FicWad

Chapter Sixteen: A New Turtle in Town Part Two:

The temperature gage in the greenhouse began to rise over one hundred and ten degrees, and was approaching one hundred and fifteen degrees Fahrenheit.

“We’ve got to get out of here before it becomes too hot to move,” replied Leo.

“I’m working on it,” muttered Harry as he had removed his wand from his sleeve, and attempted an unlocking charm on the restraints but nothing. “Resistant against magic.”

“Great, our one hope to get out of here busted and I’m having no give here either!” yelled Raph as he attempted to push his arms to shred the net but it remained stiff and immobile.

“Don’ t give up hope yet, this might just work,” said Harry as he aimed his wand towards a nail that was sticking halfway out from a nearby table. With a summoning charm, the nail soured towards Harry, landing right in front of him. Waving his wand, Harry transfigured the nail as quickly as possible, studying the tiny keyhole in his shackles. After a few more seconds, as the temperature hovered dangerously above one hundred and twenty degrees, Harry was finished with his work. Taking the newly created key, Harry placed it in the lock and thankfully it worked, unshackling Harry’s arms. Quickly, Harry did the same to the shackles holding his legs together.

“Hurry Harry, disable it, I don’t know…how much longer we can stay like this,” said Don weakly, with the other three Turtles not looking much better off and Harry raised his wand, shattering one of the walls of the greenhouse, causing pieces of glass to fall to the ground.

“There that should buy a little relief while I figure out this accursed contraption,” muttered Harry, as he bent down, before grabbing a piece of glass. Normally, he would have used magic, but he was afraid of doing something that would set the device off, incinerating them all. Picking up a piece of broken glass, Harry sliced the control panel, revealing approximately a dozen wires inside. “Oh, damn, I hope I don’t slice the wrong wire.”

“And if you do,” suggested Raph.

“Should I even need to answer that?” replied Harry rhetorically, as sweat rolled down his face.

“Step it up a little bit bro,” suggested Leo.

“I’m just not sure what wire I should slice,” said Harry as it was becoming extremely hard to concentrate. “And we only have thirty seconds before this thing goes off.”

“Well just slice the red wire then, that’s normally what it is when some villain has a doomsday device in the comics,” suggested Mikey in a frantic voice.

“Right red wire, so I should slice…” suggested Harry before moving his hand over the red wire and then moving down, slicing the green wire.

“THE RED WIRE, HARRY, NOT THE GREEN WIRE!” screamed Mikey in a horrified voice but the timer seemed to slow down before stopping completely with just one second to go before explosion and the thermal device went completely dead, amounting to nothing but a useless hunk of metal.

The Turtles looked weak in their restraints as Harry walked over, beginning to free them one by one with his wand. Staggering to their feet, The Turtles looked weak and Harry conjured five large glasses, before shooting ice cold jets of water into each with his wand, before handing around them around to his brothers, taking one for himself.

“There, that just re-hydrate us enough until we make it back to the lair,” said Harry before he took a big gulp of water, draining half of the glass in one drink.

“Thanks Harry,” replied Leo in a grateful voice.

“Just one thing through, how do you know to snip the right wire?” asked Don.

“Luck, I suppose, it just came to be that I should cut it and thankfully I was right,” said Harry with a shrug.

“Yes, thankfully,” added Mikey in a relieved voice. “The thing I want to know is why that blasted alien turtle attempted to cook us to a crisp.”

“He said we blew up his Homeworld but that was a load off bull…” started Raph before Leo cut him off.

“This has the Shredder all over it, sending someone else to finish us off but the question is why?” asked Leo.

“Whatever the reason there is no doubt in my mind that the Shredder was the one that blew up this alien’s planet and seemed to manipulate him into believing we did it,” suggested Don.

“Makes perfect sense,” said Mikey with a nod of his head. “So what do we do now?”

“I vote we track down that turtle and make him pay,” suggested Raph who looked ready for a rumble.

