Note: Yayness! Reviews! Hehe, thanks guys! AbsoluteOmega; I know exactly what you mean, I was all giddy with excitement when April an' Casey finally kissed too! BOO-YAH! ::grins like an idiot:: But I'm still mad they weren't shown the rest of the entire episode. Grr... And damn my stupid spelling mistakes!!! x-0 ::curses:: Oh well. I'm far from perfect and I'm bound to make mistakes....even though I re-read the chapter atleast 3 times.... ::bashes head into computer screen:: Heh. x-0; Don't worry, I'm perfectly insa - I mean, er...sane. ::shifty smile::
The Good Guys Aren't Invincible: V
As the night droned on, the morphine wore off and Casey was awake again. His right leg ached with a dull throbbing, but no matter how much he tried to shift to a more comfortable position, it didn't help. He sat up carefully with a soft groan, right arm automatically wrapping around his ribcage. Deciding that his leg might feel better if he moved around a little, Casey slid off the bed and gingerly set his bare feet on the floor as he reached for the crutch nearby.
Hobbling had become the only mode of transportation for him lately, and as Casey tried to quietly make his way into the living area it became very apparent that his also aching back was preventing him from standing completely upright. Noticing April laying on the sofa fast asleep, Casey clumsily made his way toward her and stopped a moment to hover over her. He smiled a little crookedly as he stared at her. April's a pretty good-lookin' babe. She's a good person too. Real good if she can even deal with me. Heh, she'd probably hate that I called her 'babe' though. Tilting his head to the side a little, Casey hobbled over to the chair near the couch and eased himself down. He stretched out his sore right leg as much as he could and rubbed it with his hands, trying to massage the aching muscles. He grimaced slightly, then leaned back in the chair and closed his eyes, eventually nodding off to sleep.
- - - - -
It was early in the morning, and as April slowly opened her eyes with a yawn, she realized she was not alone in the room. Sitting up and peering to the side, she spotted Casey fast asleep on the chair near the sofa and breathing heavily in steady, sleeping breaths. She had to smile a little, but then got up curiously and stood over him. The bruises on his face had faded considerably, and she had to say he looked alot healthier than he had the past few days. "Casey?" she finally called to wake him.
"Hrm?" he opened one eye partly, then blinked a few times. "April?" he blinked a few more times before shifting slightly in the chair and groaning from the sore aches in his muscles.
"What are you doing in here?" she asked with a half-smile and a raised eyebrow.
Casey had to look around before realizing where he was. It's morning? Oh. You bonehead, ya fell asleep. He scratched the back of his head and managed to sit up a little more. "I couldn't sleep last night, so I got up an' walked around a little ta stretch." he smiled crookedly. "Guess I musta stopped an' fell asleep on the chair."
April smiled back at him gently. "It's okay."
Suddenly there was a loud noise as someone entered that part of the lair. It was Raphael, looking as though he'd been out since very, very early. Casey and April both turned to look at him strangely.
"I did some digging," he said, getting straight to the point as usual while walking over to the pair. "I hunted down a bunch o' thugs, tryin' ta find who the ones were that worked Casey over. Heard a couple o' punks braggin' about it, an' it turns out that they're with the Purple Dragons."
April listened to Raphael intently while Casey huffed and rolled his eyes. It bit at his nerves that these guys got the better of him, and he wanted nothing more than to go with Raph and beat the ever-lovin' hell out of them, but he still needed a little more healing time before he'd be back to his old butt-kickin' self again.
Raph continued. "Seems they were pretty damn pissed that Case here screwed up their robbery an' they didn't get any cash outta the deal. Now they're even madder 'cuz they know ya ain't dead or in jail." he looked to Casey, arms crossed over his chest. "They're still itchin' ta get you six feet under pal."
"They can try." Casey muttered, gritting his teeth and grabbing his crutch as he got up and hobbled toward the kitchen.
April and Raphael both watched him leave, hanging their heads and sighing.
"He's going to leave, isn't he?" April asked quietly, looking to the turtle with a slight frown as she wrapped her arms around herself.
"If I know Casey...probably." Raphael sighed, slightly shaking his head. "He won't want those jerks lookin' for him here, an' I'm sure he wants a little revenge for what they did. But goin' to the Purple Dragons an' dealin' with that? It ain't a good idea. You go after a couple o' those guys, before ya know it, you got the rest of 'em comin' after you."
April frowned and hurried toward the kitchen after Casey to try and talk some sense into him.
Raphael knew that Casey would probably take off to deal with whatever it was he had to deal with. But when Casey left, Raph would be there to watch his back for sure.
- - - - -
Another week had gone by, and although Casey hadn't left the safety of the turtle's lair yet, those closest to him, such as April and Raphael, knew it was going to happen soon. He was moving around much better than before, with his leg almost back to normal and most of the kinks worked out of his back. Despite his still-broken ribs, they didn't bother him nearly as much as they had, and he'd even done some training whenever Donatello or April weren't around to stop him. Casey wanted to be in better shape and regain most of the strength he'd lost from being bedridden for so long. He needed to be capable of handling himself in a fight if he was prepared to leave.
