A/N: The title for fic comes from P!nk's "Glitter in the Air" which is where the series gets its name as well.
The plot thread is loosely based on the episode. I've started diverging here a lot more, but some situations are similar to it.
Also, as always, this is unbeta'd so if there is a mistake then I promise I'll get around to fixing it. It's just me here folks.
Disclaimer:I don't own Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles in any form.
Part Four: Looked Fear In The Face And Said 'I Just Don't Care'
Casey Jones never set out to become a vigilante.
Sure, she was fine with the fight against Goo Guy and those weird ninja robots that April never gave her a satisfactory explanation for, but going after criminals just because?
She was crazy. She wasn't stupid though, except when she was in school.
Still becoming a vigilante, there has to be a tipping point.
This was that tipping point for Casey Jones.
She sat in the police station with an arm around her sister, who was sobbing. Madeline's face was bruised and one of her knees was skinned. She was shaking like a leaf under Casey's arm.
Arnold Jones' face was full of fury as he stared down the police officer. Linda Evans was also wearing a thunderous expression.
"What do you mean that there's nothing more you can do?" growled out Arnold.
"Sir," said the police officer soothingly, "I know you're angry."
"Damn right I'm angry! My baby girl gets mugged and you're telling me that you can't go after the thugs who mugged her?!"
Casey tuned out the explanations and her Dad's yelling. She just focused on Madeline, who moved closer to her.
"I-I would've given them the money, Casey. I would have given them the wallet. But," she sniffled more. "That picture of Mom was in there, Casey. And I…I just…then they hit me and…"
Casey held her sister closer and made soothing noises.
It looked like no one was going to do anything about this. Casey could tell from her father's face.
Well then, it looks like Casey Jones would have to take matters into her own hands.
There is always a tipping point that will never change.
Casey didn't tell April what happened to Madeline. It wasn't because of a lack of trust. Scarily enough for Casey, she trusted April a good deal.
They still had both of their secrets though. Ever since she apologized to those mysterious friends of hers, April had been disappearing seemingly at random. Casey wouldn't begrudge the other girl her friendships but she still felt lonely sometimes.
So if she was keeping a secret from April, then that was her business. Besides this was about purpose and honor and all that shit.
Really, it was about the fact that in the nights following the attack Madeline would sneak into her bed at night. She had nightmares and refused to walk anywhere alone.
Her Dad and Linda weren't sitting on their asses either. In the wake of getting zero help for an arrest, they decided to focus on Madeline. Her Dad set up an appointment for a psychologist (a different one then his own) and Linda had signed them both up for a self-defense class.
Casey, meanwhile, comforted her sister at night. It was like after Mom died and Madeline couldn't sleep alone. When she showed up to Casey's room and climbed into bed next to her; Casey would grab her e-reader and read her sister Harry Potter like their Mom did when either of them were sick. If that didn't work, then they would listen to gentle music and Casey would wrap her arms around her sister like she would keep out the world.
And once Madeline fell asleep, Casey would sneak out of her bed and work on her plan.
The materials were easy enough to come by. Even though her Dad worked in the demolition industry, he loved to build things. It was easy enough for Casey to liberate some nails for her purposes along with a hammer.
Her shopping trip with Linda, which wasn't as awkward as Casey feared it would be, also turned out to be perfectly time. In addition to a two rocking tubes of red lipstick, Linda also treated Casey to new hockey gear. So Casey still had old, reliable, and still pretty decent equipment ready for her to do with what she pleased.
She was planning on donating them to charity or something.
As she fixed the nails through the blocker glove, Casey decided that she'd just donate whatever cash she'll take from those bastard Purple Dragons instead to charity. It really wasn't like they were going to need the extra cash where they were going after all.
The hospital, she meant, she wasn't going to go kill anyone.
Maybe put them in a coma, but not kill.
Objectively, Casey could probably admit that this was the opposite of what she should be doing. After her breakdown last year, she was trying to get back on the straight and narrow.
No more clubbing. No more sneaking out or shoplifting. No more drinking. No more looking for fight clubs or anything like that.
At least Nick wasn't solely the cause of it; Casey can admit that she had been repressing a lot of stuff since her Mom died. Last year, it all just kind of came to a head and she just…snapped for a couple of months.
Failing all her classes and the transfer to Roosevelt was just what she needed to get her life back on track.
Of course, since meeting April, her eyes had been opened.
Goo guys and robot ninjas were one thing when they were after Casey. Madeline getting mugged by those thugs made the world suddenly crystal clear.
If she was going to get dragged into this stuff, then she was gonna do it on her own terms. This stuff may affect her family and other people's families as well.
(Casey had a sinking feeling that the weirdness that surrounded April had something to do with her Dad's disappearances.)
So she made the decision on her own terms that she was going to do something about.
Casey Jones was never meant for great things. She was never going to change the world.
But maybe, just maybe, those who she loved would be protected by her choices.
April was waiting for her outside of shop class.
Casey had spent the class testing a loading mechanism for a homemade taser. She needed the springs to fire just right. Not for the first time, she was glad that Sanderson left her to her own devices during class.
Her test rig was in her backpack along with some stuff liberated in order to make her custom skate-shoes.
She wasn't that smart, but Casey was good with her hands. She knew tools and she knew how to put stuff together, even if she didn't get the why and the how of it.
