I do not own the TMNT. Bummer…

Two Years Later...

In the shadows of New York City; bad things happen. Kylie had heard about the dangers all her life but growing up in the city tends to make a person cocky. It wasn't until she found herself lying on the ground in an alley surrounded by Conquistadors that she realized how cocky she had been.

"Don't worry," the tall one with greasy hair said. "We don't want your money." His two friends cackled with laughter. One of them pulled a switchblade and let the light of his fat friend's cigarette reflect in it. Kylie tried not to cry as she sat up. The fat one had hit her in the stomach when she had tried to fight back and she still couldn't breathe without pain much less draw breath to scream.

Greasy grabbed the collar of her jacket and lifted her to her feet, this stretched her injured stomach and she couldn't suppress a whimper of pain. "Now, we're going to play a game, it's a lot like strip poker except we don't got no cards." Kylie tried to back away from the man but her back only met the wall. "You go first. What's in your hand?" His friends snickered, Switchblade managed to catch a light source from somewhere and his blade gleamed wickedly.

"I, I, Nothing!" Kylie stammered. Greasy slapped her.

"The cards lady, the cards! We playin' Poker. What's in your hand?" His hand stayed up; ready to backhand her if she didn't say anything.

Kylie thought hard, trying not to panic, "I, uh, st-straight f-f-flush?"

Greasy laughed, "You lose." He stepped aside and Switchblade took his place with blade held high. Kylie's breath started coming in panicked squeaks. Suddenly Switchblade disappeared. Kylie wasn't sure how this happened, but the shocked looks on the others' faces made her look down.

Switchblade lay on the ground in a heap. Crouched on his back was a creature of some sort. The creature glanced down at Switchblade and seemed to cringe. "Ooh, that had to hurt." The creature looked up at Kylie's attackers; its large pointed ears seemed to focus on them as it stood. Kylie could now see that her rescuer was shorter than she was and that it had a tail sticking out of what looked like pajamas. "Next please."

Clearly Fat boy didn't have as much brains as blubber. Without hesitating for an instant he charged the monster. The creature dropped down from its perch on top of Switchblade's back and kicked high, catching the charging man squarely in his chest. Between the kick and the man's own forward momentum he went down without another blow.

"And then there was one." Greasy stared, slack jawed and wet panted. This thing couldn't be much bigger than his baby sister and it had just taken down two of the most dangerous men in his gang without effort. Greasy wasn't as stupid as his gigantic companion, he turned and ran.

The creature moved as though to give chase when Kylie finally caught her breath, "Wait!" The creature stiffened and looked at her over its shoulder at her. Now Kylie could see that it wasn't wearing pajamas but some kind of Karate outfit and it looked almost like some kind of biped cat. "I…um…"

"Go home." The creature said. It walked out of the alley and around the corner. Kylie ran after it, climbing over the just stirring giant gang member and running to the street. The creature was gone.

"Nice job. Foot Ninja you can handle, but street punks you can't?"

"Gee, I'm sorry Raph. Next time I get knifed I'll be sure to let Karai do it."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Cool it Kit!" Casey Jones interrupted, "What's your problem?" He wasn't so much concerned about having come home to mutants in his bathroom; but their being two hotheaded ninjas made him worry about his security deposit.

"I got a knife in my tail, that's the problem!" Behind Kit, Raphael snickered.

Kit quickly explained to Casey about the rescue in the ally. Afterwards Raph had seen blood on the back of her pant legs and insisted they stop at Casey's place to patch her up before they returned to the sewers. She tactfully left out her argument that a bachelor's apartment had just as much risk for infection as the sewers.

"So, Conquistadors huh? How'd you get cut by one of them losers?"

"Must have been when I landed on the jerk with the knife." She glared at the turtle behind her, "Do you have a tail fetish or something? That's not brain surgery."

"Hold still I'm almost done!" Raph tore off a strip of tape and grinned evilly as he stuck it securely to Kit's fur. "Done." He sincerely hoped to be there when the bandage had to be removed, fur and tape made an entertaining combination.

