. I'm bait."
"By saying, 'I hope no crazy pidgeon man sneaks up on me'?" Miwa asked, "You might as well just announce 'this is trap' loud enough for the whole city to hear."
"Get off my back!" April said back, "What do you want me to do?"
"You could just walk and keep your mouth shut. There's no acting involved. Just walk around and act natural," Miwa said. She then noticed her brothers looking at her and said, "Yeah, I said it."
Miwa went back to her hiding place, leaving April alone. April herself rolled her eyes and started walking through the alley while whispering to herself, "This is me acting natural. Totally defenseless against, oh I don't know, any crazy pidgeon man that should happen upon me."
Miwa silently groaned and smacked her forehead. Suddenly, everyone heard April scream and looked up to see the pidgeon man flying straight towards her. It was merely a few feet away from her when Donnie used a tazer he made to electrocute the bird man. The bird man writhed in agony until he fell to the ground. Once he was on the ground, the bird man was tackled by the rest of the ninja siblings and restrained.
"Okay, okay! I call!" the pidgeon man said, pounding the ground like a wrestler does when he wants to give up, "Jeez Louise!"
"And you said I wasn't good bait," April said, smirking at Miwa.
"I never said you weren't good bait," Miwa clarified, "I said you were a bad actress."
April scowled at Miwa and Donnie put a consoling hand on her shoulder and said, "Don't take it too personally, April. She's tough on just about everyone."
"Okay, start talking, pidgeon man!" Leo demanded.
"I have a name you know!" the pidgeon man whined, not appreciating these ninjas treating him like he has no feelings.
"And we don't care what it is," said Raph.
"It's Pete," said the pidgeon man.
"Clever," said Mikey, "Pete the Pidgeon. No wait... Pidgeon Pete!"
"Whatever," said Leo, annoyed with his baby brother. He turned his attention back to the pidgeon and asked, "Why were you trying to hurt April, Pete?"
"I didn't wanna hurt her, I was trying to bring her a message," Pete explained, "From her father."
Hearing that the pidgeon had a message for her from father caught April's attention and she told the ninjas, "Let him up."
The ninjas released the pidgeon man and he stood up and explained, "We were both guests of the Kraang. They poured some weird ooze on me and turned me into this!" He gestured to himself as he finished.
"Oh, that must've been horrible," April said sympathetically, "I mean, being turned into a... pidgeon."
"Actually, I started out as a pidgeon," said Pete with a smile, earning him a distasteful look from April; which Pete did not seem to notice.
"Told ya bread crumbs would've worked," Mikey said.
"You got bread crumbs?!" Pete asked as he shook Mikey, as if that would make the crumbs fall out. His siblings immediately rushed to get Pete to stop.
Pete finally stopped shaking Mikey when April cleared throat and said, "Excuse me... My father."
"Oh, right," said Pete, dropping Mikey. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a smartphone, probably Kirby's, and handed it to April.
April took the Phone and found a video saved on it. April hit 'play' and an image of her father appeared. He looked worried as he said, "April, something terrible is about to happen. I-I don't know what, but it's extremely important that you get out of the city as soon as you can. Save yourself. And remember, I love you."
April hugged the phone to her chest and said, "I love you too, Daddy."
"Do you have any idea what he's talking about?" Leo asked Pete.
"I'm just the messenger," said Pete.
"We better try to find out," said Miwa, "If we can do that, then we might have a chance to stop it."
"Just to be safe, we better do as Mr. O'Neil said and get April out of the city," said Donnie.
"I'm not going anywhere without my dad," April said determinedly.
"April, you heard what your dad said," Donnie reminded her, "Something really bad is gonna happen."
"Then we better hurry," April said definitely.
"Guys, help get through to her," said Donnie.
"April, your father doesn't want anything to happen to you," said Miwa, "If there's a chance to get you to safety, he wants to take it."
"Put yourself in my position," said April, "What it was one or both your parents. Could you leave them behind? And what about friends? Don't you guys have other friends that you wanna save too?"
