New York City, like most other locations where a large multitude of humans gathered, was just as lively during the night as it was during the day. There was almost more activity occurring when the sun went down, as the shadier types of people who hid their immoral deeds in the light no longer feared their reputation being soiled. The golden lights from neon bars and nightclubs provided a faint outline of these evening activities, silhouetting man-made strife to match the man-made source of artificial luminescence.

In a particular back alley, an unfortunately familiar situation was taking place. Through the amused and drunken laughter in the background, a young woman was struggling against the rough grip of a hefty hoodlum, who had pushed her back to the brick wall and was now pulling her hands down. Though he was obviously more girthy than her, she was doing everything in her power to get him away, wriggling her arms and trying to knee him in the groin. However, she simply lacked the strength to provide any sufficient defense.

"Please, someone, help!" she screamed out, but none of the footsteps that she dimly heard seemed to hesitate. Her plea only elicited a deep-throated chuckle from the brute before her, and she bit her lip in fear and panic as she realized the true plight she was in. She was in a dark alley, alone and far from any member of society who could help, let alone would help. Her tremulous emotions caused a knot to rise in her throat, and a small line of tears fell down her eyes as the man started to lift up her shirt.

Before either the girl or the man could register that something had changed, the girl had been pulled away and a silver katana roughly knocked into the man's forehead. A rush of compressed wind from the invisible acceleration blew the girl's skirt back, and she looked up to see a man. At least, that's what she initially thought...but with a closer look, she saw that he was something else. It had features like a normal human, but she was pretty sure humans didn't have shells and green skin.

"What a scumbag." The blue-bandanaed turtle grunted, taking out rope from its utility belt and swiftly tying the man up. It looked sideways at her, but realizing she had seen enough weirdness that night, she pushed herself up and ran away before he could say anything more to her.

Leonardo sighed as the human girl ran, knowing he should just be grateful she didn't yell or call him any names before she left. As a mutant, he had long ago become accustomed to the fact that the world would view him as an anomaly at best, and a freak of nature at worst. Him and his brothers had been targeted by the Kraang as potential test subjects, and the Earth Protection Force, or EPF, initially thought they were aliens and almost dissected Michelangelo. His father, Master Splinter, had kept Leo and his three brothers underground for fifteen years because of these threats, and used to rigorously warn them to avoid human contact when he finally did allow them to go up to the surface.

Used to…it had been a solid year since his father's passing, and Leo still felt terrible thinking of his father in the past tense. Part of it was his strong spiritual connection to Splinter, which allowed him to remain in contact with his father through the spirit plane; but mostly, it was because Leo didn't want to think about all the things their sensei's death entailed. While Splinter had been training Leo to lead his brothers, the main yoke of responsibility had rested squarely on the rat's shoulders. But now his father was gone, leaving Leonardo as the sole guardian, leader, and teacher to his younger three siblings.

Speaking of which, he had better deliver dinner to them or he would never hear the end of it. Turning aside from the tied-up human, he picked up the four pizza boxes he had left on top of a nearby trash can and walked towards the nearest sewer grate.

Most people would shudder at the very idea of stepping into a sewer, let alone living inside one. After all, they were built underground for that very purpose…humans wanted to avoid all contact with refuse, believing all waste to be absolutely repulsive. Which made it a perfect hiding ground for other creatures that disgusted humans; roaches, rats, and radioactively mutated talking turtles.

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Within the seventeen years that the turtles had lived underground, they had done their best to make their hidden lair into a home. In the first fifteen years, Splinter had done the majority of this work, by designating living quarters for each of them, painstakingly crafting a dojo and using his mantras to sustain a living tree even where there was no sunlight. They had hung up tire swings, a kitchen and bathroom, and even rummaged around in countless junkyards until they had acquired a television set. A couch, arcade games, and numerous personal objects like comic books and cartoon VCRs helped to complete the picture. And if they needed something they didn't have; they could always count on their resident genius turtle to either find or invent it.

In fact, it was this particular sibling that Raphael was looking for. He had just woken up from a nap, and though his first instinct had been to bother Leo, Mikey had quickly informed him that the blue-banded leader had left to get pizza before returning to his Pokémon game with Ice cream kitty. This didn't give Raph many other options for siblings to chat with.

