Chapter 5: Leatherhead

Night had fallen. Under the cover of darkness, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles approached the castle used by the Spiders. The area around the abandoned fortress was mostly wilderness, but the courtyard was completely bare. Once the Turtles were at the edge of the courtyard, Leonardo activated his communicator.

"Okay, girls, we're at the courtyard," He spoke into it, "Any problems?"

"No," Ruby's voice replied, "You're all clear as far as we can tell. But get moving before the next patrol comes."

"Roger that." Leo said

"You think they're still mad about earlier?" Mike whispered, "Ruby sounded kinda tense."

While planning their raid on the Spiders' castle, the Turtle gang had told Team RWBY that it was better for them to part ways. They had not taken the request well.

"What do you mean we should stay out of it?!" Yang's demand was the loudest of all.

"You heard us," Raphael said, "We're pretty much at the end of the road, so there's nothing else for you to do."

"Oh, please," Weiss said with her eyes narrow and cold, "You guys wouldn't have gotten this far without us."

"Look, we're grateful for the help you've given us, but this is getting serious," Leonardo said, "If the Spiders are able to send a hit squad after their enemies, who knows what else they have in their pocket?"

"All the more reason for us to stick around," Ruby replied adamantly, "You'll need all the help we can give you."

"But what about afterwards?" Donatello asked, "Going to war against a major syndicate may sound like fun, but they can be sore losers. If these guys come after you for vengeance, it could…be bad."

Out of the corner of her eye, Blake saw April tense up. The human friend of the Turtles seemed to be retreating into a ball. She also noticed that the Turtles themselves were trying not to glance at her as well.

"Aren't you guys in the same boat?" Ruby asked, "The Spiders aren't going to give up after a failed attack."

"But we're not sticking around," Michelangelo said, "As soon as find Leatherhead, we're going home, pronto!"

"But if the Spiders learn about you helping us, you might not have a home for long." Leo finished.

With red eyes, Yang said in a low voice, "That's assuming we have homes to go back to."

After some more back and forth, the two teams came up with a compromise. The rescue mission would performed predominately by the Turtles, with Team RWBY acting look outs and reinforcements if required.

From the cover of a nearby treetop, Team RWBY watched as the Ninja Turtles crept towards the castle. Once they reached the wall, they effortlessly scaled it and were inside. It was hard work, and not just because the Turtles blended so well with the grass surrounding the fortress.

"Wow, they're good." Ruby noted, watching them through Crescent Rose's scope.

"Yeah, well, I guess they were able to mess with the Spiders somehow." Yang said.

"Maybe they don't need our help after all." Weiss muttered.

Blake could hear the tension in their voices. She knew that the rest of her team were still a little cheesed off at how the Turtles had tried to push them out of the mission. And she knew why it upset her teammates so much.

Before she could say anything on the subject, some movement caught her eye. A large, hulking form came around the corner of a wall.

"Wait, what's that?!" Blake whispered, pointing.

All eyes turned in the direction of her finger. Just then, the clouds in front of the moon parted, providing enough moonlight to see what the big thing was.

It was one of the creatures of Grimm, a Beowolf. But there was something odd about it. Its movements lacked the normal prowling gait a Beowolf had in the wild. It clawed about awkwardly, as if it couldn't make up which direction it wanted to go in.

"What's wrong with it?" Yang asked, "It walks like Uncle Qrow on New Year's."

"Maybe it's injured?" Weiss suggested.

Ruby squinted as she tried to scope it out. "Hey, it looks like it's wearing something."

"Let me see," Blake requested, and was allowed to peek through Crescent Rose's scope. "You're right. There's some sort of…thing…strapped onto its head."

"Like a helmet?" Ruby asked.

"Like a collar," Blake said, "And I think…I think it's being controlled."

"That's impossible." Weiss said.

"If I were part of any other team, I'd agree with you, Ice Queen." Yang said.

