Leo emerged from the manhole and pulled his trench coat tighter around his large frame. He turned the collar up and gave his fedora a tug. The wind coupled with the rain sent a cold shiver down his shell. He had only decided to go out and look for Raph after he heard the rain pick up its tempo. Knowing Raph, he probably got himself in some sort of trouble.

Leo scaled the fire escape that led to the roof. There were only a few places Raph frequented when he was mad. Leo would check all his favorite hangouts and hopefully be back inside before the storm got much worse.

Hunching his shoulders over more to ward off the bone chilling wind, Leo ran off in the direction of the Ghetto. When Raph wanted to bash heads that's where he'd go.

"So… where we at?" Daredevil asked once Raph had stopped moving so fast.

They had come off a building, now on ground level. He walked side by side with Raph. The rain was still coming down heavily, enabling him to 'see' that there weren't very many people around.

"The harbor." Raph answered.

"It's the only other good goon bashing spot in the city."

"Good meaning…" Daredevil trailed off.

"Good meaning you can be a five foot talking turtle, beat the snot out of some thugs, and nobody cares."

"Oh, and the other good spot would be…" Daredevil trailed off again, allowing for Raph to finish the sentence.

"The ghetto." Daredevil nodded, figures. "I'm assuming you're looking for heads to beat in wearing a costume like that."

"Mine's not a costume." Daredevil growled darkly.

"Neither is mine." Raph shot back.

Daredevil paused and thought about it for a second before shaking his head.

Leo watched on as Raph hopped from roof to roof. His vision was blurred due to the downpour, and Raph could only be seen as a dark green fuzzy blob in the distance. Leo's eyes flicked to the right at another movement. This blob was a dark red in color. He skipped from roof to roof, about twelve feet behind Raph. Leo tensed at the thought that his brother might be being trailed. Raph's figure stopped and waited for the other to catch up. Leo's anxiety sky rocketed. The figure definitely wasn't Casey, or anyone they knew for that matter. His brother had befriended someone else, and knowing what kind of people Raph hung with, Leo shivered. He could make out Raph pointing down into the alley and the other figure nodding, then they disappeared over the roof edge. Leo scrambled after them, he was quite a few roofs away and it took him a few seconds to get there. When he got to the roof, he jumped as quickly as he could over to the ledge and looked down. Raph and this man were engaged in combat, though not with each other. They were actually fighting together, they stood against a gang, probably the mafia, Leo figured.

He hated when Raph decided to beat down the Mafia thugs at the harbor. Mafia meant less fists and more guns. Raph didn't guard himself very well against guns. He and this other mystery man seemed to be holding their own though. Leo sigh. There was no use in fighting with Raph here. He might as well go home and wait for him.

Leo backed away from the ledge of the roof and moved back the way he had come.

Raph spun his sai and slid them into his belt with a deft flick of his wrists.

"Now that's the way you kick some scum bag butt."

Men in black suits were strewn across the alley.

"So, who did we just beat up?"

"The Mafia." Raph answered mater of factly "or at least part of the Mafia."

"Oh, that would be a good thing."

"Yeah," Raph shivered and wrapped his arms around himself. He had been out in the rain for awhile now. He flipped the cover open on the Braille watch that Mikey had gotten him three years ago and felt the raised bumps.

"Oh man. My family is gonna be wonderin where I'm at. It's late. I gotta go."

Raph held out a clenched fist and Daredevil bumped it against his own.

"You put up one heck of a fight. Uh… I'm sorry I didn't catch your name."

"Raph, Raphael."

"Well nice to meet you Raph, and I guess the turtle costume isn't all that bad."?

"Well I guess the same goes for that suit you go prancing around in."

Raph grinned and bounced off up to the roof, leaving Daredevil to tie up the unconscious.

Mikey shut off the shell cycle's engine and put down the kick stand as he stepped off. He observed the dirt and mud covering the body of Raph's beloved motorcycle. Raph would kill him when he found out Mikey had taken his bike, but Mikey's was broken and he needed to go up and find Cokey. Mikey took his helmet and jacket off. Hanging them from the crud covered bars he moved onto the house porch.

