1
It was still surreal. Hideouts got discovered all the time, having to evacuate and find a new one was nothing new. Losing people wasn't new either. Casey was only six and he had already been to more funerals than he could count. (And he could count very high, thank you very much.) What was different was knowing someone who was being mourned for, was being related to them. What was different was that it was his mom. It wasn't someone else's family mourning at this funeral, it was his. Commander O'Neil was crying, holding on tightly to Donatello, who had his own head lowered to the floor. Michelangelo was kneeling next to the small boy, holding him in a loose side hug as the funeral progressed. Raphael and Leonardo were at the front, addressing the small group of survivors. Casey felt the hug tighten a bit.
"I'm so, so sorry." Michelangelo said, barely above a whisper. "She was a wonderful person." Gently, he picked up the mask that Casey had let lay on the floor next to him. The mask that had been his moms most prized possession, one of the few personal things she was able to keep through the apocalypse. And that's when it hit him.
His mom was dead.
2
The new cave had several separate caverns in the collective cave system. Casey held one hand of a measuring tape and stood at the very edge of one of the caverns, watching as Donatello held the other end of the tape under his foot and scribbled numbers down on the notepad in his had.
"Now Casey, if this wall is ten meters long and the previous wall was fourteen meters, what is the area of the room?" Donatello said, giving the ten-year-old a side glance.
"Well, we can't know that yet. The wall over there," Casey gestured to the wall with his head, both hands still firm on the tape. "is shorter than the other one across from it. That means we can't say it's the same as the one we already measured.
"I'm impressed." Donatello gave the child a rare, genuine smile. "Nardo couldn't solve a question like this until we were twelve." Casey felt his chest swell. Compliments from Master Donatello were rare, but when he did give one out, it was the most genuine thing in the world.
"That's not fair and you know it, D." Leonardo said, standing in the entrance to the cavern. "Casey had you to learn from, I had books. Those are not equal teachers."
"Oh shove off, I learned from the books just fine."
"Sure, sure. Anyways, I need to borrow the kid. Can you spare him from the ever so important task of cave measuring?"
"Sure, but you owe me first pickings of any tech you find for the next month. I still need to fix my shell and your arm needs some adjusting." It had been two years since Donatello's battle shell had broken in a raid (the same raid that had taken Raphael) and he still hadn't found the right pieces to repair or replace it.
"Can do. Alright kiddo, hope you're ready for your first day of training." Leonardo gave him a wink before walking away.
Casey almost didn't realize what he had said. "What?!" Looking back at Donatello for confirmation, the turtle just gave him a shrug.
"We all agreed that it was high time you get formal training in how to fight. Besides, I think it's mainly an excuse to get you out of the base sometimes." There was a smile behind his words, and he gave a slight nod for Casey to follow the leader.
"Thank you Master Donatello!" Letting the tape measure snap back, Casey ran out of the cavern. Chasing after his new Sensei.
3
Casey barely had time to get familiar with the new cave before he was approached by Michelangelo.
"Hey Casey," He said, finding Casey just as he was finishing up unpacking. "You want to help me with a prank?"
Holding the strange can in his hands, Casey followed Michelangelo's lead. Creeping up behind Comander O'Neil, the turtle held up his hand and slowly counted down with his fingers. When all his fingers were down, they pressed down on the cans buttons. A loud screech filled the cavern and Casey dropped his can to the floor. April jumped in the air before quickly turning into a spinning kick and hitting Michelangelo in the face.
"MIKEY WHAT THE FUCK?" The commander was clutching at her chest.
"Hey, not in front of the kids! We can't let foul language corrupt their innocent minds." Michelangelo said while laughing on the floor, gasping for breath. Casey couldn't help letting out a few giggles as well.
"Casey would have been well into middle school now, he can handle a cuss word. Where did you even get those things?"
"Found them on patrol last week, pretty neat huh?"
"I am confiscating all of those immediately. Junior, go tell Leon he needs to take you out."
"Yes ma'am!" Casey gave a quick salute and then bolted.
"Sensei!" Casey found the turtle sitting outside. "Commander O'Neil says you have to take me out."
"And why's that?" Leonardo said as he stood up.
"Master Michelangelo wanted me to help him with a prank."
