Work Text:
“Dad, I’m fine! ”
Raph snickers at Leo’s distress, leaning on Mikey’s shoulder who coos at the scene before them. Dad is doing a third full check of Leo and his physical state, making sure everything is as it’s supposed to be. Leo is trying to pull away, groaning impatiently as Dad finishes off his task with some cheek kisses.
“I just worry!” he defends, patting Leo’s cheeks as he finally escapes his grasp.
Leo grumbles and trots over to Raph and Mikey, who mock him for being trapped in the first place. He ducks under Raph’s noogie ( unfair! ) as Donnie races out from the “room” they were able to block off for themselves.
“Finally,” Mikey teases as Donnie gives Dad a loving poke with his finger as a goodbye. “We thought you’d never come!”
Raph snorts and starts pushing Leo out the door by his shell. “Yeah, yeah — get on to him later! Let’s go!”
“Be careful!” Dad calls as they leave, the rest of the people inside echoing the same.
They all respond in kind as they race out the warehouse and through the woods. Dark grey clouds rumble overhead, making Raph grin.
There’s an alley they used to sneak off to when Dad finally let them go and get groceries for themselves. It always floods, no matter how much it rains. As turtles they are practically obligated to go bask and play in it! It was certainly better than the floods in the sewer, that’s for sure.
And with Leo finally being cleared to go out and run around again… well, this storm has perfect timing.
Mikey dashes past, whooping and jumping excitedly. “We have to get there before it starts!”
Leo laughs, grinning from ear to ear. Raph matches his pace, just to make sure he’s all good. His leg is wrapped in a homemade brace, just for extra protection. Will it help? Who knows! Wingnut suggested it might and that was all it took for Dad to make Leo wear the thing.
“We’re not gonna make it,” he tells Raph as they run, ducking towards the darker corners as they near the outskirts of the city. He sounds delighted by the fact.
Raph shoves him playfully. “Only cause you’re too slow!”
“Wha— hey! ”
He ignores Leo’s sputters and races forward, Donnie joining in on his teasing and making Leo the caboose.
“I thought we were mutated turtles, Leo!”
“ Get back here! ”
Raph laughs as Donnie squeaks a distressed sound as Leo picks up his pace — his footsteps plap-plap-plapping on the pavement. He stops laughing as Donnie paces him and Mikey, who yelps at the overtaking.
His orange banded brother shakes a fist at the youngest. “Coward!” he calls.
“Right, but I don’t wanna deal with Leo either so—“
Mikey blinks as he pushes forward and past. “Raph?! The betrayal! I’ll never recov— ack! ”
Raph throws his head back and cackles as he scrambles down a different street. Seems like Leo grabbed his first victim!
Donnie whips around and runs backwards, clearly searching for Mikey. “Leo got him?!”
“Leo got him!”
“Ha!” Donnie holds an L to his forehead. “Skill issue!” he declares.
Raph high-threes him, happy to be close enough to do so. “We’re so winning this race!”
“You didn’t say we were racing! Mikey, he didn’t say we were racing! Raphael! You never said we were racing!”
Raph shrugs, not bothering to look behind him. He knows Leo’s playful-angry tone like the back of his hand and he ain’t gonna get caught like Mikey did. “I totally mentioned it!”
“Pretty sure he did!” Donnie adds, bumping his elbow.
Raph nods at him in thanks, before roughly shoving his purple brother to the side. Donnie stumbles and loses his pace.
“ Hey! ”
“Who’s the loser now?!”
He makes his way down the street, skidding at another turn as rain begins to fall. One on his snout, another to his shoulder, and then a third in his eye. He yelps and shakes his head, blinking the water out of his vision.
The smell of rain surrounds him and he smiles wide and toothy. How he’s missed the rain. How he’s missed being out in the rain. The smell, the feeling, the dancing — all of it makes for such a beautiful day.
The second he turns onto the street — their rain street — he gets tackled by three brothers. He fails and falls forward into a puddle, splashing his face and getting his mask soaked. He laughs and tries to shake his brothers off to no avail. Donnie clings onto his shell like a koala, Mikey choosing to get off to already spin in the rain while Leo puts him in a headlock.
He stands up, the extra weight keeping him unbalanced. Leo lets go as he stands. Clearly his unsteadiness had made him uneasy. Donnie stays like a very persistent leech, so Raph grabs onto his little brother’s arms and starts spinning as fast as he can — with no warning, of course!
