The wind blew hot and stale in New York City. A mixture of car horns and jumbled voices filled the air, while lights from street lamps and windows made the night look more day than night. All of it rested under a cold starless sky overhead.

But these details went currently unnoticed by Leonardo as he stood in a narrow ally, only a few feet from a tall, stone wall that marked the end of the narrow passage, and between him and the wall a figure crouched low, holding a canister of glowing, blue-green ooze and glaring at the blue masked turtle with dark green eyes.

Donatello's mutagen tracker had detected another canister, so the turtles had headed for the surface to find the it and bring it back to Don's lab for safe keeping and retro-mutagen experiments. But since Donnie's device was still being perfected, it had only given the general area the mutagen was in and the turtles had had to separate. Leo had been the one to find it, but he wasn't the first one to grab it.

The mutant holding the canister was very human-like in build, but its feature looked similar to those of some kind of canine. It wore a dark red, sleeveless shirt and faded jeans, with a few strips of cloth tied around its hands and elbows. Its skin was covered in light brown fur and dark brown hair surrounded two pointed ears and reached down just below its shoulders. Its lips were curled back to reveal two rows of quite large, and quite shape looking too, teeth, while low growls rumbled in its throat as it glared daggers into Leo's deep blue eyes.

The teenaged turtle shifted from one leg to the other, wracking his brain for what to do. On one hand, he could easily take this mutant down, grab the mutagen and be on his way. But on the other hand, this mutant didn't seem to want to fight and its growling sounded like more of a warning than a threat. Most mutants Leo encountered would attack first and not think twice about it, but all this one had done so far was just make angry faces at him.

Leo really didn't want to make another enemy. He and his brother had more than enough to worry about between the Kraang, the Foot Clan and the assorted mutant monstrosities that roamed the city.

Slowly, he raised his hands and started to speak in a quite but steady tone, "Listen, I don't want to fight you. I just want that canister you've got. The mutagen in it is extremely dangerous."

"Yeah, that's why I'm keeping it."

Leo was slightly surprised when the canine spoke. Not because he thought it couldn't, he had just been expecting another growl. The voice was definitely female so there was on mystery solved. But Leo still needed to get that mutagen from her and he hoped he could do it without a fight, "If you think I'm going to do something bad with it you would be very far from the truth, in fact you couldn't be further from the truth."

"Still ain't giving it to you."

Leo sighed, starting to become annoyed at this girl insisting on keeping the mutagen. "I don't have time for this, just give me the canister." Leo made a lunge for the mutagen, and was met by an angry bark followed quickly by a fist slamming into his shoulder, just above the rim of his plastron. He gasped in surprise at the force of the blow, and stumble back a few steps, glaring at the girl. She glared back with just as much malice and opened her jaws so all her teeth were exposed. Leo searched for an opening where he could grab the mutagen with getting bit and notice that the mutant girls' free hand was out in front of her, palm open and out, with long black claws replacing where fingernails would be on a normal human.

"This would be easier if you would just cooperate," he snapped and lunged again.

"Why do you want it so bad?" The girl asked as she jumped aside and flattened her ears. The look of anger hand been replaced by one of curiosity. "You obviously know this goo is bad news, so why would you want it?"

"That's none of your business," Leo growled and made another grab, witch was once again dodged.

"Finders keepers," the girl growled as she danced around Leonardo's attempts to get the mutagen from her. "I found this first so I get to keep it…oh shoot!"

Leo yelped as the mutant suddenly ran straight into him and shoved him behind a dumpster just as a ray of pink light flashed past, quickly followed by more laser fire.

"That's just great," Leo muttered. "Now I've got Kraang to deal with."

"Well, at least we have something in common."

Leo glanced at the girl and she grinned at him, "I can tell that you don't feel too kindly towards the Kraang, and I hate each and every one of those slimy brain blobs too."

Leo couldn't stop the small grin the formed on his face as the female mutant grabbed a trashcan lid that was nearby and threw it like a Frisbee at a Kraang droid, hitting it right between the eyes. "We appear to have a common enemy."

"Dang right we do," the girl ducked to avoid the laser bolt that shot over her head.

Leo glanced around the corner of the bin the two of them were behind, "Stay here and stay low." He reached for the katanas. The canine next to him scowled and started to speak again, but Leonardo was already heading for the Kraang, swinging his katanas with years of practiced skill and letting out a battle cry.

There weren't too many Kraang and Leo was able to make quick work of them. He smiled to himself and began to sheath his katana when the sound of another laser powering up made him spin around.

