Chapter Three: Marie

Three days had passed since Casey came to live with the Hamato family. Mornings and afternoons had been spent at school while during the night there were movie marathons and chores. Every day, Casey thought to call his father, but the moment he picked up the phone, the same days-old anger would rear its ugly head. He just couldn't seem to find the right state of mind.

This particular day, though, seemed unusual. Master Splinter felt it too as he saw the young Jones off to school in the morning. It had become a regular thing that Casey took some secret delight in; his own father would sleep until almost noon. Casey practically never saw him in the mornings, let alone receive a daily "Have fun at school!"

Casey didn't know if it was the air or the bologna and whipped cream pizza Mikey made for breakfast, but today seemed different.

"Be careful today, Casey," Splinter told him as Casey crossed the turnstile. "For something seems off."

Yeah, Splinter. That's exactly what a kid wants to hear first thing in the morning.

School went by well, more or less, but the fact that hockey practice was cancelled did not help Casey's mood. The day was half-over when Casey realized how much he missed having a certain red-headed presence in his life. He could hardly wait for her college-viewing trip to Florida to end. Finally, as the sky began to show the slightest tint of orange, the last class was over and the journey home could begin.

No more than two minutes out of the school property, Casey sensed a presence close by. He guessed that his ninja friends' sixth sense must have rubbed off on him. Never breaking stride, he snuck a quick peak over his shoulder. He didn't get a good look, but made out a shape wearing a long coat; they couldn't have been more than fifteen paces behind.

He decided to test the waters and made a left at the next street. The person still followed. Casey made a right, and they followed. He made another left; still they were on his tail.

Yup, he thought. They're following me, alright…

He also noticed how they had begun to pick up the pace. Casey responded by sprinting. Hard.

He must have gone far because the part of town he was in had almost no people around. Perfect.

He ducked into a deserted alley and crouched behind the dumpster. Plunking down his gym bag, he retrieved his hockey sticks and mask. He almost leapt out of his skin as a large three-fingered hand touched his shoulder. He spun round.

It was Leo and Raph.

"Oh it's just you," Casey relaxed somewhat. "What're you guys doin' here?"

"We were gonna get take-out at Murakami's," Leo answered. "Why? Need help stopping a bank-robbery?"

"Someone's following me," he whispered.

Leo immediately tensed. "Who? You think it's the Purple Dragons?"

"I don't know, but they've been on my tail since I got outta school. I think there's just one of 'em, though."

"Then we trap 'em," Raph said determinedly, punching his open fist for emphasis. "See how they like being the mouse."

Casey smiled broadly, retrieving the hockey stick from his bag. "Whaddya think I'm doing, dude? Nobody trolls Casey Jones!"

"Yeah, except for April, maybe," Raph added.

"Dude!"

Leo took control of the conversation. "Get into position, Raph."

The red-banded turtle rolled his eyes. "Do you really need to tell me that?"

"Just-"

"Guys!" Casey interjected, sensing another pointless argument coming.

The two turtles jumped out of sight and into the shadows. Casey remained in plain sight to keep his pursuer focused on him, giving Leo and Raph the element of surprise. He donned his hockey mask and twirled his sticks with gusto.

"Ok, punk," he said. "Casey's got the drumsticks. Now…who wants to be the drums?"

"Casey Marie Jones!" came a shrill female voice from around the corner.

The human boy paled, nearly dropping his hockey sticks. "No cheezing-way," Casey gasped. "Her? HER?"

Leo poked his head out from behind the dumpster. "Wait, you know her?"

Raph was out of sight, balanced on a fire escape ladder. "Your middle name is 'Marie'?" he scoffed.

Their words seemed lost on Casey as the boy wasted no time in hiding his mask and hockey sticks. "Shut up and hide!"

"Casey!" the voice called again.

He spun round to face her. His friends disappeared from sight the second she rounded the corner.

"Paige?" Casey gasped. "I-I didn't recognize you. I thought you were in England or somethin'."

She was an aged exotic beauty with tanned skin, large brown eyes, and dark blonde hair that stretched to her lower back, practically reminiscent of a blonde and middle-aged Bollywood siren. She was wearing a form-fitting white dress and a large beige coat, black shoes swathing her petite feet. None of these things diminished her utterly infuriated expression.