"Red," Casey greeted with a grin. "What brings you to this neck of the woods?"
"It's a half day today. I was thinking that maybe you and I can go grab something to eat and just hang out for a bit? I have to meet the guys later, but I wanted to hang out with you first."
Casey smiled a bit at that, "Sure Red. Sounds like fun. I need to go pick up my sister from school before practice anyway."
"Is she alright?"
Casey paused. A part of her thought that she should tell April the truth, but that would inevitably lead to Casey telling her about her plans. The other part of her said that April had her own secrets that she wasn't telling Casey, despite Casey being involved in them previously.
"Oh yeah. Some snooty rich girls are giving her some trouble and I'm just going play slightly psychotic older sister."
She made a decision, but she wasn't sure if it was the right one.
April could tell that something was distracting Casey lately. She didn't need to be vaguely psychic to know that. Despite all of her bravado, the other girl did not hide her emotions as well as she believed.
Lately, Casey seemed off: almost somber and deep in thought. There was only other person that April knew who similarly went into these states. Leo usually took a pensive route when he was planning something important.
A sharp pang went through April at that thought. Before meeting Casey, it wasn't hard keeping her friends a secret. Leo, Raph, Donnie, Mikey, and Master Splinter were a refuge from school. They were the best part of her day and, more than friends, they were her family.
Now, though, things are different. April met Casey, fought alongside of her, and was friends with the other girl in ways that she never was with other humans before.
It hurt keeping the secret now. She knew that Casey wanted answers. They were answers that April couldn't give to her.
The fact was that sooner or later, Casey was going to get caught in a fight that involved the Turtles. April could only hope that the fallout of it was manageable.
Keeping secrets was a heavy burden.
Casey considered the final touches to her gear with a careful eye. Vaguely, she wondered if this was how the girls who spent hours putting together an outfit felt.
"Something's missing," Casey muttered to herself. She tapped her fingers to her lips carefully.
Then it hit her as she looked at the hockey mask.
She smirked wickedly and whispered, "Goongala."
Then she turned in search for both the spray paint and the face paint left over from several years back.
The specially crafted hockey mask on the bed seemed to almost shine in approval.
Madeline Jones wasn't dumb. She was young. She was only thirteen after all, but she wasn't dumb. Especially in regards to her family, Madeline knew her family about as well as she knew herself.
She knew that her older sister was up to something. She knew Casey better then anyone in the world. Her big sister has always been there as a sharp-eyed protector and a quiet shadow.
It was comforting actually to know Casey would be there for her.
Casey even respected that Madeline didn't want her older sister hanging around all the time. Casey knew that she intimidated Madeline's friends and had respectfully kept her distance.
She still looked out for Madeline, though. Madeline knew that if she asked for help, Casey would give it to her in an instant.
Even last year, when Casey had just snapped for no good reason; her older sister was still checking in on her. Madeline couldn't grudge Casey a chance for her to finally feel her own pain, anger, and sorrow. Even though she wished it wasn't in such a destructive way, she heard Casey from her room stumbling back in from wherever she had been all night. Sometimes, the next morning as she walked past Madeline to take her shower Madeline would smell stale beer, cheap perfume, sweat, blood, or some combination there of.
Casey was back to herself, but even so, Madeline still knew her sister still had her issues.
She knew that Casey was up to something.
She knew that Casey was going to go after the Purple Dragons that mugged her to get back the picture of them and their mother she kept in her wallet back.
As she looked at the bruise on her cheek, Madeline found that she didn't care.
Casey was brutal when she fought. Those Purple Dragons weren't going to know what hit them.
Maybe Casey was just embracing that warrior blood their Dad talked about all the time.
As long as Casey came back victorious, Madeline would keep quiet on her suspicions.
Tonight, though, it looked like she was sleeping in her own room. Whatever Casey was planning, it was happening soon. If their Dad found out, then she always wanted plausible deniability.
Madeline was young, not dumb.
Besides, she would sleep easier knowing that Casey was taking care of the problem anyway.
It took Casey Jones a couple nights to track down the thugs that mugged her sister. She wasn't a detective or anything, but she did have one or two acquaintances from her downward spiral last year that were happy to point her in the right direction.
Apparently, Purple Dragons had their fingers in a decent amount of pies: most of them were unwelcomed.
It took a lot of late night walking and several throat catching jumps between rooftops for her to find a common base.
The operation that robbed her sister was relatively small, only about three guys in the branch. Casey saw a sizable pile of wallets on the table and, for her debut, made sure to bring a cheap shopping bag with her to drop off to the police.
The night of her debut, she hung out with April and had dinner with her family. She kissed her father on the cheek goodnight, hugged her sister, and gave Linda her warmest smile.
She then went into her room and, using her skills from previous years of sneaking out, made a rather decent dummy out of pillows and a wig.
No one has checked on her sleeping for months though. It was still a good idea to practice precaution.
Then Casey Jones did what any other ordinary teenage girl would when sneaking out of the house.
She made sure she was nice and ready for the evening ahead.
It promised to be a fun one.
Casey was all dressed up and had somewhere to go.
She was even getting better at this jumping between rooftops thing. Oh yeah, it was still terrifyingly heart stopping, but was actually starting to get kind of cool.
It almost felt like she was flying.