“Not yet Raph, we need to get back to the lair, regroup, and plan a strategy instead of mindlessly going out there without a plan of attack,” replied Leo sternly.

‘Leo’s right, when we got caught off guard, he nearly finished us off, that can’t happen again,” said Harry as he removed his Portus-Amulet before his brothers crowded around Harry as he tapped his wand to it, pulling them back towards the lair.

Several miles away from the greenhouse, Slash walked down the street. By now that thermal device should have went off, destroying those saboteurs. Somehow their destruction felt a bit empty, as Slash wished he would have roughed them up a bit more before finishing them off but it was too late now. Those five meddlers would have been toast by now for sure.

In the blink of an eye a large object thumped Slash across the back of the head. This action caused the alien to spin around, before he looked down to reveal a small tape recorder that laid at his feet. Slash bent down, before the turtle had gripped it in his hand, before he read the note attached to the back of the tape recorder.

Play this device, to hear the truth about the destruction of your Homeworld.

Slash’s interest was most definitely piqued, as he wasted little time to activate the tape recorder. Once the alien turtle had pressed play the following conversation played over it:

“Perhaps, finally, those Turtles and Harry Potter will be out of my way. That naïve alien believed every word I told him, hook, line, and sinker and he will save me the trouble of disposing of my enemies.”

“Master, are you certain this is a good idea?”

“Karai, it is the perfect idea, even if Slash doesn’t destroy the Turtles and Potter. There is an equal chance that they will destroy him and thus dispose of him as a threat. He wasn’t to live when I had his planet destroyed but his kind are dangerous, even if they claim to live in a utopian culture. Understand?”

“Yes, Master, I understand.”

“Excellent, with the Turtles and Potter potentially out of the way, everything is in order and I can focus on the dedication ceremony tomorrow afternoon in Central Park.”

Slash looked at the tape recorder with hatred in his one good eye, as he crushed it into bits with his hand. So, Saki was as deceitful as he believed in the first place. Needless to say, the turtle was enraged beyond all capacity. Saki would pay once and for all, this time Slash would not give Saki a chance to talk his way out of justice.

Most of all, the fact that a politician, a servant of the people could be so corrupt disgusted Slash to the core. That injustice would be rectified soon. The ruler of this world, the one who had been dubbed “The Mayor” would fall along with Saki. The destructive and tragic end of his Homeworld would finally be avenged and Slash could finally move on with the rest of his life. It was quite unfortunate that he had falsely destroyed the five that Saki had framed, but as Slash reasoned that by destroying Saki, that injustice would also be avenged.

In the shadows, Agent Bishop watched Slash move off to plot his next move with a calculating smirk appearing on the government official’s face. Everything was going perfectly to plan.

Back in the lair the next morning, the Turtles and Harry recovered from their near death experience the previous night. Without any other information, it would be rather difficult to plan any further moves. Picking up the remote control, Harry turned on the television to the news.

“Despite the recent events from the turtle saboteurs, the dedicating ceremony celebrating Oroku Saki’s humanitarian contributions to the city will take place as scheduled this afternoon,” declared the news reporter in a jovial voice. “The Mayor has assured the many citizens of the city that security will be airtight, there will be no need for a panic and any suspicious characters will detained immediately for questioning. For those who are unable to attend, Channel Six news will have live coverage of the presentation ceremony as it occurs this afternoon.”

“Well, that’s easy, if that turtle does something to drag our names through the mud again, we’ll see it on the news,” said Leo in a logical voice. “No need to recklessly leave the lair for something that might not happen.”

“And if that turtle does show up, I want a piece of him, personally,” added Raph in a savage voice, as the five brothers just sat back to watch the proceedings as they unfolded on the news.

Outside of a military facility outside the city, two guards stood outside of a gate, with nightsticks in hand and bored expressions on their face. It was rather pointless for them to guard this base, as hardly anyone knew about it with the exception of Agent Bishop and a few select high ranking members of the Earth Protection Force. Granted it contained dangerous alien attack vehicles that Bishop had confiscated over the years, most recently a supersized tank from last year’s Triceraton Invasion.

