Author's note: I'm back with a sequel! Are you excited? No? Well fine then, I'll take my cake elsewhere. Anyway, reviews are always welcome, and I hope you enjoy.

Also I said the turtles would come in in this story, but it's going to be a while before they actually see Karai. They will, however, be seeing some other characters very soon.

It was too early, especially for winter break. But a promise was a promise. The early morning sun seeped through the window of the first year dorms. Sapphire was practically jumping up and down like a kid with a puppy. Karai stood at the front of the room with her arms crossed.

"What did I say about clothes?" She gestured to Sapphire's frilly blue dress.

"Well I'm going to be fighting in a dress most of the time, so why would I train to fight in pants? It's like practicing dancing in a suit of armor."

Karai didn't know whether to be more annoyed that Sapphire disobeyed her orders or that she made a good point. She herself hadn't changed out the long black T-shirt and plaid pajama pants she slept in.

"Fine. Let's just get this over with."

Every dorm in Beacon had a combat room on each floor. The walls were concrete, with mats on the floor and a rack of weights in one corner. Students could train without walking to the gym or the combat building. It was a way to encourage students to practice in their down time. Karai had used them before, but with school and hunting Kraang and rehearsals and just having a life, she hadn't had time to practice her katas like she knew she should be.

"All right, first let's start off with some basics." Karai held her arms out, elbows bent.

"Okay sensei."

"Don't call me sensei. I'm not a master."

"Okay." Sapphire gave her a toothy grin and mimicked her stance.

"Hajime."

"Come on, this way. Rockwell said they were down here."

Donnie stopped at the roof of yet another warehouse. Leo wondered exactly how many warehouses there were in New York. And how the bad guys managed to buy them.

Under the cover of the night the turtles broke the latch of the skylight. They jumped down onto a ledge and scanned the room for enemies. Nothing.

"Spread out guys. There has to be a secret door or portal somewhere." Leo jumped off the ledge and landed, knees bent, in the center of the room. He started opening crates.

"What were the Mighty Mutanimals looking for, Donnie? The Kraang are gone." Raph dug through a pile of trash at one corner.

"Rockwell didn't say. I don't think it was Kraang, though. Before the telepathic message was cut off I heard him mention 'she.'"

"Dude, what if they're girl Kraang. I mean think about it, how do Kraang have babies?"

Donnie signed. "That's not something I really want to think about."

"Guys, focus. We don't know what we're up against." Leo peered inside a crate. All he saw was a lot of red powder. As he stood on his tip toes and leaned forward for a closer look, Mikey yelled.

"I found something."

A startled Leo tripped and accidentally got powder on his nose. He sneezed.

And exploded.

Leo shot across the room. His body slammed against the wall. For a moment all he could see were sparks and stars and smoke. He shook his head and looked up to see his brothers standing over him.

"Leo, are you okay?" Raph took his hand and pulled him up.

"Yeah, I think so." He rubbed his aching shell. "What was that?"

They all looked at the crate as if waiting for it to burst into flames. Donnie carefully scooped up some powder in a test tube.

"Whatever we're dealing with, it's not the Kraang," Raph said.

"Guys, look." Mikey pushed a faded dragon someone spray painted in the wall. Part of the floor slide open, revealing a dark staircase.

"Everyone stay alert." Leo unsheathed his swords.

And with that the turtles descended underground.

"Okay, let's stop for now." Karai looked at her watch. Almost 11. Sapphire dropped her arms from the defensive pose she was in.

"How was I?"

"Really good for a beginner. Have you ever done martial arts before?"

Sapphire stretched her arms above her head. She leaned backwards until she touched the floor, making an arch with her back. "No. I'm just used to learning dances really quickly just by watching. Katas are kind of like dance moves."

"If you want to look at it that way." Karai opened the door. "Coming?"

"Oh, yeah." Sapphire pushed herself back up. "I need to shower."

"Yeah, don't really feel like getting food in my pajamas."

"Well it is college."

"True."

The girls walked back to their room. There was a loud bang from Team JNPR's room. Karai wasn't worried. When she first started living in a dorm, she could barely sleep from hearing weird noises down the hall or coming from outside. But by now she had gotten used to ignoring them. Most noises weren't going to be explained anyway. And usually whatever was happening probably wasn't something she wanted to know.

Apparently Jaune felt the same way, because he threw open the door and slammed it behind him. He gasped for breath.

