A/N: This was supposed to be a nice, short, well-written one-shot. It is none of these things. What can I say - 2016 Casey has such a vague and potentially angsty background.
Hoping to try and update every two weeks or so, but summer travel plans are almost upon me, so I don't know how it will actually all work out. Hope springs eternal, or some such thing.
Post Out of the Shadows, with some sort of vague-ish but still definitely spoilers. Title is from Mumford and Sons (and East of Eden, actually; if you haven't read that book, you really, really should). I own nothing. PG-15 level swear words.
Happy birthday, Taizi! You're the best partner in angst-writing crime. I wish I could give you ALL THE THINGS, but instead you get this.
Edit 6.7.2016 - OMG I'm a moron and thus had uploaded an older (aka WRONG) version of this chapter. The main points are still the same, but there are a couple of key timeline things that will be important later that were messed up in the first version. Thank you to the Guest reviewer who mentioned Mikey's characterization... that made me realize how some things were off. Don't worry, I'll definitely be addressing your concerns later - all part of the fic.
Carry on and pay no attention to the n00b behind the curtain.
-o-
"But I have a new love for that glittering instrument, the human soul. It is a lovely and unique thing in the universe. It is always attacked and never destroyed— because 'Thou mayest.'" — John Steinbeck, East of Eden
-o-
Casey has divided his life into Before and After since he was 13 years old and a couple of gangbangers broke into his home and ended up taking away his family.
Before the home invasion, and After. Before Foster Home #5, and After. Before and After community service with Detective Peck. Before applying to the NYPD, and After.
Before the Technodrome Incident, and After.
And okay, in Casey's opinion, "incident" is a woefully lacking word to describe the near-annihilation of the planet at the hands of an interdimensional space alien almost three months ago. But Marvel's already claimed "Battle of New York" — like any fictional battle could usurp the right to call the actual thing what it is — and someone let slip that the machine that was being built overhead was called the Technodrome, and all the big muckety-mucks in Washington are trying to downplay it as a one-time thing that will never happen again to keep people from freaking out, so "incident" is the official language.
Casey thinks it's pretty stupid; people are freaking out, anyway, so they might as well call a spade a spade and own up to the fact that there are aliens with bad intentions out there, and that there are crazy people on planet Earth who are perfectly fine working with them if they think it will help them achieve their goals.
Anyway, life after the Technodrome Incident is certainly strangest After he's had yet. He's been spending time to help with the cleanup and construction — not something he would typically do, but he feels a little responsible for some of the damage, and they're actually paying him a little right now, which is great. He's still waiting Internal Affairs to conclude their investigation in Shredder's escape — he's not sure why the hell it's taking so long, other than maybe Vincent is delaying it just to spite him.
That wouldn't actually surprise him. She's on his side, yeah, but she definitely still doesn't like him. Casey would feel a little bad about that, but the feeling's mutual, and besides, it doesn't seem like Vincent really likes anyone, so he tries not to take it personally.
On top of that, Casey's luck is as shitty as it's always been, which means that in addition to the Foot totaling his car, a couple pieces of the Technodrome had clipped his apartment building when they'd been flying through the air and had apparently caused damage to a key load-bearing wall. The building's been closed off to residents until the damage can be repaired, but the landlord has up and disappeared and nothing's being done. All the residents are caught in a legal no-man's land of "can't move out, can't move in" until everything's been squared away.
His renter's insurance has covered a room in a local motel for the past few months, but his time's just about up on that, so he's not entirely sure what he's going to do after tomorrow. It's a dump, but it's still a New York hotel, and the little bit of cash he's picked up doing construction won't cover it. He had a grand total of eight minutes to go into his apartment and toss everything of vital importance he needed into a duffel bag, so at least he doesn't have to worry about hauling a lot of stuff around with no place to put it. Though if he's honest, it doesn't really ease his worries at all.
But tonight, he's doing what he's usually pretty good at: pushing out thoughts of all his problems and focusing on the task at hand, which is getting three eighteen-inch pies with extra cheese from Louie's to the lair in one piece.
This is the strangest part of this new After: he willingly goes to a hideaway in the sewers and hangs out with a bunch of turtle brothers, their rat dad, and the woman who raised them for a time and then saved them.
