Mutagen Maintenance

Mutagen Maintenance is the backup story of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Universe issue #18, published in January 2018 by IDW Publishing. It is 4 pages long.

Credits

 * Writer: Caleb Goellner
 * Artist: Michael Dialynas

Plot
Pitch darkness, and the lights turn on. It is morning in a bedroom with a window, seen from the fixed perspective of the bed's inhabitant. Pigeon Pete greets the viewer, initially offering to get both him and the viewer breakfast, but Pete then backtracks and gets breakfast for himself, eating it in front of the viewer.

A little later in the day, from the same fixed perspective, Herman the Hermit Crab enters the room and speaks to the viewer, informing them that the others are getting ready for a supply run, and that they may be able to get new equipment to get the viewer mobile again. Herman notices Pete's empty abandoned cereal bowl at the foot of the bed; he tries to pick it up with his new prosthetic left claw, but he has not yet adjusted to the prosthesis and the strong grip accidentally shatters the bowl.

Still later in the day, the light coming from the window has noticeable darkened. Mondo Gecko has brought his skateboard and is demonstrating some skateboarding maneuvers to the viewer, insisting that his gecko tail helps him do it. He recommends the viewer ask Lindsey to install a new tail later.

Soon after, Old Hob is speaking to the viewer, informing them that their recent conflict with both and the  has complicated the acquisition of technology, and they weren't able to find new materials on this day's supply run to fix the viewer's body. Hob vows that neck time someone is decapitated, it will be.

It is nighttime, and no more sunlight is coming through the window. Lindsey Baker enters the room, apologizing to the viewer for being late, and proposes they watch a comedy together this time. Lindsey takes out a tablet computer and pulls up a television streaming service. For the one and only time in the comic, the view changes to reveal that the bed's inhabitant, whose own viewpoint has never changed once, is actually the severed head of Seymour Gutz, now bedridden since the destruction of his body below the neck in the events of Desperate Measures. As Lindsey sits to watch a streaming television show with Seymour, she reassures him that all the have been working hard to find a way to get him walking again.

Characters

 * Lindsey Baker
 * Herman the Hermit Crab
 * Old Hob