The Storyline

Prologue

Many, many moons ago, long before Leonardo and his brothers had undergone mutation, Oroku Saki was an adult on the verge of becoming a wealthy and famous man in his city. He was like any other man at his age. He found comfort in his belongings, was amused by those around him – and even became fond of a certain woman he knew.

He remembers that life well.

His love for her was unlike anything he had ever felt before. Everything changed for Saki because of her. She seemed to understand him even though he said not many words in front of her. Just by looking at her, he already knew she was the one he was looking for – that someone he needed in life. Someone. Her. And he knew – for certain – that he was not wrong.

Nothing stopped them from being together. Soon, they decided to be together until death separated them. It was a happy night when Saki and Grace – that was her name – first went home after their wedding day. Saki had never been happier in all his life.

Soon, a baby boy with silken hair as black as his father's was brought into the world. His complexion was a pale white and felt softer than any feather known to the world. Grace and Saki were very pleased with him. There were no words to describe the feeling they had every time they held him in their arms. They called him Nicolae.

When Little Nicolae had turned two years of age and was well-educated and had eyes darker than midnight, another boy – identical to him – was born. He was a fragile thing and Saki remembered confusing him once for his Nicolae. Even for just a moment, the boys seemed like twins.

Yes, this was the happy life of Saki and Grace with their two sons, Nicolae and Damian. So for the time – months, years and whatever else – to come, they were a pleased and delighted family.

So when Nicolae turned a fair age of three years and Damian still on his first, a chain reaction started when four infant turtles and a certain container collided…

Chapter 1 – Fire and Ice

Conrad sees more than what is necessary after Ice sets a fire…

When the sun started to warm the air of New York City one late afternoon, no one could say this wasn't a lazy day for everyone. No one could go on for more than an hour without – stifling – a yawn. No other day could be so tempting to just stay at home, turn on the air conditioner and maybe take a nice catnap.

But that wasn't the case of Leonardo and his brothers.

With so many people occupied with their work and some others too tired to notice, Leonardo and his brothers had other plans for the afternoon. As the sun warmed the back of their necks and sweat dripped in fair amounts from their green foreheads, there was no other day – as perfect as this – to just jump from one rooftop to another going to April O'Neil's.

From the corner of his eye, Leonardo saw that Michelangelo was trying out some of his new goofy flips on the way. He was just in mid-chuckle when Raphael suddenly overtook him, jumping over his head.

"Man, all you guys are such slowpokes!" He called out, laughing.

"Cheater!" Donatello said in retort. "No one even called a race!"

And so, this went on and on until they arrived by April's window. Raphael dived right in, followed by Donatello. Michelangelo did a somersault in mid-air before hauling himself into the tiny room and Leonardo trailed after him a second after.

There were greeted by a very busy April. Her hair was not as neat as it was intended. She was counting a few suitcases on the floor. One remained open and the other three were stacked neatly against the corner of the wall.

Of course there was a reason for Leonardo and his brothers to intrude. They had promised to stop by and – perhaps – share a few farewells with April while she was going to visit her sister out of town. She told them it would only be a few days until she came back.

Michelangelo leaned on the window, smiling coolly. "Hey, April," he said.

April glanced at him wearily to return his smile then went over to the open suitcase, but Raphael beat her to it. With a playful smirk, he closed it for her. "What?" He grinned. "Hasn't Master Splinter always told us that fancy-schmancy be-a-gentlemen junk? I just thought I should be gettin' credit for this one just for now."

Tucking some stray strands of hair from her forehead, April smiled, taking the suitcase from him and settled it down with the rest. "Sorry for the mess, guys. Packing was sort of last-minute to me." She blushed slightly and then looked at Raphael. "Well, I'll be sure to tell Master Splinter what a great gentleman you were."

Donatello folded his arms across his chest with a smirk. "Yeah, Raph as a great gentleman…" He rolled his eyes for as far as Leonardo could see. "What an improvement!"

Leonardo chuckled, taking one of the suitcases while his brothers took another one each. "Hope you'll miss us, April," he said, unable to keep his voice from sounding sarcastic.

"Oh, I'll try." April grinned. "But I think it'll be hard…"

The van was already ready as they stacked the small – yet heavy – suitcases into the back of the vehicle and Raphael slammed the door shut. April, as if on cue, stepped into the driver's seat and waved them goodbye. Leonardo was in mid-wave when Michelangelo suddenly jumped on his shell, exaggerating his waves to April. "Get me something when you get back!" He yelled at top volume.

No one really knew what to say after watching the van drive off. They all watched as it turned into a black speck painted on the horizon and soon disappeared from their sight. It was soon going to be sunset and Leonardo – all of them – knew what that meant: television hour.

"Hey, guys?" Michelangelo's cracking voice suddenly made Leonardo snap out of his wandering thoughts. His littlest brother was the only one among the four of them who had his back now turned to the long, winding road. There was something in his voice that made Leonardo feel something wrong.

