Along Came Some Turtles

by The Legendary Dragon Reaper

Post Spectacular Spider Man season 2. Peter's life is more or less falling apart at the seems, but meeting some new friends, who just so happen to be mutant turtles armed with ninja weapons, might just be what he needs to turn things around. And a good thing too, given the new threats that are lurking in the shadows. Crossover/ continuation of Spectacular Spider man with TMNT 2012.

14. The Alien Agenda

(The Alien Agenda)

Superjoeyf721: Thanks, I'm glad to see you liked it. Raph is the last one to learn about the true identity of Spider-Man, which isn't really surprising, given his personality. Yeah, I went back to rewatch the episode as I wrote the chapter, and the minute Splinter brought out that line about the responsibilities of leadership, I immediately thought of the line about great power coming with great responsibility. I don't plan on using Ratcatcher myself, I'm just saying that it is a really good name.

Spectacular Webhead 11: Leo finding out at some point was pretty much a given, but I thought a fair number of people would be surprised by Gwen finding out. Of course Peter doesn't know about the latter yet. Raph is the only one left that's in the dark, but given history so far, it can't stay that way for too long. As for how he finds out, you'll just have to wait and see. Personally, my favorite of the four Turtles would have to be Mikey, which is a large part of why I made him the turtle that's the closest to Peter. Having Spider-Man save Kirby from the Mutagen spill in the second season is a pretty interesting idea, but given the impact that had on the plot, it would be a bit of a risk. Plus I have my own plans for Spider-Man when we get to that part. I knew that I had to include Tombstone in this story in some way, and since the Shredder is the head of his own criminal organization, I figured it only made sense to establish a connection between the fellow crime lords. I have a few ideas for what I'm going to do with Timothy, but you'll just have to wait and see. Yeah, I figured a lot of people would get a kick out of the Star Wars reference I put in. I'm not sure if Spider-Man 3 is the best example to follow for Harry turning evil, given the way that's been received in the past, but I do have plans for him, but I'm not going to spoil any of that yet.

Vfc15650: Thanks, I'm glad to see you liked it. Yeah, a lot has happened since I first published this story, and there's a lot more to come. I knew going into this that when I had Leo find out about Spider-Man's identity, I would tie it into the power and responsibility speech, and his crisis about being a leader seemed like the perfect time to do it. Gwen finding out was something that I knew would get a reaction out of a lot of people. You'll see where that goes in the next chapter, and keep in mind, I did say that I have plans for her in this story.

The Ghost Warrior120: You'll see soon enough.

Gamelover41592: That was exactly what I thought when I started brainstorming for this story, so I guess we'll have to wait and see how this pans out.

Guest: Oh trust me, a lot is going to start happening, both for Spider-Man and for Peter Parker, especially since Gwen now knows that they're one and the same. Spider-Man and the Turtles all fighting off villains and saving the world is pretty much the motif of the story as a whole, so you'll just have to read to find out.

Guest: Thanks, I always enjoy it when readers catch onto those little nods and references that I throw in.

Guest: You definitely have something interesting ideas. We'll have to wait and see if they pan out or not.

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Another night in New York city, another mysterious group lurking in the shadows.

In this case, it was Karai and a small squad of Foot ninja moving throughout the rooftops of the city, but then she brought them to a stop "Reports from our scouts say that the Turtles have been spotted in this area, the same with another masked figure clad in red and black, and no this time they're not talking about Spider-Man, so stay on your guard and stay alert for any sign of them around here."

"BOOYAKASHA!" this was almost immediately followed by lots of grunting, screaming and the sounds of lasers blasting.

"...Okay, that was easier than I thought it would be. Stay on guard." Karai poked her head over the side of the building.

"When that which is known as fight is concluded, the ones known as the Turtles and the one known as Daredevil are defeated by Kraang."

"As if I'm going to allow that to happen in my city." Daredevil, clad in his typical red and black suit, dodged the oncoming series of blasts from a group of Kraangdroids sporting laser guns, and with a series of swift movements he used his billy club to rip through a number of them within a matter of seconds, leaving their severed robotic body parts to fall to the ground.

'Huh, so that must be the Devil of Hell's Kitchen I've been hearing so much about, or Daredevil as they're calling him. He's got some pretty good moves, but what's up with him and the Turtles fighting a pack of… robots that shoot like Stormtroopers?' Karai frowned in thought underneath her mask, but then her eyes widened as she saw a Kraang climb out of what was left of its droid body 'Okay, this town just got a lot more interesting than I thought it would.'

"Don't fall back, don't let them gain any ground!" Leo braced himself as he drew both katanas off the back of his shell, only to look up and see Karai watching him 'Oh crap, it's her… Well, I might as well show her what she's in for. Not to worry Raph, I'll save you!" he cut down one Kraangdroid in a single stroke, and then did it to the one Raph was fighting.

"You'll save, have you been eating Mikey's cooking again?" Raph shot Leo a WTF look, only to receive no response.

"Relax Mikey, there's no need to fear." Leo cut down another Kraangdroid and then leapt over to where Mikey was fighting a Kraangdroid, and he cut it down in one swift move "You're safe and sound now little brother."

"Thanks bro- Wait, I was fine with that one." Mikey just glanced over at Leo with a raised (non-existent) eyebrow.

"Donnie behind you!"

"Where?" Donnie whipped around with his bo staff in hand, only to turn back around and find that Leo had taken out both of the Kraangdroids she was fighting.

"And that's how it's done, be sure to take notes my younger brothers." Leo sheathed both of his katanas in a heroic stance, then shot a smirk up in Karai's direction 'I think that oughta be more than enough to make my point.'

'What the shell got into him?' Raph glanced up just as Karai and her Foot ninja fled from the scene, and his scowl only deepned.

"Alright guys, I think that's a job well done."

"Except I do have one question." Daredevil shot a raised eyebrow over at Leo "Was there any particular reason for that needless show of bravado during the battle?"

"I was just trying to get a point across, and I think I did pretty effectively." Leo then glanced over at Raph and noticed the sour look he had "Something wrong Raph?"

"You could say that." Raph levelled his glare on Leo "I thought I saw something at the end of the fight. What about you Leo, did you see something?"

"No, I didn't see anything. I was focused on the battle."

"Uh huh. Turtles first right?"

"Turtles first." the two of them kept their glares locked on each other.

'...This kind of friction cannot possibly end well.' seeing tension that was growing between the two Turtles, Daredevil was quick to break the silence "Now that the battle is finished, I have some other business to attend to, but I believe it would be best to go and inform our other masked companion about tonight's events. I also have a few other things I wish to discuss with him, and I'll be doing so tomorrow night. Hopefully this situation doesn't escalate too much in the meantime.'

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At the Shredder's lair, Baxter Stocmkman was attempting to create a set of robotic legs for Xever to use now that he was stuck as a mutant fish, only for the device he made to malfunction almost as quickly as he had activated it. As one could imagine, the Shredder was not happy with the failure, but Karai's arrival in the lair quickly distracted him from that. She tried to tell him about the Turtles fighting the Kraang and what she saw from them, but he quickly made it clear that he wasn't interested and said it was a distraction, and that the only thing she should focus on was her mission to kill the Turtles and find Splinter, something that she chose to take with a grain of salt.

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Back in the Lair, Raph and Leo were arguing in the middle of a heated training session, the former calling out the latter on knowing they were being watched by Karai and using their fight against the Kraang to try and impress her. Leo countered that he was trying to show Karai how formidable they were, which was entirely unconvincing. Raph continued to try and get Leo to see that Karai couldn't be trusted, only to make Leo even more determined to prove him wrong, while also trying to persuade him not to tell the others about it. Their fight was soon cut short when Splinter came in and found Leo holding Raph in a headlock. Leo claims that their fight was about nothing important, with Raph agreeing very reluctantly, making it clear how angry he was about the whole situation.

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Meanwhile, at the home of the main protagonist…

"Not gonna lie, it feels kind of weird to see this place so quiet." April glanced around the interior of the Parker household as she pulled out a small cup of cuetips and handed one to MJ "So remind me again, what exactly are your aunts doing tonight?"

"They're doing poker night with some of their older friends, Aunt Anna is hosting." MJ told her as she took a cuetip and swabbed the inside of her cheek "So we might as well take the chance to get this done while we've got the time."

"Fair enough. I can't imagine Anna Watson being a card shark though."

"Yeah well you'd better believe it. I've seen it with my own eyes." Peter sat down a few soda cans in front of them "You should've seen the two of them during the little get together they had on the Fourth of July. When my Aunt May pulled a flush, still not sure what that means, I really thought that Anna was about to pounce over the table like a predator."

"You exaggerating to make a point?"

"Not as much as you might think." Peter looked down at the sound of vibrating and pulled out his Spider Cell, and he let out a sigh as he read a message "Perfect, Leo and Raph are at each other's throats again. So in other words, homeostasis is in full effect."

"Is this about Raph thinking he'd be a better leader again?"

"Nope, this one hits a lot closer to home."

"What then?"

"Well… okay if Leo asks, you didn't hear this from me. He and Raph are fighting because Leo met a girl."

"Okay, so what's the problem?"

"The problem is that she's an obvious bad girl that's more or less seducing him and trying to turn him to the dark side of the Force."

"Is the Star wars reference really necessary?"

"Probably not, but it does make it more interesting for me." Peter paused as his gaze suddenly hardened as his Spider Sense started going off "Speaking of interesting, I think we're gonna have some more company."

"Are we about to be attacked?"

"No, I'd know if it was danger, but there is someone there." he quickly rushed over to the living room window and opened it, and he found a certain figure clad in red and black lurking within the shadows "You don't have to hide out there, they already know my secret and they know about you Daredevil."

Sure enough, Daredevil emerged from the shadows and made his way into the living room "That sixth sense of yours is certainly impressive."

"I got a lot out of getting my powers. How did you find out where I live?"

"My associates at Nelson, Murdock and Page have their methods for gathering information, and they do prove to be very effective. But I believe it's time for us to get down to business. I do have my reasons for coming to see you tonight."

"If this is about the whole thing with you guys fighting the Kraang last night I already know, I got a text from Leo. I also know about the girl from the Foot that was watching you."

"I see. And where do you sit on that matter?"

"Frankly I'm getting flashbacks to all the hell I went through with Black Cat. You?"

"I'm reminded of a certain… acquaintance that I met during the time that I spent training under my mentor, and throughout my early years of activity. My relationship with her was… fairly complicated to say the least, and I made some poor decisions that led me to being alienated from the people I cared for most. If nothing else, I wish to ensure that Leonardo won't make the same mistakes that I did."

"Preaching to the choir on that one. You want a soda?"

