Chapter One

It was a clear night, with a brisk wind and few clouds to cover the moon. The moonlight illuminated the rooftops, casting shadows against alley walls that played tricks on the mind. Some tricks, though, were real. Four shadows lept across rooftops, clearing alleys easily, running at a steady pace. They followed a set route, patrolling main streets and side streets, looking for trouble. There was little crime activity in the area they patrolled, little cause for alarm. One shadow, the leader, was still on high alert. He never dropped his guard on patrol. Leonardo looked over his shoulder at his three shadow companions. Shadow warriors, ninja, the four of them, even if some didn't quite act the part.

One shadow was throwing caution to the wind and leaping off any available surface, caring little about his surroundings. Michelangelo did a splendid job of causing a slight ruckus, only muffled by the height and din of late-night traffic. The two other shadows, one stocky one lean, looked on in amusement. Donatello was glancing at the stars, a rare sight in New York City. Raphael was twitchy, anxious for a fight. He continuously scanned the streets, just as Leonardo did. He would never admit it, but Leonardo was always thankful for Raphael's tenacity. An extra set of eyes boring holes into the street was helpful.

Donatello sighed at the calmness of the night and looked up towards the sky once more. A few of the constellations he knew, and others he needed his star chart for. This was patrol, however, and so his chart was back at home, in the lab. Raphael sighed as well, this one in mock annoyance as he looked away from his reckless brother, down to the streets below, returning to his crime scanning. When he had a fight, he too could enjoy himself as much as Michelangelo was. He spotted a group of Foot ninja before even the ever-vigilante Leonardo did. The crisp night air must have woven a spell on Leonardo as well.

"Oi, Leo!" Raphael shouted. His brother glanced over his shoulder, sharp eyes cutting straight to the point without a word. "There's a group of Foot down there. Wanna rough em up?" Leo tried to hide his smirk – truth be told he was a little bored too. The streets were quiet and the night was calm, but his senses were on high alert and would not let him relax. On any other night he would sit on the edge of a rooftop, high above the city, and sit, close-eyed, taking in the calm. Not on patrol, though.

The Foot ninja were always a target on patrols. Whenever they took to the streets, it was to carry out a mission given by The Shredder, their leader. Leo glanced down at the group of ninja to gauge the size of the group and see what they were up to. They invariably caused trouble, but Leo felt he needed to keep an air of justice. Nothing was different about this encounter; the Foot were up to trouble as always. He nodded back at Raphael and smirked slightly at his brother's wicked grin.

"But be careful," he said. "I count a good ten ninja in that group. Whether these ninja are skillful or not, their numbers could overwhelm us. Rushing headlong into battle is not the best idea."

"Blah, blah, blah," Raphael replied. "I don' want the lecture, Leo, I want action!" He flipped off the roof, using fire escapes and awnings to guide himself to the bottom. At the bottom of the building, he landed behind one of the Foot ninja. Just as he was about to lunge, he stopped short. The Foot ninja were preoccupied by a creature – er, person? – standing in the center of their group. Raphael couldn't quite make out what the figure was. It looked human, but at the same time not. Perhaps it was a rogue Foot, or some type of junkie hunched over from a high. It seemed defensive, no matter what it was. There was a lighter, whiter area on its face, almost mask-looking, that stood stark against the shadowed figure. It was throwing him for a loop.

His brothers had made their way to his side by this point, and Leo gave the signal to hold back. Raphael had no objections this time; he was interested in what would happen. Tensing, he readied himself to intervene should it be needed. Leo watched, eagle-eyed, taking in every detail he could about both parties. Donatello fidgeted, analyzing the same details Leo was cataloguing, and Michelangelo gawked at the figure.

They were locked in a standoff: the figure waiting for the Foot, the Foot waiting for the figure. The brothers tensed in the shadows flanking the Foot, waiting for a sign. Something changed. An unspoken signal in the air caused the Foot to attack. The figure felt it too, and leapt skyward to avoid the onslaught. Flipping, they used their change in direction to land on the head of a ninja before. As they jumped away, the ninja grabbed the figure's ankle and yanked them down to the ground. They landed with a cry of pain and a loud thump. A strangled moan echoed off the alley walls as the ninja converged on the fallen figure.

