*Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles franchise.

*Author's Notes: Chapter 3 of 'Slash's Revenge' is ready and it's a dramatic one. What happens here is extremely significant.

Thank you so much to all my readers, followers, and friends. I appreciate each and every one of you more than I can possibly say. I'm so happy you're enjoying my writing and I'm so grateful for all the support everybody has given me. You're all awesome! 8}

Once again, thank you to my lovely friend, Joanne N. Grey, for her fabulous work as my creative consultant/beta reader for 'Slash's Revenge.' You rock, girl.

Well, I think I've made you all wait long enough for this update. Let's delve right in, shall we?

Thanks for reading. ;)

CJ

Chapter 3 – Raph and Destroy

"What's my problem? Shouldn't I be asking you that question? You've been sulking around the lair all day long! You just about bit Mikey's head off at lunch because he put the wrong kind of cheese on your sandwich! Then, you almost punched Donnie in the face because he beat you at pinball! What is with you today? Is this still about what happened in practice?"

Hearing his older brother remind him about practice for the umpteenth time that day was enough to make Raphael want to scream. He tossed his comic book to the floor and pushed himself up to his feet in one fluid motion.

Leonardo also rose to his feet, but in a much calmer fashion than his hotheaded brother had. Once upright, the leader in blue stood stock-still, just waiting for Raph to make his next move. Leo knew what a loose cannon his brother could be when he got all wound up like this and the eldest turtle had no intention of getting caught with his guard down.

"No! It's not about practice! Man! I'm so sick and tired of hearing about what happened at practice this morning! So you beat me!? Who cares? Just drop it already! Not everything is about you, Leo!" Raph made sure to put extra venom on his brother's nickname. He then stomped towards the 'almighty' Leonardo and wasted no time getting right up in his face.

This act of aggression was enough to finally make Leo snap. He had been more than patient with Raph's horrible attitude throughout the day, giving his immediate younger brother what he felt was plenty of space. Heck, the turtle in blue had managed to somehow let the lunch and pinball incidents slide, but even levelheaded Leonardo could only take so much.

"Then, what is it about? Because I've had it up to here with you acting like a total jerk!" For just a moment, Leonardo lost his grip on the poise he always strove so hard to maintain, but only because his temperamental brother had a real knack for pushing his buttons…

And vice-versa…

"That's it!" Raph barked out and he curled his hands into tightly clenched fists, readying to realign Leonardo's teeth, free of charge.

It was at that precise moment, the second youngest brother, Donatello, came running out of his lab, inadvertently saving the eldest turtle's perfect smile.

"Guys! Guys! You're not gonna believe this! I think I may have just found the breakthrough I need to reverse the mutation process!"

Due to his uncontainable excitement, Donatello's reddish-brown eyes were about twice their natural size. He was grinning from ear slit to ear slit as he made his way down the steps that led to his laboratory. He then rushed over to his brothers in the pit of the lair. Taking a moment to catch his breath, Donnie just stood there with his hands held out in front of him, the way that he always did when he had some kind of 'mind-blowing' announcement to make. Usually, those 'mind-blowing' announcements were only 'mind-blowing' to Donnie, but the genius turtle still liked to play them up as though they were going to be the most important thing ever said.

Donnie was just about to explain what had gotten him so incredibly hyped up, when he noticed that he had clearly interrupted something between his two oldest brothers. Always the most observant of his siblings – with Leo being the one possible exception – Donatello's scrutinizing eyes quickly began examining the scene before him. He noted that Leo and Raph were both flush in the face and their breathing appeared to be considerably heavier than normal. He could also see the tension in their clamped jaws and the tiny beads of sweat broken out along their brows. Then, there was the fact that they were standing only a couple of inches apart, glaring daggers at one another. Based on the telltale visual evidence he had gathered, the turtle in purple felt ninety-nine-point-nine percent certain that his brothers had been arguing.

Again…

"Uh, what did I miss? Where's Sensei?" Donnie bounced his eyes from brother to brother to brother, eventually landing his gaze on Mikey, who seemed to be the only one thinking clearly. Now that was a frightening thought.

Surprisingly, it was Raph who answered the question.

"You didn't miss anything." Taking a few giant steps backwards, the hotheaded turtle folded his arms across his plastron and tried to get his breathing back to normal. His chest was still heaving with anger, but not like it had been seconds before.

Leonardo also took a few steps back and turned towards Donnie, if only just to look away from his red-masked brother.

