CHAPTER FOUR
In a rural suburban neighborhood, on the curb of an apartment complex, two children, a boy and a girl, were playing with action figures and dolls.
"Alright, now Mondo Gecko is gonna swoop in and save your dumb dolly" the boy said.
"Why can't the girl save herself?" asked the girl.
"Have you never seen a single love story in your life?" The boy replied, slightly annoyed.
"Why this does even need to be a love story? Can't the girl just be friends with Mondo Gecko?"
Her friend gave her a disgusted look. "FRIENDS?" he said out loud.
"Well...it's just he's not very attractive is he? He's a freak. Regular people don't fall in love with freaks, there's no appeal there"
"What about Beauty and the Beast? The girl fell in love with him" the boy replied.
"The Beast was a human being under a curse" the girl replied, correcting him.
"That always felt like they were cheating the audience" the boy responded, "They spend all that time making us think a "freak" has a chance and then he's magically relieved of his burdens and anything that could prove a compelling obstacle in the relationship"
As the children argued, the door of an apartment building to the far left of them burst open and three hooded men rapidly stormed out, one of them was holding a case of loose valuables, some of which spilled onto the ground. When the crooks had realized they were leaving a trail, they picked as much as they could up.
The crooks raced across the street as an elderly woman emerged from the apartment's broken door, her face was awash with anger and concern.
"Help, someone, please" she cried
Overtaken by excitement, the boy got up and began to chase after the crooks, the girl remained anchored to the curb.
"Where are you going?" she yelled
"Those guys are heading for Klunk's avenue. I gotta warn Mike, I got him a Pizza, he's down there right now taking bites"
"What if they're armed?" the girl asked
"Mike can hand it" the boy said, running off
"This isn't a cartoon Zach, be careful" the girl said.
As she watched him go, another kid came up to her, having heard all of the commotion
"Hey Jeannette, where's Zach going?" he asked
"He's gonna totally get himself and Mike killed" the girl replied.
"I am so gonna watch that" the boy said, and told a few other kids that had gathered what was going on. Before long, they were all chasing after Zach. Jeannette remained seated, lacking the courage to join them.
In an alleyway to the right of Klunk's avenue, amongst two carefully parked dumpsters, was an open manhole and an open pizza box. A half-devoured pizza lay within it.
There was ravenous munching and sounds of satisfactory "hmms" and "ahhhs" as a green hand with yellow wristbands grabbed another slice from the box.
The creature inhaled the slice, identifying just from the smell what kind of flavor it was.
"Vanilla chocolate. Exquisite" the creature exclaimed, and devoured the slice. Almost immediately, he took another portion out of the box, and, like before, inhaled the smell.
"Caramel Cheddar" he said, "That one's a bit more experimental...but just as enticing"
He crammed it into his mouth, showing no manners.
Meanwhile, the three crooks, continuing to make their getaway, cut through the avenue, followed closely by Zach and the others. They ducked into the alleyway occupied by the creature
The thieves began to cause commotion amongst themselves, which the creature is able to overhear from its hiding place from behind the dumpsters.
"C'mon Bebop, is anything in there that verifies what we need to know?" asked one of the crooks
"I'm looking Shark, but I just don't see the big deal about this" Bebop said as he scraped through the box of valuables, stumbling on a few things.
As he did so, one of the thieves spotted Zach heading towards them
"That brat's heading over here. I'll take 'em" he said, but was stopped by another of the crooks
"No, no, we're not having that kind of case thrown on us if we're caught" he said, "C'mon, help move these frickin' dumpsters that can cover us from view"
The dumpsters were soon pulled apart, and in doing, they were exposed to the creature. The thieves stood in amazement at the sight of a giant Turtle wearing a yellow bandana.
"What in blistering Jesus..." said Bebop.
"Hey dudes, what's stressing you?" the Turtle asked
"What is that thing?" asked one of the crooks
"Dunno, looks like something from Power Rangers" Bebop said.