She was on her way to the warehouse that the sect of Purple Dragons that mugged her sister was using. The plan was simple. She was going to drop in and fight them with Electra (her homemade taser), Gretzky (her Eastman High goalie hockey stick), Jolene (her other hockey stick), and Cupcake (her baseball bat). Florence was sitting this one out in her room due to the fact that Casey wanted the Dragons in a hospital, not dead.
Lady Luck, however, felt like shaking things up that night.
It was cool. You had to be flexible sometimes.
Her three dates for the evening had cornered an older man below. The noise of the trashcan had caught her attention before she was about to jump between buildings.
This was actually pretty perfect. She could go down there, settled her business with them, and then raid the warehouse to find her sister's wallet.
She stood and jumped down to make her move.
The Dragons were distracted in their mugging. They didn't notice her land in the alleyway from the nearby fire escape. Casey smirked under her mask and kept to the shadows.
Gretzky was in her hand in an instant followed by a puck. She lined up her shot with the biggest guy of the lot and swung away.
The puck whistled through the air and struck hard, knocking the big thug over.
"What the…?!" said one.
They all turned around. Casey leaned forward. Her mask was firmly in place.
"So sorry to be tardy to the party gentleman," said Casey pitching her voice lower and huskier. "But I figure we can still play a game if you'd like."
"Nice outfit, kid," laughed the one holding the knife. "What are you supposed to be kid? Some kind of clown?"
Casey stepped forward a bit more. A perfect serenity born of rage and a desire to kick ass on her little sister's behalf settled in her veins.
"Not at all," she said with an almost purr to her tone. "I'm the last guy you're going to see before you wake up in the hospital."
Casey repositioned her grip on Gretzky and struck, brutal and fast.
Knife guy was on the ground first. Casey made sure to kick the knife under the dumpster. She then turned her attention to the biggest guy of the lot. She dodged his punch by ducking and hooked the heel of the stick around his arm. Planting her feet on the ground, Casey pulled bringing the other man down.
She brought up her padded knee and heard a rather satisfying crunch from his nose. Letting him free to the ground, dazed and bleeding heavily from the nose, she focused her attention on the last guy.
He went for a kick the head. Casey jumped back and dodged a punch as well. She then lifted off and flipped into the air, landing nimbly behind the trashcan.
"Choke on it!" yelled Casey as she solidly kicked the trashcan. It caught the third man in the middle and sent him falling to the ground in a heap.
She cracked her neck at that.
"I," she announced with a slight psychotic glee to her voice, "am going to really enjoy this."
She spun Gretzky in her hand, repositioned her grip, and brought it down on knife guy.
She didn't even know that she was being watched from above, until intervention arrived.
Raphael knew that he was probably the last person to talk about someone being out of control. His less than solid hold on his own temper probably proved that.
Still though, he couldn't help but wonder about the timing of everything. Here he was trying to cool down after letting his temper get the better of him (again) and hurting Leo; now there's a guy down there kicking the crap out of the Purple Dragons while their down.
Now Raph doesn't like those guys at all. But still, they're down and not hurting anything.
His sais were sure in his hands as he spun them once. They almost seemed to sing in his hands. The clear sound of the metal was actually almost beautiful in its own way.
Raph took a breath and focused.
Then he jumped down to join the fray.
Fong was up and running to the street. The masked guy lined up a shot and swung. The puck whistled through the air and hit Fong in the back sending him to the ground hard.
"Did I say you could leave?" spoke the masked guy in a rough, low voice.
"C-C'mon man," stammered Sid through a profusely bleeding nose.
"Yeah. We give up!" said Tsoi nervously with his hands up.
The masked guy turned around and chuckled. "What 'cause I'm not a little girl or an old man? C'mon lawbreakers I ain't done with you yet."
He, and Raph was certain that it was a guy, raised his hockey stick to strike again. In a flash, Raph acted by grabbing it from his hands.
Someone took Gretzky.
One second, Gretzky was in her hands and the next moment gone.
Casey tried to look over her shoulder, but someone had pushed off her back, allowing whomever it was to leap back and push her forward. She recovered and reached for Cupcake from her bag of tricks.
Brandishing the bat, she called out. "Who's there? C'mon now show yourself!"
She could see the barest glint of metal from the shadows. She could see a pair of eyes watching her intently.
Slowly, very slowly, a humanoid figure emerged and stepped into the light.
Casey's eyebrows went up under her mask.
It was…a turtle.
The turtle was shorter than her (not hard she's been taller than most people for years) and solidly built. This turtle person was definitely pure muscle. The turtle's hands and feet were wrapped like a fighter and there were pads on his knees and elbows. A red mask was wrapped around the eyes and a pair of sais glinted from the turtle's hands.
Casey let out an exasperated laugh. She couldn't help it. Geez she was just hoping to beat up some stupid thugs and she caught the attention of a mutant.
"Another mutant?"
"Got a problem with that?!" challenged the mutant turtle. The voice revealing that he was male. His bright, inhumanly green eyes were staring her down.
He sounded young, like her age young.
Casey gripped Cupcake a bit tighter and took him in again.
"A…turtle ninja," she laughed to herself.
First, there was Goo Guy. Then, there were robot ninjas.
Now there was a ninja turtle in front of her.
The world had clearly gone insane and Casey had no idea about it. It was just a situation to laugh at.
