Chapter 4- Storms Warning
The old bio-research facility sat forgotten beneath the ruins of a condemned hospital on the outskirts of Manhattan. From street level, nothing about the crumbling building stood out. Its windows were boarded shut, ivy crawled across cracked brick walls, and faded caution signs warned anyone curious enough to stay away. Exactly the kind of place the Kraang would've chosen. Four shadows landed silently on the rooftop.
Donnie studied the glowing display strapped to his forearm before looking toward the others. "This is it." Raphael scanned the quiet street below. "You sure?" Donnie turned the display so everyone could see it.
The blue dot that had haunted him for days pulsed steadily. "I'm positive." Mikey leaned over his shoulder."So...No chance we're chasing another ghost right?" Donnie allowed himself a small smile. "No. The signal stops here. They should be here." For the first time since this investigation had begun... Hope flickered across all four faces.
Leo looked toward the abandoned hospital.
"We beat them." It wasn't said with arrogance, just quiet satisfaction. After days of arriving too late, after following scorched walls, broken laboratories, and trails that always ended in silence... They had finally gotten ahead. Leo reached for the rooftop access door. "Let's keep it that way."
The forgotten corridors beneath the hospital were surprisingly intact. Emergency lights flickered weakly overhead, casting long shadows across polished concrete floors.
Dust coated every surface. Nothing appeared disturbed. No claw marks or shattered glass. No vines bursting through concrete. No scorched marks to be seen. Everything was...
Untouched. Raphael glanced toward Leo.
"I don't like it." Leo nodded. "Neither do I."
The elevator shaft leading underground still functioned, though barely. After several loud groans, the platform descended into darkness. When the doors finally opened, the brothers stepped into another hidden Kraang facility. Unlike every laboratory they'd investigated before... This one looked exactly as it had been left years ago. Containment chambers remained sealed. Computer terminals still stood in neat rows. Alien machinery hummed softly beneath layers of dust. Nothing had been destroyed. Donnie looked around in amazement. "We've never made it before them." Leo took one slow look around the room before shifting into command mode. "Same assignments."
Nobody questioned him. Raphael spun one of his sais before slipping into the western corridor. "I'll cover the perimeter." Raphael growled. "Mikey." Without looking away from the room, Leo continued. "The roof." Mikey nodded. "You got it." Mikey flashed a grin before disappearing toward a maintenance ladder. "Donnie." He didn't need to finish. "I'm staying with the signal. I'm also going to check the untouched compartments and get the information they'll be looking for." Leo nodded once.
"I'll search the interior." Within seconds... The laboratory emptied.
Leo moved carefully between rows of dormant Kraang technology. His footsteps echoed softly through the enormous chamber. Every doorway and hallway, every storage room and closet, empty. He checked another corridor. Nothing. Not even footprints. Whoever, or whatever, they were tracking... Hadn't arrived yet.
Outside, Raphael circled the facility's perimeter. The surrounding woods were unnaturally still. Even the wind seemed reluctant to move. His grip tightened around his sais. Something about the silence felt...Wrong.
Several stories above, Mikey lay flat across the rooftop, lazily watching clouds drift overhead. He sighed dramatically into the communicator. "Just so everyone's aware...I'm officially bored." Raphael's voice answered almost immediately. "It's been six minutes." Mikey sighed again. "It feels like forty." Leo couldn't help smiling. "You'll survive." Donnie's voice cut in before Mikey could continue. "The signal's still here."
Everyone's expressions sharpened. Leo stopped walking. "Any movement?" Leo asked. "No." Donnie responded.
Raphael frowned. "What does that mean?"
Donnie studied the scanner again. "It means whoever's producing this energy... Hasn't left the area." Silence returned. Leo glanced toward another dark hallway. "How close are they?" Donnie didn't answer right away. He adjusted the scanner. Ran another diagnostic. Checked it again. When he finally spoke... His voice was quieter than before.
The word hung in the silence. Not somewhere across the city. Not another borough. Not another abandoned warehouse.
Here. Somewhere inside, or around, the facility. Mikey's joking tone vanished.
"You think they know we're here?" Nobody answered. The only sound came from the low hum of ancient Kraang machinery.
