Casey moves down the street, his land skates rolling smoothly along the concrete as he racks his mind for memories of where the Necromancer's laboratory is. He can't remember the exact spot, just various landmarks near it.
He slows to a stop, bracing himself against a lamppost as he grips his ribs again. He inwardly curses the quartet of shadow beasts that attacked him, knowing that if they hadn't knocked him off a building, he'd be getting to Zilla a lot faster.
He clenches one hand into a fist and pushes against the post, his dark brown eyes narrowing as he forces himself to look past the pain. He isn't going to let a little bit of discomfort stop him from saving her.
"Just keep going, Casey Jones. Keep going," he urges himself as he starts off again.
----------
Casey keeps his arms crossed over his chest, his face scrunched as he stares at the keypad outside the secret laboratory. He'd be lying if he said that he hadn't forgotten about this part of the rescue mission, something that makes him less than happy about his current situation.
There's a soft rush of wind behind him. He tenses, his shoulders squaring as he slowly turns around. He nearly jumps as Destiny smiles at him. Although her mouth is happy, her eyes hold a look that tells him that she could be less than pleased with his decision making.
"Wolfie?" he asks, lifting his hockey mask. "Why are you here?"
"A better question is why are you here?" she responds coolly, her dark tail flicking as she tightens her wings against her back. She crosses her arms over her chest, the leather jacket she's wearing shielding her from the cold wind. "Please tell me you didn't think you could take on the Necromancer by yourself."
"No," he insists, his tone almost whining.
"We told you to go home and rest," a second voice cuts in from directly beside him. He pivots swiftly to see Sarina staring back at him, her eyes flashing once. "Hence why we followed you home to make sure you actually got home."
"But no, you go home, get your vigilante gear, and go after the baddie. Great job," Destiny adds.
He snorts. "I wasn't going to fight the guy. I need to get Zilla out of there."
Both girls blink as their eyebrows crease with confusion.
"Who is Zilla?" Sarina inquires.
"Did you meet another new person?" Destiny wonders incredulously.
Casey purses his lips, shuffling his feet as he taps his fingers together. "Uh...no, Shadow's actual name is Zilla. I found out a day or so ago."
Sarina's eyes flash as she gasps. "Of course, it makes sense!"
"Huh?" the other two mutants ask.
The cyborg shrugs. "Zilla means 'shadow' in the Hebrew language. It makes sense if that's her name."
"Woah...talk about irony," Destiny comments.
"Yeah, almost like it was her destiny," Casey adds, wiggling his eyebrows at the wolf-raven.
She rolls her eyes. "If you weren't hurt, I'd elbow you in the ribs right now."
He holds his hands up in surrender. Sarina moves towards the keypad, frowning as she scrutinizes the hardware. Casey watches the cyborg closely, wondering what's going through the intelligent mind of hers.
"So she was captured, that's what you're saying," Sarina says, wording her question like a statement. "If I get to work now, I think I can hack this in a rather efficient fashion."
Casey fails to hide the shock that overcomes him. "Wait...what?"
Destiny laughs, the sound like a happy barking noise. "We aren't going to let you save her on your own. You could use some backup, Case."
"Sit tight, you two. This may take a while," Sarina says, wiggling her fingers over the keypad.
----------
Zilla lays against the wall of her glass enclosure, her eyes closed as she tries to send herself into a meditative trance. She wants to dream again, like how she did when she saw her and Casey dancing. As a shadow mutant, sleep is never needed for her, and her trances were simply to restore energy. Never had she dreamt until that one day.
It feels like she's been trapped here for weeks. The seconds tick by, blossoming into minutes and hours until she can no longer remember the time nor whether it's night or day outside.
Casey occupies her thoughts, her stomach knotted with worry and guilt. He's awake, she knows that only because she saw him before she blacked out. Furthermore, she knows that he probably won't listen to her plea for him not to follow after her. Even Zilla knows that he should be resting more before he goes out on missions again.
There's scuffling from outside the room, a noise that instantly makes her perk up. She lifts to her feet and glides over to the far side of the glass cage, seeing three shapes slowly creep out of the shadows; a pale figure dressed in white, a slightly shorter figure with piercing green eyes, and a tall boy in a hockey mask. Her emotions tug her somewhere between relief and fear.
"Casey..." she whispers. "Destiny, Sarina..."
Destiny's ears perk and she instantly looks towards the shadow girl, having heard her voice. Her scarred face lights up with surprise, her wings spreading and smacking against her two companions. She points, causing all three of them to hurry towards the cage.
"Shadow, you're okay!" Casey says, pressing his hand against the glass. "Or...you're okay, right?"
Zilla can't help but smile at his reaction. "I'm fine, Hockey Puck. What about you?"
He shrugs and flashes a grin. "Ah, Casey Jones is all good."
"That's a matter of opinion," Sarina comments, her bright electronic eyes flickering from the vigilante to the trapped mutant before them. "Shadow, or...Zilla, do you know how I could get your cage open?"
The shadow girl purses her lips, pointing towards the Necromancer's empty desk. "He could have something over there. Whatever you do, you have to hurry. He should be back soon with Beast Mode and his other animals."
"I'll watch the door. If you hear me bark, run," Destiny says, her words clipped and precise. Before anyone can argue, she heads off to the main entrance.
Casey looks back at Zilla as Sarina starts tapping away at Wallace's computer. The teen smiles widely at his friend as she shakes her head.
"You know, I told you not to follow," she scolds lightly.
He doesn't drop the gap-filled smile. "Since when do I listen?"
