"I already did that. Robbie?"
"No."
"Rudolph?"
"Gimme a break. Do you see a red nose here?"
"I was thinking in terms of Nureyev," she said carefully opening a cardboard box.
"A ballet dancer?!?
That's even worse!" He peered at the box. From inside it produced a sea
otter, swaddled in a piece of cloth. Though the cloth kept it immobile
the otter was fighting mad. Galatea began to remove the cloth, revealing
a piece of net twined around the otter,
cutting into him,
totally trapping him.
"What happened to the funny looking little rat?"
"Little? They must breed rats big where you come from. This is a sea otter and it's been caught in a gill net. It was lucky he got washed up before he was drowned." Galatea held the otter gently and began to him free. The otter showed no gratitude for her work though. It twisted about and sank its teeth into her hand. Galatea a very small squeaking sound and stood very still, holding her wrist while tears streamed down her face.
Raphael grabbed for the otter, but Galatea yelled at him. "No. Don't hurt him."
"Hey. I'm only trying to help. You want him to eat your finger?"
"Of course I don't, but the otter is more important than my finger."
Raphael frowned at
her. This woman had an odd sense of priorities. Still, she'd taken time
with him, so he was prepared to humour her over the otter. He gently inserted
one of his own fingers
into the otter's mouth
and prised its jaws open. Galatea extracted her finger, dripping blood
all over the floor.
"Oh, thank you." She watched as the otter chomped down hard on Raphael's finger, then gave up and let go. "Uh, didn't that hurt?"
"Nah. Us reptiles got thick skin. Here," he grinned and picked up the little bottle Galatea had used the night before, "have some rescue remedy."
Galatea accepted the Rescue Remedy somewhat sheepishly. "Look, I'm sorry I got mad at you just then."
"I was only trying to help. How would you have got him to let go if I hadn't been here?"
Galatea studied the scars and cuts on her hands and shrugged, "he'd of got bored and let go all by himself eventually."
***
April watched as Senator Dolittle made her way through the construction site and walked across to intercept her. "Senator Dolittle." If April hadn't stepped right in front of Dolittle, the woman would have ignored her completely. As it was all she got was a blank stare. "April O'Neil, Senator...Channel 3 News?"
There was none of the pleasant, motherly demeanour April had seen from Dolittle in their meeting of the day before. She seemed quite different now, sharp and somehow wary, as though she was fearful of being trapped by April's questions. As though she had something to hide. "What is it?" She said, trying to push past.
April kept up with her. Aside from the question she had been going to ask anyway, the senator's strange behaviour was intriguing. "I was wondering about the labourobots, and the possibility of using them as a part of your industrial cleanup campaign."
"The robots are here to build, not sweep."
"Yes, but thinking in terms of the discussion we had yesterday, those robots would obviously be an asset to any operation that required contact with toxic wastes. Instead of risking human health and safety, the robots could be used."
"So what?"
"Well...would you consider making them a part of your clean up campaign?"
"Industrial waste is an inevitable by product of new technology. Many companies make a living by disposing of these wastes for heavy industry. I don't understand why you think I should be responsible for this matter, nor why the people of America should be bothered by it." She walked off, leaving April totally floored by her apparent Jekyll-Hyde behaviour.
"I think I just met the evil twin," April muttered to herself.
Casey came rolling up to April. "How'd it go?"
"I can't believe what I just heard."
"Hey April, you know you can tell when a politician's lying?"
"How?"
"Their lips move."
April shrugged, watching her team pack and leave. "I just didn't think she'd be like that. It was like the total opposite of the stuff she was talking about yesterday. How'd you go with your search?"
"Nothing you could put your finger on."
"What's that mean?"
"Shredder has a way of leaving signs without actually showing himself. I think we're on the right track."
Neither April nor Casey realised that they were standing right in the path of one of the construction workers, guiding one of the new robots which was carrying a load of girders. The man approached them without speaking, and rather than ask them to move he simply picked them up and deposited them to one side. April brushed herself down and nearly laughed at the outraged expression on Casey's face. For a moment he seemed to want to take the labourer on, but the man had acted without intent of harm. In fact, he had acted with no more intent than the robot he guided.
"Strong silent type!" said April laughing.
Casey tried to muster some dignity. "I wonder if I could programme one the robots to help us search?" He glanced over to a nearby robot workstation.
"You're just like a kid. Can't resist a new toy. Don't get caught."
But just as Casey reached for the workstation a hand grabbed his wrist and a moment later the shadowy forms of the Foot warriors overwhelmed April and Casey. No one saw them disappear, there was only the stillness of the shadows.
***
It had never occurred to Raphael just how fast otters could move. This one was tearing around the walls of Galatea's house, breaking bottles and scattering things in every direction. "You want me to catch him and put him in a cage or something?"
"No. Open the door so he can let himself out. That's what he wants."
Raphael pushed the door open and watched the otter race down the beach. When he turned back he saw that Galatea was holding a small, frightened bird, filthy with oil. "Here," she placed it in his hands. "Now, hold him gently, we want to wash him off with this castille, and then we oil him up with the herbal oils, to replace the natural oils. He's lucky he hasn't tried to clean himself up too much and eat all that gunk."
"Speaking of eating..."
"I'll get lunch as soon as we finish this. Seaweed soup with cabbage and oregano."
"Seaweed?"
"You're a turtle, what do you expect me to give you, pizza?"
They finished cleaning the bird which showed Raphael its gratitude by pecking him. He wrapped the bird in a clean rag and placed it in a box in front of the fire, to dry out its feathers. Galatea handed him a cup of soup. "There you are...Richard?"
"Nah." He sipped the soup thoughtfully.
"You like it?"
"It's ok."
"Only ok?"
"Well, it's good, but it just seems to be..."
"...I know, missing a little something."
***
Leonardo had a built in alarm clock. He sprang awake pausing silently for a moment, aware of all the sounds around him. Then he dragged off the blanket Michelangelo had been curled up under. "C'mon, Mikey wake up."
Michelengelo tried to curl himself into an even tighter ball. "Ah, Leo, that wasn't a sleep. How am I gonna grow up big and strong if I don't get my full eight hours?"
"Eat your pizza crusts, Mike, you'll be right."
It only took a moment for all turtles to come awake, then all three were springing about their den while Splinter moved calmly in their midst. There was a somewhat dangerous air about the den as the turtles threw their weapons to each other but somehow, Splinter always seemed to to duck his head at just the right instant in order to miss the flashing blade katana, twitch his tail out of the way of an oncoming skateboard, and step delicately around the flicking bo and nunchaku. The turtles ate with the same sort of reckless speed as they prepared their food and it was only minutes later before Splinter wished them well and they took off down the sewer on their skateboards. He noticed that Leonardo had tucked Rapael's skateboard under his arm.
"We're gonna find him,
master," Leonardo's voice echoed through the drains. Splinter smiled and
nodded. They would find their brother. He followed their progress until
the sounds of the turtles merged into the ambience of the sewer. Splinter
allowed himself to slide into a trance, his, moving through the discipline
and control of his breathing, into the shadow world. A moment later he
snapped awake, suddenly aware that April was in danger.