"Ah, that's why he was so excited to find the case of air horns." Leonardo stood up, adjusting his prosthetic arm slightly as he went, and gave Casey a comforting grin. "Let's go check out the new area. I think there might have been a good store or two around here, let's go see if they haven't been looted already."
Casey smiled brightly. "What are we waiting for then, let's go!"
The first store they found was empty save for an old soda can that was probably evolving sentience at this point,. The second store, however, was a goldmine!
There was an entire section of the store filled with second hand winter gear, and they still had several full first aid kits.
"Here," Leonardo threw a big plastic box at Casey. "Start putting as much of the stuff in here as you can. I'll grab another box."
"Yes, Sensei!" Casey carried the box closer to the clothing rack and started grabbing the coats.
The boxes filled up fast, even with the contents spilling out and over the top. Before they left though, Leonardo took Casey over to a table in the back covered in small plastic cases.
"These, are DVDs." Leonardo said, gesturing grandly. Casey's eyes widened and he hesitantly picked one up.
"Really? I thought they were, like, circles."
"There's a little ridge on the side, open it like that." Guiding Casey's hand to the side, Leonardo showed him where to pull. Casey pried it open. Inside the case was a small, shiny disk.
"Whoa." Casey was in awe. "And, these can play videos? The moving pictures?"
"Sure can. If we ever get a DVD player and TV to work I'll show you one. Maybe we can even find the first Jupiter Jim movie." Leonardo rested his hand on Casey's shoulder.
Scanning the table, Casey caught sight of a case saying Jupiter Jim. "Like that one?"
"Which—" Leonardo's face softened when he saw the case. Taking his hand from Casey's shoulder, he reached far across the table and gently held the box in two hands. Casey tried to read the full title. Jupiter Jim's something something IV.
"What does I-Vee mean?" Casey asked.
Leonardo chuckled. "Donnie never got around to the Roman Numerals unit, huh. It's a fancy way of writing four." He angled the box so that Casey could read the full title, Jupiter Jim's Pluto Vacation IV. "This was his favorite movie, he would have killed to get his hands on a legit DVD of this, the one we had was pirated." Leonardo's voice was gentle. "He used to sing along to all the songs when we would watch it." He slid the movie into one of the boxes, tucked in between winter coats.
"Was it that good?" Casey asked.
"Oh it was horrible, possibly the most boring movie to ever be made." Leonardo said laughing. "But Donnie and April loved it, and Raph always broke something when we watched it and that was hillarious, so we tolerated it."
"Like how we tolerate Old Jim telling the story of how he found his favorite blanket over and over again?"
"Like that, Case." Leonardo said, ruffling Casey's hair.
4
The cave was distantly familiar. That wasn't a surprise considering that they had lived there before, but he still couldn't help but feel that it was odd. Commander O'Neil had suggested they revisit some old caves after their old one had gotten blown up (don't ask). It wasn't a large cave, but they had fit more people into a smaller place. Boxes of things that had gotten left behind in their rush to leave years ago sat around, people going through them.
Casey found Leonardo standing next to a spot on the wall with several scratch marks in it.
"Do you remember what this was for, Casey?"
"No, Sensei." Leaning in to get a better look he could make out words among the scratches. Holly, 5. Marcus, age 6. Lei, 3. Dozens of names and numbers.
"This was where we measured how tall all the kids were. We stayed in this cave the longest out of any of them, three years." Leonardo traced his hand over some of the names, a bittersweet smile on his face. "You should be somewhere on here, near the bottom."
Casey crouched down and looked at the bottom. Sure enough, three marks in the cave were there. Cassandra Jr, 1. Mini Cass, 2. Casey, 3.
"Cassandra Junior?" Casey asked himself.
"You don't know?" Michelangelo said, startling Casey. (He was way too quiet when he floated) "It's a really funny story. We didn't know that Cassandra was pregnant until you were almost here, so there was basically no time to think about baby names. When you were born, we just started calling you Mini Cass and the name stuck!" Michelangelo laughed a bit.
"That's why Commander O'Neil calls me Junior!" Casey's world view had been flipped.
"Damn right that's why." April said from behind him. That made Casey physically jump. (When did she get here?!)
"Hey, someone go get Reyna! Their name is up here." Leonardo called back, eliciting some laughs from the other survivors.
