City Fall

City Fall is the eighth story arc in IDW's TMNT continuity. It deals with the Foot Clan becoming the predominant criminal force in New York City. This story comprises issues 21 through 28 and ties in to several one-shots in the micro series as well.

Story: Kevin Eastman, Bobby Curnow & Tom Waltz

Script: Tom Waltz

Art: Mateus Santolouco

Colors: Rhonda Patterson

Letters: Shawn Lee

Editor: Bobby Curnow

Prologue
The Turtles are finishing up a patrol one night when a masked man appears out of nowhere and begins to fight them. The masked man taunts them relentlessly, showing them up with ease and using many different styles of martial arts. The masked man even knows about their hideout and their master, Splinter. The masked man leads them on a chase throughout the city, all the way back to the abandoned church. The masked man says that the Turtles are no match for him and he will now face their master. The Turtles say they would die before letting him pass. The masked man says this honors him, and takes off his mask, revealing himself to be Master Splinter in disguise. Splinter explains that he needed to do something drastic in order to show the Turtles how important training was with the increased warring between criminal factions.

The scene switches to Japan, where Dr. Miller has led the Shredder and the Foot to a derelict temple. Shredder orders some Foot ninja to start digging. They unearth a casket and open it. Thus, the Shredder is reunited with Kitsune.

Part One
The issue begins with the Shredder detailing the Foot Clan's recent battles with the Savate  to Kitsune. Shredder states he has a plan to defeat the Savate and their other rivals.

Raphael and Casey Jones are on one of their patrols and are taking a break outside the Skara Brae to check on Casey's dad. Suddenly they are ambushed by Foot soldiers. Their numbers are too great and they are both captured and thrown into the back of a van. Inside the van, Karai tells Raph that they are on the way to the docks. Raph breaks free and escapes, leaping from the van off a bridge into the East River. Karai is pleased, as that was part of the plan all along.

Back at the Turtles' hideout in the abandoned church, everyone else is doing their own thing when Raph storms in, explaining what happened to Casey and urging them all to go rescue him. Leonardo stresses the need to exercise caution before rushing into another trap. They arrive at the docks and see Casey on the ground, unconscious, guarded by Karai and Alopex. Donnie and Mikey  swim towards the docks as Splinter, Leo and Raph watch from a rooftop as Shredder approaches Casey. Casey's friend Angel, getting off work, sees April sitting in her van waiting on the others and asks her what's going on. April fills her in. The Shredder announces to Splinter and the Turtles that he knows they are watching, raises Casey, now conscious, into the air, and impales him through the stomach with his gauntlet blades, severely wounding him. Raphael immediately charges Shredder, causing a whole legion of Foot ninja to attack. Angel, Donatello and Michelangelo grab Casey while Raph, Leo and Splinter fight the Foot. Once they have Casey in the car, they make to leave but Leonardo is hit with a tranquilizer dart and taken by the Foot. The others, not knowing where Leo is, are forced to leave without him to rush Casey to the hospital.

Part Two
April, Angel, Splinter and Raphael rush Casey to the hospital while Donatello and Michelangelo search the area around the docks for Leonardo. Paralleling the scene, Shredder, Karai and Alopex rush Leonardo back to one of the Foot's hideouts. April and Angel arrive at the hospital and get Casey inside; Splinter and Raph head home to meet Donnie and Mikey. Arriving at their hideout, Shredder dismissed Karai and Alopex and brings Leo to Kitsune. Casey is brought to an operating room while Leo is brought to a room Kitsune has prepared for a magic ritual.

At the turtle's home, Donnie and Mikey present the only clue they could find to Splinter, one of Leo's katanas. However, they also show him the message they found scrawled on their wall when they arrived, an invitation from Hob to meet near the East River at midnight. At the Foot's hideout, Kitsune uses powerful dark magic to warp Leonardo's memories, altering them so that Splinter appears to be his enemy and the Shredder his ally.

