They didn't make it to the warehouse. Raph should have known that his good ol' turtle luck wouldn't allow it.

"Hand over that sweet cash, kid, and nobody has to get hurt." A skinny blonde teenager pointed his bat threateningly at a little girl with pigtails wearing a brownies uniform. Two apish cronies flanked either side of the skinny bully.

Raph clenched his fists. "Okay, quick plan, I'll sneak up from behind the girl, you—" he looked over. Casey was already gone. He sighed. "Even when I'm not leader, no one listens."

Casey had jumped down between the girl and the skinny thug.

"NO ONE messes with my girls!" she snarled.

The little girl looked up, still cowering in terror. "Grandma CJ!"

The skinny blonde sneered. "HA HA HA! Well c'mon grandma! Show us what you got!" He charged her with the bat. It stopped before it reached its mark. His eyes moved slowly up from the base, a pit forming in his stomach.

She'd caught his full-force blow with one hand. Her eyes were burning with rage. He was starting to think that picking on the cookie girls had been a bad idea.

Casey yanked the bat out of his hands, she spun it a few times to get a good feel for its weight.

Blondie's big friends took a few steps backward.

A sick smile stretched across Casey's face. "Batter up, you little twerps! AAAAARGH!!!" She charged them with the bat.

The two muscle-teens turned tail and ran. Blondie darted backwards just enough to avoid Casey's first swing. He looked back over his shoulder. When he realized that his 'friends' had abandoned him, he whipped around and made a mad dash for the street. A hand caught him by the collar and raised him off the ground. Next thing he knew, something slammed into his torso. He could swear he heard one of his ribs crack. He cried out. He was reeling. The figure above him raised both arms behind her head. He curled into a ball and flung his arms over his head, a feeble shield for the coming blow...

That never came.

He looked up, clutching his fiercely aching side. His eyes widened. A huge, green—thing—had wrapped its absurdly thick arms around the crazy chick's. His saucer-sized eyes slid past the creature's arms to its face. Its eyes narrowed meaningfully. He wasn't entirely sure what that look meant, but he knew one thing: this was his chance to get out of here. He sprung to his feet and fled, running faster than he'd ever run in his life.

Casey made to follow. She lurched forward, but Raph held firm.

"HE'S GETTING AWAY!!! RELEASE ME YOU—"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, easy there cowboy! Ya stopped 'em! Ya did good! Cool off!"

She stopped pulling against him and he released her. She rounded on him, her shoulders pulled back, her chest pushed out and her head held high.

"Cool off? COOL OFF?" She socked him square on the jaw.

Raph staggered. He rubbed his jaw with the back of his hand. The corner of his lip pulled back in a snarl.

"They deserve to be a taught a lesson!" She shouted, throwing another punch in her frustration.

This time, Raph was ready for it. His large engulfed her tiny fist with a smack. "Not like that! And not by you!"

She let out a frustrated noise and backflipped, kicking him hard in the plastron. She came right back at him.

He blocked. "Especially not when you're like this." He added.

"Like WHAT?!" She screamed, her hands at her sides, tensed and claw-like.

Raph put his hands on her shoulders and calmly made eye contact, "Out of control."

She breathed heavily, clenching her fists. Raph's eyes darted tellingly to their right. She looked over.

The little girl was watching them curiously, her whole body shaking.

Casey closed her eyes. She felt even more ashamed for losing control like that. She'd probably scared the kid even more than those bullies had...Casey pressed a hand firmly against Raph's plastron. They shared a wordless exchange.

Weird, Raph thought. He wasn't used to communicating so openly with someone outside the family. It felt weird, but also kinda good. The way they looked had kept them from having many opportunities to 'make friends'.

Casey went towards the little girl. "You're Emmie, right?"

The girl took a step back, trembling a little less. "Grandma CJ..."

Casey knealt down to be at her level. "Yeah?"

"Are you okay?" Emmie stared up at Casey with huge eyes.

Raph blinked. Did human kids always have eyes that big? He'd never really noticed before. He hadn't spent much time around children.

Jones sighed and looked away. "Yeah, I am now. I'm sorry you had to see that."

