Tenacious

Chapter 26

The brothers and Lavi soon made it to their destination. It had been silent the entire run. Donnie had led them to their location flawlessly. Raph and Donnie stopped at the first manhole cover as Leo, Mikey, and Lavi took the second. With a nod of Leo's head, the boys began their decent up towards the light of day. Raph had been the first one to make it to the surface. Each brother climbing out as Lavi had been helped out by both Leo and Mikey.

What was waiting for them was the majority of the NYPD, pointing their guns at them; most of them loaded and ready to fire. Once the turtles were all above ground, Leo took the lead, slowly but surely, towards the humans. A few more men loaded their guns as the mutants lifted their hands to show they meant no harm. Glancing around, Lavi took the moment to send out her black ice to scan the area; finding about eight snipers in the vicinity. But, looking closer, Lavi found April, Casey, and Vern to be standing with the blonde hair woman from NYPD HQ.

"Hold your fire," the woman commanded. So she was in charge; noted. The teenagers all came to stand in a row before the humans, their arms relaxing to their sides. The lady in charge stepped forward bravely, bewildered and, yet, curious. "What are you?" She asked. "We're not really into labels," Mikey was the first one to answer. "Some call us freaks. Monsters," Leo added. "Let's just say we're four brothers from New York who hate bullies and love this city," Raph continued. "And right now, we're the city's best hope," Donnie replied shyly.

"Why should I believe you?" The woman scoffed. "Well, we usually stop most of the crimes the police can't immediately get around to, we're more inclined to actually get up on top of the buildings with ease, not to mention the foreign toxic atmosphere that's currently spreading above our heads, and the fact that one of us, namely myself, has dealt with this enemy face to face before," Lavi quipped. "But you don't have to take it from us," Leo spoke up, pointing to Vern, "Take it from him." Everyone turned to Vern. "Go ahead, Vern. Tell her about the arrangement," April pressed.

"What arrangement?" Vern chuckled, glancing over to the turtles. Lavi gave the man a flat look as Raph popped his knuckles."Oh, that... arrangement. Look," Vern confessed, "the Falcon is still the Falcon. I just may have gotten by with a little help from my friends. These five are the ones who took Shredder down the first time. I was kind of a wingman." "We've been doing our part to protect this city from the shadows," Leo gained everyone's attention. But just as he did, more of the ship, above their heads, came in fast before flying back up into the sky.

"And we think we have something to offer," Leo replied, "We're gunna need-" but Raph cut him off, "Strategy." "Instinct," Leo nodded, stacking his hand on top of Raph's. "Trust," Lavi added, placing her hand on top of Leo's. "Logic," Mikey smiled, placing his hand on top of Lavi's. "And boatloads of heart," Donnie agreed, placing his hand on Mikey's before they broke silently.

With that, the police agreed to cooperate with the teenage turtles. Donnie immediately got to work, "April, Casey, and Vern need an escort to Pier 90. The electromagnetic force of the portal is coming from there," Donnie instructed the lady in charge while also using his tech watch, "Forwarding you the coordinates." "Send a team!" Leo called, getting the blonde haired lady's attention, "Take us to the Chrysler Building. We'll make our way up to his ship and take down Kraang on his home turf."

Leo turned around before getting on the police truck that would escort them across town. "Lavi!" Leo called. The girl was instructing the policeman and woman on what precautions they needed to take and how to handle the people. It didn't take the girl long; so when she was done, she followed after her leader in blue. Once on the truck, the teenagers took the time to form their strategy.

"We're 90 seconds out. I've got tactical gear, weapons, communications standing by," the lady in charge offered. "All we need is cover to get up there. When we do, we've got to find that beacon that's drawing all those pieces together," Leo reassured. "If we can send that beacon back to where it came from, and April, Casey, and Vern can close that portal on our command..." Mikey cut off his nerdy brother with a smile, "Goodbye, Technodrone." "Goodbye, Kraang," Raph corrected, then smiled, "Team effort." The brothers chorused softly. However, Lavi wasn't with them; she was staring at the screen with the forming alien warship.