Footsteps echoed just in the pathway towards the government base. The two guards looked up, surely there could have been no one coming this way today.

“Show yourself!” demanded one of the guards.

A figure stepped out of the shadow, a large turtle with a black facemask and one eye, the other replaced by a cybernetic implant. Slash walked towards the guards who pulled out their nightsticks but Slash ripped them out of their hands.

“Out of my way!” ordered Slash as he thumped one of the guards on the head. The guard fell to the ground, unconscious in seconds. The other one pulled out a handgun but Slash was quicker on the draw, blasting the gun to bits with a laser blaster that he whipped out. The guard stepped back and attempted to call for help. That never came as Slash blasted the guard point blank in the chest with his weapon. The guard crashed to the ground.

Slash turned around to face a locked gate which was no obstacle for the alien turtle, as he reached forward. With a good grip on the gate, Slash effortlessly yanked it off the hinges. The gate was tossed to the side and gave Slash the opportunity to casually walk in the base as he pleased.

The off world reptile looked around, there was a wide selection of weapons and the security there was very lax. Off the bat, one particular item caught Slash’s interest, which gave him reason to walk over to gain a better look. It stood before him, a large yellow tank with hover capabilities and built in weapon systems. It was perfect.

Slash climbed onto the tank, before calmly pulling the hatch on the inside open. The turtle climbed into the tank, before latching the hatch shut.

On the outside, the tank rolled from the government base. Everything in its path was destroyed as several cars crushed in the path of rage caused by Slash as he drove the tank. Ch’rell’s supposed moment of triumph would end up being his total and utter destruction as Slash made his way back to Central Park with visions of vengeance dancing in his head.

In the lair the Turtles and Harry remained right by the television, as an image of Central Park appeared on the screen.

“Well this is it,” said Don, breaking the silence.

“Maybe for once something strange won’t happen,” suggested Mikey hopefully.

“Right,” replied Harry in a sarcastic voice. “And monkeys will also fly out of my arse and fight Voldemort for me.”

“Good point,” said Mikey. “Neither is likely to happen any time soon.”

Leo pointed to the television, while waving his hands to silence the two younger brothers as the news reporter prepared to speak to the television viewing audience.

“For those of you just joining us, we are live at Central Park where the Mayor is holding a dedicating ceremony to celebrate Oroku Saki’s humanitarian efforts in restoring New York City to its former prominent glory,” announced the reporter. “While there are still a few more months of work to be completed on this endeavor, the city is extremely appreciated because without Saki’s contributions, our fair city would still be a wasteland with dangerous alien technology polluting it, that would danger the citizens of New York….We understand the Mayor is up on the podium to address the citizens of New York. Let us go to our live feed right now.”

The picture on the television screen in the lair and many other television sets in the city switched to the Mayor walking up towards a podium, with a microphone stand situated right next to it. As he reached the top of the platform, the Mayor reached for the microphone, and then turned to address the audience.

“Good afternoon everyone and thank you for attending this ceremony on this fine day,” said the Mayor in a jovial tone of voice. “Over the past year, the tireless help of one man has allowed us to reconstruct the city from the ruins that it was left in at the hands of the alien invaders. While the reconstruction is not yet complete, I feel that this man should be properly honored for his humanitarian efforts to restore our fine city. I rarely use the word hero to describe someone but there is no better description for my good friend and savior of New York, Mr. Oroku Saki!”

Loud clapping echoed from the audience as the camera cut to Saki walking across the stage before shaking hands with the Mayor. The Mayor stepped aside, allowing Saki to step to the podium. Saki waited for the clapping to die down before he addressed the crowd.

“Thank you,” remarked Saki calmly. “While I did provide the resources to make this reconstruction possible, I could not have done it alone. The Mayor’s assistance allowed the reconstruction to run smoothly and his continued support allowed a job that could have taken years to be condensed greatly. So, I cannot thank the Mayor for his help enough and heartily endorse him to be elected for another term. His service to this great city could not be denied at all.”

