Chapter 10:

Analise and Deidra walked out from Splinter's room with a smile on each of their faces. April caught their expressions and smiled to herself. She remembered that talk with Splinter when she was younger. She wondered if he had asked them or if they had asked him just like she had.

"What's got you two in such a good mood?" April asked as the girls sat back down in front of the screens once again.

"Just looking forward to being in a classroom again," Analise said with a wide smile and took a deep breath, "Hope I'm ready for it."

"You're more than ready," Deidra assured her and looked down at her leg with the injury, "I just hope I will be."

"You heal fast," Analise waved her hand at her as if to wave away her worry and looked back at the digital pages in front of her, "We won't start until tomorrow and that will be all your leg will need from the look of it."

"Yeah, I guess so," she shrugged and then smiled as she looked at her friend. She then began to dance in her seat with her eyes closed, "I'm gonna be a ninja. I'm gonna be a ninja."

"Ninjitsu, ninjitsu," Analise joined in the random dancing on her own seat. April looked on a little scared and confused while Shadow tried to join in on the dancing. Analise and Deidra both laughed with one another and then turned serious as they turned back to the screens. Analise clicked on a link and then turned to April, "What kind of hacking system does Donatello have on this hardware? I would like to see how far we can go so I can track down Alfred. See if I can dig up things that Deidra's team hasn't."

"Um, here," April typed and scanned through a few files and brought up a world search for people, "Donnie hacked into this search a few months ago, just to make sure Shredder hasn't come back and taken another approach to world conquest."

"Shredder?" Analise and Deidra looked at one another and snickered a little, "I guess he must have been some kind of badass if he got you guys worried even with a weak name like that."

"It sounds like the newest kitchen appliance," Analise smirked and typed in the name of Alfred Sinclair into the search.

"Tell me about it," Deidra looked through half of the search results, "Could you imagine the infomercials?"

"You two never heard of the Shredder?" April asked and looked from one to the other.

"If it happened more than five years ago, I wouldn't anyway," Analise shook her head, "I was still living in California and trying to get transferred over here."

"I probably had, but I like to focus on the now criminals, and not those in the past," Deidra explained and sighed as she looked from her list to Analise, "You find anything on him yet?"

"Maybe," Analise re-read a few passages under one of the names and then clicked on the pictures that went along with it, "This may be a bit interesting."

"What's that?" Deidra pushed her chair to sit right next to her best friend.

Analise pulled up the first picture of a young man around seventeen years old. He had a small, shy smile on his face and was dressed in a nice looking suit. His light brown hair was cut nicely and his eye glasses hung low on his nose, "This is Alfred Sinclair. Born August 16th, 1985 in the small town of Willowwalk, Connecticut. This was taken at his high school his senior year."

"That's nice, but he doesn't look-"

"Ah, but wait, there's more!" Analise clicked on the next picture and up popped a picture that they were all familiar with, "Same name, same social security number, but not even a year later, he went through a dramatic change. After dropping communication with his family and friends once he reached college, he came back to the living world and changed his major from English to the medical field. It was like he was a whole new person…"

"Maybe he was," Deidra looked at the two pictures side by side. They were very similar to be sure, but there were definite pieces that just didn't fit, "Their eyes are too different to be the same person. The kid looks so innocent; the Alfred that we know has something different behind his eyes. Something dark."

"He took the real Alfred's identity probably after killing him," Analise nodded, "And a lot of people fell for it. Including me when I dated him."

"The team thinks that he may have dropped that identity and took a new one and that's why no one knew where he went," Deidra frowned and punched the console with her fist, "Bastard."

"He could be anyone," Analise looked at the two pictures, "But I now know without a doubt that it was him. It is him."

"You're lucky he didn't kill you," Deidra looked at her friend, now a little more appreciative of her, "You probably could have been an early target."

"Maybe that's why he was at the museum the last time anyone saw him. I was doing research there at that time," Analise took a deep breath, "You never know when you're so close to death. No wonder my sixth sense alerted me to make sure I was never alone with him."

"Now what?" April asked and turned to the screen with all the findings they had made on the animal and human DNA from the monster.

"Well, we know for sure he is stealing identities," Deidra leaned back in her chair, "Now we just got to find out which one he's taken and using now."

"That's easy enough," Analise said with thick sarcasm.

From what they suspected was some kind of garage, the girls heard the large engine of the Battleshell come to a stop followed by a couple of bike engines. Analise cleared her throat and pulled on her shirt to straighten it out. Deidra crossed her arms over her chest with a smirk while April leaned toward Deidra.

"Why doesn't this look good?" she asked in a low whisper.

"Don't worry, just sit back and enjoy the show," Deidra chuckled.

Leonardo and Donatello came into the lair first with disappointed looks on their faces. They saw Deidra who had an understanding smile on her face and waved them over, "Nice try, guys. We'll get him next time. Get over here and we will share what Analise, April and I have found out once the show's over."

