April stood alone in the middle of the street. She tried to look natural. It wasn't easy. She was standing there, over an open manhole, with an umbrella in her hand, glancing up and down the street furtively.
"Clear!" she whispered towards the shadow of the entrance to her own apartment building.
A green blur passed her. "See you, April." Leonardo disappeared into the sewer.
"Wish us luck!" the Raphael blur said, following his brother into the hole.
"We'll be back for Splinter!" Donatello said, sliding into the darkness after Raphael.
Michelangelo wasn't in such a hurry. He knew an opportunity for one of his famous impressions when he saw one. He turned up the collar of his trench coat, pulled down the brim of his hat, and became Humphrey Bogart.
"I know the lives of two people don't amount to a hill of beans in this crazy world, Ilsa, but that's why you're getting on that plane." April could almost feel the hot winds of the North African desert whip past her, instead of the cold rain of New York. "Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but soon..." For a Turtle, Michelangelo sounded an awful lot like Rick in Casablanca "...and for the rest of your-"
A green hand reached up from the manhole and grabbed Mike by the ankle. Before he could finish the teary farewell, he was gone!
April giggled. She loved Mike's impressions.
xxxxxxxx
Above the Turtles, the manhole cover clunked into place. They were back in the sewers of New York and they were in the market for a place to call home.
"All right, hold it," Raph said, more than a little annoyed. He couldn't help thinking there was something more to be done than looking for somewhere to live. "This is stupid. We got The Foot up there, with the ooze, and we're down here, playing Century 21!"
"Ra-aph," Leonardo said. He was exasperated.
"Come on, Leo," Raph countered. "Even you could think of something better to do than this."
He certainly could, but if Splinter were around, it would have cost him twenty flips. He glared instead.
"That's it. I'm out of here," Raph announced, looking for a ladder to climb to the street.
"No, you're not," Leo said. He grabbed Raph's arm.
"Let go!"
They were about to get into a fight when Mike intervened with another one of his impressions. This time, instead of Humphrey Bogart, he was a hard-sell housing estate salesman on late-night television. "I have the answer to all your housing needs: timeshare!"
Raph relaxed a little. Leo smiled. Donatello put a hand on Mike's head, as if he were testing melons at the market.
"Not quite ripe yet," he announced.
Mike's antics stopped a fight, but they didn't stop Raphael's determination to do something other than house hunting. "I'm gone," he said. He turned and left.
Raphael could be moody, and there was no way to change that. His brothers knew they couldn't convince him to stick with them. He'd do what he wanted to do and he'd be back with them eventually. In the meantime, they had a job to do.
Leo led the way.
"You know," Don said, glancing around for a hint of a place to settle down, "you'd think finding a new place would be easy..."
"But noooooo..." Mike continued for him.
"You'd think even an idiot could find a place down here..."
"But noooooo..."
"You'd think-"
"Oooooaaaahhhhhhh!"
Leo and Don turned around to see what had happened to Mike, but there was no sign of him. Only sounds.
"Yaaaoooooooouuuuh!"
"Mike? Mike! Are you OK?"
No answer.
"Mike?!"
"Check it out!" came Mike's excited reply.
Leo and Don followed Mike's voice. They found themselves standing over a hole where the floor had caved in.
"Come on down!" Mike invited them, The Price Is Right style. They did.
When they got to solid ground, they were standing in the middle of an abandoned underground station, sectioned off by caved-in rubble. It even had an old train carriage.
"Well, I'll be..." Donatello began.
"It's well hidden," Leo reasoned.
"Roomy," Don said. "And it's got access to power and water. What do you think, Mike?"
"Maybe it's time for a move to suburbia?"
"Home, sweet home," Leo cooed. The decision was made.