(Slash and Destroy)
Gamlover41592: Thanks, I'm glad to see you liked it. And trust me, Eddie's going to have a lot going on throughout this season.
Greer123: Thanks, I'm glad to see you liked it.
Spectacular Webhead 11: Those who know about Irma in this series know what she's up to. In other news, Eddie is officially (sort of) a good guy now. Don't count on the Kayla Kurtzman fic being updated anytime soon, I mainly just keep that one around to reference for this one.
Draco Mercer: I know about the details with Cindy Moon/Silk, and that would be… interesting to behold in this fic, assuming I choose to go there.
Godzillaboy2021: Eddie has his part to play in this story, but it's been addressed that this own relationship with Peter is still… complicated, to say the least. But him sensing that something is off with Irma would be a good bit of foreshadowing. We'll see how that goes in time.
SSB4OMEGAERIC: Thanks, I'm glad to see you liked it. The development of Eddie/Venom is something I've really been looking forward to. Truth be told, the last time we got a really solid adaptation of him in a series or movie was Spectacular Spider-Man, though I do have a certain fondness for his portrayal in the Midnight Suns game. Since it's been established that Casey goes to Midtown High like everyone else in this fic, I figured it only made sense for him and Eddie to know of each other. Casey getting a Symbiote would be pretty cool too, but I'm not promising anything either. But yeah, Casey and the Riot Symbiote would be fun. It's been a long time since I've seen the 2003 TMNT series, but tell me more about this headcanon of yours. Either way, I hope you keep enjoying this story as much as I enjoy writing it.
Darkwarriorthecursedhero: Trust me, I've been looking forward to Venom's arc in this story myself, and his interactions with various characters.
TheIrishman1999: Karai will have her arc in time, don't worry. Venom meeting other characters will come in time as well, so you'll see when that happens. The host of that other Symbiote will be revealed in due time. Just be patient. As far as Mr Roman's plans are concerned, you'll have to wait and see. And thank you for the apology.
5FingerDeathFist: Interesting theory. Sowing chaos to make the people think they need him does sound like something the Green Goblin would do. We'll see how that theory plays out in due time. Mr Romann has a plan, and it needs various allies he can count on in the pursuit of his goals, hence his allegiance with the likes of the Jackal, and the recruitment of lower level villains like Rhino and Mysterio.
C.S. Allen: The Green Goblin has proven himself to be quite the insidious force, but he's not invincible obviously. Also you probably could chalk it up to karma. We'll see what sort of new abilities I'll be giving him in time. He's already recruited the likes of the Jackal, Mysterio and the Rhino into his ranks, and there will be more to come. He's also got Scarlet Spider, and that plot line will be quite the interesting one in its own right. Chrome Dome is more of a means to an end in this story, so don't expect too much focus on those. Irma is definitely trying to deepen the wedge between April and the Turtles, for obvious reasons. Eddie's got his part to play though, but at least he's finally starting down the right path, and he has Casey to thank for that, at least in part. Speaking of which, Casey definitely does have skills, even if he's an overconfident wild man. Flash may still have his issues about how he looks in front of others, but he does care about doing the right thing, hence him looking after May after learning Peter's secret, which April has her own suspicions about. The Jackal has proven himself to be a formidable force, both with his powers and his intellect, and now a sample of the Symbiote for him and Norman to use as they see fit. But Eddie has proven that no matter how much he might hate Spider-Man, he hates the Kraang even more, and is willing to work with Ghost Spider and the Turtles to bring them down for good. And yeah, nice job catching the Xavier quote. Silvermane being a cyborg, that does seem like an interesting idea. We'll see how that goes. As far as the Goblin Nation goes, I'm not going to spoil anything, but we'll see when a certain invasion rolls around.
XaralandoWyattWyatt: Eddie's finally starting down the right path, with Ashley helping him to take his first steps. Talking with Ashley may or may not help the Symbiote, depending on the version, but not this one. It's been established that it feeds on hate and negaitve emotions, and it's pretty clear Eddie has that in spades. And yes, Venom needs a certain chemical that's only found in two places, one of which is brains (the other being chocolate). That actually makes the Kraang a perfect target for him, and I doubt many people are going to be concerned about that.