It was usually unheard of for Raph to purposefully seek out conversation, as he was the least touchy-feely out of the four turtles. However, within the past two years he'd spent in the sewers without his father, he began to understand just how hard it was to be alone with his thoughts. Donnie and Leo could confide in others more easily, and besides, they both had girlfriends who understood exactly what they had lost. Karai was Splinter's daughter, and April had become like a second daughter to the rat. But as much as Raph loved Mona, she seemed confused by Raph's sadness at his master's passing.

"Raphael, I do not understand your sorrow. Surely your master was an honorable fighter, and never did anything shameful."

"Of course not! Master Splinter was the most noble person to ever exist!"

"Well, then you can have no worries for his current residence. I am sure the gods have taken him to the warrior's paradise, which is exalted above all other afterlives."

After that, Raph hadn't mentioned his feelings about Splinter's death to Mona again, but found himself strangely confiding in Mikey. The youngest turtle did a great job of hiding his own turmoil, as he had always been the most optimistic out of them and knew how much his brothers relied on his light-hearted side. And though he was rather talkative most of the time, when it came down to it, he could be a great listener. Raph sure felt better talking about his feelings with Mikey than with sometimes-arrogant Leo and overly-practical Donnie. But even with his 'Mikey-chats,' as the orange-banded turtle had dubbed them, the aura of Splinter's missing presence still hung over Raph like a never-ending cloud, with his tears as the rain.

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Stepping into Donnie's lab, the red-banded turtle looked around the spacious room until his eyes caught on his brother's stooped form, the genius turtle looking even more like a beanpole than usual as he bent over his microscope. Stepping past the glowing pools of algae and the garage door that led to the subway tracks, Raph walked right up to Donnie and peered over his shoulder. "Donnie?"

"Wh-AUGhhh!" Donnie gasped, jumping up in surprise as he realized the close proximity of his elder brother.

Raph grinned in his characteristically roguish manner, which only caused Donnie to scowl, pushing up his black goggles before addressing Raph. "Don't you know by now that I shouldn't be snuck up on when I'm experimenting with potentially combustible materials?!"

"Well, yeah, but how was I supposed to know that's what you were doing?" Raph asked, taking a few cautious steps back.

Donnie groaned and rubbed the space between his eyes. "Maybe because that's all I've been doing…for the past two years now? You all know how I've been trying to unfreeze Timothy." Pausing, Donnie looked down at Raph and then rubbed the back of his neck, sheepishly lifting one edge of his beak into an awkward half-smile. "But—I'm assuming you didn't come here to talk about my experiments. What's up?"

Raph nodded slightly, carelessly changing the topic. "Yeah, I just heard from Mikey that Leo's gone out for pizza. Any idea where he got the money for that?"

"Uh…hopefully Casey or April gave him money for it. If not, then perhaps it's best if we don't ask." Donnie chuckled, tapping an empty syringe against his finger as he talked.

While he didn't say anything to express his confusion, he did lift one eye ridge towards Raph in querulous scrutinizing. It wasn't like Raphael to just walk up and start having a casual discussion. Usually, the red-banded turtle would only bother Donnie if he had a broken machine he wanted fixed, or if he wanted Donnie to create a new plaything to train with or ride on, like the Stealth bike. And while Donnie certainly didn't mind having a more easy-going conversation, he couldn't shake the feeling that there was something else on Raph's mind.

Sure enough, Donnie's suspicions were soon confirmed.

"We—ell," Raph started, stretching out the syllables, glancing from Donnie to the floor, "I know you have security footage for most of the sewer tunnels and city streets…and I just wanted to know whether you'd noticed any signs of trouble out there. The bigger, the better."

An exhausted sigh escaped Donnie's lips before he could stop it, and he turned his swivel chair so that he was fully facing his elder brother.

"Listen, Raph…I know you're feeling restless, being stuck here for so long without any imminent threats to the safety of the world…more so than the rest of us. But without the Shredder or Kraang, there's nothing that really needs our attention anymore."

"I'd disagree." Leo's voice suddenly broke through the air, as he walked through the door of the lab with a grim smile. "But let's discuss this more with some pizza."

