Casey rounded the corner. He didn't know what he was expecting, exactly, but a seven-and-a-half foot seagull wasn't it. He swallowed, then dropped into a fighting stance. "Freeze, creep!" The gull regarded him with one eye. Casey swung his stick, one armed. The giant bird mutant caught it in a ham-sized fist, yanked it out of his hand, and threw it down the street. Completely nonplussed, the gull began climbing the fire escape behind it, revealing a large duffel bag slung over each shoulder.

"Rock, Frito, hurry it up!" a voice hollered from the rooftop as the sound of approaching sirens reached them.

Casey furrowed his brow and slammed his mask down. "Okay, if that's the way you wanna pl—wha..?" He felt a tug at the container under his arm. He grabbed the end of the container before it was pulled away. He turned to see the furry, black-masked face of a very short mutant. "Drop it, pipsqueak!" Casey demanded.

The little raccoon yanked firmly on the container. "You shouldn't have that!" it said in the high-pitched voice of a young boy. "It's dangerous!"

Casey lifted the canister high in the air with both hands. The raccoon came off the ground with it, hanging off the other metal cap and looking shocked about it. He kicked at Casey, not managing to reach him. Casey shook the canister around, the little mutant flopping around like a rag doll, but refusing to give up. Letting go with one hand, the hockey player reached behind him for his baseball bat. The raccoon boy looked threatened and flinched, but didn't relinquish his hold on the container.

"Frito, drop it and get up here!" called the voice from the rooftop.

"You too, Jones," Leo echoed.

Casey looked up incredulously. "Wh—seriously?"

"Come on, the police are gonna be here any second."

Grudgingly, Casey retrieved his hockey stick and followed the raccoon kid up the nearest fire escape. No sooner than he had cleared the roof than two patrol cars skidded to a stop outside the grocery store. He looked around to see a total of eight mutants on the roof. It was a decidedly awkward feeling.

"Love to talk with you all, but we gotta ditch the heat first… Can you meet us there in a few?" The scrawny cat mutant, wearing gum boots and blue jeans pointed, to a business complex that stuck out from the rest of the surrounding area.

"Not a problem," Leo smirked. "Guys, move out."

"Aww yea!" Mikey was on the move immediately, leaping to the next roof. "Finally something to do!" The rest of the group was off after him moments later.

As they ran, the huge white shape of the seagull flapped effortlessly past them, the mutant cat and Frito clutching its legs.

"Damn," Raph commented, rather awed, "I didn't think that guy would even get in the air…"

The route was naturally shorter as the gull flew, but it didn't take long for the ninja crew to reach the building. Even Casey was keeping up, managing the leaps from roof to roof on his skates admirably, though when it came to the tall business building, with its lack of external fire escape, he had to call for an assist, much to his shame. He clung, chagrinned, to Raph's shell as the turtle hoisted them up the side of the building. "Jones… you weigh… a fucking ton!" Raphael panted.

"This isn't exactly a picnic for me either, ya know, being strapped to you like this… it's embarrassing. Can't you go any faster?"

"Yeah, hurry up, slowpokes!" Mikey jeered, swinging past them.

"Come on, Raph, you're always last!" Donnie added, running along the side of the building, April following on his heels with a giggle.

Raph growled aggressively. "Enough is enough!" He grabbed Casey by his shoulder padding and bodily threw him the last few yards to the top of the building.

Casey didn't have time to react outside of, "What the f—WHOA!" as he was pitched onto the roof. "Ooomph! Goddammit, Raph!"

Raphael smirked as he hauled himself over the side. "You wanted faster."

"Warn a guy when you're gonna do that!" Casey seethed at him.

"Raph!" Leo chided, heaping on the patronization for show. "What did I tell you about throwing team members?!"

The cat approached them, the seagull following him. The little raccoon hung back. "Holy shit, you guys are fast! And the jumping…! I kinda thought turtles were… ya know…"

"…awesome?" Raph finished.

"…intimidating?" tried Leo

"…incredibly handsome?" Mikey added charmingly.

The cat chuckled. "And what's with all the weapons?" He stopped himself. "I'm sorry, I'm getting ahead of myself and forgetting my manners. You can call me Cav. The big one there is Rock."

