"So are they still together?" Gwen asked. "Because he hasn't said anything about still being together but he'd tell me if they were together cause we tell each other everything, right?" It had been about two days since the fall formal, and there was still a buzz on the night's most controversial topic: Science nerd Peter Parker actually having a date. A rather pretty, nay, drop dead gorgeous red head that no one could get out of their head, not that most people would want to.

"Gwen, it was one date to a school dance." April, the only girl she could talk to this about (Irma was weird, and probably would say something sarcastically unhelpful). "A dance he ended up running out on in the middle of. You're acting like Peter just got engaged."

"What, no!" They better not. "It's just..she came out of literal nowhere. Model magazine beauties like her don't just appear out of nowhere."

"Gwen, we live in a city with multiple magazine beauties." April countered. "The storm siblings, Tony Stark, there was bound to be someone our age with good looks and a good head on their shoulders. She was pretty funny when you actually had a conversation with them."

"Yeah, that's probably what she wants you to think." Gwen grumbled. Everyone seemed to want a piece of this 'Mary Jane', and from what Gwen had experienced of the girl, she more than revealed in the attention. Heck, she seemed to swim in it half the time. Everyone seemed to like the red head, which in turn made Gwen look petty by comparison. "I'm just saying people like her don't go out with people like Peter."

April stared at her oddly. "Either you're being super judgmental towards Mary Jane, or you have a very low opinion of Peter."

"The likes of Flash and Sally haven't really proven me wrong." She countered.

"What about whatever Peter and Liz have going on?" The girl pointed out.

"One time fluke of kindness." She stated immediately. "It's one thing to stop being a jerk, it's another thing to actually change from not being a jerk."

"And we circle around to earth why you think Mary Jane is bad news. What has she specifically done to you?" April asked her.

"Look, I …" She sighed. "I worry, alright. I saw Harry last night and it got me on edge."

"What happened to Harry?" April thankfully switched subjects. "From what I saw he went home sick."

"Well he ran off when Glory went back to Kenny." Gwen started. "So I went after him to console … and …" She winced. "He's on drugs."

"WHAT..!?"

"Shhh." Gwen quieted her down. "Do you want to let the whole world know?" She asked. Normally she'd be more open about this kinda thing, but … he could get expelled. She didn't want to imagine what would happen to Harry after that.

"If it gets him off drugs, then yeah, I kinda do!" April said. "That explains why he's been so good at football! I mean, no offense but this group isn't exactly Olympic material.."

"We're nerds. We thrive in libraries, not gyms." She sighed. "Look, I'm worried about him to. But if word gets out then we're looking at expulsion. Or worse, my dad finds out, gets overprotective, and arrests Harry."

"I see your point." April nodded. "Counterpoint, he could end up ODing during the middle of school."

"I know, I'm worried too." She sighed. "We need to hold an intervention. Me, you, Pete … wherever he is."

"Bugle." April replied instantly.

"Sure.." She had a mild suspicion about that. "Well wherever he is, he needs to get his head in gear pronto. I've tried telling him, but he's been getting so flakey lately due to his job." It left Gwen very little time to tell anyone anything, hence why she was telling April at all.

"I'll see what I can do on my end." She said, pulling out her phone.

"Pretty little toy girly." They turned to the voice in front of them … seeing a Purple Dragon standing with a crowbar and a grin.

"Damn it, not again." Both her and April grumbled.

"Don't you three have anything better to do than mug people?" April looked like she was getting ready in a stance.

"Sure, we could be robbing a thrift store or selling drugs to kids; but this seemed easier." One of the bigger goons nodded.

"You guys just revel in being bad guys don't you?" Gwen asked.

"Yep." The creepy tall one said, moving in closer. "So how about you-"

"Don't even think about it, Tsoi." The skinny one glared at the fellow Purple Dragon.

"I wasn't gonna say anything!"

"You were thinking it!" The skinny one shouted. "Look, just give us your phones and whatever else you have on you before things get messy."

"Just the phones." April said, handing it over. "We're high schoolers with no jobs."

"And plus my dad is chief of police, so yeah, you got a good four minutes before he comes in sirens blazing." Gwen narrowed her eyes.

"Oh please; like we're going to fall-"

"Do you really want an overprotective Captain George Stacy who barely lets me out of eyesight before going to bed and has at least five cruisers trail me to school on your backs?" Gwen said coldly.

There was a moment of silence, before the buff one took the phones. "Pleasure doing business with you." He said, before the three crooks scrambled.

"And here I am without a 'stolen by an idiot' warranty." April muttered.

"Don't worry; I'm pretty sure that falls under natural disasters." Gwen sighed. "Well…this was an unpleasant cap off to my day."

"Definitely so." April said, patting Gwen on the back. "Don't worry, I'll talk to Pete about Harry."

"Thanks." Between Peter's flakiness, Harry's drug problems, and Eddie being in a weird position right now…it felt like part of her world was falling apart.