In the hospital waiting room, Angel tells April about some of her and Casey's history – how their dad's were friends who had them around the same time, letting them grow up together. Angel tells April how she lost her mother in a car accident and didn't cope well, taking to running with the street gange the Purple Dragons. It was Casey that kept her from getting too deep into the gang lifestyle and winding up in jail or dead. The doctor brings them into Casey's room and tells them his condition is stable but he will likely never play hockey again. April wonders if they should call Casey's dad, but Angel already told her dad to tell him, saying he'd probably be too drunk to care anyways. Casey's dad, who was about to enter the room, overhears, and leaves.

Splinter, Raphael, Donatello and Michelangelo arrive at the meeting point and find Hob with Slash. Hob tells them he knows where Leonardo is, and he can help them get him back. Hob says he can sense tension in the city escalating, and they need to choose sides. He offers to partner up with the Turtles, despite their past altercations. Splinter says if he really can lead them to Leonardo, he will consider the offer. At the Foot's hideout, Kitsune's work is complete, and Leonardo accepts the Shredder as his new master.

Part Three
The Shredder walks in on Karai practicing a Korean form of martial arts, geommu. He tells her to get ready to battle Splinter and the Turtles.

Casey Jones is still unconscious from surgery. In his imagination he is at the old pond where he used to practice hockey. He sees his mother as an angel and she tells him to wake up. Casey wakes and asks April and Angel to tell him what's going on with the Turtles.

Old Hob has lead Splinter, Raphael, Donatello and Michelangelo to the Foot's hideout where Leonardo is being held. Due to their past history, Hob has to assure them he's telling the truth. While Splinter, Raph and Don debate whether or not they can trust Hob, Mikey introduces Slash to candy, burrying the hatchet. Hob leads Splinter and the three Turtles to a door and picks the lock, letting them enter before him. They enter the pitch black room, when suddenly Hob slams the door shut and locks it. The lights come on and the Shredder stands before them, flanked by Karai and Alopex. Splinter states that they have come simply to retrieve Leonardo and that no bloodshed is necessary, although they will use deadly force if they are forced to. Shredder says that as they speak, his Foot ninja are staging a multi-pronged attack, cementing the Foot's hold on the criminal underside of the city. Shredder says that he will end Splinter and the Turtles as well, and that he has already ended Leonardo. At this, Splinter attacks the Shredder, prompting Leonardo to step forth, clad in Foot Clan regalia. He says he will not allow Splinter to harm his master. Leo attacks Splinter, saying he is not his son. Raphael charges Leonardo, but Leo blocks him. He attacks Raph, Don and Mikey all at once, but because they're holding back he defeats them all. Shredder tells him not to finish Splinter, as he wants to kill him himself, but he may slay the rest. Splinter and the three Turtles attempt to fight their way to the door, but a whole legion of Foot ninja have surrounded them. Just when the battle seems hopeless, Slash bursts through the large warehouse door, allowing the group to escape. Hob explains that he had to make Shredder think he had delivered Splinter and the Turtles to him to keep him off his back, and that his offer to team-up still stands.

Part Four
The issue begins approximately two weeks after the events of City Fall Part 3. Karai is leading a group of Foot Clan ninja in delivering a shipment of equipment, when they are attacked by the Savate. The Savate hace come in greater numbers, and the Foot are about to be finished off when Leonardo shows up with more Foot ninja. The Foot dispose of all but one Savate ninja, letting him go free to relay a message to Viktor, the leader of the Savate, that the Foot Clan will tolerate no disobedience from the other criminal organizations.

April is visiting Casey in the hospital and they are video-chatting with Donatello and Michelangelo on a laptop. Donatello tells them about how they've all been looking for Leonardo and how Raphael is taking it pretty rough. Don also tells them Master Splinter is out on a mission with Old Hob and Slash. After the video call, Casey expresses his displeasure with being confined to a hospital bed. April reminds him that it's the best place for him at the moment, and that she wishes Leo was found just as much as everyone else because she knows the pain of losing someone, as she thought she had lost Casey when the Shredder injured him. The two kiss.