"What's going on in there?" Sapphire peered at the door, only to jump back when there was another loud bang.

"Pillow fight."

"You ran out of the room because of a pillow fight?" Karai raised her eyebrow. "Isn't that something most guys run towards?"

Something glass crashed on the floor. "I'm queen of the castle. I'm queen of the-wait not Fluffy!" Someone was thrown against the door. Jaune fell to the ground in a heap.

"Ah. Well it is college." Karai turned to leave.

"You guys going to go get breakfast?"

"In about twenty minutes. Want to come?" If Sapphire noticed the look Karai shot her, she pretended not to.

Jaune also didn't notice. "Sure. Meet you outside the dining hall. I have to stop by the library anyway."

"Okay."

Karai waited before Jaune left before smacking Sapphire on the arm.

"Ow!"

"You think I want to spend breakfast with Vomit Boy?"

"Jaune's nice." Sapphire rubbed her arm.

"Jaune's pathetic."

"And it's just one breakfast."

Karai stomped off. "If he pukes on me I'm blaming you," she called over her shoulder.

The turtles had found a long, winding tunnel at the bottom of the staircase. The only light they had to guide them was from their flashlights. For a couple minutes they walked in silence.

As the turned a corner, they heard voices.

"When's the next shift start?"

"Five more minutes."

Leo switched off his flashlight and peered around the corner. His brothers did the same. Two burning torches lit the tunnel enough to see two figures standing in front of a wooden door. They were wearing white masks and black hoods and had swords strapped to their backs. Leo motioned to Raph to follow him. The two boys stuck to the wall, creeping silently until they were behind the guards. Then a couple hits to the heads and the guards were lying on the floor unconscious.

Donnie picked the lock and they went inside. It was some kind of throne room. It was white, blindingly so, and a red carpet led up to a throne in the center of the room. It was made of twisted metal and white silk. No one was sitting there. No one was anywhere, actually.

"Oh, shiny." Mikey gawked at a column made out of marble and some sort of clear glass. He touched the glass part with his tongue. "It's not made of ice."

"Where are we?" Leo scanned the room for any signs of enemies.

"Guys, look." Raph pointed up. On the ceiling was covered in a mural of knights killing creatures with what looked to be elemental magic.

"Oh, pretty."

"Any ideas, Donnie," Leo asked.

"No, none. Whoever these people are though, they have style."

Suddenly the sound of shattered glass echoed through the hall, followed by tortured roar.

"And the Mutanimals. All right guys, let's move." Leo ran through a doorway to the direction of the roar with his brothers were right behind him.

The dining hall was mostly empty when they sat down. Karai had piled her tray with eggs and bacon. The food here was good. Not as good as back in Japan, but good. Jaune had a thick stack of pancakes drowned in syrup. Sapphire just had a yogurt and celery stick on her tray.

"Aren't you hungry," Jaune asked.

"Oh, no, this is fine." Sapphire munched on her celery stick. "So, how's classes going?"

Karai took a bite of her eggs. "Your mom call?"

Sapphire blushed. "Maybe."

Karai rolled her eyes. Every time Sapphire's mom called she would say something about her weight or love life or whatever.

"Sapphire, if you don't eat a proper meal, I'm not going to train you."

"Train her?" Jaune looked up from his food. "In what?"

"Karai's teaching me ninjitsu."

Karai kicked her under the table. "They're just some moves I picked before I came here. Nothing special."

"Can I join?"

"No." Karai glared at him, but he just responded with stupid puppy dog eyes. She felt like her glare was losing its touch since arriving at Beacon.

"Please. Pyrrha's already training me, but I want more practice. I suck at hand to hand combat."

"I'm not running a dojo."

Sapphire tilted her head. "Wouldn't it be better if I had a sparring partner, though? A beginner like me?"

"Yeah. We'd both help each other learn. Please?"

Karai threw her fork, letting it clatter on the plate. This was supposed to be her break. "Fine, whatever, you can come. But don't think I'll go easy on you. You do what I say when I say it."

"Deal."

"And you." Karai took Jaune's plate and slammed it down in front of Sapphire so hard it almost cracked. "Eat your damn breakfast."

"Yes sensei."

Leo kicked down another wooden door. The room was nothing more than a steel box, and Leatherhead was chained to a wall by his neck. One of his arms was blackened by a burn.

"Leatherhead!"

"My friends, it's a trap!"

