Chapter 05: Bastet

"Guys! Guys!" Donnie called out from inside his lab. "I need to show you something!"

Moments later Leo and Raph entered the lab and walked over to Donnie's workplace where the turtles' genius was seated behind his laptop, his eyes pinned to the screen.

"What is it, Donnie?" Leo asked as he looked at the screen over Donnie's shoulder.

"I did some research on the neck collars and found this," the purple-clad turtle explained.

He pushed a few buttons on the keyboard, and some pictures showed up on the screen.

"These are some pics I found according to rumors of a new street gang," he went on with his explanation. "And now check this out."

He zoomed in on some pics so that the golden neck collars the guys shown in these pics were wearing were more visible.

"That's the same neck collars these guys were wearing the other day!" Leo pointed out.

"Exactly!" Donnie confirmed. "And these neck collars show up in any pic that can be found in relation to this new street gang."

"So what do we do now?" Raph asked. "I don't think we can look this new street gang up in the telephone book."

"No, but we know someone who might know something about them," Leo said. "Let's pay Fong a visit!"

"Alright! Bash some Purple Dragons!" Raph cried out with a grin.

"No, Raph, we have to ask them questions!" Leo countered.

Raph twisted his mouth. "Can we bash them after that?"

Leo smirked. "Sure!"

Raph answered with a smirk of his own.

Donnie finally got up and looked at his brothers, realizing for the first time that the youngest one was missing. Man, how he hated it when he was so caught up in his work that he didn't seem to get the most obvious things.

"Where's Mikey?" he asked.

"Have a guess," Raph gave back.

In Mittens' little toolshed she and Mikey were sitting on the couch, their feet resting on the coffee table, a bowl of popcorn on the couch between them, and watching a movie.

"Oh, I hope so much that nothing bad happens to them and they arrive in America safe and sound!" Mittens pointed out.

Mikey blinked a few times. "You don't know? The Titanic sinks."

"No spoilers, Mikey!" Mittens said dispraisingly.

"Sorry, Mittens, but that's no spoiler, it's a historical fact," Mikey explained.

"Nooooooooo…meooooooow!" Mittens cried out, quickly turning her head to face Mikey, her eyes widened in shock.

"I'm sorry, Mittens," Mikey said and patted the cat-mutant's head. "Maybe we should ask Donnie to add history to your lessons."

Mittens was still shocked as she turned her eyes back to the TV-screen, meowing silently which she usually did when she was insecure.

But the meowing got more silent over time and finally faded.

At the scene were Jack and Rose kissed for the first time on deck the Titanic Mittens spoke up again.

"Why do humans do that?" she asked.

"Kissing?" Mikey asked.

"Yeah, I never got it," Mittens explained. "Cats kiss totally different."

"How do cats kiss?" Mikey asked as he turned his head to look at Mittens.

"Rubbing cheeks, touching noses," Mittens answered casually. "Although now that I am nearly a human myself I wonder what a human kiss might feel like. I mean, humans must do that for a reason." She turned her head to face Mikey, and was surprised to find him staring at her, his eyes locking with hers.

"You kno….meow," she added silently.

"Wanna try?" Mikey asked without breaking their gaze.

Another silent meow was the answer. He wasn't sure if that was meant to be a yes or not, but as he leaned in closer and Mittens didn't back away he was pretty sure "yes" was the right translation.

Their lips were only inches apart when suddenly Mikey's T-phone rang, the ring tone causing them to jump apart.

Mikey quickly reached for his T-phone, picking it up.

"M…M…Mikey here," he stammered.

Whoever was on the other end of the line said something and Mikey nodded.

"Okay, I'll meet you there," he said and then got up.

"Sorry, Mittens, gotta go!" he explained and was out of the toolshed in no time.

Mittens looked after him, blinking a few times.

When Mikey arrived at their meeting point later that night, his brothers were already waiting impatiently.

"What took you?" Leo asked.

"Yeah, didn't flea… Mittens want to let you go?" Raph added.

Mikey looked from Leo to Raph, then back to Leo and mumbled, "Sorry."