The Turtles were quickly notified of the strange Grimm on the outside, but they had bigger concerns. They crept through the halls of the castle, taking care to remain in the shadows whenever they could. Not only did they have to watch out for guards, but they found that there were security cameras in every hall.

"See if you can find the security office," April said over the Turtle comms, "If you can plug me in, I should be able to get a look at the entire layout."

"Roger that." Leo assured.

Before they could go anywhere, the Turtles head footsteps and quickly hid themselves in the shadows. Two Spider guards came through the hall

With that in mind, the Turtles split up into pairs; Leo and Mike went in one direction, while Don and Raph went in the other. Luckily for them, the cameras didn't cover the entirety of the room they were stationed in, and swiveled back and forth. It required expert timing, but they were able to stay in the camera's blind spots.

Down the east corridor, Raph and Don checked each door in the hopes that it would lead to the security office. Don would poke each door open with bo, just a crack, and Raph would look inside to see if it was a surveillance station. After five peeks without any success, Raphael was getting annoyed.

"Why can't we just find a guy and pump him for some info?" The sai-user growled.

"We're trying to keep a low profile, remember?" Don replied, "If we start punching out guards, we'll soon have the entire place on alert."

As if to drive the point home, the two Turtles heard approaching footsteps. Ducking behind some decorative house plants. There were two men, unmistakably members of the Spiders gang. They passed by the Don and Raph's hiding place, but were too busy arguing with each other.

"Why do we have to be the ones to fix it?" One complained.

"'Cause according to the guy on the wall look out, the You-Know-What is acting screwy," The second replied, "Keeps trying to get inside."

"So why can't the doc take care of it?" The first grumbled, "It's his invention that's supposed control that horrible thing under control."

"He's busy with that other monster in the basement," The second explained, "Though why he thinks that big, ugly lizard is important is beyond me."

As the Spiders moved on, Don whispered to Raph quizzically, "What do you think they meant by 'invention'?"

"Who cares?" Raph hissed back, "Now we know where Leatherhead is!"

Don sent word out, and informed the alliance of what they learned. While Leo and Mikey would continue looking for the security office, Don and Raph would venture towards the castle's lower levels in search of Leatherhead. Team RWBY, though concerned about the strange Beowolf out in the courtyard, shifted their position to see if they could get a look at the lower levels of the castle. Unfortunately, anything that could have been a window was sealed up.

Back inside, Leo and Mike, continued their search for the security office. Eventually, they found a room with several monitors installed.

"Hey! Who're you two!?"

It also had a few members of the Spiders on surveillance duty. Luckily, these thugs were easily taken down by the Turtles. Once they were done, Leo and Mike begun searching the consoles for a port.

"Okay, April, we found the security office," Leo said into his comm, "Give us a minute to plug you in…just as soon I figure out how…"

"Over here, Leo!" Mike waved.

Leo tossed his scroll to his brother, and Mike plugged it into a server's port. The holographic screen showed a spinning turtle shell. The shell morphed into the words "COWABUNGA!" as it gave off a light ping.

"All right, I have total access to their security cameras' feed," April reported, "Team RWBY, I'm sending you the footage. Are you getting it?"

"We are," Weiss said, her scroll open and showing the security footage. "Since the Turtles split up, why don't I help guide one pair, and you the other?"

"Good idea," April replied, "I'll help Don and Raph. You keep an eye on Leo and Mike's route and alert them of any guards or obstacles. How're things looking on the Grimm front?"

"Not too good," Blake said, looking up. "Not only is that weird Grimm still lurking around the courtyard, we've got some Nevermores circling around the perimeter."

"Are they going to attack!?"

"It doesn't look like it," Ruby said, "Some Grimm won't attack unless they get instigated."

"By what?"

"If someone attacks them, or they sense people getting really angry all of a sudden." Ruby explained.

"Which means we should expect it to get super hairy soon." Yang said, reloading Ember Celica.

