Author Note: Hey guys! I already said some of my thanks on the new chapter of 'Deep' but I wanted to say some here too! A huge THANK YOU to the people who voted for 'Destiny' in the fanfiction awards! This fic came joint second in 'best villain' and third in 'best drama'. And your author came first in two categories! 'Best action/ adventure' for 'It Had To Be Blue' and 'best one-shot' for 'Alone' (which also placed joint third in 'best tear jerker'). This means so much to me! People reading and reviewing means tons, just to know that ya stuff is liked, being voted as a favourite of someone means loads coz ya know you're doing something right and being placed in the top three - is awesome! I've been running around like Mikey during the Triceraton invasion doing his BATTLE NEXUS CHAMPION! thing, boasting left right and centre.

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April was sat at her computer, working out the financial plausibility of reopening the antiques shop. She had been listless and worried after escaping Stockman's mousers, even more so when she realised that her rescuer knew enough about her to know where she lived. But it wasn't in her nature to hide away and hope that she wouldn't be noticed and besides, she had to eat. She couldn't exactly ask Stockman for a reference and didn't feel like slaving at some menial job for minimum wage. She wasn't afraid of a little hard work and the shop was just lying dormant, most of the stock still in the basement, so why not?

Her funds were healthy enough, which was just as well - reopening the place was going to take some cash. But she saw no reason why she should be unable to turn a profit. The stock she did have was in good repair and she had enough experience of the business to know about buying and prices, there might even be a few of her fathers contacts around who would be willing to give her a good deal on a few items. . .

"April."

With a scream, she turned and stared wildly around the apartment. At first she saw nothing, no one. And then she saw a figure lurking behind the kitchen counter, dressed in a fedora and trenchcoat. Her rescuer, in the apartment again - but how? She'd put a lock on the window.

"You forgot to lock it," said the figure, indicating to the window with the fire escape outside. "I warned you, you have to be more careful."

"Why are you here?" April hadn't realised it was darkening, so engrossed she had been in her computer. But it was still light enough that she could see the figure more clearly than she ever had before. The fedora was pulled low so she couldn't see his face and the collar was pulled up high. The only thing she could be really sure of was the strange bulkiness of his form.

He shrugged, shoving his hands into his pockets before she remembered she needed to see if he really did have only three fingers or if she had been mistaken. "This is kinda awkward."

"Has Stockman worked out where I am?"

"Not that I know of. I think Stockman might have other things on his mind right now." He sighed, hunching his shoulders even higher and making her wonder why he seemed so determined to hide himself. "I, uh, I need some help and you're the only person I can think of who might be able to."

"Help?" April blinked a few times. That was the last thing she had expected to hear. "What kind of help? How can someone like me help you?"

"Remember Stockman's financial backer, the one you were so curious about? He's a very - powerful man. He has my brother and a, uh, friend of ours as hostages. My other brothers and I want to rescue them but after that we can't go home. We need a place to hide out for a few days. I know you have no reason to trust me, but there's no one else I can ask - will you help us?"

Frowning, April mulled the thought over. Her apartment was way too small for more than one or two people and she had only ever seen one of them - and even then, she would be hard pressed to describe him to anyone. Let a group of total strangers stay with her? She'd have to be stupid or naive or crazy.

And yet, he had saved her life and Stockman hadn't found her yet. He'd given her good advice about keeping her head down. And now Stockman and his associates were after him and had one of his brothers and he didn't sound old enough to shave yet. . .

So call her stupid, naive and crazy.

"You can stay here for a few days. How many of you are there?"

"Hopefully - " He paused for a second. "Hopefully there should be five of us."

"Well, I hope you can all use the floor and the couch because there's only one bedroom," she said, already plotting to fit a lock on the door. "But only a few days."

"Thank you." She could sense his eyes regarding her. "There's uh - look, there's something you should know about us. We're pretty different."

"Different?" April was already beginning to think this whole thing had been a bad idea and he wasn't making her feel any better about the situation. "Different how?"

