Chapter 27:

Deidra rearranged her skirt as she stepped out of the battle shell. The whole group had piled into the vehicle to go to the party, but parked far enough away to throw off suspicions from other cops and detectives from the department. She shifted the hooded cape that was around her neck and smiled back at the group that followed her out.

"Don't you think you could have picked something a little less prodding at the villain at hand?" Analise asked and pointed to Deidra's Little Red Riding Hood costume. It was a little adult, but she wore enough covering that it was just on the right side of appropriate. Raphael had to be persuaded to let her out of her bedroom with it on.

"I had it, I thought that it was perfect," she shrugged and pointed to Analise's costume, "You on the other hand… Really?"

"What? I made it from scratch," Analise looked down at the cape and the details that she had sewn into the material. She had taken bits and pieces from everywhere and made a complete costume that represented the Turtle Titan. She even painted her face green and put the hooded mask over her face, "You don't like it?"

"I love it," Michelangelo wrapped his arms around her with a chuckle. He was wearing a pizza delivery costume with the baseball cap shifted backwards on his head.

"You would," Raphael rolled his eyes. He shifted the golf bag slung over his back full of various sports equipment. A hockey mask hung off of the end of the bat from the bag and Raphael used a dark red wife beater tank top and some blue sweat pants.

"I am still honored that you would dress up like me, man," Casey patted his hand on Raphael's back.

"Like wise, Case," Raphael looked at Casey who dressed up at a mutant turtle with a red bandana.

"Ah, the male bonding is just so touching," April laughed as she held Shadow on her hip. She was dressed as a news reporter in a yellow jumpsuit and they had chosen a kitten costume for Shadow who had meowed incessantly since she was told what animal she was.

Splinter carefully followed the rag tag group from the battle shell and looked around the immediate area, "Are you certain that my presence will not cause any problems?"

"I think that this is the one day out of the year that your appearance will not be a disturbance, Splinter," Deidra nodded, "If anything else, you will win the best costume tonight."

He smiled at her as Leonardo and Donatello climbed out from the front seats of the Battle shell and locked her up. Michelangelo and Analise had chosen a ninja outfit for Leonardo originally. When he found out what it was he made it more detailed by adding the foot clan symbol and decided to go as an elite foot ninja. Donatello, since he wasn't too interested in costumes to begin with, stuck with the Einstein costume the way it was. He was too preoccupied in finding a way to turn them back to work on it anyway.

"Okay, we are all here," Analise counted heads, "This is going to be one great party."

"Just take it easy tonight, guys," Deidra said to the group, "Most of these people are still trying to get used to me. Last thing we need is someone to say something off and one of those detectives asking too many questions about you guys. Tone it down."

"Come on, Deidra," Michelangelo patted her on the back, "It's a party. Enjoy it."

Deidra took a deep breath and shrugged her shoulders, "Who am I kidding? We're nothing normal. Let's just do this."

"Let's do it," Analise smiled and they all walked to the department.

Inside there were groups of vampires, Frankenstein monsters, ballerinas and even Lady Gaga's. Some zombies had settled by the water cooler where Deidra remembered the guys from the archives hung out. Deidra wove through the groups as men began to follow her with their eyes. She noticed them and she wasn't the only one. Raphael quickly wrapped an arm around her waist and kept her glued to his side as he stared down the other men in the department that had just figured out just how nice the legs were on the special agent.

"Jenson! You made it!" Seeper called out and jogged over to her. He was wearing an old cowboy outfit with a large mustache glued to his top lip. The dusty cowboy hat settled on the back side of his head where some of his natural hair poked out.

"Do you always have to greet me by yelling out my name?" she asked, "Who are you supposed to be anyway?"

"Wyatt Urp," he held his hands out to his side and said it as if it was obvious. He looked at the group that had followed her in, "Did you bring your whole apartment building with you?"

She sighed and gave Analise a look as if it said 'told you so.' Analise only shrugged with a smile.

"You remember Analise, right?" Deidra asked.

"Right, the manager at the Art museum," Seeper nodded his head and shook Analise's hand.

"That's me," she nodded.

"Nice Turtle Titan outfit. You make it yourself?"

"Thank you, and yes I did," she narrowed her eyes at Deidra and patted Michelangelo on his chest lightly, "This is my boyfriend Mikey."

"Pleasure to meet you," Michelangelo leaned forward to shake his hand as well.

"You too," Seeper shook his hand and looked to the new man who had attached himself to Deidra's side, "You must be Jenson's new boyfriend."

"Good guess," Raphael nodded, "I'm Raph."