Merlot's arm beeped. It wasn't an arm of flesh and blood, but a machine prosthetic, having lost his actual arm in the fall of Mountain Glenn. And according to the PDA built into his robotic arm, an outside signal had tapped into castle's security feed. And whoever did it was no amateur. There were firewalls that prevented him from reversing the hack and looking into their systems.

But whoever's doing this hasn't shut down the surveillance cameras, Merlot thought, Their only spying on our current footage. What exactly is going on…?

Merlot could also access the surveillance footage. When the Spiders hired him to install his prototype Anti-Grimm Barrier Generator into the castle, he took the liberty of liking it to his own personal systems. He examined each camera, trying to find something out of place. He quickly found it when one hallway camera found two masked, humanoid turtles running around, occasionally ducking to hide in the shadows to avoid guards. And despite having never seen these beings before, Merlot recognized them immediately.

So…Leatherhead's friends are here after all! The rogue scientist thought, How can I make this work to my advantage…?

Raph and Don's trek to the dungeons was going well. So well in fact, that it wasn't until they reached the bottom level that things began to go wrong.

"Another patrol is headed your way!" April warned.

Since the hallway they were in was bare of hiding places and had better lighting than the rest of the ancient fortress, the two Turtles had to duck into another door to avoid getting caught. They found themselves in a room full of cages, each containing animals of various species. Some looked too different from the ones found on Earth.

"What the heck are these things?" Raph asked in a hushed tone, "And why are they here?"

"My guess is that the Spiders are running an exotic animal trafficking operation, among other things," Don replied, his tone just as hushed. "Probably why Leatherhead is being held here. These must be creatures native only to Remnant. Poor things, I wonder if the Spiders feed them regularly."

"Guys! Hide!" April warned, but it was too late.

It was at that moment that the door opened and a Spider member with a giant bag of "Generic Pet Food Pellets" in his arms came in. He stared at the Turtles. The Turtles stared at him. And one second later, Raphael punched the Spider. The criminal went flying through the doorway, landing in front of the other Spider members who were waiting for their friend to finish.

"Hey, it's those ugly Faunus!" Another mook shouted.

As the other Spiders fumbled with their weapons, the two Turtles leapt into action. Raph threw a shuriken at the one Spider who had his finger on the trigger of his gun-saw. This caused the gun-saw to fire, shooting another Spider in the foot. Don also threw a shuriken, but aimed it at the light on the ceiling of the room. Darkness consumed the room, and when another of the Spiders aimed the light from his scroll into it, both Turtles were gone.

"Wha- how'd they do that!?" The third gang member cried, "They're gone?"

If any of the Spiders had bothered to check the ceiling, they would have seen the Turtles holding themselves by bracing against each other and the walls. But they didn't. Instead, the ones that hadn't had their foot shot locked behind the various cages, while the one with the shot foot opened his own scroll.

"All points! We have intruders! Repeat, we have- Awk!" He cried as Don and Raph came down to deliver a serious beating. But it was too late.

Meanwhile, with Team RWBY's help, Leo and Mike had been looking for an escape route to use when the Turtles found Leatherhead. They managed to find the vehicle bay where various trucks were kept on the ground level. There was minimal security there, but Leo elected to hold off on busting heads until they heard from Don and Raph. But as he and Mike moved into position to ambush the local guards, they got an alert from April;

"Team-2's just been exposed! Things are about to get loud!"

Sure enough, a red light began to flash and a woman's voice came out from the loudspeaker, "Intruder alert! Intruder alert! Search the castle!"

"Aw, shell." Mike groaned as Leo opened his T-com.

"Don, are you and Raph okay?" Leo asked worriedly.

"We're fine, just had a run-in with some security, sorry," Don assured, "Luckily, they don't know where we are."

"And let's not give them a chance to find out," Leo ordered, "Keep moving and go get Leatherhead, Mike and I will meet you there!"

