Emotionless Mutation (Book Three)

Chapter 32: Lessons in Combat

"Alright, we have to be quick," Leonardo says, one hand flitting to his katana.

"So what's the plan?" Raphael asks.

Donatello raises his hand. "May I suggest something?" When they nod, he continues, "How about Leo, Raph, and Des distract the Kraang while Mikey and I go and get Sarina's cage open? Easy peasy."

"Distract that whole group of Kraang? All," Michelangelo tries to count them, but gives up and finishes with, "a lot of them?"

"Yes?"

"Cool, let's do it, bros."

"Leave the packs behind. We'll get them after," Leonardo says.

They stash the packs, then split off with a quick and silent five-way fist bump. Donatello and Michelangelo wait in the rafters while the others make their way to the ground. The Kraang converse amongst themselves while others start to load smaller items into the portal. Sarina's eyes flash and she glares hard at the cage, but nothing happens. Near her, silent shapes slink by, unseen.

"HEY KRAANG!"

The aliens turn in perfect unison towards the noise to find Leonardo, Raphael, and Destiny making faces and waving their arms at them. The teens laugh and hoot.

"It is the turtles and the one known as Destiny," one says.

"Come and get us, you pink-brained freaks!" Destiny taunts.

"A blind grandma with a tremor could shoot better than you!" Raphael shouts.

The Kraang give chase, momentarily abandoning their transport items. As soon as the coast is clear, Donatello and Michelangelo drop down and land next to Sarina's cage. The cyborg gasps, a tiny smile appearing on her face.

"Donatello! Michelangelo!" she cries.

"What's up, girl?" Michelangelo asks, flashing a peace sign.

"It's okay, Sarina. We're going to get you out of here," Donatello says, moving to the cage and trying to reach her hand through the bars. "You can't blast these bars away, can you?"

She shakes her head and lifts her hands, revealing two glowing purple cuffs around her wrists. "Unfortunately, they took precautions to prevent that," she sighs. After another second, she jolts and her posture becomes immediately straighter. "You have to leave."

"What—"

"There are more of them coming. Trust me, go!"

Sure enough, another fleet of Kraang droids emerge from the portal with guns raised. They immediately turn them on Donatello and Michelangelo. The brothers dive out of the way. Sarina drops to the bottom of the cage, shielding herself from the bullets that whiz by. More Kraang march from the portal, armed with massive blasters.

"Donnie!" Michelangelo shouts, already spinning his nunchucks. "We have to get the others back!"

Donatello doesn't answer, too focused on trying to get Sarina's cage unlocked. He frets and mutters to himself as the Kraang keep firing. Michelangelo does his best to direct the attention away from them, but it does little. Donatello's steady hands start to fail him as he gets more and more frustrated, but then he feels a light touch. Sarina's hand rests over his even with the bars separating them.

"Go, Donatello. I'm not going anywhere," she murmurs.

He meets her eyes for a second before taking her hand and pressing a brief kiss to her knuckles. With a final nod, he unleashes his bō staff and leaps into the fight, leaving Sarina with a dopey smile on her face. She holds her hand against her chest and sucks in a deep breath.

The doors slide open and Leonardo, Raphael, and Destiny reappear, winded but okay. "Guys!" Leonardo calls.

"We need backup!" Michelangelo cries as he ducks his head into his shell to avoid a Kraang bullet.

"I've got you, little brother," Raphael says, readying his sais and racing off to help.

Destiny looks at the Kraang blasters, then at her uchigatana, and shrugs. She morphs into a wolf and barks, swinging her giant, furry head towards Leonardo, and he recognizes the excited gleam in her eyes. He grins, leaping onto her back and aiming his katana outwards.

"CHAAAAARGGGE!" he proclaims.

She lets out a long howl and gallops forward, knocking Kraang aside while Leonardo slices more as they go by. The Hamatos keep fighting, all while avoiding the blasts from the heavier artillery. The Kraang keep emerging from the portal, creating an endless supply of enemies to bash.

"Leo, we need a new plan!" Raphael shouts. He leaps into the air, spinning and nailing two aliens in the head with a split kick.

Leonardo cuts a Kraang apart before briefly surveying the scene. "Keep going! We hold them off until someone frees Sarina!" he orders. He leaps off Destiny's back and blocks a spray of bullets, teeth gritted. "Also, someone take out those blasters."

Raphael and Michelangelo rush the giant machines. Raphael throws a sai, lodging it in the barrel of the first blaster. It explodes, destroying the driver and all the Kraang lingering around it. Michelangelo takes on the second. He whips out his kusarigama chain and flings the bladed end into the blaster's barrel. It also explodes with purple smoke as the turtle flips away, whooping in victory.

There's a sharp bark from Leonardo's right and he whirls around just as Destiny morphs back into her human form fall. She has one hand gripping her injured shoulder, her teeth gritted in agony. The Kraang advance on her and she backs up, claws unsheathing. Leonardo takes care of the Kraang near him before racing towards her, arriving just in time to slice the guns from the Kraang's hands.

"Des, fall back," he orders as she retrieves her sword. "Work on getting Sarina free."

She nods and takes off, leaving him to deal with her assailants. As she heads for Sarina's cage, she can already see that there are Kraang starting to tug it towards the portal. She lets out a snarl and pounces at the nearest droid, slicing its head off and throwing it aside.

"Sorry, boys, but this one's mine," she says, jerking her thumb towards Sarina.

Some of the Kraang advance towards her while others keep working on getting Sarina's cage to the portal. Destiny readies her sword, fighting past the throbbing ache in her shoulder as best she can, but she's outnumbered. She starts leaping over the stacked boxes near the cage, evading gunfire the whole time.

"Destiny, hurry!" Sarina shouts.

"I'm trying!" she retorts.

She twists away from a series of blasts and lands next to of Sarina's cage. Behind her, some stacked boxes start to wobble. She keeps deflecting bullets off her sword, unable to do much else to stop them from taking Sarina. A spray of bullets flies towards her and she ducks, allowing them to hit the boxes behind her. They start to creak, some of them toppling over and creating yet another thing to dodge. Sarina watches the scene, then looks to her hands as she musters her strength and forces her concentration on making her powers work, but her palms don't glow and her fingertips don't release any rockets.

She curses under her breath as she looks over her shoulder. The portal is far too close for comfort. She looks up at the unsteady boxes just as a few burst open, spilling canisters of dark green mutagen. Most of them bounce away harmlessly, but one heads straight for Destiny's unprotected back.

"DESTINY!" Sarina screams, throwing herself against the cage bars in a desperate attempt to reach her friend.

The canister smashes against Destiny's back and she crumples to the floor with a cry of pain. It's the last thing Sarina sees and hears before she disappears into the portal.

"Sarina, no!" Donatello yells.

There's a loud shout from above as Michelangelo swings down from the ceiling, landing in front of the portal. With a final thumbs-up sign to his brothers, he too disappears into the portal. There's a loud whirring sound, the portal wobbles and quakes, and the machine shuts off with a final beep.