The Mafioso was clearly distracted. He hurried onto Mulberry Street with barely a glance to ensure his own safety, jaywalking in his haste and almost tripping up the curb on the far side of the street. It was therefore easy as a slice of pizza pie for Casey to slip after him.
Trying to walk nonchalantly with the turn of speed required did prove a bit challenging, but fortunately no-one seemed particularly interested in where the teen was hurrying to. Especially not his mark. The odd person who did glance his way got a flash of his best winning smile, prompting every one of them to quickly avert their eyes.
When Vic finally reached his destination, the entryway would have appeared innocuous if the door wasn't hanging off its hinges with a big rend down one side. Silencing a temptation to comment, Casey slipped into a convenient alleyway on the opposite side of the side street that offered a clear view of what was happening.
The specifics of the knock were muffled, but he watched as the remainder of the door was pushed out of the way so that Vinnie, Vic's brother, could step out. The two brothers shared a quick embrace, before parting to speak. Leaning as far as he dared from behind the safety of the trash cans, Casey was pleased to discover he could make out the conversation.
"Finally!"
"What did they take?" Vic demanded.
Vinnie shook his head regretfully. "The xylene. All of it."
Vic hissed angrily through his teeth. "The Don ain't gonna be happy about this. Who was it?"
"Muties."
"Always those meddling muties. We oughta take care of 'em once and for all!"
"I hear ya. I told the Don and all, but he ain't listening. Too concerned with snatchin' that Chef from—"
A metallic clatter from behind where Casey was crouching was punctuated with a curse. The boy's eyes widened, as he saw both the Fulci twins immediately turn in his direction.
"They're back!"
"Get them!"
"Aw, nuts," Casey grumbled, before turning to glare at Raphael. "Some ninja you are."
Raph glared back at him, hopping and rubbing his ankle where he'd evidently clipped one of the other trash cans when he jumped down. "You wanna see ninja? Because I got a few moves to share with ya."
"Share with them," Casey suggested, grabbing his hockey stick and jabbing it towards the two approaching mobsters.
The first puck he sent flying towards the brothers went slightly wide and was easily dodged, but the second found its mark and exploded against Vic's chest in a cloud of smoke. Casey was disappointed that the spark didn't trigger the exploding powder he was sure Raph must have planted in the man's back pocket. He'd just have to try it again.
Kicking the wheels onto his shoes to create the improvised skates, Casey slid easily out of the way as the mob members fired retaliation shots. Out of the corner of his vision, he saw Raphael dive clear as well, before leaping to kick the gun out of Vinnie's hands.
Casey knew Raph could handle one mob member without even breaking a sweat, so turned his attention back to his own fight. A grim smile set itself upon his face. He'd make sure to take Vic down, by himself, in record time. Then he might finally get the respect he deserved!
Vic fired again, but the teen was ready for it and skated easily aside. Swooping in, he hooked the gun with his hockey stick. A quick flick of his hands and the weapon was torn from the mobster's hold. Coming to ground with a clatter, the gun went skittering across to teeter at the edge of an exposed storm drain.
Mesmerised, and well beyond reach of grabbing it, both Vic and Casey watched as the weapon wobbled for several seconds. It stilled and seemed to have settled on the very edge of the drain, but then slowly tipped over to plunge down into the sewers.
"No!" Vic cried in frustration. However, he didn't fret for long, quickly drawing knives with which to continue the fight.
"We got no more xylene," he snapped, with a slash towards Casey's chest, "What're yous after this time?!"
Casey shook his head, skittering out of the way. Using a sweeping blow of his hockey stick, his attempt to knock Vic off his feet missed. "We didn't take your stuff! I don't even know what zy… zyla… that stuff is!"
"Liar!"
"No, really! It wasn't us!"
Vic's lip curled in a snarl. "Then why are you here?!"
"Uh…" Casey realised it probably wasn't a good idea to tell Vic that he just wanted to see his butt explode into flames. But with the truth unusable, he couldn't come up with a convincing lie in time.
Vic seemed reassured of Casey's involvement and leapt determinedly at the youth. A swipe with the blade clipped the teen's shoulder, but only succeeded in slicing another chunk out of his already ragged top. As Vic's momentum sent him stumbling forward, Casey took advantage of their positions to continue his movement, sliding round behind the Mafioso.
With enough distance between them to send another puck flying, and the man positioned to present such an easy target, Casey couldn't resist. This time, he landed the detonation directly on Vic's back pocket.
"YES!" Casey cheered, eyes widening excitedly in anticipation for the impending boom.