"Nice to meet you," the two men shook hands.

"Mike and Raph are brothers," Deidra explained and pointed to Leonardo and Donatello, "Along with Leo and Don here."

"Hello," Seeper nodded his head to them. He looked over all of them and noticed the differences between all four men, "Different dads?"

"Same dad, dude," Michelangelo waved over to Splinter, "This is our father."

"Just call me Hamato," Splinter offered his surname and shook Seeper's hand, "I adopted my four sons when they were just born. I almost remember it as if they had fallen into my lap."

"Nice costume," Seeper commented to Splinter after he digested the information.

"Thank you."

"And did you pick up an extra family on the way in?" Seeper looked at April, Casey and Shadow.

"April has been like a big sister to us for years," Michelangelo explained and pointed to her, "Casey's like another brother and that's their little girl, Shadow."

"All right, when I say bring family, you pull out all the stops, don't you, Jenson?" Seeper held up his hat and rubbed his head.

"You offered," Deidra shrugged.

"Well, enjoy the night all," he smiled and gestured to the small group of people.

Deidra had noticed Algut toward the other side of the room in what looked like a snug fitting Dick Tracy outfit. Darson was hard to find, but was finally sighted in an old fashioned cat woman outfit talking to an older man in a Batman costume. A younger, shy looking woman was next to her in an old looking outfit from years long past and a strange looking beaker in her hands. She hadn't seen Edmunds, but she was sure he was lurking somewhere in the building not too far away. It was weird; it was almost as she could feel him.

"What's wrong?" Analise asked when she saw Deidra's unsure look.

"Just an off feeling, I guess," she shrugged and felt Raphael's arm tighten around her in a small hug. She shifted her eyes to him and gave a small reassuring smile, "It's okay, just something that is bugging me."

"I'm not really getting any of my bad feelings," Analise thought to herself, shrugged her shoulders and looked at Michelangelo, "At least not yet."

"Then we should all relax and grab some slices," Michelangelo turned Analise toward the table with all the food.

"Come find me if you need to," Analise said over her shoulder as Michelangelo pushed her further into the room.

Deidra saw Leonardo shifting from one foot to another as if he was anxious. She knew he didn't feel off, he just wanted to get going to find what he could from other files that Deidra maybe wasn't able to get to. Deidra rolled her eyes and whispered to Leonardo, "For God's sake, Leo, you're a ninja. Put your skills to work. You know where to go."

"Thanks," Leonardo smiled and drifted off to the side of the room until he eventually disappeared from view.

Donatello looked over the entire group around them and his eyebrow rose a little in interest. Before Deidra could ask what he saw, he walked over to the side of the room where Darson was still talking with the Batman. At first she thought that he was going to talk with the cat woman, somehow finding the medical examiner under the costume. Instead he stepped past her and came up to the younger woman to her side.

Donatello held out a hand to the young woman for a handshake, "Madame Curie?"

"You are the first one to figure out who I was," she smiled to him and took a firm grip of his hand with the one that wasn't busy with beaker, "Although, what else would I expect from Einstein?"

"Who else would carry that around?" he pointed to her other hand, "I'm Donatello. A friend of Agent Jenson."

"Carrie Quinn," she introduced herself and nodded her head to the woman in the cat woman costume, "I'm the niece of Doctor Darson. Very interesting case they have going. The genetics are interesting in themselves."

"You study genetics?"

"I would hope so. I'm a geneticist," she nodded.

"Really?" he raised his eyebrows again.

Deidra chuckled to herself and shook her head, "He doesn't waste time, does he?"

"Donnie never really has," Raphael shrugged.

Splinter had fallen into a calm discussion with Algut who actually chuckled softly with the giant rat.

"How does sensei do that?" Deidra asked and nodded her head over to Splinter, "I didn't think that Algut knew how to laugh."

"He has a way of getting under your skin in a good way," Raphael explained and grabbed a closed can of soda. He popped the top and looked over at a small group of woman officers and secretaries who were cooing over the kitten Shadow. Casey kept an eye on her while April began to brag. Just like two parents who were absolutely in love with their little girl.

"Hey Raph?" Deidra asked and took a sip of his just opened can.

"Yeah beautiful?" he asked a little distracted.

She smirked a little, "Where exactly did Ana and Mikey go?"

He shifted his eyes to the table where there were four boxes of pizza to only find three and a liter of soda. He chuckled a little to himself and felt Deidra shift beside him to grab her phone. She punched in one number to dial Analise and after a few rings a breathless Ana answered.

