The Foot Clan pressed hard, but the brothers shifted seamlessly into formation.
Leo's eyes narrowed. "Alright. Shell shock formation."
The Turtles snapped into motion.
Raph and Mikey charged forward first, shells smashing through the crowd like battering rams. Mikey spun his nunchaku to keep the ninjas off balance, while Raph's raw strength sent enemies flying with every strike of his sai.
Donnie vaulted high, planting his staff into the ground and flipping over the mass of fighters. He jabbed buttons on his gauntlet and unleashed a pulse that disoriented the Foot, making their movements sluggish for a split second.
That was all Leo needed. He cut through their ranks with sweeping strikes that disarmed without spilling unnecessary blood. Every slice forced the ninjas back, driving them into the waiting fists of his brothers.
"Shell Shock!" Mikey yelled, jumping onto Raph's shell. Raph launched him upward with a grunt, and Mikey spun in the air like a whirling top. His nunchaku cracked against heads and shoulders, dropping half a dozen ninjas in seconds.
The last wave tried to regroup, but Leo shouted, "Push now!"
Together, the four brothers rushed forward, driving the Foot Clan back. Their shells slammed into bodies, Donnie's pulse charges disoriented them, until the final few enemies crumpled onto the asphalt.
The highway fell quiet except for the moans of defeated ninjas scattered across the pavement.
Raph wasted no time. He grabbed one by the shoulders and slammed him against the truck. "Where's Shredder hiding?" he growled, sai pressed against the man's mask.
The ninja stayed silent, eyes blank and unflinching.
Raph snarled. He dropped him and yanked another up, this one still coughing from Donnie's pulse blast. "Talk, or I make you regret it."
Nothing. Not a word. They stared back like machines, lips sealed.
Raph shoved the man away in disgust. "They ain't sayin' a thing."
"Yeah, but that's fine," Mikey chimed in, climbing into the cab of the lead truck. "Because guess who just found something way more helpful than chatty ninja dudes?"
He hopped back out holding a folded map with red markings. There were a couple of dots and a circle.
"Check it out," Mikey said, spreading it across the truck hood. "Looks like a treasure map, only instead of treasure it's probably bad news."
"The big circle must be their hideout and the small dots must be their sub bases or attack points," Leo said after seeing the map.
Donnie adjusted his goggles to scan the paper. "That's an old subway line. Shut down years ago after a cave-in. If the Foot marked it, that's where they're staging."
Raph crossed his arms, eyes narrowing. "Finally. A lead. We go down there, we find Shredder. We find the cure for Master Splinter."
Leo studied the map for a few minutes. His grip on his swords tightened. "Then that's where we go next."
Mikey tapped the map with his nunchaku and grinned. "Sooo, question. Shouldn't we, y'know, call the super invincible pizza guy? We did make a promise. Plus, maybe he'll give us some free pies if this goes well. Win-win. We get backup, he vents his trauma, everybody eats."
Donnie raised an eyebrow at Leo. "He's not wrong. We did give our word."
Leo kept his eyes on the map, voice steady. "First we confirm Shredder's there. Then we call him and we go in together."
Raph clicked his sai together impatiently. "Let's go and crack some more skulls."
...
[Abandoned subway] [Shredder's new base]
The air was damp, carrying the stench of rust and mold. Floodlights buzzed above rows of crates stacked with mutagen canisters. Foot Clan soldiers moved like silent machinery, carrying weapons and sealing explosives into containers.
At the far end of the cavern, Shredder stood in his armor, his blades gleaming faintly in the pale light. Before him, Ebon rose from the shadows, his form sliding together into shape.
"You lied to me," Ebon said, voice calm, almost too calm. "You told me this mutagen would create chaos. Power. An army of mutants to rule Dakota and beyond. But I checked your formula." His eyes narrowed. "You slipped in something else. A chemical that burns through meta-human cells like acid. That means every Bang Baby in the city would die screaming once this stuff spreads."
Shredder tilted his head slightly, then gave a low, rumbling laugh that echoed against the stone walls. "And? To die for the glory of the Foot Clan is the greatest honor. Your kind is weak. Unworthy. A true world can only be born from sacrifice."
Ebon's body tensed. His shadows rose higher, forming jagged spikes that pulsed with hunger. "You think I'm gonna die for you? You must be a delusional lunatic."
Shredder tilted his head, unconcerned. "What can you possibly do before the might of the Foot? Before me?"
Ebon smirked. "Plenty." His shadows lashed forward, stretching like serpents to wrap around Shredder's body. But before they reached, something snapped in the air. His eyes widened. His arms stiffened mid-motion. His shadows writhed but lost their shape, collapsing to a puddle at his feet. He struggled, gritting his teeth. "What the hell…?"
His whole body froze. He couldn't move a single muscle. Only his eyes darted wildly, trying to make sense of it.
Shredder simply looked down at him.
From the shadows beside him, Karai stepped forward. Her hand held a strange, glowing device shaped like a fan, faintly humming with green light.
"You talk too much," she said, closing the device with a snap. "You thought we came to Dakota without countermeasures for Bang Babies and metas? How stupid can you be?"
