A/N: This first Chapter is from a broad perspective. The next chapter will be more focused on the perspective of the Turtles.

Chapter One: What happened that night.

The clock had barely struck midnight in New York city and the pounding rain was swallowing the sounds of the city, (what little sound there was to be heard that night) and the turtles were all set to call it a night.

"Come on Raph!" Michelangelo shouted from the opposite rooftop, the impatience clear in his expression. "I'm starving and there is a jelly bean and anchovy pizza pining for me at home, there's no action tonight!"

"And it's raining!" Donatello added, both turtles shouting at their brother who was standing at the edge of his own rooftop, looking down at the abandoned industrial building across the street.

Raphael wasn't listening to either of them, his focus was evident as he narrowed his eyes to see a little better through the rain. There was something moving over there, he was certain of it. After a moment or two of ignoring his brother's shouting he pointed down to the street.

"Right there!" Raphael exclaimed as he jumped from the ledge. His brothers looked down to see what he had gone running for.

A young woman was running from several men into the street. She was bare foot, wearing a soaked blue hospital gown, and from the look of her muddied calves she had been running for a while. The men that chased her were wearing lab coats and from the way they seemed out of breath indicated they were not used to a lot of physical activity. Before either Mikey or Donnie could alert Leonardo, Raph was already on the men chasing her. It didn't take much to knock them down and once the last one hit the pavement he sighed in annoyance. Mikey was right, there was no action at all tonight. He thought they would at least put up a fight. He turned around to check on the girl and noticed now that she hadn't even stopped running.

"Hey, whoa! You can stop now!" He insisted gruffly as he jumped into the air and landed in front of her. Thinking she would notice him and stop, but was bumped instead once she ran right into him. The girl fell back into a puddle and Raphael was taken aback when he finally got a good look at her. There were bandages wrapped around her head to cover her eyes.

"Leave me alone!" The girl shouted as she scrambled back to her feet. Raphael's brothers caught up now and seemed both surprised and relieved to find that the girl couldn't see them. Even if she wasn't blindfolded, her long raven hair appeared to

"Don't worry. No one is chasing you anymore." Leonardo said cautiously.

The girl whipped her head around in his direction, "who are you? do you work for them?" she asked frantically.

"We don't work for anyone," Donatello tried to assure her, "why were they chasing you?"

"Can you get me out of here?" She pleaded, reaching over and unsteadily grabbing Raphael's arm, trying to focus on one of them. "Please? I'll tell you anything you want to know, but I can't stay here!"

The turtles looked at one another, but before any of them could utter a word there were shots fired around them. The girl screamed and without missing a beat, Raphael picked her up and tossed her over his shoulder to keep her from the blasts. While the turtles were trying to find the source of the blast, the girl was swiftly lifted from Raph's shoulder and pulled into the air. She gasped and immediately panicked, kicking and wriggling to get away from whatever had grabbed her.

"Boxmen!" Mikey called out while he pointed at the giant mutant fly that was trying to carry the girl away.

"Come on!" Leo ordered as he began to jump for the rooftops in order to save the girl. The others followed after and one in particular looked rather motivated. Raphael was already annoyed, but now he was angry at himself for allowing the girl to be taken right from his arms. That was just humiliating and he wasn't going to let it stand.

The hot tempered turtle ran ahead of the others and jumped off the ledge to grab at Stockmen's legs, getting carried along with them, but trying to drag him down.

"Drop her stockboy!" Raph demanded.

"It's ZZSSTOCKMEN!" The mutated man insisted with a slight buzzing noise at the end.

"Raph! Hang on!" Leo shouted from the rooftop below them.

Unfortunately, Leo was a little late with his plea as Raph swung his feet forward and kicked Stockmen in the gut. Leo and the others saw this and panicked a little. Raph and the girl weren't exactly in the right position to be struggling for a getaway. Stockmen lurched in pain and lost his grip on the girl. Raphael made to fall after her, but was grabbed quickly by the mutants large pincher and hurting his arm.

The other turtles made a quick dash for the girl, but she was falling faster than any one of them could reach her. Their eyes widened in horror as they were forced to watch her fall. Raphael panicked and took one of his Sai, thrusting it up against the pincher that held him and stabbed Stockmen's mutated hand.

"Gahhzz!" Stockman exclaimed in pain, dropping the turtle at once.

Everything was happening so quickly, but Raphael swore he could reach her. He outstretched his uninjured arm to grab for her.
"Reach out!" he shouted in a panic. She may not have been able to see, but she could surely hear him right?

She did as he ordered at once, unable to properly think as she felt herself falling. With barely time to plead for help, the long raven haired young woman landed in the alleyway beneath them. Raphael could hardly believe it as he landed on the ground, his eyes wide as he stared at the girls body. She had landed in a pile of garbage bags, but it didn't do much to cushion her fall.
He found that his feet would no longer listen to his body. The girl wasn't moving and from what could be seen of her face, she was unconscious. The bandages that initially covered her eyes had loosened and they had begun to soak up a little of the blood that slowly trailed from her head. He let her get taken and he had caused Stockmen to drop her. To actually see this girl bruised and broken because of his mistakes had shaken the teenage ninja. It wasn't until Leonardo landed beside him that Raphael even flinched.

"Raph!" Leo shouted in concern, trying to get his brothers attention before he rushed over to check on the girl.

Raphael's feet were heavy and he could feel his hands shake a little, but he was still unable to take his eyes off the girl. Everything seemed to happen outside of time now. His brother's voices muffled as if they were speaking to him through glass.

"-ph! ...Raphael!" Donatello's voice finally began to register and Raphael shook his himself mentally, and tore his eyes from the girls body for a moment to look at Donnie.

"Wh-what?" Raphael responded in a removed sort of way. He didn't even feel like he was there with them. His mind was stuck on only one thing. This was his fault. He made a mistake and now this girl was broken.

"She's alive!" Leonardo shouted. He had his hand on the girls neck while he checked for her pulse. "Donnie! Come and help me." Leo ordered now while he and Mikey did their best to remove the garbage bags that had toppled onto the girls arm. Donatello turned on his heel to help, but Raphael grabbed his shoulder without a word to stop him.

"I'll get her!" He snapped; surprising his brothers and causing them all to pause in their actions. Raphael brushed past them all and insisted on carrying the girl. He was sure to be careful since it seemed her right leg was bleeding a little and looked severely bruised. His brothers watched in a mild fascination as Raphael held the stranger princess style without another word.

"We should take her to a hospital." Donatello suggested.

"If Shredder is after her...he might find her there." replied Leonardo, "For now...we'll take her back to the lair. Donnie, call April and see if she can come over and help us with her."

It didn't take long for Donatello to whip out his T-phone and call his "sweet princess." As they rushed back to the lair, he told April what had happened and asked for her assistance. No doubt because they would have to clean the girls wounds and it would be best to have another girl take care of that.

All the way back home, Raphael was sure to be careful. His rash behavior had already cost this girl such injuries and he didn't want to make it worse. He wanted to make up for it somehow. She had asked for their help and look where it landed her. All he could do now was make certain that she was not hurt again.