AN: I never actually meant to write this. I've only ever written one single fanfiction before, so I'm not quite used to this. But as I started reading all these really amazing works, I couldn't help but get som ideas, and they sort of turned into this. I brought back some old characters that I think you will recognise, but I changed their back stories around so they'd fit into the story. It's set in the 2012 tmnt-verse, taking place directly after Pulverizer Returns.

Chapter 1: New acquaintances

April feels as if she is suffocating.

She likes the turtles, she really does, but living with them? It is just too much. Mikey's constant practical jokes, Raph's temper, Donnie's way of following her around like a lost puppy. She is even growing tired of Leo's infernal Space Heroes, and she used to like that show.

Not that it is really their fault. She knows what is making her feel like this, as if she has a lifetime of troubles resting on her shoulders and the slightest disturbance could bring it all crashing down on her. Her father is gone, and it is all because of her. The evil alien beings who took him away weren't really after him, and she can't quite shake the feeling that if it wasn't for her they might not even have come to this dimension to begin with. And now she can't even be out there looking for him, because that infuriating Foot Clan have decided that they are hunters, and she is prey.

She shudders at the thought of Karai, cold eyes gleaming at her behind red make-up. There was no way she'd be lucky enough to defeat the skilled kunoichi a second time; she can still hardly move after their first battle. Bruises cover half of her body, she has a black eye and, most importantly, she is terrified. If she runs into Karai again, it'll be game over.

So she's stuck down in the lair, and it's driving her nuts. She left a note to her aunt telling her not to worry, but the poor woman must be horrified by her niece's sudden disappearance. Her friends will think she abandoned them, and by the time she gets back she'll be so far behind in school that she will have to study day and night to catch back up.

All of this would make anyone a bit jumpy, so April had distracted herself by trying to dig out the Kraang using the Internet. She hadn't had much luck, but she was happy as long as she had something to keep her mind of things, and at least this way she was doing some good instead of just sitting around eating pizza, like certain others.

And then she actually found something. It wasn't much, just a forum full of paranoid people talking about strange events taking place in the city. Before she met the turtles she would have laughed at the thought of searching for information at a site like that; today she finds herself more and more believing all the theories being mentioned there.

Although she was curious of most of the threads, there was only one that really caught her attention: someone had spotted weird people down at the docks several nights in row, storing loads of strange boxes in on of the warehouses. That alone wouldn't have been enough for her to point it out to the boys, but the writer also mentioned something about the men carrying weapons that 'looked like sci-fi guns' and spoke 'as if they were really slow-witted.' She smirks at the words, at once sure that this just has to be the Kraang. She has no idea what they are up to down at the docks, but it sure can't be good.

"Guys!" she calls, whipping her head back and forth in her search for them. Where are they? One second they were all there, crowding her and stealing away her focus, and then when she needs them they are all mysteriously gone. Hadn't Leo been sitting one the floor, only few feet away from her and eyes glued to the TV, just a few minutes ago? And she could swear that Mikey had been reading comic books in the tyre swing last time she checked. How come she hadn't noticed them leaving? Bloody ninjas. Sighing and muttering to herself she heaves herself out of the sofa, laptop still in hand. "Guys! This is important; I really need to show you something!"

They aren't there. After searching the entire lair, briefly catching a glimpse of Splinter meditating in the dojo and not wanting to disturb him, she has to admit that she somehow missed them going out on patrol. Is it really late enough for them to be out? She must have been more caught up in her work than she realised. Oh well, if she wants them to check out the docks they need to be out anyway. She picks up her T-phone and punches in Donnie's number.

Angel can't believe this. She is actually in the Foot Clan. The mere thought of it is making her giddy, wanting to wave her arms in the air and whoop at her success. Technically, she's not even an official Purple Dragon yet, missing the telltale tattoo that all the members are sporting, but that didn't seem to matter when that creepy mutant guy came looking for recruits.

It's not like she wasn't aware of the fact that the Dragons took orders from some guy named Shredder, and she had herd rumours about vicious mutant creatures, but she was still shocked when the enormous doglike thing walked into the room where she and some other Dragons were hanging out. She had always thought that you had to be some kind of master at martial arts to join the Foot, but apparently that wasn't the case any more. The mutant had coldly stated that they needed more ninjas and brought in some of the Foot to test out Angel's and her friends' skills in combat.

