FicWad

Chapter Forty: The New Blood

Members of the media converged at City Hall for a press conference about the progress of the cleanup of New York City with the Mayor and Oroku Saki. Television cameras were at the ready, filming the press conference for the local news telecasts that evening.

The Mayor of New York City stepped up to the podium, looking down at the chattering crowd of media reporters. Oroku Saki sat behind the podium, with his arms folded. The Mayor grabbed the microphone connected to the podium.

“Ladies, Gentlemen, and members of the press, I welcome you to this press conference, updating you all on the reconstruction of the city of the New York after the recent alien invasion!” boomed the Mayor, causing the chattering to die down somewhat. “As you know, last July, the barbaric Triceraton Republic invaded Earth, the majority of their attack unfortunately based here in New York City. Thanks to the efforts of the United States military along with other assorted militaries around the world, we managed to drive back the ruthless saurian aliens, but unfortunately the damage to the city had already been done.”

The Mayor took a deep breath as the members of the media muttered amongst themselves.

“Reconstruction efforts have been going along slowly but surely, as much of the debris left behind by the ruthless Triceratons is powerful enough to wipe out most of the city if handled improperly,” said the Mayor. “Fortunately, we have the financial backing necessary to clean the city up, removing all of this deadly alien technology from the streets and bringing the city of New York back to its former luster. Thanks to the efforts of one man, reconstruction is moving at a steady pace. This man is of course the man who is standing behind me, Mr. Oroku Saki.”

The Mayor beckoned Saki to rise to his feet. Saki did so and walked towards the podium, as the members of the press went quiet as he looked over the podium, before proceeding to speak into the microphone.

“As my friend the Mayor has pointed out, reconstruction efforts of the city have been going smoothly as of late,” declared Saki. “All of the alien technology that has been left behind with the Triceratons have fled is being removed in the most efficient and timely matter as possible. I suspect that most if not all of the Triceraton technology left in this city will be located and taken off the street. By that time, all of the destroyed areas of the city will be reconstructed and the entire city will return to what it once was.”

Saki stepped back, as one of the members of the media stepped forward, looking up at Mr. Saki with a shrewd look on his face.

“Mr. Saki what would you say to the rumors of your ties to an ancient criminal organization of ninjas known as the Foot, as well as street gangs such as the Purple Dragons?” asked the reporter.

Before Saki could say anything, the Mayor stepped over with a panicked look on his face and leaned over by the microphone, preparing for damage control.

“Uh, I’m sorry but Mr. Saki-san is not taking any questions tonight,” said the Mayor nervously, as Saki stepped slightly into the shadows, before nodding towards the crowd towards his adopted daughter, Karai, who stood behind all of the reporters. Karai stepped forward towards the crowd towards the offending reporter.

“Mr. Saki, is it true that after all of these months, renegade scientist Baxter Stockman is still on your payroll?” asked the reporter but Karai subtlety elbowed him in the back of the neck, causing the report to drop to his knees.

Some of the members of the media turned around, as Karai stepped around the reporter.

“Would you please move back?” asked Karai. “It appears that this gentleman has been overwhelmed by the excitement of today’s events.”

Karai tapped the reporter on the pressure points of his neck, causing him to fall to the ground, unconscious. The reporters stepped back so the unconscious reporter could receive medical attention.

On the rooftops of New York, Harry looked over an article about the newspaper, which was completely based on lies. It rather irritated Harry that the Mayor of New York was talking about how the military had ran off the alien menace of the Triceratons. As Harry remembered it, most of the military was wiped out or greatly incapacitated in seconds flat by the alien technology of the Triceratons. Those who weren’t seemed more interested in capturing Harry, Raph, Don, Leo, and Mikey and delivering them to Agent Bishop, while the Triceratons were laying waste to the planet in pursuit of the Fugitoid.

Harry could only read about half of the article before he angrily tossed it from the rooftop. He looked around, as Leo, Don, Mikey, and Raph joined him on the rooftop.

“The next training exercise that Master Splinter has requested for us to do will focus on heightened senses and stealth ability,” explained Leo.

“Or in other words, Hide and Seek,” replied Mikey as he joined Raph, Leo, and Harry in scattering off in different directions to hide, leaving Don standing on the roof alone.

“Well, it looks like I’m it, then,” remarked Don as pulled his duffel bag off of his shoulder, before pulling out a pair of heat vision goggles, placing them on. Master Splinter did say that a ninja uses everything he could to his advantage and Don decided to do just that.

He spun around, looking forward, seeing the outline of Mikey, crouched underneath a water tower. Don walked around, pulling out his Bo staff and tapping Mikey on the shell. Mikey spun around, with an incredulous look on his face, as he saw that his brother had located him.

“Ah, c’mon!” whined Mikey, looking at the heat vision goggles but Don had already moved around, looking around to find his next brother. A few seconds later, he saw Raph clinging to the side of a building with his Sais.

Don pulled out his Bo Staff and tapped Raph on the shoulder with it. Raph spun around with an agitated look on his face, when he saw the method that Don used to find him.

