Artemis and Tracey made their way towards the Walgreens senses feeling overwhelmed by the noise and bustle of the city. Artemis winced and sighed. "Gods I miss Greece."

"I have to agree with you Artemis, Greece was so beautiful, unlike New York." Tracey said with a nod, looking around at all the cars and trying to block the cacophony of sounds from her head. "I never really could picture myself living in a place like this."

She let out a sigh and nodded. Greece in its own right had a certain charm about it and she had to say that is was different from their universe and this one. She wouldn't mind going back or at least finding a place that was a little more peaceful like Greece. "I do miss Hercules and Iolaus and I have a feeling this is going to be a thing for any more worlds we visit or when we get home... I must say our lives have gotten a little more interesting since going to the convention."

Artemis opened the door to the walgreens and let Tracey go in ahead of her. "Yeah… interesting." She muttered and grabbed a basket. "Hey… did you hear a voice just before we showed up here?"

Tracey blinked as the sudden memory suddenly popped into her head and she nodded. "Yeah, I did hear a voice... It said something about not being finished yet." She replied, starting to walk down the aisles and picking up a few needed items and passing them to Artemis. "I'm glad I'm not the only one who was hearing voices, but this time it's not the other voices in my head."

She let a soft giggle escaped from her lips before she could stop herself and she looked over at Artemis to see what expression her face held. "Who do you think the voice belonged to?"

Artemis was examining the product label of a bottle of shampoo her face serious. "No idea, but they have to be incredibly powerful to reroute us. Zeus is pretty powerful so being able to reroute us is pretty impressive. That kinda limits the suspect pool."

"Guess you haven't heard of anyone who would have that kind power, have you?" Tracey asked with a sigh and took a bottle of her normal shampoo and conditioner. These she put in the basket and following it would be a new brush and a satchel that she wanted so they could pack up their essentials and take them anywhere and everywhere they traveled to next... hopefully it would be home, but for some reason she doubted it would be. She went an over to the next aisle and grabbed some toilet paper and a small package of hair ties that she and Artemis could share. "I think that's about it... Can you think of anything else we might need?"

Artemis added her own bath products and a brush as well as a satchel for herself in a contrasting color. "Never lump all your supplies together." She explained then grabbed pantyliners, tampons and a small pack of pads as well as a pack of travel sized bottles before heading to the small clothing section. She grabbed some panties and and socks. "Pick yours. We can make due with the cloths the guys found for us but panties and socks are really something you don't want second hand." She went to the first aid section ad picked up two sets of first aid kits as well as some pre threaded suture needles then picked up two wallets and grabbed a case of coke on their way to the register where she snagged two disposable cellphones that came with 60 minute prepaid cards. While they waited in line Artemis spoke softly. "There are a few Gods that could be powerful enough. The Elder Gods that existed before the more modern pantheons came into being but I don't really know much about them. I'll have to get Donnie to help me do some research."

She paid for their supplies and split the remaining cash between the two wallets handing one to Tracey before they headed out of the store. They went to a nearby cafe and Artemis started packing the satchels, each held an even mixture of both their items except for the brushes. She portioned shampoo, conditioner, body wash and face wash into the Travel bottles so they each had some of their own products and some of the others in each bag. As Artemis packed she explained what she was doing.

"Never store all your supplies in one bag. You never know if you'll lose one bag or have it stolen so it makes more sense to play it smart and put some of everything into each one. I have the feeling this is just the start of our little misadventure and I don't want to get caught unprepared again." She borrowed the cafe phone and activated both cell phones and programed the contacts before handing Tracey hers.

She smiled at Tracey. "Want to order a snack while we're here?"

"We might as well, but we better make it quick though." Tracey replied. "Believe me my sweet, I loved being in Greece, but not having the essentials that we needed for Red Ninja was ridiculous! I thought I was going to die without my Red Ninja supplies and I do not want to go through that again. By separating the supplies into two different bags, we can be better prepared ourselves and keep all of our stuff together. I don't like cluttering up Leo's room and he has been so gracious as to lend us his room."

Upon getting to the front of the line, Tracey ordered herself a BLT and a small drink, wanting to save as much of the money as she could so it would last them longer. She didn't know if and when they would need more later and if she would need to find herself a job too. Telling fortunes was Artemis's thing and she was good at it, but what would she do? When it came time for Tracey to find a job, then she'd worry about it, but until that time came she'd just save what she can and collect all the coins she could get her talons on. "I hope that we're able to find out which God is doing this so we can ask him to stop, but for now, I'm just happy we can help where we can."

Artemis speared a forkful of salad when they sat back down at the table and snorted. If Greece taught you anything it should have been that the Gods do what they bloody well want when they bloody well want to." She finished a mouthful and stared out the window at the busy city. "I'm going to do a few hours of fortune telling for the next few days but we should lay low. Trouble will find us soon enough without us going looking for it; I pulled the Tower Card when I did a reading for myself. Thats sudden and catastrophic change ." She sighed and took a sip of her drink.

"Yes because this sudden change in lifestyle and traveling around to different universes doesn't count as a sudden catastrophe." Tracey muttered, digging into her BLT wolfishly and using her napkin to take care of any smears of food while she ate. "No need to worry about me staying low, I will probably go to my little meditation area and see if I can't play with my new ability for a while. I want to figure out what all my brain will come up with and how I can manifest it into useable weapons." She touched the satchel at her feet, making sure that it was still there and that it was close at hand.

"Get the guys to teach you some more fighting techniques. I'm going to see if I can get back into practice too. Artemis finished her salad and started to get up then sank back down and leaned in with a huge fake smile. "There are three Japanese men behind you, one of them is carrying a gun." She murmured. "Giggle like I made a joke."

