A one shot about two similar vigilantes colliding paths and undertaking the criminals of New York together.

Raphael scaled the rooftops, tracking down the same scumbag he had been chasing for the last hour. The rest of his family was back at home anticipating the early morning and already calling it a night. Not Raphael. He knew that an hour or so before sunrise crime was scarce, but he enjoyed the lone time to take care of some thugs on his own.

He skidded to a halt once his little friend turned off into an alleyway and tried to escape by racing to the public streets. Raph snorted and leapt down from the building rooftop and landed right in front of the guy.

"Ah!" The man shouted falling back on his rear and crawling back. "Look, man, don't hurt me! I won't do it again, I promise!"

Raphael took his sweet time slowly pacing closer and closer to the terrified moron. This was always the best part - when some jack ass finally admitted he was caught and tried to weasel his way out of it inadvertently handing Raph the upper hand. Pulling his sais from his belt, he spun them in his hand playfully, grinning as the man's eyes popped with fear.

He never enjoyed these sorts of moments around with his brothers. Leonardo normally lectured the poor guys about self respect and disciple until their ears bled. Donnie would simply get down to business and immobilize the person, tie him up somewhere and leave the rest to the cops. Mikey typically tried to make a game of it or teased the culprit till they were so annoyed they gave up trying to attack. None of them just took in the savory moment they could feel the power all in their hands while winning the battle.

"Wha- what are you gonna do with them things," The man asked eyeing Raph's sais suspiciously.

Raph laughed and twirled them in the air. "Give me a sec and you'll find out soon enough."

The man unexpectedly lunged at Raphael landing a surprisingly solid punch to Raph's jaw. Raph didn't stop though. He pinned the man up against a wall, landing blow after blow to the man till blood dripped down his face. Finally he let the guy fall to his knees as Raph backed up and reviewed his work. It was definitely overkill for a guy who only mugged someone but there wasn't an ounce of guilt floating around Raph's anatomy. No matter what degree of scum his guy was - he was just scum.

The man spat blood to the ground and glared at Raph who turned around to wipe his bloody fists clean. Taking advantage of his opening, the thug scrambled to his feet and tried to make for a run for it down the alley.

"Well, you're a spazzy one, aren't you?" Raphael spun around holding up his sais. Toward the back, shadowed by the tall building was a sturdy figure on of the fire escape railings. They jumped down from the terrace and wrapped their forearm around the runners neck and flipped them to the ground. Judging from their landing and quick reaction to the man's flight, they were semi experienced in some martial arts.

From what Raphael could see they wore loose black cargo pants and mid-length combat boots, a black bauta mask and a black hood zipped over what appeared to be a bulletproof vest.

"Who the hell are you?" Raphael demanded impatiently, not appreciating being sneaked up on by someone.

Though the person was masked, he could hear the smile in their voice. "You can call me Sheer, my green clad friend."

"What are you doing 'ere?" Raphael continued.

"Well," they began, "there I was out minding my own business, keeping some scumbags in check when I heard some ruckus over here and thought I'd have a peek. And what's going on over here?"

Raphael was finally able to pick up on a feminine voice, recognizing that whoever was behind the mask was a girl. It was otherwise difficult to tell as she wore loose clothing and a vest that covered up a possible female figure. "Teaching this loser a lesson." Raph said stabbing his sais in the guys direction.

She leaned over the man. "Judging by his face I'd say he's been taught successfully," Her head tilted up and faced Raphael.

"So what are you called?" She suddenly asked standing straight up.

"Raphael," he said. He was a little surprised that she wasn't freaking out over him being a giant turtle and thought she could be a little nuts. It wasn't every night you ran into another vigilante roaming the streets.

"Ugh, so rough, I don't like it," she stated definitely.

Raph snorted. "Sorry to disappoint ya, toots. It ain't like Sheer is smooth on the tongue either."

She let out a long, exasperated sigh, then said in an unconvincing sarcastic tone, "I might let you off considering it's not like we got to pick our own names."

"What, you expect me to believe Sheers your real name then or somethin'?" Raph crossed his arms and chuckled.

"And if it is?"

"It's lame," he said dully.

Sheer lifted her head back and laughed ironically. "My, ain't you the gentleman."

Raphael shrugged with a smug grin, "I try."

"You two done bantering, huh?" The man glaring at the two of them as he wobbled to stand up on his own.

Sheer's fist shot out and landed a hit to his nose which he slumped to the floor clutching. "Ah, what the hell?"

"Hey, buttface, it's rude to interrupt people when they're talking," She snapped.

Raph grunted, impressed by her brutality. It wasn't every day Raphael had the pleasure of meeting someone as rough around the edges as he was and who didn't hesitate to throw some punches. Casey was probably the only person he had the in common with but ever since he and April hooked up their time together was far and in between.

