Raphael was still trailing Keno and the recruiter invisibly when they got to Foot headquarters. Raph could hardly believe what a dump it was. Literally. It seemed to be an endless junkyard, piled high with scrap metal. The only building was a little hut.

The recruiter pointed to the hut. "Get yourself a training dogi," he told Keno. "And meet me in the yard."

Keno ran off to the hut. Raphael ran alongside him, dodging behind piles of scrap to remain invisible.

"OK, first chance we get, we're out of here," Raph said. He didn't want to risk one second more than necessary with The Foot. They had the information they needed. The next trick would be to make a swift - and safe - exit.

Then something in the hut caught Raphael's eye. He could have sworn it was ninja armour. He'd only seen ninja armour like that once before. He thought he'd seen it for the last time, too!

"What is it?" Keno asked.

Raph didn't know, but he was afraid he'd just seen a ghost. He ducked behind a pile of debris and approached the hut, sneaking up to one of the windows.

"Just what are you looking for, anyway?" Keno asked.

Raphael put a finger to his lips. "Quiet," he whispered. "Do you want to get us-"

It was too late.

"-caught?" Raph turned around and found himself facing Tatsu and several Foot. He decided to try evasive action. "Uh, hi, guys," he said casually. "We were looking for a silencer for a seventy-seven Chevy."

"Nggggh," Tatsu said. Raph didn't understand the word, but he got the message and it wasn't good.

Tatsu and his band attacked Raph at once. Raph knew there was only one course of action to take. He held them off as well as he could and kept them away from Keno.

"Get out of here!" he said to the boy. "Tell the others! Go! Now!"

Keno hesitated for a second and then hit the road, running as fast as he could.

Raph was good, but not that good. He could keep a few ninja warriors out of the way long enough to save Keno, but there wasn't much he could do for himself against Tatsu and fifteen fighters.

"I'm curious," he tried. "Have any of you guys ever heard the expression 'fair fight'?" Apparently they hadn't. Very quickly he was completely immobilized by the entire squadron. Tatsu stood in front of him and grunted his satisfaction.

"You know, pal," Raphael said to Tatsu. "If I had a face like yours, I'd try to make up for it with some sort of personality." It didn't win Tatsu over. He just threatened Raph. Raph thought his only chance would be if the men who held him let him go so he could fight Tatsu one-on-one. He wanted to bait the grunting ninja warrior and was about to start in on him again when he saw something that made him silent.

He saw shining ninja armour, a black and silver cloak, and a bladed metal helmet.

"Shredder!" he said.

xxxxxxxx

It didn't take long for Tatsu to completely subdue Raphael. He entered the hut and reported to Shredder.

"Captured Turtle now secure," he grunted.

"Good. An unexpected advantage. And the boy?"

Tatsu lowered his head in shame. "Gone," he confessed.

"Also good," Shredder said, surprising Tatsu. "Now, all we have to do is wait."

Tatsu understood then.