common

Later that night, April wandered the city’s abandoned streets and alleys in an attempt to lure the pigeon-man. She knew the Turtles were waiting in the shadows, ready to protect her, but she was still mad about this whole bait thing. And she let everyone know it.

“Here I am walking around in the big city,” she announced loudly, “all alone. I sure hope no crazy pigeon-man sneaks up on me. That would be the last thing I’d want.”

Donnie, impatient, popped up from his hiding place. “What are you doing?” he barked.

“You wanted me to be bait,” she said. “I’m bait.”

“That’s not how bait talks.”

“How do you know how bait talks?” she asked.

“I know bait doesn’t talk back,” he answered.

“Ohhhhhh!” the other Turtles teased, momentarily popping their heads up from the darkness.

“Oh, no you didn’t!” Mikey added.

Donnie pleaded with April. “Just act natural,” he insisted. He gave her a supportive smile before returning to the shadows with the other Turtles.

April was alone again.

“Here I am, acting natural,” she sighed. “Totally defenseless against any hideous mutant pigeons that might happen upon me.”

April was beginning to think this was a giant waste of time—until she heard a loud shriek coming from the sky. She looked up and screamed.

“Now!” Leo shouted.

Donnie activated a strange device that looked like a kitchen mixer. It was an extremely powerful electroshock weapon.

The jolt froze the pigeon-man in midair, his talons just inches away from April’s face! With the help of a few thousand volts, the Turtles were able to wrestle the stunned mutant to the ground.

April turned her attention to Donnie. “And you said I wasn’t good bait,” she bragged.

Certain their captive was no longer a threat, Leo signaled for his brothers to let the bird-man up. And that was when they all got a good look at it under the streetlights: the blue jeans, the way it stood on two legs, the vulnerability behind its eyes—it was the most human mutant they’d ever seen.

“Start talking, pigeon-man,” Leo demanded.

“I have a name,” the bird-man squawked.

“Yeah, we just don’t care what it is,” Raph taunted.

“It’s Pete,” the bird-man grumbled.

“Why were you trying to hurt April, Pete?” Leo asked.

“I don’t want to hurt her,” Pigeon Pete explained. “I was just bringing her a message . . . from her father.”