Casey Jones

The rain had brought forth the cold, and with that, the fear that Leatherhead wouldn't be able to afford a down payment on an apartment before the negative temperatures rolled in. Raph had sat in the dojo all morning, one knee pulled up close so he could rest his elbow on it, as the others were in school.

Yoshi had been teaching Qi Gong to a group of adults and seniors and he was allowed to observe if he didn't get in the way. A few wall panels had been opened up to air out the dojo as the students warmed up to uncomfortable degrees, and Raph took advantage of that by situating himself where he could get a clear view of the driveway.

Leatherhead had made a deal that they wouldn't be going back to the warehouse with the new cold setting in, and so he was going to stay with an old friend so long as Raph could stay with the Hamatos. Just until the down payment could be made and the two survivalists could then regroup back at his place. Raph had agreed, obviously, but with Yoshi teaching his class, there was no time for him to explain the situation. Leatherhead was so sure that he wouldn't mind, he went ahead with the plan anyways. It left Raph a little uneasy, sure, but he was right. The family wouldn't abandon him. The thought of that was comforting, but it didn't sit well with him. He didn't want to abuse their kindness.

A cold wind blew inside, rustling the chimes hanging from the eaves, and garnering Yoshi's attention. Raph took one look at him, then at the students whom some shivered very noticeably, and Raph knew that meant to close some panels. Standing up, he slid his shut so only a sliver large enough to continue watching the driveway after his task; and continued to properly close the rest.

"Thank you."

"No prob...lem..."

He turned around to address Yoshi after he finished and saw the room bowing to him in thanks, fist close to their chest and a flat hand on top of it. Suddenly, he didn't want to be there for so long anymore. It was awkward to be thanked for doing something so stupidly small.

"Uh...you're welcome?"

Forcing a smile, he backed away, a bright hue of red spread across his face, and he took off back to the house. A red flare caught his eye, stopping him in his tracks. Two were coming back from school with a girl by their side, Mikey missing from the picture. Confused, he felt his way, out of habit, to the front door. Opening it up, ready to greet them, their conversation began to manifest in the air and he listened intently for any mention of Mikey.

"...notes from last class? I fell asleep on some parts because I was up so late trying to figure out..."

Donnie cut himself short to look up at Nightwatcher standing in the doorway.

"Hey." He peered at her bright orange hair and pursed his lips.

"Your hair is familiar..."

"Whoa...he remembered something again." Leo grinned, but the other two hadn't spoken just yet. Shaking his head, no pain this time, he changed subject.

"Where's Mikey?"

"Looking for Klunk." Donnie replied shortly, "and thanks for asking who this is."

"April O'Neil. Me and Donnie go to the same biology class. Nice to meet you...uh...Nightwatcher. Don's told me a lot about you."

"Great. Anything good?"

"Uh..."

He wasn't particularly focused on the girl right now. He was more worried about Mikey being out on his own looking for a cat he could never seem to find. A few moments of her fidgeting, trying to figure out what to say, and Raph snorted in a reply to her discomfort."I'll take that as a no. I'm going to look for Mike." He brushed past the group sticking his hands in his pockets as he did so. Leo seized his arm and held him back.

"Whoa, not so fast. How's your vision today?"

"Blurry. But I can see."

"Seeing isn't having blurry vision."

Leo's grip tightened around Raph's arm, earning a dirty glare from him. April's hands immediately, gently, took hold of Leo's hand and Raph's arm and gently pried them away from each other with a smile.

"You should listen to Leo. Mikey'll come home soon enough."

Smiling, Leo gave April's hand a quick squeeze and nodded. "Thanks, April."

"No thanks, April. I'm going to look for Mikey. I know the streets better than anyone else, and cold streets are dangerous ones."

Yanking his arm from her grasp, he turned and took off in one fluid motion. If he didn't know any better, he would say that Mikey was looking in the cargo yard for Klunk.

"Stubborn idiot..."

Leo growled and crossed his arms, glaring down the road until he disappeared from sight. Donnie clenched onto the straps of his side bag and clenched his teeth tightly together. On one hand, if it was dangerous, they all had an obligation to drag Michelangelo back home. But on the other, he didn't want to give Nightwatcher the satisfaction that he was right. Mikey was fine. This was his hometown, too. Just because he spent a couple of months on the street didn't mean that it was dangerous to Mikey. He was the one with bad friends.

"Come on, April."

"Wait, Donnie, don't you think you should at least-"

"No."

