"Bodacious!" said Michelangelo.
"Audacious!" said Raphael.
"Tenacious!" said Leonardo.
There was a long moment of hesitation. "Good!" said Whiskers. The three Turtles looked at him. "Good... acious...?"
"Needs work," said Leonardo.
"Yeah, he definitely does, but give the guy a chance, Leo. He's new to all this."
"That's not what I meant, Raph."
The four of them had arrived in the hotel's lobby and were approaching the exit as Irma and Todd hurried toward them. "Irma!" the Turtles exclaimed. Then "Todd...?!" Surprise after surprise.
"Uh, guys, I..." Irma didn't know how to tell them.
"Well, given that we haven't been spending the last couple 'a hours fighting an army of giant rats"- Leonardo began.
-"Just this guy"- cut in Raphael, pointing toward Whiskers.
-"It looks like things worked out OK." Leonardo finished, as Irma and Todd stared at the Turtles' new friend. "Guys, this is Whiskers. It's a long story. We didn't exactly hit it off right away, but it turned out we got a mutual friend..." He looked round. "Speaking of... Where's April?"
Irma just stared at him.
***
At the edge of the square, Miss McWilliams pressed herself against the wall, speaking out of the corner of her mouth to a figure concealed within the alley. Had she thought about it, she might have reflected that it was a novelty not being the strangest feature of this particular environment right now.
"No... You mustn't come out... Someone will see you... I am perfectly fine, I assure you, Stanley... Whatever was going on here seems to have passed... What's that...?" She peered at the distant figures her companion had brought to her attention. "No, I don't think you should make yourself known, Stanley... Oh calm down, dear, you know your accent gets very thick when you get yourself agitated... No, I don't think you need to meet them, dear... Those, I think you will find, are only men in costumes."
***
"Uh... Police...? Yeah, that's right... Why'd I have to wait so long...? Look, never mind... I, uh... I got a break-in under me here, my shop... Yeah, I live above... Yeah... Look, does that matter...? The guy's still there. Uh, I don't really care if you're busy, you know that...? Look – the guy is still here! If you send a car you can catch him! I'm not shouting! I don't dare shout, because like I say... The guy is still here...! Hold...? You gotta be kidding...!"
Beneath the apartment, in the shop, all was suddenly quiet. After ransacking the place for what he needed – or, let's be honest, what he wanted – the Rat King stood in front of a full-length mirror. The coat hung almost to his ankles. The dark glasses were just what he was looking for.
He applied the final touch – the broad-brimmed hat. Now he was ready.
***
Freddy was distinctly pleased with himself. OK, things still hung in the balance, but all in all it was going pretty well. The best thing of all was not only managing to recapture April O'Neil but ensuring she would be instrumental in the Turtles' downfall after all... Some things were meant to be. Hey... Who was this guy...?
He and his two accompanying Foot ninja had been walking at a brisk pace along the deserted street, not far now from the junkyard. Anyone unwise enough to be out in these early hours had wisely given them a wide berth. The one thing they didn't expect to see when they turned the corner was some tall guy in a long coat and a hat acting as if he had nothing to fear. Strolling up casually and-
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Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Day of the Rat (A 90s Movies Story)
Fanfiction"Hi...!" April gasped breezily, as the Foot ninja closed in. "I think it's my friends you want... Lemme get them for 'ya!" Turtle vs Rat! Since the Turtles' public showdown with the Shredder (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze)...
