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Some TMNT stuff really isn't for little kids. |
Utrom Empire is a mini-series focusing on the Ninja Turtles' extradimensional foes and allies, the Utroms and the Neutrinos.
This story is preceded by and somewhat concurrent with the Northampton story arc.
This story is followed by the TMNT 2014 Annual.
Credits
Story & Script: Paul Allor
Art: Andy Kuhn
Editor: Bobby Curnow
Part One
Part One Regular Cover by Andy Kuhn
Publication date January 29nd, 2014
Professor Honeycutt, also known as Chet Allen, also known as the Fugitoid, has an existential moment atop a cliff on Burnow Island. In a moment of hopelessness, Honeycutt steps into nothingness and shatters to pieces on the jagged rocks jutting out of the ocean. A short while later however, General Krang's scientists have retrieved and reassembled Honeycutt's robotic body, and continue to download his scientific knowledge in order to complete work on the Technodrome, Krang's tool to terraform the Earth.
Meanwhile, Krang ensures that his staff has taken necessary measures to avoid loss of power as a result of an approaching hurricane. However, Baxter Stockman has snuck outside and tampered with the power system.
On pre-historic earth, a number of Utrom scientists arrive via a transdimensional portal. Two of the scientists discuss political trouble back home, the D'Hoonib people rebelling against Prime Minister Quanin, while they take samples from a triceratops.
Many years later, a much younger General Krang is celebrating the defeat of the D'hoonibs and the destruction of the Praxoid Alliance with his men, among them Zog, a Triceratons (a race of mutant triceratopses created by Utrom scientists). His father, Emperor Quanin walks in and asks what the commostion is for; Krang informs him that they have defeated the alliance.
In the Molta VI Asteroid Field in deep space, a crew of Utroms attempts to find ooze to harvest. Just as another asteroid fails to yield any ooze, the Utroms are fired upon by a rebel ship, manned by Neutrinos and Triceratons.
Months later, a meeting is being held on Utrominon in the High Council Chambers. Emperor Quanin reports that the rebellion continues to grow stronger and they must increase their military efforts to maintain their control over the edges of their empire. Quanin appoints Krang to the Praxoid Viceroyalty to oversee their mining and military operations. Councilor Lorqa interjects to ask why they continue to press outwards, colonizing new planets and enslaving new races. Quanin retorts that he had to interceed to avoid a power vacuum caused by the Praxoid Alliance's defeat. Lorqa accuses Quanin of bringing ruin upon his own people, throwing all their resources away on the expansion of his empire.
On Burnow Island, present day, the power goes out during the storm thanks to Baxter Stockman's sabotage of the power system. Stockman leaves his room and finds the Fugitoid being held in an examination room. Stockman frees the Fugitoid and tells him he wants to use the cover of the storm to thwart Krang's efforts. Fugitoid, planning on destroying his body so Krang can no longer use his knowledge, agrees to help Stockman.
In New Quanin City, the Seat of the Praxoid Viceroyalty, Krang is briefed on the current state of the fight against the rebellion by Commander Zog. Zog tells him that as a result of him ordering public executions for the miners who led the uprising, more people have joined the rebellion. Krang tells him that they can start killing the children of the rebels. Zog tells Krang that its not his problem anymore, just as a blast shatters the windows. Outside, a fleet of ships swoops down upon the city. Krang orders Zog to arm the Triceraton forces; Zog tells Krang to look outside, where the Triceratons themselves are the ones attacking the Utroms. Krang looks back at Zog who is pointing a gun at him. Zog tells Krang that his pride has blinded him to the futility of his father's efforts to maintain his empire. Krang knocks the gun out of Zog's hand and the two fight. Krang tells Zog that his people should be grateful for the elevation of their species, the bestowal of purpose. Zog manages to defeat Krang, but leaves him alive because he believes that Krang will realize his people are doomed if they continue on their current path.
In Northampton, Massachusetts, present day, Donatello searches furiously for something. Michelangelo asks what he's looking for; Donnie tells him that after Fugitoid was kidnapped by Krang, April broke into his StockGen locker and found his journal. Donnie, finally finding it, looks through and finds designs for the Technodrome.
On Burnow Island, Stockman and Fugitoid walk unnoticed through the building. Fugitoid tells Stockman that if they wish to destroy the Technodrome they have to go the other direction. Stockman tells Fugitoid that he's insane if he thinks they're going to destroy the most powerful weapon ever invented. Stockman shows Fugitoid where they were headed, the room storing the other Utroms in stasis, suspended in huge vials of ooze. Stockman tells Fugitoid that his plan is to hit Krang where it hurts the most, to destroy his purpose. Stockman opens the vials of ooze so that they start to drain and kill the Utroms. Fugitoid, deciding that he cannot simply destroy himself to keep his knowledge from Krang, takes action. Fugitoid knocks out Stockman and closes the vials. "I can fix everything" says Fugitoid.