The turtle growled and Casey was just about to address that, when the Purple Dragons ran past (or what could be called running due to a bleeding nose).
Oh hell no.
Ninja turtles later, first she was going to finish what she started with the Purple Dragons.
"Oh no you don't," she growled as she griped her bat.
"Let me handle this," said the turtle putting a hand on her.
Casey pushed him back without even thinking about it. She wanted to introduce those creeps to Cupcake. She wasn't sure which one smacked her sister, so all of them were going to get a broken arm.
"You know," the turtle began, "anger is a very dangerous ally."
He grabbed Casey and pushed her back hard.
"Why don't you cool off for awhile, kid?"
"Kid? Look who's talking!" challenged Casey. Who was he to tell her to cool off? He probably didn't have siblings to think about. He didn't have people that probably needed protecting.
People that he failed to protect.
She failed Madeline. She could at least do this.
"You know," growled Casey as she pulled Jolene out from her bag of tricks. "I'm getting reeeeaaal sick of your mug, buddy. So let's handle this properly."
She fixed her grips on Cupcake and Jolene before running forward with a yell.
"GOONGALA!"
Even through his rapidly lost patience with the masked guy, Raph could appreciate a good fighter when he saw one. Two weapons in hand, both of different weights, and the guy was swinging them almost expertly.
He was a bit sloppy, but there was also a great deal of control.
Raph captured both the hockey stick and the baseball bat in the spaces of his sais.
"Look I know I'm not Mister Personality, but you really just need to chill out!"
"Chill out?! I wasn't going to kill them!" stated the masked guy fiercely. He twisted and was able to free his weapons from the sais hold.
Raph fixed his grip and went in for a punch, which was dodged.
"Then what were you going to do?" Raph challenged the masked guy, grazing the guy's arm with a punch.
"Break one of their arms!"
"Oh because that's so much healthier!" shouted Raph as he flipped back from a high kick.
"Never said it was healthy!" said the guy going in for another punch.
Raph saw an opening and kicked him in the middle, sending his opponent flying into a dumpster.
"Heh."
It actually wasn't that bad of a fight. But see, he was just awesome like that. Raph spun his sais like they were pistols in an old Western movie before placing them in their holsters.
Then, like a demented jack in the box (one washed down the sewer years and years ago and gave Mikey a lot of nightmares), the masked guy was up and looking around.
Raphael's eyes went wide with shock. Damn could this mysterious masked man take a pounding and still come up for more.
Realizing the Purple Dragons were gone, his breathing changed. Raph knew that type of breathing very well.
It was the breathing of someone well and truly mad as all hell.
"THEY GOT AWAY!" yelled the masked guy. "I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU LET THEM GET AWAY!"
Raphael shifted his stance, ready for round two of their fight.
"I'm gonna kick your ass!" growled the masked guy. He jumped out of the dumpster and swung the hockey stick knocking Raph off his feet. He rolled out of the way just as the bat was brought down.
The guy caught Raph around the knees with his stick and pulled them out from under him again. With a controlled fall, Raphael rolled out of the way and jumped up onto the fire escape.
Steadying himself, he threw out two shuriken. They were blocked by the masked guy's thick boxyish glove with the nails sticking out.
The guy's voice was still angry.
"Okay throwing stars are as cool as all hell, but this is still a fight!"
Raph dropped down from the fire escape and smirked.
"If you thought they were cool, then let me show you my sai."
"Only if you want to meet Jolene and Cupcake," said his opponent darkly. The bat and hockey clacked together in a defensive challenge.
"I bet those are the only girls you ever get."
"More than you."
Then they jumped at each other with howl.
If Casey weren't so totally pissed off right now, then she would really be enjoying this fight.
The turtle had some awesome moves.
Right now though, she was seeing red and it wasn't just the turtle's mask.
Those creep Purple Dragons had escaped. Now who knows if they're gonna clean up shop?! A lot of time and effort were lost because some mutant wanted to play police or something.
Casey's thoughts right now were that if she couldn't break a Purple Dragon's arm, then the turtle's arm would be just as good.
Except, unlike the Dragons, he was an exceptionally better fighter then them. Lucky for Casey, she wasn't a slouch in the ass-kicking department either.
Of course, neither of them was actually hitting the other at the moment.
Finally the turtle pushed her back with a solid kick; Casey saw her chance in that moment.
She felt her muscles coil and loosen as she jumped forward hitting the guy in the stomach with Jolene. Barely dodging from a punch, Casey turned and hit him over the head with Cupcake.
"Since I can't break the Purple Dragons' arms," whispered Casey furiously, "how about I break one of yours?"
"Not happening!" said the turtle, before kicking him feet up and getting Casey in the jaw.
The girl flew back in the air several feet. Her ears were ringing but she shook it up. The turtle stood and made its way over to her.
"Had enough?"
"Had worst in rink fights," said Casey as her vision stabilized.
"Let's see if we can't fix that," said the turtle striking.
Casey grabbed Cupcake and Jolene and blocked the attack.
The turtle, however, kept coming furiously with his attacks. Casey was on the defensive. Her back was pressed against the car, which let off the extremely sensitive car alarm buying her needed time for the next part of her plan.
She raised her leg and kicked out hard. The turtle stumbling back a few inches and allowing Casey to jump on the car.
