A/N: This is an ALTERNATE UNIVERSE. Some elements from each universe of the TMNT multi-verse, but also some original-type elements will be involved. The guys are about 17 years old.

Chapter One

Raphael twirled his sai in his hands, his face set into a grim line as Donnie drove them near the warehouse. The Shredder, Oroku Saki, had taken hostages and warned the turtles that if they didn't come to save them, they'd become the newest members of his mutant army, with the aid of the mutagen he'd stolen from the kraang.

"It's obviously a trap." Leo had said.

"No duh." Raph had snorted back.

"So we need to proceed with absolute caution and vigilance." Leo had continued, as though Raph hadn't spoken, "This is a rescue mission. Not a fight."

He'd directed that last part at Raph, not that the red warrior cared. Of course he wanted to beat down at Shredder's goons. He snorted at the thought that Shredder couldn't get any more dishonorable – taking innocent people from their homes to try and coax them out. He shouldn't have bothered. Give him the time and the place, and he'd be there. He wasn't afraid of no foot ninjas.

"We're almost there." Don announced. He pulled the van into park in an alley and the turtles all jumped out. Leo's eyes were piercing as he scanned the surrounding area.

"It's quiet for a Friday night." He murmured, "There should be people everywhere, these bars bustling…"

Raph glanced around and, sure enough, Leo was right. There were hardly any signs of life in the bars and pamphlets floated eerily down the rundown, empty street like ghosts. Raph's gut pointed out something wasn't right, not like it had to. He already knew, just from the tenseness in the air. He frowned and twirled his sai again.

"Shredder has probably gotten the Purple Dragons to keep the streets quiet." Leo said. "The less movement there is here, the easier it will be for his ninja to spot us. If there was any doubt this was a trap before…" It was gone now.

The four ninjas sunk into the shadows and they soared up the fire escape. From the roof, they could see that most of the apartment lights were off, the blinds closed over the windows that weren't already boarded up with old, rotten wood. Sale signs peppered down the rows of buildings, stating the economic depression that plagued this rundown side of the city.

"Remember," Leo hissed for the millionth time, "this is strictly a rescue mission."

"Yeah, yeah," Raph groused, "we got that the first hundred times, Leo." They glided over the rooftops like shadows and stopped just across from the selected warehouse. Raph pointed his sai, "Lookie what we have here." A well-dressed man was standing just outside the reach of the shadows of an alley; a kraang.

Leonardo's icy blue eyes swept over the area and various hand motions told them each where they were to go. Seamlessly, Raph and Don took the left side of the building. They pulled out their grappling hooks and connected it to the gutter of the warehouse before swinging over in synchronisation. They landed silently and snuck to the skylight of the building. They couldn't see any foot ninja yet, but that meant nothing. Tiger Claw was standing next to a group of twenty of so people, who all huddled together in fear. Fish Face wasn't far off, slinking around in his large mechanical legs, every now and then pulling out a knife and pointing it at the fearful group.

There were kraang bots without their human outer layer, guns in hands as they guarded their post. Large, thick, glass pipes covered a majority of the room, leading down to what the turtles recognised as the mutation machine.

"I swear," Raph hissed, "if I get my hands on those bastards…"

"This is a rescue mission, Raph." Don reminded, as though he would forget after having Leo bleating about it all night.

"Yeah, yeah," Raph muttered, "Let's just do this already."

They melded into the shadows once more and entered the building through a vent. They came out at a corner of the room and Raph looked to the opposite side. He couldn't see his brothers there, but knew they were.

"We know you are here, Turtles," Tiger Claw bellowed. "You might as well come out of hiding." When he received no response, he moved to a lever and pulled it down with a resounding crack. The room was suddenly filled with blinding white light. It blinded the turtles momentarily, but they had been raised to not rely on their sight. Raph sensed a shuriken coming at his head and he instinctively ducked before dodging to the beam on his left. He opened his eyes slowly.

The crowd of people below had started screaming, but they silenced when Tiger Claw pointed his gun at them.

"Surrender now, Turtles, or suffer the consequences!" Tiger Claw yelled to them.

They split into their positions. Raph followed Don down to the mutation machine, effectively blocking Tiger Claw and the innocents from it. Leonardo and Mikey jumped down and Leo deftly cut the rope holding them all captive. They spun around just in time to strike back at the Kraang bots who had been stupid enough to try and shoot them down.

Tiger Claw advanced on them and Raph lunged at him. "Get on it, Don!" he yelled as he struck at the large tiger before him. Don unslung his duffel bag and dug into it for the tools he needed to bring down the machine.

"You look tense, Cat-man," Raph taunted, "Is something wrong?"

Tiger Claw lunged a punch at Raph's jaw, which the warrior easily dodged. He used the momentum to spin kick at Tiger Claw's side but the assassin had already moved out the way and pulled out his gun. Raph used his sai to deflect the bullets and Tiger Claw changed tactics, throwing his guns aside and using his claws instead. He swiped at Raph's head and he ducked down and threw a hard fist to his lower abdomen. Tiger Claw grunted and took a step back to regain his breath.

"Ninja!" He bellowed as Leo and Mikey started ushering people outside, "Do not allow the prisoners to escape!"

Foot soldier rained down from the ceiling, various weapons in their hands.

"Raph, swap," Leo yelled.

Leo stabbed at Tiger Claw's leg and with a growl the big cat turned and sung at him. Raph joined Mikey's side and began to pummel mercilessly into foot bot after foot bot, making a path for Mikey and the civilians. One foot managed to nick his leg and with a roar of outrage, Raph struck him down with a blow to the head. The foot soldier fell to the ground, unconscious. The sound of sparks caught his attention momentarily and he glanced over to see Don backing away from the machine, bo staff in hand.

"Time to go!" Leo yelled.

"We must not allow them to escape!" Tiger Claw roared. "Master Shredder will not accept excuses!"

The sound of Kraang's guns blasting off increased. One Kraang pointed directly at Mikey's turned shell and Raph felt his heart plummet into his gut. "NO!" He jolted the gun up with a smack of his sai and the violet laser seemed to float through the air in slow motion, before crashing into one of the tubes full of mutagen.

"Shit," Raph cursed, just as the mutagen poured straight down onto the group of humans.