The Taxi-Cab Grab is a Fleetway comic, published in TMHT Adventures #48 in November 1991.
Appearing in The Taxi-Cab Grab[]
Major characters[]
Minor characters[]
Species[]
- Human
- Mutant rhinoceros
- Mutant turtle
- Mutant warthog
- Robot
Objects and vehicles[]
- Bō
- Katana
- Sai
- Taxi-cab
- Turtle Van
Locations[]
- New York City
- Deserted garage
- Turtle Lair
Summary[]
In the lair, the Turtles are occupied with their various interests; Leonardo watches television, Donatello tinkers with a new invention, Raphael is having a pizza snack, and Michaelangelo is entertaining his brothers with jokes from a book titled “1001 Pizza Jokes”. Though the jokes are cracking Mikey up, the other three don’t actually think they’re funny. Leo suddenly shushes him because a newsflash from Channel 6 is coming on.
April O'Neil reports that several rich businessmen have mysteriously disappeared in New York. They were last seen getting into a taxi-cab. April cuts to a police spokesman, who offers the advice to all rich men to take the train. After the report, the Turtles grab their weapons and head out to try and put things right. They are soon racing through the streets in the Turtle Van. When Leo tells Donatello that they are looking for a taxi-cab, Don says he’ll need to be more specific. All around them are dozens of taxi-cabs.
Leo then specifies that they are looking for cabs of a suspicious kind. Mikey calls out when he spots what he considers to be a suspicious looking cab. The Turtles stare in shock at the name of the cab – Honest Shred’s Cab Company. At the wheel is a Footbot and he is in the process of picking up a fare. Leo says they should have guessed that Shredder would be behind the criminal caper. Don thinks that Shredder is kidnapping the businessmen for ransom money. Knowing what they need to do, Don begins steering through the crowded streets as he tries to follow the cab.
Leo urges Don to go faster because they are losing the cab. It gets through an intersection, but the traffic is so bad, the Turtles can not keep up. Then Don spots some road construction, where two planks are propped up on a metal box. He tells the others to stay cool and hand on to their shells as he drives the van up onto the planks and sends it soaring over the cross traffic. They land with a thud and spot the cab heading over a bridge. The bridge begins elevating and Leo shouts that they’ll never make it across, but Don drives up the rising bridge anyway.
He makes it to the opposite side and receives compliments from the other Turtles. Remaining in hot pursuit, they see the taxi drive into an old, deserted garage. The Turtles decide to follow it in and Don steps on the gas. Suddenly, Mikey yells that the entrance the cab went through just closed. Don doesn’t even slow down and rams the van right through the garage door, surprising Shredder and his minions. Standing on a platform on the second level of the garage, Shredder shouts for his followers to stop the Turtles. Footbots charge at the oncoming van, but Don runs right over them. He brings the van to a stop and the Turtles pile out to face Shredder, who is walking down the stairs. Shredder tells them to prepare to be flattened and the Turtles turn to see several taxi-cabs racing towards them.
Mikey leaps aside and just misses being hit by a cab. Don jumps up to grab a railing and avoid being smashed by a cab that Rocksteady is driving. Leo and Raph are running side-by-side as a cab prepares to run over them. Raph does a quick flying backflip and lands on the hood of the cab. He reaches out and wrenches the driver’s door open, tosses the Footbot out, and gets in behind the wheel. Raph then swings around to pick up his brothers, who clamber on top of the cab.
Raph proceeds to drive the cab likes he’s in a demolition derby, sideswiping other cabs and ramming into some of them. Cursing the Turtles, Shredder makes a beeline for an empty taxi. Leo see him and warns his brothers that Shredder’s joining in. They decide it’s time to do the Turtle-split and separate. Mikey lands on the driver’s door of a passing cab and reaches in to turn the wheel, crashing into other taxis. Raph rams the cab driven by Bebop and sends the warthog flying through the vehicle’s roof. Soon each of the Turtles has taken over a cab of his own and line up side-by-side. They’ve managed to take out every cab except the one driven by Shredder.
Shredder drives by and sideswipes Raph’s cab before swinging his car around to face off with the Turtles. Leo tells the others to be ready to move when he says. Shredder stomps on the gas pedal and races towards them, but at the last minute, Leo gives the order to split. The Turtles cabs veer to the side and Shredder smashes into the wall and plows right through it.
Though Shredder manages to escape, the Turtles locate his captives and set them free. Mikey tells Raph that he enjoyed driving the cab and might stop being a Hero Turtle and become a taxi driver instead. Grinning, Raph replies that it’s only ‘fare’ to warn him that he wouldn’t get a pizza-munching break. Mikey counters by thanking him for the ‘tip’ and says that on second thought, working without pizza would be far too ‘taxing’.