AUTHOR'S NOTES:
Sorry about the long wait for this chapter. Been away in Tasmania and now I'm back :)
In the dead of night Danny and the Turtles are running through the massive piles of garbage on an island outside the city on the water.
DONNIE- Here's another fine mess we've gotten ourselves into.
Mikey steps in some orange liquid and yelps, "EWWW!"
Literally
A spotlight almost catches them and Danny quickly turns them invisible before they are spotted. They sneak up to the top of the cliff, sticking to the shadows as to not be seen by the men passing by in trucks with spotlights.
This has been one strange night, believe me! But no matter how weird it's been up until now….
They looked over the mountains of garbage to see a prison like set up and suddenly watched something rise from the orange water.
We've never expected this!
GARBAGEMAN
Late at night in New York City, two homeless people are going through the garbage cans for recyclable materials such as glass bottles and such they can sell to get some money. One of them smiles as he pulled out a glass bottle.
"Bingo!" He cried happily as he flipped it and caught it in his hand again.
"Don't break it fumble fingers! Every nickel counts" The second one warned.
"I never break them" The first one said. The second one chuckled with a smirk and retorted, "Oh you break them all the time"
The first one chuckled and admitted as he placed the glass bottle in his pocket, "Yeah I guess I do. Well looks like that's it for this gold mine. Let's move on"
They started heading out of the alleyway, unaware that a garbage truck hiding in the shadows was stalking them. They both stopped looking through another garbage bin as they heard the noise of the truck and turned to see it coming towards them, gleaming bright red spotlights on them.
They both started running away screaming in fear for their lives as the truck continued to chase after them leading them to a dead end in the alley. The truck suddenly grabbed them both with huge metal claws and left the alley way leaving nothing but now a broken glass bottle and two missing homeless people as it drove out of the alley and headed down the streets.
At another dump in the next evening there were several homeless people in a makeshift camp keeping warm by the small fires they had made. The Battle Shell parked near the camp as Danny and the Turtles were going through the piles of rubbish looking for useful items to use in order to improve the lair.
However instead of helping Mikey was mainly goofing around on his skateboard while the others mainly did the searching.
"WAHOOO! LEAN, GREEN AND EXTREME!" Mikey cheered as he skateboarded right past the others.
Raph shook his head and suddenly cringed and groaned in disgust as he touched something really slimy. He then asked Donnie as he shook the slime away, "Hey Don you don't want something that's so gross you don't wanna touch it right?"
"If it's gonna improve the lair we can use it" Donnie answered as he placed another item in the old shopping cart.
"Hey! Why isn't Mikey helping? It's not fair! It's…." Raph began to complain as he crossed his arms but was cut off by Danny, "Raph would you rather have Mikey happy or Mikey board?"
Raph was silenced as Mikey rode past them and said knowing that Danny was right, "Right"
Mikey stopped skateboarding and all of them faced the group of people sitting around the campfires. Donnie then said, "Hey thanks for the shopping cart guys"
An African American man stood up. His name was Professor and he said with a smile, "Hope you found some useful items amongst the refuge my friends"
"Sure did Professor" Donnie said.
"The guys in the big turtle suits are back along with the kid beside them" One of the other people said.
"Yep" The other one said with a nod as he tended the fire. The first one then asked, "You ever wonder why they dress up like that?"
"Nope" The second one answered and just went back to tending the fire.
Professor brought over a sack and said as he placed his hand inside, "Here are some things we picked up for you"
He pulled out a circuit board and handed it to Donnie, "An undamaged circuit board for you sir"
He then pulled out a comic book and handed it to Mikey and said, "A near mint condition comic book my green lad. Last time you said you were collecting them"
"Thanks professor" Mikey said with a bright smile.
Donnie and Danny went over to the Battle Shell and pulled out a couple of piles of clothes and blankets and started handing them out as Donnie said, "Here we bought some blankets and warm clothes. They're a little worn but they should help out at night"
Danny went back to the Battle Shell and bought out a large pot and handed it to Professor and said, "I also cooked some soup for all of you"
"One man's refuge is another man's treasure" The Professor said with a smile. "You know there is a theory that we are all recycled"
"Another theory. That's the fifth one today" One of the other's groaned. The second nodded and said, "Yep"
Professor continued as he gestured towards the starry night sky, "The Big Bang Theory says that all matter has been exploding then imploding and exploding again since the beginning of time. Our very molecules are being recycled"
Raph looked in confusion but Mikey simply shrugged indicating he had no idea what Professor was talking about. Donnie then said, "You know I just finished a boom on the Big Bang. I'll bring it by later"
"Much obliged Donatello. Much obliged" Professor said as he shook Donnie's hand.