Sheer looked up from the man to Raph. "I don't want to steal your guy, what are you going to do with him?"

Raph smirked.

"I like it," Sheer observed, watching the man sway back and forth after being hung from a street lamp by rope. "It's aptitude."

Raph brushed off his hands while admiring his own work. "Someone should notice him in a couple hours and the cops will pick 'em up."

"You think the rope will hold him for that long?" Sheer speculated the rope with a skeptical tone.

Raph lifted and dropped his shoulders uncaringly, "the fall shouldn't hurt him too bad."

Sheer chuckled then turned to walk away but didn't get far before circling back around and observed, "Judging by your particularly charming appearances I take it you don't go about by day."

"You're one to talk about appearances lookin' like a black boxed creep and talking like a high school chick," Raph lightly retaliated.

"Hey, I actually have a day reputation I need to keep in order. My acquaintances can't know that I beat up the bad guys when the sun goes down," She replied jabbing an accusing index finger at him, "Speaking of which...are they're more turtle things like you?"

"Three more; my brothas," he explained, "then there's my rat father."

"Should I even ask about your mother?" She said sardonically folding her arms.

"It's not as simple as that. Just think mutating ooze, rat adoptive dad, pizza, and a sewer life kicking ass with ninjutsu," He summarized. He didn't feel like elaborating his entire reason of existence. It wasn't any of her business to know either.

Sheer tilted her head as if in consideration. "That's a hard picture to imagine but I'll do my best," She replied pleasantly. "Can all your brothers fight like you or is it just you in particular who likes to tool around?"

"Family business," Raph stated matter of factly.

"And it somehow gets weirder," She announced spreading her arms and spinning a little bit as if speaking to an audience. She laughed. "Nah, I'm not judging you. We've all got our quirks."

Raph barely managed to not scoff at her for calling his life a 'quirk'. That was one of the biggest understatements. "What's your deal then?" He asked, turning the conversation over to her. "What's a girl doing running around New York beatin' people up?"

Sheer's shoulders nearly touched her ears then slumped back down. "Not much to tell. Just a gal who needs to cut a break every once in awhile."

Raphael snuffed, "By break you mean putting a mask on and plowing some guys face in?"

"Exactly," she answered coyly. She then rubbed her hands together, "since you'd appear to enjoy the highlights of galavanting through the night what say you to kicking some more criminal butt?"

It was an appealing offer and Sheer seemed fun. She was witty, touph, and appeared honest. He considered what Leo would think about him going off with some chick he barely knew but discarded it as quickly as he thought it. Raph wasn't a little kid anymore who needed Leo's permission for everything.

"Well?" She said after he was quiet for a second.

"Let's break some skulls," Raph said pounding his fist into his open palm with a grin stretching across his lips.

Despite her mask that covered most her face, there seemed to be some sense of glee coming from her. She spun around and ran, leaping up, clutching the fire escape railing and climbing up the side of the building. Raph followed closely behind his heart pounding in his chest with adrenaline to fight!

"You know for being New York city it is one hell of a dull night," Sheer noted after she and Raphael had scouted about two blocks with nada results.

"Maybe they finally got it into their thick skulls that there's consequences to their stupidity," Raph replied roughly.

Sheer grunted.

"Hey, you by chance got the time," He asked spotting a speck of yellow rising above the streets.

"Why, you have a curfew or something?" She remarked smartly.

"You could say that," Raph snorted, "Just an annoying big brother who'll lecture me if I'm two minutes late."

Sheer inhaled sharply. "Sounds fun," She teased.

"Tell me about it," Raph snorted, "Jeez, he acts like it's the end of the world if someone ain't perfect like him."

"I imagine the burden of being perfect is a hard one to carry," every time she spoke, it was difficult to detect whether anything she said was sincere or another sarcastic remark. Raph couldn't help but finally realize how Mikey must feel when Raph talked to him.

"Yeah, well, he's the only one who thinks he's perfect," Raph complained.

Sheer was silent for a moment then said, "Most older brothers are like that. I think it comes with the package."

"Wish I could send that package back," Raph grunted which Sheer laughed to. "You got brothers to speak of?"

Sighing she said, "Not to speak of, no."

He wasn't sure what that really meant but sensed she didn't want to elaborate so he didn't press further.

"It's five o'clock by the way."

For a second he didn't know why he was telling him this then remembered he had asked. "Thanks."

Sheer leapt up onto the ledge, stretched out her arms and yawned loudly. "Ugh! This sucks, where are all the dirt bags?!"

"We could head downtown, there's always some dead head idiot tryin' to rob a store," Raph pointed out. It was usually his default place to go if his night was progressing slowly.

"Downtown it is then," She agreed gesturing he lead the way.