His voice was stern and commanding. He shot out one hand and grasped onto April's, tugging her along into the house. She had begun to protest but saw that he wasn't going to listen to anything she had to say and so quit. Leo caught her distraught glance and sighed. If April was worried about the situation, then it merited at least some investigation.

"I'll call Mikey..."

He mumbled, pulling his phone and entering the house behind the other two.


Raph, now in his more presentable state, had been able to ask for directions from people spending time in their lawns. The cargo yard was a hop, skip, and a jump away from the Hamato's home, and so he managed to get there in an hour's time between asking for directions and getting lost a few times. Despite the dreary day outside, he found himself enjoying the ability to not need someone to guide him through the streets. Okay, so the blurry vision wasn't making it perfect, but it was way better than darkness. In the near distance, the horizon filled with stacked cargo boxes and chain link fence.

Heavy machinery and shouting littered the air mixed in with the cars zooming on by and the trains running along its tracks. It was noisier than he remembered. Everything when he was blind was almost a blur. It seemed too surreal to even be a thing.
Turning down the now familiar road, he scanned the ground for anything he can use to defend himself. He wasn't in immediate danger, but he knew better than to go around the cargo yard without it. If Hob and the others knew he was there in the first place, there'd be no reason for them to pay him visits every now and again.

Passing the junk yard, cars and car parts left abandoned lay in heaps. The place was in operation, sure, but maybe not this section. The main building, a small cubicle not too far from the broken-open gate, was empty. About to pass that by, a jolting din made him jump several feet and immediately ducked behind cover; grabbing a handful of rocks in the process. Any distraction was better than no distraction. A face full of rocks was better than nothing.

"He shoots, he scooooores! That's two points for Casey Jones!"

A purple-faced kid rolled out from behind a pile of cars, hockey stick held up high in the air and face split into a wide, red grin. He cupped a large gloved hand around his mouth and began to audience-cheer himself on as well, earning an amused grin from Raph. Whooping, his arm twisting in the air, he began skating in wide circles and clanged his stick against every metal surface he could find. Content that he wasn't dangerous, he dropped the rocks in his hand and began his approach. No one can be that dangerous cheering so shamelessly like that.

"One-man hockey team?"

"Whoa, a zombie!"

"Funny coming from a blueberry."

Raph retorted, crossing his arms. He studied the guy up and down, noting the large amount of hockey gear strapped to his back and then made eye contact with him again.

"What happened to you?"

"Could ask you the same thing."

Casey's reply was curt and sharp. Rolling his eyes, Raph toyed with the idea of the guys helping him out as well, but he had to find Mikey.
Mikey.

"Well, listen, you don't look so great."

Once again, the details blurred together, but he caught the black and blue hues well enough to know that they were from fists. Meaning he was either danger or in danger. He couldn't take his chances while looking for Mikey.

"And I need to find my friend. So, I'll see you around..."

"Jones. Casey Jones. And don't you forget it."

"Right...Jones. I'll catch you later."

"Hey, wait, what's your name?"

Conflicted, Raph opened his mouth to speak but was cut off from a loud ringing in his pocket. A momentary lapse of confusion and he realized that he had a cellphone.

Fiddling with it, he answered and pressed it to his ear. Before he had a chance to speak, a loud "WHERE ARE YOU?" came from an obviously worried Mikey. Anger flared up in him, out of sheer worry, and he yelled back.

"Looking for you, dummy! Why the heck would you go back to the warehouse?"

"Your friend?" Casey asked, earning a solemn nod from Raph as he placed his hand on his hip.

"You know it's dangerous here!"

"SO WHY ARE YOU HERE? WHERE ARE YOU?"

Rolling his eyes and watching Casey sit atop a stack of tires, he clenched his fist and tried calming himself.

"Mikey, I'm at the junkyard. I'll be at the warehouse in five minutes if you can wait for me there. Hob and the others know about this place, you shouldn't have come back."

Casey strained his ears as he heard this Mikey fellow, barely audible now, say "but Klunk..." which brought upon a tight frown from his friend.

"I know, buddy. But don't go alone next time."

Now the voice on the other end was inaudible and Casey began playing with a rusty piece of metal with his stick, mouth twisted in concentration.

"Don't you gotta be somewhere, Jones? This place isn't safe."

"Says you."

"Yeah, says me. I've got old...acquaintances...hanging around in this area. You can't stay here either."