Part Two
Part Two Regular Cover by Andy Kuhn
Publication date February 19th, 2014
The Fugitoid is nervous. He has just knocked out Baxter Stockman in order to prevent the genocide of the last remaining Utroms. Fugitoid isn't convinced that Stockman's plan of killing all the Utroms to eliminate Krang's motivation will work, but now he has to refill the vials with ooze and the power is still down. Fugitoid stashes Stockman in a storage closet before seeking help from Krang himself. Krang, upon seeing Fugitoid walking about freely, immediately sets Traag and Granitor on him. Fugitoid tells Krang about the danger to the Utroms in stasis and Krang hears what he has to say. Fugitoid shows Krang the stasis room and tells him that somehow the ooze has leaked out, but the generator to get it online is outside in the storm. Krang tells him that he will face the storm to repair it.
In Dimension X, many years ago, Krang's ship enters Utrominon's orbit. Upon landing, Krang is greeted by Councilor Drexl, one of the newly instated councilors. Drexl escorts Krang through the city and attempts to tell him about the political happenings but Krang stops him. He tells Drexl that he's just there to witness the execution of the rebellion leader who was recently captured, then returning to the battlefront. Drexl tells Krang that his father Emperor Quanin had intended for Krang to accompany them to the Grand Concourse where a parade and games were being held in Krang's honor, but Krang is not concerned.
Krang heads to the detention center where the rebel leader is being held. The guard asks Krang if he can take him to him but Krang tells him that he instead wants to see the deposed Ruling Council. A short while later, Krang arrives at the Grand Concourse where the parade is being held. Krang orders everyone out of the viewing booth so that he can speak with his father privately. Krang tells his father that he spoke with Councilor Lorqa, and Lorqa told him of his father's depletion of their planet's natural resources, how their homeworld is dying while Quanin builds new palaces and erects new statues. Quanin does not want to hear anything Krang has to say, and instead tells Krang that he is a newly appointed member of the Royal Council. Krang tells his father that him serving on the council is ludicrous, and he intends to return to the front line to help end the war. Quanin tells his son that the war will never end, and the ceaseless expansion of their empire will be their defining feature, their legacy. Before Quanin can say anymore he is interrupted by Drexl, he informs him that Zog has escaped his cell in the detention center.
Krang, Quanin, and Drexl take a short flight to the detention center and witness Zog tearing his way through the guards as they land. Zog, spotting Krang, makes a beeline for him and manages to take him hostage.
On Burnow Island, present day, Krang takes a look at the power breaker that has shorted out due to the hurricane. Fugitoid guides him through what he needs to do to repair it, but before Fugitoid can finish giving him the information, their connection is lost. That's because Stockman has escaped and sicced one of his flyborgs on the Fugitoid. Stockman reveals that he never trusted the Fugitoid, and had planned to frame him for the murder of the Utroms. When the Fugitoid had worked for Stockman, as Chet Allen, he had thought Stockman was amoral. Now however he sees that Stockman is undeniably evil. Fugitoid is forced to wrestle with Stockman's flyborg. Fugitoid manages to break free, grab a gun left by a guard, and shoot the flyborg. Fugitoid tells Stockman not to follow him and he leaves.
In Northampton, Donnie is impressed by what he reads in the Fugitoid's work journal. Don realizes Fugitoid is practically its creator, having designed most of it from the ground up. Don excitedly shows schematics for its self-destruct sequence to Raph and Mikey, who are sparring. Mikey, distracted by Donnie, gets a punch square in the face. Raph points out that even though they now have some idea of how to shut down the Technodrome, they have no way to get to Burnow Island to do so. Donnie tells him he will come up with a plan, eventually.
On Burnow Island, Krang is nearly finished with the power breaker repairs. Just as he connects the final two wires, a jolt of electricity throws him backwards, his mechanical body shorted out.
In the past, on Utrominon, Zog orders the Utroms to lower their weapons, or he will kill Krang. Krang, unperturbed, tells him to do it. Quanin however cannot hold out and orders his men to surrender. Zog commandeers the Utrom ship and orders the pilot to take them up. Zog tells Krang that it's not too late for the Utroms. Krang tells him that it is too late for him and the Triceratons, that they will never win their war. Zog tells Krang that they don't have to win, just outlast his father. With that, Zog drops Krang to the ground and escapes in the ship.
