A/N - Quick note about this chapter, it is really just the detailed version of what the guys were talking about in the prologue and the events leading up to it. Hopefully you get a good picture of the kid, my OC, in this chapter. Please critique him knowing that many things about him are as of yet unrevealed and will probably stay that way until, (counts on fingers) chapter 7 or 8, probably 8.

A note about the story as a whole, and I really hate saying this, but please do not expect such quick updates like this. I have other projects that I really need to focus more attention on at the moment, and I'm on Spring Break right now, so that's why I have the time to work on this. If I get more reviews on this, I will hasten my writing, but I can make no guarantees. Please don't hate me, and thanks for reading. If you are interested in my work, I will probably be writing more one-shots when I come up with them. I only have the one Angsty one right now called Fixing It, but that should change. And if you haven't read Fixing It, please do unless you have an aversion to Angst stories. It was my first fic, and it seems that several people like it, so that makes me happy.

Sorry for the long rant. Back to the story. Enjoy!

Diaclaimer: Still not mine. Still belongs to Kevin Eastman, Peter Laird, Mirage Studios and 4kids.


CHAPTER 1 - The Meeting

Mike meditated, focusing all his attention on the stone in front of him. He analyzed its round texture and the sparkling it made from the broken side as it reflected the light off the half moon in the sky. He watched as an ant crawled over to the stone and stopped, staring at the looming object in front of it, confused as to how to get passed.

There were few things in life that got Michelangelo to stay so still and quiet. Even when they were battling the Shredder and the Foot Clan, or Bishop and his Commandos, or Hun and the Purple Dragons, one of his brothers almost always ended up gagging him, trying to keep him quiet. He always enjoyed spouting off the little taunting jokes that came to his mind, and he new it worked well to distract his opponents while he kept a level head. He knew because it always worked on his brother Raph.

But this was not like when they were fighting. This was a matter of honor, of life and death. This was the game of Hide and Seek with three ninja brothers. And not just any Hide and Seek game, but one where you had three whole city blocks of roofs to hide in.

And, oh yes, Donatello was it.

Mike sucked in what he hoped was a quiet breath, but it sounded like thunder to him. Whenever Donatello was it when they played Hide and Seek he always brought out some new gadget he would use to find his brothers with. The first time they played, Donnie used one of those night vision goggles he had built to see better in the dark. That was the first rule they had to amend to Hide and Seek: No Night Vision Goggles.

Of course that did not stop the purple-clad turtle. He just considered that to be a challenge to find other things he could locate his brothers with, and Mike had to admit, he was certainly creative when it came to the things he came up with. Now their amended rules included: No Thermal Goggles, No Sonar Devices, No Planting Turtle Trackers, No Tracking Trough the Shell Cells, the list went on. Mike had actually forgotten most of them, but thankfully, they kept a list back at the lair, and Leo was usually pretty good at remembering all of them. All sixteen of them.

Mike jumped as he heard a small beeping coming from his belt. He reached down and pulled his Shell Cell out of his pouch and stared at it horrified. A small red light was blinking at him as it let out an obnoxious beep that seemed to echo over the roof tops. Mike panicked and flung the thing into an alley. Donnie's gonna kill me, he thought to himself as he pressed himself up against the wall as tightly as he could.

After a few minutes of breath holding, Mike started to hear voices. "Geez, Donnie, that was low." It was Raph.

"But not against the rules," came Donnie's reply.

"You know, this is getting really old Don," Leo said. "Could you at least pretend to play like any normal person?"

"But that's not fun," Don insisted. "You guys barely pay attention to me as it is when I start talking about the technical variances of a device I give you. I'm just trying to show you that if you paid a little closer attention, you might learn something."

"Settin' off the emergency beacons ya installed on the Shell Cells is not real 'technical,' bro," Raph countered. "Heck, I could 'a figured that one out."

"But you didn't, did you, Raph," Don responded. There was a slight growling coming from Raph, and then Don continued. "I don't know Raph. I'm not sure you would have been able to think up the idea of circumnavigating your Shell Cell in an attempt to locate the external depression device that would trigger the electrical signal to be sent to all the others so that the circuit switch would connect the impulse to set off the 40 decibel alarm."

There was silence for a moment, and then Raph said, "…say what?"