"His name is 'Rock?'" Leo queried.

"RAWK!" screeched Rock. "RAWK! RAWK!"

Cav gave a noncommittal gesture with his head. " 's all he can say. Writing's also kind of out for him. Seems pretty intelligent, though, and doesn't mind being our mode of transportation most of the time. And the kid back there is Frito."

"And I'm Leonardo. My brothers, Raphael, Michelangelo, and Donatello, and our friends April and Casey."

"And you're all, what, samurai, then?" Cav queried.

"Ninjas. Samurai wear armor," Donnie corrected.

"Huh. Well, whatever… Are you hungry? We'd be happy to share with our new-found mutant brethren." He nodded charmingly toward April. "Er... and sistren." Rock dropped the duffel bags from his shoulders and Cav began rooting through them. "Let's see what we got here… Chili, beans, peaches, cereal… What do ninja turtles eat, anyway?"

"Pizza, mostly," Mikey volunteered.

"Pizza?!" Cav snorted derisively. "What lap of luxury do you live in?!"

Casey cut in. "Are we all just ignoring the fact that these guys just robbed that supermarket?!"

"You do what you have to do to live, kid," Cav told him flatly, popping the top off a tin of catfood. "Ahh, salmon…" He licked at it. "Even if we had money, you think we could just walk through the front doors without everyone running and screaming? Even when you're as cute as Frito, people freak out at mutants. It's not like a mutant can show up at a soup kitchen. Especially three days in a row, trust me, I tried that one… barely escaped with my life."

"It's still stealing… just because you need it doesn't make it right… Leo, back me up, man," Casey begged.

Leo looked back at him with a tight-lipped expression. "It may not be the most honorable course, but sometimes, there just aren't better options. We're lucky enough to have Master Splinter's benefits… others aren't so fortunate."

The whiskers on one side of Cav's face rose as he chuckled. "Kafka's gonna love you!" He turned back to the one human on the roof. "If it's any consolation to you… Casey, was it?... we only take what we need, and we never hit the same place twice. And these places aren't going to be bankrupted by losing a couple hundred dollars in canned goods. They have insurance for that. They don't lose a thing."

"Hey, runt! Get off!" Raph's voice sounded angrily as Frito attempted to pull the mutagen away from him. Frito skittered backward as the turtle bent down, baring his teeth at the young mutant.

Cav rolled his eyes. "Frito, leave it alone! It's theirs."

"It's dangerous! We gotta get rid of all that stuff!"

Cav only replied with a nonchalant "Heh" from one raised lip.

Donnie half-knelt beside the raccoon. "We know it's dangerous, Frito. That's why we're out here, picking it all up. Then I take it to my lab and make a retro-mutagen out of it."

Frito wrinkled his forehead. "What's that?"

"It's … a medicine that turns mutants back into people," he tried to explain in simple terms. "…or whatever else they were before."

Frito's eyes lit up. "Can I have some?"

Donnie gave him a sad look. "We don't have any more right now, and it takes a lot of mutagen to make the medicine, and it takes a really long time. And right now, I'm making a special kind to fix April."

"Because she's your girlfriend," Frito deduced. "Then are you gonna make some to make you a person again too? So you can go get married?"

Donnie sighed and looked away. The kid was cute, but boy, did he hit on a sensitive subject. "No… the rest of us were turtles to start with."

"Maybe if she kisses you, you'll turn into a prince!" he said in a conspiratorially loud stage-whisper.

Don whispered back, "I think that only works with frogs." They both looked over at April, who was sitting against the building ledge. She looked back amusedly and stood. "Should I go for it?" The little raccoon nodded fervently, smiling ear to ear.

Donnie stood and sidled his way toward her, making a big show of being a ball of nerves. April obligingly leaned in and gave him a kiss on the cheek. He blinked. "I don't think it worked!" he reported. "Maybe you better try the other side." He turned his head, and April planted a kiss on that cheek as well. "No? Oh well… I guess we're gonna have to—" He turned to face her and pressed his beak into hers as she did the same and they kissed deeply. April lifted one leg at the knee, and Donnie dipped her low before setting her back on her feet. Frito was in hysterics, laughs mixed with the occasional raccoon chitter. Rock, watching, also emitted a loud laugh-like cry. Donatello shrugged, sighing. "Sorry, kid… I tried."

