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

*Author's Notes: I'm back with another chapter of 'Slash's Revenge' and things are about to get rather dramatic. I hope you're ready for it.

Virtual hugs and cookies to everyone for all the wonderful feedback you have given me. I appreciate it so much and I'm super thrilled that readers are enjoying this story.

High threes to my creative consultant/beta reader, Joanne N. Grey. She's all kinds of awesome. I appreciate your help more than you will ever know, my friend.

Now, it's time to delve into some serious angst. Thank you all very, very much for reading. I hope you like the chapter. ;) CJ

Chapter 5 – Trying to Escape

The lair was eerily quiet. There hadn't been so much as a peep for a good half hour now. All talking had ceased about ten minutes after Master Splinter had arrived home.

Raphael was lying on his bed with his arm pinned between his lumpy, striped pillow and the back of his head. His other arm was resting on his plastron while his fingers drummed lightly against his chest in an irregular rhythm. He stared up at the ceiling with an expression drifting somewhere between a frown and a grimace.

The silence made him want to scream, which was rather ironic, considering not all that long ago, he had been wishing for everyone to just shut up.

No one had approached the hotheaded brother's room since the incident. That was probably because they were all too busy blaming him for everything that had transpired.

What else is new?

Raph could only imagine how Mikey and Leo had portrayed the whole ordeal in the lab to Master Splinter. There was no question in the red-masked turtle's mind that his brothers had depicted him as evil incarnate, with Leo doing everything in his power to sway Master Splinter to their side. Turning Raphael's own father against him.

Stupid goody-goody Leo! Always trying to be Sensei's pet…

Upon Master Splinter's return to the lair, all Raph had heard of his family's conversation through his thick bedroom walls had been low, mumbling noises. He had failed to make out any actual discernible words since they had all been talking in hushed tones.

Even Mikey, for shell's sake!

No doubt Raph's brothers had kept their voices down on purpose, so as to prevent the temperamental turtle from hearing what was actually being said.

"Mmrrrruhhh!"

Pushing himself up off the bed, Raphael began to pace around his room on the heaviest of feet. Guilt weighing him down and gnawing away at his insides while his own harsh words repeated in his head…

"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!"

The turtle in red kept telling himself that he had done absolutely nothing wrong, but regardless, his gut continued to twist with remorse, and for the life of him, he couldn't understand why. Everything he had said to his nerdy little brother had been justified.

Still, Raphael couldn't forget the words…

"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?"

The hotheaded turtle shook his head.

He refused to feel guilty for what had happened.

Refused!

Donnie had nearly killed them… again! Just like he had nearly killed Spike with his previously botched experiment. Just like he had nearly killed everyone in the lair when that stupid missile-launching stick he created had exploded. Just like he had nearly killed them when he had built Metalhead.

The list went on and on.

How many more times was the family just going to stand by and let Donnie almost kill all of them before they finally realized what a threat he was to their safety?

"All you ever do is put everyone in danger! 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!"

Raph cringed at the sound of his own voice inside his brain.

Okay, maybe that last part had gone a little too far…

Reaching for his T-phone, the second oldest turtle checked the display for about the fortieth time since locking himself inside his room. He tried in vain to convince himself that the only reason he kept checking his phone was because he didn't want to be late for patrol. Heaven forbid he actually accept the fact that it was because he was worried about his little brother.

Donatello had been gone for just about an hour now, which was not all that unusual for the brainy turtle. The techno-geek liked to venture up to the surface on a regular basis, sometimes disappearing for hours at a time. Raph didn't know what exactly his genius brother did on all those solo trips topside, but he did know that his genius brother was more than aware that his little excursions to the surface didn't excuse him from patrol, even if he was upset about something. Donnie was the smart one, after all.

Glancing up at his wall clock, and then, back down at his T-phone, Raphael felt anger billow up from deep inside him. He was beginning to think that Donnie was doing this on purpose; waiting until last second to show up for patrol so everyone would feel sorry for him. Raph wouldn't put it past any of his brothers to do something like that. They were all guilty of constantly trying to make him look bad. Just like they had done the day of Spike's transformation…

"Always me! Right? I've got the bad attitude! I'm the bad guy! They just don't get it!"

Raph was about to growl out of spite when his gaze landed on the picture taped to the outside of his rusty, old storage locker. It was a photograph of his three brothers, smiling for the camera. Donnie was waving and had his arm draped across Leo's shoulders. The oldest turtle was striking some overconfident pose, trying to look all cool. And Mikey, not surprisingly, had gotten too close to the camera as the picture had been taken, so most of his body was cut off. It was the hotheaded turtle's favorite picture of his brothers. Or, at least it had been up until Spike/Slash had run his nails across the image, leaving hideous claw marks over the face of each of Raphael's brothers.

