Here's the next one. I swear I'm so into the idea of this. Secretly I'll be pretending Donnie is doing this in the show behind the scenes. I won't change my mind. YOU CAN'T MAKE ME! Until this story gets further in anyway. You'll see what I mean. Enjoy!

Donnie doesn't think about Alopex for a while after that. His reunion with April overwhelms him in more ways than one and his life rights itself despite the impossibility of it all. So that one desperate night fades to the background. Everything about it becomes dull and he completely forgets his wish to see Alopex again. Alopex's very existence nearly disappears to him.

Until one night.

His brothers are out surveying for any impending problems or battles from the Kraang and the Foot. There have been a string of robberies and they need to figure out whether it's serious – their kind of serious – or just an increase in general crime. So it's to each his own. They'll cover more ground this way. The only imperative is that if something does come up, to immediately call. Donnie scoffed at the thought of anything that bad happening, but now that he's out on his own, far from his brothers, his doubts creep back in.

Donnie glances furtively about him. He grips his bo tightly in his hands as he slinks from one shadow to the next. His fears seem to be by and large wasted though tonight. The night is oppressive, but for once there doesn't seem to be any real activity, least of all criminal activity.

He knows better than to let his guard down though. Danger lurks everywhere, especially on silent nights. Then suddenly the silence shatters. Donnie jumps as a blaring alarm screams in his ears. He nearly fumbles his weapon, but quickly regains his hold.

Donnie shoots into a run toward the sound. His eyes dart back and forth as he not only tries to pinpoint the origin but also catch any movements that might indicate the culprit. He stops suddenly as he finds the source of the alarm – a simple convenience store. This can't be one of their enemies.

In the next instant the glass window shatters around him. Donnie starts and throws his arms up as leaps back, but he can't avoid all the sharp edges as they slice across his skin. He especially can't avoid the person who follows the explosion of glass. They lodge their foot deep in his gut and knock the breath out of him.

He hits the ground hard, his head cracking against the pavement. He instinctively rears his weapon back to hit at his attacker, but stops abruptly as his gaze focuses on the face of the culprit. His eyes widen and he gasps. "Alopex?"

Alopex starts. "Donnie?" She quickly lifts her foot from his stomach and scrambles around him. She grabs his arm and jerks him up, in no way gentle about it. She doesn't have time to waste. She drags him along and turns sharply into a nearby alley.

Donnie stumbles along. He tries to protest, tries to say anything at all, but he can't find his breath. Even when they stop he can only stare in disbelief at Alopex. His breaths come short and ragged.

Alopex looks hard at him. "What are you doing here?" She raises a brow and she crosses her arms. "You just walk around at night all the time? Waiting to get beaten."

Donnie shakes his head and opens his mouth. But the words that come out aren't what he expects. "You…you're a girl?" His shock rises further. He slides his bo back in its holder.

Alopex looks disbelievingly at him. "Uh, yeah. Of course I am." She frowns deeply. "Didn't you get that before?" He must not be altogether too bright.

Donnie breathes in deeply and finally regains his composure. "Well, no." He smiles bashfully. "I mean, you weren't exactly fluent the last time I saw you. You're broken speech made it hard to tell." He suddenly narrows his eyes and straightens his posture. "And not to mention you weren't human! How was I supposed to know?"

Alopex snorts and a flicker of a smile passes her lips. "You're adorable when you're mad." She reaches out and pinches his cheek playfully. "You just don't have a mad face."

Donnie makes a face. "Huh?" He tries to lean away from her grasp. "S-Stop it." He protests. He pulls at her arm. "What does that even mean?" His cheeks flush.

Alopex snickers. She releases him in the next instant, her golden eyes especially bright in her delight. "Exactly what it sounds like." She pats him once on the head and takes a step back.

Donnie raises a bro and frowns deeply. This is really the last issue he needs to focus on though. "Fine. Whatever." He looks hard at her. "But what the heck do you think you're doing?" He crosses his arms. "You destroyed that shop!" He jerks his arm up and points to the building.

Alopex glances back toward the open street where the shop lies. "Hm, yeeeah…" She rubs the back of her head as an almost shy smile creeps onto her lips. "I've not quite got the whole stealth thing down."

Donnie snorts. "Ya think?" He shakes his head in disbelief. "You're lucky you didn't wake the dead with that kind of finesse."