The ninjas took in April's words and realized that she was right. If it had been one of their parents or both of them, they would want to take whatever chance they could to save them. She was also that they had other friends that they would want to save but did know if they could get them to leave the city. The only sensible option was to break into wherever Kirby O'Neil was being held and try to find out what the Kraang's plot by hacking into their computer system.
Leo turned to Pete and asked, "Can you tell us where they're holding him?"
"I can," said Pete, "But it's gonna cost you a looot of bread."
"We're talking actual bread, right?" Leo asked, raising an eyebrow.
Pete pidgeon sounds as he nodded his head and then he answered, "Yeah. Sourdough."
"Done," said Leo.
With that, Pete told April and the ninjas where Kirby was being held. Unbeknownst to them, a team of Foot Clan ninjas was watching them. After Pete told April and the Hamato ninjas where to go and flew out of the alley, the Foot ninjas followed the Hamato ninjas and texted Bradford their location.
Meanwhile, Bradford and Xever walked around Chinatown in search of any information on the man that Kuro had found out about. However, they were successful due to the fact that they were not really trying much. At one point, Xever convinced Bradford to stop at a fish market to purchase a red snakehead fish in a tank. After paying for the fish, Xever reached into the tank and pulled the fish out.
"That is the ugliest thing I've ever seen," said Bradford, meaning the fish. He then turned to Xever and said, "Present company excluded."
"Lighten up, Bradford," said Xever.
Xever tossed the fish to the seller so he could prepare it for him. The seller caught the fish and, with difficulty due to it being wiggly, brought it to the cutting board to prepare it for his customer. While the seller was working on preparing the fish, Bradford and Xever had a conversation.
"You realize we have a problem, right?" Bradford asked.
"If you mean us taking orders from that little girl, then yes," said Xever, "I have indeed noticed. If I had the opportunity, I would crush that little brat like a bug."
"Don't count on crushing her," said Bradford, "She fought me several times and won. And even if you could, you'd still have master Shredder to worry about. He would hunt you down and end your life. And believe me when I tell you that he will not give up until he finds you."
"Good point," said Xever.
"But we can still upstage her," said Bradford, "I had a few ninjas patrol the city and keep an eye out for the ninja kids. If we deliver them to master Shredder saying we found them by chance, imagine what he'll think."
Xever smiled and said, "I imagine he would be most pleased."
Suddenly, Bradford felt his phone buzz and checked it for messages. He read the text from one of his ninjas and smiled.
"What is that?" Xever asked.
"Opportunity," Bradford explained. He then texted back saying for the ninjas to stay on the ninjas tails and report to him where they will go next.
As it turned out, the Kraang were holding Kirby at a base disguised as a normal building. They found an air vent and decided to use it to sneak in. After a little work, Donnie finally managed to pry off the top of the vent.
"Piece of cake," said Donnie.
"Oh, I love cake," said Mikey.
"Let's do this!" April said enthusiastically and got ready to climb down.
Leo stopped her and said, "We need you to wait here."
"Are you crazy?!" April asked, "My dad's in there!"
"Along with who-knows-how-many Kraang," said Leo.
"You're letting him go!" April said, pointing at Donnie, "And I'm pretty sure he's a Kraang target."
"That's different," said Miwa, "The Kraang don't recognize him like this and he's a ninja."
"Exactly what I was saying," said Leo, "This requires stealth and mobility. Leave it to the pros."
"I can't just do nothing!" April asked.
"You won't be doing nothing," said Leo. He handed her a rope and said, "We need you to lower this rope when we give the signal."
April reluctantly took the rope and watched as her friends climbed down the vent one at a time into the building. April could only hope that her friends succeed.
Inside the building, the team quickly hid from the patrolling Kraang. At one point, Mikey fell and alerted a Kraang. It would have fired on him had it not been for Raph taking it out at that exact moment.
Mikey picked up the unconscious Kraang and said, "Hey, I've got an idea. Instead of hacking into their computer, we could just get the answers from a Kraang."
"And how do you suggest we do that?" Raph asked, "They're not exactly talkative like this. And they're not exactly friendly in their robot bodies."
"We have a psychic," Mikey reminded his family, "He could read it's mind like with Metalhead."