"Um - wow, this is harder than I thought it would be." He emerged from behind the counter and April widened her eyes as she glanced down at his feet. He wore no shoes and she could see now that he had only two toes and the skin looked - green­?

He took his hand from his pocket and she saw with mounting dread that his hands were similarly coloured and had only three fingers, thicker than human hands. He reached up and took off the fedora and the final straw - his face was green, hairless, dark eyes above a humanoid beak and the oversized mouth grimacing as he saw the horrified look on her face. . .

Eyes rolling back in her head, April passed out.

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She dreamed that her rescuer disturbed her again, turning up at the end of the day so the light was adequate enough to see him for the first time, only to find that he was some kind of reptile in human form, green-skinned, tri-fingered, terrifying. . .

She rose slowly from sleep, aware that she was lying on the couch and wondering at what point she had dozed off. In front of the TV again? That would explain the weird creature in her dream.

"That's it," she murmered sleepily. "No more films beginning with the words 'Attack of the giant'. Never again."

Opening her eyes, she yawned and stretched her arms out, luxuriating in the first few moments of wakefulness before the weight of reality could come crashing in.

"I got you a glass of water."

Pausing mid-stretch, April focused on the figure before her. He'd ditched the trenchcoat too and she could see him clearly, since he'd turned on the lamp at some point while she was passed out. There was no denying it, putting it down to B-movies before bed. There was a five foot talking turtle in her apartment.

He leant over toward her, offering the glass at her.

"AAAAAAARRGGHHHHHHHHH!"

The scream startled him and he took a few steps backward, foot catching in the rug and nearly falling back on his ass. Or shell. She felt helpless laughter bubbling in her throat.

"Please don't do that again!" He glanced down where some of the water had spilled from the glass and sighed. "I guess you don't want a drink then."

"You're a - a - "

"Turtle." He rubbed his bald head, looking embarrassed. There was something odd about such a human expression on a face so alien to her experience.

"Turtle." She took a few deep breaths and tried to get a hold on reality again. "OK April, you are talking to a giant, three fingered turtle. The only logical explaination is that you're sleeping - so everything's OK!" She gave the turtle a goofy grin. "Hello!"

"Um - hello. How are you feeling?"

"Oh fine, everything's absolutely great!"

"You're not dreaming."

"Whatever you say." She gave him the same smile, the one that said she didn't believe her own eyes and had decided to grasp the only explaination that made any sense.

The last of the water in the glass hit her in the face, more than enough to startle her. "Hey! What was that for?"

"I don't have time for this! You're not dreaming April, OK?"

She put her hand to her face and wiped the droplets away, suddenly aware that if this were a dream, why could she feel the dampness clinging to her flesh and running off her chin?

She wasn't dreaming.

She took in a breath, ready to scream again - and the turtle moved with lightning swiftness, covering her mouth and muffling the sound.

"Look, I can explain - but you have to be quiet and stop screaming!"

Eyes wide, mouth still covered by his hand, she nodded. With a frown, the turtle took his hand away but looked ready to repeat the action should she decided to start yelling again.

"I'm - my name is Donatello. And yes, I'm a turtle. For as long as I can remember, we've been looked after by a man named Oruku Saki - "

"The businessman?"

Donatello nodded. "I keep forgetting he has a public persona. He's also involved in organised crime and political manipulation, as well as any number of side projects. Stocktronics is one of his interests, that's how I ended up there."

"You were at Stocktronics? I would have remembered seeing you."

"You never saw me. I hid away. How was I going to explain myself to the other scientists?"

"You were a scientist?"

"An engineer. What, you thought I was an experiment?"

April had the good grace to blush a little. "Well, maybe."

Donatello looked resigned. "I guess that's a logical conclusion. We are mutants, true. It seems that at one point we were ordinary turtles but were exposed to something that mutated us into our current forms. What might have happened - well, I've heard a couple of conflicting stories about our origins, but one thing seems certain; it was nothing to do with either Saki or Stockman. Saki raised us as ninja, he's the leader of a clan known as the Foot. We were members of the Foot, until recently."