They heard the door slam behind them. Leo turned around to see a woman in a red dress smiling at them.

"The ninja turtles. How. . .interesting."

"I'll show you interesting." Raph immediately unsheathed his sais and tried to jump her. The woman easily side stepped him, despite wearing heels. She summoned a ball of fire in her hand and threw it at him. Raph was thrown against the metal wall. The only sign of life was a pained groan.

"Raph!"Leo pointed his swords at the woman. "I don't know who you are, but you picked the wrong ninjas to mess with."

The woman laughed. Leo charged at her. She grabbed him the tails of his mask and yanked him off balance, but he twisted himself free before he could fall. She threw another ball of fire, glowing as bright as her eyes. But Leo ducked and rolled to the left. While the woman was distracted Donnie swung his bo staff. Without looking, she side-stepped the blow, grabbed the staff and burned it. Mikey joined the fray and ended up thrown against the wall with Raph. Leo swung his sword again. In a split second he was on the floor, a glass stiletto resting on his throat.

"On the contrary, I think I picked just the right ones."

Henry had said there were 8 million people living in New York City. She had never seen so many lights and heard so many car horns blaring in the night. From outside her room at the EPF all she could see were buildings as tall as the CCT. No wall in sight. And this was just one city. The whole Earth was 7 billion people.

Billion.

Violet couldn't wrap her head around it. The whole planet was populated with people. Every river had a rcity, every valley had a town, every mountain had a village. There were so many people here that some people were worried about overpopulation.

Her mother said when she came to Earth years ago she felt overwhelmed. She had been on a mission hunting down a few Grimm that had somehow gotten to Earth. That was when she met Henry. (It was too early to call him Dad yet.)

When her mother found out she was pregnant, she had a choice to make. She knew the child could only be brought up in one world or the other. Earth's existence was a closely guarded secret. Henry agreed to let her mother keep her. His work was too secret and too extensive to allow him to raise a daughter alone. So her mother went to Remnant to give birth, making her daughter a citizen of Vale. Then she let Henry come to see her, just once. They had planned to tell her when she was old enough. And now she was.

Mom hadn't exactly been happy about Violet leaving for Earth for two weeks. But when Henry offered a chance to get to know each other and see where she came from, how could she refuse?

So there she was, in a small-hotel like room looking over a tiny park. Henry didn't have any room in his apartment, and he practically lived at the EPF, so it made more sense for her to stay there. All she saw so far were the upper levels, management and computer stuff. She was absolutely forbidden from going lower. State secrets. Except for the portal, or course.

There was a knock on her door. Henry stood in the doorframe, a tiny smile on his otherwise serious face. "Ready?"

"Coming." Violet smoothed out her new clothes. Earth people very picky about modesty, especially for women. Henry had bought her a white blouse and blue jeans. She had never been a big fan of pants, but as the saying goes, when in Mystral.

She grabbed her purse and opened the door. Henry was in the hallway, holding a black coat.

"The weather is supposed to be nice, but just in case."

"Oh thank you." She slipped the jacket over her, feeling the smoothness of the fabric across her skin. "The clothes here certainty are different."

"Maybe try something new. You wear a lot of purple."

Of course she wore purple. It was her name.

"And Violet," he continued, "leave your weapon here."

"What? Why?"

"We don't have Auras the same way you do. Guns are a lot deadlier. If you're carrying one without a permit it could cause a lot of problems with the police."

"But I'm a Huntress."

"Not on Earth. Here you're just an ordinary girl going out to dinner with her father." He handed her the jacket. "If something happens, I'll take care of it."

"All right." She always had her Semblance at least. "So where are we going?"

"Somewhere quiet. I heard about this sushi place, Murakami's. I thought we'd try it."

Violet took his arm "Sounds great."

Leo struggled uselessly. Some guards had hauled him off to what looked to be an operating room, strapping him to a metal table.

The woman was before him. She held an ipad in one hand and strode causally around the table. She flicked on a bright fluorescent light overhead that made Leo squint.

"If you do anything to-"

"We're not going to hurt you." He could feel her hand briefly touch his cheek. He jerked at the burning, searing touch. Then he heard the sound of her shoes walk around him.

"All we need is a little cooperation."

Violet and Henry were at a booth in the back of a small restaurant. Besides the chef, no one else was in there. Henry probably did this on purpose. He worried too much. How was she supposed to understand the culture here if he didn't let her talk to anyone?

