Hey all! Thought I'd give an answer to one of the most commonly asked questions regarding this fic – well, an answer of sorts. I deliberately didn't give the character a name, or a gender. When I wrote the first part, I wanted the Dragon to be a guy but when I write in the first person, I'm concerned that I come off as a girl (which of course I am). To counter this, I kept it ambiguous and in the following chapters I decided to keep up the style. Hard to write, but more fun!

As always, my thanks to everyone who reviewed the last chapter.

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The hand clamped over my mouth also managed to cut off most of my air and although I was squirming, trying to escape, there was no way I could free myself. A combination of the light shining directly into my eyes and my slowly darkening vision meant I couldn't tell who it was, but he looked almost – green?

I did the only thing I could think of. I managed to open my mouth enough to catch some flesh between my teeth and bit down. Hard.

The person atop me grunted. "Take out the teeth." His voice was cold, determined. A moment later I felt the blade at my throat dig in, not enough to break the flesh but enough to prove that was definitely an option. "Or else."

Screw that I thought, biting down harder. If I was gonna die, I wanted them to know I fought. My hands were useless, held to the floor above my head by one hand. Similarly, I couldn't even kick the guy because he was resting all his weight on my upper torso. Fight my way free? Hell, I could barely even breathe…

"RAPH!"

Blue?

"Let go! Now!"

The pressure from my chest eased and the blade was taken from my throat. I spat out the hand and some blood as whoever was bearing down on me stood. I took the moment to breathe, still believing it was the Purple Dragons come for me and Leo only removing their attention for a moment.

"Leo? You're OK?"

"Leo!"

"Don't scare us like that!"

The other voices came as a surprise. I didn't realise I wasn't all alone with my attacker and Blue in the bathroom. Blinking, I managed to bring the room into focus and sat up. A few seconds later, Leo was sat in front of me, looking concerned.

"You OK?"

"Fine!" I rubbed my chest and glared at him. "What's happening?"

"We were, uh, following a signal." I glanced around and flinched. Purple was stood behind me. Where the hell did he come from? "The shell-cells all have trackers built in."

"But Leo's signal ended at the alley," added another voice – Orange. The size of my apartment, how did they all fit in? "So we waited in case something happened."

"And you came and got the cell," finished Purple.

I stood, thinking about the various reasons why I should never have gotten involved. "I owed Blue for saving my life. Now we're even. Get the hell out of my apartment."

"Not so fast."

I turned and looked at Red, still nursing his bleeding hand. I'd done that, biting him when he jumped me. Made me proud actually. He treated me like a pushover but I wasn't.

"Problem, Red?"

"How do we know you didn't alert the Dragons to us? Or the Foot? How do we know you're being straight with us?"

I glanced over at Leo, who had gone back to resting on the couch, Purple looking at his injuries. "Ya don't know Red, OK? Maybe this is one ya just take on trust. Because I didn't turn in your brother when he was passing out on a roof and an easy target, maybe because you're all in my apartment and no one knows about it, maybe ya should all just give me a break!"

The Turtle-men all turned and gave me startled looks.

I got up and started pacing. "Maybe you haven't thought about me. If the Dragons find out about this, I'm toast! I sheltered an enemy! And if anyone finds out about it, I'm history. So stop yelling at me about what I might do from here on in and start thinking! Ya know where I live. Know who I am. Know everything about me…why the hell would I advertise to the Dragons that you were here? Think!"

"Good point," said Orange grudgingly.

"So get the hell out of here and I'll see you next time we rip off a warehouse." I tried to sound tough, I really did. To my ears, I wound up sounding petulant. "I helped Blue – Leo. Leave me alone."

Orange gave me a funny look. "What happens if the Dragons find out about this?"

"You dumbass! What do you think? I get major trouble!"

"So…why did you help?"

"I dunno! I guess I thought I owed him something. Not this much though! If the Dragons find out that I helped you…" I shuddered, thinking of the consequences. "None of you are allowed to tell. Leo, you promised!"

"You're OK. We won't tell." Leo stood and put a hand on my shoulder.

I shook it off, still pretty upset about Red knocking me out in my own apartment and nearly smothering me after all I did was help out his brother.