He wouldn't tell them what really had kept him – the fact that he couldn't stop thinking about that whole Mittens-kissing-situation. He knew that he had wanted to kiss her right then, that it had felt like a dream, but when his T-phone had snapped them back to reality, it had been so strange that he had to leave as fast as possible. He knew he should have said something smart and flirty like, "We can catch up on this later" or "Postponed is not abandoned", but instead he couldn't have gotten out of there soon enough.

And so he had stopped on his way to the place where his brothers were waiting several times to take a deep breath or shake his head fiercely to get rid of these thoughts about Mittens which – obviously – didn't work because he sighed again as he went over to his brothers.

Leo raised an eye-brow when he saw that.

"Don't mean to ignore you, but we got work to do," he said to Mikey. "I'll ask you about that long face later. Promise!"

And with that he jumped down on the fire escape, followed by Donnie and Raph.

"Okay," Mikey mumbled sadly before he followed suit.

Fong and three of his men were sitting at a table, playing poker when suddenly there was a loud noise of breaking glass and moments later the turtles landed on the floor of the hall. They had jumped through the window.

Fong and his men jumped to their feet, grabbing their knives.

"No need for that, Fong," Leo said. "We just want to ask some questions."

"Oh, yeah?", Fong gave back. "Why don't you ask this?"

And with that he and his men attacked.

Raph heaved a sigh. "I love it when they do that!"

And the next moment he had drawn his sais and entered the fight.

Leo drew his katanas and followed along as did Donnie.

It took Mikey one more moment to get ready for the fight, but that moment was enough for one of the other Purple Dragons who were in that hall, but not at the table to sneak up on him. But the moment the man lifted his hand holding a knife to stab Mikey in the back, he was hit in the face by Donnie's bo.

The second-youngest turtle jumped over to his brother to take his bo back.

"Focus, Mikey!" he commanded.

"Oh, right, focus!" Mikey gave back, drawing his nun chucks, furrowing his brows.

When another Purple Dragon attacked him, Mikey knocked him out quite easily.

"Do you mind? I'm trying to focus here!" he cried out.

It only took the turtles a little time to take down the Purple Dragons. Soon they were either knocked out or lying on the floor semi-conscious – well, except for Fong who was pushed against the wall by Leo.

"Where were we?" the blue-clad turtle asked. "Oh, right, you were about to answer our questions."

Fong just nodded anxiously.

"There's a new street gang in town," Leo said. "What do you know about them?"

"Depends on which gang you mean," Fong answered. "There are a few that try to get enough street reputation to make it."

"They're wearing golden neck collars," Leo clarified.

"Oh, these." Fong smiled. "They are in fact the most annoying ones. Quite good equipment if you bear in mind that they have only been around for a few months. Must have one good patron. Or leader. Or both."

"And who is it?"

"Are you serious?" Fong raised an eye-brow. "How should I know? We don't usually give get-together-parties to introduce the new gangs to the established ones."

"Then what do you know about them?"

"All I know is that the neck collars are their trademarks," Fong answered. "And they call themselves 'Busters' or something like that."

"Is that all?" Leo asked, narrowing his eyes.

"That's all," Fong confirmed.

Leo look him in the eye one more second before he let go of him and stepped back.

Fong brushed of the dust from his vest and rearranged it.

"How come you don't know anything about this new street gang?" Leo asked again.

"Heh, what do you think it's like when two street gangs clash? We exchange business cards before we have a real go at each other?" he gave back.

Leo signaled his brothers that they were leaving.

While they did so, Raph said, "Well, as much as I hate the Purple Dragons, I really like their way of thinking."

"Raph, you'd like anyone and anything that would allow you to bash some butts right away," Leo said, rolling his eyes.

"You got that right, fearless leader!" Raph answered with a grin.

The mistress of said street gang was in her hall right now, standing at the large window and staring out into the night when one of her henchmen entered.

"Mistress, we have spotted the cat," he said as he knelt down. "Do you want us to capture her?"

"No," the woman answered.

"No?!" the man repeated disbelievingly.

"Trying to capture her hasn't worked out so far," she explained as she turned away from the window and faced her henchman. "I want you to bring me to her. I might be able to talk to her."

"But, Mistress…"

"No buts!" the woman gave back. "Get my escort ready!"