"No thank you. I appreciate the gesture, but there is more I wish to discuss about the events from last night."

"Mikey showed up and told me that you guys were fighting the Kraang while they were trying to break into some facility. I actually took down three other groups breaking into other facilities all around Harlem."

"Those facilities are known to belong to the World Wide Genome Project, which causes some other concerns you may wish to look into."

"You think the Kraang are trying to hack into their systems?"

"Or that they may be involved in their operations themselves, either directly or through one of their allies from this dimension. One of my allies did some research, and it turns out that a certain scientist you've had encounters with in the past has had dealings with the World Wide Genome Project before."

"Can you be more specific?"

"I'm referring to the former head scientist at ESU, Dr Miles Warren." that caused Peter to tense up visibly "I see that you do remember him."

"All too well. So what about him?"

"Research conducted by a few of my allies shows that he had received a sizable amount of funding for research from the World Wide Genome Project in the past, as well as collaborated with them on numerous projects."

"And I know for a fact that he's been experimenting with Mutagen and even created a few of the supervillains that I've had to deal with before. Yeah, this is gonna be a problem."

"I wouldn't say that it's a problem just yet, given that we don't know for sure that the World Wide Genome Project is associated with the Kraang or not, but I would advise you to be on your guard for the time being."

"I'll keep that in mind. The irony isn't lost on me either since we're kind of dealing with stuff from the World Wide Genome Project right now."

"In what regard?"

"It's mostly about DNA studies right now." April told him "Everyone in our class is sending in a sample of DNA to the World Wide Genome Project as part of an assignment. Then they're gonna send us back a report that tells us all about our ancestors."

"I see. Thank you for the information Miss O'Neil."

"You know who I am?"

"I tend to keep track of those that have been abducted by the Kraang, for the sake of ensuring their safety."

"So what do you think then?" asked Peter "Is this whole thing with the World Wide Genome Project really going to involve the Kraang somehow?"

"That I can't say for certain just yet, but given the Kraang's history of activity, it would be foolish to ignore potential risks. For the time being, just make sure to stay alert, and if you see anything suspicious be sure to let myself or the Turtles know."

"Right, I'll let you know as soon as anything tries to kill me. That is basically how this whole thing usually goes."

"A valid point. Also, there is one last factor to take into consideration. Given the source that gave you your powers in the first place, I doubt it would be a wise choice for you to expose your DNA to anyone, or else your secret identity be put at grave risk."

"I already thought of that. It's why I got a DNA sample from my Aunt May while she was asleep last night, and she won't have anything that they'll find too suspicious."

"Fair enough. Until then." Daredevil gave him a simple nod, then leapt out the living room window and disappeared into the night.

"And there he goes."

"...Am I the only one who couldn't get a read on that guy?" was MJ's input.

"Nope, the only thing I know is that he's one of those guys that actually wants to help me instead of trying to kill me."

"Fair enough." then the sound of a ringtone drew her attention, and she promptly pulled out her cell phone "Hello? Oh hey. Really, right now? Both of us? That important huh? Alright sure, we can be there in about 15 minutes." and then she hung up "Well that happened."

"Everything okay?"

"Not sure yet. That was Gwen." that caused Peter to tense up "She asked if I could come over and talk about something, but she says she needs to do it in person. And she said she wants me to bring April with me."

"Both of you? What's that about?"

"No idea, but I get the feeling we're gonna find out. Sorry Tiger, looks like our little study date has come to an end."

That little comment was enough to make Peter do a spit take as his cheeks turn red "Date, what d you- I didn't- But that's not-"

"Relax, I'm just messing with you. If I wanted to have you all to myself then I would've done it months ago. See ya Tiger." MJ packed up her bag, then gave Peter a simple wave as she made her way out the door.

"...If there's one person in this world I sure as hell can't get a read on, it's her."

"Oh yeah, she usually has that effect on people." April gave a shrug as she quickly packed up her own bag, but then she glanced back at Peter "You okay? You've seemed kind of out of it the past few days. Come on it's a Friday night, you should be enjoying yourself."

"Yeah I know, getting through the first week of senior year and all that. I've just got a lot on my mind."

"Gwen again?"

"Well that's a pretty obvious one, but it more has to do with this." he pulled his Spider-Man mask out of his pocket "It's just kind of hitting me. You know I'm Spider-Man, so do MJ and Captian Stacy, the same with Splinter and the Turtles. Three of them at least."

"Yeah, Mikey, Donnie, and Leo. The only one that doesn't know who you really are at this point is Raph."

"But given how you guys have all figured it out, Leo being the exception, it might only be a matter of time before he figures it out himself… So maybe it's time I tell him." now that got a reaction out of April.

"Are you serious?"

"I'm at least thinking about it."

"You seriously think you might just come clean to Raph about who you really are?"

"I don't know… maybe… Like I said, even if I don't tell him myself, there's a fair chance that he might just figure it out on his own sooner or later. At least if I tell him myself, I can do it on my terms. But then again, he's the only turtle I'm not really on the best terms with."

"But he's still a friend like the others. Do you seriously think you're gonna go through with telling him your true identity?"

"I don't know. Maybe." Peter let out a sigh as he glanced up at a certain picture "It's times like this I really wish my Uncle Ben were still around. I could really use his advice right now. Then again, I do have the next best thing."

"Aunt May?"

"The second next best thing after her then."

"Splinter?"

"There we go. I think tomorrow morning, I'm gonna head over to the Lair and talk to him about this."

"Probably the best thing to do. Anyway I'd better get going and see what this whole thing with Gwen is about. Am I gonna see you at school tomorrow to get the print outs of our DNA test results?"

"Tempting, but I think I'm gonna follow that lead Daredevil was talking about and see what the Kraang would want with the World Wide Genome Project. I might join you guys after that if I have time."

"Fair enough. Well I'll see you later." so April slung her bag over her shoulder and made her way out the door.

'I will say, having my own support squad that helps me to balance my two lives is actually pretty helpful.' Peter glanced back up at the picture of Uncle Ben 'But like Captian Stacy said, I wear the mask because I have something to protect, a lot of things. If I do tell Raph too, would that be making the right call?'

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Meanwhile, with the Spider Support Squad (name pending)...

"Okay here we are." April and MJ made their way to a certain household, and the former was quick to ring the doorbell "So be honest, am I the only one who's a little bit unsettled that she's just calling us out in the middle of the night like this?"

"Hey I don't know much more about this than you do." MJ told her flatly "All Gwen said was that she had to talk to us about something, she confirmed that nobody died, and that it was really urgent. Her dad backed her up too. Personally I still take this over homework."

"All you were doing was swabbing the inside of your cheek."

"I meant dealing with geometry, frankly Tiger is the only thing that makes it bearable."

"No arguments here. Frankly I'm looking forward to some teen drama, I've been dealing with so much alien and ninja stuff, not to mention my dad being kidnapped, I forgot what it feels like to be a normal teenager."

"I'd drink to that if it were legal."

It was then that the door opened and revealed Gwen standing in front of them looking relieved, and she quickly ushered them inside "Thanks for coming guys."

"No worries girlfriend, it's what I'm here for. So what did you want to talk to us about?"

"Okay I know it was kind of weird to call you guys here out of the blue, especially since I've been pretty distant from everyone for the past few days."

"Including Harry?" asked April.

"Especially Harry, if he finds out then he might go off the deep end. But my dad got called into work and I knew that I had to talk to someone else." Gwen ushered the two of them to the couch and motioned for them to sit down "This is pretty big, probably one of the biggest things that's ever happened to me."

"You're breaking up with Harry?"

"No. Not yet at least, I will but I just need more time." Gwen let out a sigh as she sat down in the chair in front of them "A few days ago, on Wednesday to be more specific, my dad and I went up to the cemetery up in Harlem, to visit my mom's grave."

"Uh huh."

"And while were there I saw a few things that I definitely wasn't meant to see."

"Okay. Did you see a bunch of guys try to mug a hooker or something? Becuase this is New York, you're bound to see some pretty crazy stuff."

"I know that, I've been kidnapped and/or hunted down by monsters and supervillains on more than one occasion… which brings me to my next point. I saw Spider-Man show up, and he was with… a certain someone else."

"Uh huh. And?"

"They were looking at… a certain grave, and then Spider-Man took off his mask… and I got to see his face."

"So you're saying…" April trailed off as she and MJ shared a look.

"It was Peter. Peter Parker is Spider-Man. He has been this whole time and I never knew it until about 2 days ago."

"...So you really saw his face?"

"Oh yeah."

"Like up close and personal?"

"No my dad had me hide behind another gravestone, he didn't see me and he doesn't know that I saw him. But I've been in love with Peter since the seventh grade, I'd be able to recognize him at a glance no matter what, and that was definitely him."

"And he doesn't know that you saw him?"

"Nope, as far as he knows it was just my dad there." Gwen let out a sigh and pulled herself to her feet "I definitely have to go talk to him."

"Okay hold up girlfriend, that's where you gotta tow the line." MJ sat Gwen back down on the couch between her and April "You can't just go up to him and blurt it out like that, not yet at least."

"I have to tell him that I know."

"I'm not saying that you shouldn't, but what exactly are you gonna say? You know, aside from the fact that you potentially giving him a heart attack when he finds out you know?"

"I… I don't have a clue." Gwen buried her face in her hands "I mean, do you have any idea how many times I wanted to just go up to his door, or call or text him and say that leaving him behind over Summer was hurtful and horrible, and tell him how sorry I was."

"So why didn't you?" asked April.

"I just… I couldn't find the courage to hit send. I've tried talking to him a few times over the past week since school started, but he kept breaking off or running away from me… I think it's pretty clear that he doesn't want to see me. Not that I can blame him. But now I really want to see him, and clear the air and at least try to fix things."

"See him for what though? Is it because you feel guilty about what happened, because you want to apologize to him, because you still have feelings for him?"

"Yes, yes, and… I never really stopped. I never wanted to hurt him, but…"

"But stuff happened, and it pretty much crushed him." MJ breathed a sigh "I know what that feels like pretty well. You end up feeling that pain, be it because of your friend turning their back on you, or because your mom dies and your dad is a worthless drunk and you've only got your aunt to turn to. You lose the person you care about more than anyone in the world, but instead of clinging to another person in your life that you know will be there for you, you wall yourself off in your room or just try to drown yourself in something else, be it partying and calling yourself a free agent, and don't talk to anyone, like really talk. When you lose that person for whatever reason, you end up building a wall around your heart so you don't have to get hurt like that again."

"Mary Jane…" that little speech was enough to leave Gwen staring wide-eyed, and she shared a look with April in silence 'She's not just talking about Peter is she?'

