Raph timidly closes the door behind him just as the green-hooded figure turned around, revealing their identity to him. He held his breath in hope, but exhaled deeply, maybe a little too deeply, after seeing the full-face of the figure.

The girl standing confidently in front of him was no doubt, not, Jaylene. The familiar straight blonde hair was draped neatly on her shoulders, with the green hood covering her head and exposing only small bits of her facial features. It was enough though, for Raph's eyes to lock with hers, and for him to take her details before she would possibly attack him since he did just barge into her room.

Locking his eyes with hers was like he was gazing at his own reflection. Her similar emerald green colored orbs conveyed the exact same feelings he had rushing through his body. Anger, boldness gleamed in her eyes, daring him to make a move, make the first gesture or comment. Also in her eyes was fear, almost shining brighter than her anger, but she tried her best to conceal her expressions.

None made a sound or move, and Raph feared that breaking eye contact would trigger her to strike, and holding his stare was difficult, but it showed he was not weak.

His mind was soon lost in a trance, and the longer he kept his gaze, the more he began searching through his memories of where he had seen her; at one point it became clear to him, two years ago, at the dark end of an alleyway, was where he met her for the first time.

Encountered. We encountered each other for the first time, he corrects. The image of her reaction to when she had seen him was vague in his mind, but he now remembered her.

The turtle soon finds himself trembling slightly, not from fear, but he figured it was because they may have been standing and not leaving each other's gaze for more than twenty minutes and negative thoughts had already found themselves embedded in his head.

'Donnie is wondering where you are. Don't break eye contact or she could press a button to alert the kraang. You're wasting time, the others downstairs may be in trouble', the words appeared in his mind and he couldn't expel them.

He felt more than ready to give up.

I…have…to-

"Impressive. A warrior who is not afraid to back down", the girl spoke, and Raph exhales much like he did before. He was relieved that she was the one who had chosen to look away, and he responded to the thought by easing the tense muscles he had become aware of that were tense.

He absorbs the sound of her voice all in one moment, how delicate it was, but it too had the confidence expressed like in her eyes.

"But I do not accept intruders. The kraang have a special warning alarm for when there are intruders, and if they are dangerous. The alarm seemed to have gone off, and you burst into my room shortly afterwards. The kraang have told me that if that alarm goes off, the intruder cannot walk out of the building alive", she paused, and did not continue; Raph knew what she meant without further explanation.

He couldn't walk out of here alive, none of his brothers did, but he was still going to try. He knew her statement was a threat to him, a warning, but what she didn't know was that he took threats as challenge; she seemed to have hinted from that sentence, that she would commence her first attack soon.

The red banded turtle monitors her every move, waiting for her to lunge at him with a weapon at hand, as his ones are resting on the handles of his sais, readily waiting.

His eyes are still fixed on her as she strides to her nightstand adjacent to her bed and places both hands on the surface, leaning against it nonchalantly. She's stalling, waiting for when you're not ready, a voice in his head suggests and he grits his teeth through his closed mouth to help him focus.

Sensing she was about to strike, Raph swiftly pulls his sais out from his belt and holds them above his head in an 'x' position as she grabs her whip from in the pocket of her sweater and lashes it at him in one fluid motion. The whip luckily misses him by an inch, but he could feel the rush of the wind from the weapon as it cuts through the air above his head.

The elegance of her movements are graceful as she cracks the whip above her head, an ear-splitting sound ripping through the atmosphere, and a queasy feeling settles in the pit of his stomach from the sound. His confidence begins to fade and even as he pounces at her with the sharp points of his sai, he feels uncertain of his choice of action.

The blonde teen performs a backwards handspring before his weapons strikes her; the outstretched arm that was grasping his sai, gliding over her abdomen when she arches her back and bends backwards.

Raph could feel the heat rising up into his cheeks from missing his opponent, and the fact that he could lose his balance and topple on top of her if he was clumsy, but he is fortunate that the girl has her head sucked into their combat, and not realizing the red tinge on his face and neck.

He blocks another blow from her fist when she attempts to roundhouse kick him, and ducks when she tries again. The oncoming blows from the thrashing of her whip were also hard to dodge, especially since she was very precise with her accuracy, though his luck allowed the battle to become even.