Alopex scowls. "Oh come on." She swats at him. "It wasn't that bad. I mean, I've gotten better."

Donnie can't contain a laugh. "Better? Lord, Alopex," He holds his head in a hand. "How bad were you at this?"

Alopex growls softly. "Well sorry. It's not like I was a fox trying to adjust to being a human or anything. Next time you mutate I'll be sure to evaluate your 'finesse'." She says the word in a different tone.

Donnie's face lights up. "Speaking of mutating…" he murmurs half to himself. "You look like you've adapted pretty well." For the first time he takes in Alopex's drastically different appearance. Most notably she is walking on two legs now, but that's not the only thing.

Alopex dons a thick, tattered grey scarf around her neck, a shirt torn at the midway point, and wrappings cover her arms and legs. Out of all of it though Donnie's eyes are drawn to the tooth hanging from her neck. He doesn't think he really wants to know though.

Alopex grins. "I know right?" She stretches her arms and swings them about. She shifts her weight from one foot to the other and jumps backward then forward again. "After a week it became surprisingly easy. Just like fighting." She strikes an offensive pose.

Donnie grimaces. That reminds me. "So are you responsible for all these recent robberies." He narrows his eyes and his hands clench. They started about a month ago – about the time he met her.

Alopex shakes her head. "Oh, come on Donnie." She smiles, but there is an uncomfortable edge to it now. She reaches toward his face again.

Donnie hits her hand away. "Don't 'oh, Donnie' me." His gaze hardens further. "I'm serious. This is serious. Did you do all of this?" He is pretty sure he already knows the answer even though he doesn't want to.

Alopex sighs heavily. Her gaze grows cold. "You should know what it's like." She crosses her arms, closing him out. "I can't just get a job for money or walk in and buy food. And I'm not going to let myself starve." Her hand twitches at her side. "Do you want me to starve?"

Donnie bows his head slightly. He simpers and casts his eyes downward. "No, I just…" He twiddles his fingers as a wave of guilt washes over him.

Alopex's tail swishes with excitement. Her eyes light up and an almost malicious smile curves her lips. "Or would you rather me eat people?"

Donnie jerks to attention. He gapes at her. "No!" He yells a little too loud. The sound is especially sharp in the sudden silence of the night. Wait…what happened to the alarms? Confusion settles on his expression.

Alopex notes his abrupt shift and her smile relaxes into one of small amusement. "The cops must have come and turned it off. They went by a minute ago." She nods back toward the streets. "You just missed it I guess."

Donnie's brows knit together. He…missed it? Him? He's no master ninja, but-

"Hey," She cuts his thoughts short. "You alright?"

Donnie perks. "Huh? Yeah." He waves her words away. "I was just thinking and-"

"No." She shakes her head stiffly and frowns. "Not that. I mean that." She points, touching a finger softly to one of the cuts on his skin.

Donnie cringes at the contact. He glances down to see a multitude of tiny slits covering his arm, probably both. A few are particularly noticeable and deep. One even still has a piece of glass lodged in it. "Oh." How did he not feel that all this time? "Yeah, I guess."

Alopex's frown becomes deeper. "No you're not." She jerks her head back toward the street. Her eyes narrow. "But we can't stay here. The cops will be out looking any minute now." Her ears twitch faintly. She can hear them even from here. "So come on." She turns sharply and leaps up to the fire escape, grabbing on and swinging effortlessly to the first level.

Donnie watches with wide eyes. She really did learn fast. His mind flashes back to the moment he met her. He thought she learned fast then too. Was there something special about her? Was it just her species? Or was the mutagen altered somehow with her?

"Donnie!" Alopex barks. She leans down and reaches her hand out to him. "Come on." They're getting closer. She can hear them quite clearly now. Their footsteps move fast across the pavement.

Donnie knows he can make the jump, especially if she can. Still, his arms are bothering him now that she brought attention to them and he doesn't much feel like risking a screw up, even if it is a one-time thing. He can't be less capable than her. So he hurries toward her and grabs onto her hand.

Alopex heaves him up with minimal effort. "This way." She runs up the fire escape, up to the very top. Her tail flicks friskily as she readies herself to jump all the way to the roof.

Donnie follows her lead. They jump and land simultaneously. Once there they make their way over a few rooftops before stopping far enough away from the scene of the crime. "Well," Donnie sighs. "That was fun."

