A Brother's Intuition

Tension

It was very late, or early, really. It had been two weeks since the night, er, morning that Raph had met Casey. The duo worked extremely well together and made a lot of progress in their efforts against the Foot. In fact, they'd learned that tonight the Foot were planning to rob a technological research facility of some of its most valuable new tech. Just what that entailed, they weren't sure.

They arrived early to case the joint. The facility was by no means unprotected and the Foot would undoubtedly have difficulty disarming the encrypted alarm systems. At least, that was assuming they didn't already have someone on the inside.

With little more they could do, Casey Jones and Raphael settled on the rooftop opposite the institute and waited. It didn't take long.

Two vans full of Foot soldiers parked and a large group of them got out. Raphael recognized one of them almost immediately. Huh. He thought that chick had gone down with the rest of Sacs' tower.

One of the Foot Soldiers addressed her as 'Mistress Karai.' She spoke in fast, hushed tones, issuing orders to the soldiers.

Casey turned to Raph, "The hell is she saying?" He whispered loudly.

Raph shushed the human and did his best to listen carefully.

"Be certain to get all the parts required." Karai said evenly, "My Father will not be pleased if the parts do not arrive on time. His suit must be reconstructed."

The pieces slowly fell into place in Raph's mind. Her father? Shredder! Wait, she's Shredder's daughter?! And he wants to reconstruct his suit! So he did survive the fall!

"Let's get out of here." Raph said, his large, emerald-green tugging Casey's arm.

Casey blinked, glancing from the Foot on the roof to his mutant friend, confusedly. "What? Aren't we going to kick Foot butt?"

Raph shook his head, "Not now. We have all the information we need. Shredder's still alive."

————————————

Raphael stormed into Casey's tiny garage that opened onto the alley adjacent to his apartment. Casey had taken to leaving the door open just a crack in case his friend ever decided to pay him an unexpected visit. That, and he spent copious amounts of time working on his bike, so half the time the turtle came to visit he was in the garage anyway. Jones flinched when Raph knocked the toolbox over in his blind rage. Tools hit the ground, creating a cacophony of deafening clangs. Casey Jones had already had a ridiculously long day, but he waited for the turtle's rage to die down so he could find out what was wrong.

He'd only known Raphael a couple of weeks now, but their friendship meant a lot to Casey. Somehow, he'd developed an almost paternal concern for the turtle. Casey felt partially responsible for Raphael. And it wasn't just because Raph was still barely more than a kid, though that was definitely a factor, it was also because they were kindred spirits. They thought and acted in very similar ways and they understood each other. If Raphael weren't a turtle, they might have been brothers.

As Raphael stalked angrily around his garage, Casey realized how upset his young friend was. He reached out to grab one of Raph's hands, but recoiled as he felt a thick, sticky substance flowing warmly beneath his fingers and onto his palm. Casey looked down at the red stain on his hand and his lips bent into a severe frown.

"Yur bleedin! What the hell were you doin? Beatin' up punks without me?!" Casey's tone made it seem like he was angry, but he was actually extremely concerned. He headed straight for the first-aid kit, one of three that he'd purchased to take care of the injuries they brought home from their late-night escapades.