Saki paused to allow for applause in the crowd, as the Mayor retook his spot on the podium. He looked from right to left, before he nodded.

“And thank you Mr. Saki for that kind endorsement and let’s get to the real reason why this press conference was held,” declared the Mayor in a boisterous manner. “It is my pleasure to reveal a solid gold statue of the man who helped restore New York to…”

A thunderous rumble shook the ground, which cut off the Mayor. A loud scream of “DAMNIT, MY CAR!” was picked up and seconds later, a large tank rolled into the park. Security aimed their guns at the tank and shot at it, but the bullets barely hit the tank, not even denting it.

“Everyone please remain calm so we can evacuate in a calm manner,” declared one of the Mayor’s bodyguards, before turning to Saki and the Mayor, joined by several other armed guards, as Hun made his way up to the stage area.

“Master, we need to get you out of here,” grunted Hun and Saki opened his mouth to say something but a large missile sailed through the sky, hitting the ground in front of the stage as the audience scattered. Debris scattered everyone, as the Mayor’s bodyguards stood, ready to defend him as Saki stepped backwards to regroup, with Hun following Saki.

“Get me out of here!” demanded the Mayor fearfully as the hatch of the tank opened and Slash climbed out, his sights set directly

“There’s our boy or turtle rather,” announced Don back in the lair, as Harry got out the Portus-Amulet, as the Turtles had crowded around with Don grabbing the remote for the Battle Shell before they were transported right into Central Park.

In the shadows, the Turtles and Harry looked around to see people running, despite attempts to calm everything down. They moved around, before they leapt on the stage right between Saki and Slash.

“All right you crazed turtle, I have a score to settle with you!” yelled Raph as he aimed his Sais at Slash, as Saki and Hun had slipped away doing the confusion.

“I don’t have time for you fools,” responded Slash as he removed a pin from a hand grenade. The grenade was tossed onto the stage, before Slash quickly grabbed the Mayor and leapt off the stage, knocking the Mayor’s bodyguards down in the process.

“Scatter!” yelled Leo as he jumped off the stage, with his brothers following him, just as the stage blew to bits, sending pieces of splintered wood flying in every which direction.

“Now what?” asked Mikey as Slash had just disappeared into the tank with the Mayor who was screaming for his life and the tank had rolled off into the distance, as there was mass chaos and hysteria from the fleeing crowd, who went out of their way to avoid being crushed by Slash’s rampage.

“Working on it,” replied Don and sure enough, the Battle Shell bounded in the park.

“Excellent now we can follow that rogue reptile!” cheered Mikey and his overly dramatic line was rewarded by a trio of queer looks from Leo, Don, and Raph but Leo looked around, realizing that someone was missing.

“Did any of you see where Harry went?” asked Leo and the other three Turtles shook their heads in confusion.

“Well, I’m sure Harry can handle himself,” said Don.

“Don’s right, we can’t worry about it now, we need to stop that turtle, because if the Mayor gets killed, how much you want to bet we get blamed for it somehow?” asked Raph.

“Right, let’s go,” ordered Leo and without another word, they climbed into the Battle Shell, ready to pursue their enemy from outer space.

In the park, Karai waved Saki and Hun over towards a waiting limo.

“We’ve got to leave, not only did that alien turtle Smash or whatever that freak is called showed up, but that Potter brat and the Turtle freaks are here as well,” informed Hun, answering Karai’s unasked question.

“The Mayor has been captured by that alien, so we will circle around to regroup our strategy,” ordered Saki. “His safety is of the utmost importance to my plans.”

Saki looked behind him and spotted a figure sneaking towards them in the shadows. If he wasn’t such an expert master of ninjitsu, he wouldn’t have spotted him.

“Potter,” declared Saki calmly before turning to Hun. “Hun, take care of him.”

“Absolutely master,” replied Hun with a bow as Saki quickly got into the limo, just as Harry sprang out of the shadows to make his move, but Hun stood in front of him, ready for a fight. “Not so fast, Potter, you’re going to have to get through me.”

