Apologies for the delay. As I said, the whole story is written- save one scene- but life kinda kicked me in the teeth. Updates are migrating to weekly, because with my schedule I'm not sure I can handle a more frequent update pace. Again, I'm sorry for the delay. Thank you for your patience.

Splinter was waiting for them when they returned. The way he looked between them told Casey that his dad senses were tingling. He pushed past father and daughter, hoping Splinter would leave it alone. "What happened? Are either of you injured?" Splinter asked.

"No, we're fine," Karai said, wiping her bloody nose. Her tone of voice indicated they were anything but. Casey refused to acknowledge her gaze.

"Yeah," he said, unslinging his pack. "We got pretty much everything on the list, and a bit extra too."

"I didn't take you for an alcoholic," Karai said wryly as Casey pulled the whiskey and the cigarettes for his back.

"It's for bartering," he said. He put them on a back shelf and replenished the stack of cans.

Karai was also unpacking, her motions stiff and sharp. Splinter looked between the two of them. "Why don't you tell me what happened out there," the sensei said, sitting by the fire.

In succinct words, Karai relayed the mission's events to Splinter. Casey corrected her in a place or two, each time prompting her to close her eyes before proceeding in a tighter voice. By the time she finished, you couldn't have squeezed a dime through the tension in her words. However, she omitted the incident on the fire escape. Perhaps she didn't think it worth telling to Splinter, or maybe she had some other reason. He didn't care as long as they left him al-

"Casey?"

"-huh?" They both looked at him, Karai's inhuman green eyes still flickering with suppressed rage, and Splinter's sparking with something that looked suspiciously like disappointment. He wasn't sure and he didn't want to know.

"Do you have anything to add?"

"No."

As he stalked to the corner to clean his gear, he told himself he didn't care what Splinter thought. He ignored the others as he cleaned, tightened and tested his taser and other pieces of equipment, only rising to fetch the fertilizer that was a necessary ingredient in one of the smoke bomb recipes Splinter had taught him. It was cold in that part of the room, but his pride would not allow him to move closer to the fire.

Eventually, Splinter approached him. Casey leaned over his work, ignoring him until a bowl of food was slid before him. "You haven't eaten since you returned."

"Thanks," he said, waiting until Splinter moved back to sit by the fire before he set his work aside and eat the soup.

As he ate, he watched Splinter and Karai speak in hushed tones. The tell-tale scrape of chalk chirped on the concrete floor. Their shoulders touched as they leaned over whatever diagram Splinter was explaining to Karai. He hadn't seen them so at ease with each other since this entire fiasco began.

He leaned up against the concrete wall behind him. The chill of the winter radiated into his back. Karai and Splinter were more than able to take care of themselves. They didn't need him, Especially since Splinter was up and about. Once they were asleep, he would go back.

His decision made, he moved closer to the fire because he was starting to get cold. Casey volunteered for the second watch, and Splinter took the first. Casey made sure his gear was packed and ready to go, then curled up in one of the newly acquired blankets and waited for Splinter to wake him.

It seemed only a blink passed between the moment he fell asleep and the moment when Splinter woke him for his watch shift. Casey sat up and stifled a yawn. To his dismay, Splinter put some water on to boil. Great. He was making tea. how long was that going to take?

"Do you want some?" Splinter asked.

"No. Thanks." Casey stretched, and settled in a waiting position by the fire.

The silence spread between them. After a time, the lid of the pot began to rattle, and Splinter picked up a tea bag. "Save for the incident with the dog, it sounds as though your mission went smoothly," he said, dipping it in the water.

The sensei's casual, silky voice was non-threatening, but Casey could think of several reasons why he would bring that up now, none of which he wanted to discuss. Karai might have told him what happened, and he didn't want to deal with that, either. The sooner he could slip away, the sooner he would know more about what had happened to his family.

"I messed up," he said, too tired and groggy to put any real heat into his words, "I don't see a point in talking about it."

"Do you believe I expect perfection from you?"