Alopex smirks at the hint of sarcasm. "A good workout." She points out. "And I learned something. You've actually got some wicked skills." She nods at him. "Where'd you learn to jump like that?"

Donnie can't contain his grin. "I'd ask the same of you." He raises a brow. "You've only been like this a month. Yet you're almost as good as me."

Alopex lets out a single syllable laugh. "Almost?" She crosses her arms and drums her fingers lightly, expectantly. "We both know I'm better than you."

Donnie snickers. "Minus ten points for stealth." He points at her.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah." She lightly hits his finger away. The amusement fades away in the next moments and a cloud of seriousness comes over her eyes. "Now let's look at your arms."

Donnie shrugs. "It's nothing, really. I'll fix it when I go back to the lair and-"

"Lair?" Alopex tilts her head and looks curiously at him. "You mean you have a place to stay around here?" She blows out a breath. "I know no house or hotel will let me within a mile. Y'know, I could eat them and all." She waves her hands about dramatically.

Donnie shakes his head. "You probably would." He hasn't forgotten her comment about eating people instead of food from stores. He wonders vaguely if she preyed on anyone when she still wasn't completely transformed, or worse, if she even remembers.

Alopex shoots him a sharp look. "I wasn't serious about that." She rolls her eyes. "Now gimme your arm." She shoves her hands out expectantly.

Donnie waves her concern away. "No, I've got it." He plops down on the roof and crosses his legs. He holds one arm out and looks carefully at it. There are a few pieces stuck in his skin. He reaches down and carefully pulls them out, cringing all the while.

Alopex sits next to him, crossing her legs as well. "It'd be so much easier if you let me do it." She rests her chin in her palm and waves the other hand flippantly. "You're just making it take longer."

Donnie ignores her even as she goes on and on until he flicks the last shard onto the roof. Then with a large sigh he lifts his head and looks at her. He scowls. "You know how hard it is to work with you making noise over there?"

Alopex scoffs. "Whatever." She starts to carefully unwrap her arms.

Donnie tilts his head as he notices her undoing her wrappings. "What are you doing?"

"What does it look like?" She doesn't look up.

Donnie huffs. "You know what I mean. Why are you doing that?" He rocks forward and balances himself on his knuckles.

"It's bandages genius. I use them to protect myself in fights and you can use them just as well to keep junk out of your cuts." She finishes the first one and moves it toward him. "Until you go back to your lair or whatever and can use better stuff."

Donnie pulls back. "Alopex, I told you it's fine. And besides," He bites his lip. "My brothers will notice something like that and wonder what's up."

Alopex narrows her eyes at him. "What? You don't want them to know about me?" She clenches her jaw and her fingers curl inward in the beginnings of a fist.

Donnie feels himself shrink. "No, I mean yeah, but it's not like that." The words tumble out of his mouth too fast. "I mean, look what you did!" He motions his hand in the direction of the store. He wonders fleetingly how far the cops have searched around the area. "We fight guys like you."

Alopex grins. "Do you now?" She raises a brow. Delight shines in her eyes. It makes Donnie all the more interesting. "Then why haven't you slapped me in cuffs?"

Donnie rolls his eyes. "We don't work for the police. We don't do like the law."

Alopex snickers. His mind is funny. He completely ignored the real question in her words. "Well, you still could have held me there until the cops came."

Donnie shrugs. "I guess." He frowns and averts his eyes. "But I…" He what? He's only seen this girl twice. He should have no reason to shelter her. "I mean," He rubs the back of his neck. "You were nice to me before, when I was falling apart."

Alopex makes a soft humming sound of acknowledgement. "So you feel like you owe me?" Irritation flickers in her eyes. "Because you don't, you know. I don't need you protecting me. I made it a month on my own out here. I'm perfectly capable."

Donnie shakes him head. "That's not it. Not really." He struggles to wrap his mind around the truth. Really there is no reason for why he didn't treat her like any common criminal, not a good one. At least not to him. "It just…doesn't feel like you're a bad person." God, I sound like Leo. "You're just like me – doing what you have to to survive."

Alopex snorts. "But you don't steal." She taps him lightly on the nose. "So obviously I don't have to be this way." She smirks.

Donnie scowls. "It's not the same." He swats at her hand. "It's just…not." When they were growing up they ate what they could find and as turtles it was pretty easy. Her though, if she reverted to her animalistic ways she'd inevitably end up killing people. Looking at the options, it's obvious that stealing is the lesser of two evils. And if she killed…he couldn't defend her anymore.