But it didn't come. Instead, the explosive force of the puck just sent the man falling flat onto his face. Making a brief effort to stand, he subsided with a groan and elected instead to remain on the tarmac.
Disappointed, Casey skated closer. "Aw, it was just his wallet…"
His brow furrowed in confusion. Why had Raphael been messing with Vic's wallet?
Turning to his friend, he was even more surprised to see that Vinnie had Raph on the defensive. Both sais had been sent skittering away and now the turtle was using his forearms to deflect the blows and keep the knife away as he searched for an opening.
Casey saw at least three, but to his surprise Raphael didn't take them. He seemed to be moving sluggishly, which could be in part due to a nasty looking gash on his thigh that was trickling blood down his leg. But, more than that, he seemed distracted.
Sympathy bubbled up in the teen. Raph was more messed up than he'd realised. After watching his friend struggle for another few moments, Casey realise he needed to help him out.
Timing it carefully, he sent another puck flying. It clipped Vinnie in the side of the head, sending him careening into the wall. His brow collided against the bricks with a satisfying crunch. Blood trickling down his forehead, the man slumped to his knees and then fell onto his side with a groan.
"V-Vinnie-!" Casey heard Vic cry, as he started crawling towards his brother.
The fight was over. Not only had it scored three direct hits - his hockey stick had survived! With a gleeful grin, Casey stuck his new favourite weapon back through the shoulder strap before turning to Raph. The turtle was busily retrieving his sais.
"Did you see?" Casey gloated. "I nailed them both!"
"Yeah, whatever. Let's go already!" Raphael didn't seem particularly impressed. In fact, if anything, he seemed despondent.
Casey's expression calmed. "You ok, dude?"
"It's just a scratch," Raph retorted, as he turned and limped towards the alleyway.
That hadn't been what Casey meant, but he kept the silence going as the two teens headed down the manhole cover and back into the sewers. It was only after they'd been walking for several minutes that he tried again to get his friend talking.
"Donnie woke up."
A monosyllabic grunt didn't provide the response he was looking for.
"He'll be ok, Raph."
No reaction at all this time.
"Mikey and Leo were worried about you."
There was a fraction of a hesitation. "Well, then they're idiots."
"Raph!" Casey grabbed his friend's shoulder, causing his friend to spin and face him.
"What, Casey?!"
Dedicating a moment to look, the exhaustion was so clear in Raphael's face that Casey was surprised he hadn't realised the extent of it earlier. The turtle's green eyes were hazed and bruising he hadn't noticed before was creeping up from the jawline.
"You gotta stop this," Casey insisted.
A sullen look crept over Raph's features. "Stop what?"
"Beating yourself up!"
Anger flared. "I'm not… Rrgh! Just leave me alone, Jones!"
Casey shook his head. "No way! We're friends, aren't we? Friends look out for one another! I've got your back, dude."
That elicited a look of shock that he hadn't been expecting.
"What? No! I don't want it. I don't want it!" Raphael clenched his fists. "I'm not gonna let anyone else get hurt."
"Dude, do you even hear yourself? You're a ninja, fighting against wicked strong evil guys! You're gonna get hurt. Those fighting with you are gonna get hurt."
Emotion was thickening the turtle's voice. "No… Not on my watch. Not again."
For a split second, Casey wished that it was April here. He was sure that she'd come up with just the right thing to say that would sooth the turtle's spirits. But she wasn't, and he'd started this, so he figured he may as well plough onwards and see what happened.
At least Raphael was too tired to aim straight if he decided to take it to fists, Casey consoled himself, as he prepared to launch into a tirade.
"You're the one hurting everyone right now!"
The open-mouthed shock gave him the chance to press on.
"Instead of ditching them, so you can run around the city pretending like nothing happened, you should be supporting them. Everyone's upset, and now they gotta worry about you as well! You think the only pain is physical?
Dude, you can't change what happened. But you can fix the future! So, quit moping and start helping."
Bracing himself to dodge the blow, as Raph's predictable reaction was to raise a fist with a look of fury in his bloodshot eyes, Casey was surprised when it didn't come. Instead, the turtle seemed stuck in motion for several drawn-out seconds before, slowly, he lowered his hand.
Raphael's mouth worked, as if he was trying to find words. But at length he gave up and turned away with fists clenched at his sides. His face was a mess of emotions which seemed to be barely contained by a thinning veil of anger.
Without another word, nor a backwards glance, Raph set off along the tunnel and took the turning towards the lair.
Sticking his hands in his pockets, Casey followed. Briefly he wondered whether he'd made the situation better or worse. Then he shrugged. No point worrying about it now, he'd said what he'd said and would deal with the outcome accordingly.