Casey kept hold of his stick as he bobbed and wove around debris. His breath burned in his lungs. They couldn't run forever, but there was no way they were going to defeat that many Kraang. Karai jumped up, and before he could ask her what she was doing, something thick and white curled around his waist. Casey yelped in surprise and struck at it before he realized it was Karai's tail. Before the thought finished forming in his head, she climbed the side of a building and hung upside down from a fire escape. Casey restrained every urge in his body telling him to fight back and kick his way free, and watched the Kraang run under them.

Reaching up, Casey grabbed the metal railing and pulled himself onto the escape. Karai slid next to him. Casey kept a tight grip on his stick until the last of the foot soldiers had fanned out.

"You can let go of me now," he said once the coast was clear, shoving at Karai's tail. Her coils unfurled from around him. "Thanks," he said as he slid his hockey stick back into its holster. Looking at Karai, Casey crossed his arms and leaned against the wall, trying to hide the fear he was half convinced she could smell, "So what brings you to grace me with your presence?"

Her glowing green eyes drifted shut as her body twisted like silly putty. Her tail shortened and split into two, the two snake mouths on the end of her arms flattened out into working, human hands and black hair grew onto a head squashing back into a human shape.

"That's a new trick," he said as the now human Karai got to her feet. Human-looking, he amended as she shot him a disdainful look with eyes as sickly green as steamed broccoli. Jagged fangs sharper than broken glass jutted from her mouth.

"Some of us handle our mutation better than others," she said. The forked tongue flickering out of her mouth ruined her imperious tone.

"Y'know, that would be pretty metal if it weren't so creepy," Casey said, eying the autonomous tongue.

"Oh, don't be ridiculous," she scoffed, "Now try to keep up."

"Hey, who said I was going anywhere with you?" he asked.

"Don't be stupid, Jones," Karai said, the 's' sound oozing from her lips like the hiss of a collapsed lung. "You have no allies, and your chances of surviving alone?" she broke off with a disdainful laugh.

"Did you see what happened to them?"

"The end of it, yes," Karai said, "O'Neil's car is… hard to miss. They made it out before the barrier went up."

"What about Slash?" Casey asked.

"Who?" she asked.

"Another mutated turtle. Evil. Wears a black band."

She considered. "I saw a figure running over the rooftops away from the van," she said at last, "I thought one of them was running distraction, but it didn't move like them."

"So you're sure it wasn't one of them?"

"Definitely not," she said.

Casey almost slumped with relief, but caught himself at the last minute to keep from giving her the satisfaction of seeing his concern. "Leo was out cold in the back. Slash probably didn't even realize he was there," he told himself.

Karai checked her nails. "Are you done yet?" she asked.

"Look, I don't see why we need to keep this party going," he said. "You don't need me, so's how about we stay out of each other's way?" If he got a motorbike to dodge the debris, he thought, there was a chance he could catch up to them, maybe run interference for any pursuers with his explosive pucks-

"Unfortunately," Karai ground out, crossing her arms, "I do need you."

"What, as cannon fodder?"

"Splinter's alive," she said, "But he's wounded. I can't-" she paused. "I can't do it alone. I need someone I can trust to watch his back."

Things really were bad if Karai was desperate enough to ask for help.

"Since when do you trust me?" he asked.

"I don't," she returned, "but I know you won't harm my father."

Casey and Karai eyed each other. He still didn't trust her. But Karai didn't need to lead him somewhere to kick his ass, and right now, they had one enemy in common. April and the Turtles had gotten away together, and they could take care of each other. Leo would be ok as long as he was with Donnie. Splinter, however, only had an unstable, half-snake ninja girl with daddy issues to look out for him. And Casey couldn't just leave his best friend's dad.

"Fine," he said, "For Splinter."

He followed her into the shadows and moved along the streets as they went, hugging the shadows and dancing around the scattered debris. Past flipped cars and burnt out buildings they went, until she darted into the open to slip down a manhole. Following, he pulled the manhole closed after him. Goosebumps spread down his arms in the wet sewer air and Casey pulled up his hood.