Tortugafash2002: Norman is the big bad for a reason, but he's not infallible. But he's no fool either, so if anyone would be able to use the Kraang's mutagen for his own ends, it would have to be him. As far as that line goes, they've already got a good one: "We all wear masks Spider-Man, but which one is real? The one that hides your face, or the one that is your face?" I can imagine the Kraang have some bad blood with various other species, like the Asgardians, or the Kree and the Skrulls, and many others.
Moheart7: True, but if there's one person that could perfect the mutagen, it would be him. The Symbiote however, that's another story.
ShakespeareRZA: I heard of that Two Worlds Collide fic, and it's a pretty interesting one if nothing else. It also gives ideas for various supervillains forming their own organization in the name of their goals. As for Shredder being a part of it, we'll have to wait and see.
Zzz3: You'll see what I have planned in the way of Scarlet Spider in time, but don't give too much thought to the whole "April clones" thing.
Frosty Wolf: To say that the show is crazy is a dramatic understatement. The Kraang are fairly tragic when you learn their backstory. But yeah, both Eddie and Flash have their arcs in their own ways. Spider-Man will come back in time, but we still have a little ways to go before we can see him again. George was in basically a no win position, so really he just had to make a choice, and he did.
Spartan of Chaos: I have a few ideas for characters to include, but if I do then it's going to be much later in the story.
Guest: Thanks for having so much trust in me. I'm glad to see you've been enjoying the story so far. And yeah, that scenario with the Purple Dragons sounds amazing.
Dimasmagin4: Believe me, I know that pretty well by now.
Jebest4781 (all of them at once): Thanks, I'm glad to see you're enjoying the story so far.
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Another night night in the Lair was quiet but filled with excitement.
"Come on, come on… Yes! Level 83! Time to flip it!" Mikey was hard at work playing the arcade game machine in the Lair's living room, but it quickly faded away when he saw a certain figure appear on the screen "Oh crap, it had to be freaking Skullorax didn't it?!"
"Take it easy Mikey, you just have to stay focused." Leo poked his head up to view the progress of the game "Also remember to shoot him with the eye beam."
"What do you think I'm doing?! I'm trying and it ain't working so what-" Mikey was cut short when his character was blown up, causing him to slump over in defeat "Aw man, and I was so close to it too."
"Worry not my son, for you did well in the face of adversity. Now it's time for you to watch a real sensei at work." so Leo stepped up to the machine and started taking his own turn "Also I'm pretty sure your phone is still on."
"Oh yeah, I figured that was gonna get me somewhere. Guess it didn't, but at least I got a break out of it." so Mikey picked up his T-phone and let out a groan "Seriously, I've been at this for like six hours and I just wanna cancel the account. Yeah you told me about the bundles and all that, and I don't want the freaking phone home service! No don't transfer me Rodrigo, wait no don't- No Rodrigo!" he let out a groan and slumped down onto the floor "I think I just figured out what hell is like."
"What are you doing over there anyway?"
"Since May's been putting in so much time at the FEAST shelter, and cause she wanted to save some cash, she figured she'd cancel her cable, and I told her I'd do it. That's six hours of my life I ain't getting back." Mikey let out a sigh of exhaustion "I can't think of anything worse than that I have to deal with now."
"MIKEY!"
"...Except for that."
"MIKEY!" it was at this moment that Raph stormed out of his room, pissed as ever with Spike sitting on his shoulder and a stained magazine in his hand "You got your greasy pizza stains all over my collection of Modern Ninja Magazine weren't you? They're ruined now!"
"Why do you always think it's me? Besides those things are like 20 years old, I don't think you can really call them modern."
"I'll have you know that they're vintage, it took me 6 years to collect all of them! Six freaking years, dammit! I'm sick of you screwing up all of my stuff all the time."
"Hey lay off of him Raph, it's just stuff. Meager possessions." Leo waved him off without looking up from the game "What does it matter anyway?"
"Like you got room to talk with your precious comic book collection? You always stick up for Mikey, try seeing my point of view for once!"
"I get your point of view Raph, I just think that like Master Splinter says, material possessions are fleeting."
"Don't give me any of that zen crap!" Raph shoved at the machine in a rage, causing it to power down "I'm sick of the three of you, you're always screwing up and I have to pay for it!" and so he stormed away from the two of them, sat Spike down on a box and began letting his anger out on the nearby punching bag.
"...Well there goes a perfectly good game."
