Hi everyone! Well this is my first fanfic so I'm very excited and a little nervous too, but I have been enjoying the TMNT fics so much that I decided to write my own! I hope you enjoy it, please R&R, it would be greatly appreciated! :)

Disclaimer: Unfortunately I do not own the turtles, this is all for fun, not money, and yaddi yaddi yadda, and shame on anyone who tries to sue me... I have no money, so it wouldn't even be profitable. This disclaimer applies for the rest of the chapters!

ENJOY!

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The Mysterious Affair at NY

Chapter 1: A clumsy thief

The city that never sleeps was unusually calm that night. You could hardly see anyone on the streets, except for the occasional yellow cabs that even on a night like this could not be missing from the landscape of what was New York. It was nearly two o'clock in the morning, and the chilly October night had driven all of the inhabitants of Manhattan indoors. No one was on the streets. No one, except for four shadows that leapt from rooftop to rooftop, unbothered by the cold blows of air that every so often tickled their necks. They were, after all, cold-blooded creatures.

Our beloved heroes were out, as usual, "saving the weak, and standing up for justice", as Mikey would so eloquently put it, often earning a head slap from one of his brothers (usually Raph, unless he was out of smacking-distance). Tonight, however, seemed to be a rather slow one, as even the relentless Purple Dragons were taking the night off.

" 'Crime never sleeps' my ass" grunted Raphael, who was all the more irritated since he was looking forward to bashing in some heads tonight, an activity that he hadn't had a chance to enjoy for almost a week now, since Casey came down with a cold that kept him in bed. Not that Raph couldn't go out alone, but his human friend had decided that the best way to recover from a simple flu was to get hammered every night, as that was the only thing he could do to combat boredom while staying in bed, something that April insisted upon. However, Casey's first rule of getting drunk, according to his Twenty Rules on Alcohol, stated that "Thou shall get inebriated in company, if at all possible". Hence, Raph had spent the past five nights with Casey, four of which he could barely remember. Tonight however, Raphael finally decided that he needed to take a break from the constant hangover and the headaches, as he suspected that he was getting dangerously close to alcohol intoxication.

"Well, I suppose we should be glad that it's quiet night and no one is in need of a rescue…" Michelangelo muttered, with a hint of disappointment discernible from his voice. They had reached the West side of Manhattan, and could now see the water from the corner of 42nd and First.

"Guys, it's not always about the fight, we must also train to develop our agility, speed, and stealth, and this is a perfectly good night to be practicing all that! Master Splinter always says…"

"Guys, I think there's at least one bad guy who decided not to take the night off!" Don interrupted Leo's sermon, as he gestured for the others to come to the other side of the roof. Leo seemed a bit resentful about being cut off, but he couldn't hide the smile that was playing at the edge of his lips. After all, they needed to practice their fighting techniques as well.

He walked over to the side of the roof where Raph and Mikey were looking intently in the direction where Don was pointing. "Isn't that… the United Nations building?" asked Leo surprised.

"Mmhmmm…" nodded Don, as he was staring intently at one window on the third floor, through which the turtles could see a small ray of light cut through the darkness of the room. "Somebody is in there with a flashlight" he added.

"Dudes this is so cool! Do you realize that if we catch this guy, we could be International Superheroes who saved the world from some horrible fate? I bet somebody is secretly plotting to kill the president of a very, very important country… or trying to destroy the plans for world peace…or…or…"

"OR somebody could just be working late" interrupted Leonardo, cutting Mikey's wild ideas off.

"I don't know Leo" Don argued, "he is clearly using a flashlight. And it doesn't look like there's a blackout or anything in the neighbourhood…" Don was interrupted by a loud CRUSH coming from the room they were observing. The sound did not only startle the turtles, but apparently the man inside as well, who in his surprise dropped the flashlight from his hands, which seemed to have had enough at this rude treatment and decided to turn off.

"Well, if he's a thief, he's not a very good one at that" snickered Mikey. "I mean he is making more noise than Raph in the shower!"

"Mikey, I swear to God, if ya' don't shut the shell up, I'm gonna use YOU as a punching bag tonight!"

Before Raph could move from mere threats into action however, the turtles' attention was drawn again towards the UN building, where they could see a set of lights lighting up in what seemed to be a hallway leading to the room where the thief was still looking for his flashlight in the dark.

"Looks like we were not the only ones who had heard him" Leonardo stated. Indeed, they could see a couple of figures moving down the hallway. Apparently, the thief also heard them, as he stopped looking for the flashlight, searching in panic for a way out. "The only exit is through the door that leads to that corridor. He's trapped. Come on guys, we are not needed here, Security has it under control". Leo, Raph, and Don turned to head for home, when Mikey's loud gasp made them stop in their tracks.

"This dude is crazy!"

Indeed, the "dude", finding no other means to escape, was standing in the window contemplating the ground below him, whilst visibly struggling to decide between possibly breaking his neck and being caught. Finally, he must have opted for the former, as he turned around, crouched, held on to the ledge of the window, and slowly lowered himself. He stayed there for a couple of minutes, his body swaying in the wind, his hands holding on tightly to the window ledge, apparently struggling with himself on whether to let go.

"Not only clumsy but a coward too" Raph scoffed. "Ain't a Foot, that's fo' sure! Prob'ly some petty thief… not worth our time".

At that moment, the guards made their way into the room, and drew their weapons as they noticed the criminal who was still hanging from the window. This seemed to be the last push that the thief needed, as he released his grip from the window ledge in panic, and fell three stories, hitting the ground with a loud THUD.

"OUCH!" winced the four turtles in unison. They stared at the limp body that lay on the floor with a bit of concern. After all, he was clumsy, he was cowardly, and most importantly, he was a criminal, but still; he was a human being.

The guards leaned out of the window to see what had been of the suicidal criminal. Seeing him motionless on the floor, they said something indiscernible into their walky-talkies, before moving away from the window, making their way down the hall they came from. At this moment, the man on the floor suddenly got up, and bolted towards the dark alleys, limping slightly, but fast enough to be out of sight within the minute.

"What now, Fearless?" Raph asked, ready to start a chase that he knew would be too easy, but would still give him some butt-kickin' satisfaction.

"Let's get him. He may be a petty thief, but this was the United Nations building. We need to see what he was after". At that Raph's face lit up with an evil smile, and he leaped off the roof before any of his brothers even had time to react.

"Poor clumsy bastard" muttered Mikey, knowing what his hotheaded brother would do to the thief on the run, seeing that he was the first (and only) criminal he could get his hands on that night. "Then again, better him than me" he added, knowing that when Raph couldn't fight off the tension built up inside him, he was more likely to beat up his baby brother for his pranks.