Leo sighed and looked to his brothers for help. None was forthcoming, so he tried again. "You're in way over your head with the Dragons."

"I…" How to rebut that? He was right. "I'll be fine, Leo. My family are gonna look after me. If you guys go and leave me alone, I can fix this mess. Like it never happened. You have my permission to hit me in the head the next time you drop in on us, just like Purple did at the warehouse."

"My name is Donatello," said Purple.

"I don't care what your name is!" I looked around agitatedly. Leo was standing beside Purple – excuse me, Donatello – Red was sat on the arm of the sofa in such a manner that I knew he could be up and kicking ass in about a quarter of a second and Orange was stood between me and the window. I pointed at Blue – sorry, Leo. "You said you'd go and leave me alone when your brothers got here! So go already!"

"Kinda agitated, aincha?" Red was balancing one of his weapons on his fingers. "No one knows we're here right? Maybe we wanna clear out your fridge."

"So clear it and GO!"

"He was only joking," explained Orange.

"I don't care! Go away!"

"Hey." Orange caught one of my flailing arms and held it. "My name's Michelangelo – Mikey. Maybe we can help you."

"You can help me by leaving!"

"We have a friend who's looking for some one to work in her store. You can keep your place and have a proper job. Interested?"

"Yeah, with all of the Dragons knowing where I am and me wanting to be a Dragon! I'm happy where I am! Just get out of here!"

"Leave it be Mikey," said Red as he headed for the fire escape. "This one's a Dragon for life and we'll find the corpse next week or next month or next year. Let's go home."

"Wait!"

I don't know why I said it and neither did they. They gave me a curious look and I took a deep breath. "If it means anything to you, I don't want the Dragons to take you down. I owed you and now we're even."

"So we'll leave and forget we were ever here." Red went over to the window and leapt out.

"Asshole," I muttered.

Leo was next to the window. But before he went, he looked at me "Thank you."

"I must be a complete idiot, helping you." But I softened a little. "Look, I'm glad you're gonna be OK. I've paid ya back, so now we're even."

"I thought you said we were even the last time," he said.

"I lied," I said. "But this time I'm telling the truth. Don't come looking for me the next time you're in the shit."

"Look…" He glanced at the floor before looking at me. "You change you're mind about leaving the Dragons, we can help you out."

"I'm not changing my mind." I managed a half-smile. "See ya next time ya try busting our skulls."

With a shrug, Blue exited the window, followed by Purple and Orange went last. Suddenly I was alone, just as I'd wanted.

I let out a shaky breath. It hadn't gone as badly as I thought it might. The important thing was that I hadn't been caught harbouring a Turtle and the Dragons didn't suspect a thing.

I went to the window and slammed it shut.

&&&&&&&&&

It was almost a week later when I came close to giving myself away.

One of the other Dragons, Multi, was at my apartment. He brought over some beers for us and a couple of slasher flicks. I'd been out on a couple of jobs since my encounter with Blue and I'd been nervous as hell, waiting for them to drop in on us. They hadn't done though. Multi was regaling me with a tale about a gang that tried to muscle in on him and two other Dragons as they did a job. There was a lot more witty banter than I thought Multi was capable of in the story, but what the hell. If he wanted to make himself sound good, who was I to burst his bubble?

Multi leaned forward to grab himself a beer and dropped back onto the sofa much too heavily. It slid backward a couple of inches. I had been messing with the TV, trying to swap the SCART from the games console for the one on the DVD player and when I turned, I saw something that turned me cold.

Leo's shell-cell was lying about an inch from Multi's left boot.

I'd lost my grip on it when Red jumped me. It must have skittered under the couch and Blue had forgotten about it. He hadn't been back for it, meaning he'd probably decided to call it a loss. The damn thing was probably all out of charge anyway. It wasn't gonna start ringing and give me away…I hoped.

I spent almost an hour in a state of low grade terror. Every time Multi moved, I thought he was gonna kick the damn thing and work out what it was. That shell design was a dead giveaway. I could lie like a champion, but what kind of lie would cover why I had it? Why I hadn't given it to Dragon Face straight away? I barely even saw the first half of the film.

