The Turtles made their plans. "OK. Two priorities," said Leonardo. "Rescue April. Find Master Splinter, find out what's going on."

"Well, April's gotta be first," said Raphael.

"I dunno, Raph, if Splinter wanted us back here enough to call off that big plan of his"-

-"You think we should leave April with the Foot? Yeah, great plan, Donny, I'm sure she'll be just fine. I bet they're having coffee and... cupcakes right now, I bet she's having a swell time."

"I didn't say that," said Donatello, genuinely hurt.

"Look..." Leonardo cut in. "Donny's lost his staff. I think he should go back home for a spare, and find out what the deal is from Master Splinter. The rest of us find April, and then the four of us meet up and rescue her."

"Leo-!" Raphael might have been about to say something scathing, but the look on his brother's face stopped him.

"Look, guys, I gotta be honest, if any of you have any better ways of going on with this, I wanna hear 'em. I really hope you do. I'm just coming up with a plan as best I can, here..."

The others all nodded. Raphael patted Leonardo's arm in non-verbal apology.

***

"Bring her forward!"

With an insistent hand pressed flat against her back, April had to clamber awkwardly over the rough ground of the yard to avoid stumbling. Something she really didn't want with her hands still tied.

"Master Tatsu welcomes you to our humble abode, Miss O'Neil." That was the one standing on Tatsu's right, masked like the others, his voice American, sardonic and strangely familiar... Freddy. Her short-lived assistant. The spy.

"Hi..." Smiling nervously, April was glad her voice didn't let her down and alert them to how scared she really was. "Uh... He must be a really quiet talker. I didn't hear anything." One good thing - no Shredder. Looked like Leo was right about that, but the ominous-looking Tatsu wasn't much less scary.

"Well, the Foot Clan is an ancient organization. Its protocol is complex, and often strange to outsiders." Freddy took off his mask and smiled at her, cold-eyed. "I speak for Master Tatsu."

"OK... Freddy... Long time no see... But, you know, not nearly long enough... So why have I been brought here...?"

"We would really like to talk to the remaining members of the Hamato clan, Miss O'Neil," he said, undaunted. "We thought you might be able to help us do that." Freddy's voice was mellow and reasonable-sounding, and it took a couple of seconds for April to catch on.

"The Turtles? You want to talk to the Turtles?" She couldn't conceal her astonishment at this. "That's talk, not fight...? Since when?"

He shrugged. "Circumstances have changed."

"Yeah..." April was tired of this, and decided to cut through it. "But I'm a hostage, right? It's just, something here is definitely giving me that vibe." She turned to show them the rope binding her wrists. "Maybe it's this!"

Freddy glanced sidelong at Tatsu, but the Foot Master just stood there, arms folded over his chest, his face giving away little.

"The whole tied up thing - Kinda cramping my style!" April impatiently moved forward a couple of paces toward them. Strong hands gripped her shoulders and pulled her back to her original spot, and she shot an annoyed glance behind her, wriggling in the Foot ninja's grip.

"You prefer to be straightforward. That's OK. But beware"- Freddy stopped as Tatsu leaned closer and said a few terse words, too quiet for April to hear, and she got the impression he was as tired of this as she was.

"Master Tatsu offers you a bargain," he said at last. "You can co-operate, and help us in bringing about a... meeting of our two clans. Or we may have to be more... straightforward too. Which is it to be?"

April glanced apprehensively around the assembled Foot ninja, then her expression hardened - As if she would ever betray her friends! "Hey, you know what?" she replied defiantly, "I'm a straightforward kinda girl!"

Freddy shrugged wistfully, as if to say Don't blame me. Tatsu said nothing. Under his menacing glare, April felt a lot less certain of her stance - It had sounded great in her head.

"Hey, look, sorry if I've offended you..." she ventured, before hopefully adding, "I should just leave right away, huh?"

Tatsu barked a guttural command, and April was pulled back to make way as he strode away across the yard, then turned and purposefully hurried in the direction of the workshop. "Hey, wait, OK!" she called desperately, alarmed by their urgency. "Uh... This is the way out, right? Guys...?"