"Yeah?" she asked

Deidra heard some shifting in the background, "Where are you?"

"Um, I-" Analise suddenly chuckled a little as if someone was tickling her, "Mikey! It's Deidra."

Deidra's eyebrow quirked up at the conversation on the other side of the phone.

"Then she'll understand," Michelangelo's voice was heard and the phone was taken from Analise and Michelangelo spoke into it, "Sorry, Deidra. You're best friend dragged me into a closet and I want to end what she began. Nothing too bad, I assure you, so don't begin to lecture me. So, please excuse me when I…"

"Mikey!" Ana shouted.

Suddenly the call was disconnected and Deidra looked at the phone as she brought it away from her ear. She blinked a little in surprise and Raphael noticed the look she was giving her phone.

"What's up? She okay?" he asked.

"I just didn't think that she had it in her," she chuckled a little and put her phone back. She looked up at Raphael who still had a question mark on his face, "My best friend has taken your little brother into a closet somewhere in the station as is now making out with him like a high schooler."

"And you thought you would have to be worried about Mikey goin' too far," Raphael smirked and then shifted his eyes to make sure no one was listening to them, "So, do you think there is another closet."

Deidra's eyes dilated at the thought, but she bit back a groan. Before she could answer she got a text on her phone. She pushed Raphael away from her, just a little and grabbed for her phone. Maybe it was Analise asking for some advice. Instead she got a disturbing text from their number one suspect. She narrowed her eyes and she could almost snarl in anger. The one night that she had set aside to enjoy herself with friends and family he decides to ruin it.

"What?" Raphael asked and looked at her phone.

"Hey little red riding hood, you sure are looking good," Deidra read to him, "He's here. He's watching me."

Immediately both her and Raphael looked around the immediate area and watched for anyone that looked off. Donatello, though enjoying Miss Quinn's attention, caught their searching eyes and politely excused himself from the woman's side. He came up to Raphael who grunted which seemed to be understandable to Donatello.

Donatello brought out his shell cell and dialed Michelangelo, "Mikey, he's here."

Deidra would have found the noise on the other side of the shell cell humorous if the present situation didn't call for her concentration. Within a few moments Analise and Michelangelo reappeared in the main room and next to Deidra. Their clothes were a little wrinkled, and Analise's face paint smudged, but nothing that couldn't go unnoticed by everyone else.

"How do we know?" Analise asked. Before Deidra shifted her phone over to her, Analise's phone buzzed against her hip and she took it out. She read the new text and read it out loud, "Watch out for the big bad wolf."

Leonardo silently swept into the Archives and then went directly to the files and evidence of the case. He took out a small camera that Donatello had made for the occasion of some professional espionage. A few dozen clicks and he put the files back without a single sound.

Next, he found the personnel files. There had been too many instances of evidence tempering for him to feel comfortable with the people working with Deidra on the case. Algut may look like an out of shape and out of time detective, but he was clean and he was trustworthy if Splinter was getting along with him that well. Professor Darson looked like a nice lady and from the look of her file, she was clean as well. Seeper, Leonardo had experience with. The lieutenant had almost caught sight of them quite a few times when they were younger and he was a rookie. He was a good man.

Then there was Edmunds. This guy seemed to have a file a little slimmer than most of the others in the station. Leonardo opened it and looked through every page. The guy had very little information. And he meant little. There was barely any background on the man and the only cases that he took were solved fairly quickly with the help of his forensic knowledge. There were two murder cases, wrapped up to point and convict one man that once resided in Queens. Another mutilation case at the East docks that put another man away for life. And the oldest of them really caused a red light to go off in Leonardo's head.

"Alfred," Leonardo focused his eyes on the file. It was an unknown body that was believed to be the first victim of their number one suspect. He read the particulars of the case and found that Edmund had just come into the case mid way as an assistant. His forensic know how helped to point the police in the correct direction.

"'Without his amazing insight to the crime, we would not know where to start,'" Leonardo read from the paper clippings, "'It's like he was there. He will be a great addition to the field.'"

Leonardo put the paper back down in the file and began to focus. There was something that couldn't be ignored.

"… it's like he was there," he repeated.

He heard someone coming down the hallway and closed the file before putting it back in its proper place. He closed the cabinet and jumped to the rafters above them when the door opened.

Instead of a human face to pop in like he was thinking, there was a long snout and a familiar face that poked in and looked around the room.

"Could have sworn that I heard something," it growled and then went back out of the room.

Leonardo gritted his teeth and pulled out his shell cell while still keeping his balance in the rafters, "Raphael."