Hun rushed Harry but Harry sprang up over Hun, causing the large man to stumble around as the limo containing Saki and Karai sped off. Hun spun around, aiming a huge punch right at Harry’s head, but Harry leapt up, avoiding Hun’s attack once again. Hun spun around and Harry slid underneath his waiting arms before he leapt up and caught Hun in the back full force with both feet. Hun staggered forward, and Harry leapt up into the air in a somersault before he struck Hun right in the chest with both feet, causing the man mountain to crash down right next to the charred remains of the stage.

Hun rose to his feet, before grabbing the microphone stand that was knocked off the stage in the confusion earlier and charged at Harry. The microphone stand swung towards Harry’s head but Harry pulled out his weapon to block it expertly. Hun swung the microphone stand once again but Harry blocked it as the two continued their duel right by the charred remains of the stage in the mostly abandoned Central Park.

On the streets of New York, the Battle Shell began to close in on the tank.

“Okay, now we’re in position, two of us need to get onto that tank,” announced Leo. “Raph, you and Mikey go and find a way to slow down the tank so we can take it out.”

“Right Leo,” confirmed Mikey as Raph nodded stoically right by his side, as the two Turtles made their way to a platform in the back of the Battle Shell.

“Activate catapult, steady yourselves guys, this might be a bit bumpy,” declared Don as he pressed a round orange button which opened the top of the Battle Shell before he pressed another button that launched both Raph and Mikey out of the top of the battle shell.

“Brace for impact, Mikey!” yelled Raph as they landed on the top of the tank, with Mikey nearly falling off but he managed to hold on.

In the tank, the Mayor was shackled to the wall as Slash drove the vehicle down the street.

“W-w-what do you want with me, anyway?” stuttered the Mayor in a fearful voice. Slash activated the autopilot before he got to his feet to face the Mayor.

“With you, nothing, even through a public servant such as yourself who uses the influence of a master of genocide such as Ch’rell to retain public office and deceive the people should be punishable by death,” responded Slash. “You are merely just bait to lure my enemy to me, so let’s see exactly how much that vile Utrom bastard needs your help.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about you mad turtle, but I can pay you if you just please let me go,” said the Mayor. “I have money, I used cheaper materials in the reconstruction efforts than I could have, while pocketing a fraction of the money Saki gave me, they will decay faster but I needed the money and I can pay you some of it if you just give me a chance to…”

“This isn’t about money you spineless fool, this is about avenging the destruction of my Homeworld and the population on it!” shouted Slash. “Bribing me isn’t going to do you any good and in fact, it will only decrease your chances of living.”

“Please, no, have mercy!” cried the Mayor who looked on the verge of having a breakdown.

At that moment, the hatch ripped open with Raph and Mikey dropping in to face off against Slash. The sight of two more turtles was way too much for the Mayor and as a result, he fainted.

“So, it’s you again,” said Slash. “You just keep meddling in what doesn’t concern you.”

“Yeah, that’s kind of what we do,” replied Mikey in a cheeky voice as Raph rushed Slash with his Sais but Slash grabbed Raph, before throwing him down hard, coming close to knocking Raph unconscious.

“You just made the worst move of your life!” yelled Slash as he rushed forward, knocking Mikey into the side wall of the tank, while he attempted to choke him unconscious.

Back in Central Park, Harry’s weapon sliced towards Hun’s microphone stand! Hun looked at Harry with wide eyes, before he stabbed the metal towards Harry but Harry leapt up to the stage and looked up, seeing the covered statue of Saki, an idea having formed in his head. Hun pulled himself up and grabbed Harry by the throat, just as the Boy-Who-Lived removed his wand from his sleeve, before pointing it towards the tarp covering the statue.

“Time to die, Potter!” grunted Hun as he grabbed Harry’s head, in an attempt to snap his neck but the tarp flew off as Harry summoned it towards both him and Hun. Hun let go of Harry’s head and that allowed Harry to flip over Hun’s back. The big man stumbled around blindly and Harry’s knee struck Hun in the back. Hun fell to the ground in pain as Harry leapt to the stage.