“Wait, no way!” exclaimed Raph, as he pried himself from the wall as Don moved off, half way done. All he needed to do was find Harry and Leo and he would have found them all.

Don spun around, spotting Leo crouched behind a television satellite dish on the roof of the building. He reached around, tapping his oldest brother on the shoulder with the Bo staff, signaling he was found.

Leo sprang up, looking at Don, before shaking his head, looking at the night vision goggles. Before he could say anything, Don looked around to find Harry. Harry seemed to be a bit for adept to hiding then the others, as there were many magical methods to obscure himself even from heat vision goggles. After about a minute of leaping across several roof tops, Don found Harry crouching behind a stone gargoyle on a rooftop about a block away, right across from Central Park. Don spun around, as Harry ducked down, but Don had him right now. The Bo staff tapped forward, but Harry’s form disappeared.

“Holographic projection spell,” muttered Don as he heard snickering from the shadows. He turned around to see Harry standing in the shadows.

“Actually, holographic projection spells combined with a simulated body heat spell,” replied Harry. “The heat vision goggles were a good idea in theory, but there are ways to fool them.”

“Don’t you think using magic might give you a little bit of an unfair advantage in these training exercises?” asked Don.

“No more than you using heat-vision goggles as a shortcut,” replied Harry, as he watched the others climbed towards the roof towards Harry and Don.

“Donatello, I really think you were missing the entire point of this exercise,” lectured Leo.

“What it was supposed to heighten my senses,” remarked Don with a smirk. “And that’s what I did, even through I did use heat-vision goggles.”

“How about we heighten your sense of pain?” asked Raph, twirling his Sais but Don’s shell cell began ranging.

“Not now, duty calls,” muttered Don, as he opened up his shell cell to answer it. “Hello?

A loud, ear splitting screeching sound blasted from Don’s shell cell, causing Leo, Raph, Mikey, and Harry to clutch their heads at the racket.

“What in the bloody hell is that!” yelled Harry over the loud squealing sound from Don’s shell cell.

“Someone keeps trying to fax me, that’s the fourth time in the last week,” replied Don, as he snapped his shell cell shut and put it away.

“Yeah, yeah, now where were we…” started Raph, but a helicopter zoomed over their heads, towards the area of Central Park. “What the…something’s going down here, guys.”

Harry and the Turtles leaned over to take a closer look and saw a harness descending from the helicopter. He saw a couple of uniformed individuals beckoning the helicopter to fly slightly to the right, before it disappeared into a wooded area. When the helicopter reappeared a few seconds later, it had a battered and slightly dented Triceraton air car in the harness.

“Triceraton tech,” muttered Leo darkly, as he watched several other government workers load crates in a truck. “Let’s take a closer look shall we.”

The others nodded in agreement and climbed towards the area of Central Park, sticking to the shadows and watching as a few more Triceraton air vehicles and some unmarked crates were slowly removed from the area.

“Heads up everyone, something’s not right,” muttered Harry, looking around nervously. He sensed a presence nearby other than the government workers.

“Harry, they look like they’re just cleaning up,” answered Raph. “What could be so sinister about that?”

“No, Harry’s right,” remarked Leo. “Something’s not right.”

At that moment, about thirty Foot Ninjas leapt from the tops of the trees in the surrounding forest entry and quickly surrounded the Turtles and Harry, with weapons drawn. Leo, Don, Raph, Mikey, and Harry responded by quickly pulled their weapons out as the Foot Ninjas rushed forward to the attack.

“All right, Foot Ninjas, I can use the workout!” exclaimed Raph, using his Sai to block the swing of the sword of one of his attackers before kicking him in the chest. The ninja flipped in the air and landed on his feet.

Harry’s blade clashed against the blade of one of his attackers. Another attacker came from the side, attempting to stab Harry but Harry managed to dart to the side, causing the blades of the two ninjas to clash together. Harry sprang up, knocking both of the ninjas to the side with a split kick.

“With these pajama heads, we’ll barely break a sweat, Raph,” answered Mikey jovially, as he swung his nunchucks but one of the Foot Ninjas used a staff to jab Mikey in the chest, causing him to stagger backwards into a kick to the shell from another one of the assassins. A kick from the front staggered Mikey around.

Leo clanged his sword towards the sword of his attacker, slicing the weapon in two but two other Foot Ninjas grabbed Leo by an arm and flung him upwards into the air. Leo landed on his feet and swung his swords, at two of the Foot Ninjas but they managed to spin around, before kicking Leo directly in both sides at the same time.

