I Don't Own Ninja Turtles

Chapter 1:

(3rd:)

"Anything?" Leo asked his shell cell.

"We're almost there." Donnie reported. "What about you?"

"Nothing yet." He stated in annoyance as he looked down at the picture they were using as reference to locate the woman Bishop claimed would be able to help them find April and Casey and was about to say more when Mikey suddenly jumped onto a ledge above him and called his name; indicating that he had found something.

"Stand by." He told his phone before hanging up and went to see what his brother had discovered.

"Check this out." Mikey said as he pointed toward a spot on the rooftop and Leo knelt down to see what it was. But he didn't see things like Mikey did.

"Point me in the right direction here bro." He requested and his brother quietly drew a shape around the thing in question which looked to Leo like a footprint. "The guards use the rooftops too." He pointed out truthfully.

"Yeah." Mikey agreed as he motioned toward a few other areas. "I've seen their prints everywhere but this one's different, it was so light that I barely saw it. The guards aren't worried about leaving footprints, yet this person was." He explained seriously and Leo looked at him as he realized what that meant.

"Ninja?" He asked and Mikey nodded. "Can you track him?"

"Don't insult me Leo." Mikey proclaimed with a smile as he got to his feet and pointed in a seemingly random direction. "He went that way."

…

"Correction –" Mikey stated a little while later as he crouched to check another print and Leo stopped to wait for him. "She." He finally finished.

"A female?" Leo proclaimed in slight distress.

"I'm pretty sure." Mikey perked up. "These prints are just too small to be a male. That would also explain why she's so light."

"Yeah," Leo agreed sourly. A kunoichi was always someone you liked having around for a female ninja could just do things that males couldn't, but it was only a good thing if she was on your side.

"Okay let's –" He started again before Mikey suddenly reached out to pull him back by the ridge of his shell just in time to save his brother from having his face sheared off by a freaking tessin as the fan spun through the air back toward its master who caught it in one hand as she perched on the top of a church spire like an angle of darkness.

"My uncannily, accurate search instincts are telling me – we're in the right place." Mikey proclaimed as if talking of the weather as Leo slowly unsheathed one of his swords.

"We're not your enemy." Leo called to her but she didn't answer instead choosing to just continue staring at them. "We don't want to fight you; we just want to find our friends." He added sternly which granted him some slight movement this time as she turned to look at something and then, even though Leo continued to watch her like a hawk, she just – vanished – right before his eyes.

"Mikey?" He asked slowly.

"Yeah I saw it too." His little brother announced and Leo nodded before leading the way over to the place where she had just been but was now nowhere to be found.

"Where did – AH!" Leo started to ask before his phone suddenly vibrated and thus scaring the shit out of both of them in process. After which Leo then causally looked at his brother as he picked up the device again only to find Mikey was obviously just as embarrassed about the action as he was.

"I won't tell anyone if you won't." The younger turtle offered and the other nodded in agreement.

"Deal!" Leo spoke up as he answered the phone to find it was Donnie again.

"Leo we might have found something." The purple-clad turtle declared obviously running as he spoke. "We're following a trail, but judging from the claw marks it could be something pretty big." He continued.

"Go ahead and check it out." Leo answered nervously, choosing not to tell him about the ninja so he didn't have two things to worry about. "But be careful!" He added sternly and his brother agreed before hanging up again.

"Can you find her?" Leo asked as he returned the phone to his belt and looked down at Mikey who was checking the ground again for signs of their new – friend.

"Yeah." The orange-clad turtle announced as he ran a finger over a spot on the ground and sniffed the dust. "She didn't vanish." He added confidently as he started following something across the rooftops with his eyes and Leo nodded again, understanding that not only did they have a dangerous enemy ninja in their mists but that she could also make herself invisible.

That wasn't a good combination.

…

"We're getting close to the path Raph and Donnie were taking." Mikey announced some 20 minutes later after they were still following the trail left by their invisible ninja and Leo was about to respond when a loud quake had a section of roof a few streets away collapsing into a plume of dust.

A minute later a large black form threw itself from the building to disappear into the city but Leo and Mikey didn't pay much attention to it as they rushed over to aid their brothers who they could sense were in the area.