"Don't try and change the subject, young man," she reprimanded in a crisp Manchester accent. "Do I even need to tell you that your family's worried sick or are you just going to conveniently forget that fact?"

"Wha-? Don't tell me you crossed the pond just for that."

For a split second, she seemed to hesitate. "Never you mind," she insisted. "When are you coming home?"

"When pigs fly," he spat, immediately regretting his choice of words. He'd seen her be mad…and he didn't feel like seeing it right now. "I mean-when I'm ready."

"And when will that be?"

"I don't know," he admitted. "Look, I'll go back and talk to dad when I'm ready… Just not now…Okay?"

She looked into those apprehensive puppy-dog eyes. It was as if he were a six-year-old again, crying over a petty problem. But in those uneasy eyes was the slightest twinkle of pride and confidence, just enough to remind her how much she treasured that cheeky little spirit. Her shoulders slumped in defeat. How could she say no to that? "Alright."

They exchanged understanding looks before rushing forward to take the other in their arms. Casey momentarily lost himself in her warm and mothering embrace and Paige fondly stroked the back of her boy's head.

"Despite the circumstances, it's wonderful to see you again," she said as they pulled away. She reached out a gentle hand and caressed his cheek. "How you've grown. Your look just like your mum."

"Thanks, Paige…I see you let your hair grow out." No wonder he hadn't recognized her. The Paige of his childhood always wore her hair short. She also dyed it black to look "More Indian" as she insisted. He never understood why, though; she had always been beautiful regardless.

Paige brushed one long golden tress over her shoulder. "Yes, I got tired of all the upkeep. I'm not getting any younger, after all."

"Well, it actually makes ya look younger."

Paige smiled warmly. Her smile fell as she remembered her young charge's situation. "Do you at least have a place to stay?" she asked, genuine concern in her gentle tone.

"O'course! I got these awesome friends and they were nice enough to let me stay with 'em."

Paige scoffed. "Well, when you overstay your welcome, I've a new apartment in Williamsburg. Come stay with me."

"Sure, Paige."

"It'll be just like old times. Except I know you're much too old now for that special hot chocolate and cream scones."

"Hey now, I never said that."

Leo and Raph stayed crouched in the shadows, watching the scene unfold. They were trapped in this weird mix of confusion and surprise. Was this the same Casey? Why was he being so polite, not to mention modest? Who was this woman to make him act this way? Finally, the wondered if they should be watching what seemed to be such a private and personal moment for one of their friends.

Oh well.

After a while, Casey and the woman said their goodbyes and parted. The brothers waited until she was fully down the block before coming into view.

Casey felt instead of heard his friends emerge from their hiding places. "I see you guys are done eavesdropping," he said.

"Who was that?" Raph half-demanded.

Casey hesitated before answering, a noticeable blush creeping on his face. "No one of consequence. See ya at the lair."

Leo grabbed the back of his collar. "Hold on there, cowboy."

Raphael smirked. "Is it just me or did you turn into a little girl when you were talking to her?"

"Seriously," Leo insisted. "Who was that? Your mom?"

"She was my nanny," he admitted, unable to find the right word. She was undoubtedly more than that to him, but he always did have a problem with words. He waited for the obnoxious response.

Raph threw up his hands, grinning and chuckling uncontrollably. "Wait. Wait. You had a British nanny? What, did she have a magic umbrella and when she sang, subtitles would appear?" The turtle doubled over, his hands on his knees and laughing out loud. "I don't know what's more messed up, that you had a nanny or that your middle name's 'Marie'!"

Casey gestured to his red-banded friend. "This right here? You can see why I never told you guys about her. I would never have heard the end of it."

Raphael was lost in hysterical laughter, his mind bombarded with images of Casey in diapers or facing a corner in time-out. "Oh, this is so rich, its givin' me a fat-embolism!"

"I don't even know what that means," Casey said quietly.

"Yeah," Leo agreed. "I think it's super…supercalifragilisticexpialidocious!"

"Yeah," Casey said half-heartedly. "Yuck it up, guys. Yuck it up."

"Ok," the brothers said in unison.

Their so-called 'yucking up' was interrupted as a single brown spike landed between Casey's feet. The boy let out a surprised squeak and the laughter immediately ceased. They knew of only one source that spike could have come from.

"If it weren't obvious enough," Leonardo began, drawing his katanas" we've got company."

