Another chapter. I hope you enjoying it. There isn't really any interaction with the guys in this chapter, but it is an important chapter and it sets up things for the future. Anyways, I hope you like it and please review and tell me what you think.
Thanks go out to the following for reviewing:
dream lighting, Yuki101, pokemonjkl, FearlessDragoness, TMNTluckygirl, and zrexheartz

Chapter 12
"City at War"
Part 1, Part 2 & Part 3

School had been keeping Alex very busy. After having two weeks full of working in the shop, training and school, she felt pooped, despite the fact that she had been sleeping better ever since she decided to let go of all of the things in her past that were haunting her in her dreams. There was one thing that she kept wondering about though.

The amulet.

The amulet of her parents that she had found just made her wonder. It looked so familiar, but she couldn't figure out where she had seen it before. The unique engravings were so unusual. She couldn't figure out where she had seen it before and that was bothering her a great deal, but she wasn't letting it make her lose sleep. She was trying not to have things like that bother her anymore. She had taken up wearing it around her neck now though.

Alex walked into the lair late that night after walking back from the library to pick up one last box of things to bring to April's new place. It was the last box that they needed to move and Alex had promised to pick it up on her way home from the library. She hadn't planned on getting it so late, but she had lost track of time as she did her history report. She knew there was supposed to be a curfew in place due to the gang activity lately, but it wasn't as if she couldn't take care of herself.

She was fine.

After grabbing the box and readjusting her backpack on her back, she headed back out, seeing that nobody was really around. She wanted to get home anyways. Plus, she didn't really have the time. It was late and she didn't want April to worry about her. Without seeing the others, Alex exited the lair and went out onto the street.

It was a rather cold night, and Alex's jacket wasn't keeping her very warm. She was simply wearing a green blouse under her jacket, a pair of jeans and sneakers. Her hair was pulled behind her ears, but was still hanging down to her back. Her had had gotten a lot longer, she noticed. She was thinking about getting it cut to make sure it didn't get in the way of when she was fighting, but seeing as it hadn't really done anything of the sort as of late, she was contemplating keeping it longer.

As she thought about how she should have her hair, Alex passed an alley. A disgusted shiver ran up her spine as she heard a wolf whistle. It was one of those kinds of whistles. Those ones where men would make a woman feel like property and as if they were a piece of meat meant only to exist for them and only them. It gave Alex the creeps.

"Hey honey, where ya goin'?" the guy asked.

Alex didn't even turn around to look at the guy talking to her. She could hear several pairs of footsteps following her as she went. She sounded at least three, possibly four people following her. She wasn't giving them any attention though, just hoping that they would leave her alone so she wouldn't have to take any sort of action. She really hadn't been in the mood to fight.

"Hey, I'm talkin' to ya, Toots!" the guy called out. He grabbed Alex by the arm and yanked her back, forcing her to look at him. She then saw he was a member of the Purple Dragons. So were the three other people behind him.

"Look," Alex started to say, "I don't want any trouble."

"And we just want to have a good time," he said.

"And I just want to go home to finish my history report," Alex said. "Please, just let me go."

He looked at Alex up and down and that made her really regret not buttoning up her jacket all the way before she left the lair. That and she should have asked one of the guys to walk her home. At least then this situation most likely would have never taken place. It would have been the safe and smart thing to do. I'm supposed to be smart, aren't I? Alex asked herself. Then why was I so stupid in doing this?

"What's in the box?" he asked.

"Just office supplies," Alex told him. It was the complete truth too. All there was in the box were some pencils, pens, staplers and book ends. There was nothing special in there whatsoever. Nothing that they would make a big profit off of. "Here, take it. Just let me go," Alex tried to reason. She would have down almost anything to get out of there without having to tight. April would have understood when Alex told her what happened when she didn't come home with the box. She would have just been happy she was okay.

The guy took the box, momentarily letting go of Alex's arm. He passed the box to one of the guys behind her, giving her an opportunity to bolt it. Alex turned and ran from where she was. She could hear the guys behind her yelling for her to stop. The guy than had grabbed her told the others to catch her, which just made her run faster.

However, everything and everyone stopped once a large explosion was heard. The ground rumbled and shook slightly. Alex could see from the side of her eyes that some of the gang members fell to the ground from the shaking. She couldn't help but roll her eyes at that and scoff. It was ridiculous, she thought.

