Thus Always to Tyrants

Chapter 1

Word of the day: Recuse

Recuse means "to disqualify oneself as judge in a particular case." More broadly, it can also mean "to remove oneself from participation to avoid a conflict of interest.

Casey Jones Jr. was backed into a crumbling brick wall, hyperventilating. He breathed through his mouth in and out slowly, trying not to make too much noise along with his racing heart rate. His mother told him that this was much better than covering his mouth with his sleeve, since a quick heartbeat made it hard to hold his breath. The mouth was a direct line of air, much quieter.

He told himself this over and over, ignoring the pain in his left hand. He'd scraped it sliding on the floor to press his back against this wall, but he directed his mind to other things. Like where his Sensei was. Six year-old Casey's gripped his makeshift bat with nails tightly. The building he was seeking shelter in was abandoned, and the broken windows let in much more light than he could have hoped for.

He focused his sight on his legs, sprawled out in front of him. He'd lost Sensei running from a couple Kraang monsters, but they'd find each other again. They always did.

An explosion from afar snapped him out of his thoughts, and he felt the wind blow past him, throwing strands of his hair in front of his face. Casey groaned and turned around, putting his thumb up to dust cloud caused by the explosion. He closed one eye and tilted his head. The cloud didn't extend past the silhouette of his thumb, so he knew he'd be okay.
Casey gasped as he noticed an orange glow from behind him. He whipped around and saw Michelangelo standing in front of a portal, extending his hand. The turtle gave a sympathetic smile.
"Come on, Casey. Leo's looking for you, you know."

Casey relaxed and stood up. "Uncle, where's Sensei? He usually comes to get me when we get split up."
Mikey sighed and brushed a couple hairs out of his face. "Sorry for the delay, but he's a bit busy right now. You'll want to come see."
The boy furrowed his eyebrows and took his hand, getting pulled into the portal swiftly.

They were suddenly in a well lit kitchen, despite the lack of good electricity on the entire planet. They had Donatello to thank for a well lit place.
Casey set his bat on the floor and ran from room to room, searching for Master Leonardo. He finally found him in Donnie's new lab, leaning over a stretcher. He was hunched over, his hand on top of his head in distress.
The six year-old grew worried and walked up to him. "Sensei...?"
His eyes grew wide as he saw his mothers body laid out limply. She was still breathing. Barely.

He felt tears burn the corners of his eyes. "M-Master, what happened to her?"

Leo finally looked down at him, his tired eyes suddenly brightened. "Hey, Case, glad you're okay. She's gonna be okay, she just got wounded a bit in combat."
Cassandra had an oxygen mask on her face, but something was strange.
Casey tapped Leo's shoulder and pointed to her hand. "Master, she's got something balled up in her fist."

Leo saw this and unwrapped her hand slowly, a piece of paper attached to a gold chain. Before he could read it, Donnie walked in and knocked on the doorway. "Someone's here for you, Leo."
The two turtles exchanged eye contact before Leo stepped away from Cassandra and left the gold chain on the stretcher, signaling for Casey to follow him. The boy started to follow him until Leo pressed a large hand on the small child's chest. "Aren't you forgetting something?"

He gasped and quickly ran to give his mother a quick kiss on the cheek, dragging his bat back to the turtle. Leonardo smiled and closed the door behind them.

~

Leo peeked out the window and saw someone standing underneath the windowsill, waving. "Hey!" The voice called out. The wind carried the sound of his voice up to Leo, and Casey noticed something different about his Sensei's behavior all of sudden.
The person's rabbit ears swayed in the breeze, his arms flailing around to keep the turtle's attention on him.
"Leo, look what I got you!"
The rabbit turned around and held up a raggedy guitar, it was still intact. "You like it? It's good as new, only like, five strings missing off of it!"
Leo shook his head and waved him over. "Come inside, weirdo, you're gonna get mauled."

"One second, I'm gonna serenade you with my angelic vocals!"

Casey smiled. He was too short to see all the way over the window, but he heard his voice. That's when he knew for sure: Yuichi Usagi was somehow succeeding in making Leonardo swoon.