"Anyways, come on Casey. I found something you'll want to see." April grabbed him by the arm and took him to a cardboard box that looked near death.
"What is it?"
"I found the Polaroids we lost!" Photos were one of the rarest things that people could still get their hands on. Sunita had had an instant Polaroid camera that they used until it broke during a raid. "Here's the one of your first steps! Look how cute you were." April cooed over the photo she had dug out of the box.
"Are there any of my mom?" The words jumped from Casey's mouth before he could stop them. April looked at him for a moment before giving him a soft smile.
"Of course hon. Here, let me find them." April sat down and shuffled through the box some more. Casey sat next to her.
"Here's a couple." April said at last. She handed two to Casey. "These were right after we found a battery powered hair buzzer that still had some juice left in it." It was two pictures of his mom. One with choppy hair that fell to her chin, the other with a buzz cut. "Cassandra always hated having long hair, but you can only get it so short with a knife and scissors. I think she called the fastest dibs I've ever seen when we found that buzzer."
He stared at her face, committing it to memory. He hadn't seen his moms face in so long.
"And this one was a few days after you were born." Cassandra was sitting up, surrounded by pillows. She looked exhausted but happy as she stared at the small child in her arms. "You know, she never planned on having kids. But she loved you so, so much Casey."
"She used to tell me bedtime stories." Casey surprised himself as he started to talk. "She would talk about what the city used to be like, what the parks were like. Sometimes I think I remember the stories better than I remember her voice."
"Heh, did she ever tell you about the first time I took her to a roller rink?"
"What's a roller rink?"
"Well, a roller rink is a place where people would go to roller skate indoors..."
5
They had only just moved into the cave and they were already getting ready to leave. That had been the plan, this was just to get their bearing before the final attack, but it still left Casey with a bad feeling in his gut. Like this was the last time he would be packing up his backpack.
He needed advice. Grabbing onto his mask and tossing it in the bag, he closed it and slung it over his shoulders before going to fine Leonardo.
Leonardo was sitting in the smallest side cavern, doing maintenance on his prosthetic arm.
"Sensei, may I enter?"
"Of course kiddo, what's up?" Leonardo said. Casey sat on the floor across from him.
"I was wondering, do you think we're ready for this?"
"I think we're ready, yeah. Why?"
"It's just..." The nerves that he had been trying so hard to suppress bubbled to the top. "What if something goes wrong? Or, or what if I mess up and cause something to go wrong, or what if-"
"Case, look at me." Leonardo said. "Everything is going to work out in the end, I know it."
"But how can you just know that?"
"Because this rebellion is made up of the strongest bravest people I know, and has been built on the love and bravery of everyone who hasn't made it this far." Faces flashed through Casey's mind as Leonardo attached his arm to his body again. Raphael, his mom, Master Splinter, and so many more. "We found Donnie's blueprints for the giant attack drones and managed to build them. We have a battle plan drawn up the April O'Neil herself. We have the most powerful Mystic Warrior to ever live, my little brother." Resting his arm on Casey's shoulder, Leonardo looked into his eyes. "And we have the most amazing and talented kid in the entire world on our side. Trust me kiddo, everything will work out."
+1
It was three months after the Krang invasion when New York city had finally finished putting itself back together. (Mostly, there was still the occasional stray zombie that was found wandering around.) That was when April had insisted Casey come shopping with her. In her own words: "You can't look like you're supposed to be at a convention every time I take you outside."
That's how Casey found himself in a store, a proper store, trying on dozens of pairs of pants and different shirts.
"What's the difference between this one and the last one I had one? They look the same." The jeans fit him, that was all that mattered to him.
"The last ones were wide-legged, these are bootcut. Which ones do you like more?" Casey had no idea what any of those words meant.
"Uhh, these?"
"Alright! Go change out of them, I'll take everything to the register." Obliging her, Casey went back into the changing room and put his own clothes back on.
When he came out, April was frantically texting on her phone. Upon seeing him, she hid the phone behind her back and gave him a strained smile.
"Is everything okay?" He asked.
"Yep! Everything is a-okay! Let's just check out." She scooped up the pile of clothes that she insisted he needed, and sped to the checkout counter. Something was definitely up.
They had barely left the store when April started asking where he wanted to go next.
