"So….what's for lunch?"

April O'Neal glanced up at Irma Langenstein as the young woman sat down with her. Her lunch tray was in front of her, as well as a book she was reading in her spare time. The red head beamed brightly.

"Hey Irma! Oh, chicken spaghetti."

"Oooh that's looks good!" Irma declared as she sat down.

At this time of day, the breakroom on the first floor of the Hamato compound was almost filled. Hamato foot soldiers were relaxing, clustered around in groups or scattered about and sitting by themselves. All of the soldiers had their head coverings removed, a sure sign that they were relaxed. Laughter bounced around the room in intervals. April smirked as her three friends joined her, all with their own little hobbies.

"So, any word on how Master Yoshi's doing?" Irma asked.

April shook her head. "Last time I spoke to Donnie, everything was the same. His vitals are good, still got brain function and such."

Irma leaned in conspiratorially, his eyes darting around.

"Any idea why the guys are so…." She made a vague gesture with his hands. April shrugged.

"I don't know. Though, I'm pretty sure they're hiding something…..but I'll let them tell us when they're ready." April spooned some spaghetti into her mouth and started to chew. Irma agreed with a nod of her head. She popped open a bag of jalapeño Cheetos and downed the whole thing. April's face twisted into a scowl, almost choking on the spaghetti before she managed to swallow it with a cough.

"How in the world can you eat a whole bag of jalapeno Cheetos in one go?!"

"Because I'm awesome!" Irma declared. Or at least what she thought the overalled girl said.

It was really hard to understand her with a mouthful of orange dusted chips.

BANG! BANG! "Urgh! STUPID MACHINE!"

The two of them gazed towards the sound of the groans and banging. April watched a Hamato foot soldier with blonde hair slamming his hand into the glass of the vending machine with growing frustration. The red-head raised her eyebrow as the man continued to hit at the plexiglass, before giving up and throwing his whole body up against the machine.

"I don't care if there are only Fritos in this whole damn compound!" The man shouted in despair. "I just want some goddamn chips! For the love of Goooood!"

The whole breakroom was silent as they watched the scene, some with worry about the poor man while some just silently chuckled underneath their breath. April bit down on the inside of her cheek while Irma snickered through her still-full cheeks.

When she had swallowed, "April, you really need to talk to Dee and ask him about putting normal vending machines."

April sputtered. "I have. Besides, they're not that difficult to figure out."

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah."

"Alright. Then prove it."

April harumphed as she stood, making her way to where the foot soldier was curled up in a ball in front of the modified machine, sobbing and muttering about Fritos being the cause of his sleepless nights. She was about halfway to the mentally strained ninja when the breakroom was suddenly filled with the sound of the alarm going off and a robotic voice ordering all the people in the compound to remain calm. All activity in the breakroom ceased, every one freezing where they were. No one made a sound or moved an inch as the alarms continued to blare and the lights flashed.

"What's going on?" Someone whispered breathlessly.

April swallowed the fear that bubbled up in her chest. She cut her eyes over to Irma, the same confused and unsettled look that was on her face was mirrored in the bespectacled girl.

Over the alarms, the voice and the pounding of her own heart, April picked up a low rumbling sound that seemed to come from all sides of the walls. Irma stood beside her, trembling slightly.

"Uhm…..April?"

"Yeah Irma?"

"What's that sound?"

April swallowed thickly. "I don't know."

The ninjas snapped into action a moment later. They all stood simultaneously, yanking on their hoods and pulling out what weapons they could find, even makeshift ones. Throwing stars and small knives made a shing sound as they were removed. Those that were without formal weapons grabbed whatever they had on hand, pulling out chair and brandishing them over their heads, snapping off table legs, holding out the pointy end like a makeshift pike. Irma grabbed two butter knives off the table and handed one to April.

Though she seriously doubted that they would do much good, it still put her at ease to know that she would be able to defend herself.

The rumbling turned into a chomping sound, a horrible sound of metal being torn and then chomped, creating a demonic like sound that chilled her to the bone.

They all drew into a tight circle, all corners of the room having eyes on them. Irma gave a squeak of fear.

"April….."

The red-head turned her head over towards Irma, before moving her eyes towards the wall. Her eyes went wider as she watched the metal wall crumple and a mouser appeared. April's heart dropped in her throat as more and more mousers appeared out of the wall, exiting the hole by the dozens. The ninja around her screamed as those with the formal weapons threw them at as many as they could. But the weapons soon ran out and they were forced to flee. April was able to pull Irma out of the way, of the stampeding crowd, and into a side hallway.

It was chaotic no matter where they went.

The mousers were everywhere. Dozens, no thousands of those little horrible robots with a single red optic glittering evilly, chased after them.

"April?"Irma shouted.

"Just keep running Irma!"

They skittered to a stop when they slammed into a side door. April panicked when she couldn't get it to open. A curse slipped past her lips.

"The override protocol!"

"What?"

Irma bit her lip, pushing April down another hallway as three mousers chased after them. "Donnie and I programmed an override protocol to activate if there was an attack on the compound! It's supposed to lock every entrance and exit in the place and no one can get out!"

April grunted as she kicked a mouser out of the way, thankful that it didn't take a chunk out of her feet when she did. Her mind tried to process what Irma had just said.

"So, in other words," she huffed, "We're trapped."