That once sentimental photograph now made Raph shudder inside his shell, forever reminding him that Slash had been out to destroy his brothers from the start. Even before that monster had left the lair that night, he had wanted to kill them.

All because of what Raphael had said…

"Why? Why are you doing this?"

"The others hold you back. Limit your potential. Ya don't need 'em. Just like you said."

"No! They're my brothers. I never wanted this."

"There's no turning back now."

"Stop! I won't let you hurt 'em!"

But Raph had let Slash hurt them…

The red-clad turtle closed his eyes and slammed his fist into the door of his locker, just below the marred picture of his siblings.

How could Spike have turned into something so awful? Something so full of hate? So full of violence and rage?

Then, something else Slash had said the night of his transformation replayed in Raphael's head…

"That's right, Raph. We're not like the others. They're weak, but we're powerful. Our anger makes us strong."

The temperamental turtle's eyes flew open with a start and his heart pounded inside his chest. The words had been so crystal-clear, he could have sworn that Slash was standing directly in front of him, repeating the quote verbatim.

But the only thing in front of Raphael was that darn picture. He would have pulled the thing down right there and then, but it almost felt like he would be betraying his brothers if he did.

Like he deserved the pain it caused…

"Arrrhhhh!"

This guilt crap is for chumps!

The red-banded turtle began pacing around his room again, trying to clear his head. He wished that someone – anyone – would make some noise already. Up until now, Raph had never thought the day would come when he actually found himself longing to hear his baby brother's annoying voice. Anything that might divert him from his stupid guilty conscience.

Raphael was half-tempted to start wailing on his 'Charred Walls' drum set, just to drown out the dreary silence, but he knew that that would only attract unwanted attention from his family. Namely, Master Splinter. The wise, old rat would surely recognize the ruckus as a secret cry for help and insist on discussing what was troubling Raphael. Sensei would try his best to get his volatile son to open up about his inner feelings. Those kinds of chats never went well.

Walking over to his bed, Raph flopped down onto his carapace and stared up at the ceiling yet again. He couldn't stop thinking about Slash and what he had said…

"That's right, Raph. We're not like the others. They're weak, but we're powerful. Our anger makes us strong."

What if he was more like Slash than he cared to admit?

No! I'm not like him! I'm not! I never wanted to hurt my brothers!

But if he never wanted to hurt his brothers, then why had he said all those cruel things to Donnie? What R had said to his genius brother went much further than just blaming him for what had happened to Spike. What he had said to Donnie had been meant to cut far, far deeper than that . . .

"You're always sorry! I've had it up to here with your excuses, Donnie!"

"I don't want to hear it anymore! You're always screwing everything up, Donnie!"

"All you ever do is put everyone in danger! You're supposed to be the smart one, but you ruin everything you touch!"

Frustrated beyond belief with everything in general, Raphael dragged his hands down his face. He could feel remorse start to flow through him right along with his anger. It was not a good combination and it made him want to bang his head against a wall.

This is ridiculous! So what if I hurt Donnie's feelings? I didn't do anything wrong!

Sinking his head further into his pillow, the turtle in red listened to the sound of silence. In the back of his mind, he kept telling himself that, any second now, Donnie was going to come stepping through the turnstiles of the lair and all this worrying garbage would be for nothing.

Everyone was totally overreacting.

So why did Raph still feel a sickening sense of dread festering in the depths of his stomach?

"Hiya, Donnie boy."

The voice was just as scratchy and horrifying as Donatello remembered.

"S – Slash?" Taking a few clumsy steps backwards, Donnie tried to widen the gap between himself and the much larger mutant, but the genius turtle didn't have a whole of real estate to work with. The backs of his ankles were already scraping against the raised ledge surrounding the rooftop.

There was nowhere to go but down…

Oh, now that's really reassuring! Way to think positive!

Donnie would have continued to mentally berate himself, but that awful, grating voice sounded out again, distracting him from his thoughts.

"Long time no see, Donatello. Did ya miss me?"

The thick lump caught in the frightened turtle's throat prevented him from answering the question with actual words. The only noise he was able to emit was a tiny whimper.

Frozen with fear, the brainy turtle just stared wide-eyed at the immense green figure standing only a couple feet away from him. Somehow, this situation was even more terrifying than his first encounter with Slash. Maybe that was because Donnie hadn't known what the monster before him was capable of the first time they had met. Or maybe it was because, that time, there had at least been a slight chance that his brothers would find him. This time, there was no way they were going to come to his rescue. At least, not any time soon. They were all still back at the lair, waiting for him to return for patrol.

