The energy in the van was a nervous tension. Monica was at the wheel with Riley in her lap and April in the passenger seat, while Donnie kneeled in the back leaning in between them. In the back, Mikey and Shelby sat on one side of the van, with Leo, Raph, and Casey on the other side; on top of that, all them were crammed together amidst everything they had brought with them, in case they decided to camp out somewhere closer to the mutant's headquarters. The chatter in the front was periodic and hushed, leaving the crew in the back oblivious to where they were going and if they were close.

Shelby sat with her legs drawn into her chest, deep in thought. This was her first mission since her mutation, and she had already transformed into her mutated form once already. She hated being in that form. Sure, it felt powerful and it was useful to everyone else in a fight, but she felt out of the control. She felt disconnected and foggy. It wasn't something she was 100% comfortable with.

"Are you okay?" Mikey asked next to her.

"She's all good- just thinking of all the ways she's gonna shred that mutant to the pieces. Right, Small Fry?" Casey questioned.

"Not exactly." Shelby muttered.

"Well, what's up?" Leo inquired.

Shelby's eyes jumped from Leo, to Raph, to Casey. It's not that she disliked any of the three of them, but they didn't exactly strike her as "deep conversation" people. Besides, she wasn't that close with Leo, and she definitely wasn't that close with Raphael.

But when she looked at Leo, she saw the earnestness in his eyes. He considered her part of the team, and the team couldn't function at 100% if one of the players was down.

"Can I ask you guys a question? And you have to answer it honestly." Shelby said.

"Shoot." Casey stated. Leo nodded. Raph... just stared at the wall.

She ignored him. "Does my wolf form... scare you?"

"No- I mean, it's definitely terrifying to the people we're fighting." Casey shrugged. "I guess it just doesn't bother me because I know you're on our side."

Leo took a few moments longer to formulate his answer. "I can't lie and say you're wolf form's not intimidating. But, I think you've proved yourself to be an overall trustworthy person and I believe that you have the best intentions- at least, in my opinion."

"And you already know that you don't scare me!" Mikey cheered as he threw his arms around her and squeezed tightly.

Raph stayed silent until everyone else in the back stared him down. "What, you really wanna know what I think?" When Shelby nodded, he sighed in irritation. "You don't scare me. Not in your human form, not in your wolf form. But you make me nervous because I'm still not sure if I can trust you. I forgave you for trying to hurt my family once- but I didn't forget."

Shelby stared at Raph for a second, before smiling. "Wow, thanks for even answering."

Raph raised a brow ridge. "You're welcome, I guess."

Donnie interrupted the exchange as he turned to face the group. "We've gotten close enough to where April can sense him- she'll take over the tracking from here- everyone ready?"

"We're ready. You got the tracking device?" Leo asked.

Donnie held up the small circular gadget with his good arm. "Right here!" He turned to Shelby with a raised eye-ridge. "I thought you said you were gonna wear the synthetic clothes I made for you."

"I am." Shelby face flushed slightly as she shed the hoodie she had used to cover up- she wasn't used to such form-fitting clothing. It was a simple, dark red ninja-yoroi with a black Hamato Clan emblem on the chest. It was complete with a pair of two-toed, black sandals, a hooded cowl and back straps that held her sheathed onos. "It's very nice- I'm just going to feel very bad if this doesn't work and I destroy something with the Hamato Clan emblem on it."

"Woooaaaahhhh." Mikey eyes sparkled as he looked at Shelby. "You look like a real Hamato Clan ninja!"

"Don't worry, Shelby. If I got the calculations right, then everything you're wearing should transform with you- except the onos. Oh! New project idea!" Donnie beamed.

"Quiet down back there." Monica hissed as she put the vehicle in park, before turning to face the group. "April says we're very close."

The group fell silent as Leo stood up. "We should search on foot from here. Gang, let's move out."

Casey opened the back of the van, and the rest of the group filed out onto the street as April and Monica exited the front. Monica had been mindful enough to park in the shade and roll down all the windows so Riley wouldn't overheat.

April took up the lead, her hand grasping the tessen on her belt as she went. Casey was on her right, gripping his hockey stick with both hands as he glared at their surroundings through the holes of his mask. Raph was on April's left, sais at the ready. Donnie was behind April, flanked by Shelby and Monica. Leo and Mikey brought up the rear.

It was an eerie feeling, walking in the middle of street during the evening, a time where this Philadelphia neighborhood would normally be bustling with people. But as the sun made it's way towards the west horizon, the only sound that could be heard was the sound of their feet shuffling on the pavement. Only Shelby could pick up the faintest sound of traffic in the active parts of the city.

