I was runnin' through the streets of the suburbs with a DIP in my arms. That's Turtle for Dead Important Person. Well 'cept she wasn't really dead, but if someone caught me she may as well have been...damn it.
And why the hell couldn't I stay with Don while Leo did the running around town, huh? Ain't I worried about Donnie too? Ain't he the leader? Supposed to take the hard jobs?
My brain is nothing but a crossfire of damnits and worse, but I know some people got sensative ears so I won't clue you in on most of it. Jesus. At least I was all in black. And no, that ain't the Mikey Jesus, that's the me Jesus, which makes for a nice explosive word.
Finally I spotted just what I needed. A nice covered bus stop, with nobody nearby. As long as the bus didn't show up then we were fine. Thunder rolled and a real hard rain got started. I guessed the fire would be out soon, if the fire engines hadn't taken care of it already.
I laid Her Highness inside of the bus stop so she wouldn't get wet. It was then I realized that Don had knocked her out. How did I know this? Cause there was a little knock out drug patch right on her neck. His design. Is there nothin' Don don't dabble in? He's a caffine addict. Stays up all night. By now he's got tools and tricks even we don't know about. But I knew this was his...that's sort of an embarrassing side story about me and smoking and quitting...don't ask. Anyway it was green and purple striped which was also sort of a damn dead giveaway. He must of leaped in, slapped it on, and leaped out. She wouldn't remember nothin', least of all huge turtles. Yay Donnie. Yer smarter than all of us and now you're dying cause you're so fucking noble.
That thought hurt too much to really pursue so I sprinted across the street to the phone. I called 911, said there was a woman laying across the street in her nightgown, ran over, grabbed the patch, and then disappeared onto some rich person's roof to watch.
Can I make sorta a social comment? 911 response time in New York City. 2 hours. 911 response time in Swank City? 2 minutes. Yup, I timed it. I really don't like rich people. There's people out there who spend a good year's salary on one set of clothes while our friends among the homeless starve. I met the homeless humans and I researched it. Now some of 'em, some of 'em are nuts. And some of them were just happily screwed over with those with more money and power than them. I think we oughta grab all of the latter and expand the Turtle Clan, but Splinter, he don't like us talking to humans (though he's got a real thing for women in distress) and Leo, he's all cautious...bah. Kill any traitors. That's bushido too ain't it?
So she went safely on to the hospital and I went on towards the bridge home. Another solo mission successfully performed by the King of Stealth, Raphael. I wasn't quite as satisfied with this one though.
The rain was washing my paint off but nobody was around. Man it was a long walk. The other two had already taken the van. My hog was in the back of the van. That string of damn its started up again. I wanted to go home. I wanted to sneak into my big brother's room and make sure he was alive. I wanted to forget I'd ever had this stupid, stupid idea. Bugs. I was gonna turn off that program when I got home. Don for the life of some socialite human was not a decent trade in my book.
"Bastard," I snarled aloud, and I didn't know who I meant. Me? Him? Shredder? The Senator whose wife we'd just saved?
I was so tied up in knots that I didn't notice the headlight until it was damn near on top of me. The motorcycle was headed for me at top speed. I had about a five second 'oh shit' freeze before I enacted my Ninja Get The Hell Outta The Way maneuvar. That is where you leap to the side and roll and yelp a lot because you've just fed the pavement a nice stretch of your skin.
I didn't care what the driver saw. I stood up and shook my fist at him. "Watch it asshole!" Then I turned to continue walking. "Yeesh."
The motorcycle did a quick spin, turned, and sped back up in my direction, then executed another half turn and stopped right in front of me. For a moment there wasn't another sound except the thrumming of the engine and the sound of the rain hitting the pavement. I glared at the driver, who I couldn't quite make out, figuring he was getting himself an eyeful.
Then the driver stopped the cycle and slid off its back, pushing the visor up on his helmet.
Casey.
I relaxed. "Jeez man. I know I kicked your butt on our last spar but that's no reason to try to run me down. Did the guys send you to pick me up?"
Casey's full armed punch caught me on the side of the head and sent me flying. "No!" He said, prepping for another punch. "I monitored the police channels. Somewhere between hearing about an explosion, a Japanese sword, and some woman being left abandoned on a park bench while someone called 911 and ran away, I started to think, 'hmm, haven't heard from my pals the turtles in awhile, maybe I should check it out.' And here you are. And it looks like I got cut outta the action."
I stood up and rubbed my jaw, fighting down the urge to show him what a real punch was. This was not the time for a friendly fight, and an unfriendly one...well I don't really ever want an unfriendly fight with Casey. So I restrained myself, though he tensed anyway. I knew I had the Royal Smackdown look in my eye. "Now look, Casey,"
He tried to punch me again. I high blocked this time and twisted my wrist to grab his arm. "Are you gonna talk or are you gonna punch?" I demanded. "Cause I can punch just fine." Then I stepped under his arm and twisted it up. Its a nice move. Leaves guys on their tippie toes. Holds 'em in place. Doesn't leave no marks...which is why I hardly ever freaking use it. I grabbed his other arm and twisted it behind his back while he was about to elbow me with it -- a dumb move, what's he think this plastron's made of, cotton?
He grunted at me. "Alright, put me down. But I deserve to know what the hell is going on."
I put him down. Then I outlined it for him, real quick, then said, "We didn't want you gettin' in trouble with the FBI and shit."
"You could have /told/ me and let me make that decision for myself. I ain't a little kid, Raph. You turtles can't keep protecting me like I am just cause I'm human."
Hmm. Leo didn't want us to sounds way too lame. "Yeah," I said, hoping 'yeah' would cover it. Yeah is a great all purpose word. It says absolutely nothing while sounding like it says perfectly everything. "Drive me home? Don's got messed up bad."
Casey doesn't really like Don. Don does not really like Casey. I don't understand all of what the hell is going on there. Somewhere behind "know it all" and "idiot" mutterings is something about April, which I don't get because it seems like a no-brainer to me. Casey is human. April is human. Therefore Donnie ought to back off.
But be damned if I'm gonna talk to Donnie about romance for cryin' out loud, besides he never does nothing overt.
Casey understands that I do like Donnie though, and he motioned me to the back of his hog. He tossed me a spare helmet and we sped off into the night, back into the city proper. I hoped he'd swallow his arguement with Leo. Leo did not know the right delivery of the word 'yeah'.
Author's Notes: You knew Casey Jones had to rear his pretty head in here somewhere, right? Right. Freaking teddy bear nutball. I don't even know if I like him or not. Ah well, on with the show!
Ramica: At your review I went and sought out some of that research on the net myself and now plan to have some fun with that in later chapters.
Jo Dawn: Now hopefully I'm not mirroring your intro of Casey too much. But I knew it was time to bring him in.
Maria: Thanks!
Ziptango: I cower before the Cliffhanger Police! Therefore this is my quickest update in awhile, heh.
Lexy8: Thanks so much! I'll take all the compliments on my writing I can get. ;>
Crash77A: This is based on the new TV series. I used to watch the old one and that is what got me hooked. I watched Movie I and Movie III. That said as I understand it the Fox Box cartoon is closer to the comic book--and I feel its grittier, a little truer to life, and the characters are more real to me. As an adult the new cartoon appeals to me far more than the old, especially as April is a far stronger and more competant woman in the new one. As for your suggestions on souls...believe me that issue is not done yet!