"Hajime!" Splinter shouted as the turtles began their combat.

Leonardo and Raphael took their usual positions of combating each other, barely acknowledging the attacks from Donatello and Michelangelo, too focused on their rivalry for one another. "Four hundred to three ninety nine is about to be four hundred and one to three ninety nine!" Leonardo shouted as he tried to aim for Raphael's legs.

"I think your math is shot, fearless leader, I won the last two rounds!" Rapheal jumped and flipped over, attempting to strike at the back of Leonardo's head.

"So, this is how team combat usually goes?" Splinter turned to Peter, who was munching on a corndog while hanging from the tree in their dogo.

"Pretty much." Donatello answered. "Royale battle trials are our favorite, because it means we get hit in the face a whole lot less."

"I'm a fan of obstacle course runs." Michelangelo smiled. "I'm so good, I think I'm gaining my own spider sense." He replied, before a hit from Raphael knocked him into the wall.

"Don't worry young turtle, it only takes three hundred knocks in the head to master." Peter snorted. "By the three hundred and first knock, you'll have it down." The sad thing was that Splinter wasn't sure how literally Michelangelo would take the advice.

"Yamei!" Splinter shouted as a blade inched its way just a smidge too close to the neck. "Leonardo. Raphael. Care to explain to me what you've done wrong?"

The two turtles turned to each other, looks of confusion painting their faces, before turning back to him. "I shouldn't have focused on limb disabling tactics?" Leonardo guessed.

"I should have tried to lower my center of gravity?" Raphael asked.

Splinter answered them by whacking them across the head with his cane. "I've let your rivalry grow to benefit you both, as iron sharpens iron. But you've taken it too far to the point it takes over anything your both in a combat scenario. What if this were to occur in the middle of a real life battle?"

"We'd try to one up each other and completely trash the enemy doing so?" Rapheal guessed.

"Spidey would tell us we're idiots and save the day himself?" … They turned to Michelangelo. "What, wouldn't be the first time it happened."

"Oh shucks, I'm blushing." The costumed vigilante waved off.

"The answer is that you would destroy yourselves." He told the two. "You need to work together. We shall hold another two on two."

"Alright …" Leonardo nodded. "I'll take Mikey this time, and Raph can-"

"No." He argued. "Leonardo, you and Raphael shall work as a pair."

"…You want us…to fight them?" Rapheal pointed to his younger brothers. "You want us…to crush the b-team?"

"Wha-Hey!" Donnetello complained. "You saying we're losers!?"

"Look, we're not arguing your skills." Leonardo shook his head. "Donnie, you have a very intelligent mind, and Mikey, lots of outside the box thinking. But … in a fight? With us?" He turned to Splinter. "That's kind of not fair."

"Not true, we've really good at fighting!" Michelangelo shouted.

"Name one fight either of you won against either of us." Rapheal crossed his arms. "Or any fighting either of you had against any bad guy..alone."

"I took out Metal Head." Donatello argued. "And Doctor Falco. And that was all my brains!"

"Yeah, and I…..Ah.." Michelangelo struggled to think. "Hold on, give me a second…Electro-"

"That was me." Leonardo said. "I stabbed a generator and got fried after the team distracted him."

"Right..Liza-"

"Sorry man, that was me, pushing Corners into the cold water." Spidey raised his hand.

"... Rhino?"

"That one was just a team effort in a steam tunnel." Raphael stated.

"Oh wait, I got it, Sandman! I got him under cement when Spidery was getting trashed on."

"Well I was broken, so he gets that one." Peter nodded. "Good on you."

"It's also a fight the rest of us weren't there for, so it doesn't count." Rapheal rolled his eyes.

"Does too!"

"My decision is made up." Splinter got them back on track. "Leonardo and Rapheal vs Donnetello and Michelangelo."

"Alright Sensei, you know best." Leonardo bow. "Sorry guys, it's what Splinter wants. We can let you have the first mo-"

"Oh don't pander to us now!" Donetello complained again. "We'll take your worst and spit it right back out!"

"Booyakasha!" Michelangelo screamed out as he swung his nunchaku.

What resulted was a series of ever derogatory defeats, one after another, as the quippage went up and effort of Leonardo and Raphael went down.

"Oh… That sounded painful. Oh wait, Donnie can… Nope, Leo grabbed the punch and threw the shell head over." Spidey commentated. "Folks, this is a bloodbath in the making. Those of you younger viewers in the audience might want to avert your eyes."

"We could do without the commentary!" Donatello shouted.

"I dunno, it's pretty accurate for a change." Raphael spoke as he spun Michelangelo around like a top.

"WHY! ARE! YOU! SO! CRUEL!?" Michelangelo shouted in between spins.

"And done!" Leonardo kicked away Donatello after leaping over an attack. "That's five to none. I gotta admit Raph, it's nice having an easy challenge for a change."