Angel does know the how to defend herself. Heck, she was only fifteen and already a Purple Dragon to be! There was no way she was going to let a chance like that slip through her fingers. But she had never before fought a ninja, and she sure did get pretty bruised up during the short struggle. She could proudly state that she had managed to take two or three of them down, but the battle had ended with her pinned to the floor, arms wrenched behind her back in a painful position and sputtering out the most colourful that words she could muster. The mutant didn't seem too happy about the situation, but he had given her an approving nod with his huge, furry head.

"I suppose this is the most I could expect from someone with no training," he said, leaving Angel puzzled in whether she should be offended or proud of his words. Her confusion was shattered, though, when he handed her the telltale uniform that all members of the Foot wear. Only one of the other Dragons that were tested along with her was deemed worthy, and tonight was their first mission.

And this was so not what she had expected. She had imagined them breaking into some houses or a store, maybe threatening some people or chasing of intruders from their area. What she had not been prepared to was to face giant, green, mutant turtles.

And she certainly hadn't expected them to completely wipe the floor with her and the rest of the Foot.

The poor Foot ninja never stood a chance. Leo pokes one of them with his toe, watching the black-clad human moan in response.

"Well," he says, "they sure aren't getting any better."

"You think?" Raph smirks, wrenching the weapon from a fallen ninja's hand and gladly tossing it over the edge of the building. "If they don't start practising soon we'll have to rely on the Kraang if we want any kind of a challenge." He glares at people scattered across the roof, willing them to get back up end fight.

"Maybe we could train them!" Mikey calls cheerfully, showing off some kicks and punches. "We are the best ninja around; we could so get them into shape!"

Raph leaves the fallen fighters, stomps over to Mikey and smacks him upside the head with a grim expression. "Are you stupid somehow?" he growls, scowling at Mikey's wide-eyed face.

"What?" the younger turtle exclaims. "At least that would make them somewhat of a challenge!"

"Not if you train them," says Raph, sneering evilly. "They'd all end up like Pulverizer."

"Hey, Don was the one who trained him!"

Their bickering is abruptly cut off by the sound of a cheerful ringtone.

"You really should turn off the sound on that thing when were on patrol", Leo says, looking at his second youngest brother grimly. Don, on the other hand, isn't aware of the annoyed glares he's receiving.

"It's April!" he exclaims, causing the other three to roll their eyes as he quickly puts the T-phone to his ear. "Hi April! We just totally crushed the Foot, you…"

"That's great." Her voice sounds a tad distracted on the other side of the line as she interrupts him. "But I've found something about the Kraang, you think you could check it out?"

Don grins widely. "Of course April! Anything for you!" He stops talking, his eyes growing wide. "I mean, we'd of course check it out even if we received the information another way, seeing how important it is that the Kraang is stopped, but now…"

"It's down at the docks," she says, hardly even aware of his blabbering.

With her information handed over April is quick to finish the conversation, clearly not in the mood to small talk. Donnie hangs up with a disappointed look on his face. Raph raises an eye-ridge at him.

"Smooth."

Earlier that day

"Have you heard that Tim ran away?"

"Timothy? That weird guy who kept going on about how he was best friends with a bunch of superheroes?"

"Yeah, him. He's just vanished. Just like that O'Neil kid a few days back."

"Didn't her dad, like, abandon her?"

"I heard he was kidnapped."

Mona does her best to block out the sound of the other girls gossiping, flipping pages in her physics book, pretending the subject doesn't interest her. The news about Timothy's mysterious disappearance is bubbling all over school, and, frankly, she is quite curious of what has happened to him, just like she'd love to find out whatever became of April O'Neil. But the other girls' words certainly aren't reliable intel, and besides, she doesn't like the way their faces sparkle when they bring up the subject of other's suffering.

"I'm not surprised he ran away," says one of the girls, dividing her attention between her friends and her cell phone. "He's, like, totally crazy. And ugly. I mean, if I were that weird, I certainly wouldn't want people to see me." She giggles, the rest of the girls quickly adding to the laughter. Mona leans closer to her book, resisting the urge to start humming to drown out the noise they're making.

"Oh, look."

The giggling comes to such an abrupt end that Mona can't help but look up to see what caught the girls' attention. She regrets it instantly, though. Some guys are headed in their direction, trying to look nonchalant but clearly with their eyes set on Mona and the others sitting on the bench. The giggling starts up again and she directs her attention back to the book.

She can't seem to focus, though. The conversation has shifted from the mysteriously missing kids to some kind of party taking place tonight down at the docks.

"I've got the most amazing dress," one of the girls, Irma, states. "It's blue with these gorgeous white pearls and…"

"Hey geek, are you going to be there?"

