Anche le tartarughe hanno un cuore, (Even turtles have a heart), is a story in the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles comic published by Rizzoli. It appeared in issue 19, 1991, of the Italian children's magazine "Corriere dei Piccoli".
Appearing in Anche le tartarughe hanno un cuore[]
Major characters[]
- Donatello
- Keem (debut)
- Keem Daryl (debut)
- Leonardo
- Michelangelo
- Raffaello
- Shredder
Minor characters[]
Species[]
- Human
- Mutant lizard
- Mutant rat
- Mutant rhinoceros
- Mutant turtle
- Mutant warthog
Objects and vehicles[]
Locations[]
- New York City
- Global Theater
- Tecnodromo
- Turtle Lair
Summary[]
A huge crowd of fans and reporters, including April O'Neil, have gathered outside of the Global Theater to greet the famous actress, Keem Daryl. Fans call out for autographs and April pushes her microphone close to get a soundbite as Daryl thanks everyone and says that she loves them all. Daryl quickly climbs into her waiting Rolls Royce and slams the door. Commenting that all those people are a pain and she’s exhausted, she tells her driver, Ted, to take her home. When the driver speaks, she looks at him, seeing that it’s not Ted. Bebop, who is actually at the wheel, introduces himself. Daryl starts to scream, but Bebop sprays her with sleeping gas and then drives away.
Miles underground in the Tecnodromo, Shredder is waiting for his mutant minions. Rocksteady arrives, holding a small box, and Shredder tells him that the Mutogen Inductor is ready. He asks if Rocksteady brought the subject. Rocksteady tells him no and that he searched all the pet stores. No one had turtles anymore, and he only found this one. Shredder snatches the box from his hands, but when he opens it, he isn’t pleased that Rocksteady couldn’t even get him the right pet. Since there is no time to fix this, Shredder decides he’ll make do and places the box on one the of the machine’s seats.
Bebop arrives carrying Keem Daryl, but she is starting to wake up. She shouts at Bebop to put her down and Shredder is certain she’ll be terrified at the scene. However, Daryl begins yelling at Shredder, demanding to know what’s going on. Shredder tells her to calm down and he’ll explain. He says he needs a fascinating young model for an important scientific experiment, so he chose the brightest, most attractive – in short, her. Daryl responds by asking if he’d like a nice “who cares”? She then proceeds to tell him that if he needs a model, to use his aunt. This is kidnapping. As she continues to rant, Shredder tells her to shut up and calls for Bebop, who sprays her again. When she’s unconscious, Bebop places her in the other inductor chair. As Shredder fires up the machine, Rocksteady asks what happens when she tells the Turtles everything. Shredder answers that she doesn’t even know they exist, but he’ll give her a dose of amnesia serum.
Sometime later, Leonardo and Donatello are traveling through the sewers in the new Tarta-Hovercraft. Leonardo congratulates his brother, saying the craft is ideal for travelling in the biggest pipelines. Donatello replies that he hasn’t even shown him the options yet. As an example, he turns on an adjustable spotlight and it immediately picks up someone flailing in the water. They pull up alongside and Leonardo fishes out a turtle girl. He tells Donatello they need to get back quick because she needs help.
At the lair, the Turtles and Splinter gather around the girl, who is now wrapped in a blanket. She comes to and asks where she is, so Splinter tells her she’s safe in their little home. The girl says that they are the ninjas that Shredder was always talking about. Splinter asks if he created her and she says that Shredder wanted to develop stronger mutant turtles that would be faithful to him. The girl tells them that the experiment failed and she was the result. Michelangelo says that for a failure, she did a good thing. The girl explains that she escaped from the Tecnodromo, but now she has nowhere to go. Leonardo tells her not to cry, because she can stay with them. The other Turtles agree wholeheartedly. Leonardo introduces himself and then his little brothers. The girl says that her name is Keem. Raffaello points at a poster of Keem Daryl and Leonardo explains that she is their favorite actress. Wearing a sly look, Keem thinks to herself that he is a fool and she knows that very well.
In the following days, it becomes obvious that the Turtles are fawning over Keem. Michelangelo asks if she likes pizza, and when she says she does, he brings out a caviar and blackberry jam pizza that he made for her. Raffaello shoves him aside and presents a pizza that he says is better, made of oysters and dark chocolate. Keem says they look delicious and she doesn’t know which to choose. Donatello asks if she if ready for their hovercraft ride, but Leonardo says that she promised to got out with him. Splinter interrupts and asks who is going to be on patrol. Raffaello says not him because he’s not leaving Keem with these other boys. Michelangelo says if he thinks it’s him going on patrol, he’s wrong. Watching the interaction, Splinter realizes the situation is terrible and their team spirit is gone.
To be continued…