Donnie’s laughter rings through the air and he curls tighter around Raph. He can feel the moment his head goes back due to the force, his legs slipping from Raph’s sides. Dizzy, Raph calls it and allows himself to fall down into the same puddle. It’s already deeper than before.
Donnie leans against his shell, giggling away like a madman as they both eye Mikey and Leo ballroom dancing in the rain. Mikey’s humming some classical song — purposely off key if Raph has to guess. He nudges Donnie and nods towards their two idiot brothers, receiving a knowing smirk in return.
Together, they join Mikey. They sing loudly (and badly) to their heart's content, Leo barely holding himself up by the end of their dance. He doubles over and into Mikey, wheezing as they fall into a puddle on the opposite side of the street.
“I hated being stuck inside,” Leo finally whines as his giggles teeter off. He leans his full weight against Mikey who has to keep shoving him away to keep himself upright.
“Really? Couldn’t tell,” Mikey drawls, finally giving up and allowing Leo to make them both topple over and land shell deep in the water. The rain pours down.
Donnie snorts and wipes his glasses — like that’ll do anything. “The constant trying to move around didn’t tell us nothing at all.”
Raph nods stoically, crossing his arms. “Don’t forget the attitude.”
“Oh, geez , the attitude!” Mikey whines, coughing when Leo splashes him with rain water.
“I said I was sorry!”
“Eventually,” Raph adds, smirking as Leo sends him a glare.
“ Eventually, ” he repeats with a roll of his eyes. “Says the one with an attitude problem.”
Raph gawks at that. Donnie snickers at his shock and pulls hard on his mask tails, nearly making him tilt backwards. Even Mikey laughs.
The orange banded turtle points at Raph and goes, “Ohhhhh! Burn! ”
Leo’s smug look towards Raph vanishes as he sits back up, squinting at Mikey. “No,” he says, and that’s all he needs to say.
“That wasn’t a burn. That was a fact,” Donnie adds sagely, giving Raph another reason to splash him again.
In the end, he still agrees. “Yeah, I dunno, that sorta ruined it.”
“I was just agreeing with Leo!”
“Nope.”
“Nuh uh.”
“I don’t claim that.”
Mikey glares at the three of them. And then he lunges for Leo, a smirk on his face as Leo cries out. They begin to wrestle on the ground, making Raph and Donnie go absolutely wild!
They both scramble up, hooting and hollering as they jog over to cheer on the fight. It doesn’t matter who wins, they’ll make fun of the loser anyways. It’s not a right or wrong thing — it’s a what-else-would-brothers-do thing.
“Oh my gosh! There he goes!” Donnie squeals, shaking Raph around like a rag doll as Leo successfully flips Mikey over.
Like a pro-wrestling announcer, Raph narrates. “Oh and would you look at that — they turn tables once again! Michelangelo flips Lamenardo like a well thrown pancake. The water is of useful advantage right now as it is blinding Leo! You heard that right, it is blinding Leonard!”
“I resent that name!”
Donnie jumps in. “If only we were down there, Red Angel, we’d be giving a better show.”
“I think you’re right, Purple Knight. We’d be throwing the real punches like hyah! ” Raph pretends to karate chop Donnie’s throat.
They’re unaware of the lack of splashing water.
“Very good move but unfortunately I would counter with… the power of God and anime! AAAAHHH!! ”
Raph flails back, holding his plastron dramatically. “No! My only weakness — a nerd! ”
Donnie gasps in mock offense. “How dare you— ack! Hey!”
He rubs his head as his stick falls to the ground and in the water. He glares at Leo, who has his katanas in hand. He must’ve picked his and Donnie’s weapons up and off of the building they laid it on.
Mikey swings his chucks, a smug smirk on his face. “Throw real punches, huh?”
Leo rolls his shoulders back, cracking his neck. “We’ll see about that.”
Raph hops from foot to foot as his excitement builds. A fight. They’re gonna fight! After so long of not sparring with all of his brothers—
“ Woohoo! ” He slides his sais out of their sheathes, raising them in the air triumphantly. “Let’s go!”
Donnie sighs and lifts his head up to the sky, pinching the bridge of his snout. “We have got to get you therapy, man!”
“Who needs therapy when I can crash skulls in!”
Mikey blinks and points to himself. “Uh, not our heads? Please?”
Raph smirks at him. “No promises.”
Leo stares down at the ground, raindrops trickling down his face. “I have… so many regrets in life.”
