A chemical element that, when used, emits bright, glowing colour.

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Raphael stands in the kitchen, watching Leonardo and Donatello pore over a makeshift map of the city. Michelangelo bounces around behind them, asking questions rapidly.

"What's that?"

"That's the lair," Donatello answers.

"Okay, what's that?" Michelangelo points to another spot.

"That's TCRI," Leonardo says, propping his head on his hand.

"What's that?"

"A street."

"What's that?"

"The drawing of you eating pizza that you drew on our map even though I told you not to."

"Oh oh-oh! What...is...that?!"

"That's Destiny."

Michelangelo blinks, his finger aimed at Destiny's chest. The wolf-raven arches an eyebrow and gently pushes his finger down as he lets out a sheepish laugh.

"Sorry," he says.

Her eyes seem to yawn as she sighs. "I think you're getting way too excited over a map, Mikey," she says. Her wild green eyes flicker to the other turtles. "Have you got anything?"

"I can't find any connections between the recent Purple Dragon robberies at all," Donatello frets, elbows resting on the table as he runs his hands over his head.

"Maybe because there isn't one," Raphael huffs. "Maybe they're just robbing places because they can."

"Don't be so sure, Raphael," Sarina says as she walks into the kitchen, t-phone in hand. Her eyes flash as they narrow. "The last five places that the Dragons have robbed all contain either cash or important equipment and information relating to scientific discovery. Examples include laboratories studying animals and their biology, another less-official lab obsessed with aliens, and then banks and places with materials such as metal, wiring, and other machinery."

"What would a bunch of thugs need with science stuff?" Destiny asks. "That doesn't make any sense."

Donatello groans and slumps forward, forehead on the table, hands sandwiching his head. Sarina reaches out and rests her hand against his shell as she sighs. "Unfortunately, I am unaware of the answer too," she says.

Leonardo furrows his brow and spins a marker between his fingers as he taps his foot. He stops, uncapping the marker and inking giant black stars on all of the previous Purple Dragon attack spots. He leans back, hoping that the markings will bring something else to light.

Destiny leans over his shoulder, elbows resting on his shoulders. "Well, they're all in the same general area, right near the lair."

Donatello perks up a little at that, but one look back at the map makes him frown again. He slumps over, sighing a lot more obnoxiously than is needed. Sarina hugs his neck and presses a soft kiss to his cheek.

"We'll figure it out, darling," she murmurs.

He nods as he continues to stare at the map, forlorn. "I sure hope so."

Raphael hooks his hands behind his head and sighs. "Same here, brother."

A loud beeping sounds from the laboratory and both Donatello and Sarina lurch upwards, eyes wide. "That's one of the spy drones," she mutters.

She hurries from the kitchen and heads for the lab. The turtles and Destiny follow, lingering in the living room while the cyborg disappears into her and Donatello's workspace.

Raphael arches an eye-ridge. "Since when do you have—"

"We released them the other day," Donatello explains with a proud smile. "We thought they could help us get alerts on PD attacks and other crimes in the city."

"And they are certainly paying off," Sarina calls as she pokes her head out of the lab doors. "There is a Purple Dragon break occurring only one block away. We can interfere if we go now."

"Great," Leonardo says. "Grab your weapons, team. We've got some dragons to slay."

Raphael groans. "Honestly, stop trying to sound cool. You're not cool."

The blue-masked turtle pouts. "I can be cool...sometimes."

"Don't start this again," Destiny pleads.

"Yeah, we've got a robbery to bust!" Michelangelo agrees.

They retrieve their weapons without further argument, disappearing into the tunnels and leaving the lair a whole lot quieter than before.

----------

The laboratory they come to is dark and broken down with every window boarded up in a haste, nails bent and sticking out at odd angles at the edges while still managing to hold the planks in place. Even the streetlights around the building have started to die, flickering and sputtering in scattered intervals. It looks like the perfect spiderweb breeding ground, furthering the Hamatos' confusion as to why the Purple Dragons would bother with such a place.

Leonardo slips his katanas from his shell, lifting one finger to his lips and doing a few hand signals around the hilts of his weapons. His team, already used to his secret language, nod and prepare to go full stealth.

The inside of the lab isn't that much different from the outside. There are more cobwebs and the air reeks of must, dampness, and mould. The teens move as if the stone floors could cave beneath them if they so much as shift their weight incorrectly.

Voices sound from down a long hallway, bouncing off the walls and stirring the shadows.

"Careful! They won't be happy if we ruin the supply," Hun scolds.

"Sorry, boss," comes a few mumbled apologies.

