The city of New York was always bustling with people day and night. It seemed as though the city never slept. However as you begin to head from the giant tourist attracting buildings, and find yourself in a sea of apartment buildings, and less then ritzy shops, one can only wonder the crime levels of this area.

Many scientists had gone missing from New York over the past few months, and most of them came from this area. Although, that seems to be happening less and less these days. The people believe in masked men who "clean the streets" at night. However...none of the missing scientists have been found either, and though the situations and different incidents are continuing to be studied, many had begun to...give up.

But then again...not everyone knows what really happens on these "Quieter" New York streets at night.

"Raph! On your right!" Yelled a man from the shadow of a building. All that could be seen was his blue mask.

The man, the blue masked one was yelling to, was only visible through the shadows by his red mask, as well as his weapons the shined in the moonlight as he stretched out his hand preparing to take on the enemy "to his right."

"I got it!" A figure flew through the moonlight, but he was so fast all that could be seen before he landed in the shadows was an orange blur from the mask her wore. As he hit the shadows a kusarigama came flying from the shadows knocking down one of the enemies that came towards the red masked one known as Raph. "BOOYAHKASHA!" He then pulled his weapon back into the shadows and then lashed it out once more using the chain of the Kusarigama to tie the remaining two enemies together. The three masked men then came out from the shadows.

As the light from the full moon shone over their bodies it was easy to see that they were male, but they were not..."men" per say. They were turtles...strange, strange, turtles.

Raph stepped forward and with the handle of his sai, he knocked the purple dragon members out.

"Why'd you get in my way, Mikey!? They were RIGHT next to me!" Raph angrily clenched his teeth at the orange masked one known as Mikey.

"Heheh, you didn't look ready for 'em." Donnie playfully laughed, which only invoked Raphs anger, as a wall of flames seemed to appear behind him through his anger. Donnie quickly dove behind the blue masked turtle.

"Leo, help!" The blue masked one known as Leo shook his head.

"Can we please, just drop them off in front of the police station and call it a night?" Leo asked as he rubbed the bridge of his nose.

"What, you're done!? We've only bee on night patrol a few hours!" Raph threw his arms out to express his disdain to Leo's question.

"What? You don't think we've done enough damage tonight?" Leo gestured his hand down the road and it was clear by all the rubble and dust down the street that they had made quite a mess while fighting the enemy.

"Ugh, fine, but why do we bother taking those three idiots to the police station every time!? They just get released because no one knows what they've done!" Raph yelled at Leo who just allowed his eyes to glaze over.

"Dude, maybe we should leave a note." Mikey finally chimed in.

Raph sarcastically smiled at Mikey, "YEA! Let's just leave a note that says "Hey guys, these three tried to kidnap a girl that you think is crazy since her father was kidnapped and we're just turtles dropping them off." His sarcastic smile returned to a scowl.

"Heheh, right." Mikey sheepishly laughed.

Leo shook his head, he then cupped a hand around his mouth and let out a bird call. As he did so two shadowed figures jumped from a few buildings over. The larger of the figures landed on the street first, and did not emerge until the smaller figure had landed safely on the street, they both then emerged from the shadows.

The tall figure was also a turtle like the others, but he wore a purple mask. The smaller figure emerged behind him and kindly smiled at the other three turtles who had seized their bickering upon her arrival.

"Thanks for coming after me, but I could have handled it." The girl smiled, as did Leo who then raised a brow at her.

"Could have just left it at thanks, April." Leo said as he smiled and shook his head. "Let's put these three in an alley somewhere where they can think about what they've done, and let's head home." Leo sheathed his katanas and the other turtles did so with their weapons as well. They all followed after him.

"Good work tonight guys." Leo said through a yawn. He now wished he hadn't stayed up the night before watching the marathon of his favorite TV show, "Space Heros."

Leonardo was the leader of these four turtles that had been mutated by mutagene fifteen and a half years ago. His weapon that he used was two katanas, which actually seemed to suit him quite well. Along with being the leader, he was also burdened by being the oldest of the brothers. Though he would never call it a "burden" out loud. That was a secret he kept to himself, especially since he was the one that had asked to be leader. He plopped himself in front of the Tv and turned it on. Instantly his favorite show "Space Heros" appeared on the screen, and his weariness quickly vanished, as he watched the re-run he had seen a million times like an excited wide eyed child.

"Yea whatever. Lazy ass leader..." Raph mumbled this under his breath, and though the other two could hear him, Leo was already to enthralled with the show to care.

