One Man's Junk

                                    

                                          
        ~Normal POV~
     "Hmm, you know, this little shop reminds me of one of my first meetings with you guys. If I recall, I told you guys to make a paper shop," I hummed at the sign that read 'Mystic Metal Merchants' before walking further in and closing the cardboard door.
     "I don't know about this plan," Raph commented as he squinted back at us. "If we want to find the last pieces of the Dark Armor, shouldn't we be out there chasing down rumors and shaky leads?" I sat on the desk that Leo sat behind with his feet propped up beside me. It took everything in me to not test if he was ticklish.
     "It's called crowd-sourcing, Raph," Donnie fidgeted with his goggles with a smile. "Why bust our own humps--"
     "When there are thousands of yokai in the city who can bust their own humps for us?" Mikey finished his brother's sentence. "They schlep their scraps to us, and we just chillax here and see if any of it is a part of the Dark Armor."
     "Okay, I do like the laziness angle, but I'm not taking sides. . . yet," Leo leaned further back in the chair, toppling over when he went too far. I was fidgeting with the mask Donnie had made me, turning it back and forth in my hands, sometimes squishing the foam on the inside.
     Light peaked through the cardboard as the door opened. "Ooh! A seller!" I clipped my mask into place at Mikey's sudden exclamation. My face was cloaked as a small man hesitantly stepped into the unsteady shop.
     "See what happens when you give our ideas a chance, Raph?" Mikey smiled cockily as he pointed to the small male at the door. I couldn't quite tell if he was a human or a yokai, maybe just someone who wanted money.
     The man walked to the front of our little shop, placing a brass box on the table, flicking up the lid beside me while Donnie pulled his goggles over his eyes and leaned down to examine it. I peered down as well, seeing it was a fidget spinner, nothing special about that.
     "Excuse me," Donnie slammed the box shut, brows furrowing as he looked at the man. "we are a reputable fly-by-night organization," the man bolted out of the shop with Donnie following close behind. "How dare you bring this worthless garbage in!" he shouted after the man.
     "Aha! Epic plan fail!" Leo snickered as we watched the man flee the angry turtle. My eyes caught another figure headed our way. Donnie and Mikey did a good job putting up posters, I took it.
     "We haven't failed yet," I turned Donnie's head by his chin to the yokai running towards us. The other turtles turned in suit.
     "The glow on that piece is off the charts!" Donnie peered through the goggles to the item the yokai was running with.
     "Told ya, Raph," Mikey bragged again. "Dark Armor, here we--" a truck horn cut off Mikey's cheer. The one and only Repo Mantis circled the small yokai sticking his head out the window to shout at him.
     "Hey! You owe me money!" the tow anchor shot out, knocking the box out of the yokai's hand and into his claw. "Now we're square!" he took off laughing.
     "No!" Mikey cried dramatically at the fading truck.
     "Repo-stinkin'-Mantis?" Donnie stomped over and kicked over one of the cardboard signs and I gently placed a hand on his arm in an attempt to calm him a bit.
     "We know where he's headed," I offered a smile as I spoke softly to him. "And we know he's greedy. Think of it, we trick him into thinking we're loaded and we go there and trade our 'money' for the metal," I suggested a plan of my own.
     "You know, you are so smart," he smiled down at me and I felt my heart flutter at the compliment. We got in the Tank and Donnie drove us there while everyone lounged in their own seats. I leaned over the driver seat, lightly messing around with Donnie's goggles, trying not to distract him too much so he could keep his eyes on the road.