Welcome to my story! A reminder I do not own TMNT or any of the turtle's character's, only my OCs.

I'm updating this chapter to bring some food for thought to new readers, so if you're interested and want to give me feedback I'm welcome to it.

An idea I have proposed in a future chapter is illustrating different scenes from this story and posting them online, possibly linking them in this story so readers can have a kind of visual reference for different chapters. Thoughts?

Anyways, carry on reading. Enjoy!

"Come here, Kiki." The red-head girl called out into the alley, peering into it's depths. She slowly entered the darkness, armed with a flashlight and careful not to scare the creature. "Come on, sweetie, it's just me."

She saw the glow of a pair of eyes in the shadows as she entered cautiously, the flashlight illuminating the small figure of the cat.

"Come here, you're okay." She whispered softly. In a flash, the girl picked up the cat and cuddled her in her arms. Instantly, Kiki started to purr, and no longer looked so scared.

That's when Rayn Summers heard a noise from behind her. Cradling the cat in her arms, she ducked behind a dumpster. "Shhh." She whispered to Kiki. Somehow, the cat seemed to understand the need to be quiet.

Peering from behind the dumpster cautiously, Rayn spotted two beefy guys dressed in dark clothing, with heavy jackets for the season. To top it off, they held guns.

What were they doing here?

Heart pounding, she crouched lower and muttered a short prayer under her breath.

She could hear their heavy footfalls now as they drew nearer, and as they came closer she heard fragments of conversation.

"She went this way, didn't she?" one said.

"Ya, that chick can't have gottin' far."

Trying to slow her breathing, Rayn opened the folds of her jacket and put her tiny kitten inside. She dared not say a word, and hoped that Kiki was as scared as she was to not give them away.

The red-head had no weapons, she didn't even have a purse. All she had was her backpack, but that didn't have anything useful in it. Just her work things.

An idea popped into her head as she heard the men pushing around and kicking trashcans, turning into her corner of the alleyway. She pulled out her backpack, unzipping it silently as Kiki poked her head out. "No, Kiki." She dared to whisper. "Stay back."

She pulled out the wrench she was using for her latest robotics project, slipped her backpack back on, and prepared to run out into the alley.

Rayn slowly counted to three, making sure Kiki was safe inside her jacket, and jumped out from behind the dumpster, running for her life.

"Hey! Grab her!" One of the men shouted.

She swung the heavy wrench at one of the men's head, wincing as it made impact with a loud thunk. The man stumbled backward, trying to grab her, but she slipped by and darted down the alley.

She spotted the fire escape to her apartment and started to climb, seeing the open window that Kiki had somehow managed to sneak out of. But she couldn't lead them back to her apartment. Her roommate, Wylan, would be in trouble then - there was no way she'd allow that.

Reaching the level of her window, Rayn slipped Kiki out of her jacket and set her inside the window. The cat let out a meow and Rayn gave her a gentle pat as she heard the climbing of her pursuers behind her. "Shhh, Wylan will take care of you for now." She whispered, shutting the window carefully.

Reaching up for the ladder rung above her, Rayn climbed up further and jumped onto the roof. She was at a dead end - it was time to face her attackers.

The red-head had experience in some martial arts from high school, but she didn't think it was enough to face against guys with guns. That was way out of her league, and she feared for her safety. Holding her wrench high, she spotted the men stumble onto the roof.

"Ah, Rayn." One of them said, approaching her with weapon raised.

"How do you know my name?" Rayn shouted, backing up slowly. Distantly she noted his hesitation to use his weapon - he could have easily shot her dead by now. Or begged her for her money or something. But he didn't. Why?

"You, my dear girl, have something we have someone paying us a whole lotta money to get." The man laughed. "And you're going to give it to us, or you'll see just how angry our client can get."

"What? Who?" Rayn felt her back hit a wall as she ran out of room on the rooftop. She held her wrench shakily and tried to stare at him menacingly.

"Playin' hard to get, are we?" The man laughed again, his accomplice finally making it up the ladder and joining him.

"Why play with the prey, Ken? Just tranquilize her." The other man yelled.

"I told you not to call me that!" Ken shouted, looking back at the other gang member.

Rayn took that moment to bang the wrench between his legs with all her strength. Ken's knees buckled as he let out a high pitched yelp and fell to his knees.

"We don't have time for this!" The other man shouted. Before she could react, she heard the soft bang of the tranquilizer gun being shot at her and felt the dart hit her shoulder.

Rayn screamed as she fell to her knees, the dart's medicine slowly making her vision fade to black.

The next morning

Don exited his lab to find Leo and Master Splinter watching the lair's television sets as the news blared over the speaker.

".. Reports of a missing girl, Rayn Summers, still spark mystery in the New York police department. She was last seen at her apartment by her roommate, Wylan Malone, CEO of NewWire Inc. located in Manhattan. Due to her status as Malone's assistant it is unknown if foul play was involved. Malone has no comment about the incident at this time. In other news, researches have found that comic books-"

"Hey, Don, check it out!" Mikey zipped towards Donatello on his skateboard, bearing a cape and sunglasses. "I call it, skating with style."

The purple clad turtle jumped out of the way as Mikey came barreling towards him at full speed with a yelp. "Whoa, Mikey, lay on the brakes there."

"Sorry." Mikey stopped, nearly running into Master Splinter as he left his place at the television.

"Maybe it's best if you four get out of the lair for a while." The old rat suggested, slight annoyance creeping into his voice. "My soap operas are about to come on, and I need peace and quiet to find out what happens to Janice."

"Whoa, Splinter suggesting top side?" Raphael looked over from where he was practicing with his punching bag. "I'm in!"

"When are you not in, Raph?" Mikey commented, earning Raph's annoyed grunt as he swatted at his younger brother. "Hah, gotta be quicker than that Raphy-boy!"

Raph chased Mikey as he ran out into the sewers, Donatello following shaking his head.

"We'll be right back, Master Splinter. We'll just do a quick patrol." Leo called out to Splinter, hurrying to catch up.

Splinter settled in the chair and switched the channel on the television, hoping he made the right decision letting his sons go out for the night.

Thanks for reading, your reviews and follows would be much appreciated! I have a lot planned for this story. :)