"Do we need anything else?" Casey asked.
"Well, we don't need anything else, but this is your first time properly shopping! We could check out some other stores or do... something to fill the next, let's say thirty seven and a half minutes." Well that wasn't suspicious at all.
"What are you—"
"Let's just go check out this street! There are a couple of thrift stores, a goodwill knock off, and I think that sandwich place is still open." April said, grabbing Casey's arm and dragging him off into the mess of stores. They wandered around for a few minutes, April trying to encourage him to try one of them, when a familiar store front caught his attention.
"Can we go in there?" He asked, pointing at the building.
"There? I mean, if you really want. When I said goodwill knock off though, I meant it." April lead the way inside, holding the door open for Casey.
The second he stepped inside he knew it was the same place. The second hand winter gear was exactly how he remembered it. Quickly going over there, he looked around for the DVD table. Once he found it he started scouring through the cases. Sure enough, there it was. A real, non-pirated copy of Jupiter Jim's Pluto Vacation IV. Donatello and April's favorite movie.
"What's got you in such a— WHOA!" April grabbed the case out of his hands, staring at it like it was a gold bar. "How did you— Where on earth— Oh we're getting this!" Now it was Casey's turn to follow April as she ran through the store, racing for the cash register.
"We're baaack!" April shouted as they entered the Lair, shopping bags in hand. All four of the turtles froze where they were standing, staring at the pair of humans.
"What?!" Donatello said before rushing over. "April you were supposed to keep him busy for another fifteen minutes and twenty two seconds, what happened?" Casey watched as Michelangelo and Raphael tried to hide something behind them.
"This happened!" She said, pulling out the DVD case. "Boom!"
Donatello's eyes grew wide. "Is that what I think it is?"
"Sure is! Let's go check this sucker out."
The two fans raced off to his subway car with the DVD.
"Well, that happened." Casey said. He looked at the other two turtles left. "What's going on?"
"Wha— uh, nothing! Nothing. Yep, definitely nothing suspicious." Raphael said, very convincingly.
"We're moving a bed into the new subway car."
"Mikey!"
Before this could turn into an argument, Casey stepped in. "What new subway car?"
"The one that—" Michelangelo started to speak before Raphael put a hand over his mouth.
"Just, go keep Leon company for a few minutes. We'll explain everything then." Raphael asked, pleading expression.
"Uh, sure. Let me just put—"
"I'll take the bags!" Michelangelo ducked out from under Raphael and grabbed the shopping bags from Casey.
Raphael guided Casey over to Leonardo's subway car before gently shoving him inside it.
"Casey Jones! To what to I owe the pleasure." Leonardo said from his bed. He had pitched such a fit when he was confined to bed rest, but no one had been willing to budge on the issue.
"Not sure, everyone is acting weird." Casey sat down on one of the seats.
"They're planning a surprise, just go with it for now." Leonardo said, tossing a comic towards Casey.
The door was thrown open by Michelangelo. "We're done! Come on, come on!"
Casey stood up and followed him over to the new subway car. Donatello, April, and Raphael were standing by the door waiting. Raphael held a tablet displaying Leonardo's face.
"So!" Michelangelo said. "You've been crashing in our living room for a week or so now, and since you have the whole 'legally you dont exist things' going on, which would definitely be a problem in getting an apartment, we figured that the least we could do was get you a proper room to stay in!" Opening the door with a dramatic flair, Michelangelo gestured for him to step inside.
Stepping forward slowly, Casey entered the car. It was exactly like the other's rooms, but there were a few things scattered around the room. A few seats had been removed to make room for a proper bed with dusky blue sheets on it. A couple of assorted, generic posters had been put on the wall.
"Mikey really wanted to do some painting in here, but I told him to hold off for a bit." Raphael said.
"Yeah! I thought that the room looked a little bland, but better to be bland and let you help design it then fully trick it out in a way that you don't!"
"What do you think?" Leonardo's voice came through the tablet.
Casey looked around the car again. By all accounts it was just a standarnd subway car (baring the missing seats and bed), but it was his. It was a permanent place to rest his gear, and a place to come home to at the end of the day. It was what Commander O'Neil and his Sensei had missed more than anything, and something he had never had before.
It was safe, it was certain, it was warm.
"It's perfect."