It takes Mona a second to notice that the conversation has quieted down around her. She looks up, immediately noticing how Adam, the tallest of the boys, has his eyes glued on her, sneering at the sight of her book. Her brain spins as it tries to catch up with what he said. If I'm going to be there? She furrows her brows; now that's just a mean thing to ask, and she can see on his face that he is very aware of it.

Mona is never invited to parties. It's not that people are purposefully avoiding to invite her to be mean, they just forget about her, or assume that she won't want to come anyways. She tries to not feel hurt about it, knowing that it is partly true: she isn't very interested in parties. To much people, to much noise, and not really anything to do other than jump up and down on the dance floor or drink. But it would still be nice if people asked her every once in a while.

As long as they don't ask like this. Adam's eyes are glinting; gleefully awaiting her embarrassing confession that she isn't wanted.

"Of course she is coming!" Mona nearly falls of the bench when Irma suddenly clings to her, holding her arm in a tight grip. "The more the merrier, right?"

Mona is wondering what in the world her friend is up to, when she notices her eyes being drawn to a guy in the back of the group. Tall, long, dark hair, a bit more muscles than the others, and rather absent looking. Casey. Of course, that's what it's about. Mona has seen him get thrown into some kind of ferocious rage at the sight of bullying, quite often actually defending the victims that his friends are harassing. Right now he's looking rather absent, though. She notices a faint bruise on his cheek, and can't help but wonder how he got it. Irma's eyes are glinting as she watches him, awaiting his response at her 'brave act'.

"Yeah," Adam says slowly, "the more the merrier." He glares at Mona, making her feel even more uncomfortable.

The conversation starts up again without Casey acknowledging the disappointed Irma's hard efforts to catch his attention. When he, a couple of minutes later, states that he's not even going to be at the party Mona barely manages to stifle her laugh. But she can't help but to smirk to herself as she frees her arm and buries herself in the fascinating laws of physics once again.

They are halfway to the location April gave them when the sound of shattering glass causes them to stop in their tracks.

"What was that?" Mikey immediately edges closer to the sound to peek down at the street, but Leo grabs hold of his shoulder and pulls him back.

"Be careful, it could be…"

"It's just some punks trying to steal a car." Leo's head snaps around and he stares at Raph, who have marched over to the edge and is now leaning over it, searching for the cause of the ruckus. He catches the look on his older brother's face and huffs indignantly. "What? They're not even Purple Dragons; we could take them with our hands tied to our backs."

"That's not the point," Leo says. "It could have been Fishface, or Dogpond, or even Shredder." He stares at Raph, hoping that he will get the message, but is soon disappointed.

"But it wasn't," the red-masked turtle states. "Now let's get them before they take the car and leave."

"I think someone just beat us to it," Donnie suddenly says, leaning far over the edge, eyes glued to the site of the crime. "There's some guy down there who looks kind of menacing and he is sort of pounding them into the ground."

"Really?" Mikey practically bounces up and down. "I bet it's a superhero! Wouldn't it be totally awesome if it was a superhero?"

"Mikey, there is no such thing as superheroes," Leo says tiredly while the other three checks out the scene below.

"Wow," Raph says, sounding impressed, "that guy is good."

"Yeah, the dude is totally wiping the floor with them!" Mikey sounds a bit too happy about the demise of others, car thieves or not.

"Ehm, guys, I think he is a tad crazy," Donnie says, finally making Leo curious enough to walk over to them and peek over the edge.

The human down at street level actually does seem rather skilled, Leo must admit that. His face is covered by some kind of white mask and he's swinging something that resembles a hockey stick, effectively swiping the thugs' feet out from under them. He's clearly no ninja, though, only using brute force and determination to take out the wannabe-thieves. One of them falls on his hands and knees, desperately trying to scramble out of the way. But the masked man won't have that, sending the fleeing thief face first into the ground with a powerful whack to the head with his stick. It's when he once again raises his weapon, clearly aiming for the now motionless body on the ground, that Leo realises that Donnie was right about the crazy-thing.

"Okay, he's gone over the edge," Raph hisses, "let's get him."

Before Leo has a chance to stop them or make up some kind of plan, the other three have already swung over the edge and dashed down toward the fight.

"Hey!" he calls out, quickly scrambling after them. "Wait up! And be careful!"

"Oh please fearless, it's one guy," Raph grumbles as he lands one the ground with an almost soundless thump. "I think we can handle him."

