Song: Trust Me Not (Hero and Villain Duet) by Backseat Vagabond
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"You- I- Why?!" Leo demanded. "What are you doing up here? I told you-"

"I know what you told me, Leonardo." Shelby cut him off.  "But you can't make me a part of the team and then keep me hidden in the lair like I'm fragile cargo." She stated, hopping over the peak of the roof and joining them at the edge. "I don't need protection."

"'I don't need protection.'" Raph mocked in a high pitch voice. "Give me a break, Bradford. You just like to not listen."

"That sounds familiar." Donnie muttered, earning a glare from Raphael.

Shelby opened her mouth to shoot back at Raph, but Leo raised his hand to silence them. "Shelby, please, clear your head and listen to me." Her eyes narrowed, but she gave him her full attention. "Nobody here thinks your fragile. Nobody here thinks you can't handle yourself in a fight against the Foot. Nobody thinks you're being mind controlled by the Shredder or that you're going to switch sides on us. But as a family, it's our job to protect each other. As a part of this family, it's our job to protect you from danger."

"Everything we do puts us in danger." Shelby muttered.

"A uniquely high amount of danger." Donnie countered.

"Exactly. If we didn't suspect that the Foot might target you, patrols would have an average amount of danger and we'd have no problem with you coming. But right now, there's an a very high amount of danger because we think they'll be targeting you." Leo explained.

Shelby's nose scrunched. "Well now it feels like you're talking to me like a toddler."

"Don't worry- he does that to me all the time." Mikey smiled.

"Let's just let go for tonight, Leo." Donnie advised. "I get what you mean by asking Shelby to stay back, but it's obviously really important to her that she's here with us. Maybe when we get back, we can ask sensei for his input on the matter?"

Shelby and Leo eyed each other momentarily. "Fine." Leo muttered.

"Okay." Shelby agreed.

"Perfect! So stop fighting. We're not children." Raph stated.

"Right! We're teenagers. That's like, at least a three year difference." Mikey added while counting on his fingers.

Everybody stared at him for a moment. "Right..." Leo dragged the word as he cracked his knuckles. "All right, if we're moving on, I suggest we check out Little Italy."

The others nodded silently in agreement. They took off from the roof like fallen leaves swirling in a gust of wind. In the city that never sleeps, there were very few places that were empty of all people, but no one ever glanced up at the rooftops, where the turtles and Shelby bounding from roof to roof.

Obviously, the tension of the argument had not disappeared with Donnie's counseling, and Shelby could sense it. She could see a tautness in Leo's shoulders and arm muscles, even though he was not wielding his twin katana. Even in her human form, Shelby swore she could hear Raph's teeth grinding together in his mouth. And it seemed like Donnie was holding his breath.

Their attitudes made Shelby feel guilty with every push off of the scaffolding. Did she want to be arguing with Leo? No. She respected Leo and now she recognized the meaning of his intentions. But pride kept her from admitting out loud that he was right. She now saw the unfortunate truth- while there was no chance of Shelby willingly switching back to the Foot, Shelby was a failed experiment that the Shredder could be looking to get back.

Shelby took a deep breath in, chasing crazy thoughts from her head. What was the chances that they were hunting her at this exact moment? She would be fine for tonight, and then she would stay in the lair until the turtles thought it was safe.

Just when her nerves settled, she caught scent of something hauntingly familiar. Hair gel and sweat- and no, it wasn't her or the turtles' sweat. They all had different smells that Shelby was around so often, she didn't even notice them anymore. This sweat smelled sweet, almost similar to hers, but slightly more musky.

That's when two Foot soldiers leapt out of the shadows.

"Evasive maneuvers!" Leo yelled as the ninja came at them with katanas. Raph was all too eager to take them head on anyways, catching the blade of katana within his sais and twisting the weapon within the Foot soldier's grip, bending their arms in unnatural ways. Donnie ducked and rolled to escape the second ninja, who was then entrapped in Mikey's nunchuck chain. Within the next couple seconds, the soldiers were dispatched and thrown from the roof.