Clambering down the ladder, he switched on a waterproofed penlight he'd added to his vigilante gear after the incident with Slash in the sewers.

"No light," Karai murmured, "there are patrols here."

Only the urgency in her voice and the distant whine of Kraang technology echoing through the sewer tunnels prompted his obedience. The cold water sucked the warmth from his feet like a vacuum. Onward into the starless dark they walked, him moving just behind her, or as close as he could. Even with the several inches of water covering the floor of the sewers, Karai made no sound when she moved, slithering like the rage thrumming under Casey's skin in a fight. The faint hiss of her breath in the dark alone affirmed her presence. Besides the occasional drip of water or the small splash of water as his feet moved up and down, all was silent.

Casey had little trouble navigating the tunnels in the dark. Especially as a child, Casey had spent a lot of time within the sewers. The dead end chambers and sprawling tunnels were littered with his initials graffitied on the wall and glass from his therapeutic bottle-breaking sessions. He had stopped going down so much when his sister was born because of her delicate constitution, but he still remembered how to move about underground.

Air rushed through his mask as the tunnel opened up around them, breaking from his thoughts. The faint glow of emergency lights embedded into the walls seared his eyes, and he lifted his left hand to shield his eyes. Grey concrete ledges lifted out of the water, and crumbling white tiles clung to the walls like broken teeth. In the center of the platform, a still figure lay prone on the concrete.

"Splinter?" Casey asked, recognizing Splinter's dark markings in the pale light. A rusty stain pooled under the ninja master's body. His damp robe had been pulled off his shoulders, revealing loosely tied bandages soaked with blood on his torso. "When did you change these?" he asked.

"I put them on a couple hours ago," Karai said, a defensive snap coloring her voice. "I had to lead some Kraang away from him."

"He's still bleeding," Casey said, unslinging his backpack and dumping its contents on the floor. Stripping off his gloves, Casey peeled back the ninja master's robe. "I don't have much in here," he said as he assessed Splinter's injuries, "Can you scavenge more medical stuff?" Considering the way things fell out, it might have been better to run by his crash pad and pick up some more supplies. He didn't have much with him and Splinter's wounds would take a decent amount of material to staunch and bind.

"You'll have to be a bit more specific," Karai said.

"Four by four pads, paracord, gauze- stuff like that," he said, peeling back the bloodiest bandage as light footsteps pattered back the way they had come. Splinter's skin was clammy under his bare fingers, and the blood around the wound had congealed. In the dim light, it was hard to see, so after raising his mask, Casey clamped his penlight in his teeth.

Over the course of his short but eventful life, Casey had treated a wide variety of injuries, mostly his own. He'd figured out how to handle everything from the post of an iron fence slicing the back of his hand to a puncture wound from a nail he hadn't seen in the dark to the burns from a scalding pot of coffee shattered on his shoulder when it took too long to make and scrapes from climbing buildings to leave his mark in paint. Even as a kid, he'd known they could not afford to pay a doctor, or to answer the questions his scars would trigger. Thanks to the wonders of the internet, he'd learned to fix himself as good as any doctor without paying for it with hard cash and his father's rage. He'd never had to treat anything but bruises on others, but Karai didn't need to know.

Clearing away Splinter's thick mottled fur to see what he was doing and keep the wound clean was the first step. Splinter's fur was surprisingly silky, he thought as he shaved away another clump of the mottled brown-black fur. But then, Splinter wasn't a normal rat by anyone's definition. With the fur cut away, he could get a better look at Splinter's injuries. Splinter's left shoulder blade had a long, deep cut across it with severe bruising in the tissue around it. His right shoulder had a similar impact injury that had somehow managed not to fracture his collarbone, and Splinter's abdomen had been badly bruised and cut by what he suspected was an armored elbow or knee. There didn't seem to be any internal bleeding.

Despite what he'd thought, he had just enough supplies to stop the bleeding and wash the blood and debris from Splinter's wounds, although he had to use more bottled water to clean Splinter's wounds than he would have liked. Without access to running water, clean drinking water was now a precious commodity. Out of the six bottles he had grabbed, only two remained. To save it, he wiped his bloody hands on his jeans. Just as he made a note to collect some hydrogen peroxide on his next run, something thrummed in the dark.