And Vern, sometimes. Though Vern's not big on hanging out in the sewers, which Casey understands one hundred percent. He's not entirely sure he'd be there all the time if he was actually able to go home, but the cockroaches in the lair are only a little bigger than the ones in his motel room, and the smell's about the same, so he figures he might as well hang out at the place that has better cable and a few game systems.
Plus… well, not that he'd admit it out loud, but it's kind of nice to be around a family again, even if it's not really his. After Foster Home #5, he's pretty much been on his own; he's got a few friends from the Academy, some he'd even call good friends, but it's been a long time since he's been around people who actually give a shit about each other.
Not that you can always tell it from the way Raph chases after Mikey after the fifth rendition of the newest Taylor Swift song, or the way Leo and Raph bicker over something at least once every two hours, or the way Donnie often secludes himself in his corner of the lair for a good chunk of the day and hardly talks to anyone, or the way Master Splinter's ears go flat when Mikey shoots overhead on his hoverboard or one of Donnie's machines makes a high-pitched noise.
But Casey sees the little things, too — Mikey leaving a protein drink right near Don's hand when he's lost in his latest project and forgets to eat; Raph struggling to hide a grin when Leo makes another one of his stupid puns while they're racing in Mario Kart; Don taking careful notes on the feedback Raph gives him about his latest run on the motorbike they're rebuilding together; Leo giving Mikey an unopened box of Cocoa Puffs he'd nicked from a truck parked outside a supermarket; the warmth in Splinter's eyes even as he barks out firm commands in training.
The more Casey learns about this little clan, the more he realizes just how deep their bond runs, in spite of — or maybe because of — everything that's threatened to tear them apart since the day they were born.
And Casey — well, Casey's been around long enough to know that sort of bond is rare. It's precious and valuable and needs to be protected at all costs.
He's not sure if he's going to be any help in that regard — it's not like he will ever be able to give them any relevant information they don't already have from Don's scanners or April's resources, and if there's anything that can be proven from his time in foster care, it's that he's usually better at breaking families up than keeping them together.
But they haven't told him to stop coming around, and he can at least bring them some fresh pizza and a bag full of discarded-but-usable motorcycle parts, so apparently that's enough for now.
"Casey, Casey, Casey!" Mikey shouts the moment Casey crosses the threshold. He bounces — literally bounces — over to him on some souped-up oversized pogo stick with some sort of apparatus on it that looks suspiciously like a rocket pack of some kind. Casey wonders how many hours Donnie had to have been awake for that to sound like a good idea.
Thankfully, Mikey doesn't seem to have activated that particular feature — he's so pumped full of energy that he can make the thing jump six feet in the air all on his own, so who knows what it would be like if he had some firepower behind all that muscle. As it is, Casey's going to get whiplash trying to keep an eye on him. "You're here, you made it in time, you brought pizza, you're the best — can you take Raph's place in Mario Kart, he's being lame and won't race me on Rainbow Road, says something about me always cheating—"
"Get back here, numbnuts!" Raph growls from Casey's left, diving at his brother. Mikey shrieks and bounces away again, laughing as Raph tries to grab him.
"Sorry, Casey," Donnie apologizes, materializing out of nowhere and grabbing the pizza boxes out of Casey's hands when he jumps, startled. Don's eyes blink owlishly behind his glasses, and his voice is rueful when he says, "Mikey got into my stash of Five-Hour Energies and drank four before I could stop him — and that was after he'd already had at least six Mountain Dews. It's been a long afternoon."
"That explains a lot," Casey says, wincing a little as an almighty crash echoes through the lair; Mikey's plowed into the weight stacks, and now Raph's pinned him down to the ground. "Where are Leo and Splinter?"
"Sensei's meditating," Don replies, leading Casey over toward the kitchen as he opens the lid of the top box to peek inside. "Extra cheese, score!"
"He's meditating in this racket?" Casey asks incredulously, glancing over as Mikey starts doing push-ups — despite the fact that Raph's still sitting on him — and laughing at the string of insults Raph's shouting down at him.
Donnie shrugs, pulling out an assorted collection of dishes and tossing them on the beat-up table. "He says it's part of his training — builds focus. Leo went out to 'check the perimeter,' or so he told me, but I saw him and Raph playing Rock, Paper, Scissors a couple hours ago when they thought I wasn't looking, so basically he got out when he could to escape the Mikey mayhem."
