Here's the next one - I dare say this must be the longest yet. Maria's reason for avoiding Raph will not be given yet - I have a rather pleasant and funny surprise on how to do it, and you can all thank EgyptsBlackRose for unconsciously inspiring me.

I realized that, up till now, I have never really thanked those who follow and have favorited the story. Therefore, here it goes:

Thank you for following Aster Sapphire , CreationImagination, EgyptsBlackRose, Everyday Daydreamer, Jess98, Kuro Rotasu, Midnight Kimberly, NeonYellowNinja, Ninjanoodles27, Rose1999, Silver Moonlight Blossom, Sparkeii, Tmntfreak1996, joompan98, sofijakuga and turtlesrock471.

Also, thank you for putting my story in your favorites list EgyptsBlackRose, Jess98, Kuro Rotasu, Midnight Kimberly, Ninjanoodles27, RaphMikeyLeoDonnie4everlover, Rose1999, Tmntfreak1996, joompan98 and turtlesrock471.

EgyptsBlackRose I'm glad to hear I made your day, as your reviews make mine. I thought that, since Raph was on top of Maria and Don on top of Louisa, it would be too obvious and too much if Leo were to do something to Halley, so the only choice left was Gina. In the episode, Mikey did actually complain to Don for his foot on his shell, so there was no way he would have done that if he was anywhere near his O'Neil counterpart - plus, let's give the guy a break before calling him a pervert for a while, ne?

That's all! Oh, right, one more thing!

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Raph would definitely give us some canon dirty talk in that oh-so-sexy Brooklyn accent of his if I had my way, otherwise...

Walking around in the dark city turned out to be much worse than Master Splinter had made it out to be.

At first, the only real problem seemed to be that the turtles were at an awkward position on how to treat the girls. Gina and Mikey were just fine with each other, but Gina was still nervous about the groping accident, and Mikey had to get hit on the head a couple of times to stop with the perverted jokes. Halley still treated Leo coldly, and the latter felt like he had to apologize for every breath that might seem louder to the girl. Raph and Louisa were glaring steadily at Maria and Don respectively. Raph still couldn't get why Maria suddenly avoided him, and Louisa was running through several seasons of CSI in her head, trying to see which of the show's cases would seem more like an accident and be accomplished by only one person - she doubted anyone she knew would bother helping her kill Don (and then possibly violate his carcass), mutant turtle or not. Finally, Don and Maria were the most awkward pair of the four, not ones to closely hanging out till now, and both still refusing to meet each other's violent siblings in the eye.

When Don pointed at some dark figures dressed as masked ninjas, things looked like they were about to turn for the better. At long last, some action to take the tension away!

Or so they thought, until the brothers made the sisters stay behind, entering the museum on their own, and leaving the girls out to relative safety...

"OK, Don, spill it! ", Raph hissed as soon as the turtles entered the dark museum.

"Hmm? ", Don blinked. "Spill what? "

"Why is Maria so close to ya all of a sudden? ", Raph gave him a scornful glare, one that would have made said girl shrink in fear if it was ever directed to her. His lips curled in distaste "Been spendin' some quality time together behind our backs, haven' cha? "

Don frowned, completely at a loss with where this was going "What in the world are you talking about? "

"Now ya listen here, smartass, I know ya ain't no idiot, so stop playin' around, ya hear? ", his brother growled, and moved to grab him by the neck.

Thankfully, Mikey and Leo got in the way and held him back, with the former as confused as Don, and the latter twitching in annoyance from all the noise they were making.

"Knock it off, Raph", Leo whispered, pushing him back. "It's not Don's fault, and it's definitely not Maria's fault, either, so don't even think to corner her again once we reunite with the girls. You're the one who got you into this mess. "

Raph stopped trying to get to Don, and gave Leo an incredulous look "Me?! Wha' the heck did I do?! "

His leader shook his head "If you don't know already, then I'm certainly not the one who's gonna tell you. Now hush and hurry up, we don't want these guys to get away this time around. "

"Gift shop's on the first floor, boys", Leo's authority-like tone gave way to something close to humor for a change. Even with his lack of seriousness, though, he managed to successfully grasp the Foot Ninjas' attention. He gave them a smug grin before going on in the same tone "But they don't take kindly to shoplifters. And neither do we".

Picking up from where he stopped, Raph decided to play along - after all, with the girls out, he had complete freedom "Now, before ya try to take off wi' the goods, ya might wanna consider a few things. One, ya're outnumbered. Two, don' le' the pretty faces fool ya. We're tougher than we look! "

"And three, we're about to get our butts seriously hammered! ", Mikey pointed in a panicky motion at the crowd of Ninjas that started coming out of nowhere.

But it was not their numbers that had him worried while his brothers lost all color from their faces. It was the precious cargo that their opponents were carrying with them.

And in that instant, the turtles knew they were at a serious disadvantage that had nothing to with the odds being against them...

"Wha?! ", Raph felt the extreme need to facepalm. "Do we need to keep ya four on a leash?! "

The most violent of the four captives stopped thrashing around in her captor's arms and turned her narrowed eyes at him, snarling in a way that even the proudest canine would be jealous of.