Raph kept his distance from the boy, still, even though at this point in time, he had zero reason to distrust him. He hadn't really interrupted his call nor had he wailed on him with his stick or anything. He wasn't messed up like Mondo or Pete, so he had to be okay at least, right? Raph found a second pile of tired nearby and propped himself up on that, staring over at Casey and trying to make out the circular marks on his face.

"My dad."

Casey spoke up, opening his mouth and wiggling his two front teeth a few times and wincing. Furrowing his eyebrows, face contorting in confusion, Raph made his way over to him and squinted his eyes. He was cut up pretty bad in some places. The most notable, though, was in and around his mouth, now that he could see closely. His lips were swollen considerably and his upper teeth, positioned at an awkward angle that definitely wasn't natural, began pushing against the swelling and cut through the inside lip. Both eyes had reddish-black outlines, from the corners of his eyes to the top of his cheek, of bruising.

"Jesus..."

"Yup."

"Your dad did this?"

"Uh huh, now back off."

Casey forced Raph away, now that he had time to inspect him, and watched him stumble backwards a few steps.

"I don't need your business all up in my face."

"YOU LEAVE HIM ALONE!"

Mikey.

The bundle of orange yelled as he sped to Raph's aid, fist raised to finish the job and knock the loosened teeth out of his mouth.

"Mikey, NO!"

And there was no way Raph was going to let him. He swung out an arm and caught the angry boy in the crook of his elbow, using all the strength he had to hold him back from doing anything stupid.

"You don't TOUCH him!"

Mikey yelled, his chest heaving as he held onto Raph's arm for dear life.

"Mikey, stop! He's beat up already!"

"Yeah! Black and blue here. 'Sides, I don't like people up in my face."

"He's BLIND!"

Mikey yelled, flailing against Raph's arm with every word.

"And you're LUCKY he stopped me 'cause I woulda ninja-whooped your BUTT!"

Once he stood still and crossed his arms, Raph knew that it was safe for him to let go and couldn't help but grin at the tiny boy and his bundled up arms tucked under his pits.

"You're blind? Dude, you just had to say something."

"I'm not blind blind. This guy's overreacting."

If Mikey were meaner looking, Casey would have taken his menacing look more seriously. But for now, he just looked like an angry kid brother.

"Chill, I didn't know."

Casey's gloved hands rose defensively, earning a final huffing nod from Mikey, accepting his surrender, and then quickly turned to Raph.

"Why are YOU here?"

"You don't get to ask me that."

Raph poked his forehead, his face drawing into a scowl. Surveying him up and down, making sure that he was unharmed, he allowed himself to get angry at him.

"You know Hob comes here."

"Yeah, and so does Klunk."

Raph knew he wasn't going to win. Not with how adamant he was on finding his cat. Not with the way his lower lip jutted out and how his hands bundles up in white little fists at his sides. Not with the determination etched across his face. He needed to find his cat.

"Listen, just call me next time and I'll look. I'm not really busy during the day."

Just as easy as he was riled up, the boy before him smoothed him out, like a dog-eared page in a novel. He was jealous of that cat, though. If his family looked for him as hard as Mikey did, then for sure he would have been found immediately.
A gentle smile brushed across his face very briefly before Mikey sprung towards Casey, examining him close up too.

"You're really hurt."

"Eh, it's no big deal."

"His dad."

Raph interjected, the anger flaring up again in his stomach. The anger was contagious. Mikey's eyes grew wide with anger and his fury towards Casey shifted over to his father.

"What the heck is up with that!? Dude that's so messed up! Holy cats, how the heck are you people so unlucky! What is New York turning into!?"

Raph and Casey exchanged amused glances before Raph placed a hand on Mikey's hair and ruffled his hair.

"Not everyone can be as lucky as you, Mikester."

"Yeah but..."

In a puff of smoke, his anger burned out and he was left disheartened.

"I hate it."

He jutted out his lip, Casey punching him lightly in the shoulder.

"Don't sweat it. I've got my aunt's to stay at tonight."

"I don't care! That guy isn't your dad, it's...he's...!"

"Listen, uh...Mike? Mikey? Yeah, you don't seem like a bad guy! But bad things happen to people and so uh...like...you're just like, really lucky, you know? So like...you've got lucky straws or something? I don't know."

Casey shrugged as he tried offering a shrug to Mikey. Raph understood Casey, and his half-hearted attempt to calm the younger he was so bad at it that it almost made Raph visibly cringe backwards.