Having quickly eaten her food and wiped her mouth, Tracey suddenly let out a laugh and clapped her hands together to show she was completely taken with giggles. She didn't need to question what Artemis had in mind because she trusted her, but she did want to know what their new query looked like, but she'd sneak a glance at them inconspicuously. Tracey's reached down and picked up her satchel bag, placing it in her lap and taking out her disposable cell phone.

"I'm going to take a quick selfie and save it for a scrapbook that I want to make later." She said with another quiet laugh.
She lifted the phone up and quickly snapped a picture, letting out a light laugh before replacing the cell phone in her bag. What Tracey had really done was take a picture of the three Japanese men without really drawing attention to herself and by doing so, she'd work with Donny to figure out who they were and who they worked for.

"What's next my dear?" Tracey asked in hushed whisper, looping the satchel's strap over her shoulder and making sure it was secure.
Artemis leaned down to grab her bag and 'accidentally' knocked her melted ice onto herself. "Aww dammit." She groaned. "I'll meet you out by the car, I need to go clean up. Just don't go dropping down any holes on me huh?" She spoke in an exaggerated New York accent and got up headed towards the bathroom at the back. The Japanese men were by the counter surreptitiously watching the two girls. As Tracey left one of them peeled off from the group and casually followed her out looking down at his phone.

Artemis ducked through the door that read Exit and saw the bathroom door and the back exit which warned that an alarm would sound if opened, she checked the bathroom and shook her head, the window had a wire grate over it. 'Back exit it is.' She thought and slide a piece of receipt paper between the contacts between the door frame and the metal bar tricking the door alarm into thinking it was still closed. She cautiously slipped through the door and looked around for the storm drain she knew was nearby. With any luck Tracey was already in the storm drain.

Figuring that at least one of the three men were going to follow her, Tracey walked at a steady pace, not wanting to draw anymore attention to herself and stepped into a nearby salon, just two minutes walking distance from the cafe she and Artemis had just been eating in. She asked one of the ladies if she could use the restroom and was redirected to the back of the shop just as the Japanese man peered inside and then followed. He saw Tracey nod to the lady before vanishing to the back, unfortunately for him, he was stopped from going further by the owner, who asked him if he had an appointment. 'Sorry sucker, I'm not that easy to catch.' Tracey thought with a smile playing on her lips.

Instead of going to the bathroom, like she told the lady she was doing, Tracey disappeared out the back door and into an alleyway. She quickly looked around, judged that it was safe, and slipped through the manhole cover. Sliding it back in place and waiting in silence for a moment, Tracey was sure that no one was following her and moved off, holding tight to her satchel. She used her mental map of the streets above her to back trace her steps and stopped at a corner in the sewer. Tracey took a breath and peeked an eye around the corner and saw that no one was there. She quietly went to the storm drain and cautiously looked through the grate to see that Artemis was still above ground. "Pst! Arty! Down here, hurry." She hissed, waving her hand a little. "Better hurry, I don't know how long it will take those creeps to realize we're not where they thought we'd be."

Artemis slid down into the storm drain and grinned. "Nice job. Let's get back to the lair." She retraced their route back through the sewers until the came out into the Turtles home. Raph and Leo converged on them within seconds. "Do you guys know how long you were gone?" Leo asked worried.
Artemis set her satchel down and crossed her arms over her chest. "Yeah, two hours."

Leo blinked at her at a loss for words when Raph stepped in. "Look I know you guys had to get chick stuff but it ain't safe topside."

Artemis snorted and smiled. "Preach it brother, we had some admirers."

"What?" Leo asked and moved in closer.

"Tracey?" Artemis asked motioning for her to show them the picture.

Tracey brought her satchel around to her side and opened it, fishing around for her cell phone and drew it out, stopping for a moment and crossing her arms over her chest. "Okay, just because we're new here to your world, doesn't mean we can't take care of ourselves. So remember to breath and have a little faith in us." She said, giving them a slightly fake, hurt expression before flipping through the phone's pictures and clicking on the one she wanted. "Hey Donatello! I need you if you have a moment to spare for me."

She held up the phone and blew up the photo a little before handing it to Leo. "These three were admiring us from afar and I don't think it's because they thought we were pretty." Tracey said, pushing back her hair and shaking her head. "They tried to be smooth about what they were trying to do, but failed miserably."
Donnie came out of his workshop with bits of wire hanging off his shell and an extension cord trailing behind him. "I have a few minutes." He said mildly as Leo examined the picture.

Donnie looked over his brother's shoulder. "Oh, those are the Mikana Brothers. They work for the Foot Clan, lower level errand boys and kidnappers." He pulled up their files on his wrist device and blew them up into holograms. "Takana, Renji and Shojo Mikana, triplets. None of them is very bright but if you want someone snatched they're pretty good at it."

Tracey rolled her eyes and looked at Artemis while shaking her head. "It sounds like Greece all over again my dear... Gonna have to keep a really low profile for a while. But it's good to know at least three of our opponents' faces." She said, patting Donny's arm and giving him a friendly smile. "Thanks Donnie, that helps us a little. Whenever you're not busy, I'd like to know more about the foot clan, there's only so much we were able to find out in our world... Guess it chill time, hm?"

Artemis sighed. "We're just so popular." She retorted and walked over to sit on one of the barstools at the counter.

Leo nodded to his brothers and they left Donnie taking Tracey with him. He sat down next to Artemis while she cracked open a coke and sipped it. "So… what happened in Greece?"

Artemis set her can down gently and turned to look at him, he was so much bigger than her but he was so young. She turned her back to the counter and leaned on it twisting one of her rings around her finger. "We got dragged to ancient Greece to stop an even more ancient God from rewriting history. In the process we both got kidnapped and we were both hunted by an enemy we knew next to nothing about. In the end it came down to self sacrifice and love to stop the Big Bad from winning and now it looks like we're gonna have a rerun here and I am so not up for it again."