"But you don't stay like that forever." MJ turned back to face them "Eventually for whatever reason, or however it happens, you end up meeting that one person that gets you out of your shell, and helps you figure out who you really are and… what you really want out of life. If I'm gonna be completely honest with you, that's what Mark was for me… and I think that's what these Turtle guys have been for him."

"Right, the Turtle guys… do they know about Peter?"

"I can tell you for a fact that all but one of them know." April told her.

"Uh huh. Speaking of which, how long have you two known?"
"Personally, I've known since the day I first met Peter Parker, but I knew him as Spider-Man for awhile before that, so I picked up on a few cues and instances where it was kind of obvious. That and I had… other help with figuring it out."

"Okay…?"

"I figured it out during the whole Venom thing." MJ gave a shrug "I caught of glimpse of him without his mask on."

"Apparently that was when my dad found out too. Now a lot of things are starting to make sense too, like the times Peter would give off these amazing physical feats like dodging a barrage of water balloons, or flipping over Kenny while we all went ice skating last year."

"He's the bald fat guy right?" asked April.

"It's all muscle, but yeah that's him. Then there's the time with the Lizard… I thought he ran away, but he was saving Dr Connors. Saving all of us."

"And how exactly do you feel about him being Spider-Man?" asked MJ.

"Truth be told it's really hard to wrap my head around for a lot of reasons. I mean I'm so proud of Peter for what he's doing, he's helping people and saving lives. But I'm also mad at him for keeping this from me for so long, from everyone really. And I'm still kicking myself for not realizing it sooner, when it all seems so coincidental. I also feel like a jerk for all the times I got mad at him for pulling the disappearing act, or whenever I gave him grief since this whole thing started."

"Not like I can blame you for any of that. Anything else? What do you plan to do?"

"I… don't really have any kind of concrete plan. I just know that I wanna make it up to him, to make things right with him… and no matter what he wants to do about us being together, I want to be there for him, to support him." Gwen looked up at the two of them with resolve burning in her eyes The responsibilities and burdens he bears are ones that he shouldn't have to deal with by himself, and I'm not going to. Whatever happens, I'm gonna stand by his side and help him however I can."

"Huh. Good answer girlfriend. You know if you're up for it, I think I know of a good way for you to start living up to that promise."

"What do you mean?"

"See since I let Tiger find out I'm in on his double life, I've been helping him out with some of the more boring and tedious stuff he has to deal with to lighten his load for him. You know stuff like shopping or running errands, and more often than not it's just checking on his aunt for him and keeping her company. If you really wanna help out Pete and make it up to him, then you can start by checking on May for him, which is also my way of asking you to cover for me."

"What are you going to be doing?"

"Oh I'm heading over with April to get the test results from this project that they have us working on for school."

"They're gonna have the results already?"

"Yeah I figured something wasn't right about it, so I'm going over to check things out too, just to be safe."

"Hey come on MJ, what are the odds that something like getting DNA test results are gonna lead to some big supervillain thing?" April was med with simultaneous dull looks from the others, and she let out a sigh "Okay fair point."

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Around this time, Leo was out in the city looking for Karai. She showed up as expected and tried to question Leo about the Kraang, only for him to tell her to stay away from them and refuse to give her any more information. The two of them began another fight, and Leo once again tried to persuade her to switch sides, to which she called him stupid but adorable. This took him off guard for a moment and nearly led to her landing a blow on him. Leo took this as a sign to get serious and told her that she attacked her brothers, he wouldn't show mercy. Karai acknowledged this and took off into the night.

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Morning came, and the sun was shining over the skies above New York.

"Thanks for food Aunt May, no better way to start off a weekend than with some of the good stuff, am I right?" Peter leaned back in his chair and let out a content sigh "Yep, nothing better right now."

"Oh come now dear, you don't have to go that far." May let out a chuckle as she started working on the dishes, though as she did she glanced back at Peter "I take it you already have your own set of plans for the day?"

"Depends on whether or not I'm gonna get called in to work at the Bugle. Aside from that, I figured I was gonna head over and meet up with guys. Assuming Raph and Leo haven't bitten each other's heads off."

"I take it they're quarreling with each other?"

"That's one way to put it. You know how Leo told you about his… girl problems when he came by the other night?"

"Yes?"

"Well the thing is he's keeping it a secret from the others, except one of them found out and now they're at each other's throats about it."

"I see. And are you upset with him over it?"

"I doubt I've got the right to be given my own history of girl problems, as much of a dumpster fire as it is. Plus Leo keeps insisting that the girl has some good in her, so I know he thinks he's doing the right thing, and I can't really fault him for that."

"Did he tell that to the brother that's angry with him?"

"I don't know, probably. Though probably not in so many words. Raphael isn't exactly the best when it comes to listening."

"Well those sorts of grudges and disagreements aren't the sort of things that you would want to let fester. The best thing that Leonardo can do is talk to his brothers about how he feels and be honest with them."

"Because honesty is the best policy?"

"It's also what got myself and Ben through the rough patches."

"The two of you had rough patches?"

"Of course we did, especially when we were only a bit older than your age. The best thing you can do when you care about someone, is be honest with them."

"Huh. Sounds pretty solid. I'll pass the message on when I see them."

"And take it to heart yourself I hope."

"Uh… yeah. Anyway I wanted to go talk to Splinter about a few things while I had enough free time. See ya later." Peter shot a quick wave in May's direction, and then he bolted out the kitchen door.

'Honestly, I wish he would stop rushing around so much all the time. But then again, he's so much like Ben was at that age.' May let out a wistful sigh, but then the sound of a knock at the front door drew her to it, and she was somewhat surprised by who was standing where when she opened it.

As it turns out, it was Gwen standing on the front porch, and came off as rather nervous as she gave a small smile "Hi Mrs Parker, it's… been awhile hasn't it?"

"Oh hello Gwen, I was hoping that you were going to stop by soon. How have you been?"

"Just really busy I guess, a lot of stuff going on over the Summer."

"I can imagine. So what brings you by?"

"Well the thing is, is Peter here? I really need to talk to him about something. About a lot of things actually."

"I see. Sorry, but I'm afraid you just missed him."

"Oh… he left?"

"Right before you came actually, you might still be able to catch him if you hurry."

"No no it's fine, I'm… sorry to bother you." Gwen's face fell as she turned to leave, only to be stopped by May's hand gently gripping her shoulder "Um… yes?"

"You know, I was actually just about to put on a fresh pot of tea, and a whole pot can be a bit much for a woman my age. Care to join in and give me a helping hand, and maybe have a bit of a talk woman to woman?"

"That… That sounds really nice actually. Thank you Mrs Parker."

"Think nothing of it, and please dear, call me May." and so she gently led Gwen inside, the door closing behind her.

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Meanwhile, at Midtown High…

By this point, MJ and April were standing in the quad of Midtown High, and the former looked back to see the latter scrolling on her phone "What are you doing?"

"Just watching things fall into place." MJ gave a smirk as she stuffed her phone back into her pants pocket "Gwen just showed up at Tiger's place, now she's looking after May while we're off doing this and Pete's off doing his… other job. Mary Jane Watson, expert matchmaker at your serivce."

"And modest to boot."

"I do what I can. Speaking of Tiger, what's he doing right now anyway?"

"He texted me this morning and said that he was gonna head over to the Lair and meet up with the guys, talk to Splinter about a few things."

"Like what?"

"Like Leo's girl problems for starters, god only knows how well that's going to end. Then there's the… other thing that he told us about."

"Ah, good point. How do you think that's gonna go?"

"Considering we're talking about Raphael, honestly it could go either way."

"I'll take your word for it." and so the two of them made their way into the school building, only to stop when he found a certain someone standing at the start of the hall staring at them rather intently "Um… can I help you?"

"Hm? Oh my apologies, I didn't mean to stare." the man (clad in a shirt and tie, a pair of jeans, a lab coat and a set of metal gloves, with short brown hair, a moustache and a pair of glasses,) composed himself and adjusted his tie and glasses as he stared the two of them down "I've actually come here looking for one Miss April O'Neil?"

"That… would be me. Can I help you with something?"

"As a matter of fact, I came here in order to help you. I'm here on behalf of the World Wide Genome Project, and I've been sent here to present you with your DNA test results."

"Oh, really?" April relaxed slightly "I'm kind of surprised you came in person, I thought they were just gonna send out printouts or something."

"That was their initial intention, but I insisted that there are some things that are better shown in the flesh. This is one of them. Now if you wouldn't mind coming with me?"

"To where exactly?"

"Just to one of the facilities of the World Wide Genome Project, and it's not that far from here either." the man gave a smirk that came off as rather unsettling "Believe me when I tell you that the results will be well worth the wait."

"You know never told us your name." MJ finally spoke up, her gaze growing harder as she put an arm around April in a protective way.

"Oh yes, I suppose I never did." the man's grin only grew wider "My name is Dr Miles Warren, the head research scientist at Empire State University."

"...That's what I thought." MJ shared a quick look with April, the two of them more or less sharing the same train of thought 'Miles Warren, he's the guy that made Kraven and Hydro-Man to kill Peter, and sicked Kraven on Gwen that one time. And he's the one that turned Mark into Molten Man.'

"Is something wrong?"

"I… think we really oughta get going." April was about to take off running along with MJ, only to be stopped by Warren's hand gripping her shoulder tightly.

"I really must insist that you come with me." Warren's smirk grew more sinister as he reached into his jacked and pulled out a black and purple-colored laser gun "The Kraang insist that they speak with you as well."

"Yeah well… tell them I said thanks but no thanks!" April swung her leg around to kick the laser gun out of his hand and free her from his grip, then did a quick roll to avoid his attempt to lunge at her 'Note to self, thank Splinter for that next time I see him. I guess that means Peter was right when he said this guy was working with the Kraang. But he said that he was with the World Wide Genome Project too?'

"Well that was fairly irritating, if not commendable for your spirit. But that wasn't the only gift that I received from the Kraang." Warren let out a chuckle as he took a step forward, a set of claws growing on each of his hands, and he prepared to bring one of them down on April, only to be stopped by a flash of red and black, and then he got blown off his feet and into a wall a short distance away.

"What the- Daredevil?"

Sure enough, Daredevil stood before April and MJ, clad in his typical red and black suit while brandishing his usual billy club "I'll take care of him, in the meantime I would advise the both of you to find a place to hide. And to call your masked friend here."

"Yeah, that seems like a good call. MJ?"

"Way ahead of you." MJ promptly helped April to her feet, and then the two of them took off running away from the scene, the latter pulling out her T-phone as she did so "You calling in the cavalry?"