Don swung his Bo staff, but it was blocked by the sickle end of a Kusari-Gama. Don barely avoided a spear being jabbed towards his back and leapt up but the wooden end of a spear cracked him across the back of the legs. Don pulled himself in time to get kicked right in the face by one of his attacker’s. Don staggered to the ground, promptly avoiding an edge of a katana slicing towards the back of his neck. The sword sliced several blades of grass and Don managed to use his Bo staff to block a second sword swing. The foot ninja attacked to snap Don’s weapon in half but the resourceful reptile tucked his feet in the assailant’s stomach before kicking him backwards. The ninja landed on his feet and tossed three shuriken towards Don. Don swung his Bo staff, knocking back the shuriken before springing up and barely managing to catch the ninja off guard with a kick. The ninja rolled to his feet and pulled out a dagger, attempting to stab Don with it but Don managed to avoid the blade.

“Is it just me, or are we breaking a sweat?” asked Don, barely managing to knock the dagger from his attackers hand before two ninjas hoisted him up by the arms. The attackers dismissively tossed the terrapin aside like yesterday’s garbage. “I mean, these guys are seriously tougher than I remembered.”

Don had to roll out of the way of getting stabbed in the chest with a sword and Harry leapt up before he could be sliced to ribbons but the Foot Ninja he was engaged in battle with swung his sword. Harry barely managed to block the swift and decisive attack with his weapon.

“Yes and better trained to,” said Harry as he pushed the Foot Ninja back but the assassin didn’t seem to want to give up on his attack.

Harry rolled underneath the sword swing of one of his attackers as he saw Mikey and Leo engaged in a tough battle with a trio of ninjas. The ninja who Harry was fighting leapt up to the top branches of a tree and armed himself with a crossbow. Harry’s attacker aimed crossbow towards him before firing a razor sharp arrow at the Boy-Who-Lived. Quickly and expertly, Harry caught the arrow in his hand before tossing it towards the branch that the assassin was perched. The ninja leapt down before the arrow sliced the branch cleanly off the tree and a couple of the attackers had to scatter to avoid being crushed.

“No sweat here,” grunted Raph, as he blocked the staff attack of one of the assassins with his Sai and a sword with his other Sai, before he jerked both to the side, causing their heads to crack together and both of the ninjas to crash to the ground, temporarily disoriented.

Harry sprung up with a kick but unfortunately, a chain from a Kusari-Gama wrapped around his ankle and the Foot Ninja gave a huge yank, causing Harry to hit the ground with a thud. A second ninja sprang up, with a sword out but Harry managed to use his blade to block the attack. Mikey flew through the air, smashing face first into the ground beside Harry and wincing in pain. Harry jerked his leg forward, causing the chain wrapped around his leg to trip up his attacker before slicing himself free. The Foot Ninja who bound Harry tossed the other part of his Kusari-Gama at Harry who ducked and the weapon flew over Harry’s head.

A chain from a Kusari-Gama flew through the air, wrapping around one of Raph’s Sais and pulling it from his hand. A ninja sprang up from Raph’s side and kicked his other Sai cleanly from his hand. Two assassins grabbed Raph’s arms and slammed him against a tree. The chain from the Kusari-Gama flew through the air, wrapping around Raph and the tree, trapping the turtle. Despite his struggles, Raph was completely at the mercy of his Foot attackers.

“Okay, now I’m breaking a sweat,” said Raph darkly as he saw a ninja leap into the air, with a sword, ready to slice the top of his head open.

Leo quickly leapt up and used his katanas to block the attack from the ninja, if not barely. He pushed the Foot ninja backwards and quickly sliced the chain of the Kusari-Gama, freeing Raph from his predicament. At that moment, the Foot Ninjas quickly and swiftly disappeared into the shadows as suddenly as they appeared. A helicopter flew upwards and Harry, Leo, Don, Raph, and Mikey sank into the forest quickly, as if not to be seen. The Foot Ninjas were long gone by now. The helicopters and the trucks around the area began to leave, with several more Triceraton space craft vehicles hanging from the harnesses of the helicopters. The five brothers waited tensely in the shadows as the vehicles left the area of Central Park, apparently having finished picking it pretty much clean of all leftover Triceraton technology from the area.

Back at Oroku Saki’s mansion, Saki and the very tense looking Mayor of New York returned from the press conference. Saki put a blueprint down on the table, as the Mayor took a deep breath, before cautiously addressing his financial backer.

“So that reporter’s allegations, anything I should know about?” asked the Mayor in a tentative voice.

“Pure tabloid fantasy, Mr. Mayor,” replied Saki crisply. “The media does tend to blow the simplest things out of proportion to serve their own agenda but I assure you, everything that reporter brought out was complete and utter fabrication.”

“That’s good because the last thing I need in an election year is…” started the Mayor but he was interrupted by the door creaking open and the hulking form of Hun rushing into the room, with a rather frantic look on his face.

“Master, you should know that…” started Hun but he stopped cold when he saw that his master was in fact meeting with the Mayor of New York City.

“Hun, I told you that the Mayor and I are not to be disturbed when we are meeting,” declared Saki sternly and Hun bowed at Saki, before quickly leaving the room. Saki turned to the Mayor with what he hoped was an apologetic look. “You’ll have to forgiven the rudeness of my bodyguard.”

“Was he wearing a Purple Dragons tattoo?” inquired the Mayor in a horrified voice with a shocked and quite apprehensive expression on his face.