"Tell me about it. It's nice having a partner that's more than a walking punching bag." Rapheal laughed. "You know what, we should team up more often. Without dragging the b-team around constantly, we might actually get fights done twice as fast."

Splinter watched as the two high fived each other with disdain. "...So was the lesson to get them to work together or divide them even more?" Peter asked out loud as Michealangelo and Dontello glared at their brothers. "Cause I think you started something even worse."

"The lesson was to get Leonardo and Raphael to acknowledge their rivalry as petty and work as a duo …" He sighed. "Teenagers. They always take lessons the wrong way."

"We'll show you, we're going to kick butt so hard that you'll be begging for the B-team to save you!" Michelangelo shouted indignantly.

"Yeah! You may have muscle, but we have brains!" Donatello shouted.

"Brain." Rapheal corrected. "Not sure the pile of mold Mikey has counts."

Before the argument could escalate even further, April walked into the dojo. "Hey guys … did I walk in on something private?" She asked, noticing the tension.

"Nah, Leo and Raph are best buds now because they like kicking Mikey and Donnei's shells." Peter answered. "So only a slight shift in the usual dynamic."

"Ahh." She nodded. "Hey Peter, can we talk? I had a conversation with Gwen on the way here. I would've called but the purple dragons swiped out phones."

"The Purple Dragons took your phone!?" Donatello shouted.

"Don't worry, we'll go teach those punks a lesson." Raphael smirked.

"Hey, I'm not hurt, there's no need to run after them for something that small." She waved off.

"We'll get your phone back!" Leonardo shouted, as the turtles ran to the door.

"There is no need for escalation!" Splinter shouted … only to see if fall on deaf ears.

"Oh not on our watch!" Donnetello shouted. "If anyone had the right to secure April's phone, it's me!"

"Yeah, go B-team!" Michelangelo shouted as the other half of his sons ran out. Alright, next lesson once they return. Do not take serious matters lightly, and light matters seriously.

April sighed. "At least you're not reckless enough to go out just because of a phone." She said, turning to Peter … who was already putting on the last of his costume as he checked his web shooter. "… Seriously?"

"Hey, someone has to look after those knuckleheads while they're on a rivalry high." He replied, pulling up his gloves. "Besides, they probably stole from a lot of people. And I hardly need new reasons to go after the purple chuckleheads."

She groaned. "Is it really gonna hurt to look the other way once?"

Peter paused at that, giving April an unreadable expression before putting his mask on. "Never say it's okay to look the other way." And proceeded to crawl out of the lair on the ceiling.

"…He gets really scary when he's serious." April said once the two of them were alone.

"Yes …" And such guilt in his voice … someone Peter's age shouldn't have that. And it worried Splinter more than his son's rivalry.

"... Shoot, forgot to tell him about the drugs." The WHAT!?

Raph looked down at the warehouse. "What do you know, a couple of Dragons, ripe for the taking." And they managed to stay ahead of everyone else, so their were plenty of free hits to be head

"With a bunch of stolen loot too." Leo pointed at the pile of electronics and wallets. "Looks like they didn't just stop at April." Petty thieves apparently couldn't help themselves. "No Xever or Dogpound in sight, so we could probably just go in and take them down ourselves."

"Wow, an easy fight without Spidey's quips? And here I thought Christmas was in december." Raph smirked as he jumped down. "Alright, I'll take the idiots on the left, you take the idiots on the right and we meet in the middle and pound whoever's left."

"Sounds good to me." Leo agreed as they busted into the warehouse. "Freeze dirtbags!"

"It's the turtles!" One of the dragons shouted.

"We're here too!" Mikey jumped down from behind them along with Donnie.

"Could have sworn we beat their time by a good half an hour." Raph muttered.

"While you meatheads were exhausting stamina and energy running over here, we hitched a ride on top of a bus, you know, thinking SMARTER." Donnie smugly smiled like that was an accomplishment.

"Oh joy, you were too weak to actually run here, so you took the easy way out." Raph countered. "Spend more time lifting weights instead of books, and you might be mildly impressive."

"Comics are super impressive!" Mikey shouted. "And it takes skills balancing nine hundred issues all in one hand."

"And rounding out this colorful cast is your friendly neighborhood spiderman!" The web slinger shouted as he leapt through a window, doing a few dramatic flips in the air before landing on the ground. "For a solid twenty four legged but kicking guarentee."

"Honestly guys, we appreciate the sentiment…" Leo started.

"I don't." Raph said honestly.

"..But all of us here for purple dragons, that's a bit much." Leo said. "Sure they're asking for it, but between me and Raph, there's not going to be anyone left for you to punch."

"I'm mostly here to tie them all up and swing by the police station with the stolen loot." Spidey rasied his hand, turning to another purple dragon. "Say Tsoi, you didn't happen to make another pass at any of the people you robbed, did you?"

"No!"

"He was thinking about it!"

"I was not! Stop putting the creep label on me! It doesn't do well to have that title in a prison cell."