Her father looked up from his scroll. There was something going on related to work. But not that big of a deal, at least according to him. "So I was thinking perhaps we could look at the Museum of Modern Art tomorrow?"

Violet sipped some of her soup. She thought Earth cuisine wasn't that different from Remnant. "Okay. And maybe I could pick up some gifts for my friends back home."

Henry frowned. "I don't know. Your friends . . .your friends are not supposed to know you're here."

"Actually, a friend of mine is from here. So it's fine."

Henry raised an eyebrow. "Really?"

"Yeah. Her name's Karai. I think you'd like her. She's really tough and smart and capable and confident and she has this really snarky sense of humor. And she's an amazing singer. She's one of the leads in our school musical."

"You sound like good friends."

"Oh, great friends. Best friends."

Henry glanced at the restaurant owner, who was busy sweeping the floor in front of the place. He turned back to Violet and leaned closer.

"Your mother told me you like girls."

Was she that obvious? "Oh, no we're just-"

"Friends, I got it. But on Earth same sex romantic relationships are taboo in a lot of cultures. And if they're not taboo they are rife with political and social implications that you can't understand because you've been here for a week. So when you're on Earth, keep these feelings to yourself. You might expose yourself as a foreigner."

"Um, okay." Strange. Did Karai think this was taboo? She did seem surprised when she mentioned she liked girls. But what about the kiss?

No, no, don't think about it until after break. Stay focused, damn it.

Henry's scroll rang. He glanced at the number, and jumped out of his seat. "I have to take this, I'll be right back."

"Okay."

"Stay here."

"I will." Henry walked out, quietly cursing into his phone. At least now she knew that her control issues came from both sides.

Violet looked up as the doorbell jingled. A girl around Violet's age walked in. She was wearing shorts over tights and what appeared to be one shirt over another. Coco would have a fit just looking at her.

"Hello Murakami-san."

"April-chan. The usual?"

"Yeah, for the guys too."

"Coming right up."

Violet glanced out the window. The buildings were all lit up. It was so pretty. Christmas, Henry called it. The festival of lights.

"Excuse me, do you know what time it is?"

Violet paused, her spoon halfway to her mouth. The girl who just walked in looked at her expectantly.

"Oh, of course. Let me just pull out my. . .phone." Henry had given her a bulky Earth scroll that morning. With a press of a button Violet saw it was 7:13.

"Thanks. My phone's almost dead." The girl looked around the restaurant. "Are you eating alone?"

"No, my father just stepped out to make a call. He'll be right back."

"Ah. Are you from out of town?"

"Yeah. I'm from West Virginia." An agent from the EPF told her to say that. That way any odd behavior she had could be explained away with "inbreeding and moonshine."

"Cool. How do you like New York?"

"It's huge," Violet blurted out before thinking that an Earth girl wouldn't think such a thing. But the girl just laughed.

"Yeah, it takes some getting used to. How long are you staying for?"

"Just a couple of weeks."

"Cool. I'm April, by the way."

Violet held out her hand. "I'm Violet. Pleased to meet you."

April shook her hand. "So, what did you get?"

"Turtle soup. It's really good."

"Oh, well, uh, I got pizza gyoza." April looked back at the chef. Violet winced. Was this a cultural thing? Did she mess things up? Maybe the girl just had a pet turtle. Come to think of it, the chef seemed uncomfortable when she ordered it. Was she doing something wrong?

"Violet." Henry stood in the doorway. He had his sunglasses on again. "Something came up. I'm afraid we'll continue this later."

"Coming." Violet slid out of the booth. Henry went over to the counter to pay the chef.

"Well it was nice meeting you April."

"Yeah you too. Have a nice visit." April swung her bag over her shoulder. Violet waved as she left the restaurant.

"How did that go?" He opened the car while still looking at his phone.

"I think I sounded fine. I like Earth. The people seem nice."

Henry smiled. "Not all of them, I'm afraid."

Violet smiled to herself as they drove away. Maybe not all of them were nice, but there was at least one girl from Earth who was positively enchanting.

No, after break.

Raph, Donnie and Mikey were thrown headfirst into a cell by more masked guards. The door was shut and locked before they could even get up.

"Man, and they call us freaks," one of them said as they walked away.

Raph rubbed his head. The room was lit by only one light that revealed metallic walls and no other doors. There were dark shapes at the other end of the room.

Donnie squinted. "Hello?"