"Sensei went out for a walk. I'm sure he'll be back soon. So, what's up, Donnie?" Though Leonardo had attempted to remove the aggravation from his voice, he hadn't done a very good job of it.

If Donatello hadn't been so stoked to share his big news with everyone, he might have questioned his brothers further about what was really going on. As it was, he just couldn't bring himself to think about anything other than his findings. Besides, it wasn't like Raph and Leo had never tried to knock each other's blocks off before. The two of them didn't exactly see eye to eye.

"Okay, okay… I was reading up on chromosomal instability and nucleotide base-pairs, when I happened across a website about Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon, which had a section on antimutagens and – " Before Donnie could even get to the good part, he was brusquely cut off.

"How many times do we have to tell you? English, Brainiac!" There was far more irritation pouring off Raphael than Donnie had expected, and the smartest turtle had come to expect a lot of irritation from his temperamental brother. It didn't take a genius to recognize that Raph was not a happy camper.

Now, it was Donatello's turn to take a few steps backwards.

"Never mind him, Donnie. Go on." Flashing a glare over his shoulder at the turtle in red, Leonardo then focused his attention back on his brother in purple.

"Well, as you probably already know, when a living being is exposed to mutagen, there's a chemical reaction that damages or alters the DNA, sometimes causing transcription and replication errors in the – "

"Donnie! Seriously! No one understands that crap! Just get to the point!" In a fit of disgust, Raph tossed his arms up into the air. He was in no mood to listen to his know-it-all brother go on and on about this and that in huge words that none of them had a prayer at translating. Sometimes, Raph swore that Donnie sat in his lab all day and night, reading science books and encyclopedias just to find things to say to make everyone else look stupid.

At least when Raph wanted to insult someone's intelligence, he had the decency to do it in terms that they could understand.

Unwilling to idly watch Raphael take his frustrations out on Donnie, Leonardo stepped in between the space separating his two middle brothers.

"I'm gonna ask you one more time! What the heck is your problem, Raph?"

"You are my problem!" As Raphael shouted his response, he pointed a stubby forefinger at his older brother, just in case someone in the room (i.e. Mikey) didn't know who he had been referring to when he had said the word 'you.'

"Theoretically, your problem may lie within your limbic system, Raph. You need to start engaging the neo-cortex part of your brain more often in order to keep the – " Donnie stopped midsentence when he heard the low growl rumble in back of Raph's throat, demonstrating his obvious disapproval of the brainy turtle's diagnosis.

Nervously rubbing the back of his neck with his hand, Donatello's gaze made its way down to his feet. "Okay, maybe not."

"Just ignore him, Donnie. What did you find out?" Leonardo encouraged his intellectual brother, while in the same breath, discouraging his temperamental one. The oldest turtle was all about multitasking.

"So, as I was saying, normal cellular processes involve – " once again, Donatello was cut off before he could finish what he was trying to say.

"Just dumben it down to Mikey level already, would ya?" The bitter comment earned Raphael yet another glare from his older brother, but the red-clad turtle couldn't have cared less.

After a few seconds, Mikey caught onto the insult to his intelligence and he let out a long-drawn-out, "Heyyyyyyy!"

Rolling his eyes towards the ceiling, Donatello sighed in exasperation. He then proceeded to speak in a slow, highly mocking tone, dragging his every word out as though he was talking to the world's biggest moron.

"I went on the internet and found information to help me turn mutants back to normal."

"Dude, why didn't you just say that in the first place?" Mikey's face wrinkled up with confusion while he scratched the top of his bald head.

In the meantime, every muscle in Donatello's body simultaneously tensed up. He balled his hands into fists at his sides and drew his lips into a sneer, barring his gapped teeth.

Needless to say, Mikey had struck a nerve.

Unlike Raph, Donatello wasn't angry all the time, but when the brainy turtle did get ticked off, look out. He could be way scarier than the turtle in red.

"That's what I was TRYING TO DO, MIKEY!" Donnie hollered, but his sudden glint of fury dissipated as quickly as it had arisen. He then continued to speak as though he hadn't even raised his voice only a split-second ago, which was more than a little disturbing. "Anyway, I've got the experiment all set up in my lab. This time, I'm sure it's going to work and I wanted you guys to be there to see it!"

Beside himself with anticipation, Donnie lifted his fists up and held them just underneath his chin as a huge grin spread across his face. He then spun around and headed towards his lab, assuming that his brothers would follow. They did; some more reluctant than others.