The vigilante jumps back at the sight of them spreading out in a half moon shape in front of him, weapons drawn and faces set in determination. Except for Mikey. He just looks at the guy in obvious glee.

"Raph has a point," Donnie adds, eyeing the human, "there's four of us and only one of him, what's he go—mph!" The red-masked turtle effectively silences his younger brother by clasping a three fingered hand over his mouth.

"Don't say it," he warns the wide-eyed Donatello. "Just don't."

"What in the world are you supposed to be?"

They swiftly shift their attention back to the hockey stick wielding human, who seems to have come over the initial chock of seeing four mutant turtles. His eyes narrow behind the mask, which, at a closer inspection, turns out to be a common hockey mask. Well, Leo thinks, at least it matches his weapon. He points one of his katana toward the troublemaker and tries to set his face in a determined and heroic expression.

"We are the protectors of this city, and we are here to hinder you from…"

"Oh just shut your mouth," Raph grumbles, taking a step closer to their unpredictable opponent. Leo feels an immediate urge to pull him back, but fights it. Please don't do anything rash, please please please. "We're ninjas and we'll stop you from being an idiot and killing these people." He motions with his sai toward the unconscious people on the ground. Leo moans and hides his face behind his hands.

"Listen, I don't have any problems with you freaks, so just get out of my way and let me finish what I started." He sounds so young. Leo's guess is that he is one, maybe two years older than April. What have he been through to push him over the edge and take his rage out at people like this? The oldest turtle doesn't like where this is leading, and he certainly doesn't want to beat up a fellow crime-fighter, but if the guy keeps this up they won't have a choice. Maybe he can reason with him. They are on the same side, after all.

"We can't let you do that," he says calmly. "They've had enough, so just back off and leave them alone, okay?" He looks at the guy hopefully, trying to appear friendly. The human doesn't oblige.

"You're defending them?" he hisses, and Leo realises that this is not going the way he wanted. "They are lowlife scum, pestering the lives of others, and you defend them?" He looks as if he might attack them with his hockey stick any second now, almost shaking with fury.

"You want to kill them over a car?" Donnie says, sounding shocked. "That's completely unreasonable! They might be criminals, but…" He is cut short when the vigilante tires of their conversation and rushes forward, swinging his hockey stick over his head as if it is a mighty sword.

Leo's brothers quickly jump out of the way, causing the human to stumble when he loses his target. Leo immediately brings one of his katana down, cutting the poor guys stick in half. He staggers back, staring at his make-shift weapon with a stunned expression and trembling hands. Leo almost feels sorry for him.

But the feeling is swiftly disintegrated when their opponent reaches back and pulls two metal bats from a golf bag on his back. Leo stares at him, is a bit embarrassed over the fact that he didn't notice the weapon filled bag earlier. With a vicious roar and swinging bats the human attacks once again. Leo easily ducks the assault, goes low and punches the boy with the handle of his katana straight in the stomach. Gasping for air he attempts to swing his bat at Leos head, but he is out of breath and not aiming to well. The leader turtle sidesteps, and when Raphael rushes in and hits the human with a powerful kick in the back he falls over and hits the ground face first.

The four turtles stop, relax their grip on their weapons and gaze down at the fallen human. Raph snorts.

"Care for another round, kid?"

Before any of them have the chance to react he swipes out the legs of Donnie using one of his bats, stumbles up and rushes past them. Donnie shrieks as he lands hard on his shell, limbs flailing and bo staff flying through the air.

"Hey, get back here!" Raph hollers, dashing after the fleeing human. His angry voice is drowned by the sudden roar of a motorcycle engine. The red clad turtle is forced to jump back not to be run over. "Come back and fight like a man!" he calls, shaking with rage.

"No use," Leo says, giving his fallen younger brother a hand. "He's gone."

Donnie gets up on wobbly legs. "I told you he was crazy." His voice is a bit shrill as he picks up his bo and sheets it.

"I don't care," Raph growls. "I'm going to kill him."

"Aren't you forgetting something?" Leo says, sheeting his katana and giving Raph a stern look. "We're on a mission. April is relying on us."

Raph's eyes shifts between his brothers and the street, clearly unsure of what he's going to do.

"Dude," Mikey says, "we can't let April down. Can you imagine what she'd do to us?" His eyes are big and terrified.

"She'd probably hit you with a comic book, Raph" Leo smirks. "And let me tell you; that hurt more than you might think."

"Yeah, comic book aren't meant to be in ones face," Mikey states solemnly. "It just isn't right."