Eventually, Multi got up and asked me to pause the film while he took a leak. The second the door to the bathroom closed, I leant over and snatched the damn thing up, racing over to the bed and shoving it in a drawer, beneath a pile of seldom worn shirts. I ran back over to the sofa and vaulted over the back, my butt landing on the cushion just as Multi flushed the toilet. I tried to act nonchalant as he came out and I think I pulled it off – by this time, he'd drunk quite a lot. But for the rest of the evening, I couldn't get my mind off the damn phone.

By the time Multi left, I was pretty far gone myself. As soon as he was out of the door, I bolted it behind him and grabbed the shell-cell from the drawer, turning it over in my hands. I was beginning to feel like I was leading a double life. On the one hand I had my family; on the other hand I was protecting their enemies. Except I wasn't really choosing anymore – if I didn't continue to protect the turtles, I would be dropping myself in the shit right along with them.

The phone rang.

Startled, I threw the shell-cell on the bed and stared at it in shock. It took a few seconds before I realised it wasn't Blue's phone making the noise, but my own from across the room. Cursing my jumpiness, I went over and snatched it up.

"Yeah?"

"You busy?" Jez, another Dragon who lived in my building.

"Nah. What's up?"

"You wanna go out on a job tonight? Got a tip about a shop with a busted security system."

"Selling?"

"Liquor store. You in?"

"You bet." Suddenly I was sick of being alone with my worries. I wanted to go out and do something, get that adrenaline rush that only comes through getting away with the things we do. Maybe even get to bust some heads, depending on if any other gangs had heard of the faulty alarm. Anything was better than sitting here, thinking about what the freaks had said.

I met Jez right outside my door and off we went. Store was hardly any distance away at all, on the verge of Dragon territory. Dangerous stuff. If we screwed up it would be an embarrassment and also advertise to rival gangs that we had a weakness and that part of the territory was up for grabs. But if we pulled it off, our zone grew more powerful. I was already on edge but in a good way. It was the excitement of doing something daring, something extreme, dodging the law and laughing at the people who thought they could stop us.

Sure enough, the shop was protected by locks alone, the alarm flashing but not going off when we opened the doors. Just four of us tonight, me, Jez and two other guys. Three to carry the haul and one driver to stay in the van with the engine running. Piece of cake really. Couldn't afford to be too long, so all we do is spring the locks on the side door, repeat on the door to the storeroom and take out the boxes. Leave the stuff on the shelves, it takes forever. And that's what we were doing, we hadn't even been there five minutes and we were almost done…

"Look at this."

Oh SHIT, I thought, dropping the box I was carrying and hoping the noise didn't carry. The last thing you need is to attract attention through the sound of broken glass, even if you are in a commercial instead of a residential area. That might not matter though; the sounds of a fight are even more likely to persuade concerned citizens to call the cops. And there was about to be a fight. That was Red's voice.

Four of them and four of us. The odds sucked. But you can't let something like that stop you or you'd never stop running, always be afraid of whoever was just waiting to take you down.

Make that three of us. The driver must have looked in his rear mirror and seen what was going on because he trod on the accelerator and took off with a screech of tyres, leaving the rest of us behind to face the Turtles. I stared after him in shock, hardly able to believe he'd just ditched us, left us with no transport when we were in serious shit.

The Turtles stood in a row; Purple, Blue, Orange, Red. None of them making a move until the van drove off in a cloud of exhaust fumes and that making Red's mouth twitch into what looked like a smile, although it was hard to tell in the gloom. "Nice to see how you look out for each other."

I stood frozen to the spot. Did they recognise me? It was pretty dark but…yeah, I thought they did. Blue had glanced once at me before turning his attention to all of us as a group and Orange kept shooting me looks, no actor he. I willed them not to give me away.

Jez had turned from the Turtles when the van roared off, but at Red's comment he spun back around with a snarl. "Get them!"

This was it. Freaks or family.

Choose.

I chose.

I pulled the pipe from my back pocket, baggy jeans having a definite advantage in the weapon-stashing department, and raised it above my head, running forward with the other Dragons and aiming straight for Red. I wouldn't have admitted it for anything, but the others had been half-way OK to me and if I was going to do this, there was only one of them that I had an issue with. But we were at more of a disadvantage than usual, outnumbered and outclassed. Red caught the pipe between the prongs of his weapon and with a flick of his wrist sent it flying into a corner of the alley. A kick to the ribs sent me stumbling backwards, straight into someone else. I never did find out whom. A hand grabbed my neck and pressed down expertly on a nerve and the next thing I knew, the world had gone black.