Raphael leaned forward, readying himself to jump into the fray just as he asked Leo: "Now?" He barely waited for a response before catapulting into battle. One Foot went down, tackled by Raphael's weight. The other ninja were taken by surprise, pausing for a moment to take in the scene. It was only for a moment though. The Foot came to their senses and moved to battle, the remaining turtles moving to intercept. They were outnumbered, but they didn't care; there was someone in need of help, and this was the first action they'd had all night. Giddy anticipation chased away the fear, adrenaline coursing through their veins. A battle calm overcame Leo and Donatello, a joy took hold of Michelangelo, and Raphael turned vicious.

He lashed out with a fist, hitting the closest ninja square in the jaw, knocking him out. He swung out with his leg to kick the second to the ground. His heel came down on the ninja's stomach, the air escaping his lungs with an audible whoosh. Raphael moved further in as Leo slashed out with his katanas, slashing one Foot into retreat and parrying another's blow. He pushed the ninja he was locked in combat with away and cut him down swiftly. Michelangelo leapt over his opponent with a laughing war cry before striking the back of the ninja's head with his nunchaku. With the blade end Michelangelo dispatched two more, their bodies falling to the ground with a soft thump. His smile grew wider as he tried to block it out. Donatello followed Michelangelo into the fray, following his trail into the thicker part of the battle. He used his bo-staff to clothesline the first ninja that rushed him, spinning it to deliver a blow to the gut. Taking advantage of the momentum, he uppercut the last ninja, knocking him out cold.

While Michelangelo and Donatello worked over their assailants to ensure they were all incapacitated, Leo and Raphael reached the masked figure. They lay crumpled, dazed from their impromptu landing on the ground. They seemed nearly unconscious, curled in on themselves, unmoving on the ground. As the boys got closer, though, they realized the figure was awake enough to view them as a threat. They weakly threw some loose gravel at the boys, a snarl rippling through the air, warning the turtles to stay back. They heeded.

"Donnie, come over here when you get the chance," Leo called over his shoulder, his eyes never leaving the figure.

"Already here. Think the B team can't keep up?" he said. Raphael snorted, but Leo ignored him, turning the attention back to the more pressing subject.

"He's hurt, but not very responsive to us," Leo said. "He needs help. Think you can assess his state from here so we can move him without injuring anyone?"

"Uh, maybe," Donnie replied. "Though depending on the extent of the injuries he may need to be brought to a hospital. And I can tell right now he won't be willing to."

Another snarl broke through the atmosphere. "See?" Donnie quipped. Michelangelo had joined them by now and was standing uneasily next to Raphael, who crossed his arms and lifted his chin at the figure. He waited with little patience as Donnie circled the figure.

"He's definitely hurt, with a lot of damage to the ankle. The most damage seems to be on the back, but it's hard to tell. He's hunched so much I can't tell the dust from the injuries. There are a lot of them, too, but I need to get closer to see them clearly. He should be safe to approach; not much movement with that ankle."

Raphael wasted no time, striding over to the figure. He loomed above them, arms crossed and a frown set on his lips.

"You're hurt bad," he said, looking down at that white mask. The contrast between the dimmed face and the mask gleaming in the low light made it hard to make out much of anything about the figure. "Ya might 'ave ta come wit' us, and I suggest not fightin'. We're trained ninja, and betta than them Foot." The figure snarled back at him. They sure liked to snarl.

With a shrug, Raphael stooped down to move them into a better position for Donnie to assess the injuries. Suddenly, the figure lashed out with their leg – the injured one. It smacked Raphael across the face with a loud crack and knocked him into a sitting position. He rubbed his jaw, staring angrily at the mask.

"I ain't as injured as you think," the figure wheezed.