"I don't know," said Donnie, "Last time it was an accident. I have been practicing, but not for that long."
"First time for everything," said Mikey, holding the Kraang out to his twin, "C'mon, Tetsuo, I believe in you. You can do it."
Donnie sighed and said, "Okay. I'll try. The rest of you, look for Mr. O'Neil."
"We're not leaving you alone," said Leo, "One of us should stay with you."
"I'll stay," said Miwa, "I'll make sure the Kraang don't get the drop on him."
"Good," said Leo, "Kurogane, Naoto, you two are with me. We're gonna go get Me. O'Neil."
With a nod, the team split up. Leo, Raph, and Mikey ran down the hallway in search of Kirby, while Miwa and Donnie stayed behind to try to get information out of the Kraang via Donnie's powers. Donnie closed his eyes and concentrated on the Kraang's mind, trying to read it's thoughts and memories. At first he did not get anything. But, after much concentration, he finally started getting some images.
"I think I'm getting something," said Donnie. Donnie kept his concentration on the Kraang's mind and allowed the images to enter his own mind. It did not take Donnie long to interpret the images. "Oh no. We gotta find the others. Now!"
"What did you see?" Miwa asked.
"I know what the Kraang are up to," said Donnie, "They planted a big mutagen downtown, on the roof of the Wolf Hotel! And their use it to disperse ooze over half the city!"
Miwa gasped and said, "We need to hurry and find the others!"
While Miwa and Donnie rushed to find their brothers, said brothers had just found the cell where Kirby O'Neil was being held. Leo wasted no time in picking the door lock. Mikey knocked on the window to get Kirby's attention. Kirby looked outside and was pleasantly surprised to see the familiar ninjas.
"You're the ninjas who rescued my daughter and her friend Donatello," said Kirby, "How are they now? Is my daughter safe? Did you get Donatello back to his family?"
"They're both fine," said Leo, "Donatello's with his family and April's outside."
"Wait, you mean she's still in the city?" Kirby asked in surprise. He signed and said, "I should've known. That girl can be so stubborn."
"Yeah, we noticed," said Raph, "Anyway, it may take a while to get that lock, so maybe you could tell us what the deal is with the Kraang."
"They're aliens from another dimension," Kirby explained, "When they came here from their dimension, Dimension X, they brought the mutagen with them."
"Yeah, but Karai heard implications that the mutagen wasn't supposed to turn people into monsters," said Leo, while still working on the lock.
"That's true," said Kirby, "Apparently the physical laws of their universe are different from ours. They started abducting scientists to modify the mutagen. They especially want Donatello."
"Why?" Leo asked, trying to hold back the vemon in his tone.
"I heard them say that it was because he has much potential," said Kirby, "Apparently, the Kraang believe that that boy's mind could nearly rival their own and could help them in many ways."
"Well they're not getting him," said Mikey, "Not if we have anything to say about it!"
"What do they want the ooze to do?" Leo asked.
"I wish I knew," Kirby said.
"Are there any other scientists here in this building?" Mikey asked.
"Two," said Kirby, "They're Dr. Bruce Banner and a university science student named Mona Lisa De Angelo."
"That first name sounds familiar," said Mikey, "Where have I heard that name before?"
"And the second name sounds Italian," said Raph.
"I think she might be of Italian descent," said Kirby.
"Guys!" a familiar female voice called. The three boys turned their heads around in time to see their brother and sister coming their way. "We've got a problem!"
"The Kraang are gonna set off a mutagen bomb that's gonna disperse ooze all over half the city!" Donnie added. He then spotted Kirby and said, "Hi, Me. O'Neil. Your daughter's really nice."
Kirby raised an eyebrow at the statement. Leo ignored Donnie's April comment and got back to picking the lock. Mikey decided to try to help, despite his oldest brother's protest. This led to a shoving match, which ended in Mikey pushing Leo into a button that tripped the alarm.
The older ninjas glared at Mikey, who merely said, "Sorry." And then Mikey crossed the right wires and opened the cell, freeing Kirby. Needless to say, the other ninjas were surprised.
"Did Naoto just unlock that door?" Raph asked.