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Meanwhile, inside the lab…
"Honestly at this point, it feels like high school all over again." Gwen looked over at Donnie as the two of them worked over various different "I have to ask, how the heck do you get any work done in here when things are like that out there?"
"Who said I do?" Donnie let out a snort "I've been putting up with Raph exploding like one of those earrape videos on YouTube for over a decade, at this rate I'm fairly certain it can't get any louder than that. At this rate I'm never going to find a retro-mutagen."
"Okay, so griping over your brother's anger management issues aside, are we actually getting anywhere with the newest chemical combination?"
"We're about to find out." so Donnie poured a vial of liquid into a beaker of Mutagen… only for it to turn purple and start glowing "Oh crapbaskets, duck!" and so he dove to the ground just as a series of sparking fireworks shot out of the beaker, and subsequently shot out of the lab and into the living room.
"What the HELL?!" Mikey and the rest were forced to go on the evasive to avoid the oncoming fireworks "Hit the deck! We're gonna blow!"
"More like I'm gonna blow Donnie's head off when I get my hands on him!" Raph leapt to the ground to avoid another firework… only for his expression to shift to horror when he saw who or what was in the line of fire "SPIKE!"
"Hold on, I've got him!" Gwen was quick to rush out of the lab and launch herself forward, in which she grabbed onto Spike and held him close to her, and once the fireworks died down he poked his head out of his shell "It's okay sweetie, it's over now. Are you okay?" she was met with Spike nuzzling against her chest, leaving her blushing a shade of red as she sat him back on the ground 'Okay cute or not, there has to be some kind of boundary with that. Not like I haven't thought about that sort of thing with Pete but-'
"Spike!" this was when Raph rushed over and snatched Spike up into his arms "You okay little guy? You're all good, old Raph won't let anything happen to you.
"I'm fine by the way, in case you were wondering."
"I wasn't." Raph paused and looked at Gwen, and his expression softened slightly "But thanks for… you know."
"Wow, I definitely didn't see that coming." Donnie let out a smokey cough as he stumbled his way out of the lab "Is everyone okay?"
"What are you out your freaking mind?!" Raph stormed his way up to Donnie in a rage "You can be sure as hell we're not freaking okay!"
"What happened here?" it was at this moment that Splinter made his way out of the dojo.
"You wanna know what happened Master Splinter? I'll tell you what happened. Donnie went and almost blew us all up for like the umpteenth time, but this time he nearly got Spike!"
"Raph dude, I'm really sorry about-" Donnie was cut short by the furious glare that Raph was sending his way.
"Screw it, sorry doesn't cut it this time." Raph stormed his way into the lab and came out with a canister of mutagen in his hand "Until our resident mad scientist learns how the shell to get his crap together, I'm holding onto this for safekeeping." and then he picked up Spike and stormed off to his room.
"Wait Raph be reasonable, that's my last canister of mutagen!" Donnie's protests went unheard, and he let out a sigh "This can't possibly end well."
"Probably not, but I think going after him now will just make it worse." Gwen patted Donnie on the shoulder "Let's just let him cool down for now."
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Now with the angry one…
"Seriously, I don't know why the shell I even bother." Raph let out a low growl as he placed the Mutagen canister on his drum set, and Spike on a nearby table "If you ask me, the rest of them are just holding me back. We should be out there fighting crime, beating the crap out of bad guys and doing stuff like Daredevil. He gets it at least, but the others… All they want to do is screw around and play stupid games, or pretend to be some big superhero like Mikey does. You get it though, don't you Spike?" he patted Spike on the head and laid down on his bed "It's times like this I wish I could be out there on my own, doing things my way. I'm sick of being dragged down by this team." it was then that the sound of banging on the door drew his attention "And I'm sick of stuff like that."
There was a pause, and then Mikey poked his head into the room "Hey dude, this is probably a stupid question, but are you still mad?"
"Just tell me what you want Mikey."
"Alright, Master Splinter wants us to help clean up the mess out there."
"What?!" Raph bolted to his feet in a rage "No way, not a chance. Donnie can go and clean up his own explosion!"
"Just the messenger bro, but if you wanna tell sensei that you don't wanna hang out, then that's all on you dude."
"Fine, I will!" so Raph shoved his way past Mikey and slammed the door behind him.