Every time he had a chance to land a punch, he let the opportunity slip through his fingers, thinking that her defense to his move would cause him to lose this one-on-one, and then he wouldn't walk out of the building alive. Duck now, jump to the right, strike now!

Voices in his head commands the red banded turtle of the moves he should make, and it irritates him because it was a little distracting having a voice yelling at him in his head when he made a mistake and when he should advance. However, he did have another voice in his head that increased its volume and was soon louder than the scolding one. You could do it Raph, you will defeat her…

Gaining his courage again, he gives a fierce growl and curls his fingers in his fist as the voice repeats in his mind.

He swerves to the left as her fist holding her whip flies at him and barely misses his right shoulder, and he bites his lip from the nervous feeling coursing through his veins before he drops shoulder, rotates his body to the right and grabs her wrist tightly with his left hand.

Raph then pushes her away from him, still holding onto her wrist and lifts his leg up to sink his foot in the area slightly above her waist on her right side, and her reaction to his kick surprises him. The girl crumples to the ground, and in the process, hits her head on the side of her bed from the impact of when he pushes her away from him with more force than needed.

As her body hits the floor, a loud thumping sound bounced off the walls, and Donnie must have heard it since he burst into the room a few seconds later. His eyes are immediately placed on the unconscious figure lying on the ground with her head lulled to one side and both hands rested on top of the spot where Raph kicked her. His grip tightens around the door handle he was grasping and his jaw gradually drops, to the point where Raph could see his bottom teeth as he stood next to him.

Raph could feel the guilt slowly eating away at him the longer he stared at her unmoving body, so he glanced in the other direction.

"Who's she?" Donnie asks when he too had ripped his eyes off of the girl and focused them on his brother. The red banded turtle thought hard to answer the question, but try as he might, he could not find the words to explain about who she is.

She was only a girl whom he encountered two years ago when he saved Casey from her wrath, but for the sake of Casey's embarrassment when his brothers had asked how he met his friend, Raph tweaked the story to remove her completely out of it.

Nevertheless, she played an important part in Raph's friendship with Casey as he met him through her in a way, and now that he had left her out of the story he had told his brothers, it was difficult for him to explain why he had fought her, and who she is, to Donnie.

The purple banded turtle could identify that his brother could not explain and walked towards the girl to catch a glimpse of her facial features. He bent down beside her and raised her hood a bit while Raph was shaking behind him and chewing his lip anxiously. "Well, why were you fighting her then?" Donnie inquires instead, thinking it may have been the better question to ask.

"I-uh-she-", Raph stammers, though he is saved when Donnie raised a hand to motion for him to stop talking for a moment. The red banded turtle stepped backwards and leaned his shell against the wall before sliding down to sit on the ground in a round-shouldered slouch, indicating the transition from feeling tensed to relaxed, regarding his brother who had just waved off the question he felt so worried about to answer. "Actually I may be able to answer that question myself if you can't and battled her for no reason", and Raph blushes in discomfort at Donnie's sentence.

"Earlier today, I mentioned to you guys about this teen named Astraea right? Well, I think this is her", he states, hoping to leave this impacting discovery stuck in his brother's head for a while.

"So?" Raph replies, wearing an understanding along with a clueless expression.

Donnie sighs exasperatedly in return. I can never leave someone like him with a sentence to ponder on. Always gonna ask another question.

"If I must explain further, I am pointing out that it is quite peculiar how she is the only resident in a kraang base, even though there are hundreds of rooms that are all empty–yes I checked most of them while you were busy with whatever–and since she had lived in this base for a while, she must have heard something about Jaylene, or possibly even seen her before. It's only a theory which is probably wrong, but it may have some facts that are true in it…" he explains and trails off, but Raph didn't need any more reasons to understand his brother's theory. He tilted his head and watched his brother pace back and forth, obviously lost in his very intelligent and complex mind.

Thinking back to Donnie's points, he wondered what the conclusion of his theory was. Did he mean we should bring her back to the lair for questioning? Cause I don't know if that's a good idea…

His inference was no doubt what Donnie was about to do, considering that he stopped pacing and gave him a sheepish look mixed with a hopeful one. The only reaction Raph had to the look was a groan and a face-palm as many thoughts of what Leo's opinion on Donnie's suggestion might be. Hopefully this girl will know a lot about Jaylene, cause bring her home for questioning better be worth it…

Nope not worth it. It was so not worth it.