"Naoto just unlocked that door," said Miwa.
"Never mind that," said Leo, "We gotta get out of here!"
"What about the other two?" Mikey asked, "We can't just leave them."
"What?!" Miwa asked.
"There's two more people trapped here," said Leo.
"We don't have time to get them," said Miwa.
"We will seeing as I know how to unlock the doors," said Mikey. Miwa still seemed doubtful, so Mikey gave her the puppy eyes and said, "Please don't make us leave them."
Finally, Miwa caved and said, "Alright, but fast."
Mikey cheered and Kirby led the teens down the hall to where the other two scientists were being held. Along the way, Miwa remarked to her other four brothers, "I hate it when he uses the puppy eyes against me."
"You're not the only one, sis," said Raph, "Believe me."
Once they reached a pair of cells that were across from each other, Kirby told them that those were the cells which held Dr. Banner and Mona Lisa. Mikey rushed to one cell and started fiddling with the lock. Donnie went to start on the other one, but Raph chose to do it his way seeing as they were crunched for time; and that meant stabbing the lock with his Sai.
Mikey got the first cell open and was greeted by a man with brown hear. He smiled under his mask and said, "Hi, Dr. Banner! We're here to bust you out!"
"Thanks," said Dr. Banner, "Man, Tony's never gonna let me hear the end of this."
"Who?" Mikey asked.
"Never mind," said Dr. Banner as he exited the cell, "Let's go."
"We will after we get the last one out," said Leo. Right at that moment, Raph finally got the door open. He looked inside and immediately dropped his weapon and stared at the inside. "Kurogane, are you okay?"
The others were confused until a person stepped out. It was a young girl, who appeared to be not too much older than Miwa, Leo, and Raph. She had brown Bob cut hair and green eyes. She was a little bit taller than Miwa and had an athletic build. She was currently dressed in a black T-shirt, dark blue jeans, and a pair of black hiking boots. Raph was mesmorized by the girls' beauty; he wondered if this was how Donnie felt when he was around April.
"Are you alright?" the girl asked, "You look flustered."
Raph snapped out of his daze and said, "Y-yeah. I'm fine. Are you Mona Lisa De Angelo?"
"Yes, I am," the girl said.
"Great," said Raph, "We're busting you out of here. Come on."
"Okay," said Mona Lisa, and then she grabbed Raph's hand and ran out with him and the others. Raph blushed when she grabbed his hand.
Donnie then noticed that Dr. Banner had some type of collar around his neck. "Hold on," said Donnie, "Let me get that collar off you. Hold still."
Dr. Banner started fiddling with the collar wires until he heard a small beep and it came off. Dr. Banner smiled and said, "Thanks. That was a big help."
"You're welcome," said Donnie. Although, he could not ignore the feeling that Dr. Banner had something up his sleeve. Donnie then got the strangest feeling that he had heard the name Bruce Banner before. He remembered reading his scientific work, but something told him that that was not the only thing he remembered about him; where else did he recognize him from?
The group ran as fast as they could through base. Unfortunately, the Kraang found them and open fired on the group. This forced them to duck behind some crates for safety. Luckily, it was right beneath the vent where they snuck. Leo started making pidgeon noises to signal April to drop the rope.
"What are you doing?" Raph asked, and then shouted, "April, throw the rope!"
April looked down and, upon seeing her father, shouted, "Dad!"
"April!" Kirby shouted back.
April threw down the rope for her father and friends to climb up. Unfortunately, the Kraang continued firing at them. Raph kicked an oil drum at the Kraang and managed to down a few of them, unfortunately, more were still coming. A couple got really close, but Raph and Miwa took them out with Raph's Sai and Miwa's Tanto, causing one Kraang to drop it's blaster. One almost got got them until Mona Lisa kicked away. She then grabbed the fallen blaster and fired at them. Raph stared at Mona Lisa in awe as she fired at the aliens, seemingly, without fear.
"She's amazing," Raph whispered.
"Oooh," said Mikey, "Someone's got a crush."
"Shut up!" Raph snapped.
"Why would you even like her, anyway?" Mikey asked, "She's taller and probably a better fighter than you."
