Dagger From the Mirror (ROTTMNT/TMNT 2012 Crossover Fic)

Some Things You Can't Take Back

When Cassandra got the phone call late one night, she hadn't been too surprised, nor had she been surprised when it was her counterpart on the other line, giving her an address and asking her to meet him there. In all honesty, she'd actually been expecting something like that to happen. After all, meeting yourself wasn't something that happened every day. And even if her other self was a weird, messy, ridiculous-looking teenage white boy who had zero formal training, no honor to speak of, and desperate need of a haircut... Well, it only made sense that he'd be curious about her.

(As much as she hated it, she couldn't say she wasn't curious about him either)

So no, she wasn't surprised by this requested meeting whatsoever. Cassandra had agreed immediately and as soon as she could, had snuck out of the Foot base and ran to the specified location, where she stealthily broke in and met her counterpart inside. Nothing happening here was shocking to the ninja.

The ice skates he promptly handed her, however, were a surprise.

"Uh, what are these for?" Cassandra asked, looking down at the new skates in her hands with disgust. Her counterpart seemed unfazed. Standing there with the same confident grin he'd had from the start, he rolled his eyes as if she was the ridiculous one for asking him that.

"To skate."

"I'm not an idiot," Cassandra hissed, "I know what they are for, but why did you give them to me?"

With an amused glint still present in his eyes, Casey turned and started walking deeper into the building. Cassandra huffed out a breath—he wanted her to follow him, didn't he? And here she'd thought this would be a quick in and out meeting, maybe extended just a bit longer by talk of battle plans. Not... whatever this was.

Regardless, Cassandra hurried after him. "Hey, I asked you a question! I came out all this way. You owe me an answer!"

"Isn't it obvious?" Casey asked. The halls they were walking through were pitch black, the only light coming from streetlights through distant windows, yet the boy walked with a confidence that told Cassandra he knew this place as well as the back of his hands. She wished she knew how... Cassandra didn't know much about what meeting yourself from another dimension was supposed to feel like, but this strangeness? This confusion? That didn't feel right. Shouldn't she just understand naturally what was going through his mind?

Then again, he did think that working with April O'Neil and the turtles of all beings was the correct move. On second thought, maybe she didn't want to understand his thought process.

"No, it's definitely not obvious," Cassandra muttered, and Casey had the nerve to laugh. Why was he taking this meeting so lightly? If it wasn't for intel or planning purposes, wasn't this a waste of time? He wasn't even wearing any armor or weapons! Sure, she'd agreed to be their ally for the time being, but it was only temporary and she had made that clear: they were still enemies. She was armed, as always, and was ready to fight. Surely he wasn't so idiotic to trust her this easily...

What was going on here?

Casey continued on without a care, reaching the end of the hall and waving her forward. Cassandra approached cautiously, eyes narrowed in suspicion.

"We're here." He said, swinging the doors open. Cassandra stepped inside and froze.

"Is this... an ice rink?"

"Yeah!" Casey grinned, letting the doors shut behind him and brushing past her. He dropped the bag he was carrying onto the ground, digging through it and pulling out his own skates. "This place used to be open late, but then way back when some evil robo ninjas from the Foot here attacked me and April—uh, our April, you guys weren't here yet—and trashed the place, so they close at 10 now... I was all bummed out, but then I figured out I could sneak in here and get the whole place to myself all the time. Free solo hockey practice any time I want." He grabbed something from a shelf, tossing it to Cassandra without warning. "Cool, right?"