"As you wish," the man said, bowing his head before he got up and left the hall.

The woman turned to the statue of a humanoid cat next to the window and let her fingers slide over the statue's face like she had done so many times before and smiled.

Mittens was headed for the park. She knew she had promised Mikey to stay inside and not go out all by herself as long as these people were after her, but after Mikey had left tonight, she had felt as if the walls of the toolshed had been closing in on her. She had to get out of there. She had told Murakami that she was going to the park and she had her T-phone with her, as always attached to the waistband of her shorts. So what could possibly go wrong? She would be careful. But right now, she needed some fresh air and trees and green, no matter what.

She landed on a roof-top and stopped for a second. Something didn't seem right and she perked up her ears.

And suddenly there were five men up on the roof, blocking her way, but they didn't come closer. Mittens took a few steps back, reaching for her T-phone.

"No need for that," a female voice said. "I just want to talk to you."

Mittens turned around to find a young woman standing there, flanked by four men. All the men were wearing these ominous golden neck collars. But she was more surprised by the woman's outfit. She was wearing a form-fitting white dress, a golden neck collar which was studded with even more gems then those of her henchmen and worked more delicately. The woman had shoulder-length black hair and was wearing a golden headdress and golden armlets. Her eyes were encircled with black kohl and her lips were dark-red. All in all, she looked very different from the women Mittens had seen in her life so far.

"What do you want?" The cat-mutant asked.

"My name is Sonya," the woman answered. "And I am here to make an offer you just can't refuse."

The next day Leo, Raph and Donnie were in the living room. Leo was watching a re-run of Space Heroes and Raph was reading a comic book – or pretending to do so. He was secretly watching the show and Leo to make sure he didn't miss a chance to complain about the stupidity of that show whenever one of Leo's favorite scenes was on. And Donnie was typing away on his laptop, trying to find some more information on this new street gang.

Raph had just opened his mouth to tell Leo what an idiot Captain Ryan was, when Donnie expelled a frustrated groan.

"You okay, Donnie?" Leo asked, turning around to face his brother.

"This doesn't make any sense!" the brainiac blurted out. "Why should they wear Egyptian neck collars and call themselves Busters? There is absolutely no sense in that!"

"And how would their name or their taste in jewelry help us to fight them anyway?" Raph gave back.

"Any information could help!" Donnie countered.

"I'd hit them just as hard if they call themselves Busters or Mosquitos," Raph answered with a shrug.

He thought about it for a moment, then added with a smirk; "Okay, maybe a little harder if they call themselves Mosquitos."

"Guys, I think Mittens is in trouble!" Mikey cried out as he came running into the living room.

"Again?" Raph mumbled which earned him a warning look from Leo.

"Her T-phone goes right to voicemail, and I left her like twenty messages. And then I tried this whole red-blinking-dot-thingy Donnie showed me, but there is no red blinking dot at all!"

Raph and Leo looked at Donnie.

"He means he tried to locate her T-phone," their purple-clad brother explained. "And if she had turned it off there's no signal. So it can't be located. So no worries, Mikey. She has just turned off her T-phone."

"And why would she do that? Mittens never turns off her T-phone!"

"Relax, Mikey," Leo said. "Maybe she just needed some time for herself. I bet she will call you back as soon as she gets your messages."

Mikey narrowed his eyes, thinking of this nearly-kissing-situation at their last meeting, and if that was the reason why she had turned off her T-phone, it didn't make him feel any better.

"But…," he mumbled.

Leo placed a hand on his youngest brother's shoulder. "If you don't hear back from her by tonight we will check it out. But until then, just relax."

Mikey took a deep breath, then nodded silently.

At that moment Mikey's T-phone rang. His first thought was that it was Mittens calling him back, and he excitedly looked at the screen to make sure it was her, but his excitement dampened a bit when he realized it was Murakami.

"Hello, Murakami-san," Mikey said, picking up the phone.

His eyes shot open in shock to whatever Murakami was telling him.

"Thanks, Murakami-san, we're gonna check it out," he finally said and hung up.

His brothers were looking at him expectantly while he did so.

