NT: Interlude: Meanwhile, In New York City

Casey Jones frowned as he leaped down from a rooftop, swinging his hockey stick into the face of a Bratva Goon from Volkov's Crew out of Brooklyn. As the Russkie went down, Casey had to duck a brass knuckle-encased punch from one of the Associates that Phil Leotardo had taken on during the recent bullshit that'd erupted in the city. He came up with his hockey stick, high-sticking the Mob Associate right in the chin with a crack, snapping the Guy's head back and opening him up for an elbow strike that'd put his lights out.

Really, the Foot Clan splintering after they'd taken out the Shredder had done a lot more harm than Good, and while Casey and the Turtles did what they could, they were just five guys. They honestly coulda used Ulysses' help. He'd gone out West, following his mystic orders, though. Whatever that meant, Casey wasn't too sure he got it. Either way, that didn't really have a whole lotta bearing on the situation as it stood.

For a while, the Criminal Underworld had been quiet. Everyone'd been waiting for the other shoe to drop when it came to the power vacuum the Foot Clan Splintering had left. Everyone but the Foot Clan themselves, who'd been shedding Goons like it was going out of style. Some of 'em had even joined the NYPD! Casey hated to see that happen, but most of the Cops were crooked in some way or another. Even the few that weren't, guys like John McClane or Lennie Briscoe, ended up being a drop of water in the ocean. Of course, not even the NYPD could ignore the shitstorm that happened when things finally boiled over.

It started with the Foot Elite lashing out at the local branch of the Wah Sing Ku Triad out in Chinatown and the Local Branch of the Iron Claw Yakuza Group in East Flushing. The Yakuza hit back, hacking into the Computers that controlled the Power Grid and cutting off power to a major Foot Clan Stronghold, locking the Foot Clan inside while the Yakuza bombed the building. The Triads went quiet, though, and nobody knew why till a couple of months ago when the local Vampire Population exploded out of Chinatown. These weren't the average Demons Animating Corpses that Casey'd been warned about by Ulysses, neither. These didn't go down to wooden stakes and weren't super flammable.

It'd taken a meeting with Robin Wood, one of the local Vampire Hunters, to let Casey know exactly what it was he was dealing with. Something called Jiangshi, the Vampiric Kids of a Chinese General named Lau, who'd been cured of Vampirism back in the eighteen-nineties. Apparently, Lau'd spread the Mystic Contagion before being cured, and one of his Kids had himself shipped to New York City to escape some kinda Taoist Vampire hunters back in Hong Kong. The Triads had apparently discovered him shortly before being hit by the Foot Elite and gotten infected in the process. Their being quiet was 'cause the Triads had unsuccessfully tried putting down their infected brothers themselves.

The worst part was that Jiangshi didn't drink blood, but stole Chi, meaning that whenever Casey or the Turtles had tried to fight 'em, they always wound up tapping out before the Undead could be totally wiped out. It'd taken Robin Wood calling in some heavies from Jolly Ole England to finally scatter the Jiangshi and kick their asses outta New York City. By that time, though, the Gang War that'd been brewing and been exacerbated by the renegade Foot Elite's actions had tipped over into a full-scale bloodbath. Now, the Lupertazzi Family was fighting the Volkov Bratva, who were fighting the Iron Claw Yakuza, who were fighting the Irish and Serbs out in Hell's Kitchen, and all with the Foot Elite striking out at Random.

Even with him and the Turtles busting up fights, it seemed like half the damn city was on fire every other night! Casey growled as he realized he actually missed the days when he only had to deal with Hun and the Purple Dragons. At least things were simple back then! Unfortunately, though, now ain't the time to reminisce. There were still Goons to knock out and deal with. Case in point, the Bratva who'd just pulled a damned Klobb Submachine Gun from outta a suitcase.

