A/N Hey! This is my first fanfic ever! Just had an idea in my head and wanted to get it out. I don't know if OC stories are all that popular but hopefully this one is acceptable! I enjoy writing as a hobby and have ideas for regular fiction, but decided to use fanfiction as practice. Reviews on writing style/flow/description/all that good stuff is much appreciated! I didn't go too crazy with a deep plot or anything, but I might delve into that someday. For now, I'm playing around with character emotions and interaction. Let me know what you think! Thanks, and enjoy!

Chapter 1

Another Mutant?

Summary: The brothers are on patrol and come across a new mutant. Can they learn more about this mysterious stranger?

"I'm picking up heavy Foot activity in this quadrant," Donnie observed out loud, referencing to the screen in the palm of his large hand. His brothers gathered behind him, peering at the screen over his shoulder.

"Well, let's get moving then," Leo ordered. He memorized the location from the map on Donnie's screen and led the way from the building they had been perched on. His brothers followed suit without hesitation.

The night had been uneventful until then, but it worked out well that the four brothers chose to go on patrol together that night instead of in their usual shifts. Foot Clan activity was scarce, and aside from the usual crimes of the city, their jobs as vigilantes wasn't nearly as exciting as it was during the Kraang invasion. For the most part, they were okay with that. Life was continuing on in a somewhat "normal" fashion for them. Or as normal as life could be for four young adult mutant turtles, who happened to be skilled ninjas, living in the sewers with their sensei father who happened to be a mutant rat. Not to mention Donatello's psychic half-human, half-Kraang girlfriend, who surrendered to this very abnormal life long ago, and Raphael's best friend, a human who spent the nights fighting crimes on roller blades wearing a hockey mask.

But, after defeating an alien race from an invasion, yes, life could finally be considered what they would call "normal".

They leapt silently from building to building, the only disturbance they made was breaking the air they sliced through in the cool night. They flew over alleys, eyeing the streets cautiously as they ran, but the city night was more peaceful in this part of town. The nightlife wasn't as active, and the twinkling lights of the buildings and streetlamps was almost soothing.

They could hear quite the scuffle as they neared the location indicated on Donnie's screen, and Leo slowed to a quiet stalk to approach the edge of the building cautiously, his brothers following suit.

What awaited them in the alley below was not exactly what they were expecting. Someone had beat them to the small group of foot ninjas - or something.

"What the—" Raph hissed, staring at the creature single-handedly taking out each ninja, sometimes two or three at a time. It was definitely some kind of lizard, only slightly bigger than a human. It was on all fours, claws scraping the ground as its tail whipped around, either to slash a ninja or grab it by the neck or waist and hurtle it into a nearby building. They could hear the creature hissing angrily as it fought, occasionally leaping from its hind legs to grasp a ninja by the throat and toss it into the brick wall or into another ninja, almost as though the creature were playing with rag dolls. It was fierce and relentless, with a stamina for the fight that seemed to never run out. It was definitely some sort of mutation, and they guessed it started out as human, as it was wearing clothes – a torn black tank top and ripped jean shorts that looked like they'd been through hell, its tail torn through the worn fabric and what was left of the waistband tied in a knot at the top of its tail.

"Another mutant?!" Mikey exclaimed, watching the creature in awe.

"Shhh, keep it down," Leo whispered, the same awestruck look on his own face. They all seemed to be in silent agreement that they'd remain where they were and just watch. They had no idea what they'd be up against if they joined in on the fight. Would this lizard be on their side, or try to fight them too? It's body was a caramel brown with darker brown flecks across its scaly arms and back, and its head, neck, and shoulders were covered in threatening-looking spikes.

"I'll call it, 'The Dragon Warrior'," Mikey whispered, deciding on a name.

"It looks like he can handle himself on his own," Donnie observed in a low voice.

Leo nodded. "We stay here, I think it's best we wait and see what exactly this creature is. He's almost finished the fight anyway."