"There they are!" Someone shouted.

Gunfire rang out, and Mike instinctively whipped out his nunchucks. The spinning end connected with a bullet, and the ballistic bounced off the ninja weapon instead of breaking.

"Whoa!" Mike gasped, "Did you see that, Leo? It's like my nunchuck was a lightsaber!"

"Well, Team RWBY did say we can strengthen our weapons by flowing aura through them," Leo remarked, and deflected some gunshots with his sword. "Now, focus!"

And with that, the two Turtles leapt out from their hiding space and into battle…

"So much for the 'Way of the Ninja'." Weiss sighed, shaking her head.

"I guess it was too much to hope for that this would go quietly." Blake commented.

Team RWBY watched on their scrolls as the Turtles began fighting the Spiders in separate areas of the castle. So far, they seemed to be handling things on their own. Leo and Mike were finishing their fight in the garage, while Don and Raph were continuing down the through the lower level towards the dungeons. However, outside the Grimm were getting even more agitated. The Nevermore were flying in crooked circles, and the Beowolf was now running in circles. The chaos happening inside was clearly inciting the Grimm to action, but some invisible force kept them at bay.

"I'm surprised the Grimm haven't attacked by now," Yang said, "They've never hesitated before."

"I've been listening in on conversations between Spider members," April said, "There seems to be a machine that can ward the Grimm off."

"How is that possible?" Ruby asked. As far as she was concerned, only Salem could control the Grimm. The possibility that the Spiders were connected to the 'Queen of Grimm' was not a pleasant thought.

"Blake, you said that there was buzzing sound in the air, right? It's possible that the sound is a frequency that the Grimm can't stand, like dog whistle but in reverse."

"I guess that works…" Ruby muttered.

"Oh, no." Blake whispered, her cat ears twitching.

"You don't think that's right?" Yang asked.

"No, the buzzing. It's gone," Blake said, "I mean, it's a relief to my ears, but if it was a Grimm-blocker…"

No more words needed to be said, as the Nevermores gave a triumphant screech and dove at the castle.

Down in the lowest level, Don and Raph finally reached the dungeons. However, all of the cells were empty.

"I don't believe this!" Raph shouted in frustration, "All this way for a dead end?!"

"Hold it, Raph," Don said, pointing his bo staff. "Take a look over there!"

'Over there' was another dungeon. However, unlike the other cells, the door had been torn clear off its hinges, and the wall surrounding it was cracked. The inside of the cell was littered with pieces of broken chains.

"Whoa, I wondered what happened here?" Raph asked.

"I'm the wrong Turtle to ask." Don replied.

They heard a groan, and the source was a Spider goon slumped against the wall. Raph went over and picked the thug up by the shoulder.

"I'm a bad mood, so let's make this quick," Raph growled, "Care to explain the door job?"

"Uh… the gator-man…" the thug groaned, "After the red alert came out…It broke out…"

"Hold on, if Leatherhead escaped, how come we didn't see him on the way here?" Don asked, "The alert didn't come out that long."

"Secret…passage…" The thug continued, "The gang sealed it up when we moved in…somehow that thing found it and went through it..."

"A secret passage in a dungeon?" Raph questioned.

"He's right, Raph," Don said, walking over to another part of the dungeon. He kicked a pile of rubble, which gave away to revealed a hole in the wall. "I thought the damage here looked too new. "

Nodding, Raph slammed the head of the thug, knocking him out. Before the Turtles could go through the passageway, they heard a crash from above.

"Guys! A bunch of Grimm have just broke into the castle!"April alerted.

"Great, and meanwhile, Leatherhead's apparently trying to break out of the castle!" Raph replied.

"April, can you see if you can spot him on the surveillance?" Don asked as he and Raph entered the passageway. "Maybe we can intercept him before he takes off into the wilderness."