Spidey began webbing up the goons that started charging. "Don't worry, between the rampaging mutants I hear prison is very accepting of most life styles."

Raph went up and knocked some skulls together without any issue. At this point the overkill lesson Raph had was feeling very valid.

Leo knocked out a few goons as he ran forward. "Give us April's phone!" He shouted.

"Why would you specify that!?" Spidey shouted. "You don't use names! Now they're going to know you know someone, aka, the point of a secret identity!"

"That's why the brain team is superior!" Donnie shouted as he struggled against three guys.

"So the B team." Raph pointed out, knocking one out in one punch.

"Ye-HEY! Stop calling us that!" Donnie complained.

"What's wrong with B-team? Space heroes has plenty of B-teams, and they always serve vital roles." Leo said as he flipped over another goon.

"You mean the red shirts that get incinerated every episode as cannon fodder?" Spidey asked.

"And then they figure out how to beat the enemy." Leo nodded.

"How's this for cannon fodder!?" Mikey shouted as he jumped to a goon. "Booyaka-"

Crash

"Brraaaa!" Screamed a robotic looking raptor that jumped out of the ground, getting in Mikey's way and tripping him.

"Shell …" The orange turtle groaned from the floor.

"Did we walk into the set of Jurassic Park 6?" Spidey asked. "Dinos from the future terminator style?"

"Ooh, that actually sounds pretty co-ahh!" Donnie kicked away one that was trying to bite at him as they began snatching up the piles of loot.

"Hey! We stole those fair and square!" One of the dragons shouted.

"Can I get your statement for the NYPD?" Spidey asked as he webbed them by the foot. "I'll focus on the goon squad, you guys slice and dice these things!"

"Slice and Dice is my middle name!" Bad part about teaming up with Leo was that he had to deal with one liners that were almost worse than Spidey's quips.

"I thought we didn't have middle names?" Mikey asked. "Or last names … wait if we were mutated, is 'Mutagen' in our last name?"

"Focus up Mikey!" Donnie shouted as he wacked those robots.

"Like I said, you're only working with one brain Donnie!" Raphael laughed as he pierced one through the head. "Pfft, robots or goons, nothing gets past us!"

"They're not really focused on trying to fight us." Leo observed as a few with a bit of loot in their mouths fell down the whole they came out of. "It's a hit and run."

"Robots, petty schemes, less focus on fighting…there's only one name that fits that muddle combination." Spidey summarized.

"Laxter Rockman/Backman Stockster/Tackster Stockboy/Donatello." Everyone turned to Mikey. "...Okay, it's probably Lister Boxman."

"Luckily for us, we finished up with the Purple Dragons." Leo looked around. "So we can just get back the phone, go after Dorkster, then go back home."

"You mean this phone!?" One of the goons ran to the door. "So long suckers!"

Spidey slowly turned to Leo. "So … now the Foot have a phone while knowing it's connected to you guys."

"Oh please, like they're going to do anything with a teenage girl's phone." Raph rolled his eyes. "Oh no, they're going to text me mean tweets and texts. I'm so frightened."

"They could hack it and kidnap April after seeing her photo." Donnie pointed out.

"Or they could hack the gps and figure out every location it's been to." Spidey added.

"Okay, clearly this is a problem." Leo nodded. "A team, after the robots. B team, after the dragons."

"Stop calling us B-team!" Donnie shouted. "And for the record, I was going to do that anyway, because I'm smart enough to NOT shout out personal secrets that can put our lives in danger!"

"Heck yeah!" Mikey shouted. "Come on Spidey, let's go!"

"Huh?" Leo raised a non-existant eyebrow. "Spidey's not B-team material…"

"Much to our chagrin." Raph muttered quietly.

"But he's a tried and true scientist. Clearly our team material." Donnie agued.

"Yeah, but…he knows how to actually fight." Leo said. "I mean fight competently, I mean.."

"Guys, I think you're taking this whole team thing a little too far-"

"You're goin with the powerhouses, right?" Raph asked with a glare.

"He's going with the skill over strength, right?" Donnie asked with his own glare.

"Can't we just agree that both sides have merits and leave it at that?" The web head pointed out.

"NO!"

"Mommy, Daddy, little spidey wants us to be one big happy family again." Peter lamely joked, before sighing. "Since I clearly can't make a decision without upsetting someone, I'm going with Leo and Raph…and for the record, it's because if Gockflam is involved, then that means more robots which might be tougher than regular back alley goons, which I know you two can take care of."

"Fine then!" Mikey shouted. "We don't need you guys anyway! Come on Donnie, Brain team is winning this in record time!"

"You mean B Team?" Raph reiterated.

"At least we're not the team full of garbage one-liners and quips!" Donnie countered.

"My quips are the best part of me, you're just a salty turtle in a freshwater pond!" And like that, Raph reconsidered arguing for Spidey.