He paused. He'd never thought about what Splinter expected from him before, and it was a scary question. Whatever shinobi standards were, Casey knew he didn't have a prayer of meeting them. At the same time, he knew better than to think Splinter had any high expectations.

And yet a small part of him remembered that Splinter had taken the time to train him. Splinter wouldn't have bothered if he were a total failure.

"I don't know what you want from me," he answered truthfully. And, he thought, he wasn't sure he wanted to find out. Knowing he couldn't meet expectations was one thing. Knowing they were out of reach was another.

The teabag was extracted from the water. "I don't know what you expect of me either," Splinter said. "This is a sharp learning curve for both of us." The teabag went onto the fire. "I do not expect perfection from any of my students. I may drill you to perfection in the dojo, but real combat is far messier and less controlled than my training exercises." He took a sip of the tea. "Mistakes are how we improve, painful as they may be in the short-term."

Casey leaned back with a snort. "You tell that to Leo, too?" He regretted mentioning the turtle as soon as the words left his mouth, but Splinter did not look ruffled.

"I do," he said. "But Leonardo is as stubborn as his brothers." Splinter curled his hands around the steaming cup of tea.

"It's late," Casey said. "You should get some sleep."

Splinter downed the last of the tea, and gave Casey a quick look, as if he wanted to say something more but the words would not come. Then Splinter sighed, and set the mug down. "Good night, Casey."

"Night." He waited, one leg bouncing with restless energy as Splinter laid down in his nest of blankets and closed his eyes. Karai still slept in her spot against the wall in that awkward sitting position. Casey waited, counting to himself and glancing over at Splinter to determine when he was sleeping easily.

It seemed like hours, but Casey knew it was only a few minutes before Splinter's breathing slid into an even rhythm. Once Splinter was asleep, Casey slipped on his harness. He opted to climb the rafters and slip out the window, knowing that raising the metal door would create enough racket to wake at least one of them, and they wouldn't let him go. Besides, if he didn't return it wasn't like they'd be any worse off.

In the emptiness of the night, Casey travelled quickly. Kraang patrols seemed to stick to the same regular patterns, which made avoiding them all the easier. It wasn't long before he found himself on the same street where he'd seen the car, and located it again with ease from a vantage point on the roof of a nearby building.

It lay, windows shattered and frame bent, underneath the light of a flickering street lamp. From here, he could not see the license plate. He cracked the knuckles of his left hand one by one before he slipped onto a fire escape and climbed down. Crouching in the shadows, he listened for the approaching whine of a Kraang patrol. The only sounds in his ears were the sparking of the street lights, and the distant whine of Kraang patrols down other streets.

Standing, he darted across the street and moved around the car. A familiar license plate stared back. "No," he whispered, the sound leaving his throat before he could clamp his teeth around it, and he staggered forward to the wreck. Both doors on the passenger side hung open. Casey peered inside. A flash of red called his hand forward. Casey pulled his sister's doll free from the debris. Dark stains streaked down the side, and a messy pink seam laced up the left leg- his own handiwork in the wake of one of his father's rages.

There was no other sign of where they could have gone. No footprints in the debris, no blood trails. Nothing.

Nothing.

Casey pounded the frame of the rusting vehicle, helpless anger pulsing in his veins. Stuffing the doll in his pack, Casey stood and looked down the street. Would they have gone back to the apartment? Had the Kraang got her?

Oh god, what if she was mutated like April's dad?

In the distance, the droning of the Kraangbots had gotten louder. The crushing emptiness in his chest burned away under an unrelenting swell of wrath. With a formless shout, he sprinted toward the noise. The sound of laser shots filled the air around him. Bobbing around the spray, he brought his hockey stick up in a vicious slash across the first Kraang to enter his range. A loud screeching alarm broke the night. he didn't care.

Casey Jones was out for blood.

He dispatched the first wave of Kraang with the agility of a striking snake. Surrounded by empty mechanical shells, he leaned on the hockey stick, panting.

More were coming. Rage still burned in his blood, still thundered in his chest like the crackle of lightning but in the brief break, his eyes fell on the wreck of car again.

