To be imperial is to be majestic, magnificent, or domineering. It alludes to royalty and being part of a guard or a soldier.

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"Oh! OH!"

"Left! Left! No, your other left!"

"Use the I-beam!"

Donatello and Destiny watch as Leonardo plays on one of their arcade machines, groaning or grinning when the reaction is needed. Leonardo keeps his eyes trained on the screen, his stare unwavering.

Sarina reads a National Geographic on the couch near Michelangelo, clicking her tongue every now and then. Michelangelo giggles over his t-phone, shining his legs in the air and every now and then, he leans over to show something to Sarina or tell her what he's laughing at. She never fails to give him her full attention when he calls for it.

Meanwhile, Raphael spins a sai to himself, bored out of his shell as he stares up at the ceiling, counting the cracks. He almost wishes that there were Kraang to bash or mutagen to hunt down, anything to get his body moving.

"Donnie, is there anything we can do?" he shouts, not bothering to keep the annoyance from his tone.

Donatello sighs. "I told you, Raph, there's nothing. No Purple Dragons, nothing weird happening, we've got nothing to worry about."

"That's what I hate!" Raphael snaps, jerking himself upwards and stabbing his sai into the floor. "We're ninjas! We need something to fight!"

"Sensei always tells us not to look for fights," Leonardo reminds him without looking away from his game. "Maybe you just have to deal with the fact that the city is at peace." The screen bloops with defeat and he groans. "Shell..."

"Move aside and watch how a real kunoichi does it," Destiny says as she shoves him aside and takes the controls.

"Except you're not a kunoichi yet," Donatello says.

She shrugs. "Yeah, I've got a few more years to go, but for now I'm a gamer kunoichi."

Raphael grumbles and yanks his sai out of the floor. Why can't they take him seriously for even one minute? There could be something big brewing right under their noses and they don't even care.

He gets to his feet, rolling his shoulders. "I'm going out. Don't bother following or anything," he grumbles.

"Be sure to stay safe, Raphie," Sarina says as she flips a page.

He sighs. "Yeah. Thanks, giggles."

Her eyes flash as she smiles at him over the top of her magazine. Raphael manages a weak smile in return as he heads for the exit.

Michelangelo bursts out laughing and jumps up, snagging Raphael's arm as he passes. "Dudes, Annalise did the wasabi challenge! Her face is so red and cute!" he chokes through heaves of breath, pointing to the screen. Raphael groans.

"Still watching her videos?" Donatello asks.

Michelangelo rolls his eyes. "Um, duh. We're in love."

"Correction, you are in love. She does not know that you exist," Sarina murmurs, as if she wants to say it but is concerned about his reaction.

"Whatever, dudette. It's real to me." Michelangelo grins at Raphael. "Yo, Raph, wanna stay and watch with me?"

Raphael snorts and shoves him away. "I'll leave you to your fan-turtling. I'm gonna go find some real entertainment."

He leaves the lair in a huff and the others call scattered goodbyes to him as he disappears down the tunnel.

----------

"I've really forgotten how dead this city can be," Casey complains. "Not even a purse-snatcher to be seen."

Raphael slows his running, scanning the nearby buildings and streets with a hardened glare. He doesn't need much, just one scumbag to pummel, one thing to get his adrenaline going before he has to go back to the lair. There are only so many things a turtle can do before nothing feels interesting anymore.

"Raph?"

The red-masked turtle looks behind him, meeting Casey's dark eyes. He arches a thick eyebrow, as if waiting, and Raphael realizes that he must have been talking.

"Huh?" he echoes.

"I said, I wonder what the Purple Dragons are up to. They're more active now," Casey repeats.

"Oh. Yeah." Raphael shakes his head, making his mask tails brush tickle his neck. "I wouldn't know."

They fall silent and stare at their surroundings. Sirens wail far off in the distance and the occasional vehicle rumbles past on the street below them. Every now and then, a dog barks or late night stragglers share a laugh or shout a farewell.

"I sort of want a freaky, evil mutant to show up," Casey admits. "At least then we'd be doing something other than twiddling our thumbs." He crosses his arms and bobs his head, defiant. "Casey Jones doesn't do thumb twiddling."

"Let's check out those sirens, then," Raphael suggests, pointing towards the spot the noise is coming from. "Maybe there's something big we could help with."

"Maybe. Worth a shot."

The two break into a sprint again, moving at their top speed towards the commotion. Raphael knows that they will probably be too late to actually do anything, maybe they'll be able to see what happened, but the thrill of just the idea of getting a chance to do something keeps him going.

Raphael slows to a stop at the edge of a large break between buildings and reaches for his grappling hook, but he freezes. There's music in the air, soft strains that drift into his ears and captivate his attention. Casey is still catching up to him, just a rooftop or two away.

"These waterfalls, I've seen a million times.
They wash away the world that I see, and cover up my mind.
And I can push the walls away until they're out of sight and mind.
But I'm not strong enough to stand alone here in this tide."