The four brothers simultaneously stooped a bit lower as they watched the creature smash the last of the ninjas into the wall. And simultaneously, four sets of lungs sucked in a gasp as the creature stood up on its hind legs as though it were the most natural thing to do, and stretch its arms above its head as though it just finished a routine workout. But its body…

"Never mind," Mikey said in a disbelieving hiss. "I call it, 'The Dragon Warrior Princess'…"

"It's female?" Raph exclaimed in a low whisper. He took in the creature's form, suddenly losing its lizard-like appearance and becoming very human-like as she stood on her sturdy, sculpted legs, the muscles in her thighs bulging from underneath her tattered shorts, her calves rippling. A toned pale yellow-brown midriff peeked underneath her ragged tank top, as her long, muscular arms stretched high overhead, carrying with them two perfect, perky breasts that certainly had all four boys awestruck. Raphael could feel his chest constricting as he took in the sight of her, his mind racing.

Donnie was the first to blink quickly and shake his head, breaking the trance and averting his eyes. He felt slightly ashamed for staring, but had to look back at her as she brought her clawed yet human-like hands down to her sides and brushed them on her shorts as though she just completed a simple task of digging in the garden. She then fell back down to all fours and returned to looking much like a lizard. She looked around for any signs of others nearby, and quick as a flash slithered into a nearby manhole, so sudden that the four brothers barely noticed the lid move.

"There's another mutant living in the sewers?" Mikey exclaimed, feeling the freedom to speak a little louder, "besides us?"

They all stood up taller, their minds reeling from what they just saw.

"I thought we knew about all the mutants…" Donnie spoke, his voice trailing off. "The Kraang have been gone for quite some time, you'd think we'd have seen or encountered any that may remain…"

"She's obviously pretty damn good at keeping herself hidden," Raph observed, staring at the spot she was standing in just moments ago. What was this feeling in him? It's like he couldn't catch his breath… like she stole the oxygen from beyond his lungs and out from his blood vessels. Was this what Donnie felt for April every time he saw her, before she finally admitted her feelings for him in return?

"Do you think she's a good guy?" Michelangelo wondered.

"Hard to say," Leo responded. "You would think so, beings she was fighting a common enemy, but we've had that happen to us before and it didn't turn out like we thought it would."

"You never know who you can trust," Raph added absently, still in a slight daze.

Leo turned to begin their trek back to the lair. They had a few hours left until dawn, but they all seemed to be in unspoken agreement that, even though the night was uneventful for them up until that point, they had had enough excitement. The other three began to silently follow Leo's lead, the only sounds coming from the traffic below, sirens in the distance, and the soft night breeze through the rooftops.

Suddenly, out of nowhere, Raph felt an arm wrap around his neck and a body press to his carapace as he was pulled back against a structure on the rooftop. Before anyone could think he felt a knife at his throat and a hot breath against his neck. His heart hammered as his mind whirled. How did I let this happen? He couldn't help but wonder, shocked that his guard was down that far.

His brothers wore the same shocked expressions, though their weapons were at the ready.

"Don't think I didn't see you spying on me," a harsh female voice spoke firmly from beside Raphael's neck, the knife unmoving. It was her.

"The Dragon Warrior Princess is not on our side!" Michelangelo exclaimed angrily.

"Hold on, hold on," Leo said, trying to keep his voice calm as he lowered his katanas. "We don't want to hurt you."

"You're mutant ninjas," she spat back. "Obviously that must make you members of the Foot. How many fucking mutant ninjas are there in this city?"

"We were just wondering the same thing," Leo responded, still trying to keep his voice calm and level, gesturing towards the lizard woman, who still held fast to his brother in red.

Her eyes narrowed but her stance remained unmoving. Raphael refused to move as well, unsure of what her next move may be. He had seen this woman fight, and though confident in his own ability, he knew it was his best bet to just remain calm.

"We've been fighting against the Shredder and his Foot Clan for a long time," Donatello added hopefully, "We're on your side."

The lizard woman scowled. "I don't have a side," she growled in response. She slowly let go of Raph and lowered her knife back to her side, yet still held it at the ready. Raph finally let go of a breath he didn't realize he was holding, feeling slightly dizzy as he stepped cautiously away from her.