"Oh that's it! You're comin with us whether you like it or not!" He made to lunge for the figure, but Leo held him back.

"Raph cool it!" He looked at the figure closely. They certainly had an odd shape for a human.

"You don't look healthy. The way your back is bending is not healthy for a human. I believe you may have broken bones. You need to come with us, whether you think we're mutant turtle freaks or not."

The figure chuckled before devolving into a coughing fit. "You think I'm worried about that?" they said. "That's the least of my worries, that you're mutants. I am not going with you. Kindly back off before I snap your friend's neck."

"You're hurt," Donnie said. The figure lashed out, but he simply took a step back. "You need help; we're not going to let you just lay here with a broken ankle."

They glared at Donnie, then leaped to their feet and ran. Despite their injury they moved fast, but the farther away they got the more the brothers could see their hobble. Donnie looked at Leo with pleading eyes.

"Let's go," he said. "Follow him. His stubbornness won't get him far fast."

The brothers set out in pursuit, sticking to the shadows and steadily gaining on the figure. As they turned corners in an attempt to hide their tracks, the brothers leaped across rooftops and kept a steady eye trained on them. They spread out, so when one brother lost the figure, another would have it in their sights. By the time the figure ran out of steam and leaned against a wall to clutch their ankle, the brothers had surrounded them on the rooftops. The person was standing under a streetlight, the black marks on their mask standing out. For the first time the brothers got a good look at this mystery man. Or rather, mystery woman.

She had a distinctly feminine body, toned and curved in ways unlike the brothers' bodies. Something was off, though. Maybe it was just the dim yellow streetlight casting colors, but her skin appeared green, and yellow in some places. Then there was the question of that hunchback. Was it a hunchback? It almost looked like an oversized, oddly shaped travel backpack.

"Donnie, you see what I'm seein?" asked Raph.

"Yeah, I do," he said. "I noticed it earlier. The color, I mean. I thought it was just a trick of the light, but she looks…green. And what I thought was a spine injury looks like something else…"

"Like what Don?" asked Leo.

"A shell," he said, staring intently at the girl.

"Wait really?!" Mikey said. He lunged towards the edge of his rooftop, too far away for his brothers to pull him back. His sound and movement gave away their cover, and the girl looked up, startled. Before she could react, the brothers leaped down and encircled her.

"Ah hell!" she cried, scared by their sudden appearance. Her face turned from surprise to anger. "You followed me?"

"You're hurt," Donnie said. "We saw you hobbling, we know you need medical attention. Though, a hospital doesn't seem like such a good idea anymore. With you being, uh, a mutant and all."

She glared at him, fire burning in her gaze and making Donnie snap out of his scientific reverie to flinch and back up a bit.

"Yer comin with us," said Raph. "We have medical supplies to take care of dat ankle of yours. We ain't gonna hurt ya, so just come with us and we'll let ya go after."

"Or, ya know, you could stay with us for a while," Mikey said. He wiggled his brows at her. The look of disgust on her face said it all.

"I'm not going with any of you," she said finally.

"This isn't a choice anymore," Leo said. "You need to come with us, for your own safety. The Foot are after you and you're injured. It's not safe for you to be on your own right now."

A snarl ripped through the air between them. "I can take care of myself, and I can take care of the Foot." With that, she struck out, kicking Mikey in the gut, knocking the wind out of him, then twirling under Donnie's bostaff and using it as leverage to flip over his head. She knocked him down with an elbow to the head, then lashed out at Leo. His katanas slashed towards her, but she ducked out of the way and delivered an uppercut to his jaw. Just as she was about to run, two arms wielding sais trapped her between them.

"No escape now," said Raph. "So jus' come wit us."

"I don't think so," she said. An elbow embedded itself in Raph's gut, and a foot delivered a nasty stomp to his instep. He cried out and loosened his grip just long enough for her to slip out of his arms. The minute she was free, she took off down the street once more, her limp slightly more pronounced and her breathing echoing off the alley walls.