"Oh yeah. Come on guys, if there's ever a time I need you to show up and be heroes and all that good stuff, it would be now.'

Daredevil on the other hand, he glanced over to where Warren was picking himself up "I thought I was going to end up fighting against the Kraang here, but I guess that means I'll have to settle for you instead."

"That sentiment actually goes both ways." Warren wiped some blood from his lip as he stood back up "I was originally hoping to run into another masked vigilante, but I suppose one is as good as the other, at least for the sake of testing this out." it was then that his body started to morph, growing taller and his body being covered in green fur with pointed ears and a set of fangs protruding from his mouth "You should be honored, you're the first one outside of my benefactors that's had the chance to see me like this. And the first one to die by my hand while I'm in this form."

"If you're so sure of that, then why don't you come and prove it." Daredevil brandished his billy club as Warren charged at him, and the battle began.

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Meanwhile, at the Lair…

"So how about it?" Raph came up to Leo as the two of them were making their way towards the kitchen and immediately started questioning him "Are you gonna tell the rest of the guys about her or what?"

"That's the thing, there's no need for me to do that." Leo told him flatly.

"What the shell is that supposed to mean?"

"It means that I went and had a little chat with her last night, and she's not gonna be bothering us anymore."

"Oh yeah sure, because villains always back off when you ask them to all nice and stuff. Hey here's an idea, maybe I'll text the Kraang and ask them to stop mutating stuff and making all kinds of monsters that run around trashing the city. Oh wait I can't, and you know why? Because it makes about as much sense as any of that masked idiot's enemies doing a 180 and turning into a freaking public icon."

"First of all, I know that I'm the one you're referring to." this was when Spider-Man dropped down from the ceiling, thoroughly startling both of them "Second of all, that analogy doesn't exactly work when you know that since he reformed, Sandman has been trending on Twitter for like the past two months."

"I don't give a flying- Wait, seriously?"

"Oh yeah, now he's even more popular than that video of the cat slamming the door on a guy's face using its tail, or those clips about the baby driving the car."

"Huh. Go figure. Anyway is this about Kraang or Foot stuff, or are you just here to steal pizza out of my stash again?"

"What makes you think it was me?"

"I know it wasn't Mikey because when he steals out of my stash he leaves turtle slobber all over the place."

"I'm pretty sure he'd resent that if he heard it, even if it is true, and the fact that he's the one that cooks for you guys proves that bad mouthing him behind his back is a bad idea. Take it from a voice of experience, you don't piss off the person that makes your food."

"Whatever. What are you doing here then?"

"Aside from the fact that Mikey actually invited me for breakfast, I actually came here when I did because I wanted to talk to Splinter about something. In private."

"Fine, you do you." and so Raph promptly made his way into the kitchen, with Leo shooting a look at Spider-Man, then following without a word.

Spider-Man on the hand, he just let out a sigh as he lifted his mask off his head, revealing the face of Peter Parker, and he made his way into the dojo, only to find Splinter meditating by the big tree 'Oh great, he's doing that whole meditative trance thing. I probably shoudn't disturb him when he's like that. I guess I should probably grab a snack or something until he-'

"I believe you had something you wished to discuss with me?" Splinter's eyes opened as he cast a glance over at Peter.

"It's never going to stop freaking me out how you do that." Peter composed himself as he sat down in front of Splinter "But yeah there's something that's been kind of getting to me lately, something that's pretty big, and I need some advice on how to deal with it. I was hoping to run it by you and get some thoughts."

"If this is about your idea for myself and my sons to don a set of capes and become Rat Man and his Turtle-tastic four, the answer is still no."

"It was for a fanfiction contest and all that people would see of you guys is some poorly made concept art. But that's not it."

"Something more important then?"

"To me at least, yeah." Peter took a deep breath as he glanced up at Splinter "Do you think that I should just go ahead and… come clean to the guys about who I really am? Underneath my mask I mean."

"That… is a fairly momentous question."

"I know, that's why I needed to talk to someone about it or I would've gone nuts."

"I can understand that. Tell me, what brought you to think about such a thing?"

"Well to be honest, I've been thinking about it for awhile now. When I first became Spider-Man, I kept my identity a secret because, as a certain police captain said best, if my enemies knew who I really was, everyone I cared about would be in constant danger. A man who wears a mask may not have something to hide, but something to protect. Then again, given everything that's already happened to a lot of the people that I know, that hasn't really panned out as well as I would like to believe it did. But then I met the Turtles and you and April, and most of you already know who I am. The only real exception to that at this point is Raphael. So I have to wonder, is there any real point to me keeping it a secret from any of you guys anymore?"

"I understand your thought process on this matter. But keep in mind that as I grew up in Japan in the ways of ninjutsu, I was taught that the most important rule of the ninja is secrecy."

"I thought Mikey said that it was to do no harm, unless you mean to do harm, and then do lots of harm."

"That is the first rule yes, but secrecy is the most important rule. Some secrets are not meant to be hidden away forever, but some things belong in the shadows. But I cannot say for certain if your true identity is one of them." Splinter rested a hand on Peter's shoulder "Regardless of what decision you make on this matter, you will have my support."

"That… really helps actually. Thanks." Peter gave a small smile, one that Splinter returned, but their conversation was cut short when he heard the sound of vibrating pulled out his phone, then blinked a few times "Huh."

"Hey Peter?" this was when Donnia poked his head into the entrance to the dojo "Just making sure about this, but did you just get a mass text from April?"

"Yep."

"Does yours also say that she's hiding in a urinal while Daredevil is fighting a werewolf with green fur?"

"Sure does."

"Is that considered an emergency?"

"If it is then it wouldn't be the weirdest one I've faced. Give me one second to get my stuff together." Peter glanced over at Splinter one last time, and upon being given a nod of approval, he donned his mask and began to web-sling out of the Lair.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

A short while later, at the school…

"Alright guys we're here, now make sure to stay on your toes." Spider-Man led the Turtles into the main building of the school, motioning for the others to stay back and be cautious "We don't have a clue what it is we're dealing with."

"Holy shell…" Mikey on the other hand was more preoccupied with what he was seeing around him at the moment "So this is what a real school is like. This is so cool."

"Try spending about four years getting shoved into lockers by jocks that are compensating for a few things and see if you can still say that." Spider-Man rolled his eyes as he took a few glances around, only to stop when a familiar sensation started going off in his head "Hold up guys, we're about to have incoming, and it's either one really big one or a lot of little ones."

Sure enough, it was at this moment that a sizable group of Kraangdroids emerged from both ends of the hallway, laser guns locked and loaded "The ones that which are called Turtles and the one that which is called Spider-Man will now be called Turtles and Spider-Man that are that which is known as… destroyed."

"Asked and answered."

"You really gotta learn to shut up." Raph told him dryly.

"That's the pot calling the kettle green."

"Whatever, is there anymore?"

"Well if my Spider Sense is anything to go by-" Spider-Man was cut off by Daredevil suddenly crashing through the ceiling and landing on the ground in front of them, along with a hulking green figure "I'm gonna go ahead and say that's a yes." and then the five of them resorted to dodging the oncoming barrage of lasers being fired at them "So yeah, I'm thinking this counts as an emergency after all."

"Well what do we have here?" from the rubble emerged the hulking green figure, and he gave a smirk once he laid his eyes on Spider-Man "And here I thought that I was going to have to hunt you down myself, but to have you come to me is quite the welcome surprise. I think you'll find that I'm not the same person I was the last time we met either."

"Right, because I make a point to keep track of every ugly superpowered psychopath that tries to kill me." Spider-Man rolled his eyes, but then his demeanor turned to shock when he got a good look at the figure "Wait a second… Miles Warren?"

"Ah, so you do remember me. Part of me is rather flattered."

"How you honor me so." his tone was laced with sarcasm "So based on the whole scene in front of me right now, I'm guessing you're telling me in that "I just went through evil puberty" sort of way that you let the Kraang use you as a guinea pig for their Mutagen? Do you have any idea how messed up that is?"

"Do you think I'm so foolish as to allow myself to be used like a common lab rat? The Kraang did approach me about using their Mutagen yes, and in exchange for that, they gave me ample funding and aided me in perfecting my own mutagenic formula that I was working on with Dr Connors prior to his departure."

"You mean before you blackmailed him into moving out of the city."

"Because he couldn't see the possibilities that I've come to realize." he gestured to his new appearance "And that brings me to other fortunes that I was hoping to realize through my new partnership."

"Come again?"

"I've done my fair share of research, and the powers and capabilities that a certain someone has displayed up to this point line are unlike anything I've seen before now, something that I wish to learn how to harness and put to good use, so now with this new power, I intend to obtain that DNA and reverse engineer it, to unlock the secrets of greater power."

"Didn't know you were such a fanboy for whoever it is you're talking about. What next, you're gonna turn into one of those rabid Beetles fans and try and shoot me in the back or something along those lines?"

"Your prattling is something I won't miss." Warren suddenly pounced at Spider-Man in a burst of speed, only for him to weave around the strike and land a roundhouse kick to his face, sending him stumbling backwards, but he only smirked as he wiped the blood from his face "You are a prime example of what I'm referring to. All of this incredible power, wasted on a buffoon that would waste his time on such trivial matters. I will be able to put it to better use than stopping petty crimes and cracking terrible jokes. Just imagine the possibilities, a being with all of your powers and mine combined, or better yet an entire army of them. Not even the fools in the Avengers or SHIELD will be able to challenge the supremacy of-"

"The Jackal!" that was when Mikey suddenly gave his input from where he and the other Turtles were smacking around the last of the Kraangdroids "Get it, because you're about as loud and ugly as a jackal, and super sick looking too. I mean you're green for crying out loud."

"I can see that Spider-Man found company as irritating and juvenile as he is. But I will say, that actually does have a nice ring to it. Miles Warren is no more. No one will be able to challenge the supremacy displayed by the might of… the Jackal! And that my friends, that in itself is the true meaning of power."

"Actually I've got a better meaning for power, right here!" Spider-Man latched onto the Jackal's face with a single stream of webbing and used it to bring him in, then deal him an uppercut knee to the jaw, and then he moved to launch a follow up attack.

However, the Jackal brandished one of the silver gloves he was wearing, and once the chance arose he stuck one of his hands on Spider-Man's chest and unleashed a surge of electricity, causing him to scream in pain and send him flying back "Of course, all of the power in the world doesn't mean much if your opponent has made better preparations."

"I couldn't agree more."