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The makeshift kitchen the turtles used within their lair held perhaps the most memories out of any room in their home. It had served as the family's dining room, meeting place, and strategy room upon multiple occasions, and even when some turtles were too badly hurt from past battles to meet in the dojo or TV room, nothing would stop them from congregating for mealtimes together. Mikey had taken up charge over the kitchen, which only made sense; the most communicative turtle would feel most at home in such a place, and besides, the ice cream kitty took up residence in the freezer.

While the kitchen remained mostly the same since Splinter's passing, there were a few subtle differences which served to set the room apart. The same warm, incandescent light cast a yellow glow over the kitchen counter, but there were now more stains and niches in the wood from some of Mikey's culinary experiments. There was a monkey magnet holding April and Casey's numbers in place on the fridge, along with a picture of Splinter and four tween turtles standing around him in awe. Some other photos included one of Raph and Casey making stupid faces, another showed Leo, Donnie, Karai and April playing video games together, and there were dozens of Mikey and Ice Cream Kitty striking poses for the camera. Some splotches of frozen dairy had gotten on the lenses for those photos.

Mikey shot the fridge photos a wistful look, wishing those simplistic times could return. April and Casey rarely visited the lair anymore, with April studying in college and Casey working hard to fulfill his dream of being a pro hockey player. And Karai had taken it on herself to crush the gangs and subterranean crime syndicates of New York. She had done a stellar job over the years, but it meant that they rarely saw her at home.

In fact, it seemed that everyone else was moving forward with their lives except for him and his brothers. This was a source of frustration Raph had often vented about, and Mikey couldn't help sharing his elder brother's irritation. He knew it was cliché, but he was kinda hoping that there would be more to life than hiding underground and revealing himself occasionally to swat at some baddies. There was so much to see and do on Earth, and he had barely even scratched the cusp of it! He should be skateboarding and painting and cooking and racing above ground, but despite all the strides that he and his brothers had made, mutants were still unwelcome in the world of the humans.

And this was far from the only thought rattling through Mikey's mind. When their father, Splinter, had passed away, it had hit Mikey particularly hard. As much as he loved his brothers, the youngest turtle could really only confide in his sensei. While his brothers tried to baby him and were often overly protective, Splinter realized the raw potential inside him and never judged Mikey for wanting to be a bigger part of the world above. After all, he had been Hamato Yoshi before becoming a mutant rat.

"What's wrong, Mikey? It's unlike you not to be jumping all over pizza." Donnie observed, having already heaped two hot slices onto his plate.

The youngest turtle sighed, then turned around to take a seat at the table. "Nothing's wrong, D…I've just been lost in thought." He quickly piled three slices of pizza onto his plate in order to alleviate his brother's concern, then focused on Leo. "Speaking of which, I'm interested in what Leo wanted to say."

"Oh yes, please spill the beans!" While any other time these words might be tainted with sarcasm, by the way Raph was leaning forward and grinning eagerly, it was clear that he meant it in earnest. The red-banded turtle's eyes gleamed with an excitement that had been lacking as of late, as if he saw the light out of their long, peaceful tunnel.

Leo cleared his throat, unsure of where to begin. "Well…for one thing, the Kraang and Foot are not our only concerns. There are two groups in particular we've lost focus on; the Purple Dragons, and Don Vizioso's gang."

Almost immediately after his words, a collective groan rose up from the other three.

"I thought Karai had a handle on the gangs." Donnie complained, putting a hand on his head.

"And Don Vizioso is out of jail again? How many times do we have to lock that sucker up?!" Raph yelled, smacking his fists together.

"I'm not sure. All Karai told me, is that they're working together, and that's not good." Leo answered, his voice solid as he gave them a level stare. It was clear that he'd had some time to think about the news. "And even worse, Karai said that the mutagen supply in Shredder's old lair has disappeared."

"Oh, just great." Donnie sighed, wondering how much bad news he could take. That mutagen supply was the only consistent one they'd had for months, and if he didn't have it available, then that meant having to stop working on a cure for Timothy.

"But hey, it's not all bad." Leo said, shooting a sly grin Raphael's way. "Karai wants to meet up with us tonight, so we're all finally getting out of the lair!"