Chapter 1

She wasn't usually the one to get tired this late at night, but tonight was exhausting. It had been non-stop from when she opened the bar till when it closed and she only just got a chance to have a break. She watched as the last customer came over to the counter and left his now empty glass on the bench, he thanked her before walking out into the dark night. Tifa Lockhart watched as the last customer left the bar for the night. She waited until the doors closed before she grabbed a cloth and started cleaning; she walked around the bar and grabbed the spray bottle before she went to the fist table.

In the far corner of the bar sat two little orphans who lived at the bar with Tifa. There was a little girl who had her dark brown hair in a plat behind her which was tied up in a nice pink ribbon. Across from her sat a boy with blue eyes and scruffy light brown hair. They both were completing their homework together before the weekend began.

"Come on guys, time to clean up your books and go to bed." Both children looked up at their mother figure as she walked over with the cloth and spray bottle. Both the children nodded with their sleepy eyes and slowly began to pack up. Tifa place her cleaning products on a table nearby and helped the two put the books away. Marlene and Denzel had stayed up very late so they could enjoy their weekend, Tifa wouldn't normally let them stay up past their bed time but they had insisted. They also wanted to stay up and welcome Cloud home from his deliveries.

She looked over to Marlene who was rubbing her eyes with a yawn as she packed up her books. Tifa was glad to have her living with her. She was always cheerful and wanting to make the family happy during the rough times. But it saddened her that she couldn't be with her own family, even though her parents had died years ago in an attack up at Corel when she was younger. Her father's friend Barret was happy to take her in as his own. As much as he loved her, he had to help with finding a new energy source for the planet, he had to leave her in Tifa and Clouds care.

Marlene finished putting her books away before looking up to Tifa. "Cloud said he'll be home before we went to bed. Is he ok?" Tifa would usually panic if someone was later than she was told, but this was Cloud. He doesn't even come home some nights.

"I'm sure he's fine. I'll stay up and wait for him, ok." Marlene nodded and started to yawn just like her adopted brother Denzel. "You two have had a long night. Off to bed." Instead of getting the usual protests they both obeyed and walked towards the stairs behind the counter that lead to their rooms. Tifa watched until they were gone before she began cleaning again. Cloud did promise to be home for tea. But sometimes delivering packages around the planet does take more time than expected. She will have to wait till the next morning before she called him. She had to finish cleaning before she went to bed.

Tifa woke with a start. She quickly sat up and listened to the noses of the night to try and hear what had woken her. After a while of hearing nothing, she sighed in relief before lying back onto her bed. She looked over to her night stand at the clock. It read 4:00 in a bright green colour. She moaned before rolling her back to the clock. That was when she heard a rustling coming from the hallway connecting to the bedrooms. She slowly got out of bed with a yawn and put her gown on before opening the door to two bright blue glowing eyes and blonde spikey hair.

"You're late." She said with another yawn. The man before her rubbed the back of his head with his hand.

"Yeah," was all he replied before they both went silent.

"Both the kids stayed up for you, I…" She stopped there as she looked to the ground.

"I'm sorry," was all he replied before walking off. He stopped at the children's room and watched them before heading to his own room, shutting the door behind him. Tifa stood alone in the hallway watching the door that Cloud just went through. Tonight just wasn't her night,

She turned around and went back into her bedroom. She looked out the window into the night and watched as some small cars drove past the entrance of the bar. Maybe a little morning run won't hurt. She quickly got dressed and left heading out the door.

Elsewhere

It was the darkest of the night in the city of New York. Most of the streets were empty and just the sound of the occasional police car driving through the streets could be heard. This was the time and place that most people tried to avoid. It wasn't safe this late at night; it's when all the criminals come out to 'play'. But this night was perfect for four brothers that hardly got to see the sky and lived in the sewers. They jumped from rooftop to rooftop as they played a game of ninja tag and raced across the buildings with laughter.

But it wasn't all fun and games for these four brothers. They have to watch out for their enemies such as Bishop and Stockman. Their previous enemy was defeated when they combined their strengths with themselves from other galaxies. His name was the Shredder and he was the worst enemy they had encountered in their whole life.

Two of them came to a stop on one of the buildings to regain their breaths. "And as always, the Battle Nexus Champion wins again!" The youngest of them shouted at his three brothers whilst they caught up. All his reply was a slap across the back of his head from his second oldest brother. "Ow!"

"Come on Mikey. You only won 'cos ya gave yourself a head start." The one with the red mask countered as he waited for the other two brothers to catch up.

"You're just jealous Raph," Mikey shouted as he looked over to the other two brothers. They both landed side by side just in front of Mikey and had a stretch. "And Leo's last again." Mikey cheered as he sat with his legs crossed and pulled out a packet of potato chips.

"I guess I must be getting slower," Leo replied. It was sort of true, he has been last the last couple of runs but it wasn't because he was getting slower. Ever since the battle with the Shredder in space he has become over protective of his brothers. He likes to run behind them and have them all in his sight as much as possible. The battle left them all badly injured and he still blamed himself even after visiting the 'Ancient one' many months ago. He sighed as he snatched the chips away from Mikey before he could have a chance to eat them. "And these aren't what ninja's should be eating whilst training."

"Aww, come on Leo, Just one packet." Leo crossed his arms and looked at his younger brother.

"Listen to your brother Mikey. I'm not in the mood." The one with the purple mask said.

Mikey looked up to his other older brother, "Not you too Donnie." Don just shook his head at Mikeys complaint before looking over the edge of the roof.

"It's awfully quiet tonight." Don murmured as he walked back over to the other brothers

"Well they're probably scared of the 'Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles'!" Mikey yelled with his arm high in the air.

"Mikey. I thought I told you not to call us that." Don mentioned as he walked to the other side of the roof tops for look.

"I hate it when it's this quiet. I've been meaning to kick some shell for ages." Raph groaned as he watched Don walk around the roof. "Whatcha lookin' for Don?" Don continued to look off all the edges.

"I've been meaning to find a new Ethernet cable for the lair; our last one got busted beyond repair by Mikey and his skateboard." Don walked back over to the group shaking his head.

"Sorry bro'. But it was pretty funny." Don just ignored Mikeys comment.

"I'm ready to move when you are, there's nothing here." Leo nodded.

"Ok, let's head back to the lair." And with that all four turtles ran out into the night.