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Author's Chapter Notes:
Well, let's carry on, shall we? Lol. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: Only own Catarina, Marietta, baddies, & story idea. Mirage Studios owns everything TMNT! Thank-you!

"Raph…" Marie said softly, the tears welling up and pushing at the corners of her eyes. He usually wasn't this harsh to her; his anger was often only directed towards Leonardo.

"Save it, Marie!" Raphael snapped, shaking his head furiously. "For the past few weeks, all I've heard out of you is whining and bitching and complaining! Did you just get your period or somethan? Hell, every time I turn around it's "Master Splinter's a retard!" or "Leo has a stick up his ass!" Didja ever think for a second, just one second, that they're hard on you because if they didn't you'd be lying out in the streets somewhere, dead?"

Raph let out an angry shout and shot a punch at the wall. "You know what's gonna happen? One of these days, you're going to be out on patrol or somethan and you're going to do somethan retarded and either you or Rina's gonna get hurt or killed. What're you gonna do then, Marie, when Rina's lying on the ground, bleeding to death? Yell at Master Splinter some more?"

"Shut up, Raph!" screeched Marie suddenly, grabbing her pillow and throwing it at her brother's head.

He snatched one of her sai off the table stand and sliced the pillow in half before it reached his face. Furious, Raphael leapt forward, an arm hauled back to punch her in the face.

"Damn, if you aren't the pot calling the kettle freakin' black! You're always rebelling against Master Splinter and Leo, and getting yourself caught up in stupid situations!"

His fist trembled with barely contained rage but Marie continued, "You ass! Quit yelling at me when you're doing exactly what you're telling me not to do!"

Marie could see some of the fire go out of Raphael's eyes and his fist lowered.

"Marie," he growled, "Shape up." Still angry, he stomped out of the girls' room, nearly running into Mikey. "Move it, Mikey," he snarled, shoving past his younger brother.

"Whoa, sorry, ya bulldozer," Mikey teased. He had overheard the entire screaming match between the two hot-heads of the family; heck, everyone had heard them.

Rina and Mikey had played Rock, Paper, Scissors to see who would talk to whom. Rina had ended up being sent off to track Raph down while Mikey went to comfort Marie. Donatello had decided that his safest bet would be to continue watching TV.

"Hey, kiddo," Mikey said, knocking on the doorframe, "Mind if I come in?"

After Raphael had left, Marie had curled up on her bed and covered her head with one of her stuffed animals. She had never yelled at Raph like that before; she was amazed that he hadn't struck her or pummeled her or something bad like that.

"Whatever," Marie mumbled into her animal. She had started crying but they were silent tears.

Mikey sat down on the bed and shook his head. "Sometimes, I think Raphael's trying to tear down the sewers by yelling. If anyone could do it, he could," Mikey joked.

"Yeah, bet he could," said Marie as Mikey pulled her close to him and hugged her.

It was pretty easy for Catarina to find Raphael. There was one place that he found comfort in when he was angry; the garage. As she walked into the spacious room, she could hear metal tools flying around and smacking into things. As a wrench pinged off the Battle Shell, she gave a disapproving tch. "Dude, you dent it and Donatello will make you get him a new one."

"Rina, get out!" shouted Raph as he shook a hammer at her.

She shrugged and walked over to Donatello's Shell Cycle. She straddled it and put her hands on the handle bars. "Hey, you still haven't given me my next riding lesson," she said, leaning forward as if she was driving.

Raphael gave an irritated huff. "This ain't the time to ask for one."

"I know, I know," said Rina as she swung her leg back over the side and smiled at him, "I was just telling you."

Raphael grabbed a wrench and went over to his own Shell Cycle. He bent down and starting tightening a screw.

Rina sat there in silence, not really watching him, just letting him cool off. She had learned that the best way to let Raphael calm down was to let him work on his Shell Cycle and yell or throw things and just sit there while he did it. The turtle family had found out a while ago that Raphael calmed down quicker if there was someone to talk to nearby that wouldn't fight with him.

"Rina, hand me that can of oil," Raphael demanded and Rina quietly went off to do as he asked.