Leo couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief when both of them plus Zira materialized on the rooftop a minute later unharmed. But as they neared the other team he heard Zira say something that stopped him in his tracks.

"That thing was a turtle."

"What?" They both demanded as Leo and Mikey shook themselves out of their daze and hopped over to land on the roof with them.

However Zira apparently hadn't expected them and suddenly whipped around with her gun in hand to respond to their presence causing Donnie to promptly reach out and point the barrel at the ground instead.

"Will you relax?" He demanded of her with a growl. "You're making me nervous."

"What happened?" Leo ordered as they walked up taking a peek down inside the building to see the whole thing had been pretty much demolished.

"There was –" Raph started to answer as he looked at Zira again questionably before turning back to his brother. "Somethin' – waitin' for us." He finally settled on.

"It must have been looking for something." Donnie added quickly. "We should try to find what it –" He started to suggest but was interrupted when Mikey suddenly called to them from within the hole and they quickly rushed over to see what he had found.

"Look at this!" He ordered and they descended into the wreckage to find him pulling a picture frame out of the rubble to show them. Taking it; Leo turned it around to find that the image inside was still intact and his eyes widened as he realized that the woman in the photo was the same woman Bishop was trying to find.

"Oh no!" He said as he started looking around the destroyed apartment again.

"Wait a minute." Raph grumbled in confusion. "I though this was April's apartment."

"If they were friends she could be a target too." Donne answered sternly, but before they could make another move on this theory the sound of sirens suddenly announced themselves as they closed in on the turtle's location who quickly reconvened on the roof to get the hell out of there before the feds showed up.

Lord knows they were already in enough trouble.

…

"So where do we go from here?" Raph growled with folded arms as he watched the police search the apartment from atop a water tower.

"That looks like a good place." Mikey brought up and they all looked at him as he held up the picture they had found. In it was not only the woman but also a man and two young boys who looked to be the man's sons, however Mikey was pointing behind them at a building – one they didn't recognize of course.

"Yeah and how are we supposed ta find this place?" Raph proclaimed sourly as he jumped back down to snatch the picture from his hand so he could have a look for himself. "We can't even find a Pizza Hut." He added sourly.

"You can see the dome in the background so it's gotta be inside the city." Mikey proclaimed thoughtfully. "But –" He added looking back at the picture. "I don't know how we'd find it."

"I can try cross-checking it with a map I have." Donnie offered, activating his gantlet again and started working his magic. "But I don't know how well it'll work though." He admitted distractedly.

"Ya did good Mikey." Raph told him as he laid his hand on his baby brother's shoulder when the little guy became kind of depressed.

"But I didn't find it." He complained and his brothers were about to tell him that it was okay when Zira spoke up.

"I think you can though." She said as she got to her feet and walked around to stand in front of him where she quietly removed the gold stone from her necklace and held it out for him to take.

"Hey!" Raph complained immediately pulling his little brother back so he couldn't touch it. "Don't even try it lady." He threatened.

"Will you relax, it won't hurt him." She went on.

"Give me one good reason why I should believe that?" He yelled causing her to raise the stone so he could look at it again and found that the thing was glowing.

"It wouldn't be doing that if it wasn't compatible with him." She proclaimed sternly. "In fact it might just boost his ability enough that he can find this person."

"It could?" Mikey asked causing Raph to glare at him.

"Mikey yu're not –" He started to command but his brother cut him off.

"Raph I want to help." He declared sternly.

"Damn it, Leo will ya help me over here." Raph demanded sourly but said sibling just looked at Mikey and nodded understandingly after a short staring contest.

"If this is what you want to do I won't stop you." He said simply.

"WHAT?" Raph roared only to be shushed before he got them all discovered. "Leo ya can't be serious." He added quietly.

"I don't like it either but it's his call Raph." Leo answered calmly. "If I stopped him and he came to regret not making this decision I would never forgive myself." With that he looked up to meet Raph's eyes and added. "Could you?"

The red-clad turtle promptly growled again as he seemingly came to some kind of decision before sighing loudly and walked over to stand out-of-the-way.