"I'll try, but the Grimm are wrecking the castle- even the security cameras," April said, "Stay on your toes."

As it turned out, 'staying on their toes' was easy for Leo and Mike.

Having been alerted of Leatherhead's personal jailbreak, they abandoned their own journey to the dungeons and began to search the castle in earnest. Unfortunately, they had to not only contend with whatever members of the Spiders they ran into, but also the Grimm that were now besieging the fortress.

After taking a pair of mooks who were only armed with dull swords, a small Nevermore came flying at Leonardo from down the hall. Its predatory screech gave the lead Turtle all the warning he needed, and he sliced its head off without even looking at the Grimm.

"Yo! Leo, over here!" Mike called out.

Leo looked over to Mike, and saw that there was a hole in the wall. Judging from the shattered pottery and torn paintings, it might have been a personal shrine for whatever lord reigned over the castle. And the hole itself didn't lead to a room on the other side, it went into a tunnel.

"Where do you think it goes?" Mike asked, peering into the darkness.

"I'm more concerned about what came out- Wait, I hear someone coming!" Leo cried.

The two Turtles brought up their weapons and prepared for whatever was making the footsteps in the tunnel. They weren't sure if it was more Spiders or Grimm.

As it turned out, it was neither. Don and Raph came out, a bit out of breath from running.

"Leo!" Raph cried, "What are you doing here?"

"Just a little house-keeping," Leo commented, sheathing his swords. "I guess that's the secret passage April mentioned."

"So where's Leatherhead?" Don asked, looking around.

"We haven't seen him," Mike answered, "Aww, man! I hope we didn't miss him!"

"And with all the chaos caused by the Grimm, it'll be hard to pick up his trail." Leo sighed.

"Yeah, when ol' L-H is on the warpath, he doesn't settle for subtle," Raph muttered, "And judging from how easy the guards are, he'll be outta here before we can find him!"

Raph's words caused a light to turn on in Don's. But not in a good way. It was like lighting a match in a cave, only to see you were in a dynamite stockpile.

"Wait…if the guards are so easy, why is Leatherhead escaping now?" Don asked. The other Turtles looked at him. "You know what he's like when given a hard time. We lost him weeks ago. So, why did he wait until now to make a break for it? And how were the Spiders able to hold him for that long?"

As the Turtles pondered Don's words, a melodious voice drifted in, saying, "Sit down and you'll see…"

Team RWBY, meanwhile, were fighting Grimm in the castle's courtyard. More than just Nevermores were attacking the fortress. Beowolves had scaled the walls and even a Dealthstalker had broken through. It was business as usual for the huntresses, though, and none of the young women were intimidated by the Creatures of Grimm.

The Deathstalker thrust its stinger at Weiss, who summoned a phantasmal sword to parry it. Ruby then sped by and used Crescent Rose to slice the stinger off. The two girls proceeded to shoot at the Grimm until it was killed.

Meanwhile, Blake and Yang were tearing up the Beowolves. Blake swung Gambol Shroud by its ribbon to slice off one Beowolf's head, before using the recoil to stab at another behind her. Off to the side, Yang unleashed a killer uppercut that sent a Beowolf Alpha flying into the air. When the Grimm landed, it was on two of its fellows, and the bomb Yang stuck onto the Alpha's exploded.

Before long, however, the courtyard was clear of Grimm. Team RWBY took a moment to survey their handiwork and catch their breath.

"Do you think that's the last one?" Ruby asked.

"No," Blake answered, her cat ears twitching. "I can hear crashing on the inside…something's coming!"

Just as the words left Blake's mouth, a wall to the castle's interior exploded open. Team whirled about and readied their weapons. But they weren't ready to see what had had come.

It was probably the biggest lizard any of the girls had ever seen. It was even bigger than that velociraptor Ruby and Weiss had tried to tame once. Its hulking figure gave Yang eerie flashbacks to that horrible Hound Grimm she saw in Atlas once. In its hands it clutched a damaged rifle, holding it by the barrel.

