April O'Neil sat back and watched as the cameras rolled through her section of the main Techno Cosmic Research Institute, or TCRI for short. She had no idea why they were here. Probably interviewing Doctor Jordan Perry and Baxter Stockman, the two mega geniuses that ran the place. She was nothing more than a college intern, trying to get something that looked good on the resume. She would love to work there full time, but she was low woman on the totem pole as of now.
She was smart, sure. She wouldn't have been able to get this position if she wasn't. Especially as nothing more than a freshman engineering student. But there was a long way to go before she could have a real career here.
TCRI was known for many technological advances in robotics, medicine, and computing. More of a think tank than a product creator, they were out to better humanity, which was something April was desperate to do as well.
Still, there were strange things about the place. Large swathes of the building were heavily secured, and she had never seen anyone come in or out of them. No one talked about what was going on in there, which led April to believe it was some sort of top-secret, government project.
"Looks like old Perry got himself some more screen time," Irma motioned towards the crew and pushed her glasses back up her nose. "Guy just can't help himself."
"No," April shook her head and pushed her red hair behind her ear,
"but he's doing good work here. Sometimes I don't blame him for his vanity.""Yea," the other girl shrugged. She was older than April, but an intern as well. The two were working on fixing bugs in the programming of autonomous exterminator robots that Baxter Stockman, Perry's partner in the TCRI venture, thought could rid the city of its rat problem. It was a good idea, even if April didn't think it would ever really work. "But he can come off as pompous now and again, can't he?"
April chuckled,
"I think that's just the English accent, Irma."**********
Incense smoke wafted through the dojo as the four turtles sat on their heels, their knees on the ground.
Splinter paced in front of them, leaning on his cane as he did so. Once Leonardo had returned from his excursion to the surface, the master had gathered his sons in the dojo, but that was nearly half an hour ago. Since then, he has been silent, pacing the floor, searching for the words to say to his children.
What he would say would change everything for them. It would make them targets. It would thrust them into war.
"Ever since our transformation," Splinter began, finally,
"I have known we were special. That we were changed for a reason. What that reason was, I could not be sure. Still...I have always remembered things from before we became what we are, unlike the four of you. Some of those memories were nothing more than vague shadows, dancing in a flickering flame. Some were solid and formed like moving statues. They were where our training came from. They were why I was always certain some threat was on the horizon, even if I could not remember what it was."He took a seat in front of his children and exhaled a deep breath, rustling the fur around his mouth,
"Most of my memories were of the latter variety. Until the red moon. That night, it was as if my mind had be thrust into a raging waterfall of knowledge. My past, everything that has happened to me, flooded back into my mind. It was too much to bear all at one time. Which is why I shut myself off from you. For that, I apologize.""We understand, father," Leonardo tried to console his sensei.
"I can imagine that was a difficult time.""Brown-noser," Raph muttered under his breath before receiving an elbow to the shoulder from Leo.
Mikey chuckled.
Splinter merely smirked. His sons were still children, even if they were trained in the art of ninjutsu. Being shinobi did not change their nature. He was heartened by that. He just hoped they would be able to keep their spirits in the trials to come.
"Thank you, my son," Spinter continued.
"As I sifted through my memories, attempting to piece together my life, I remembered how I came to be at your side. Before I was on the streets, I was the pet of a man named Hamato Yoshi. Yoshi had come to America from Japan with his wife, Tang Shen. The two were happy and in love, and at some point, Shen purchased me as a pet. I spent my time in my cage watching my master run exercises in his own dojo, teaching young ones as I did you.""Whoa!" Michelangelo exclaimed.
"He was like your sensei, sensei!""Indeed," Splinter smiled at the youngest turtle.