He looked at her then forced himself to stop seeing her as a human to protect and to really look at her, she looked tired and angry and sad. He could understand the first two but not the third so he decided to focus on what he could understand. She was tired of running, of being hunted and she was angry about it all. He let go of his own irritability over what he had thought was their recklessness and put a hand on her shoulder. "Look, we'll help you all we can, we just need to know how."

Artemis sighed. "If I knew I'd tell you. I haven't really had a chance to formulate a plan yet."

"Why don't you let me. I know a lot more about the Foot Clan and it's kinda my thing." He asked and smiled to let her know he was only half serious.

"I think I just might. Just keep Tracey in the loop will you? She hates being left out or ignored and she's pretty smart." Artemis stood up and squeezed his fingers.
Tracey was far from being left out in Donnie's lab, he had pulled up everything they had on the Foot clan on two of his four large monitors and was letting her click through it all while he went back to his experiment. When Leo walked in he pulled a chair up beside Tracey and leaned an elbow on the desk. "Look, I'm sorry I jumped you back there." He said quietly.

Continuing to scroll through the information, Tracey's clear blue eyes darted here and there when she spied useful tidbits, it helped to have an eidetic memory, or at least a good eye for detail as Artemis liked to poked at her for, but it was all in good fun. Tracey did this for a few moments longer before stopping and looking over at Leonardo, tilting her head to the left, scanning his face before looking into his eyes and nodding. "You're forgiven on one condition..." She paused, a faint smirk on her lips as she turned around and faced him from her chair.

He regarded her warily. "What condition?" He asked.

"Will you teach me how to use the Katana?" She asked, her smirk becoming a smile. "I've always wanted to learn ever since I lived in Japan, but at that time I was too young and my parents didn't want me to accidentally stab myself in the foot."

He blinked surprised. "I don't want you to accidentally stab yourself in the foot either. And Katana takes years to learn much less master." He leaned back in his chair and thought for a moment. "I'll teach you the Boken while you're here. The principles are similar."

For a moment Tracey pouted, her bottom lip poking out but she nodded and smiled. "Deal, but I warn you now, I'm a quick study. Perhaps I'll even surprise you." She said, glancing back at the computer screens and beginning to take in the information on the foot clan again. "I insist on a duel before too much time passes, just to see how well I do. I'm pretty confident that I can best you at least once."

He chuckled and shook his head. "We'll see." He said and nodded to the computer screen. "What are you looking for?"
"Well one of the good things about being back where there is electricity I can finally gather intel. I'm looking for anything we can use like building blueprints, places that might have weak points such as the basement storage facilities." She replied, a sudden idea entering her mind and made her crack her fingers in excitement. "I wonder how easy this will be."

Poising her fingers over the keys, Tracey looked at the keyboard and then looked back up at the screens and took in a deep breath before letting it out and beginning. Her fingers flew over the keys, tapping them gently and almost in a blur. The definite strokes and precise movements of her fingers as they moved made Donny look up from his task and watch her, his mouth gaping slightly when he realized what Tracey was up to. She opened a file labeled 'TCRI' and delved right into it, the keyboard clacking. The lines of code reeled under her fingers as she took them apart and scanned them all quickly and putting them back together when she didn't find what she was looking for.

"Oh where, oh where, are you my little ghost file..." Tracey sang under her breath, eyes scanning the screens wildly until she saw the bit of a code that she had never seen before. "Ooooh what's this?!" Clicking the code, Tracey tapped a few select keys, plugging in her own mess of algorithm and watching as the ghost file opened. Quickly before anything else happened, she threw up a lock and cloak program to keep the file from being deleted or even missed by the TCRI company. Her lock and cloaking program would also keep Donny's computers from being hacked and traced back to their sanctuary too, so all was well with their world. "Elizabeth Hacker, eat your heart out!" She said, laughing maniacally.

"Elizabeth Hacker?" Donny asked coming up behind her and reading over her shoulder.

Tracey leaned back in her chair and smiled at him. "I like to write stories and In one of them, Elizabeth Hacker is just as her name labels her. She's a hacker for the government and a damn good one." She replied with an even larger grin on her lips. "I thought it was appropriate to say here." She laughed again and pointed to the Ghost file.

"Don't worry about your computers, I put up a defense perimeter around all your systems and no one alive can hack my fire walls. Plus TCRI won't even notice that the original file is missing and what they have is just a copy. If they try anything with it than we'll be alerted to any changes and if we need to, we'll destroy their file and it'll take them ages to make a new one. By that time my program will be able to duplicate the new one for us and the process will start all over again." Tracey blew on her fingers and rubbed them on the front of her tank top, looking quite pleased with herself. "Booyah-kusha!"
Donnie sat down at his keyboard and started clicking through files. "This will take some time to go through." He murmured his eyes fixated on the files and Leo stood up.

"Come on. I'll find you a Boken and I can start your lessons."

"Lead the way Sensei." Tracey grinned, sliding out of her chair and following Leo. "Have fun Donny! I'll be back in a little while to see what you've found out and let me know if anything gets flagged."

Tracey had to double her strides to keep up with one of Leo's. She didn't mind though and followed him to a very spacious room with a raised platform in the middle. Around the walls were various weapons, including Claives, quarter staffs, throwing stars, throwing knives, Sai, Katanas, and others that she didn't recognize. "Sweetness." She whistled, looking at everything, including the descriptive tapestries around the walls too. "This will be awesome!"