As she listened, she heard a loud scrape against a hard surface- a brick wall. She looked back and to her left at the same time April did. Stepping out from behind a building was a large, grotesque mutant scorpion. His body was bulky and human-like with visible abs and pecs, but emerging from his sides were two pairs long, spindling legs. He had a normal set of human legs as well, which still maintained a stretched-out pair of shorts. His arms were human up until the elbow, where they transformed into armored claws. His back was lined with armor as well, leading down to a curled tail. He had the head and jaws of scorpion. He opened his mouth and made a horrible shrieking noise as he charged towards the group.

"Take your positions!" Leo yelled, charging towards the mutant. April, Shelby, and Raph followed hot on his tail, while Monica, Mikey and Casey took their positions out of range. Donnie disappeared into the shadows.

The mutant tried to grab up Leo with one of his claws, but Leo jumped up and instead landed on his arm. With the mutant distracted by Leo, Raph went straight for the underbelly, stabbing his sai into his abdomen. The scorpion-man screeched, using his extra arms to grab at both Leo and Raphael.

Shelby froze as April continued her charge towards the mutant, slicing at it's ankle with her tessen. Shelby was arachnophobic, a fact that had slipped her mind up until this point. Images of the mutant Spider Bytez flashed in her head as she watched the eight different limbs lash out at a different enemy, as if independent of each other. Her stomach flipped and for second her thought she might vomit as her skin crawled and her heart raced.

She snapped out of her paralyzed daze when Monica fired her first arrow. It hit the mutant directly in the chest, but it was so small compared to him, he only yelled out in protest. When she fired another one, he blocked it with his keratin encrusted claw, before trampling Leo and April, bee-lining towards Monica and Mikey.

It only took one swing at Michelangelo for Shelby's blood to surge through her veins. She pivoted to take off towards the monster, and before she had even completed her first stride she was racing on all fours. She let out a rapid series of bark-howls before she leapt onto the back on the mutant, sinking her teeth into the soft skin of his left side.

"Get 'em, Shelbs!" Mikey cheered. He threw his kusarigama so that it hooked around the ankle of the scorpion-man. When the mutant tried to slash at Mikey with his claws, he was met with the intense pain of Shelby digging up one of the armored plates on his back. Mikey managed to run all the way around the mutant's legs before he pulled the chain taut, causing the mutant to fall forward into the building. "Booyakusha!" He yelled triumphantly.

Raph, who fell off the mutant when it slammed into the building, stood up and rubbing his neck, before dusting off his shell. "Well! That was easy!"

"It's not over yet! Look out!" Leo called as he raced towards the scene, April in-tow. Raph looked up just in time to see the sharp stringer coming down on him. He just barely had time to roll out of the way.

The mutant roared, pushing itself up out of the collapsed brick wall, using one of it's pairs of extra arms to pull back on the kusarigama chain. Mikey was pulled forward, only to be saved by Leo cutting the chain with his katana. April sliced at its Achille's heel, causing its leg to falter and buckle as it screeched. When it tried to look for the assailant, it was met with a hockey puck to the eye.

And then there was Shelby, who was still latched onto the scorpion's back. She had managed to lift up a plate, exposing to subcutaneous tissue and capillaries underneath. Every surface she bit or scratched was instantly frozen over, and the ice spread like a virus, etching itself over the skin and armored plates, but also spreading into the internal systems of the mutant. It was beginning to tire, falling down so that all of his limbs supported him. Below, Leo and April sliced at it's extra limbs, taking off large chunks.

"Alright, everyone, fall ba-" Leo's instructions were interrupted when the mutant grabbed him with his claws, squeezing hard enough to force all the air out of Leo's body. April and Raph tried to rush to his aide, but the second claw snatched up April. She let out a terrible scream as the scorpion squeezed her mid-section mercilessly and raised her to his mouth.

"DROP THE GINGER!" Casey screamed, managing to jump on the mutant's head. He whipped out his homemade taser, slamming it into the mutant's eye. It shrieked, letting go of Leo and April as it swatted at Casey. It knocked him to the ground, which caused him to slide across the cement. He didn't move as the mutant leaned over and and shot it's stinger down at Casey.

Shelby leaped off the scorpion-man's back and slammed into the tail, making it jab into the ground directly above an unconscious Casey. She bit into it, tearing and pulling it in like she was playing tug-of-war, shaking her head viscously and digging her paws into the pavement. The mutant roared in pain, freeing it's tail from the ground and ripping it free of Shelby's mouth. Within the next second, it pierced Shelby's shoulder.

Shelby yelped and whimpered, trying to get free to the tail pinning her in place. "Shelby, stop moving! You're going to make it worse!" April warned.