He was in trouble.

Serious trouble.

As each passing second ticked by, Donnie's breathing grew noticeably more erratic while his overactive brain started to calculate his chances. Slash was more than twice his size and who knows how much stronger.

Three times… maybe four…

Either way, Slash was a heck of a lot more powerful than Donatello was. Not to mention the enormous beast's hands were bigger than the purple-masked ninja's head and his shell was about the size of a mid-sized sedan.

Okay, maybe that's slightly exaggerated… It's probably only the size of a compact car, Donnie thought wryly. His brain then finished its analysis of the situation and the bothersome know-it-all voice in the back of his head informed him that the odds of him surviving this situation were about eight-hundred-forty-nine to one.

That is sooooooo NOT helping!

Sometimes, the intellectual turtle wished his brain had an off button. It would really come in handy during times like this.

"What's the matter, Donatello? Are ya scared?" The smug expression that unfurled across Slash's face was eerily reminiscent of one Raphael might wear.

"No!" Despite his answer being a flat-out 'no,' Donnie's outward appearance did everything possible to contradict his highly definitive response. He couldn't stop his entire body from trembling and he could feel that he was starting to sweat despite the bitter chill in the night air.

Amused by the scrawny turtle's reaction, Slash threw his head back and let out a deafening laugh that probably could be heard from five city blocks away.

With Slash's attention momentarily diverted, Donatello seized the opportunity to make a beeline for the next rooftop, guessing that his greatest probability of escape was to outrun the much bulkier reptile. Plus, if he could manage to get far enough ahead of Slash, he would be able to call his brothers for help.

And so, the turtle in purple just concentrated on moving as fast as possible, nimbly leaping from building to building. But despite all Donatello's fleetness, Slash had size on his side.

In a cruel twist of fate, the larger mutant barreled into Donnie from behind and knocked him face down onto his plastron right as he stepped foot onto the very same rooftop where Slash had beaten him to a pulp.

This just wasn't the genius turtle's day.

Upon his rather rough landing, Donatello frantically scrambled to break free, but Slash's massive weight kept him pinned prone to the rooftop.

"Heh, heh. Nice try, Donnie boy. For a second there, I thought you might actually get away, but I should've known you'd be too weak to escape." Slash settled more and more of his weight onto Donatello's shell until he elicited a hiss of pain out of the smaller turtle.

"Wh – What do you w – want?" The question came out in the form of a wheeze as Donatello struggled to catch his breath. The awkward landing had pushed all the wind out of him, and now, Slash was crushing him with his massive size. The smartest turtle was starting to wonder how long his carapace could withstand the pressure being put on it. Maybe it was just his imagination, but he could have sworn that he had heard something crack.

"What do I want? Ha! That's for me to know and you to find out." The ominous way that Slash snarled out the words made Donnie shiver underneath the gigantic mutant. Again, Slash laughed at the scrawny turtle's inability to mask his fear. He found his victim's frailty entertaining.

Then, without any warning, Donatello felt Slash's weight lift off of him. The genius turtle's first instinct was to immediately curl up onto his side, figuring it was his best defense. His breathing instantly became easier, but only for a split second. Before Donnie even knew what had hit him, his body was suddenly inundated with a shock of unbearable pain. Gasping for air, he clutched his left thigh where the worst of the overwhelming pain seemed to be emanating from. As the pain continued to course through him, Donnie weakly peered up and saw Slash's bloodied mace hovering above him. The gruesome sight made the wounded ninja clutch his upper leg that much tighter.

Up until this point, Donatello had never had the displeasure of being struck by a mace before and he was eternally grateful for that, because he was in absolute agony. The pain was so severe, it felt as though his leg was being stabbed with thousands of red hot fire pokers. His breathing was coming out in frantic hiccups while he shook uncontrollably, clinging to his injured limb.

"Let's see you try to get away now." Jagged lips drawn back into a patronizing sneer, Slash nudged Donatello's carapace with his stained weapon. The brief humming sound that followed indicated that the behemoth was quite satisfied with the damage he had inflicted upon the smaller turtle's leg.

Donnie was still lying on his side, grasping his leg for dear life; afraid to see just how grave the injury currently hidden by his hands was. He was pretty sure his leg wasn't broken, but he knew it was bad. Bad enough to prevent him from walking on the limb anytime soon, just as Slash had intended.

There was only one last viable option that the genius turtle could think of to possibly save his shell. He coiled himself up into a tighter ball, pretending to be in excruciating pain, when in all actuality, he was reaching for his T-phone to send his brothers a quick message.

