“The Kraang are making their move,” she explained. “The Turtles are on their way to T.C.R.I.”
April watched her father carefully as he reacted to this news. She was happy to be reunited with him, but lately she’d noticed something different about him. Something strange. Clearly, his experience with the Kraang had traumatized him.
“T.C.R.I.?” Kirby said, weary. “Oh no . . .”
“What’s wrong?” April asked as her father began to twitch uncontrollably.
“The Kraang are aware that the Turtles are coming for them,” Kirby insisted.
“How do you know?” April grabbed her T-Phone and started dialing the Turtles, when Kirby snatched it away from her.
“Don’t!” he yelled.
After a long pause, Kirby composed himself and tried to put on a calm face for his daughter. “The Kraang have cracked the T-Phone’s encryption. We’ve got to warn the Turtles in person.” He looked at April meaningfully. “I’m your father, April. You have to trust me.”
Those words really got to April. How could she say no to her dad when he was only trying to help her friends? So she let Kirby lead her out of the lair, toward the surface.
Just then, Splinter emerged from the shadows. “April, where are you going?” he demanded.
April stood up to her sensei. “The Turtles are in trouble. I’ve got to go warn them.”
“But you know it’s dangerous for you to be on the surface,” Splinter reminded her.
April forced herself to stay strong. “Well, some of us can’t just sit around and do nothing.”
And with that, April caught up to her father, ascending to the wide-open city above their heads.
“Dad, what are you doing?” April asked as she noticed they were getting farther and farther off course. “This isn’t the way to T.C.R.I.”
“We have to go this way so we won’t be spotted,” he assured her. “Hurry!”
But April didn’t want to go any farther. Not until he started acting like her father again. “What are you talking about?” she asked him. “Dad, what’s going on?”
Kirby put his hands on his daughter’s shoulders. And now that April could feel how much he was trembling, she could tell he was struggling with some intense, indescribable urge.
“I’m sorry, April,” he said sadly.
She was confused. But then she watched his eyes glaze over until they were as vacant as a robot’s.
“For what?” April asked.
Threatening figures in black suits appeared and quickly surrounded her. It was a Foot Clan ambush!
“Hey there, princess,” a voice called from the crowd. A beautiful teenage kunoichi stepped forward with the confidence of a highly trained assassin. It was Shredder’s daughter, Karai!
“Miss me?” she asked April.
“Yeah, actually,” April said through clenched teeth.
Their previous encounter had been neck-and-neck ninja battle. The two kunoichis had exchanged kicks and power-punches in the street, fighting for their lives. April had finally managed to gain the upper hand by sweep-kicking Karai down onto the subway tracks.
“Last time I saw you,” April started, “I forgot to give you this!”
Thwaack! April knocked Karai to the pavement with a swift kick.
The Foot Clan quickly overpowered April, preventing her from unleashing any more blows.
Karai eyed her adversary with grudging admiration as she got back up on her feet.
Splinter has taught you well, she thought.
Karai signaled for the Mousers—Baxter Stockman’s miniature mechanical minions—to gather around Kirby.
“You’ve performed admirably,” she snarled at him. “Now take the message to Splinter.”
It was clear to April now: her father had been hypnotized into some sort of trance by Shredder’s army. On autopilot, he began marching back toward the sewers with the Mousers in tow.
“Dad, what are you doing? Dad?!” April pleaded. But it was no use. The man she called Dad was merely a puppet under the enemy’s control.
“You brainwashed him!” April yelled.
“I know,” Karai acknowledged. “Pretty cool, right?”
With just a nod, Karai commanded her Foot Soldiers to drag April away, screaming into the darkness.
T.C.R.I. was under extremely tight security that night. Several Kraang-droids patrolled the lobby. They were each heavily armed with energy blasters and were guarding their secret base with eerie, mechanical precision. If this place was ground zero for the Kraang invasion, then everything had to run smoothly.