Once inside the laboratory, the brothers all walked over to the worktable next to Donnie's desk where the purple-masked turtle had everything ready for his forthcoming experiment. There was a support stand set up with a Bunsen burner placed on the base of the stand. There was also a ring support clamped to the steel rod of the stand with a partially full beaker sitting on top of some wire gauze.

When Donnie saw that his brothers were gathered around the end of the table, adjacent from where he stood, he slipped on his safety goggles. He then picked up an eyedropper and filled it with a golden-colored liquid substance from a test tube. Just for added show, he brandished the dropper for all to see. He didn't exactly get the reaction he had been hoping for, but then again, he never really did.

Leo just stood there like a statue with his hands on his hips, as usual. Mikey's posture was a little more lopsided and a lot less attentive. Then, there was Raph. He was rooted in between the oldest and youngest turtles with his arms once again crossed over his plastron. His fingertips dug into his taut biceps and his whole body was rigid with impatience as he made absolutely no attempt to hide the fact that he didn't want to be there.

Seeing his three brothers standing there staring at him suddenly made Donnie feel a bit nervous, like a performer on the stage with the spotlight glaring down on them. He slid his tongue over his bottom lip and it felt like coarse sandpaper on even coarser sandpaper. Drawing in a deep breath, he then swallowed several times to moisten his throat before speaking, careful not to let his slight decline in confidence come through.

It's going to work this time. It has to work. It just has to…

"Okay, this is it. With this new formula, I'm finally going to create a retro mutagen. Is everyone ready?"

"Let's just get this over with, Doctor Freakinstein."

Though Raph's response wasn't pleasant by any means, Donnie took it as a 'yes.' He then turned on the gas to the Bunsen burner and lit it so that it started to heat up the mutagen in the beaker.

After a few minutes, Donatello deemed that the ideal conditions for the experiment were met. It was time to run the test.

"Here we go." Holding the eyedropper over the beaker of mutagen, Donnie gently squeezed the bulb on the top of the pipette. He held his breath as he watched a single drop of the yellowish liquid from the dropper plummet down into the beaker with a 'sploosh.'

The mutagen inside the beaker turned an ugly, brownish color, and for a moment, that seemed to be the only reaction.

Donatello was about to groan in frustration when the contents of the beaker started to rapidly swell and effervesce.

"Uh, Donnie. Is it supposed to do that?" There was a hint of panic in Mikey's question. His eyes grew wide while he pressed the tips of his forefingers together apprehensively.

"Oh no," Donnie gasped out, staring down at the beaker in shock as though he wasn't sure what to do. There was an unlikely combination of horror and disappointment etched on his face.

"'Oh no?' What do you mean 'oh no?'" The bark in Raph's tone made Donnie flinch, but before the genius turtle could wager a response, the beaker before him started to vibrate and the volatile liquid substance within the cylindrical container began to thicken and rise to the surface. The now highly unstable-looking concoction in the glass beaker started to smoke and flow over like a volcano. Then, the beaker began to shake violently, much the way that Raph did when he was just about to –

ERUPT!

"Get down!" Without further hesitation, Leonardo dove forward and tackled Donnie to the floor to protect him from the impending combustible explosion. At the same time as the leader in blue hurtled himself into Donnie, Raphael lunged at Mikey, pulling him down to the floor with him.

Not more than a half-second later, the beaker exploded and the forceful blast wind that followed turned every object on Donatello's worktable into a deadly projectile. The four turtles covered their heads as the fragments created by the explosion rained down upon them.

Once the smoke finally started to clear and the four of them were no longer being showered with debris, the brothers began to assess the damage done.

"Is everyone okay?" Was all that Leo could get out before he had to break into a coughing fit in order to expel the excess carbon monoxide out of his chest. His three brothers soon joined him in a fluctuating chorus of hacking set off by smoke inhalation and who knows what else they had just breathed in.

Leonardo was the first to push himself up into a sitting position and he instantly went about doing triage. To his right, Donnie had torn his goggles off and was still trying to cough up his lungs, but he appeared to be relatively uninjured. Leo then crawled towards the end of the table where Raph and Mikey had hit the deck. They were both attempting to push themselves up off the floor, all the while, clutching their heads and moaning. A quick once over revealed no life-threatening injuries. Thankfully, they were all okay, which meant the turtle in blue could breathe easier again. Well, as easy as he could after sucking in way too much smoke and fumes.