He bent over with a groan, his muscles were stiff from the long ride up. Reaching under the welcome mat, he pulled out the house key. Casey could be so cliché sometimes. He stood up with another groan and slowly arched his back before fitting the slightly rusty key into the tarnished brass lock. He heard the tumblers click half way into place, then stop.

"Stupid door."

Mikey turned the key back and forth without success. He gave the door a whack and surprisingly the tumblers fell into place. Mikey gave himself a pat and opened the door.

Even though it had taken place three years ago, the old farm house still showed some scars of the fight that had taken place with in it. The window pane next to the stairs was cracked and repaired with cocking. The whole back wall facing the door was riddled with bullet holes. They hadn't even tried to remove the tiny shards of metal from the wood. Deep cuts were scored into the wall, floors, stairs, and banister from the many weapons that missed their targets. Mikey was thankful that there wasn't less of the marks. Don and Raph had both been seriously injured in the fight. He wasn't there for half of it, but the living room held the proof that is wasn't pretty.

Mikey shuttered and closed his eyes. Don still had the scars on his plastron where the cracks had healed. When he had fallen out the second story window onto the pavement below, he was lucky the cracks hadn't been any longer. The scars were two long lines stretching across his plastron. They rose up from his plastron slightly. Every once in awhile Mike would catch Don touching them unconsciously.

Mikey blinked and shook his head. That was a wacky time, three years ago. He climbed the stairs and entered the first bedroom he came to. It was normally Casey's when they all stayed here together, but when it was just his brother's and Master Splinter it was Mikey's room. He dumped his knapsack on the bed and headed to the bathroom to take a shower. The trip on the long dirt road left his legs caked with mud and dirt. He let the cool water stream over his head and down his shell.

He'd need to get some pistachios. Cokey liked them more than Cheerios anyway. A Cheerio truck? All this time and Cokey finally gets sighted flipping over a Cheerio truck? It didn't make sense to him.

He shut off the water and grabbed a towel from the cupboard. Toweling dry, he slung the towel over his shoulder and went down the stairs into the kitchen. Opening all the cupboard, he didn't find what he was looking for. Straightening up, he put his hands where his hips should be.

"No pistachios. Well, I guess I'm just going to have to go shopping!"

Throwing the towel off his shoulder, and grabbing his gear, he ran out the door. He only got to the porch before he turned around, ran back into the house and grabbed his topside cloths. Jumping on Raph's shell cycle, he started it up and went on his way to the store.

"That'll be $18.26." The register dinged and Mikey produced the require cash. He watched outside the store front window. A bunch of people had gathered across the street. They looked angry.

"What are they doing?" Mikey gestured over to the mob.

"Oh them." The clerk rolled his eyes. "They're all going to look for that big foot thing.

"They look mad." Mikey voiced aloud.

"Probably are." The clerk responded.

"Are they holding pitchforks?" Mikey's voice rose an octave.

"Probably" the clerk responded nonchalantly.

"Uh, gotta go. Thanks." Mikey took his bag and change and walked out the door. As he exited the store, the voices of the small mob reached him.

"And we'll kill the monster to protect our wives when they are home alone and our kids when they play outside!" A loud cheer erupted.

"So much for putting off looking for Cokey until morning." Mikey muttered.

Mikey was completely decked out in hiking gear. He had his back pack and his water, his flashlight, his potato chips, and his pillow. The five pound bag of pistachios was weighing him down but he fought gamely on. He'd need them when he found Cokey.

"I guess this'll make a good campsite for tonight."

The sun was starting to set and the temperature was getting colder.

Mike set down his back pack and started riffling through it.

"Let's see here, fire. I need some fire."

He found two sticks and a pile of other branches and cleared a spot on the forest floor. He sat cross legged and rubbed the two sticks together. Twenty minutes later, he was still at it.

"Stupid sticks." He muttered. "Oh wait! Flint and steel!" He went back through his pack and pulled out a can of fruit. Kicking leaves around, he found a rock and banged the two together until the can had a sizeable dent in it and his fingers were sore.

"That always works in the movies!" He whined. He dumped out his pack and looked for something else he could use. "I'm saved!" He yelled as he held a box of matches high above his head.

