Good afternoon, readers! I hope you all are having a spectacular start to your weekend- and that this update only makes it better! We're really going to be seeing some crossover now between the two universes here, and I'm trying really hard to keep everything flowing smoothly as far as continuity goes. So, are you ready for more action and thrills? As always, please enjoy!
Back inside the lair, April borrowed Donnie's laptop to do some research. She accessed the news database, also searching around on Google. She was finally able to find information on the limousine business from years ago, scrolling down until she found the name of the owner.
"'Edward Kaspbrak...' this must be him." She said to herself, typing in his name to see if she could find anything on him. She did a search, biting her lip as she scrolled through the results. "Come on, come on... I already know he grew up somewhere in Maine..." She muttered, finally spotting something. She clicked on the result, able to access basic background credentials. She printed it out, striding over to read it. "'Location Born: Derry, Maine.' Derry...? Never heard of that town." April shook her head, typing in Derry in the Google search, eyeing the results before clicking on one. "Derry... current population; twenty-nine. Are you serious?" She asked herself, scrolling through the article. "Was reduced substantially by the great storm of '85... history of tragic events centered around-..." Her eyes widened, furrowing her brows. "Uh... Leo? Leo, you may want to see this!" She called.
Meanwhile, Casey stopped, Raph beside him as they stood before what used to be a marvelous house at the outskirts of the city, but had since been reduced to ruins.
"Why are we at this dump?" Raph asked.
Casey shot him a look. "This is where I grew up. Before my dad was hacked off by the Purple Dragon."
"Oh." Raph drew back. "That sucks." He glanced at him. "So... what are we doing here?"
"This guy knows about my past. He had to have dug it up from somewhere." Casey stared at the house for a moment. "My mother and sister were held hostage here. They were never the same after that. This house was never the same. We took whatever we could grab and split. Went to the inner city. Kept on the down low." He shook his head. "Never looked back."
"So what's the point of coming here now?" Raph asked.
"This guy plays with your head. Your past. People you've lost or you're afraid to lose. Look at what happened to Donnie and April." Casey glanced at him. "He messed with the wrong guy. For some reason, he's coming after us. He's dealing with me now."
Realization settled into Raph's expression. "You're going to bait him."
"No better place to do that when it comes to me. We need to be one step ahead this time." He took hold of his hockey stick as Raph smirked.
"We're going clown hunting tonight." He said as he flipped his daggers in his hands before holding them steady.
"No joke about that." Casey replied. "Hopefully we can beat some answers out of him." He added before the pair approached the large house, making their way inside.
Back at the lab, Leo read over what April had discovered. "Do you think this creature was responsible for Derry's destruction before coming here?"
"It's possible..." She said. "So the question is, can we even handle something like this?"
"If we don't defend this city, no one will." Leo stated firmly. Truthfully, he was concerned himself, but he was determined to not let this clown make fools of them. Quite possibly, this would be their greatest challenge yet. "I wonder if it would be possible to go there... maybe there's something there among the ruins that could help."
"I don't know if it's wise to just up and leave." Donnie spoke up. "What if that thing is waiting for us to leave, and then strikes again?"
"He's been striking even while we're right here waiting on him. Even in our own homes." Leo said. "That is a fair point, Donnie. April, what do you think?"
"Well... I could go, but I don't really want to go alone." She pursed her lip. "If only there was someone I can contact. I should do some more research, see if there's someone I can get in touch with. This Edward guy is out of the question... he died decades ago. Even still... I have a feeling there might be someone out there who can help me. Edward couldn't have been the only one to know about this, even if Derry was as small of a town as it was."
"That would be ideal..." Donnie said.
"If I can gather testimony from someone who dealt with this creature, I can push back against Grayson's accusations. Thankfully, the detectives already took Leo as a suspect off the table. There was an article on it today. So, at least we're making some strides in this." April said.
"I'm not really concerned about that guy right now, April." Leo said.