"Show?" Leonardo asked as Deidra turned him to face where Michelangelo just appeared. Analise made a bee line for him and he smiled at first, but then turned to confusion when he saw her irate look.

"Hey dudette, what's going on?" he asked as she approached him. She quickly hit him in the arm and he rubbed it as it actually had some muscle behind it, "Ow, what was that for?"

"You idiot," she shook her head and hit him in the other arm.

"What'd I do?" he asked and tried to hold both of her arms from him.

"You scared me half to death!" she folded her arms over her chest and tried to stare down the turtle that was a few inches taller than her, "Don't ever jump out of a moving vehicle and then onto the back of a mutant again! You would think that the decision would be common sense!"

"What if said mutant is Raph?" Michelangelo laughed a little until she hit him again in the shoulder, "Hey!"

"This isn't funny, Mikey! You could have gotten seriously injured!"

She batted at him a couple of times and after he was sure that she had stopped he smiled a little and looked at her, "You were worried about me?"

"Of course I was," she mumbled and tried to catch her breath from hitting at him.

He chuckled a little bit and stepped forward to hug her close to him. In the process he made sure to pin her arms at her sides so she couldn't hit anymore, "I promise not to jump out of the Battleshell to ride a werewolf rodeo style anymore."

"Thank you," she let out a breath in relief and placed her head on his shoulder since she couldn't hug him back.

"So if it so happened that I did get injured… would you nurse me back to health?" he asked and looked down at her.

"You better not test that theory," she pouted up at him and made him chuckle.

"That has to be the most random and specific promise I have ever heard," Leonardo said as he looked over his younger brother and the human girl.

"Gag alert, avert your eyes, Case," Raphael said as he entered the lair and shielded his eyes from the side of the room that Michelangelo and Analise were standing in.

"Ah, shut it, Raph," Analise said to the other turtle.

"Well, that wasn't much of a fight," Casey said as he kissed April on the cheek and picked up Shadow from her arms. He swung the little one in a circle and made her chuckle before she yawned, "I think it's time we got home."

"Me too," April nodded and looked at the two girls, "You both going to be okay in explaining the findings to the boys?"

"No problemo," Analise made and 'okay' sign with her fingers while Michelangelo had a comfortable arm around her shoulders.

"We got it, April," Deidra nodded, "Go home with your baby girl and hot husband."

Analise just giggled as she saw both Leonardo and Raphael look a little stricken at her description of Casey.

"Would you mind not hitting on my married, best friend?" Raphael asked her from the side of the room.

"I'm not hitting on him; I'm just stating an opinion," Deidra said slowly and then turned to April who was also laughing, "Thusly: way to go, April."

"Why thank you," April bowed her head a little and grabbed the front of Casey's shirt, "Come on, my hot husband. Time to go home."

"See ya later, guys," Casey waved to them and walked out with his family.

"So what did you find out?" Donatello asked and looked at the screens.

"As far as that creature…" Analise popped up one of the cleaned up images that they took with the Battleshell. It really did look like something out of a horror movie. It moved on hind legs and its front arms had claws that looked deadly. Analise shivered as she was reminded of how close Michelangelo was to getting hit with them, "We know that it has two main DNA profiles that have blended, somehow. Deidra has a thought on it, I believe."

"I think it's a mutant," Deidra said with certainty and accessed her jump drive where she brought up the pictures of the last found victim, "I didn't want to worry you guys yet, but I think we can't really get past all this now."

"Who is that?" Analise asked.

"That was Francis Delone," Deidra sighed and looked at the pictures, "The medical examiner said that her DNA was blended with that of a dog. She doesn't know how, but she thinks that it has to do with some kind of chemical composition that allows the two structures to blend and… mutate."

"You mean to tell me that someone has ooze out there?" Leonardo asked and pointed to the ceiling of the lair.

"I don't think it's the exact same ooze that affected you guys," Analise shook her head.

"This one is much deadlier. He is still killing them in vicious ways. But it's the ooze that weakens them to the point that they can't fight anymore," Deidra added and looked at the guys, "We got to find him before he gives this treatment to Cherise Velmont and kills her too."

"Agreed," Leonardo nodded and took a deep breath, "But he won't be taking any victims tonight. Might as well head to bed."

"I will update the group tomorrow on what I have found on Alfred," Deidra nodded, "I wish I knew who he was before he was Alfred. It would make a definite profile easier."

"I wonder if the real Alfred's family knows if he is dead," Analise thought out loud and looked at the floor, "How bad could that be for you to wonder about your brother and son like that?"

Michelangelo patted her on the back once he saw her sad expression and then hugged her from the side, "Come on, dudette, I'll walk you to your room."

"All right," she nodded and looked at Deidra, "I got my own room now. We got some privacy. I'll see you in the morning, though. I got an early shift at work starting around ten, so I will be home before you."