"The turtles!" Rockwell stepped into the light. "You got my message." Pigeon Pete flew over and landed on Mikey's shoulder.

Raph frowned. "Where's Slash?"

"They took him, I'm afraid, along with Leatherhead."

"Yeah, we tried to free him but the creepy lady with fire powers totally kicked our shells." Mikey rubbed his shoulder. "They got Leo, too."

"Rockwell, where are we? Who are these people?"

Rockwell sighed. "We should have told you before. I guess we wanted to prove ourselves. Kurtzman told us about these otherworldly people who are trying to take over Earth. They are led by some mysterious leader called the queen."

"Was that the woman we fought?" Donnie asked.

"No, I believe that is her accomplice."

"So they're aliens? But they look human," Raph said.

"They are." Pigeon Pete perched himself on Raph's head. "Their world is where humans come from."

"What?" Raph swatted him away.

"Master Splinter didn't tell us that when he gave us the talk," Mikey said.

"According to Kurtzman, thousands of years ago humans came to Earth from another world filled with monsters. All those myths about faeries, people with fox tails and fish tails, magic, it all comes from this world."

"So now they're coming here to get away from the monsters." Pete flew over to the door and pecked at it.

"But what does that have to do with Leo?" Mikey asked.

"I don't know."

Raph threw his body against the door. It didn't budge.

"We need to get out of here."

"I have an idea." Donnie held up the test tube of red powder.

"So what's wrong?" They were driving back to the EPF as fast as the traffic would let them.

"Nothing to worry about. I just have to drop you off and then take care of a little problem."

"What, like Kraang activity? I saw them in Vale and I know they invaded-"

"It's not for you to worry about Violet." In the next lane over someone honked their horn, incessantly. It was giving her a headache.

"Not for me to worry about?" Violet frowned. "I'm not a child, Henry."

Henry gripped the wheel as a large truck suddenly cut in front of them. She heard him swear under his breath. "You're only 18."

"Which an adult in your country. I can handle myself better than most of your people. I am a Huntress in training." She grabbed onto her seat as Henry sped through a yellow yield light. Was everyone on Earth a bad driver, or just in this city?

"In training. I doubt they let a bunch of freshman run around fighting criminals." He pulled into the EPF compound. "My decision is final, Violet."

Violet didn't say anything. He was right, first years weren't supposed to go off on missions on their own. But that had never stopped them from doing it anyway.

Leo heard the door blow open. He saw his brothers rush in to free him. And when he grabbed his sword and swung Mikey's wide blue eyes, he felt the horror as much as anyone else.

What happened to him?

Mikey ducked under the table and Raph used his sais to wrench the sword free from his grip. It clattered to the ground.

"Leo? Leo it's us!"

What did that woman do to him? All he remembered was a . . .worm.

Oh god.

Like a puppet on strings Leo threw a throwing star at Donnie as he looked through the ipad the woman left behind. Raph tackled him, throwing him to the floor. Leo winced from the cold metal searing his skin. There was a crash somewhere in the hall, followed by a familiar roar. Leatherhead. Did the woman get him too?

"Guys," Donnie called out as Leo fought to break free, "whoever these people are, they stole Shredder's brain control serum."

"What?!" Leo struggled to break free as Raph pinned his arms behind his back. "How the shell did that happen?"

"Magic," Mikey suggested.

"You might not be that far off Mikey. Raph, we need to get the Mutanimals and Leo out of here."

All of a sudden something big and angry crashed through the wall. The bright light the woman used was eclipsed completely.

"Slash." Raph's grip loosened as he grabbed one of his sais. It was enough for Leo to yank his wrists free.

This was bad.

"Sapphire, what the Hell are you doing?"

"The thing you just showed us."

"No, that it not 'the thing I just showed you.' That's not a kata. I don't even know what that is." It looked like a pirouette that had dropped out of school and fallen in with a bad crowd.

Blake raised her hand. "It looked pretty close from where I'm standing."

Karai bit back several expletives. Her class had now grown to three thanks to Weiss and her big mouth. She was stuck teaching Ms. Ninja-wannabe, Mr. Natural Born Leader, and Sapphire, who couldn't seem to follow simple instructions to save her life.

"Pretty close isn't good enough." Karai demonstrated the kick again. "Martial arts do not include pliés."

"Aren't we supposed to be developing our own style, though," Jaune asked. "I mean that's what separates Huntsmen from soldiers."