A slight snickering came from Don, and mike heard Leo audibly sigh. Raph growled again. "Ya know, sometimes, I think ya do that just ta make me look stupid or somethin'," he snapped.

"Now why would I do that, Raph?" Donnie said. If Mike had not been so desperate to keep quiet, he would have snickered as well. Sometime, somehow, just as Mike had hoped, he had rubbed off a little on his brother. Although that did not change the fact that he also had no idea what Don had been talking about.

"So where's Mikey," Leo asked.

There was a moment of silence before Don said, "I don't know. I went over this whole block and didn't hear his shell cell go off."

"Ya think he was captured by someone?" Raph asked. Mike grinned to himself. His silence was paying off. He won this round.

He made to get up, but stopped short when Don started speaking again. "I should hope so. It would be a relief. Do you know how many of my experiments he has been playing with lately?" Mike froze. What did his brother mean by that?

"No kiddin'," Raph steps in. "And he never turns down the TV or stereo. I mean, I'm right next door, tryin' ta get some shut eye, an' he just keeps turnin' the damn volume up."

"And he leaves his stuff everywhere," Leo interjected. No, Mike thought, Not Leo, too. "I almost killed myself when I tripped over his skateboard. He left it right outside my room, and I fell on my shell down to the lower level of the lair. My back still hurts from that fall."

"And this all happened today, didn't it?" Donnie asked. Mike heard Raph make a grunting noise that sounded like a confirmation, and he suspected that Leo nodded when he heard Don sigh loudly.

"Oh well. If he was captured then there's nothing we can do about," Leo said. "Let's go home. Now who's going to tell Master Splinter we lost Michelangelo tonight."

"I will," Raph said. "I've been wantin' ta give him some good news for awhile now."

Mikey couldn't stand it anymore. He jumped out from behind the air vent he was hiding behind and confronted his brothers. "You guys are all jerks. I wish I really was…cap…tured…" He stopped rambling when he saw his brothers all standing there, arms crossed over their chests, staring at him with bright smiles on their faces. He sat down on the ground shocked and confused, and soon embarrassed as realization dawned on him.

He'd been had.


Donatello flinched slightly when he saw the look of hurt on his younger brother's face. He almost felt sorry for the cruel trick they played on him, but then he remembered seeing that little metallic disk of a shell cell go flying into the chasm of a New York City alleyway, and then he did not feel so bad.

Raph seemed to think it funny at least, because he could not seem to stop laughing. "Oh man, Mikey," He gasped out. "You should see the look on yer face right now, bro. You'd think ya actually believed us."

Mikey sniffed back a sob and Leo sighed again. "Mikey, it was joke, you know that, right?" When Mikey just glared at him, Leo flinched and looked over to Don. "Besides, it was Donnie's idea," he said.

Mike shifted his tear filled glare to Donatello. Don looked at him with his own stare. "That's your payback for ditching the shell cell into the alley."

"That doesn't make us even," Mikey growled. Don narrowed his eyes. "Alright, fine, we're even."

"Good," Don replied as he reached into his belt and retrieved another shell cell. He threw the spare over to his brother who caught it neatly in one hand, giving it a dumb look. "I figured you would do something to your phone the second I set off the alarm, so I brought a spare."

"So explain ta me how what you did is not the same as trackin' us with the shell cells, Donnie?" Raph asked.

Don smirked. "Because I was just listening for a beeping coming from your shell cells instead of locating you via following an electronic pulse emanating from a servo in side it." When they all stared at him, Don simplified, "electric pulse, different from sound wave."

The other three turtles just sighed and shrugged. They knew better than to argue with him about technicalities. "So, No setting off the emergency signal on the shell cells amended to the rules," Leo said and looked at everyone else. "Are we all clear on that?" They all nodded.

Then some voices on the street caught their attention. It was well into the night, so any voices usually signaled the coming of some street punks. They all moved over to the edge of the roof to get a better look, and what they saw interested Mike, Raph and Leo, but Don's breath caught in his throat. There on the street corner was the familiar boy he had known for almost ten years now. There was no way he could forget that outfit. The kid wore a dark trench coat that swayed in the breeze below his knees. His hands were buried deep within his pockets. He wore a dark blue t-shirt on under the coat, black jeans and old, worn out tennis shoes. His skin was rather pale, but not overly so, and most of his dark brown hair was covered under a bandana of varying shades of green in a strange flame motif. On the center of his forehead was a full moon. At least it was thought to be a full moon considering half of it was hidden behind the fold in the cloth.