"Exactly," said Raph, and then he smiled, "What a woman."
"Whatever floats your boat," said Mikey. And then he had to dive to avoid another laser blast.
"There's too many of them!" Leo yelled.
"I can keep them busy," said Dr. Banner, standing up.
"But we can't leave you here!" Donnie protested, "We might not be able to get you out!"
"Don't worry about me," said Dr. Banner, walking towards the Kraang, "All I need to do is show them my other half."
"What are you talking about?" Mikey asked.
"You'll see in a minute," said Dr. Banner, sounding confident.
"Kraang, the one known as Bruce Banner is not wearing the collar that was designed to hold back that which is known as the other half," one Kraang informed the rest.
"Is that a problem?" another Kraang asked.
"For you, it is," said Dr. Banner as his eyes, hair, and skin turned green.
Right before everyone's eyes, Dr. Banner's body started to grow, ripping his clothes. They also could have sworn that they heard him growling. It was at that moment that Donnie and Mikey realized why the name Bruce Banner sounded so familiar.
"Guys, I just remembered where I heard of him from," said Mikey.
"Me too," said Donnie, "He's a member of the Avengers."
"He's the Incredible Hulk!" Donnie and Mikey said in unison.
After his transformation was finished, the Hulk growled and started smashing Kraang left and right. The Kraang tried to fight back, but the Hulk was too much for them. The ninjas, Kirby, and Mona Lisa decided to use take the chance they were being given and escape. One by one they climbed up the rope up to meet up with April. Once they were all outside April hugged her father and he hugged her back.
"I'm so glad you're back," said April.
"I'm glad you're safe," said Kirby.
The Hamato siblings smiled at the reunion and then Mona Lisa tapped Raph's shoulder and got his attention. Raph jumped and blushed when he saw who it was.
"I wanted to thank you for getting me out," said Mona Lisa.
"No problem," said Raph, "And you were pretty awesome back there. The way you handled those Kraang, I mean."
"You were amazing as well," said Mona Lisa, with a smile.
The two stared at each other until Miwa cleared her throat and reminded, "We still have to disarm that mutagen bomb."
"But what about Dr. Banner?" Mikey asked. Suddenly, everyone felt a tremor and looked down at the street and saw the Hulk break through the wall and run through the street. "Never mind."
"Alright, back to business," said Leo. He looked at the civilians and said "You three get to safety. We'll go to the Wolf Hotel and take care of that mutagen bomb."
"Okay," said April. She hugged Donnie and then added, "Be careful."
"We will," said Donnie, and then he broke the hug and looked her in the eye and said, "I promise."
"I guess this is goodbye, Mona," said Raph.
"For now," said Mona Lisa, and gave him a kiss on the cheek. "I look forward to seeing you again, Kurogane."
And with that, she rushed down fire escape and disappeared into the night; Raph felt sad watching Mona leave, because he did not get a chance to tell her how to contact him or even his real name. Kirby and April followed close behind, April promising to tell the ninjas' parents were safe. After the civilians left, the ninjas took off for the Wolf Hotel to disarm the mutagen bomb. Unfortunately, they did not notice the Foot Clan ninjas listening to them and informing Bradford where they were going next.
At the Wolf Hotel, the giant mutagen bomb was nearly ready to go off. To make double sure that they did not have any more complications, the Kraang had guards stationed on the roof as well as the technicians. One got impatient and asked how much longer they had to wait for the bomb to go off. After a technician answered that it would take five minutes, an arrow with a fire cracker attached to it nailed the alien in it's robot head. Before the Kraang knew it, many fire cracker arrows came flying at them courtesy of the Hamato clan ninjas. In not much time, the ninjas took out all of the Kraang droids. The alien brains tried to scurry away, one even slipped undergroundearth Raph. Miwa remembered how Donnie the one Kraang's mind back at the base and knocked one unconscious, figuring that it might be helpful.
Mikey gave Raph a mischievous look and asked, "I bet you wish Mona Lisa was here to see that," said Mikey.
"Shut up!" Raph snapped, blushing.