"What is it, dipstick?" Raphael asked without moving.

"Since when did April keep a baby fox at home?"

Leonardo blinked, his senses suddenly perking up more and more. A baby fox? "Mikey, are you sure you're not pulling a fast one on us?" He asked as he slowly spun around.

For a very brief moment, Leonardo expected to feel either cold water being hurled at them, or a blinding flash of light – or any of Michelangelo's pranks – but nothing happened. Instead of whatever practical joke Michelangelo had, there was a tiny brownish-orange tuft of fur, no larger than a plate, sitting on the one of the steps of stairs, cocking its head to side, staring at them.

It had a slender tail that swished back and forth, revealing a dipped-white color at the tip. It stared intently at all of them with its round black eyes, blinking in an odd rhythm, as its small pointy ears twitched from time to time. Indeed, this was a fox – a fox cub, to be precise.

Only when it blinked one more time and started licking its front paws did any one of them find the voice to speak.

"If April doesn't own it," Michelangelo said in a hopeful voice, "can we keep it? I've been trying to find Klunk a little playmate for some time now!"

Donatello shifted his position, looking ready to break into full sprint. "And if April doesn't own it, then imagine the surprise she'll get seeing one of those things in her shop."

Clearly, anyone could read what he was trying to say. Catch the cub and bring it somewhere far away from April's shop – simple and should be easy enough. To Leonardo, catching a mere fox cub was just child's play compared to everything else they've been through.

"Get it!" Raphael was the first to jump at it.

But animals weren't as dull as they seemed. When seeing what they were supposed to accomplish, the cub perked up and sprinted up the stairs at an amazing speed. Leonardo, Donatello, and Raphael followed it upstairs, eager to track it down for mere practice, but a reluctant Michelangelo kept trudging behind them, obviously in no mood to go fox cub hunting.

They followed the being up and down, across and back the shop. It was in fact hard to grab hold because of its small size but they enjoyed a challenge. But the challenge really began when it pounced on the table, knocking down a lit candle to the ground.

A small spark of flames was sent to the wooden floor and a fire quickly spread across the room, making the whole place feel warmer than ever. The whole room seemed to glow a fiery red and the fire licked and devoured the wood.

"Guys, the fox is getting away!" cried a distressed Michelangelo.

"It's not important now! We have to try and put this fire out."

And as if someone had heard them, a mass of white sticky component extinguished the flames until a fair amount of the stuff was on the floor – and on them. A small white fog started to rise and they coughed it out again and again. It stung their eyes and the smell wasn't of any help either.

"What are you?" came a voice from the fog.

Leonardo straightened himself out, waving the last of the fog away from him. He looked for the source of the voice and found a young man with a fire extinguisher in his hands, looking curiously at the four mutant turtles that so happened to be there at the moment.

And the young man's shoulder, the small fox cub sat with an innocent glint in its eyes.

"What are you?" the young man repeated without a change of tone in his voice.

Leonardo took the opportunity to scrutinize the young man. He had oddly-colored hair; majority of it was light brown, but he could see the thin outline of black. (Had he dyed his hair brown?) He wore a coat and tie, as if he had come from an office not too long ago. He had dark eyes that only light could be reflected from their blackness. Strange thing…Somehow his eyes were familiar. He didn't look much younger than any one of his brothers. Perhaps he was even a little older…

Leonardo wondered why he wasn't running yet. He wondered why he was still there, staring and wondering what they were – asking them questions totally impossible to answer in simple terms. But it was no illusion that the young man had paid no attention to his own wellbeing and simply stood there, rooted to the spot he had appeared from.

How could they just answer a question that was so hard to find an answer to? Leonardo didn't know if he should look at the young man straight in the eyes or take a glance at his brothers. He kept shifting his gaze from the man to the fox cub. So he owned it. And that was how it got here.

"We're…mascots?" Michelangelo said.

But the young man only shook his head, dismissively. "Forget I asked. There's no point in asking something that can't be answered anyway."

Leonardo cleared his throat, realizing he had been idle for some time now. "Sorry," he said, trying to find the words to say, "but I didn't expect such a brave remark. You sounded as if you weren't scared at all."

The young man shrugged, making the fox cub jump down to the ground and lay down at its master's feet. "I don't see why I should be freaking out. I've seen worse in my lifetime, trust me."

"We didn't exactly catch your name," Donatello remarked.

"Conrad. And you are…?"

"I'm Leonardo.

"These are my brothers, Donatello.

"Raphael.

"And Michelangelo, or just Mikey."

At their names being called, Donatello, Raphael and Michelangelo each nodded in recognition. There was something about this man that Leonardo already liked. They didn't get the tone full of fear or anxiety when he talked to them. He addressed them as if they were normal – normal human beings that belonged in the world.

Michelangelo stepped forward, taking a closer look at the fox cub. It retreated, clambering up to its owner's shoulder once more. Such nimble movements for such a young animal…

"That's a cool fox you've got there." Michelangelo grinned. "Where'd you get him?"