The Jackal whipped around just in time to see a flash of red and black, that being Daredevil, strike him across the face with the flat end of his billy clubs, sending him crashing into a wall in a matter of seconds "Although evidently the circumstances aren't in my favor right now. So be it, proper science takes time after all. I suppose I'll just have to wait until our next occasion to get my hands on Spider-Man's DNA. All good things to those who wait, am I correct?" and so he burst through a wall (in a way that wasn't dissimilar to the Kool Aid Man) and took off across the rooftops of New York City.

"As if we're actually allowing him to get away." Daredevil spared a quick glance over at the Turtles and Spider-Man "The rest of you take care of the remaining Kraangdroids, I'll pursue him and let the rest of you catch up." and so he took off after the Jackal.

"Yeah okay, just leave me under the rubble like that." Spider-Man let out a pained groan as he lay sprawled out on his back "So you guys need help dealing with the Stormtrooper wannabes right now? I'm honestly hoping you say no because that hurt like hell."

"No need Spidey, we can handle this one on our own." Leo drew both katanas from the back of his shell as the remaining two Kraangdroids "We'll show these Stormtrooper ripoffs how the might of justice is stronger than the Force could ever dream of being." he was met with a series of groans from the others "What?"

"Dude seriously, it literally hurts to listen to you sometimes." Raph told him dryly.

"Whatever, let's just do this." so as the Kraangdroids began shooting lasers at them, Leo charged at him alongside Donnie, and the two of them cut them down in one single stroke "And that's how real heroes get things done."

"Yeah, good to know." Spider-Man pulled himself back to his feet and took a moment to shake off the disorientation he was feeling, then used his webbing to trap the Kraang as they tried to escape from their droid bodies "I'll make sure to get these guys out of here before anyone else can see them. The less people getting involved with the Kraang, the better."

"No arguments here, but we need to find April and fast." Donnie started looking around clearly frantically "April where are you, are you okay?"

"I'm right here." this was when April burst out of a door, along with MJ, and the both of them took a chance to kick one of the downed Kraangdroids "And stay down. Thanks for coming to help you guys."

"Yeah no problem April, I'm always gonna be here for-" Donnia cut himself short when he and the others finally noticed the presence of MJ "Um…"

"How ya doing?" MJ gave group a simple wave.

"...Oh we are so dead."

"Hey take it easy, she already knew about you guys anyway." Spider-Man was quick to cut in, which earned him a series of WTF looks from the Turtles "Right right, introductions and all of that good stuff. Leonard, Donatello, Raphael, Michelangelo, this is my closest friend outside of you guys and my confidante, and also April's cousin, Mary Jane Watson."

"Yep, thanks to Tiger I've already heard a lot about you guys, and April too once all the air got cleared. So what I wanna say first… thanks for looking out for then." MJ gave them her typical sultry smile, then went over and kissed each one of them on the cheek, leaving the four of them in a stunned silence.

"Yeah, she tends to have that effect on people. God knows she still does that to me whenever she wants to, though I'm pretty sure that it's mostly for kicks at this point."

"A girl's gotta pass the time somehow." MJ gave a shrug, only to end up backing away as she took notice of something behind them "Um, guys? We got a problem."

"What kind of problem?" Spider-Man glanced back to see another Kraangdroid pop up behind him and the others 'And apparently we missed one because of course we did. Seriously, it's like my Spider Sense never works when I want it to and every time when I don't. It's pretty much the same logic as with relatives.' and so he prepared to launch a stream from his web shooters.

Fortunately there was no need for that, given that a loud whack sent the Kraangdroid crashing to the ground, courtesy of Hobie Brown holding a fire extinguisher, and he glanced over at the others "Add that to the list of uses for this thing."

"Right, probably more introductions before you guys start having a panic attack." MJ was quick to try and smooth things over "Anyway guys, that's Hobie Brown, he's a friend and another student here."

"Not to mention a guy who's gonna have to get a new jacket after what those things tried to do to me." he held up his jacket (now having a series of gaping holes in it) for emphasis, then breathed a sigh as he glanced over at the Turtles "On another note, good to see you guys again, and under a lot better circumstances than before."

"...Are we supposed to have any idea who the shell you are?" Raph was the first of the Turtles to give a response.

"Oh right, you never actually saw my face. Maybe this ougha give you a hand and jog your memories a bit." he pulled out a certain purple mask that immediately put the Turtles on edge at the sight of it.

"The Prowler! You're going down you cocky son of a-" Raph barred his sais and charged at him at full speed, only for Hobie to weave around the attack and catch both of his wrists.

"Will you calm down? I'm not your enemy anymore."

"You're working with the Foot, that's enough reason for me to take these sais and shove them right up your-"

"I was working with the Foot, and only then I was doing it in order to get my family out of a ridiculous amount of debt. I've already severed my ties with them. Believe me when I tell you this, my days of taking orders from the Shredder are over."

"Why the hell should I believe you?"

"Well for one, what do you think I was doing since you guys got here? Someone had to get into the school's security system and take out the cameras so that nobody would see you or the others while you're here."

"And I'm supposed to take your word for that too?"

"How about the fact that I believe him." Spider-Man was quick to step in between them "I chose to give him the benefit of the doubt, so is that good enough for you or not?"

"...He tries to stab any of us in the back, I stab him in between the eyes."

"Good enough for me."

"And how the shell do you know where he goes to school?"

"That's a much longer story, but I'll tell you about it after we deal with this. Actually I was gonna tell you and the others a few things."

"Like what?"

"Once this is done, then I'll tell you everything. I swear."

"...I'm gonna hold you to that."

"And I'm fine with that, but in the meantime I think we can all agree that there's more important things to focus on right now." with that in mind, Spider-Man was quick to turn his attention back over to April and MJ "You two wanna give me some details on how this whole thing go so out of hand?"

"We just came to the school to get our DNA test results." April told him "Then when we showed up, there was that scientist here looking for me."

"Dr Miles Warren. Yeah, I think it's pretty clear by now that I've got a fair share of history with that lunatic. Apparently now he's a psychotic man-beast that looks like if the Hulk never learned how to shave."

"So we can call him the Jackal!" was Mikey's input.

"Oddly enough he's right, that actually does work. Anyway yeah, he's the Jackal now. I still don't quite get why he was here though."

"He did say that he came from the World Wide Genome Project." April told him "That was where we sent our DNA tests."

"And this just keeps getting more complicated."

"So what does that mean then?" asked Hobie "You think that he's really using the World Wide Genome Project as a cover for his operations?"

"Either that or he and his benefactors are hacking into their systems. God only knows what kind of info they could be stealing. I guess there's only one way to find out for sure."

"You and the Turtles are going to check this place out?"

"That's the plan. In the meantime, you mind escorting the two of them home?" he jerked a thumb over at April and MJ "Better safe than sorry as far as I'm concerned."

"Sure that's no problem, you guys just do what you have to do."

"Like take down the Eastside High Gorillas in the rematch in the Fall." Mikey glanced up at a poster on the wall "According to this poster, they've totally got it coming."

"They totally do. I was in that game when we won state last year, you should've seen what they did to our quarterback. It took him months to get back on his feet. Anyway you guys go do what you have to do, I'll get the girls home."

"Got it, and thanks for the help, really. Hey Mikey, you care to do the honors?"

"Way ahead of you dude. Booyakasha!" Mikey threw down a smokebomb, and when the smoke cleared the five of them were gone.

"Okay I have to admit, that's pretty impressive."

"You know you don't have to walk us home." April told him "We can take care of ourselves just fine."

"I don't doubt that, but I did promise him I'd at least make sure you get home safe. Just give me a minute to make a call first." so Hobie broke off from the two of them for a moment, and once he rounded a corner he pulled out his cell phone "The things I do to clear a debt."

"Yeah?"

"You said you wanted to know what the Turtles were up to right?"

"Well you already listen better than my father."

"Let me guess, he didn't care about who these people were if it didn't help his own goals?"

"He said to focus on the mission and that everything else is a distraction, but I'm not so short sighted. So what did you find out?"

"Apparently they call themselves the Kraang. I didn't find out anything about their motives or objectives, but apparently they have some sort of ties to the World Wide Genome Project. The Turtles and Spider-Man are heading there now to investigate, so if you're gonna find any kind of answers, that's more than likely where they're going to be."

"Looks like you're better at intel gathering than I gave you credit for."

"Just remember to keep your end of our agreement."

"Right right I know, the payment will be transferred over to your account as agreed. Once that's taken care of, your debt is as good as paid. Good luck with that."

"Good enough for me." and so Hobie promptly hung up 'Sorry about this Parker, I hate to do really anything involving them, but it's like I've told you before. Sometimes you have to do things you don't like in order to do right by the people you care about.'

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Nightfall came, and the moon and stars shone brightly over the New York City skyline.

"Alright guys, here's the place." Spider-Man dropped down on the roof of the headquarters for the World Wide Genome Project, only to find a locked door waiting for them "Plus according to my Spider Cell, apparently Daredevil tracked the Jackal here too, so this gives us the chance to kill two birds with one stone. Now the only question is how we get in."

"Leave it to me." Donnie pulled out his T-phone "I've got an app for that."

"Or here's a different though, we don't waste time on that." Spider-Man promptly kicked the door in with ease, earning a few surprised looks from the others "Keep in mind that I do have the proportionate strength of a spider, I might as well try and put it to good use."

"For once we actually agree on something." Raph gave a smirk as he followed Spider-Man into the building, with the others (including a rather disgruntled Donnie) right behind him.

What none of them noticed was that Karai was following them from afar, and her gaze hardened as she watched them enter the building 'Well what do you know, looks like my informant was as reliable as I had hoped he would be. Now to see what they're so invested in here.'

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Meanwhile, inside the building…

"Hold up a second guys." once they were inside the lab, Leo stopped Spider-Man and the others in their tracks upon catching sight of a certain red and black figure in front of them "I guess what we heard from Spidey was true."

Sure enough, Daredevil was standing in front of them, though his face was covered in blood and bruises and his suit shredded in some areas, as well as his billy club having been broken, but his demeanor was as hard and determined as it ever was "I'm glad you came. I fear that I may have underestimated our new enemy."

"Is he really that bad?"

"After I broke off from the rest of you I chased after him, and I tried to stop him once I caught up to him. Even with the protection I'm offered by my suit wasn't very sufficient against the level of strength he now possesses."

"So where is he now?" asked Spider-Man.

"I lost track of him once he entered the building, but I can say for a fact that he is somewhere in this facility."

"Speaking of which, what the shell gives?" Mikey took a look around "For a lab that got built by humans, this place looks Kraang-y enough to give any turtle the creeps."

"And for good reason. I did some digging around since I've been in here, and from what I can tell, it seems that the Kraang are in charge of the World Wide Genome Project, rather than simply stealing information from them."

"So what are they doing with a facility like this?" asked Donnie.