Waving his wand, a slicing spell decapitated the Saki statue. The head fell to the ground and Harry levitated it in the air, before banishing it towards Hun. Hun looked up in shock as the golden Oroku Saki statue head collided with his chest and knocked him into a tree. Shooting thick cords from his wand, Harry wrapped Hun up around the tree. The big man attempted to yank himself free but his binding was too tight to even be pulled apart by his massive strength.

“Hun, you will tell me what the Shredder’s plans are,” said Harry, his eyes narrowing dangerously.

“Go to hell!” shouted Hun, as he continued to struggle against his binds. “I’ll never talk!”

“Oh, I think you will, Hun,” replied Harry calmly. “There are magical methods of making your tongue rather loose.”

“Do your worst Potter,” challenged Hun.

Back in the tank, Raph rushed Slash and Slash spun around, grabbing Raph and flung him to the ground. Slash leapt up and stomped Raph’s chest. Mikey pulled himself up, and rushed over. Nunchucks swung towards Slash but Slash ducked his head into his shell before he popped up and ripped Mikey’s weapon from his hand. Mikey was knocked backwards and Slash prepared to beat Mikey with his own weapons.

“I don’t think so!” yelled Raph as he leapt up into the air. Slash turned around and Raph stabbed his Sai right into Slash’s cybernetic eye. Slash staggered backwards, clutching his face as sparks shot from his eye. Raph grabbed Slash, before he flung Slash across the tank, causing Slash to crash right onto the control panel.

In the blink of an eye, the panel began to flash red, as Slash pulled himself to his feet.

“You fools, you busted the control system!” shouted Slash, as he removed two laser blasters from behind his back before shooting them towards Raph and Mikey, causing jets of laser fire coming perilously close to hitting both them and the Mayor. “Now this tank will self destruct as the weapon systems will spin dangerously out of control but damned if I’m not taking you interfering turtles down with him.”

More laser fire barred down on Mikey and Raph.

“We need a plan,” grumbled Raph.

“Well don’t look at me,” complained Mikey.

“I wasn’t!” snapped Raph as he pulled out a two way mirror, as he barely avoided getting blasted with Slash’s chaotic attack but the tank jerked to the side, causing Slash to lose his balance. “Now’s my chance.”

Back in Central Park, Hun screamed in agony as dozens of tiny birds with sharp beaks barred down on him, with Harry controlling them with his wand.

“Call off these feathered vermin!” shouted Hun, as one dove bomb Hun’s face, nearly pulling out a chunk of flesh, before it pulled up. “I despise birds you brat!”

“What’s that Hun?” asked Harry, as he cupped his hand to his ear. “You want more birds to attack you. Well, who am I to deny a request?”

About six more birds appeared, coming dangerously close to Hun.

“Alright Potter, the truth is that the Shredder had misled that freak turtle to attack you and those other freak Turtles! Other than that I’m unable to tell you anything, as Karai is the only one who knows the full scope of my master’s plans,” declared Hun in a bitter voice.

Before Harry could respond, he felt an incoming call coming in on his mirror.

“Talk to me,” said Harry as he pulled out his mirror.

“Harry, that alien has us trapped here and what’s worse, this tank ain’t going to last much longer until self destructing,” answered Raph frantically on the other end of the mirror. “Leo and Don are trying to get close to it in the Battle Shell but they can’t get close enough to slow it down because it’s spinning out of control.”

“I’ll be right there,” responded Harry as he waved his wand, which caused the birds to disappear but left Hun tied to the tree. Harry used the mirror to gain a fix of the location of the tank, before he activated his Portus-Amulet to pull himself to the location.

Harry landed on top of the tank and the laser blaster spun around, shooting wildly at the Boy-Who-Lived, but Harry managed to duck down and use his wand to disable the laser canon but the tank didn’t seem to want to stop. Aiming his wand carefully at the tank tires, Harry shot ice cold jets of water onto the tank tires. Another quick wave of the wand froze the water, causing the tank to grind to a stop.