The cub started to lick its owner Conrad's neck as he replied. "Kind of a long story, honestly. I just found him with Liam a long time ago and the two of us have been together since." He laughed as the cub started to lick him vigorously as if recalling the memory of when he had been found. "His name's Ice. Named after the place where we found him."

A strong surge wanted Leonardo to ask who this Liam was but he felt that now wasn't the right time. They couldn't just push questions at Conrad so much, especially since after he just stopped a fire from spreading in April's shop.

"Thanks for stopping the fire, Conrad," Donatello said, as if reading Leonardo's mind. "April would have us murdered if she got back and found the place burned to ashes."

Conrad shrugged as he started to pet the little fox cub. It was only then when Leonardo saw a blue collar around Ice's neck. "It wasn't trouble at all." Conrad grinned. "Besides, April asked me to be in charge of her shop while she was gone." He looked up at them, his black eyes suddenly twinkling with a touch of mischievous guilt. "And it was Ice that started the fire…"

Ice was a very relaxed fox cub through Leonardo's short observations. He came when Conrad called him and never wandered off far from his owner. He seemed to take interest in the animal and found him very intriguing. Very intriguing…

Now that the trouble was all over, they had settled down in April's living room with the television on and each ninja turtle in his own position on the couch with Conrad volunteering to sit on the rug with Ice by his side.

"Sure is a hot day, isn't it?" Conrad asked when the commercials started, wiping his forehead with his sleeve.

Raphael switched channels and smirked. "With what you're wearing? I can't even imagine anyone wearing that in this heat wave…"

With a brief glance of himself, Conrad chuckled. "Yeah, you're right. But you can't help it if you're needed for an interview. They always want you to dress up." He smiled, gazing at the television screen without objection. "Enough about me, let's talk about you. You're ninjas, aren't you?"

Michelangelo flashed a thumbs-up, grinning. "The one and only teenage mutant ninja turtles!"

"How'd you tell?" Donatello asked.

"After seeing your weapons, it was…obvious, I guess. I'm just used to seeing a ninja with a weapon," he replied.

"Yeah, we get that a lot…" Leonardo said, making himself more comfortable on the couch. "I see you've done your homework, then. Not everyone says the word ninja first…"

Conrad seemed to faze out or it was just Leonardo's imagination. He noticed even for just a few brief seconds as he compared what a ninja was to his weapons, Conrad's voice seemed to just trail off. Was he thinking of something? And if he was, about what?

A sharp – yet uneasy – chuckle from Conrad made Leonardo know clearly that he was out of his short trance. He scratched the back of his head, looking rather sheepish. "Ah, yeah. There are a lot that carry weapons with them. Anyone could think you were a samurai or something…" He paused and then looked around. "Hey, where's Ice?"

Leonardo looked around him as well. They were so engrossed in talking to one another, no one had noticed the fox cub slip away on his own. Conrad suddenly jumped up, looking panic-stricken. Anyone could tell from his expression that he was deeply worried about his cub.

"Whoa, Conrad, we'll find him," Donatello said, noticing his stress. "April's place isn't what I'd call a perfect place for hide-and-seek."

Conrad looked around frantically. "I know," he said, "but it's Ice's collar. Liam and I promised never to let that cub out of our sight because of that collar!"

Leonardo approached Conrad and placed his hand calmly on his shoulder. Conrad wasn't much taller than him or any of his brothers even at full height. "Relax, Conrad. We'll find him. Now, what was in that collar of his that makes it so important for you and this Liam?"

Conrad sat down on the couch, sighing. "You see, when Liam – my brother – and I found Ice, he was already wearing the collar. Now, believe it or not, we found Ice when Liam and I were still ten. We noticed how Ice wasn't growing older and then sometimes we would find him wandering on his own and his collar was off. This collar is special – it means everything to me, Liam and even to Ice. If the collar is off his neck for more than twenty-four hours, then he'll die." He sighed. "I know I sound ridiculous, being so concerned for my fox cub and all, but Ice is the only thing that Liam and I share. We've had him for like seven years now. He's always been the bond Liam and I share. I just…don't want that bond broken now of all times…"

There was something in Conrad's voice in when he spoke of such that made Leonardo's spirits seem to falter. He couldn't understand how Conrad almost made him feel exactly what he felt. Nothing like it had ever occurred to Leonardo as possible.

Yes, he knew what it meant to be in such a bond with a brother. He should know – he had three others to share this sacred bond with. Leonardo could feel what Conrad was telling them. How he didn't want to break his and his brother's bond – so strong before but on the verge of failing them – to break as suddenly as it had started.

"Yes." Leonardo nodded, feeling determined as ever to help someone else. "I understand what you mean by the means of this bond…"

Conrad sighed. "Thank you…" He said. "I hope you didn't think I overreacted when Ice was missing…Anyway, we aren't certain that Ice already took his collar off. And if he did, we have twenty-four hours to put it back on him."