He went back to his circle he had cleared of leaves and sat next to the little fire pit he had prepared. Taking out a match, he struck it against the side of the box. The small splint of wood burst into flame. "Ha!" Mikey shouted triumphantly. His quick expel of air caused the tiny almost non existent flame to blow out. "Hey!" Mikey's eye ridge furrowed as he glared at the singed splinter. "Alright, we're gonna try this again." Mike grumbled to himself and he fumbled to catch another match between his thick fingers. Striking the match on the side of the box, he almost yelled again when his little light of hope appeared. Letting a little giggle slip forth he held the flame to his pile of sticks and leaves. The flame promptly went out. "What?" He yelled again in exasperation. "Stupid little bits of wood. That's it!"

He produced three matches and struck them repeatedly against the box until they erupted into flame with a 'psst.' He quickly grabbed up a dead leaf and held the flame to it. When the fire caught he held it to the rest of the pile of leaves. Adding a few sticks, he whooped as they caught fire too. "Ha ha ha! Take that you wimpy sticks!"

He dragged his pack over to him and pulled out his severely dented can of fruit. A bag of chips added to the mix created his supper.

He added more wood to his fire and observed the darkness just beyond his ring of light.

It looked like more than just darkness. It wasn't like the darkness in the city. In the city you could step just around the corner and the darkness would be no more. A street light would be there to light the way. In the forest, just beyond the darkness, was more darkness. There was no escape. Once it was night it was dark and there would be no relief until morning.

That must have been what it was life for Raph when he first went blind. For the first months he couldn't see anything at all. He had told Mike once about how the darkness was absolutely suffocating. It wasn't until after Cobart had attacked them at the farmhouse that Raph had surgery done by their new family friend, Kevin. He was still legally blind, but Raph thought it wasn't that bad. Don thought the surgery was a failure but Raph had corrected him. Apparently Raph could now see in shadows if the light was bright enough. The surgery had been done too late to restore real sight, but what Raph did get back was a welcome relief. It was so great a relief, that Raph had stolen Mikey's nightlight and now slept with it in his own room.

Mikey stared out into the darkness once again. It must have been terrifying to live in that day in and day out.

Raph's blindness was still a big issue in the Lair even after three years. He didn't like anyone treating him any different because of it and it anyone did they got an ear full about it.

Mikey fished the last piece of fruit out of the can. He brought the metal can up to his mouth and tipped back his head, draining the can of the sweet fruit syrup.

He dug through his gear some more until he found his drawing pad. He pulled it out and flipped to a clean page. There he started to pencil in the image of himself by the fire.

Those farmers were really angry. Cokey probably didn't even turn the Cheerio truck over on purpose. What would they do if they found her before Mikey did? They'd probably kill her. It seemed like something out of a movie. Farmers with pitchforks and torches. Why would they even want to go after Cokey? It wasn't like their wives and children weren't safe before. They were fine before they thought they had a 'big foot' in their woods. Cokey was only a kid. She was what, only maybe five years old? She didn't deserve to be hunted like a monster. If a human with a gun came up to her she'd probably jump on them and try to play with them. Mikey was to blame for that. He was the one that taught Cokey not to fear other living things. If she got hurt it was going to be because of him. Mikey sighed. He had to find her.

Leaning his shell against a tree, he tilted his head back and watched the stars. The crickets were chirping all around him and peace reined. This was the life.

Leo was tired. He had already had one fight with Raph today and he wasn't looking forward to his second. He had long since given up pacing and had resigned to stretching out along the length of the couch on his shell. His head rested on the arm rest and his arms dangled over the rest next to his head. He swung his arms back and forth in boredom. The tv was turned on, but the volume was low. Master Splinter was already in bed for the night and Donny probably was too. It was three in the morning and Raph still wasn't home.

Just as Leo's thought drifted towards his wayward brother, he head the sewer entrance door open and close. Raph padded right past Leo, heading for the bathroom in search of a towel.

"Who was that you were with tonight?" Leo asked. His tone was flat. He didn't even bother to get up from the couch or even to lift his head.

Raph spun on one foot as if he had expected Leo to be there.

"Should have known that Fearless would be spying on me." When Leo didn't say anything in response, Raph answered his question "He was a blind guy. I was helping out."

Raph wasn't about to tell his brothers that he had met Daredevil. They'd think he was psychotic. He'd just keep that little fact to himself right now.

"He said he was blind and you believed him?"