"Ready ta start bustin' heads again Case?" Raphael asked with a partial smirk as he strolled in to the gym area to find his friend pounding into a punching bag.
Turning slowly with sweat dripping from his brow, Casey's dark, determined stare turned calm, having unfocused from his anger that was directed at the swaying punching bag. "Yeh Raph, just about."
With a sigh, Raphael walked closer to him and put a hand on his friend's shoulder. "Look Case, I got a feelin' you're plannin' on headin' out tonight. Am I right?"
Casey dropped his arms by his sides. "So what if I am?"
"Look," Raph sighed again, "I know you are, but I ain't gonna tell April or the others."
Raising an eyebrow at the much shorter turtle, Casey brought up an arm and swiped the sweat from his forehead. "What's the catch Raph?"
"I go with you." he crossed his arms over his chest and stared hard at his fellow hot-head. "You might not like it, but I'm comin' anyway, whether ya do or not. You could use someone ta watch your back, especially since you're not a hundred percent."
Casey half-smiled and gave Raphael a friendly slap on the back. "Okay, you got it Raph. We go take down some Purple Dragons t'night." he tilted his head and peered past the turtle to make sure no one was around. "Meet me just outside the lair at midnight."
Nodding with a partial smirk, Raphael turned and left the gym.
- - - - -
About half an hour before midnight, Casey snuck out of the lair with his bag of choice weapons; two baseball bats, a hockey stick, and a golf club. He purposefully told Raphael to meet him at the wrong time to give himself a head start. He really didn't want to trouble his friends anymore, this was his problem and he was going to deal with it in his own way, by himself.
Having not told anyone why the cops were after him, Casey planned on clearing his name by getting the Purple Dragon punks that robbed the bank to confess. Either that, or he'd pound a confession out of them and drag them to the police station to deal with New York's finest. That was what he hoped atleast. He also hoped not to catch them in a group, it would be easier to deal with them singled out.
- - - - -
Getting up and grabbing his sais, Raphael went to go meet Casey as planned. When his pal didn't show, Raph knew exactly what had happened. "Casey you bonehead." the turtle muttered under his breath as he climbed out of the manhole and set foot on the street. He shook his head angrily. What the hell were you thinkin' pal? You can't take on those goons by yourself. Taking off in a direction Raphael figured Casey might have gone, he climbed up the fire escape of a nearby building and made his way through the dark, stealthily going over roof-tops at an amazing speed.
The sound of shouting in the otherwise pretty quiet night had alerted Raphael, and he switched directions, quickly going off toward the roof-tops on his left. As he hurried over buildings, getting from one roof to another by any means necessary, Raphael suddenly found where this battle was taking place, where all the yelling and noises were coming from. He peered down between two buildings in an alley-way, then jumped onto the platform of a fire escape. He saw a couple goons from the Purple Dragons laying unconscious on the pavement, then their ring-leader (or the ring-leader when Hun's not around), Dragon Face. He and one other huge guy were advancing upon a fallen figure. Casey.
Fifteen Minutes Earlier...
"Alright you goons, this'll teach you ta frame me for that robbery!!" Casey jumped down from atop the dumpster and advanced upon the surprised punks. He only recognized one of them from his apartment when he was beat up, but it didn't really matter.
"Oh, not this idiot." the goon that was involved in the previous beating scoffed with a sigh. He glanced at the other guys with a cocky smirk on his face, jerking his head to the side. "C'mon fellas, let's show this guy what it means ta mess with the Purple Dragons."
Quickly flinging both arms to the weapons in the bag strapped to his back, Casey pulled out his hockey stick, then jumped at the thugs swinging.
Within minutes, Casey had taken down all of the weak goons, leaving the brick wall of a guy that he had met up with before. His name was Andre if he remembered clearly. Having been slightly out of breath and worn down from the fighting, Casey knew he wouldn't be able to hold up much longer. It would have been smarter to heal up completely before even thinking about taking down some of the Dragons, but that's what usually got Casey into trouble. He fought first and delt with the consequences later.
Pulling his white, skull-faced hockey mask down over his face again, Casey took in a deep breath and leapt at the last goon standing.
Andre used his massive arms to block most of the attacks, but the hockey-stick toting vigilante didn't let up, and got in a good jab to his gut. Doubling over a moment, he was just catching his breath when someone pushed him aside, dealing a strong kick to his enemie's chest.
Casey was flung backwards into a pile of empty cardboard boxes where he crumbled to the ground. He noticed the thug that had pushed Andre aside, it was Dragon Face.
"This is the hero I toldja 'bout that screwed up our bank robbery." Andre told his leader as he continued to catch his breath. "The one me an' some of the boys framed for it." he snickered a little.
"Hmph." Dragon Face grunted and stroked his greenish-blue goatee a moment in thought. Then he turned a glare at Casey. "You caused a lot o' problems for us Jones. We lost a good amount of money 'cuz o' that." His expression turned to pure hatred and he reached behind him as Andre slapped a big pipe into his palm. "Now you gotta pay. You shoulda died the first time." Dragon Face arched his arm back, grinning wickedly as he brought forth the deadly blow.
- - - - -
Note: Cliff-hanger!! Wahahaha!! ::laughs evilly and runs away::