"Don't get too close," Matt warned. Freddy ignored him, stepping toward the giant rat, fascinated.

"This is incredible..."

"It's just like those crazy things... Razor and Toker."

"No, it isn't, look at it. This is very different." Freddy reached out toward Whiskers but stopped before actually making contact, his expression carefully benign. Could this thing even interpret human expressions?

Whiskers shrank inward a little, but he didn't retreat. "See...?" Freddy said in a soothing voice. "It knows we mean no harm." As a ninja snorted at that assertion, he shot a dangerous glance at him. "Don't you?" he asked Whiskers.

The giant rat moved his head forward toward Freddy, and as the others raised their weapons nervously he held up his hand to stay them. Whiskers sniffed the air, cautiously at first then more intently. Then, unexpectedly, he turned to Matt.

He reached out with his... Freddy supposed it was a hand. When no one tried to stop him, Whiskers reached under Matt's tunic and pulled out an object. A black leather glove, supple and shiny in the pool of light from above.

"So that's what you could smell," Freddy mused under his breath, taking the glove from Whiskers' hand gently. "Or is sense more the right word...?"

"I forgot I still had that," said Matt a little awkwardly, but Freddy's raised hand silenced him.

"Where...?" It spoke! Whiskers sniffed the air again, head turning. He seemed to pick up something of interest. "What are you doing, Whiskers...?" pondered the rat, seemingly reciting something from memory.

"That's April's glove," Freddy told him. "You've seen her?"

"Aay-Pril..." Whiskers repeated, as if weighing the possible answers to that. "Kind."

"Yeah, I suppose so."

"Gave Whiskers name."

Freddy's eyebrows rose slightly, but other than that he gave no sign this perturbed him. "Well, like I say, that's her glove..."

"April's... glove..."

"Yeah, that's right. I think we should get it back to her right away... Don't you...?"

Whiskers thought about that, and it looked like it made sense to his developing sense of right and wrong.

"Do you know where she is...?" Freddy had a feeling this was going to work. Matt shook his head and sighed.

"Find April... Glove..." The rat seemed to be mulling it over. Finally, he looked at Freddy and something in its expression told the Foot leader that, crazy at it was, this was actually going to work. Freddy took it as a sign when he turned and hurried away down the tunnel.

He turned to the others and smiled. "Follow that rat."

***

Inside, the hotel was deserted. April took the stairs - it wasn't that far up, and the elevator offered far more possibilities for a trap. She still didn't know what she expected to achieve, but knowing what was at stake here she had to try.

***

A cold wind whistled through the gap where the window had been removed, and the Rat King shivered. That surprised him. He had never felt particularly vulnerable to extremes of temperature before. The reason why occurred to him, and he shivered again. This time not with the cold.

Despite the pressure of time, he had taken the opportunity to don the familiar rags and bandages. This Hyn'tnn incarnate felt more at ease this way. More... ready.

He could sense her approach long before she got there, and used the time to haul the keg of mutagen into place. It seemed far heavier now than it had when he set out from the laboratory. He eyed the couple of dozen rats who had accompanied him with a faintly resentful air. They had not been much help. A laborious task like that certainly displayed their limitations.

That would soon change.

April cautiously peered around the corner before she came in. "Uh, hi..." was her opening gambit. The rats scampered across the floor toward her, stopping a few feet short. She gingerly reached out a hand in their direction, as if to pet one of them, but quickly thought better of it. "Hi there, guys..." she greeted them uncertainly.

The Rat King looked round briefly. "Hi," he said casually.

"Hi," she said again, and then laughed at the absurd self-consciousness of it, before throwing her hands wide and clasping them in front of her, nervously shifting her weight from foot to foot. One of them better start start saying something other than Hi. "Uh, how'ya been? We, uh, didn't really get a chance to talk before... Heh." She grinned, but it was a fragile grin that didn't reach her anxious-looking eyes.

"Fine," he said, still engaged in preparing the keg of mutagen. "Don't worry, the rats won't harm you unless I will it." His voice was gentle, kindly even, but April recognized the implied threat.

"Uh, are you sure you want to do that?" she asked, eyeing the keg of mutagen, her apparent casualness fooling no one.

"Yes, quite sure."

"OK... I couldn't talk you out of it, could I?"

"I doubt it."

"Right. I'm not, uh, getting in the way here?"

"Not at all. Your presence is welcome... Pleasant, in fact."