Like the hydra of Greek myth, where two fell, four appeared, ready to try their hand at fighting the turtles. Shelby clenched her teeth, unsheathing her twin ono and assessing her opponents. Strangely, none of them seemed to be paying her any attention. Their attack was focused on the turtles.

Except one.

They spotted each other at the same time, a figure crouched low on the railing of a fire escape. Once they made eye contact, the ninja jumped down to the roof. Shelby wouldn't give them the chance to collect themselves, instead charging with her onos gripped behind her. By the time the ninja properly found their bearings, Shelby was swinging an axe down on their head. They rolled to the side, sticking out a leg and trying to sweep Shelby's legs out from under her. Shelby predicted it- she hopped just high enough to avoid being tripped and turned to take another swing at the Foot Clan soldier.

This time her blow was blocked by their kyoketsu shoge.

Shelby froze, her eyes locked on the weapon for a good twenty seconds. Neither of them moved as Shelby's eyes drifted to the red-eyed mask over his face. Her mouth and throat were dry as her heart began to race like a rabbit.

"What are you doing here?" Shelby asked through clenched teeth, pushing hard into her weapons, causing his arms to falter slightly under the weight.

"I could ask you the same thing." Tyler's voice whispered. Shelby pushed again. This time, their weapons separated. Tyler took a step back, taking off his mask to reveal his wide, heterochromic eyes staring at Shelby with a churning sea of emotions clashing against one another in the irises. Shelby gritted her teeth, getting ready to run at him again.

"Shelby, stop!" Tyler yelled, throwing his hands up. "I want to talk."

Shelby did hesitate. God, she wished that wasn't her instinct. Her eyes quickly broke from Tyler's to gather her surroundings. The turtles were too preoccupied to come to her aid but had moved too far away for Shelby to break away before Tyler's kyoketsu shoge chain would reach her.

"What could you possibly have to say to me?" She growled.

"I- well, a lot, actually." Tyler chuckled flatly. "First off, how are you... you? How are you not a wolf anymore?"

Shelby's mind was racing. What was the strategy here? Interrogation for information? Distracting Shelby while the other Foot dispatched the turtles?

"Your guess is as good as mine." Shelby stated. It's true- in that exact moment, there was no way she could recite Donnie's theories. Even if she could, she shouldn't. Everything Shelby said to Tyler right here could make it to the Shredder's ears by the end of the night.

Tyler seemed to be getting panicked by Shelby's blunt answers- his eyes bounced back and forth between her eyes, searching for a way in. "Okay. I guess the next question is just..." the muscles in his arms loosened as he lowered his kyoketsu shoge slightly, "why?"

Another quick assessment. In her wolf form, Shelby might be able to escape Tyler's range quick enough to assist the turtles. But could that possibly be Tyler's goal? Egging her into becoming a wolf? "Why what?" She asked in a low voice.

"Why did you leave us?" He pushed. "Why did you betray us? How were you so willing to fight with the enemy and leave Aiden and I behind?"

The pain in his voice felt so real. Shelby caught herself lowering her onos and taking a step forward. Her throat burned. She shook her head, stepping back again as she let out a harsh chuckle. "It's pretty cute, the way you twist around what happened. As if I wasn't beaten and slashed and mutated by the Foot Clan while you watched." She snapped. 

"But how did it get like that? You were always an amazing sister! We hardly ever fought back in Detroit. You got here and it's like you became a different person!" Tyler continued. 

Shelby glared, her fake smile falling. "Why should I tell you?" She mumbled just loud enough for him to hear. "You never helped me. You never stood up for me. You weren't there for me when I needed you."

"Because you pushed me away!" Tyler yelled, taking a step forward. Shelby instantly got in a counter stance and Tyler realized his mistake. He held his hands up, before letting his weapon fall to his feet. "Please, let me in."

Shelby's lip curled. "It's too little too late. You've already sided with dad. If you would open your eyes and stop following orders blindly, you would see that it's always been because of dad. He's a terrible person, Tyler. Even before the Foot Clan. I watched him scream at, punch, and break our mom when we were little. I still remember when he hit me before mom finally kicked him out. And I'll never forget the fact that he never reached out again while mom struggled to keep food on the table for his children."