The red banded turtle grumbles in frustration when he had glanced at the girl's direction for the twelfth time that morning. And yet, there she was, tied to his brother's wheelie chair in the lab, sitting motionless, and she had been in that same position for nearly five days, but in contrast to Jaylene's coma for five months, Jaylene had won by a mile.

Maybe she's also in a coma? I didn't hit her that hard did I?

Raph had asked himself that question on the second day of her unconscious state. By this time, the guilt had already consumed him whole, and it was the only feeling that he had whenever he looked at the girl.

What's here name again? Oh yeah, Astraea, the turtle reminds himself and rubs his eye sleepily while throwing himself, another question. Have I not slept lately? Maybe sitting here and staring-uh-observing makes time fly by…

He leaned his shell against the backrest of the chair he was sitting on and murmured, losing his train of thought when he had almost flipped backwards from sinking into his seat too far. He shuffled as he stood up and quickly glanced Astraea once again, curious to see if she had seen him, but no, she clearly hadn't.

The chair rocks as he shoves it away from him and hastened towards the blonde teen. He paused halfway between the journey from his seat, that had now spun away, and the kunoichi tied to the other chair. His options were clear: to attempt to wake her up somehow, or wait, and she would wake up in her own time. He snorted at the second suggestion.

And even I know I can't be that patient.

Raph lingered in his place and shook his head to erase the thoughts that would stop him. Without any more hesitations, he persisted, but before he was to speak or brush his fingers against her skin to wake her, four words flashed before his eyes. It may not work…

He swatted his hand as if the words were like annoying flies, and said, "Astraea, wake up…gah I really don't want to say this but…please?"

After giving that request to Astraea he felt like an imbecile, believing that asking her to wake up like he was some prince charming would work. Face-palming, he trudged to retrieve his chair for him to sit on again, but stopped in his tracks at hearing a small, feminine moan of pain come from the other side of the room. He peered from the corner of his eyes and gasped, for Astraea, seemed to have regained consciousness.

It was a miracle that she woke up from a few soft words; however, now that she was awake, Raph was panic-stricken. He dropped to his knees and crawled on his knees to the wall near the doorway to flick off the light switch, which he did not even know why he had chosen to do so.

The room was now dark with the presence of a thin strip of light from the crack of the sliding door, and the red banded turtle began to crawl once again, but this time, it was to inform his brothers about Astraea's awakening.

"Leo, Donnie, Mikey, Casey, April!" he called out while flailing his arms in the air, but he immediately placed his hands on his sides at the single thought that he may have looked like Mikey with those actions.

Everyone in the living room tilted their heads in his direction with quizzical thoughts and expressions. "That girl…Astraea, woke up–wait, where's Mikey?" Raph says and pants, though pauses at the absence of his little brother.

A light flicking on catches his attention, and he could see the white shining light of a lamp, lit up in the lab. Mikey, why can't you be more patient…

He glares and narrows his eyes at the sign of Mikey already in the lab; growls furiously. He stomps back towards the lab, though pauses at the doorway with the gang standing closely behind him, as he stifles a laugh from the sight in front of him.

"The names Holmes, Shermike Holmes", Raph hears a voice say, and it did not take him a long time to figure out it was Mikey. The squeaky voice, and the attempt to sound threatening made him laugh harder, but from inside the dark room, in the center of the lab he could see Astraea seated in the chair, eyes wide with a slightly horrified look in them as she struggled against the ropes tying her hands behind her back. His eyes avert and settle on his little brother who stood behind her, though he could sense she was unaware of his brother's presence.

Sighing in frustration, he slid the door wider, allowing more light into the lab, and through the darkness, he sees his brother giving him an annoyed look in which he casually shrugs to in reply. He flicks the light switch on with his index finger only to interrupt his brother having a crack at interrogating the kunoichi, and as he strolls confidently towards Mikey, he slaps the back of his little brother's head with the back of his hand.

Astraea stares at the turtles in confusion as Raph storms towards her with dark clouds and lightning following him. One moment a 'Shermike Holmes' introduced himself, and the next, all of her enemies were gathered in one room and probably going to question her, when she figured out that that was the reason why she was brought here.

A few moments of thinking, and she decides to 'keep her cool', like Karai would in these situations once an angry looking turtle approached her, his hands gripping tightly onto the arm rests and his eyes drilling into hers.