Scooting back towards Donnie, Leo helped his second youngest brother into a standing position. Once upright again, the brainy turtle rubbed his left arm gingerly and cringed as he gaped at the mess he had caused. The surface of the table had incurred surprisingly minimal damage, but everything else that had been within a three or four-foot radius of the blast had been obliterated. Luckily, Donatello's brothers seemed to be none the worse for wear, as well as his microscope and computer. Sadly, he could not say the same for his lab equipment, notes, and work. In the blink of an eye, they were all gone.

Donnie's face fell into the saddest of frowns, but no one noticed.

Leo was once again checking on Mikey and Raph. The red and orange clad brothers had both made their way to their feet and their bearings were slowly coming back to them.

"Bleckhh! Dude! I didn't know explosions tasted so nasty." After making a few exaggerated gagging sounds, Mikey's expression twisted into a classic 'yucky' face. He then repeatedly stuck his tongue in and out of his mouth, trying to clean his offended taste buds off by raking them back and forth over his teeth.

"This coming from the guy who eats pizza straight out of the dumpster!" Raph fired back, still favoring his head. He coughed into his fist a couple more times to make additional room for oxygen to enter his lungs.

Eyes hooded with misery, Donnie turned towards his brothers. "Guys… I'm really sorry. I had no idea the chemical was going to react like that. I – I'm so sorry."

It was at that point, a second explosion in the lab detonated. Only this time, the blast came from Raphael and the catalyst, as well as the intended target, was Donatello.

All of Raph's pent up grief, hurt, and rage came gushing out of him like a devastating tidal wave, crashing into to Donnie without mercy.

"You're always sorry! I've had it up to here with your excuses, Donnie! What? It wasn't enough that you almost killed Spike? Now, you almost killed all of us with another one of your crazy experiments!" Anger was practically steaming off Raph and it looked as though his veins were going to jump right out of his flesh.

Bypassing Leo, Raphael stormed over to where Donatello stood. The now-insanely furious turtle got up on his tiptoes so he was at level height with his tallest brother. This allowed Raph to loom his face within inches of Donnie's, much the way he had done with Leonardo earlier.

Feeling Raph's hot, angry breath blowing against his skin made Donnie shrink back in fear. He could see the indignation blazing in his temperamental brother's green eyes. The intellectual turtle had never seen his older sibling look at him with such animosity before. It was as though Raphael was staring at his most hated enemy.

"Raph… I – I didn't mean to – " Donnie tried to defend himself, but Raph wasn't having any of it. He would not allow his genius brother to surface for air from the flood of emotions now drowning him.

"I don't want to hear it anymore! You're always screwing everything up, Donnie! How many times have you nearly killed us now? How many times, huh?" Raph's screaming caused Donnie to take a couple steps back in fear, but the turtle in red just closed the gap right back up.

"Raph, please… " Voice deprived of even an ounce of strength, Donnie's plea came out just above a whisper. He wrapped his arms around his midsection as he dropped his gaze down to the floor, clearly ashamed by what he had done.

"Raphael! That's enough!" Always the consummate leader, Leonardo approached his two middle brothers, readying to intervene.

"No! It's not enough! All you ever do is put everyone in danger, Donnie! You're supposed to be the smart one, but you ruin everything you touch! You're the reason Spike's gone! I lost my best friend because of you! It was all your fault! If you weren't such a walking disaster, he'd still be here!" With his rage now spiraling completely out of control, Raph gave Donnie's previously injured left arm and shoulder a rough shove.

The brainiac turtle winced in pain, but he managed to stifle a yelp that had attempted to escape the confines of his constricted throat. He was trying to put up a brave front. Trying desperately to not let his brothers see the emotional breakdown he was suffering on the inside, but Leo saw right through Donnie's façade. He could see that his second youngest brother was in pain, both physically and mentally.

"Raph!" Before Leo even finished yelling the hotheaded turtle's nickname, he had seized him by the shoulders and pushed him away from Donnie. The leader then stepped in between his two middle brothers, yet again, so he could shield Donatello from their currently psychotic sibling.

Unfortunately, Leonardo's intervention came several hurtful comments too late.

Behind Leo's protective wall, Donnie's face was the very epitome of anguish. His bottom jaw quivered against his will while his eyes shimmered with unspent tears. He didn't want his brothers to see him cry, but he was losing his battle to mask his agony. There was only one thing he could think of to keep his brothers from witnessing him fall apart. He had to leave.

"I'm sorry." With that said, Donatello grabbed his bo-staff and ran out of the lab as fast as his feet would take him.