The boy was standing in front of a six foot four blond man whose muscles bulged and almost ripped open his obviously too small T-shirt, probably worn to impress the girl that was clinging to one of his arms. Don found his voice then. "Hey guys, maybe we should go. Master Splinter is probably worried about us."

"Are you kiddin'," Raph said, glaring at Don. "The blond dude looks like he's 'bout ta kick that kids ass, and there ain't no way I'm gonna let that happen." Raph fingered the hilts of his sais in anticipation.

"I don't know guys," Mikey piped up. "That kid might be trying somethin'. I mean, look at that smirk he has. And big black trench coat is definitely a sign too."

Leo crossed his arms over his plastron. "Mikey, just because someone wears black doesn't make them a bad guy," he said more than a little annoyed with his brothers bout of wisdom.

Just then, a scream made them all look back down to the street corner. The girl was running off, and the guy was twitching with the kid's hand on his brow. They all watched, dumbfounded as the body builder fell to the ground twitching with his thumb in his mouth. "See," Mikey said, but everyone ignored him.

The second the body builder fell, the boy pulled out a cell phone. After a quick chat, he closed the phone and ran into the alleyway. "Dude, did he just call 911?" Mikey asked, and the others just nodded.

A deep and feral growl emanated from deep within Raphael's chest. "Alright. Don' expect ta here this often, but I think I agree with Mikey. That kid is sick."

"But, what did he do?" Leo asked.

"I don' care what that was, but it wasn't good, I can tell ya that," Raph countered.

Don was getting fearful of what his brother wanted to do. He had to get them home before they went running after that boy. "Guys, the kid didn't steal anything from them. And he did just call the authorities, so there are going to be cops around here soon. Maybe we should forget about him for now and get going."

Don's words fell on deaf ears as Raph just got himself more and more psyched up for a rumble. At least Leo seemed to hear some of it. "Easy Raph, if that kid could take down the muscle head, then we don't know what he's capable of," he said. Don sighed with relief. "We'll tail him for a short while." Don's hopes shattered at that. "Maybe we can find out more about him, see if he's in league with anybody else."

"Fine, whatevah Leo," Raph said as he moved to the edge of the roof that bordered the alleyway that the kid disappeared into.

"Tailing me won't be necessary," came a voice from the alleyway. Raph jumped back, drawing his sais. A green bandana appeared in the middle of the fire escape ladder and the boys frame gradually climbed over the ledge. He brushed off some stray concrete dust that had collected on his coat and then righted himself facing them, a broad grin splayed across his features.

Apparently Raphael did not take the grin to well, because he almost attacked the kid right then and there if it had not been for Leo putting a restraining hand on his shoulder. Raphael calmed himself with a few deep breaths before Leo removed his hand and took a couple steps towards the boy. "So, who are you, and why did you come up here?" he asked.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," the kid said. "Isn't it proper to give your name before asking for someone else's?"

"Um, No," Mike said stepping in, although the quavering in his voice gave him away.

The kid reached up and scratched the back of his head looking slightly baffled. "Wow. I usually get you honorable types with that one. Oh, well. It's not like I needed you to tell me anyway. You're Leonardo, Raphael, Michelangelo and Donatello." He pointed to each one, naming them in quick succession. They all gaped, except for Donatello, but luckily, no one noticed.

But the boy continued right on going. "As for why I came up here. Well, I heard this go clattering down the alley a couple minutes ago." He reached into his pocket and pulled out a broken shell cell. Mikey went a paler shade of green. "And considering it looks like it's designed to collapse into the shape of a turtle shell, I'm guessing it belongs to one of you." The boy looked at each on of their stunned faces in turn. They each slowly looked towards Michelangelo, and he quickly seemed to shrink several inches.

Of course, this just made the boy laugh. "I wouldn't blame him if I were you," he said. "You know, just because you are several stories up, does not mean sound doesn't travel down." They all stared at him. "I could hear you talking about me."

"Enough of this," Raphael practically screamed. "Listen kid, I don't know what it is you did to that guy, but you happened to stumble across the guy whose job is to beat up punks who mess with other innocent people." He advanced on the kid twirling his sais between his massive fingers.

