Bringing Justin over to the lair was proving to not be the best idea. So far he had crawled off the directions of the bedrooms a total of five times, the first time he made it to his destination, which was Karai's room, and sat outside her door whining.
"Mmm… ma...mm" he gurgled, looking up at his father who had fallowed him to see where he was going.
"Sorry Justin but mama's not here" he said sadly as he picked up his son and brought him back to the living room.
After four more attempts by Justin to get into his mother's room Raph finally opened the door after he and Casey chased the little boy down for the last time.
"See? She's not here" Raph said bluntly, Casey lifted his son from the ground but remained in the doorway to allow the boy a glance into the bedroom. For the most part it was empty, just a mattress with some worn blankets pushed up against the back wall and when Raph flicked on the light Casey noticed that said light was just a bulb with a red lantern covering over it dangling in the center of the room. He also noticed that beside the disheveled bed was a busted up coffee table with Karai's make-up and a few earrings scattered across its surface, aside from this stuff and a trash bag filled with clothes over in the far corner the room was empty.
Casey had heard that Mikey's been sleeping in here, but looking at the messy blankets he wished it was Karai who messed them up. A part of him wondered if the room was like this when she was here, if she made her bed or just left it a mess like Mikey does. He could only hope that someday he'd know the answer, someday he'd be able to knock on the door for whatever reason and she'd answer. Someday, and someday soon, she would be home.
Raph soon closed the door and the boys returned to the living room, much to the displeasure of Justin. But he eventually accepted that his mother was not here and ended up playing with Mikey. With his youngest brother entertaining Justin Raph pulled Casey into the dojo, where Leo, Splinter, and Donnie were waiting.
"What's going on?" The hockey player asked, nervous that he had been pulled in here so his friends and their father could punish him for losing Karai to Shredder.
"We've got a plan," Donnie announced.
At first Jen was hesitant to look into this, she trusts Casey and knows that he's a good kid, he's made his fair share of mistakes but at the end of the day he does the right thing. But Anthony seems worried and really there's no harm in checking into it, as his father's friend she should make sure that he's ok and actually isn't mixed up in anything illegal.
Anthony gave her the last name for Karai, Oroku. Jennifer wasn't sure what she'd find but she checked everything she could think of and so far it looked like Casey was right, Karai is a ghost. She has no social media account on any website, and when Jen dug deeper which included a few calls to the immigration center, she couldn't find much more than a record of the girl having come over with her father a year ago.
One year ago.
Casey told his father that he hooked up with this girl two years ago but that's not possible, she was still living in Japan. At first Jen thought she might have the wrong girl, but her gut kept telling her to follow this lead. The girl's father was named Oroku Saki, and there was a little more information on him. He was raised just outside of Tokyo in a town called Chiba. In 1996 he was a suspect in a suspected act of arson when his adoptive brother's house burned down, killing both his brother's wife and daughter. He was let go on the grounds that there was no evidence to say he was anywhere near the house that night, not that his alibi that he was alone taking a walk through the woods was exactly solid. But there was no mention that he had a daughter, or a son for that matter. Even stranger Karai's passport states that she's seventeen, meaning she was born in the year 1996. But according to the newspaper article she was reading the fire occurred in September when Karai's passport lists her birthday as being in February. Something about that didn't sit right with Jen, why would Saki commit such a heinous crime if he had a little girl at home? Sure the world is full of bad people, but if what Casey told his father is true and Karai has no mother then why would Saki risk his daughter being taken from him. Suddenly Jen got an idea and looked up any information on Miwa she could find. It didn't take long and when she compared the birthdays of the two girls she found that they were born only days apart, she also found that Miwa's body was never recovered from the ash.
"How did no one ever notice that?" She muttered to herself, her heart was racing; she almost couldn't believe what this evidence was pointing her towards.
As Jen continued reading she found that Hamato Yoshi, Miwa's father, disappeared after the fire and no one has seen him since. This had to be it. The man that Karai and her obviously younger brother have been running from their whole lives is Yoshi!
As Jen tried to calm her racing mind she put together a theory; Saki found Miwa and believed Yoshi died along with his wife in the fire, therefor he took Miwa and passed her off as his own in order to keep her. At some point he had a son, now Yoshi has returned and is out for revenge on Saki. He's kidnapped both Karai and Saki. But that still leaves two huge holes in the story; who actually started the fire and how the hell did Casey manage to knock up a girl a year before he could've ever met her?