"And screwed. Don't forget screwed. Eep!"

The two girls slid to a halt as they realized that they had been cornered by mousers.

April shoved Irma behind her protectively, the bespectacled girl's fingernails digging into her shoulder. The red-head didn't know how many she would be able to fight off before they…..

Her stomach turned. She felt like she was going to throw up. April took a deep breath.

"HEADS UP!"

Thankfully a moment later, there was a small black puck that landed in the middle of the mousers. It exploded, sending the mousers into fritz, falling over, their optics dimming. The smoke sent April and Irma into a coughing fit, but they were unharmed.

"Casey!" Irma exclaimed, greeting their savior with a smile. "Boy. Never have I been so glad to see your monkey face!"

"Oh, ha ha ha." The hockey player laughed sarcastically as he stepped out of the smoke. He placed his trusty hockey stick over his shoulder. Behind him, his younger, more brash sister Angel, smirked while a small cadre of Hamato ninjas guarded their flank. "You know I could've just left you to the mousers, right?"

"Like you would do that."

April smirked, but a quick glance over Casey's shoulder had it disappearing. More mousers were marching their way.

"Come on, guys." April beckoned them. They all glanced behind them, their eyes going wide at the tide of mousers that was about to fall over them. "I know where we can go."

April led them through a series of hallways, twisting and turning with each and coming into contact with multiple mousers. They managed to gather a suitable force by the time they reached the cantina but not enough to fight back against the entirety of the mouser army. As soon as the doors were closed, Casey threw himself against the door with several other ninjas, trying to keep them closed as April and the rest of them gathered chairs and tables to shove against the door.

It wasn't working very well.

"I think they're about to break through…." A new recruit muttered fearfully. The door almost gave away, but Casey and his group kept it closed.

April wondered how much longer that would last.

"Come on!" Angel ground out. She turned, and in one swift movement, flipped and chair and snapped a leg off it, almost as easily as one would do with a toothpick. She brandished her weapon. "Grab anything that can be used as a weapon!"

"There's an army of those things out there!" Stacy, one of the new recruits declared, her feelings of fear, frustration and panic cumulating in her voice. She gestured to Angel's makeshift weapon, "And you're telling me we're supposed to hit them with sticks!?"

"We're not going down without a fight!"

Irma wrung her hands nervously. "Why are the mousers attacking us anyways?!"

"Because Stockman is a traitor sleezeball!" There was a venom to Casey's words that April hadn't heard in a long time. She shared his sentiment. "I swear, I'm going to deck the guy as soon as I see him!"

"Not if I get to him first, brother." Angel said.

For the first time since she had known the guy, April almost felt a little sorry for Stockman.

Almost.

They were running out of time…..if they didn't come up with a plan to get out, to counterattack the mousers-

"Casey. Casey Jones."

April froze, blinking. Did she….?

"Wait….." Casey paused, blinking owlishly as she did so. He glanced around. "Guys….is it just me, or is somebody calling my name?"

"No. I heard it too." Angel agreed, looking around as well.

"Up here." There was a tapping on the vents above them. Everyone's eyes went upward.

"Uh…. guys the vents are talking to me."

"Who's up there?" April demanded, walking under the small grate, narrowing her eyes as she peered up, searching for something that indicated who was up there. All she could see were a pair of piercing blue eyes.

"Don't worry. I'm a friend. Listen, I'm trying to find the Hamato brothers. Have you seen them?" There was sense of urgency to his voice, an urgency that was felt by everyone in the room. April's blood went cold when she remembered the Hamatos.

"No." Casey answered. He shifted, bracing against as particularly violent shove against the door, grunting as he did so. "Everything was going on as normal, and then the next thing I knew, the alarms were going off, and we suddenly found ourselves under attack from a horde of damned mousers."

There was a pause, as though the owner of the voice seemed to ponder that for a moment. "Mousers? Is that what they're called?"

"Yup." April watched as Casey bared his teeth. "Stockman's pride and joy. though where he got so many, I haven't the damndest idea. Though…. if you're a friend, like you said, anyway you can help us out a bit?"

Angel interrupted the Vent Person, as her eyes went to the vents as though they were face to face. "Those doors aren't going to hold out much longer. Mousers were engineered to gnaw through any structure, no matter how fortified. We're all about to become Mouser chow in a few minutes if we don't do something quick!"

There was silence, and April worried for a moment that the person had left. But she relaxed when he spoke again.

"Alright…. here's the plan: I'll draw them away towards the elevator. You guys use two tables and make a 'V'. Wait two minutes, then charge. Push them back. I'll hold the elevator doors open, and you guys use the tables to shove them down the open elevator shaft. The fall should destroy them."

"That's…. that's a good plan actually." April muttered.

"Alright, Mysterious Guy in the Vent." Casey muttered. "We'll do our part."

"Don't get eaten!" Angel said.

The vent shifted and then there was silence.

Well, until Irma spoke. "Are we seriously about to trust someone who was sneaking around in the vents?"

"Can't afford not to." Casey said. His eyes turned towards the ninjas. "Well, you heard the guy. Let's get these tables put together."

They managed to get the tables together rather quickly and waited eagerly for the signal. The noise outside the door quieted down.

"How much longer?" Angel whispered.

April was counting down in her mind, before shouting, "NOW!"

They pushed the door open, shouting as loud as they could.