"What bozo is trying to say is that he just got really unlucky in the family department."

"I'm not a kid, I can see that for myself."

The awkwardness sat in the air for what seemed to be an eternity before Raph shoved his hands deep into his pockets and kicked away a pebble, bunching his shoulders together.

"I can take you to your aunt's if you'd like."

"Nah, man, I got it. Was just blowing off steam here."

Mikey and Raph exchanged unsteady glances but nodded nonetheless. Raph studied Casey's posture and fake-as-hell smile and he knew that the kid was definitely doing more than blowing off steam. He was thinking while angry. Raph, of all people, knew that that mental state could be the most dangerous.

"Alright," he began steadily, "well...we're here for ya then if you need it. Let's go, Mikey."

One final look and Raph placed his hand on Mikey's shoulder and gave him a small nudge to start walking home.


Raph lay awake on the guest bed on the ground level of the house in complete darkness, his arm tucked behind his head as he ran through the details in his mind once again concerning Casey Jones. He wasn't his problem, but a sort of protectiveness began to wash over him and he felt responsible for leaving him alone in that sort of situation. Who would do that? If Raph was that hurt, of course the Hamatos would help him out.

"I should have done something."

He mumbled and propped himself up using his forearms. He was hurt and he didn't even do anything. Cursing himself, he hopped out of the bed and took hold of his jacket and clenched the keys inside the left pocket. If this kid was anything like him, he wouldn't go back. He'd still be there. And still hurt. Groaning as he pinched the bridge of his nose, he knew that he'd have to get him a first aid kit now at the very least as an apology.

Tip toeing out, he made his way to the laundry room by the kitchen area and opened the cupboards overhead. Scanning the clunky items in the dark just within his reach, he stretched up and tried to take out the objects out one at a time. First was a stick-woven basket smelling strongly of lavander. Then, a sewing box. Following suite was a rather large, white box with a dimly lit red cross on the top of it. Pursing his lips, he opened it and brought a few of the gauze pads and bottles close to his eyes, bringing them into focus. Content that there was enough, he replaced the articles and snapped the lid shut before slinking off towards the front door. Slipping on his new sneakers and tucking the first aid kit tightly under his arm, he took off in a sprint back towards the junkyard.


Raph's breathing came out in puffs of air in the early autumn cold. Although his eyes had improved drastically, a creeping dread crawled up his spine as the stillness of the dark enveloped him in the junkyard.

Yes, the distant sounds of cars honking their horns and trains were heard in the distance, but only his harsh breathing kept him company around him. Taking in gulps of air, he tried steadying his breathing enough to approach the darkened area where Casey was found earlier. As he walked, he took quick glances inside every car he passed to make sure he'd miss nothing. Somewhere along the tenth car, he wished he brought along a flashlight after deciding that he hated the darkness. It was actually beginning to scare him.

It was an unwelcomed companion for too long.

"What are you doing here?"

The voice popped out of the car Raph had just looked through and moved on. Stumbling backwards, the kit clattering to the ground, Raph tried to pinpoint where exactly he was. The car door opened and there was Jones, clad in black from head to toe with an overly large hood covering his face.

"You trying to kill me!?"

"You're the one skulking about here."

"Looking for you! Here!"

Raph picked up the kit and shoved it towards Casey, hitting the crook of his elbow harshly. Looking at it for a moment, absolutely bewildered, Casey fingered the latches on the kit and snapped out of his stupor.

"How'd you know I'd still be here?"

"Habit. I know your kind."

Raph seemed almost too proud of himself. The two shared a prolonged minute of silence. The awkward kind where one person is too stunned to say anything and the other just has nothing to say.

"So..."
"Yeah..."

Raph flashed him a brief smile and shrugged.

"Bring that back when you're done, I guess."

"Where?"

"Uh..." Speaking of, Raph had no idea what their address was. "The...dojo?"

"Oh. Yeah, okay. The one with uh...the old people?"

"What? Old people?"

"Yeah." Casey pursed his lips after, forcing a teeny stream of air from them. "Well...I'll try, then."

"Yep. Okay. Otherwise I'll come back and kick your butt."

"If you can."Casey snorted back the challenge, Raph grinning from ear to ear now. With a wave of his hand, he took off back towards home. Maybe no one noticed he was gone. That would've been a boon.


AN: So...a lot of things came up and delayed this. Lots of personal things, but it should get updated more frequently! Thanks for sticking around! Sorry for the delay, guys.