What he didn't notice was that this caused the Mutagen canister to fall onto the floor and spill out, which didn't go unnoticed by Spike…
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Meanwhile, out in the living room…
"You gotta be kidding me!" Raph stormed up to Splinter in a rage "Sensei this is completely unfair! We're not the ones who made this mess, Donnie is, so why the shell should the rest of us have to clean it up?"
Splinter breathed a small sigh that went unnoticed "Allow me to make a sugggestion Raphael."
"Suggest what sensei? I'm sick of suggestions, what could you possibly suggest?" he was met with a pressure point strike to the chest that knocked him to the ground.
"Perhaps you should sit and meditate for awhile." he was met with groans from Raphael, which overshadowed the groans and choking noises coming from Raph's bedroom, which were then followed by an ominous growling noise.
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One swift cleanup later…
"Oh yeah, it's always me isn't it?" Raph stormed his way back into his room, the door slamming shut behind him "I've always teh one with the bad attitude, I'm always the bad guy, they just don't get it! None of them do!"
"They never have." a raspy voice drew his attention.
"What the?" Raph whipped around and his jaw nearly dropped at what he saw, in the form of the Mutagen canister spilled out on the floor.
"They never understood you… Not the way that I do." out from under the bed crawled a large mutant turtle with blue skin and spikes all over his body "You know that just as well as I do, don't you Raphael?"
"It… It can't be… Spike?"
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Meanwhile, with the cleanup crew…
"Okay, I think that's the last of it." Gwen finished taking out the last of the trash, and then she cast a glance over to see Donnie sit down by the TV looking downcast "Hey Donnie, are you alright?"
"Honestly, not really no." Donnie let out a sigh "I feel terrible about this, it's my fault Raph is so mad in the first place."
"Come on, it was an accident. Raph knows that, he just needs to…"
"Work on his insanely bad temper." Leo noted dryly.
"Not how I'd say it, but yeah basically. At this point I have to wonder if you should try switching him to decaf."
"We tried that, it only made him angrier. I just-" Donnie's moping was cut short by the sound of loud beeping, to which he pulled out his Mutagen tracker "Looks like the tracker just picked up a new canister of Mutagen, and it's close. Let's gear up."
"I'll go get Raph, maybe he's less likely to yell at me." so with that in mind, Gwen made her way back towards the bedrooms.
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Meanwhile, with the new soon to be duo…
"I can't believe this is happening…" it should go without saying that Raph was having a difficult time processing Spike's transformation "This is amazing! But what the shell am I going to tell the others?"
"Tell them they've got a new partner." Spike told him flatly "One who knows the true meaning of being a warrior."
"A new partner?"
"Think about it. Just you and me, no screwing around, no goofing off like your brothers and the rest. We can be the ultimate ninja team."
"Well that would be… awesome!"
"We can crush our opponents and grind them into the dust, we can wipe evil from the face of this city, until there's nothing left."
"Now that's what I'm talking about! You totally get it, you always did."
"Hey Raph?" it was at this moment that a knock sounded at the door, followed by a familiar female voice "You have a second?"
"Crap, it's Gwen. Alright man, just sit tight for a second." Raph cracked the door open but only slightly "What do you want?"
"The others wanted me to tell you that they're going after another Mutagen canister."
"Oh, right. Tell them they can go on without me."
"Everything okay?"
"Yeah fine, I'll catch up in a minute."
"Alright, if you're sure." and so Gwen shut the door and took her leave.
"Huh. That went well." Raph cast a glance over at Spike "At least she's a lot less annoying than the rest of them."
"And the rest of them you don't need Raphael, if you ask me." Spike gave a smirk "We can find that Mutagen canister on our own."
"Now that's what I'm talking about! But if we're gonna do this, then you'll need to gear up the right way." Raphael opened up a cupboard filled with weapons "So take your pick."
"That was my plan."
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One quick gearing up scene later…
"This should do very nicely." after equipping a weapon of his choice (a morning star club) and a black ninja mask, Spike followed Raphael up into a nearby alley as he tied on a few wristbands and leg warmers "So what do you think?"
"Now that's what I'm talking about." Raph gave a smirk of approval "I gotta give you credit where it's due Spike, you look awesome."
"You know I never really liked the name Spike, but I got a better name in mind." he picked up an S off the front of a junk car and fastened it onto his belt "How about from here on out you call me… Slash."
"Nice. Now let's get moving and show the world what we're made of." Raphael wasted no time in taking to the rooftops.