“The dragon is a great symbol of honor in the land of my ancestors,” replied Saki calmly, as he looked over the blueprints. “Now, onto another subject, I have been looking of the plans for the reconstruction of Time’s Square. I believe forty seven million dollars is out of the question.

“Oh,” said the Mayor in a small voice.

“You will require one hundred and forty seven million dollars,” continued Saki and a wide grin appeared on the Mayor’s face. “I have already wired the money into the city’s accounts.”

“Well I’m sure you know best,” replied the Mayor, unable to keep the wide grin off of his face.

“Quite,” replied Saki dryly.

In the sewers leading from Central Park, the Turtles and Harry dropped down, letting what just happened to sink in.

“Okay, does anyone want to take any wild guesses on why the Foot Ninjas were patrolling a salvage operation,” prompted Harry.

“Shredder must want his hands on all of that alien technology that was left around after the Triceratons left,” answered Leo and Harry nodded, pleased to see someone else had figured out what Shredder was up to.

“Precisely what I was thinking as well,” added Don. ‘And worse yet, the police are helping him.”

“Figures,” remarked Raph.

“Yeah, through enough scratch at this city and you’ll make all kinds of powerful new friends,” said Mikey.

“We know what the Shredder’s after but we don’t have a clue about exactly why he wants this alien technology or how he’ll put it to use,” said Don thoughtfully.

“You know, those helicopters were heading out towards the river front,” replied Raph. “Maybe if we got out that way, we’ll find what we need.”

“Agreed, let’s go,” answered Leo and without another word, the four mutant turtles and Harry made their way out to the riverfront to see if they could find any clue as to what exactly the Shredder was up to.

Back at his mansion, Oroku Saki moved across his study towards a large statue of himself at the very back.

“Open,” declared Saki calmly and the statue opened to reveal an elevator. Saki stepped inside the elevator. Once Saki was inside, the statue shut and it descended downwards from the study of his mansion.

The statue opened and Saki stepped inside a secret laboratory deep underneath his mansion. Several Foot Technicians were dismantling the Triceraton technology that he had acquired under the guise of cleaning up the city, looking for parts that was not damaged in the battle between the Triceratons and the Federation.

Saki watched as Hun walked over towards him once more with a frantic look on his face. The container containing the remains of Baxter Stockman hovered in the background, with the holographic projection of Stockman’s human head suspended over the top of the container and a metal arm on the side. Karai also was in the background but Saki’s attention went straight to Hun.

“Master I…” started Hun but Saki reached forward and roughly grabbed Hun’s arm, twisting it around behind his back. Hun dropped to his knees with a pained expression on his face as Saki wrenched his arm.

“How many times do I have to make it clear that I am not to be bothered when I am conducting legitimate business!” thundered Saki with a scowl as Hun winced in agony. “Is that clear?”

“Yes…Master,” grunted Hun in pain and Saki roughly let go of Hun’s arm. Hun pulled himself to his feet, trying to ignore the stabbing pains in his arm. “But, I thought you should know that the Turtles and Harry Potter got into an altercation with several of our Foot Ninjas at the sight of the Central Park Salvage Operation.”

“Bah, the Turtles and that meddlesome wizard will not interfere with my grand plan!” yelled Saki, causing Hun to wince in terror. “Swift and drastic action must be taken against those five.”

Just as Saki was done speaking, an enthusiastic red haired member of the Foot Tech division team walked over. This man looked like an overblown cartoon character with his thick glasses and colorful tie, contrasting to the dark and cynical nature of the Foot.

“Excuse me, Mr. Saki, I believe that I have been working on a project that might help with your pr…” started young scientist but Stockman forced his metallic arm forward, shutting the scientist up.

“Never, interrupt the master when he’s talking, Dr. Chaplin,” lectured Stockman in a stern voice before turning to Saki. “You’ll have to excuse the over enthusiasm of the new guy. He has yet to properly learn his place in our organization.”

“Let us see this project of yours, Dr. Chaplin,” declared Saki, causing a look of disbelief to appear on the holographic projection of Stockman’s head.

“Well, actually this project is really based off of the genius work of Dr. Baxter Stockman, I mean, he’s like a genius in this field,” remarked Chaplin in an enthusiastic tone of voice. “It is so cool that I get to lead a team with my idol.”

“Lead?” asked Stockman in an incredulous voice before turning to Saki. “But I’m the Tech-Division leader.”

Saki just waved his hand dismissively towards Stockman and turned to see Chaplin take out a remote control device. Chaplin pressed a large red button on the device and a platform rose up out of the stage, with three robots, each resembling Karai. One of them was light blue, another one was gold, and the third one was silver, each with different weaponry.

“Behold, the Amazonian Blade Bots!” declared Chaplin in an excited voice as he bounced up and down on the balls of his feet.

“Do I detect a resemblance?” asked Karai coolly.

“You don’t mind do you?” asked Chaplin nervously. “I mean, you’re just so perfect.”

