Chapter 1

"Better Mousetrap"

April and Alex stood off to the side as Baxter Stockman did his interview about the new Mousers. April was his assistant and Alex was a fifteen year old intern. She was also April's niece. She had been living with her aunt for the past couple weeks because her parents had been murdered and her brothers kidnapped. She was the only ones left.

"A wise man once said, "Build a better mousetrap and the world will lead a path to your door." I say let the path fleeting begin. For I, Dr. Baxter Stockman have designed to the city's ever growing rat problem. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you," he said as he reached over and pulled off the sheet of cloth from the new Mouser to show the camera. "The ultimate expression of rodent termination technology, the Stocktronic Mouser!"

The Mousers were little robotic creatures the looked sort of like a T-rex. They had two legs, no arms, a big head and sharp metal teeth. On the top of their heads were a singly yellow light with a camera built in. They were odd looking creations and the creeped Alex out. There was nothing good about them. There was something that Stockman was hiding and it wasn't good.

"My lab assistant Ms. April O'Neil will release several rats into the simulation chamber. April, proceed, my dear." Baxter watched along with Alex as April dropped the rats from the brown box in her hands into the maze.

That was the part Alex's disliked the most. She didn't like to watch, but it wasn't as bad as the night she saw her parents die, but watching the rats get caught by the Mouser made her have flashbacks. They weren't pleasant and it made her wonder if her brothers were okay. What if their fate was worse than her parents?

Stockman knelt down at the entrance and placed the Mouser down. It started too walked through to get the rats. "Now observe the shear genus of my Mouser in action. The Mouser got all the rats while Alex looked away and over to April, who knew she was uncomfortable with the whole ordeal. "And the Mouser's search and retrieval function are all ingeniously controlled by my remote mother computer."

That had been a couple hours ago. April and Alex were sitting at one of the many computers at Stockman labs doing work and watching the interview from earlier that day. Even then, Alex had to look away. She didn't like to see the poor rats get killed. It wasn't humane.

"Oh, this is so great!" April said, pointing to herself on the monitor as the interview played. "My friends, my family will finally see I really work with the Baxter Stockman."

Baxter Stockman had been standing behind them as they worked and watched. He had been watching as well, feeling overly proud about his creation. "You flatter me, Ms. O'Neil. I like that."

You're such a creep, Alex thought. Her attention was drawn to the computer her and April were sitting at. They had been running a test on the Mousers that were in the sewers and something came up.

"Hmm," April said. "That's strange. I was running a routine diagnostic check. Half the Mouser prototypes aren't transmitting. It's like they just vanished." April started to type on the key board that was in front of her while Alex started to do the same, trying to find the missing Mousers.

"Hmm," Baxter said. "I'm sure it's nothing, April. Probably just a computer glitch. I'll have an Assistant Tech. go over it in the morning."

April wasn't really listening. Alex never really listened to him. Sure, he was smart and all, but he was a creep and he really wasn't that great off a person, like April thought. Alex made her opinion of him know to her whenever she got the chance when he wasn't around.

"But what if the Mousers have been tampered with? We should go over all their transmission backups."

April was smart. She knew what she was talking about. Alex knew that was what they had to do. She trusted April's intellect.

Stockman placed his hand on April's shoulder forcefully. "That won't be necessary, April! Now if you'll excuse me, I'm expecting an important call from a very significant financial banker." He turned and walked out of the room. Leaving April and Alex there alone.

After a moment of silence to make sure Stockman was gone and wouldn't hear, Alex said, "I swear that guy is up to something, April. I don't trust him."

"I know what you mean," April said. She placed her hand on her chin, thinking. "But what is he hiding?" April got up from her chair and walked over to the door. "Come on, I'm going to do a little research."

April and Alex walked through the many hallways of the building till they got to Baxter Stockman's office. They pressed their ears against the door to try and listen in on the conversation he was having with that "very-important-financial-banker."