Ebon's body remained paralyzed, locked in place like a puppet cut from its strings.
Shredder's laughter filled the chamber again. "Did you truly believe you could betray me without consequence? You were useful, Ebon. But in the end, there can only be one ruler."
Karai took out her short sword and was about to kill Ebon, but Shredder stopped her, "Not yet. Although he has served his purpose, his power is too useful to let it go to waste. Use him as bait and lure out his allies. Capture them and put them into the pods."
Ebon's lips twitched, then curved into a slow, dangerous grin. A low chuckle rattled from his throat.
Shredder's eyes narrowed behind his mask. "You laugh?"
"Yes…" Ebon said, his voice low, vibrating with menace. His body still looked paralyzed, but the sound grew louder, sharper, until it rolled through the cavern. "You really played it well, Shredder. The mighty conqueror, always so sure of himself. You revealed exactly what I wanted to hear."
Karai's eyes flicked toward him, unease flickering beneath her cold composure. "What are you talking about?"
Ebon's form began to ripple. The outline of his shoulders blurred, his head shifting like smoke in water. The puddle of shadow at his feet bubbled and hissed. "Your arrogance has always been your weakness. You couldn't help but brag. You told me you have a way to block power… and more importantly… a way to extract it. To transfer it. That's all I needed to confirm."
Shredder's fists clenched. "Impossible."
The body standing before him wavered, flickering like static. Then it shattered into black wisps. What remained was nothing but a shadowy husk, an illusion Ebon had left behind.
Karai's eyes widened. "A shadow clone."
From the walls, from the ceiling, from the floor, Ebon's cold laughter echoed again. "You thought you had me trapped? Pathetic. I was never here in the first place."
Shredder's claws scraped together, the sound like grinding steel.
Ebon's voice slithered through the chamber, disembodied yet suffocatingly close. "Soon, Shredder… we will meet again. And when we do, it will be you on your knees, begging for mercy."
The last of the shadow collapsed into a puddle and seeped into the cracks of the stone floor, vanishing completely.
The cavern fell silent.
Shredder's growl rumbled low. "So be it. If Ebon wants war, I will give him war."
Karai looked at the empty puddle with narrowed eyes. "He is cunning. He will not underestimate us again."
"What can a bunch of kids do before the might of the Foot Clan? We'll bury them along with this city, and I'll personally rip apart Ebon's head from his body and throw him into the gutter," Shredder said with an amusing smile.
It's been years since someone challenged him and fooled him like that. So, he was somewhat excited to overwhelm them with absolute power and show them that he's the strongest of them all.
Shredder's eyes glowed with a red hue for a moment before fading away.
..
[Outside] [A few hours later]
Floodlights ringed the fenced perimeter, turning the ruins into a fortress. Foot Clan soldiers patrolled in tight rotations. Engines rumbled as trucks were loaded with crates. The clang of metal echoed each time another container was locked into place.
High above on a nearby warehouse roof, the Turtles crouched low. Donnie unfolded the arms of his drone and sent it buzzing silently across the lot. Its lens flickered as it swept over the compound. The feed came up clear on his wrist display, and the others hunched in tight to see.
"That's a lot of heat," Mikey whispered. "Like, too much heat. That's 'burn your pizza crust before it's even in the oven' heat."
"Cut the chatter," Raph muttered, eyes glued to the screen. "Look at that. Crates stacked floor to ceiling. Probably mutagen. Just how did they get so much mutagen?"
Donnie's fingers flew over his gauntlet. The drone zoomed closer, scanning the crates. His voice dropped. "Confirmed. High concentration readings. Same signature as the canisters we intercepted on the highway. And check this out." He tapped a corner of the feed. A group of workers lifted a heavy pod, reinforced with steel and cables, sliding it into one of the trucks. "That's containment gear. Something designed to hold… someone."
The drone shifted again. This time, the feed caught sight of Shredder himself emerging from the subway stairs. His armored form glinted under the floodlights. Karai walked at his side, her mask off now. Behind them trailed a pack of elite ninjas.
"Showtime," Raph growled, his grip tightening on his sai. "He's right there. Let's end this."
Leo's hand shot out, steady and firm. "Not yet."
"You kidding me?" Raph snapped, keeping his voice low but heated. "He's right there. We've been chasing him for days. We'll beat him up and find the cure for Master."
"Think for a moment," Leo countered, not looking away from the feed. His tone was calm but sharp enough to cut steel. "Look at the numbers. Guards on every truck. Snipers on the roof of the subway. Elite units at the gate. You charge in now and it's all over."
Mikey raised a hand like he was in class. "Uh, yeah, also if we go in, boom boom mutagen. Last I checked, explosions plus glowing green sludge equals bad time for everybody."
Donnie nodded. "He's right. One stray hit, and we could poison half the block."
Raph cursed under his breath, but his knuckles eased just slightly. He glared down at the compound. "So what, we sit here and watch?"
"It's time to call our pizza guy. Together, we might stand a chance," Leo said as he looked at Donnie and gave him a nod.
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