Jen decided that the first question could wait.
It's possible that the baby isn't really Casey's, and he's only covering for his friend. But Anthony had shown Jen a picture of the little boy and he sure as hell looks like Casey, especially Casey as a baby. He's definitely the age they claim he is, there's no way he's younger than a year. Jen shook her head as she tried to figure it out, then remembered Anthony had mentioned that Casey's secrets started when he met April O'Neil, maybe she could shed some light on Justin's impossible parentage.
"I thought you guys said you have a plan!?" Casey exclaimed after Leo finished explaining their so-called plan.
"We do, we just went through it genius" Raph said
"Letting Karai sit there and rot is not a plan!" Casey shouted; he couldn't believe what he was hearing.
"And that's not what we're doing" Leo insisted, trying to keep his voice calm. "But the Kraang are gearing up for an invasion and we need to focus on that" he continued
"So what! You're seriously going to stick rescuing your sister on the back burner!?" Casey demanded
"Not at all" Splinter said, "The Kraang and Shredder have formed an alliance, the day of the invasion is the day when security at Shredder's hideout will be at it's weakest. We will save Karai, but we must be patient." He continued and Casey nodded, he nodded reluctantly but he nodded.
"We don't know what the Kraang are planning yet but whatever it is the plan is for Raph, Donnie, Mikey, April, and you to handle it while Sensei and I sneak into Foot headquarters." Leo explained but Casey's face contorted into anger and he shook his head.
"No way. I'm the idiot who got Karai into this mess, I'm going with you to get her out." He said
"Absolutely not!" Splinter nearly shouted which caught everyone off guard, not that they would've expected him to like the idea but none of them thought it would make him this defensive. "It is bad enough that I must ask you to fight against the Kraang, I cannot allow you to follow Leonardo and I into the clutches of the Shredder!" He scolded and if Splinter's outburst caught everyone off-guard Casey's response to it was a total blindside.
He fought back. The hockey player, the hockey player with an apparent death wish, crossed his arms over his chest and narrowed his eyes at the ninja master before him.
"I'm not asking permission," he said and the three turtles present in the room looked at him in complete shock before turning to their Sensei and waiting for things to go from bad to worse.
Splinter glared at Casey for a moment before he began to stroke his beard thoughtfully.
"Very well" he agreed and everyone, Casey included, stared at him in shock.
But Splinter paid no mind to this and simply got up and retreated to his room, leaving Casey and the other's to wonder what exactly just happened.
"Hi, um, are you looking for my dad?" April awkwardly questioned when a knock came from her front door and she opened it to find an African-American woman who, although looked friendly enough, looked like she would work in the same office building as Mr. O'Neil.
"No, my name Jennifer Sullivan, I'm a private investigator and I believe I am looking for you miss O'Neil" the woman said, taking out what looked to be a legitimate P.I. license and showing it to April. Regardless, April leaned one shoulder against the doorframe as she crossed her arms, after everything that's happened to her in the past almost two years she knows better than to let a supposed P.I. into her apartment.
"I was wondering if you could tell me something about your friend Casey Jones?" She asked and April's brow furrowed at this, Casey? This is about Casey?
"Uh, why don't you come in?" April offered, finally moving and allowing the woman inside, not completely sure if it was actually a safe idea or not.
April led her guest into the living room and the two of them went and sat on the couch.
"So what's this about Casey and if you don't me asking who hired you?" She asked skeptically.
"While I am not able to tell you who hired me I can assure you that it's someone who is only concerned for Casey's well-being. Now I understand he recently learned that he's a father?" She asked and April nodded, her fear of the situation only growing.
"Yeah, kid from a one night stand I think." She answered, she didn't know if maybe Shredder had hired this woman as a means of getting to Justin or if it was the Kraang looking for their experiment; but either way she wasn't saying anything.
"So I'm assuming you've never met the child's mother?" The woman asked and April shook her head.
"Nope, never" she hoped she was a better liar than she thought right now.
But it didn't look like it because although Jennifer said nothing about it, it didn't look like she believed what the red head was saying.
"Uh-huh" Jennifer said, clearly not believing the teenager before her. "Listen April, I think that this girl could be in real trouble and so could her family so if you know anything it would be very helpful if you told me." She said and April nodded but sighed.
"I'm sorry but I just don't know anything. Casey and me weren't friends two years ago," she said
"Well if you hear anything please give me a call" Jennifer said before handing April her business card, then leaving the apartment.