"Ain't you still in trainin'?" Casey asked Kit. "Why'd this idiot sent you in three against one?"

Raph growled and Kit had started to respond when somebody knocked on Casey's door. Before Casey was even out of the bathroom the two mutants were out of sight. He opened the front door and his face lit up into a wide smile, "April! Babe! What brings you to my neck of the woods?"

April looked past Casey with an expression of worry. "Casey, is Kit here?" In the bathroom, Kit peeked out of the cabinet under the sink. Why would April ask about her? Raph was the one usually at Casey's place.

"Yeah, sure she's right-"

"Then I need to speak with you in the hallway." April grabbed Casey and pulled him through the doorway. After the door shut Kit opened the cabinet door further and crawled out, Raphael dropped to the floor beside her.

"Why would April be looking for you here?" Raph asked.

Kit shook her head, "If April was looking for me, wouldn't she have come in?" Raph shrugged.

The humans were gone for several minutes. When they did return April still had that worried look on her face, only now Casey looked like he had seen a ghost. Raph and Kit waited until the door was closed and April had put the chain up before they emerged from the bathroom.

"Hey April." Raph greeted the redhead, Kit held up a hand in silent greeting.

"Raph! You're here too; of course you're here it's Kit who usually isn't, um…" It wasn't like April to babble, or to be at a loss of words.

Casey stepped in for her. "Hey, April needs to talk to Master Splinter about somethin'." Nobody missed it when his eyes flicked over to Kit before the pattern of the ceiling distracted him, "Could you guys take us there?"

"Sure, what's up?" Raphael's patience could only last so long, but April only shook her head and Casey suddenly had the worst fake coughing fit anyone had ever seen. A tight, nervous feeling took hold in Kit's stomach. What were they hiding?

Casey and Raph helped April through the window to the fire escape while Kit stood lookout. After the four of them trooped down to street level Raphael lifted a manhole cover and everyone slipped into the sewers. Traveling this route usually took about fifteen minutes, but with April and Casey along it was nearly half an hour before they reached the hidden door that Donnie had rigged up for the lair. Raph pulled down a pipe and the door swung open, then closed seamlessly after April, Raph, and Kit had gone through. Casey was slower and nearly got sealed outside before he jumped through the fast closing opening.

"Bonehead." Raph grunted.

Mikey spotted them first and spread the word that April and Casey were there. Soon Donnie, Leo, and Master Splinter joined them and exchanged greetings with their human friends. Despite the pleasantries, there was a palpable tension in the air. April finally reached into her pocket and handed Master Splinter a hand-written note. Kit felt a stab of hurt when she realized that April had pre-written the note to make sure that Kit's sensitive ears didn't overhear anything.

Mikey started to sneak behind his rat sensei's shoulder to try and read the note, but for once it was Splinter who smacked him on the back of his head.

Every one watched the sage rat's face for his reaction to the note. At first he looked confused and curious, but the more he read the more serious his face became. Finally he folded the note and looked up. "Kitrian, I require of you to retrieve the red flag, immediately."

Kit blanched under her fur. The flags were a training method and devious parenting tool; flags were placed at specific locations in the sewers and the student sent to retrieve or return the flag was expected to do so at a peak run, they would be timed and their time recorded. Students who cheated would be caught the next time somebody was sent on a run.

The flags were also a way to give Master Splinter some peace- or to get rid of somebody for a certain amount of time. Furthermore, the flags were color coded, yellow being the closest and red being the furthest. In her current condition it took Kit a good half hour to retrieve the red flag.

"But…"

"Immediately Kitrian. Donatello, please start the timer." Donnie activated the stopwatch on his wrist-watch

Kit stiffened and bowed, "Hai Sensei." She straightened and ran for one of the lair's rear entrances.

As soon as she was gone Master Splinter sighed, "Stop the timer Donatello." Donnie lifted an eye ridge but did as he was told. "My sons, Miss O'Neil brings serious news."

Please Review.