Raphael immediately grabbed the oil can from his sister, once she'd handed it to him. He silently raged as he oiled his bike up, doing his best to ignore Catarina's occasional stares. He knew she was just waiting for him to open up, but it'd be a bit before he did so, as he hadn't been this mad in a long time. And it'd never before been directed at one of his sisters - especially not Marie, who he knew idolized him. A half hour or so later, he finally broke the thick silence that hung in the air.

"One of these days, her foolishness is gonna cost her, her life," Raphael stated, still tinkering away on his motorbike. "She's gonna get in some kinda mischief, an' we're not gonna be able to get there in time to save her."

Catarina shook her head. "You've never seen her on patrol, Raph," Catarina pointed out. "Sensei always sticks her with Leo. But when she's out on patrol, she's careful and she's ready to defend whoever needs defending - whether it be us or complete strangers."

Raphael eyed Catarina skeptically. "Yeah, you'd say that," he told her. "Y'all just wanna be able to go on back out there together, instead of with us."

"You ever stop to think maybe she's a point, Raph?" Catarina countered. "She's learned most her attitude and stuff from you. She idolizes the ground you walk on, though it annoys Leo to no end. She's always been hard-headed too. She doesn't know any other way, and now she's trying to find herself, but nobody's given her any room to do so. Nor am I getting any room to do so either."

"Rina, you guys didn't hear half of what was said in that room of yours," Raphael retorted. "Someone has to get her to shape up, and if it hasta be me, then so be it."

Rina rolled her eyes and sighed. "Yeah, yeah, that sounds like an experience," she said, skipping over towards the other Shell Cycles. She was definitely getting tired of all this talk about Marie. She had grown used to it over the years, what with everyone always fussing about Marie and her hard-headed, fiery nature. Every time Marie went off the handle like this, it seemed like everyone had to get their say in. She was of the opinion that if everyone just ignored Marie, she'd stop fighting it and calm down. Rina walked around one of the Shell Cycles, looking the slim motorcycle up and down. She and Donnie were actually working on this one whenever they had the time; she was dying to get a motorcycle of her own. She put her hand on the rear wheel and grinned uncertainly, "Hey, Raph?"

"What?" he grunted, throwing down a wrench and snatching up a screwdriver.

"What about that lesson now?" she asked hopefully.

He paused and glanced back at her. "What time is it?"

Rina looked down at her watch, "9:00 pm." They were nocturnal for certain obvious reasons.

Raphael rubbed his finger against the screwdriver and smirked, "You're grounded, y'know? And I got patrol at 12:00."

"But Raph," whined Rina, sitting down on the seat of Mikey's bike, "Your bike really needs to be tested out and I can't let you go by yourself."

Raphael crossed his arms and snorted, "Wait, little mini-leader wants to break the rules?"

"Raph!" Rina wailed, "I'm not a mini-leader!"

Raphael nodded and stood up from the floor. He looked like he was going to head back into the lair but then he reached over and picked up the blue and white helmet from the shelf, "Well, Rin, let's see watch you got."

"YES!" shouted Rina, grabbing the helmet and shoving it on her head.

"Do you want to go eat some ice cream or something?" Mikey asked after Marie had had a good long cry. Marie shrugged her shoulders and Mikey laughed, "I'm taking that as a yes." He pulled her to her feet and they walked to the kitchen.

Marie flopped down into a chair at the table while Mikey rushed around, getting together stuff for ice cream Sundaes. It was his policy, that avoiding talking about what made you angry would help you get over it faster.

Marie watched her brother in orange gather everything he'd need to make them their sundaes. He was always good at cheering people up - whether he had ice cream or not. "Hey, Mikey?" She began softly.

Mikey glanced over at her. "Yeah?" He replied.

"Don't forget the chocolate sauce, or I'll be forced to murder someone," Marie smirked.

Michaelangelo laughed and grabbed the chocolate sauce out of the fridge. "But of course!" He stated, setting it down on the table. "Can't have you going off and killing nobody, can we?"

Marie shook her head, already starting to feel a bit better, though not completely.

Meanwhile, Raphael was giving Catarina her bike lesson that she'd been longing for since forever. "Now, you gotta pull the throttle back like this," he showed her. "Then hit the gas, and off we go - but don't hit the gas too hard! I don't wanna be flyin' offa this damned thing at who knows how many miles per hour!"

