Exploring different types of 'brothers'.
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"Casey, he's over there!" Raphael yelled pointing out the lowlife who they were chasing.
"I got him in my sights!" Casey shouted, shooting a puck at the creep. It went astray and hit a light pole. "Aw shell!" They turned the corner just in time to see the door to a warehouse close.
Raph glanced over at his friend. "There's no other doors to that section of the building! Let's go to the roof and wait for him to come out!" But Casey wasn't listening to him. The human shook his head.
"No! I'm not letting him get away!"
Raphael threw down his hands and rolled his eyes. "Aw no, Casey!" He barreled after his friend, entering the building only a step behind the human. Immediately, his senses started screaming danger. Before he even fully processed what he was doing, Raph leaped forward, shoving Casey to the side just as a shot rang through the air.
The guy they had been chasing ran past him out the door and he shoved Casey back so he could get up. "The things I do for you, Jones!" He grumbled as he jumped to his feet, Casey not too far behind. But before they could reach the door, it closed with a heavy slam and the sound of a heavy lock turning could be heard. "Dammit!" Raph yelled at the top of his lungs slamming his fist against the door.
"Now look what you've done! You let him get away!" Casey yelled.
Raphael scoffed. "I let him get away?! If you hadn't—" Raph shuddered. Suddenly his eyes widened and he looked around, taking in details he hadn't even noticed before. "Aw shell." He whipped his t-phone out of his belt. "I have to call my brothers."
Casey did a double take. "Huh? Aren't you gonna finish yelling at me first?"
"No time." Raph said hurriedly, repeatedly trying to call his brothers, unsuccessfully. "Damn. No signal!"
"Whoa, Raph slow down! What's the rush?!"
"Have you got reception?" Raph asked, gripping Casey Jones firmly by the shoulders and shaking him.
The human blinked slowly. He reached down and got out his phone, only for the turtle to snatch it from his hands. Raphael grunted and threw it back at Casey. "You don't have a signal either!"
"Raph, seriously, what is the rush?!" Casey asked, forcing Raph to look him in the eyes and trying to grab Raph by the shoulders.
The red-masked turtle slapped Jones' hands away roughly. "Look around you Casey! We're in a goddamn freezer!"
Casey did look around. And he slowly came to the same conclusion as Raphael. But he still didn't really understand. "So? You've still got that emergency beacon thing on your t-phone, right?"
Raph's eyes widened as he realized Casey was right. He immediately activated the beacon. He began to pace rapidly up and down aisles of refrigerated crates, but Casey stopped him.
"Come on man, relax! Your brothers will be here soon! Besides it's not like we'll be here long enough to freeze."
"Maybe you won't." Raph admitted softly.
Casey raised an eyebrow. "Huh?"
"I'm a fucking turtle Casey! I'm cold blooded! I can survive ten, maybe fifteen minutes tops in an icebox like this! If my brothers don't get here by then—" Almost as if to illustrate his point, the cold began to sink in and he swayed a little. Casey came forward and immediately supported him.
Dark, brown eyes were now clearly filled with the same panic Raph had displayed not moments earlier. Casey's mind suddenly began running much faster than it usually did as he searched for answers. Suddenly, a light bulb went on. "Wait, you're cold blooded and I'm warm blooded. So I'm like a source of heat for you, right?"
Raph slowly nodded, not sure where the human was going with this. In fact, he wasn't really sure he wanted to know.
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"Leo! Mikey! Raph's emergency beacon just went on! It looks like he's stuck somewhere in the warehouse district." Donnie said, drawing his other brothers to his side.
Leonardo sighed. "He went out with Casey. I'll bet you five bucks they're in over their heads again."
Donnie frowned and shook his head as they made their way to the Battle Shell. "No thanks. I won't make a bet that's already been lost." Leo looked up at him curiously and he elaborated. "Raphael would never intentionally activate the emergency beacon unless something was really, really wrong. We need to get there as fast as we can."
Leo's eyes glinted the way they did whenever his little brothers were in danger. "Alright Mikey. What's the fastest route?"
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"C-C-Casey..."
"Raph don't talk, save your strength buddy." Casey said worriedly. He'd forcibly pulled Raph up against him and held the turtle tight in an effort to keep his friend warm. And now Raphael was literally snuggling up to him for warmth. Casey Jones couldn't bring himself to care. Raphael, his best friend, had saved his life more times than he could count. This was his chance to pay back a favor and dammit he, Casey Jones, was not going to let Raph die on his watch. But he was getting worried. The room seemed to just keep getting colder. And so was his best friend.
Raph's emerald green skin had a slight bluish tint to it and despite all Casey's efforts, the turtle's body was slowly shutting down. Raph had said fifteen minutes at most. It had been almost twice that long now. Fortunately, the turtle had managed to educate the human on what would happen before he'd lost true cognizance. Right now, Raph was really borderline delirious. Muttering a whole bunch of things that didn't make sense about true honor.
"Death."
Casey stared down at Raphael. "No Raph. You're not going to die, you understand me? You're gonna make it through this!"
"The painful truth...Death."