Raph then noticed something and asked, "Hey are there a fewer of you here than usual?"
"A lot of guys have gone missing lately plus it's weird. They don't take their stuff" One of them answered.
"I have a theory on that" Professor said with seriousness and slight concern. "There has been talk of a terrifying figure who takes us away in the dead of night. His name is whispered in fear. They call him the Garbageman"
Danny and the Turtles were at first silent but then laughed at the sound of the name. Raph then said as he and the others climbed into the Battle Shell, "You almost had me going there. The Garbageman? Geeze! Gotta roll guys"
"Be sure to let me know if your friends show up or if anyone else disappears" Donnie said as he shook Professor's hand.
He climbed into the Battle Shell and started heading back to the lair. Mikey then asked as he read his comic book, "That was majorly creepy. Do you think any of that is true?"
"Hey! Whatever it is, if the Professor's worried we should take it seriously" Donnie said.
Raph smirked and teased, "Seriously huh? Guess that leaves Mikey out"
"Hey!" Mikey exclaimed.
Later that same evening the Professor was giving the group a lecture when suddenly they heard the sound of a truck coming up.
"My word!" Professor exclaimed and they all turned to see a garbage truck with red spotlights crash through the gates and coming at them at top speed.
They all screamed in fear and started running away, "RUN! / IT'S THE GARBAGE MAN!"
A few managed to get away but the rest weren't so lucky. The Professor watched as each of his friends were chased around the placed and captured by the trucks mechanical arms and placed in the back. Professor ran to the fence but was cornered by the truck.
He stood his ground and shouted defiantly, "You shall not have me you behemoth! Leviathan! Monstrosity!"
But the truck's arms grabbed him before he could get away and placed him in the back with all the others and then drove off out and vanished into the night.
An hour later after the attack Danny and Donnie returned. Donnie rode on his own Shell Cycle while Danny flew. He landed on the ground as Donnie pulled over and removed his helmet. They both were shocked and taken back by the damage done to the place and there wasn't a single homeless person to be seen.
"What the shell?! Professor? Hello? Are you okay? Professor?" Donnie called out but there was no answered.
"Not a good sign" Danny said as he lit his hand with ecto energy giving them some light.
They started looking around and saw the fences damaged, both of them then noticed some black liquid on the ground and Donnie smelt it.
"What is it Donnie?" Danny asked.
"Hydride hydraulic fluid" Donnie answered. "It was definitely some kind of vehicle"
They both walked over to the fence where huge tyre marks were grooved into the ground. Danny then said, "Whatever took them had some massive wheels on them and by the looks of it, the vehicle was massive enough to do all that damage"
Donnie and Danny called the others and they came in the Battle Shell and saw all the damage they were talking about.
"All we know is something attacked them" Donnie said as Leo inspected the tyre tracks. "It was really big and really dangerous"
"Hope they're okay" Mikey said with concern as he climbed into the back Battle Shell.
"Don could you run an internet search for police reports?" Leo asked.
"Danny already did" Donnie answered. Danny nodded and said, "There wasn't a single report on missing homeless people. Nobody's noticed or cares"
"Meanwhile someone's snatching our buds" Raph said with slight anger.
"We need to hit the streets and ask anyone about missing people" Leo said.
Mikey suddenly came out wearing a trench coat and hat and exclaimed, "It's trench coat wearing time!"
Donnie, Leo, Raph and Danny all gave Mikey strange looks but he merely just shrugged with a sheepish smile.
While the others wore trench coats and hats, Danny just went around in his human form while wearing a jacket and cap and the five of them split up and asked several homeless people on the streets about all the disappearances.
They returned to the lair after a couple of hours asking around and all of them reported what they had found out. Donnie went on the computer and started typing up something while the others got out of their trench coats and hats.
Leo walked up to Donnie while putting his katanas back in his holsters and asked, "Got anything Don?"
"Virtually everyone we talked to knew someone who had disappeared" Donnie answered. He then gestured to the digital map of the city on the computer and said as red dots appeared in different locations, "I programed in a marker for each one"
"Woah! Looks like all the actions down by the docks" Mikey said as he looked at the map.
"Then that's our next stop" Leo said with determination.
