The Greek gods were crazy - I knew it since I was little when Sensei read them to us from an old, tattered book that he managed to salvage from the sewers one night.

The first myth he read to us before we went to bed that night, tucked into makeshift sleeping bags he had fashioned out of old curtains, was the birth of Athena, the goddess of war, and strategy. Basically, Zeus, the king of the gods, had a massive headache one day, and the result was his daughter, bursting forth from his split-apart skull, fully dressed in the finest Roman armor, ready for whatever was thrown in her direction.

It quickly became my favorite myth, besides the tale of Icarus. The concept of being newly born and ready for anything was fascinating to me. The more I thought about it, the more I could relate it to my brothers and me. Except we weren't mighty gods, conceived from higher powers that mortals couldn't even begin to understand. We were mutant ninja turtles. I was thinking of the myth again as I sat upon one of the millions of rooftops that scattered the city, looking out over the jagged skyline, waiting for the moon to make its appearance. Seeing it nightly, it brought me peace.

"Hey, baby. What is someone like you doing around these parts?"

I knew that deep, throaty voice anywhere. It was Hun, the leader of the Purple Dragons. When he wasn't busting into any place with a front shop window, I guess he could be found slinking around in alleyways, picking up girls

.

There wasn't an answer to his question. Instead, I heard the clatter of garbage cans as they slammed against the nearest brick wall, and a cry from Hun that was so feral and desperate, that I wasn't sure that it was him at first. I peered over the edge of the building, and I just couldn't believe what I was seeing. Standing in the middle of that dank, dark sliver of backstreet, was a tall, young woman wearing a light purple jumpsuit made of elastic material that was tailored tightly to her body. She was barefoot. Her pale, freckled face was illuminated in the moonlight. Her brows were furrowed in concentration, and her deep brown eyes were almost electric with focus as she pinned the mammoth of a man to the brick barrier.

I should also mention that she hadn't laid a hand upon the man. I watched in shock as his cries of fear turned to..nothing. His breathing was cut off. The veins in his neck were bulging from the struggle, his eyes were wide with fear. The only things he could move were his fingers.

I quietly dropped down to the part of the alley that got the least moonlight, so that I was shrouded in darkness. It was a good idea, except for the fact that I landed into a puddle of what I could only assume was leftover rainwater from the downpour the night before. Hun was barely clinging to life, or at least that's what it seemed. My gaze shifted over to the girl, still standing ramrod straight, six feet in front of the dying man, eyes still electric with anger, fear, and something else I couldn't quite sense. She blinked suddenly, held out a palm, and curled it closed. Hun fell to the concrete unceremoniously, amongst the trash cans that were oozing the foulest smell imaginable. She too collapsed in a heap.

Before I could even think about what I was doing, I ran to her side, knelt down, and grabbed her wrist. I pressed my fingers to a delicate blue chord. I waited a few seconds. She had a pulse, it wasn't strong, but it was there. I peered at her face and saw that she was bleeding profusely from her nostrils. Rivulets of crimson were pouring down her face in jagged streaks. Her hair was spread out around her like a splash of honey blonde paint. Her eyes fluttered open.

"..Not dead." She gasped. "..Just..wanted..alone."

I looked over at Hun, who was curled up on his side, facing the wall. He fell onto his back, and I could see his chest rise and fall, slowly and easily. She was right. He wasn't dead. I looked back down at her, and she was fading. Her eyes were half open then, and her head lolled to the side.

"Hey, hey, I get it. I get it. Can you tell me your name?"

She held up a limp wrist and turned it over. Written on it, in delicate, black letters was the word 'Athena'.

"Athena," I whispered. "Alright, Athena, I'll..I'll get you somewhere safe. I promise."

"Away from..home?" She asked.

"That's right, away..away from home." I didn't know what home was for her, or where it was, but I knew it wasn't good. I struggled to pull my phone from my belt - flipping it open was always a pain. I dialed Donnie's number as quickly as I could and held my breath as the line rang. It took three tries before I could reach him.

"Leo?" Mikey's voice crackled from the other end. "Where are you, bro? It's movie night tonight, and you promised you'd be home from patrol early to watch with us!"

"I know, Mike, I know." I try to smooth over my little brother's annoyance at me as quickly as I can, though guilt starts to trickle in. I'll have to make it up to him soon. "But something came up. Can you and the guys meet me at the alleyway near where Eastman and Laird meet?"

"Bro, really? What could be so important out there that you had to miss movie night?"

I grit my teeth. Why are you on Donnie's phone, is what I want to shoot back with, but that wouldn't do either of us any good. "Just..come as soon as you can."

Mikey hung up, and I snapped my phone shut. I waited with Athena, watching to make sure she was still breathing.