"Raph?"

Raphael looked up and saw Michaelangelo standing in the doorway to the traininghall in the farthest part of the lair. He seemed a bit worried and was tugging at his bandana tails.

"Yeah?" said the turtle mutant and kept stretching his legs. If he didn't he'd get those darn kinks, and then the whole day would be ruined. Mike strolled over, hands on his back and eyes on the floor. Raph knew that look. Mike was going to ask something rather sensitive. Something that made him a bit weary.

"What?"

"I wonder I mean, I'd like to ask...."

Raph straightened and stretched his arms above his head, then shaking them to loosen up the muscles.

"About what?"

"Do you remember Kelly?" said Mike and he bit his lower lip, and looked up at Raph with a curious shine in his eyes.

"Yeah. You saved her from that dopedealer De Marco. She was some sort of guineapig there. So?"

"I don't think she should stay here in New York. You know... She's done with the cops now. She's Ok. But DeMarco is still at large and..."

"And you want her stuffed away someplace safe?"

Mike nodded and made a silly grin. "Something like that, yes."

"And? I suppose you have a reason for asking me then, right?"

"Well I thought maybe Candace knew someone who could hide Kelly. Out on the countryside or something like that "

Raph stood still, his mind making a U turn from the faults of this kata. Leo and Don had already left the room a few minutes earlier. Don was most likely up in the apartment of his, toying with his new computer. After the rather fierce battle with an oversized muscle-moutain of a man, Don had finally been allowed to train again. And to use his computers. The sound when Don had opened his Emails had been a howl. He sat for almost four hours and sorted out all his emails that evening. Leo was probably sharpening his katanas as usually. After Raph's sudden turn of thought he pondered of Mike's request.

"Why don't you ask her yourself?" he said. Mike's eyes went large as plates and he shook his head.

"No. I can't I mean... She doesn't know me that well. I can't go myself."

"Alright. I'll go there too. Come one. It's soon eight and she's home by now. Just want to call and tell her we're on the way." ***

Mike looked around, baffled by the huge trees and the plants. It was like a jungle. He felt like a fifth wheel when Candace swept out in the red and black kimono and kissed Raph before she turned to Mike. For some, the looks of Candace made them speechless. And to see this cascade of long golden hair, bright bluegreen eyes and a face worthy an angel, made Mike stutter a bit.

"Ehh..Hello, Candace." he managed to say. This was a Candace that differed from the one he'd met when Raph had been ill. Now she looked like some fairy from a story.

"Michaelangelo? It's nice to see you again."

"Same here..I..Um..I'd like to ask you for a favour. I am not sure if you can help me, but.."

"Tell me, and we'll take it from there." she said and made a gesture towards a small pond she had among the trees and plants. Raphael settled next to it, carefully gathering a huge cat in his arms. Amadeus purred and rubbed his face against Raph's chin.

"Now then," said Candace and settled next to Raph, scratching the cat's neck with an absent gesture. Mike couldn't help but notice the looks his brother now and then gave Candace. Mike felt a faint tingle of jealousy. It made him sad, because he didn't want to feel jealous.

"Umm..I saved a girl that night you came to help. Her name is Kelly Langtree. She's in danger I think. And I need your help."

Candace waited while Mike tried to come up with a question.

"And I want her to be safe. 'Cause she looked really bad last time I saw her, and I wanna help her. And I think getting away from New York would be good." said Mike and moved from standing beside the pond to sitting on his knees next to it, admiring the golden koi fishes in it.

"I see. Away from town? Well, I can't really think of anything right now " The blonde woman took a deep breath and her brow knotted as she thought about it. Raph let the cat go. Amadeus walked down the edge of the stonepond and over to Mike. The green hands carefully lifted the cat and Mike looked into the little tiger's eyes. The cat tried to catch Mike's eyes as they moved.

"Those are mine." he said and held the cat close to his chest. Mike loved animals, and he only wished he could have a whole zoo at his place. Amadeus felt great and purred happily. Raph carefully sneaked an arm around Candace waist.

"I'll send a message as soon as I can find anyone who can help Kelly to safety."

"Thanks. I really appreciate it."

Mike set the cat down. Amadeus meowed and rubbed his furry body against the strong leg. "Better get going then," he said and made sure his weaponry was where it should, and his old coat hid his odd appearance as well as it could. Raph made a wave behind Candace back and Mike grinned before he left. A wave with the hand told Mike all he needed to know.

Don browsed the emails. Here in one of the apartments in the basement under Casey and April's old store, he had all he needed. He usually slept on a madras on the floor, because the other room that was suppose to be a bedroom, was stuffed with old computers and spareparts of various machinery and projects. He still had to rebuild this account. He'd written to the company and explained that he'd been ill. And he didn't count on the emails to overflow. They'd already deleted him, but gave him permission to start a new one. His emails were his link to the outer world and the online-communities. He read the headline of one and his brown eyes narrowed. It said "DONNIE! COOL PICS!" on it. He opened it and read it. It was from Indiana. An oddball dude he'd been emailing with for some time. Indy lived in Washington and they'd chatted a few times. Indy was cool. Don looked at the link that was embedded in the message and clicked it. He had some time left to surf, so why not? He waited for the images to load. It went pretty fast.