"I was able to find that out as well, follow me and I'll show you." so Daredevil led the five of them to the end of the hallway to a large open room housing an enormous container filled to the brim with Mutagen and numerous containers with animal symbols on the front "Fortunately I've already taken care of most of the guards, so we're less likely to encounter resistance unless we set off the alarms."

"Well that's definitely convenient."

"So what are we looking at here?" asked Leo.

"From the looks of it, it seems like the Kraang are collecting samples of DNA from every plant and animal species in the world. I can't help but wonder what they plan to do with all of it."

"Whatever it is, it can't be good."

"I think we have our answer right over there." Spider-Man jerked a thumb at the giant container of Mutagen in the center of the room "Normal mutants of this kind are bad enough, imagine if they can combine traits of multiple species into a single mutant. We've already got an example of how bad that is with Kraven."

"We do?"

"Think about it. He got his powers from a formula that the Jackal gave him, and thanks to it, in the words of the Thundercat himself…" and cue the Russian accent "Now Kraven climb and leap like leopard, run fast as cheetah, and possess strength of lion!"

"...You know that Russian accent was pretty good." Daredevil told him.

"Thanks, I've been working on that one for months. Either way, whatever they're gonna do with this stuff can't be good, so I say we torch the place while we've got the chance."

"I agree, so let's do this fast." Daredevil paused, then looked around "However, I believe we're missing one of our companions."

"Wait, what?" Leo looked around and saw that Raph was missing "Hey Raph where-"

"Gotcha!" as it turns out, Raph was above them on top of the Mutagen tanker, pinning a certain female beneath him.

"What the- Karai?!"

"Bet you think you're pretty slick don't ya?"

"What can I say, I've got my fair share of moments." Karai freed her arm from Raph's hold and spun him around to pin him underneath her foot "Case and point."

"Oh just wait, I'll show you one of my moments when I shove my sais up your-" and so the two of them began fighting each other, only for Karai to draw a tanto in her free hand and begin to push him back with a series of swift attacks.

"Raph, Karai, come on guys you have to stop!" Leo was quick to jump into the fray and try to break up their fight.

"Oh yeah, this is about as fun as a route canal." Spider-Man let out a groan as he glanced over at the others "Who here has questions about what the shell is going on?" he was met with two hands going up "I thought as much."

"I have a few questions as well." Daredevil glanced over at him "I don't suppose you know of the details about this?"

"To make a long story short, he thinks she's hot and that she's got this speck of good in her that he's trying to bring out, you know like something out of anime."

"I'm very familiar with anime, one of my allies is well-versed in those ways."

"Mr Murdock?"

"Mr Nelson actually."

"Huh. I'll have to check him out at some point."

"You totally should, people think anime is the core of the world for a reason." Karai offered her input from where she was fending off Raph's attacks, during which she got a good look at the tanker of Mutagen they were fightiung on "So I take it this is the stuff that turns people into monsters? You wanna give me some details on how it works?"

"Why don't you lean in a little bit more, I'll let you see it up close and personal." Raph tried to push her back further, only to end up being knocked to the ground by Karai as she moved in for a follow up attack, with Raph bracing himself to meet her attack head on, until…

"Enough!" Leo broke into their clash at the last second to stop them both in their tracks "This whole thing has gotten way out of hand, if you don't cool it then you're gonna set off-" he was sent stumbling back as they broke off from their clash, stopping himself as he hit the control panel for the Mutagen tanker… and ended up setting off an alarm "-one of those."

"Yeah that figures." Spider-Man shared a quick glance with the others "I don't know about you, but I honestly thought it was gonna be me that set it off."

"Thanks for rubbing salt in the wound Spidey."

"Not like you don't have it coming." Raph took the chance to round on Leo in his anger "I mean seriously, what the shell is the matter with you? Why are you protecting her? Anyone with half a brain cell knows she's bad news!"

"No she's not."

"Yes she is!"

"No she's not!"

"Yes I am." was Karai's input.

"Can you stay out of this? I'm trying to defend you here."

"Dude you realize that she's flat out telling you that she's bad news." Spider-Man pointed out dryly, only for his gaze to harden as a familiar sensation went off in his head "Guys."

"I know." Daredevil wiped some of the blood from his face as he looked around "We're not alone in here anymore."

"You think it's him? My Spider Sense isn't really that specific when it comes to danger."

"It's definitely him, I can smell it. You'd best be on your guard."

"Got it. Now let's go and bag us a Jackal."

Sure enough, it was at this moment that the Jackal emerged from one of the doorways to the room, clad in a set of gray armor covering his torso and a set of matching gauntlets, and at least a dozen Kraangdroids were backing him up, a malicious smirk spreading across his face as he caught sight of Spider-Man and the others "Yet again you come to me without myself having to do so much as lift a finger. Given my background in science I'm not particularly inclined to hold a belief in the concept of destiny, but I suppose some things are meant to be. Another example will be your inevitable demise, with the help of my associates back here that is."

"Go ahead and try it you Green Goblin wannabe." Spider-Man loaded new cartridges into his web-shooters, with Daredevil dropping into a combat stance and the Turtles all brandishing their weapons as they readied themselves for a fight.

"Well what do you know?" Karai gave a smirk underneath her mask as she brandished her own tanto blade "This day just keeps getting better by the minute."

"Save that for after we avoid getting our heads blasted off!" and so the seven of them went on the evasive, avoiding the oncoming barrage of lasers being shot at them by the Kraangdroids, though during this Spider-Man took the chance to round on the Jackal "Hey ugly, I say go ahead and try to catch me if you can!" and so he leapt onto the higher platforms and took off running out into the hallway.

"I'm not so foolish as to allow myself to be led astray by the likes of you. But with that being said, I wouldn't mind testing this new might against an opponent of that calliber. So be it then, if it's a chase you want then it's a chase you'll receive. After all, finishing youoff in advance will make it that much easier to dissect you and find out what makes you tic." and so the Jackal took off after Spider-Man, with Daredevil pursuing him not far behind.

"...So did they just ditch us?" Karai glanced over at Leo with a raised eyebrow as she cut down one of the Kraangdroids "Not gonna lie, I didn't expect the two vigilante heroes to duck out on you guys like that. Kind of a dick move if I'm gonna be honest."

"It would be if that was actually what he did." Leo cut down a Kraangdroid of his own "Keep in mind that the Kraang have strength in numbers, but the Jackal on his own is actually a really dangerous threat. Fighting them all in the same place would place the odds way too high against us, so they're spreading them out so we don't have to fight them all in one place."

"Huh. Okay then. I gotta admit, I didn't expect that idiot cracking jokes to be one of the smart ones of your group."

"Well you know what they say, never judge a book by its cover and all that." and so they went back to fighting off the Kraangdroids.

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Meanwhile, with the masked vigilantes…

'Well this oughta work.' Spider-Man made his way through the window of a certain building in another part of the city not far away, and once he was inside he grabbed a certain vial from a table and stowed it away in his suit 'I hope it's gonna work anyway, but I guess there's only one way to find out.' once it was stowed away in his suit he made his way back up onto the roof of the building, where he found Daredevil waiting for him "I thought you were chasing the Jackal while he was chasing me, how did you get here first?"

"My heightened senses let me narrow down your location." Daredevil told him "What I don't understand is why you came to the ESU laboratory. I thought that you and the others had already gleaned all of the information on his activities that he had here."

"We did and I've got enough evidence to put him away for years, but that's not what I came here looking for. Aside from drawing him away from the dozens of alien blobs in robot bodies that aim like Stormtroopers, I had to get something from the lab that might end up killing two birds with one stone." he held up the vial "This is the Gene Cleanser, the stuff that I used in order to cure Dr Connors when he turned into the Lizard, and what I used in order to take down Venom the last time I fought him. It cleanses the body of any impurities, and with any luck, it's gonna take the jackal out of the Jackal."

"I have a feeling you're going to have your chance very soon. He'll be here any second, so be on your guard."

"Got it, now how much time have we got?" Spider-Man received his answer in the form of a loud roar in the distance "Ask a stupid question."

"A mistake I've made far too many times already. Brace yourself." Daredevil took a few steps forward as a tense silence filled the air, only to suddenly whip around just in time to be met with a fist to the gut that was immediately followed by a powerful surge of electricity, which sent him crashing to the ground in a matter of seconds.

"Ah, the wonders of Kraang technology." the Jackal gave a malicious smirk as he grabbed the stunned form of Daredevil by the arm and unleashed another surge of electricity, causing him to cry out in pain.

"Hey dude, try picking on someone that's as ugly as you!" Spider-Man shot a single stream of webs at the Jackal that covered his eyes, blinding him for a moment and allowing Spidey to leap in and deal him a roundhouse kick to the face, sending him staggering backwards "Just for we're clear, that one was for Molten Man." he then followed up with a brutal uppercut to the jaw, and then a swift barrage of punches and kicks "And these are for the Connors!" and then he moved in for another follow up attack.

"Of course you're thinking of Connors, you reek of his sentimentality." the Jackal managed to stop Spider-Man's attack by grabbing him by the wrist and squeezing it "Now then, imagine the possibilities that could come with reverse engineering your powers."

"How about I give you a good taste of them right NOW!" he dealt the Jackal another kick square in the jaw to free himself, then another kick to send the Jackal crashing to the ground, and then he started punching him repeatedly until he lay unmoving "After everything you've done, all the people you've hurt, I should beat you into a paste!" he paused, and then released his grip and leapt back "But that's not what I'm gonna do. The Kraang and their Mutagen, it can mess with your head in a lot of ways. You don't have to do these things. You can stop it now, you just have to let me help you."

"...Evidently there's something you don't understand. I chose to do this to myself, to evolve into a form beyond normal human limitations, to become what you see now!" the Jackal leapt back onto his feet and pounced at Spider-Man at full speed.

Spider-Man was quick to leap around the rooftops and dodge and weave his way around every attack being thrown at him "Fine, you can't say I didn't at least try." so he leapt around another surge from the Jackal's gauntlets and latched onto the Jackal using his webs, then used them and his enhanced physical strength to pin the Jackal to the ground "And just for the sake of keeping track, I've already done Molten Man and the Connors. This one is for Hydro-Man, another decent guy that's suffering because of you."

"Suffering?" the Jackal broke free of Spider-Man's grip, then grabbed him by the leg and threw him across the rooftops, and he readied his gauntlets to electrocute him "I helped him transcend beyond normal limitations, to evolve into a new being that's far superior than anything he could've been without my assistance. Then there are fools like you, those who are afraid of taking risks to explore possibilities."

