Michelangelo, Donatello, and Leonardo finished their snack and returned to the television in April's apartment. The Flintstones was on. It was one of their favourites.
"Man, that Dino could act!" Mike said. "You know, they should make this show into a film!"
"Right," Don said sarcastically. "How're they going to make a cartoon into a movie?"
Before Mike could answer, the door opened and April came in. The Turtles told her how great she'd been in the interview. She said she hoped it would get results. Then she offered to give the Turtles the grand tour of her father's antique shop in the basement of her building.
"It's really more like a junk shop," she said. "I only run it part-time now, and it doesn't make any money. I do it mostly because of my dad. He loved junk! Ready?"
The Turtles nodded.
Then April noticed somebody was missing. "Hey, where's Raphael?" she asked.
"He's by himself," Michelangelo said. "He just needs to blow off some steam."
xxxxxxxx
"Ooo-oomph!" Raph said as three Foot Clan ninja slammed his body against a wall. His sai clattered over the edge of the roof. He got his breath. "I thought you guys used the subway," he joked, recalling his last battle with the dogi-clad thugs when he saved April. The Foot attacked him. He repelled their attack, sending several of them down the fire escape. More took their place. He knocked them unconscious. "You guys must be studying the abridged book of ninja fighting!" he joked, facing his last two attackers.
That was his last joke. For those two were followed by dozens more. Soon the whole roof was swarming with Foot, and they all had the same goal: Raphael.
xxxxxxxx
"Hasn't Raphael been gone a long time?" April asked the others as they explored the junk shop.
"Nah. He does this all the time. He likes it," Donatello told her.
xxxxxxxx
The Foot dragged Raphael's beaten body down the fire escape. His shell thumped along the metal steps. He was completely unconscious.
xxxxxxxx
"Are you sure Raphael's OK?" April asked, leading the trio back up to her apartment.
"Don't worry," Donatello assured her. "He'll probably be back any minute now, threatening to huff and puff and blow your house-"
He was interrupted by the tremendous crash of breaking glass as Raphael's body came flying through April's window. Before his brothers could begin to take care of him, the entire apartment was completely filled with The Foot. Leonardo, Michelangelo, and Donatello were fighting for their own lives as well as Raphael's and April's.
The Turtles were good. They were very good. Splinter had taught them well. They had learned to fight honourably and well. They'd learned to win, but they had never learned to beat enemies who outnumbered them by one hundred to one. They didn't have a chance to win. And then the odds got worse. More Foot arrived. There were so many ninja soldiers and the fighting was so fierce that the old structure of April's apartment couldn't take it any more. The floor collapsed. Dozens of Foot, plus April and the Turtles, tumbled helplessly into the junk shop. Fighting resumed.
"Hey, one of these guys must know where Splinter is!" Leonardo shouted to Don and Mike. "Don't knock them all out!"
Mike watched a new wave of Foot arrive. "I don't think that'll be a problem, Leo!" he said. They all knew he was right.
"Man, we could really use Raph about now!" Michelangelo said, trying to hold off a half-dozen attackers by himself. Raph was out of the battle, though. April was with him. He was alive, but he was unconscious.
Then more reinforcements arrived - this time on the side of the Turtles. Casey Jones entered the shop in full battle gear - hockey mask and goalie's stick!
"Who is that?" Leo asked.
Michelangelo looked at Casey Jones. He was enormous and he was going to help them. "Wayne Gretzky? On steroids?" he suggested. Right then it didn't matter who he was. The only thing that mattered was that he was on their side.
"Eeeeee-hah!" Casey said, jumping into the fray. "Hockey Night in Canada!" He began swinging his stick. Foot began falling. But not enough of them. There were too many to be beaten.
The only chance they had was to escape.
"Follow me," April said, pulling Raphael into a corner of the shop. With Leo's help, she moved a bookcase aside.
"My grandfather used this secret entrance when he was selling something more than junk during Prohibition," April explained. "It might just slow these guys down enough for us to get out of here!"
As soon as the door swung open, the Turtles and April were in the tunnel. Casey, who was not as exhausted as the Turtles, held off The Foot for the others to escape first. When they were safe, he prepared to enter the tunnel himself.
Just before the door closed, Casey heard April's phone ring. He heard her machine answer it. He heard the message. It was Charles Pennington.
"Look, I'm sorry, April, but you're fired..."
It was a perfect end to a perfect day.