"Fine," Raph cries. "Let's just forget about the insane, murderous human running rampage in the city. Who cares if he goes killing every pickpocket in town? Oh, not we, because we're on a bloody mission." He glares at Leo, hands clenched into tight fists.

"We'll keep an eye out for him," Leo says coldly, doing his best to keep his composure. "We won't have a chance to catch up with him now anyway."

"Whatever," Raph grumbles, crossing his arms over his plastron. "But tomorrow I'm bringing the stealth bike." Something cruel crosses his face. "There's no way he can get away then."

She knew this was a bad idea.

The music inside the house was so loud that it made her head throb, her feet hurts from her high heels and she keeps having to stop herself from touching her face, knowing that it would cause her make-up to be smeared all over her cheeks and chin.

Now, sitting on the docks with her feet dangling above the water and the shoes placed beside her on the dock, she can't help but wonder what she is doing here. She hadn't really expected Irma to be serious about her offer, but the friend had dragged Mona along to her place, fixed her hair, lent her a fluffy pink dress and added so much make-up to her face that Mona barely recognised herself in the mirror. Amongst the other girl's excitement Mona had found herself actually looking forward to the night, even though she had butterflies in her stomach and almost broke her ankle when she first attempted to walk in the heels.

It might be fun, she said to herself, everyone else seems to think it is, so it can't be that bad.

Turns out, it could be that bad. She is bored out of her mind.

The sound of giggling and stumbling steps snaps her out of her thoughts. She cranes her neck, squinting into the dark until she catches sight of two girls and a boy headed towards the docks. They don't seem to have noticed her, and, preferring to keep it that way, she leans forward, trying to look as small as possible.

It doesn't work.

"Hey!" the boy, whom she now recognises as Adam, cries. "Geek girl! Want to come on a boat ride?" His voice is slurring considerably and he waves a bottle towards her while speaking. Mona has got a feeling he isn't quite aware of what he's saying and who he's talking to. That mean sneer is still plastered across his face, though, and she doesn't feel like looking at it any closer.

"No, I'm fine," she says meekly. "Have fun you three." Try not to fall overboard and drown. She snorts, happy he can't hear her thoughts.

"Aw, but it's more fun if there's more of us," one of the girls says, pouting her lips. Mona doesn't even know her name.

"Yeah!" the other girl, Emily, calls, taking a step towards Mona and nearly topples over. She shrieks, but manages to catch herself and explodes in a fit of giggles.

Wow, Mona thinks, how much did they drink?

She really doesn't feel like being stuck on the water with those three, but when they stumble towards a tiny motorboat right next to her she can't help but worry about them. They might actually fall overboard and drown, no matter how absurd it may sound. And then she would be the one who let them die. This is so not fair, she grumbles to herself as she pulls Irma's shoes back on and get on her feet. Emily sees her and smiles brightly.

"Get in!" she cries, waving enthusiastically with her arms, nearly pushing her friend over the edge in the process.

They zoom across the water, Mona enjoying the wind in her face and the fact that the sound of the motor is so loud that conversation isn't possible. Then the boat suddenly brakes and she has to grab hold of the nameless girls arm to keep her from falling into the dark water.

"Look at that," Adam says, sounding almost sober all of a sudden. "What are they up to over there?"

Mona leans forward, just managing to make out the silhouettes of some men carrying boxes into a warehouse. She shrugs, not really very interested, but Emily squeals in delight.

"Is that a submarine? I bet it's a submarine!" She claps her hands and bounces up and down where she sits.

Mona looks again, raising her eyebrows when she notices the dark shape in the water. It actually does resemble a submarine, with a periscope and everything.

"We should check it out," nameless girl says, leaning heavily on Adams shoulder. "Maybe they're smuggling weapons or something. We could be heroes!"

Mona feels like banging her head against the side of the boat. Smuggling weapons? What do they think this is, an episode of CSI?

But she has to admit, the submarine sure is suspicious.

"Nah, they'd hear us," Adam says, making Mona sigh of relief. That is, before he turns his attention to her. "We can just drop you off a bit further down. You could easily sneak closer and se what they're doing."

She stares at him, not sure whether he's serious or just wants to get rid of her. People sure act funny when they're drunk.

"Fine," she grumbles, not wanting to argue about it. "Drop me off and I'll check it out."