Craaaash! The Shellraiser smashed through the lobby windows in a hail of shattered glass. Before its tires hit the floor, the Kraang-droids opened fire on the Turtles’ van. Glowing energy bolts shot from their blasters, burning holes in the side of the vehicle.
Convinced the Turtles were Swiss cheese by now, the Kraang-droids ceased fire. A thick fog filled the lobby from their still-smoking blasters. A hazy silence descended over the room.
Then the Shellraiser’s roof hatch opened, and a Turtle-like figure started to emerge. But the Kraang-droids’ scanners weren’t recognizing it as one of the Ninja Turtles. Whatever this was, it seemed unstoppable. Mechanical.
It was Metalhead—the Turtles’ robo-sidekick!
“Boo-ya-ka-sha,” Metalhead announced in his robotic voice before deploying each of his high-tech weapons and firing all at once like an un- beatable battle machine.
At the moment the T.C.R.I. lobby was exploding into smithereens, a fleet of small aircraft soared through the starry sky overhead. The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles were flying safely above the battle on homemade hang gliders.
Pleased that his decoy plan had worked, Donatello continued to control Metalhead with a small device he held in the palm of his hand.
Raph smiled. “Nice work, Donnie!” Coming from the toughest Turtle with the most attitude, that was a huge compliment.
“Do you know what it’s time for?” Mikey announced. “The world’s first-ever midair high three!”
The Turtles used the wind to steer their gliders in formation and executed a flawless four-Tur-tle high three. So far tonight, they were on a roll.
“This is awesome!” Mikey yelled, as psyched as ever. “Turtles were born to fly!”
“All right, guys, let’s do this,” Leo commanded.
They zoomed through the air, banking as one toward the T.C.R.I. rooftop.
As soon as the Turtles touched down, they silently stowed their gliders and waited for Leo’s orders. Giving them the all clear, he signaled Raph to block the security camera so they could remain unseen.
Evading security was one of Raph’s many talents, and luckily, he had just the right tool to cover the camera lens: a pigeon.
Inside the building, in a secret Kraang surveillance room, a lone Kraang-droid watched the wall of video monitors. It didn’t notice the screen showing the pigeon. Its attention was focused on the live security feed of Metalhead’s ongoing armored assault in the lobby.
Back up on the rooftop, everything was much calmer. The two Kraang-droids who were standing guard had no idea the Turtles were sneaking up behind them. “It is quiet,” one Kraang-droid announced. “Precisely the correct amount of quiet.”
Just then, Mikey popped up to distract them: “Wah-booga-booga-wooh!” Before the Kraang-droids could react, Donnie leaped at them with his bo staff and knocked them off the roof with one swift move.
The droids plummeted several stories to the sidewalk below, muttering their last words in free fall:
“This is going to leave that which is known as a mark.”
“Affirmative.”
Back at the Turtles’ dojo, Splinter attempted to meditate, but it was no use—his soul was restless. Memories of his argument with April kept breaking his concentration.
The last words she’d spoken to him echoed in his mind: “The Turtles are out there risking their lives. Don’t you think they could use your help?”
Ashamed of his own inaction, Splinter dug even deeper, trying to focus instead on the silence. But after a few moments, more of April’s words came flooding back: “Well, some of us can’t just sit around and do nothing.”
Just then, Splinter’s heightened ninja senses recognized a change in the room. There was an intruder in his dojo. With a slight flick of his wrist, Splinter grabbed his cane and rolled effortlessly into a striking stance, swinging his weapon inches away from—
April’s father, Kirby.
The hypnotic trance Kirby was under was so powerful, he had no idea how close he’d come to getting hit in the face! All he could do was continue mindlessly staring down the end of the cane at Splinter.
“Where is April?” Splinter asked.
“Master Shredder wanted you to have this message,” Kirby recited.
A horrified look of confusion came over Splinter’s face. “Master . . . Shredder?!”