"Murakami-san said Mittens told him yesterday night she was going to the park and would come back in a few hours, but she didn't. She's still not back home," Mikey said. "I told you she was in trouble! I told you! But you weren't listening to me! Again!"

"Maybe she just lost track of time and had to find another hideout for the day," Leo suggested.

"No," Mikey gave back. "Mittens is in trouble. You gotta believe me!"

In a way Mikey was a bit relieved. He was worried about Mittens, very worried, but it meant that she wasn't mad and thus didn't answer his messages because of the nearly-kiss.

"But she could be anywhere!" Leo pointed out. "I have no idea where we should start looking."

"But we know who is after her. We should start with these Buster-guys," Mikey gave back.

"And where should we start there?" Donnie asked. "We don't have any information on them besides their neck collars."

"You mean, you didn't have." April's voice sounded from the lair's entry and moments later the red-head teenager walked over to her friends. "But thanks to me we know a lot more about them."

"What do you mean?" Leo asked.

"Well, thanks to the neck collar and the fact that I pay attention in my history-class we knew that it was a neck collar designed after the neck collars in Old Egypt," April explained. "And Donnie found some information about the goldwork on the plate Raph snatched from one of these street gang-guys. So we could narrow the search to some goldsmiths here in New York. Okay, to narrow it on New York was a bit risky because these neck collars could have been produced anywhere. But why should a street gang based in New York let their trademarks be made anywhere else? So I went goldsmith hopping with the neck collar, asking around for whom it has been made. I said I found it on the streets and want to return it to its owner myself because I am a good girl scout. And tadaaa, I was successful! It was the third goldsmith who made some of these neck collars and he gave me an address." She got a note out from her bag and handed it to Leo.

"You're amazing!" Donnie cried out, than cleared his throat. "I mean, good work, April."

April answered with a smile.

Mikey ran over to April and hugged her so tightly the girl gasped for air. "Thank you, thank you, thank you!"

"You're…welcome," she uttered due to lack of oxygen.

When Mikey let go of her April took a deep breath.

"Let's go, guys!" the youngest turtle called out. "We have to save Mittens!" And with that he wanted to run out of the lair, but was stopped by Leo.

"Mikey!" the Turtles' leader called out which made his brother stand rooted to the spot. "We need a plan!"

Mikey faced his brother. "Can't we make something up on our way there?"

"Do you know where we have to go to?" Leo countered.

Mikey scratched the back of his head with a sheepish grin. "Okay, you got me there."

Leo answered with an annoyed grunt.

It turned out the address April had given them was the villa of some rich man's daughter who had inherited her parents' fortune after their death some years ago. The turtle brothers had no idea if Mittens really was there, but it was their only clue, so they agreed on sneaking in and having a look around. The villa had real tight security but Donnie was sure he would be able to bypass it. And he was right about that – at least until now.

It was already night-time and they had managed to cross the garden, reach the villa and get inside through a ventilation pit. They were now in one of the villa's corridors, one that was barely used. At least that was what Donnie had said when he had looked at the blueprints he had been able to find on the internet by hacking into some database.

They were making their way down the corridor, stopping at its end. While Donnie was checking their next move on the blueprints his brothers had a look around.

"He, guys, smile!" Mikey cheered. "We are on TV!"

And with that he waved at the security camera on the wall.

"What?! Donnie!" Leo called out to his younger brother while drawing his katanas and cutting the camera off."

"I'm sorry, Leo," Donnie answered. "The blueprints don't say anything about cameras in this part of the building."

"So what we do now?" Raph asked.

At that moment an alarm signal sounded through the corridor and some sort of security walls shot up, capturing the turtles in there.

"I guess we wait," Leo commented.

Later that night they were led into a hallway by some watchmen who were wearing these ominous neck collars. At least they were at the right building. Their weapons had been taken away from them and their hands were tied to their backs. There was a big window at the front, an Egyptian looking cat-statue next to it, a throne in front of it, and on the throne a woman in a white form-fitting dress with shoulder-length black hair, a golden neck collar and a golden headdress was seated. And next to her throne a young woman was lying on her side on some cushions, propping herself up on her elbow. And this young woman looked different. She had cat ears, her hands and feet looked more like paws and she was covered in black fur. She was wearing the same white dress as the mistress, and she was wearing a golden neck collar as well. And something looked really familiar about her.