Casey stepped to the edge of the concrete platform, listening. A low, mechanical thrumming filled the air. Faint purple light spilled around a distant corner, growing brighter by the second. Spitting a curse, Casey pulled back, and glanced at Splinter. He couldn't be moved.

As he reached for a hockey stick, it brushed the wall with a thundering clack. The seeker turned, and Casey remembered how much the sewers amplified sound. If he fought this one, he'd lead scores of them here- to Splinter. If he had one of the turtles, or if Splinter weren't down, it'd be different.

Grabbing a couple of pebbles from the bare concrete floor, Casey slipped into the tunnel and moved as silently as he could in the half foot of water collected on the floor until he reached the intersection. A silver sphere floated down the tunnel, scanning every inch of the tunnel as it went. Casey cast a couple pebbles around the corner and quickly withdrew. Casey released a quiet breath when the Kraangbot passed the intersection. The Kraangbot searched in vain, regained its bearings, and continued down the tunnel. Away from them.

Casey sloshed back to the concrete platform, relieved at the narrow escape, but fully aware he'd been lucky. This spot was too exposed- too many entrances and exits to monitor, but not too many for the Kraang to block with their soldiers and trap them like- well, Casey thought, flicking his eyes over to Splinter.

He moved back over and checked Splinter's bandages. His wheezing had not improved, but Casey didn't think it had gotten worse either. Casey placed the back of his hand against the top of Splinter's snout. His breath was hot, and sweat had damped his fur down. Great, Casey thought, pulling his hand away. Just great. The last thing they needed right now was for Splinter to get sick. Of course, in this environment with open wounds, it wasn't surprising.

A duffel bag thudded onto the ground by Casey.

"Hey!" Casey said, starting. Karai stood on the edge of the platform, and he was surprised again by her vibrant green eyes.

Her teeth bared in a smile. "Gotta watch your back, Jones," she said before she sobered. "How is he?"

The tired glare he had prepared for her faded. Casey dug through the bag she had brought as he answered. "No broken bones or internal bleeding, but I don't know why he's out like this. His injuries aren't light, but they're not awful. Maybe it's cause he's sick?"

"Maybe," Karai echoed. Casey turned back to the supplies scattered around him. They were set on medicine now, he thought, but they were still low on food and water. His turn to go bust heads and scavenge.

"I'm gonna get more supplies," Casey said, standing, "with three of us, the food I brought won't last."

"-I'll go," Karai said, scooping up his backpack before he could grab it.

"You just went," Casey said, "It's my turn."

"Someone needs to stay with him," Karai said, "and you'd only get yourself mutated if you went up. The only thing you can do now is keeping my father safe while he recovers."

"-Yeah, about that," Casey said, standing up, "we need to move him."

"We can't move him," Karai said, locking her eyes onto his. Casey met her gaze, and felt his feet dig into the ground.

"Your snake form is strong enough," Casey shot back. Almost before he had finished, Karai hissed. She stepped forward, the force of a hurricane behind her stride.

"I could hurt him," she said, her voice solid as the concrete under his feet, "I can't support his spine without my hands."

"We sure as hell can't keep him here," Casey said, gesturing at Splinter as he stepped toward her, "It's not safe."

Karai chuckled. "There's nowhere safe," she said, turning away as she slung his backpack over one shoulder.

Casey grabbed one of the straps. "We almost got found by Kraang and he's getting sick," he snapped, "We need to move him."

"It's all we have," she said, "Just treat him."

"Treat him?" he echoed, "I can't 'treat him'- I'm not a freaking doctor and he's a giant mutant rat!"

With an angry roar, her left hand lashed out and slammed into his diaphragm. Casey went down, phantom pain from his fight with Slash throbbed across his ribs. His rage kindled, and Casey got up on one arm before he realized he couldn't breathe.

