"What were you thinking? Leavin' the lair like that?" Casey glowered over at her from his stool that Ben had set him up on. They were at the bar while Ben stood across from them, winding gauze around Jane's arm as the red bleeding through lessened with each round.
"I… I was just going for a quick swim. To clear my head." She pulled her arm to her once it was bound and held it to her chest, chuckling. "I guess I didn't really think about how'd I get back."
"You almost got yourself captured. Again." She winced, even though his words and face had softened. "Raph was even ready to go topside to find you. In broad daylight." He yelped when Ben grabbed his hand to put neosporin on his open knuckles.
"You leave her be, Jones, or you'll not be coming back here anytime soon." Ben warned, flashing Jane a familiar grin. "She's the best fighter I've ever had in the ring. Including you. And I like her better to boot." Ben gave her a playful wink and Casey turned to stare at her, trying to figure something out. His expression changed suddenly.
"You're the Rose?" He sounded surprised, but not shocked. Jane started, almost not recognizing her stage name for when she fought in the ring.
"Yeah, thats me… You saw me fight here?"
"About a week before you showed up at the lair. You were fighting a big goon, and he was cursing at you every way he knew how. But you stayed silent, and avoided his every move. He was out with one sweep of your leg, falling like a giant tree." He smiled at the memory. "You just walked away, grabbed your abandoned tray, and kept serving drinks." He got up with a groan, and wandered off, waving his phone over his shoulder to show he was calling the guys.
"I remember that one, though it wasn't much different from your other fights." Ben chuckled weakly, running a hand over his face, sighing. "I wondered what happened to you… I imagined a lot of bad stuff…" He looked her over with and odd expression. "But I never imagined this."
"You… you know that it's probably best if you don't…. Um, talk about this to anyone, right?" She looked at the middle aged club owner pleadingly, begging him to see the girl he took under his wing beyond the scales that covered her face. He gave her a reassuring smile, and clasped her hand in his own.
"I won't breathe a word Jane, you can count on me." He then reached under the bar to grab a Dr. Pepper he kept stocked in the mini fridge just for her when she was working at the club. She smiled gratefully, and popped the lid as Ben crossed the bar to sit by her and bring her into a half hug. "You know, if I ever had a kid… I'd want em' to be just like you." He squeezed her shoulders again before gathering up the unused first aid supplies and headed to the curtained off doorway beyond the bar. Casey walked over after Ben's back had disappeared, pocketing his phone.
"The guys are coming over to help clean up." They glanced over at the group of tied up Foot Soldiers, Dragons, and Phil. She flinched as their eyes met and turned back to her friend. He was tied, gagged, and set far away from the others. She felt a lot better about him and what happened, no longer blaming herself, but that didn't, by any means, make it comfortable to look at him.
"You sure that's a good idea? Ben may not have completely freaked at my appearance, but four giant, mutant turtles?"
"You're hurt, and even with Ben's help, we couldn't get all of them far enough away in less than an hour, and Ben doesn't want any ties to this with the police. We have no other choice." She sighed.
"I'll go warn Ben. How long do we have?"
"They'll be here any minute, and, knowing that both Don and Raph are gonna be on your case, they'll probably want to be back at the lair in less than thirty minutes." She nodded, cringing at the thought of the talking to she was in for, and headed off to talk to the club owner.
Mikey reached the recently broken door first and brought his hand up to his mask, grabbing an orange end, then pointed at his nose. He made bird wings with his hands, then reached up as if to pull the horn of a train. They all stared at him and he pulled at the "train whistle" again, grinning like a goof.
"Mikey you idiot." Raph admonished, knocking his brother upside the head. The young turtle just kept grinning while he rubbed his head.
"Alright, alright you guys, let's go." Leo shook his head at his brothers and brushed past Mikey to the door, opening it slowly.
They wandered into a room no bigger than a closet containing only a water heater and a small cot covered in a heavy lavender blanket. They all glanced at it, knowing whose it was, before moving slowly to the main room beyond.