"Well Sunshine?" Zira asked gently, holding up the rock again in question.

"What's it supposed to do?"

"It'll help you coordinate the energy in your body so you can focus more of it on the task, instead of it being so jumbled and unorganized." She explained kindly which left him to nod as he found himself understanding such a thing rather well.

"Will it hurt?" He asked after a minute as he eyed the stone nervously but she just grinned.

"No." She laughed simply before sitting on the ground and he followed. "About the most you'll feel is a slight tickle. But we won't know for sure until we try."

"Okay." He finally agree before reaching out to let her drop the thing in his hand which immediately began to glow again and he smiled a little as it warmed his palms.

"You okay?" She asked kindly and he nodded.

"It feels so – natural." He finally settled on in amazement and she smiled.

"It's no wonder you guys have so many health problems." She stated off topic. "You know you can't just pump Retalion into your body and expect it to purify itself. It needs help."

These words obviously had the turtles immediately looking at her in shock. "What do you know about Retalion?" Leo requested and she looked at him strangely before turning to Donnie sadly as she realized something.

"So that's why he didn't know." She said under her breath before turning back to Leo and spoke up. "This didn't happen to you – willingly – did it?"

"No." Leo answered simply and she sat up a little straighter.

"What – color was it?" She added off topic.

"Black." Leo responded and she hissed in obvious distress. "Why?"

"They've made a few different types but black is by far the most dangerous." She explained solemnly.

"Maybe you could try explaining this from the beginning?" Donnie requested as he knelt at her side.

"Retalion is actually a type of energy; it's made on my planet." She started again. "Long ago it was gently added into our water supply. It helped us to evolve faster, made us stronger, gave us our abilities."

"So you know a lot about this stuff?" Leo asked next and she nodded.

"Gold is its normal color, and these are used to help us organize the Retalion so it doesn't harm us." She said indicating the stone in Mikey's hand again. "But black isn't natural." She added sternly.

"What do you mean?" Donnie stated quietly.

"It was made by – by the Barron." She answered obviously still uncomfortable talking about him, and for good reason. "He wanted a way to make his solders stronger, he usually – perfected it – on the population of a planet he was in the process of conquering. But I didn't think anyone had ever survived."

"We knew we were the first, but – you're actually saying that this has made its way through planets of people?" Donnie asked in slight shock and she nodded once again.

"How long ago did this happen to you?" She requested kindly.

"Little over 12 years."

"Wow." She exclaimed in astonishment.

"Why?" Leo asked next.

"It's not uncommon for a – volunteer to survive for maybe a month or so, but usually their bodies will literally break down shortly after." She explained mutely. "I had the displeasure of catching up with one – right when he reached his limit." She went on distractedly as she shivered in remembrance of the incident. "Let's just say it's hard to cash in a bounty on a guy who's exploded."

"Okay enough said." Leo commanded sternly.

"But you guys are different." She continued as she watched the stone in Mikey's hand closely. "Normally people under the influence of Dark Retalion are power hungry, violent and quite frankly – insane."

"Jordan said they specifically designed us to handle it." Donnie spoke up suddenly and she nodded.

"Your bodies must have been built to single out the components that it could handle and modify the rest into something similar. But it's not a perfect science – like I said, the body needs help."

"And how would one do that?" Leo asked curiously as she returned to watching Mikey again until she seemed satisfied with his progress and removed the stone from his hand to show the other three.

"This is a form of crystallized Retalion energy." She explained simply. "Because it's already been purified in the core of my planet; it can aid in the purification of other energy like it."

"That makes sense." Donnie admitted and Leo nodded in agreement as well before speaking up again.

"Would you be willing to let Mikey hold that for a while?" He finally asked causing said turtle to look at him in shock.

"I don't want it if it's not going to help you too." He insisted in a small voice.

"Mike." Leo started to complain but the smaller turtle promptly put his foot down.

"NO!"

"It won't work if he's not willing to accept it." Zira put in when Leo attempted to change his mind again and Mikey promptly folded his arms and nodded as if to say 'yeah, what she said.'