His full name was Raphael. He was the third oldest brother, and possessed the shortest fuse. Although he usually took out his anger in a manner that "hurt" his brothers, he was a giant softy. He didn't care what happened to himself, but he never wanted to see his brothers hurt by anyone but him. Although he'd never admit that. He clearly possessed more muscle, and his neon green eyes that shone through his red mask made him look positively frightening when he wanted to be. However, no one would guess that his greatest love was a small non-mutated pet turtle named, Spike. Raph walked over to the kitchen table and placed Spike on the table next to his face that had plastered itself to a laying position. He then picked up a comic book off the table after searching for it with his hand and began to read it.

"Dudes!" Mikey quickly smiled over to April, "And Dudette." He then regained his loud excitement. "I'M GOING BACK! I'M GETTING PIZZA!" He excitedly stuck his tongue out as he smiled and ran to his skate board and ran back through the sewers they had just come from.

His full name was Michelangelo. He was the youngest of the brothers, and due to his constant moving around, his mask bore a shorter tail then all the rest where it tied. Otherwise it was always slapping him in the face. The freckles on his face were his most noticeable features, especially when he smiled. They just seemed to perk everyone up, whether they knew it or not. The brothers seemed to treat him like he was a kid that constantly needed to be watched and protected. They couldn't trust him with doing things on his own most of the time because he'd get distracted if it didn't interest him. His hobbies ranged very widely, and it was hard to keep track. Today his interest seemed to lay with his skate board, and everyone knew that even after getting pizza, he would continue rolling around the lair with it the rest of the night.

Without saying a word the tall turtle with the purple mask walked by his brothers and April, who had just sat on the couch behind Leo and was playing on her laptop. He hadn't said a word all night, nor had anyone bothered saying anything to him that needed a response.

His name was Donatello, but they all called him Donnie. He was the second oldest brother, and the tallest. Though he had been the shortest up until a year ago. Any electrical device laying around the lair was his doing. Everything worked because he made it so. Donnie wanted to know everything about everything, and excelled in science, specifically engineering. However, he had so many ideas that he never had time to get them all done, let alone write them down to perhaps tinker with later. As he walked past his brothers and April he let out a silent sigh as he walked into his lab and shut the giant metal door, meaning that disturbing him would probably bring about a rage, which was rare for him.

"So while I was being held by the Purple Dragon they brought up, The Shredder." April looked up from her computer as she said this. She was excited to tell Leo that she may know where he was currently holding base so they could attack after coming up with a plan. Though she had been training as a kunoichi for the past six months, and was able to keep up with them and do a few tricks, she still felt like she got in the way, and was always happy to divulge information, as if to earn her keep amongst the group.

Leo looked back for a moment, about to say something but something exciting happened on the TV and he was instantly re-glued to it. "C-can it wait till this episodes over?" Leo finally managed to ask as he hugged his knees to his chest.

April sighed, but looked up as a rat, dressed in a mans Kimono, and was taller than her by a clear foot, walked into the room.

"The Shredder you say." The human like rat said in curiosity as he approached April. As he made his presence clear Leo immediatly unglued himself from the TV and walked over to April as if he had cared the whole time.

"Yes, April. You said, they were talking about the Shredder. Wh-what did they say?" You could tell he was only paying attention now so he would not be punished by the rat later.

The human like rat was named Splinter. Just as the turtles had once been normal turtles, this human like rat had once been, human. He was struck with the same mutagene as the turtles that day and had transformed into what stood before her. He was their teacher, their sensei. He had taught them everything they knew about ninjutsu. He had only been training April for about six months to be a ninja, but the turtles, had been trained by him for fifteen years. Splinter and the boys had lived here in this sewer that long, completely isolated from the world. The boys knew about life on the outside from stories Splinter had told them, what they had seen on the TV, or from whatever they could salvage from a nearby dump. To the turtles, Splinter was their father, and to Splinter, the turtles were his sons. April couldn't help but be a little jealous of the closeness they all shared.

A few months ago Aprils father had been kidnapped by an alien race from another dimension known as the Kraang. They had been kidnapping scientists from all over the city to experiment with mutagene. The very same mutagene that changed the fates of the turtles and Splinter fifteen and a half years ago.

Splinter sternly stared at her as he awaited an answer. April focused back on the conversation, not realizing that she had just allowed her head to wander. "Sorry, right. One of the Purple Dragon guys said that Shredder had been using an abandoned doll factory a couple miles away. They weren't sure if he was actually there, or if it was just the foot clan."

Shredder had been an old friend of Splinter from when he lived in Japan. But due to pettiness the two were split apart, and eventually battled each other. They both lost so much in that battle... Now, Shredder had tracked Splinter to New York and intended to to finish what he had started so many years ago. The foot clan was a group of highly trained ninjas that worked directly under him. However, in comparison to Leo, Raph, Donnie, and Mikey, they looked like amateurs. The only thing they had on their side was quantity.

