A big welcome to my sister Kathymartin14 who has joined the Fanfiction community just to read my story and be my beta reader. She is a writer as well and has an amazing original work of her own in progress. I can't thank her enough for doing this for me considering the fact she is very busy plus she isn't a TMNT fan (hoping to change that!).
Anyway, hope you enjoy the next chapter. It's Casey's turn to get caught up in the prank war...
Disclaimer: I own nothing :)
"Man, I am so sick of all this sitting around you guys have been doing lately. When are we gonna go topside where the action is?" Casey groaned as he flung himself down next to Raph on the couch. The red-banded turtle gave a grunt as the teen jostled him but otherwise didn't take his eyes off the TV. "I need to do something. Don't you guys want to do something?"
"We are doing something Jones," Raph reached out to shove at Casey's shoulder and glared pointedly at the screen. "So how about you shut yer yap? If you're really that bored you're more than welcome to go topside to freeze your balls off. The rest of us are busy."
Casey glanced incredulously towards the TV where an old episode of some stupid sci-fi show was playing then raised his eyebrows at Raph who had already gone back to pointedly ignoring him. "Busy? Busy! Gah!"
"Besides Casey, there is no action up there," Leo added mildly before smothering a yawn with his hand. "Donny has been monitoring Foot and Dragon activity by hacking into the surveillance cameras all around the city. Nothing significant going on. If there was we'd be on it, trust me." The turtle sunk himself a little deeper into his beanbag and closed his eyes, arms crossed loosely over his plastron.
"Something has to be happening in this city," Casey insisted hotly as he shifted to the edge of his seat. "Crime doesn't just take a break because it's cold. That's dumb."
"You're dumb." Donny muttered from his position on the other side of Raph. He was lying on his stomach with one hand propping up his chin while he clicked half-heartedly at his laptop, brown eyes hooded as they shot Casey a dismissive look.
Casey jumped to his feet, flinging an arm out to point at the purple-banded turtle. "See? Even Donny's insults are lazy. You guys are so. Freakin'. Boring!" He flailed his arms in the air in frustration, "BORING!"
Three deadpan faces stared back at him, utterly unfazed by his outburst. After a second Casey huffed and let his hands fall back to his sides. Leo shook his head and closed his eyes again while his brothers went back to their screens.
"I'm going to find Mikey," the lanky teen muttered."Even Scarlett would be more interesting than you guys right now."
"Knock yourself out," came the muttered reply and Casey gritted his teeth as he stalked away.
As he left the radius of blaring TV noise, the sound of wheels on wood caught his ears instead and he headed in that direction. Seconds later he came upon the two teenagers who were hanging out on the half pipe that was tucked away at the rear of the lair. Casey slouched his way towards them with his hands shoved into his pockets.
Mikey looked up as he approached, surprise flashing across his face as he acknowledged the human with a half wave. "Hey Casey."
"Hi Mikey."
The youngest turtle was sitting off to one side of the small ramp so that he was right by the lowest point of it. Cross-legged he went back to watching Scarlett as she skated back and forth, back and forth. His head swivelled to and fro with her movements and Casey found himself doing the same as he flopped down next to him.
A few moments later Scarlett completed her run and dismounted at the top of the pipe on the narrow platform built there, trapping the small orange skateboard under her foot while tucking her dark fringe back up under her black beanie so it was out of her eyes. Despite the cool air in the lair she'd taken off her red flannel shirt and tied it around her waist so that all she wore was a black t-shirt and her ripped jeans.
When Scarlett spotted Casey sitting next to Mikey she rolled her eyes but refrained from saying anything. He shot her a return grimace. She didn't own the lair; he could sit wherever he wanted. She caught his expression and smirked, cocking an eyebrow as she repositioned her board and flipped him off at the same time. Then she lazily dropped back into the pipe to continue her pointless journey up and down the small curved ramp.
"What's happening man?" Mikey asked, watching Scarlett as she came off the top of the far side of the pipe, bent her knees and grabbed the middle of her board to complete a 180 turn mid-air before landing smoothly again. A little smile tugged at the turtle's mouth as she completed the simple looking trick.
"Nothing at all," Casey grumbled, propping his chin on his fist. "That's the problem. No one wants to do anything around here. You guys are so quiet at the moment, it's weird."
"Hibernation dude," Mikey said with a small laugh, shooting him an amused look.
Casey frowned, "What?"
"Hi-ber-na-tion," Mikey drawled the word out, adopting a superior look that reminded Casey of Donny and immediately made him want to slap the guy. "Winter equals sleepy time for turtles. My bros barely have enough energy for training let alone patrols. You're gonna have to wait until Spring for them to start getting active again. Sorry," he finished with a shrug of his freckled green shoulders.