“Not anymore!”
“What’s that supposed to mea— AAH! ”
Leo screeches as Raph charges, jumping out the way as Raph does a little dance. He’ll be unstoppable when the adrenaline kicks in!
Raph chases Leo, who runs away like a chicken with his head cut off instead of fighting him like a true ninja. “Change of plans!” his brother in blue yells as Raph cackles maniacally. “3v1! All against Raph!”
“Gotch-ya shell, Leo!” Mikey calls as he jumps in, kicking Raph in the side. Raph stumbles and turns towards Mikey.
New target, his brain supplies just as Mikey pales.
And then, his other brother is running from him! Raph laughs and ducks under a strike from Donnie, grinning from ear to ear as he playfully sends a slice back with his sai.
Dad would count this as training. Poor training, but training nonetheless. Raph doesn’t see the point in that. This training is fun. This training is what Raph needs. Not that basic form stuff — nah. He’ll learn by jumping into the fray!
( He’s a liar. He likes watching different moves too much to not practice forms so he can do them too. He’ll practice more after they get home and drink a bit of hot cocoa — you know, the works. Just because it’s April doesn’t mean you can’t have some good ol’ hot chocolate! )
He barely has time to duck under Leo’s katana when it comes swinging his way. Looks like someone’s missed fighting just as much as he missed the outside world! He rushes forward, eager to give his brother a little bit more of a fight when a splash down towards the dead end catches all of their attention. They all freeze and lock eyes on the two figures down the street.
“Just one day,” Donnie mutters frustratedly as he turns towards their foes. “Just one day!”
“Who’s that?” Leo whispers to Raph, looking at the girl ninja in front of them.
Mikey inches a centimeter closer. “Karai,” he says, not taking his eyes of said girl.
The figure next to her doesn’t move. It wears the same outfit as her but with the hood up, standing as menacing as Karai did whenever they first saw her in that office building. It gives him the creeps to even think about. Seeing the stance in front of him again is not pleasant.
“And the other?”
Raph shrugs, keeping his sais level. “Who cares. It’s a Foot ninja, all we need to know.”
Karai surveys them with the dead look she always seems to wear. The red eyeliner she has slowly seems to drip down her face and Raph briefly considers making fun of her for not buying the waterproof kind.
“Test one,” she says, voice slow and deliberate.
His brothers glance between each other, panic collectively rising. Uh, excuse me, what’s that supposed to mean?!
None of them get the chance to ask.
“Shred… kill .”
The figure to her right bursts into motion, startling them as they scramble back to gain more distance between them and the new guy. His weapon of choice seems to be the same type of claws the Shredder wears — cluing him in to who exactly they’re fighting.
“ Kill?! ” Donnie screeches, blocking a swipe from the deadly claws. “What happened to hi? Hello? How are you?!”
Raph saves him the trouble of making a counter strike. He kicks the ninja's side and sends him rolling. He uprights himself and scratches his claws on the pavement to slow his slide down.
This close, Raph can see the dented mask. The mask he dented.
Casey Jones stands back up, each movement clicking his limbs into place. He barely blinks before attacking once again. This time he goes for Mikey.
“I think all your friends need a Leo vibe check from now on!” he calls as he dodges and weaves a flurry of swipes his way. He lands a good hit to Casey’s shoulder and it doesn’t even seem to register.
Raph growls and moves forwards, swinging a sai at Casey’s torso. “Won’t complain about that!” Casey kicks out, hitting Raph’s hand and making him drop his right sai.
Well, that’s fine! Raph knows how to make a pretty good shiner! He quickly shoves Casey’s leg down and away, making the boy stumble for his footing, before landing a punch right in the mask. The metal creaks as it makes the dent deeper.
Raph, proud of his hit, doesn’t see the claw coming till too late. He moves out of the way but not fast enough. It grazes his left forearm — a futile attempt to block the blades — as Casey lashes out.
He stumbles back as his brothers rush in. The rain lands directly on his new wound and he hisses in result. Just my luck!
He shoves the small stings away and decides to search for his missing sai. It glints in the water and he races towards it, scooping it up fast before turning to survey the field once again.
Leo’s the main one fighting Casey now, Donnie and Mikey attacking when they’re able to find an opening. Karai, however, stands off to the side in the same place she first was. He scrunches his nose and looks at her.
Why is she just standing there? Isn’t she going to help her brother?!