"I like the sound of that." Slash followed after him, though he did little to hide the malicious smirk spreading across his face 'But if Raphael is going to be free, then first he'll have to be rid of some dead weight.'
"This is so cool! It's just you and me from here on out, Raph and Slash, the crime-fighting duo in action! And maybe a few appearances from the likes of Daredevil."
"You got respect for the guy huh?"
"He's better than most of the jackasses that go around wearing spandex."
"Fair enough. Either way, we'll be righting the wrongs of the world, and wipe out anyone and everyone who stands in our way." Slash was about to advance, only to falter when he saw Raph come to a stop "Something wrong?"
"Probably should've thought of this before we geared up to look so badass, but how the shell are we gonna find the Mutagen without a tracker?"
"Leave that to me, I got a nose for the stuff. I can smell it a mile away." Slash paused and took a sniff, then took off running in a new direction "Follow me, this way."
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Meanwhile, with the other Mutagen hunters…
"Come on you guys, keep going this way!" Donnie lead the rest of the Turtles, along with Ghost Spider, across the city rooftops "We've got a Mutagen canister close by, it should be just on the other side."
"I already got eyes on it bros, ooze jar in full effect." Turtle Titan directed the attention of the others to where a Mutagen canister was lying on the sidewalk below them "Time to grab it and bag it and get the shell out of here."
"Looks like we didn't need Raph for this after all, which works fine for me." Leo gave a smirk as he pulled out a grapple, but froze when he saw something down below.
"Hey cool, what's this?" as it turns out, a pizza delivery guy on a scooter had seen the canister and picked up "Some kind of free energy drink, still sealed too."
"...Oh this can't possibly end well."
"I got this bros, just wait here." Turtle Titan pulled out his own grapple and used it to latch onto the opposite building.
"You sure Mikey?"
"Trust me, if there's anyone out of the three of us that knows a couple of things about stealing from a pizza delivery guy without him seeing, it's me."
"...Wow, I really can't argue with that."
"And you shouldn't either." so with that in mind, Turtle Titan tightened his grip on the grapple and swung down to grab the canister… only to end up crashing into Raph instead, leading the guy to get away with it "Okay, ow…"
"Somehow, I feel like that shouldn't surprise me." Leo's expression dulled at the sight of Raph and Turtle Titan arguing, but failed to notice a hulking figure looming behind the group in the shadows "First Raph shows up late and then he botches the mission, why am I not surprised?"
"I hate to be that girl right now, but as entertaining as it might be to watch the vein in Raphael's forehead explode, it's not going to get that canister back. Give me a minute, I'll go and see if I can break it up." so Ghost Spider webbed a line and swung down onto the street.
"I get the feeling this is going to be a tone setter for the night as a whole." Leo breathed a sigh, but then glanced back to find that Donnie was nowhere to be seen "Donnie?"
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Meanwhile, with the argument…
"Alright alright, give it a rest you two." Ghost Spider shot webs onto the mouths of both Turtle Titan and Raph to shut them up "Look I think it's safe to say that we've got issues to work out here, but right now getting that canister back has to come first, so Mikey and I will go track that delivery boy down and get back."
'God this stuff tastes like Mikey's underwear!' Raph gagged slightly as he ripped the webbing off his mouth "Fine, go ahead and do whatever you want." and so he watched Turtle Titan and Ghost Spider make their way down the street, then leapt back up to the rooftop he was on before, only to find that Slash was nowhere to be seen "Slash? Hey Slash what the shell, where did you go man?"
"Right here." Slash dropped down behind Raph with a loud thud, tightly clutching something purple in one hand.
"What gives man, I told you to wait here."
"Sorry about that, I had… something to take care of."
"Like what?"
"Raph!" this was when Leo suddenly leapt up onto the rooftops "We've got problems, as in of the disappearing Turtle variety and-" he paused and looked at Slash "Okay, I have a multitude of questions about this."
"Relax, it's just Spike. Well he calls himself Slash now. He got into that canister of Mutagen that I was keeping in my room."
"...Yeah, we definitely have a lot to talk about later. But that can wait, right now we have a turtle that's MIA."
"I just saw Mikey take off with Gwen, probably more of that superhero crap."
"Not him, I was talking about Donnie. He was right behind me and then he up and vanished, no joking around."
"Oh."
"Come on Raphael, forget about that." Slash took a step forward, ignoring the glare that Leo was sending his way "You said it yourself, you don't need a bunch of clowns like these. We still have to hunt down that Mutagen canister."