"His teachings were stored in my mind, only usable after our transformations. But he was a fierce warrior, and the guardian of a terrible secret."He stood again, turning his back to his sons, the red robe he wore was the color of dried blood in the candle light,
"Hundreds of years ago in Japan, there was a clan of shinobi called The Foot. While I have taught you to use ninjutsu with honor and to defend the weak, The Foot had no such scrupules. They worked to dominate Japan and its people, ruling behind a puppet government. All of this was done to serve their leader Oroku Saki, also known as the Shuredda. Saki desired power, but his true goal, as legend goes, was immortality. He desired to steal the secrets of the gods themselves, and live forever, dominating the planet as he did.""Nothing more than a fairytale, I'm sure," Donatello scoffed.
Leo wasn't sure. He put his hand into the pouch on his belt and ran his finger over the mask Alopex had given him once again.
Leo looked over at Donnie. While Don was admittedly a scientific genius, he had closed him off from their father's spiritual teachings. Don didn't believe in chi or yokai or tengu. He believed what was in front of him. What he could feel. Leo felt his brother was weaker for it, and hoped he would see the light.
"Maybe, my son," Splinter turned to acknowledge him.
"But his soldiers followed his beliefs fanatically. They were willing to die for Saki's goals. And they did. A force rose up against The Foot and their puppet regime, and drove the clan into hiding. Some believed Saki died that day, but he did not. Instead, he was placed in a stone casket by the clan's mystics, and placed into a deep sleep, from which he would be awakened by a descendant.""Oh come-" Donatello was cut off by a look from Master Splinter.
"The casket was guarded by the line of Saki's elite guard, being passed down from generation to generation," the rat continued.
"All the while, it was hunted by the Shoguns' own shinobi. None wanted the Shuredda to return. Eventually, the casket was taken from the Foot, and hidden. Its location was known only by a select few, and that too was passed down through their lines. My master Yoshi was the last of that line.""Wait, so he knew where the casket was?" Leo realized.
"He came here to America to hide. To make sure Saki wasn't found.""Yes," Splinter nodded.
"The Foot began to reemerge in Japan, and Yoshi was afraid that they had found out that he was the last to know of Shureda's location. So he took his pregnant wife to New York, believing they would be safe there.""But they weren't," Mikey groaned, knowing what was to come.
"No," Splinter sighed, the sadness in his voice was evident.
"The Foot found our home here in New York. In their attack, my cage was knocked open and I was able to escape. Their leader at the time was a girl no older than you are now. She threatened to kill Shen if Yoshi did not reveal the secret of Saki's resting place. He did so, and she killed her hostage anyway, leaving Yoshi to his shame and failure. I watched as my master took his own life in the ritual of seppuku, his body falling next to Shen's, their eyes locked on one another even in death."Leonardo could see the wet streaks of tears running through the fur around Splinter's eyes, and his heart broke for his father. To witness all this tragedy, brought on by such dishonorable actions, brought anger to his heart.
"Monsters," Raphael growled, outwardly showing the same anger as Leo. The two were more alike than different, Leo was just better at keeping his emotions in check, or at the very least masked.
"The dishonor. The barbarity. You always taught us to be better than that.""And as I said, The Foot has never believed in honor," Splinter closed his eyes and tried to compose himself.
"And now they are our responsibility to stop."The brothers looked at each other. Leonardo could see the determination in everyone of them's eyes save for Donatello, who had never been excited at the thought of fighting. Leo wanted to stop the Shuredda before he could finish his goals. Raphael wanted to bring someone so dishonorable to justice. Mikey wanted to avenge Yoshi and Shen. Even Don felt a twinge of anger at the story.
Splinter said with an air of destiny,
"I believe we were created to stop The Foot and Saki from their goals. While my master was never able to see his child take up his burden, we can do so. We are the last of the Hamato line, as unorthodox as we are. We are tasked with finishing Oroku Saki, once and for all.""But sensei," Mikey asked,
"where can we even start to find him?""Easy, Mike," Leo said, tossing the mask onto the floor of the dojo.
"He's in New York. Alopex saw him and his ninja."**********
They were gaining on him.
He shouldn't have done what he did. He knew that before hand, but he was tired of sitting around doing nothing. The Purple Dragons were poisoning his neighborhood, and if he just sat around no one was going to stop them.