"Oh." Casey mulled this over for a moment. "So how come you aren't slothing then?" he asked with a frown. Mikey made a 'dunno' face then went back to watching Scarlett as she skated.
"Just doesn't bother me as much I guess," he said dismissively then paused as he seemed to think of something. His wide mouth curved into a wicked grin and he shot Casey a sly look from the corner of his eye as he lowered his voice to a stage whisper. "But I do have an idea that might liven things up a bit."
Casey cocked his head curiously as the turtle retrieved something from his belt. He caught a brief flash of something red and white before Mikey palmed the object and it was swallowed in the guy's huge hand.
"What's that?" he asked, his interest peaked. The turtles had a whole heap of fascinating gadgets stashed away in their utility belts. Smoke pellets, ninja stars, small flash bombs. Casey loved a good homemade weapon and had a keen interest in getting a closer look at the different devices that Donny seemed to be constantly cooking up for his brothers in his spare time.
Mikey immediately held a finger to his mouth, silently shushing Casey who obediently snapped his mouth shut. Both boys cast a furtive look at Scarlett and, once they were sure she wasn't paying them any mind, Mikey slowly unfurled his fist to reveal a small canister with a red plastic horn on the top. Along the side of the device the words 'AIR HORN' were written in bold, capital letters.
Casey felt his eyes widen and a grin twitch at his lips as he realised what Mikey was up to. Raph and April had both mentioned on separate occasions that Mikey and Scarlett were embroiled in some kind of prank war over the last few weeks. It seemed as though he'd managed to arrive at the perfect time to witness one of the pranks first hand. He almost squirmed with suppressed glee as Mikey once again palmed the canister, this time positioning his large thumb on the top of it ready to push down then letting his hand dangle casually across his lap.
Now the boys both returned their attention to Scarlett who was once again standing on the platform as she re-tucked her hair into her beanie with an irritated huff at the wayward strands. Her cheeks were flushed as she turned her head to look down at them, feral yellow eyes squinting at Casey as if annoyed to still see him there before softening as they moved to Mikey.
"You want a turn yet?" she asked, using her foot to roll the board in their direction.
"Nah, you keep going," Mikey replied casually then shot Casey a grin when she shrugged and launched off the lip again. He brought the canister up, eyes carefully tracking Scarlett's trajectory and waiting until she was airborne off the other side of the ramp before holding out the air horn towards her and pressing down hard on the button...
BAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRT!
Even though Casey had been expecting it, the sheer volume of noise that the air horn emitted caused him to jump reflexively and clap his hands over his ears. For such a small device it delivered a serious auditory punch.
The instant the piercing noise burst forth Scarlett let out a startled cry as she jerked upright and windmilled her arms. The second her centre of gravity shifted she lost her balance on the board and fumbled her landing. A hard thump sounded when she hit the ramp with both knees then tumbled down the slope to land in an untidy tangle at the bottom. The orange board she'd been riding shot away to crash into the wall a good ten paces away.
Back in the lounge pit there was a chorus of exclamations and when Casey glanced that way he saw that the other three brothers weren't looking so sleepy anymore. Raph and Donny were on their feet, weapons drawn as they stared wildly around the lair as if trying to discern where the explosive noise had come from. Leo hadn't managed to get to his feet as quickly, instead he was flailing as he tried to get up from the beanbag. Casey broke into cackles of laughter at the sight of the fearless leader's green limbs thrashing around gracelessly. Raph looked over at the sound and frowned angrily. "Will you three shut the hell up?" he ordered loudly from across the room before slumping back onto the couch. Donny and Leo gave identical eye rolls before they too subsided.
"Ow, my fucking ears!"
Casey whipped his head back towards Scarlett and laughed even harder when he saw her clutching at her head as she sat up groaning. Her beanie had flown off which meant she was glaring angrily through a wild mess of dark tangled hair at Mikey who was also giggling uncontrollably. When she caught sight of the canister in his hands that he was no longer making any effort to hide, her eyes widened with fury.
"An air horn? You just about punctured my eardrums with an air horn? You're such an asshole! My ears are ringing so bad!" She dug a finger into her ear and wriggled it around, opening her mouth wide in an effort to pop her eardrums.
"Oh man, you should've seen your dismount, I wish I'd been filming it!" Mikey sniggered without even a hint of remorse, the hand not holding the canister reaching out to give her the 'okay' signal. "Judges give it a perfect ten."