"Yeah I know, but…" Raph paused and glanced that Leo, then back at Slash "Sorry Slash, I say a lot of things but I ain't gonna turn my back on my brothers, no matter what."
"...I had a feeling you'd say that. How about I make the choice a bit easier for you?" in one swift movement, Slash grabbed Leo by the back of the head and slammed him into the ground with a mighty crash, before landing a few follow up blows to the back.
"LEO!" instantly horrified, Raph wasted no time in dealing Slash a headbutt to the chest, which sent him skidding back a short distance "What the shell are you doing Spike?!"
"Stay out of this Raphael, I don't want to have to fight you. Just get out of here and leave me to my work."
"Your work? That Mutagen screwed with your head Spike, this isn't you!"
"I already told you, the name is Slash." he then raised his Morning Star and prepared to bring it down on Leo's head… only to be stopped by Raph throwing a smoke bomb into his face and blinding him, causing him to roar in pain, but then when it subsided, he found that Raph and Leo were nowhere in sight.
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Meanwhile, with the Mutagen hunters…
"I see him, he's down here!" by this point, Ghost Spider and Turtle Titan were making their way across the rooftops chasing after the pizza delivery boy "Let's do this!"
"I've got him, leave it to me!" Turtle Titan latched onto a lamp post with his grapple and swung down to grab the canister… only for the delivery guy to hit a bump in the road, causing the canister to fly off the scooter and away from TT's attempt to grab it, leaving him to crash into a dumpster and several trash cans, leaving them rolling down the street (with the delivery guy being oblivious thanks to his headphones) until he hit the ground with a loud crash "Okay, that hurts… in my everywhere…"
"So much for being stealthy, they can hear you all the way in Hoboken."
"Hey come on, even the ninjas aren't perfect." Turtle Titan looked up at the sound of a loud splat and noticed the canister webbed to a nearby car "Oh cool, thanks for that Gwen."
"Um… that wasn't me." Ghost Spider landed on the other side of him.
"Wait, then what-" Turtle Titan glanced back over at the canister… and then he noticed the webs covering it were completely black "Oh… Ooooh… So is that-"
"About time you picked up on that, guess you aren't the smart one of the bunch." it was at that moment that a hulking black figure with a white spider emblem on its chest dropped down in front of them, its long tongue cascading down to its neck "In any case, I was wondering when I would finally get the chance to meet one of you face to face."
"Oh, so you're… you know…"
"You can call us Venom, and you're Turtle Titan as we recall." Venom picked up the canister and turned back to the others… then held it out to them "We think this is what you've been looking for."
"Um… yeah actually, thanks." Turtle Titan slowly accepted the canister "I think."
"Yeah yeah, go ahead and be shocked." Venom paused and looked over to see a group of civilians coming out of a nearby store, prompting him to grab Turtle Titan and Ghost Spider and take them to a nearby rooftop "Time we had a little talk then."
"About what?"
"Weeks ago we caught sight of Mutagen cells falling all over the city, and people getting turned into Knull only knows what because of it… including our bro Pete."
"Yeah… I was there when it happened. He pushed me out of the way and got hit, turned into the giant Man-Spider." Turtle Titan's face fell at the memory, and he and Ghost Spider gripped each other's hands reassuringly.
"So we've heard. It's one of the reasons why that substance shouldn't be allowed anywhere near normal humans." the mask of Venom retracted to reveal the face of Eddie Brock, and then the rest of the hulking form morphed into a black t-shirt "But now there's maybe dozens of them loose all over the city."
"That's more or less the sum of it." Ghost Spider pulled off her mask, revealing the face of Gwen Stacy underneath "People have already been hurt by them in one way or another, so now it's up to us to make sure it doesn't happen to anyone else."
"You don't have to tell us… me… twice, or once really." Eddie's gaze hardened "The Kraang have already taken too much from us as it is, and I don't plan on letting any more innocent people suffer because of them. If you want help with finding those canisters and taking out whatever experiments the Kraang are cooking up, you came to the right place."
"I know we did." Gwen gave a small smile, one that Eddie returned, but then her demeanor turned serious again as she put her Ghost Spider mask back on and she pulled out a small object, in the form of the Mutagen tracker "That's one canister down, but I think Donnie mentioned there was another few readings in the area."