When the boys picked themselves up she was long gone.

They stood where they were for a little while, picking themselves up and regrouping. She had left no trace, disappearing into the night. Raph was staring intently down the alley, trying not to lose sight of the first turn he had seen her take, as Leo tended to Donnie.

"Yo dude," said Mikey. "What're you staring at? She ain't there boi."

Raph snorted. "Saw 'er take a turn up there. Don't wanna lose it."

"Ha! Raph's gotta cruuush!" He was rewarded with an elbow to the side as Raph huffed in annoyance.

"Knock it off you two," said Leo. "I think we're ready to move out. Raph, where did she turn?"

"Last alley before tha road."

"Let's go." The brothers ran down the alley, trying to pick up any trace of her, but there was nothing. No overturned trashcans, no grimy footprints, no clues as to which way she had hobbled. They took to the rooftops once more, hoping for some glimpse of the female turtle.

"We have to find her," said Leo. "She doesn't know what she's gotten herself into."

"And if we can keep a mutant out of the hands of the Shredder, we should," said Donnie.

"Right, keep looking."

After a few more minutes of leaping across rooftops and checking every alley they could see, the spotted her, hobbling along one of the darker alleys. She hadn't made it very far, but had taken a zig-zagged route in an attempt to confuse the boys. She kept looking around every few minutes, peering around corners, even glancing up to check the rooftops. She was a fast learner, it seemed.

The brothers stuck to the shadows, avoiding her wary looks. They looked to Leo for commands, waiting for the order to pounce. He shook his head, gesturing to encircle her on different rooftops. It was a pushing maneuver, one meant to corner her so she couldn't get away before they got their answers. She would have to be apprehended quickly, though. Even a cornered rat will bite the cat.

Fanning out, they began their maneuver. Four rooftops around her were covered, one turtle each, as they began to predict her path. A turn here, a double-back there, a glance down an alley that she took convoluted turns to get to. Her eyes and movements belied her intentions, and the brothers were soon able to see two turns ahead at times. Then, they cornered her. She began to see glimpses, figures in the night, flickering on the rooftops. It caused paranoia, as she took turns sooner or abruptly, backtracked and looped, all to try to shake the ghost of an image seen only on the edge of her vision. The brothers were herding her, letting her see them at certain times so she would take the paths they wanted, so she would end up in the dead-end alley they wanted.

There were a few located in this area. Any of them would do, so long as she was unable to move out of the alley before the trap was sprung. With a few more turns, she was in one. The boys' shadows flickered on the roofs around her, showing her their presence, taunting her with their victory as they prepared to spring down. Seeming to realize that she had been trapped, she slunk into the shadowed side of the alley and behind some crates and pallets.

The brothers convened on one roof facing the mouth of the alley. "We've got her cornered," said Leo. "The plan is to block the exit and advance. Cut off any routes of escape, but don't get too close. We need to convince her to come with us, not take her by force. I'll do the talking."

Raph rolled his eyes and huffed, but consented nonetheless. Mikey pouted at that, and was about to talk back, but Leo caught him off with a sharp cut of his eyes. He'd have no shenanigans during this, not when there was so much threat in letting her get away. They dropped into the alley entrance, creeping forward, ready to finish this.

She knocked softly on the hidden door behind the crates, quickly and urgently. It sounded similar to a rat's fervent scratching, soft but insistent. Disconcerting in a quiet alleyway. She waited with held breath, hoping for an answer soon. She knew they were there, at the mouth of the alley, starting in on her. It was highly unlikely they would try to harm her, but she was certainly not going to take the chance of being involved with even more ninja. The Foot were enough of a handful as it was.

Another quick series of raps, and a small panel slid open, a pair of sharp, intelligent eyes peering out at her.

"Password"

"Open the fucking door," she whispered urgently. "Let me fucking in!" she added in a harsh, panicked whisper at the hesitation. The panel closed and the door slid open, silent against the concrete, just enough for her to slip through into the darkness and safety of her home. Not even taking a moment to breathe, she hustled to the back of their makeshift home, ushering the others with her.