What the heck was that? Alex asked. She was about to turn and run down the street to her left, but then stopped herself. What if someone is in trouble? They might need my help! So instead, Alex ran down the street to her right, leaving the gang member running back down the way they had come in fear. They wanted nothing to do with her anymore since the explosion, so in a way she was kind of thankful for that.

Alex ran down the street towards the sound of the explosion. Alex skidded to a stop though when she saw some shady looking people on the opposite side of the street. They were looking over at an apartment building where a little girl was playing on the sidewalk. The men were talking about it and she didn't like the look of it.

Being distracted from the explosion, Alex stopped and hid behind a car. She watched the people intently. She had one of her gut feelings and she didn't like what it was telling her about those people. So she waited. She tried to hear what they were saying, but she could really only hear little bits and pieces over the usual noise in New York City.

What she could make out were things like "hiding," "enemy," "first floor," and "job." But that was all she got. That didn't mean she didn't try to figure it out though. The people across the street were gang member. They said "enemy" so Alex assumed and "enemy" was "hiding" out in the "first floor" of the building they were looking at. It was their "job" to take this "enemy" out. She didn't like that either. What else could it mean?

The men started to move towards the building. A couple of them, Alex noticed, had guns in their hands. That was the last straw for Alex. There was a little girl out in front of that building. By the look of how they were walking, they weren't going to go into the building. They were going to shoot from the outside. The little girl was right in the way.

There was no way Alex was going to let that little girl get caught up in the gang wars going on.

"Get down!" Alex yelled as she ran forward, grabbing hold of the little girl.

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

o0o

"Hello?" April asked as she answered the phone.

"Miss O'Neil?" the man on the other end asked.

"Yes, this is she," April said. "May I ask whose calling?"

"My name is Dr. Wright," the man said. "I'm sorry to inform you that your niece, Alex, was in an accident."

"An accident? What kind of accident? Is Alex okay?" April quickly asked, her voice panicked.

"She was shot several times," he informed her. "We have her here in the MICU. She's currently in a coma."

"How is she? Is she going to wake up?" April asked, tears rolling out of the sides of her eyes.

"Like I said, she's currently in a coma. She's not good. I suggest you get here as fast as you can," he told her.

April hung up the phone after getting directions to New York Downtown Hospital. She grabbed her cell phone, her purse and headed out of the shop after locking it up. She haled a taxi because she had left Casey and Mikey take her car. She looked down at her phone in her lap as she sat in the taxi. She had to call the guys. But she had to see Alex first. She just had to see if she was okay.

o0o

April rushed into the hospital and made her way up to the ICU as quickly as possible. The nurses working there made her scrub up to her elbows and then wear a gown and gloves before they let her into Alex's room. April hesitated before going in once she saw the young girl from the doorway of the room.

"Oh Alex," April said before sitting down in the chair on the other side of the room. The Nurses had told her that it would be best if she didn't touch her. Alex was very unstable at the moment and they didn't want to risk the girl getting an infection even with all of the scrubbing down. They didn't want to take the risk. They were surprised she wasn't dead upon arrival.

"Ma'am," a nurse said from the doorway. April turned her head to look at the young man. "There is an officer here to speak to you."

"Thank you," April said. She took one last look at her niece before standing up. She exited the room and had to throw her gown, gloves and made her wash again before leaving. She walked out to the waiting room which was, despite all of the resent activity in the city, was rather empty. She found the officer standing there, looking at the vending machine. "Officer?" April asked, getting the young man's attention.

He looked over at the woman and then took his hat off as he walked closer to her. "Ma'am," he greeted. "My name is Officer Blake. I'm sorry for everything that's happened and I assure you that we're doing everything in our power to catch who did this."

"Thank you," April said.

"Uh, will you sit?" Blake asked, gesturing to the chairs. April sat down and looked at the young man, who looked no older than twenty-one. He had short dark hair and warm brown eyes. He was tall, taller than herself, but shorter than Casey. He was also strong, but also not as strong as Casey or the turtles.

"Officer Blake, can you tell me what happened?" April asked. "The doctors don't really know what happened other than that she was shot."

Blake nodded. "Alexandra-"

"Alex," April corrected. People didn't call Alex "Alexandra." She was mostly just Alex or Lex. But nobody ever called her Alexandra unless it was Master Splinter. She wouldn't have the officer calling her that. It just made April feel as if Alex was another case to be solved. It depersonalized her.

"All right," he said, nodding his head understandingly. Despite him looking and having the air of a newbie, which he was, he rather understood how April felt. "Alex was shot in a part of the gang activity taking place lately. Some members of the Purple Dragons were taking out an enemy of their and Alex jumped in front of a little girl who was playing outside to try and save her."