"The Mousers will be ready what I decide they're ready. My first field test was-" Stockman was cut off by whoever it was he was talking to on the video chat on his computer.

'Was a complete failure!" they said. You could tell the person was a man by his deep raspy voice. They weren't using anything to change the voice or anything. It was their real voice. "I do not tolerate failure!"

"Which is why you'd make a lousy scientist," Stockman retorted. He didn't like it when people said his things were failures. "The test was supposed to any possible design flaws. As a result, I've already updated the Mousers for greater durability. And I assure you, they will perform flawlessly for the next phase of the plan."

"They had better," the other person said. "Dr. Stockman, for your sake."

April quietly gasped at the last part of the man's farewell. Alex motioned for her to follow her back to their lab to continue on with whatever it was they were really supposed to be doing. They didn't want Baxter coming out of his office and seeing them eavesdrop. The least he would do was fire them bother. Although, Alex wasn't even getting paid.

They walked back into the lab and sat down in their chairs in front of their computers. They started to work right away. They could talk about whatever it was they had heard later when they went home for the night. At that moment, they just had to finish up a couple things. Then they could leave.

"Goodnight, April dear," Baxter said as he walked through the door and over to the elevator. "Don't work too late. You know I don't like to pay overtime. Alex, you can stay as late as you want. I'm not paying you."

"Oh, gee, thanks," she muttered to herself. Although, she knew April and Stockman could both hear her clearly. She really didn't care.

"Goodnight, Dr. Stockman," April said.

When Stockman was through the doors, April stood up out of her chair and ran through the doors that Baxter had walked through. Alex was shocked for a moment, but then got up as fast as she could and ran after April. She didn't expect April to run off like that. She caught up to her a moment later, being faster and stronger that April.

Alex as a greater athlete and she make sure to keep up with it. Just because her family was gone didn't mean she had to let herself go. She was pretty and she wanted to keep herself skinny and in shape. The best way to do that, that she knew of, was to work out and continue running and doing martial arts, like her and her brothers did.

"What are you doing?" Alex asked April as she sat down at Baxter's desk.

"Now, let's find out what kind of plan you've been cooking up with those Mousers, Dr. Stockman." April started to type away at the keys while Alex watched the screen, standing behind her.

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Alex asked. "I mean, if you get caught you could get fire or go to jail for looking at the stuff on his computer. I'm not saying I don't want to either, but I'm just looking out for you."

"That's sweet, Alex. I can look after myself, though." An icon of what looked to be a foot with three tows popped up on the screen. "I've never seen that icon before," April said. She grabbed the mouse and clicked on it. She moved in front of Alex so she couldn't see what it was. "What is-?"

All of a sudden the bookshelf across the room started to open up from the middle to reveal an elevator to someplace that they had never been to before.

"Should we?" April asked Alex.

"In twenty years do you want to have the right to say that you had the guts to go down the spooky elevator to nowhere?" she asked. "I sure do."

Alex ran up ahead of April and jumped inside. Personally, she really didn't like elevators because she always felt like they were going to fall while she was still in it. She didn't really tell people that though because she knew they would start to jump, which would make her even more uncomfortable.

It seemed like it took forever to get all the way down to the bottom of where the elevator let. April looked over to her niece and smiled as she chuckled out a, "Finally." She wasn't always the most patient person in the world. Alex could understand that, in this predicament, which she wanted to get to the bottom of this.

The doors opened and the two females walked out into a long glass covered hallway. Beneath them you could see a manufacturing line of Mousers being constructed. There were hundreds of them. They were lined up in rows as life there were in quadrants in the military or something.

"I don't care how bad the city's rodent problem is," April said. "This is serious overkill."

April and Alex moved away from the glass and continued to walk down the hallway to see where it went. They went up to a station with computers and monitor everywhere. There had to be something there that would tell them what was going on.