Leo flipped over onto his plastron, his arms were under him. He used his elbows to prop himself up. His voice had taken on a cynical tone.

"No Leo, I believed him cuz he had a white cane and he was using it like a blind guy."

Raph continued on his way to the bathroom. Leo got up and followed him.

"How could you be sure? What if he's a Foot spy?"

"Leo relax, I know he's not because, I know he's not alright? Leo paused and cocked his head to the side, trying to figure out what Raph just said. "It's not like I'm ever gonna see him again. I was just helping him out."

"So he said he was blind and you just automatically offered your helping hand?"

Raph emerged from the bathroom with a towel. He was freezing from the cold rain water still on his body. He fought to keep his teeth from chattering. His voice rose an octave. Leo was starting to get him mad.

"You're twisting my words Leo. It didn't happen like that."

"No, you just befriended a total stranger!"

"That's how you make a friend Leo! They're strangers to start out with."

Raph toweled off. He fought to suppress the fit of coughs that were threatening to erupt from deep inside his lungs. The warm air made his throat burn. He was definitely going to get a cold.

"We can't really afford to make a lot of friends Raph. You especially!"

Raph spun around, his eyes alight with anger. He may have been blind but his eyes still spoke volumes when he was angry. Right now they were all glittery and wide, a sure sign that Raph was about to lose it. He opened his mouth, but the ringing of the shell cells halted whatever he was about to say. Raph and Leo both pulled out their shell cells.

"What?" Raph growled venomously into the phone.

"That's how you greet a long lost brother?" Mikey's voice came through the line.

"You're not long lost Mike. You left to go find your pet." Leo wasn't quite as angry as Raph but his voice still had a bite to it.

"Well does that at least make me the prodigal son?"

Leo rolled his eyes.

"Talk to Don." He closed his shell cell and placed it back in his belt.

Don stumbled over to his computer chair. Slumping into it, he propped his feet up on his desk and hung his head back. He tiredly picked at the corners of his eyes. He had been sleeping when Mikey called. "What's up Mike?" His voice was still a little scratchy with sleep.

"Nothin much. I just wanted to make sure no one died or ran away or killed anyone since I've been gone."

"No. None of that has happened, at least not as far as I can tell." Don seemed to wake a little more after these last words. "Wait, Mike you've only been gone like ten hours."

"Yeah," Mikey's words were long and drawn out. "Geeze Don, It's freaky out here! I just can't sleep. How's Leo and Raph. Are they still fighting?"

The splintering of wood sounded throughout the Lair. Raph and Leo's voices had risen to yells. Don winced.

"Yeah, I think so."

Another crash could be heard from the Lair living room. Don slumped his head. He'd probably be fixing whatever they broke tomorrow. It didn't sound like they had trashed anything electrical yet though, which was good. If they broke some piece of furniture then Raph would normally help him fix it the next morning. That was, is he was in a better mood.

"Hey," Mike tried to lighten up the mood a little. Don never liked it when his brothers fought. "At least it's not as bad as it used to be."

"Yeah, instead of the whole Lair getting trashed every fight, it only gets trashed every third or fourth fight." Don sighed.

"It's only cause Raph is afraid of making a fool of himself and that Leo will take him down without batting an eyelid."

"Leo only takes him down easy if he plays dirty."

"And he only plays dirty if he thinks Raph needs to be taken down a notch and has a lesson to learn."

Leo playing dirty consisted of him using strikes he knew Raph had a hard time blocking, like stabs.

"It's been a long time since they had last had a fist fight." Don commented.

"Yeah, when was the last one? Like three months ago?"

"No, I think it was more like four." Don corrected. "So how's North Hampton?"

Raph let out short snorts as he and Leo rolled around on the floor, hands locked together. They took shots at each other as fast as possible. Ninjitsu tactics weren't really used, it was more of an all out scuffle. Leo rolled on top of Raph and Raph brought his leg up to his chest. Kicking out, he caught Leo a powerful blow to the plastron that sent him stumbling backwards into the coffee table. Leo growled and went into a head long charge. Bent low, he caught Raph's legs in a hug and tripped him up.

Raph felt all the air being expelled from his lungs as he fell to the ground.