The bar was a wreck, stools and tables were in pieces all around the floor and there was a large group of Purple Dragons tied up around a pillar in the corner with their familiar leader off in an opposite corner sporting a darkening black eye.
"Hey guys!" Leo jumped and reached for his Katana handles before recognizing Casey a few feet away, waving them over to the few bar stools that were still standing. Leo sighed and lead his brothers and April over to their friend that was holding ice covered in a bar rag over his still-bleeding lip.
"You want me to take a look at that?" Donnie smirked, raising an eyebrow at how April rushed passed them to fuss over her boyfriend. Casey grabbed her hands in his to make her stop, smiling to show he was fine, before turning to the purple turtle and shaking his head.
"Nah, besides, if anyone needs a check-up from Dr. Donnie, it's Jane." Raph swung his head around from scanning the area for the mentioned lizard girl.
"Is she alright? Where is she?" His hands twitched towards his sai at the sight of the pile of bloodied gauze on the bar.
"She's in the back room" Casey jerked his thumb to indicate the room he was talking about. "Talking to Ben, the owner, before he meets you guys. Apparently it was a bit of a shock when he saw her." Casey shrugged and brought April's hand to his swollen lips, giving her a smirk. Mikey made a gagging noise and pretended to choke himself, dramatically staggering around the room. He chuckled and ducked to avoid the salt shaker the hockey player had hurled at his face with a half-serious 'Shut up, ya green pest'.
Donnie and Leo glanced at each other at the display, but Raph wasn't paying attention. He was avidly watching the beaded curtains Casey had pointed out, hands resting on his weapons, fingers tapping impatiently. Leo rested a hand on his shoulder.
"You know, if she was really hurt, Casey would've said something…" He was cut off as the curtains parted and revealed Jane with a man who had his arm around her shoulder, laughing as they crossed the threshold. She detangled herself from Ben just in time to be enveloped by two strong green arms.
"The shell were you thinking?" His breath stirred the hair on the back of her neck, warm and staggered as he shuddered in a breath.
"I…wasn't. Kinda had a blond moment." They both chuckled and she squeezed his shoulders reassuringly, and he loosed his grip, letting her go to hug Mikey who was impatiently bouncing on his toes behind them.
"You scared us dudette! We thought Stockman had you again."
"Sorry Mikey, I didn't mean to worry you guys…" He released her from his signature constrictor-hug and she turned to the other two brothers, giving them each a squeeze before turning back to April.
"How bad was it?" She began to fiddle with the hem of her new top, not sure if she was going to be scolded.
"Well," April sighed, turning from Casey to face her. "In all honesty, it wasn't noticed until about four hours ago. It has been a rough couple of days for you and the guys all thought you were hiding or with one of them. It was when Raph found your note and Don explained that he hadn't water proofed the shell cell you'd taken into the pool that they started to panic." Jane winced at the scene playing before her eyes.
"Then they got everyone together and came up with a plan. Casey and I would search topside while the guys searched below. We had been looking for about three and a half hours before Casey called and told us what happened, then we grouped a block away and came here." April reached out to pull Jane in for a hug. "It's been awhile since I've seen the guys that worried, even Mikey was serious and didn't make any jokes. You mean a lot to them, I hope you know that." They pulled apart to smile at each other, and April turned Jane to see Raph and Ben laughing about something.
"Some differently than others. We almost had to tie him up in Don's lab to keep him from going topside with Casey and I." Jane blushed and quickly turned back to April when Raph glanced at her. April grinned and turned back to Casey, gesturing for Jane to go and talk to the Red turtle. She turned back to see that the four turtles and Ben had moved over to the tied up goons, and were discussing how best to get them out of the bar.
"Alright, our best bet is to take em' all at once, so we just need to stuff em' into the shell raisa', and do a drop and run at the police station. Easy peasy." Raph shrugged, glancing over at Jane as she, April and Casey wandered over to them, Jane going over to Mikey and leaning into him as he pulled her into a side hug.