Catarina smiled sweetly. "I'd never do that to you, Raphie," she told him. "You're nice enough to take me out, so why should I make you fly?"

Raphael just snorted, and got settled on the back of the bike. He'd driven them out of the garage, so they'd be well enough away, before finally letting her drive. Besides, he knew where all the actual peaceful city streets were anyway.

Catarina tightened her helmet, and turned the throttle like her brother had shown her, before hitting the gas pedal - sending them roaring off into the night. She drove along quite well for a while, before having to finally turn, almost losing control of the bike.

"Careful!" Raphael barked from behind her, holding on for dear life. Sure he had taught himself, but he didn't have a passenger on the back of his bike. He knew humans never taught other humans to ride motorbikes this way, as only one person was allowed on the bike until they knew how to drive. But, he figured, this way, should he need to keep her from crashing, all he'd have to do is reach over her and grab the handle bars. He was a pro at this, after all.

Catarina kept going, though their near spill had scared her some - not that she'd admit it anytime soon or anything. She drove along until she finally spotted a nice quiet looking park. She pulled to a stop, and took her helmet off, as they parked the bike. "Here looks like a good resting spot," she smiled. Raphael nodded, climbing off the back of the bike.

"Good 'nough as any," he agreed.

Mikey slid the sundae bowl in front of his little sister and then sat down at the table next to her. "Soooo," he said, scooping an unhealthy amount of chocolate ice cream into his own bowl. "Seen any good movies lately?"

Marie gave a feeble smile, "No…"

She knew very well that he was just trying to take her mind off matters. It was just something he did; he hated strife in the family. If it was Mikey's world, Marie mused, it would be full of unicorns and elves and epic magical battles and superheroes and pizza. Maybe his world wasn't so bad after all.

"Hey, have you been working on any good stories lately?" she asked as she took the ice cream scoop from him and launched into the chocolate. If he was going to avoid the subject of Raphael, she might as well avoid it to. It'd be nice to be civil for a while instead of high-strung and angry. Not that she had given up being angry; she had just decided that she'd mute her anger for now.

Mikey groaned as he snatched up the sprinkles. "Gah, I've been tryin', but nothing good is comin," he said, leaning against the table. "It's a total bummer."

"Are you still working on the story about the boy becoming a ninja and he has to find the five elements?" she asked. She loved listening to Michelangelo's stories; she could remember when he used to make them up and tell them to her and Rina when they were younger.

Mikey nodded, "Yeah, I'm stuck. I've got Harris and the others sitting around a campsite, but they're not talking about anything interesting. It's just filler."

"Maybe they could be attacked," Marie suggested.

Mikey shook his head as he grabbed the chocolate sauce and liberally squirted it onto his ice cream, "Naw, that's already happened like, twice."

"Hey, hey, save some for me!" Marie yelped, reaching out and snatching the bottle. Mikey laughed and nudged her with his elbow, "Chill out, Marie, I'm not gonna use it all."

"That's what Donnie said last time," Marie growled as she got her share of the chocolate sauce.

Mikey laughed as he remembered what had happened to Donatello. "You didn't have to chase him around with a rolling pin."

"He should consider himself lucky that I couldn't find the butcher knives…"

"Kid, if you had skewered Donnie with a butcher knife, I'm pretty sure he would've hit you with his bo."

"Why are we skewering me?" Donatello asked as he entered the kitchen, a half-worried look on his face.

Marietta gave him a pleasant smirk, "We aren't. Yet."

"He's right, though," said Donnie, walking over to the cabinets and pulling out a bowl, "I would have to hit you with my bo if you knifed me."

"Well, don't eat all my chocolate sauce next time," Marie warned, putting some caramel on her sundae.

"It's not your chocolate sauce," retorted Don as he grabbed the chocolate sauce. He too was rather addicted to the chocolatety goodness, and if any one was going to claim it, it was going to be him. "This chocolate sauce, with all its sugar and unhealthy additives, belongs to the whole family! You cannot lay claim on this chocolate sauce. It is not owned by anyone in particular, and I shall not stand for greediness when it comes to this chocolate sauce!" Donnie raised the chocolate sauce above his head, "This chocolate sauce stands for goodness, righteousness and the right to choose toppings for yourself! It is a symbol of free will! It is amazing!"