Raphael is attempting to beat information on the Foot out of a low-life thug outside the Skara Brae (one of the thugs from the TMNT 2012 Annual). The thug doesn't have any real information to give him, but does tell him about two corrupt cops who are being paid off by the Foot and the Savate, among other criminal organizations.

Viktor and some Savate ninja have just finished off a group of Foot ninja. Marcello, an enforcer for the Italian Mafia arrives in a car to take Viktor to a meeting of all the crime family bosses. They are meeting to discuss the recent escalating conflict between the Foot Clan and all the other families. The head of the Mafia, Antonio, voices his displeasure at the Savate's violent approach to dealing with the Foot. Viktor says they have it handled when Marcello speaks out, causing Viktor to slay him, to emphasize his point.

Shredder is on the rooftop of one of the Foot's hideouts falconing while Kitsune gardens while Leonardo and Karai report in. Leonardo tells him that their plan to launch a surprise ambush on the Savate worked, using Karai and some Foot as bait. Karai voices her displeasure about being used as bait. Kitsunes learns that this was Leonardo's idea and not the Shredders and is upset. As Karai and Leonardo are dismissed, Leonardo has a flashback to his previous life in Japan, seeing his mother and Master Splinter in his previous life as Hamato Yoshi, showing that the brainwashing has not been completely effective. Because of this, Shredder has had to forbid Leonardo from using lethal force in battle, as it may snap him out of the mind control put on him by Kitsune. A Foot ninja arrives with a package from the Savate for Shredder, containing a severed Foot ninja hand and a note that reads "WAR". Shredder tells Kitsune to hurry up and strengthen her hold on Leonardo, so that he may be effectively used during the coming battles. As long as Splinter and the Turtles live, Leonardo's mind control will not be one hundred percent.

Casey's dad is brooding in front of the bathroom mirror. He thinks back on overhearing Angel say that he deserved to be hurt in Casey's place. In a fit of rage, he breaks the bathroom mirror and rips off his shirt, revealing his Purple Dragon tattoo from his gangbanging days.

Splinter enters a house with a Purple Dragon gang sign on it. Inside is Hob, in a very well-stocked room of guns and ammunition. Splinter tells him that if Hob helps them resuce Leonardo, he will agree to Hob's proposal and team-up with him and Slash. Hob agrees, on the condition that Splinter help him with something beforehand.

Raphael has tracked down the two corrupt cops (also from the 2012 TMNT Annual). Raphael is about to start trying to beat more information out of them when Donatello and Michelangelo show up and tell him he's out of control. Raphael is about to attack Donatello for stopping him when Michelangelo tells him to knock it off. Raphael says he was trying so hard to find Leonardo because he blames the whole situation on himself. They decide that if they really want to find Leonardo, they need to start acting like the team he trained them to be.

Shredder stands on a rooftop with Leonardo, Karai, and Alopex, scoping out the Savate headquarters and planning their attack. Shredder and Leonardo will lead the first wave of attack, and Karai and Alopex will lead the second wave and act as a clean-up crew. As they board a helicopter back to the Foot's hideout, Alopex asks Karai if she's upset at being upstaged by Leonardo. Karai says the wise warrior never overestimates their importance, but also always has a back-up plan.

The final scene shows Bebop and Rocksteady  in the midst of mutating into their warthog and rhinoceros hybrid forms.

Part Five
To be released September 25, 2013

While Leonardo and the Foot bring the fight to the Savate ninjas, the other Turtles call upon all of their allies to prepare for war. City Fall continues to escalate when Splinter crosses a line by helping Old Hob get his revenge!

Part Six
To be released October 23, 2013

In this breathtaking penultimate issue to City Fall, Shredder asserts his dominance over the criminal underworld of NYC through a show of force. But what happens when the Turtles crash the party? With allegiances shifting no one is safe from all-out war!

Part Seven
To be released November 20, 2013

The epic conclusion to City Fall is here! With the heads of the New York underworld gathered, Shredder stakes his claim to rule the underworld of NYC! But the Turtles, along with their allies, aren't going down without a fight! What role will Leonardo play? It's all been leading up to this major battle -- don't miss it!