"Well, if he gets elected and then throws you all in some cage because he has something against mutants, who is going to help me take this creature down, Leo?" April responded, and he sighed, unable to argue her point.
"Let me look into this. We're making progress, let's just try to roll with what we have." She said before going back on Donnie's laptop.
At Casey's abandoned home, he shook his head as nostalgia hit him like a hockey puck, trying to focus. "This place has been so ransacked as it is, hard to tell if this creep was the one who took anything or if it was someone else."
"Will he even come here? How do you know if he'll show up, or if he even knows anything about this place?" Raph asked.
"He knew about my history with the Purple Dragon. He's done some digging, he's bound to know about this house." Casey answered, rummaging through a few things.
"Woah woah woah- hey. Stop." Raph said suddenly, holding his hand out. "I heard something."
"Where?" Casey whispered. As soon as he did, they both looked up, the floorboards above them creaking. Raph went to stride over to the stairs, Casey stopping him. When Raph tried to shove him off, Casey grabbed his arm again more firmly. "That's what it wants. It knows we can hear him."
"There's nothing that I can't beat. It wants to ambush me, I have a few things to give it when it does." He cracked his knuckles. "It's messed with the wrong mutant."
"I know you want to kick his ass. So do I. Just wait a second. Let him make the first move." Casey hissed.
Raph curled his lip. "What the hell are we doing here, Jones? If you want to sit around and twiddle your thumbs, don't let the door hit you on the way out."
Casey swore under his breath. "Fine. Just give it another minute, at least."
"Arnold?" A voice was suddenly heard as footsteps wandered towards the staircase. "Arnold? Is that you?"
Casey froze, his spine becoming rigid. Raph turned on his headlight, illuminating the stairs as a pair of feet appeared. He was about to charge forward, but Casey held his arm out.
"Stop stop stop-!" He looked back as the individual slowly descended the stairs, staring at him.
"Arnold... you've come home."
"Why... are you here?" Casey asked, appearing genuinely disturbed.
"Casey, who the hell is this?" Raph growled.
"I miss mom, Arnold... I miss dad... I miss you." The young woman's lip trembled as she slowly moved towards them, step by step. Casey was motionless, simply staring. He then tightened his lips, slowly nodding.
"I miss you too, sis." He replied, taking a step forward. "C'mere. I'll give you one of my brother bear hugs. Just like when we were little, remember?"
Raph shifted his weight anxiously, looking between the two. Casey's sister smiled for a moment before it faded.
"Do you know what they did, Arnold? The terrible things they did to me?" She asked.
Casey pushed himself to keep it together, nodding. "I know."
"That's why you don't want to see me. It's why you can't look at me." She said, Casey and Raphael's glances meeting for a moment as she drew closer.
"I'm looking at you now." Casey finally said as she was within arm's reach. "And if you ever impersonate my family again, I will tear your face off, you freak!" Casey shouted before swinging his hockey stick, smacking it into the side of his sister's face. Raphael dashed to grab her from behind as she began to hiss and struggle, jerking her head up as she smiled darkly.
"You came for me, didn't you? Didn't think I'd already be waiting, huh? Surprise!" The voice of the twisted clown shouted, the young woman laughing maniacally. "You like surprises, don't you, Arnold?" She said before opening her mouth wide, Casey having to reel back as vomit sprayed all over the floor. Raphael tightened his grip as she began to turn back into the clown, his iron-like grip increasing pressure as the monstrosity thrashed and struggled, screeching loudly. Finally, everything stopped when a snap was heard. The clown went limp, Raphael grimacing as he tossed the creature aside. It lay motionless on the floor, not uttering a sound. Casey glared at it for a moment before his gaze met Raphael's, the pair exchanging a nod. Raphael got on his communicator then, calling his brothers.
"Raph? Where the hell are you?!" Leo exclaimed. "You can't just up and leave here without-"
"It's done." He said, staring at the ground where it lay. "I'll tell you more when we get back."