Halley, who was on Louisa's left side, rolled her eyes, pointing at her sister "If I were you, Raphael, I would keep a limit on my mouth and the insensitive insults. You do no want this bitch biting you. "

Louisa, Gina, and the turtles, choked on their own spit. The first recovered quickly, aiming her glare on the golden-eyed red-head "The fuck did you just call me?! "

She blinked "Is it not the word used for the female members of the canis lupus familiaris species?"

The fourth O'Neil cringed and cautiously distanced herself from her sister - at least as far as she could, considering the strong hands keeping her in place. A joking Halley was even creepier than a cussing Halley, in her opinion.

Deciding to make use of the time given, Halley turned to the turtles, giving them her usual fake smile and hard, scrutinizing stare "We are beyond sorry to have allowed these gentlemen to capture us, but, as you already know, there was no one there to stop such a course of action. "

They grimaced. Even if only Don fully understood all of the words she used, the message was loud and clear to all four of the brothers; she blamed them for making her and her sisters stay out alone, and she intended to have a word with Master Splinter - or, worse, April - on the matter first chance she got.

"Plus, Maria fainted, we couldn't exactly run for it, " Gina added, grinning sheepishly, rubbing the back of her head.

"Say wha' now?! ", Raph immediately saw red at the sight of the shy girl flung over a Ninja's shoulder like a curvy sack of potatoes, and I assure you, it wasn't his mask blocking his eyes!

Suddenly, the fact that he and his brothers were outnumbered - or that their enemies held the girls hostages to prevent any rash actions - didn't matter anymore.

It was only when he had Maria in his arms and everyone around him gaped at him that he realized he had beat the shit out of her captor in his blind rage.

As the fight started around him, and he jumped to a corner to safely place the girl's body down, he admitted to himself he really didn't give a damn about the odds being against them if he could at least keep an eye on her...

"12 o'clock low, " Halley calmly warned Leo, who turned just in time to prevent any harmful hit with his shell.

"Whew... Saved by the shell! ", he smiled and thanked her.

The girl shrugged, as if she was bored, and turned her eyes back to her siblings to make sure they were still alright. He sighed in defeat, and grunted as he blocked a couple more Ninjas with his katanas "Oh, come now, how long till you forgive us? Look, I am sorry, alright? I didn't plan for you and your sisters to get in trouble! "

"Who was the one that highlighted the great importance of us staying at a close distance with you and your brothers? ", she replied, arms folded and eyes still focused on her own flesh and blood, like it was beneath her to even spare a glance at someone as "insignificant" as him.

"Uh... Raph? ", he dumbly asked as he came by her side, though he knew those were not the right words. He regretted it soon enough, as the smile she sent his way was anything but pleasant.

"Such an astonishing leader you are, following your second in the line of command, and not even protesting to your own inability to keep innocent civilians safe". He winced at her words, and then visibly trembled as her cold, harsh smile turned back to her usual fake kindness. "Rest assured, I feel so secure by your side, Leonardo, I do not even know why I questioned your authority and physical prowess in the first place. "

He didn't feel reassured by this. Not even close. Instead, fear gripped his reptile heart in its unforgiving, cruel fist and squeezed without mercy, as the hypocrite showed no shame of openly displaying her own fakeness - inside and out.

If you took all four of the other O'Neils, you wouldn't find one speck of pretense in them. April was naturally motherly, Maria's shy nature was all real. Louisa's violence and rudeness was proudly displayed for the world to see, and Gina was a true ball of cute cheerfulness. But Halley never showed her true colors - not even when she would accidentally let her guard down. It was like she was born to act maturely and kindly, but there was no genuineness in her words, actions, or expressions. A shadow of a human being with extreme intelligence, but with no real thoughts of her own. Like she had set as her personal goal to be pleasant at all costs, even when she was obviously angry with others. Hell, even her smiles were as fake as they come!

It scared Mikey, intrigued Don, pissed Raph off, and he... He what? Well, he was disappointed, he guessed, that such a clever and pretty girl was natural only at lying, pretending, and closing herself off. Such a shame. It was only Master Splinter's encouragement that kept him at her side during her visits, trying to have at least the most basic of idle chats, though it was clear she much preferred Don's company and conversation topics. It was because of his Master's words that even now, at such a moment, he was trying to protect her.

His fatherly figure had sensed something in her, had managed to somehow read those empty golden depths of her eyes. Clearly, that something had made the rat to believe there would be fruits of success if his first son socialized with her. So, Leo left it at that, and tried to at least be civil. But it was damn hard when she was treating him like that, questioning his leadership skills. Raph and Louisa, with their sharp tongues, were more than enough, he didn't need Halley doing the same in her own, "holier-than-thou" way.

"Kyaaaa! ", a horrified scream snapped him out of his thoughts, and they all turned to where Raph had placed Maria's unconscious form, all of them paling at what they saw.

"MARIA! "

Ooops! Cliffhanger! I'm a real evil bitch sometimes... Sorry for that, but I felt it would be a good way to end the chapter. Speaking of chapter, as you can see, the reason Maria is avoiding Raph is still unknown, so have patience, people. Also, we got to see a minor insight of Halley's personality through Leo's eyes - whoever said the leaders would get off easy?