Marie and Mikey shared a long look after Donatello had finished his rant about chocolate sauce.

"So…can I have it back?" Marie asked.

"No," Don replied, holding the chocolate sauce close to himself, "Not yet."

"You're hogging the chocolate sauce!" Mikey shouted incredulously. "After that whole long speech, you're hogging the chocolate. Crazy."

"No, purposeful!" announced Donatello happily.

"I think you've lost it," Marie said, grabbing a spoon to start eating.

"No, I haven't. I was just telling you my thoughts on the ice cream," he said as he picked up a spoon and headed back out into the living room.

Marie and Mikey were silent for a minute before bursting into laughter.

Rina jumped off of the bike and put her helmet down on the seat. She loved being outside of the sewers and in the free air. Excited, she did cartwheel and followed it with a one-handed round-off. She then flopped down in the nicely cut grass and sighed with contentment.

Raphael rolled his eyes at her behavior but he understood the sentiment. He too hated being trapped in the sewers day after day; his favorite memories were of vacations spent at April's farmhouse in New Hampshire.

"Man, stupid lights," Rina muttered, her head tilted back to look up at the sky, "You can't see the stars."

Raphael glanced up and saw that because of the light pollution from the city, it was impossible to see the shining stars. He pointed over towards the right, "Hey there's one."

"Raph, that's an air plane," replied Rina, tossing her older brother a teasing grin.

"Zat so, smart ass?" he asked, grabbing her by the arm and giving her a noogie.

"Raphaellll!" she cried, trying to free herself from his strong grasp. It was a good thing that the park they were in was secluded.

After torturing Rina, Raphael grabbed her helmet and tossed it to her. "C'mon, slacker, yer lessons not done yet."

Smirking, Rina shoved the helmet back on her head and walked over to the bike. "Hey, how about I take off by myself and you just walk back to the lair?"

"Fat chance," said Raphael as the two of them climbed onto the bike.

"Fine…" she replied but a very mischievous smirk scrawled across her face. Revving the engine, she hit the gas and popped the bike up into a wheelie.

Caught off guard, Raph slipped off the back as the bike darted forward. "Rina!" he shouted angrily as she put the front wheel back down and did a u-ey to get back to him.

"Whoops, sorry Raph, didn't mean to do that," she said, her head tilted to the side.

He couldn't see her face behind the reflective helmet but he could tell from her body language that she was lying. "Do it again and I'll take a sai to that bow of yours."

"I said it was an accident!"

"Yeah, yeah, accident, on purpose, whatever. Just drive."

Rina took them around a few more streets under Raphael's directions. They were heading back to the lair when Rina noticed something going on out of the corner of her eye. She felt Raphael shift behind her; he had seen it too. Someone was breaking into a building from an alleyway. Thinking quickly, she leaned the right and slid the bike back around.

She leaned back to look at her older brother, "Are we going back?"

He was silent for a moment and then said, "Do you got your kaiken?"

"Yeah," she replied; when was she ever without them?

"Then yeah, we're going back. Might as well start acting like a team now," he said, his voice gruff with growing excitement. "You stay on the defense, though; don't go puttin' yourself in danger, I don't wanna explain nothin' to Master Splinter."

"Got it," Rina replied.

Raphael loved to fight off bad guys; it was almost like it was what he was born to do, right the injustice of the world.

Rina revved the engine and drove back to the alleyway. As the bike screeched to a halt, Raphael leapt off the back and brandished his sai.

"What we got here?" Raph asked, looking around at the crooks as he twirled one sai.

They didn't seem like Purple Dragons or Foot Ninja. They looked like thieves for hire, which meant they probably wouldn't work as a team. All the better!

"What'zat?" asked one of the robbers. "Looks like a vigilante to me," said another one. He carefully put down the box he was carrying and cracked his knuckles.

Raphael laughed, "Hey, big fella, I'd be careful if I was youse." "And whys that? You're the one who's gonna be black and blue."

"He's already green!" a third crook shouted with a laugh.