"Saki? Leader of a clan of ninja?" April was finding the whole thing a little hard to believe. Still, on the occasions when she saw the man on the television, he had seemed cold, hard. And the story explained a few things. And even if she didn't believe any of the story, there was still a five foot turtle in her apartment and there had to be some explaination for that. "So - why did you leave the Foot?"

"Officially, we haven't." Donatello resisted the urge to unsheath his nagitana - that would only serve to agitate her more and he didn't think she had even noticed it at that point. "I have three brothers, Leonardo, Raphael and - and Michelangelo. Michelangelo accidentally found a prisoner in the skyscraper that Saki uses as headquarters, a mutant called Splinter who claims that we were kidnapped and that Saki is an evil man. He told Raph and Mikey and me about it and the story we could check out all adds up but we didn't know if we believed him. At least, Raph and I didn't."

"And your other brother - Leonardo? What did he think."

Donatello looked at the floor. "Look, the four of us haven't been exactly close over the last few years. Mikey and Raph wouldn't have told me about it if there had been any other choice. Leo's the one of us who most believes - believed - in the clan. We thought he might betray us to Saki."

In spite of herself, April was entranced by the tale. "So what happened?"

"Last night, Leo insinuated that he knew we were hiding something and Mikey lost it. It's not like him to lose his temper, but he sure yelled at Leo. Then he stormed off and - well, he disappeared. Saki claims he got sick and he's in solitary in the med bay but we think that Mikey tried to see Splinter again, maybe even tried to free him and he was caught. We have to get him free before something terrible happens! We had to tell Leo what happened and he came up with a plan, but once we get Mikey and Splinter free, we need a place to hide out for a few days. There's no one else I can ask and nowhere else I can think of. Trust me, I don't want to drag you into this any more than you already are, but I really don't have much of a choice."

A part of April wanted to laugh. This - turtle - was feeding her a sob story about evil ninjas and kidnapped brothers and secret experiments and she was really supposed to believe him? Next he'd be telling her that Santa was secretly working for Saki too, in some kind of fly-by-night scam!

On the other hand . . . he seemed sincere, genuinely worried about this brother and determined to carry out his plan. Some of the things he had said did make a twisted sense. Stockman had invented the mousers to be capable of killing a person - they'd gone after her, hadn't they? He had also mentioned a 'significant financial backer' that might be Saki. And Donatello had saved her life when he could have just left her to die in the sewers beneath the city, by the sound of things putting himself in danger of discovery by this clan.

While she thought things through, Donatello reached into his belt and pulled something out, throwing it on the couch beside her. She glanced at it curiously - one of the throwing stars that they showed so often on the martial arts films. There was a symbol engraved on it and she suddenly realised where she had seen it before. The night she had hacked into Stockman's computer system and discovered the lower levels that had previously been out of bounds to her, there had been a symbol on the computer. The same symbol that was carved into the star.

"It's a kind of good-luck token that Saki gave us once," said Donatello, noticing the look of recognition on her face. "Something to make us feel more like one of the clan I guess. That symbol's the mark of the Foot."

"I saw this - Stockman's computer, the night I was chased by the mousers!"

"It's not conclusive proof, but it's something." Donatello shrugged. "You don't have to help us. I can't force you. If you decide you want no part of this, I can leave right now and you'll never see me again."

"But where would you go?"

"I'll think of something."

"No." April made her mind up. "You'll come back here with your brothers and this Splinter. I - I don't know why I believe you, but I do."

Donatello exhaled, relief washing over his face. "Thank you. We'll use the fire escape. Expect us tonight, some time around midnight if everything goes to plan."

"And if it doesn't?"

"If we don't show up - we failed. You'll be in no more danger than you were yesterday. And you probably shouldn't expect us to show up again."

April was at a loss for words and Donatello didn't add anything else, merely retrieved his trenchcoat and fedora and exited silently through the window.

