A/N: Well, the muses are injecting me with fresh ideas! And to the reviewer who asked - Leo is dead. That won't stop him making an appearance in one or two later chapters though!

Chapter 8 – Vigilant

The vigilante snarled beneath his mask as he surveyed what had once been Central Park. All of the greenery that had dotted the expanse of space had been destroyed. Ironically, it had been eaten by the only literal dinosaurs to come out of the…whatever it was. He sighed and stared as one of the creatures emerged from the bushes. It was a basic ceratopsid form – something similar to a Triceratops or a Styracosaur but had a larger neck frill, two brow horns above each eye and a forked nasal horn. He remembered the first time he had seen the creatures, he had run to the resident Scientist for clarification. Of course – that was when he had still thought they were out for blood. After a scouting mission revealed their herbivorous nature, the scientist had deduced that they were a "lost" subfamily of Ceratopsidae; one that combined characteristics from both "known" subfamilies.

He had lost track of the discussion somewhere between talk of rifts, evolution and the KT Boundary. It was kind of ironic. He was itching for a fight – but he had been assigned to look over the most docile monsters in the world. Literally. Of course – it had downsides; one being that he was usually away from his friends and fiancée for long periods of time. Friends – that wasn't including the Night Watchman. He smirked at the thought. He was there to witness part of the aftermath and had been stunned at the confession. Of course – he knew something had gone wrong when the Sensei had called everyone into the dojo. He probably shouldn't have blown up like that – he knew his friend was always being controlled by his emotions…but that was too much to take.

Flashback

Everyone was in the dojo. The Sensei was there as well as the turtles. For some reason, Raph looked guilty and was attempting to hold back…something. The Vigilante's eyes flicked down to the sai on Raph's belt. They were stained with something red. It couldn't be blood – could it? And if it was…whose was it? The others seemed to be intact and uninjured. His eyes swept over the group – doing a mental headcount. There was one member missing – the Leader. He opened his mouth to speak, but the Sensei cut him off with a glare; turning to Raph. His voice was angry, disappointed and stern.

"A grave mistake has been made in the past few hours. One that could cause lasting repercussions for not only ourselves – but for the world. Raphael; tell us where you were and what you did. Leave nothing out."

He saw the turtle stumble forwards and swallowed hard. Whatever it was that Raph had done – it didn't warrant a public outsting and humiliation…did it? He listened with interest – slightly impressed by the description of the diner fight and what Raph had to do. When he mentioned the Leader cornering him on the roof, he got worried. He listened to the explanation with a mounting dread. Of course – the Leader was only captured, there was no way in Hell that Raph could've…Shit.

"What were you even thinking?"

His mouth moved before his brain could stop it. He didn't care; all the dread and interest had warped into a blazing rage. He could see his future fiancée try to calm him down; could see the shocked and disappointed looks from the other two brothers and the overwhelming shame on Raph's face. For some inexplicable reason – that incensed him further.

"You killed your brother! Murdered him in cold blood! You've done some pretty stupid shit in your life, Raph, but this takes the cake! I…I don't even know what to say to you!"

He sighed and palmed his face, shaking his head. He inhaled deeply and swallowed again. He turned to leave – noting Raph's pleading face behind him.

"To me, you're no better than the monsters."

End Flashback

Come to think of it, he was being controlled by his emotions that night. He didn't hear the rest of the shouting match and it didn't register when the Exile – as he was now known – left the lair. They had decided to patrol the northern side of the city…and had been perplexed at the light that engulfed Winters' tower. After the monsters had poured out of the "woodwork' – they had put two and two together pretty fast. After that, there was nothing to think about. He sighed again, watching the oblivious ceratopsids eat. Don had attempted to come up with a name for them – but had failed after twenty-eight tries. The Vigilante turned to leave, hefting up his bat.

Casey Jones disappeared into the night – haunted by his memories.