Author's note: This is CM, the author of this fantastical little story, but not the owner of anything TMNT. The only thing I lay claim to is Emily Fredricks.

Well….enjoy!

There was something beautiful about the light of a streetlamp fading into the night sky above Manhattan. It was beautiful enough to intrigue and to inspire. It was beautiful enough to make her want to paint it every night.

It also helped that it sold for nearly a thousand dollars a pop.

The nights were just beginning to chill as she sat out on her roof, a slender paintbrush held delicately in her equally slender hand. She saw cross legged on a bench, her jeans a light stony wash, her sweater a plush violet. Her strawberry blonde hair was twisted up at the nape of her neck, pulled away from her pale, heart shaped face. Her hazel eyes danced all over the canvas in front of her, looking for anything she missed from the view in front of her. She heard a few rustles to her right.

The rooftops were usually silent at that time of night, so she glanced to her right to investigate.

Shadows moved against the dark rooftops around her, but she paid no mind. Probably a bird or a cat. She turned back to the painting when she heard a thud behind her. She turned quickly and saw that the shadows were in fact people running around in black pajamas with red sashes and black masks.

"Who are you?" she asked, her voice rising in shock.

The pajama men did not respond as they rushed around her rooftop. Her painting was knocked over behind her as she watched them scurry around silently.

"Get back here, you little cowards!" a hearty male voice called from a rooftop in the distance. The pajama men reacted frantically, drawing weapons out of the folds of their clothes.

She searched for the voice, looking into the darkness behind her rooftop. She could see and hear nothing, but the men around her must have seen something she didn't, because they began to panic even more. One of them grabbed her from behind, one strong arm snaking around her waist while the other pressed a knife to her throat.

When all the pajama men had drawn their weapons, they stood still. Out of the shadows, she saw four figures approaching. Large and well built men with packs on their backs ran over the roofs, metal glinting in a few of their hands.

"Help!" she cried. She didn't know who was approaching, but they seemed to be a better alternative than the pajama men.

The approaching men slowed down slightly as they entered into the lights of her roof.

They were not the men she had predicted. They were tall and muscular, though. But they were green and the packs she had seen on their backs were shells. The four figures slowly spreading out across her rooftop were giant humanoid turtles.

In her shock, her brain automatically began to think like an artist, picking up every minute detail. Each of the things had a colored bandana tied around its face. The farthest to the left was the smallest, standing a few inches shorter than the others, and was clothed in orange. Hanging from his hands were a pair of polished wooden nunchukus. She had seen enough movies to identify them. The next to the right was slightly taller and the thinnest of the group. There was a purple cloth across its face and a long staff in its hands. The next was nearly the same height but better muscled. It carried two swords and wore blue across its face. The farthest to the right was the bulkiest of the group and had the darkest skin. Its face was covered by a red bandana and it carried two sais.

She was more terrified of them than the pajama men.

"Let her go." The blue bandana one spoke calmly to the pajama men.

The man holding her tightened his grip on her. She felt the cool of the metal bite into her neck, causing her to cry out a little in pain. The one with the purple bandana twitched towards her, but remained in its place. "She is an insurance policy for us. Now, return to us the package." A pajama man to her right called back out to the turtle-human things.

The blue bandana shook his head before he nodded to the three around him. They began to slowly inch forward, their weapons at the ready. The purple bandana one came towards her and her holder. "Let her go." It repeated. Its voice was softer than the blue bandana.

The knife was dug deeper in her skin and she felt her knees begin to shake and give out. The staff was thrust out faster than she thought possible and struck the man holding her. He let go of her, but the knife drug across her neck.

In shock, fear, and pain, she collapsed to the ground. The purple bandana's arms stopped her journey early, though, and held her against the warm hardness of its chest. She could feel the blood dripping and rolling down her neck, but she didn't have the sense of mind to reach her hand up to stop the bleeding.

Looking up at her catcher, she saw it had milk chocolate eyes, a defined eye ridge, scrunched together in worry, a strong turtle-like jaw, and a few freckle like spots on one cheek. "What are you?" she asked un-bashfully, beginning to feel lightheaded.