Emmie trotted up and patted Casey on the shoulder. "That's okay. I'm really glad you saved me." She looked curiously over at Raph.

The turtle suddenly felt extremely exposed. It was still early, but it was light.

Surprisingly, Emmie just said, "I'm glad Mr. Turtle was here, though. You're scary when you're mad."

Casey smiled wistfully. "Yeah...I'm gonna start working on that. Now then, where's the rest of your troupe?"

"We were just selling on the end of the street a few blocks over, where all the coffee and bagel shops are! The people there will sometimes buy cookies on their way to work! We were leaving because the morning crew was going to arrive soon. Then those mean boys chased us! Eva and Ettie ran a different way. Those boys were super dumb. They thought I had the money, but really Ettie does."

Casey scoffed. "Guess there are good things and bad things about having an identical twin, huh, Emmie?"

Emmie laughed.

"Alright, giggles, I'll help you find 'em and we'll call your mom to come pick you up, okay?"

"Okay." Emmie took Casey's hand.

The human teenager looked over at Raphael. Emmie looked at him too. "What about Mr. Turtle?"

Raph frowned. He could probably make it back to the lair without being seen. He was a ninja, after all. But still, in full daylight...He didn't like it. Casey must have sensed his discomfort. She took out her phone and began typing away furiously.

"I texted directions to the place we were going. It'll be safe there. I'll meet you after I get Emmie and the others home."

Raph nodded.

Emmie waved enthusiastically. "Bye, Mr. Turtle!"

"Bye, kid." He said, awkwardly waving farewell as they headed out towards the street.

--------------

Raph followed Casey's directions. Her info was good. It was completely abandoned. No sign of anyone. It was well boarded up, and the windows and doors were all reinforced. No vagrants or neighborhood kids would easily be able to break in. Raph was able to pry one of the ceiling skylights open with his sai and drop inside. He retreated to a darkened corner not easily visible from above or inside, just in case.

Finally, able to relax a little bit, he pulled out his phone. He'd felt it subtly vibrating for a little while now. He knew that his brothers were probably up and wondering where he was. He checked his texts, sure enough he had three new ones:

where r u big guy?

Raph, where r u?

Hey, Raph, you okay?

He had 2 missed calls, both from Leon, sent slightly before the text. Evidently, Blue had given up and just sent a text instead. Raph sent them a group text:

Went topside with Casey. Met little trouble. All good. In warehouse for now.

He sent them his location, too.

Leo's reply was immediate:

Roger. Keep us updated.

A figure dropped in from the skylight in much the same way he had a few minutes earlier. He shoved his phone away and drew his sais.

"It's just me, Red."

Raph relaxed and went out to meet her.

"There's a manhole not far from here. I can probably help get you down in the sewers unseen."

The big turtle waved off this statement. "How you holding up?"

Casey avoided his gaze for a few seconds. "Fine. Just still got a lot of pent up energy, I guess."

Raph mulled it over for a brief moment. "I still got a room to finish redecorating."

She stared at him.

"If you wanna put that energy into something useful."

She shrugged it off. "Eh, guess I do owe you one." But he could tell that she was grateful he'd asked.

"Alright! Let's—"

Casey yanked him back by the shoulder. "Just a second. Raph, really, about earlier...than—"

"Don't mention it. What're friends for?"

--------------

"What the shell happened to you two?"

They both started a little, wheeling about to face Leon.

Raph rubbed the back of his head and stared a the floor. "Nothing! We're good!"

Blue raised an eyeridge at them. "You both look like you've been pummeled," he observed, poking not-so-gently at the bruise on Raph's jaw from Casey's sucker punch.

Grunting uncomfortably, Raph pushed his brother's hand away. "What these, nah! We just got carried away sparring, that's all!"

Leo's eyes narrowed suspiciously and Raph waited with bated breath. Finally, after what felt like far too long Leon relaxed. "Alright. But you two should really pull your punches more next time. Hurting each other isn't gonna accomplish much of anything."

"Gotcha." Raph turned and nudged Casey forward. "Alright, Blue, if you need us we'll be in my room."

"Your room?" Leo was more confused than ever, but by the time he turned to ask the question, the door of Raph's room had clicked closed.