Casey, April, and I sat on the rusty swings in the middle of a small park. The orange glow of the streetlight illuminated us as the sun sunk between the skyscrapers.

"We still haven't found my Dad." April finished. She was explaining her story of meeting the turtles when their enemy, the alien-robots called the Kraang, kidnapped her and her dad. She was rescued but her dad just had the worst luck. Apparently, as of now, he was a big mutant bat, flying around the sky of new York City.

"Sorry Red," Casey said, stopping his swinging so he could give April a genuine look.

"Yeah," I agreed, kicking my swing off the ground. "But don't worry, we'll help find him." I added over the squeaks of the playground equipment.

"Thanks guys," April said, "but the turtles are ninjas and even they have no idea where to find him."

Casey started explaining how he had seen the huge dinosaur thing. April nodded grimly. "That's Raph's old pet turtle, Spike. He goes by Slash now, though. I wouldn't go looking for him - he's extremely violent."

"You don't have to tell me twice, then." I muttered.

April glanced up at the starless, dark sky. "Come on, we should head home."

"Don't you live down in the sewers with the turtles?" I asked as I jumped off the swing, flew through the air, and landed in a crouch.

"Yeah, but I can walk you guys home first."

"Nope," Casey jumped onto his roller-blades. "That's not how it works. The gentlemen will walk the lady home; not the other way around."

I rolled my eyes.

"Save it Jones," April said, smiling. "But still, humor me and take me back to my concrete palace."

I walked behind the pair, watching Casey carefully and trying not to laugh. He was doing an okay job of keeping his cool so far, but with April in such close quarters, I wasn't sure how much longer he could remain calm.

We walked a few more blocks until I heard something nearby. It was faint, but it was footsteps, and the quiet slide of metal on metal. "Hey guys?" I called to April and Casey as I slowly rotated, scanning the area around me. "Did you hear -"

My sentence was cut short when something slammed into me from behind. I sprawled to the sidewalk, a knee in the small of my back. I tried to groan, but no sound could come out of my throat. I actually couldn't breathe.

A hand grabbed my wild black hair roughly, yanking my head back so my neck was on the verge of snapping. I felt a sting behind my eyes. I tried to call out again, but only a feeble gurgle was emitted.

"Shut up before I gut you." I felt the flat of a cool metal blade push against my throat, but I was more surprised to hear the voice... it was female. "I'd hate to - you're cute."

I found my arms and used them to jerk upwards, throwing the crazy lady off of me. I spun around and held up my fists, a few street fights from my past reminding me what to do. I was met with an empty block, a streetlamp blurring my shadow.

I didn't wait to be pinned again. "CASEY, APRIL! GET OVER - AARGH!"

A foot connected with the back of my knee and I collapsed, landing on the ground again. I rolled as the girl's knee aimed for my back - I heard a surprisingly satisfying gasp of pain when her leg slammed into the concrete. I stood up and landed a kick in her side, throwing her away. Then, I turned and ran to meet April and Casey as they sprinted towards me.

"Ren, what happened?" Casey yelled in my face when I reached him.

"Are you okay?" April asked, panicked.

"A girl..." I gasped for breath, my back still smarting. "...some kinda ninja... she had armor and a sword and all that..."

April straightened, her eyes wide. "Karai."

"Ka-who-hah?" Casey looked up from his crouched position next to me.

"Karai. She's a Kunoichi - a female ninja. She works for Shredder." April pulled out the metal fan from a few days ago in the turtles' lair. "You guys need to get out of here."

"No way," Casey said, hefting the hockey stick he never parted from. "We'll help."

A metal star embedded itself in the hockey stick's wood. Casey and I jumped, but April unfolded her fan and assumed a ninja pose.

"I said run!" April yelled at us.

"Not happening, Red." Casey said.

"Yeah, um, I still don't have a weapon here." I noted.

Karai landed directly in front of us, crouching low with one leg out to the side. Her hand was clenched around the hilt of her ninjato behind her.

"Move!" April shoved me in front of her and we were suddenly sprinting down the dark street. We shoved New Yorkers aside, earning a lot of swearing and name calling. April kept glancing at the rooftops that ran above us - Karai was running on them, matching our pace perfectly. There was no way were we going to outrun her.

"Come on," April yanked me into an alley and skidded to a stop at the manhole cover. "We'll lose her in the sewers."

I crouched and yanked the metal disk off. A dark, gaping hole yawned under me.

"Going to hide with your turtle friends?" Karai's voice echoed through the alley. I spun around to see her standing in the way of our only exit besides the sewers. "Good. You'll lead me right to them."