April swatted at him playfully. "You can't turn into something you are already, silly turtle!" She added to Frito, "He's always been a prince to me!"

Mikey clasped his hands under his chin. "That was so adorable!" he fawned. Raph motioned putting a finger down his throat.

Leo grinned flatly. "Okay, you two… if you're done, it's getting late; we need to head home."

"Which way are you guys headed?" Cav asked.

"A bit south, mostly west," Leo said, not revealing any specific details about the lair.

"Well, as long as we're headed in the same direction, there's someone along the way I'd like to introduce you to." He discarded the empty catfood can on a corner of the roof, zipped the duffel bags again and helped Rock shoulder them, then picked up his own bags. "Follow us." Cav and Frito grabbed onto the mutant gull's legs again, and Rock took to the air.

x-x-x-x-x

Rock touched down on top of a long bank of row-houses in a residential neighborhood. Cav and Frito took the duffel bags from his shoulders. Rock made no indication that he was coming along. Casey arrived minutes later, having had to take an alternative route as soon as they'd run out of flat rooftops for him to skate on.

The cat mutant made some impressive leaps to the railing of a small balcony and then to a hedge. Frito, however, had no such catlike grace. He tossed the duffel down into the hedge and climbed down slowly, picking out footholds with his clawed toes and clinging for dear life as he reached for the next. In the next moment, though, he lost his footing and fell.

A turtle exploded out of the bushes, intercepting Frito's fall and catching the raccoon kid in his arms. Raphael set the boy back on his feet. "What the fuck, Cav… letting the kid climb down a building by himself?! He's gonna get himself killed!" Raph scolded as the other turtles emerged from their camouflaged hiding spots on roof-peaks, in trees, behind bushes.

Cav looked nonplussed. "I keep telling him he needs to learn to jump. He needs to be more independent."

"So, you don't actually care if he independently falls to his death… That's assuring…"

"We learn by doing. He'll learn by making mistakes."

"Yeah, unless his mistakes kill him first… then he doesn't learn a damn thing!" Raph snapped.

"It's a rough world. He needs to learn to take care of himself, and as soon as possible," Cav replied with a cool look. He pressed the doorbell twice, paused a moment, then pressed it again.

"At that, why didn't you just have the gull land on the lawn?" Casey criticized. "Then he wouldn't have had to climb down at all!"

"Rock… isn't comfortable here. You'll understand momentarily, I think."

"Isn't it late to visit someone?" Leo expressed a bit of concern.

"Ms. Nora's become a bit of a night owl… she doesn't mind the late-night visits, circumstances as they are. Ah," he said as the door unlocked and swung partway open. Two cats dashed out. A third remained, arching and rubbing against the doorframe.

A hooded figure appeared in the low light. "Well! Hello, Macavity! I was hoping you'd visit again soon… we're running out of the Tuna Vittles…" The voice was that of an aged woman.

"Hi, Mom," Cav greeted, stepping through the door with his duffel and motioning for the others to come in as well. "I've brought some new friends for you to meet."

The woman tsked. "I wish you had warned me… I could have cleaned!" She shut the door once everyone was inside (nudging the indecisive cat in with a foot), turned on a light that barely lit the small entryway, and drew the hood of her robe back, revealing a cat's face. Her fur was a gray mackerel pattern, similar to Cav's, and her eyes likewise yellow. "Now, look at you all! A whole turn of turtles!" She bent down as Frito scampered over to her. "Hello, Frito, darling. There's fresh cookies in the cookie jar," she smiled down to him, returning his eager hug. "Why don't you bring them out so we can all have some?"

"You bet, Mrs. Jorginson!" The little raccoon immediately headed for the kitchen.

"Everyone, this is my mom, Nora." Cav made introductions of the rest of the group rather hastily and then excused himself to the kitchen to unload one of the duffel bags into the cupboards.