Leo and the others finally reached the end of the tunnel, making their way into an old looking warehouse. "Looks like Brokeman is still working on his budget." He commented.

"How the heck can he afford to make an army of robots while I spend over half the paychek I have after bills on web fluid?" Spidey grumbled under his breath.

"Pretty sure we're looking at it." Raph pointed to a pile of stolen loot much bigger than what was at the dragon's hideout. "Looks like Nagster's been at this for a while."

"And no one's caught wind of it because no one's going to care about criminals and gangsters getting robbed." Leo summarized.

"I'm almost tempted to let him continue in the hopes he drains Tomby's bank account." Peter nodded.

"So, it seems that my lair has been found." They turned to see the man in action. "We meet again, Spider-Man, turtles."

"You best surrender now while you can, Nixter blockmen." Leo pointed his swords at him. "Your plague of pilfering and plundering ends right now!"

"BAXTER STOCKMAN!" He screamed. "We met barely a month ago! You shouldn't have forgotten that fast!"

"To be fair Dexter, we've had a lot more serious threats than you since that time." Spidey said. "Between the Shredder, Electro, Vulture, Sandman, it's a big plate on the 'revenge' list we rack up."

"But don't worry, we're nice turtles. We always make sure to save room for an extra side of butt whooping for all you low lives." Raph smirked as he cracked his knuckles. "It just warms my shell to give people what they deserve."

"Oooh, you may think that I haven't improved. But while I was in jail my mind grew even more!" He shouted, pulling out a spray can and shooting it at them.

Leo held in his breath, along with Raph, but Spidey just stood there. "... Did you really just try bug spray again?" He asked. "Dude, you need to either grow up or let it go. How did you even get out of jail to begin with?"

"My brain is FAR too superior to be confined to a cell! While they served Salisbury steak every monday, I saved a little bit of sauce! Turns out it's highly explosive when you mix it with shaving cream and fire."

"Why don't they show this stuff on the news?" Leo asked.

"Apparently jailbreak's too common for anyone to care about." Raph grumbled.

"From there I gathered enough scrap metal to rebuild my greatest invention … the M.O.U.S.E.R.S!"

"You mean the walking piles of scrap that were the LEAST impressive part of your giant metal suit?" Spidey said rhetorically.

"That was because they follow the same logic as piranhas." The loon grinned. "They're better in groups."

"Braaaaa." They turned to see a wall open … revealing … Well Leo stopped counting after he hit fifty.

"Oh goodie, you put all your dolls in one place for us to pummel into the ground." Raph smirked.

"Guys." Spidey spoke up. "My spidey sense is picking up … more than one … direction." They looked around, seeing more and more mousers pop out of the woodwork.

"Brraaaa!"

"I know one or two wouldn't be enough." Backman said. "So I decided overkill is better than underkill."

"...So this is the part where we should start running, isn't it?" Leo asked.

"Not that it would do you any good." Flipmen chuckled. "Before they were on steal mode. Now I've put them on hunt and chew. They have the jaw strength of ten hippos in each one, which for you weaker minded, is more than enough to crack a full groan Lion in half, or in your cases, you shells."

"Now on our nature documentary, two turtles and a spider outrunning tiny metal dinos!" Spidey shouted, flipping so his feet landed on the back of their shells and webbing to the skylight, yanking them all with enough force to pull them through the window. "This does not bode well."

"Okay, so we're a little outnumbered, nothing we've haven't been through before." Raph stated. "It's still Dorkmen we're talking about here. We circle around, sneak past his tin bots, and knock him out."

"Braaaa!" They turned around, seeing a horde of mousers run after them.

"First order of business, expand the circle!" Leo shouted as they jumped across the rooftops. "We need to find a place to hide!"

"I'm not sure that's going to work!" Spidey shouted. "He sprayed us before sicking his guard dogs on us. I think it might've been some kind of tracker to make out hides smell like metallic t-bone steak!"

"And it didn't trigger your spider sense at all!?" Raph asked, a bit annoyed at the situation.

"It only goes off when I'm in danger! Odorless tracking spray doesn't exactly fit the bill!"

"But it's going to PUT you in danger, shouldn't that count!?" Raph continued to yell. "Does it even count as a spider power?! Last I checked, Spider's don't have ESP!"

"Well technically it translates to how spider's feel vibrations in the air-Nevermind! I know it's a confusing power, sorry if I haven't exactly mastered it yet!" He shouted back.

"We'll just wash it off then!" Leo shouted, grappling over to a water tower. He sliced the side, letting it wash over them.

"Gaaah, it's in my socks." Peter complained. "Be glad turtles don't have to use footwear. Nothing's worse than the curse of wet socks."

"Just take the wet socks." Raph argued. "Better than those mouses coming after us."

"Brraaaa!"

"DIDN'T WORK!" Leo ran off. "WHY DIDN'T IT WORK!?