And then, the tail fell limp. Shelby freed herself, letting out high-pitch cries as she backed away. Everyone looked up at the mutant, who had an arrow skewered through it's head. It fell face first into the pavement, dead.

Shelby's wound was searing as she staggered away. She felt herself shift back into her human form as she collapsed on the pavement. She tried to reach back and over to the wound, but it was just out of reach. She was becoming exceedingly dizzy and nauseous. And she could feel her limbs becoming very heavy.

"What the heck, Monica!" Shelby heard Raph yell, and she looked over, laying her head on the ground. Raph was glaring at Monica as she lowered her bow. "We were supposed to track that thing back to it's base!"

"In case you were unaware, it killed my family, and it was about to do the same to yours!" Monica snapped.

"Uh, guys." April stated, looking around nervously.

"We had the situation under control! I was just about to put my sai through his gut!"

"Guys."

"And that wouldn't have killed him?" Monica scoffed. "Talk about hypocritical!"

"Guys!" April snapped, and Monica and Raph glared at her. "We aren't alone."

Shelby's eyes followed April's. Up on the fire escapes and roof tops, hidden in the shadows of the alleys and behind abandoned cars, stood a few dozen Foot soldiers, watching and waiting. Shelby found that she was unable to push herself up off the ground to try and fight- only one of her arms were functioning enough to allow her to start dragging herself over to the twin ono she dropped.

The Foot soldiers descended, causing chaos on the ground. A few tried to get an easy hit on Shelby and she braced for impact, but it never came. She looked up to see Mikey knocking them away with his nunchucks, before he kneeled down next to her. "Holy guacamole, Shelby! Your shoulder doesn't look too hot!"

"I can't... move." Shelby struggled to even speak; her face and tongue felt like pins and needles. "I need my ono."

"Why? You can't fight!" Mikey exclaimed, though he did oblige and pick them up off the ground. He turned to the others, nervous. "Dudes, Shelby is down and out!"

"Casey is too!" April yelled from her spot next to Casey. Her back was protected by a rather feral Raphael, who took his anger out on the Foot soldiers mercilessly.

"We're going to have to retreat!" Leo yelled, pushing his criss-crossed twin katana out and away, causing his opponent to stumble back. "We're not strong enough to fight this many Foot!"

"Give up?" Raph inquired caustically.

"Almost half of us can't fight, Raphael! I'm trying to get us back to the lair alive!" Leo responded. "Everyone, fall! Back!"

Leo's tone was harsh and urgent. Raph didn't argue a second time. Mikey scooped Shelby off the ground, and Raphael switched jobs with April, who joined Leo and Monica in fending off the Foot soldiers as Raph got Casey, and they made a dash for the van.

Luckily, it met them half way. The vehicle swerved to a stop as Donnie leaned out the driver's window, his eyes wide. "Get in!"

Leo ran ahead and threw open the back of the van, helping lift Shelby and Casey in before Raph, Mikey, and Monica followed. As soon as the back doors were secure and April closed the passenger door behind her, Donnie slammed on the accelerator, running over a few of the Foot soldiers as they sped away.

"Well, that was a waste of a mission." Raph muttered, leaning his shell against the side of the van.

"Not entirely." Donnie stated. He waved around his tracking device. "While you guys were fighting, I noticed the Foot Clan arrive. I tracked down the vehicle they came in, and planted the tracker there."

"So we'll find their headquarters! Brilliant, Donnie!" April stated.

"Hehe, thanks." Donnie chuckled.

"That's great, Donnie. But as soon as we've put enough distance between the Foot and us, you mind switching with Monica so you can help out with Casey and Shelby? They aren't looking so good." Leo said, his eyes jumping back and forth between an unconscious Casey Jones and a paralyzed Shelby.

"Take your time, Donatello. Leo, if there's a First Aid kit back here, I can get started. I'm certified in First Aid." Monica explained.

"Oh, awesome." Leo stated, standing up and quickly locating the First Aid kit. "You know, Monica, we're heading back to New York. I know we started off rocky, but I also know that you lost everything." Monica flinched slightly at those words as she grabbed out cloth scissors and began cutting away at the fabric around Shelby's wound. "Sorry- it's just, there's nothing left for you here. And we could use a shot like you on our team."

"We could?" Raph inquired.

Leo glared at him. "Absolutely. You have awesome archery skills, and I bet with training you would be a very formidable Kunoichi. What do you say?"

The only audible sounds for a couple moments were the van's motor, the wheels against the pavement, and sound of Monica pouring distilled water into Shelby's wound. Finally, she sighed. "Philadephlia holds only painful memories for me now. As long as Riley's with me, I'll come to New York with you."

Leo smiled. "Excellent."

Raph groaned. "Excellent."