Despite his hatred for Casey, rage sparks beneath his scaly skin. Even he can admit that’s not right.
But what was it she said? Something about a test? He frowns and looks back towards his brothers. They seem to be doing ok without him. Casey’s movements are getting slower, though. Less fluid than Raph knew he could be. He’s taking a good amount of hits without stopping for a breather — something that places an odd feeling in his gut. It doesn’t even look like he’s flinching.
Actually, the weirdest part is that he hasn’t said anything at all! He loved to tease his bullies. Wouldn’t it be the same with enemies?
He gets back up and rushes into the fray, landing a hit to Casey’s back and laughing as he stumbles forward. “What?” he taunts. “Nothing to say?”
Mikey’s chucks hit him in the mask again. This time, his head goes back and he finally backtracks. Raph slides out of the way to let him do so, pulling down his hood with a slash of a blade just because he wants to make sure this guy is Casey and not a surprise triplet or something.
And it is Casey. Just… a little different.
The top of his hair is the same but the rest seems to have been buzzed all the way around the sides. It’s grown out a small bit but not enough to prevent Raph from seeing his scalp. The most horrible part, though, is the belt-like structure keeping his mask intact.
Casey gives them no time to process. He charges again, this time heading for Donnie. Raph forgets to try and trip him.
“Is that a muzzle?!” his purple brother screeches as he blocks a throat shot with his stick.
“Oh my gosh, I’m gonna be sick,” Leo murmurs from the side, drawing Casey’s attention as he finally disarms Donnie.
The stick breaks into many pieces. Raph didn’t need any further confirmation that his claws were sharp .
“That is so messed up,” Mikey says with a shudder, standing next to Raph as the twang of metal on metal rings through the air.
They share a nod before jumping in, too. Raph focuses on trying to trip Casey up while Leo takes the brunt of the blade work, Mikey trying to hit any opening they give him.
Fighting like this feels… wrong, he thinks as he backs away. Donnie found a metal pipe somewhere and he’s not ready to ask where yet. Here’s hoping New York will forgive them for property damage… again.
Raph just doesn’t get it. First the refusal to talk about Casey “bad parenting” (putting that lightly ) and now he’s in a muzzle. A muzzle like a dog. A muzzle like a disobedient dog.
And maybe that’s what this is — punishment. Karai doesn’t speak when fighting. Casey did last time they brawled. Is there a rule of some sort? What’s he missing—
A scar on the side of Casey’s head flashes at him. It’s on his temple, above his pierced ears. He frowns. That definitely wasn’t there before… was it? It’s not like he had a full view of Casey’s scalp, but…
The rain starts to come down harder, contributing to the static in his ears. Test one… scar… muzzle… Shredder and control…
He swallows. It does nothing to get the lump out of his throat as horror washes in. He looks at Karai, eyes wide.
“You didn’t,” he rasps, not moving from his spot. He’s not sure the words even make it to her ears.
The message, however, does. For once, her mask crumbles. Her eyes widen ever so slightly as she frowns, eyebrows drawn together as she flicks her gaze to Casey. It looks like concern and guilt and shame all in one.
It makes his blood boil.
Her mouth returns to its thin line. The veil is down again. “Retreat,” she calls over the rain.
Raph’s eyes widen. He immediately gets in Casey’s way.
“No!” he yells, voice sharp with anger. “No way! Casey, stop ,” he orders with as much authority as he can muster.
Donnie looks at him like he has two heads as Casey starts to backtrack and do exactly as Karai said: retreat. “Raph, what—“
“Grab him!” he demands as he readies his stance. Casey passes Mikey who stands there like he’s confused. Leo at least tried to grab his arm.
“What’s going on?” Mikey questions as Raph prepares himself to tackle a guy with lethal claws for weapons.
Casey was all about subtext. He told Raph he was a bad guy and a bad friend. He had told Raph that he’d regret meeting him, that he should leave , and Raph didn’t listen.
After his betrayal, Raph thought Casey just liked messing with him. Enjoyed the sick game of hinting what was to come without telling Raph completely. A dance of lie and manipulate. A way to foreshadow his own evil doing.
But… but what if…
He tackles Casey. Together, they splash on the ground and roll around. Casey claws at him, scratching his arms again and soon blood is mixed into the rain water beneath them.
“What are you doing?!” Leo shouts, sheathing his swords and hovering over them like he doesn’t know what to do.
“Let him go, Raph! It’s not worth it!” Donnie pulls on his shell, eyes wide and scared with the metal pipe discarded.