Nora made herding motions at the group. "Well, come in, come in! Sit down! Macavity, would you put the kettle on?" Nora ushered everyone into her living room, which was furnished with a sofa and two chairs, and two large cat-palaces. Half a dozen cats occupied the two climbers, the top of the old television, and a bureau behind the couch. She instructed Casey and Mikey to pull chairs in from the dining set in the next room. Raph opted to sit on the stairs, as the place was quite cramped with all the company. His lap was instantly occupied by a calico cat.

"It's always a pleasure to meet other mutants!" Nora bubbled. "It's difficult to find company when we're forced to be recluses. You're lucky to have a human friend."

"Eh, Casey's not bad, as allies go," Leo replied. "Though if only we'd had the same pleasant experiences as you with mutants… about every other mutant we've encountered has had it in for us, with few notable exceptions." He sought to change the subject. "So… Cav is your son?"

Nora laughed musically. "I'm 'Mommy' to all of my kitties. Macavity, or 'Cav' as he likes to call himself, is one of the many strays I took in. About, oh, sixteen years ago, I was taking him to the vet's. I had just taken him out of his cat carrier when something above us on the rooftops shattered, and we were splashed with this green glop…"

"Mutagen," Donatello noted. "And judging by the time scheme, from the same batch that created us and Master Splinter."

Nora nodded and continued. "I became… rather catlike, and he became rather humanlike. He's an independent one… would rather be out on his own, of course… typical tomcat. But he does take care of us… me and his non-mutant brothers and sisters, that is. And he's taken the other mutants under his wing… Frito and Rock and Kafka… Has he taken you to meet Kafka yet? He's quite the character. Very intellectual fellow…"

Frito came around with the cookie jar, one already stuffed in his own mouth, as Cav brought around cups and saucers and a large kettle of tea. As Raph was last to get a cookie, Frito set the jar on the stairs and sat a couple steps up from the turtle. Raph regarded him out of the corner of his eye.

"Grizabella likes you," Frito observed. "She doesn't like anybody." He reached down toward the elderly cat. The cat put her ears back and swatted at his hand.

"Yeah, well…" Raph replied, mollifying the cat with a scratch behind the ears, "that makes two of us." After a moment of stony silence, he looked askance at the raccoon mutant and asked, "What kind of dumb name is 'Frito' anyway?"

Frito looked amused rather than insulted. "That's not my real name anyway."

"So what's your real name?"

"It's Jamal," he said, bobbing his head for emphasis.

"Why 'Frito', then? D'you eat a lot of corn chips?"

"No… Cav says it's because I'm a raccoon, so I have a bandit mask on."

Raph stared at him for a long time. "I don't get it."

"Me neither," Frito-Jamal said, shaking his head.

Raphael reached into his belt. "Look, the next time Cav tries to make you climb something, use these." He handed over his climbing claws to the kid. "They're a little big for a nine year-old, but it's better than nothing."

"Whoa…" Jamal marveled, slipping the claw onto his hand. It slid down to his wrist.

"Keep your weight against the wall. Then you jam this part into the wall, and pull yourself up or lower yourself down."

"Cool!" The raccoon kid was instantly engrossed with the new equipment, clearly itching to get to a wall as soon as possible. Raph saw that he wasn't going to get a thank you, though nor did he want the empty words of one. He stood, catching the cat and setting it on the floor as the others finished their conversation with Cav and Nora. Hands were shaken at the door again as everyone prepared to leave. April spoke aside with the elderly cat mutant for a moment, and the latter looked enchanted and motioned April to follow her up the stairs.

Cav opened the door and checked the street for movement before exiting, Frito tagging along and starting to use his new gift to scale the wall. He was up it in no time, despite struggling with the size of the grips. "Where'd he get those?!" the alley cat marveled.

Donatello looked to Raph. "You gave him your shuko spikes?"

"Don't worry, you can make me more," he said, clapping Donnie on the shoulder. "The kid needs 'em more than I do."

"Thanks… because I needed more work, you know…" Donnie grumbled.

"Aw, you're welcome, man, anytime!" Raph teased.

Cav was talking to Leonardo again. "You know the bank on 32nd street?"

"Yeah, we go by there a lot," Leo nodded.

"If you wanna meet us there tomorrow, I'd like to take you to our home."