"So are you going to let me help you or not?" She crosses her arms and looks hard at him.

Donnie looks from the wrapping to her face and back again. He sighs. "Fine." He holds an arm out. He can always tell his brothers he fixed himself up. What he can't explain is why he didn't call for help.

Alopex smiles, and its strangely genuine. She takes extra care as she winds the wrapping around his arm. She then quickly undoes her other arm and applies it to his other arm. "There." She meets his eyes. "That wasn't so hard now was it?"

Donnie blinks up at her. He notices the docile content in Alopex's eyes in that moment and he is a bit startled. The usual cockiness or smugness is missing for an instant before it invariably returns. It makes him smile. "No, I guess you're right."

"As always." She grins. "I've never been wrong in my life." She hops up and taps him lightly on the shoulder. "I only do wrong."

Donnie gives her a disapproving look. "Ha ha." He helps himself up. It's amazing, but Alopex is actually a little taller than him standing. No one but Splinter has ever been taller than him. But she certainly wasn't sitting down. Huh. She must be longer in the legs.

"Well," Alopex turns and walks to the edge of the roof. "I'm done here." She prepares to jump.

Donnie's eyes shoot open and he jumps to attention. "Whoa, wait!" He runs forward after her.

Alopex sighs and stands to her full height again. "What?" She turns slowly and crosses her arms. She looks impatiently at Donnie.

"You're just gonna leave?" He frowns. "Where are you even going to go?" Didn't she say she didn't have anywhere?

Alopex smiles in amusement. "Wherever, you know." She shrugs. "I usually sleep in alleys curled up like a fox. Since, you know, I am still a fox." She makes a face then as she says, "I never understand those humans I see lying around against walls. That can't be comfortable."

Donnie shrugs. He taps his fingers against his leg. He wishes he could offer her some help, but he can't bring her home. He can't explain her well enough to his brothers and especially not to Splinter. And they might have the same thoughts as he did initially – they could test things on her.

He mentally shakes his head. No, he refuses to do that. "Just…don't destroy so many stores." He half smiles. He tries to be funny, but it really pains him to think of her breaking into places night after night even if it is to survive. One day she might even get caught.

Alopex grins. Her whole mouth of razor sharp teeth show. "I'll work on the stealth thing."

Donnie breathes heavily out. Of course. "Or, instead of ransacking a billion places you could just take what you need from one place and not eat at the store." She didn't have anything with her, so this must be the way she operated – eat and run.

Alopex frowns thoughtfully. She taps her chin lightly. "I suppose…" Meat didn't last very long without being refrigerated though. And it is her favorite. She can't help her animal instincts and cravings. "I can at least try."

"You could try not to steal too." He looks pleadingly at her.

Alopex smiles sadly. "Maybe one day." One day when she could find ways to get food without money or could work for money and had a runner to buy for her. It wasn't looking to good though, not for the near future.

Donnie hears the words beneath the words. Not in this lifetime. His smile matches hers. "Alright." He extends his hand to her.

Alopex reaches out and shakes his hand. "See you around." Maybe. She spins hard on her heel and leaps over the edge. She lands smoothly on the fire escape across the way and glances fleetingly back at Donnie. Then with a small smile she hops from level to level until she's on the ground, around the corner, and out of sight.

Donnie stares for a minute even once she gone. The wind rolls over him and tickles his skin, disturbing the white fur sitting there. Oh, right. He needs to make sure there isn't any of that left when he goes home.

He brushes himself off and then stands back straight. He moves slowly as he reaches down to his belt for the t-phone. He raises it just as slowly to his mouth, his mind racing with shoulds and should nots. In the end he picks what's wrong, "Leo, Raph, Mikey…it's all quiet over here. There's nothing." His version of wrong anyway.

Then he slips the t-phone back in place, Leo's voice reaching out and saying, "Alright. Let's go home guys." And they do.

Will all my chapter end with them going home? Nobody knoooows. lol So, what did you think of this chapter? I know I'm basically recreating Alopex for the Nickverse but I'd still love to know what you think about my portrayal. Do you like where she's going so far? Do you like the Donnie-Alopex dynamic? (I'm still not sure if I ship it. I'm still pretty keen on Apritello.)

Also as it gets further along I'll change the summary. It kind of gives things away right now though. Well, please review! :)