Then... A single light overhead flickered.
Once. Twice. Then steadied again. Donnie slowly looked up from his scanner. "...That's new." The silence suddenly felt much heavier. Whatever they had been chasing... It was closer than ever before.
The silence lasted only a few more minutes.
Then Mikey's voice crackled through the communicators. "...Uh, guys?" Every turtle froze. "I've got movement." Leo immediately reached for one of his katanas. "Direction?" Mikey responded immediately. "South entrance. Multiple contacts." Donnie's scanner chimed again. The blue signal remained steady. "They're still close."
Leo wasted no time. "Everyone inside."
Within seconds, Raphael slipped back through the western corridor while Mikey dropped silently from the rooftop access ladder. The four brothers regrouped inside the main laboratory. Weapons drawn.
A loud metallic groan echoed through the facility. The reinforced blast doors at the far end of the chamber slowly began to separate.
Ancient gears screamed against one another.
Donnie's eyes narrowed. "Those doors shouldn't have power...Unless..." The opening widened. A moment later... Metal footsteps echoed through the laboratory.
Rows of Kraang Droids marched through the doorway with perfect synchronization.
Behind them came two towering Kraang Walkers, their heavy mechanical legs shaking the floor with every step. A larger transport hovered through the entrance, its glowing engines casting eerie purple light across the room. Raphael frowned. "I thought these places were abandoned." Leo kept a steady crouch "So did I," he replied quietly.
The turtles quickly disappeared behind a row of inactive containment chambers as the Kraang spread throughout the facility.
The Kraang Droids formed a defensive perimeter while several smaller robotic units began scanning nearby computer terminals.
The familiar mechanical voices echoed through the room.
"Kraang confirms arrival at designated recovery site." One droid said.
"Kraang initiates recovery protocol." Said another.
"Kraang objective remains unchanged." Another Kraang responded immediately. "Primary objective. Locate Subject B12."
Behind cover, Mikey leaned toward Donnie and whispered. "...Subjects?" Donnie slowly shook his head, never taking his eyes off the Kraang. "I don't know." His fingers quietly activated the recorder built into his wrist computer. Every word was captured. The Kraang continued without pause. "Subject B12 remains non-compliant. Subject E22 remains non-compliant. Subject P38 remains non-compliant. Kraang confirms repeated interference from Subjects." One droid stated.
"Kraang operations continue experiencing unacceptable losses." Another Kraang stepped toward one of the functioning computer terminals.
"Detection of radiation signature from Subject E22 remains within operational vicinity of Kraang." A nearby Kraang immediately answered.
"Detection of energy source from Subject P38 confirmed by Kraang." Another terminal flickered. Then one final report appeared. "Kraang detects atmospheric energy consistent with Subject B12." Raphael slowly looked toward Donnie. "They're tracking... people."
Donnie didn't answer. He was too busy recording every word. One Kraang inserted a data crystal into the terminal. The monitor illuminated with streams of alien symbols.
"Kraang predicts Subject B12 seeks archived research. Kraang predicts Subjects will return." Leo's eyes narrowed. "They've been expecting them..." A nearby Kraang turned toward the transport. "Kraang requests authorization." Several seconds passed before another voice answered from within the hovering craft. "Recovery of Subjects authorized." The facility fell silent.
Without hesitation... Another voice echoed through the chamber. "Termination authorized if recovery proves impossible by Kraang." Even the humming machinery suddenly seemed louder. Mikey stared at Leo. "...Recovery?" Raphael's grip tightened around his sai. "They're not talking about enemies." Donnie slowly lowered his recorder. His voice barely rose above a whisper. "They're talking about escaped experiments." Every destroyed laboratory, every missing storage drive, every claw mark, and scorched wall, all the vines... Everything suddenly meant something different. They weren't hunting a new enemy. They were following the trail of three fugitives the Kraang desperately wanted back, and judging by the size of the force assembled inside the laboratory... The Kraang were expecting those fugitives to arrive at any moment.
The Kraang wasted no time. Half of the Kraang Droids spread throughout the laboratory, scanning terminals and containment chambers with synchronized precision. The remaining units ignored the computers entirely. Instead, they marched toward the rear of the facility. Leo watched from behind the shattered containment pods. "...They're not searching the lab."