Casey leaped up for a fire escape twenty feet up above his head as the Russian Gangster let rip with his Submachine Gun, pistol rounds spraying about where he'd been standing previously, putting holes in the brickwork of the building behind him. He grabbed a small souvenir baseball bat from his bag, infused it with Chi, and then chucked it right at the Russian Gangster who was reloading his Submachine Gun, having used up the entire clip shooting the wall behind where Casey'd been standing previously. The Bat smacked the Gangster right between the eyes, and he crumpled like a puppet with its strings cut.

As he went down, another Lupertazzi Family Associate came running around the corner into the alley, being chased by a Russian Gangster with a CC-Thirteen Pistol. Casey reached into his bag and pulled out a cricket bat, leaping down and smashing his bat on the top of the Lupertazzi Family Associate's Head, sending the Man into Dreamland. The Russkie moved to re-aim his Hand Cannon, but Casey smashed his Cricket Bat into his hand, breaking a couple fingers and causing the Russkie to drop the pistol to the pavement.

"Cyka Blyat! Boss Volkov will have your head for this!" Swore the Russkie.

"Maybe. I doubt it, though. I'd be more worried about Old Man Vittorio. Your buddy shot up the back of his Pizza Parlor real bad, and he ain't the kinda guy to just let that go." Smirked Casey behind his hockey mask.

"Fuck your mother!" Spat the Russkie.

"Now that just ain't nice." Mused Casey, before smashing his cricket bat into the side of the Russkie's head, knocking him out.

As the Russkie slumped to the pavement, unconscious, Casey made his way into Paisano's Pizza. Old Man Vittorio scowled from behind the counter as he entered, grabbing a knife from the kitchen. Casey held his hands up in a placating gesture.

"Easy, I just wanted to use your phone to call the Cops. Got a couple unconscious Goombahs and Gopniks out back they might wanna pick up." Defended Casey.

"Make it fast!" Demanded Old Man Vittorio.

"No worries." Promised Casey.

Five minutes later, he'd left a tip with nine-one-one and was on his way out, heading back out to the alleyway and climbing up the fire escape to roof hop his way back across town. It'd been a busy night, that was the twelfth buncha goons that Casey'd beat down already. Of course, with the current issues, that was only to be expected. It wasn't till he'd made his way back over to SoHo that he found his thirteenth dust-up of the night. Just his luck, it was the Turtles against a buncha Foot Elite. As Casey pulled a Croquet Mallet outta his bag of tricks, he grinned as he leaped down on one of the Foot Elites from behind, smashing a Chi-Infused Croquet Mallet into the top of one of the Foot Elite's heads, crumpling the Guy to the Pavement.

"Looks like you boys could use a little help." Grinned Casey.

"Casey! Man, am I glad to see you!" Beamed Leo, parrying a strike from one of the Foot Elite's swords while cutting the legs out from under the Foot Elite with his own off-hand blade.

"Talk later, beat down these Mooks now!" Insisted Raph, catching the weight of a Foot Elite's Kusarigama with his Sai and yanking the Foot Elite off his feet into a staff strike from Donny.

"The Foot have a new Leader! Some Chick Called Karai, she claims she's the Shredder's Daughter." Informed Donny as he sent the Foot Elite into dreamland.

"You don't say?" Prompted Casey, as he ducked a swipe of one of the Foot Elite's Sansetsukon, smashing a Chi-Infused Croquet Mallet Strike into the Foot Elite's knee, shattering bone.

"Yeah, except I can't imagine a Dude like the Shredder ever getting a girlfriend! He's got a face only a mother could love, and the attitude to match." Joked Mikey, dodging aside from a double cut from one of the Foot Elite's Twin Tanto Blades and smashing his Nunchaku into the Foot Elite's temple.

As they fought on, Casey had to admit, though the image of the Shredder ever having sex was grossing him out, even though it seemed impossible, there ain't really a better explanation for exactly what was going on with the City right now. If the Foot Clan had a new leader, though, well, that just might be enough to get the Foot Elite to work toward some kinda grand master plan. He'd be damned if he could figure out what it was from the fact that it seemed like it required the whole goddamn criminal underworld to go to war with itself. That kinda chaos seemed pretty counter to how the Shredder had operated after all.

