Back to the city... Back to work... April sighed. Back to Irma Langinstein, her new assistant. Well - time would tell...

Retrieving her gloves and holding them temporarily in her mouth, she climbed onto the bike. That had gone fairly well, was her assessment, but even so April wondered what kind of crazy adventure her strange new friends would be dragging her into this time... Funny to think that they had actually only been in her life a few weeks, more off than on, and funnier still to reflect that however much they had turned that life upside down, she really wouldn't want it any other way. Smiling wistfully, she pulled on the gloves and then donned the helmet.

The police car approached slowly from behind her, unnoticed till it was only a few yards away. Twisting round to look at it curiously, April lifted the helmet's visor, but the windows reflected the weak sunlight so that she couldn't see inside the vehicle. It slowed to a crawl as it passed, granting her a glimpse of two uniformed police officers in the front seats, and came to a halt a few meters away.

The front passenger door opened. Something didn't feel quite right here...

"Uh, hi, officers! Was I speeding back there? Sorry, new bike. I'm kinda rusty. Haven't ridden one of these since college..." April was rambling, deliberately, giving herself time to think. "I suppose you wanna see my license, huh?"

She pulled out the choke as casually as she could and then gripped the bike's handlebars tightly, leather-gloved hands squeaking against the grip - The feeling of security it gave her was as comforting as it was illusory.

The silence from the car was unnerving now. Had they seen the Turtles? How was she ever going to explain that?

Finally, the passenger got out and she recognized one of the young cops who had escorted her from the cordoned-off area the day before. The kinda cute one. Actually, they had both been... Anyway. About to make a flippant remark about jurisdictional rights, she stopped - Every instinct she had told her she was in trouble...

Releasing her grip on the handlebars for a moment, she shifted the gear to neutral.

One of the car's rear doors opened and a wiry figure dressed in black got out - April's blood chilled at the sight of a Foot ninja. He must have concealed himself lying down on the seats, she realized numbly, as her stomach experienced the arrival of a whole colony of butterflies. OK, now she really was in trouble...

"Hi...!" she gasped breezily. "I think it's my friends you want... Lemme get them for 'ya!"

The ninja approached her slowly, masked face unreadable, and April thought fast, knowing how quickly they could move. Was there any way she could start up the bike and ride away before he got to her...?

She didn't see the other ninja, the one who had moved up behind her silently, till it was too late.

***

The Manhattan Municipal building stood 580 feet tall and by anyone's standards was a magnificent architectural achievement. Anyone working there day to day might well be disposed to boast about it. Bryan Bryant worked in the basement.

Bryan was the sewer guy. As nicknames go, if he had been given a choice he would have preferred something like Skip.

New York's public infrastructure badly needed work. Bryan let that be known to whoever would listen. That's probably why his invite to the office parties above often got lost on the way down here.

Special Advisor to the Water Board. Sounded impressive, but Bryan knew it was a job with, in practice, less power than the janitor who changed his light bulb. They probably assumed he had done something terrible to end up in this job, but none of them guessed that Bryan had in fact worked hard to end up just where he was. Ever since his uncle had been badly hurt working in the sewers, and shortly afterward disappeared, Bryan had wanted to be here.

His office light flickered. Looking up from his blueprints, Bryan sighed. So much for the janitor. He had reported that light fitting a dozen times. Well, he would just have to report it again. And again. And again. However many times it took.

"Sleep." The voice had a sombre, gravelly timbre. The dark shape that loomed up in the doorway startled Bryan, but only for a moment. As if a light had been turned off, his face went blank.

"My lord."

The bandaged man came forward. "I have said already, you need not call me that. You are of the sacred blood." If Bryan took that in, he gave no sign. "I have not had a report from you in some time."

"The plan proceeds."

The expression on the bandaged man's deeply-lined face softened. "I am... sorry you are kept here. But your task is vital. I need just a little longer. There must be no interference."

"The new work is considered too expensive. The committees are still arguing over it. Meeting after meeting, nothing is decided."

"Good. We are almost ready." The bandaged man's head snapped to the side, and his watery eyes clouded over. "...I must go." He turned to leave, before turning around and, as an afterthought, clicking his fingers. "Wake."