"OK..." Eyeing the rats carefully, April tried moving forward, but that seemed to make them mad. She really didn't want to do that, but if it came to it... "So, uh, Freddy and company... The Foot Clan..." He turned around to face her, leaving the keg on the floor right next to the pipe. If she could even distract him for a short time, maybe someone else could pick up the slack... "You had some kinda deal with Freddy. What was that about?" Change the subject. A perfectly valid tactic.

"Fetching and carrying, at a critical point in my plans," he sort of explained. "Freddy thought of himself as far more important than he actually was. You might call him a non-entity."

"Oooohhh... I hear ya..." she said, nodding.

"I'm sorry. Was I not audible before?"

April smiled. "You're strange, you know that? And I don't mean just because you want to take over the city with an army of rats. Believe me, I'm not all that judgmental."

"Freddy is still troublesome," he continued. "But I do not kill unless there is a direct threat to my goals." Remembering Doctor Pearson, he felt a twinge of guilt. "At least, I try to avoid it..."

"Sure you couldn't make an exception in his case...? I don't mean that... Yes I do."

"He is coming here." The Rat King dropped that news casually.

Realizing he meant Freddy, April shifted nervously. "Uh... Here here? Right here? Here where we are, here...?"

"Yes. But he will be too late to stop me."

"Oh, good..." she commented sarcastically, looking around the room. "That's definitely what I was worried about, yeah."

"I must correct you."

"Oh..." She turned back to face him. "OK. What about?"

"The goal is not to control this city. In the end, the dominion of the rat will extend to the entire world."

"Uh... Right." That was a lot to take in. "Gotta say, and I'm not getting at'ya, I'm, uh, not totally sold on that being, you know, a good idea..."

"You want to avoid the Foot?" he cut in.

"Yeah... Yeah, of course," she replied, flustered. "I don't exactly want to be their prisoner again. That was a whole world of not fun."

"Yes." He considered that. "Understandable. In that case, I am sorry." It sounded like he meant it.

"Ooohhh... kaaayyy..." she said warily. "Sorry for what?"

He swung round. At his silent command, the force of rats blocked April's way back, and then forced her into a corner. There they stayed, blocking her escape. "For keeping you here," he explained. "For returning you to the Foot Clan."

"What...?" April couldn't believe what she had just heard. "Why...?!" Realizing she would get no answer, she looked round desperately for some means of escape. "That's just mean!"

The Rat King reached under the layers of bandages and rags. His hand came away red. He looked at it blankly. The time was near...

Keeping a wary eye on the rats, April started feeling the wall behind her. As a piece of it crumbled away she scattered the debris over them and tried to run for it. The rats reformed and stopped her, driving her back into the corner. She recovered her balance only with difficulty, throwing her hands up in the air, shoulders hunched and eyes tight shut, trying to assure the rats she was done for now and stop them swarming her. The rats brushed against her feet before retreating again, and this time they granted her a much smaller space to stand in.

April opened her eyes again, surprised to find she was still all right. Yeah, she was fine... Till this guy gave her back to the Foot...! She shouted an appeal to the Rat King with more desperation than actual hope. "Why can't you just let me go...?!"

***

The Turtles got some funny looks as Chief Sterns led the way into the Crisis Control Room. Headphones and mics were set aside, mouths hung open, conversations were interrupted. Silence reigned.

"Get on with what you're doing," Sterns commanded irritably. "Nothing to see here!"

"Well, Raph..." Leonardo patted his brother on the shoulder. "Is it everything you hoped?"

"What?"

"Here we are, out of the sewer and among people."

"And him." Raphael pointed to Sterns, and the Chief looked up at him suspiciously.

"What...?" Sterns demanded, and Leonardo and Raphael enjoyed their private joke.

Donatello had rushed to the central desk. "Ooh, I've always wanted to get a look at this close up." He picked up the headset. "May I..?" Sterns nodded, and Donatello listened in.

"I don't know exactly what you four can do about this..." Sterns said to Leonardo, "But I have a feeling this sort of crisis isn't totally new to you. Hell, I may not be in a job tomorrow... There might not be a New York tomorrow if this is as bad as you say it is..."

"It's bad," said Leonardo. He got distracted by Michelangelo perching on the desk of an attractive young female police officer and making her laugh by juggling some stationery. Turning his attention back to Sterns, he sighed.

"What you got, Chief, and I swear to you I'm not making this up, is a supernatural being who can control the minds of all rodents. We think he might have got access to the ooze that made us the way we are, so imagine if you want to a whole army of mutant ninja rats..." Leonardo watched Sterns' face throughout this, but the Chief kept his expression neutral.

