Legacy Mutation (Book Eight)

Chapter 20: New Friends in Strange Places

Sunday passes slowly for everyone. The kids lay around, doing their own thing. Dean reads out loud with Venus on the couch, their eyes alight with excitement at the story. Asher, Blake, and Mitch play Monopoly on the coffee table, laughing or groaning as the turns cycle. Copeland lays upside down on an armchair, tossing a ball to herself. April is out at work.

Casey taps his fingers on the kitchen table, bored out of his skull. He hasn't been out on a night patrol with Raphael in what feels like forever.

"Stupid mating season," the hockey player grumbles.

Copeland wanders into the kitchen, bouncing on her heels a little.

"Uncle Casey?" she asks.

He smirks, showing off his gap-filled smile. "What's up, Raphina?"

She rolls her eyes at the goofy nickname. "Can we go out and patrol?"

"Just us?"

"Yeah. I mean, usually dad's with us, but him and mom are currently invested in each other, and only each other." She crosses her arms. "We can't slack off just because he isn't around. Besides, you don't exactly have a dojo to train in."

He nods, standing up. "Alright. Let's go." He pauses. "I'll leave the others in charge of Blake."

She high-threes him. "Shell yeah."

🍕🐢🍕🐢🍕🐢🍕🐢🍕

"GOONGALA!"

Copeland laughs, front flipping off a chimney stack. "That sounds so weird."

"The awesome Casey Jones...doesn't care."

"You're weird."

They both laugh, skidding to a stop near the edge of a building. The young mutant's breaths are fast with excitement, while Casey never stops smirking.

"Alright, we need some thugs to pound," she whispers.

"Man, this city can be so dead sometimes," he complains.

As if on cue, there's a smash nearby as an alarm starts blaring. The two vigilantes look to each other and nod before taking off across the roof towards the noise.

A few guys in black masks race down the streets with burlap sacks on their backs, an alarm blaring behind them as they try to run.

"I'll start this off," Casey offers, leaping off the roof and skating towards the burglars.

Copeland follows eagerly. Her uncle speeds up, passes them, and comes to a stop in their path.

"You jerks picked the wrong town to mess with," he threatens.

"Aw crap. It's that vigilante guy," one of the thugs groans.

"Time for trouble," Copeland says from behind them. "And make it double."

They spin around, eyes widening.

"What is that thing?!" one shrieks.

Her hazel eyes blaze. "Your worst nightmare." She grins. "I'm also a ninja turtle."

Casey winds up his hockey stick and shoots a puck, smacking a guy in the back of the head. He yelps sharply and collapses, holding his cranium. Copeland throws a shuriken, cutting the sacks from their hands while Casey fires two more shots. They wobble from the hits, and she sweeps their legs out from under them with a swift kick.

They're down before they can say another word. She laughs in triumph, smacking her uncle's hand.

"Oh man! Their faces were priceless!" She wipes a tear from her eye.

"Nice job, Raphina," he jokes. "Now we've got to tie these jerks up for the police."

The deed is done, and they scrawl "For police, from Casey Jones and Copeland" on one guy's face.

When the red and blue lights start flashing, they disappear into the night again.

"That felt good," Casey admits, rolling his shoulders. "Work out the old slap shot."

"That was fun," Copeland agrees.

They stop to rest, looking over the skyline. Copeland looks along the ground, catching sight of a fuzzy black and white creature rummaging through the trash.

"Hey, what's that?" she asks.

The older man follows her gaze, shrugging. "I don't know."

She hops down, creeping closer. The little thing pokes his head out of the trash can, revealing him to be a cute dog with big brown eyes.

"Aw, it's just a dog," she says.

The canine tilts his head, letting out a small bark. He looks surprisingly well fed for a street dog, albeit he's a bit scrawny. Copeland kneels down, patting her legs.

"Hey boy," she whispers. "It's alright. I'm friendly."

Casey drops down behind her stealthily. "You're Raph's kid. You aren't friendly."

She shoots him a glare before returning to the dog. The animal scoots forwards, sniffing her three-fingered hand tentatively. He barks a little, looking up into her eyes. She doesn't know what it is, but something feels incredibly familiar about this animal.

"I'm Copeland, it's nice to meet you," she jokes, shaking his paw.

The dog seems to tense up when she does it, but quickly relaxes. She scratches his ears, looking back at Casey.

"I've never had a real dog. Pepper-oni is great, but she's kind of cheesy and saucy, literally," she explains.

"Right." He chuckles, checking his watch. "We need to get back."

"Can we keep this dog?"

"Um...I'll talk to April."

"But...what if he's gone by then?"

"Then...I don't know."

She frowns, but stands up and waves goodbye to the dog before they run away.