It's a new year and I'm back with an even longer chapter this time. Hope all of you had a good holiday.

I don't know If this chapter would count as violent but there's some suspense at least. Hope you'll like it. ^^

*.*.*.*

OC's perspective

Jet again I awoke in confusion and pain. I blinked as I remembered Leo's tearful face. I knew I had crossed the line but for him to react like that... What had I said to awaken such feelings in him?

The room smelled of incense and I seemed to be lying down on a really thick futon mattress on the wooden floor. I slowly sat up in the dark room feeling the scab on my back crack open underneath the bandage. I made a face but let out no sound.

It took me a moment but I soon found matches, I lit one and quickly located a couple of candles beside me. I hardly had to guess I was in Leos room. It was both bare and richly decorated at the same time. Simple light floorboards and bed covers in a pastel green color. He had two small drawers in the left corner and a low box where the candles were positioned next to the futon. The box was lying on it's side so the opening became an open storage for a few books. In the slim space on the right side of the bed a big battered old ornate Chinese vase was placed. It was white porcelain with a green faded pattern of a dragon around it. Out of the vase a large branch from a cherry blossom tree was growing and it had left pink petals on the floor. I could see the space where Leo's katanas would be hanging right over the head of the makeshift bed. There were also a couple of paintbrush drawn Asian words on parchment hanging in neat lines around the room. Beside the door an old tall mirror was leaning towards the wall.

I sat down in the lotus position on the bed and took a deep breath through my nose and let the rich smell of Nag Champa fill me with serenity.

I must have fainted from the stress earlier. The pain in my lower back was growing and I could feel the opened cracks letting out pus and possibly blood, getting stuck to the gauze. As I was about to stand I put my hand on top of a piece of paper. I relaxed and unfolded it noticing three different styles of handwriting.

The first part was written in even and precise lines and read;

"Do not try and leave this room. We have locked the door and removed anything you could use as a weapon so do not even think about it. We will be back soon to deal with you."

although "deal with" seemed to have been crossed out with another pencil. The next handwriting shifted between the words and letters, some really fine, others scribbled and hard to make out.

"Hi, Try to rest and sleep if possible. If you are in pain I left some painkillers and some water by the side of the futon."

I looked over and dodged so the candlelight spread around the edge of the mattress and reached out as I found a water bottle and swallowed the two pills balancing on it's cap as I continued reading. This must be Donnie's writing, I thought.

"I also left your bag by your feet as it contains some of your clothing. Just make sure to be careful with the bindings on your back."

I smiled as I could almost hear his worried tone of voice in my head, something that thankfully felt familiar too the cartoons and movies.

To my surprise the last part was obviously written by Mikey since it contained the word Dudette, however the handwriting was really neat. Fine like the first part (that I suspected to be Leos) but it also had an artistic twist to the letters.

"No need to fear Dudette, we'll be back before you know it and then we can exchange more awesome stories. Hugs and kisses from the Turtle Titan"

I let out a soft chuckle. Jupp, definitely Mikey. I went through my bag and thanked myself for packing my clothes in a separate plastic bag inside the bag hindering them from escaping through the big hole. Finally got on some fresh underwear and a couple of warm socks, a dark green long tank top and found a pair of purple soft shorts. For a moment I wondered if I should put on something other than the kimono clearly belonging to Master Splinter.

I trailed my hand over the soft thick fabric. It had a really dark shade of red and broad borders with black and gold embroidery. It was really quite exquisite. I softly stood holding it up before me giving it a good look before sliding it over my arms once more and tying it around my waist. I admired the embroidery at the end of my arms and suddenly caught my own reflection in the mirror feeling silly.

Just then I heard scratches on the other side of the door. I knew it would be locked but reached for the handle anyway. As the door failed to open I could hear the cat give out weak insulted noises.

"I'm sorry Klunk. I can't open the door." I tried as the cat continued stroking the door. Well, I probably could, but better not, I thought to myself.

I went back to Leo's bed and carefully laid down on my side. Discomfort made me reach beneath my ribs and pull out the note. I was about to put it away as I noticed the writing on the back of it, clearly written in haste it simply read;

"Thanks"

Raph? I felt surprise rise inside me. Just where had they gone of to? Raph had shocked me when he had said the thing about them not being fighters. Imagining the turtles not fighting the Shredder was just to weird. If they were not the teenage mutant ninja turtles who stood against The Foot and The Purple Dragons then...who were they? Did they even call each other brothers? How much did I really know about them in this world?

Even with all these questions filling my head I could feel sleep trying to catch me and I blew out the candles. I wished for all five of them to return safely. And cursed myself for trying to picture Donnie's eyes looking down at me.

*.*.*.*

(Mikey's Perspective)

I tried remembering training sessions. Why had I complained about them again? In comparison to this...

I tried to remember the joy I had felt as Leo stepped out of the dojo and told us to get ready. I tried remembering joking on the rooftops as we moved closer to Shredders building. I tried to remember if I had shut the door to my room when we left. I tried desperately to remember anything other than the herd of foot soldiers who were close behind me.

It had all gone smoothly as we infiltrated the lair. Donnie had hacked a computer to find fathers location and we moved with ease through the building which had seemed to have low security this late at night. There had even been that awesome moment in that slim corridor where we all had to stretch ourselves out from wall to wall up in the ceiling to avoid getting detected. Once we found Splinter we were all just too far inside a trap seemingly designed for us. I could not remember how we got out and my heart was still pumping hard against my shell. I never felt adrenaline like this before but I could tell it was running out as I pushed myself harder to make the next jump between two rooftops.

