A few nights later, he went to April's apartment, knocking on her bedroom window. When she saw who it was, she unlocked and opened the window, smiling.
"Hey Raph," she greeted, stepping back as he climbed in the room. "How are you? This is a surprise! You could've texted me you were coming."
"I know, but Donnie's got trackers on your phone, and I didn't want him to know. He had some on mine too, but I removed it."
She gave him a confused look, sitting down on the foot of her bed. "Why not? Is it his birthday," she demanded, looking furious that she wasn't told sooner.
"No! I just wanted to ask for your help."
"Oh...Well, of course I'm gonna help! April O'Neil, at your service!" She reached beside her bed, grabbing her bat. "What's the situation?"
"Well...did Donnie, Leo, or Mikey tell you what happened a few weeks ago? With Meat Sweats?"
April's excited smile faded a little, and she set her bat down. "Yes, Donnie told me. What's wrong? Did someone get taken?!"
"No," Raph said, leaning against the wall. "But I'm going there. Tonight."
She gasped, her glasses flashing. "WHAT?! Are you crazy? BY YOURSELF?! Why?"
"I'll tell ya if you calm down," he said, raising his voice a little; he hated doing that to April, but she stopped yelling, but continued to still look at him with shock. He took a deep breath and continued. "I think that Meat Sweats is blackmailing Mikey in some way; forcing him to do something bad."
"That makes no sense."
"Think about it; Mikey seems to be the only one of us that keeps running into the guy, and he spied on him that one time with Todd, and he didn't even get hurt when he went there a while ago! He's even attacked you, so why didn't Mikey come home with even a scratch? Something has to be up."
"Wait, wait, wait," she said, trying to process what the large turtle was saying. "Why would Mikey give into any blackmail from Meat Sweats?"
"I dunno," Raph admitted. "Maybe when Mikey spied on him, he saw something he shouldn't have, like a weapon that could be used to hunt mutants. What if Meat Sweats is forcing Mikey to help him, that way he doesn't use it on any of us?"
April thought about it, tapping her nails on her baseball bat. "That...does make sense," she admitted tentatively, "but you don't have any proof."
"That's why I'm going tonight. And since I don't wanna die, you're gonna come with me and keep a lookout. If anything goes wrong, then you can call my brothers, and they'll come get me in the Turtle Tank. That pig won't know what hit him."
"Raph," she started, "this seems a little dangerous-"
"Obviously."
"But for something as major as this, shouldn't you bring your brothers with you?"
"NO," he stated firmly. "They don't think that anything's wrong, and they'd just get in my way. Besides, I don't wanna bring Mikey back there; the way he was crying earlier, I'd be glad to keep him from stepping foot in that place ever again. Look, if you don't help me, I'm still gonna go, and if I die, that's on you!" April looked a little angry at his statement; he knew that she cared about him and his brothers, and he felt bad for attacking her, but knew that he couldn't wait any longer to go after Meat Sweats.
"Fine, I'll help," she conceded, standing up and grabbing her turtle binoculars (courtesy of Donnie's Workshop). "But the first sign of trouble, I'm getting your brothers." She grabbed her bat as well, climbing onto Raph's pointy shell. "So I'm just gonna sit off to the side during whatever fight might ensue?"
"That's the plan," he said, jumping out the window and into the night. It was a cool night, and the sky was partly cloudy, but the fire in Raph's gut pushed him as he leapt from building to building, April holding on for dear life.
Twenty minutes later, they peered over the rooftop of the building next to Meat Sweat's lair. April jumped off his back, pulling out her binoculars and pushing a button on its side.
"He's in there," she muttered. "How long should I wait before I assume something's gone horribly wrong? Like it usually does."
"Fifteen minutes," Raph said, gripping his tonfas in each hand. "If the fight comes outside, get inside the building and warn the occupants; it might get ugly." She nodded, gripping her baseball bat. "I'm going in." The turtle jumped off the roof, jumping off the walls as he slowly descended towards the back door. Landing silently in the alley, he crept towards the door, confident in what he was about to do.
Suddenly, he felt something move under his foot, and he was yanked off the ground, dangling from his ankle. The wooden weapons fell to the ground, and another rope shot out, binding Raph's arms to his side.
"Raph," April screamed from the roof, starting to climb down the fire escape. "Don't worry, I'm com-" Something clicked as she reached the second floor, and a tiny dart hit her on the arm. She swayed back and forth, then collapsed on the stairs, unconscious.
"April," he screamed, but she didn't wake up. He tried to untie the rope, but he couldn't reach it.
Suddenly, the door behind him swung open, and Raphael saw a large shadow on the wall of the opposite building.
"My, my," the mutant pig said smoothly, his deep British voice, combined with being trapped, causing Raph's heart to speed up. "What do we have here?" Rapael struggled to break free, but he felt a rough hand grab him and spin him around. Meat Sweat's upside down face grinned in his own, the mutant's breath making the turtle gag. "Two turtles in two weeks; aren't I popular?"
"Let me go ya big-" Raph started before the chef shoved a foul-tasting rag in his mouth, muffling his screams.
"Knew me traps would work eventually," the portly pig taunted. "And looks like I caught me a snapping turtle." He sniffed Raph's face as the turtle started to grow a little dizzy from the blood rushing to his head. "You smell delicious, and I can't wait to see how you taste! But first," he said, taking off his glove, revealing slimy tentacles that reached for the squirming turtle, "it's time for a little nap. Beddy bye!"
The tentacles were cold and wet, but suddenly became hot as they latched onto Raphael's face, burning him as he screamed into the rag. He felt himself growing tired, and the last thing he saw was the pig's evil grin.