"April," Alex said. "This is seriously wacked up." Alex was looking out the glass again as more and more Mousers were being put together and placed in never ending lines. It seemed like the quantity of them would never end. What could all of them be needed for? There weren't that many rats in the city, like April said before.

April was at a computer looking for answers. "Rat problem my eye," she said. "What are you really up to, Dr. Stockman?" she asked to herself.

"Now, now, Ms. O'Neil," they heard Baxter say from behind them. They both swung around at the voice. "That would be telling." He walked out of another elevator and over to the two stunned and frightened girls. "Suffice it to say that my army of Mousers would make me a very rich and powerful man."

"What aren't you already a very rich and powerful man?" April asked.

The glass behind them started to roll down and Alex seemed to be the only one out of the two to notice. "This isn't good," she muttered to herself. "Don't you know that greed is that inventor of injustice and well as the enforcer?" Alex quoted from Julian Casablancas.

"Ah," he said with a creepy smile. "Ms. O'Neil's, so brilliant yet so nieve. I will truly miss working with you. Especially you, Alex. You're so young and bright."

"What?" asked April. "You mean I'm fired?"

"I couldn't care less," Alex spat.

"In a matter of speaking," Stockman said.

Then, something unexpected happened. Or at least, unexpected to the two girls. Two large claws that had been manufacturing the Mousers grabbed Alex and April, one girl in each. They were brought over to a lone of Mousers and dropped carelessly onto the non-moving conveyor belt.

"I'm afraid I can't let you live, Ms. O'Neil's. You've seen far too much already," Stockman said. He cracked his knuckles and started to type away at the key in front of him. "And let's just say, I have trust issues."

"You have more issues than that, Doctor," yelled Alex.

The Mousers around them started to move their jaws in a munching motion. They all turned to stare at the two girls who were surrounded by them. A couple of them started to walk towards them, getting ready to attack.

April noticed a fire extinguisher on the side in a holder. She quickly ran over to grab it. Alex stayed close to her aunt, afraid of what might happen if she was alone. They'd pick them off one at a time.

"Keep back," she warned one of the robots that walked up to her. "I know how to use things." She pointed the nozzle to it and pressed the handle. The substance came out of the container and covered the robot. When it cleared they could see it had no affect on the Mousers.

The Mouser let out a roaring screech and charged at April. It had only made it angrier, or so it seemed. The things really didn't have any feeling or thought to what they were dong. They were computer run. They weren't living and breathing like April and Alex were.

April swung the fire extinguisher and crushed the head of the Mouser that charged. "Ha!" she yelled. She was feeling pretty accomplished with herself about her defense.

"Don't start celebrating yet, April. There are still more coming," Alex yelled at her relative.

More Mousers came charging at them. April swung again, but this time one of the Mousers caught the extinguisher in its mouth, crushing the bottom of it in its metal jaws. The bottom of it exploded, sending the Mousers back a couple steps. It had given April and Alex the chance to run.

"You can run, Ms. O'Neil's, but you cannot hide from my Mousers!" Baxter yelled.

The haze of chemicals from the fire extinguisher, giving them a cloud of protection for the time being. April pulled a lever that opened a door to the sewers for them to escape to. Or try to, at least. It was their only hope of getting away alive.

They ran out of the factory type basement and blindly out into the sewer. They bother fell into the disgusting, brown water in the middle of the tunnels. They quickly stood up as fast as they could and ran off in one direction together. They had to stick together in hopes of surviving.

"This is nasty," Alex said more to herself than to April.

They can to an intersection with six other tunnels to choose from. "Which way out?" April asked frantically to nobody in particular, even thought Alex was standing right next to her. "Which way out?" she yelled again.

"Let's go this way," she yelled to April and she pulled to the tunnel behind them. Of course, it wasn't the one they had come in from. That would have just been stupid. "It has to go somewhere!"

So, the two girls ran down the tunnel as fast as they could, Alex slightly ahead of April, being faster and all. They kept running straight. Every couple of seconds they would look back to see if they were being followed. It seemed like the two of them would do it at the same time out of cautiousness and paranoia.

