I'M ALIVE! AND I BRING A NEW CHAPTER! Yes, after months upon months of waiting, I have FINALLY finished chapter eight of this story... Okay, technically, I wrote it in two days, but I never had a way in my head to move it along. I finally came up with something. Anyway, there's not a whole lot in this chapter, but it's one of those 'leading up' type things. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I don't own TMNT or any of the characters. I only own Amy, Gage and any other OCs that may turn up.


A few days later, I'd become more like myself again. I no longer felt sick, nor did I feel as though I owed anything to my brothers. Of course, they insisted that one until their faces were blue, almost literally in Michelangelo's case. I prepared for another average day with my brothers, or as average as one could find with my newly transformed family. I planned to do some weapons training with Raph, some hand-to-hand combat with Mikey, work on my katas with Leo, and possibly get Donny away from his computer long enough for a game of chess. Don was still working on figuring out what had happened to them. There was still no progress. We'd gotten a few leads before, but they all ran cold and we always started back at the beginning. I walked into the main area of our home, the spacious room that had once been a subway station.

"Hey, Amy," Mikey greeted when he saw me, that same grin on his face as always. I smiled back, taking notice of the bed-head he sported. Even through the nearly two months my brothers had been human, there were some things they neglected still.

"Forget to brush your hair again?" I asked, ruffling his hair further with my hand. I jumped over the back of the couch and landed next to him, changing the channel to the morning news.

"Aw, come on."

"Mikey, you are an impulse buyer. You don't need the shopping network on. Besides, I want to see what's going on."

"The same stuff that was going on yesterday."

"Things change quickly, especially in New York. You know that, Mike," I answered with a smile.

'There's been yet another outbreak of gang activity, particularly by the infamous Purple Dragons,' the news reporter said. That caught my attention. Focusing on the television screen, I barely noticed the rest of my brothers gathering around as well.

"What else is new?" Raph muttered. I motioned for him to be quiet as the report continued. The Purple Dragons had been relatively dormant, minus that attempted attack on me. Why were they surfacing again? Hadn't they learned their lesson?

'I'm here with eye witness Damon Andrews. Can you tell us what you saw last night?'

'The Dragons tried to attack my sister. They cornered us in a back alley and came at me with a few weapons. Then, a bunch of figures appeared in the darkness. I couldn't tell who they were, but the Purple Dragons noticed 'em pretty quick. This guy dropped down in front of us. He was wearing all black. Looked like he could control the Dragons because they backed off after only about a minute. Then, the figures disappeared too. That's when my sister and I got out of there,' Damon explained. I looked up at my brothers with a frown.

"Foot Clan?" I wondered aloud.

"Why would they just be protecting people like that, though? They've never cared before," Donny answered.

"Karai had a change of heart," Mikey offered jokingly. Leo threw him a harsh stare, quickly silencing him.

"Mikey, Karai took the Foot Clan to Japan," my eldest brother said.

"Then who are these guys?"

"It's none of our concern."

'There seems to be another gang on the rise as well. They're symbol appears to be a three-pronged flame,' the reporter continued. The image of the Foot Clan's symbol appeared on the screen catching us all by surprise. 'There have been no sightings of this gang as of yet, but their work has been seen. It seems they are composed of skilled fighters, rather than street punks, like the Purple Dragons. There have been cases of CEO assassinations, with very little evidence left behind. So far, there have only been two cases where anything has been found that may lead to this gang.'

"Murders," I mumbled. "I mean, I know the Foot Clan consists of ninjas and ninjas were originally trained for assassinations, back in the day, but… dang."

"This is… unusual. Why would the Foot Clan kill someone one day and then, as it would seem, protect someone else the next evening?" Don asked.

"Whatever the reason, we shouldn't interfere," Leo answered.

"Are you kidding me?" I asked incredulously, turning to face my eldest brother. "If this is Karai's doing, then wouldn't that be going against her truce with us? Didn't she say she'd stay in Japan?"

"She never actually said those words."

"So?! It was implied!"

"Not really," Don answered and I glared at him.

"Alright, but I still think we should check it out."

"We have a truce with the Foot Clan. They aren't going to be attacking us," Leo responded, walking away.

"You're just going to walk away?" I demanded. "There are people being killed and you're just going to walk away?"

"There's nothing we can do."

"But there is. Leo, we've protected people before, in the shadows. We can still do that."

"What's the point? If we attack them, we'll break the already shaky truce we have with them. Then they'll begin attacking us again. We'll lose the security we've had for the past four years." I bit the inside of my lip and stared up at my older brother. The expression on his face showed me that he wasn't willing to risk our family for a hunch. I had to admit, I didn't want to do that either, but I didn't feel as if this could go ignored.

"What if that's their plan? To try and lure us out so they can attack us?"

"All the more reason to stay away."

"You mean to tell me we're just going to hide like a bunch of cowards?"

"What's gotten into you, Amy? You used to think these things through more."

"I don't like the idea of people being killed. It's bad enough the Purple Dragons are back on the rise, but they're idiots. They're easy to beat back into submission. If the Foot is back, it'll be harder to keep the Dragons in check. Don't you see?"

"Forget it, Amelia. We're not going," Leonardo answered with a tone of finality. His use of my full name caught me by surprise. Rarely had he ever done that. I scowled and stood abruptly, causing Mikey to stare up at me. I leapt over the back of the couch and made a beeline for the door.

"I'll be out," I muttered.

"Where are you going?"

"Out."

Running out of the lair, I quickly made it to the nearest manhole leading to an alley. As soon as I was topside, I began climbing a fire escape. Being on the rooftops of the buildings was always comforting to me. It probably came from all the night-runs I went on with my brothers. Now, in broad daylight, I sat on the edge of the roof and stared out into the endless city. I was still dressed in my kimono-style top and sleek black pants. I couldn't run across the rooftops, as I knew I'd be quickly seen. It wasn't long before I could hear the sound of footsteps from behind me, coming up the fire escape. I glanced behind me to see Raphael. I sighed and turned back to the cityscape before me. Raph sat beside me, one leg hanging off the edge of the building and the other bent with his arm resting on the knee.

"Came up here, eh?" he asked.

"Leo send you?" I retorted.

"Ya think I'd listen ta 'im?"

"If it had to do with keeping an eye on me, yes." Raph scoffed and chuckled softly. "I'm not going anywhere, and I'm not going to do anything stupid."

"We never know with ya."

"Oh, gee, thanks, Raph."

"Anytime, Ame." I rolled my eyes and looked to another, nearby building. There, I could see a large group of people dressed in black gathered there. My brow furrowed as I slowly stood, trying to see if I could get a better look. "See somethin'?"

"It's… the Foot Clan," I murmured.

"In broad daylight? Gettin' bold, ain't they?"

"Let's check it out."

"Ya crazy?"

"What? Are you actually following Leo's orders for once? Look, I don't want to fight them. I just want to ask them a few questions. Think of it as… negotiations. Now come on."

I ran off the edge of the building we were on, Raph close behind, and leapt to the next one. I did the same until we were on the same rooftop as the Foot ninjas. As soon as I landed on the roof, they all turned to face my brother and me. Raph moved to stand slightly in front of me, ready to block any attack, should one come. I knew they wouldn't dare attack us unless we did so first. Surely that was part of our treaty. I was proven wrong when the ninjas all pulled out their weapons and began charging at Raphael and me.


Like I said, leading up. lol. Hope you liked the latest installment. Please R&R.