Loud clanking follows scuffling footsteps and Leonardo frowns, glancing over his shoulder at the others, and he earns a round of nods. They slink forward, hands shifting to their weapons.

"Don't alert them. We have to—" Leonardo starts.

A spider drops down in front of Michelangelo's face and he shrieks, batting the arachnid away in horror and slapping Raphael across the face in the process. Raphael snarls and tackles his brother, the two turtles crashing into the four remaining teens and knocking them out into the open.

Hun turns to them in a split second and narrows his eyes while the other Purple Dragons bristle at the sight of them. Raphael searches the crowd for the masked girl with striking eyes and tied back hair, locking eyes with her within seconds. She wiggles her fingertips teasingly, eyes dancing, and he bares his teeth at her.

"Nice going, genius," Leonardo grumbles as he gets to his feet.

"Real great on the stealth, I should add," Donatello mutters.

Hun's eyes dart around the crowded, cluttered lab while the gang members clutch canisters of mutagen closer to their chests like huddling rats. The canisters cast an eerie glow onto their faces and add pinpricks of light to Hun's sunglasses.

"Mutagen?" Sarina gasps. "Impossible, the Kraang are—"

"Hand over the ooze and no one gets hurt," Raphael interrupts. "Well, no one gets hurt too much."

Hun snaps his fingers and the thugs holding the mutagen take off. Leonardo shouts the attack command and his team launches into battle, but the room doesn't allow for a lot of movement. Both groups keep knocking over old tables and equipment while trying to avoid flying fists, feet, and blades.

Raphael leaps over a fallen table and races after the escaping outlaws, but a foot catches his own and he goes tumbling to the floor. He rolls onto his back and the hazel-eyed girl appears above him, resting one foot on his plastron as she leans over, eyes crinkling at the corners.

"Some ninja. Now that's twice that I've caught you off guard," she teases, voice slightly muffled from her mask.

Raphael growls and grips her foot, flipping the two of them over so that he can pin her down. He stabs downwards, but she swings her head to the side and evades it, allowing her the chance to punch him in the jaw. His resulting shock at the blow gives her enough time to shove him off of her and scramble to her feet.

He flashes a grin at her and spins his weapons as he too gets back up. "I could do this all night, sweetheart," he snaps.

She laughs, resting one hand on her hip as she tilts her head. "Then bring it on."

A sharp whistle sounds from Hun and both him and all the remaining Purple Dragons scatter out any exit they can find. The girl winks at Raphael before she throws a small, white object at him and it explodes in a burst of white powder against his face. As he coughs and stumbles blindly, she disappears into the night.

"Aw, man," Michelangelo whines as he reaches out to poke a shattered microscope. A piece topples to the floor and breaks into three more pieces. "What a bust, dudes."

Raphael finds himself on his knees, hands propped against the ground, and his muscles bulge as his bloodshot eyes snap to the empty laboratory. "I swear to shell—"

"Raph, are you okay?" Destiny asks as she kneels down to help him up.

He mutters out a few curse words as she gets him back on his feet. "Whatever. Don't bring it up."

The wolf mutant purses her lips and says nothing else. Instead, she pulls a tattered cloth from her pocket and hands it to him, motioning to his eyes. He dabs away at the smoke-induced tears and she smiles as he grunts out a "thanks".

Sarina picks her way across the mess, brushing the empty mutagen cabinets as she passes them. "This must have been an underground Kraang laboratory," she murmurs, eyes flashing. "Donatello, what do you think?"

Donatello almost bumps his hip against a fallen table as he wanders around the other side of the lab. "That sounds like a fair assumption," he agrees. He snatches up an old canister lid emblazoned with the notable Kraang symbol and sighs. "First it was just human labs and banks, now the Dragons are robbing from the Kraang?"

"And for mutagen, no less," Leonardo says.

"Should we scope this place out?" Destiny asks.

He shakes his head. "Not tonight. We have to get back."

"Yeah, good idea, bro," Michelangelo agrees as he peeks out the window. "I think the po-po are coming."

Destiny's ears perk as the sound of shrieking sirens rings in the distance, making her grimace. "He's right. Someone probably called in a noise complaint," she says with an eye-roll.

"Come on," Leonardo urges, shoving open the nearest window and ushering his family towards it.

They crawl out and sneak back up to the rooftops in utter silence. Raphael glances back at the lab for a moment, narrowing his eyes as he reaches to rub away the soreness yet again. Whoever that girl is, she's going to get it the next time they cross each other's path. No more mister nice turtle.

Good, he thinks to himself. I never liked mister nice turtle.