"No time to talk. Back. Now."

The brothers moved towards the crates, listening for shuffling, the rasp of skin against wood, any sign that she was moving around. They heard nothing. Leo held up a hand.

"We know you're here. Come out so we can talk," he said. No reply. "We aren't going to hurt you. We just want to keep you out of the hands of the Foot. Away from danger." Again, no reply.

"She ain't listnin' Leo. Let's just rip away all that wood and flush 'er out," said Raph.

"Thaaaat's not a good idea," said Donnie. "She won't trust us that way. She'll try to get away at every possible moment, and we'll basically be handing her over to the Foot."

"I just want a girl in the lair," Mikey said with a shrug. He was rewarded with a sharp smack to the back of the head.

"Ah! Fine, fine!" he pouted. "It'd be good to get her out of danger, too. Not like I didn't think of that too."

"I'll try again, then we'll advance. We can't make any progress if she won't speak," said Leo. The others nodded, Donnie a little wary of it all.

"At least say something. It's important you think of your safety. Had we not been there, you'd be captured by the Foot, or worse. We can keep you safe, for a time, until you can handle yourself or find a safer place to live. You can't fall into the wrong hands. There are people worse than the Foot soldiers."

"He's fuckin' lecturing her," said Raph. "I can't believe it. He's fucking lecturing someone he don't even know." Mikey snorted and Donnie tried to hide his snicker. Leo turned around with an annoyed glare settled on his face to meet Raph's smirk. Trying to regain his dignity, Leo turned to the crates and issued a warning.

"If you don't come out in five seconds, I'm coming in."

He waited, the seconds ticking by slowly, and still nothing. He sighed heavily, and walked towards her hiding spot.

"I don't want to do this, but you leave me no choice." With little more preempt, he pushed aside a crate and flipped pallets back, expecting to reveal a snarling, terrified female turtle. Instead, he was met with a blank wall with scratches and dents. An ordinary alley wall.

"The fuck?" said Raph, coming over to the spot, arms held defensively at his sides. "Where'd she go?"

"I…I don't know," said Leo, baffled. "She couldn't have gone anywhere. There's nothing here."

"Maybe she's a ghost, dudes!" Mikey said. "That'd be bitchin!"

"Donnie?" Raph turned to his brother, hoping he had an explanation.

"I, uh, I'm not sure. Let me see." He pushed past his brothers to examine the wall, the ground, the crates, looking for any signs of an escape or hiding spot. As he examined the crate, he leaned his hand against the wall for support and felt a slip. His head snapped to the wall, not moving his hand as he scrutinized the area. It was one of the many dents on the wall, but this one, this one seemed thinner, like it wasn't the concrete of the building's foundation. He slowly moved his hand one way, then the next, and the dent slid. He moved his hands around the wall surrounding the dent, looking for anything. A seam, a small handle, anything that might indicate an entrance. He found it. A seam running along the foundation in a more-or-less square.

"I found it. It's a door in the building's foundation. There's probably a small room behind here that she could be hiding in. The door probably slides or swings inward. I can open it in a short amount of time."

"Do it Donnie," said Leo. His brothers nodded, readying themselves for a possible barrage. Donnie took a steadying breath, loosening the bo-staff on his back, and prodded the door until he figured out which way it opened. With another breath, he slid it open and stepped to the side quickly, grabbing his bo and positioning himself alongside his brothers. No barrage came, no growls or screams from the opening. Leo signaled them forward with a flick of his chin, taking a cautious step forward. They moved their way into the shelter, searching.

"Jesus," Raph said under his breath. The initial duck into the shelter was deceiving. The inside was much more spacious than the outside indicated. It seems that the doorway opened into a part of the building's basement that was sectioned off from the rest. Walls formed halls and rooms that snaked back.

"This will be difficult," Donnie said. The others nodded.