Okay then, this next part was happening. The turtle was right behind her and she hoped like hell that she rigged this right.
Jumping off of the car, Casey pressed down her toes hard on the inner mechanism inside her shoes.
Much to her relief, she landed on the blades of skates (roller blades but either way it counts). She glided back and felt a new wind overtake her.
"Let's do this, big boy."
The turtle let out an inarticulate grunt of rage and came after her.
Raphael was pissed.
The masked guy just wouldn't STAY DOWN! Now he was mocking him?! SERIOUSLY?!
And what made it worse was the skates. The guy was faster on them then Raph would care to think about.
Every attempt at a hit was dodged. Every time he got close, the guy moved out of reach. It was surprisingly graceful.
And it was enraging him even further.
"AHHH!" he roared and tackled the guy onto a car.
Straddling him, Raph spun his sigh and brought it down toward the guy's face.
Wait. Wait.
What the hell was he doing? Was he seriously going to kill someone for pissing him off?
Looking down into the guy's brown eyes, Raph came back to himself.
"What am I doing?" he questioned angrily.
Maybe his anger issues were worse then he thought. Unbidden, a flash of Slash flew across his mind.
God was he really becoming him?
Raph got off the guy and glared at him.
"Just…Just go home, kid. You don't know what you're dealing with."
Apparently fear from almost getting a sai to the face was still strong in him. Next thing Raph knew he was being tazed by a potato masher and was on the ground.
After rolling out of the way of cab, still feeling a bit twitchy from the voltage, Raph looked over at the car where the guy was.
But he was gone.
Okay as a ninja, Raph could admit someone with no ninja training disappearing like that was pretty impressive.
Still, just to be sure, he yelled out.
"Yeah! You better run!"
Casey Jones closed her locker at school and leaned against it.
She was feeling last night, but thankfully years of putting her body to its limits (and passed them) was actually working out in her favor. She was sore, a bit bruised, a bit angry, and had a cut on her nose, but at least her body didn't hate her today.
It was feeling an intense dislike toward Casey, but not hate.
She ended up going home after the bout with the turtle ninja. Maybe tonight she could check on the warehouse and see if the Purple Dragons were still there.
She could still go through her original plan. Maybe through a paint bomb down there and bring a metal pipe to help with the arm breaking.
Casey shifted to grab a textbook, her body protested at it. She winced. Okay maybe she should wait a few more nights before going back to see if the Purple Dragons are still there.
"Casey?!"
Casey cracked open an eye and gave a half-hearted smile.
"Hey Red."
"What happened to you?!" demanded April worriedly.
Shit. Okay Casey can do this. She made sure to leave really early this morning and leave a note saying that she wanted to get in some practice before class. When she came home tonight she could say that the stiffness was from that and the nose cut was from a fall.
She can figure out a story for April.
"I got into a fight with a street harasser."
It was plausible. April has seen Casey challenge street harassers to fights before.
April sighed, "What am I going to do with you, Casey?"
"I have some ideas," muttered April's friend, Irma. Casey had a feeling that Irma didn't like her too much.
She wanted to stick out her tongue at the bespectacled girl, but didn't. Instead, she smirked and leaned back.
"You shoulda seen the other guy, Red."
Casey sincerely hoped that turtle ninja was feeling it today.
"Yeah yeah I know Casey," said April with soft concerned eyes.
Casey's heart twisted and she reached out. Squeezing April's shoulder gently, she smiled.
"I'm sorry, Red. You don't gotta worry about me like this."
"Someone has to Casey Jones. Now come on, let's head to lunch."
Casey smiled, some of her pained muscles loosening up at the thought of spending time with her friend.
"Yeah Red. Sounds like fun. Riiiiiight Irma?"
Irma raised an eyebrow and made a 'hmph' noise. Casey chuckled to herself and fell into step with the other two girls.
"So how did you do on the Trig exam, Casey?" asked April as they all walked together.
"C-plus! Thanks for all the help, Red."
April grinned delightedly and punched her lightly on the arm.
"Hey! That's great, Jones."
Casey grinned at the other girl and winked.
Tonight, she was definitely going to go with the face paint. Just in case she ran into turtle ninja again.
Sometimes Raphael wished he had a better way with words.
He wanted to…connect more? Show them that he did care about them. That they weren't the cause of his anger, but that it was something different instead.
It was frustrating, putting feelings into words that he didn't have.
He loved his brothers. But they knew how to push his buttons in exactly the wrong way.
He used to have Spike for this, a safe haven to vent his frustrations.
But then…then Slash happened and Raph's stomach is still somewhere near the floor with guilty for that incident. He has seen the destructive power of anger, the real and true negative impact on someone that he cared for.
He did care for Spike. Slash was a twisted version of Raph's own hurt and anger embodied in who he trusted to keep his feelings for him.
Raph grunted as he punched at the air yet again. Instead of punching them, he was going punch something that wouldn't punch back. He needed to find a real way to vent, to calm down, and to not be controlled by his anger.
He grunted and punched the air again. Until he found that outlet, then this was going to be the best he had to do.
Casey didn't go out for the last couple of nights. Her body was still protesting from extra practices and the fight with turtle ninja.
She was also scared to go and check out the Purple Dragons warehouse, unsure if they are still operating there. Casey didn't want to go and confirm that it was empty, to see that she had failed her sister in getting their mother's picture back.