"Ren, you first." Casey murmured from the corner of his mouth.

I barely moved when April shouted and ran towards Karai. Big mistake.

Karai dodged all of April's attacks, merely sidestepping the pathetic swipes April used.

I lowered one foot into the manhole. My shoe searched for a rung of a ladder...

Karai planted a kick directly in April's stomach - she flew back and landed at Casey's feet, her fan a few feet away.

"Not cool lady." Casey gripped his hockey stick tighter. "No one messes with Casey Jones' friends and gets away with it."

I descended my other leg onto the ladder and started crawling down as Karai was occupied with Casey.

"April, come on." I whispered when my head was level with the street. April opened her eyes and started to follow me.

Casey yelled and was flung into a dumpster.

"I can't leave him." April stood and grabbed her fan. "Get to the lair and tell the turtles! They'll handle the rest." April faced Karai again.

"I don't think so." Karai smirked.

I rushed down the ladder and landed in the shallow water. Metal clashed against metal above me. I was about to start running when I realized I had no idea where the lair was.

I chose and randomly went left. I had taken about four steps when April's shrill scream reverberated through the tunnel. I clamped my hands over my ears. Then, Casey roared again and I heard the wood of his hockey stick. I started running.

Another crossroads. I could still hear the battle behind me, but I could tell Casey was losing.

I ran left again.

I splashed through the water, then stopped. Was someone following me, or was that just the echo? I slowly turned and saw no one. I continued.

I reached another fork and knew I was lost. I took a deep breath... then had it knocked out of me as Karai slammed me into the concrete wall. An arm and a leg pinned me to the cold concrete with surprising force.

I struggled, but couldn't move.

"Your friends were pretty brave back there." Karai said, her voice soft but sinister. "Brave... or maybe just really stupid."

"You.. killed them?" I tried to make it sound angry, but it came out as more of a question. Karai laughed, the sound bouncing through the tunnels.

"Oh no. No, I didn't kill them." She pressed my against the wall harder. "Much worse."

I found a way to move my arm and I punched her away from me. I spun around to receive a fierce blow to the face. I think it was her foot, but all I saw were stars.

I landed in the water, face-down. I felt her pin me down again.

"You know, I once heard that a baby can drown in less than an inch of water." Karai shifted, lounging on my back, her elbow pressing down on my skull. "I wonder if a teenager can too."

She jerked my head to the side, scraping the whole left side. My nose and mouth were shoved into the shallow stream of water. I didn't have time to draw any extra breath.

I started panicking as filthy sewage water flowed into my nose. I tried to cough, but only succeeded in filling my mouth too. I felt my chest heave for breath, but there was no oxygen to breathe underwater.

I suddenly remembered the letter opener that sat in my sweatshirt pocket. My right arm struggled to free itself form under Karai's foot. Sewage shot up my nose, and I sneezed it back out, shifting Karai enough to get my hand into my pocket. My fist clenched around my inseparable blade and I jammed it into Karai's calf.

She yelped and rolled off my back. I jumped up as soon as I could, coughing filth out of my mouth and nose. Karai staggered into a standing position as I recovered from my fit. I flipped my weapon around so it faced the other way as Karai slid her ninjato into her hands. She was favoring her right leg -- I smirked sadistically.

"So you hit girls then, huh?" She raised an angry eyebrow.

"Only when they hit me first," I countered.

She raised her blade but barely took a step before something wood cracked into the back of her head. She paused, frozen for a moment, and then keeled over, landing face-first into the slimy sewage water.

Casey lowered his hockey stick behind her, breathing heavily. "Okay, dude?" he asked as April ran up to his side.

"Good you found Ren." She glanced down at Karai. "And... her, apparently."

"You guys okay?" I coughed again, water dribbling off my lips.

"Just some bruises," Casey threw an arm around April -- he was limping.

"Come on," April lead him over Karai and through the tunnel. "The turtles can help. Ren, call Donnie."

I slipped my letter opener back into my sweatshirt, which was heavy with water. The side of my face started to sting again. "I don't have his number," I started following her and Casey.

"You do," April turned right down a new passage. I pulled out my phone -- which was miraculously still functional since I had stored it in my back pocket -- and turned it on. A text from April had four attachments. I opened it and saw she had texted me all four turtles' T-Phone numbers. I found Donatello's and held the phone up to my ear as April took another turn.

"Donatello," was the response as the other end opened.

"Donnie," I saw the light of the turtles' lair come into view. "You're a doctor, right?"