Freddy watched the rest gradually drift away, noting he wasn't the only one to hang back - one of the ninja dawdled and only started moving when his neighbor gave him a shove.

His eyes narrowed, but the look of faint amusement never deserted him. This was all proving very entertaining.

***

The group of Foot ninja roughly escorted April through the wide doorway into the dingy workshop, and immediately got busy - One kept a tight grip on her arm at first but soon let go in order to help the others, so she stood taking the place in, grimacing slightly.

"Nice place..." she said with a brittle cheerfulness. "Uh, looks like this is gonna be pretty secure, huh? If you're gonna lock me up in here, guess you can untie my hands now?" Turning to the exit, she found one of them in her way, and smiled at him - disarmingly, she hoped.

Turning back, April saw what they were preparing for her - her face fell as they brought over a rickety wooden chair and coils of rope. "OK, guys... Heh - Really, you don't have to go to this sort of trouble just for me...!" Dragged over and shoved down on the chair, she looked askance as rope was slung around her. "Is this really necessary?" she cried, as they began tying her to the chair. "I mean-"

Hearing one of them approach from her other side, April turned and barely had time to let out a brief yelp of dismay as a strip of duct-tape was pressed over her mouth. "Make sure you tie her tight!" one of them commanded the others. The voice was that of a boy... Just how old were these guys...?

April flinched and cried out through the tape as her bindings were yanked painfully taut and knotted securely. Turning her head, she watched despondently as more coils of rope were brought over and added to the almost comically excessive heap waiting to be used. "Mmmfff-!" she complained.

"Quiet!" one of them barked. Then, sounding amused, he taunted, "Like you have a choice, huh?"

"M-mmmfffmmmfff...!" April replied through the tape with a pained look and as much defiance as she could manage.

***

"There you are," Donatello muttered, pulling his spare staff out of a battered cabinet in the Turtle's lair. Turning, he decided to have another try. "Master?!" he called. "Master, it's Donatello... Are you here?"

He shrugged. He would just have to meet the others and they would deal with all of it together. April first, then Master Splinter – He had no doubt that's how their sensei would want it.

Something fell, and Donatello turned. He found the intruder halfway through a sprint toward the exit, and she actually had one foot raised in the air. Despite his confusion, Donatello smiled.

"I thought only cartoon people ran like that!"

Irma gaped at him, mouth opening and closing. Donatello stepped forward to catch her, assuming he had another fainter on his hands, but her frightened squeal stopped him in his tracks. He shielded where his ears would be if he had any. "Ow!"

Irma seemed to recover herself a little, and felt bold enough to ask this apparition a question. "Uh... Are you a Renaissance boy...?"

Taken aback, Donatello just stared.

"What are you?" Irma asked in awe. "I mean, obviously, you're one of those Ninja Turtles, but I really thought that was some kind of hoax or publicity stunt or something. I mean, I work in the media, so obviously I'm not going to just automatically fall for these things." She took a breath. "So, are you a random mutation, or a genetic splice, or some kind of experiment that broke out of a laboratory"-

-"No," said Donatello. "But that happens more than you'd think."

"Do you... eat people?" she asked nervously, moving sideways to put his work bench between them.

"Only if there isn't anything else," Donatello replied. "I'm kidding, I'm kidding," he hurriedly assured as she took an alarmed step back and nearly fell. "We eat pizza."

Irma looked almost reassured.

"People pizza," he added. He hurried forward as she fell backwards away from him. "I'm still kidding!"

***

"Awright, Benny...!" Raphael threw the tall figure against the wall. "Start talkin'!" The dazed Benny, a shifty-looking man in his thirties with a tiny hat perched on his head, looked askance at his assailant.

Leonardo and Michelangelo watched, and Michelangelo looked at Leonardo questioningly. Leo just shrugged, and turned again to make sure no one else was nearby. He very much wanted the four of them to be unobserved in the alley while Raph conducted his questioning.

"Jeez..." Benny, sometimes known as Benny the Ball despite his lanky frame, for reasons Raphael did know but wished he didn't, was only now beginning to come to terms with what was happening. "Give me time, willya? Till five minutes ago, I thought you were just some short dude who liked long coats and big hats, now I find out you're some kind of circus freak. Y'think y'know people."