It was typically about a five minute run for Raph as he leapt from one building to the next but Sheer slowed his down a bit. He called her out on it, "Here I'm the turtle and your slower than molasses."

Sheer halted, throwing her hands to her hips and heaving for air. "Why don't you can it? You're a mutated ninja, it's not a fair comparison," She snapped.

Raph laughed and looked ahead measuring how much longer it would take to get to their destination. He calculated ten minutes at the most. "Need me to carry you," he teased.

"No thanks," she hopped from one to the foot to the other anticipating the run again. "I'd sooner hack off one of my legs."

"Well that ain't gonna get you there faster," He pointed out with a haughty grin.

Sheer laughed then they resumed their previous pace. Despite her speed, he was a little impressed she was able to keep up on the rooftops. It had taken Casey a lot of trial and error before he bounded from one roof to the other without Raph having to stop and save his ass. Then again, Casey had been more of a ground fighter. He didn't know enough about Sheer to know if she was familiar with building hopping.

Once they finally reached, Raph being a few feet ahead and pausing to wait for her, they were immediately presented with gifts. Four moron's trying to mug a store. The backed out of the revolving doors screaming at the receptionists to not call the cops or else.

"Man," Sheer exhaled quietly, pleasure dancing in her tone, "I love this."

You and me both, sister, Raph thought pulling out his sais and tightening his grip around the hilt.

Raph leapt down from the very top of the building and Sheer followed, somehow landing smoothly without breaking a leg.

She appeared to be weapon free aside from spiked brass knuckles strapped on. She had a barbaric persona, and the fact her face was hidden away, left it up to Raph's imagination to visualize her as a masculine looking girl who probably shaved off all her hair and likely had gang tattoos all over her body. He knew he could be completely wrong but any softer features seemed inappropriate for her personality.

"What the hell?" One of the men swore when they noticed Raph's and Sheer's presence.

"Time to play," Raph smiled.

Two of the thugs charged at them, one at Raph the other at Sheer. The man swung his pipe over his head and tried to bring it down on Raphael but Raph was too quick and blocked it with his sais. Raph grunted as the weapons collided then landed a kick right in the man's gut, sending him back a few feet.

When Raph briefly glanced over at Sheer, he noticed while she had skill, she was a bit rugged. Her fighting style reflected experience but also mixed some sort of martial art with street fighting.

Though Splinter and Leo would spend hours trying to refine her style it seemed to work for her and added to her. The man she was fighting tried to slice he with a pocket knife but she knocked his arm out of the way by his mid arm and then landed a powerful blow to his lower jaw and Raph could hear his bone pop out of alignment.

Raph redirected his attention to the next moron who coveted a good beating. Raph dodged a punch the man tried to throw and laugh, "Ha, ya' couldn't hit a wall even if you tried."

"Son of a bit-" Raph cut him short by gripping his wrist, twisting it behind his back and pushing him to his knees.

"Now that's no way to speak with a lady around," Raph teased before slamming the hoodlum's head against the wall and knocking him out cold.

"Wow, hang on," Raph turned around to see what Sheer's reaction was about. He noticed her hands lifted up then realized why. The last guy had aimed his gun at them. Raph sighed and followed Sheer's gesture.

His hands above his head he said dryly, "Really, a gun? Don't ya think if you fire that thing someone's gonna hear?"

"I've got time to run," The man stuttered, his gun wielding hand shaky, making Raph a little nervous.

"Not…. really," Sheer said, "these apartments aren't empty. Someone's bound to call the cops within seconds."

The man's eyes shot between Raphael and Sheer as he debated what to do. Sheer tried a new tactic that caught Raph a little off guard, "Come on," She said in a reassuring tone and taking a small step forward making the man wince and redirect his weapon on her solely. Raphael stiffened. "Look, robbing a store is one thing but do you really want to add homicide to that as well?"

"Don't take another step," He warned.

"If you put the gun down, we promise to let you go," She said.

"What are you doing?" Raph hissed.

"I'm not gonna be shot," She snapped back. "Unlike you, I don't have a nice shell I can hide it."

She had a point, but Raph didn't like the idea of letting this coward go. At least his buddies had the nerves to fight heroically. All he could think was if it were just him and this thug he wouldn't hesitate to attack, but since the thief has his gun pointed at Sheer he couldn't risk it.

A loud thud sounded behind them and Raph easily recognized it as a cat jumping from some height onto the hood of a car but the robber jumped and pulled the trigger. Realizing what he'd done he dropped the weapon on the ground and began running away full throttle .

Raph quickly scanned the area and noticed lights in the apartments began lighting up. "Sheer, we gotta go…" He whispered extending his hand to her. When she didn't reply he looked over and saw her bent over clutching her stomach. "Damnit," he muttered. The idiot must of hit her. As more lights flashed on Raphael reacted unconsciously. He heaved Sheer into his arms and sprinted into the dark alleyways.