It chuckled slightly, pressing its cool hand to her neck, trying to staunch the bleeding. "That's a tad bit heard to explain. Suffice to say, my name is Don. I'm not going to hurt you, I promise. I'm here to help. My brothers will take care of the rest of the Foot. You'll be safe. Is this your apartment here, the one with the window?"

"Yeah." Her eyelids began to flutter as it picked her up and gently brought her into the window. It looked like there were now two green things above her as she felt her head hit the softness of her pillow. Just before she let her eyes close, she felt the cool, three fingered hands tending to her neck.

She heard quiet, masculine talking around her as her eyes began to strain themselves to open. She recognized the one closest to her head. It came flooding back to her what exactly had happened with the pajama men and the giant turtle men. Apprehension forced her to keep her eyes shut and just listen.

"She could be another Emily." An excited voice chirped from the corner. A pained grunt came from the other corner. "Okay, how about another April?"

"That's better, Mikey." The familiar, closer voice sighed. "She could also freak and go running to the tabloids. I'm sorry I took the risk."

A sigh from nearby. "Any of us would have done the same. We've had a good track record about exposing ourselves to the humans. Besides, we're supposed to be protecting this city, not letting women die at the hands of the Foot."

She finally worked up the nerve to open her eyes. Sure enough, the giant turtle things were standing around her bed. The purple bandana—Don, she remembered—sat just to her right. The blue bandana stood behind him. The orange bandana leaned against the wall to the right while the red bandana leaned against the wall to the left.

"She's awake." Don spoke to the others.

The blue bandana stepped around Don and smiled down at her. "Miss, my name is Leo. Are you feeling alright?"

She tried to nod, but that was painful for her neck. With a delicate cough, she prepared her voice to speak. "I think so. Thank you." Her voice was shaky with strain and apprehension.

Don cleared his throat slightly. "I put a bandage on your neck after it stopped bleeding. It should be fine and I doubt it will scar as long as you take care of it, miss."

"Kait." She said bravely. Don, Leo and the other two nodded slightly.

The red bandana stepped slightly away from the wall. "They aren't gonna leave her alone, Leo. They're gettin' desperate. After Em," his voice broke almost imperceptibly. "They've been tryin' to get any advantage they can. They know we'll try 'n protect her."

Leo's head sunk slightly. "Raph, I have to say that you're right." With a deep breath, he turned to look down at Kait. "Those men that tried to use you to protect against us, they are a clan of ninjas called the Foot. We have been fighting them for as long as we can remember. Lately, they've been trying to hit us closer to home. Because they might try to use you against us, at least for the mean time, one of us will be nearby every night. This is for your own protection, Kait."

In any other situation, she wouldn't have believed a word he was saying. But because it came out of a giant turtle's mouth, she decided he was probably telling the truth. "I understand." Her eyes travelled around the four turtle men standing in her room. She was apprehensive, but deep down she knew if they had wanted to hurt her, they had plenty of opportunities to, and they hadn't done anything to even try and hurt or scare her.

Leo nodded and started walking towards the window Don had brought her inside through. The Raph and the orange bandana, who Kait assumed was Mikey, followed. Don looked down at Kait with a mask of nervousness over his face. "Kait, as you can tell, we don't quite fit in around here. And we're trying to keep ourselves off the human radar. I know you don't really have a reason to trust us, but we are putting our trust in you to not tell anyone about us. Please."

Kait worked up a small smile for her savior. "Of course. I doubt anyone would believe me anyways. They'd probably think I was using too much turpentine."

Don scrunched his eyebrows together in confusion as he too left her apartment through the window, sliding it shut behind him.

In her now empty room in her empty apartment, the gravity of what happened finally hit Kait and she began to cry quietly.

AN: Welcome back to the twisting, turning, gut wrenching, heartfelt story of the Hamato family! Since this is the sequel to Underdog, and since the vote during that story wanted to keep Emily, she is still in this story. Some of you may just be a little mad at me about how she's in it…..

In the meantime, comments are appreciated so I can make this story better.

Thanks for reading!

-CM