As he struggled to understand Kirby’s words, Splinter heard another disturbing sound: the pitter-patter of dozens of little robotic feet. The Mousers emerged from behind Kirby, flashing their steel fangs.
They delivered the message, projecting a flurry of lights that flashed and then morphed into the shape of a mysterious stranger. It was a hologram of Splinter’s worst nightmare . . . SHREDDER.
“So, Hamato Yoshi, you thought you could hide from me forever,” the hologram said. “But now I have April O’Neil, and if you value her life, you will come and face me like a man. And we will finish what we started all those years ago.”
And with that, the hologram dissolved into the shadows.
Hamato Yoshi. In a different lifetime, it had been the name of a man who lost everything to Shredder. A man who had fled his native Japan in search of a new life. A man who had lost his humanity one fateful day when a mysterious canister of ooze mutated him into a giant rat. Hamato Yoshi was the true name of Master Splinter.
Remembering all the pain Shredder had caused him, Splinter closed his eyes in misery. When he opened them again, he looked determined, and ready for a fight.
Despite the surveillance cameras everywhere, the Turtles managed to sneak into T.C.R.I. unseen with the Micro-fission Omni-disintegrator. The strange device may have looked like a simple hand cannon, but it had enough energy inside to destroy the portal with just one shot. Or so the Turtles hoped!
They leaped up to a hanging walkway high above the floor. From this vantage point, they could see a massive generator down below that was hissing and popping with electric bolts. With each charge, the shapes formed a gateway that grew bigger and bigger!
“It’s the portal!” Donnie realized. Confidently, he began calculating the best place to blast it, when he noticed a giant figure standing guard.
“It’s Traag,” Raph said. “I forgot about him.”
Raph recognized the chiseled features of Traag—a rock monster from Dimension X that stood over twenty feet tall! He was loyal to the Kraang, and his cosmic DNA made him nearly indestructible.
“Don’t worry,” Donnie calmly said. “We’ll be gone before that rock monster even knows we’re here.”
Leo activated the Micro-fission Omni- disintegrator. This was it. The fate of the world rested on this one shot. “Okay, guys, this all ends in three . . . two . . . one—”
Leo held his breath as he squeezed the trigger. A neon energy beam came blasting out of the weapon—
And then dissolved in midair with a tiny pfffft.
The Turtles were shocked.
“The portal must be protected by an invisible shield,” Donnie said.
Leo gave his brother a look. “There’s a force field?! Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Well, because I wanted us to fail,” Donnie sarcastically replied. “Obviously, I didn’t know!”
Suddenly, energy bolts came whizzing by their heads. They had been seen! An onslaught of Kraang-droids attacked, blasters blazing.
Raph yelled, “Anyone got a Plan B?”
Seconds later, the Turtles saw something come hurtling toward them—Traag!
Shredder’s lair was hidden in plain sight. To the untrained eye, it looked like an abandoned church in a dangerous neighborhood. Every floor had stained-glass windows adorned with dust and caked-on bird poop. Faded graffiti covered the walls in splashes of red and purple. The breeze swirled trash at the bottom of the front steps.
Stationed on the ground were four Foot Soldiers. Their instructions were simple: attack and capture anyone who came down this street. But they hadn’t seen anyone stupid enough to come through this part of town in years. For the past few hours, they had been staring at nothing, waiting for any sign of someone. . . .
An old drifter rounded the corner, shuffling toward them. He was frail and wore a hood that covered his face.
The Foot Soldiers relaxed.
They had no idea who they were dealing with.
Inside the building, behind closed doors, Shredder’s mutant henchmen, Dogpound and Fishface, anxiously awaited their master’s sworn enemy. They’d heard stories about Hamato Yoshi, but tonight, they were certain they’d get to meet him face to face.
“So how good is this so-called ninja master anyway?” Fishface asked with a snarl.
“He’s as skilled as Master Shredder,” Dogpound explained. “But he doesn’t have the stomach to finish the fight.”