"Hey, I'm not THAT old" the Turtle exclaimed in annoyance.
The crook spotted the open manhole
"Open invitation, let's split" he said.
The thieves moved forward, the Turtle stood in front of them.
"Get the fuck out of our way" one crook said.
"Chillax guys" the Turtle said, "Look, why don't we all sit down and take a bite, there's plenty left, and they're doing a hybrid special, you won't believe what's coated on some of these..."
Before he could finish, one of the thieves, with one firm foot forward, treaded on the pizza box and scraped it's contents across the ground with his foot
All of a sudden, the Turtles beaming personality suddenly dissolved into a colder, more sinister demeanor.
"Not. Cool" he said
Zach and the kids suddenly turned up, diverting everyone's attention
"Michelangelo, be careful, those hoods robbed Mrs. Ester" yelled Zach.
"The pizza more than sufficed Zach" Michelangelo said.
"We don't have time for this shit, gut 'em" instructed Bebop
The crooks took out sharp knives from their jacket pockets. Michelangelo had little time to analyze the situation, as one of the crooks lunged at him with the knife, the other joining in. Michelangelo ducked the attacks, and swept the legs from underneath all three with a swift spin kick. The crooks fell to the floor, with Michelangelo quickly getting up.
Bebop was quick to recover and tried to thrust his knife into the Turtle's side, but the creature turned around, allowing the knife to hit his shell, he then unhooked two nun chucks from his front belt buckle and swung around, the nun chucks catching Bebop in the face as he did so.
Another of the crooks got up and tried to rush Michelangelo, but the Turtle caught him in the stomach with a well timed blow from his elbow, he then brought his knee up, crashing it into the crook's chin. The third crook then tried his luck, and managed to get some licks in, throwing two well placed punched that knocked one of the Turtle's tooth out of its socket.
Michelangelo clasped his hands together
"Right then" he yelled. His frustrations building
He deposited the nun chucks back into his belt and clenched his fists. He was ready for a street fight.
He and the thief exchanged blow after blow, at first his foe deflected two right and left hook and got in more licks on the front and side of Michelangelo's face, but he was able to spot a window of opportunity and grabbed another incoming hook with his hand and jabbed the crook in the left eye with his free hand, he then smacked the crook once in the nose and brought a fist down atop his foe's vulnerable head. Overwhelmed by the offense, the crook went down
With his two friends out for the count, Bebop seized the moment and retreated, scampering out of the alleyway, cutting past the assorted crowd of kids without his ill-gotten goods, having dropped the box of valuables.
The kids cheered on the display they had just witnessed.
"That was so cool" said Zach, "You totally creamed those bastards"
"Language dude" Michelangelo cautioned.
The Turtle picked up Mrs. Ester's box and handed it over to his young friend.
"Take these back to Ester, and call the police quick as you can when you get home. These clowns ain't gonna be snoozing long"
He walked over to the open manhole and began to climb down the ladder, he took one last glance at the remains of his pizza and sighed
"Come to my house sometime" Zach said, "You'd be more than welcome, we could get more pizza, you could get a wash…"
"Maybe some other life Zach. Folks like me got reasons to keep some distance"
"We're glad you're never too far away Mike" one of the kids said
Zach looked at his action figure, and, feeling inspired, handed it over to the Turtle.
"Here, Michelangelo, meet Mondo Gecko"
"Really? For me?" Michelangelo said, his face beaming, "Sweet dude...this is the one with the rotating buzz saw right?"
"Open his chest up" Zach instructed.
Michelangelo complied and opened the chest compartment of the toy. Sure enough, there was a buzz saw inside of it.
"I'm truly blessed" he said, "I'd hug you but..."
"...I know, totally gay" Zach said.
Michelangelo descended down the ladder, the kids peering down the manhole, all with smiles, watching him sink into the darkness and ultimately vanish into the sewers below