So right now, she was hanging out on a fire escape and trying to work up the courage to go and see.
She had to admit, with a couple days of breathing room, that she probably could have treated the turtle ninja a little bit kinder.
Casey was never really good at expressing herself emotionally. Usually, she either did it through mixes, writing, or some other medium where she didn't have to speak out loud about her feelings.
She groaned and buried her face in her hands.
God some days she wished she still had her fake ID so she could go and drink.
Opening her eyes, Casey looked up at the moon. It was the only thing that you could see really clear in the city.
When she got her own driver's license, she wants to go out somewhere with a really nice view. She hasn't really left the city much her whole life. She would love to go somewhere she could really see the stars.
Thoughts of stars flew out of her head when a flash of movement from a building across the way caught her eye.
Brow furrowed, Casey pulled out her binoculars and focused in.
"Hello turtle ninja," she whispered to herself.
Even though she admitted that she could have been a bit kinder to him, he still nearly put a sai through her eye socket.
Sue her for waiting just a smidge of payback.
Casey was up in an instant and jumping off the escape, unaware that she was being pursued herself.
"Yame!" called Mister Splinter as April finished her last kata. She immediately went into a seated position and bowed deeply.
"You have been keeping up with your practice well, April."
"Thank you, Sensei," said April sincerely. "I didn't want to stop because I was mad. So I practiced at home."
"Well you have been progressing admirably, April. I am very impressed," said Splinter.
April smiled at the compliment, bright and wide.
"I think that we are done with your training for tonight, April." Splinter smiled kindly at her, "Now how about you go and join my sons?"
"Thank you, sensei!" exclaimed April, bowing again for politeness sake, and leaving the room happily.
She vaulted over the couch and sat next to Mikey.
"Hey Apriiiilll!" he sang as her offered her his popcorn.
April took a couple of kernels and sat back.
"Where's Raph?" she asked, realizing they were short one ninja.
"Aw he went to go blow off some steam," said Donnie with a dismissive wave of his hand. "He'll come back when he's cooled off."
Almost as if on cue, Raph walked in. His expression slightly less than thunderous meant that the turtle was at least calmer than earlier.
"Oh hey Raph!" called Mikey bright and happy. "You've come just at the best part. The bad guy has totally invaded the Secret Mecha Force HQ! Come and watch us dude!"
Raph snorted, "Your guys brains are gonna rot from it. I mean Donnie can spare it, but not Mikey."
"Hey!" both of the offended turtles called out.
April and Leo both tried to hide their snorts.
"FOUND YOU!" shouted a triumphant voice, a familiar triumphant voice.
"Casey?!" yelped April as she stood up. Immediately curtailing any intervention from the team, as they just looked at her in askance.
Oh what the actual hell was Casey wearing?
"Red?" asked Casey in confusion, putting down her hockey stick.
Red was here? When did she get here? Was she kidnapped? She did not look kidnapped.
And there were more turtles, in different color masks, but of course there was.
They were also watching TV. It looked like a really poorly done dubbed anime.
See? This is why she watches her anime in Japanese. Now, however, was not the time to bring it up.
"Wait," said Casey slowly as it hit her. "THESE are your mysterious friends?"
"Ummm…" said April with a sheepish grin on her face.
Well, that answered Casey's questioned. April was friends with mutant ninja turtles. Casey was just going to put that whole scene on pause for a second and go to the real reason why she trekked down the sewers first.
You need to prioritize the weird stuff in your life.
"Where did you come from?" demanded her turtle, the red masked one with the sais.
"I saw you and followed you."
"Why?! You want round two?!"
"No! Well I…kind of," said Casey awkwardly, "I was going to do..uh…"
She fidgeted slightly and then muttered quickly, "I was going to apologize to you for being kind of an ass. Then I was going to punch you in the face for nearly stabbing me in the face with your sai. Then I was going to apologize again."
"Do you humans apologize like that?" Casey heard one of the other turtles asked.
"Only the very stupid and emotionally stunted ones," replied April. Casey honestly wasn't sure if she deserved that one.
The red masked one opened his mouth to say something, but his words were cut off.
Mainly because he was staring at the army of robot ninjas.
"The Foot!"
"The who?" asked Casey.
"The robot ninjas from the ice hockey rink!" explained April quickly as she opened her fan. "They must have followed you."
Well Casey suddenly felt very much like crap. This was not how she wanted to meet April's mysterious friends.
Or you know punch out/apologize to Sai Guy.
Casey winced and looked at the Foot robots.
"You were going to attack me originally for decapitating and dismembering your buddies, aren't you?"
As one, the Foot robots nodded.
"Yeah. This is definitely not my week," murmured Casey to herself. She reached back and grabbed Cupcake.
A door opened and a deep male voice demanded, "WHAT IS GOING ON HERE?"
At the same time, Casey was using Cupcake to knock the closest Foot robot's head clean off.
She may have led them here, but she was going to be damned if they hurt April or April's weird friends. She was going to do something good in her life, and not be a major screw-up.
Casey spun and slammed the bat down on the decapitated head for good measure. Sai Guy had clearly joined in the fray, and from the sounds behind her so did the others.
"One is getting away!" shouted one of the new voices.
Casey felt her eyes narrow and she ground out, "No it's not!"
With a running start, Casey jumped over the turnstile and landed on her skates. She took off down the tunnel.