Casey was running out of breath, he leant against Mikey's shoulder as he gasped for air and blinked tears of laughter out of his eyes. "So...f-f-freakin' graceful," he managed to get out between wheezes.
Scarlett let out an angry hiss as she stood, baring her teeth and taking a threatening step towards them. Immediately Mikey hurried to get to his feet too.
"C'mon Scar, prank for prank. You know the drill." Even though he held his hands out in a placating way towards his friend, the orange-banded turtle wasn't able to keep the amusement out of his tone and Casey felt a thrill of danger run through him when Scarlett narrowed her eyes.
"My last prank didn't even work!" she seethed.
Mikey shrugged, "You know what they say, it's the thought that counts." He tapped a finger against his chinas his shit-eating grin grew even wider. "Or maybe that should be, if you can't stand the heat stay out of the kitchen."
Casey took an involuntary step back and to the side as Scarlett's eyes just about popped out of her head and her jaw visibly clenched. This was getting a bit too heavy for him, moving out of the line of fire seemed like a good idea right about now. As surreptitiously as possible he started backing up, making his way stealthily to the lounge pit and the relative safety of the other turtles.
Scarlett ignored his retreat and instead focussed on Mikey. "I'm gonna ram that bloody thing down your throat!" Even through gritted teeth her voice managed to raise the hairs along Casey's arms. "Give it to me!"
The grin on Mikey's face wavered a little as she drew closer and he got a better look at the murderous glint in her eye. He held out the air horn to wave it at her, thumb poised over the pressure switch threateningly. "Don't come any closer Scarlett or I'll...gahhhhh!"
BAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRT!
Scarlett had made a lunge for the small canister and the startling speed with which she'd moved had caused Mikey to reflexively press down on the horn as he tried to jerk it back from her grasp. The blast of sound went off close to her face and she cried out, slapping her hands over her ears again as she cringed away.
"OW!"
This time when she lowered her hands her expression was pure fury.
"You're dead Michelangelo!"
"It was an accident!" Mikey hollered as he spun on his heel to make a run for it and Casey noted wryly that there was still a trace of laughter in the turtle's voice. In fact his mouth was once again stretched into a wide grin as he sprinted towards the lounge pit where his other brothers were watching the whole thing play out with irritated expressions. "Guys help! She's after me!"
"I hope she beats your stupid ass, you moron," Raphcalled out gruffly as the pair blew past, then he shot a look at Leo and Donny. "This is starting to get out of hand."
"Uh huh," Leo muttered, watching as Mikey tried to scramble over the turnstiles to escape into the sewer tunnels only to be brought up short when Scarlett caught him by the foot and sent him crashing to the ground out of view. She leapt after him, the sounds of a scuffle drifting back to those watching.
"At least they are working off some energy," Donny offered, wincing as Mikey let out one of his signature high-pitched screams.
"Ahhhhh ha ha ha ha! My arm doesn't bend that way! Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! Uncle! Uncle!"
The air horn was letting out spasmotic bursts of sound as the pair wrestled over it and with each stuttering blast the group in the lounge pit gave an involuntary flinch. Raph's left eye was starting to noticeably twitch as the fight dragged on, getting steadily louder and more violent.
"Give me that fucking air horn, Mikey!" Scarlett's voice had taken on a decidedly frenzied tone.
Casey watched with interest as the three older turtles looked at each other, one of their silent conversations zapping through the air between them in the form of raised eye ridges, pointed looks and flaring nostrils.
Finally Leo sighed loudly, "Fine, I'll go." he said tiredly."I have a feeling Master Splinter is already waiting for them in the dojo anyway." Squaring his shoulders he cleared his throat before striding towards the tussling pair. "Yame!" he yelled sternly.
"Still wanna go topside Jones?"
Casey's head snapped around as Raph asked the question, face brightening as he nodded. "Hell yeah!"
"C'mon then. I suddenly feel the need for some fresh air."
"Right behind you." Casey snagged his bag of hockey sticks and slung them over his shoulder as he followed Raph towards the turnstiles. On the way out he cast one last glance at Mikey who was picking himself back up off the floor as Leo restrained a still seething Scarlett by the back of her shirt.
"You kids have fun!" he called just before they ducked around the corner and out of sight.
"Kiss my ass, Jones!" Scarlett hollered after him.
"Backflips!" came Leo's barked reprimand and Casey grinned to himself as he caught the girl's furious growl. This hadn't been such a boring visit after all...
What did you think? Things are starting to get a little serious, better finish up this prank war before someone gets hurt!
Review pretty please! Feed the writer :)