"Just wouldn't want ya to hurt your manicure," mocked Raph and the big buy growled angrily.

While Raph bantered with the enemy, Rina took in a good look at their surroundings. This was actually one of the better parts of town; it was an industrial district. She noticed some cardboard boxes poking out a trash bin with bio-hazard symbols on them. There was a plastic glove on the ground. Maybe it was a medical facility of some kind.

"Get 'em!" One of the burglars exclaimed, and the six of them attacked Raphael, not noticing Catarina who was still kind of hidden, as she looked around warily.

Raphael fought, hardly giving the guys a chance to get a swing or kick in - which of course he'd been trained to do. "Yanno, y'all must be pretty stupid if yah think yah can outsmart me," Raphael commented, dodging a sidekick and grabbing the guy's foot. With a swift move, he sent the thug flying backwards head over heels. "I mean, c'mon! Ain't y'all got any skills? Y'all fight like over-sized monkeys! A snail could fight better than y'all!"

The six men growled and kept attacking, suddenly seeming stronger than before.

Catarina grew bored watching them and suddenly popped up out of no where, kicking the one guy in the back of the head with the high flying spin kick she'd been learning recently. The man went flying forwards, landing flat on his face with a loud THUD! Catarina rolled her eyes.

"You guys can't be that good, if I can use a move I don't know well, and knock you down," she stated, quickly pulling her kaiken out and preparing herself to fight.

"I said they don't got any skills," Raph laughed, dancing about as he moved quickly to avoid his attackers.

Catarina shook her head, as she helped her brother fight. All was going well, until suddenly bigger and stronger reinforcements appeared, all attacking at once.

Raphael growled as one got a good punch to his jaw in. "Rina! Watch yerself! These punks are better than the first bunch o'creeps!"

"I - OOMPH!" Catarina exclaimed, yelping as she was kicked in the plastron. These new guys were pretty tough.

Rina stumbled backwards and nearly lost grasp of her kaiken. Raphael was quick to step in front of her, viciously attacking the guy who had kicked her.

"You okay, Rina?" he shouted back at her as one of the goons aimed a punch at his face.

"Never better," she mused as she jumped to his side, flinging her elbow into a man's stomach.

She channeled her anger into energy and her energy into speed. If she wasn't the best fighter out of her siblings, she was definitely one of the fastest. She prided herself on her speed and the suddenness of her attacks. She twirled amongst their enemies, her small blades piercing their sides, slicing their arms and legs. They would reach out the grab her but she just darted out of reach. She was the agility while Raphael was the powerhouse. After Rina would confuse them, he would land one of his massive attacks on them. They made a pretty good team; of course, the whole family knew how to work well with one another.

"Hey, Rin, wanna lift?" Raphael called to Rina over the battle as he attacked a particularly large man. She was busy with one of the smaller reinforcements. He kept swinging and she kept bobbing and teasing him with her kaiken.

"Sure!" she replied and raced towards him, the smaller, very irritated man following her. He braced his arm as she leapt into the air. She landed on his forearm and a quick upward thrust sent her flying into the air towards the guy Raph had been fighting. A quick twist in the air sent one of her kaiken into his shoulder while she landed with both feet in his chest.

Meanwhile, Raphael knocked the lights out of the smaller goon that Rina had been dealing with. As Rina rejoined Raphael at the older turtle's side, blood dripping from both turtles' blades, the remaining thieves moved back. They weren't prepared to deal with ninja turtles, that was sure.

"Forget it, drop everything," one of them, a leader of sorts, said, "The bosses won't care all that much. And we got something new to tell 'em."

"Who said we're gonna let you leave?" demanded Raphael, dropping down into an attack position.

"This," replied the man as he held up a small object. Rina narrowed her eyes, unsure of what it was. The man threw it on the ground and it started leaking out a white gas.

"Tear gas," growled Raphael as he held his forearm up to his face. Rina grabbed the tail of her bandanna and held it over her mouth. "C'mon, Rina, the police'll show up soon," said Raphael as he headed back towards the bike.

Rina let him drive, and she glanced down at her wristwatch. They weren't late, as of yet. Actually, they would make it back in time for them to pretend that they had been fixing the bike the entire time.