The next evening Mikey was back in his trench coat and hat standing in front of a fire tin pretending to be a homeless person while the Battle Shell was parked in the shadows near the warehouses keeping constant vigilance and Danny was on the roofs of the buildings invisibly keeping an eye out as well. It had been about nearly two hours but nothing had appeared or come.
"Can somebody explain why it's always me who's the bait?" Mikey asked through the communicator. "Especially when we're hunting shark?"
Raph shook his head in annoyance inside the Battle Shell, "Jeeze! What a whiner! Almost wish he would get grabbed"
"Danny anything from your end?" Leo asked through the communicator. Danny responded as he continued to look around, "Nothing bro. I don't think the shark is coming for the bait"
Leo sighed and said, "Well it looks like nothing's happening guys. Let's call it a night"
Donnie nodded and said, "Come back guys. We're out of here"
Danny was about to fly down when suddenly he heard noises and said, "Guys wait! I heard something"
Suddenly a red spotlight shined on Mikey he turned to see the huge garbage truck coming straight for him.
"Uh guys?! The shark is here!" Mikey exclaimed with urgency. Danny then added, "And he's humming the theme from Jaws!"
"Danny grab Mikey! Raph hit it!" Leo shouted.
Danny flew down as Raph drove the Battle Shell straight towards them. Just as the truck was about to grab Mikey, Danny flew down and grabbed him and then phased right into the Battle Shell and Raph immediately revved and drove at top speed as the truck started chasing after them.
"It's a garbage truck!" Raph shouted as the truck rammed into them from behind. "A stinking garbage truck!"
"A garbage man drives a garbage truck" Mikey pointed out as he was rocked back and forth. "What's the problem Raph?"
Raph pulled to the side and stopped and they watched as the truck drove right past them but didn't make any signs of stopping and kept on going.
"He's making a run for it" Donnie said as he strapped in.
Raph immediately started driving after the truck, they had started gaining on it when suddenly the back of the truck opened and revealed a weapon of some sort and before they knew it, it started shooting flames right at them causing Mikey to scream at high pitch as they drove right through the flames and came out okay.
Mikey smiled sheepishly and said, "Ah sorry about the girly scream"
They continued to pursue the enemy as Raph started driving alongside the truck. Suddenly a saw reached out from the side of it and started sawing right through the metal of the Battle Shell almost cutting Donnie but luckily he jumped right out of the way. Raph pulled away and began driving behind it again.
"I don't know about you guys but I had enough of this!" Raph shouted as he slammed his hand on a button on the console which activated the turbo boosters and gave them extra speed as they continued to chase after it.
They sped right up and rammed right into the back of the truck and sent it swerving all over the road left and right. Danny and the Turtles cheered. Raph then said, "If you like that then you're gonna love this"
"May I?" Donnie asked gesturing if he could have the honours.
"Be my guest" Raph said. Donnie pressed another button and at the top of the Battle Shell a rocket launcher appeared and fired three missiles at the truck and hit it dead on creating a fiery explosion.
Danny and the Turtles cheered but then changed to a gasp as they saw the truck was completely undamaged as it emerged from the flames and continued its escape.
"We need bigger and powerful missiles" Danny commented.
The truck then started spilling oil all over the road and the Battle Shell starting slipping and sliding all over the road. Raph shouted as he tried to control the Battle Shell, "HANG ON! WE GOT MAJOR OIL SLICKAGE!"
As Raph continued to try and control the Battle Shell, Mikey held his stomach as he started to feel nauseous from all the swerving and spinning.
"If you guys forgot what we had for dinner, I think I'm about to remind you" Mikey said grimacing as he tried to hold his dinner down.
The truck slammed right through the fence and the Battle Shell was about to fall right off the dock and into the water when Danny quickly pressed a button and a grappling hook sprung out of the side of the vehicle and grabbed a pillar just stopping the Battle Shell just over the edge of the dock. Danny and the Turtles quickly jumped out of the Battle Shell.
"LOOK!" Mikey shouted and pointed to the truck.
They all watched as the garbage truck continued to drive down the dock and fall off the dock and into the water. Danny and the Turtles cheered thinking they had won and even Mikey started chanting a victory song, "TMNT! What you get is what you see!"
He then gestured to Danny and continued, "He's gonna catch em' all cause he's Danny Phantom!"
Danny, Raph, Donnie and Leo gave Mikey strange looks. Raph then said, "You know seriously you're only embarrassing yourself"
They watched as the truck completely sink and Leo said, "Now let's see who crawls out of this thing"
Raph pulled out his sais and said, "I got a few things to discuss with him"
But suddenly there was a red light beneath the water and their mouths dropped in complete shock as the truck suddenly started driving under the water and headed for an island not far from the docks where they could see some lights and smoke coming from it.