It roared, "Get awaaaay!" and charged at the girls.

Yang instantly put herself between her team and the rampaging reptile. It swung the rifle, which she easily blocked and followed up with an uppercut. The creature stumbled, then swung around and slapped Yang with its tail, sending her flying.

"YANG!" Blake cried in shock. Getting angry, the faunus aimed Gambol Shroud's gun at the giant lizard, while it was preoccupied fighting Ruby and Weiss.

"No! Don't shoot!" Yang yelled from the wall.

Blake stopped. "What?"

Meanwhile, Ruby was using Crescent Rose to deflect and parry the beast's claws. Weiss summoned her Armor Gigas and used it to hold the lizard's jaws shut. The creature took hold of the summon by its arms and threw it back! Ruby had to Petal Burst and pull Weiss out of harm's way.

"So now we have to deal with this?" Weiss groused after Ruby landed a fair distance away, "What is that thing, anyway?!"

"I dunno, it's some kind of giant lizard!" Ruby replied, "And we can't waste time dealing with it when we're supposed to help the Turtles find their friend…who happens to be a giant lizard…"

Ruby and Weiss looked at each other. They looked at the raging reptile that was trying to tear Blake apart. Thanks to her Shadow Semblance, Blake was able to dodge the creature's claws. As he tried to corner Blake, the behemoth stopped. He felt his tail go taut.

"That's…" Yang growled, as she yanked at the lizard tail, "ENOUGH!"

The lizard's eyes bulged in surprise as he was lifted off his feet, swung through the air, and smashed into the ground. Weiss quickly summoned a gravity Glyph to hold him down, while Blake used Gambol Shroud's ribbon to help. Ruby instantly Petal Burst onto the reptile's chest and aimed the rifle end of Crescent Rose into his face.

"Leatherhead, calm down!" Ruby yelled, "We're not your enemy!"

"Leatherhead?" Blake's jaw dropped. "That's the Turtles' friend?!" She asked Yang in shock.

"Well, they did say he was a big croc," Yang replied, "Wasn't too hard to figure out."

Blake felt a bit embarrassed. She didn't figure it out.

Leatherhead stopped struggling. However, he still had a mean look on his face. "Then why are you stopping me from escaping?"

"You attacked us!" Weiss snapped, "Leo said you had a bad temper, but what the heck!?"

Leatherhead asked, "Leo?"

"And Don, Mike, and Raph," Ruby said, "The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. We came here with them to save you."

But Leatherhead did not look convinced. "And how do I know you are telling the truth?"

"They can vouch for us," Blake said, pulling out her Scroll. "I'll call April and she'll explain everything."

Blake turned Scroll's screen towards Leatherhead. As the connection loaded, the rest of Team RWBY released the mutant crocodile and allowed him to sit up. When April's worried face filled the screen, his jaw dropped. So did April's.

"Leatherhead! I can't believe it… Girls, you found him!" April exclaimed, "Leatherhead, are you all right?"

"April, it is good to see you again!" Leatherhead said, "Yes, I'm all right…for the most part. But what about the Turtles? These girls say they are here as well."

"They're in the castle," April said, "And they're in trouble!"

"What?!"

"What's happening?" Ruby asked as everyone gathered around the hologram.

"I think I know," Leatherhead said, rubbing his chin. "There's only one person in this structure with the power to subdue the Turtles."

Her name was Honey Wine. She didn't look like someone who would be part of a major syndicate. She had the look of a woman who sang in nightclubs. In fact, she did own a nightclub in the Kingdom of Vale…that was destroyed during the Fall of Beacon. But before that, and presently, she was an enforcer for Little Miss Malachite. With her Semblance, she could sing in a way that made anyone who heard it become docile and obedient. It was with this Alluring Song that she aided the Spiders in their animal trafficking operations, keeping 'the goods' pacified during transport. She had been crucial in keeping Leatherhead contained whenever he attempted a break-out. And now she had the Turtles in her thrall.