After the Kraang were taken care of, Leo looked at Donnie and said, being careful in case of Kraang listening, "Do your thing, Tetsuo."
Donnie pried off the covering to take a look at the inner workings of the bomb and disarm it. His face dropped when he saw the complexity of the bombs internal wiring.
"Uh oh," said Donnie.
"What do mean 'uh oh'?" Leo asked in worry, "You said on the way here that you knew how to do this."
"I didn't count on a design this complex, Ryu," said Donnie indignantly, careful not to use his brothers' real name.
"They're aliens from another dimension!" said Leo in exasperation, "What did you expect? A big round ball with a lit fuse that said 'bomb'?"
Donnie scowled, "No, but this-"
Raph cut off their argument by sarcastically saying, "Boy, I sure hope this argument goes on for another four minutes and fifteen seconds!"
"I think I have a solution," Miwa announced. She held up the unconscious Kraang and explained, "Tetsuo can get the schematic for the bomb from this Kraang's head like you did back at the base."
Donnie thought for a second and then said, "You know, that might work."
He took the Kraang and focused on it's mind to search for the bomb schematic. In no time, he found it and now knew exactly how the bomb worked. After he was finished, the Kraang woke up and saw itself in Donnie's hands and fled in fear.
He turned to his siblings and said, "I know what to do now. Just leave it to me."
Suddenly, Leo spotted something out of the corner of his eye and said, "Guys, we've got a problem."
Everyone looked up and saw Bradford, in his red uniform, and Xever standing on the hotel sign looking down at them.
"Oh, you've gotta be kidding me," said Miwa, "Don't these guys have anything better to do?"
"Guess not," said Leo, "Tetsuo, take care of the bomb. We'll handle these guys."
"Okay," said Donnie, and then he went to work on the bomb.
"Would you guys get out of here?!" Raph asked, "This is a really bad time for a fight!"
"Oh, we're leaving," said Bradford as he and Xever jumped down to face their opponents, "And you're coming us. All of you."
"Our master has some questions for you," said Xever.
"So, make it easy for yourselves and come quietly," said Bradford, "Or you can make things difficult."
"Listen, guys, that giant bomb right there is gonna go off unless it's stopped," said Leo, "You have to realize how serious this situation is."
Bradford merely smirked and said, "I was hoping you would choose difficult. Otherwise I would've brought my weapons for nothing."
Without warning, Bradford and Xever charged at the teens. Bradford used his strength and speed to fight, while Xever relied on his flexibility and deadly force. While the two bad guys took on four of the Hamato ninjas, Donnie was forced to keep his attention on the bomb, so he could not help his siblings until he was done.
"If that thing goes off, it'll wipe us all out!" Leo said, trying to reason with his opponents.
"Than surrender and we'll let you disarm it," said Bradford.
"Tetsuo, hurry up with that bomb!" Raph, dodging an attack from Xever, "These guys aren't giving up!"
"I'm almost done!" Donnie called, still cutting wires.
While his siblings continued to battle the bad guys, Donnie was finally down to two wires. Using his wire cutters, Donnie snipped a green striped wire and the clock stopped; in other words, the bombed was disarmed. With the bomb taken care of, Donnie pulled out his bo staff and charged in to join the fight.
With their entire team back together, the Hamato ninjas gained the upper hand. Eventually, the team had Bradford and Xever trapped with their backs to each along the side of the bomb. The bad guys tried to look for a way out but could not find one.
"You are worthy adversaries, but the fight is ours," said Leo, in his best heroic voice, "Lay down your weapons."
"How long have you been waiting to use that line?" Miwa asked, amused by her younger twin.
"Not that long," said Leo, in his regular voice.
"We will never surrender!" Xever declared.
"You don't have a choice," said Leo, "You've lost."
"I won't return to the Shredder a failure," Bradford said in a scary voice, "I refuse to live with that shame."
"Uh, guys, he's starting to creep me out," said Mikey.
Bradford raised his sword and said, "I'm going down, I'm taking every single one of you with me!"
"What are you doing?!" Xever shrieked, "You fool!"
"No!" the Hamato ninjas screamed.