The holographic projection of Stockman’s head was gagging as Karai turned her back on Chaplin, with her arms folded. Chaplin shook his head, regaining his composure.

“Anyway, these androids are the latest in remote guided mech technology, controlled by our operatives in these geosphere substations,” explained Chaplin, pointing out the Foot technicians who were in the substations.

Saki looked at the androids for a few seconds before he could say anything, Stockman decided to chime in his opinion.

“Yes, well, the video game generations does love their little playthings,” remarked Stockman with a dismissive chuckle but Saki once again raised his hand to silence Stockman.

“I require a demonstration of these Amazonian Blade Bots to make an accurate assessment of this project, Dr. Chaplin,” said Saki.

“Why don’t we have Karai test their mettle?” suggested Hun, with a calculating grin on his face and Karai turned to scowl at Hun but Saki nodded.

“Excellent suggestion,” remarked Saki. “Karai, forward.”

Karai stepped forward, drawing a sword and a tanto as the three Amazonian Blade Bots pulled out their weapons. One of them wielded a pair of katana, the second one a Kusari-Gama, and the third one had a Naginata in its hand. She circled the robots, before one them sprang forward. Karai managed to roll underneath the attack and spring up, kicking the robot slightly backwards. She swung her sword the Kusari-Gama wielding robot, but the chain sprung out, yanking Karai’s sword from her grasp. She avoided the sword being wrapped around her before blocking the Naginata with her tanto. She sprung up and kicked one of the bots in the chest, knocking it to the ground.

The bot clattered to the ground with a thud but the operative controlling it sprang up and engaged into battle, knocking Karai backwards to the ground. Karai sprang up and rushed two of the bots, but they grabbed her arms with lightning fast reflexes before flinging her roughly towards the ground. The katana wielding Amazonian Blade Bot sprang up swinging its swords towards the top of Karai’s head.

“Stop!” ordered Saki and the robot’s swords stopped about a half of an inch from slicing directly into Karai’s skull. The bots stepped back as Saki surveyed the situation. “An excellent demonstration, Dr. Chaplin.”

“You did here this was based on my work, didn’t you, sir?” asked Stockman but Saki ignored him.

“Send these three to eliminate the Turtles and Harry Potter,” ordered Saki. “And if they are successfully I think it will be time to retire Dr. Stockman.”

The holographic projection of Stockman’s head looked horrified but Chaplin didn’t seem to get the hidden meaning of Stockman’s words. Saki turned his attention to Karai.

“Karai, proceed with the other operation,” order Saki curtly.

“Yes, Master,” replied Karai, as she turned her back to walk off but Hun looked crestfallen.

“Other operation?” asked Hun, turning his attention to his boss. “Is there something I should know, Master?”

Saki didn’t answer Hun, turning his back dismissively on the hulking brute. Stockman’s container glided over, with the holographic projection having a gloating look on his face.

“Apparently I’m not the only one who may be up for early retirement, eh Hun,” remarked Stockman snidely, drawing a low irritated growl from Hun.

Out by the riverfront, Leo, Mikey, Don, Raph, and Harry snuck around the shadows, attempting to find any sign of Foot activity.

“Look,” hissed Harry, pointing to a structure protruding from the water and the four mutant turtles craned their necks to get a better look at what Harry was looking at.

“The fallen tri-base,” declared Don darkly.

“Due, there has to be all sorts of technology in their, wonder what exactly the Foot’s after,” muttered Mikey.

“What are we waiting for?” asked Raph, who looked ready to start cracking some Foot skulls. “Let’s get down there and find out!”

They leapt into the river, swimming towards the floating Triceraton Tri-Base, before climbing to the top. They slipped inside the entrance, before walking down the elevator shaft in the tri-base, as it had been turned over on its side when it was shot out of the sky by the Federation nearly a year ago.

They stopped halfway down the sideways elevator shaft, at a pit with hundreds of Triceraton explosives.

“I think we’ve found a way to keep the tri-base technology out of the Shredder’s hand,” said Don, pointing down at the explosives.

“I get it, we can blow up enough of these things, we can damage the tri-base and sink it so deep that no one can make use of any of the alien technology,” answered Harry.

“We can do that later, let’s see if we can find what the Foot are after,” muttered Leo.

When the five brothers reached the end of the elevator shaft, they looked down to see a group of Foot Technicians working busily.

“More Foot,” declared Leo darkly.

“They’re industrial little monkeys, I’ll give them that,” remarked Raph as he looked down. “But what are they trying to remove?”

“The tri-base power core,” muttered Don. “Just imagine what they can do with the power in that thing.”

“Doesn’t look too powerful to me,” said Mikey, looking down at the triangular green object that was the power.

“It might not look powerful but looks can be deceiving,” said Harry calmly. “We need to stop them from acquiring it, because the Shredder no doubt put the juice in that thing to some terrible use.”

“We should be able to wipe them out easily,” said Raph in a confident voice. “They’re not ninjas, they’re just flunkies.”