He could feel his chest muscles moving, straining, but no air filled his lungs. He tried to speak, to ask her what she did, but nothing came out. Nothing came in. Karai knelt next to him and grabbed his shoulders.

"You seem to think you have a choice here," she said, her split tongue slithering around Casey's temple, "You don't."

She shoved him, and he sprawled onto his back. Karai vanished into the shadows as air filled his lungs. Casey coughed, feeling like someone had just taken a hammer to his ribs. He took as deep a breath as he could, and hugged his knees, composing himself.

His shaky breathing stabilized, then broke down again. He tried to slow his breathing down, and fight the rising panic, but he had no idea what she'd done. Had she hit a pressure point or something? For several long minutes he sat there, sputtering as he tried to regain his breath. It didn't quite come back, but the pain in his chest dulled to a manageable level. Casey got to his feet. He'd always known Karai was dangerous. She needed him for now, and she'd nearly taken him out of commission anyway.

Casey's hand curled into a first. Every moment he spent here, the thought of taking off and searching for his family became more appealing.

But no, he couldn't leave Raph's dad alone with his unstable daughter.

With a frustrated growl, Casey kicked the floor. The chill of the sewers clung to his body, numbing his skin and stirring the need to act thrumming in his veins. Stupid Karai, acting like his boss. Stupid Karai, acting as if he needed to prove himself to her. But as much as he hated the idea of just sitting here, he had to admit she was right. Splinter was utterly defenseless.

In need of something useful to do, Casey reorganized the medical supplies Karai had brought back. She had grabbed some other things he hadn't asked for, but most of it was a good addition to their small stockpile.

She still wasn't back.

Casey repaired the crack in his hockey stick, reinforcing it with strips of thin metal he found in the debris scattered around the chamber. Especially now, he couldn't afford to throw away anything useful.

She still wasn't back.

He played hockey with himself, slapping a puck against the wall again and again and again, wishing he could smash it into a Kraang's face. Again and again and again until it went spinning too close to Splinter's prone body. Then he explored the rest of the chamber. Soda cans and fast food bags filled the gaps in pieces of blown tire and tree branches half-buried in dirt. With nothing else to do, he began collecting debris scattered around to build a fire.

Hours, minutes since Karai had left- he could not tell. The only sounds to accompany Splinter's shallow breathing were the crackling of the flames and the occasional plop of water in the distance. Still wearing his mask and gear, Casey sat by the fire, his knees drawn up to his chest. Splinter slept on as if he would only awaken with the dead, and Casey stared out into the darkness. herehere

Without a backward glance, Karai stepped into the darkness and broke into a light jog, leaving the sounds of Casey choking for breath behind her. Heavy anger roiled behind her teeth, and she sucked in deep breaths and focused on the rhythm of her running feet. It was not enough. Her human form melted away. Putting on a burst of speed to escape the tantalizing scent of rat blood in the air, Karai slithered into the deep of the sewers.

Why, out of all the people Splinter surrounded himself with, was Jones the only one left in the city. Raphael's attitude was tolerable, because he had the skill to back up his brashness. Jones did not. He only hung around the turtles for the adrenaline high and the cute redhead. Even Michelangelo could sober up when the stakes got high. Jones could follow orders, but daring to think he knew best for her father-

The thought pulled her up short, as it always did. Even now, days after she had learned the truth, Karai was still getting used to the idea.

Hamato Yoshi, not Oroku Saki, was her father.

Karai stopped. The dankness and decay of the sewers pressed around her. The weight of Shredder's words clamped on her spine, whispering about the importance of family. She shrugged them off, a hiss tearing from her throat. He had never meant those things. He had only said them to control her, to turn her against her father for his sick revenge.

Rank sewer water lapped against her sides. Karai remembered the sensation of falling into warm, cloying mutagen, was falling as her body trembled with joy at the thought of cracking Yoshi's bones between her teeth-

No, she told herself, darting forward to break the sensation of the still water against her sides. She was not going to hurt her father.

Even after everything with Fa- with Shredder- even after she turned her blade against him, Splinter had still called her his daughter. He had still wanted her.