"No wonder Raph's so pissed — oh, thanks," Casey says, taking the plate with two slices of meat lover's that Don hands him. "And you weren't involved in the game at all?"
"I, uh — I might have told them I had a very time-sensitive experiment that needed all of my attention for the afternoon," Donnie says, adjusting his glasses. His expression is entirely too innocent when he adds, "I had to see how quickly I could hack through all 164 episodes of Candy Crush."
"Oh my god, I'm dealing with five-year-olds," Casey groans. "How is this my life?"
Don laughs. "You haven't even heard what happened this morning after I—" His eyes suddenly grow huge and the laughter fades from his face as he looks over Casey's shoulder. "Leo? What happened?"
Casey whirls around and all the noise Raph and Mikey are making stops suddenly at the sight of Leo jogging into the lair with April cradled in his arms. She smacks Leo on the chest with one hand; the other is pressing a bloodied scarf against her nose, and the front of her t-shirt is spattered with drying blood. "Put me down, Leo, I told you, I'm fine," she complains as they all gather around the pair.
"I ran across someone trying to stop a break-in at an empty apartment building in Queens," Leo explains, setting April down on her feet, keeping one hand on her back for support.
"They just got a lucky shot, that's all — I'm really fine, I promise," April says, tipping her head back.
"Hey, hey, no, don't do that," Casey interjects, gently cupping the back of her head and pushing it forward. "Trust me, babe, I speak from experience, you do not want blood draining into your throat, bad things happen," he adds, grabbing the scarf from her hands. "Spit it out into this and pinch your nose shut."
"Call me 'babe' again, and I'll cut off your balls with a spoon," April says in her most saccharine voice, making Raph chuckle despite the look of pure murder on his face, but she obeys, making a face at the gob of bloody spit that lands in the folds of the ruined scarf. "That was a Christmas present, too."
"Doesn't look like your nose is broken, but you might end up with a black eye," Donnie says, contrition in his voice as he adjusts his goggles and continues to run scans.
April reaches up and pats his arm with her free hand; thankfully, it's not the one covered in blood. "I already told you, I'm fine — besides, you should see the other guy."
Leo laughs a little ruefully. "It's true — a black eye is the least of his problems. The other two won't be getting out of a hospital bed anytime soon, either," he adds with a meaningful look at Raph, which even Casey recognizes as his stand down, I'll take care of this look.
"Aww, yeah, that's my girl — did you use the kick I showed you, huh, did you, did you?" Mikey asks, crouching down so he can look up more easily into April's eyes.
"Yes, I did, it was very effective — they'll probably have to do a CT scan to check for internal bleeding," April says with a wide smile. That should not be as endearing or relieving as it is, Casey figures "And exactly how much caffeine have you had today, Mikey?" she adds, not missing the fact that even though he's dropped into a low crouch and is far away from his pogo stick, Mikey is still definitely bouncing in place.
"Who did it?" Raph interjects, his eyes narrowed, cracking the knuckles of his left hand. "What were they after?"
"I don't know," Leo replies grimly. "By the time I got there, April had taken one of them down and the other two were trying to get away. Knocked them out before they could talk. It didn't look like they'd taken anything."
"I don't think they were after something," April says, looking up at Casey with considering eyes. "I think they were after someone. I saw them coming down the fire escape from the sixth floor of the apartment complex at the corner of 76th and 41st."
The bloody scarf drops from Casey's suddenly limp fingers. "Wait, what? What the hell would they be doing at my place?"
"Your place?" all four turtles shout at once.
"I thought you said it was empty!" Donnie says to Leo.
"What are you doing living in an empty apartment building?" Raph asks Casey.
"But you're living at that rundown motel!" Mikey exclaims.
There's a beat of shocked silence as they all look from Mikey to Casey and then back again; Mikey's hands are in front of his mouth, like he just blurted a secret he wasn't supposed to tell.
It's not really something that's meant to be a secret, but Casey's definitely never mentioned it to anyone, especially not anyone in this room, and his eyes narrow as he stares at the smallest turtle. "Why exactly do you know that, Mikey?"