"I ain't got time for that, Benny. In fact, me and my brothers are a little behind schedule, so we don't have much time for anything. We certainly don't have time for conversation. Or niceties. Am I getting' clearer? Scream out if you understand."

"OK, OK...!"

"Where are they, Benny? Where are the Foot callin' home these days?"

***

After a short intermission the Foot ninja had gathered in the workshop to continue their council of war - April looked on, now securely tied up. "What do you think he's going to do?" Jake pondered, insisting on talking however much Matt tried to discourage it.

Matt's reply was quiet, and to an observer it would look like he wasn't speaking at all. "Maybe if you shut up and listen he'll tell us."

Worried, and more than a little impatient, Jake was craning his neck to look past the others at the quietly suffering April. "What about her?"

"Never mind her."

"This isn't"-

-"Shut up!" Matt hissed.

Tatsu strode across the yard toward them at a measured pace, and the low murmuring of conversation died as he approached. He stood silent and still as a statue for a long moment, indifferent to the forlornly accusing look April directed at him in her tied and taped up misery. He did not have to demand quiet from the others, his presence alone did that.

"Master Shredder is gone." His eyes flitted around the workshop as he spoke, gauging the reaction. "Killed by the... sewer vermin. We will avenge him... They will be drawn here. To free our prisoner. All escape blocked. Trapped. Like rats."

I'm not going to panic, I'm not going to panic, I'm going to get out of this somehow... Wriggling against the cruelly tight ropes binding her to the chair, April tipped her head as if she could somehow dislodge the tape over her mouth - Her hands were busy behind her urgently trying to loosen the rope around her wrists, trying and getting nowhere fast. She was still reeling a little, unable to quite believe they had done this to her.

What would the Turtles do? They would... undermine the threat with humor, before using their amazing ninja skills to affect an escape...

OK... That's real helpful!

One ninja raised his hand hesitantly, and almost lowered it before one of his neighbors forced it high again. Tatsu noticed that. This question was from them all. "Master, I, forgive me - that is..." He tailed off nervously as Tatsu waited with uncharacteristic patience. "What if we... I mean, if Master Shredder couldn't beat these Turtles...?" The man bowed low, fearing an outburst of violence from his volatile master.

"You are right to think this," said Tatsu, and many of them started in surprise. "These Turtles, we will not beat them with... stratagems, or making more freaks like them. We will beat them with numbers. With strength." Raising his hands, he held them far apart. "They are weak... They care for her." A glance toward April, and her eyes widened in alarm. "That will be their death!" he announced, clapping his hands together with tremendous force and a sound that seemed to make the workshop shake.

"Mmmff!"

April's startled gasp, muffled by the duct-tape, made Tatsu look back at her sharply. For a second, no more than that, he smiled faintly, before turning away.

***

"So, your hands are tied, is that what you're saying?"

"No, it's not what I'm saying. At least, not exactly." New York's Deputy Mayor met Chief Sterns' steady look with what he felt was a suitably resolute one of his own and hoped for the best. Really, no one was coming out of this little informal meeting well.

Sterns got up off his chair in front of the DM's desk, and paced around. "Look at it from my POV, will ya...? The rats are a public order issue, so if we can't deal with it I get it right here..." He pointed at his own neck. "But the sewers, that's your area... So is the maintenance thereof."

"Chief, I get what you're saying, believe me. No one wants an end to this business as much as me." He added dutifully, "Uh, except, of course, for the Mayor himself."

"Is this is a budget thing?" Sterns spared a glance for the third attendee, hidden behind piles of documents and doing his best to unfold a huge map of the sewers - Bryan Bryant noticed he was being watched, and froze. Sterns winked, and if anything, that just made Bryan feel more uncertain in this company. A sheep and two sharks.

"Well, it's true that this is kinda late in the fiscal year for any big new undertakings," said the Deputy Mayor, talking fast. "A little close to the elections too, as I'm sure you appreciate. But there's something else... Look, this is kinda embarrassing."

"Go on."

"Well, performing regular maintenance down there, it's dangerous, but not unreasonably so... It's just, my people, at least some of 'em, a few of 'em"-

-"Spit it out."

