Are You Sure I'm Not A Villain?

19

(I don't actually know anything about Casey's family except the fact that he doesn't have a mom, but he has a dad and a little sister. I took the liberty of naming the little sister, but if any of y'all have any actually information on any of his family members, please feel free to comment)

Kai walked through the various hallways of the cathedral, seemingly lost but actually finding his way to the fly's laboratory. Stockman was practically harmless, but Kai hated the fly for what he made him into. The mutagen that coursed through Kai's veins was Stockman's doing, creating a weapon for Master Shredder to bend to his will.

The lab was a few stories tall, rooms with glass panels as walls encircling a vat of the dreaded glowing green substance. Kai had his fair share of time spent in the cells, as did the other mutants under Shredder's control.

You see, Kai's mutation wasn't one that was visible, as you probably already guessed. Kai was considered to have a 'silver tongue', the ability to coerce and indoctrinate people just by speaking. Many of the human Foot soldiers were recruited by Kai, as ordered from his father.

Kai stood at the opening that led to the lab. The disgusting fly buzzed around, his pink sweater stained from whatever trash he just threw up and then ate. He walked down the stairs that led to Stockman's desk, glancing at all the buttons and wondering what each of them did. He leaned against the smooth piece of metal furniture and crossed his arms. A rather bored look had emerged on his face. When the fly finally noticed him, he flew towards the human and hovered in front of him.

"Mazzter Kai," Stockman buzzed. "What a pleazzzant surprizzze."

"The Master Shredder said that you wanted to run more tests," Kai said, ignoring the annoying insect. He was already annoyed at the scientist. Baxter Stockman was one of those people that could irritate him just by being there. "We've done many tests already and have understood that the mutation has taken hold. What more must we do?"

"Mazzzter Shredder wanted to increazzze the amount," Stockman replied. "He zzzeems to think that you are lozzzing your touch."

"You can tell Master Shredder that I am fine," Kai said indignantly. "This is not necessary."

"Oh, but it izzz," the fly said. If the insect had a face that could reveal emotions, it would probably have a very sinister smile plastered on it. "Come with me for the tezzztzzz."

Kai glared daggers at the mutant. He reached into his pocket and pulled out his knife. "If you dare touch me, I will cut your wings off one by one and force you to eat them." He held the knife to Stockman's chest and pressed the point in so that there would be a lasting hole in his ridiculous pink sweater. "Don't play with me, mutant."

The fly buzzed in shock, but raised his many hands into a position of surrender. Kai took his knife and placed it back into his sheath. His rage simmered, slowly rising in temperature. How dare his father try and experiment on him again after what happened last time? Of course he would never say it to the Shredder's face, but he despised the leader of the Foot clan.

He would not hesitate to kill his father if the situation allowed it.

Kai felt the rage turn into humorous, psychopathic glee. He faced the fly once more, still in the defensive position he was locked in earlier. Kai felt his mutation call to him, begging to be used on the disgusting fly that caused him so much pain.

He smiled maliciously at his prey. "You are going to tell my father that you completed the experiment. That the mutagen held, but at a very high cost. You are going to tell him that trying this procedure again would be dangerous and could result in his loss of power over the Foot clan. You will tell him this and nothing else about our encounter– or you will be slowly picked apart by your own creations."

Kai paused and thought a moment before adding, "And you will eat that pile of trash in the corner and throw it up on the Master Shredder."

The fly buzzed in understanding and flew off to the dark corner where the trash lay and started eating it like his life depended on it– which, in a way, it did although Stockman had no say in the matter. Kai chuckled evilly to himself and walked back upstairs to his bedroom where his homework was waiting for him.

Yes, it was anticlimactic. Threatening a twisted mutant fly scientist to AP Calculus homework. That day being a Monday, he had lots of homework that was due throughout the week. The only thing that made the school day better was not paying attention to anything that was going on while listening to music and, as much as he did not want to admit it, Casey.

He had been thinking about Casey more than he should have considering that they had only been friends for a few days. It wasn't as if he wanted to be thinking about him, either. Thoughts of Casey always popped in his mind at some of the worst possible moments, making him feel odd things that he had never experienced from a boy before. It was becoming overwhelming, but not exactly in a bad way.

***

As if it was fate, Casey was also thinking about Kai. They had eaten lunch together that afternoon at school. It was then that Casey heard Kai's real, genuine laugh. He didn't even remember what he had said that made Kai smile, but he was glad that he did say it.

Kai was a very uptight person, so much so that it made many people wonder how Casey and him were friends. He never really showed much emotion in public spaces save for a quirk at the corners of his lips as a smile. But nights like on Sunday when they were alone, skating together in the light filled stadium, that was when Casey truly saw Kai for the first time.

And that day at lunch made it all the more special that Casey was the one to make Kai laugh. Casey thought about that moment, drowning out the background, replaying when Kai cracked a smile and gasped for breath as he laughed at Casey's stupid joke.

He laughed at Casey's stupid joke.

Casey wondered when he and Kai would see eachother again. He knew that Kai had very strict parents, although he didn't talk about them much. Hanging out was basically forbidden, so Kai had to sneak out in the middle of the night or stay after school for a while with the excuse of extra credit homework or something equally stupid. Not that Casey was complaining.

The amount of time that he did spend with Kai was great and he wouldn't trade those moments for any hockey championship. The very fact that Kai was going out of his way to evade his helicopter parents made Casey understand just how special their friendship was.

Casey walked up to his apartment door and pulled his keys out of his jeans' front pocket. He put the key into the lock that was marked with a swatch of nail polish– a Five Minute Craft that his little sister found online and begged him to use on his set of keys for the apartment and various other places that no one else knew about.

He opened the door and, per usual, hung his keys on the hook next to the door and smiled as he heard light footsteps stampeding towards him. He turned to see a little girl, dressed in a pink Disney princess dress with her dark wavy hair in pigtails on either side of her head and a toothy smile plastered on her face. Her joyful brown eyes sparkled as she barrelled towards her older brother.

"Marie!" Casey exclaimed, scooping her into his arms and spinning her around in circles. She laughed as the room spun around, little arms wrapped around Casey's neck.

Casey set his sister back down on the floor, ruffling her hair.

"Casey!" she said, still hugging his leg. "I missed you so much! Why are you always at school?"

"Believe me, sometimes I wish I wasn't, sis," he answered. He shook his leg, trying to get Marie off, but she stayed firmly planted, perfectly content with where she was. Casey sighed and walked to the kitchen where their father was making dinner. Marie held on for dear life and screamed with glee at every step her older brother took as she was lifted in the air.

Casey's father was standing at the stove, wearing one of his old hockey jerseys over a black hoodie. His hips were swinging to the beat of the music playing from his phone. Casey thought it was Super Freak by Rick James. Mr. Jones was mixing something in a pot. It smelled like an italian kitchen in there. Casey's stomach rumbled, reminding him of how little he ate that day.