Usagi cleared his throat and pivoted his foot on the magenta gravel, facing his side towards the two. "Leo-Nardoooo, my beloved turtleee...Baby blue, tried and true, mi zapatooo~"

Leo snickered and shook his head. "You just said I'm your shoe, Usagi."

"Did I stutter?" He sassily asked, slinging the quitar strap around his body and walking into the house. He dramatically swung the door open and blew kisses to everyone. His fur was a mix between light and dark brown, due to his seasonal coat."Patrol is all done, and I missed you all! Did anybody miss me?"
Donnie and Mikey glanced at each other. "I mean, I guess I kinda did!" Mikey said. The rabbit smile and gave him a thumbs up. "Alrighty then, that makes one."
He turned and saw Leo and Casey ascending down the stairs. Leonardo gave a silly smile and gave a little bow. "Your fluffiness~"

Usagi rolled his eyes and took Leo's hand. "At least tell you missed me." The turtle nodded and kissed his cheek. "Of course I did."

Donnie gagged and held stomach. "Dear god, I can never get used to that..."
Mikey rolled his eyes and slapped his arm. "Stop that, just be happy for him, already."

Their wristbands beeped all at once, catching their attention. Donnie paused and answered it. "This is Donatello, come in Raph, what's up?"

"This isn't Raph, it's April. We...We really need your help out here, its...He's..."

Casey Jr. tugged on Usagi's sleeve, but the rabbit held up his hand to stop him. "One second, little one." He had a concerned expression on his face, listening to April O'Neil voice come through the speaker.

Mikey brought the wristband to himself. "April, what's going on? Where's Raph?"
April's voice broke and it sounded like she was crying. "R-Raph is hurt really bad..."
Their eyes widened, all of them falling into silence. Donnie frowned and grabbed his staff, putting on brass knuckles as well. "There's no way something should have happened to them during a supply run, the safe zone would've let off the alarms and told me something was up."

Mikey nodded and clipped his cape together in the middle around his neck. "And they didn't call for help until now. Did something mess with the frequency?"
"Possibly." Usagi mumbled, putting his paw on top of Casey Jr's head. The boy giggled and held onto it, trying to break free from his grasp. "Usagi-sama, let me go!"

The rabbit smiled and looked up at Leo, whose eyes seemed to ask a question. Usagi tilted his head to the side. "Yeah, I'll stay here with him. You guys go on and let me know if you need us, okay?"
Casey gasped and wrestled against Usagi's arm, pushing it away. "Hey, I wanna go!" Donnie shrugged. "Sure kid, why not."
Leo whipped around in confusion. "Excuse me? The five-year old?"

Mikey shrugged as well. "Leo, he's pretty mature for his age. I think he could at least watch our backs while we-"

"Nuh-uh, nope. He stays here until I know for a fact that he can not only keep watch, but defend his own life." Leo turned to the boy and kneeled down. "Sorry, but I need to see it for myself. You've still got a lot to learn."
Casey frowned before he nodded, deciding it would be better not to talk back. "Okay, Sensei."
Leo smiled and hugged him tightly, whispering in his ear. "That's my beautiful boy."

He stood up before Casey could even process the hug and the words that were said to him, heading out the door. "We'll check in every fifteen minutes and give you the scoop, alright?" He asked Usagi, who nodded to him. "Yes sir."

Leo smirked and gave him a quick peck on the lips. "What would I do without you?"
Casey smiled and stared up at them, Leo, Donnie and Mikey closing the door behind him.
Once again, Casey tugged on the rabbit's sleeve. Usagi looked down curiously and picked him up. "What is it, little one?"

The boy pointed to the lab. "Ma's got a mark on his leg and arm. Bite marks."
Usagi's face fell as his eyes followed through boy's pointing. "O-oh yeah? And have you told Sensei?"
Casey shook his head. "Not yet. Can we tell him as soon as he gets back?"
Usagi furrowed his brows and nodded. "Of course. That's strange..."