"Even with the shell raiser, it'll be a tight fit… But manageable if we only have two non-goons riding, and the rest running rooftops." Don glanced around at the amount of people in the club, and you could almost see an old calculator spew out paper as he crunched the numbers. He pressed a button resembling a garage door opener. "Truck'll be here in less than ten minutes."
"Don and Mikey will drive, Raph and I will flank you on either side of the street. The rest of you sit tight till we get back." Casey looked about to argue, but Leo held up his hand. "We need you here in case they set off a signal to their base and more come. It's not likely, but Jane is injured and even with the others, won't hold out long in a fight." Casey snapped his mouth shut and nodded.
"Now that that's settled, let's start tossing these losers in." Mikey grabbed four by the scruff of their collars and dragged them out of the front door to the awaiting armored van, his brothers following suit and soon, the leader was all that was left.
Ben, who had come up behind Jane to listen in, looked at her in confusion at the vehicle's sudden appearance. "One of Don's inventions." Was all she said before turning round, to go sit at the bar.
"These freaks can only protect you for so long, Jungle Queen, then you'll be back at the Shredder's for good." Jane whirled to find Phil leering at her, the gag he'd somehow managed to spit out hanging around his neck. "No matter how hard you try, no matter how long it takes, you will be back on that table awaiting your next injection, and I'll be there to…" He was cut off by a large green fist connecting with his jaw.
"Can't get anywhere near 'er if yer dead." Raph growled, putting a sai under Phil's chin, drawing a few drops of blood with the pressure he was using.
"That's enough, Raph." Leo roughly pulled his livid brother away, though he and Donnie were both glaring at Phil as though they wished to give him a few good hits themselves. "We don't kill, especially someone unarmed, no matter how tempting it may be." Leo flashed a weak smile at Jane, and she returned it before hesitantly approaching the group.
She eyed the bound boy as a trail of blood ran down the corner of his mouth, he smirked, enjoying the pain he saw in her eyes. Her expression remained neutral as she approached, but the twitching of her tail gave her away. She stopped in front of him, and her friends backed away slightly, not sure what to expect. Phil and Jane stared at one another for a long moment, his smug expression slipping as time passed, her neutral one hardening. She stepped forwarward, and he pulled back involuntarily. She paused, a wicked grin flashing across her features, before her hand flashed out to gather a fistful of his collar.
"You've been spewing quite a bit of threats, but now it's time for one of my own." Her face was set and her eyes like daggers, but her voice was dangerously clear. "You harm, or even come near my family again, and I'll make you wish for Stockman's table." For a moment, fear colored his eyes, then he tried to cover it with a weak smile.
"M-master Shredder will not stop until you all are dead or in his possession. It's only a matter of time." His voice quavered and his eyes flitted around, trying to avoid hers, but she only tightened her grip at his words.
"We shall see." She then turned on her heel, and dragged him out the door. The turtles scrambled out of her way, and watched in awe/fear as she chucked him into the shell raiser, slamming the door behind him, the van trembling at the force.
The turtles glance at each other in wonder, all turning to Raph questioningly. He sighed and squared his shoulders, before walking out to where Jane stood rooted to the spot, staring at the van's back doors. He tentatively placed a hand on her shoulder and she seemed to break, falling into his arms as if she'd lost control of her limbs. Her face was drawn, and she looked ready to sleep for a month. Raph led her back into the bar, sitting her down in a chair next to Donnie, who took her hand between his, rubbing circles with his thumb as the others grouped around her.
"...Alright, Casey? You and Mikey will ride in the Raiser while Raph and I run the rooftops. April, Jane, and Don will stay and monitor the scanners as well as help with cleanup. We'll be back in about half an hour." They all nodded at their leader and the drop-off team filed out the door, eyeing the street as they got into position. The Raiser screeched a little as it took off and Jane and april shared an eye roll at how predictable Casey could be. Jane felt much better, her outburst had drained her.
"Shall we get to work?" Jane smiled at April and nodded, getting up and patting Don's arm as she passed.