Unfortunately, Slash was a lot more perceptive than Donnie had counted on.

"What do you think you're doing?" Seizing Donatello by the forearm, Slash lifted the wounded turtle partially up off the rooftop and violently shook him by the arm until his phone fell out of his hand.

Donnie fought with all his might to free himself from Slash's grip, hitting him and kicking him as hard as he could with his good leg. Desperately trying to get to his T-phone. All he needed was a second or two to send out an emergency message to his brothers, but just as Donatello's outstretched fingertips were about to make contact with his phone, Slash kicked the device several feet out of reach. The larger mutant then flung his free arm out and backhanded the genius turtle across the face, making his head jerk backwards and stars dance in his vision.

Though extremely dazed from the vicious blow to the face, Donatello still had enough presence of mind to whip out his bo-staff. Without a moment's hesitation, he swung his weapon at his attacker's head, but Slash caught the wooden staff in the palm of his hand just before it slammed into his temple.

Aw, sewer apples!

"You're a lot braver than I thought, Donatello." The raspy words were followed by a despicable cackle before Slash added, "Dumber, too." He then ripped the bo-staff straight out of Donnie's hand and proceeded to strike the already injured turtle across the chest with it.

Donatello let out a yelp of pain from the blow to his plastron, and then again, when Slash struck him on the arm that he had previously injured.

"Just like old times, huh, Donatello?" Casting the bo-staff aside, Slash finally released his hold on the purple-masked turtle's forearm and Donnie fell onto his plastron once again with an 'oomph' sound.

Turning his head to the side, the genius turtle watched on helplessly as his weapon rolled even further out of reach than his T-phone. The sight made his heart sink in despair.

For a moment, the only sound that could be heard on the rooftop was Donatello's ragged breathing, until Slash started to make a low, rumbling sound in the back of his throat. He continued to make this growling noise while he used his huge foot to shove the smaller reptile onto his back. Looming over the defeated turtle, Slash intimidatingly leered down at his pathetic captive.

Unable to raise his voice above a whisper, Donatello panted out his response. "Why… Why are you… d – doing this?"

"You mean you haven't figured it out yet? I thought you were the smart one." Slash leaned in closer to the wounded turtle so that only a few inches separated the two of them, waiting for the so-called genius to guess what the bigger mutant had in store for him.

"Y – You… You want… to use… m – me as bait… to get my brothers." Sullenly looking away from Slash's blazing green eyes, Donnie nearly choked on his next breath. The thought of his brothers walking straight into a trap because of him was nothing short of gut-wrenching.

Without a single ounce of sympathy, Slash grabbed Donatello by his bruised face and forced the distraught turtle to look at him. The brainy ninja squirmed in the larger mutant's staunch grip, but Slash could feel the olive-green turtle's resistance fading fast. That submissiveness made Donatello the perfect prey for Slash's plan.

"Not exactly. I want to use you as revenge on Raphael. He'll never get over losing you."

"You're... You're going to k – kill me?" Unable to disguise his horror, Donatello felt tears start to prick his eyes. He had always liked to think that he would face death with valor and dignity, but now that the end was staring him in the face, he didn't feel all that brave. Mostly, he just felt nauseous.

He didn't want to die.

"Kill you? So soon? Why, we're just getting started here, Donnie boy. Maybe I'll let you talk to your brothers when you wake up from your little nap."

There was now a wicked grin plastered on Slash's face that absolutely terrified Donatello.

Nap? That can't be good…

Overwhelmed by panic, Donnie wildly attempted to writhe free, but he was no match for his opponent's raw strength.

Slash hoisted Donatello up by his injured leg and started swinging him around like he was a club, slamming him into the rooftop, over and over again, without repent. The larger mutant felt the scrawny turtle start to go limp in his grasp, but that didn't slow Slash's momentum one little bit. He just kept swinging to his heart's content.

At first, all that Donnie could focus on was the indescribable pain. It was everywhere, but before long, it oddly began to subside, like someone was mercifully turning a dimmer switch to make his agony gradually fade to nothing. With each brutal blow, he felt more and more removed from his body as he slipped further into darkness.

And then, all went black…

To be continued…

Author's Note: This chapter was a bit intense, but wait until the next one. I get goosebumps just thinking about it. I would say it's quite possibly the most nerve-racking chapter I've ever written. Everyone will finally find out what Slash's big plan is. '/(*o*)\'

As always, please take a moment to favorite, follow, like, reblog, review, and/or comment on this story to let me know if you are enjoying it. Your feedback means the world to me and I always get excited to hear from everyone. C=

Thank you all so much for the continued support. *hugs* ;) CJ