With their ears plugged, the remaining Spider gang members tied up the Turtles. The ninjas' weapons had been taken away and were now in the hands of one mook. Once the Spiders were done, Honey stopped singing and took a glass of water. It was hard to tell with their masks, but the Turtles came to their senses much faster than Honey's past victims.

"Gah! What the heck happened?" Michelangelo gasped, looking about wildly.

"This is only a theory, but I'll bet good money that woman's singing has hypnotic properties." Donatello said.

"Take these freaks to the garage and load them up," Honey ordered, "Even if we lost that monster, these four should make up for it."

"Freak!?" Raphael snarled, struggling against his bonds. "You better hope these ropes can hold me!"

And the ropes did hold, as the Spiders forced the Turtles to march to the garage at gunpoint. Honey walked behind by several feet, preparing to use her Semblance again if the Turtles tried anything.

When they arrived at the garage, Honey surveyed the damage that was done by the fighting done earlier. Blood and spent guns were scattered here and there. Several of the vehicles had bullet holes in their hoods, but not all of them.

"You weirdos better not have wrecked all of the trucks." One of the Spiders grumbled, nudging Leo with his gun.

"Just send the repair bill to our accountant." Mike replied. That got him a good whack in the shell.

Leo felt his foot brush up against something. It was a wrench, probably from a tool kit that was used to keep the trucks repaired. Must have been knocked to the floor when he and Mike were fighting in the garage. An idea formed in his head, and he carefully used his toes to try and grasp the wrench.

Please let this work. Leo thought, and swept his foot out. The wrench flew, and the sharp end went into the tire of a nearby truck.

Blam! went the tire.

The Spiders (And other Turtles) instinctively turned to look, and the thugs opened fire on what sounded like another weapon. Leo then focused his aura into his legs and rammed his head into Honey's stomach, sending her flying into some garbage cans. Catching on, Raph swung around to kick one Spider in the head. Don and Mike sandwiched another Spider between their shells.

"You freaks!" the remaining Spider gunman yelled, aiming his rifle. Before he could fire, something red zipped by and knocked him off of his feet. The red thing stopped, showing herself to be Ruby Rose. She then Petal Burst over to the Spider carrying the Turtles' weapons and took him down too, retaking the weapons.

Behind her, Blake leapt out of the darkness and used Gambol Shroud's blade to cut the Turtles' binds.

"Quick!" She said at the Turtles, "Head to the biggest truck!"

"But we haven't found Leatherhead!" Raph retorted as he took his sai back from Ruby.

The doors to the truck in question burst open. Inside the truck's carrier was none other than was giant crocodile of the hour. He gestured emphatically for the others to join him.

"Get in!" Leatherhead cried.

"Never mind, there he is!" Mike laughed, half-shocked, half-happy.

The truck's engines started up. As the Turtles and huntresses ran for the truck, Honey finally dug herself out of the pile she had been knocked into. She watched as the group piled in, with Ruby the last to enter. Her eyes narrowed.

Inside the truck, the Turtles saw Yang and Weiss sitting in the cabin, in the driver's seat and shotgun respectively.

"Hold on, were you guys waiting for us?" Don asked.

"Duh!" Yang laughed, "Now hold on! We're outta here! Weiss?"

Weiss stuck the arm holding Myrtenaster out the truck window and fired off a blast that blew hanger door partially open. Yang hit the accelerator, and the truck smashed its way out through the damage door. Within seconds, the truck was speeding out into the night.

Up on a hill, Dr. Merlot's robotic eye twitched and buzzed as it followed the truck's movement. Next to him, the Beowolf stirred uncomfortably. The helmet it wore also buzzed, twitched, and also sparked.

This is working out quite well, Merlot thought, Now…what should my next move be?

To be continued_