The hockey mask he wore over his face bobbled up and down as he ran through the streets of the Lower East Side. He would have to secure it better if he ever did this again.
Of course, that would depend on if he even made it out of this alive.
The Dragons had been running drugs in the area for a long time. He knew that. But recently they were getting more aggressive. They were getting violent. And they were recruiting people from the local high school. That was what really set Casey Jones off. That's what made him take down one of their lieutenants just a few minutes ago. He beat the bastard down with a baseball bat. He wasn't sorry about that. But he was definitely disappointed in the fact he didn't notice the five other guys across the street.
He made a turn down an alleyway. A wrong turn down an alleyway. He found himself facing a dead end.
"Casey," a familiar voice grunted at him from the mouth of the alley,
"what the hell do you think you're doing?"The teenager turned to find Arnold Jones, his father, standing at the lead of the men. He stood at six-foot-five, a good two or three inches taller than Casey. He was a tank of a man, even if his alcoholism had covered a lot of his muscle with fat over the years. Still, ever since the mysterious new boss moved into the city he'd trimmed down and become more like his old self. The vest he wore loosely over his chest showed the dragon tattoos on his chest and arms. He was Casey's father once. Before Casey's mother died. Before the drink took hold of the man. Before he joined back up with the Dragons and began to turn Harlem into a hell hole.
"Attila," Casey spat the man's nickname.
"Thought you'd be out somewhere brainwashing kids for your new master. Does he know you're out without a leash?""How the hell do you know-" Arnold cuts himself off.
"You go home. You never do this again, and maybe we can forget this ever happened.""Screw you, old man!" Casey rages.
"I ain't ever gonna live under the same roof with scum like you again. I'm not gonna stop until I wipe you and your gang out of New York."Rage filled Attila's face before he looked at the other men next to him,
"Boys, let this be a lesson. Sometimes you have to whip your son to make him see reason."Arnold Jones approached Casey, the devil in his eyes.
**********
The warehouse was dark, but he could see the rows and rows of initiates standing before the dais he was now seated on. Dozens of new men and women for his clan. All the best, brightest, and strongest the streets of New York had to offer. Some in the clan believed it was foolish to recruit here. They believed the legion of shinobi they brought with them from the homeland would suffice. They believed introducing outsiders would dilute The Foot's power.
They were fools.
Oroku Saki knew that in order to win, in order to achieve his goals, he would need to use every asset at his disposal. These new Foot Soldiers knew this city better than he did. They knew its workings. That would be invaluable. His trusted guards and granddaughters would be able to kill his enemies, but he needed these spies to feed him information.
The Shuredda knew the knowledge he sought was here in New York. He needed only to find it, and then his quest would be at an end.
He rose, and Tetsu, his chief drill sergeant, called out to the recruits, who bowed. On either side of him, his granddaughters looked up at him. Pimiko looked at him with a fierce pride, the same that he felt in her. It was her who reclaimed The Foot's destiny by killing her disappointing father and returning the Clan to its ninja ways. Before that it was nothing more than a two-bit crime family scuffling with other Yakuza dogs. On the other side was young Karai, still full of insecurities and wonder. Still, she was skilled, and he saw great things in her future.
Saki looked from side to side, scanning the crowd. He saw his elite guard scattered throughout the crowd, giving the illusion that everyone in The Foot was equal.
"Welcome," he said in a normal tone that still seemed to boom through the large area.
"Welcome my family. Today, you take a step into a larger world. After tonight, you will leave behind any petty problems and connections you had in your own life. They are meaningless in service to the Clan. Your family and your friends are now beneath you. They are not worthy. But you are. For you now take a step into something that is bigger than yourself. Something bigger than they could ever hope to understand. Destiny bends to the will of The Foot. It will be you that shapes the future. Together, we will claim what is rightfully ours...and the world will cower before us."
Simple Unicycle,
Izurich,
Morden Man