The boy seemed unperturbed. "If you don't know what I did, then how do you know what I did was wrong?" he asked, his mouth twitching into a sly smirk.

"No mind games kid, or I'm gonna make sure that smirk of yours is a permanent fixture on your face." And then Raph charged. Leo tried to stop him, but his brother was already too far ahead of him. Raph stabbed hard, but the sai only met with air.

"You should watch that temper of yours," a cheery voice behind him said. Raph spun to face that coy smile once again. "So fast," he whispered to himself. Without warning, the boy reached out and pinched Raph on the wrist. His hand went numb and he had to drop the sai. It clattered noisily on the brick roof. The boy swung out, connecting his other hand's palm with Raph's chest. Raphael went flying over to the edge of the roof, but thankfully landed next to the edge rather than over it.

"Help Raph," Leo commanded, but Donatello did not even notice the order. He stood there transfixed as he watched the kid take on his brothers with ease. Not a single blow landed. The boy did not even try to deflect, just dodged the attacks, even when Raphael regained his composure and rejoined the fray. Nothing worked against him, and Donatello already knew that.

Suddenly, after a blur of movement, Don saw his brothers lying on their backs in front of him. "Son of a bitch!" Raph swore as he got to his knees. Leo stood up immediately, but Don could tell by his stance that he was starting to get wary of the boy. Mikey remained on the ground, to stunned to move.

The sounds of approaching sirens broke through the silent night as the four brothers stared down the one boy who had brought them all down. Well, almost all of them. Raphael got to his feet and so did Michelangelo who ran over to Don, trying to shake him out of his trance, with little success. Moving red and blue lights soon accompanied the sirens as they stopped nearby, but this all went unnoticed by the five occupants of that roof.

"Well now, are you all ready to behave?" The boy's features changed. His eyes narrowed and his brow came down, but still, that smirk remained. It made him look more dangerous. Don sensed Mikey shivering, and he started thinking of doing that too. He had never seen the kid, his other sensei, look like this, so malevolent and bloodthirsty. "It is kind of rude to attack someone unprovoked like that, you know."

Raph was not ready to give up. "You're one to talk about unprovoked attacks. What did that blond dude do ta you that ya had ta make him suck his thumb."

The boy laughed. It was devilish and it scared Don, who was still so confused with the situation, and Raph was feeding off of every word and everything the boy said and did, using it as fuel for his rage and justification. "I just passed on a message to him," the boy said when he finally stopped laughing.

Raphael's eyes narrowed. "What kind of message?" he asked.

The boys grin grew. "I just showed him something I wanted him to take into consideration," he explained. "It really isn't that big of a deal."

"Not that big of a deal?" Raph quietly asked, his voice starting to tremble with rage. He glanced over his shoulder to take one last look at the body builder before they took him away on a stretcher. "Ya call that 'Not that big of a deal?'" he asked.

"Hey, I called an ambulance for him," the boy offered innocently as he shrugged, but his voice was tinged with a hint of malice.

That was the last straw for Raphael and he charged one more time screaming, "If it's 'No big deal,' then show me what made that guy a fuckin' vegetable." Raphael knew that a frontal assault was not going to work as well, so he made a stabbing feint just before flipping over the boys head. The boy made no reaction to the feint, and by the time Raphael swung his sai around to connect with the boy's throat, he was gone again.

"If you insist," the boy said from behind Raphael once more. Don opened his mouth to warn his brother. He wanted to scream at him to get away, but like lightning, the boys hand flew out and grabbed a firm hold on Raph's skull, and then Don knew he was too late.


Leo watched transfixed with horror as his hotheaded brother was seemingly tortured to his knees in a manner of seconds. The guttural scream was one thing, but to hear it come from Raph was what scared him the most. His nerves twitched on edge as he realized how scared he was. His gaze shifted, dropping to his panting brother and then back up to the kid whose hand was still outstretched and formed in a perfect cast of Raphael's skull.

The boy pulled his hand back and stared at his palm. His eyes closed rather slowly and a soft chuckle escaped his throat. "I ended it before you saw the worst," he said, an almost somber note to his words. The somber tone in combination with the constant smile made Leo twitch as the blood began rushing through his veins, pumping the adrenaline that was leaking into his system to every muscle in his body. His ire continued to rise as the boy nonchalantly dropped his hand to his side and gave the broadest grin yet. "I'm sorry," he said with a new singsong voice. "I don't usually like to show those to people who aren't involved with the scenario, but he was very persuasive. I hope I didn't do any permanent damage, but it looks like he learned his lesson."

