For the next three days, the luxurious seaside villa transformed into a blazing isolated paradise. Expensive champagne and liquor flowed freely at pool parties, and deafening music shattered the ocean breeze's tranquility.
By day, they re-watched certain "classic" clips in the private cinema or lounged lazily in the sun. Christina Aguilera seemed determined to use every trick she had to prove she was the woman who could ignite Hawk. The nights were even wilder; pool water splashed, the bedroom lights burned all night, and the hormonal aroma of fine wine, gourmet food, and tangled bodies permeated every corner.
Goo Ja-yoon was given a separate suite and the best care, remaining curious about everything in the villa. Like a child with boundless energy, she ran around the massive garden, happily playing with the smart home system, occasionally glancing curiously at the tightly shut master bedroom door and the faint, suggestive sounds within. Then she'd shrug and continue exploring her new playground.
Three days later, as the sunset once again stained the bay red, Hawk stood before the massive floor-to-ceiling window, clad only in a silk velvet robe.
Christina Aguilera, like a sated cat, was curled up lazily on the sofa, a long cigarette pinched between her fingers. Her eyes, hazy in the smoke, showed a trace of exhaustion and even deeper infatuation.
"Leaving so soon?" Her voice was husky and regretful, marked by their activities.
"Business calls." Hawk sipped the amber whiskey, looking out at the deepening twilight. The languor was completely gone from his eyes, replaced by cold, sharp focus. "South Wharf Warehouse District."
Christina Aguilera followed his gaze, seeing only the blurred industrial outlines and the dark seawater in the distance. "That place... it's creepy. Be careful." She didn't ask further, offering only a caution.
Hawk put down the glass and walked toward the dressing room: "Take care of yourself, Christina. Until next time."
When he emerged, dressed in his signature black custom suit and wearing an expensive pair of non-prescription glasses, Goo Ja-yoon was already waiting in the living room, energetic and ready. She had changed into dark, practical overalls, her eyes shining brightly.
"Let's go." Hawk adjusted his cuffs. "Time to meet our 'alien guest.'"
Christina Aguilera watched Hawk's retreating figure, the ash from her cigarette silently dropping to the floor.
....
Under the cover of night, the huge, abandoned warehouses in the South Wharf Warehouse District stood like silent steel behemoths, heavily rusted. The air was thick with the salty tang of the sea and the stench of decaying metal.
Following Shredder's confession and Hawk's high-altitude reconnaissance, the two easily located the underground entrance disguised as an old, derelict sewage treatment facility. They moved through dark, winding corridors lined with massive pipes and unknown slime, bypassing several ancient security traps, until a heavy alloy door appeared before them. Behind the door, a low-frequency, ear-throbbing hum could be heard, along with the cold, inorganic sound of machinery operating.
Goo Ja-yoon casually waved her hand, and the heavy alloy door was instantly ripped apart as if by an invisible giant hand, twisting and collapsing inward.
The sight that burst open would make an ordinary person's sanity drop to zero. It was an enormous underground space, as if the mountain belly had been hollowed out. Standing in the center was not a spaceship, but a massive, complex, constantly writhing bio-chemical slime pool flowing with a green luminescence.
Immersed in the pool were gigantic, pulsating, organ-like objects. Countless tubes, like blood vessels and nerves, extended from the pool, connecting to screens and control panels lining the surrounding walls. The entire space was permeated by a pungent stench of humus mixed with chemical agents.
At the core of the slime pool, a disgusting entity hovered. It was a massive, pink, ridged brain! Completely exposed, without the protection of a skull, its surface covered in a slippery sheen. Countless tiny tendrils, like nerve bundles, slowly drifted in the slime. The brain tissue itself pulsed rhythmically, each beat disturbing the surrounding slime.
Supporting and encasing this brain was an intricate, complex mechanical exoskeleton—the Krang Mech. The Mech was constructed of cold metal and an unknown, faintly glowing material, possessing multiple thick mechanical arms that ended in massive, gleaming claws or energy weapon emitters. The main body of the Mech wrapped around the brain, providing protection and mobility, its mechanical joints emitting a low, ominous whine when moving.
This was the "guest" Shredder had spoken of—Krang, a parasitic brain alien warlord from an extra-dimensional realm!
"Ugh..." Goo Ja-yoon instinctively covered her nose, her small face scrunched up. "It smells so bad... so disgusting!"
Hawk surveyed the grotesque alien creature, his face devoid of emotion, showing only assessment and scrutiny: "Mr. Krang? A pleasure. It seems Shredder was taking adequate care of you." He stepped over the slime residue on the floor without hesitation, as if inspecting his own property.
Krang's huge brain violently swiveled toward their entrance, the slime churning intensely. A painfully grating, synthesized voice, sounding like metal grinding mixed with the squelching flow of wet slime, echoed through the chamber, carrying the arrogance of a superior being and a hint of anger at the intrusion:
"Inferior carbon-based lifeforms! How dare you trespass into the domain of Krang the magnificent! Where is Shredder, that useless failure? Was his task simply to placate me with insects like you?!"
Several massive screens lit up, scrolling with star charts of Earth, military deployments, and complex alien symbols and data streams, confirming that Krang was no benevolent presence.
"Shredder?" Hawk gave a soft, dismissive chuckle, walking up to a relatively clean control panel. "I packaged him up and sent him off as a gift to some... ah, special turtles. I am the one taking over here now, and I am your new master, Hawk Lane."
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