April took in a shaky, deep breath. She nodded her head. Before she realized it, April started to mutter, "Of course Alex would have been trying to protect somebody. That's all she ever tries to do. Help people. And this is where it gets her."

"What do you mean?" Officer Blake asked.

"Alex always tries to help people. Even before her parents died, she's had a thing with helping others," April said.

"I read in the report that her parents had passed, but I don't know how it happened," Blake said.

"They were murdered," April informed him. "The person or people haven't been caught. They also took my nephews, Alex's older brothers." Of course, April knew the whole story now. She just wasn't going to tell the officer. She didn't want to look like she was insane.

"The poor girl," Blake said.

"She doesn't like to let people see how much it all affects her though," April went on. "She's one of those people who'll put on a smile and tell you everything's all right just so you don't have to worry."

"She sounds like a good kid," Blake said.

"She is," she replied. You have no idea.

"She's going to be okay," Blake said. "I can feel it."

I hope you're right, April thought. "Will you excuse me for a minute? I've got to make a phone call."

"Of course," Blake said.

April got up from her chair and walked out into the hallway for a little more privacy. She took out her phone and dialed for Casey first. There was no answer. She didn't like that. So she tried Don. He didn't answer either, along with Leo, Mikey and Raph. Either they were all busy and just couldn't answer, or something was wrong with them too. April really didn't need to worry about any of them either. She had enough to worry about with Alex.

April walked back into the room as she put her phone back in her pocket and took a seat. "Sorry about that. I've been trying to get a hold of some of our close friends, but they're not answering."

"I'm sorry to hear that," Blake said. "But I should really get to why I'm here."

"Please do," April said.

"We want to keep an officer here with her until the guys who did this are captured," Blake said. "She most likely saw their faces and they wouldn't want to risk it. They might try to send someone. That's why I'm here. I'd also like to make a request."

"And what would that be?" April asked.

"I would like to be there when she wakes up," Officer Blake said. "It I can talk to her right when she wakes up, I might be able to get everything she remembers about the men and the events. The quicker you get that down is the best. The memory would be clearer than say if I did it a couple days after."

"I understand," April said. "I'll consent."

"Thank you," Blake said.

"Anything to get the people who did this."

o0o

Donny, Leo, Raph, Mikey, Casey and Master Splinter walked into the lair all very tired from the events that had taken place. The turtles plopped down on the couch while Casey just dropped to the floor. Master Splinter was heading to his room when Casey pulled out his cell phone and stated that he had missed a call from April. Donny too took out his Shell Cell and looked at it, seeing that he too had missed a call from the red haired woman.

"That's weird," Leo said. Seeing as they both had missed calls, he pulled out his phone and looked at it. "I missed a call from April too."

"Me too," Mikey said.

"Ditto," Raph added.

"Perhaps it would be wise to contact our friend," Master Splinter said, walking about over to the other's in his home.

Donny dialed April's number. It rang a couple times before he heard April on the other end. Everybody listened to Donny as he spoke, but they were unable to hear what April was saying on the other line. "Hey April," Donny greeted. "Sorry we missed your calls. We kind of had our hands full. What's up?...What?...How?...Is she…?...Is there anything we can do?...All right, we'll keep in touch….It'll be okay, April….Okay, bye."

Don hung up the phone and let his hand fall to his lap. Everybody was anxious to know what was going on. From the sound of his voice and the look on his face, something was wrong and nobody there liked how it all looked. Now they just needed to know what happened and get Donny to talk.

"Donatello, what is the trouble?" Master Splinter asked his son, placing a hand on his shoulder.

"It's Alex," he said.

"What about Alex?" Leo asked.

"She's in the hospital," Donny went on. "She's been shot three times. April says that she's in the intensive care unit."

"Did she say there was anything we could do?" Casey asked.

"No," Don said. "She said that she couldn't tell us everything yet, but there really wasn't anything we could do other than keep watch at the hospital to make sure nobody threatening looking goes in."

"How did this happen?" Raph yelled, storming up from his spot.

"All April was able to tell me was that it was gang related," Don said.

"My sons, you need your strength if you are to keep watch tonight for Alexandra," Splinter said. "You need to sleep."