Tyler eyes were wide. "I- Shelby, I didn't know any of that." 

"Whether you did or not, you never helped me when he decided to rip me open and let the Shredder mutate me." Frost began traveling across the roof, causing Tyler to stumble back as the temperature began to drop and a sharp breeze began to pick up around Shelby. 

"I'm sorry!" Tyler exclaimed.

"It's too late for apologizes, Tyler! Look at WHAT THEY'VE DONE!" Shelby screamed, rushing at Tyler. Her onos clattered to the scaffolding as Shelby transformed into a white wolf in mid-air. Shelby slammed into Tyler, pinning him to the roof as she glared down at him, teeth bared.

He stared up at her with fear and horror plastered across his face. He grabbed her forelegs but didn't struggle otherwise. Tears spilled over and rolled down his temples onto the ground. "I'm sorry." He whispered in a hoarse voice. "I'm sorry we pushed you away. I never meant to. But this- this isn't you. You're not the bad guy. I know you're not." 

A growl ripped from Shelby's throat, her muscles tensing. How dare he call her the bad guy? She wanted to scream at him, yelling out that they were the reason she was here, they were the reason she was a mutant. 

The growl seemed to give Tyler enough of a memo. "Okay, okay, bad word choice! The Foot isn't a clan of saints, I know! But, but we're family!" Tears were rushing out now as Tyler's face turned red. "We're not supposed to leave each other! We're supposed to stick together!" He was struggling to breath now as sobs raked his chest.

Shelby's eyes widened and out of instinct, she scrambled off of Tyler. He sat up, roughly trying to wipe the moisture from his face. "Please." He whispered, reaching out a hand. "Come back to us. I need you, Shelbs."

Shelby let out a small whine, her heart aching in her chest. Her eyes were locked with Tyler's, their surrounding completely fading into the background. There was no way she would ever go back to the Foot Clan. But maybe... she could bring Tyler back with her.

Before she could even think about how to go about the conversation, she felt something sharp pierce her shoulder. She yelped, trying to see what was now embedded in her skin, but it was at a bad angle. Tyler stared in realization, before glaring at something to Shelby's left, where the object came from. "You know, you're an asshole."

"Wow. Harsh." Shelby's senses flared in alarm as she recognized the scent she had smelled before the Foot Clan attacked- that sweet sweat and hair gel smell was coming from the left. She glared at Aiden, who emerged from the shadows with a blow dart gun in hand.

"There's no other word for it." Tyler griped.

"I'm just following orders, Tyler."

"Don't you get it? I could have brought her back on her own accord! Not against her will!" Tyler shouted.

Shelby took in Aiden, her gaze falling on the nasty scar covering a big part of the right side of his face. The four claw marks with raised burns around the area- that was her work. She let out a deep, low growl, the pain of the object in her shoulder becoming obsolete as she turned to face him, her hackles raised and her tail lashing.

Aiden stared at her, his sapphire blue eyes completely emotionless. "I'd love to be on the receiving end of another mutant attack, but I'm curious- do you think you'll be able to take Tyler and I out before my Foot soldiers take your new clan out?"

Shelby froze, but only for a second. She turned quickly on her toes, running as fast as her legs could carry her toward the turtles. The closest fight was Donatello and a few Foot soldiers. Shelby instantly tackled a ninja and tore at his shoulder, before chunking him off the roof. Taking one soldier out of the equation was enough for Donnie to defend himself against the other two and he made quick work of them. "Thanks, Shelby." He breathed, before pausing. "What's in your arm?"

She let out a short bark, trying to convey "as if I can answer you right now". Donnie carefully removed it, his face turning an even paler shade of green. "This can't be good." He muttered.

"Guys! I think we need to fall back!" Leo shouted. Shelby followed the order, taking out a couple more Foot soldiers as the five of them made a break for it. Surprisingly, there was no chase.