"Years ago, one guy went missing down there... Some of the guys we still got, they knew him pretty well... They say they've seen him down there. They're, uh, saying it's... haunted."

Sterns raised an incredulous eyebrow, and shared a look with Bryan, cynical on his part, incredibly uncomfortable on Bryan's, and sat down again. "Y'know," he mused, "You hear stories, we all hear 'em... And this business with the rats, plus the sheer size of all those tunnels down there..." He took one corner of the giant map from Bryan and glanced down at it. "It kinda makes me start to wonder what the hell else could be living down there."

***

Irma and Donatello had finally gotten past their initial misunderstandings and were sitting in the subway car, where a rapid exchange of information was just drawing to a close. They had quite a bit of back-story, so it was lucky they were both fast talkers.

"Fire extinguishers!" Irma cut in, interrupting Donatello's story. He moved back a little in surprise.

"You're right," he confirmed. "That's what we used. It catalyzed the reaction and the two mutants reverted to their natural form. You're good."

"Junior grade chemistry stuff," she dismissed.

"OK," he conceded, a little bit annoyed, and then moved on. "So, you're April's new assistant?"

"Yeah..." Irma replied, unable to keep from showing how much that pleased her. "You know, I had just left college, didn't know what I wanted to do, and I turned on the TV and I saw this young woman - only a little bit older than me - just demolish this creep of a guy, some executive, who was about to get away with this major fraud. She tricked him into confessing live on TV. How cool is that...?"

"Yeah." Donatello nodded. "That guy got off on a technicality."

"Oh." Irma briefly looked dispirited. "But it's the principle of it."

"Hey, no arguments from me. April is pretty cool. I suppose she's kind of like... a sister to us." He looked faintly troubled for a moment. "Except maybe Michelangelo."

"Do you know where she's got to?" asked Irma. "She was supposed to meet me this afternoon."

"Yeah." Donatello looked pained, and said all that followed in a rush. "She's... April's in trouble. She's a prisoner of the Foot Clan. I'm hoping my brothers have found where she is by now. In fact, they might have rescued her already. If not, the four of us are meeting at her apartment then we'll all go in and get her out." It seemed like he was reassuring himself as much as Irma. "The whole gang."

"Oh no..." Irma shivered. "Poor April. When are we due to meet the others?"

"Hey, wait a minute. Who said anything about we?"- The look on Irma's face cut him off. He just accepted it. He had company.

***

"I hate to think of leavin' her there, Leo." Raphael followed his brothers down the ladder into the sewer tunnel with a worried look on his face.

"I know, me too, but I want all four of us together to face the Foot. You know this is a trap."

"OK, OK, fearsome leader, I'm not arguing with you. I just don't have to like it, that's all."

"A few hours from now, we'll all be together at home. Us Turtles, April, Master Splinter, and we'll be laughing about this..." Leonardo tailed off. They had come to a junction in the tunnel and a set of steps leading to a platform and an access to another tunnel. To the surprise and delight of all three, Master Splinter stood watching them.

Raphael started forward, and then stopped. Looked at the others. Splinter's face gazed at them blankly, without recognition, his stance one of alertness, ready to fight. Something about this situation was wrong. Surely... they weren't about to have to defend themselves?

Against their own sensei?

Notes:

- "I thought only cartoon people ran like that!" Donny gets most of the meta jokes.

- Tatsu is difficult to write - I hope it doesn't show too much. How fluent his English is tends to depend on what the scene requires him to be able to say.

- "So, your hands are tied, is that what you're saying?" Like Irma says, poor April... She doesn't have much fun in this chapter. The Foot are certainly mean, and maybe some writers are too.

You'll notice this is the more feisty Paige Turco April from the third movie rather than the blandly nice one from II. Kidnapped hostage she might be, but she doesn't have to make things too easy for her kidnappers. By suffering the frequent fate of her cartoon counterpart here, she makes sense of the lines in the third movie alluding to previous kidnappings - "This is the worst rescue I've ever had!" Sort of implies at least a few to compare it with.

- "Benny the Ball" is played by Judge Reinhold. I've no idea whether he would have been likely to do such a cameo role if it