Kage felt a sob rise in her throat as she lost herself in darkness. The sewers were her home, and it wrapped the girl in its comforting embrace as she felt tears trickle down her face. She had seen Mr. Splinter's face when she had been called a thief...He had been so shocked, so disappointed. She didn't want to let him down, not after all he had done for her! And to be called a thief in his presence, to be considered a low life...

The sobs were soundless, and finally Kage dropped to her knees, defeated.

Sewer water crashed into her, staining her once dry clothes, making the girl feel worse about herself. She might as well be a sewer rat for all she was worth...Not that a sewer rat was a particularly bad choice, Mr. Splinter seemed to be fine with it...

Why didn't I just jump off the bridge? End all this...? Kage wanted to cry, but her cheeks were already tear stained, her heart tattered and battered, her body so tired from everything. She had become a living ghost, so alone, never being noticed, always being hidden...She might as well not exist...

But as long as the necklace was around her, she would always be a target. Somebody would be waiting for her to slip up, just one more time, just one little mess up to ruin her life...again.

Kage cried into her hands, her body racked with sobs, until she eventually just picked herself up and moved to higher ground, away from the water, so she could sleep a dreamless sleep.

~(0)~

"Harboring a wanted fugitive, obstructing justice in an intergalactic burglary, aiding and abetting a criminal, lying to a friend," Mortu ranted, floating back and forth in front of four turtles and their Master Splinter. "How dare you? My friends, how could you come to lie to me? I considered you to be Champions of Truth on a corrupt world, but to discover you are more than a liar is just mortifying!"

"We didn't-" Leonardo spoke up, but was cut off.

"Silence! You could have stepped aside to allow justice to run its course, but NO! Do you not understand how important this is? Or have you forgotten the meaning of integrity? Of honesty?" Mortu demanded of the four brothers. "Why did you stop my comrades? Why did you take that girl's side when you knew she was to be apprehended for justice's sake?! Why would you align yourselves with the enemy?!"

The brothers shared a look, and then Michelangelo spoke up.

"She's family."

Mortu sighed, seeming to shake his head.

"It does not matter if this girl was family, she is a fugitive-"

"Technically, only her mother is the wanted fugitive. Kage herself was just an unknowing victim," Donatello chimed in.

"She is an accomplice, as you so eloquently stated," Mortu smiled patronizingly. "And is therefore still a person of interest, and is therefore still a wanted person."

"You cannot be serious," Master Splinter said. "You spoke to her, you saw her pain! This was not a fight she was born into, rather thrown in at a young age! You cannot continue a pursuit that has scarred her beyond belief."

"You should be glad I haven't arrested all five of you by authorization of my home world!You should be glad I haven't filed sanctions on this whole planet!" Mortu exclaimed angrily. And then he muttered, more to himself than anyone, "Why is it Earth is the continual arena for intergalactic troubles and woes? Why?"

"Maybe we can be mutually beneficial to each other," Master Splinter began, looking at the over worked Utromian calmly.

"And how would you propose that?"

"We will retrieve Kage, and you can get your necklace back. She should still trust us, my sons did defend her after all," Mortu could see the pleased gleam in the rat's eyes at that fact. "And she should still be wanting a safe haven. Dispel your troops from these trenches, and when she feels safe again we will pull her back into our home. You may conduct whatever interviews you please, while one of my sons can oversee, of course, and you can also undo the clasp binding the necklace to Kage. Does that sound most agreeable?"

Sometimes, Mortu was sure Master Splinter was a diplomat undercover on Earth...

"It sounds like a good plan, in which we can both achieve what we want."

Mortu felt himself become formal as he responded to his friend, and could see the twitch of a smirk on Splinter's face.

"Agreed, now pull back your men."

~(0)~

She was sleeping.

The poor little girl, she had finally collapsed from over exhaustion. The little brunette was covered in sewer water, but she was sleeping as fitfully as if she was asleep on a king mattress in cozy warm clothes. The poor girl, so tired, always on the run, never with anyone to hold her hand, to tell her it would get better.

No one to tell her she was loved.

Safe.

I sighed, feeling my heart break. All alone throughout the long years, never with a friend, I couldn't imagine how she did it. I hadn't meant to get hurt in that raid, to make my baby girl run away from the Utromians, away from me...

It had been an accident, even the greats must fall sometime. I had gotten hit with a laser beam, or some sort of similar weapon, and had been almost mortally wounded. The Utromians focused on my baby girl, not the woman bleeding out on the floor, and my baby girl bolted. We had been staying with a friend, so she had to call 9-1-1. My friend, bless her heart, had covered for me, and said it had been a robbery gone wrong.

I think the police are still searching for that 'burglar'...

Hehe.

When I got out of the hospital, which was a really long time (almost fatal injuries tend to require extensive hospital time, not to mention rehab that I was forced to endure) and by the time I got out, it was to late.

My little sweetie pie, my darling, was gone. She took everything I had taught her and became a shadow girl. She would've made a great thief, if there had been time to teach her.

If I had been there to teach her.

I had to be the world's (or is it worlds, since there's more than one?) worst mother, and to think all of this was my fault. If I hadn't taken the gig, if I hadn't gone to a distant planet I couldn't even remember the name of, then things might have been different. If I had just taken the Buckingham Palace job instead. It's not like the Queen needs all of those jewels...

My baby girl had to grow up scared, lost, confused, alone.

I had to age regretting my choices. Every day I cursed my fortune, knowing I would probably never see my darling sweetie pie again.

But I still looked.

I had friends in not so nice places watching out for her, friends all over the city who owed me a favor or two, and a scientist friend who was watching out for any trace of intergalactic teleportation to Earth.

Boy did the last one pay off.

It's not like I didn't know the turtles were down here. They make to much of a mess topside for New Yorkians not to notice them! Really, if you want to battle gang violence then just get a badge. Dealing with vigilantes and 'Night Watchers' (more like Night Terrors), weirdos and whack jobs, and those shells for brains really thought they were being sneaky? Just because you weren't broadcasted all over the news doesn't mean the world above doesn't know you exist.

Hm, I wonder if that's that a double negative...

I shook my head, approaching my daughter. She didn't stir, and I was so thankful she was finally getting a good night's rest. I lowered myself to the floor, taking a seat beside my baby girl. I ran my fingers over her matted hair, tsking at the disrepair and split-ins, sighing at her pale skin, a smile at how grown up she was. I reached for the chain around her neck, knowing I would finally be able to correct my terrible mistake.