"I'm with ya!" called Sai Guy, following her moments later.
Casey kept her eyes on the spider-like robot.
Well tonight got super weird, decided Raphael as he ran down the sewers next to the skating masked guy (Casey apparently). His suddenly new ally, and apparently friend of April's (was this the boyfriend Donnie was going on about?), kept pace and didn't even notice that he had company in Raph.
"So what's the plan?" asked Casey.
"It doesn't leave the subway tunnels in one piece," said Raph simply.
"Oh. I like that plan. It's one that has all of my best skills."
Raphael chuckled darkly at that, "You know? My skills are very similar as well."
The Foot Bot turned and threw out shuriken, which both of them dodged.
Raph took out his throwing stars and let them fly. He caught an arm, but not enough to damage it severely.
Growling, he and Casey took off deeper into the subway tunnels for the Foot Bot.
Where they immediately ran into more Foot Bots.
"I can't tell the one we want from the others!"
"Wait!" shouted Casey who had a visual on the Foot Bot. "I got it!"
He took out a canister of spray paint, shook it, and threw it at the Foot Bot with their location. It exploded in bright blue all over the bot.
"If that thing gets back to Karai and gives away my family's location," growled Raphael as he took down two Foot Bots. "You're answering to Splinter!"
"Who?" asked Casey as he swung the bat at Bots head, knocking it clean off. Turning around, he let loose the taser he used on Raph a few nights back, overloading another one. He also hit it in the head for good measure.
"My father!"
"That's fair," agreed Casey, "but it's not getting out of here in one piece. I won't let it hurt your family."
He then used the baseball pat to hit a thrown into the air hockey puck at another Foot Bot's head, which ripped through it easily.
Raph stabbed and knocked three more out of commission, "Why?! You barely know us?"
"You're Red's friends. I wanted to help protect her and my family. You think I wanted to do this for funsies?" asked Casey, as he ripped off a mace attachment from one of the down Foot Bots and used it to disembowel an incoming one.
"You seemed crazy enough to do it!" shouted Raph as he finished off the last of his Bots before taking off down the tunnel.
"Hey!" called Casey, who didn't argue the point.
The two of them had other problems to deal with at the moment.
Their Foot Bot was in sight as they moved down the tunnel. Casey trigged those skates of his and was on the rail in an instant, gliding after the Bot.
"Come on, Sai Guy! Hustle!"
Raphael didn't bother to correct him at this particular moment in time.
Both of them were so absorbed in their chase that they didn't notice that they Earth had started to move under their feet.
Casey saw the train coming before Sai Guy did.
She spared a glance at the Bot, but in the end there was no decision to be made. She flung herself at Sai Guy and they tumbled onto the ground together just as the subway cars sped past.
Sai Guy's bright green eyes were wide.
Casey turned to him in concern, "Are you okay?"
"Yeah," said Sai Guy awkwardly. He rubbed his arm and swallowed, "Thanks. And you apology accepted. I'm sorry too."
"Awesome."
"There he is!" shouted Sai Guy suddenly and Casey saw the bright blue of the paint. Both her and Sai Guy looked at each other before going to catch that train.
Raph steadied himself on the car carefully. Casey's presence suddenly much more of a comfort then it had been previously.
Despite previous tensions, he knew Casey had his back and he had Casey's.
After all, not many people would risk their life to say a total strange that they were fighting with a few nights previously.
The Foot Bot turned at their approach and fanned out, almost gliding on the air to fight them.
"Oh," said Casey next to him, "That's kind of badass, but I am really go to enjoy this."
"Same here," agreed Raphael as he spun his sais.
The two of them fought, one taking the front while the other covered the back. There was just not that much room on top of a subway car. Casey was brutal, having traded the bat for the goalie hockey stick. Clearly this was his favored weapon, an odd one but one that was effective.
Raphael had some more finesse then Casey did, dodging lightly on his feet. They weren't able to land a finishing blow yet on the Bot.
Then he saw Casey go down from the corner of his eye. In an instant his rope was out and around Casey's waist as he pulled him back up on the car.
"Thanks," panted Casey taking in a deep breath of air, clearly trying not to freak out.
"Consider us even," said Raph as he turned his attentions back to the Foot Bot.
The Foot Bot jumped off at an empty subway station with Raph and Casey hot on its tail.
Casey was really, really wishing that she had brought Florence with her tonight. Sai Guy could probably throw the mace and break the damn robot's face.
Instead Casey pulled out Cupcake to join Gretzky as she followed the Bot carefully. She swung but it kept on dodging at the last minute, to her ever increasing frustration.
"He's gonna go for the street!" she yelled at Raph.
"I gotta an idea!" he called looking at her blocking glove. She followed his gaze and knew.
Popping up her skates, she started to gain momentum. When she met the running Sai Guy, he grabbed her and threw her after the Bot.
Springing out her taser, she caught the thing in the face frying it rather nice before going into a controlled roll to the ground.
Casey popped up like a demented Energizer Bunny and took out Cupcake.
"Shall you do the honors or should I?"
"Allow me," said Sai Guy taking out his sais and spinning them. With an effortless and deadly grace, he brought down one into the head of the robot, effectively making sure it was dead.
The two of them stood there, in the subway entrance, shaking from adrenaline and looking at each other for several minutes.