"But –" Zira continued before she lost them and quietly touched her finger to the center of the stone in her hand which seemed to cause it to glow a little brighter before suddenly falling apart into four smaller pieces leaving the turtles to stare at it in shock.

"I told you, its energy." She explained again with a laugh as she handed one back to Mikey. "It's easily modified into other forms." She added before giving one to Leo and Raph as well.

"What about Donnie?" Mikey asked causing her to raise an eyebrow at him.

"He's already got one."

"What?" Donatello proclaimed in shock before remembering something and quietly pulled out the little gold stone that Algernon had used to teleport him and Zira back to Earth. "I forgot about this." He admitted taking notice of the fact that the thing was glowing warmly. "But are you sure it's okay for me to keep it?"

"My father left it to you." She muttered sourly; clearly still a little mad at said individual. "But if I were you I wouldn't be in too big of a hurry to use it, I have no idea what else he's put in it."

Donnie was about to ask her what she meant by that when Raph interrupted. "Okay what's yur deal?" He suddenly put in causing her to raise an eyebrow at him in question. "It can't just be a coincidence that ya happen ta be so knowledgeable about this stuff."

"I admit I find that a little weird myself." Leo pointed out as he closed his fingers around the stone in his hand and she shrugged dismissively as she answered.

"Maybe it's fate." She suggested. "Or maybe my father had his hand on more stings then I first realized." She added more to herself, but the turtles didn't miss it.

"How would your father have anything to do with this?" Donnie asked finally causing her to look at him questionably.

"He didn't tell you?"

"Tell me what?" He demanded sourly, lord he was getting sick of people asking him that. Why couldn't anyone just give him all the information in the first place?

"He told you about how Algon's are mentally strong?" She responded with a laugh pointing at her head and he nodded. "Well his strength lies in seeing the future." She finally explained causing the turtle to start slightly as he found that actually made a lot of sense considering what he'd experienced from the man.

"Anyway." She continued again; leaving Donnie to think that over as she looked back at Mikey. "Feel like testing out your abilities?" She added quietly holding up the picture for him to see again, leaving him to flex his hand experimentally before studying the thing for a moment as he causally reached out to touch the building in the photo with the end of his finger, but nothing seemed to happen.

However just as he was about to give up again his eyes suddenly widened in recognition and he bolted to his feet where he zeroed in on a direction and immediately started running.

…

"Mikey what's goin' on?" Raph demanded for the 26th time but his little brother just answered with the same –

"Hurry up! I don't wanna lose it."

"Lose what, what is he seeing?" Donnie asked of Zira as she kept up with them.

"I don't know; it's different for everyone." She admitted. "But their first time is usually a little confusing. It'll take him a minute to get use to it. So until then we just have to keep up."

"Ya never said anythin' about this when ya gave him that thing." Raph complained and she turned to give him a sour look in exchange.

"I didn't know how it would help him, just that it would." She proclaimed in announce. "Everyone is different."

"So ya decided ta experiment on him?" He growled as he suddenly stopped in his tracks to turn around and get in her face. "That's –" He started again before being interrupted.

"There!" Mikey called and they all looked around to find him pointing at something on the ground.

"That's enough Raph." Leo ordered as he went to join the orange-clad ninja on the roof but of course Raphael just turned back to glare at the person of his anger until Donnie walked up to take him by the arm and physically steer him around, before pushing him in the direction of their other two brothers.

When they finally got to see what Mikey had found they were all generally amazed to discover that it was the exact same building from the picture and not only that but the woman they had been looking for was currently running down the street toward it and had even stopped to ring the doorbell.

"Great job Mike." Leo told him with a smile causing the little turtle to beam like the sun. "Now let's get to her before something else does." He added sternly and took a quick look around the area before dropping down to street-level with everyone in tow.

They tried to not seem threatening as they walked toward the woman but she still gasped when she saw them and backed up a step.

"It's okay ma'am." Leo said kindly as he stopped to give her a little bow. "We're not going to hurt you."

"What do you want?" She demanded in a voice that clearly showed she was trying to be strong even though she was obviously scared out of her wits.

"We need your help." Leo continued softly. "Are you Irma Langinstein?"

Happy New Year XD