They leave the submarine and the men with their boxes behind and head toward a far corner of the dock. Mona climbs out of the boat, doing her best trying to look graceful, but shrieks and stumbles back when a small, green lizard scurries straight over her feet, almost sending her flailing into the water. With a face growing red and the other's giggles ringing in her ears she heads towards the warehouse.

It's dark, as in really, really dark. She can barely see the building. And her feet hurt. This is such a waste of time. She stops, glances back and then quickly slips her shoes off, wriggling her now free toes up and down. Shoes in hand she sneaks up close to a wall and trips forward on her toes. It's not like she's actually expecting those people to be weapon smuggling criminals, but she would prefer if they never see her. That would just be plain embarrassing.

By the time she's close enough to see the warehouse clearly the boat with the other teenagers is out of sight. She's not even sure if they'll wait for her. It wouldn't surprise her if they've already forgotten what they are doing there and decided to go back to the party. Lucky me, she thinks, I'll have to walk all the way back on my sore feet.

"Kraang, the one known as Captain Filch has now handed over the goods known as the weapons parts. Where shall Kraang put it?"

She stops in her track, backing further into the shadows of the building and watches the silhouettes of two men standing in front of the warehouse. Did he really mention weapons parts? She's not sure; the man's odd way of speaking sort of distracted her from what he was saying.

"Kraang shall put the goods known as weapons parts in the place known as the warehouse. Meanwhile Kraang will go to the one known as Captain Filch and pay him for the goods known as weapons parts."

Okay, this was getting annoying. Why did both refer to themselves as Kraang in third person? And what's with the repeating of everything they say over and over again? As if their clumsy sentences weren't enough, they also speak with metallic, monotone voices, almost like computers. Mona doubted she'd be able to muster the patience to listen to them for much longer.

One of them starts walking back to water with long, stiff strides. He's carrying a heavy-looking, gleaming cylinder in his hands. Mona leans forward, curious of what's inside of it and why it's emitting some kind of spooky, green light. A third man is standing on the edge of the dock, arms crossed and one foot tapping irritably against the ground.

"About time," he grumbles. "Have you got the mutagen?"

Finally, Mona thinks, someone who knows how to speak proper English. The first man lifts the glowing container, spreading green, quivering shadows all over the dock. Mona, not wanting to be discovered, quickly takes a step back. Embarrassing as it may be she has to admit that the nameless girl in the boat must have been right in her amateurish guess; they actually seem to be smuggling weapons. They probably wouldn't be very happy regarding her presence.

"Kraang has here the payment known as the mutagen," the first man states metallically. "The one known as Captain Filch will accept the payment known as mutagen for the goods known as…"

"Yeah yeah, I know what I'm here for," the man, obviously named Captain Filch, growls. "Just hand it over already." He snatches the container from the other man's hands, eyeing it greedily. "Finally; this stuff will revolutionize my research." The frustration in once gone from his voice, he stares at the glowing substance with obvious awe.

"Put that down, or I'll personally pry it out of you cold, dead hands."

Mona freezes in her place when she hears a menacing voice calling out from directly above her. She backs up, standing with her back pressed against the wall, and squints up at the roof. The darkness that is still keeping her hidden from the people by the water is now working against her; all she can make out is the fuzzy silhouette of one person. No, wait a second. She strains her eyes even harder and realizes that there are four of them. How did they even get up there? she questions in wonder.

"The ones known as the turtles will not interfere with the action known as the plan of the Kraang."

This language barrier is driving her crazy. There's no way he actually said turtles, she must have misheard his stupid words.

"Oh, but the ones known as turtles will crush the action known as the plan of…"

"Leo, please, let's just bash them up," the same voice that first threatened Filch and Kraang complains.

"Well excuse me for trying to be heroic and…"

The second one is cut short when the Kraang down at the water pulls something from his belt and starts firing at them. He's actually firing at them. The seriousness of the situation hits Mona all at once and she crouches down on the ground, covering her head with her arms. Someone could be killed! She might be the witness to a murder! Oh please don't let anybody see her…

"Booyakasha!"

She flinches as on of the figures from the roof come crashing to the ground only a few feet in front of her, spinning some sort of chains in its hands. Her eyes grow wide as she peeks between her fingers. There's no way he should have been able to stick the landing like that, not from such a height. She knows her physics; both his legs should have broken, or at least been sprained. He dashes away before she has a chance of taking a closer look, avoiding the blasts erupting from the Kraang's weapon.

Hold up, was that a laser gun? One of the pinkish flares zooms into the wall right next to her, sending a spray of dust into her face. Yep, definitely laser.