"I've already got eyes on it down here." Eddie jerked a thumb to where an old man picked up another canister on the sidewalk and carried it away "Probably thinks it's some kind of high tech lava lamp. At least you know that nobody's stupid enough to touch the stuff in that case."
"I've kinda though about it a few times." Turtle Titan was met with a few raised eyebrows from the others "What? I never actually did it, just thought about it. Big difference."
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Meanwhile, with the hunted…
"There he is!" it didn't take too long for Leo and Raph to catch sight of Donnie sprawled out on a rooftop, badly hurt and missing his ninja mask "Donnie, are you okay? Can you hear me?"
"What… What hit me…?" Donnie slowly opened his eyes and looked up at the others "It seemed kind of like Raph, only bigger and meaner, angrier but not quite as ugly."
"...Yeah, I'm gonna let that one slide because you're hurt." Raph grumbled, but then he let out a sigh "It was Spike, he got into that Mutagen canister I stashed in my room. I was going to tell you guys but-"
"Spike? Oh yeah Raph, way to keep that Mutagen safe."
"Yeah yeah I know, I screwed it hard this time. Just come on already, we gotta find some kind of cover in case he comes back." so Raph and Leo slung Donnie's arms over their shoulders and took him away from the scene… unaware of Slash watching the group from afar.
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Meanwhile, with the Mutagen hunters…
"Okay, I got sight of the thing down there." Turtle Titan peered through a telescope and caught sight of the mutagen canister "We gotta get our hands on that thing, cause if the guys hear about it they ain't ever gonna let me live it down. Especially not Raph."
"Along with some innocent people getting mutated." Ghost Spider pointed out dryly as she shot a certain Look at Turtle Titan.
"Well yeah, I just figured that went without saying. Eesh, you don't have to glare into my soul like that."
"Trust me, the Look isn't fun without the mask either." Eddie muttered "Not a lot of things shake me up, but that chills me to the bone."
"At least I ain't the only one who gets that. So are we gonna get down there? We're gonna need some kind of crazy plan to get down there."
"I have a better idea." Ghost Spider drew their attention from where she was making her way behind a nearby AC unit "That guy down there thinks it's a lamp and he plans to sell at his stand, am I right?"
"Yeah?"
"Well then there's an easy fix." Gwen came back out in front of them, clad in her new typical attire, consisting of an orange sweater, a pair of black of dark brown jeans and a set of white tennis shoes, with her wallet in hand "If he's a merchant then one of us will just have to go down there and buy it from him."
"...Oh yeah, how come we didn't think of that?"
"Becuase you're a turtle and I don't have any cash." Eddie pointed out dryly.
"Right, good point. It probably doesn't help that I don't have any cash either."
"I thought Gwen said you guys buy a crap ton of pizza like all the time."
"We do, but the guys stop letting me keep the money with me after last time. Probably a good call to be honest."
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Meanwhile, with the hunted…
"Okay, I think the coast is clear." Leo rushed ahead to scout the way a little bit, then cast a glance back over at Raph and Donnie "There's no sign of him."
"Okay…" Donnie continued to slowly trudge his way along, with Raph supporting him, only to soon end up falling to his knees "I can't make it… I'm too weak… You guys should just go on without me…"
"Forget it, you know our rule is to leave no Turtle behind." Raph quickly propped Donnie up against the side of the roof and stuffed one of his sais into his mouth "I'm gonna try and tie off your sprained arm, it might hurt so you're gonna wanna bite down on this."
"It tastes like leather and sweat."
"...Gonna ignore that one because you're hurt."
"You go ahead and take care of him, I'll keep an eye out." Leo gripped his katanas and cast a cautious look around the area 'I know you're out there, but where?'
"Hey Leo, you there bro? I could use a hand."
"Mikey, is that you?" Leo glanced over at the sound of the familiar voice until he found a shadowy figure lurking on a nearby fire escape.
"Down here bro, we gotta hurry!"
"I'm glad you're back Mikey, there's been… a lot going on, to say the least."
"You don't say? How about I… get a closer look?" the figure leaned forward… revealed to be none other than Slash, who grabbed Leo by the throat before he could say anything and dragged him back into the shadows.
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Meanwhile, with the Mutagen hunters…
"Looks like it's so far so good." Eddie cast a glance down to where Gwen was making her way over to the salesman's stand "The rest is up to her."