Later that evening Donnie was researching the island they had seen and found something. He presented the screen which showed an image of a landfill symbol and said, "So turns out this is the best run landfill operation not just in the city, but in the entire country"
"Best run doesn't mean best, it just means for profitable" Leo said with his arms crossed and a suspicious look on his face.
"Come on Leo what could they be really up to out there?" Raph asked. "They're right in the middle of City Harbour"
"Leo has a point Raph" Danny spoke up. "If business is as good as they say, they could be doing anything they want to. A few pay offs to the right hands can go a long way. An example that if any cop in the city was investigating the missing homeless people, all they would need is a little extra cash and the reports can just disappear into thin air"
"We need to check this place out" Leo concluded. Mikey then said in a Schwarzenegger voice as they followed Leo, "Something stinks on the island and it ain't the garbage"
Raph laughed and said, "Yeah keep trying Mikey! Someday you'll get a winner"
"Hey! Come on! That was pretty good!" Mikey called out behind them.
Danny in his ghost form and the Turtles stood at the end of the large pipe and looked at the island. Donnie commented, "Looks harmless"
"It's quiet. Maybe too quiet" Leo said.
"There see! How does Leo make that line work?" Mikey asked.
"Enough! Let's go" Leo said and all of them dived into the water and started swimming for the island.
They re-surfaced on the land and started running through some of the massive piles of garbage keeping undercover until Mikey stepped inside some green slime and cringed in disgust, "EWW! I don't wanna know what I just stepped in!"
"Mikey focus!" Raph pressed and they suddenly saw some spotlights coming towards them.
The spotlights almost caught them but Danny quickly turned them all invisible before they are spotted. They watched as some men wearing yellow overalls and hats along with gas masks that covered their faces drive in trucks with spotlights keeping an eye out for intruders. They all then started climbing up the side of the walls while sticking to the shadows as not to be seen by more spotlights.
They reached the top and looked over the mountains of garbage to see a prison like set up with wire fences, watch towers and everything.
"Unbelievable" Danny whispered.
They continued to watch and gasped as they saw all the missing homeless people forced to work. Some of them were chained to each other by ankle chains as they carried several piles of garbage, some were going through the piles for recyclable materials while others were carrying very heavy bags on their backs.
An older man fell down to the ground feeling weak from all the work. One of the guards walked up to him and demanded, "GET UP!"
When the poor man didn't move, the guard gave him a zap with an electric stick causing him to yelp in pain. Raph growled, "This is making me sick!"
He was about to go and fight when Leo stopped him. They watched as other people got zapped by the guards for being too slow or not working hard enough. Suddenly the garbage truck that had been snatching the homeless people of New York emerged from a pool of orange water and drove up the top of the hill where it dumped out of its trunk more homeless people.
"THAT'S IT!" Raph snapped.
"Hold on Raph! Look" Leo said calmly as he pointed to the truck.
They watched as the truck pulled up and the front opened to reveal a very obese grotesque man sitting inside a machine with claws. His shirt was covered in many different stains and on the side of his mouth was drool. He came out of the truck and parked on the platform before all of the prisoners and laughed.
"That is the most disgusting thing I've ever seen" Mikey said completely disgusted. Raph then said, "Just this once, I totally agree with ya"
"Greetings filth!" The man announced with a grin before all the homeless people. "Garbage is power!"
"If that's true then this guy's seriously messed up in the head" Danny said.
The man continued, "Before I bought you to this island you were nothing but human garbage! No home, no purpose and no value"
The guards zapped them with the sticks and forced them to kneel before the man who they called the Garbage Man as he continued, "But now I have recycled you, given you work shifting through the refuge that the city stupidly squanders to build my fortune"
Danny and the Turtles stood up and pulled their weapons out ready to fight as he finished, "Behold the birth of my empire! Invisible to the outside world until it is too late!"
The Professor bravely stood up and said defiantly, "I'd rather be a free man living on the streets than a slave in your stinking empire!"
"GUARDS SILENCE HIM AND GET THESE UNGRATEFUL BEASTS BACK TO WORK!" The Garbage Man roared in anger.
The guards came up and started zapping the Professor and the others. Raph then said, "That's it! Time to take out the trash!"