I wasn't out for more than a couple of minutes. I woke up to find myself eating pavement, the other two Dragons in groaning heaps nearby and both of them in a much worse state than me. I rubbed the nerve in my neck, which was sending occasional stabs of pain radiating to my head and shoulders. Of the Turtles there was no sign.

I sat up, blinking stupidly and tried to get my bearings. The side door to the shop was still open, the box I had dropped leaking vodka across the floor. The van hadn't returned for us. And in the distance but growing closer, I could hear sirens.

"Oh shit!"

I shook Jez into some semblance of consciousness. "Cops are coming! Move!"

"Damn!" Jez stood up, almost tripping over the other Dragon who was also getting slowly to his feet. "Scatter. Meet me back at the warehouse."

Seeing the flashing lights that signified the cops in the mouth of the alley I nodded, turning and running to the end of the alley. There was a ten foot wall, but beside that some trash cans and a dumpster. A running start got me onto the trash can, then the dumpster and I just about managed to get my arms hooked at the top of the wall. Scrambling with my feet, I shoved myself onto the wall and then fell over the other side, landing heavily on the ground. Great, I thought to myself. Just like Takeshi's castle but less graceful.

Standing up again, hoping I hadn't been seen jumping the wall, I limped further into the alley. I was trying to work out exactly where I was in relation to the Dragons meeting place when I heard the voice behind me.

"You! Stop where you are!"

I glanced behind me and saw a cop peeking over the top of the wall, evidently standing on the dumpster. Immediately I broke into a sprint, hearing him scramble over the wall more easily than I had. But I had a head start and as I raced out of the alley I saw the cop from the corner of my eye land on his feet in the alley, step on a discarded pizza box and land straight on his backside. Fleeing across the street, expecting to hear his pursuit at any time, I ducked into another alley, up a nearby fire escape, across the roof, down the one at the other side of the building, over a chain link fence. I was lost, scared and nearing the end of my stamina. My heart was stuck in my throat. My legs were trying to tremble and my butt ached where I'd landed on it. The beers I drank earlier in the evening were making themselves known and I wondered if I'd escape the cop so I could stop to throw them back up.

A few steps away from the fence, I turned off into yet another alley, this one short and used mainly for dumping trash, before I had to stop, physically unable to run any further. I leant heavily against the wall, my legs giving out and forcing me to sit on what was fortunately a relatively debris-free piece of floor. I rested my head on my knees, trying to get my breath back without actually inhaling. The alley smelled really bad.

When I had sufficiently regained my composure and my heart rate was back to normal, I decided the cop wasn't coming after me. I couldn't help but wonder about the others too and swore vengeance on the coward who had run out on us. Then I realised I had another problem. I worked out where I was – not on Dragon turf but on the territory of a rival gang. Great. Just great. Attacked by Turtles, chased by cops and now about to get my head caved in. Life sucked.

I knew going back the way I came wasn't an option so I tried sneaking back to Dragon turf another way. I managed it without incident, ducking into side streets and doorways whenever I heard some one coming. I guess it didn't hurt that I didn't look like a Dragon right then. After waking up on an alley floor, taking a tumble into another alley and then collapsing in an exhausted heap in a third, I looked more like the homeless runaway I used to be than a tough street thug. I couldn't shake the feeling I was being watched but I put it down to paranoia on being out of my own territory.

Finally, I got back to Dragon turf and breathed a sigh of relief, trying to stick to the shadows anyway in case there were cops cruising and making my way to the warehouse. The van was parked right outside and I felt a surge of fury at the guy who had drove away without us. There was a guard on the door wielding a pipe and I gave him the salute as I entered, barely able to unclench my fist to do so, snatching the pipe from him as I walked past. He wrinkled his nose and chuckled, evidently recognising me and sensing trouble.

