"Bzz..."

Baxter Stockman soars down towards his desk, past a giant spherical orb of glowing mutagen hanging the centre of the room like a dangerous chandelier. The fly scientist lands next to his work station, his pixelated eyes examining a tiny vial of pink liquid in his claw.

"A little more arthropod DNA and thizz might create a pozzible retro-mutagen," he buzzes, his antennae twitching.

"Stockman."

"Ah!" He jumps, nearly dropping the vial.

He snatches it back to his chest and spins around just in time to watch Foot soldiers throw Master Splinter into a large cage, Shredder watching without a word. The rat growls and snaps, clawing at the glass. Stockman flutters over to his master and touches down, still clutching the vial.

"I want you to restore Hamato Yoshi's mind," Shredder tells the once-human scientist. He pauses to watch his enemy glare at him. "I want him fully aware of who and where he is before I finish him off."

Shredder tosses the fly a chocolate bar before turning and stalking away, cape swishing. Splinter scurries away to the corner of the cage.

"Yezz, mazzter," Stockman buzzes. He turns and retches acid onto the food and starts to slurp away at it hungrily.

----------

The turtles and their friends dash through the sewers, eyes focused on the path ahead. They slow to a stop and peek into a tunnel, where two Foot soldiers stand at attention near a metal hatch that will lead them down to Stockman's new laboratory.

Raphael takes out a smoke bomb, nodding to Leonardo. He returns the gesture and slowly readies his katanas.

Raphael leaps out and chucks the bomb, sending a cloud of purple smoke up in the bots' faces. Leonardo rushes forward and disappears into the cloud, metal ringing in the air. When the smoke clears, Leonardo crouches behind them, katanas still held in attack position. After a second, the robotic ninjas crumble to pieces. Destiny's eyes sparkle with admiration as the blue-masked turtle straightens up and sheathes his katanas. Diaval rolls his eyes.

The rest of the group emerges from hiding and goes to join Leonardo. Donatello pulls out his t-phone and kneels next to the secret hatch, tapping away with a pensive look on his lean face.

"I'll have this baby open in no time," he promises. On cue, the door beeps and pops open with a slight hissing sound. He looks to his companions and smiles proudly. "Like a turtle do."

"Pat yourself on the back later," Raphael says. "Let's move."

Destiny tenses and sniffs the air, her ears swivelling. "Is that...seafood?"

"You smell seafood? Where?" Michelangelo asks, bouncing in place.

Casey notices a menacing shadow approaching from before them and points. "Um...there, maybe?" he asks.

The shape gets closer. The clanking footsteps get louder and the silhouette gains more definition. Michelangelo gasps and crouches into a defence position.

"It's Shredhead," he whispers.

The Shredder comes into the light, but the moment is ruined when they realize that it isn't Oroku Saki. It's a tiny, armoured mutant with pink skin and glowing red eyes. It looks like Shredder, but the antennae and tiny stature deny it the joy of being intimidating.

Seven of the teens burst out laughing. Diaval stares at the creature with genuine confusion written across his face. He tries to recall when the Shredder got that tiny.

"What the heck is that supposed to be? Mini-Shredder?" Raphael asks, still laughing.

"Haha, it's kind of cute, like a shrimp," Michelangelo adds, wiping tears from his eyes.

The shrimp-Shredder shrieks and leaps into the air, catching the group by surprise. They shout and break away, leaving Casey and Diaval alone to be attacked.

Casey screams as the shrimp latches onto his face. "Ah! What the heck?"

He spins around, grunting and struggling before finally flinging the shrimp mutant off. It smacks Diaval square in the chest and, to everyone's surprise, he doesn't fall over. Instead, Diaval grabs the thing by the scruff of its neck and throws it across the tunnel. It lands flat on its face a good distance away, letting the teens dash to the hatch and hop inside.

The shrimp-Shredder gets up and scrambles back to the intruders. When it gets closer, it leaps into the air and practically flies right for the tunnel. Raphael, the last one to get inside, gives it a death glare.

"And stay out, you little freak!" he shouts before slamming the metal lid shut behind him.

The shrimp lands on the top with a thud, slides off, and collapses to the ground with a pitiful squeak.

Inside the passageway, the mutants and their human friends stay dead silent. Eventually, Leonardo stops and holds up his hand as an order to stay put. He creeps forward, peering out from the rafters. Stockman flits around far below, unaware of their presence, and Splinter huddles in a glass cage. Leonardo waves his hand, beckoning his team to move forwards with the plan.

They spread out, Casey and April going one way, Destiny, Leonardo, and Raphael going another, and Michelangelo, Donatello, and Diaval going the last. They leap along the metal rafters soundlessly as Stockman flies towards Splinter's cage.

"You want this cheezze, don't you?" he asks, shaking a plate of cheese around near the glass.

Splinter's eyes widen and he slinks closer, submissive. He eyes the tasty morsel on the plate, licking the glass and pawing it desperately.

"You want the nice swizz cheezze, yeah?" Stockman teases. "Hmm, come on. Take the cheezze. Come on."

Stockman turns and retches, puking up his acidic spit and dousing the cheese in the green substance. He cackles and gobbles down the food as Splinter's ears flatten and he scrambles away to his hamster-like water dropper, licking up a few drops.

"I'm gonna squash that bug," Raphael growls.

"Is that...Stockman?" Destiny asks, her forehead wrinkling as she tries to remember his name. The last time she saw the African-American scientist, he was human. He also had her strapped to a table and he jabbed a needle into her arm like she was some sort of pincushion, but that's besides the point.

"He got mutated," Leonardo whispers. Stockman flies away and the eldest turtle perks up. "Come on."