"If anybody but a giant mutant turtle had told me that, I'd be having him committed right about now..." It was his turn to sigh. "Well, I'm not about to let this city fall on my watch. What do you need?" Leonardo and Raphael glanced at each other, as Michelangelo came over to join them, casually waving goodbye to his new friend.

"OK, Chief," said Donatello, putting down the headset. "I got an idea, but I'm gonna need carte blanche."

"I don't know if this is the right time to start thinking about dessert, Don," said Michelangelo. "But if we are, could I order some pizza first?"

***

Bryan walked and walked. He didn't know how far. He didn't know how long. Finding himself in a part of the city he didn't know, he eyed the exotic shops with their bright neon signs and murky interiors. An occasional passer-by bowed to him, and he found himself bowing back.

He stopped. The boy was looking at him funny. The young Japanese boy, in his early teens, blocked Bryan's way.

"Uh, I don't think I have any money," Bryan muttered.

"What?" The boy looked askance at him. "I'm not trying to mug you." He looked dubious for a moment. "Look up."

Bryan looked up. The shop sign above him was arranged around a neon representation of some kind of animal. A rat. The boy studied his reaction, and after a moment seemed satisfied. "OK. It's you. Come with me."

What else could he do? Bryan followed.

***

Whiskers led Freddy, Matt and the other Foot ninja to the bottom of a ladder, and clawed briefly at the bottom rungs.

"You've found her?" Freddy dashed forward, and started climbing the ladder. At the top, he pushed at the cover. Annoyed when it barely shifted, he climbed down and barked "You two... Up there and get that cover off. Make it quick."

Turning to Whiskers, he smiled. "Well done, Whiskers. Looks like we'll soon get April's glove back to her. I can just picture her face when she sees us..."

The cover lifted, and two Foot ninja emerged into the cellar of the Holland Square hotel. Dimly-lit, silent. Dust that had lain undisturbed for a while swirled around with the sudden movement of air. Freddy was the next to come up, then Matt, then Whiskers, squeezing through with difficulty, easily forgetting his new bulk, and the remaining ninja followed. Freddy took stock of their surroundings, and noticed only one other exit at the top of some stairs.

"OK... Where are we?" he pondered.

"Holland Square hotel, it says here..." said Matt. Freddy grinned – he knew there was a reason he kept Matt around.

Turning, he quietly addressed the two ninja who had been first into the cellar. "You two – back into the tunnels. Close it up behind you and get back to the van. Bring it round to the back of the hotel. The alley. Back, not front. OK? You got that? Go do it."

Matt eyed Freddy skeptically. "And us?"

"She's here? In this building?" Freddy asked Whiskers. The rat nodded. Then started blinking rapidly. "What's wrong?" he demanded, his manner suddenly brusque, while unnoticed, he discarded the glove on the floor. It had served its purpose.

"I..." Whiskers doubled over and clutched his head. "He is... He is..."

"He...?"

"He is found..." said Whiskers unhelpfully. "He is returning."

"OK." Freddy snapped his fingers and led the way up the stairs and into the main floor of the hotel. The other ninja followed, leaving the distracted Whiskers in the cellar. "Close the door! See if you can find something to block it!" he demanded.

"What's wrong? Getting tired of our new recruit?" Matt asked dryly.

"Had to get rid of him somehow. That was a stroke of luck, my friend. Above all else, a leader should be lucky."

"What now?"

"Now...? We get our hostage back and proceed with the plan."

"That's... Master Tatsu's plan...?"

"Tatsu's plan... With a few alterations."

***

Penned in by the rats, April could do nothing to stop the Rat King. He made one last effort, and it seemed to be costing him a lot, lifting the keg of mutagen up to the end of the refuse pipe.

It poured.

***

By the time he and the boy reached the top of the stairs, Bryan was out of breath. He had let the exercise slide of late, in favor of his project. His two projects, he supposed, even if one of them had been pursued under hypnosis.

"Here we are," said the boy. "Take off your jacket if you want, you might be here a while."

"Why am I here?" Bryan asked. He peered at the other inhabitants of the small tenement, an elderly couple, as they came forward to get a better look at him.

"This is him, Grandma." The old woman seemed to accept this. The old man poked Bryan with his walking stick, and harrumphed. They went through to another room, and beckoned Bryan after them. Once he saw what was there, he understood. Sort of.

A figure lay on the bed, covers drawn up around him. Silent. Dead? No, not dead. Not quite. The chest rose and fell almost imperceptibly. "Kappa," said the old man.

It was Splinter.