DREA

Drea went into school with blinders on and her earbuds in. She marched by everyone, her cousins, and acquaintances both. Her teeth were ground together. She'd thought a morning workout with her dad would alleviate some of her stress. But she'd lost. And he, not knowing what hell she was going through, and having just had a spat with her mother about who left the coffee pot on, had wiped the floor with her while running his trap.

Plan backfired. And if the wrong person said the wrong thing to her now, well she couldn't guarantee their safety.

Right as she took a seat in the very back, Shen's usual spot, Mr. Garrett tapped her on the shoulder. Drea's skin crawled, her fingers curling into fists. Then he tugged an earbud from her ear. "You're wanted in the counselor's office."

"Why?" She snapped, yanking her earbud from him.

His gross handlebar mustache covered his lip, but she could tell he wasn't happy with her. "Miss Hamato, I don't like your attitude. One-hour detention, today. Another in appropriate response and we'll make it two." His eyebrows were as thick as his stache, and one lifted as if to intimidate her.

Andrea stared at him. "What do you consider the appropriate response?"

"Not that. Two hours." He pointed toward the door. "Counselor's office now."

Andrea snatched her bag up, still ignoring her gaping cousins as she slammed the classroom door on her way out. She took her time making her way to the office. But it wasn't a long walk. She tucked her earbud back in and put on what her dad called 'angry girl music'.

As she opened the door and plopped into a waiting room chair, without checking with anyone, she began to plot her attacks in their scheduled rematch. Detention her ass.

CASEY/DREA

Casey was still choking on the coffee he'd failed to drink when Drea walked in. She froze when she saw him. Somehow, she hadn't expected him to be her caseworker.

"Uncle Casey?" She looked...puzzled.

He had to admit, that was a first for reactions to him in this context. "Hey Drea. Have a seat."

Maybe he shouldn't have taken the case. This had to be some kind of personal conflict of interest. There were guarantees of privacy, but Raph would never forgive him for not telling.

After a moment's consideration, she sat down. "Why are you here?"

Ok, that's not what he was expecting.

"Because your school contacted social services for pregnancy counseling..."

As his words registered, Drea's blood boiled. She could feel the heat rising to her face. "Those bastards! No one said anything to me. It's just-" She imitated an authoritative tone, "Andrea, go to the counselor. No one says why! And the only reason they think this is because of him!" Drea smacked the desk and Casey straightened. "It's bull-shit! Then, sending me here is like sending away a problem they want someone else to deal with. Only if anyone asked, they'd know!"

Casey blinked, his expression one of bewilderment. "K-k-know w-what? And you seriously look like a scary combination of your parents right now."

"I'm. Not. Pregnant." Drea slapped the desk with each word, her muscles coiling, begging for the wrong person to mess with her.

Despite the risk of imminent mauling, he sagged back into the chair in relief. That was a load off.

"Whew, that's good news. Especially after what you were buying at the drugstore last week. And also, what the fucking shit? I went nuts rearranging my whole damn schedule because the school said they had an emergency."

Andrea, reached out, snatching her file. "They do have an emergency. They just don't know it yet. I'm going to put a serious hurt on Luke Voss. This is his fault." She threw the file against the wall and kicked the desk. Casey's head followed the folder, then his chair shifted back as he straightened. Drea's hands balled into fists. "His ass is running around the school telling everyone I'm a knocked-up slut and it ain't his. All this because I tried to tell him we'd had a false alarm, and I wanted us to be more responsible."

She kicked the desk again and Casey held up both hands. "Whoa, Drea. Take it easy!"

"Don't tell me to take it easy! I'm sick of this shit! The school automatically assumes the worst of me because of what I am." She pointed toward the door. "But he can go around dragging me up one way and down another." Crocodile tears blurred her eyes. "And I want to hurt him. Bad. Screw Chane's methods. Pain works for me."

Catching Drea, dear to him as if she was his own, in a one-armed hug, he flinched as her tears overflowed. The fifteen-year-old in him was screaming 'hell yeah, let's break into the athletic locker, arsenal up and bust this bitch's ass. Because he needs a lesson in pain, Casey Jones and Raph-Mini-Me style.

But the mature adult in him, with its admittedly tenuous hold on control, managed to latch onto the one thing that might derail the consequence-ridden beat down they were barreling towards.

"Chane's methods? Nellie got some kind of a plan?"

Her uncle's hugs were rare, but the absolute best. He understood rage. The way her parents did. Awesome. But as he echoed her words, she sobered. She could not let any of the adults catch wind of their spying methods. Chane would throttle her for not keeping herself in check. Something she'd have to work on. But for now. Damage control. "Did I say that? It's not, what it sounds like. You know Chane. She's all turn-the-other-cheek and I'm all search and destroy."

Casey held back a snort of disbelief. Nellie was 'all turn the other cheek' his ass. She was the daughter of Aries and a special kind of scary when crossed. If their little war goddess had it out for Voss, dude was gonna get his. But he'd wouldn't press. He'd had more than his share of secrets at her age.

"If you say so."