He finally got to get a closer look at her. He couldn't help but realize how perfect she looked, despite having just been held at knife-point by her mere seconds ago. She had the curves of a woman, her sleek, smooth scales an incredible shade of rich caramel. Her muscles bulged in her taut legs, her hips just wide enough to create a perfect hour glass at her tapered waist, her breasts full and firm under her tight black tank top. He could feel heat rising inside of him as he took in the prominence of her collar bones, the striations of her throat, the angle of her jaw… how he wanted press his lips to it, trace his tongue along the edge…

He shook himself from his trance and looked up to her eyes, set in a face that was strangely lizard and yet human at the same time. Her eyes were very human-like in shape, though lacking eyelashes. She had deep blue-brown irises flecked with gray that almost made them appear violet. Her lips were full, with a slight pout despite the scowl she wore. His mouth grew wet as he imagined those lips pressed against his own, against his neck, against his body… He took a deep breath and regained focus. What was he thinking? Other than her skin color and lack of hair, the only other obvious non-human feature was her nose, which wasn't a nose exactly, but rather a snout that came forward several inches from her face. Threatening-looking spikes jutted out from along the sides of her skull and down the back of her neck and across her shoulders, and while he could tell they were clearly for defensive purposes, they also gave the appearance of what should be human hair, cascading down her perfect sculpted shoulders. He wanted to run his palms along her scales, feel the smoothness of them in his hands, press her against his yearning body…

"You can be on our side," Leonardo offered, breaking Raph from his reverie. Raphael looked to Leo, curious to hear where this conversation would go from here. "You can work with us if you want. We can help you fight against them. We're the good guys, you can trust us."

They waited with bated breath for her response. She didn't move from her stance, still poised to attack if need be, though her eyes shifted from angry and guarded, to questioning and considering. She then lowered her eye ridges and shook her head. "I work alone. I've always worked alone, I will forever work alone."

"You don't have to," Raphael heard himself say.

"It's hard enough being a mutant hidden in a city of humans," Donnie added in. "Being surrounded by others who understand can make all the difference."

Her eyes squinted with a heavily guarded look, her shoulders rising slightly, causing her spikes to flare. "I don't belong with anyone. I work alone." She lifted her knife and pointed it at each one of them. "All of you, go back to where you came from and leave me be, I can handle myself. And if you come looking for me, I'll kill you." And with that, she pocketed her knife, dropped to all fours and scurried exactly like a lizard to the edge of the building and disappeared down the side of it, her long tail the last of her to disappear out of sight as it trailed behind like a graceful ribbon.

After a moment of stunned silence, the four turtles exchanged uncertain looks. "You sure she's on our side?" Mikey questioned.

Leo considered, then spoke, "Well, she made it clear she's not on anyone's side, but I honestly don't think she's one of the bad guys."

"Just an emotional basket case," Raphael chimed in.

"What do you know about emotions?" Donatello questioned him, an incredulous laugh hinting in the back of his voice, a cocky smile on his face.

Raph could feel his anger rise. His brother in purple had certainly gained quite a bit of confidence over the past several months of his relationship with April, and it only pissed Raphael off more. "She's obviously pretty fucked up, with all that 'I work alone', 'I don't need anybody' bullshit."

"I think she's pretty hot too, Raph," Mikey offered perceptively yet with light-hearted humor, patting him on the shoulder in an attempt to lighten the mood.

Raph forcefully jerked his shoulder away from Mikey. "Get offa me," he grumbled.

"Come on, guys," Leo broke in. "Let's head back to the lair. We should tell Master Splinter about this, and we all should get some sleep, too."

"I can't wait to tell April about this, too," Donnie mused, pulling his T-phone from his belt.

"Wait til we get to the lair, Donnie," Leo said. "We all need to wrap our heads around this first."

And with that, they all silently raced and leapt across the rooftops, riding on a buzz of adrenaline from what they just encountered as the cool early morning air whipped through their mask tails, excited to return to their home.