"Halt!" The short sharp tone echoed through out the Lair. Leo and Raph froze mid brawl. "What is the meaning of this?" Splinter's tail flicked from side to side.

Matt climbed in the open window. He turned and quickly shut it again before anymore of the rain made it in.

He took off his mask with a deep breath and shook his hair. Even with the rain his outfit was still rather warm. His hair and face were sweat soaked. He made his way to the bathroom and turned on the hot water in the shower. Taking of the rest of his gear, he stepped into the blissful peace of warm steam. The water streamed down his neck and chest. He tilted his head up towards the life giving heat and closed his eyes. He rolled his shoulders about as he tried to stretch our the knot in his shoulder blades.

He hadn't had a fight like that in a long time. Raph had really done a number on him. All his muscles ached and he was sure he had a few good bruises. He had to admit though, it felt good to be in a brawl where he did more than pound the snot out of a single low life street punk.

Matt turned off the water and stepped out of the shower. He wrapped a towel around his waist and grabbed another one to towel off with. He went into his room and found a pair of sweat pants and a t-shirt. Doning them, he went back into the kitchen, still drying his hair with one of the towels.

Peter was there. He was cooking something on the stove. It smelt like stir fry.

"Hey. How was your night?" Pete asked as he removed the pan from the flame.

"Great. Your's?"

"Mediocre." Peter answered.

Matt got into the fridge and pulled out a jug of iced tea. He poured a glass for both of them as Peter prepared their plates for dinner.

"We're weird, eating dinner at 3 in the morning."

Matt smiled. "Yeah but then we get to sleep until noon."

"You get to sleep till noon." Pete corrected. "I have to get up and go to work in five hours, then everyone is going to think I'm stoned or something because I can't keep my eyes open."

"Yeah well get to bed early tomorrow."

Pete brought the dishes over and set them on the table as Matt sat down.

"Chicken and rice stir fry at seven, peas at eleven."

Pete quickly told Matt where his food was on the plate. Matt had told him about the little trick for communication long ago when they first met. It involved the plate representing the face on a clock and the food being at different hours.

Pete was quiet for a few minutes as he focused on the meal.

"Thanks for helping to clean up the crime around here Matt. This neighborhood was getting to be really dangerous."

"Hey no problem Pete. It'll be no time at all before these punks learn to fear the name Daredevil"

Pete continued to talk but Matt wasn't listening. He had tuned his friend out and instead was focusing on his own thoughts.

"Hey Pete, have you ever heard of a mutant turtle vigilante" Like a guy that runs around and protects the helpless?" Matt interrupted.

Pete gave a bit of a snort. "Well yeah, but they've never been considered vigilantes. They're one of the side stories that get run in the tabloids. People that say they've seen them and stuff. Some say they are aliens that prey on the homeless. Others say that they are escaped government experiments. Some people even thing they are a lechness meets Bigfoot kind of deal. I donno, I've never believed in them. If they were real you think someone would have gotten a decent picture by now. Besides people have sighted them everywhere. They said they were up in North Hampton and everything."

Pete pushed himself up from the table. "I'll be right back."

He came back moments later riffling through some papers of some sort. "Here are some old tabloids. They've been running the mutant turtle story when they've got nothing else to write about." Pete snorted in contempt. "Filthy tabloid writers. They don't even deserve to be called journalists. Here." He began to read one of the articles he found. " A witness says that he was saved from a brutal attack by a turtle monster. When questioned he stated that the monster was green in color with textured skin, but he couldn't say much else. A gang attacked him, said the witness, and the monster attacked them and brought them all to the ground. "And after they were down he turned on me! I barely escaped with my life!"

Pete slammed the magazine down on the able. "See? It's a load of rubbish. If that thing could take down a whole gang single handedly then one guy wouldn't have been able to escape when he was the only one standing."

Matt nodded absent mindedly and smiled to himself. "Yeah" In his head though he was running through the fight with Raph. The guy took out five thugs, fought him, and helped to beat up the mob. It seemed completely possible that he could fight a whole gang single handedly.

"Anyway, I'm going to bed. If I don't get some sleep now I'll look like a raccoon tomorrow."

Matt let a soft 'hmm' pass through his lips as a confirmation, but stayed seated at the table.

He was going to stay up a little longer. He had some investigating to do.