"Night," she smiled at her best friend and downloaded the last of the information onto her jump drive. She looked at the small item in her hand and thought about all the information that they had gathered. She didn't know on whether or not she should tell the group about the werewolf looking mutant, but she definitely had to get them on the track of 'Alfred'.

"You going to be okay?" Leonardo asked and put a hand on her shoulder.

Deidra looked up and saw that she was the only other person in their vicinity. Donatello headed up to his room and Raphael seemed to disappear all together. She sighed and put the jump drive into her bag for tomorrow, "Yeah, I'll be fine. Thanks."

"Better get to sleep," he nodded and turned to walk away until Deidra's hand caught his. He turned back to her and tilted his head.

"Yes," she said with a smile.

"Yes?" he asked a little confused.

"Tomorrow night," she said slowly as if trying to get him to catch on, "I will join you for dinner."

"Oh," he blushed a little and leaned over her hand that had his and kissed her on the back of the hand, "I look forward to it. Meet me at the dojo doors around seven?"

"Seven it is," she smiled and got out of her chair, "See you tomorrow."

"Tomorrow," he watched her walk back toward her room. He stayed out in the middle of the lair for a little while until Michelangelo came out from the direction of the girl's bedrooms. They both smiled to one another and began to walk up the stairs until they heard two voices sing to one another from the girl's rooms.

"I feeeel you, Deidra," Analise sung from her room and laughed a little.

"I feeeel you, Ana," Deidra sung back, "Goodnight!"

"Goodnight!"

They both laughed before both voices grew silent.

Both turtles looked at one another and then shook their heads. They weren't even going to ask.

Two a.m. found Deidra in the turtle's garage in front of the fabled motorcycle that Raphael had built back from the ground up. She saw how the metal was sanded down and ready for a paint job. She held a small file under her arm; she felt like she needed to concentrate and knowing that there was a motorcycle in the garage would help her more than concentrate. She always sat on her old motorcycle to think things over at her parents before her father sold it. She thought she heard something and looked over her shoulder to make sure that she didn't wake Analise when she left her room. Satisfied that her best friend was still asleep she swung a leg over the bike and settled down on the newly installed black seat.

"Someone really did a job on you, didn't they?" she asked the bike and stroked the top of the gas tank, "I never thought I would see an 1198 R Course Ducati Special Edition this close. Much less sit on one. I wonder if he has pushed it to its potential."

She looked closely at the gauges near the handlebars and then felt the foot stirrups under her bare feet. She closed her eyes and could almost feel the wind in her face and the vibrations of the engine through her legs. A smile of complete bliss crossed her features and she gripped the handles and the file that she was going to look through fell to the floor. She opened her eyes slowly and sat back carefully, "You're a beauty. I have to say, that idiot did something right."

"Glad to hear we agree on somethin'."

Deidra turned her head quickly to the doorway toward the lair and saw Raphael with a dirty rag over one shoulder.

"How's the leg?" he asked as he stepped inside the garage.

"I can still walk on it," she shrugged and looked from him to the bike under her, "I didn't think that anyone would be up."

"No one usually is," he said and walked down the couple of steps toward her and his bike, "It's the peaceful time before anyone gets up. The earliest that anyone will be waking up around here is around five."

"Then what are you doing up?" she asked and eyed her file.

He picked it up and handed it to her, "Woke up and couldn't get back to sleep. You?"

"The same," she nodded and took the file while she climbed off the bike, "I wanted to go over some facts on the case. Couldn't concentrate, so I came out here. Bikes always had a way of calming me."

"Yeah, they have that ability with some of us," he patted the bike.

Deidra studied his face for a minute as he concentrated on the bike. He was a lot calmer and a lot less obnoxious. Is this how he usually is? He actually acts civil?

He looked up at her scrutinizing face, "What?"

"You're different in the early morning hours, is all," she shrugged.

"You'd be surprised," he smirked and walked to the small table to the side of the bike and the older bike that Casey had used. He picked up a small paint can and brought it over next to the bike. He began to connect it to the right hose and then taped off the metal and glass he didn't want to paint.

Deidra watched how careful he was with the bike; as if it was Shadow. His hands smoothed over the work he had already done and he looked carefully at the connections in the engine before he taped it off. She shook her head a little and put her file on the top steps to the lair. She came back over next to Raphael, "Would you mind some help with the paint job?"

"You want to help a hot head paint a motorcycle?" he asked with a sarcastic flare.

"I want to help finish up a masterpiece," Deidra tied a piece of old material around her night shirt, "Ana isn't the only one that appreciates Art."

"What do you know about 1198 R Course Ducati's?"

"You'd be surprised," she mimicked him from earlier and leaned over the bike toward him, "Try me."

Raphael smirked and tested one of the pressure hoses for the paint. He handed her one of the nozzles, "Black over lays the red. Don't screw it up."