But she couldn't say whether Splinter would still want her after this, she thought as she slithered onward in the darkness It would be wise not to. She had not spoken to him since she had disobeyed him and tried to kill the Shredder by herself. She knew how Shredder would have reacted to such defiance, but Hamato Yoshi- her father- was still such a mystery to her.

Even if he chose to forgive her, Yoshi's love for her didn't erase all the times she had battled his sons. She couldn't pretend there was still a place for her in his family. Furthermore, there was the issue of her mutation. Even in her human form, when she got too close to him she had to crush the thoughts of tearing her teeth into his soft, tasty muscles. Every moment, she had to force her snake side down to stay in control of herself.

And Jones, pig-headed and reckless as he was, made it so much harder to rein in her animal self. He had a way of burrowing through her defenses like a knife slipping between ribs. He knew how to push her buttons, and the worst part was she couldn't say with certainty he was doing it on purpose.

Either way. Once Father was on his feet again, even Jones would defer to him and she could keep her father safe by staying away from him. Until she found Stockman and made him fix her, she needed to limit her contact with her Father.

Slimy mold brushed against her body and she restrained a shudder. As much as she hated to admit it, Jones was right about the sewers. The tunnels were cold, filthy and riddled with disease, not to mention the Kraang patrols hunting them. The two of them alone couldn't move Splinter, but they did need a base somewhere safer.

And yet, moving was impossible until Splinter was well enough to move him, and the longer they stayed in the sewers the sicker he would get. Sickness was outside her experience, and she was willing to bet Jones had never dealt with it either. But then, she admitted, he had surprised her with his immediate treatment of her father. Karai knew basic field medicine, but she had never needed to use it and she could not get close to her father without her animal instincts welling up. She had only been able to bind her father's wounds before the urge to hurt him drove her away. Casey's knowledge of first aid was a stroke of luck, and likely the one useful thing to come out of his life of thrill-seeking.

Hesitating at the mouth of the sewers, Karai tasted the air. Finding antibiotics shouldn't be too difficult. But the issue was finding which ones would work on Splinter, who was neither human nor rat. Perhaps if she raided a pet shop or a library-

Something flashed in the darkness, grabbing her attention. Karai trained her eyes on the familiar figure racing along the rooftops.

She hunkered back into the shadows, watching the duplicate as its face twisted into an unsettling grin. She waited until he had vanished among the rooftops before slithering out herself.

Dropping down to street level, Karai took care to stay hidden, knowing even rumors of her appearance would send the city's survivors swarming to find her. The reward had been out on her head even before the Kraang had taken over the city and now they would only be more desperate, more determined.

Coward, she thought with a curl of her lip. If Father- if Shredder wanted to find her so badly, why didn't he look for her himself?

Finding a veterinarian's office with a shop attached was simple enough. Finding one with half an aisle just for books was a stroke of luck. The problem was reading them. She hadn't calmed down enough to shift back to her human form, leaving her stuck without hands. Her snake hands mangled the paper and soaked it in spit. She ruined three copies of "A Guide to Rat Care" before she hit upon the idea of using her tail to flip the pages. It worked well enough and she soon found what she needed and retrieved it from the back. She took as much as she could fit in the backpack she had borrowed from Casey, as well as the book. She also took advantage of the caged snakes and hamsters- although she avoided the rats. Her mutant form's hunger was independent from her human body's hunger and she needed to slake it every chance she got.

On the way back, she took a meandering, indirect route to keep anyone who may see her guessing and to get an idea of possible dens away from other survivors. Several, she noted, were being forced to pay supplies to the Foot in exchange for protection. Those exchanges were of little interest to her. Trying to stop them would only result in sending her position to her enemies and earn her nothing but terrified looks from those she tried to aid. They did, however, provide useful information as far as the Foot patrol patterns. Anywhere Splinter went had to be far outside Shredder's circle of influence.

By the time she returned to the sewers, most of her stress had dissolved. Enough to change back, but not enough to deal with Jones when he was being a dick.

With a worn sigh, she stepped back into her human skin, and into the cracking walls of her patience.