"Taking risks my web hole." Spider-Man caught the Jackal's hands in his own and stopped him from advancing "Taking risks, like brainwashing thundercats and sicking them on innocent teenage girls that try to show the world who and what you really are!" with a burst of physical strength, he turned the electrical gauntlet back on the Jackal and pressed it directly against his face, electrocuting him and causing him to scream in pain, as well as blowing him clear across the city skyline. With the battle temporarily over, Spider-Man breathed a sigh of relief as he lifted up the bottom half of his mask and wiped away some blood 'And in case it wasn't clear, that last one was for Gwen. Not gonna lie, that took a lot more out of me than I thought it was going to."

"A feeling that I understand all too well." this was when Daredevil finally picked himself up off the ground, staggering slightly, but he managed to get ahold of himself "I will say that fighting off beings with actual superpowers is a new experience to me, and something that I need to get acclimated to fast."

"Well the suit oughta help with that, at least from what I've seen so far. You gonna be okay from here on out?"

"I'll be fine, I just need a moment to catch my breath."

"Then catch up with me when you're feeling up to it, I'm gonna go ahead and chase that creep down." and so Spider-Man took began webslinging across the New York skyline, pulling out his Spider Cell with his free hand as he did so "Captian Stacy? Yeah it's me. Have I got one hell of a story for you…"

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The situation at the World Wide Genome Project was growing more chaotic, with the Turtles, along with Karai, being forced to fight off an enormous number of Kraangdroids. Leo tried to convince Raph that Karai was actually working with them, which Raph was less than receptive to at the moment. Things only got worse when reinforcements arrived for the Kraang and ended up cornering the Turtles with their giant energy cannon. Karai on the other hand, she had made it over to the control panel, and upon baiting the others, pushed the button that combined all of the DNA samples with the Mutagen in the tanker, creating grotesque monstrous creature, which was quickly named Justin by Mikey, mostly because he couldn't come up with anything better. It was then that Karai chose to snag an abandoned Kraangdroid and take off on her own, much to Leo's dismay and anger. As the battle against Justin continued, the other Turtles were left beaten down and slightly charred, even with the Kraang trying (and failing) to contain the beast. It was at this moment that Leo realized that Raph was right all along, and with a renewed fire burning in his eyes, he charged at Justin, and after a fierce struggle he managed to use both of his katanas to deflect one of its blasts of electricity into the Kraang's console, leaving the monster to be blown to smithereens, as well as causing the entire World Wide Genome Project facility to collapse, forcing the Turtles to evacuate.

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Meanwhile, on the other end…

Following their explosive clash, the Jackal ended up crash landing in the middle of a city street, where he was left to pick himself up out of the rubble "Well, it appears that I have ended up making a miscalculation. A couple of miscalculations actually."

"Oh trust me, you're gonna have a lot more stuff to miscalculate after you get a load of these bad boys!" Spider-Man suddenly web-slinged his way onto the scene and dealt the Jackal a brutal fist to the face that sent him hurtling across the street, and then he took a look around 'No people in this area, I guess Captain Stacy and his men already took care of the evacuation. Good, now I don't have to worry too much about collateral damage. Hey good news big guy, you get to help me try out my new web lasso when I use it to ram you through a wall!" he unleashed another stream of webs that he fired at the Jackal."

"Interesting prospect, let's try it out with an alternative method." the Jackal recovered in time to catch the stream of webs and use that to hurl Spider-Man around, sending him crashing through several walls until he hit the ground with a loud crash, and then he readied his stun gauntlet for another attack.

"New plan, I test it out by kicking your teeth in!" Spider-Man used his enhanced strength to propel himself forward and kick the Jackal in the face, knocking him to the ground and releasing a powerful surge of electricity that littered the streets, setting it ablaze in numerous areas "Now how do like that one?" he received his answer in the form of the Jackal punching him in the jaw and sending him crashing into a nearby car 'Okay, that hurt more than I thought it would… I'm not sure how much I have left in me, so if I'm gonna take him down then it's gonna have to be now.' and so as he remained lying motionless on the ground, he subtly loaded his web-shooters with a special blue cartridge 'I'm only gonna have one shot at this, so I have to make it count for all it's worth.'

"Ah Spider-Man, so much potential and yet so naive and foolish." the Jackal made his way over to the downed form of Spider-Man and began stomping dow on his back "It's as I was telling you before, all of the power in the world doesn't mean anything if you don't know how to use it properly."

"Yeah I know… one example of that is THIS!" Spider-Man burst upright with all the strength he had, and then in a single motion he unleashed a single blue stream of webs that hit the Jackal square in the face, which then unleashed a powerful surge of electricity, causing the Jackal to scream in pain and then hit the ground with a loud thud, out cold. With the battle finally over, he

Spider-Man breathed a sigh of relief as he finally fell to his knees in exhaustion 'Okay now that the danger is over, I guess my body is finally registering all the pain he put me through… and it's a lot… Ow…'

"Spidey!" this was when Leo and the other Turtles showed up, carrying Daredevil's wounded form with them in the process "Are you okay?"

"Well I'm not dead, so frankly I think we can chalk that up as a win. Also, I'm pretty sure that my everything is on fire. Ow… So what happened on your end?"

"Let's see here. Karai ended up creating a giant monster mutant made from all the DNA samples that the Kraang had been taking, and then she snagged a broken Kraangdroid and bailed on us, leaving us to fight Justin by ourselves."

"...You guys called the thing Justin?"

"I couldn't think of anything better." Mikey gave a shrug "At least it had a better ring to it than just calling Octo Eyeball Jellybug."

"This might be the internal bleeding talking, but that actually doesn't sound too bad."

"Well it definitely had enough power to earn a more terrifying name." Leo let out a sigh "What gets under my shell is the fact that Karai created that thing and bailed on us. I guess you guys were right when you said not to trust her."

"At least tell me this. Was she spewing fire at you because she blamed for you infecting her dad with a conscience?"

"No."

"Then I still say it's a step up from how things ended between me and Black Cat."

"Either way, we managed to beat the thing and it kind of exploded when I used the control console to send one of its lightning bolts back at it, and then the World Wide Genome Project pretty much went up in flames so we had to leave before the firefighters arrived. Speaking of which, we'd better get you and Daredevil out of here before the police arrive. Splinter can fix all of your wounds once we get you back to the Lair."

"Yeah good call, just give me one second." Spider-Man pulled himself to his feet and made his way towards the Jackal, and then he proceeded to web him to the ground before pulling out the vial of Gene Cleanser and pouring it down his throat, causing him to revert back to his human form, just as sirens began to sound around the area "I'm thinking we'd better go now."

"Probably for the best. Like I said, once we get back to the Lair I'm sure that Splinter will take care of you and Daredevil."

"And then someone is gonna have to start talking." Donnie and Mikey both took the chance to shoot a glare over at Leo.

"...Yeah. That too."

"You knew it was gonna happen sooner or later." Spider-Man gave a shrug, but then he looked away as the group retreated across the rooftops 'And then once he's gotten that taken care of, I think I'm gonna have to do some talking myself.'

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A short while later, at the Lair…

"And that's about it." Leo breathed a heavy sigh as he finished explaining his story with Karai to the others (the other Turtles, Spider-Man, Daredevil, April and Splinter), during which Splinter was tending to Spider-Man and Daredevil's wounds "I know I should've told the rest of you about Karai before this whole thing got so out of hand, but I really did think there was a chance that she would be good, and I guess… that I may have sort of liked her. Alright I'm done, go ahead and laugh."

"Seriously Leo, I can't believe you trusted her." Donnie and Mikey shared a look, and then the two of them rounded on Leo "Even more than that, I can't believe you didn't trust the rest of us enough to tell us."

"I know, and I was wrong to do that. I'm really sorry you guys."

"Yeah well, I tried to warn you." Spider-Man pulled himself to his feet and staggered forward to meet Leo in the eye "Take it from a voice of experience dude, you're not the first one of us to make himself look like an idiot because you're trying to impress a girl."

"What about Donnie?" was Mikey's input, causing Donnie to smack him upside the head.

"Truth be told I was talking about me. Trust me, plenty of you know about the dumpster fire that is my love life."

"I speak from experience myself." Daredevil pulled himself to his feet, having to be supported by Spider-Man due to the wounds he received "But with that being said, I find that when the woman you're attracted to is on a different side from your own, that can lead you to make grave mistakes that alienate you not only from the right path, but from the people that trust and care for you. My mentor and I had a difficult relationship, but many things he taught me continue to stay with me, one of them being that deception is a powerful weapon in the hands of all that know how to use it, and it would seem that this kunoichi you've had your eyes on is a true master of the art."

"Yeah, what he said."

"Right." Leo bowed his head in shame "I already understand what the two of you are trying to say. We can't trust her, I see that now."

"Don't beat yourself up over it too much. But I know, the ones in the skin-tight bodysuits or the form-fitting armor are always just out for themselves, and they can't be trusted. I should've learned that lesson with the Black Cat, but I guess some of them take awhile to sink in. Plus it's like a wise man once said, a lesson learned the hard way is still a lesson learned. What matters is that you do learn from your 's what I've tried to do up until now. And I think I'm about to do it one more time."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean it's time for me to come clean all the way." Spider-Man readied himself as he turned around to face the rest of the group "For a long time, more than a year really, I never told anyone who I was underneath this mask, because I always believed, and still do honestly, that if any of my enemies found out who I was, then everyone I cared about would be in constant danger. A wise man once told me that a man who wears a mask doesn't have something to hide, but rather something to protect. But only now do I think I really understand what he meant. I thought that by not telling any of the people that I care about who I really was, that I was protecting them. I still think that, but maybe somewhere along the way, the mask became a way of protecting myself, whether it be from pain or exposure of any kind, or… really trusting the people around me."

"What are you saying dude?" Mikey shared a look with the others 'No way in shell, is he really about to…?'

"You guys trusted in me, you have for a long time now, so now I think it's about time for me to return that favor. You've become a lot more than just partners to me. You're my allies, more than that you're my friends, and I trust you guys with my life. Now I think it's time for me to prove it." with a deep breath, Spider-Man pulled off his mask and revealed his face for all of those present to see "My name is Peter Parker. And I am Spider-Man." he stayed silent for a moment and waited for any of the others to react.

"...Holy shell, I've seen you before!" Raph suddenly pointed at Peter.

"Wait, what?"

"Yeah, you're the dude in that one YouTube thing April showed me, about the dude dancing with no pants on."

"...Seriously?" Peter shot a dull look over at April "You showed him that thing? MJ actually put it on the internet?"

"She did say she was gonna and she's not a liar?" April gave a shrug "She sent it to me before she uploaded it and Raph happened to be nearby when I was watching it."