Inside the tank, Slash pointed his laser blasters at Mikey, Raph, and the Mayor, the weapons blasted out of the hands of the two Turtles.

“You know, you couldn’t fight us if you didn’t have your little alien blasters or any other weapons for that matter!” challenged Raph.

Slash looked at Raph before calmly dropping the blasters to his side and stepped forward but the hatch of the tank swung open and whacked Slash across the back of the head, which knocked the off world reptile across the back of the head. Slash thumped to the ground, as Harry climbed into the tank.

“Self destruct sequence to commence in sixty seconds!” announced a loud voice as the tank began to rumble.

“Okay, we need to get out of here and get the Mayor out as well,” replied Harry calmly.

“YOU AREN’T GOING ANYWHERE!” yelled Slash as he got up to his feet, clutching the back of his head, with pieces of glass falling from where his cybernetic eye. He ripped a piece of pipe off the wall and swung it towards Harry who barely ducked underneath it. “I’ll cave your skulls in if it’s the last thing I do.”

“Get the Mayor, and get out of here!” ordered Harry, as he pushed another swing with the pipe back with his blade.

“What about you Harry?” asked Mikey as Harry leapt up.

“JUST LEAVE!” yelled Harry in a forceful voice as Raph walked over, slicing the section of the wall that the Mayor was shackled through to the tank.

“Mikey, give me a hand,” said Raph and Mikey walked over as Slash had managed to disarm Harry, but Harry put his back towards the wall, before kicking off, which knocked Slash down but only for a second as Slash

“Thirty seconds to self destruction,” announced the loud speaker and Raph and Mikey pulled the Mayor up whose eyes had flickered open for a second before he fainted once more. Raph and Mikey looked at Harry but Harry waved his hand, before he ducked a wild swing from Slash’s pipe which connected with the power console again and knocked a couple of power cables aside.

“C’mon,” muttered Raph in a reluctant voice as they turned to the side before they dragged the Mayor to the outside.

“NO!” screamed Slash, as he went for his laser blaster but Harry kicked it to the side out of his reach and leapt in front of Slash, which allowed Mikey and Raph to scramble to the outside. Slash grabbed Harry but Harry calmly flicked his wand which caused an electrical cable to shoot from the wall and wrap around Slash and another flick of the wand caused the end of the cable to stick itself inside Slash’s cybernetic eye remains.

“Ten seconds remain to self destruction,” announced the voice over the loud speaker as Slash screamed in agony as he was electrocuted and Harry stepped back before removing his Portus Amulet as the countdown to zero echoed over the loud speaker. Once it reached three seconds left, Harry activated the Portus-Amulet.

The Boy-Who-Lived landed outside the tank before he flicked his wand and a protective dome materialized over the tank. A second later the tank blew up from within the dome, with the debris collapsing in a self contained pile and not causing any further damage in the city. Once Harry was certain the destruction was done, he deactivated the dome and looked at the pile of rubble, with the only thing visible a lifeless green hand.

Mikey and Raph stepped out of the shadows, bent down next to the Mayor, who still was unconscious.

“Good work Harry, I really thought we were goners for sure,” said Raph.

From above, a loud and slow clapping filled Harry’s ears. As he looked up, he saw a helicopter from above and Oroku Saki looked down at him before four men wearing suits, who Harry suspected were Foot Ninjas out uniform left down, before three leapt into battle, one each knocked Raph, Mikey, and Harry backwards to the ground. The fourth man cut the Mayor free from his prison before they descended up the ladder, with the Mayor.

“Excellent work Mr. Potter, but I believe I’ll take it from here,” remarked Saki, as he bowed towards Harry, before he slid the door of the copter shut and the helicopter containing the Mayor and the Foot flew off.

“They’re getting away!” grumbled Raph, as he punched a light post in anger but at that second, sirens in the distance pierced the air.