Raph non chalantly yelled over to them from the table, not peeling his eyes away from his comic book. "That would make sense. It's the only place we wouldn't look. I wouldn't go looking for an evil villain in a doll factory." Leo rolled his eyes.

"Sensei-" Leo began, but Splinter closed his eyes and held his hand up to his oldest son, silencing him.

He sighed as he spoke, "I will meditate on what to do next. For now, try and wake your brothers from this...slump." As splinter shut himself away behind the dojo doors Leo's shoulders slumped and he looked a little disappointed. He looked down to the ground. April sadly stared at him and finally placed her hand on his shoulder. His sad eyes looked back up at her. He just half heartedly smiled and placed his hand over hers. After a moment he pulled her hand off and stood up straight.

"Donnie!" Leo yelled as if he hadn't been sad only a moment ago. He smiled as the giant metal door slid open and Donnie lazily poked his head out. "Mikey will be back any minute with dinner."

Donnie just uncaringly stared at him. "Okay." Said Donnie lazily, and he began to slip back behind the wall and close the door. Leo devilishly grinned and placed his arm around April pulling her closer.

"L-Leo!" She excalimed. It wasn't as if she wasn't constantly being pulled and carried around by the four brothers, who were usually constantly fighting over her attention for different reasons, but this one came as a surprise. However, one look at his face, and she knew what he was doing. Upon her yelling Leos name Donnie had quickly popped his head back out to see what was going on, but he looked more interested than lazy this time.

Leo tried to look smug, as he forced his voice to be cheerful and carry further through the lair. "Hey, April. Do you want to spend the rest of the night with me doing a private training session. I'll show you how to use my katanas." As Leo ended his sentence he evilly grinned back to his brother who had emerged from his lab. Donnie quickly jumped over the pit in what they considered to be the living room, right in between April and Leo, separating them.

Irritated, Donnie looked at his elder brother. "Hey, she has school tomorrow. Be more considerate." April chuckled a little. She could tell that Donnie was being serious, but he had only really butt in because he was trying to protect her from his brother.

Leo laughed a little. "You're right, Donnie. But hey since you're out here, wanna help me out?" Leo wrapped his arm around his brothers neck and then, once again, evilly smiled as he whispered to his brother, backs turned so even April could not hear. Suddenly the two looked up and they were both smiling as they looked over to Raph who was still engrossed with him comic book. Judging by their faces it was clear they had come up with a scheme.

It only took moments for the two brothers to surround Raph from the back and they both began to creep in on their brother. April watched in anticipation to see how this would play out. Since the intent was clearly playful, she knew it would be fun to watch the outcome of this "fight".

"Now!" Leo yelled as he and Donnie jumped Raph from behind and piled him into the ground. The three began to wrestle each other, but Raph had managed to pin them both down. However, the two were still laughing. After a moment of sheer anger on his face, he finally let loose a smile and started laughing too.

"Heh, some ninja. You didn't even hear us sneak up on you." Donnie said through his chuckles.

"Hmph." Raph smiled. "I did. I just didn't think you two would be stupid enough to actually take me on." The three began to laugh again as Mikey rolled in on his skate board, pizza box in hand.

"I'M BA~...WHAT!? YOU GUYS WRESTLED WITHOUT ME!? You always leave me out!" He playfully yelled at his brothers and he set the pizza down.

Raph evilly grinned at his youngest brother, "Oh, sorry. Did you want some of this?" Raph quickly got up and jumped Mikey, and was quickly followed by Leo and Donnie. The four of them wrestled on the floor, laughing all the while.

As April watched, she just smiled. These were four, deadly mutant ninjas turtles that would normally strike fear into any civilian that might happen upon them, but she was lucky enough to see them for what they really were. Four brothers, that even after a horrible fight, or any other emotional trauma, could come together...work together, anything they wanted. Anyone would be jealous.

Mikey was at the bottom of the wrestling math and he reached out for April. "APRIL! TAG IN! TAG IN!" He squealed looking for a way to escape. April laughed at this, but Mikey had managed to grab her wrist and pull her into the battle. As she was drawn in the match ended and the five laid together laughing.

From behind the closed dojo door, Splinter was sitting beneath the tree that grew at the far end of the room meditating, but upon hearing the laughter from April and his sons, he allowed himself to bare a small smile.

Despite all the hardships, and personal issues each of them faced, they were all happy to just have each other, especially with all the enemies that would love to see them dead. At least for now, they could hide the pain they felt.