Before anyone could stop him, Bradford plunged his sword into the glass and broke it. Suddenly, Mutagen spilled out from the cracks and washed Bradford and Xever away. The Hamato ninjas jumped back before the spill, so they were safe from the mutagen. Bradford and Xever, on the other hand, ended up being washed away with the rest of the spilled mutagen; with the mutagen gone, the bomb was now completely useless. Once the bad guys were gone, the ninja teens exchanged looks and started cheering.
"That was awesome!" Mikey cheered.
"I'll say!" Raph agreed, "We took down the Kraang, two of Shredder's top henchmen, defused a mutagen bomb, and saved New York City. We're not over confident."
"We're just that good," Leo finished.
"C'mon, let's go grab some pizza," said Miwa.
"Aw yeah! Pizza!" Mikey cheered.
"I'm starving," said Donnie.
The siblings started to walk away, pleased with their most recent victory, when they heard a deep, menacing voice say, "Your skills are impressive."
The siblings whirled around to find the speaker. They found him. Standing on the very top of the deactivated bomb was a man completely clad in spiky armor and a metallic helmet covering his face. His very presence sent chills down the Hamato teens spines. He glared at them before he jumped down from the bomb to face the ninjas. The ninjas were now able to get a better look at the man's eyes and could see that he appeared to be blind in one eye.
"But they will not save you," said the man, taking a fighting stance.
Everyone's eyes widened in fear as they remembered the cautionary tales that their parents had told them for years; since before they started their ninja training.
"Guys, do you think that's... Oroku Saki... The Shredder?" Donnie asked.
"Well, it's definitely a Shredder," said Raph, hiding his fear.
"There is undoubtedly a fascinating story how you children became the students of my old nemesis," said the Shredder, striding over to the teens, "Perhaps if you can provide me with the information that I want, I will let you live long enough to tell the tale."
"You're gonna have to catch us first!" said Mikey, pulling out what looked like an egg, "This here is a homemade smoke bomb! See ya sucks!"
Mikey threw the egg on the ground, expecting smoke. Unfortunately, all anyone heard was a cracking sound. Everyone looked down and saw that Mikey had thrown down an ordinary egg, which was spilling yolk and egg white all over the ground.
"Oops," said Mikey, "I think I grabbed the wrong eggs."
Seeing that there was no escape, the teens prepared for battle as the Shredder charged at them with his claws extended. They were barely able to jump out of the way in time before they all charged to attack him.
Raph was the first to charge, but the Shredder easily defeated him by kicking him in the stomach and sending him flying into the sign. Leo tried to avenge his brother only for the Shredder to disarm him and knock him down. Donnie tried as well, but the Shredder took his bo staff and smacked Donnie in the head before delivering a punch. Miwa chose to keep her distance and throw her Tessen. Miwa nailed the Shredder in the head, distracting him long enough for Mikey to take a shot at him with his nunchucks. Unfortunately, the Shredder caught him and threw him off the roof; luckily, Mikey caught the edge and swung back up. Miwa tried to charge, but the Shredder kicked her away. Leo and Donnie got up in time to back their sister up, giving Mikey time to check on Raph. Raph seemed to be okay and able to get up and fight. Raph and Mikey then rejoined their brothers and sister in the fight against the Shredder. The teens threw everything they had at the Shredder, Mikey even restrained him with his kusarigama chain. In retaliation, the Shredder broke the chain and sliced through the hotel sign. The teens had to all dive to avoid being crushed.
After the sign fell, the teens regrouped in hopes of catching their breath. Just as they did regroup, however, the Shredder hovered over them. Seeing no other choice, the five readied their weapons and prepared for round two. The Shredder merely looked them over before charging at them as they charged back. One by one, the Shredder defeated all five ninjas.
Once they were all down, the Shredder loomed over the teens and said, "Now, tell me where I can find Hamato Yoshi."
"Why should we?" Miwa spat, blood dripping down from her mouth, "So you can kill him? What makes you think we'll betray him?"
"You might not be so loyal to him if you knew him the way I did," the Shredder retorted.
"We know him well enough," said Leo.