Still it wouldn't hurt to throw her a bone. "But, if this loser keeps dicking around with you, I've got a pretty badass mask and armor set you can borrow any time you need to explain something to him outside of school hours. Personally, I'd recommend the Taser attachment. Great way to get your point across." He added with a wink.

It felt good to have her fury validated. But as her Uncle talked something occurred to her. She wanted to hurt Luke, not kill him. Sinking into the chair she nibbled thoughtfully at her thumbnail. If her parents knew- Her eyes shot to Casey. "You can't tell my mom and dad about this." She held up a hand. "I mean they know I slept with him and that I thought I was pregnant. But, they don't know about the fliers, and the text blast, and the gossip." She motioned to him. "Or that the school thinks I'm having a kid." Could Uncle Casey keep a secret? Her brow furrowed. "Promise you won't tell them. They'll want to murder people. Like for real, a bloodbath."

Yeah, they would. If he were being honest, he kinda wanted to do a little of that himself. But giving in would cause more problems than it would solve. But it sounded like she wasn't just gonna endure it. Kids were capable of way more than adults gave them credit for.

"I know. Alright. It's on the DL for now." He sighed, running his free hand through his tangle of hair. "But only because I think you're taking care of it. You are taking care of it, right?"

Drea suppressed a smirk. One way or another they were taking care of it. Chane's way first. The Drea way was always a solid back up. After all Luke couldn't run his mouth if his jaw was broken. But what about the school?

"Uncle Casey, is there anything we can do to get the school off my back? Let them know I'm not-" She motioned towards him. "In need of your particular services?"

He chuckled. "No problem there. They'll back off so hard, they'll be seeing stars. And they'll be cracking down on the bullying. I don't care what kind of rich fucks this little bastard comes from. Not saying it'll clear up completely because people are dicks, but at least he'll be forced into subtle shit and not dumbass flyers and text blasts like he's campaigning for asshole of the year."

He scooped up the folder and his thermos. "You can get back to class. I've got some disgruntled social worker magic to make."

CASEY

Casey stormed into the office, were the vice principal was speaking with the secretary at the front desk, conversation abruptly ending as he entered.

"Next time you put an emergency call in to social services, make sure there's actually a problem first."

Indignant, the vice principal pursed her lips. "We had sufficient cause to..."

"Did you talk to the girl?" He interrupted.

"I don't see how that's relevant..." She sputtered.

"Did you talk to the girl?" He repeated.

"Well, no. There was evidence..." She started defensively.

He held up a crumpled flyer that he'd found on the floor in the hallway and her mouth snapped shut. "This evidence?"

Her spine straightened as though he'd administered an electric shock. "It raised concerns."

"That you could not be bothered to verify before fucking my schedule to hell for an imaginary pregnancy."

She crossed her arms over her chest. "Imaginary? Just because she told you that..."

He held up a hand to cut her off. "The level of harassment she's been getting caused her to obtain confirmation from her doctor as proof." A total lie, but they had no legal access to Drea's medical shit, so they'd never know. "Though obviously she wasn't expecting to need to use it yet."

The vice principal's mouth opened into a silent 'o' of surprise.

"I'm actually more concerned about your administration allowing such an absurd level of bullying, especially considering that one of the Governor's primary campaign platforms was fighting school bullying."

Her hands fluttered. "Obviously we are going to address it."

"Shut it down. Now. Or I'll see to it this effects your school's reputation and state funding. And I will be back to check." He made damn sure he was loud, obnoxious and impossible to ignore, even to passerby in the hallway. A Casey Jones triple threat. Let word get around for that now.

Work done, he left the office with a symbolic mic drop.

CHANE

Chane exited first hour without having heard a word of it. Her mind remained occupied with a more personal issue.

Yesterday, she'd told Drea to hold her temper and take Luke down proper, not only for her own sake, but the sake of others. But she was a hypocrite. Content to wait out her mother's custody until she reached the age of majority.

Not everyone had that luxury. Her mother was flighty and irresponsible, but not inherently bad. Some of the human parents that hybrid children were given to could be much worse. And she, capable of fighting, wasn't because these unknown strangers weren't her family. It wasn't right.

Her brain continued to gnaw it over as she passed by the front office on her way to second hour.

Where Uncle Casey was on his way out of the building.

What was he doing here?

Did it matter?

Impulsively taking action, a deviation from her natural modus operandi, she changed course.

"Mr. Jones." No way was she calling one of their primary social workers 'Uncle Casey' at school.

He stopped and turned, eyebrow arching in amusement when he caught sight of her. "What can I do for you, Ms. Glaston?"

The halls were clearing now. She'd be late to second hour, but she didn't care. This was worth a tardy. "I want to pursue emancipation from my mom."

His eyes widened in momentary surprise and he shook his head, running a hand through his hair. "You know I can't find a favorable judge, even though your claim is legit."

She nodded. "I know. And when they deny me, I want to file a civil suit for genetic discrimination, comparing my case to equivalent human ones."

Casey let out a low whistle, but his smile betrayed him. He'd back her. "Got brass like your dad. I love it. I'll get moving on it then, as long as you know Leo's going to have a fit. He hates drawing attention."

Her eyes narrowed in determination. "If I don't take a stand, nothing will change."

Casey's smile widened into a grin. "Awesome. Let's do this."