"Donnie!" As Leonardo helplessly watched his distraught brother sprint out of sight, he was torn between two impulses: to go after Donatello or to beat the living daylights out of Raph. The blue-clad turtle's indecision left him temporarily paralyzed.

If Leo would have only known what was going to happen; he would have gone after Donatello in a heartbeat.

"Donnie!" The shrill sound of Mikey's cry echoed throughout the sparsely furnished laboratory. The youngest sibling was about to chase after his brainy big brother when Raph seized him by the back of the elbow and held him in place.

"Let him go. Maybe he'll actually stop and think about what he's done for once. He'll be back in time for patrol." The hotheaded turtle spoke as though the very thought of Donnie coming back disgusted him.

Both Mikey and Leo looked at Raphael with a mixture of incredulity and repulsion, appalled by the monster that their brother had just become right before their very eyes.

"What is wrong with you? How could you have said those things, Raph?" Now it was Leonardo's turn to get up in his red-masked brother's face. It was taking every fiber of his being not to physically attack Raphael for what he had just done, but Leo knew that, as the leader and the eldest brother, he couldn't let his temper govern his actions. Master Splinter had always taught them that anger was self-destructive and to always try to use reason, not force.

Leonardo could hear his father's voice echoing inside his head…

"To show mercy is not soft. It is a sign of true strength."

If Leo were haul off and punch Raph in the face for his actions, then that would make him just as bad as his volatile brother. But that didn't mean the temptation wasn't there.

Again, Master Splinter's tranquil voice resonated in the back of Leonardo's mind…

"Remember, Leonardo. The word 'nin' means patience and perseverance."

The oldest turtle let out an exasperated sigh.

Sometimes, the hardest thing about being in charge was always having to do the right thing, even when it didn't feel like the right thing. Instead of resorting to violence, Leo decided to settle for knitting his eye ridges and pressing his lips into a scowl to passively demonstrate his anger. He knew it wasn't nearly as gratifying as clobbering Raph would've been, but as leader, it was more important for Leonardo to be the bigger, more responsible turtle than to get what he wanted.

"Leadership is not about being appreciated. It is about responsibility. It doesn't matter that the burden is heavy. It matters that you carry it."

Yes, being the responsible one definitely had its disadvantages…

Mikey, on the other hand, had no such obligations to uphold.

"What the heck crawled up your shell and died, you big jerk?" Wedging himself in between Leo and Raph, Mikey then took his turn at sticking his beak in Raph's face. The youngest turtle was exhibiting far more audacity than he normally dared to show around his temperamental brother.

If Leo didn't know any better, he would have sworn that Mikey was on the verge of attacking their hotheaded sibling; something the leader in blue could not condone. Playing the role of the mediator in Donnie's stead, Leo shifted into lecturing mode.

The eldest brother was to lectures as Raphael was to uncalled-for outbursts of anger.

"What you did just now was way out of line, Raph!"

"What I did was tell the truth! Donnie had it coming, so don't start with me, Leo! And I'm not gonna stand here and listen to you make me out to be the bad guy! Arghh! I'll be in my room!" Letting out one last growl, Raph turned and trudged out of the lab.

"But what about Donnie?" The question came out in a whimper as Mikey peered up at Leo with his innocent, teary blue eyes, sad as can be.

"He's got his T-phone with him, Mikey. He'll be okay." Even though Leo had used his most soothing, big brother voice, Mikey still didn't look at all satisfied with the response. Additional convincing was needed. "Don't worry, Mikey. Donnie's just upset. He'll be back soon. Patrol starts in less than an hour. And if he's not back by then, we'll go out and find him, all right?"

Mikey sniffled a few times while he nodded and forced a half-smile. Painting on a smile of his own, Leonardo nodded back and patted his baby brother on the shoulder. The two of them then silently exited the lab and headed towards the main living space of the lair to wait for Donatello to return.

What they didn't realize at the time was that someone else was out there waiting for their genius brother…

To be continued…

Author's Note: Dah-dah-DAHHHHHH! Does anyone else have a really, really bad feeling about this? Sadly, you'll have to wait until next year to find out what happens. /(~.~)\

I sure hope everybody enjoyed this chapter. If you did, please take a moment to favorite, follow, like, reblog, review, and/or comment to let me know. Your feedback is really, really important to me and always very much appreciated. I adore all of you. *hugs*

Thank you lots and lots and lots to my wonderful readers. I wish you all the happiest of holiday seasons! *more hugs*

**Special Note: A giant thank you to everyone who has checked out my new story, 'Because You Weren't There.' I will be posting a new chapter sometime next week ;)