As he and the Turtles fought on, the Foot Elite got put on the backfoot and were beaten six ways from Sunday. They didn't last much longer after his arrival, and Casey jeered at 'em as they ran with their tails between their legs. However, he couldn't shake the feeling that Donny was right about this Karai Chick. He would find out by the end of the week that Donny's info gathering had been spot on when he and the Turtles ran into the Woman Herself during a group patrol. It seemed the Foot Clan did indeed have a new leader.

And that fact would change New York City for the foreseeable future when her scheme finally became clear about a week later. It was so obvious that Casey was kicking himself for not figuring it out himself when he first thought about it. Karai was stirring the pot in the New York City Criminal Underworld so she could consolidate her position at the top of the heap with whoever was left. It honestly wasn't all that different from how the Shredder had operated as cock of the walk in New York City for the past two decades before he'd been taken down. Only Karai had to start from a position of weakness.

It'd taken April to put the puzzle pieces together. Apparently, she'd figured out that the Foot Elite wasn't engaging in full-on battles with the other Syndicates in New York City. Instead, they would hit a place hard and fast, and leave evidence that one of the other Syndicates had done it. Sometimes it worked, mostly against the Russkies and Italians who didn't know any better, other times it didn't, like with the Yakuza who knew damn well how the Foot Clan operated and struck back at the Foot whenever they could. Only problem was that with most of the city falling for it, the Iron Claw Yakuza had to go along with the Charade and fight the other Syndicates just to keep hold of the territory they got. It was a pretty good plan. So naturally, he and the Turtles wanted to fuck it all up.

They'd get their chance in Mid-August. Seemed the various factions were looking to sit down and talk things out. That ain't something that Karai and the Foot could let happen, so the big meet-up that the Heads of the Various Syndicates were headed to in the Old Ligamint Warehouse was actually a target that the Foot couldn't afford not to hit.

And Casey and the Turtles were gonna be there to stop them when they did. . .

XXXX

AN: All right, so here we have the first of the Interludes I promised you guys. We check in on New York City, Casey Jones, and the Turtles. It turns out that New York City is smack in the middle of an alternate version of the City at War Storyline from the TMNT Comics, where Karai comes over from Japan to take control of the remnants of the Foot Clan in New York City, sparking a massive Gang War. Unfortunately, the fact that it coincided with a bunch of Jiangshi taking over the Triads sidetracked the Turtles and Casey. Because of that, Karai managed to gain control of the Foot Elite more or less intact. Now she's trying to winnow down the ranks of Organized Crime in New York City so she can consolidate her position over whatever is left.

Other nineties stuff this chapter includes mentions of Boris Volkov's Bratva Crew in Brooklyn from Little Odessa, the Lupertazzi Crime Family from the Sopranos, the Wah Sing Ku Triad from Lethal Weapon Four, the Iron Claw Yakuza Group from Showdown in Little Tokyo, Karai, the Foot Clan, Casey Jones, and the Turtles from TMNT, Lennie Brisco from Law and Order, John McClane from Die Hard, Klubb Submachine Guns from Goldeneye for the Nintendo Sixty-Four, CC-Thirteen Pistols from Perfect Dark, Robin Wood and Demonic Vampires from Buffy the Vampire Slayer, General Lau and the Jiangshi are from Mister Vampire Ninety-Two, and Vittorio and Paisano's Pizza are from Seinfeld. Finally, Ligamint is a brand of Mint Jelly from the Energizer Bunny Commercials.

At any rate, the next chapter will be a look at how things were going in Sunnydale without Ulysses there. Then we'll take a look at how Amanda's doing before coming back to Ulysses' POV.

Stay tuned. . .