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Casey was boxed in, her heart thudding in her chest. Wasn’t one Shredder enough? Why were there two??
The second Shredder had apparently decided that the Foot needed a new one. At least this Shredder was human. The turtles and April had said her voice, even through the helmet, seemed familiar. It was to Casey, too, and she hated that it was a comforting voice for her, the same way that Mikey’s chicken noodle soup was. It was familiar and it was everywhere, a lost taste, a lost sound, a lost smell that she couldn’t quite place.
The voice had become a voice of her nightmares recently, though, and she didn’t want to admit she knew why it was so painful. “Casey.” Shredder 2 said, and her voice hurt Casey, striking her through the heart. “You used to be such a valuable member of the Foot. We’re rebuilding, child. We’ve saved your adoptive fathers, and they are back to normal. They are sorry, we all are. Come back, Cassandra.” Casey hated how Shredder’s voice was desperate. She hated how her voice was sad. She hated how her voice sounded caring.
She hated that her voice was her mother’s.
“Please, my daughter.” Tang Shen said, and Casey nearly cried. Her mother reached out to help her up, hands bent so the wicked claws of her tekko-kagi wouldn't cut into her. And she nearly took it, knowing that she had no mystic, especially not as strong as Tang Shen’s. She hated that she had lied to the Hamatos—her family—about not knowing. She didn’t know at first, but she had figured it out.
Why was she so drawn to the woman that put her into the Foot at seven? Why did she want her to apologize? Why did she want her fathers back, the ones who raised her? The ones that were so protective of her, even as they weren’t good people? Even if they weren’t good parents, she still missed them. But she wanted her loving mother back, not this monster. She wanted her honorary fathers back, not the empty promise that they were back to their normal selves. Trusting this woman would be a mistake.
She didn’t miss her mother.
She missed someone who never existed.
Because, honestly, she didn’t remember much about Tang Shen before she left her with the clan. She didn’t know her name, and the world didn’t know about Casey’s existence. She had no idea that her mother was a famous actress, none in the slightest. She didn’t know if her memories were seen through a rose-colored lens, as she had so few of them.
Either way, Shredder was blasted back by a red hand, and even though she put up a silver-ish mystic shield to protect herself, she was still thrown back. “Casey!” Her friend said, “Are you okay?” But Casey couldn’t speak, all the chaos and crazy had been sucked out of her, and her eyes teared up. Her younger but taller honorary brother wrapped her in his arms before Leo ran up and portaled them out of there.
“What happened?” Raph asked when they had landed in the lair, and the others were there. Leo must have portaled them first. “Leo said to come! Raph saw you. You almost died!” He looked at her, and his face softened. “Casey, you froze up, and Shredder didn’t hurt you. What happened?” Casey’s tears turned into sobs. CJ reached over to her, but she shrugged back, stumbling into Raph. After a moment she collected herself enough to choke out a sentence that left the others in stunned silence.
“That’s my mom.”