Just then, they both heard a commotion outside the lair.
“What was that?” Fishface asked.
“He’s here!” Dogpound growled.
The two mutants threw open the doors and drew their weapons. On the steps before them, the Foot Soldiers were lying in a pile, beaten unconscious.
Dogpound and Fishface looked at each other. They knew Splinter had to be close by.
Fishface could feel his blood boiling. His gills flared out. “Come on out, you sniveling—”
THWACK!
Before Fishface could react, Splinter dropped down from the ceiling behind them, attacking with lightning-fast ninja precision. In one complex move, he dispatched both mutants, knocking them out cold before they even hit the floor.
While Splinter was across town delivering a surprise attack, the Turtles were getting one—from Traag! The two-ton alien rock monster was in their path, barreling toward them. With every step he took, the hanging walkway buckled under his immense weight. The Turtles were trapped.
Traag vaulted, propelling himself into the air. He prepared to bring his full weight down on the Turtles. But before he could squash them, Leo lifted the Micro-fission Omni-disintegrator and squeezed the trigger.
He fired the white-hot energy beam, blasting Traag apart in a fiery explosion of gravel and space dust that settled on the floor below. Leo couldn’t believe it had actually worked! Thinking they had beaten Traag, the Turtles breathed a sigh of relief.
But then the Kraang-droids began blasting energy bolts at them. And as if that weren’t bad enough, tiny bits and pieces of Traag inexplicably started coming back together. It was like some invisible magnet was helping him re-form without a scratch on him.
With the situation spiraling out of control, Leo cornered Donnie. “Donnie! How’s that Plan B coming?”
“I’m thinking!” Donnie shouted.
The fully re-formed Traag was back in action! He hurdled up and over the railing and landed back on the walkway with a loud CRASH!
“Think faster!” Leo commanded.
Seeing no other option, Leo opened fire on Traag again. And in a brilliant flash of light, Traag exploded once again into a hail of flaming pieces.
There was no time to celebrate. Before the smoke cleared, Traag’s molecules began to re-form. Leo knew they couldn’t keep this up forever.
Donnie was starting to feel the pressure. He didn’t have a solution. There was no exit strategy for something like this. He needed to rely on what he knew best. Whipping out his trusty laptop, he turned to Leo. “I can probably hack into the Kraang system if you give me enough time!�
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“Great! Do that!” Leo said, trying to manage the situation before it got any worse.
As Donnie went off searching for a computer port, the remaining Turtles put their shells together and tried their best to cover him. But with an oncoming army of Kraang-droids, and a freshly resurrected Traag, they knew this battle was about to get ugly.
Splinter found April inside Shredder’s main chamber. She was locked in rusted shackles. Opening his special ninja lock-picking kit, Splinter approached her quietly.
“April, it is me,” he whispered. “Do not make a sound. I will have you out in a moment.”
Splinter reached for her wrists and gasped. His hand passed right through April’s as if she were a ghost. She wasn’t really there. He had been deceived by a hologram!
From the shadows behind him came a laugh he had not heard in decades: a deep gurgle that would send chills up anyone’s spine.
Splinter spun around to look his archnemesis, Shredder, in the eye. This was no hologram. The spikes before him were real, and the dangerous foe beneath the armor was flesh and blood staring back at him. It was a nightmare come true.
“Hamato Yoshi, I am so glad you accepted my invitation,” Shredder said maliciously.
“What have you done with April?” Splinter demanded.
Shredder’s voice boomed from inside his metal mask. “Now that you are here, Miss O’Neil is no longer of any use to me.” He then added, “I gave her to my new friends . . . the Kraang.”
Splinter knew that with April in their possession, the Kraang were one step closer to achieving their plans for world domination. He was stunned. “You fool! Do you have any idea what you’ve done?!”
“Yes,” Shredder retorted. “I took your family away, and now I’ve lured you here so I can put an end to you once and for all!”
The Crime Fighter Collection Page 7