The trio drops down in front of the cage, closely followed by the others. They move to the cage, where inside, Splinter now sits on his hamster wheel and paws at the plastic rungs forlornly.

"Sensei. Sensei!" Leonardo yells in a whispering voice, tapping the glass.

Splinter looks up. He scuttles over to them, whiskers twitching, and sits on his haunches. He tilts his head at them, nose wiggling, and Destiny creeps closer to him. She rests her hand against the glass and he leans towards it, sniffing.

"It's been a while," she whispers to him, flashing a weak smile. He registers no sign of recognizing who she is or what she said.

Leonardo looks at Donatello. "Quick, get him out of there," he orders.

Donatello's device beeps as he hacks into the system. The cage slides open only a few seconds later, but Splinter cowers away the second it's gone.

"It's okay," April murmurs, stretching out her arm to him. "It's okay." The rat shrinks away from her outstretched hand and April gives a helpless look to her friends. "There's got to be a way to reach him."

Casey perks up and places a hand on her shoulder. "Red, remember the time you reached the guys through their dreams? What if you could, like, do the same thing for Splinter?" He gestures to the rat, rambling slightly. "You know, mindmeld and stuff?"

Diaval steps up and stares closely and Splinter for a few seconds. The boy blinks, backs up, and shakes his head. "Desire's just about cheese. Like he's just...an animal," he admits. He nods to April. "She's your only chance."

"Hmm, based on my research on telepathy, it might be possible," Donatello says. "But there is only one way to find—"

"What izz this?!" Stockman exclaims, appearing behind them. He flutters back. If he had facial expressions, his face would be shocked. "Bzz, turtles? Here?! You were all destroyed!"

"How's this for destroyed?" Raphael snaps, throwing a shuriken at the hideous mutant. The fly swerves away with a yelp.

"Doesn't he hate when you mess up his name?" Destiny asks Leonardo under her breath.

"Definitely," Leonardo answers.

She grins and cups her hands around her mouth. "Hey! Boxtiger Stickmeld!" she calls.

He buzzes in anger. "MY NAME IZZ BAXTER STOCKMAN! ZZZ!"

"Pretty sure it's Bic-pen Slipcon!" she retorts. "Or maybe just Fly-Guy Sillyname!"

"BUZZZZ! YOU WILL PAY FOR THAT!" He starts spitting acid balls at them, making bubbling, green puddles appearing on the ground as they dodge the blows.

"April, try and wake Splinter up," Raphael orders before racing away, sais flashing.

The ninjas and kunoichi-in-training split off, evading the blasts while readying their weapons. Diaval scurries off in search for higher ground as Stockman flies toward the alert button at his control board. He reaches out to press it, but a shuriken embeds itself near his outstretched hand and stops him.

"Oh, no, you don't," Raphael calls.

Michelangelo wraps his kusarigama chain around the fly's waist and yanks him back, slamming him into a wall with a groan. The fly recovers swiftly and takes off, the chain still wrapped around his waist, and Michelangelo goes soaring into the sky as if he just lost control of a large, ugly kite.

"Whoa! Hold still, Buzzkill!" he shrieks. He whips out his second chain and wraps it around a rafter, jerking to a stop and ceasing Stockman's advance forwards.

"No!" Stockman cries as the force of the stop sends him ricocheting backwards into a wall, landing with a thud. He groans, shaking his head as he buzzes lightly. The four turtles land in front of him, scowling. He looks up and he seems to grin. "Ha! Let'zz even the oddzz," he cackles.

The door behind him opens, revealing three giant Shredder-crustacean mutants; shrimp, lobster, and crab. The turtles gasp and back away as the creatures roar.

"Sweet mother of mutations," Donatello whimpers.

"Do you like my Shredder mutantzz? They make exzzellent watchdogzz," Stockman buzzes before taking to the air.

He laughs again as the creatures lunge. The crab goes for Raphael, his four bulky arms swinging wildly. The lobster goes for Leonardo, while the shrimp takes on Donatello. Michelangelo goes after Stockman.

No one seems to notice that Destiny and Diaval are nowhere to be seen.

----------

Diaval walks straight ahead, hand tightened around his bow. He hardly blinks, focused completely on his task.

"Diaval!" a familiar voice calls to him.

He doesn't stop. The footsteps pick up and he notices a brief blur go past him before Destiny is in front of him, sword out and scarred face serious yet questioning.

"Where are you going?" she asks.

"Stay outta this," he says, staring down at her blankly. "Can handle this. Go back."

"Don't pull that crap on me," she retorts, stepping closer to him. She edges her sword towards him and his eyes widen just enough to show that he's put off. "You aren't..." Her gaze flickers with hurt but she keeps her lips set in a frown. "You aren't going back to Shredder, are you? You wouldn't."

Diaval almost flinches. "N-No," he answers. "Better off alone. Help the turtles."

"Nobody is better off alone, especially not you," she insists. He turns away from her and she lowers her sword, daring to get closer. "Diaval, I want to trust you, but right now..."

"Not gonna betray you," he repeats.

"Then let me stay with you," she says. She sweeps to his side and stares out at the hallway ahead. "Please." He opens his mouth and she flicks her tail. "You saying no won't stop me. Just thought you should know."

He shuts his mouth and slowly turns to look at her. She smirks and her tail wags a little faster. He sighs and shakes his head, his ponytail swishing along his neck as he reaches out and pokes her forehead.

"You're stubborn," he states. "Annoying."

"You love me," she says with a wink. An alarm goes off all around them and her smile disappears, her ears perking. "Crap...let's make this quick. Tell me the plan on the way."

He readies an arrow and nods. "Mhm."