"I luuve this processor.." he mumbled with a happy grin as the page loaded onto the 22" screen. Donnie was weighing on the chair, but fell back onto the hard concrete floor with a howl when he saw the pictures.

"Holy shit!" was all he could say as he scrambled up. He shoved the chair aside and looked at the pictures. It was some artist's gallery. With a big picture of him! Complete with a purple bandana and all. How? This was not someone he knew. No, this was weird. Maria Vasques. He tasted the name. No one he knew of. Not any of Mike's friends had that name either. Don looked at it and shook his head. It was he, or one of them, dressed in a samurai suit. Not the warrior samurai suit, no. This one was the everyday clothing. The image held the bo in his hands, and a huge fantasy dog of some kind flanked him. Whoever this Maria Vasques was, she'd seen him. Several times as well. But as he browsed the gallery, he couldn't find anything but other fantasy images and some lovely human body studies. It made him curious. Who was this person? And how come she knew of his existence?

"Good," whispered Venus and grinned. That was her fourth painting to be sold this month. It brought the turtles a good income. This painting sold for nearly 300 dollars. 200 would be hers, 100 would go to the gallery owner. She'd been trying to sell the paintings anonymously elsewhere, but Charles "TwoFeather" Reed had taken in her the paintings and displayed them. The money from the mysterious sales had been transferred to an account she had on an Internet bank. The messages and comments about her art were always enthusiastic and he was very impressed with her art. And that Venus focused so much on various native people was even more in his style. TwoFeather was half Indian he'd told her. As a thank you for his encouragement, she'd made a big painting, featuring a stunning Indian warrior on his spotted and warpainted stallion. Venus took a deep breath. Tomorrow, then she'd come back. Come back to tell him who she was. She felt she could trust him.

He had taken her paintings and sold them to the right people. He'd been fair and just. This felt good. Venus turned and headed for the end of the alley, puling up the manhole to the underground.

Leo scratched his neck, trying to figure out where the two hundred dollars came from. Somehow they had just appeared in the old cookiecan they kept the household money in. He resealed it with the old scratched lid and replaced it on the shelf in the cupboard. Money was always scarce. Even if Don was doing well with the various stocks and bonds he was buying and selling on the Internet. They had an account with nearly three thousand five hundred dollars on it. That was the emergency account that they could access from any computer or VISA card cash machine. April helped out now and then with some money when they'd helped them in any way. Venus was just about to open the hatch to the lair, when she sensed the scent of Leo moving close by. She waited for him to go past the hatch, and then she opened it. Leo stopped and looked up.

"Venus! Is it raining?" he said and grinned. Venus took off her hat, letting the water dribble down on Leo's head. He wiped it off and made a grunting noise.

"Yes, brother of mine. It's raining," she said with a cool voice and then split up in a smile. "But I don't care. I like the rain "

Leo smiled at her, then shook his head and took the few steps down to the trains. Splinter was looking down at a chessgame with their friend Keno as the opponent. He was down visiting and he had to challenge the old rat.

"I move my bishop. Ha! Counter that!"

Splinter's black eyes narrowed and he looked at the chesspieces. His bony hand circled around the small black and white figurines. He took an ebony tower and pushed out an ivory horse.

"Check." he said and a wheezing chuckling was heard. Keno's eyes got big, and then he shook his head.

"Alright. I give up. I bet you'd be a perfect contender at th chesstournament at my college! You'd beat the crap out of the others at camp!"

"Keno. Fighting in chess takes great skills in logic. Learn to master that, and you will win even in a chessfight." said the rat and mused over his victory. Venus came over to them and sat down on her knees on the floor. Leo had already settled in the old couch and flipped thru some TV shows. He grinned when he ended up on Yeoman Hawk's show. Someone was howling in crocodile tears and shouted obscene comments at another person. Leonardo shook his head and flipped on to a sports channel. Soon he sat there, howling at some karate fighters.

"Nooo! Counter that! Raise your arms better!" he commented. Keno joined him, and soon they were making all kinds of comments about the game. Venus glanced at it, judging them to be busy.

"Tea, Sensei?"

Splinter smiled up her and nodded. "That would be good, my dear. The green tea."

Venus nodded and rose to her feet, graceful as geisha. When she came out in the kitchen she felt inside her legwraps. Yes, there they were, and still dry. She stuffed the 200 dollars in the kookier. But when she was about to replace the lid

"Venus?"

"Huh?" she said and turned. To find Leo in the kitchen door, looking at her and then at the cookiejar. "Ehh..I..was just.."

"Is it you?" he said and walked in. He carefully took the jar and looked inside. There was 200 dollars more.

"Yes. It's me."

She felt like a child being caught stealing candy or cookies. As she looked up at Leo she shrugged her shoulders. "I just tried to help out in my way."

"But what have you been doing to gain this much money?"

"I sold my paintings."

