"You know Mikey, I'm just— I'll just give you a call later. I gotta get to the office and find out," Raphael cracked his knuckles, "who I'm haulin' off to jail today."

Leo's eyes narrowed but he said nothing.

And you better keep on not say nothin'. I keep plenty of low-lives off the streets while you spend half the day behind a desk shufflin' paper.

Michelangelo stared at Ever Tilley with wide, horrified eyes. "Mrs. Tilley, I— I— I—"

Yep. This is gonna take forever. Raphael slapped Mikey on his shell. "See ya later, Bro."

He lumbered from the pizza parlor without so much as a squeak reply from his little brother. What does Ever Tilley want with Michelangelo? I hope Space Cadet Renet ain't been messin' with time again. And if she has been playin' with her magic wand-thing, I hope she got better at it.

Raphael didn't have far to walk to his office, three blocks from Mikey's pizzeria. He took his time, enjoying the crisp autumn air, sunlight splaying through the maple-lined street, casting leaf-shaped shadows across the sidewalk. One thing he never took for granted since their ascent to fame, was enjoying daytime.

He tugged at the collar of his black t-shirt. Still hate clothes though. Walked around naked for twenty-two years before all this… His bicep flexed, stretching the short sleeve to its limit.

Shifting his attention from the irritating confines of cotton enveloping his body, he chose to focus on the fair golden rays warming the very vein of his torment. The rules of the human world met the freedom he'd always sought for his family, right there on his sleeve. In some ways we traded one prison for another.

"We are the crowd, We're coming out, Got my flash on it's true—"

Raphael's face scrunched in distaste. "What the hell is this?" He tugged his phone free of his jeans pocket. "Gah!" he snarled, swiping a finger over the screen. How did Donnie say to answer the new phones? Gotta make the damn girly sound stop! "April's never playing with my phone again!" And here I tried to be nice and let her whine about my brother for three and a-half hours last night. Never again!

"I'm your biggest fan, I'll follow you until you love me, Pa-paparazzi—"

"ANSWER!" Raph yelled, at the device flashing a picture of an all too familiar auburn-haired beauty.

"Raphie!" the sing-song female chirped before he could greet her.

Raphael flinched. "Don't call me that, Tea-cup."

"Aw, come on Raph. I've got great news for you. They want to make a show out of your bounty hunting gig. I can have the cameras meet with you this afternoon. We can have lunch, I'll bring the contracts. Big bucks, Raphie!"

Raphael stopped walking, his teeth grinding together as he struggled to focus on the dust motes swirling in the pale yellow rays warming his face. I'm not gonna blow up on her. I'm not. Still… Some days he just wanted to strip down and go full ninja, racing over rooftops, flying through the air—

"Maddie, I already told ya, this ain't a gig. It's my job, and I ain't bein' followed around by no cameras. It. Ain't. Happenin'. I only agreed to this whole agent-publicist thing to keep the paparazzi off my tail. Can't you send cameras after Fearless?" Raph snickered as a vision of his brother being hovered over by a cameraman filled his head. "It'd be good for him, keep his mind off stuff… Maybe more on you. You'd like that wouldn't ya?"

Madeline's voice fell to a melancholy whisper, "Raphael, Leonardo has never felt that way about me. I mean come on, he's my best friend. I'd be a mutant teacup right now if it weren't for him."

True. But a turtle had to try. Madeline 'tea-time' Davis had grown from bratty seven year old to a thirty-years-young gorgeous woman… who was also New York's most sought after publicist. Only Raphael didn't want a publicist at all, and usually Maddie respected that. But lately the girl wouldn't leave him alone. He wasn't on the radar for her enough he guessed. Leo with his rehab stint, Donnie with his Nobel prize, and Mikey always hamming it up. That only left him to drag into the limelight. Still, the girl was one of the good ones and he hated hurting her feelings.

Thankfully, Maddie never stayed bummed for long. She was like a human hummingbird… or an annoying fly. Nah. She was too pretty to be a fly.

"Come on Raph. Think about it, ninja bounty hunter in action. I can see the headlines now!"

Raphael felt his stomach turn at the same time the phone cracked beneath his fingers. Dammit. Donnie's gonna be pissed. That's the fourth one this month. He held the shiny black object in front of his face, surveying the damage. Eh. It still worked. "Not. Happenin' Madeline. Now, drop it."

Maddie sighed. "Fine. But don't cry to me when—"

Maddie's picture faded from the screen like someone had pulled the plug on a TV set. Well, it worked for another minute anyway. Raph shrugged as he shoved the dead phone in his pocket, releasing the object to fish for his key-fab. He waved the small black gadget under the scanner affixed to the door, but nothing happened. "Damn technology," he grumbled, waving the fab beneath it again.

Movement in the unlit office, near his desk, caught his attention. It was slight… and quick. Real quick. Raph thrust his weight against the door, hearing the old wood splinter and crack beneath his second heave. "Grrr." He opted to abandon the door, knowing if someone were in his office they'd be escaping through the alley.

Sneakers scraping against the concrete, echoed off the walls as he raced to the exit door only to find it shut tight, and upon a good pull, locked. He squint his eyes, surveying the alley. I know I saw somethin'.

He waved the fab beneath the backdoor lock. This time it opened. "Leo would say I'm losin' it," Raph muttered. Motion sensor lights illuminated the room as he strode to his desk. Why hadn't the lights come on for whoever was in here? Suspicious eyes scanned the surfaces, but he didn't have to look hard to find what didn't belong.

Taking a stunned step backward he steadied himself then reached forward, snatching the pictures of the three familiar faces taped to his monitor. Newspaper clippings. Of three jerks he hadn't had to look at or think about since Splinter passed away and Shredder left town, five years ago. Cold crept through him, settling in his core like a block of ice. Maybe it's an old headline.

Three Inmates Escape Federal

Raph swallowed a sour taste in his mouth as he read the date. October 8, 2036. Dammit. What does this mean? He shook his head. It's nothing. Coincidence. They were comrades before, why wouldn't they be in prison? Raph gnawed on his cheek. But I did snatch up those wannabe Dragons who'd skipped out on bail, and they did have some weak moves, but moves nonetheless.

The corners of Raphael's mouth quirked upward, a gleam in his eye. "Wonder what the running reward is for you three losers." He flicked the clipping, his blood rushing, aging muscles coiling in anticipation. Raph pulled his chair out, grunting as he sat on something that crinkled beneath his weight reminding him that someone had in fact been in his office. "What the—"

He lifted up, pulling forth the small but thick envelope. Growling as he tugged it open, he resolved to find whoever was dumb enough to break into his office in the first place. His green eyes darted around the one room space. Nothing else appeared out of place. And yet they didn't take anything.

Raph tugged the second half of the article free of the manila envelope. "The rest of the paper? Why not just leave the damn thing on my desk?"

Thief Anton Zeck, street thug Xever Montes, and Purple Dragons leader Hun escaped Federal Prison last night. Hun was serving three life sentences, and is considered especially dangerous…

Raphael's eyes skimmed over the rest of the article, breathless as he paused over a name marked with yellow highlighter.

Article by: April O'Neil