The rest of the people from the roof have landed too, all of them spinning and twirling and flipping as they dance out of the way of the fire. It's too dark for her to see them clearly, but it's obvious that they aren't cops. Has she managed to stumble into some kind of gang war?

A ray of laser suddenly burns into the ground a mere inch from her feet, melting the cement and sending a tiny cloud of smoke into the air. She screams reflexively, flinging herself up and scrambling away from the heat.

"The human known as witness, do the action known as freeze."

She stops, standing on one leg and arms stretched above her head, immediately knowing that she has been seen. She glances up, terror creeping across her mind. Not just seen, on of the weird men is also aiming his laser gun straight at her head.

"The ones known as turtles, stop, or Kraang will destroy the human known as the witness."

The four fighting figures have stopped, clenching their weapons and whipping their heads around nervously. She can tell that this was not part of their plan.

"Donnie, any ideas?" the one furthest from her asks.

"Well, the distance between us and her is short enough for us to get there in a second or so, but the lasers travel with over…"

"Donnie!"

"There's no way any of us will get there in time," the second one says, sounding hurt.

"Oh shell."

Mona stares at the man aiming his gun at her. He's angled toward the attackers, not even looking at her. That, for some reason, feels really insulting. She used to take lessons in self defence a year or so back, and if they taught her one thing then it was to fight back as long as she could move. If she allows them to kidnap her, or take out the four fighters, she'll be as good as dead.

Moving as fast as she can she dashes out of the way, headed to the water. The Kraang immediately shifts his attention back to her, firing his pinkish laser but thankfully missing her by several feet. That doesn't help to obliterate her fear, though, and she covers her head with her arms and screams as high as she can as she runs.

The four intruders are quick to action, one of them throwing himself over the Kraang aiming at her, impaling his head with some kind of sharp stick-like object. Sparks fly through the air and the man wobbles, slowly crashing to ground. The realisation hits her like a sledgehammer; a human was just killed in front of her.

The shock alone is enough to make her stop, just standing there staring at the cringing body. The attacker brings his weapon out of the man's head with a powerful pull, lifting the body and then letting it fall back down with a thud. She's still standing there, gazing at death itself, when he looks up and locks eyes with her.

And that's when she realizes that she never misheard the Kraangs' word. They really did say turtles.

Someone stumbles into her from the side, effectively waking her from her shock.

"I'm not giving it up!" Captain Filch wails. "Over my dead body!"

"That could be arranged." The creature standing over the now still body spins its weapons around and sneers with gleaming, green eyes. It has a shell, rough green skin and big feet covered and hands covered by protective tape. A red mask is bound across its face, making it look even more bloodthirsty.

She whips her head around, searching for the other three and getting her mouth filled with hair in the process. Coughing and sputtering she finally finds the them. One, to far away for her to tell if he too is a inhuman monster, is fighting the last Kraang, while the other two are closing in on her and Filch from two different directions, successfully blocking him off from both his submarine and possible escape by land. They are both definitely turtles, one sporting a blue mask, the other one a purple, both wielding vicious-looking weapons.

"Don't worry, miss," the one in blue calls. "We'll fix this." She stares at him, dumbfounded.

She's so busy gaping at them that she barely notices Filch covering behind her, using her as a human shield. First when he clamps a hand over her shoulder, pulling her back with him, does she acknowledge him, rage flaring through her body.

Don't touch me, you creep.

She screams in anger as she twirls around, pushing him away from her. He stumbles back, to surprised to keep on his feet. Limbs flailing, he falls on his back, the glowing cylinder flying from his hands. The world seems to slow down as the container spins through the air, bathing Mona and the others in eerily green light. She can hear the turtles gasp, and Filch scrambles to get back on his feet and catch it before it's too late.

But it's no use. The cylinder smashes into the cement only inches from Filch's reaching, gloved fingers. Glass shatters, the green light spreads and Mona feels something cold hit her bare shoulders, legs and face. Filch recoils as the contents splatter out of the now broken container. Some of it got on his covered hands and arms, but his skin seems to have been spared. The cold quickly subsiding, replaced by a burning sensation, tells Mona that she wasn't as lucky.

The green, gooey liquid is dripping off of her, splattering on the cold ground and shaping puddles around her bare feet.

"Oh," the turtle in purple says, "this is not good."

You might say that. Mona's skin is really starting to hurt by now, feeling almost as if its bubbling and shifting under the strange substance. It must be acid, Mona thinks, dizzy from the pain. How do you get rid of acid before it burns you very flesh from your bones?