She smirks. "True." Her face softens a little as she presses her hand against the glass. "Look, I'm sorry about what I said to you before. I was just...frustrated. You aren't always an idiot."
"Hey, it's all cool. We were both stupid about it," he retorts.
She smiles. "We need to work on communicating better."
"Alright, this should work!" Sarina calls, pressing one button on the keyboard with her index finger.
The cage lifts upwards a tiny bit, a tiny crack appearing all along the bottom. Zilla slips through the limited space easily, a bright smile showing on her face for a brief second.
"Okay, let's get out of here before-" she starts.
A sharp bark sounds from the door, instantly making the three other teens spin around. Destiny dashes away from the door, her wild green eyes widened with panic.
"Necromancer's heading our way with his cronies. No exit," she reports.
They look towards the door as the sound of footsteps grows more fast paced and loud. Sarina's eyes flash rapidly as she searches for a plausible escape route.
"No...no...nothing's working," she mutters, her heart pounding faster and faster.
Zilla's eyes narrow as she takes a deep breath. "I've got an escape, but you've got to trust me."
"Lead the way, Shadow," Casey says.
The shadow girl takes off towards a rickety set of winding stairs. The trio follows behind her without hesitation, hearing a few shocked yowls from below as Beast Mode and her fellow shadow beasts head into the room.
"After them!" Wallace shrieks.
"Zilla, I do hope you have a plan! The only way that staircase can possibly lead is up!" Sarina shouts.
The shadow girl doesn't respond, the group reaching a metal door at the top of the staircase. Zilla points to it and Casey shoves it open, allowing the four of them to spill onto the rooftop.
Sharp exhales leave three of the four teens as Casey slams the door shut and locks it, wide eyes fixated upon the view. The cold wind whips at them as the expanse of New York stretches out before them. Zilla spins to them as they near the edge of the dizzying drop.
"We have to jump!" she shouts.
"You're kidding, right?!" Casey retorts. "I'll become a pancake! Casey Jones doesn't go out pancaking!"
Zilla glances towards the door fleetingly, her anxiety growing. "Destiny, you've got wings. Sarina, you've got those rocket boots. ONE OF YOU GRAB CASEY AND JUMP!"
There's a loud bang from the door as Beast Mode roars, instantly causing Destiny to snarl. Without another word, she nods to Zilla, rushes forwards, snatches Casey into a tight hug, and leaps off the building. Casey's scream echoes out to the two girls as Sarina braces herself, her heart pounding.
"Come. On," Zilla snaps. "Do you want to die?"
"My rocket boots aren't prepared for this sort of altitude. The chance of survival for me only reaches the-" she rambles.
As she continues fretting about the possibilities, Zilla looks back towards the fastened door. It's rattling, Beast Mode's body creating indents in the door. The shadow girl turns back to her friend and readies her shadow powers on her palms.
"Sorry, Sarina," she mutters.
She sends a shadow blast towards Sarina's feet, making the cyborg shriek as she tips off the building. Zilla leaps after her, the two mutants swiftly catching up with Destiny and Casey.
"CASEY JONES IS VERY TERRIFIED RIGHT NOW!" Casey shrieks as her curls his arms and legs around Destiny's entire body.
Sarina breathes heavily as her rocket boots strain to keep her in the air, Zilla coming to rest overtop of the cyborg to help break her fall. Destiny flaps her wings, the wind whipping her hair back and making her eyes water.
"I'll have you know, I've never flown this high before!" she shouts over the freezing wind. "Or gone this fast, to be honest!"
"THANKS WOLFIE! THAT'S REALLY CALMING ME DOWN!" Casey screams at her as he buries his face against her shoulder in complete terror.
"I fear I'm going to malfunction!" Sarina shouts, her boots just managing to hold her up.
"Stay calm! You've got this!" Zilla orders.
The ground grows nearer and nearer, the force of the drop making the stomachs of the three more solid mutants plummet. Destiny strains to break the fall, going lower and lower with each second. Sarina tries to steady herself, her rocket boots flaring at the bottoms with strain.
"I think we've got a high probability of being flattened!" the pale-haired mutant shouts.
Casey refuses to uncover his face from Destiny's hair and leather jacket, focusing on the scent instead of them plummeting to their death.
"BOOYAKASHA!"
There's a sharp jolt as Casey feels both him and Destiny collide with something solid and warm. He still doesn't uncover his eyes, hearing Sarina squeak in surprise near them.
There's another jolt, low masculine grunts resonating on either side of them. Casey slowly pulls his face out of its hiding spot, finding Leonardo and Raphael on either side of them, Destiny held between them as they hang from their grappling hooks. Casey looks over Raph's shoulder to see Donatello and Michelangelo also hanging from their grappling hooks, Sarina held tightly against the purple-masked turtle's plastron. Zilla hovers above Mikey's shoulder, smirking lightly.
"Casey, you're smothering me," Destiny wheezes, snapping the vigilante back to reality.
He glances down at himself, his arms and legs still wrapped around the wolf-raven. He flashes a sheepish smile as he loosens the grip a little bit, still not completely releasing her.
"So...anyone want to explain why we suddenly saw you four falling from the sky?" Leo asks, his tone stern.
Sarina swallows, pressing her face against Donnie's shoulder. Destiny's ears flatten, looking towards Casey. Casey's face floods with guilt, his throat growing tight.
"I'll explain everything back at the lair," Zilla pipes up. Her gaze goes dark for a mere second as she sighs. "And I mean everything."