Danny, Donnie, Leo and Raph charged while Mikey grabbed a piece of metal and started sliding down the hills while exclaiming, "New concept guys! Garbage boarding!"
Donnie and Raph kicked a couple of guards to the ground while Mikey knocked one down with the board shouting, "COWABUNGA!"
Danny and Leo walked over to the prisoners and cut / blasted their ankle chains off them. They all then grabbed whatever they could use for weapons and started fighting against the guards now that they were free from their grasp.
Donnie walked over to the Professor and helped him stand up as he asked, "Professor are you alright?"
"Never felt better Donatello" The Professor answered.
"Well it looks like your buddies have the guards pretty much under control" Donnie said as he gestured to the others who had taken down the guards. The Professor smiled and said as he pointed to Garbage Man, "And may I take this opportunity to encourage you to kick that so called Garbage Man's stinking derriere!"
Danny and the Turtles charged right for their new enemy. Garbage Man shouted in anger, "What's this?! They're sending freaks against me?! I'll dispose of these genetic refuges!"
"It's garbage day fat man! Time to take your can out to the curve" Mikey taunted as they stood ready to fight.
"What?!" The Garbage Man shouted. Mikey then tried again, "Um…how about time to dump you in the dumpster smelly boy!"
"SHUT UP!" He shouted and tried to grab him with his claw but Mikey jumped out of the way and then Leo leapt over and started fighting off his metal claws with his sword and dodged one as it tried to grab him.
Garbage Man moved backwards and then a couple of missiles at them but Danny deflected them with a dome shield as they charged at him and continued to chase after him as he kept moving backwards up the plank laughing. A hose came out and he fired some kind of brown slime at them, all of them managed to move out of the way except Raph who got hit dead on. Donnie then threw his staff and blocked the hose which caused it to clog up quickly and explode all over him.
Garbage man growled and started firing flames at them but Danny deflected those as well with a shield. Raph caught up with them and said, "Can we finish this?"
Danny smelled how bad the slime was on Raph and said, "Whew! Raph when we get back, you better hit the showers"
"I WILL RECYCLE EVERY ONE OF YOU INTO THE GROUND!" Garbage Man roared as continued to move backwards. Mikey then said as he followed him, "Hey garbage brain! If you fight as bad as you smell, we are in trouble"
"I TOLD YOU TO SHUT UP!" Garbage Man screamed and moved his claws to grab Mikey but once again he leapt out of the way followed by Danny, Leo and Raph and got him to chase after them to the edge of the cliff.
"There's nowhere to run!" Garbage Man shouted unaware Donnie was behind him messing with his wire compartment. "NOW I GOT YOU!"
Leo leapt up and was about to cut his claws when he was slapped away by them and bumped right into Donnie. Raph then tried but he too was slapped away and suddenly Mikey was grabbed by the claws and bought him closer to the edge of the water unaware Danny had turned invisible during his distraction.
"Prepare to be recycled" Garbage Man sneered.
"I don't think so Garbage freak!" Danny shouted as he re-appeared behind him and sliced his wire compartment with his sword.
Garbage Man gasped as his machine started going haywire and caused him to release Mikey who almost fell over the cliff but managed to grab onto the edge and flip back over to the others. The Garbage Man screamed as his machine continued to go haywire and move in all different directions and before he knew it, he fell right over the edge of the cliff and sank beneath the water.
They all looked over the edge and Donnie said, "For sure he can't swim"
Leo sighed and said, "We gotta do something"
"I knew you were gonna say that" Raph said and with that all five of them dived into the water and looked around for Garbage Man but they couldn't find anything except his now empty machine.
They all emerged as Leo said, "No sign of him"
"He's gone" Danny said as he emerged from the water. "He just disappeared"
In the morning the barge came in and left but surprisingly none of the homeless people left on it including the Professor. Donnie then asked, "What up Professor?"
"We voted to stay here" The Professor answered. "There is food and shelter. The Garbage Man was right about one thing; people do throw away a lot of valuable items"
"Watch out for him" Raph said. "Something that evil always comes back"
Mikey kicked the dirt and asked, "You see? That worked! How do you come up with those?"
"Quit recycling the old ones Mikey and keep looking for something new" Raph answered as the five began heading to the water to leave the island.
THE END
NEXT TIME:
New enemies have risen. Pasts will be revealed not only about Master Splinter but also about Danny as well as the truth behind the mysterious Foot Ninjas are told. Who is this Oroku Saki? Who is this Vlad Masters? Find out next time in: The Shredder Strikes PART 1 AND 2!