"Mittens!" Mikey cried out.

"Mikey!" The cat-mutant answered and jumped to her feet. She was about to run over to her friends, when the mistress stopped her.

"Bastet," she said. "Behave according to your status!"

"Oh, yeah, right," Mittens stammered, stood up straight and turned to face her mistress. It was then that the turtles saw her long hair has been pulled back into a French braid. "May I get closer to them, Mistress?"

"You may, Bastet."

"Bastet!" Donnie whispered. "Of course! Bastet, not Buster! The Egyptian Cat-Goddess! Why didn't I figure that out?!"

Mittens took a few steps closer until she was in front of Mikey.

"Mittens, what are you doing here?" the orange-clad turtle asked. "I…We thought you were in trouble and then we find you here lying on some cushions in a new outfit, having a good time. And what happened to your markings?"

"Oh, that," Mittens said with a grin as she moved one hand to her right cheek. "It's just hair dye. But Mistress wants me to be all black. And she gave me these beautiful jewelry and the dress and she told me that she has always been looking for someone like me – a true Bastet, an Egyptian goddess. That's why she gave me a new name. And she wants me to be by her side all the time, and she treats me like a princess – or goddess – and her servants are so nice. And tomorrow I'm going to accompany her to some event to show her business partners what a beautiful creature I am!" Mittens grinned from ear to ear.

"Are you crazy?!" Raph burst out. "I mean, you're crazy! This woman leads a street gang! Her people steal and fight and kill. You really want to be their pet?"

"Pet? No, I am no pet, I am their goddess," Mittens answered insecurely.

"Mittens," Mikey replied. "Raph is right. These are bad people. Do you really want to stay with them?"

Mittens answered with a silent meow and turned around to face her mistress.

"Bastet, come back here," she ordered and when Mittens hesitated one of the men grabbed Mittens' arm and shoved her back on her cushions. The cat-mutant was caught by surprise and was just lying there, blinking disbelievingly. Wasn't she supposed to be treated as a goddess?

"You turtles have kept me long enough from having Bastet by my side," the mistress said. "And I, Sonya, Mistress of the Bastests, therefore sentence you to death."

"Death?" Mittens repeated. "Wait, no…meoooowwww!"

Mittens watched in shock as the men who had brought her friends here took a few steps back, leaving the turtles in the middle of the hallway as the floor within a radius of five meters around them lowered and finally left them in some sort of a small arena.

Leo looked at the closed gate behind which cat-like eyes were glowing and roaring could be heard.

He sighed. "Now that doesn't look good."

Mittens jumped to her feet and wanted to run over to the arena.

"Bastet, I told you to stay here!" Sonya called out.

"I am not your pet!" Mittens gave back.

"You have no idea," the woman gave back with a grin and pushed a button on one of her armlets, and suddenly Mittens felt a sharp pain in her neck. It felt like the neck collar was on fire.

"Nice jewelry, isn't it?" Sonya grinned. "But I love the extras."

Mittens tried to ignore the pain as good as she could although it made breathing rather difficult, but managed to make it to the edge of the arena. She looked back at Sonya and then slid over the edge, letting herself fall down and hoping that her cat-instincts would kick in and she would land on her feet. And she did. But it was a rather hard landing so she fell down on her knees.

The pain in her neck stopped which meant Sonya must have stopped pushing the button, and she could hear her cry out hysterically, "Don't let the predators in! Don't hurt the cat! Bring her back to me!"

Mittens stumbled over to Mikey, tearing the ropes on his hands apart with her claws. She did so with the other turtles' ropes as well.

"What now?" Mikey asked.

"I dunno," Leo gave back.

Then the floor of the arena moved upwards again and they were surrounded by Sonya's henchmen who were aiming guns at them.

"Any instructions, fearless leader?" Raph whispered to his brother.

"Improvise!" Leo gave back.

"That's my favorite!" Raph gave back and with that he jumped and kicked one of the men in the stomach before he could shoot his gun. Raph then took the gun and shot at the lighting, and soon the hallway was dark. Sonya's men were clueless, they had no idea where to aim their guns because they were afraid they could hurt their mistress or the cat – which was even worse in consideration of the punishment.