"Hey...Casey, do you hear that?" Raphael asks as the hockey player skids to a stop at his side.

Casey flips his mask up and strains to listen. His lips pucker and his eyes narrow, then everything releases after a moment when he too hears the sound.

"I don't want to, I'm not trying.
I wish it would just go away.
And then I see red,
I see red,
I see red,
I see red."

Raphael can't get himself to move, enchanted by the alto tones of the voice. He had heard Destiny's singing before and she sounds fine, but this voice is far more beautiful, like velvet with a rougher edge.

"Come on, I think it's coming from this way," Casey urges, heading away from their previous course.

Raphael snaps out of his trance and lunges forward, grabbing his wrist. "Are you on the pepperoni?" he hisses. "It's gonna be a girl, a human girl. We can't just go waltzing off because her voice is pretty. That's like..." He furrows his brow and tries to think. "Like steering your ship into the siren's beach."

Casey arches an eyebrow. "Is that Odysseus? I think Red mentioned that for a project..."

"Never mind. My point is, we can't follow that voice. It's stupid and irrational."

The taller teen flashes a caveman smile. "Raph, aren't we stupid and irrational anyways?"

He huffs. "I try to be less of the stupid part."

"Come on, dude, just a peek. She sounds familiar."

Raphael gives in and they head off in search of a different kind of siren. The music reaches Raphael's ears again, spiking his curiosity. He can hear now that there's a guitar accompanying the voice.

"These situations make me feel so cold.
It's like I've been replaced by someone I don't know.
And I can say the words until I've said all I can say,
But without you I'm a fraction of who I'm supposed to be."

The boys slow down when they catch sight of a silhouette wandering around on a rooftop, dark hair swaying in the cool night breeze, her fingers dancing across the strings of a beat up red acoustic guitar. Nearly all of her clothes are black, from the leather jacket and the dark ripped jeans to the black boots and the sunglasses perched on her nose. The only thing that isn't black is her t-shirt, which is blood red and has a black dahlia on the front.

"Breathe me in and take me under.
Crack these walls and let's start again.
And then I see red, I see red, I see red, I see red.
I see red, I see red, I see red, I see red."

She sings as if no one is listening, shaking her head so that her dip-dyed hair flies around her face. The smile that falls across her lips is peaceful but holds just a hint of rebellion. Her skin, blessed with a natural tanned tone, seems to crave the dim light of the moon as she turns her face to the sky at regular intervals, drinking it all in.

She's the most interesting thing that Raphael has seen in weeks.

"Hey...I think I know her," Casey whispers, shaking Raphael's shoulder. "Stay here." He dashes away without waiting for a response.

"As if I'm gonna let him have all the fun," Raphael mutters.

He frowns, cracks his neck, and melts into the nearest shadows with only the white pinpricks of his eyes showing. He follows after his friend under the cover of darkness and once closer, he lingers nearby, ever watchful.

Casey reaches the roof first and starts towards the singing girl, tentative, but his dark eyes shine with questioning. He stops a few feet away from her back, watching her strum the guitar, then coughs to get her attention.

Her reaction is instant. She spins around, guitar flying up and becoming a brandished weapon in a mere two seconds. Casey yelps and rears back, arms shielding his face from any incoming blows.

"Woah, woah, woah! Hold up!"

She frowns, lowering her guitar just a little, and she leans closer as her lips part. "Espera un segundo," she mumbles, the Spanish rolling off her tongue with ease. "I think I know you."

He flashes a smile. "Taylor? Taylor Fuentes?" he asks.

She lowers her guitar immediately, a grin lifting her cheeks as she laughs. "Casey Jones, que pasa? It's been, what..." She mutters under her breath, counting. "Two, three years?"

"I wasn't sure it was you," he admits, still grinning.

"You weren't always that stealthy, muchacho. I was about to smash Vic over your fat head," she says, swinging her guitar back over her shoulder. She clasps her hands together. "Well...great seeing you. I've got to go. Adiós!"

"Wait, what? Hey!" Casey shouts after her, but she's already gone.

Raphael waits another second before emerging from his hiding spot. He keeps his arms crossed over his plastron, his grumpy resting face taking precedent over his other emotions. "So...you know her?" he asks with a smirk.

Casey pouts a little. "We went to the same elementary school, walked home together with my little sister sometimes. Andy's only a little older than her." He hums in thought, then shrugs. "Then, one day, she never came back to school," he says. "Haven't seen her in forever. Just wanted to ask how she's been."

Raphael eyes the spot where she disappeared. "She seems weird."

"That's just who she is," Casey says. He shrugs again. "Oh well, maybe I'll ask some other time. Think we should head back?"

"Yeah."

The pair heads back the way they came, but even once they leave that rooftop behind, Raphael thinks about the strange girl with the guitar and the beautiful voice.