Bryan went back to his desk, and by the time he got there and looked up there was nothing to indicate he hadn't been alone the whole time. The light flickered. He looked up and sighed.

So much for the janitor...

***

Splinter tried to meditate. He told himself he need only wait till his sons returned. He would decide on a course of action and they would execute his plan. But the sense of time running out was palpable. It had been some time since he had heard the music. The presence of the... creature was still there, however. He could feel the enemy out there, somewhere near, growing in strength.

He hopped to his feet. It was no longer possible simply to wait. Events were spiraling out of control, and so much of it was his fault.

It was time to take action.

***

The bandaged man stumbled as he entered his lair. Just walking from one place to another was a challenge when he was simultaneously controlling agents at work in a dozen different locations - One in particular...

He slammed down onto his chair, and thankfully gave himself over completely. The images filled his mind, the view through his rats' eyes across the city and beyond. He narrowed his immediate focus down and down... There. Upstate New York... Lakeside.

The sluice gate control room.

***

"I spy..."

"Water!"

"Hey, you're right! How did you- Hey, never mind. I spy..."

"Wall!"

"You got it again, Donny!"

"Mikey! Give it up!"

"OK, OK, Raph. There's no need to make that weird sound."

"What weird sound?"

"I dunno. That kind of weird, roaring sound. Kinda... Rumbling."

"That sound that's a bit like lots and lots of water...? Getting closer?"

"Yeah, that's it."

"Guys... We might be in trouble."

"Donny... Are we in trouble?"

"Yeah, Leo. The sluice gates must have been opened."

At that moment, the first wave of water along the tunnel hit them, and Donatello struggled to retain control. "OK, this is bad..." Despite his efforts, the kart got out of control and was swept round a bend in the tunnel and was carried along at worrying speed. Ahead, there was a clanging sound.

"What was that?"

"I think there might be excess water in here."

"Hey, no foolin' you!"

"So they're gonna get rid of it."

"How?"

"Using the, um... thing up ahead."

"What thing?"

"The, um... vervikleshivvt."

"What?"

"It's a vertical shaft, OK?!"

"Uh... Vertical. That's the uppy-downy way, right?"

"Yeah."

And it'll be a rough ride, but we'll basically be OK, right?"

"Uh... No, it'll be a rough ride and we'll basically be in pieces."

"OK, we're going to jump, all right? All of us!"

"I'm not so sure that's such a great idea either, Leo..."

"Any other ideas?!"

Hurtling toward their doom, the four wordlessly joined hands and braced themselves. As the rim of the vertical shaft got nearer and nearer and the rushing water became deafening, they all tried to drown out the noise. One word. A word that gave them comfort in this most trying of times. A word that embodied all their defiance of an unkind fate...

"COWABUNGA!"

***

"I am here." Splinter was outwardly calm.

The bandaged man turned to view the tiny figure, prepared to let his visitor believe he had arrived unannounced. Splinter still didn't understand that nothing he could do could possibly surprise him. Though a remarkable creature, Splinter was still a rat. The bandaged man had power over all rats.

The body he dwelt in was between forty and fifty years old, but the spirit within had endured for millennia, and would go on enduring for millennia more. He had wanted Splinter to come to him, and here he was. He stood up and moved over to Splinter, his rats parting to make a corridor for him as he went.

The two of them stared at each other for a long moment. "We meet again," said Splinter's opponent.

The Rat King.

***

Leo had lost the others - As far as he knew he was the only survivor. For at least another five seconds. On the very edge of the vertical shaft, holding on precariously with water rushing past him, he felt his hand slipping, he revised that down a little. Three, maybe. Two at least.

His hand slipped.

Notes:

- April kidnapped by the Foot Clan, while the Turtles drive a novelty vehicle at high speed - I said this would try to evoke the live-action movies drifting further toward the Fred Wolf cartoon series' tone.

- Splinter the hero! I just thought it would be good if he had stuff to do - even an arc - in this story, and got to be the hero when the Turtles weren't around. Shame he chooses to do so against this particular bad guy...

- It's the Rat King! Who saw that coming?

- I told you I didn't do that much research. This isn't exactly how water tunnels work. Not exactly...