As they all stood up, Leo muttered to Raph, "Still think it wasn't our business?"

o0o

It had been a week since Alex had been shot. Alex was moved out of the ICU a couple days after she had arrived, but that still didn't mean she was out of the clear. She still hadn't woken up and she wasn't improving or getting worse. She was just laying there with an oxygen mask over her mouth and nose just to make sure her breathing was all right. She was bandaged up neatly. Nurses would go and change then twice a day.

April had been at the hospital the whole time, basically. The only times she left was to use the restroom, get food or when Casey made her leave to get some sleep. However, he could only keep her a way for about two or three hours when he did that. But at least she was out of there and resting for a little while.

Officer Blake had been staying with Alex, just as he said he would. He sat right in a chair by the door in the room, usually staring out into the hallway or at the unconscious girl. He couldn't get the fact that a young girl would do such a brave thing for someone she didn't even know. She had almost died for that little girl. He didn't think he knew any teenager, and a lot of adult, that would do that for someone else. In a way, he admired her a lot for her bravery.

The terrapins had been keeping watch every night that Alex was in the hospital, except for the night that they had gotten the call. And even though they had gone to bed after getting the news, none of them really slept well at all. Mikey kept waking up from bad dreams, Don went to sleep for a little bit, but then woke up and couldn't fall back asleep from everything running through him mind. He ended up getting up and working in his lab.

Raph couldn't sleep at all. He was wondering if it really was their fault that Alex had gotten shot. Everything that Leo had been talking about, everything about how they had caused the war was running through his mind. Was it their fault that Alex was shot? Was it his fault that one of his best friends was in the hospital? Would she be okay? Would there be a chance for him to see her again?

Leo wasn't much better. He still felt that it was their entire fault. He could have prevented what happened to Alex? If she died, he wouldn't know how to deal with himself. He felt it was his fault that she had gotten into that situation. They still didn't know that she had jumped in front of that little girl to protect her, they just thought she was hit by gang members. But even so, would Leo still blame himself if he knew? Would it have been his fault for that little girl being in trouble?

Master Splinter could see how this was affecting his sons. He didn't like it, but he really didn't know what to do. Usually, he would have let them figure out their feelings on their own, but it had already been a week and nothing was changing. He wasn't doing the best either. He loved Alex. She was almost like the daughter he had never had. He cared about her and he hated to think off all of the pain that she was in.

There was an annoying beeping that just wouldn't go away. Alex tried to ignore it and go back to sleep, but it was right in her ear it seemed. Then she realized the pain. She had a horrible pain in her left side, her right hip and one on her chest. She almost groaned from it, but she refrained from doing so. She didn't know why she was in pain or what that beeping was.

Slowly, Alex opened her eyes and shut them quickly. It was very bright wherever she was. She slowly opened her eyes again, this time letting them adjust to the light. She could see lights on the ceiling above her and the monitors to her left and to her right. She could feel a mask on her face and she could taste the metallic oxygen she was breathing in. Alex assumed she was in a hospital.

The next thing that Alex noticed was a man sitting in a chair over by the door. He was a young looking man with very short dark brown hair. He also had pale white skin, but Alex assumed that was because it was getting colder and people were staying inside more, meaning he was getting less contact with the sun. She could also see his NYPD uniform. She could barely make out the badge on his chest. His dark brown eyes were focused on the doorway.

It was then that Alex remembered what happened. The gang, the building, the little girl. She remembered getting to the little girl, but that was all she remembered. She could see anything further after that. She could remember everything before perfectly fine, but not anything after. That annoyed her, but it wasn't like there was really anything she could do about it.

"Officer," Alex croaked out. Her voice sounded very horse and it was very dry. But it was audible.

The police man looked startled for a moment, moving his eyes from the door to the girl very quickly. He got up out of his chair and walked up to the girl, standing next to her bed. "Alexandra O'Neil," he said. "I'm Officer Blake."

Alex tried to nod her head, but it hurt to do so, so she didn't continue with the motion. "Yes," she said. "But really, it's just Alex, please."

He chuckled a little and smiled down at her. Despite him being older than her – though noticing that he was still rather young, maybe twenty-one – he was very nice looking and had a nice smile. "That's what your aunt said."

"April?" Alex asked. "Where's April?"

"It's okay," he told her. "She just went home to take a shower and to get a little rest. A friend of her's, uh, Mr. Jones, I believe has been trying to get her to rest and to get out of the hospital a little. She's been very worried about you. We all have."

"How long have I been out?" Alex asked, moving the mask off of her face. She removed it despite the cops protests. She didn't need it. She could breath perfectly fine on her own. It hurt a little since it involved moving her chest, but she didn't care. It wasn't as if she hadn't been in horrible pain before. It was nothing compared to that ray thing that the Shredder had.

