Are You Sure I'm Not A Villain?

39

Leonardo led the way across the rooftops, his brothers and their human friends following close behind. They had been going at this for weeks with no sign of Shredder, Shadowman, or any of the other villains.

(also. I had no idea that Shadowman is the name of the "villain" in Princess and the Frog. I just watched the movie a few weeks ago and realized that this was actually a little odd. To be completely honest, I actually got the name Shadowman from one of my favorite books called the Fear. It's part of a three book series that I would 100% recommend. Anywizzle. Back to the story.)

"Leo. My bro. My favorite dude," Mikey said. 

 Leonardo sighed in exasperation. "Yes, Mikey?" he asked. The blue-themed turtle still looked at the ground below, watching for any Foot ninjas or any of Shredder's other lackeys.

"Can we go home now?" Mikey whined. "We've been out here forever! Shredder and Shadowman are gone, dude! We could be back home watching Krognard and eating pizza right now!"

Mikey threw his hands down in a way that reminded Casey a lot of his sister when she was younger and was about to throw a temper tantrum. He expected that Mikey was more mature than that, but he could relate to what the turtle was feeling. The others must have as well because Donnie came up to his little brother and placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder.

"I agree with Mikey," Donnie said. "We've been at this long enough, Leo. If we still haven't found them doing anything for almost a month now, what's the point? Let Shredder hide out in his lair, it isn't hurting any of us. We should be putting our resources to good use, not on this wild goose chase."

Leo's shoulders were still tense as he looked over the streets, but Casey had known him long enough to know that the leader was considering what his brothers had said.

As much as Casey hated to admit it, he was beginning to think that maybe it was best if Kai wasn't in his life anymore. He would be able to focus on his real friends and his family-- the people who actually cared about him. But a little part inside of him whispered to the loud raging storm that maybe there was some good left in Kai. Maybe Casey could help him.

"No," Raph argued. He punched his fists together. "I say we storm Shredder's lair and beat a warning right into their empty skulls."

"Raph, come on," Donnie complained. "Let's just go home."

"Yeah," April agreed. "There's no need for us to resort to violence right away." She hopped down from the air conditioner vent that she had previously been sitting on. She was about to say something else when Leo suddenly jumped up from his crouched position and pointed to something off in the distance.

"Guys, look!" he shouted to the others.

Casey hated how much his heart fluttered at the thought of seeing Kai... no, the Shadowman, again. He was the first to make it to Leo's side and see what the blue-clad turtle was talking about. They crowded the edge of the roof that they were perched on and watched as Tigerclaw and a few Foot soldiers piled some unconscious (please don't be dead) bodies into the back of a white van and pulled off down the road.

 "Oh, come on!" Mikey exclaimed in disbelief. His dreams of the warm, deep-dish pizza with extra stringy cheese that melted in your mouth and the perfectly crispy edges of the pepperonis vanished from his mind like a plastic bag in the wind.

"Oh, hell yeah!" Raph shouted in excitement. Now this is what he was talking about. Finally, some action! After weeks of silence, he finally was able to crush somebody else's skull that wasn't one of his brothers or Casey.

"Follow it?" April asked.

"Follow it," Leo commanded with a leader-like nod.

The turtles and two humans leaped from rooftop to rooftop, following the white van. Casey would have assumed that Tigerclaw and the Foot soldiers would have taken the people in the back of the van to Shredder's lair, but the villains took an unexpected turn and headed to the other side of the city.