Casey pulled up her mask and grinned at Sai Guy.
Casey was wearing facepaint, Raph noted as he got his first good look at Casey's face. Clearly Casey was invoking skull imagery by the majorly white face with black eyes and various lines. His lips were painted red, which was weird but whatever. He also had streaks of red under his black painted eyes as well.
"Nice face."
"Yeah well," said Casey with a grin. "Had to make sure I looked good beating up crime."
Raph snorted at that.
Casey grinned at him unrepentantly.
"Thanks Sai Guy."
"Actually the name is Raphael, Raphael Hamato," he paused awkwardly. "Everyone calls me Raph though."
"Casey Jones, everyone calls me Supreme Commander of Awesome."
"No they don't."
"They will one day," said Casey cheerfully as he bent over the body of the Foot Bot. "What do we with this guy?"
"Throw it in front of a train?"
Casey shrugged and grinned, "Works for me. Let's do it, Raph."
Huh. Maybe he wasn't so bad at this friend thing after all. You just needed to find common interests.
Casey's adrenaline was wearing off by the time she and Raph had gotten back to the Lair (as Raph had called it). Her body was definitely going to hate her in the morning, but she had a feeling her night wasn't over.
As Raphael said to her as they prepared to throw the Foot Bot's, "Yeah everyone is going to want to make sure that this won't happen again. But since April and I will vouch for you I'm pretty sure this will be cool."
Somewhere over the course of the night, she was pretty sure that she and Raph had their own Troll Moment of Friendship.
Right now she was leaning against him heavily because her whole body hurt, Raph promised that before the interrogation she could wash her face and his brother could check out her injuries.
Both of which sounded like good ideas to Casey.
"Casey!" called April in utter relief, "Raph! Both of you are okay!"
"Course," said Casey with a smirk, "Me and Raphy-Boy totally destroyed that Foot Bot."
She then sobered as she looked around the room. (And hello giant rat man when did you get here? Oh…wait that must be Raph's dad.)
"I am so sorry for leading them here, however unintentionally. I really just wanted to talk with Raphael and apologize and then punch him."
Raph snorted next to her.
"Anyway I'm sorry. And I trust Red so if she trusts then you know I trust you guys too. And I know I haven't done anything to earn your trust but…"
"You have protected our home without even knowing us," said the rat (Splinter?) with a wise deep slightly accented voice. "I believe that owns some level of trust around here."
Casey smiled a bit.
"Raphael said that I could wash my face and get my injuries looked at before we have a chat?"
"I believe that is the best course of action," agreed the rat man. "After that we will have to have talk."
"Understandable," agreed Casey weakly. "Red you got some face wash I could borrow?"
"Lucky for you, I was sleeping over tonight anyway," said April as she went to go help Casey limp to the bathroom. "Come on Jones let's get you presentable."
"Can't take me anywhere right Red?"
"Nowhere at all, Jones."
After Casey and April had left the room, a furious whispering had exploded between the brothers.
"That's April's boyfriend?!" whispered Donnie furiously. "I can't believe it!"
"Are you really sure he's her boyfriend?" asked Leo. "He and she could just be good friends."
"He seems awesome," said Mikey happily. "How was he out there, Raph?"
"Pretty damn good for someone with no training. And I like him. Jones saved my life out there tonight. He's good people."
Donnie gave Raph a dark look but ground his teeth together. He couldn't not treat Casey.
"I'll go grab the first aid kit," grumbled Donatello as he disappeared into his slightly destroyed lab for the necessary supplies.
"What do you think Sensei?" Mikey's voice questioned from outside the opened door.
"I trust April and Raphael's judgments. But I find myself agreeing. He did not have to help us, but he did so anyway."
Donnie slammed his first aid kit a little rougher then usual. Of course some regular human boy had to come in and sweep April off her feet. Of course he had to have that bad boy charm and be a good a fighter.
He was definitely not going to end up with April now.
April came out a few minutes later, "Sorry about that guys. Casey was having some problem getting clothes off."
Of course he did, thought Donatello darkly.
The man of the hour walked out seconds later.
He was Donatello's height, maybe an inch or two taller. His short messy black hair stuck up every which way and was slightly damp like he stuck it under the tap. There was an impressive array of bruises both new and old on his body. Donatello would have to be careful in his examination.
Was that a tattoo on his left shoulder? It looked like a rose in…
Donatello stared. His brain suddenly stopped short.
The whole place had suddenly become absolutely quiet.
"Casey why are you wearing a sports bra?" asked Raph in a quiet voice.
Casey gave him a confused look.
"So I didn't flash my boobs at you, Raph."
"Found it!" called April who held up a lipstick tube triumphantly from Casey's weapons bag. She handed it over to Casey, who took it and applied it to her lips.
Once finished, Casey turned to look at the gaping men.
"What did you think I was a boy or something?" asked the definitely female Casey Jones.
"YOU'RE A GIRL?!" shouted Mikey back dumbly.
Casey sighed, "Well this talk just got longer, didn't it?"
April just started laughing hysterically.
A/N: I've been really inspired by this idea lately. This things are just popping out of me. I wrote this all out today (or well all Saturday). Go. Me.
Anyway next fic will be people sitting around and talking because I need a break from action writing hahaha. It's not my strong suit. So I'm sorry if the fights are dull.