"I doubt you know everything," said the Shredder, "He took something precious from me. Something that I can never take back."
"What's that? He steal your girlfriend or something?" Mikey asked, assuming that he meant their mother, "Cause, if that's the case, you really are petty."
"No. At least, not just my first love," said Shredder, "He took my son from me."
"What?!" all five siblings asked in shock. He was doing this because of Raph?!
"It was your master who took my Sousuke away from me," said the Shredder, "It's because of him that Sousuke is dead!"
This was a big shock for Raph. Not only did he discover that the Shredder thought he was dead, but the way he was acting too. He was so angry and appeared to be upset. It looked like... The Shredder cared for him. This was something Raphael was not prepared for.
"However, I am willing to forgive Tang Shen and her children. And even accept them as my family," said the Shredder, "Now, tell me where to find the Hamato family."
Before anyone could do or say anything, two large blobs of mutagen landed on the roof. The Shredder turned around and saw the ooze melting away to reveal a giant red snakehead fish with arms and a giant man who literally looked like a dog, like Hachiko, wearing red pants.
The fish reached out to the Shredder and gasped, in Xever's voice, "Help me." Shredder also could have sworn that the dog man's moaning sounded like Bradford.
"Xever? Bradford?" the Shredder asked. He turned his attention back to where the ninja teens were and found them gone; they escaped while he was preoccupied with his men, "No!"
While the Shredder screamed into the night, the ninja teens escaped underground and made their way back home. Unbeknownst to them, something else was watching their fight via a satellite camera.
After making sure that they were not followed, the Hamato teens made their way back home to their parents. Upon arrival, the ninja teens found that Kirby and April were there as well awaiting their return with their parents. When Shen saw that her children were injured, she immediately went to work on treating their wounds. April, Kirby, and Yoshi decided to help out as well. While their injuries were being treated, the teens told everyone about their encounter with the Shredder after defusing the bomb.
"You were all very lucky," said Yoshi, tending to Leo's leg.
"I'm not sure we all feel very lucky, Father," said Miwa, while her mother wiped the blood off her face.
"Few have ever faced the Shredder and survived," Yoshi added.
"He was just so fast," said Mikey, thinking back to the fight, while Kirby applied ointment to his arm.
"It was like he was everywhere at once," said Donnie, while April wrapped bandages around his head.
"You were right, Father, we were over confident," said Leo, "I guess there are some things that we're just not ready for."
"Perhaps," said Yoshi, "But that no longer matters. It is clear to me now that the Shredder is a problem that will not go away. Prepare yourselves, my children. For as of this moment... We are at war."
Raph remained silent throughout the whole conversation. One might think it was because he was upset because of the loss, but, in truth, he was lost in thought. He could not stop thinking about how the Shredder acted when talking about him. Raph could not help but wonder if, on some level, the Shredder was capable of love.
Meanwhile, at the home of Tony Stark, Tony was just finishing up the latest upgrades to his iron suit when he got a voice spoke to him through the intercom system.
"Mr. Stark, Dr. Banner was located in New York City escaping the custody of unknown assailants whilst in his Hulk state," the voice informed him.
"Thanks Jarvis," said Tony, "Call Fury so S.H.E.I.L.D. can go get him."
"There's something else you should know," said Jarvis, "I picked up footage of a battle that went on after Dr. Banner's escape."
"I'll look at it later, Jarvis," said Tony, getting back to the upgrades.
"Sir, you'll want to view this now," said Jarvis, and then started playing the video of the Hamato ninjas.
Tony watched as the Hamato ninjas arrived, took out the Kraang and then went on to disarm the bomb. He noticed that Donnie immediately new what to do just by looking at a Kraang. Next he saw them fight against Bradford and Xever and then the Shredder. While they lost against the Shredder, their skills were still impressive.
"Better bring this up to S.H.E.I.L.D. and the rest of the Avengers," said Tony "They're gonna wanna see this too."
Author's Note: I hope you liked that I put the Avengers in there. I'm thinking of giving them more appearances in later chapters. Also, in case anyone's wondering, I made Mona Lisa a human in this story because I wasn't sure how I felt about human Raph kissing a newt.