Raph shakes his head and grips his teeth. “Somebody knock him out already!”
What if he wasn’t playing with me? he wonders, half hysterical. What if he was warning me instead?!
There’s a nice knock and the boy beneath him stills. Raph heaves from the strength it took to restrain Casey, eyes wide as he slides off him and turns to look over his shoulder.
Karai’s gone.
That familiar anger rolls forward again, crashing into him like a tidal wave. “She left him?!” he exclaims incredulously, staring at where she once stood.
“Isn’t that a good thing?!” Donnie squeaks, hands shaking as Leo grabs Raph shoulders ( ignoring the scratches so he must be pissed ) and hauls Raph up.
“What were you thinking?!” Leo shouts, checking his arms over even as he keeps his firm grip on Raph. “What were you — what —“
Raph shakes his head, looking towards Casey even as Leo shakes with worry after worry and struggles to get his thoughts out. “They brainwashed him,” he interrupts, getting surprised looks from his brothers.
Mikey frowns and slowly steps forward as Leo lets go. He holds up a finger. “Raph… he chose to betray—“
“No!” Raph shouts, glaring at him. “I mean, yes! He did! But now he’s brainwashed or mind controlled! Like, since when does Casey Jones know when to shut up? Or follow orders?!”
They look at him like he’s insane and maybe he is. Maybe he’s finally cracked! Took him long enough, considering all the therapy jokes. He shakes those thoughts away and kneels next to Casey, tilting his head ever so gently to point to the scar.
“And since when did he have this? He’d — he’d hate this haircut. And he’s muzzled! And he didn’t flinch when he got hurt and he just kept going and—“
Hands encircle his face gently as Leo comes around to the front. He still looks as anxious as ever but now he’s thoroughly in big brother mode if this position is to go by. Donnie and Mikey hover near the sidelines, unsure whether or not to step in.
“Hey, it’s ok,” Leo says, eyeing Casey carefully. “We believe you. We’ll call Leatherhead and Wingnut to see what we can find out,” he promises, giving a pointed look Donnie’s way.
Donnie straightens and nods. “R-right! Yeah. On it, Leo!”
Mikey frowns and starts to fiddle with his chucks. “But where can we take him? If we take him to the… you know… he’ll…” he cuts himself off and looks towards Casey unsurely.
Raph shakes his head and gently pulls out of Leo’s hold. “He wouldn’t sell us out after we saved him… would he?”
Leo winces and hugs his waist. “Some people don’t want to be saved,” he answers in a small voice, eyes pained.
He swallows and looks down towards the water encircling them. His blood drips into it, drip by drip. Frustratingly enough, he gets what Leo means. Casey refused to talk about how crazy his Father was the few times Raph tried to bring it up. Said he loved him and wouldn’t speak bad about him unless it was to complain — if only for a minute or two.
“There’s an unfinished apartment building a couple blocks away,” Raph answers after a moment. Donnie speaks rapidly on the phone a couple steps away.
Leo nods and then keeps nodding, closing his eyes as if that could scare away his jitters. It might work, considering he looks more grounded when he opens his brown eyes again. “Ok, here’s what we’ll do. We’ll go to that apartment complex and hide out for a day or two while we figure out if anything is… wrong with Casey. Mikey, you and Raph go ahead to scout out the building to make sure it’s safe. Me and Donnie will take Casey and catch up soon.”
Raph shakes his head, ignoring how it’s starting to hurt along with his arms. “No way, I’ll get—“
Leo gives him the look. The “I’m your older brother and you will listen to me” look they all know so well. Raph deflates. There’s no way to win this one.
“Yeah, ok.”
He takes Mikey’s hand and allows himself to be helped up. The adrenaline is slowly leaving him, making his many bruises known. He glances around the street once more, lamenting the nice basking they could have had in this water.
He clears his throat, sparing one last glance to Casey and Leo. “Let’s go,” he tells Mikey.
Mikey nods, sticking close to Raph’s side. It’s a way to try and comfort him, he knows. He fist bumps Donnie as they pass, hoping to relieve the nerd’s nerves some. Donnie sends him a shaky smile before continuing the conversation with whoever is on the other line.
As soon as they turn the corner, Mikey breaks the silence.
“What if we’re wrong?” he asks quietly.
Raph… doesn’t have an answer. He shrugs. “We’ll figure it out.”
The rain continues to pour.