"Wait, what?! What do you mean, 'it's done?!'" Leo questioned.
"Let's just say that the world has one less killer clown in it." Raph replied a bit smugly. "Didn't take much."
"I have to see this for myself. Can you can bring the body back here? Where the hell are you guys?"
"Oh yeah, we're going to carry a clown corpse through the city, THAT won't look suspicious." Casey couldn't help but laugh.
Raph rolled his eyes. "If anyone else can even SEE this guy... remember when he didn't even show up on security footage that Donnie looked up?"
"Well... can you hide it there, then? We can go back tomorrow and inspect it, bring it in for evidence." Leo said.
"Yeah, I'll lock him in the cellar. This place was ransacked a while ago, so not like anyone's going to bother the place." Casey said from where he was.
"Alright, let's do this." Raph said.
Once down there, Casey grunted when he dropped the weight he had been carrying. "Son of a bitch... this shithead is heavy." He said, shoving the body to the side. He went over, grabbing some old boards, nails, and a hammer. He boarded up the windows, chain locking the door shut once he and Raph were back upstairs. They exchanged a glance for a moment, Raph nodding.
"Let's see what that asshole has to say about this once April makes a report on this." Raph said.
"Who are you talking about?" Casey rose a brow, the pair heading out of the disheveled house.
"Roberts." Raph replied. "April said that the DA's already ruled out Leo as a suspect in Amelia's murder, but this guy has it out for us. He'll try to get us for something else. We've got to smack that down, and fast."
"Well, no disputing this. It's too bad we couldn't interrogate that thing more." Casey thought aloud.
"Listen, that bastard got what he had coming." Raph said, pointing a finger at Casey. "It went after all three of my brothers. You mess with them, you mess with me. You helped me do what I set out to do." He said before they continued back to the nearest manhole, going underground.
Later on, after the pair returned, April's brows rose in disbelief. "Um... you guys?" She glanced over her shoulder. "I think I just hit the jackpot here."
When Raph and Casey returned, she placed Donnie's laptop on the table to show all of them what she had found. "Isn't that the famous guy from California? A ton of movies have been made from his books." Casey asked.
Donnie perked up then. "Stephen King? I've been reading some of his work. It's pretty out there, but-"
"No..." April replied. "William Denbrough. Look-... his birthplace was Derry, Maine. He was raised there... and check this out." She typed a few things, pressing the enter key. "He lost his younger brother when he went missing one day in 1957. His body was never found." April looked up at them. "1957... that means-"
"That was exactly fifty four years ago..." Donnie cut her off. "... divide that by two and it's twenty-seven." He looked up. "April... didn't you message earlier that in Derry, there was a reported tragedy-"
"Every twenty-seven years." She finished, looking around at them. "First thing tomorrow, I'm setting up a private video conference with William. He has to know something about this."
"April, look... Raph and I got this guy." Casey said. "Maybe we don't need to go through all this trouble."
"Even still, Casey... I need statements and evidence if I'm going to bring this to Grayson." She replied.
"Wait, what?" Raph spoke up then. "Why in the hell would you talk to him about this? Just make a press conference or something, don't waste your breath talking to his face about it."
"Because I need to do one of two things. Either prevent him from be elected, which- at this rate, according to the latest polls, he's miles ahead of his opponents-... or the second option, which is to convince him that mutants aren't necessarily the problem in this city. Something else is- was... and that if he really cares for his citizens, he needs to start caring about them... mutants included. If I'm directly up front with him about it, maybe it'll make more of a difference than just letting him find out through the press."
Raph scoffed. "Good luck with that."
"That would be the best case scenario, April." Leo said. "We solved one problem, a BIG problem. But all those kids are still missing, and convincing someone who clearly has something against us is not going to be achieved easily."