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Raphael was beating seven shades of shit out of his punchbag, trying to work off some of his frustration before the mission that night. If Leo was wrong about what Saki wanted them to do, they were screwed. Even if he was right, the odds weren't great. Three mutant turtles, another possibly injured turtle and a long-imprisoned mutant rat against the entire Foot clan?

It was just fortunate that being outnumbered had never bothered him.

Hearing the door open, Raph turned and saw Donnie coming in. Leaving the punchbag alone for the moment, he glared at his brother. "Jeez, ya took ya time!"

"I had to make a couple of stops." Donnie indicated for Raph to follow him and they both went into Donnie's room, where Don checked his signal dampener before continuing. "I spoke to you-know-who - got us a place to go."

Raph raised an eye ridge. "Ain't she gonna be surprised when she finds out her new houseguests ain't human?"

"She, um, already knows." Donnie caught Raph's incredulous look and got defensive. "Well, we couldn't just turn up and announce we're green! What if she freaked?"

"And what if she calls someone in the meantime?"

"Like who, mutant-busters? Anyway, she won't."

"You sure?"

"I'm sure."

"So, how did she react when she found out you were a turtle?"

"She kinda - fainted."

"Oh great. That's just great Brainiac."

"It's OK, she's over it now. She knows we're all coming."

"And did you mention that Splinter was a rat?"

"I, uh, told her he was a mutant."

Raph rolled his eyes. "This just keeps getting better and better."

"I don't see you coming up with any better ideas." Donnie glanced over at the papers he'd retrieved from Stocktronics. "I've made a few alterations on the computer at Stocktronics. I think some of their main projects might have attained major gliches all of a sudden. And I left a bag of tricks nearby. I thought it might help us."

"Good thinking." Raph glanced at the clock. 8-15. "Not long to go now. Man, I hate waiting!"

Donnie nodded in agreement. "Where's Leo?"

"Meditating. I don't know how he can relax at a time like this!"

"One of us has to have a clear head," replied Donnie.

"Yeah, well I just hope he knows what he's doing."

They sat in silence for a few moments and then Raph growled. "Did I mention how much I hate waiting?"

Leo chose that moment to walk into the room. "Don, you're back. Beginning to get worried there bro."

"So what do we do 'til 9?" Raph pulled out a dagger, eyed it to make sure it hadn't gotten blunt since the last time he had checked, and put it away again.

"We go over the plan again," said Leo, a slight smile coming to his face. "Did you hear the news bby the way?"

Donnie and Raph shook their heads.

"Another blackout. This one by the docks."

Raph smirked. "Sounds like you just might have got Saki figured on this one Fearless Leader."

"I hope so Raph," repled Leo sombrely.

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Casey Jones glared at the television set, a dumbbell in one hand. He worked out his bicep absently, mind working overtime. An unexplained blackout had hit the docks, explained the newsreader, meaning that the area would be in darkness for several hours at least. It was the second such blackout in the city in the past several days.

Yeah, thought Casey. And it was the first blackout that I ran into those weird-looking karate creeps. Wonder if this one's a coincidence - or if they're gonna be down by the docks?

Only one way to find out.

Ditching the dumbbell, Casey rose and grabbed his hockey mask from its resting place on the weightlifting bench. Regarding his reflection in the mirror, he slipped the mask over his face, changing him from an ordinary guy to the vigilante who had been terrorising the Purple Dragons of late. His golf bag was lying next to the bench and he grabbed it, slinging it over his shoulder and removing a baseball bat, spinning it expertly around his hand. He rather liked the image looking back at him.

"They'll pay. They'll all pay."

He returned the bat to the golf bag, turning from the mirror and heading for the door. He could still remember the confusion that had stolen his anger when he had been confronted by Scars, the green skinned - thing - that had knocked him down and the pain of being blasted into the wall by whatever the other thing had aimed at him. It looked like a sword, but it sure as hell wasn't a sword.

"Casey Jones is on the job!"