Before the others could say anything, Raph left down, catching one of the Foot technicians off guard with a kick to the chest. Another Foot Technician rushed forward, swinging a sword towards Raph as the other three Turtles and Harry leapt down. Harry barely avoided a Foot Technician caving his skull in with a crowbar before managing to kick the weapon out of his hand. The Foot Technician rebounded by flinging Harry to the ground. Mikey leapt up but a Kusari-Gama chain around both of his feet and tossing him to the ground. He barely managed to block the sickle with his nunchucks.

Raph and two Foot Technicians battled as Don swung his Bo staff at a chainsaw wielding Foot Technician. The Foot Technician sliced Don’s Bo staff in half and shoved him backwards. The Foot technician raised the chainsaw but Harry quickly rushed over, jamming his blade of the chain saw with his weapon. Another Foot Technician tossed a shuriken at Harry, but Harry leapt up before kicking him in the chest and causing the Foot Technician to splatter backwards.

Leo managed to slash at the chest of the Foot Technicians, causing him to drop to the ground in pain, severely wounded. Two of the Foot Technicians leapt up, kicking Leo from behind but Mikey rushed forward, swinging his nunchucks but one of the Foot Technicians leapt up and kicked at Mikey, who barely ducked.

“Man, these guys sure don’t fight like flunkies,” muttered Mikey at the Foot Technician grabbed Mikey’s nunchucks but Leo leapt up, cracking his feet into the Foot Technician’s ribs.

“No, but I’ll tell you who they do fight like,” said Leo, as he grabbed one of the Foot Technicians by the throat, before tossing him to the ground. “Karai!”

“You mean Karai trained these flunkies?” asked Don, as he was pinned down but he managed to get his hands on a jagged piece of Bo staff and jab it in the face of his Foot Technician attacker, causing him to yell in misery.

“Yes, the Foot Ninjas that we fought in Central Park early tonight,” grunted Leo as he managed to avoid being stabbed in the throat and he slashed the Foot Technician in the back, causing him to fall to the ground with a thud.

“Great, just what we needed,” remarked Harry sarcastically remembering how well trained the Japanese branch of the Foot was under Karai and that was only two ninjas! Harry swung upwards on an iron bar with one of the Foot Technicians following him but Harry managed to fling him downwards. The Foot Technician landed on his feet and Harry leapt down, to kick him in the chest. Harry stood over the Foot Technician, who swung his feet, taking Harry’s legs out from underneath him

Mikey was kicked backwards, as a pair of the Foot Technicians high above the structures pulled up the tri-base power core. Leo leapt up and sliced the cords of the pulley structure, causing the tri-base power core to slam down back into the hole where the Foot Technicians pulled it from. The power core glowed ominously for a few seconds, with a few sparks flying upwards.

“Careful with that thing, unless you want to fry all of Manhattan, Leo!” exclaimed Don as the Foot Technicians scattered from the room in the tri-base with the power core. Raph tossed his Sai attempting to slow one of the Technicians but the Technician used a wrist band laser blaster to deflect Raph’s Sai and send it flying back at the hot headed terrapin.

“Damn!” yelled Raph. “They’re getting away again.”

“Mikey pulled himself up, looking a bit battered, with the others not looking much better.

“I don’t get it, they just left, when they more or less had the advantage,” said Leo in a confused voice.

“Yeah, it doesn’t make any sense,” said Harry darkly,. “Then again, what does these days?”

“At least we managed to keep those goons from getting off with the tri-base power core,” said Mikey in an optimistic voice.

“But, they could come back and in greater numbers,” suggested Leo.

“So we need to find some way to short circuit it,” muttered Don absentmindedly as he opened up the power core to analyze the glowing matter inside. Water from above began to drip into the power core, causing it to smoke slightly. “That’s it, water, and lots of it, salt water. A large quantity will completely burn it out.”

Leo, Don, Raph, Mikey, and Harry moved towards the area of the elevator shaft with the explosives before removing them and setting them up at strategic points throughout the tri-base.

“Okay, all of the explosives are set to go off in exactly one trigon or approximately ten minutes by my calculations,” said Don.

“Good, not let’s get out of here before anything else happens,” said Leo but just as he said that, three shadowed figures advantage towards the Turtles and Harry.

“Too late for that,” remarked Harry darkly as three shadowed figures revealed themselves to be the Amazonian Blade Bots.

“Karai?” declared Leo in an uncertain tone of voice.

“A whole lot of Karai,” remarked Raph darkly.

“Karai triplets,” added Mikey.

“We really don’t have time for this,” declared Don but the three bots moved forward, Harry pulled out his wand to blast them into scrape metal but unfortunately, the robot wrapped the Kusari-Gama chain around Harry’s wand, yanking it from his hand. Harry leapt up but the robot moved and kicked Harry right in the face. A loud crunch was heard as Harry’s nose was busted.