"Yeah, and Professor Ozpin said huntresses protect free thought and individuality." Sapphire tried her kick again.

"And I say if you don't do these right I'm not training any of you." Karai grabbed her backpack. "That's it for today. We'll meet back up later this week. Practice on your own."

"Yes sensei," Jaune said.

"Knock it off." Karai stomped out of the room.

Why did she have to spend her break helping others? She was already going to do enough of that after graduation. For the love of God she wasn't Ms. Congeniality. This training was enough to make her almost miss her dungeon.

Right when her hand reached for the doorknob, the door to her room flew open and out walked Mona Lisa. And that was the moment Karai realized that, feelings for Violet aside, she definitely wasn't a lesbian. Because that was when she met Sun Wukong face to face. Or, rather, face to abs.

"Karai, this is my cousin Sun I was telling you about. The rest of his team arrived yesterday. They're competing-Karai!"

"Yeah, yeah sorry." Through truly superhuman effort Karai looked up. "I'm just spacing out. Tired. Finals."

"Finals ended last week."

"I'm still recovering." And just found a great way to relax.

"Sup Karai." Sun smiled at her, showing off his perfect white teeth. If he was bothered by her staring, he didn't show it.

"Hi. Welcome to Beacon." Karai tucked a short lock of hair behind her ear. She could feel her face blushing.

"Thanks. It's a nice place."

"You go to Shade?"

"No, Haven. I wanted to see more of the world, you know?"

"Yeah." An adventure seeking stowaway. A boy after her own heart.

"Well, Sun has to go. He's meeting up with his friends to help them move in." Mona Lisa practically pushed him down the hall.

"Yeah." He smiled at her again over his shoulder. "It was nice meeting you."

"Bye." Karai waved even though Sun had already turned away. As soon as he was out of sight, Mona Lisa yanked her by the arm.

"What the hell?" She practically threw Karai into the room while still gripping on her arm.

"What?"

"Karai, that's my cousin."

"So? He's not mine."

Mona Lisa crossed her arms. "Karai, do you have the girl code on Earth?"

"If we do, I've never needed it." The last time she hung out with a girl on Earth was eating lunch with April. As amusing as that was, it probably didn't count.

"You don't flirt with your friends' siblings. And Sun is like a brother to me."

"Oh. Okay. I won't do that again." It was the closest Mona Lisa was going to get to an apology. And it seemed to be enough for her, because she let go of Karai's arm. Karai sat down on her bed.

"Thank you." Mona Lisa grabbed her bag from her own bed. "And besides, you have Violet."

Karai blushed again. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"And I don't know why you started wearing perfume." And with that, Mona Lisa left.

Karai threw herself back on the bed. God, romance here was so annoying. Leo had so desperate for female company she barely had to bother showering.

Cinder watched the fight from her monitor. Her newest minions had chased the others out of the base and into the city. She grinned as they were battling on top of a skyscraper. The experiment was a success. A couple White Fang members followed behind, but stood back and watched the mutants fight. The alligator was swinging the bo weiding turtle like a ragdoll. Slash-what a lovely name-was slamming his teammates into the ground with relish. And on the very edge were two of the ninja turtles, brothers apparently, fighting to the death. If only she had popcorn.

"We have to make them mad," the orange turtle screamed. "Hey Slash, you're uglier than Raph!"

"Hey!"

"Just try it!" The orange turtles was picked up and thrown at a water tower. It rang like a church bell. The mutant fell to the ground and didn't get up.

The red banded turtles swung his fist, hitting the other in the face with a satisfyingly loud crunch. "Some leader you are," he sneered. "No wonder Karai left."

That seemed to set the boy on edge. He aimed his blade at the other turtle's heart, but was pushed aside by superior strength. Maybe Cinder should have tried him instead.

"No!"The red turtle blocked another swipe of the sword with his sais. "Snap out of it! Nee-can, bro, please!"

Heartfelt pleas from a brother in arms. All in vain. Cinder giggled. And here she thought Earth would be boring.

Suddenly a spark of light-no lightning-shot out into the monitor's frame. It blasted over the turtles' heads, interrupting their battle. Cinder leaned forward, peering to see what was going on. A gunshot fired, then another strike of lightning shot out right at the camera. The screen went black.

Cinder frowned. Another mutant no doubt. No one from Remnant would have known this was happening. The EPF wouldn't tell them such things. They didn't trust each other enough.