Leo had to smile at her enthusiasm and handed her a wooden boken sword and started teaching her the basic stances and sword positions. Two and half hours later Tracey felt like her bones and muscles were made of rubber and she was exhausted from the drills he'd been teaching her. His watch beeped and he called a halt to the exercise. "Its after sunset, my brothers and I need to go on patrol, we can pick this up again in the morning."

"Hai Sensei." Tracey answered, bowing at the waist in the traditional fashion and letting out a relieved breath. "It will be storm tonight, tomorrow as well and I think that would be a perfect time to figure out these wings. Of course I'll talk to Artemis, but the cover of the storm will definitely help keep us from being spotted." Carefully placing the Boken sword back on the wall for her use tomorrow, Tracey turned back to him and smiled. "Thank you Leo. We should have dinner ready when you and the guys get back."

"Better make that breakfast. We probably won't be back until around 3am." He smiled and handed her a jar of something the color of brown mustard. "It'll help with the aches." He said and left her to her own devices.

When Tracey went looking for Artemis she found her sitting cross legged on a pillow near Splinter praying in front of a candle. She was a little surprised, he friend wasn't usually very devout, at least not in their own world. She wondered if it had something to do with their trip to Greece and then their subsequent ejection. Artemis had been praying a lot in Greece. She decided it would be best to leave her friend to her prayers.

After waving off the boys and telling them to be careful, the rest of their sanctuary was quiet and slightly eerie, besides the steady dripping of water from somewhere she couldn't see, everything was quiet. Tracey shrugged her shoulders and winced as the sore muscles ached in protest at the movements. She half smiled through the pain and figured Leonardo hadn't been kidding about the aches and pains. They had stretched everything before starting the training, Leo had insisted upon in, knowing full well how labor intensive the training was going to be. "He wasn't kidding in the least." Tracey mused, rubbing her shoulder and gritting her teeth. "A hot bath and the ointment will do the trick I think."

Upon further exploration, Tracey found the showers after she went back to grab her bathroom supplies and fresh clothes from her satchel in Leo's room. She doused her aching body with warm water and let it rush over her body and take away the weariness from her completely. A soft sigh of content escaped from her lips and was replaced by a smile, a moment longer in the water and she proceeded to wash her hair and body. Tracey only stayed beneath the water for about twenty minutes before shutting it off and used her soft towel to dry off and wipe off her face. Unstopping the lid from the jar of ointment Leonardo had given her, Tracey dipped the first two fingers of her right hand into the mustard like paste and dabbed it onto her shoulders before rubbing it in. The paste began to heat up pleasantly and then cooled once the muscles had relaxed, she found this to be most agreeable and used a little more on the rest of her joints before putting on fresh underwear, a bra, and her pajamas that consisted of baggy pants and another tank top.

'Time to make some dinner and hopefully by the time it's done, Master Splinter and Artemis will be ready to eat too.' Tracey thought to herself, going to hang up her towel and take her stuff back to their shared room.
In no time at all, Tracey was back in the kitchen washing rice and vegetables. She set a pot of water to boil on the stove top for rice and was cutting up the vegetable she was going to use in the stir fry, lightly seasoning them. Everything was going smoothly and while the food was cooking, she washed off the table, brought out the soy sauce, and set out the cutlery, a fork for herself and chopsticks for Artemis and Master Splinter. About twenty minutes later everything was finished and Tracey brought out some bowls and placed them on the counter beside the pot of rice. She shut off the heat on the stove and went to get Master Splinter and Arty. "I'm sorry to interrupt, but dinner is ready."

Master Splinter was alone in the quiet room and looked up with a smile. "Thank you Tracey. Artemis has gone to shower, I'm sure the smell of wonderful food will draw her to us in no time."

He wasn't wrong. Artemis came out a few minutes later her hair wet and slicked back from her face and grinned. "Oh lord that smells amazing!" She dished up a bowl and sat down eating eagerly.

"So girls… would you please share with me your experiences in Greece? I have read about it and it sounds like a wonderful place but to speak to those who have been there would be a lovely thing." Splinter watched them with eager anticipation plan on his face.

Artemis waved at Tracey with her chopsticks still eating. "You tell him. You're the better storyteller."

A light laugh escaped from Tracey and she dabbed at her lips with her napkin before putting her fork down. She nodded and pushed her empty plate away. "If it will let you eat your food in peace I will do that." She said, relaxing with her arms on the table. "Okay for starters Ancient Greece has a lot of good points and bad areas that we found out after about two or three days. Besides being kidnapped, beaten within an inch of our lives, and having to beat around a particularly nasty spirit, would all be bad points, but..." A sudden thought made her giggle.

"Except beating Demos, that was a plus point. If you can imagine the weather there was beautiful when it wasn't raining. Most of the time it was sunny, a warm breeze with the smell of flowers were always pleasant. The grass was lush, the trees were tall, and the water flowed in great rivers and streams that had plenty of fish. The people were happy and they worked hard for their families. It was mostly a farming communities and there were never dull moments when the Greek heroes Hercules and Iolaus were traveling around. We traveled with them for a time and learned a lot from them, including some fighting skills. Believe it or not we actually had abilities that corresponded with the attire we were wearing at the time and that was strange but came in handy."

Splinter nodded sagely and set his empty bowl aside picking up his cup of tea. "You walked with Heroes. Was it all you had imagined it might be?"

Tracey smiled and tilted her head to the side for a moment in thought.

"I have to say it was fun to hang out with them. Going on the same adventures as Hercules and Iolaus was amazing and slightly dangerous but it was an eye opener to many things and a learning experience for the both of us." She answered, raking her fingers through her hair. "We've had to adapt to every new experience and be more flexible with whatever new abilities we acquire, if any at all. For whatever reason this higher power keeps sending us to these different universes, I can only hope that it, or they, will continue to see fit to give us the special abilities that we need to complete our tasks."