Of course. An obvious solution hits her reeling head. You wash it off.

She stumbles the last few steps left to the water, longing for the cold liquid to wash away the pain.

"Wait, stop!"

She freezes without thinking, craning her head back and catching sight of the purple clad turtle, sporting a long wooden stick as his weapon. He's walking carefully toward her, holding his hands up as to not look like the threatening, giant mutant he is.

"You've been exposed to mutagen," he says cautiously. "I am really sorry to tell you this, but your body is not going to react well to this." She stares at him, flesh still burning as if set on fire. He stopped her to tell her that? She can bloody feel that her body isn't responding well to it. Not honouring him with another look she turns back to the water.

"For crying out loud, Donnie, you were supposed to stop her!"

Just as she's about to leap into the air something grabs hold of her upper arm, the one not covered in acid, and yanks her back.

"We have enough mutants running wild in the city as it is, you're not going anywhere."

The creature roughly turns her around and she finds herself staring into the green eyes of the red-masked turtle. They are trying to kill me, she suddenly understands. I'm going to die a horrible, painful death due to exposure to acid when I'm only inches away from saving myself. She's not about to let that happen.

The screeching sound of braking tyres shatters her concentration just as she flexes her muscles to punch at the hideous face of the mutant monster. It flinches at the sound, suddenly letting her go and pulling its strange, pointy weapons. Mona can't help but being taken aback, dazzled by the turn of events. A black van has driven straight into the scene, and as the doors open men rush out to join the fight.

Not men, she realizes as she turns around and dives headfirst into the chilly water. Robots. Robots armed with laser guns.

She blames the impossible sight on her confused brain as the water washes the pain away.

Angel's entire body hurts. Her legs are wobbling, her head is throbbing, and her arms are covered in cuts and bruises. Her first night with the Foot and it ended in utter disaster. The entire team was pulverised, beaten into the ground, crushed. She grumbles as she walks home, limping with every step and only able to see with one eye thanks to her swollen face. Even though she tries to push the heavy thoughts away, she can't help but wonder if they'll ever want her a part of the Foot Clan again.

A low moan causes her to stop, senses immediately searching for the source, hands clenched into fists. But nothing happens. No one jumps out to attack her, no one is even there. Just as she starts to relax, the moan is heard again, this time accompanied with the sound of heavy feet shuffling across the pavement. Slowly edging forward and pulling her mask back over her face, Angel peeks into the closest alley. Her right hand snakes into the pocket of her Foot uniform, curling around the handle of a knife. A limp shape is leaning against the wall, to cast in shadow for her to see it clearly.

"Hey!" she calls. "You there!"

A long, snakelike object lashes through the air and Angel jumps back in surprise. Was that a tail?

"Who's there?" a girly, quivering voice whispers. Angel frowns. She can swear she's heard that voice before somewhere.

"I'm a Purple Dragon," she says, puffing her chest out trying to look intimidating. "And you're in my territory."

"Look, I don't want no trouble, okay? I'd leave, but I'm afraid I'm not feeling to well."

Angel furrows her brows, annoyed that the strange girl doesn't seem scared at all. She just sounds tired, as if she hasn't slept for the past two weeks. Angel quickly decides that she does not like this girl's attitude.

"Listen," she says, "I don't care how you feel, just pay up or get out."

The only response is the soft, scraping sound as the girl slides down the wall and sits down, utterly exhausted.

"Hey!" Angel exclaims, stomping closer to her. "Are you deaf? I said…"

Her voice shrinks away as she catches a closer look of the figure on the ground. She is wearing a pink dress, covered in muddy, dark splotches and drenched in water. Her hair is a chestnut brown and falling over her face in a tasselled mess. None of this is what catches Angel's attention; she has seen worse, heck, she probably looks worse right now.

No, what causes her to stare with eyes wide as saucers is the girl's feet, barefoot and sticking out in front of her. They're green, and sporting only three toes. As she follows the legs with her eyes, Angels jaw drops. The girl's entire body seems to be a clear, moss green colour, and what appears to be a thick tail is wrapped around her left leg. She has only got a small bump for a nose and a face covered in scales.

She looks like a lizard.

Angel leans forward, squinting at the girl's face, and the recoils as she realizes that there is something eerily familiar over it.

"Mona Lisa?" she whispers.

AN: Hope you liked it! I think i should mention that english isn't my first language (that's swedish) so if I've managed to mess up some of the words or grammar i sincerely apologise.