During that last part, his eyes fell to Raphael, who seemed to be starting to breathe easier now. That was the last straw in Leo's mind. How dare this kid? This kid had no right to think himself better then them. "How dare you touch my brother!?" He screamed. "Where do you get off trying to teach him a lesson? You're not our sensei."

The boy raised one eyebrow. "I never claimed I was," he said, unfazed by the outburst. He turned around. "I just showed him something. I think he decided on a lesson himself. But right now, I should get going. The authorities are gone, so now I can get back on the streets." And with that, he raised his hand in a dismissive wave goodbye as he ambled over to the fire escape.

Leo would not let him get there though. "Don't you walk away from me!" He yelled. He launched himself forward, the adrenaline doubling his speed and strength. He would be invincible in his attack. Nothing would stop him from taking down this kid and removing that confident smile from his face.

Nothing would stop him except for a limp hand that somehow found its way onto his wrist. "Don't." Raphael's voice sounded pained and hollow. It was devoid of any of its usual energetic confidence that came with his short fuse, and the high pitched shakiness was reminiscent of the tortured scream Leo had heard emanate from his brother only moments ago. Leo's eyes fell to his broken sibling. Raphael was staring transfixed at the feet of Donatello and Michelangelo, unwavering and unblinking. Two Riverbed stains fell down the sides of his face where the salty tears had mixed with his sweat.

Raphael's hand twitched slightly as his grip on Leo's wrist tightened. Leo had to bite back a slight yelp as his brother's strength crushed the nerves. His rush dying away, Leo was starting to feel the bruises the kid had inflicted, and his hand was quickly going numb as Raphael cut off the circulation to his fingers. "Raph, you're…," Leo kicked himself at what he was about to say. "That hurts bro."

The pressure on his wrist let up immediately. Leo rubbed his tingling hand as blood rushed to his slightly paler appendages. He glanced up and took a quick scan of the roof. The kid was gone, probably a block away by now.

He returned his gaze to his brother who was now staring at the hand that had held Leo's wrist. The fingers twitched and spasmed slightly as the muscles recuperated from being held taught in one position for so long. "I'm sorry, Leo," Raph said as he closed his eyes and sobbed quietly.

Leo slowly rested a comforting hand on Raphael's shoulder and felt his brother shivering underneath his touch. "Can you stand?" Leo asked in as soothing a voice as he could muster, and Raph's head fell in a slow nod. Leo helped his brother up, slinging Raph's arm over his shoulder to support his weight. He would pursue the kid some other time. Right now, he needed to get his brother home and safe, and maybe try to find out what the kid did to him.

"Mike, Don," Leo said. Michelangelo snapped to attention and Don's gaze shifted over to them from the fire escape. "Go get the battle shell and bring it into the alleyway. We're going to take Raph home." They both nodded and bounded off across the rooftops in the direction of where they had left the souped up moving van.

Leo gradually made his way over to and down the fire escape, helping Raphael the whole way. When they got to the base, they waited in silence until they heard the distant, but familiar hum of an approaching battle shell engine. Then Raphael spoke. "Don't go after him."

The sudden noise made Leonardo jump slightly. He had not really expected Raphael to start talking so soon, but he was happy to hear his voice. But that did not hide the concern and confusion he felt with his brother's statement. "Raph, I don't know what he did to you, but he can't go around doing it to other people," Leo explained. "We can't let him do that. And don't tell me you don't want to get even with him, because I know you do."

Raph shook his head. "I don't, Leo," he said. His eyes looked sad but a spark of life was starting to take flame and he smiled slightly. "He was right. He taught me somethin'."

Leo stared at his brother, dumbfounded. "What did he teach you?" Leo asked.

Raph looked away. "About myself. About crooks. About victims. He taught me a lot." His eyes focused on the bottom of a broken beer bottle lying in the middle of the alleyway. Bright red lights illuminating the two green faces went unnoticed as the battle shell backed into the alley, the back doors swinging open so the two turtles could get in.

"But most of all," Raphael continued quietly. He laughed again; this one actually seemed to hold a small bit of amusement in it. "I think he taught me something you and Master Splinter have been working on for years. To listen."