Mikey laughs a little nervously — though it's not Casey he's looking at, but back and forth between Leo and Raph, like they're the ones who are going to be mad. "Be-because whenever you leave you always look like you — you're resigning yourself to it, like you don't like where you're going, and you don't really talk about yourself much, and I just — I just wanted to make sure you were okay, so… soIsnuckoutlastweekandfollowedyou."
It takes all of two seconds for them to decipher that last part, and then another few seconds for them to process it. Casey's not quite sure what to make of the strange warm feeling in his chest; the idea that someone cares like that, that Mikey had been paying attention enough to notice that is… well, not something he was expecting, to be perfectly honest.
Hell, until just now, Casey had been pretty convinced Mikey only liked him so much because he always brings them food.
From the looks of it, the others are just as surprised as Casey. Raph and Leo look absolutely shocked; April has one eyebrow raised, and Donnie looks almost gleeful and proud. Casey's not entirely sure what that's about, but he's guessing it has something to do with the fact that Mikey pulled one over on Leo and Raph.
"You snuck out?" Raph and Leo shout at the same time.
"It wasn't a big deal, honestly — I was out and back in like two hours, and you didn't even notice I was gone the whole time, because I am actually a ninja, I totally handled it, thank you very much," Mikey exclaims, taking one step back, then two; his fists clench and he squares his shoulders as the shock shifts to blooming anger on Raph's face and a healthy dose of sternness on Leo's.
Casey's been around long enough to recognize the look of a pending family feud, so he interjects, "Yeah, I've had to stay at that motel the last few weeks, and it's not in the best of shape, but better than my apartment — some of the Technodrome pieces damaged my building."
That swiftly diffuses the tension and reverts the focus back to Casey and April, who's digging her phone out of her pocket, frowning in thought. "Do these guys look familiar?" she asks, tapping open an app and holding the phone in his direction.
Casey takes it from her hand and swipes through a few pictures — closeups of three different guys, two white, one Asian, bloody and unconscious on the ground, each dressed in jeans and cutoff hoodies with some kind of symbol emblazoned on them: a violet-colored dragon curling in and around itself so that its body is twisted in a sort of Celtic knot before it eats its own tail. "No, but I do recognize that logo — it's from one of the new gangs in town, trying to crowd in on Foot territory," Casey says. "I've had to transport a couple of them, but haven't been personally involved in any cases. I hear they call themselves the Purple Dragons, but that's all I know, honestly."
"So what would they want with you? Or with your apartment?" Leo wonders, folding his arms as his eyes narrow in thought.
"Maybe they knew you're on the NYPD — if they knew you couldn't get into your apartment, they might've thought they could somehow access NYPD information you might've left there," Donnie muses.
Casey shakes his head. "That doesn't make sense; I've been under investigation for the last three months, so I haven't been working. And anyway, I don't really take any files home with me yet — I'm not authorized. Plus…"
"Plus what?" April prods after a moment of silence, straightening to her full height and looking Casey directly in the eyes. The glare she's shooting him shouldn't work as well as it does when she's still pinching her nose with one bloody hand, but then, if there's one thing Casey knows about this woman, it's that she defies all sorts of expectations.
"I've never put my residential address on any of my NYPD paperwork," he admits quietly. "All my mail goes to a P.O. Box, and my residential address is the place I lived in when my family — when I was younger. It's an empty lot now."
"But why?" Mikey asks with wide eyes; the others are just as curious, and this is fast getting into deep and muddy waters that Casey really doesn't want to visit.
He silently thanks every higher power he can think of when his phone rings and saves him from answering that question — that is, until he sees who's actually calling, and then he quietly curses as he turns away from the group. "Jones."
"Jones, I've got some news you'll be happy to hear," Chief Vincent says. Even over the phone, he can feel the weight of her disdainful glare, and he braces himself for bad news. "IA's cleared you. You can come back to work tomorrow morning."
That's… pretty much the opposite of what he was expecting, and he can feel a grin spreading across his face as his shoulders slump in relief. "I — awesome! Thank you, Chief!"
"But you're also being transferred," Vincent continues, as if he'd never spoken. "My precinct." She pauses a moment for that to sink in; Casey's pretty sure he's been sucked into some alternate reality, because no way does a beat cop go straight to working for the Chief of Detectives, especially not one with his luck. "You'll be briefed on your new assignment at 9 AM sharp, so I trust you'll be on time."