"What's going on, Leo?"

"He's here," Leonardo said simply.

"We know," Raphael said with a pause, "He's texted the girls."

"He's heading out to the front room-" Leo started, but the shell cell suddenly lost its signal, "Raph? Raph! Dammit."

"What the hell is he planning at a police sponsored function?" Deidra asked and scanned the room for any wolf costumes.

"Whatever it is, it can't be good," Ana looked out at the crowd around them as well.

The group began to circle the room nonchalantly. The last thing they needed was to worry the other guests. Especially the young children and spouses of the officers in attendance. Soon Deidra and Ana settled near the large windows toward the front of the station while Raphael got a call from Leonardo.

"Where is he?" Ana asked and felt a shiver up her spine, "I can feel him."

"So can I."

In one flash the lights went out and the girls can hear Raphael calling into his shell cell for Leonardo.

"I really don't like this," Ana groaned.

"What's with the Halloween Theatrics?" Seeper asked in an amused tone.

"I don't think that it's theatrics," Deidra said in a whisper to Ana.

In the corner heading from the Archives there were a pair of eyes that fell directly on the girls. At the same time, both women looked at one another and then at the hallway. The growl started low, but grew in intensity as the creature shifted through the crowd. It came within ten feet of the girls as other guests tried to shift around the creature.

"Figured it out yet, agent?" it growled in a familiar tone.

Deidra's eyes grew in surprise, "…Edmunds?"

The wolf suddenly bolted forward and toward the girls. Both Raphael and Michelangelo shot their arms out and grabbed the girls by the arms and then pulled them to either side of the large windows. The wolf rushed past them and collided through the window and into the cold night outside. It howled in frustration and was about to run back in when it noticed a half a dozen guns pointed at him.

"What the hell is that?" Seeper asked as he had his firearm trained on it.

"One really big problem we've been having for a while," Deidra answered from Raphael's arms.

The giant wolf mutant howled loudly and then turned into the alleyways.

"Damn it," Seeper put the safety back on his gun and looked over at Deidra and Ana, "You two all right?"

"Just peachy," Ana said and looked out to the streets where she could still hear the echo of the beast.

"What was that thing?" Seeper repeated.

"That thing, was your forensic analyst," Leonardo said from the same hallway that the wolf had just come out from. He looked at his brothers and the girls, "Everybody okay?"

"Yeah, we're good," Michelangelo nodded and hugged Ana closer.

"How do you know that… thing was Edmunds?" Seeper pointed out the window as he saw some uniformed cars head in the same direction that the monster did.

"It was him," Deidra nodded, "He looked straight at me, and that was his voice. More of a bite to it, but that was him."

"He's been working on the case with us!"

"You never heard of unsubs injecting themselves into the investigation?" Deidra asked and Seeper stopped short.

"Right under my nose…" he grumbled.

"Under all our noses," Algut muttered as he checked some of the broken glass around the floor. He picked up a piece that had some blood on it and put it in a plastic bag that was nearby, "One way to find out for sure."

"Who'll test it?" Seeper pushed the cowboy hat to the back of his head.

"You seemed to have forgotten that you still have one professor still on your team," Darson stepped forward.

"DNA isn't your specialty, doc," Seeper reminded her.

"But it's mine," Miss Quinn stepped forward. Donatello's eyes widened as he saw the young doctor step up. Carrie put a hand on her aunt's shoulder, "I am a geneticist. Professor Darson is my aunt and can produce the correct paper work."

"It's a bit unorthodox," Seeper looked at the younger lady and then nodded, "Get to work ladies."

"Come with me, my dear," Darson smiled to her niece and picked up the bag from Algut, "We got a sample to test."

"Against what?" Deidra asked, "Do we have anything of Edmunds?"

"Come now, Agent," Darson smiled, "I didn't spend all my time with my eye on a microscope. He left more than enough evidence all over the lab. Especially hair follicles. If that is him, it would explain all that shedding he did around the lab."

Deidra nodded and looked at the professor, "There was a reason I really like you."

"Let's call it a night, folks," Seeper shouted to the crowd, "Everyone that can is on duty. We got to find this son of a bitch. And I mean now! We don't want him picking up another girl. Let's go!"

"I thought that the guy felt funny," Deidra said low so only those around her could hear.

"No wonder he walked away when I first saw him when I came in with your food that day," Ana rationalized, "He thought that I would recognize him."

"Wish you had… wish we all had," Deidra looked out to the streets and could only wonder if he would pick another girl out that night or still plan to grab her or Analise.