One after one of them was grabbed from behind and knocked out.

When another group of Sonya's men arrived at the hallway with flashlights moments later they found their mistress tied to her throne, her men unconscious and the front window was open.

Sonya's eyes were burning with anger, so her men hesitated to untie her. It sure wouldn't end nice for them.

The turtles and Mittens had arrived at a side street and stopped for a moment to make sure they haven't been followed. Mittens was leaning against the wall of a building, catching her breath.

Leo looked at his brothers.

"I think we are safe," he announced.

Mikey looked over to Mittens, she had that hounded look on her face he knew so well. Mittens always looked like this when she felt cornered and helpless. Mikey walked over to her. He grabbed the neck collar with both his hands, tore it apart and let it fall to the ground.

"There," he said with a warm smile. "It didn't suit you anyway."

Mittens looked at him for a few moments, and before Mikey could react, Mittens flung her arms around his neck, pulling him closer, pressing her lips on his and gently kissing him. Mikey's eyes shot open in surprise, before he closed his eyes as well, moved his hands to Mittens hips and responded the kiss.

His brothers just stood there, jaws dropped, eyes gaping in surprise.

Leo finally found his voice.

"We…uhm…we wait…uhm…over there," he stammered, turned around and walked around the corner, dragging Donnie and Raph with him.

The next night Raph was waiting outside Mittens' toolshed for the cat-mutant to show up for their training session. He was standing on the roof-edge and thinking.

He had no idea what was going on. Since he had seen Mikey and Mittens kiss he had been thinking about what it would feel like to kiss a girl. This was so not like him! He was Raph, the hot-head, the tough guy who didn't care about things like romance, or girls. And the fact that Mikey had been kissed before him bugged him. Mikey was the innocent one and his whole crush on Mittens had just been something Raph could tease his youngest brother about. But he had never thought of that crush getting serious. Who would have thought Mittens was returning Mikey's feelings?

Was he…jealous? Raph thought about it, and yes, it pretty much looked like he really was jealous. And still, he couldn't stop thinking about kissing a girl. Maybe if he asked Mittens she might kiss him as some sort of thank you-gift for saving her life so many times. Sure, he could ask April about that too, but April was more like a sister to him, and you don't ask your sister to kiss you. Mittens, on the other hand, was hot – for a flea bag. Or cat-mutant. Maybe now that he had stopped calling her flea bag when he was talking to her he should stop thinking of her as a flea bag as well. So it was cat or cat-mutant from now on.

At that moment Mittens left the toolshed and walked over to him. Raph knew Mikey wasn't around. He had been walking around the lair with a dreamy look on his face and sending Mittens sweet text messages when Raph had left for their training session.

"Hi there, Raph!" Mittens greeted him as she stopped next to him.

"Hello, Mittens," Raph answered, and when he turned to look at her he realized that she was back to wearing her usual outfit, shorts and shirt, and that she again had her white markings.

"Your markings are back," he said.

"Yeah," Mittens answered with a smile. "It took me like twenty-five baths to get the dye out, but now I'm back to normal."

Raph thought that he had never seen her smile that much and so he thought it must have had something to do with Mikey's text messages.

"So, you and Mikey?" the mutant turtle asked.

Mittens grinned from ear to ear and nodded enthusiastically.

"Mittens, may I ask you for a favor?" Raph asked.

Mittens looked at him surprised.

"Of course," she said.

"It's complicated. I want you to give me something."

Mittens blinked. "Okay. I am just…surprised," she said. Something about the way Raph was looking at her made her nervous. This was not the Raph she knew. And she decided she should point that out. "But that's not like you, Raph. You usually take what you want without asking."

"You're right," Raph gave back and without any warning he pulled her close and forcefully pressed his lips on hers.

Mittens knew exactly what she had to do now – push him away, slap him or maybe even scratch his face and then leave. Yeah, that was what she should do. Then why for cat's sake was she doing something completely different? Why did she wrap her arms around his neck and pulled him closer, thus not only responding, but deepening the kiss? She had no answer to that. And "Why?" was the last thought that crossed her mind before thinking became less and less important and feeling took over.