Splinter looked at Artemis who didn't really seem to be paying attention to the conversation and he cleared his throat. She looked over at them eyes refocusing and he gave a gentle smile. "What of you Artemis? How was it for you to be so close to the Gods you pray to?"

Artemis took a sip of her soda before speaking. "I tend to pray to the Norse Gods and a handful of Shinto Gods. The Greek Gods tend to be a little too capricious but I have to admit it was heady stuff. I could feel them, so much closer than ever before, like a faint hum in the air…" She stared off into space while she spoke. "I've felt it a few times in our world and time but… never so strongly and it felt so good to have my belief validated." She blinked and looked a Splinter her dark eyes steady and serious. "I can't feel them here, even after praying and it's like an empty spot in my soul."

He reached over and patted her hand gently. "This is not your world child. Your belief is still real and the fact that you feel their lack in your soul proves to me that they are genuine in your homeland. Don't doubt them just because you are here."

Tracey turned to her friend and concern crossed over her features as she rested her own hand on her arm. Her eyes searched Artemis's face. She had always had a small inkling that she was upset about something but until now she hadn't had the heart to ask her about it. 'I always knew you would tell me when you were ready.' Tracey thought to herself. "They will always believe in you so long as you are faithful to them... perhaps the experience you're having with your connection to your Gods is in relation to the time and place. I mean since you prayed to the Shinto Gods, if we get sent to Japan or any of the Asian countries then I would guess that your ability to sense them would be stronger."

She stood up and took the empty dishes to the kitchen to clean the dishes and put away the food so it could stay fresh and delicious for the boys if they decided to eat that instead of the breakfast that she'd be sure to wake up early to make for them.

Artemis thought about it for a few minutes then nodded. "You're probably right. I'm going to go topside again tomorrow morning to earn some more capital." She leaned back in her chair and looked around the room. "Hey Tracey, how's your Boken training going?"

Tracey looked up from the dishes and nodded with a smile. "I may be sore, but Leo is a hard but fair sensei. He keeps me on my toes and we do get a breather every once in awhile but we're right back to it. The Boken sword is a little awkward in my hands, but I think I'm getting the hang of it... I might try another weapon just to get a feel for them." She looked back down at the warm, soapy water that was up to her arms in before continuing.

"I'm looking for my personal weapon of choice, something that feels right in my hands. Master Splinter, you should be proud of Leo, he has a lot of good qualities that makes him an excellent leader."

Splinter smiled and nodded. "He is an excellent leader and I had hoped he would be an exemplary teacher."

Artemis raised an eyebrow at her friend. "Tracey… you're the least confrontational person I know. What's got you so determined to use a weapon?"

"I may be a very passive aggressive person, but like I said before, we have to be flexible with our abilities whenever and wherever we might get sent to. I don't like feeling helpless and I really don't like having to depend on other people to defend me and keep me safe... besides, I need to learn sometime and this just seem like the perfect opportunity." Tracey replied, having thought about this a lot since they had gotten to Ancient Greece. "What if the next place we get sent to, we don't get abilities? I know that anything can be a weapon, it's just finding the right one for me to use is what I'm looking for. Something that won't cause too much harm to my opponents, just stun them long enough for me to tie them up or make my own escape. I don't like to hurt people, but I don't want to give anyone the opportunity to hurt me or the people I care about." With that said, Tracey finished the last of the dishes and wiped her arms dry on the towel. "I'm done being the weak one of our group and it's time for a change."

Artemis got up and went to her friend wrapping her in a hug from behind and resting her chin on Tracey's shoulder. "Honey, not being a fighter doesn't make you weak. Being able to see things from others points of views, being the peacemaker, being all the things you are is a strength. An incredible strength that not many people have, you are so far from weak it's not even funny." She smiled and kissed Tracey's cheek.

"Besides if you become a kickass fighter you won't need me."

Resting her hands over Artemis's arms around her waist, Tracey smiled and shook her head. "Not a chance my sweet, I will always need you. Be it for being a kick ass partner or a partner in crime, I will always need you for something."

Tracey looked up at the ceiling again, the hairs on her skin sticking straight up and that made her grin slightly. She patted Artemis's hand and stepped out of her embrace.

"It's starting to rain... I'm going to go topside and figure out these wings." She said quietly, her grin widening. "The storm will be perfect cover and everything will be fine."

Artemis grinned. "Oh perfect, I'll come with you."

"Awesome! I'll grab my satchel so we can put our clothes in it to keep them from being ripped and go to waste." Tracey replied nearly bouncing around the kitchen. "By your leave Master Splinter, I hear the thunder rolling and calling our names."

With a quick bow, Tracey took off like a rocket and raced back to their shared room and grabbed her bag. She hurriedly dumped the contents out onto the bed and then arranged them nicely, not wanting to give the impression that she was a messy person by any means. Packing plastic bags so they could wrap their clothes up, Tracey packed them into the bag and took hers' and Artemis's cell phones too. Thankfully before Donnie left with his brothers, he had programmed a special, untraceable number for them to use as needed.

"I'm ready." She said to herself and shut the bedroom door before heading to the hidden entrance where the boys kept their garbage truck for other missions.

Artemis held up a hand. "I'll change first and you can strap the bag to me then you change." She stripped out of her clothes and stuffed them into a plastic bag which she packed into the satchel.

"Ready when you are my dear." She said, taking a deep breath and letting it out slowly. Tracey nodded and did the same, rolling up her own clothes and tying up them in the plastic. She shivered a bit when the cool air brushed over her warm skin and made goosebumps rise on her arms.