Alex looked back around to see two Mousers in front of them. She instantly stopped. This caused April to run into her since she had been looking behind then still. Alex fell to the floor into the water. April pulled her up before she had the chance to push herself up and dragged her back to the way they had come.

They had passed a couple of tunnels leading in other directions. There had a couple more Mousers behind them, so they chose the tunnel to their right. It was their only hope. Unfortunately, as they ran April took a turn tripping and falling. Alex pulled her up, like April did to her before, but dropped her when she saw the boarded up tunnel before then. They were trapped.

April screamed for a moment before backing up and noticing the barrier. Alex had managed to pull off one small, rickety plank off the wall, but the others were on too tight. She had tried to pull them off, but it did not suffice. April continued to scream and try to pull the wood off the tunnel entrance.

It seemed like more and more Mousers ran into the tunnel that they were trapped in. Alex swung the wood in her hands and fit one on the head, sending it flying backwards into and other. However, they got back up and re-joined the pack that was still attacking them.

She was a great fighter, but the only way to kill them was to cut off their head. She had nothing sharp what so ever to do that with. Another charged at Alex and she swung again, but like what happened to April back at the lab, it bit down on it and snapped the wood in little pieces. It jumped at her and she kicked it away.

They all jumped at her. A couple had run at April, making her scream. Alex looked back at the ones coming at her and fell back at the sudden charge. She was on the ground like April. She kicked a couple away again, but one grabbed onto her foot and bit down like it was killing a rat.

She let out the most blood curdling scream April had ever heard. Although, she wasn't really paying much attention to her niece while she was being attacked herself. At that moment they had to fend for themselves and it seemed it wasn't working very well.

In that moment, things seemed to happen faster than they really were. Something or someone smashed the head of the Mouser that attacked April while someone else cut the head off the one that was attached to Alex's leg. The other ones that had charged had been smashed and killed as well.

April sat there with her eyes covered. She uncovered them to see who had saved her. She had thought it was Alex, knowing she did martial art, but was shocked at what she saw. Alex was sitting on the ground trying to get the head of a Mouser off her leg. It hadn't been her to save her, but then who did?

The figures were standing a couple feet in front of Alex, who was a couple feet in front of April. They were standing in the shadows, concealing their features. It gave them an air of mystery. That was what April thought. Alex was just too preoccupied with trying to get the head of the Mouser off her bleeding leg. It was like a pit-bull. They locked their jaws, or it just seemed that way.

"Oh," April said. "Oh, thank you. Thank you so much. You saved my-my." She started to stammer.

Alex could hear everything that was being said, but was concentrating on freeing herself. They were good people so there was nothing to worry about. April could tell them what was going on. Alex could just do what she was doing, although she was hoping they would help her. It hurt more than she was letting on.

"Hey," she heard a male voice great. It was a boyish voice. Making him sound like teenager. He also spoke like he was a surfer or skateboarder. Which, slightly bothered Alex. She liked proper grammar. "How you doing?"

She could hear April moan and slouch down in the water. That made her stop what she was doing and look up to see what the problem was. If April was in trouble then she had to help. Even if there was a robot head attached to her leg. She'd do anything for her family and after what happened to her brothers and parents, she's die helping April.

What looked to be four giant, walking, talking, mutant turtles stood in front of her. They were all green with a large shell on their backs. They all had weapon, which she took note of and pads on their knees and elbows. Around their eyes was a single piece of cloth acting as a mask. Each having a different color.

Masks to conceal their identities? They're walking turtles, what's there to hide? I mean really, think people, Alex thought to herself.

The one with the orange mask and nun chucks picked up April's unconscious form off the ground and out of the cold, dirty sewer water. This, Alex just realized, was not the best place for her wounded leg to be. She could get an infection.

"Hey, so, can we keep her?" the orange one asked, jokingly. It had been the one who had spoken earlier.