A/n: Sorry for the wait- life has been pretty hectic. With final exams coming up this may be the last update for awhile. Hope you still enjoy

Chapter Three: Of Mysteries and Mutants

Jimmy awoke with a start, breathless and covered in sweat. His head pounded with pain despite all the painkillers he had had previously. Knowing he wouldn't be able to go back to sleep, Jimmy pushed his bedcovers off and got to his feet. Roaming around the darkness of his room, he quickly got changed and shoved his phone and trusty pocketknife into his jacket-pocket.

Slipping on his shoes, Jimmy snuck down the stairs to the hallway, trying to be as quiet as possible. He didn't want his dad to wake up and ask questions. Zipping his jacket up, Jimmy quietly slipped out the front door.

The streets were quiet and dark. Clouds covered the sky, blocking out the light of the moon. The streetlamps were Jimmy's only source of light. The night was cold and a chilly wind rustled through the few trees planted along the sidewalk. Jimmy found the cold refreshing, and the cool breeze quickly woke him up fully.

He didn't know what had come over him. After the events of the last few days, Jimmy was sure he would never venture outside the safety of his home again, especially not at night. But after the headaches and the disturbing dreams, all Jimmy wanted was to get out of the house and clear his head. Besides, what were the odds of running into danger twice in one week?

Stuffing his hands into his pockets, Jimmy tucked his head down from the wind and started walking, letting his feet guide him.

Walking to the end of the street, Jimmy stopped beside one the large trees on the sidewalk. Looking up at the spread of branches, Jimmy swung his arms around in a circle, warming his muscles up.

"Okay, I can do this. Easy," Jimmy muttered to himself as he wrapped his arms around the rough bark. Using all of his strength, which in hindsight wasn't a lot, Jimmy pulled himself up, grabbing the lowest branch and pulling himself up until he was perched comfortably. Not only was it nice and cosy up in the tree, Jimmy hoped it would provide cover if anyone happened to be around. He felt safe up in the tree, even if he were only in the lowest branch. He didn't want to think about getting down, however. Getting up had been hard enough.

Leaning back against the tree for support, Jimmy observed the silent streets. It was strange that, only a night before, he had been only a few metres away, bloodied and fearing for his life. Not to mention, the place where he had seen the humanoid turtle. Jimmy shook his head and closed his eyes. Was he crazy? Maybe he had hit his head harder than he had thought and had imagined the whole thing. But if that were true, why was he having dreams about humanoid turtles?

Perhaps it was just a phase. Something his mind was conjuring to deal with the stress of the other night. Yes, that must be it, Jimmy thought with conviction. Besides, people have strange dreams all the time.

With that thought, Jimmy leaned back against the tree and let his mind wonder.

Michelangelo ran beside his brothers, laughing and leaping through the air. He liked these nights, when they could just let loose and have fun. Technically, they were supposed to be looking for clues, but Mikey was having too much fun to care.

Donnie and Raph ran alongside him across the rooftops, flipping and spinning through the air.

"I'm glad I came along tonight," Donnie said breathlessly. "I need a break from staring at books and computer screens all day."

"Always said ya' needed to get out more," Raphael said, flashing a grin at his brother.

"Though, we should be focusing," Don reminded them.

"We'll look for clues, don't worry," Raphael assured his brother. Won't kill us to have a little fun first."

"Now you're talking my tune," Mikey said with a whoop.

They continued racing across the rooftops, letting their minds wonder. Even ninjas needed a break every now and then.

After an hour of games and charades, the turtles focused their attention to the task at hand. Tracing their steps back to last night, the turtles crouched on the edge of the rooftop, peering down into the alley below.

"If only we had gotten here sooner," Donnie whispered. "Then we might have seen where they took the Mutagen from."

"There aren't a lot of options," Raph said, looking around the empty streets. "They must have gotten it from somewhere else in the city, and this was the rendeverous point."

"Good point, let's go down and get a closer look," Donnie said, silently dropping into the alley below.

The others quickly followed, narrowing their eyes in the darkness of the alley. It was a straight, dead-end alley way. No doors lead to the alley. The only things occupying the dark space were garbage cans overflowing with waste.

"What a lovely meeting point," Mikey said, scrunching his beak up at the rancid smell.

"It's a quiet part of town," Don said out loud. "It's the perfect place to remain undetected."

"'Till we found 'em," Raph pointed out.

"Yes, until we found them," Donnie muttered, searching the ground for any possible clues. "Look," he said, pointing a few metres away.

The turtles gathered around a drop of glowing, green ooze.

"It's Mutagen," Don said, studying the substance. "The canister must have been damaged."

"Look, there's more leading to the mouth of the alley," Mikey said, pointing to a faint trail of Mutagen.

The turtles followed the trail to the end of the alley. Cautiously looking out, the turtles made sure they were alone before they stepped out onto the street.

"Look," Donnie said with a gasp, "there's Mutagen and blood here."

Raphael followed his gaze and scoffed. "That's from that kid last night. Two Purple Dragons knocked him over, hit his head. That's where the blood's from."

"And here the trail just ends," Don finishes. "Leo, Mikey and I doubled back last night after they disappeared. There aren't any other traces."

"What are we missing?" Mikey asked. "They obviously had a getaway car."

"But there were no tire marks, nor smell of exhaust," Donnie pointed out.

"How far were they when you lost them?" Raph asked.

"Not far. They disappeared around a corner. We couldn't have been more than forty seconds behind them. But when we got to the corner it was like they had just vanished."

"Maybe we need to follow the path again, check things over," Raph sighed. "There's got to be something we missed."

"It's too late now," Don pointed out. "Let's go back to the lair, tell Leo what we found. We'll all go out again tomorrow night."

"Sounds like a plan," Raphael grumbled before he froze.

"What is it, Raph?" Mikey asked, noticing the sudden change within his brother.

"I don't know," Raphael said slowly, his eyes roaming around the street. "I just got this feeling that someone is watching us."

"There's no one here," Don said after a moment. "We already checked."

Raphael's eyes landed on a tree only a few metres away. Narrowing his eyes, he stared at the tree, but the harsh glare from a near-by streetlamp made it impossible to see anything.

"Guess I'm just imaging things," Raphael grumbled before following his brothers back into the darkness of the alley.

Jimmy let out the strangled breath he had been holding. He hadn't been spotted. He watched as the turtles disappeared from sight, and pinched himself hard. He hadn't been imaging things. The turtles, or whatever they were, were real. He wasn't crazy.

But where's the fourth one? Jimmy thought to himself, remembering seeing four shadows in his dream. Were these creatures really turtle-people? Or was it just some guys wearing costumes? They looked really real though. Perhaps they're mutants! Jimmy thought with a sudden gasp. Like the X-Men!

Jimmy briefly wondered if all his comic books were true. If there were real life mutants in New York, surely it couldn't be impossible for other comic book fantasies to be real either.

That is so cool, Jimmy thought. I wonder if they have a teacher, like Professor X. I wonder where they live?

Shaking his head to clear his rapidly racing thoughts, Jimmy realised he was in a predicament. He had seen with his own eyes that these creatures were real and not a figment of his imagination. He just had to think of a way to prove it to everyone else. Damn, should have taken a photo with my phone. But that probably would have alerted them.

Jimmy thought back to the conversation he had overheard. It sounded like they were tracking someone down. But what was Mutagen? Was it dangerous?

Determined to get to the bottom of it, Jimmy scrambled down the tree and ran for home. Now he just needed a plan.