Artemis concentrated and slipped from human form into a small black dragon with glowing red eyes. She flipped her wings and shook stretching her limbs then hunkered down next to Tracey with a deep rumble in her chest. Checking the satchel's strap again, Tracey was satisfied that it was secure and looped it around her neck. She put two fingers under the the strap to make sure it wasn't choking her and then she let everything around her fade into black. The echoing call of the Thunderbird rang throughout the darkness and Tracey felt something rush past her, trailing thunder and lightning with it. When she opened her eyes, she saw the Thunderbird hovering in front of her and she nodded, opening her arms out wide to her sides in a welcoming embrace. "To me, mighty being, I welcome you."

The bird called to her again and flew at her, its body engulfing in lightning as it charged toward her and vanished into her torso. When Tracey opened her golden orbs, she let out a soft chirp and shuffled her feathers, making herself appear larger than she really was. Her talons clicked on the floor as she moved to the garage door.

Artemis made a soft purring noise and walked out into the electrically charged air. She checked to make sure they wouldn't be seen then launched herself into the air, her black scales blending into the dark as another flash of lightning seared the sky. She beat her wings and flew higher, higher and then finally burst out above the clouds into a star filled sky.

With her sight keener than any humans, Tracey's golden orbs picked out Artemis's dark form against the clouds even as she vanished. She shifted on her talons again and stretched out her wings, feeling the muscles stretching and retracting. Calling out to the sky, Tracey took in a deep breath and flapped her wings again, feeling herself lift a little. She took off at a trundling jog, her wings outstretched and flapping to gain some lift. With another mighty call, Tracey launched herself up and beat her wings at the same time, creating the power she needed to take flight. Thunder rolled as she drifted over the river and the wind rushed through her feathers, carrying her up. Tracey's two, ribbon-like feathers trailed behind her and she tried to remember that she had to keep flapping her wings to keep herself up, but the feeling was thrilling. 'So this is what birds feel like when they're flying so high.' She thought, looking around for Artemis again.

Artemis was flapping her wings slowly in an oval motion like a humming bird keeping her hovering just above the cloud cover. She had her head up, long serpentine neck stretched out looking up at the moon, when she noticed Tracey she craned her neck to look at her then gave a high sweet trumpeting call and changed her wing beat taking off trumpeting again, a challenge to play tag.

'Oh it is on!' Tracey looked up and spotted her against the dark sky. Inwardly she was smiling and she let out a sky shattering cry that could be heard over the thunder as it rolled between the clouds. Tracey beat her wings rapidly and shot upward, her tail feathers streaming behind her as she moved, flowing like waves. They darted and wove in and out of the sky, but every time she got close, Artemis darted away. Tracey figured that with her small size and stream-like form, Artemis was able to maneuver herself more efficiently. She herself, was large in form and had muscles to back up her size, but she wasn't going to sell herself short. Tracey banked sharply and dove down, hugging her wings tightly to her body and gained momentum. She opened her wings as she saw the water drawing closer and leveled out, swooping up again and then leveling out so she could dip her talons in the water before springing up again and soaring up into the clouds again. 'This is what freedom feels like!' She thought, letting out more cries of happiness. 'Now to get Artemis.'

She climbed into the sky and vanished, the clouds and rain completely obscuring her from all sight and there she waited. Blending in perfectly, Tracey silently searched and then spotted her. She circled once and dove downward, stretching out a talon, Tracey's reflexes were swift and she gently encompassed her scaly form in her talons. Beating her wings, she drew her up and nuzzled her with her beak. 'Gotcha.'

Artemis gave an undulating rumble that sounded like a laugh then she squirmed and wriggled out of her grasp and shot off towards the center of the city as the rain and thunder and lightning filled the air with music and lights. Her red eyes glowed like balefire ad with her black scales against the dark she looked like a demon streaking through the night. She slowed and started scanning for the boys. Tracey followed, thunder rumbling behind her as she beat her wings and soared forward. Her beats changed when she hovered above the city, helping to try and spot the boys. Chirping rapidly to Arty, Tracey drew her head down and to the right, over to the empire state building where she saw movement. Tracey flew over to it and circled over it just out of sight in the clouds.

Artemis hovered near her watching the Turtles who were getting thoroughly soaked by the rain and from the look of it, arguing about something. Artemis moved a little closer and squinted at Tracey and for just a second Tracey thought she heard her friend's voice in her head. "Can you hear me?"

"Oh no! The voices in my head have finally broken through my defenses... oh wait it's just Artemis." Tracey said, looking over to Artemis and tried to alter her features to make it look like she was smiling. "I can definitely say that this will make communicating easier... How should we proceed with the boys? Land and help them dry off, give them a slight scare or teach them how to fly?" Their movements were quiet and stealthy, not drawing attention to themselves.

"Wait...slow… didn't catch…" Artemis's voice came through like bad radio reception and she flicked her tail in frustration.

"This will take some getting used to." Tracey answered, looking down at the boys again. "Do you want to play with the boys? Teach them how to fly perhaps? Or be nice and keep them out of the rain?" She tried to speak slower and make her words clear, but it was tricky.

"I want to give them a scare." Artemis replied and instead of words she pictured what she wanted to do which came through much more clearly than words.
She wanted to fly in close as silently as she could then have Tracey backlight her with a lightning bold as she roared and let her eyes blaze as bright as possible. She would look like a demon with the lightning behind her and her black scales shining in the light with her red eyes blazing. "Perfect then I'll grab Raph from behind... he needs to get over his fear of heights anyway." Tracey said with a grin. "I'm ready when you are."