Leo thought it over. On one hand, they had a mission. On the other, how many mutant allies did they have? In the end, he figured strengthening relations with new friends was the best option. "I think we can arrange that. See you there, about 9:00?"

"Nine it is! See you then, my friends!" With that, he scaled the building with a series of well-balanced leaps, though the gum boots did nothing for his stealth. He joined Rock and Frito. Rock crowed "RAWK!" down at them once and took off.

Donnie waited for April to emerge from the house, concealing himself in the shadow of the hedge. She appeared a couple minutes later, hugging Nora warmly in the doorway as she left. She picked Donnie out almost immediately, despite his excellent camouflage, and the two of them took to the roofs with the others.

"So what were you and Nora doing?" he asked.

April grinned excitedly. "She let me raid her scrap-basket!"

"Her what?" They jumped a roof together effortlessly.

"She quilts… didn't you notice the one on the sofa, and the one on the wall?"

"…no?" Donnie wasn't prepared for a pop quiz on Ms. Jorginson's décor..

"Well, she does… and she let me raid her scraps to make the curtains with."

"You're still planning that, are you? I'm telling you Raph's just going to tear them out…"

"He won't."

"You're gonna be upset.

"I am not!"

The two of them bickered about April's little project nearly the whole way home, to the point where Raph snapped at them about it. "Blah blah BLAH! Do you guys ever shut up?! Jeez… I wish I had external ears so I could stick my fingers in 'em…"

"Sorry, Raph!" They both apologized at the same time, without intending to.

Raph flinched. "And cut that out!"

"That one was just an accident!" Donnie hollered back, somewhat apologetically.

x-x-x-x-x

It was nearly 2:00 before they reached the lair, having bid farewell to Casey at the turn to his apartment. Splinter appeared as he heard them return. "You are late! Where were you?"

"Sorry, Sensei," Leo apologized for them all. "We met some new mutants who, I think, could be allies potentially, and we were getting to know them a bit."

"More mutants… interesting. At least you did not bring them home with you this time."

"No, Sensei… I don't think you'd like meeting Cav or Nora in person… since… they're cats."

Splinter bristled reflexively, as Leo had predicted he would. "And you would be right!"

"…and there's Rock, who's a big seagull, but he's non-verbal, and Frito, who's a nine-year-old who's been turned into a raccoon. We're supposed to meet up with them tomorrow and meet some other mutant named Kafka."

The giant rat nodded. "You must find out all you can about these new acquaintances. There are times when knowing your friend can be more critical than knowing your foe. But now… you have all had a very long day. Let us sleep."

Donnie sought April out as she was laying out her futon in the dojo space. She gave him a weary look, but smiled. "Not tonight, Dear one…"

Donnie sat beside her with a disappointed expression. "But you said when we got back from patrol…"

She rolled her eyes. "That was before we unexpectedly ended up spending a couple hours with other mutants. I'm so exhausted, I can barely keep my eyes open… and you know how dangerous that is…" Nonetheless, she stared into his eyes for a moment, giving him a mental cuddle, rubbing beaks with him before pulling away. Donnie also caught the thought that in the morning, she wanted her wonderful prince to fuck her brains out. It aroused him, but he also became apprehensive. But, she'd done fine today… only once. Maybe her little distraction with decorating the subway car was a good thing, in fact… keeping her mind off the continual need for sex.

See? he convinced himself, She's holding it back. She can manage.

Her eyes closed, and her breathing became more relaxed. He kissed her beak gently and made to get up, but the touch of her hand stopped him. "Donnie… stay with me?" He was about to ask why, but before he could , she said, "I don't really have a reason… I just want you near me now."

"All right," he said, giving her a soft grin, and then a kiss. He lay his head on the edge of her futon and let his eyes fall closed, sleep beckoning. She shifted, draping a leg over his, then she stroked his head (avoiding his wounds) until he fell asleep.

I try to come up with chapter titles that work on more than one level. Here, for instance, the title applies not only to Cav and his crew, but to the continual failure of the electrical connection.

a/n: And here's our first appearance of OCs in the story. OCs get a bad rep at times, but they can be done well, like most other things, if enough care and craft is invested in them.