Donnie followed their movements across his scanner. "They're heading somewhere specific." The brothers silently shadowed the Kraang from a distance, careful to stay hidden behind massive support columns and abandoned machinery. The farther they traveled into the facility... The older it became. The polished laboratories gave way to reinforced concrete corridors. Heavy blast doors. Security checkpoints. Alien warning symbols lined the walls. The Kraang stopped before a massive circular vault door built directly into the bedrock.
It dwarfed everything around it. Purple energy pulsed faintly through ancient alien circuitry wrapped around its edges. Donnie's eyes widened. "...That's not a laboratory."
Raphael folded his arms. "Then what is it?"
Before Donnie could answer, mechanical arms extended from the hovering transport.
Several Kraang Droids connected strange crystalline devices to the vault. The entire chamber vibrated. "Kraang initiates archive recovery." One droid said. "Kraang accesses secured research vault."
"Kraang priority remains preservation of archived experimental records."
Leo frowned. "They're after information."
"The same information," Donnie whispered.
"They've been tearing apart every other facility looking for this." Mikey looked between the vault and the transport. "So the mystery group... They've been trying to beat the Kraang here." Donnie nodded slowly.
"I think this is what everyone's been searching for." The massive vault groaned.
Ancient locking mechanisms began turning for what was likely the first time in years.
Donnie's scanner erupted with an ear-piercing alarm. Every turtle spun toward him. Donnie's face drained of color.
The energy readings climbing across the display rose so quickly they barely looked real. "What happened?" Raphael asked.
Donnie stared at the screen. The signal doubled. Then tripled. The scanner vibrated violently in his hands. His voice dropped to almost nothing. "...They're here." Leo immediately looked around the chamber.
"I don't see anybody." Donnie shook his head. "They're not inside." He enlarged the tracking display. Three brilliant energy signatures streaked across the map. Unbelievably fast. "They're outside."
His fingers raced across the controls.
"They're heading straight towardā" A metallic voice interrupted him. "Kraang detects unauthorized lifeforms." Every turtle froze. Several Kraang Droids slowly turned their heads. Red optics locked directly onto their hiding place. "Kraang confirms hostile presence." A droid stated. "Kraang eliminate interference."
"Oh, come on..." Mikey muttered. The first energy blast exploded against the containment pod beside them. Glass erupted through the hallway. Leo drew both katanas in one smooth motion. "We've lost the element of surprise!" Raphael charged first.
His sai slammed into a Kraang Droid, sending twisted metal crashing into another machine. Mikey vaulted over the debris, his nunchucks spinning into a blur as he knocked two more droids to the floor. Donnie ducked behind a console, throwing an EMP disc that erupted beneath a group of advancing machines, disabling them in a shower of sparks. Leo moved like flowing water through the center of the laboratory.
Every strike precise. Every movement deliberate. The Kraang pushed forward relentlessly. More Droids poured into the chamber. The Walkers activated. Purple cannons began charging.
The lights flickered. The entire facility dimmed. Raphael glanced toward the ceiling.
"...Donnie?" He questioned. "I didn't do that." Another flicker of lights. This time every monitor shut off for a split second before returning. Then... A low rumble echoed somewhere above. Not machinery or
collapsing concrete, but thunder.
Another rumble rolled across the sky. Impossible. They were deep beneath the city.
Leo slowly lowered one sword. "...Do you hear that?" A cold gust of wind swept through the underground corridors.
Papers scattered, dust spiraled through the air. The temperature dropped. Somewhere far above... Thunder cracked again. The Kraang Droids began speaking over one another.
"Kraang detects atmospheric anomaly."
"Atmospheric anomaly consistent with Subject B12."
"Kraang defensive protocol initiated."
Purple weapons immediately redirected toward the ceiling instead of the turtles.
Donnie looked down at his scanner one last time. The three energy signatures had reached the building. His heart skipped.
"They're here..." For one impossibly still moment... Nothing happened. But then...
A blinding blue-white flash exploded through the laboratory windows high above. The entire underground complex was illuminated as though daylight itself had burst through the concrete. Every shadow disappeared.
Every face turned toward the light.
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