This would not bring his sister back. He needed a plan. And he was awful with plans. Casey knew how to bash heads, how to break and enter, how to steal and sabotage. But finding a person- especially a small person- was not in his skillset. He broke things. He couldn't fix them.

There was nothing more he could do here, nowhere else to go but back. Maybe, just maybe, they hadn't realized he had gone.

Casey darted down an alley, through the side streets and cut through a building to gain distance from the noise. Behind him, the shouts of the Kraang swelled. He crept through the darkness, looking over his shoulder, scanning the streets before he moved. The last thing he needed was to lead the Kraang back to the others.

After taking several roundabout loops and dead ends to ensure he wasn't being followed, Casey found his way back to the warehouse.

Something deeper than exhaustion bit at his soul. Something that chilled his chest and numbed him until all he wanted was to sleep until the world unmade around him. With a glance over his shoulder, he slid the window up and slipped back inside.

"And just where have you been?" Karai's cold voice cut through the silence.

The light of the fire played across her harsh features. Splinter still slept away, laying curled on his good shoulder.

"Can we not do this now?" he asked, taking off his hockey mask.

"Explain yourself," she said, striding towards him, steps solid as a cinderblock.

"I needed some air," he said, shrugging out of his harness. It joined his mask on the floor. "not like you've never taken off on your own before."

"I never ran off when I was supposed to be on guard!"

"No, you ran off and left me with no idea if you were going to come back at all!"

A hand pressed on his chest. Gentle strength pulled them apart, and Casey tensed at the unexpected touch.

"Children." Splinter's tired voice pierced his anger.

Karai was panting, shaking like a ringing alarm clock. "You don't really care, do you?" she asked, her green eyes stabbing into Casey. Her fangs were starting to lengthen. "You lied to me, you think this is all a game-"

"Miwa, calm down-"

And then her human form melted away. Hard scales spread across her body like blood in a bathtub, her face twisting with anger. Her words distorted into an angry roar, but her eyes stayed locked on Casey.

"Miwa, listen to me. Listen to my voice," Splinter said, moving between them.

"Don't," she said as she pulled away. "I can't stop it-"

"Yes, you can," Splinter said. Reaching out, he placed a hand on her snout.

"No," she cried, instinctively striking out. With a cry of pain, Splinter flew back and crashed into the shelves.

Pushing past Casey, she climbed the rafters, broke through the window, and vanished into the darkness.

Casey ran over to the mess of shelves. "Splinter?"

Splinter was already picking himself up. "Go after her," he panted. A dark patch spread on Splinter's terrycloth robe.

"You're bleeding-"

"I can patch myself up." Splinter leaned against the wall. "Don't let her go."

Shrugging back into his harness, Casey clambered back out the window.

In the distance, he could see her serpentine figure slithering across the rooftops. "Karai!" he shouted. Kicking out his skates, he sped off after her.

If she heard him, she did not acknowledge it. Casey sped up, and launched an explosive puck to draw the attention of the Kraang he knew were patrolling nearby.

"Karai, wait!" She turned down a blind alley. He followed. Dropping down behind her, he cut off her quick escape. "Karai-"

"Don't." She turned to him. Her slow, labored voice indicated that speaking took quite a toll on her in this form. "I thought if I was careful I could keep him safe. hide this. But-"

"He doesn't care. You know he-"

"This form wants to eAT HiM," she hissed, shoving her face up against Casey's. "I can't be near him like this."

"Maybe he knows something that will help," Casey said, "some ninja stuff or-"

"Stop," she said, her breath hissing through her teeth. "Just stop! I had it under control. I was fine. And then- you."

"Karai-" She pressed him against the wall, cutting him off.

"Keep him safe," she hissed, "Or I will end you."

With a powerful flex. She sent Casey sprawling to the ground. By the time Casey got to his feet, he stood alone in the alley.

A shadow fell over him, and he looked up. There was only a silhouette in the darkness, but he could make out Leo' s shadow.

Not Leo. Leo didn't stand like that.

Two fingers lifted. Then one curled down. A single finger stayed extended- ten seconds, twenty- then Slash vanished into the darkness.