Gasping in a breath, he bent his knees just as his feet hit the rooftop below. The momentum sent him over the edge into another two-story drop. Shaken out of his surprise by the jolt, Casey twisted in midair and circled his arms around his head. He'd already had a head injury that stuck him with a metal plate nailed to his skull. He couldn't take another severe hit to his head.

He smashed through the cloth roof of a convertible parked on the curb. His left side slammed into the apex of the front seat. Pain shot up his ribs. As the car alarm blared, he rolled forward into the driver's seat and lay for a moment in a heap of tangled limbs and broken wood.

With a moan of pain, Casey sat up. His side pulled, and instinctively, his hand went to it. A dull pain throbbed across his ribs. Casey grit his teeth at the feeling and quickly felt the area. A hiss of relief slipped through his teeth when he found there were no abnormal bumps or caves in his side and that the pain was bearable. Not broken, then- only bruised. Probably. And his spare hockey stick had snapped in the fall.

His gaze travelled up, back to the roof of the Duane Reade. A low whistle flew from his throat. A four story drop. He was lucky that his fall had been broken by the overhang.

"Kid? Hey, kid- are you OK?"

"Man, that's my car!"

Turning, Casey saw the crowd gathering around him. He climbed off the car and spread his hands. "Yeah, I'm fine-"

Then he remembered why he'd fallen in the first place.

Leaping to his feet, Casey shoved through the burgeoning crowd and ran around to the back of the building. Overhead, something broke. Bricks thudded to the ground around him as a large, dark shadow darted over his head. Easily clearing the street, it landed on the rooftop across from the Duane Reade and vanished into the dark. "Raph!" he yelled, climbing onto a nearby dumpster. From there, he jumped onto the bottom rung of the fire escape with both hands. Casey pulled himself up, hissing as he felt his ribs tug. He hauled himself up the ladder and climbed the rest of the way onto the rooftop.

No one was there. "Raph!" he shouted. His voice was muffled by the sound of the building commotion below. Casey ran to the side and peered over. Police were already at the scene, and he quickly stepped back. His foot kicked against his fallen hockey stick, and he quickly pushed it back into its holster before he got his cellphone out. He he paused for a moment when he saw the new crack running down the side, but when he flipped it open, the screen lit up. Raising his hockey mask, he lifted the phone to his ear and called Raph's number. He waited as it rang. And rang, and rang. No response.

Again, he initiated the call, drumming his fingers impatiently against the wall, fidgeting as much as his throbbing side would let him. "Come on, Raph… pick up."

And again, no response. Worry fidgeted down his nerves. Raph always picked up. Even in the middle of a fight just to prove that he could still kick ass even while multitasking. And his interaction with their attacker had indicated a shared history.

Maybe the reception was bad. This was an old phone. Maybe it just needed a better signal. Lifting his phone, Casey moved to the edge of the roof.

His foot kicked into something lying on the ground. A faint metallic scrape sounded across the rooftop. Looking down, he saw Raph's twin sai glinting faintly in the moonlight, bound together by a strip of red cloth.

Casey knelt. Pocketing his phone, he reached out and gently lifted the sai. His heart slamming against his throbbing side. Raph had never removed his bandana before, and because there was no knot on it, Casey could only conclude that it had been deliberately untied. That Raph had been unable to stop it from happening.

Pulling it free of the sai, Casey wound the red cloth around his hand. The dark shadows playing across his hands gave the red ribbon the look of wet blood. Casey closed his fist and felt the red cloth bunch into a ball. Raph was alive. He had little proof of it, but there was no body and Raph's mask was not bloodstained. However, it had been deliberately left as a message.

He looked down Broadway, in the direction the thing had gone. Casey started in that direction, but paused. He had no idea what he was walking into. And normally, that wouldn't have bothered him. Casey was used to making things up as he went along. But Raph was the toughest fighter Casey knew, and this thing had taken him down, might even have him hostage. He paced anxiously, and a growl of frustration broke from his throat. But he did not follow. Pulling his phone from his pocket with his free hand, he flicked it open and scrolled the cursor down his contact list, to Leonardo's number.

Leonardo picked up instantly. "Casey, what's up?" His voice was calm, but a slight undertone of tension ran through it. As if he already knew.

The words caught in his throat. Casey squeezed his eyes shut and tried to spin his roiling emotions into a coherent sentence. "Leo... we're... "

"What happened?" Leo asked, his voice cold as moonlight. Something rustled in the background.

"We were ambushed by this- new mutant. I think- I think he took Raph."

Over the connection, metal scraped along metal. "What do you mean, it took him? How-" Leo's voice cut off. A low, tired exhale hissed over the connection. But when he spoke, his voice was calm, even. "Casey, where are you?"

"Roof of the Duane Reade in Astoria. Corner of Broadway and Steinway."

"We're heading over now. Stay put and wait for us," Leo ordered.

The connection silenced. Putting the phone away, Casey leaned against the wall and slid to the ground. Burying his head in his palms, he forced himself to take a few deep breaths. He could not afford to get pnuemonia.

His hand clenched, tightening against the red cloth still wound around his hand. Casey sighed, his breath hitching as the pain in his side pulsed. Thunder rumbled overhead, then light drops of rain began to fall around him.