"Well it was in aerosol form, so there's a chance that whatever tracker Flockboy was using has already seeped into our skin and body too much for us to take it off naturally!" Spider explained as part of the costume in the leg area was torn off. "Hey! That's expensive! Do you know how hard it is to find red and blue spandex without people asking questions!?"

"Brraaa!"

"I don't think they care about the budget!" Raph shouted as he stabbed one that got too close. "Spidey, you're a nerd, can't you nerd us a way out of this?!" He yelled.

"Oh sure, let me hack into a robotic mainframe while running for my life from metallic monstrosities trying to eat my flesh!" He shouted back, punching a mouser that was trying to eat his arm.

"We need our other brainic on it then!" Leo shoued as part of his arm was gashed.

"No! I'm not going to come running to the B-team! We'll never hear the end of it if we do!" Raph shouted.

Spidey threw a bundled up pair of mousers into a wall. "Call the others or so help me I will swing away and leave you with the horde!"

"Welp I'm thoroughly convinced!" Leo began dialing on his t-phone. "Donnie, listen, we need your help."

"Sorry to say, Donatello's a bit tied up at the moment." Dogpound's voice said on the other line.

Donnie looked down into the building. "Okay, it's just three Purple Dragons." He nodded. "If we play it right, we've got this." They may have been only a team of two, and only one of them had a brain between them, but Donnie was determined to not let this fail. This was the time to prove his worth, to prove one and for all brain always outdid brawn!

"We totally got this." Mikey grinned. "Oh, can I do the countdown?"

"Be my guest, brother." Sure, losing Spidey to the so called A-team was a tiny bummer, but Mikey, for as childish as he was, was pretty easy to direct and order around. He would make this work. "On the count of four, I kill the lights, we jump down, and take everyone by surprise."

"Turtle power." Mikey grinned. "One … two …"

"You want to explain why you don't have your tribute to the Shredder?" Asked Dogpound, coming out of the shadows.

"Three … fo-" He grabbed Mikey, shaking his head no.

"Okay, that plan's not going to work." Donnie gumbled. "Dogpound's senses are going to pick up on us too easily, and we're woefully unprepared to fight him."

"We got attacked by the turtles." One of the goons responded in fear.

"Grreeat, of course they got involved." Dogpound rolled his eyes. "In the absence of Xever, I'll be the one to make sure you get your daily beatings."

"Wait, it wasn't a total loss!" Another dragon shouted,. "We got a phone from someone the turtles know!"

"Oh really?" The dog mutant grinned savagely. "Finally, we have something to use against them. What did they look like?" They asked, as he and Mikey tensed.

"We're not sure. The ones who took the phone got webbed up by spider-man before some creepy robot dinos came into the place and stole the rest of the loot." Before the two turtles sighed in relief.

"...So not only are you telling me that you don't have the tribute, but the ONE iota of usefulness you had is now lost to your BLUNDERING!?" Dogpound yelled, cracking the wall as he punched a crater into it.

"Okay, we may have more time than I thought." Donnie smiled lightly. "They're not tech savvy enough to steal the data on the phone, we have time."

"Sir, we found this man named Trackster Noxmon. Apparently he was the one who stole their loot." A foot ninja spoke, carrying a familiar mad scientist.

"Let me go, you masked creep!" The wimp squirmed. "You will RUE the day that you messed with the genius of Baxter Stockman! I will destroy you all and laugh on your corpses!"

"Oh will you now?" Dogpound asked, leaning in face to face with Laxter. "Go on then … laugh." He growled.

"...I've… seem to have… lost my… sense of humor…" Nester sweated bullets. "I should probably go and find it… so you can just let me go, and I can return all the stuff I stole from you-"

"Oh, you're going to do more than that." Dogpound grabbed the shrimp by the collar. "So you're a self proclaimed genius?"

"More than self-proclaimed, I am! Robots, computers, there's nothing beyond my capable-"

"Can the lecture." The mutant interrupted, holding out April's phone. "Can you hack into this?"

"Sir, something as trivial as this is a waste of my talents-"

"Then start wasting your talents, or I bite off your head."

They stared as the scientist was brought a computer and desk. "... So …" Mikey asked. "Is he smart enough?"

"Yes … yes he is." Donnie could probably work out some sort of complicated plan, but it would probably be too late by the time they got into the room. He needed something…

"Oh, I know!" Mikey pulled out a vial. "Spidey handed me a vial of that geney cleanser stuff. We can clean out Dogpound and he won't be a problem."

Donnie was impressed … but he had to ask. "How did you go so long without drinking it?"

"... This isn't my first bottle." Mikey chuckled nervously.

"Of course it isn't." Donnie sighed. "Okay…this is going to be a close one. But on the count of three, we dive down, plug up Dogpound's senses with smokebombs, and you pour the cleanser down his throat. He's distracted, we take the phone, and we're no longer B-team."

"Operation Clog up." Mikey grinned. "One … two … three-" The moment they tried to jump down, Donnie's phone rang, instantly drawing every pair of eyes straight at them. "... Weird, usually it's Spidey's phone that gives us problems."