A brown blur flashed passed him and rammed into the final droid as large teeth tore into its shoulders and claws ripped the chest area into ribbons. Leo watched in a mixture of shock and amazement as the droid fell and the alien popped out, scurrying into the shadows. The female canine that had just attack stood up from the mangled form and smirk down at it, "It's 'bout time I got my claws into something." She turned back to Leo and her smirk faded to a worried frown. "Umm, you alright turtle-guy?"

"Huh, oh, yeah, yeah, I'm good," Leo nodded and put his katanas into their sheaths, wondering why the girl looked so worried all of a sudden. "How about you?"

"Peachey," she offered a small smile but her eyes darted from one direction to another as if she expected another enemy to appear out of the shadows. "So, like I said, we seem to have a common enemy."

"Indeed," Leo watched carefully as the mutant in front of him fidgeted. "You sure you're oaky ma'am?"

The girl made a sour face, "Ma'am? Oh please, I can't be much older than you, just call me Holly. And…" she hesitated and glanced over her shoulder. "I don't really like being…out in the open and on the street."

Leo sighed, giving a knowing smile, "Alright Holly, how do you feel about rooftops."

Holly grinned and nodded, "That I can do, just let me grab that canister."

Leo mentally kicked himself for forgetting about his primary focus. He briefly wondered if Holly would grab the canister and make a run for it.

He was greatly surprised when she picked up the canister and waited by a fire escape for him. Still, he watched her carefully as they climbed up to the roofs, thinking that still might try and bolt.

Once on the roof, Holly sat down with her legs folded under her and grinned up at Leo, "So, what's your name turtle?"

Leo sat in front of her, keeping one eye on Holly and the other on the glowing ooze between them, "I'm Leonardo."

"Like the artist?"

"Yes, like the artist."

"Cool," Holly's tail started to wag back and forth across the roof and she leaned forward slightly. "So, what's your connection to the Kraang?"

"They are an alien race form another dimension that want to take over the planet, what more reason do I need?"

"Really, we have a lot more in common than I thought. That's why I'm fighting 'em to." Leaning back, Holly grabbed up the mutagen and held it up. "That's why I'm collecting these, the less the Kraang have the better. Most of what I've got I stole out of their warehouses but, as of late, I've been finding them all over the place. Weird ain't it?"

"Um, yeah," Leo shifted slightly as a new thought entered his mind. What if Holly was a result of the mutagen spill? Was she was a victim of his failure to properly lead his brothers? He had hoped the Squirrlanoids would be the last new mutants that came about because of the mutagen spill, but Holly could very well be another result. And what if she hadn't been a wolf her whole life, what if before the mutation she was… "Hey, how did you end up like…you know…this," Leo gestured at Holly.

She looked down at her self and gave a small half smile, "Funny story actually, one I don't really want to relive at the moment. Let's just say that Kraang didn't take to kindly to me spying on them and when they grabbed me well…stuff happened and what happened next resulted in…" she gestured to herself. "But hey it worked out alright. Thanks to this wolf form I've been able to get a lot of intel, so how about a trade!"

"Wha-" Leo found himself leaning back on his arm to keep from falling over as Holly jumped up to four legs and suck her muzzle inches from his face. "What kind of trade."

"You want this mutagen, right? And we both want to stop the Kraang, right? So here's what I was thinking. I give you the canister and we form a pact. You contact me when you want some information on the Kraang and I'll dig it up for you. Except for TCRI, that place got blown to bit a little more than a month ago. Not to mention security is real tight 24/7."

"Um," Leo hesitated. "No offence, but I just met you Holly. How do I know you are trustworthy?"

Holly's expression fell and she leaned back again, "Oh, right, trust…that's a big thing ain't it." Her ears drooped slightly.

Leo felt a small pang of sympathy but did his best not to let it show, "Tell you what, meet me at Dragon Gate tomorrow night. I'll bring my team and we can talk more then."

"Team?" Holly's ears perked back up. "You mean, there are others like you?"

"Yes, four in all," Leo stood and offered a hand to Holly, which she took, and helped her stand. "Tomorrow night, midnight, Dragon Gate, got it?"

Holly nodded, "And in the mean time, you can have this." She held the mutagen canister out to Leo. "My store room for mutagen is getting a bit…crowded."

Leo took the mutagen and smiled at Holly, "Thanks."

"No problem, see you tomorrow night," a mischievous grin spread over her muzzle. "Leonardo Da Vinci." With a laugh, she ran off into the night.

Leo chuckled at the joke and started to make his way to the meeting spot he and his brothers had established before separating.

He wouldn't deny it, a new ally would be a big help. And a new ally with knowledge about the Kraang would be an even bigger help. But he couldn't allow himself to trust her too quickly.

First he wanted to talk it over with Master Splinter, than he would consider granting Holly some of his trust.