She held her breath as he examined her closely and tilted her head to avoid eye contact. It was not because he had bad breath or anything, but she felt very uncomfortable at how close their faces are, though the turtle seemed to have not noticed.

Once he had moved away to sulk near the back of the group surrounding her, she opens her mouth to speak, and also beats Donnie to it. "No need for introductions", she says, hoping it would convey she was not afraid of them, and from their stunned expressions, she felt content in knowing she was successful, so she continued.

"I already know all of your names and who you are. Leonardo, Michelangelo, Donatello, and Raphael", she says and gestures with her head to each of them as she spoke, but froze at seeing Casey and April.

"So this is the prominent April O'Neil", Astraea said, and the corner of her lip twitched, converting her serious face into a risk-taking girl with a daring, cocky smirk. Her hood was no longer covering her head, and with one graceful flip with her head, she had her blonde hair draped on one shoulder instead of arranged messily. Her smirk grew wider when she spotted Mikey taking a step back, but Donnie and Casey taking a step forward towards her in April's defense, and stopped herself from laughing out loudly.

"Oh and I almost forgot to mention…" the blonde teen began, but Casey spoke out, not holding anything back, before she said his name. "Casey Jones", the dark haired man states.

The blonde teen chortled this time and managed to get out, "Yes, I was getting there, but my, my, someone is eager to introduce themselves", just after she shook her head and coughed to restrain herself again. She sighed and this time was the one to examine everyone's faces to check their reactions, but on the inside, she was not enjoying her actions and words as she felt like she was not herself in faking what she really wanted to say and feel.

Mikey frowned as he watched the kunoichi toy with them, like she knew everything about everyone. He fought the urge to do something to her since Leo would scold him, though he was pretty sure that he wanted to do the same, so the young turtle chose to pipe up to save himself the trouble from getting, in trouble.

Just as his jaw lowered when he was about to open his mouth, Astraea butted in stating, "It is easier to take down your enemies when you know what they are like…"and the orange banded turtle's face burned red from being hit by a wave of humiliation, though the humiliation was replaced by a satisfied feeling in his chest when his brother has a rage at the blonde teen.

"Who do you think you are?!" Raph asks angrily, annoyed at her attitude, though she was not at all terrified or bothered by his tone, and replied, "I believe I am a prisoner here…but not for long."

The red banded turtle blinks and was bewildered by her response.

"Meaning?"

"Karai, the Footbots and possibly even Xever will rescue me."

He mutters when she replies and takes long strides forwards, pulling on his furious face. "And how could you be so sure? Do you really think you could trust Karai…and Shredder?" Raph counters and adds, "It's been five days since you've been here…face it…they're not looking for you."

At his statement, the blonde teen senses that the walls of her confidence and her stoicism may have been torn down by this particular turtle. He seemed to be the only one capable of challenging her and standing up to her fake arrogance. He caused her to blink back tears.

"Raphael, enough", Leo says instantly and firmly, seeing the pang of hurt in Astraea and Raph crosses his arms at his elder brother's order.

The red banded turtle didn't know what his brothers were thinking, or everyone else, but he was feeling quite proud of himself, even if Leo didn't believe it. You have finally found your match Astraea…, he says in his mind, and glares daggers at the girl tied to the seat, but his achievement was brief with Astraea having another reply to to throw at him as a counter statement.

"They will. I know it", Astraea replies, her voice sort of shaky, and even she could identify the twinge of doubt in her sentence. Everyone in the lab exchanges looks at each other when they heard her sentence, as Raph exhales tiredly.

This is going to be a long day…

Fin

Hah, that was exciting, and took a while to write. Apologies for the lateness…

I thought it'd be a piece of cake to write, but guess not. I'm thinking that next week the updates will be late, most likely, because I don't know when I can update. I'm kind of just taking any spare time I have to update, so the endings will seem rushed, but I tried my best.

Onto the story though, sadly, the green-hooded figure is not Jaylene, but then this story would be a lot shorter if it was. Raph has been blowing off steam more often since he was disappointed that Jaylene was not at the building, so he's acting kind of strange if that's what you thought. In the next chapter, more about Astraea will be revealed, including Xever's short mention and it will lead to the main plot of the story. Thanks for reading and please review even though it may be a short sentence!

Disclaimer: I do not own TMNT 2012