"Focus on the irony later, just grab the phone!" Donnie shouted, instantly going for it.

Two of the Foot ninja threw stars, forcing them to dodge, which led Donnie into Dogpounds awaiting fist, knocking him away and sending his T-phone falling to the floor. "Well well well, Christmas must be coming early today." The mutant mutt chuckled as he picked up the T-phone.

"Donnie, listen, we need your help!" Leo's voice called out.

"Sorry to say, Donatello's a bit tied up at the moment." Dogpound grinned, hanging up as he walked over. "Looks like you're all alone, turtles."

"Oh yeah, well….at least we don't have fleas!" Mikey countered back.

"Oh I'll make sure to crack your shell personally." Dogpound growled as he rushed at them.

"What's got the other guy's so occupied?" A Purple Dragon asked.

"That would be me." Boxboy grinned. "I sent an army of robots to search and destroy them. Within hours the 'heroes' will be too tired and exhausted, leaving them too weak to resist the evercoming army that will devour them!" He cackled. "And the best thing of all? Since I was kidnapped, they have no idea where to find me or how to stop it!"

Damn it! They were surrounded, Dogpound was about to turn them into soup, and April's life was in jeopardy! This stupid rivalry got in the way of everything, and now they were totally screwed!

BOOOOM

At least that's what Donnie was thinking before the the walls burst open, and dozens of dino like crashed through, along with his brother's and Spidey. "Delivery, no charge or tip needed!"

"How did you find us!?" Backrow shouted.

"Pro tip for the future kiddies, never answer the phone for strangers, you'll never know who's on the other end, or who can track the signal to your home address." Spider-man snickered.

"Hah! Brains for the win!" Donnie called out.

It was a bit hard to track and run for your life at the same time, but Spidey made it work. "Could you guys drop the rivalry!?" He asked as the mousers came in. "Our company doesn't like arguments."

"Brraaa!" {Bite}

"Correction, they just don't like us in general!" He retracted as it tried to take a bite out of his head. "I swear, the costume budget is in the red this month."

"That's why we go all-natural!" Mikely cried out, hopping over one of the mousers and swinging it into the air. "I mean, sure it's nice to wear a pair of undies every once in a while, but clothes are just so constricting."

"Not the time Mikey!" Raph shouted, piecing one through the head. "So, not that we really need it Donnie, but it would be nice to know how to get these things to stop chasing us!"

"Kinda busy!" The turtle responded as Dogpound held him against the wall by the throat.

"Bradford, my man, I get the fanbase is a bit unappreciative of you coming out as a furry, but do you really need to hold onto your fans like this?" He quipped as he yanked the giant dog into a kick. "Have a little pride in your life."

"Does every word that spews out of your mouth have to be utter trash!?" Dogpound tried two swing at him with that giant boney fist, one that Spidey was able to avoid a mile away, jumping over it.

"Jeeze, come on, does everyone have to be a critic about my word play?" He asked. "Can't handle a couple barbs? You know, besides the boney ones on your arms." {Bite} He avoided another mouser. "I know these guys have plenty of barbs."

"Donnie, really could use your brain about now!" Leo called out, avoiding getting bit in the head.

"Fine, but someone grab the phone before Baxter's hacks it!"

"I'm on it!" Mikey ran forward and snatched the object. "Hot Potato!" He screamed, tossing it over as some foot ninjas tried to intercept.

Raph snatched the phone in the air, stabbing a mouser that got in the way. "What's that, can't touch it now!"

"...Dude, you caught the phone with your sai." Peter pointed out to the now sparkling and cracked device. "You take hot potato WAY too seriously."

"Oh Apr-" Peter sent a web to Leo's mouth before he blew April's cover in front of Dogpound.

"So, twenty questions?" He asked the giant dog as he punched them in the face. "How much money do you spend on shampoo these days?"

Donnie ran over and stabbed a mouser head, looking it over. "It looks like a simple spectrum detector for radio-iso … Wait, you couldn't figure out this thing was meant to scan radio-isotopes?" He asked. "Spidey, as a nerd, I am very disappointed in you."

"I'm a biochemist at heart, not all of us eggheads can do machines as well as you can!" Just because he was smart didn't mean he was an ace in all practical situations. "So I take it we can't get it off of us?"

"No. It'll wear off naturally, but these things are pretty cheap." They ignored the shout of 'budget' from Stockman. "A fresher dose would give them a stronger signal for them to follow."

"Then I guess I better double dose it on all you freaks before you get the chance!" Voxster Stinkman shouted as he held up a spray. "Prepare to be mouser Cho-!"

Raph threw a star over to Leo, who in turn hit the projectile with his blade, sending it flying straight into the back of the canister. Plus side, Splinter's lesson on putting aside their rivalry was paying off.