Leo tilted his head. Yes, that could be true. She didn't have as many things on her walls as before. New ones had replaced some of the old paintings. She put her soul into each painting. It must have hurt to part with them like this.

"You could have told me, Venus. We could have asked April to help out you know. She could have sold a few in her store. Afterall, she has some important clients "

"No. April and Casey have already done too much for us. I wanted to make an honest living. and selling this... It's enough for us to make it a bit down the road." she mumbled and was about to leave. Leo grabbed her arm and pulled her back.

"I know how much you love to paint. And how much joy you feel when you do it. It's very...noble of you. But do you feel alright, parting with them?"

Venus shook her head. "No " she snivelled, almost feeling like a little girl. "

Then, tell me why you go on doing it?"

"I don't want to feel so unnecessary! I feel like a fifth wheel sometimes when we're out."

Leo stared at her, refusing to release her. Venus tried to get away. But then Leo grabbed her and hugged her. "Mei... Please. Don't feel like that. You are one of us, and will be so forever. How can you even think like that?"

"I have my reasons." she said and carefully touched his face. Leo, the one and only. Once upon a time maybe. She knew how he felt, but she didn't really share those feelings. Once they could have worked miracles. And they did, thanks to Don and Mike who'd been able to determine that only he and Mike actually came from the same parents. Raph, Leo and Venus were three totally different individuals. They didn't really care; they were all family. But at that time, for Venus and Leo it had been different. Once. Venus carefully hugged him back and freed herself from his warm embrace.The old black kettle boiled and Venus carefully prepared the tea. She took down three cups and placed them on an old blue and golden teatray.

"We still have time to make something of it," said Leo.

"No." said Venus, so low it could barely be heard. She looked up at him again and shook her head. She had to bite down hard, knowing how much she hurt him with this. Leonardo was left alone in the kitchen, slamming a fist into the wall so another crack was visible, next to an earlier one. And if Venus heard it, she pretended not to hear it.  

"Cool! Just don't forget: 1976. Not a year younger!" said Mike and slammed the receiver before he ran off towards the kitchen.

"1986 what?" asked Don as he was preparing the welcome drink for the evening.

"Wine," said Leo and grinned, "Mike's got a pal that had some connections to a vineyard in California. He 's gonna find some fine wine for tonight."

"Hmm... Alright. " mumbled Don and tasted the drink.

"Needs more pineapple."

They were preparing for a Hawaii party. Now they had a handful of old fake palmtrees spread out the rough the lair. Here and there a few flowers were making colourful statements along with the overall tropical decorations of fake green plants. In the background the music of some Hawaiian character played, now and then accompanied by a ukulele and Raph's swearing, as he didn't really get the right chords on it. Finally he tossed it aside and came out from the car where he had his bunk.

"Givvin' up?" said Don and grinned.

Raph nodded and examined his fingers. "Gonna get a fleshwound from it " he started, but then smiled.

"Yowsa!" he proclaimed and grinned and looked towards the stairs. The other two looked towards the kitchen as well. Venus was coming down from it, wearing a hula skirt, a bikinitop and a big strawhat.

"Aloha!" said Don and whistled after her as she walked past him and the others and back.

"Will I do for the evening?"

All three nodded and grinned. Their gazing was interrupted as a few hard thumps was heard from the hatch and they could hear Casey howl; "Where's the party?!"

Mike hurried out from the kitchen and unlocked it with a switch on the wall, and then he dove back to his kingdom of pots and pans. The scent of cooking was delicious and made them all hungry.

"Hello!" shouted Casey so all of them could hear him climb down the ladder. April handed him a bag and also climbed down after him.

"Did you see Candace anywhere?" asked Raph and tried out a silly Hawaii shirt. It was some slinky blue fabric with some green trees and dolphins on it. It looked really silly, atleast combined with a huge strawhat as well.

"I'm blind! I am blind!" said Casey and played blind as he saw Raph's combination. "What are you wearing!?" he howled.

"What? Somethin' wrong with this?" said Raphael and grinned wide.

"Yeah! Mine is uglier!" stated Casey and took off his jacket. It was. It had some awful orange background and white and pink flowers combined with red and blue parrots. April made a disgusted face as she took off her long thin coat. She wore a sparkling red silky beachdress and a yellow scarf. A few plastic bracelets, leftover from the 1980's, jingled on her arms. She took the bag and tropped off to the kitchen to say hello to Mike. As they waited, the phone rang. Leo handed over the receiver to Raph.

"Hello? Candace! Yeah. We're getting started. Umm where? All right. Stay by the drainpipe and I'll be there in...five minutes. All right. Yeah." the last words were almost whispered. "Yes, me too. Yes. "

"I gotta go. My date is waiting to join us!" he proclaimed and took off the shirt and hat. He grabbed his sais and tucked them into the belt, then found his disguise clothes and hat. Don had disappeared into the room he shared with Leo and returned. He was making a silly hula-hula dance as Raph exited the lair, leaving a howling crowd behind him.

"Man... stick to the 'puters.." he mumbled and disappeared down the tunnels.