As another streak of lightning flashed across the sky, lighting it up brilliantly, the thunder rolled in soon after, letting them know that they were entering the heart of the storm and that would be perfect for what they were wanting to do. Tracey quietly suppressed a snicker as her great wings beat and kept her in the air, bringing with it tremendous gusts of wind. She waited until Artemis was in position before she swung her tail feathers forward and unleashed a heavy strand of lightning, watching it streak away in front of her. Thunder bellowed soon after and she gave a great cry of amusement when the boys flinched at the sounds and jumped at the mere sight of Artemis. Raph had even drawn his Sai and Mikey was shifting on his perch, looking between his brothers for what they were going to do next. Artemis swooped in and bowled the boys over with an undulating cry that sounded like she was laughing, it had the effect of separating Raph from the rest of his brothers so Tracey could grab him. As she did she projected images at Tracey of taking him above the cloud cover so he could see the bright moon and the wash of stars like chips of diamonds. She told Tracey in images to show him the wonder of flight and the beauty of his city from the air while lightning danced around them but to ease the rain so it didn't obscure the sight. "Make it magical." She managed to say in her friends mind.

"Oh it will be." Tracey returned, a smile playing at the edge of her beak as she tucked her wings close to her body and tucked her wings close.

Dropping from the sky, Tracey circled around and caught Raphael from behind, clamping him gently in her talons and calling softly to the others before vanishing upward again. She felt Raphael wiggling and had to tighten her grip on him to keep from dropping him, luckily he got the message and froze up immediately, a well muscled arm locked tight around her leg, just below the line of feathers circling there too. Rain streaked down but Tracey's feathers remained dry, the soft down rippling in the wind.

Unfortunately Raphael wasn't lucky with that though, the rain trickling over his green, muscular frame and over his shell. "Ease up a little Raph." She chirped, leveling out her body as they pulled up out of the clouds. "I want to show you something beautiful."
Here there wasn't any rain and the stars glittered in the sky all around them. The moon shone brilliantly above them and the light danced over Tracey's golden feathers, making them glow dully. Her eyes fixated on the moon, bedazzled by being able to be so high up and observing it so near.

Raph had stopped struggling and was desperately trying not to vomit at being up so high, he really did hate heights and it just about paralyzed him, his eyes were squeezed tightly shut but when Tracey leveled out his curiosity got the better of him and he carefully opened his eyes and stared at the moon. Being down in the city, even at the top of the higher buildings the pollution he was so used to blocked out the stars and dulled the moon's glow but up here above the city and the clouds he stared at the blanket of stars and the soft white radiance of the moon. The terror that made his heart race eased a little until he looked down and saw the city under him, his hand gripped her leg a little more tightly as he dangled a half mile above the ground. "Oh god, oh god, oh god… this is too high Tracey!" His voice was high with fear and he hated that just as much as he hated the fear of heights.

She gave him a little shake to jolt him out of the fear and he watched as lightning raced across the clouds to his left. He was so stunned to see it so close the fear receded and he felt the rumble of thunder in his chest. More lightning, more thunder and he watched rain stream down racing towards the ground. He felt some of the fear again but he found that it was having less effect on him; he could feel the slight rise and fall as her powerful wing beat holding them aloft. His eyes caught sight of a streak of red and Artemis streaked upwards her sleek dragons body shooting up through the clouds and as she broke the cloud cover she spread her wings silhouetted against the moon and he heard her piercing call just as a crack of lightning sent sparks of light across her scales. He watched her fold her wings in close to her body and she plummeted down and his heart skipped a beat until he saw her open her wings again and tilt downward in a spiral. He laughed and felt the remaining fear seep away as she beat her wings and returned hovering in front of him green eyes glittering with humor.

A rumble deep in Tracey's diaphragm was expelled from her body in a victorious cry and she nodded her great head in approval before curling in on herself until she reached her talons. She kept up the steady beat of her wings to keep them in the air and gently opened her beak to tenderly encompass Raph's shell. He was hesitant at first, clutching at her feathers until she wiggled her head a little to dislodge his grip from them, losing the feathers in the process. She swept her tail feathers around and kicked up some wind in his face to show her displeasure with him and then rotated her neck around so she could deposit him at the base of her neck. He could sit comfortably in between she shoulders if he settled down a little and there wasn't much of a place to hold onto without taking out feathers, but he was able to get a firm enough to where he wouldn't slip off.

"This isn't so bad, but I will get you for those feathers you plucked." She squawked, looking at him with her eye that were lit up with the light from the moon. "I would hang on if I were you."

Suddenly Tracey stopped beating her wings and arched them backwards, twisting her body around and spiraling downward, passing Leo, Donnie and Mikey who were stunned to see Raphael and Tracey flash passed them. She let out another trumpeting call and lightning streaked past them and through the clouds above them. Tracey weaved in and out of the electricity and thrilled her to no end, her heart beating with adrenaline and her breath taken away with the lightning. By the time Tracey had started to run out of energy to keep flying Raph was whooping in excitement. Artemis had taken the other three on very short flights of their own but she didn't have the bulk to do anything more strenuous and was curled up on top of the building resting while Leo watched Donnie analyze her physiology with a scanner, Mikey was reading a comic book sitting next to her and she was reading over his shoulder when Tracey came in for a landing.

"Okay this is going to be interesting... hang on." Tracey chirped at Raph over the rushing wind.

Looking forward again, she started to slow her decent, fanning out her tail feathers under her to create the drag that she needed. She began to flap her wings in a back lash and extended her legs and talons forward to aid in her landing. Upon landing, she trundled forward less than gracefully, but who could blame her, it was her first landing after all. Tracey ruffled her feathers and shook all over, only stopping when she looked like a super-sized puff ball of golden and white feathers. She gazed at each of them in turn and chirped happily.

"So how's it going guys?" She asked, spreading out her tail again and giving it a quick shake and scattering some left over rain droplets from her feathers.

"Leo… I think she's actually trying to communicate, the cadence and frequency of her chirps resemble the same ones that Mockingbirds and even parrots use when speaking human words." Donnie motioned to the readout on his wrist device.