I stormed toward the car and as I did the driver exited the warehouse, smirking and accepting the congratulations of Dragon Face on his haul. His face changed as I approached and he held up his hand in a placatory gesture. Before he could say anything, I swung the pipe low and caught him in the guts with the end. He doubled over, groaning. I slammed my elbow on the top of his head and he fell to his knees. Several other Dragons gathered around, looking on in interest.

This might sound odd to the uninitiated but trust me, it's normal practice. Every newbie has to prove themselves able to fight or what use are they? And if a Dragon is betrayed, it's acceptable for them to take retribution in this way. And I felt betrayed.

"You left us to get taken down by the freaks!" I clenched the pipe hard with both hands, not feeling my weakened arm right then although the muscles would be singing merry hell later on that night. "You could have run them over or something, at least waited for us to get into the van! You cowardly shit!"

Dragon Face gave the driver an interested stare. "That true?"

"Thought the…haul was…important." The driver wheezed, still clutching his gut. I'm not surprised, I put all my strength into that hit and I'd be lying if I said it didn't feel good. The one to the top of the head was just to get him down, but hell, I enjoyed that one too.

"I'm through with this shit!" I threw the pipe to the floor defiantly. "If we don't watch each others back then what the hell is the point of being with the Dragons? I might as well be out on my own!"

"Calm down." Dragon Face regarded me coldly. "Go home, take a shower. You'll feel differently tomorrow."

I doubted it, but what the hell else could I do? I turned and took my garbage-smelling, bruised and beaten butt hack home. On the way out, I passed Jez going to the warehouse and gave him a half-wave. He asked me if the driver was there and I nodded, not bothering to tell him I already gave him a pasting. I put my hands in my pockets and kept my head hanging low, but I didn't pass many people and the ones I did see avoided me like the plague. When I got to my apartment I stripped off and got straight into the shower, staying in there for almost an hour, still convinced I stank. And all that time, I was thinking.

This wasn't what I'd been looking for when I ran away. I hadn't wanted to spend my nights getting the crap kicked out of me and being abandoned by my so-called family. Yeah, he was gonna get it from Dragon Face for leaving us behind, but that didn't seem like enough. I'd supported the Dragons, given everything I had to give, been shot by one of them and what did I get in return? Not acceptance or appreciation, but left in an alley to be beaten up and then arrested. Screw that. Screw that. I'd had enough. I was through with the Dragons as of right now.

I got out of the shower and dressed in a hurry, throwing on jeans and a shirt. Then I grabbed a bag and started throwing clothes in it, not bothering to pick and choose. Much as I loved my apartment, I couldn't stay there anymore. Not when I was planning on running out on the Dragons. They'd come here looking for me. The most logical thing to do was get the hell away from New York for a while, try my luck somewhere else. Maybe LA? But I guessed the 'where' didn't matter. If I was gonna run, it had to be now, before anyone realised I was going.

Clothes packed, I grabbed the shell-cell and put that in there too. As a souvenir, just to prove it really happened. Not really thinking, I threw in a few other bits and got my secret stash of cash from inside a book. It wasn't a lot but it would have to do for now. There's always an opportunity for a talented pickpocket on the road. That done, I grabbed my leather trench coat, thanking the patron saint of petty thugs that I hadn't been wearing it tonight and it didn't stink, topping off the look with a baseball cap. I needed to look inconspicuous and that meant hiding my purple-dyed hair. And that, I thought, was that. With a final glance around my apartment, I pulled open the door.

Dragon Face was waiting outside the apartment door. There were four other Dragons with him. None of them looked pleased to see me.

"Going somewhere?"

I gulped. "Uh, to the launderette?"

One of the Dragons snatched the bag from me and yanked the zipper open, emptying the contents across the floor. My clothes fell out in an untidy heap.

"No one leaves the Dragons," said Dragon Face. "You're not running off to the cops and spilling ya guts."

"Dragon Face! Look at this!"

The guy going through my stuff held up what he'd found. The goddamn shell-cell. Why the hell had I decided to keep it? Why hadn't I thrown it out of the window?

Dragon Face gave me a sinister look. "Been keeping secrets? Made yourself some little green friends? Telling them tales?" The last word was accompanied by a sucker-punch to the gut. I nearly fell, but one of the other Dragons grabbed my weak arm and held me upright. I struggled not to puke, not to panic. This was it. This was the end.

I was screwed.