Dark Skies for Darkseid

[Dr. McNinja]

Dr. McNinja came to, bound in chains. He was being painfully dragged by a very short figure in black, who seemed to take no care if there were bumps or cracks in the ground. His sleeves were still ripped off from his fight in the Green, so he was getting cuts all over his arms.

"What the hell?" he mumbled.

Startled, the figure cried out, "He's awake!"

Suddenly, other figures rushed in, holding spears of some sort. Doc focused in as best he could. They were the fracking turtles again.

"Seriously? More Koopas?" Dr. McNinja whined, "You already blew up in my face, LITERALLY, and now you wanna tussle again?"

“Heh, you ain’t tussling any time soon. You’re all tied up, can’t you tell?” the Koopa snickered.

“Okay, I admit, you may be right,” Dr. McNinja grumbled, wincing as a sharp pebble bumped into his shoulder, “But you forgot one very important thing.”

The turtle did not react. Dr. McNinja stood up, stretched his legs, kicked the chains away somewhere, and removed his katana from the Apokalips Troopa’s abdomen. The others were already bleeding out in the quivering heat. Doc stretched his arms, and adjusted the sleeves on the brand-new lab coat that came out of nowhere. He fixed his tie and sheathed his blade.

“I’m a ninja.”

The turtles all collapsed on the ground at once and Doc sighed.

“Now, why are you so familiar?”

Doc frowned and racked his brain for solutions. Finally, standing in the gore, he smiled like a delighted 8-year-old and exclaimed, “Oh yeah! At the Nexus! You work for…”

A dark realization dawned on his face and his eyes narrowed menacingly.

“You work for Darkseid. He’s nearby, isn’t he?”

The turtles did not respond. They were dead.

“Well, fine,” Doc groaned, “Be difficult, then. I’ll just find them on my own.”

Suddenly, panting, Jak ran up to him.

“Jak!” Doc exclaimed, “Good to see ya, buddy. Thanks for trying to catch up, but I got it under control.”

“But… how did you get out?”

“Ninja tricks. Also, lessons from Houdini.”

Jak frowned.

“The real one, I mean. In Dracula’s Moon Base.”

“What is he saying,” Jak thought.

“You know what? You probably have no idea what I’m talking about,” Doc sighed, “Let me brief you. These turtles used to work for an evil dude named Darkseid. Not… entirely sure what he’s up to right now, and I have no idea where he is. Or where I am, for that matter.”

“You’re in… the Ashen Steppes.”

Doc sighed. “Sounds lovely, doesn’t it? Alright, wanna help me hunt this son of a weasel down?”

Daxter appeared from behind Jak and pointed his finger at Doc. “Hey! I take offense to that!”

“Oh, good,” Doc droned, “You brought the chipmunk.”

“I am an OTTSEL, you nurse.”

Dr. McNinja flung his arms into the air, exasperated. “What did we say about calling me a nurse?”

Jak blinked. “How… did you get your… coat back?”

Doc winked and responded, “Ninja tricks. Now, you gonna help me take Darkseid down, or not?”

“He is,” a gruff voice interrupted, and the sniper from earlier clasped Jak’s shoulder. “And so are we.”

“Hey, wait a minute, Torn, ‘we’? I don’t remember signing up for this,” Daxter’s voice wavered as he whined.

“Quiet, ottsel,” Torn replied.

Daxter scoffed and crossed his dejected arms. Doc grinned wide.

“I like this guy,” McNinja thought.