"Absolutely," Casey says automatically. "I'll be there, Chief."
There's a beat of silence over the line. "And Jones?" Vincent says finally, her voice just as firm but definitely quieter than a moment before. "You and your friends need to stay away from your apartment tonight. I'll explain in the morning, but consider this your first order."
"I — okay. I understand," Casey says, even though he really, really doesn't.
"Good. 9 AM. Do not be late." There's a sharp click, and the call ends. Casey pulls the phone away from his ear and stares at it for a long, long moment. He really has no idea what the hell just happened, but this day is certainly not getting any less weird.
"Casey?" April asks from behind him.
He turns to see the others all staring at him with curious looks on their faces. "So? What'd she say?" Mikey prompts.
"I have my job back — I guess," Casey says. "But she — she said you guys can't go check out the apartment tonight."
"Wait, what? How'd she know about that?" Raph demands.
"She didn't say. But her order was very clear, so obviously she knows something," Casey replies, pocketing his phone and rubbing his hand over his scalp with a weary sigh. "What the hell is going on?"
"I don't know, but here's what we're going to do," April says firmly, squaring her shoulders. "We're going to eat that pizza that's going cold, keep Mikey from having any more caffeine, and I am going to annihilate you all in Super Smash Brothers Melee. You—" She pokes a finger into Casey's sternum. "—are going to go talk to Chief Vincent and find out what she knows tomorrow. After that, you're coming right back here to tell us what the hell is going on, and then we're moving you from that shitty hotel into Vern's apartment. He's got an entire floor to himself with like four spare bedrooms, he has the space, I'll talk to him about it tomorrow," she adds when Casey's eyebrows shoot up. "If these guys are after you personally, you need a better place than some run-down motel. Got that?"
"Aye aye, Cap'n!" Mikey replies, snapping his heels together and saluting.
"Sir, yes, sir," Casey adds with a wry grin, laughing as April rolls her eyes.
Leo folds his arm as he looks at Mikey. "Do not think this means we're done talking about you sneaking out, Michelangelo."
"What? I'm sorry, Leo, I can't hear you over the sound of all that cheese calling my name," Mikey says, leaping toward the kitchen. His grin is practically maniacal as he grabs the box of cheese pizza and stares into it. "Extra cheese, score!"
"There had better be some of that left for me, Michelangelo."
Everyone freezes, then slowly turns toward the entrance of the dojo, where Master Splinter is calmly standing with his hands folded behind his back. "H-hey, master!" Mikey says, swallowing audibly. "How — how long have you been standing there?"
Splinter strokes his beard as he tilts his head down slightly. "Long enough to know I need to add one hundred extra flips to your morning routine tomorrow."
"Awwwww, man! But you didn't even know I was gone the first time, either!" Mikey complains.
Splinter nods once. "And that is why you're only doing extra flips instead of visiting the hashi."
Casey shoots a questioning glance to April, who shrugs in confusion even as Mikey says, "Oh, one hundred flips, that sounds totally reasonable and fair, thank you, sensei, and I promise, it will never happen again."
Raph rolls his eyes so hard Casey's surprised they're still in his head. "Give me that, numbnuts," he growls, snagging the pizza box from Mikey's hands.
"Aw, Raph, c'mon, man!" Mikey shouts, running after the taller turtle. "I'm dying over here, at least let me have three — no, four slices!"
"April, I've got your spare bag of stuff stashed in my room, if you want to change your shirt," Leo says, pointing at the blood. "You sure you're okay?"
"For the fifteenth time, I'm fine, Leo," April says with a fond smile. "But a clean shirt would be nice, yes." She winces a little as she shifts her grip on her nose. "And maybe an ice pack to help with the swelling."
"You got it," Leo replies, jogging away.
"The hashi?" Casey asks, looking at Don.
Don makes a pained grimace before he turns toward his lab. "Trust me, you do not want to know. I'll go get you some ibuprofen, April."
April punches Casey lightly on the arm as she walks past, and Casey snaps his gaping jaw shut. "Yes, for the record, this is your life now, Jones, so you better get used to it," she says as Raph and Mikey get into yet another wrestling match, this time over who gets the first-player controller.
"Lucky me," Casey deadpans, his lips twitching as April laughs.
tbc...