Krang wakes up in a hospital bed. His father tells him that they found the ship Zog commandeered, the pilot dead. Krang asks Quanin how he could have let this happen, telling him that if they had executed Zog like Krang wanted then the rebellion would have been seriously demoralized and their victory would be that much nearer. Quanin tells him that there was nothing he could have done, because Zog was threatening his very legacy, his heir, his only son. Krang tells him that the Utrom race is a whole is more important than their family, that he should have let him. Krang tells his father that he would sacrifice anything for the preservation of their race.
On Burnow Island, present day, Krang struggles to his feet, but is knocked down a cliff by the strong winds of the storm.
Part Three
Part Three Regular Cover by Andy Kuhn
Publication date March 2014
Years ago, on Planet Utrominon, a messagenger delivers a statement from General Krang to Councilor Lorqa. A large holographic Krang tells Lorqa and his team of researchers living in an underground bunker that their mission will soon be over. They will soon depart for Planet Earth, as the Utroms have ultimately lost the war against the rebels lead by the Triceratons. Before joining them in the emergency bunker, Krang stops to see his father, Emperor Quanin, who thinks he came to gloat. Krang reveals to his father his secret plan enacted years ago. Krang brought together the leading scientists to develop new ooze technologies that would keep them alive in stasis, using what little ooze still exists. Krang explains that he had to keep it a secret from Quanin, because he would have ruined it like his father had ruined their empire. Krang tells him that he will bring the scientists through an inter-dimensional portal to a piece of land on Planet Earth called Burnow Island. Quanin brings up Krang's failure during his last trip to Earth (see Secret History of the Foot Clan Part ). As bombs begin to be dropped on the compound, Krang begs his father to accompany him but Quanin is too stubborn. Krang sees that his father is not worth the effort and departs.
On Burnow Island, present day, Baxter Stockman destroys the evidence of his flyborg in an incenerator. In a fit of rage, Stockman trashes his laboratory, fed up with being a prisoner on Krang's island.
Elsewhere on the island, the power is restored. Fugitoid debates whether or not to go forward with the next step of his plan, or to flee and destroy his body, so that his knowledge cannot be used to aid Krang in his efforts against the Neutrinos or others. He ponders his predicament, caught between the misguided ambition of Krang and the aggessive self-interest of Stockman. Fugitoid decides he cannot leave fate to those two and uses the computer to send out a message. Before the Fugitoid is sure the message was sent he is apprehended by a stone soldier.
Krang manages to make it back to the stasis room where the Utroms' vials are being refilled with ooze. He orders all of the scientists to get out. Krang thinks back to many years ago, when he carried out his plan to put the few surviving Utroms into hibernation. Lorqa was unsure that they had developed the technology sufficiently, but Krang told him how bad things were on the surface. Lorqa wishes that Quanin had came with them, but Krang does not. He blames the Utrom Empire's demise on his father. Lorqa and the other Utroms are put into vials with ooze and Krang oversees their transport through a portal to Burnow Island, to the room where Krang currently is. He vows to complete his plan soon.
In Northampton, Donnie continues reading Fugitoid's work journal. Donnie is realizing what a catastrophic threat the Technodrome poses and wondering how he and his family can possibly hope to neutralize it. Raph tells him that they'll handle it the same they handle everything else: make a plan, and then fight.
Back on Burnow Island, Stockman works on another one of his flyborgs when another scientist asks if they will be resuming work on the Fugitoid project soon. Stockman is surprised to learn that Fugitoid is back but glad nonetheless, as the flyborg he's currently working on he intends to use to destory Fugitoid. Unfortunately when he arrives in the lab he sees that Krang is already there. The Fugitoid is telling Krang all about how Stockman helped him get the ooze flowing again after the power system "malfunctioned". Stockman hurriedly agreeds and then leaves, afterwards cursing the fact that he is now indebted to the Fugitoid. Fugitoid continues talking to Krang. He tells Krang that he's just tired of fighting, that all he wants to do now is survive. Krang is quiet for a moment and Fugitoid worries that his ploy to be allowed to walk around the compound freely will fail. Fortunately, Krang can sympathize with the desire for survival.
The Turtles are on their way back to New York City following the Foot finding them hiding out in Northampton (see Northampton Part Three and Four). Donnie receives a message on his tablet from the Fugitoid. It contains plans for an inter-dimensional transporter, which would allow the Turtles to get to Burnow Island to fight Krang. The message also says that Fugitoid is contacting other parties with this information, as the more allies they have the likelier they will be to defeat Krang.
In one of the Foot Clan's bases, Karai receives the same message from the Fugitoid and shows it to the Shredder.
Gallery
