Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Day of the Rat (A 90s Movies Story)

Chapter 14: Playing it Safe

As was his habit, Todd snuck out and went up the hill to the old factory that night, as he did every night, in case his peculiar new friends had decided to come back. They had warned him they might suddenly disappear at some point, but Leo had promised they would come back and visit.

He discovered a Honda motorcycle on its side, unattended. That was weird, and just a little bit exciting. "Honda..." he breathed. "CB750K8... Nice..." He picked up the discarded helmet lying next to it. Weirder still.

Then he noticed the other vehicles. A couple of vans, and next to the main entrance a couple of black-clad guys... With guns! Todd dropped into cover, inhibited a little by his injured knee. What was going on here?

Todd noticed that although these guys had the main entrance covered they didn't seem to have bothered with the one round the back. Cautiously, moving slowly and keeping to the shadows, he made his way round there and into the building.

As he suspected, there were more of these guys in the rooms the Turtles had lived in during the weeks they had spent here. Ransacking the place. He heard a series of loud thuds, and the wall he was huddling against as he listened shuddered with the impact each time.

They seemed to have found what they were looking for, and Todd watched from hiding as they went by carrying a medium-sized safe with an odd-looking locking mechanism attached to the front of it. Booted feet marched over the smooth floors, squeaking a little as they turned corners. Yeah, Todd thought, these guys were military. Or ex-military.

He took a look at the Turtles' place. It was a mess, there was stuff scattered all over the place. Pretty much as they had left it. One thing was different. That newly plastered wall he had noticed when he was here but thought little about. It was broken, the plaster and the boards underneath removed and thrown to the side. What was the betting that safe had come from back there?

Todd went back out the way he had come in, unnoticed as the vehicles left the empty parking lot and onto the winding road that led back down the hill. What had he just witnessed?

He looked at the helmet he was still holding against his chest. He tried it on for size. Not a bad fit. He looked over at the Honda. Hmmm...

The Turtles needed to know about this.

***

"Great! Just great!" Leonardo paced rapidly back and forth in the limited space afforded by the narrow tunnel, running his hand along the top of his domed head. "What are we going to do now...?"

Michelangelo shrugged. "What the man says. Doesn't look like we have a choice."

The others looked at him questioningly. Since when...?

"That's what I was gonna say." Raphael reached out and opened Michelangelo's mouth and looked inside. "You OK, Mikey? Say Aaaaaa..."

Donatello leaned forward on his staff. "Can't escape it, Leo. They've got us."

Leonardo looked round the three of them in turn. "OK, guys... This is it... April and Irma are counting on us..." He held his hand out, facing down, digits spread. The others placed theirs on his, one by one.

"One for all..." they said together. "...And all for kickin' some Foot butt!"

"Umm... Foot butt...?"

"Don't spoil the moment, Donny."

***

Freddy struggled to his feet, feeling sick. The leader of the Foot Clan in New York could not afford to show any vulnerability. "Report!" he snapped at Matt.