As we got out Leo had told us to split up and not return to the lair until morning no matter what. Raph and Donnie had objected since Master Splinter needed medical attention but there was no time to argue and before I knew it Raph, Leo, Donnie, Casey, Splinter...they were all gone.

The rain was increasing steadily. Mid jump between two buildings I rubbed the water out of my eyes and turned my head to look back. I was used to running on the wet sewer floor and noticed the ninjas behind me having more trouble with their landings. Remembering sensei's words too "Always mind your surroundings" I realized this downfall could be used to my advantage. A couple of quick turns and I noticed it took the foot some moments to redirect themselves. Some of them sliding and tripping, others seemed to have poor visibility through their masks and simply lost sight of me for a couple of seconds.

Use the environment! What else? Use what I have?

I remembered Donnie saying something about smoke bombs. Where had I put those? I patted the pockets around my belt until I found them and pulled one out. I found a good spot and threw one behind me just as a reached an edge but instead of jumping I turned left and then left again behind a pipe before jumping to a lower roof. Once again looking back mid jump I saw how the smoke failed miserably in the heavy rain although it seemed the powder had created a slippery spot near the edge and soldiers where falling over the edge headfirst.

I was about to smile but had to dodge a throwing star that was aimed at my head. I winced as two others stuck to my shell. I could not keep this up for much longer but they were still too many to fight of. My eyes flickered down as a door in an alleyway opened. Five bombs left. It was a really bad plan but as a throwing knife sliced by my left bicep as another bounced of my shell it turned into a matter of life and death.

*.*.*.*

The foot clan followed their leaders example and took out their own throwing weapons and hurled them at the freak jumping in a steadily slowing pace in front of them. The shell looked like target practice with knives and stars sticking out and it held it's arm as it started to bleed. Just as they thought the worst chase was over the creature speed up again dodging back and fort around pipes and roof constructions. Through the rain it was difficult to keep track of the beast and the blood was swiftly washed away in the rain. Suddenly a big mist of smoke went up in front of them. Just like before it failed and the dust fell down with the water and yet again they were running to fast to stop. The slippery space was much bigger this time and by the time the first of them had gotten back to their feet the creature had disappeared.

The leader cursed and hurriedly sent his soldiers out in four different directions to track to beast over the rooftops. It might have looked big and clumsy at first glance but it was most definitely a skilled ninja.

*.*.*.*

Mikey breathed heavily in the dark. Through the big window he saw the shadows of his followers jump off in different directions. By the exception of one who seemed to stay behind, now blending himself into the shadows. Most likely their leader, Mikey thought. He knew this meant the others would rejoin him after their search. It also meant he could not leave until they did since the leader on the roof would surely spot him if he tried to run now.

He sighed and gave the woman in front of him a weak smile. He had tackled her through the door and up against the wall inside, covering her mouth with his large hand and she looked back at him with terrified green eyes.

"Hi" he whispered trying to sound calm and friendly through his heavy breathing. "I'm not gonna hurt you I promise. I just have some thugs after me. I'll be gone as soon as they are"

It was really dark but he could see how she kept staring at him. His face inches away from hers. She had a sweet fragrance of lavender and vanilla. He had never been this close to a human before.

Or well, not this close to a human "Girl" considering he had just met Casey Jones for the first time a couple of hours ago. Casey had walked straight up to Mikey and hugged him as Raph introduced him first. Raph had had to grab Leo so he would not slice Casey up there and then from his sudden approach.

The weak light entering the store windows made parts of the woman's hair glow bright red. He moved away to take in more of her face and wondered how much she could make out of him.

"I really, REALLY promise not to hurt you so don't be scared ok?" She nodded weakly as he let his hold of her go softer. "I am going to take my hands away, ok? So don't scream." He looked at her intently and when she nodded again he carefully let go and stepped back, his hands above his head in surrender.

There was only silence for a long moment before he dared to move his hands downwards.

"So Dudett.." He was stunned silent by a hard kick to his plastron which knocked him back against the door.

Mikey winced and fell to his knees while the girl rushed away around the corner through a back door and seemingly up some stairs. The kick had not hurt as much as the sharp weapons getting pushed deeper into his shell.

He could hear her rattling with keys and forced himself up on his feet and stumbled up the stairs after her.

*.*.*.*

(Green eyed girl's Perspective)

The man had jumped me out of nowhere in the alley. I would always look carefully before stepping out to throw the garbage, especially this late at night. It had been empty, I'm sure of it, but on my way back...he seemed to have come at me from above. But that's impossible. The alley had no windows and no fire escape to jump from. Not on that side.

I thanked my lucky star he had been dumb enough to let me go but now I furiously fumbled with the keys and made a silent wow to take away anything unnecessary from the key chain if I lived through this. I wiped my face and noticed the blood on my hand, but it was not mine.

My mind raced. All I had to do was; get in and call the cops!

His steps on the stairs startled me to drop the keys but as I picked them up I was holding the apartment key. The door swung open but I was not fast enough and he forced himself in. I ran towards the phone but he was suddenly in front of me. He was fast. I backed up and stumbled over my coat hanger.

"Calm down, please" he urged through the darkness, closing in with his hand stretched towards me. "I wont hurt you Dudette."

I untangled myself and grabbed an umbrella to help me fight. My breath was unsteady through the adrenaline chock and my legs were shaking. I put my back to the wall and used it to slide into a standing position.

Suddenly my back touched the light button the room was flooded with light but went black soon after as I fainted.

"...A giant...turt..le?"

*.*.*.*