"Raph, stop it!" Casey yelled, shaking the turtle in his arms gently.
Raph's body leaned more heavily against Casey's and the human struggled to keep them both seated upright. "Casey?" Raph's muffled voice called softly.
Casey bent down and shifted so that he could look into Raph's eyes. What he saw made him cringe. There was an odd clarity in them that he didn't like. Casey cursed. They were running out of time.
Raph was running out of time, and judging by the look in his eyes, he knew it. "Casey, remember our promise?"
Casey had to fight the tears that threated to stain his cheeks. "Raph—"
"Do you remember?"
"I remember." Casey answered slowly. Anger rose up from some place deep inside him. "No! Raph no! You can't go down like this! We're supposed to go out fighting! In a blaze of glory! Not like this!"
"Promise?" Raph said meekly, his thick drawl sounding strained and weak.
Casey's eyes narrowed as they burnt with a familiar, angry fire. "I promise I'm not going to let you die."
Raph glared at him. He coughed a little with a weak smile. "Don't make promises ya can't keep, Jones."
The big, burly human wrapped his thick arms around his friend. "You make those types of promises to Leo all the time."
"'S different. Leo's my brother." Raph grunted weakly.
Casey grinned a little, hoping he could keep this conversation going until the other turtles got here to rescue them. Under any other circumstances, Casey Jones never would have let these words slip from his tongue in Raph's presence, but right here, right now, he had to say them, because if he didn't Raph might die without ever really knowing. "Yeah? Well you're like a brother to me, too."
Raph blinked slowly at the human. A dim smile came to his lips. "We're best buds, ding-dong. We're even closer than brothers. You know me better. You always have. Ya always will."
The long-haired human's dark brown eyes were dulled. "You better make it through this, Raph."
The mutant turtles shivered, clinging to Casey. "I-I'm not sure I—Casey please. Remember the promise." Raph said, abnormally stretching out the words. As soon as he finished, his dark eyelids dropped closed and his grip on Casey's shoulder went lax.
"Raph? RAPH?!"
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It took them fifteen minutes to reach Raph's vicinity and another five minutes to actually find the right building. It really was a maze of buildings that all looked the same down here. They had to take care while getting from one end of the building to the other, not to get caught by the surveillance cameras or the alarms. So that was another five minutes to make it safely around the back of the building to where the tracker said that Raph's distress beacon had originated. They landed in front of a big, heavy door in the back of the building after Donnie had disengaged all the security cameras.
"I got this." Leo said as he went to work on the lock.
Donnie's vigilant eyes swept the area, carefully taking in every little detail and assuring himself that yes, he had disengaged the security system properly. A confused voice snapped Don out of his reverie. "Hey Donnie, what's IARW certified mean?"
Horror made the brainiac stop dead in his tracks. "Oh no. No. No. No!" Don yelled, slowly coming out of it and shoving Leo to the side as he worked to pick the lock with tremendous, frantic speed.
"Donnie?!" Leo asked, worriedly.
"What is it? What does it mean?!" Mikey asked, now just as worried as Leo.
Donnie kept his focus on the lock even as he let his voice mutter weakly, "IARW. The International Association of Refrigerated Warehouses! If Raph is trapped inside..." Donatello couldn't even bring himself to voice the rest of that sentence. If Raph was inside, he'd be dead by now.
The lock finally gave way with a click and all three turtle siblings burst inside, their bodies immediately feeling the cold. Leonardo's heart iced over at the sight that lay before him. Casey Jones had his arms wrapped around a still, blue-tinted mutant turtle.
Casey looked up at them and smiled grimly, though he, too, was suffering severe cold related symptoms. "Guys. I knew you'd come. I knew you'd come...to save him. He's...still alive."
Those words made a spark of hope leap into Leo's chest. Raph was still alive? But how? He ran forward and was surprised when neither Donnie nor Mikey followed. "Move it! They don't have much time!" He yelled loudly, making his stunned siblings spring into action.
They got Raph and Casey back to the Battle Shell and raced them back to the lair as quick as they could. Sure enough, Casey had been speaking the truth. Raphael was still alive and even though he was in a state of hibernation, Donatello said it wouldn't be long before he snapped out of it. After that, it was a whole different ball game entirely. Raphael would probably be sick for at least another month and a sick Raphael never mixed well with a worried family. But Raph was alive.
Somehow that idiot Casey Jones had managed to keep their brother warm long enough to save both of their lives. Leo had a new found respect for Casey Jones. A new respect and fondness. Anyone who saved one of his little brothers' lives was a friend of his, but this...Casey had come to Raph's aid when Leo could not. Casey had not given up on Raphael. Casey had managed to help Raph live through something that, by all laws of science, should have killed him. For this, Leo's sword would be forever Casey's, should the human need it. Whether he was aware of the change or not, Casey Jones had proved himself as a part of their family. And Leo would be proud to call him brother.
"ACHOO! ACHOO!" Echoes of the loud, raucous sneeze filled the lair. Leo rolled his eyes as he poured out three cups of tea. One for Master Splinter, one for himself, and one—
"ACHOO!"
—for Casey Jones.
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Well, how was it?