She bounced in his arms and moaned. "No, I'm fine. You can put me down, Raph" She insisted.

"Shut up," he said through puffs of air as he continued to run, "you'd be too slow." He didn't know the extent of her injuries but he didn't have time to check it out. He had to get them somewhere safe before he could stop.

Eventually he made it into one alleyway which he ducked behind a garbage can as cop cars zoomed by, sirens wailing. He had his body hovering over her to cast a dark shadow and conceal their presence.

Sheer hissed through her teeth as she pressed softly against where she was shot. "Are they gone?" She asked referring to the police.

Raph took a second look then said, "Yeah, they're gone. You alright?" He stepped back and knelt down. At the moment he wished she wasn't wearing a mask so he could easily determine how much pain she might be in.

"I'm okay," she replied lifting her jacket to reveal the bullet proof vest. "It didn't penetrate. But it hurts like hell." She lowered the material and dropped her head back exposing the outline of her mouth.

"That was pretty stupid," he said rebukingly.

"What was?" Her tone indicated she knew exactly what he was talking about but she became defensive nonetheless.

"Walkin' toward him. What were you thinking?" Raph stated.

Sheer ran her hand underneath her hoodie and scratched her head, appearing to avoid his question. "I don't know. He was a stupid mugger. While I definitely hoped he'd serve jail time the moron didn't need to be charged with murder for being a nervous and clumsy idiot."

Raph understood where she was coming from. Plenty of times he disarmed some delinquent who tried to kill him and let them loose because they were just stupid criminal. "Yeah, well it was still stupid," he said gruffly.

Sheer snorted. "Whatever."

Neither of them spoke for a second as they glanced up and noticed a gleam of light rising above the buildings indicating morning. Time had quickly passed Raphael, but he wasn't surprised either.

"Let's go to the rooftop," Sheer suddenly suggested.

"What for?" Raph asked arching a brow and wondering what was so important for her to want to move after being shot.

"To bird watch," She said sarcastically. "So we can watch the sunset, you insensitive turtle."

Raphael rolled his eyes but agreed. "Alright, fine, let's make it quick though."

They climbed the nearest ladder Raphael leading the way, and reaching down to help her the last few steps since her injury did have a toll.

"Thanks," she said landing on her feet.

He nodded and turned to squint at the sun. She did the same, shielding her eyes with her hand. The sun just barely peeked over some of the shorter building highlighting the sky pink, orange and toward the bottom, purple. For well over a minute they stood quietly taking in the scenery and listening to birds chirping.

"Well isn't this absolutely boring," Sheer suddenly laughed lowering her gaze.

Raphael laughed as well, just imagining how much appreciation he knew Splinter would take from this, and yet he felt absolutely squat with such trivial things.

Sheer leaned against the wall and sunk down resting her elbows on her knees and glancing over at Raphael. "So maybe some time you can introduce me to the rest of your family, huh?"

"Yeah," he agreed grinning, "sounds good." Raph pressed his fists together and cracked his knuckles, enjoying the release of tension. "Alright then, so who are you?" Raphael finally asked. "It's not every night you see a girl dressed like some punk beating up gangsters in NYC."

She seemed hesitant to reply but proceeded. "By day... I'm your typical girl living a mundane life which I pretend to enjoy and act as if every second I'm around my 'friends' I feel like I belong. And by night, I put this mask on and somehow manage to finally feel like I'm being myself. I know it probably sounds stupid"

"Nah, I know what'cha mean," Raph said looking down the building side and seeing the streets slowly get busier, realizing his time to chill was closing. Not even wanting to think how Leo would have his throat for coming in so late.

"Gotta go?" She asked, evidently suspecting his expression.

"Before the brother kills me, yeah," Raph said. Looking down at her he sort of wished he could see what she looked like underneath the mask but considering how allusive she acted he figured she wouldn't take it off. "Maybe I'll see you around sometime?" He said, reflecting on the exciting night.

"Maybe," She repeated contemplatively tossing a bottle cap over the side of the ledge. "So I'll see you 'round then, Raph." She pushed herself up and lazily saluted Raphael.

"See ya," he lifted one hand and waved goodbye as she turned around and slowly led herself down the building.

It had probably been one of the most entertaining evenings since he could imagine and while he was bummed he might never see her again, there was something also exciting about it. With that finally thought, he circled around, bounded off the side of the building and slid into the sewers, anticipating the lecture he was bound to be given when he got home.

He sure as hell wasn't about to tell Leo what really happened though.

I hope you all enjoyed! Forgive me if there are a few spelling or grammatical errors. I wrote all of this after midnight stretched out within a couple of days and stayed up till about four a.m. each night so I could finish it up and work primarily one my current fic. (Absences.)

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Thanks for reading, too!