"Uh huh."

"That's what happened, I swear. Either way, I'm just glad you finally decided to come clean, even if I already knew." April was met with a few voices of agreement from the others "Way to go Peter."

"Wait hold the shell up a second!" Raph bolted to his feet and whipped around to look at the rest of those present "You guys all knew and you never told me? What the shell?!"

"Keep in mind my son." Splinter spoke up next "Secrecy is known to be the most important rule of the ninja."

"But wasn't it-" Mikey was cut off by Splinter's tail covering his mouth.

"As I was saying, secrecy is known to be the most important rule of the ninja, even if it is not the very first rule." Splinter made his way over to Peter and placed a hand on his shoulder "Keep this in mind as well young one, owning who you are is going to make you that much stronger than you were before, whether it be as a ninja, as a hero, or as a person."

"I'll keep that in mind." Peter let out a sigh as he sat back down "I will say, it does feel pretty good to get that off my chest for once."

"I know that feeling." Leo sat down next to him "I still feel like an idiot for that whole thing that happened with Karai, truth be told I'm not sure exactly what I was thinking."

"Hey don't doubt yourself too much, personally I can totally see how you think she's hot in that evil kind of way. Again with the point about skin-tight bodysuits and form-fitting armor."

"Yeah well you don't have to worry about that anymore, I'm totally over that."

"Famous last words man, just remember that next time you see her. But in the meantime, we've got other things to focus on at the moment."

"Like what?"

"What do you think? Aside from revealing my identity to you guys, we stuck it to the Kraang again, and we took down the guy that's been working with the Kraang and making guys that want to kill me for months. I say tonight's a night to celebrate."

"Pizzas all around!" Mikey was the first one to start cheering.

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Back in Shredder's Lair, Karai displayed the remains of the Kraangdroid to Shredder, only to find that he still wasn't interested and didn't want to hear anymore of it. Stockman on the other hand, he found that it was exactly the kind of technology he was trying to develop in order to finish Xever's legs. That was enough to peak the Shredder's interest, to which he praised Karai and told her to find out all that she could about the Kraang, so that they could use their tech for their own means.

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Hours passed, and the calm of night was beginning to settle in for many.

A cap pulled up in a certain suburban neighborhood, and then April stepped out and helped Peter out onto the sidewalk "Remind me again why you wanted to to a high dive off of the tree in the dojo and through the tireswing, after you spent the better part of a day fighting off the Kraang and a giant jackal monster?"

"All I'm gonna say is it seemed like a good idea at the time." Peter gave a shrug, then winced from the pain "But then again, I do see your point."

"Hence the reason why you should always trust a woman's intuition." the two of them continued making their way along the sidewalk, until April broached another topic "So be honest with me, how are you doing after everything that happened today?"

"Honestly, I actually feel pretty good. Knowing that my identity is finally out there to all of you, it kind of feels like a weight has been lifted from my shoulders. Plus it's a lot of catharsis to know that Miles Warren, or the Jackal or whatever we're calling him now, finally got what's coming to him after all the crap he's pulled."

"You said he made a bunch of the supervillains you've fought right?"

"Yeah, that includes Kraven, Molten Man and Hydro-Man, and if you count him turning into the Jackal that makes four. Two of them were actually decent guys when I knew them. Truth be told I did think something was kind of off about him back when I first met him, now I'm kicking myself for not fighting it all out sooner. Seriously, Gwen was the one that caught onto him, and I don't have a clue how she managed to deal with working for him." he stopped suddenly, and then his face fell slightly, which didn't go unnoticed by April.

"You okay?"

"Yeah, just… thinking about Gwen again. Just getting the chance to talk to her and patch things up would make today perfect."

"Who knows, maybe it'll happen yet."

"April it's 9:30 at night, and you clearly don't know anything about the Parker luck that makes a schmuck out of me on a daily basis. If it hasn't done me any favors before, I doubt that it's going to do it for me now." it was then that they reached the Parker household and opened the door, only for him to stop in his tracks at what he saw.

As it turns out, Gwen was sitting on the couch in the living room with May, the two of them engaged in a conversation that quickly came to an end when she saw Peter standing in the doorway, and she gave a nervous smile "Hi Pete."

'...Then again, I guess the law of averages was bound to catch up with me sooner or later, so I probably should've seen this coming. Hey Gwen… long time no see."

"Yeah, a long time since I've been here. So how have you been?"

"Well enough, just a lot of stuff to do for work. So what are you doing here?"

"Oh well, I came over to talk to you about some stuff, but you weren't here, so your aunt invited me in and we sort of had a girl's day together."

"It was quite the lovely time actually." May turned to face Peter "We just went out to have some lunch and do a bit of shopping, and just take the time to talk woman to woman."

"Plus I figured you'd want her to have some company while you were at work." Gwen glanced over at Peter and saw how stunned he was 'Does he know that I know his secret?'

"Well as fun a day as this turned out to be, I think I'll turn in a bit early and let the rest of you talk amongst yourselves for the time being. Thank you again for the company dear." so May took the chance to hug Gwen, then Peter, and then she made her way upstairs.

'Did… Did she just bail to get me and Peter to talk alone?'

"Okay so I'm gonna be spending the night with Mary Jane, you guys go ahead and do whatever you gotta do." April waved at both Gwen and Peter and promptly made her way out the door without another word.

'Okay, now I know she definitely was doing that.'

'Oh joy, an awkward situation that involves being alone with my dream girl that I know I can't be with.' Peter glared back at the direction April had gone, then turned back to Gwen as he tried to keep himself composed "Thanks for looking after my aunt today Gwen. With all of the stuff that I had on my plate, it helped to have someone be there for her when I couldn't."

"No problem. I thought it was the least I could do." Gwen was silent for a moment, but then she let out a sigh and stepped closer to Peter "Listen Pete, there's something else I need to say. Truth be told, it's something I should've said way before now."

"Um… okay, go ahead."

"Thanks. Look Pete, I know things have been… tense between us for awhile, and it only got worse after Harry lost his dad, but honestly that part is on me. I tried to be there for him while he was going through the worst time in his life, to stop him from going over the edge… but I ended up leaving you alone in the process. Then I went with my dad to visit my mom's grave the other night and that, along with a few other really heavy things, made me realize… Harry does need me right now to help him get through this, but he's only the only important person in my life, not even close. The fact is that you're still here, you've always been here, but I haven't been here for you when you needed me. I'm sorry Peter, I truly am."

"Gwen…" Peter was left taken aback by what she was telling him, but then he sat down on the couch and motioned for her to do the same "After what happened, it was… pretty rough for me for awhile. I wsan't in the best place, so I just threw myself into all my other stuff… and truth be told, it actually led to me meeting the Turtles for the first time, and we grew pretty close pretty fast."

"So… you being on your own for all that time was a good thing?"

"Well it had its benefits, truth be told Splinter says that the moments when we're alone or at our lowest is when we figure out who we really are and what we really want."

"Splinter?"

"The Turtles' dad, he's actually an old friend Aunt May and Uncle Ben."

"May knows about him?"

"Yeah, but let's not get sidetracked." Peter let out a sigh "Listen Gwen, as much as I have grown and learn over the past few months… I can't go through that agin. I just can't."

"I know, and I truly am sorry Peter. I wouldn't blame you if you hate me."

"Gwen I could never hate you, and I don't blame you for focusing on Harry. He needed you more than me."

"But that doesn't mean you didn't need me at all."

"I know, but I'll tell you what I told the others. If you were gonna turn your back on someone who was suffering as much as Harry is, then you wouldn't be the person that I admire as much as I do." he gave a small smile that made Gwen blush and look away "Anyway I didn't have any hard feelings or anything like that."

"So… what do we do now? I'm still with Harry, so-"

"Well here's the thing about that. Being with the Turtles for the past few months made me realize how much I missed having guys friends, and honestly all of the dating drama over the past year has just been exhausting. Frankly I just want to take the chance to be with my family, and with my friends. That's what I need right now, and what I want the most too."

"So… we just go back to being friends then?"

"That's what I vote for personally. For now at least."

"That… actually sounds really nice." Gwen gave a small smile as she pulled herself to her feet, with Peter doing the same "Anyway I should get going, my dad doesn't like me being out too late after what happened on New Year's Eve."

"Probably for the best, the last thing I need is him trying to shoot me in between the eyes or something."

"He would never do that, and even if he did I'd just give him the Look."

"I pray for his soul then." the two of them shared a chuckle "But I'll see you at school on Monday right?"

"Yeah for sure, count on it."

"Great. I'll see you then Gwen."

"Sure thing. See you then Peter." Gwen suddenly pulled him into a tight hug, and then she made her way out the door without another word.

'Well… that turned out more interesting than I thought it would.' Peter could feel his mind race as he made his way up the stairs 'So I think it's safe to say that a lot happened today, and I mean A LOT in the most literal sense possible. Aside from finally telling all of the Turtles about my true identity, I finally got my hands on Miles Warren, or the Jackal or whatever we're calling him now, and took him down, and I even managed to patch things up with Gwen. For once, things in my life actually feel pretty good and hopeful, like everything is right with the world. Now I guess it's my responsibility with the power I possess, to make sure it stays that way…'

A/N:

I'm sure plenty of you saw this coming a mile away, but here it is, one of the many moments you've all been waiting for. Spider-Man has finally revealed himself to all of his new allies, and now all of the Turtles, as well as April and Splinter, have met him as Peter Parker as well. A new level of trust has been established among the group, which they're going to need for the challenges that lie ahead.

What's more, another subplot has officially been wrapped up in the form of Spider-Man, with some help from the Turtles, finally bringing down Miles Warren, who had been turned into the supervillain known as the Jackal. I'm going to level with all of you now, I know absolutely nothing about the Jackal as a character, seeing how I never actually read the comics growing up. I always stuck with the TV shows and movies, and the 2017 series is the only one that ever showed the Jackal, and I know very well how people feel about that show, so this was the best I could do to portray him. It's not going to be the last we see of him either. He's going to show his face again, but it's not going to be for at least awhile.

Even better, another story arc is getting further development, specifically the one that focuses on the relationship between Peter and Gwen. Granted they're not a couple yet, given that Harry still has to be taken into account, but at least the two of them have renewed their friendship. What's more, now that Gwen knows Peter is Spider-Man, she's going to be doing what she can to help and support him, even if he doesn't know she's in on it. Yet.

Now then, before I close out this chapter, I want to let all of you know that this will be the last chapter of the story for awhile. Aside from how busy real life has me at the moment, I want to take the time to work on some of my other stories, and make sure that I don't get burnt out on this one. Don't worry though, I'll be back before you know it.