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The docks were dark, deserted, save for the three shadows that slipped through the blackness and headed toward the water. The tech division had already been there, leaving the vibrational cannon in place. All that remained was to use the Sword of Tengu to power it and hopefully find - well, whatever it was that Saki was looking for. The three of them weren't clear on what it was that Saki would find, if there was anything to find.

They weren't alone. Foot ninja surrounded the dock, watching their backs should anything go wrong. It was a problem that Leo had anticipated, but thought they could overcome.

"Remember guys," he said quietly. "We do this and go straight back to HQ. If there's a time when Saki won't expect a betrayal, this is it."

"We know Leo," replied Raph. "Let's get this over with so we can help our brother."

They got to where the vibrational cannon had been left and Leo put on the glove, taking the Sword of Tengu from his back and inserting it into the machine. Immediately it began to hum and he stepped back.

"Donnie, what's it doing?"

"The sword seems to be attracted to something," said Donatello, jumping up to see the controls.. "Something in the river. The cannon should point us in the right direction."

The vibrational energy from the cannon focused on a spot in the river and slowly, the water whirled around, gaining speed and exposing the river bed and a glint of metal. Raph pulled out a radio and hit the button, trying to keep his voice even and free of irritation. "We found what we're looking for - bring in ariel support."

Casey Jones parked his motorcycle away from the docks and walked the remaining distance, not wanting the engine to attract attention and hoping that the shadows would cover him. There was total darkness, save for a strange glow by the waterfront and he made his way toward it, hoping it was what he was looking for. Before he got within sight of the pier, he noticed a helecopter approaching the area, stopping near the glow and hovering. A line emerged from its underbelly and Casey stopped, watching what was going on. The end of the line disappeared from his sight and a few minutes passed before it reappeared, something attached to the end.

Casey's eyes widened. Was that a man?

It was hard to see when there were no lights in the area and before he could be sure, the - whatever it was - disappeared into the chopper, which turned and flew away. Casey moved forward, heading toward the strange glow, which suddenly weakened and died.

What the hell?

He had gotten close enough to not need the glow to pinpoint the area. In the moonlight, he saw three figures, too short and bulky to be anyone but the things he had been fighting several nights before. Grinning beneath the hockey mask, he reached for a baseball bat - then paused. If they were in some way connected to the Dragons, they would be going back to report to their boss when they were done here. If he followed them, he could find out where the headquarters were, maybe do some more damage to the gang than a few random beatings afforded.

Or maybe you could get yourself killed.

There was always that. But as always when he considered the wisdom of his vigilante actions, the image of his fathers burning store rose unbidden. The Dragons had done that, to his family, to his father - to him. No matter what, he owed them payback. And this way he might be able to find out where the Dragons ringleaders were. Taking out the gang members was one thing, but to eliminate the leaders might just be the one thing that caused the gang to fall apart.

And Hun could be there. If there was one person in the world Casey wanted to beat on the most, it was Hun.

Mind made up, Casey stuck to the shadows near the walls and hoped he could follow the freaks back to their hideout.

Protected by the glove, Leonardo removed the Sword of Tengu from the machine, unaware of the watcher in the shadows. Without the sword, the machine was rendered useless and Leo knew Saki had plans for its retrieval. Whatever. The recovery of the - whatever it had been, some kind of armour by the look - was their last act as Foot Ninja.

This was the end.

Putting the sword into the sheath on his shell, Leo glanced up at the rooftops. Mission over and successful, the Foot were leaving, barely visable. Just what he had hoped for. Saki wouldn't expect them to turn on him now, not after their apparent loyalty had been proven.

Don cleared his throat. "Leo?"

Leo took a couple of seconds to contemplate before he replied. His entire life, everything he had ever done, was based on the teachings of Master Saki and the Foot clan. Was he really going to betray that? Could he turn his back on his life and burn his bridges in the most final way possible?

Raph's voice invaded his thoughts. "Leo! Are we gonna stay here all night?"

"No." Leo narrowed his eyes and turned to his brothers. "We go back to Foot Headquarters now. We're gonna get Mikey - or we die trying."