“I know, but it can’t be helped,” answered Harry in a calm voice but there was a bit of underlying frustration visible on the face of the Boy-Who-Lived.

“Yeah and we got bigger problems,” added Mikey fretfully as the sirens seemed to get perilously closer but thankfully the Battle Shell had sped into the distance. The side swung open and Don stuck his head out.

“Hurry get in, the cops are coming!” cried Don as Mikey, Raph, and Harry scrambled inside and the Battle Shell zoomed off just turning the corner just seconds before the squad cars drove up the street, towards the flaming wreckage that was once a working Triceraton tank.

Some time later, back in the lair, the Turtles and Harry were joined by Master Splinter as the image of Oroku Saki appeared on the evening news broadcast.

“I am pleased to announce that the Mayor will recover, as he was just shaken up from his ordeal from today,” declared Saki. “A more troubling fact remains that these vile turtle criminals remain at large. Today their kidnapping of the Mayor could have proven fatal but thankfully my organization managed to intercept the dangerous vehicle they had used to tear up the city, allowing for a timely rescue. I must echo the fact that these turtles are armed and extremely dangerous, along with being a threat to every innocent man, woman, and child. Once they have been captured, the entire city of New York will be a much better place.”

Raph angrily turned off the television.

“Can you believe that the citizens of New York City would buy this?” asked Raph angrily.

“Yes,” replied Don. “Let’s face it Raph, we don’t exactly look like model citizens and the fact remains that we are going to be tarred with the same brush as that other turtle, even through we made every effort to save the Mayor.”

“Yes and while your efforts were noble, the fact remains that because of the way the news media is interpreting the events of today, going to the surface is now more dangerous then ever before, as everyone will be on the look out for anything that looks remotely like a turtle,” added Master Splinter. “Attracting any added attention would be most unwise.”

“Yes, and if we didn’t save the Mayor, we still would have gotten dragged through the mud and The Shredder jumped in like the opportunist he is, grabbing all the credit!” yelled Raph as he sprang to his feet, before he paced up and down the lair. “And now we might as well be fugitives, despite the fact that we’ve saved this city from countless destruction numerous times from Triceratons, Purple Dragons, Foot, and who knows what else! One of our most hated enemies is seen as a hero of the people of New York and to get in his way would destroy our reputations.”

“So you’re saying…” prompted Mikey.

“What I’m saying is that, even through I value the right thing, I just wonder exactly if it’s really worth it to be fighting a battle that it looks like we might never win,” responded Raph.

“Don’t say that, Raph,” said Leo in a stern voice. “A battle is never lost until the final breath and giving up would go against our entire code of honor.”
]
“I ain’t giving up!” yelled Raph as he got up in Leo’s face. “Don’t go twisting my words around Leo.”

“Enough, fighting will not solve anything,” lectured Splinter in a stern voice as he stepped between Leo and Raph. “All we can do is stand back, keep a low profile, and hope everything will blow over in due time.”

“I guess you’re right, sensei,” replied Raph as he stepped back and took a deep breath.

“I best be get going, I was supposed to be back yesterday evening after all. Please, try and stay out of trouble,” said Harry, breaking the silence. “I should be back for Christmas but I suspect I may talk to you all soon.”

Harry tapped his wand to his Portus-Amulet before he vanished, being transported back to Hogwarts.

On the outside of town, the body of Slash floated in suspended animation in a stasis tube as Agent Bishop walked by to examine the computer readings that the alien turtle had given off. Bishop pressed a button to record his comments for future use.

“Interesting, another specimen that will prove to be useful for the goals of the Earth Protection Force,” remarked Bishop quietly. “Naturally, this alien specimen is not quite the one I wanted, but it still has certain durable qualities that prove to be useful. In time, I will have the most dangerous alien in the universe in my grasp and thus the secrets of his DNA will be unlocked, determining exactly what allowed him to cheat certain death on a number of occasions. Only then will the real work of the Earth Protection Force begin.”