Fishface. Rahzar. Tigerclaw…to be specific.

Each of the three enemy mutants stood poised upon all three buildings of the alley, surrounding their prey almost completely.

"Well, if it isn't our favorite freaks!" Fishface hissed.

"Freaks?" Raph scoffed, twirling his sais. "You wanna be the pot or the kettle, sushi-head?"

"What do you want from us now?" Leo sighed.

"What we want," Razhar began, "is to grind your faces into the gravel and then dance on top of the remains…but it's not specifically what we're here for right now."

"And what have you got to say, cat?" Leo demanded from Tigerclaw. A dangerous edge emerged in his voice as he said "You're not taking Karai back to the Shredder. She belongs with us!"

"I am not here on Master Shredder's orders," the tiger answered matter-of-factly. "I am a mercenary. So long as I am paid my dues, I will work for anyone…It just so happens that my latest benefactor is interested in you vermin as well."

"Us?" Leo asked. "What're you-woah!" He never finished as Tigerclaw pounced. Leo's reaction saved him from having his head slashed open.

So the fight was on. Raph faced Razhar and it was Casey versus Fishface. The alley was noisy with the sounds of steel clashing against wood, and claws sparking against steel. The turtles realized that fate was not on their side; they had just come from an exhausting practice drill, with their opponents no doubt fresh as daisies. Escape was the only option at the moment. All one of them needed was the chance to lay down a smoke bomb.

At some point, Casey had managed to knock Fishface out cold with his modified taser. Just in time as well.

Leo was in trouble. Tigerclaw had managed to knock away both katanas from him. Now, the blue-banded turtle stood with his shell to the wall, armed with naught but his small knife.

Tigerclaw raised his gun, aiming for one of Leo's legs. "My client never said you had to be in one piece." He squeezed the trigger.

"Goongala!"

The laser beam found its home instead in a hockey puck. Before Tigerclaw could fire another shot, the gun was knocked clean out of his paw by another puck. Growling in rage, the tiger looked around for the source of his annoyance.

"Booyaah!" Casey cheered, waving a hockey stick in the air triumphantly. He broke out of his reverie as the big tiger approached him. "Oh boy."

"No!" Leo sprang forward to defend his friend but was forced to block a strike from Razhar instead.

Casey was easily outmatched despite putting up a good fight. He could not react fast enough as Tigerclaw seized him by the neck. "Put me down, you giant mutated Hello Kitty!"

"Stupid boy," Tigerclaw growled. Heaving back, the mutant threw Casey into the air as if he were a discus.

Raph and Leo watched helplessly. Their friend was moving high and fast. If the whiplash hadn't killed him, the landing surely would.

"Casey!" he heard his friends scream in horror. They would never reach him in time.

From then on, everything seemed to move in slow motion for Casey. Everything except for the memories that flashed before his eyes: the birth of his baby sister, his first hockey victory, the last time he held his mom's hand, his grief leading him to his first act of vigilantism, Paige singing and dancing as she cooked dinner for his family, meeting the four best and greenest friends in the world, his argument with his dad-which he never resolved. He was going to die without mending their relationship. He was going to die never having thanked his friends for all they done for him.

So this is how it ends, he thought as the sky blurred past him. Casey Jones-The Casey Jones-done-in by an overgrown cat in a scarf.

He must have crossed two blocks and peaked at thirty feet in the air. He could feel it now, he was nearing the ground. He closed his eyes and waited for the end as one final regret crossed his mind.

I never did get that kiss from Red…

Yet somehow the end never came.

Something had saved him, catching him like a net before he could meet the ground. He opened his eyes. He deduced that he was in another alley, probably a few blocks away from where the fight was still occurring. Then he looked at what he lay on.

It was white. And soft. And crinkled under his touch.

It was as strange as it was strangely familiar…

Paper.

It was paper.

Crisp, white, office paper.

Each individual sheet was linked together, forming a protective net around him, with all four corners bonded to the walls of the alley. Casey sat up to look at the source of this bizarre phenomenon. She stood at the mouth of the alley with one hand on her hip and the other loosely gripping the white papery structure that saved his life. Her expression was one of pure exasperation as she looked down at him with large brown eyes.

Paige gave an audible sigh. "I can't take my eyes off you for one minute, can I?"