Artemis looked at Tracey snaking her long neck out and making that undulating chirp that sounded like laughter again; she was laughing at Tracey and her half lidded eyes looked amused. She looked back down at the comic book Mikey was reading and rumbled in her chest. "Artemis doesn't seem able to create the same kind of vocalizations, I wonder if that has to do with being lizard like...or would it be serpent like? Dragons don't have a classification of either species so…"

He kept playing with his device cataloguing the results and muttering in scientific terms while Leo walked over to Raph who had dismounted and clapped him on the back. "How was the ride?" He asked with a grin.

"Oh man Leo… that was a rush. It's so clear up there." He laughed and shook his head. "I actually stopped caring about the height and just enjoyed the ride."

Tracey looked at Raph and then brushed her wing up the backside of his head, letting him know that she still hadn't forgotten about the feathers that he'd pulled out on her leg. She looked over at Artemis and Mikey and tilted her head to the side to inspect them and nodded, chirping a few times as if she was laughing with her. A flash of lightning streaked across the sky and the feathers on her body ruffled and she shook her entire body to rid of herself of the chill that washed over her. Scuttling toward Donnie, her talons clicking on the roof structure, she looked down at him and his highly advanced technology and shook her head.

"Your tech must be water proof for you to be out here in this with it." She chirped, trying to form the words but not knowing if she was getting through to him or not. "Damn language barriers."

Donnie didn't react to the chirping and Artemis flipped her wings before she projected a fragmented thought to Tracey. "They don't… us… no telepathy… don't speak… Bird."

She shuffled her feathers, stood up to her full height and let out a frustrated cry that echoed in the night and then was masked by a rumble of thunder. The pain of transforming was always in the front of her mind and she shook her head, not wanting to transform yet and she stalked away from Donny flapped her wings. She looked over at Artemis and shook her head. 'Perhaps a voice modulator...' She thought, looking out over the city and listening to the traffic below. 'I'll have to play with the idea with Donny when we get home...' She looked up at the moon and watched it for a moment.

Leo and Raph were watching the goings on in the street but the heavy rain was keeping the criminal element inside. Artemis was drowsing coiled up under an overhang and Tracey saw two thin streamers of either smoke or steam rising from her nostrils. She reminded Tracey of a big cat coiled up the way she was. Sauntering over to Artemis, Tracey brushed her wing joint over her and chirped quietly. It was like she was beckoning her to awaken so they could go back to their temporary home for the remained of the night. Tracey gently used her wing to pat each of the turtles on the head before turning to the edge of the roof top and shuffled she body from side to side to see what would be the best way to launch herself and get back home. Artemis shifted and watched her friend get ready to fly away and yawned showing all of her sharp teeth before she stood and followed Tracey. She leaped off the roof and soared away leaving the turtles watching them. "Dude… I want wings." Mikey commented.

The chilly wind rippled through Tracey's feathers as she soared over the clouds and within a short time she and Artemis were landing on a building near the entrance under the bridge where they had left from. Cautiously she looked around, using her keen eyes to look into the shadows and nodding when nothing was out of the ordinary. Hopping down with a few flaps of her wings and a shuffle of her tail feathers, helped Tracey to land the rest of the way to the ground and she stalked up to the entrance. She used her talons to punch the correct buttons to open the door and then made her way inside and waited for the door to close behind them before picturing her human form in her mind and gasping in pain as her bones snapped and popped back into place.

"Gah! Now I know what it feels like to be a werewolf." She gasped, doubled over in pain and breathed heavily.

Once she recovered, Tracey walked to Artemis and took the satchel from around her neck. She stepped off to the side and grabbed her clothes, not liking the cold air on her skin without something to break it before it touched her skin. Tracey dressed quickly and took out Artemis's clothes too, knowing she was going to want them as soon as she transformed too.

Artemis shifted her form breathing hard and wincing in pain. She held out a shaky hand for her clothing and dressed quickly. "Oh gods I feel like I just packed 4 days of hardcore exercise into 1 hour."

"Mmm! I have something for that! I'll grab the ointment when we get to our room." Tracey replied, looking at her own shaking hands and rubbing them on her pants.

"Compliments of Leo and his Bekon lessons. My arms and shoulders were really sore, but now I don't feel much. Though I expect I will in the morning with as heavy as Raphael is in the ass." She laughed and shouldered the satchel before turning on her bare feet and heading for their room.

Artemis laughed and followed her dropping onto the bed with a sigh. "So tomorrow I'm gonna snag Leo and have him watch my back while I go topside to earn some money."

Tracey dug through her neat pile of personal items and then tossed her the small jar of ointment that Leo had let her borrow. Putting her stuff neatly on the desk,

Tracey hung up her soaking wet satchel and would let it stay there till it dried and then sat on the bed, pushing back her hair from her face. "I'm thinking some meditation after breakfast is in order for me, but this time I'm going to play with my lightning. After that I'll practice Boken until I need a break." She said, letting out a sigh. "If Donnie is awake later than I'm going to try and develop something that will allow us to talk to the boys while we're in our other forms... we wouldn't have such a language barrier then."

Artemis rubbed some ointment into her muscles and laid back on the bed. "Sounds good." She said drowsily.

"Sleep well Artemis, I'm going to brush my teeth and then I'll go to bed." Tracey said, getting up and grabbing her toothbrush and paste.

She went to the bathroom and quickly brushed her teeth and then went back to their room and changed her clothes for sleep. The last thing she did was set her alarm for 2:30 am, that way she could get up and get breakfast ready for the boys before she went to do her meditation. A yawn suddenly overcame her and she took off her glasses and set them beside her phone. In a last act before sleep completely took her, Tracey pulled the blanket over her and then passed out.