"You've been in unconscious for about a week," Blake told her.

Alex groaned. I hate it when that happens, she thought.

"Alex," he said, getting her attention. "I don't know if you remember, but you were in an incident–"

Alex almost laughed at how softly he was trying to break it to her, as if she didn't remember. She guessed that most people would remember as quickly as she did, but she was a normal person, now was she? "I was shot," Alex said. "Is the girl okay?"

"You were shot three times," he told her. She didn't miss how he left out the information about the little girl. "You were hit by three of thirteen shots taken." He moved over a chair to sit next to her as he spoke. "You are lucky to still be here. It was an incredibly brave thing that you did. Stupid, but brave."

She knew it was stupid. Most of the things that she did were stupid, but she could help but do them. "Thank you," she said, "I think. But you left out the little girl. So, I'm going to assume that it's bad news." Her voice was getting weaker and more serious as she spoke. "Is she injured or did she…Is she…"

Blake looked at the girl with sympathetic eyes and shook his head. "She didn't make it. She got hit with two bullets."

"And the person they were after?" Alex asked. "Did they get the job done?"

"Unfortunately, they did," Blake said. "He was hit four times."

"What about the rest of the shots?" Alex asked. "You said there were thirteen taken. That's nine. What about the other four?"

"Misses," he informed her. "Nobody else was hurt."

Alex made a noise telling him she understood and got the information as she stared up at the ceiling. She was trying to prevent tears from forming and slipping out of her eyes. She didn't want to have this police officer see her weak. She didn't want anybody see her weak. After all of that, two people were dead, one being that little girl. She couldn't protect her. Then she goes and most likely gives April a heart attack from worry. And what about the guys? Did they know? If they did, how were they handling everything? Where they trying to catch the people who did it?

The people who did it…

"Have the gangsters been caught?" Alex asked, looking at the officer who had moved his gave to his hands after he saw how the girl was in her own thoughts. He looked back up at her once he heard her voice.

"No," Blake said. "That's why I'm here. I'm here for protection detail and to get your statement."

"Okay," Alex said. "Do you have a pad and paper ready?" she asked.

"Are you sure you're ready to do this?" he asked. "I can call your aunt first. She can be here when you do it."

"I know it's best to get it down," Alex said. "That way it's still fresh in the mind, right? Isn't that how it works?"

"You're a smart girl," he said.

"A stupidly brave on, but also smart," Alex joked.

"Why don't you start from the beginning?" Blake said.

"All right," Alex said. "I was walking home from a friends place after picking up a box of stuff that they were letting us keep there."

"We didn't find a box at the crime scene," he told her.

"That's because I ran into some other Purple Dragons on the way home," she continued. "They took the box, but I got away. So I was on my way home when I heard an explosion. I decided to go see if anything was wrong, but ended up seeing more Purple Dragon members outside of that apartment building. It could see that they were up to no good, so I stopped and watched for a couple minutes because I saw that little girl playing outside.

"So I stood there and when I saw them pull out the guns and start to head across the street, I ran over to the little girl and tried to get her down and covered her with myself. I went out after that," she told him.

"Okay," Blake said. "Do you remember what any of them look like?"

"Two," she told him. "There were two guys that were obviously in charge of the operation. If you get a sketch artist, or if you want me to describe them to you I can, but I remember what they look like exactly."

"You really remember details, don't you?" Blake said.

Alex laughed. "Yeah, but I can never remember what I ate for breakfast."

"That sounds like something I would do," he told her with a laugh.

"Most people can't remember what they have for breakfast," Alex said. "Or, at least the people at my school don't." School. "Aw man," she whined. "I missed a week of school. And I had a history project due!"

Officer Blake laughed at her. "You've been shot and you're worried about your history project?"
"Yes I am," she told him. "I like my GPA and I plan on keeping it, thank you very much."

He stood up and started to walk to the door. Before exiting he turned to her and told her, "I'm going to go call a sketch artist." He started to walk out again.

"Officer Blake!" Alex called out. He stopped and poked his head back in. "Don't let those guys get away."

He nodded his head and thought before replying with, "I promise you, Alex, that I'll get the people responsible for this. If not for that little girl, for you."

Alex nodded her head despite the pain. "Thank you."

"Anytime, kid," he said.

To Nadia,
Haha, you were wrong on who was going to get shot. I told you I would put this here.
Nice try though.

~Bucky