The other two robots moved forward to the attack, going after the four turtles. Mikey swung his nunchucks but the robot grabbed them before he could connect and flipped Mikey into the air, causing him to land hard onto the ground. The Karai-bot leapt into the air, attempting to impale Mikey with its Naginata but Raph rolled over, blocking the weapon with his Sais. The robot just grabbed Raph by the throat and flung him to the ground before leaping up and attempting to crush Raph’s face with both of its feet but Raph managed to use his Sai to block one of the feet and cause the robot to stagger back momentarily.

Leo swung his katanas, clashing them against those of the Karai-bot but a few quick swipes and the Karai bot managed to reduce Leo’s swords to several pieces. The bot spun, slicing one its blades into Leo’s left arm, opening a nasty gash on his left arm. Leo dropped to his knees, with blood dripping from his arm as the bot kicked him squarely in the face, knocking him backwards.

Up on a higher level, Don was down as one of the bots was hanging Harry over a bar with its chain. Harry struggled for air but the robot seemed fully intent on strangling him right then and there.

“Catch!” yelled Raph, flinging a Sai towards the robot that was trying to strangle Harry but the robot managed to deflect the Sai back towards Raph but that gave Harry the distraction he needed to swing up and kick the robot flush in the face. The robot’s grip slipped and Harry grabbed onto the chain, before using all of the strength he could muster to yank the robot forward towards one of the explosive devices.

That particular Amazonian Blade Bot flew into the device, striking it and detonating it prematurely. The entire wall crumbled, causing a stream of water to flow, causing all three Amazonian Blade Bots to be swept underneath water.

Harry waved his hand silently, hoping the wandless summoning charm would work. Sure enough, his wand flew into his hand from the depths of water below. He looked at the others, time was of the essence and any second, the other explosives would go off, sinking the tri-base and frying the power core.

“Everyone, up now!” yelled Harry frantically with dried up blood clinging to his face and Leo, nursing his left arm, Mikey, clutching his side, and Raph with a few cuts on his face, pulled their way up. Harry and Raph pulled Don up, who looked a bit dazed and confused after taking a nasty shot to the head a few minutes previous.

Back at Foot Headquarters, Chaplin was looking frantic at the images of his creation being swept underneath the water in the tri-base.

“No, no, no, my Amazonian Blade Bots, get them out of the flood, now!” cried Chaplin to the operatives controlling them.

Stockman began to chuckle at Chaplin falling flat on his face, but his dismay was short lived as the Amazonian Blade Bots, began to pull themselves upwards out of the flood which pleased Chaplin a great deal and caused Stockman a bit of dismay.

“Yes, it will take more than a little water to put these babes out of commission!” declared Chaplin as he watched his creation rise up to go after their prey.

“What if this young upstart actually succeeds in finishing off those infernal turtles and that wretched brat of a wizard. I’ll be out of a job,” remarked Stockman in a worried voice as no doubt Shredder would do more than terminate his job. The Utrom technology connected to Stockman’s imbedded in Stockman’s brain and spine cord was the only reason that he was alive right now. The Shredder could very well remove that and thus Stockman would be finished. Stockman’s holographic head projection had a determined look on it. He was not going to go down that easily. “Well, we’ll just have to see about that, Chaplin.”

Back in the tri-base, Leo, Mikey, Raph, Don, and Harry managed to pull themselves upwards, as several explosions echoed from down below, causing the water to flow inside.

“Well, at least we got up, all we need to do is get to the elevator shaft and get out of here,” remarked Mikey.

At those words, the three Amazonian Blade Bots began to climb upwards.

“Great, out of the frying pan, into the fire, we need to get up before the water reaches the power core,” declared Harry eying the water as it came within view and the others climbed upwards but unfortunately they did not quite reach the elevator shaft before the Karai-bots leapt up and began engaging their adversaries on a rickety scaffolding.

Mikey leapt up, swinging his nunchucks but the Karai-Bot used its Kusari-Gama to wrap the chain around Mikey’s weapons, pulling Mikey to the ground. Harry engaged in a sword fight with the katana wielding bot, the metal clashing together. With an expert swing, Harry managed to shatter one of his attacker’s katanas but another swing caused Harry to drop his weapon. Leo rushed over, with a piece of pipe in his right hand. The blade bot stunned Leo with a back kick

Meanwhile Don was dropped to the ground by a swift jab with the wooden handle of a Naginata. He barely avoided being dumped off the scaffolding into the rising water below which was maybe a minute way from reaching the power core. The bot swung its foot towards Don’s face but Don swung up and the bot became entangled in some wiring. Raph seized the opportunity by jamming both of his Sais into the back of the leg of the robot. The blow had been a direct hit as several sparks flew upwards and the bot was unable to move.

“Hey, guy’s we damaged this one!” yelled Raph and Harry picked up his blade, before rushing over and slicing the robot in half causing it to blow a circuit. Both halves of the robot slid towards the water with a splat but the water was close to reaching the power core.

“I have a plan to dispose of these other two!” yelled Harry. “When I say jump, jump up towards the elevator shaft.”