"I was able to convince everyone you guys existed when everyone called me crazy, wasn't I?" April smirked. "Let me try to work my magic. I'm going to try to talk to William. Then I'll go see Grayson. I'll also probably follow up with the Smiths afterwards... they'll be relieved to know that their daughter's killer has been eliminated. Hopefully, it will bring them some peace."
"I think this calls for a pizza party!" Mikey piped up.
"Mikey, you're ALWAYS looking for an excuse to have pizza." Donnie said flatly.
"Yeah, but getting rid of a scary, blood-thirsty clown is a pretty good reason. He was kind of like a big cuddly teddy bear... if big cuddly teddy bears are incredibly violent." He gulped. "Besides, I'm feeling much better. Almost good enough to go tunnel boarding!"
As Donnie pinched the bridge of his nose, April giggled, the others chuckling a bit as Mikey lightened the mood- it was something he was usually good at doing.
"Well, it's getting late... I should start heading back." April said.
"Want me to walk you?" Casey asked.
"Well, with one less killer clown on the loose, I think I'll be okay." April replied.
"There's still a whole city full of criminals and slime balls out there. Come on. You have a busy day tomorrow." Casey nodded his head towards the exit.
"Alright... you guys, I'll keep you posted." April smiled, giving them a wave. "Raph..." She nodded at him. "... thank you... for taking care of that thing."
"No need to thank me. I only regret not breaking its spine sooner." Raph replied.
As April and Casey left, Donnie sighed lightly. Now that a huge threat had been eliminated, it allowed his mind to drift to other things, subjects which had been placed on hold. One of those subjects included his feelings for April. He already regretted the fact that he had been cornered- quite literally- into revealing some of these feelings- in his opinion, prematurely. With April still having a career and a life above ground that she had to tend to, and the fact that they led very different lives- her being consistently out and the open, and him remaining mostly out of the public eye- he wondered if such a match would be possible. He wondered if there would even be any consideration on her end that such a match should even be attempted. The more he thought these things through, the more downtrodden he felt, doubtful that such notions would ever become reality. He removed his glasses for a moment, running a hand down his face. In his limited exposure to the outside world, he had indeed seen the faces of many beautiful humans, even other mutants upon the rare occasion- he had heard them speak, listened to the clicking of their heels on the surface of the street or the jingle of their purses and bags. He had seen their hair sway, or bounce as they were restricted in buns, up dos and ponytails. He had glimpses of personalities, voices, accents, scents and other amiable qualities. Since he had been reading human literature, these glimpses had been expanded like words on the pages, painting a beautiful picture of what loving a woman could be, what happiness and fulfillment it could bring.
Knowing April, seeing how well she seemed to fit like the characters woven into the pages of the books he read, he couldn't deny that despite his lack of full experience with love and companionship, that what he felt for her was genuine. It was not based completely on circumstance or experience, or lack thereof. He did not believe that if some other female individual were to involve herself in his life, have equal bearing, that he would become as easily and fully attached to them. He believed in his heart that the qualities which April possessed, those which sparked his attraction, were April's alone. Did he have a right to claim to know this for sure, being so secluded from the world? He wasn't entirely sure of the answer- it was an answer he did not want to know. All he knew was that his heart longed for the woman he would do anything to protect and keep safe, even risk his own life for. Sometimes, he found himself hoping that the love stories and poems he spent his free time reading would somehow become his own story. At the end of the day, however, he was a turtle of wisdom, intellect. He could not allow himself to dream too much- it was unbecoming of him.
And so, these thoughts remained just that- thoughts. Silent and reserved within his own mind and heart, locked away to be hidden from the world, just as he was.
So, here we are! Is the killer clown terrorizing New York City truly defeated? Is Raphael overestimating himself, or underestimating his enemy? Will April still go through with her research and uncover any secrets? Will the turtles get Grayson off their shells? Find out the answers to these and more in the next update! In the meantime, thank you again for reading! See you next time, and have a great weekend!