But that little alliance was way down on her list of things to crush. For now, get the worms and get back to Remnant.

A bolt of lightning streaked the sky overhead. Raph reacted first, using the opportunity to tackle Leo again. Both boys hit the ground just in time to avoid a bullet coming from Donnie's direction. At the other end of the roof was a girl no older than them. She was dressed in a black trench coat and sunglasses, like some sort of secret agent. The girl pointed what looked to be a gun in the air.

"That was just a warning shot. Don't make me fire again."

Slash charged at her. She half cartwheeled with one hand, jumping to the side. A bright red braid flew around in the air, shining in the street light like a dying fire. A spark of electricity shot out of her hand, illuminating her face. It hit the metal roof, Slash and the water tower all in one second.

"Agh!" Slash fell face forward.

"Slash!" Raph ran over to him. He crouched down near Slash's head and saw a black slug crawl out of his friend's ear. With a stab of his sai Raph got rid if the thing. One down.

Nearby the mystery girl fired a round of bullets at the masked goons who were watching from another rooftop. (Apparently a bunch of mutants didn't faze her.) Bam bam bam, she never missed her target. The creeps high tailed it without even bothering to fight back.

"Help!" Donnie flew through the air, courtesy of Leatherhead. The alligator roared as Donnie made an arc, landing gracelessly at Raph's feet. Raph growled. He was bruised and beaten, a streak of blood on one cheek. Rockwell and Pete weren't much better. Mikey and Slash were out cold.

Whoever did this was going to pay.

The girl whipped her head around and fired two shots in one move. All they did was piss the alligator off. Leatherhead roared again, then charged at the girl full speed. Like a circus freak she jumped out of the way as Leatherhead slammed his fists at her again and again. Her trench coat billowed behind her like a cape as she snapped out a whip-wait where did she get a whip?-and lassoed Leatherhead by the throat. Another spark of purple lightning shot through the rope and electrified him. He went down, just like Slash. The girl causally brushed off dirt from her jacket like she did this stuff all the time,

"Who is she," Donnie asked as he struggled to get up. Raph wrapped one arm around his waist and lifted him up.

"I have no idea. But at least I think she's on our side."

Suddenly Leo landed in front of them, kneeling, swords in each hand. He peered up at them with blank, white eyes.

"Leo, please. We're your brothers." Donnie gripped his staff for support. "Try to remember."

"Leo, please."

Leo?

Violet flipped up her sunglasses. Three mutant turtles were in the corner. One was about to attack the others.

"My true father had turned into a mutant, like Robin. He had built a small clan of mutants too."

"There was this one boy. . ."

It couldn't be. There were millions of people in New York.

"Some leader you are Leo. No wonder Karai left."

Leo.

Karai's Leo.

A mutant.

A member of the White Fang.

Leo raised his sword to strike. Violet whipped the air over the turtles, electrifying the air in a scattering of sparks. The sword acted like a lightning rod, drawing the electricity through it to the boy. He screamed in pain, purple bolts crawling over him as he doubled over.

Violet strode over and grabbed Leo by the sash. The red turtle brandished his weapon at her. Weren't they just fighting each other?

"Hey princess, I don't know who you are, but if you want to keep that hand you better back off."

Violet whipped the sai out of his wrist. "I don't negotiate with terrorists." He was defending him? Fine. She would bring all of them back to the EPF and let them sort it out.

"We're not with them," the other one said. "They captured us."

"A likely story. In the name of the Earth Protection Force I hereby-"

A hand gripped her wrist and twisted her arm. She shrieked and loosened her grip, letting Leo turn the tide and twist her arm around her back. He was weakened, but he was still stronger than her.

"Please, let me explain."

Explain what? Explain how anyone could possibly be attracted to a freak like him? Violet used her other arm to elbow him in the chest. He let go of her arm, and she spun around and aimed her gun at him in one swift move.

"I understand perfectly. Drop your weapons, all of you."

Police sirens rang down the street. Violet glanced down for a second to see if reinforcements arrived. When she looked back up, they were all gone. Nothing but a cloud of purple smoke.

Before the police could ask questions, Violet scrambled down the fire escape and disappeared into the night. Better her father didn't find out about this. Better Karai didn't find out either. It would just upset her when these mutants were captured.

These turtles may have gotten away this time, Violet thought. But next time, they wouldn't be so lucky.