The others got into position, barely able to hold back the two remaining bots.

“Ready, set, jump!” yelled Harry and the five brothers sprang up, with Harry pulling his wand out and using a slicing spell to cut the cables holding the scaffolding. The scaffolding plummeted downwards just as Harry, Raph, Mikey, Don, and Leo made their way towards the elevator shaft.

“All we have to do is make it to the exit!” yelled Leo, ignoring the pain in his left arm but unfortunately, it was not going to be that easy. The two Karai-bots had not sunk to a watery grave and were onto the attack. They moved around the pit with the remaining explosives, blocking the exit for our heroes.

The horrified looks on the faces of the four turtles and Harry were evident as the hands of the Karai bots turned into laser blasters, and began to glow a green color, preparing to blow them away.

Back at the lab, Chaplin looked excited that his creation was about to complete his mission successfully.

“Yes, yes, goodbye you meddlers!” cheered Chaplin. “You thought you could put my Amazonian Blade Bots down, but they take a licking and keep on ticking.”

As Chaplin was distracted, Stockman had opened the control panel for the Amazonian Blade Bots and had hacked into the system controlling the bots.

“Let’s see them lick this,” declared Stockman savagely, activating the manual overload function on the bots.

Just before the Amazonian Blade Bots were to blow the Turtles and Harry straight into dust, they began to smoke before collapsing in the pit of Triceraton explosive devices.

“Finally, it’s about time we caught a lucky break,” said Mikey.

“Uh, no,” replied Harry in a small voice, pointing towards the smoking and beeping explosive devices “Those Karai-Bots have just landed on a pit of Triceraton explosives!”

“RUN!” ordered Leo and the five bolted towards the nearest exit and leapt out of the nearest exit, landing in the water with a splash just a split second before the remaining explosives blew up, causing whatever was left of the tri-base to sink into the depths below.

A humming noise was heard, as a boat was seen approaching in the distance.

“Now what?” asked Raph in an irritated voice but the boat drove up to reveal that Karai was driving the boat.

“Karai, what is the status of the Turtles and Potter?” asked the voice of Saki from the other end of a two way radio. “Have, they been captured? Destroyed?”

Karai looked directly at Leo, Mikey, Don, Raph, and Harry for a few seconds with an uncertain look, with Harry beginning to raise his wand.

“No, I’m afraid they’ve gotten away,” lied Karai before she turned the boat around and drove away from the scene.

There was a moment of silence, before Mikey decided to speak.

“What, she couldn’t give us a lift?” asked Mikey in an incredulous voice which caused Raph to smack him across the back of the head.

“Just shut up and swim,” grumbled Raph as they swam away from the sunken tri-base, mildly pleased at the fact that they managed to keep at least of some of the deadly alien technology out of the Shredder’s hand by sinking the tri-base.

Back at Foot Headquarters a short time later, Saki towered angrily over Chaplin, who was cowering much to the amusement of one Baxter Stockman.

“I’m not sure what happened,” stammered Chaplin. “One minute the bots were working perfectly then the next minute, kaboom!”

“Here’s your problem, Dr. Chaplin,” remarked Stockman calmly. “A syntax error in the overload projection code, a common, rookie mistake. One that someone of my genius can correct, of course.”

Saki had a completely murderous look on his face that could have struck terror in even the bravest man.

“You shouldn’t blame the boy, Master, it is my fault partially,” replied Stockman in an insincere voice. “I should have looked over his work thoroughly.”

“See that you do in the future, Stockman,” said Saki coldly as Karai entered the lab, wheeling a metal box inside. “This entire operation would have been a complete and utter disaster had I not heeded Karai’s advice. I used the tri-base as a diversion to keep the Turtles and Potter occupied while I had her swipe this.”

Saki pointed calmly towards the mysterious metal box that Karai had brought in.

“And naturally I will be happy to look at any alien technology that you may have…” started Stockman but Hun knocked the container containing Stockman’s remains to the side.

“If I can assist you in any way whatsoever, Master,” declared Hun but Saki turned his back on both Hun and Stockman.

“Come, Karai,” said Saki pointing to the elevator. “We need to discuss how to best rid this organization of certain dead weight.”

Karai nodded, as she joined Saki in the elevator, pushing the metal box inside with him. Saki reflected on how well his plans were going, despite the fact that the Turtles and Harry Potter still lived. From what Voldemort told him during their last minute, the magically reinforced metal that Saki required to complete his Super Shredder exosuit would be ready within about a year, which fit Saki’s plans perfectly. It would not only give him a chance to return to the stars and finish some unfinished business, but he would be able to finish off the Turtles, Harry Potter, and Lord Voldemort in one fell swoop.

“If I may be so bold, Master, the reconstruction of the city is beginning to stretch our finances extremely thin,” declared Karai. “Costs are skyrocketing.”

“I appreciate your concern Karai, but money will be meaningless where I am heading,” said Oroku Saki.

And that’s the end of Heart of the Warrior Book V. Book VI should begin some time next week!