Spassh

Red mist sprayed out of it, directly hitting an incoming DogPound Mikey had managed to knock off balance. Instantly, every mouser paused, turning to the two villains. "Brraaaa!"

"Some genius!" Dogpound complained as a mouser went after his leg. "You'll pay for this Stickman, you will pay!"

"It's Baxter Stockman!" Shockboy shouted as he held up a remote. "And I'm in full control-!"

Thwip

"Looks like bad guys aren't the only ones who love spilling personal secrets." Spidey s arched the controller off Kirkman, and crushed it to pieces. "Chow guys. Literally."

"You haven't seen the last of me!" The man shouted as he jumped out of a window, followed by Dogpound and the mousers.

"Anyone else want a piece?" Raph asked the foot ninja and dragons. "Because the mercy tank is a bit low." And that got the room fleeing instantly.

"And that's the end of that." Leo sighed as the rest of the creeps ran out. "What a rush."

"Says you." Donnie rolled his eyes. "We had the perfect plan to get April's phone intact until you called at absolutely the worst time.

"Huh." Leo blinked. "Usually Spidey's the one with terrible timing on his calls."

"Oh hardy har har." Peter sarcastically laughed. "So can we bury this A-team B-team stuff? Because it's been an absolute disaster and it clearly gets in the way and leaves me with a bigger hole in my wallet for costume repair."

"Don't worry, we learned our lesson, Spidey." Mikey said while patting his back. "Raph and Leo arguing is waaaayyy less stressful than all of us arguing at once."

"Agreed. So I'm going back to calling Leo a space dork and restoring the circle of rivalry." Raph nodded.

"And I'm going back to telling you that you need to listen to my leadership." Leo nodded.

… Splinter was right, teenagers are the worst at learning their lessons. "So we broke April's phone; Brad and stockman got away, and given the whole hostage thing, is probably going to work for the Foot long term."

"Least they didn't get their hands on anything's on it." Donnie picked up the shattered pieces of April's phone. "And I get the opportunity to build April one of my custom T-phones! So pros and cons."

"Yeah, girl with a one of a kind turtle cased phone. Not suspicious in the slightest." Peter said. "Am I the only one that understands the concept of a secret identity?"

"Hey, for us, we are our masks." Leo stated.

"I thought heroes wore masks cause they looked cool." Mikey said.

"Well for Parker, it's so he can hide his ugly mug to spare the rest of the world from seeing it twenty four 7." Raph snickered.

"… And for that comment, pizza is not on me tonight."

"Noooooooooooooooooo!" Mikey cried out. Yep… teenagers were the worst.

Stockman was thrown onto the floor after being carried out by the giant dog mutant. Okay, so maybe he was a bit hasty in trying to take on Spider man and the turtles all at once, but to his defense, these other ninjas and mutant completely blind sided him, or else he would've totally won!

It was getting harder to be a supervillain in this city. So many names were coming out, and he had yet to leave a big enough mark. How could you compete with crazy bombers, guys who fly in broad daylight, and a man who shrugged off a twenty story drop?!

"Bradford. From your disheveled appearance, I take it that you lost another fight with the turtles." Said … some man in a cheese grater costume. Baxter would have laughed if the look in his eyes didn't scream 'I could kill you before you inhaled'.

"Yes … because this man got in the way." The dog man shoved him forward, causing the scientist to stumble onto the glass floor. "He also stole from the Purple Dragon's tributes."

Baxter tried to get up … but froze at the giant fish gazing back at him with malice. "I….I humbly apologize for…"

"Silence welp." The man spoke so calm but with so much maliciousness, Baxter felt as if he'd snap in half. "I should crush you for being in my presence …" They spoke, holding out a blade that caused him to gulp.

"Now now Shreddy, let's not jump the gun justyet." A voice on an anonymous video feed stated. "If he stole and got in the way, that speaks of a vendetta of his own. And you wouldn't want to get rid of a potential employee so soon … especially after one lost their legs."

The metal man continued to stare at him in disdain. "Y-yeah! I-I can totally work for you guys! The turtles and Spider-man? They locked me in jail! All for being against them." Please believe him!

"And what can you provide that we do not already possess?" The metal man asked, continuing to glare at him.

"Yes! My mind knows no boundary! Robots, lasers, computer systems, I could even make that fish walk on land if you wanted!"

They continued to keep their gaze locked … before retracting the blade. "You have one month to make them walk … then we will talk about your keep."

"Thank yo-"

"Know that the second I see any lack of worth, you are to be terminated, permanently."

"I-I-I understand sir." Great, now he has a month to make a fish walk or die.

"How intriguing." The voice cackled. "With a mind like this … I think I can afford to let go of a little eight legged sea creature suckling my fame."

"So no more superpowered maniacs?" The dog asked.

"Not for the time being…I believe now would be best to get rid of a certain stone faced thorn in our side." They chuckled. "I'll handle that one myself, not to worry." … Why did Baxter feel so terrified of the voice that spared his life compared to everyone else in the room?