"Then we got nothing to worry about." Turtle Titan paused, then glanced over at Eddie "So, I guess… you and Gwen knew each other for a long time huh?"
"Years, ever since I was still new to Midtown High. You?"
"About six months or so."
"Cool." another awkward silence overtook them, until Eddie broke the silence "She's told me a little bit about you and the other Turtles, and I've got a few memories of what you're like."
"You do? How?"
"Mostly through my… tenant, so to speak." Eddie glanced down at where the Symbiote sat on his chest in the form of a t-shirt "I have a few flashes here and there, of you and the others going up against the Kraang."
"Oh yeah, that thing… It got bonded to another guy I knew awhile ago. He's gone now."
"So I heard. He gave the Kraang a lot of grief, which means I would've liked him. Speaking of which, I've heard a lot about what you and the others have done to them. Pretty impressive given that you live in a sewer."
"Not super high tech or anything, but it's gotta be better than whatever the Kraang were keeping you in."
"Me personally, I didn't think Ravencroft was that bad. Sure it wasn't fun, but it's better than what my other went through because of the Kraang. Most of what they gave me was grief… but they gave me a purpose too, so silver lining I guess." Eddie paused again, then let out a sigh as he looked Turtle Titan in the eye "I should thank you for what you did. And the others."
"Taking out the Kraang is what we do man."
"Not just that. I mean saving me and Kafka from the Kraang and the Jackal the other day. You didn't have to do that."
"It's really not that complicated dude." Turtle Titan pulled back his cowl, revealing the true face of Michelangelo underneath "I gotta be honest, the others aren't super convinced that you're on our side."
"Which means they view me as an enemy?"
"More like that old saying, the enemy of my enemy and all that. Plus it helps you like trashing the Kraang, and we kinda get behind that."
"You don't seem super on edge around me."
"I guess you got Gwen to thank for that. She believes in you, and I believe in her."
"You mean she believes I'm trouble, and I'm guessing your bros do too? Well frankly, I don't think they'd be wrong."
"And then there's the whole… Peter thing going on too."
"Yeah. I figured that was gonna come up." Eddie breathed a sigh "I'm gonna guess Pete told you about everything that happened between us?"
"He didn't like to talk about it a lot, but yeah pretty much."
"Figures. I told Gwen this and I'll tell you now, Pete and I have shit to work through, there isn't any getting around that. It ain't gonna be water under the bridge anytime soon either, if it ever is at all. But the Kraang made us suffer… all of us, including him."
"What does that mean?"
"Exactly that. What the Kraang took from us… in the grand scheme of things, it actually led to everything that's been happening between us, if indirectly. So whatever we have to work out, we can do it later. We've got bigger fish to fry now. Or freaky alien brains to fry."
"Oh." Mikey paused and looked Eddie over for a moment… and then smiled "Okay, that works for me. Welcome to the team dude."
"...That's it? Seriously? You trust me just like that? You know what I've got going with Pete, you know the things I've done… and you trust me just like that?"
"It's like I said, Gwen trusts you and I trust her, so I'm cool giving you a shot."
"Oh. Okay then." Eddie blinked a few times, then relaxed slightly "That's actually a relief on a few levels, I figured things were gonna turn out really weird between us or something."
"You might wanna hold onto that thought for awhile. I'm up for giving you a shot, but I can't say the same for my bros."
"Figures."
"Alright, I got the thing." this was when Gwen made her way back up onto the roof with the mutagen canister in hand "So should we head back?"
"If you wanna leave, I'm not gonna stop you. But me…" Eddie paused and looked out into the distance "I've got a stop that I've been wanting to make… check in on someone."
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Meanwhile, with the hunted…
'Dammit, you turn your back for one second and- Oh crap…' whatever mental rant Raphael was going through quickly cut itself short at the sight of Leo, unmasked and heavily injured, hanging unconscious off the side of a building, prompting Raph to pull him back up and gently check him over 'Oh thank god, he's still breathing… Why? Why are you doing this Spike?"
"No reason you don't already know one and the rest of the Turtles hold you back, limit your potential. You said it yourself, you don't need any of them." the voice of Slash echoed around him, followed by him slamming a fist against Raph's skull and sending him crashing into the wall behind him, and then he started dragging Leo's unconscious form away.
"No… they're my brothers… I never wanted this…"
"Too bad, there's no turning back now." Slash held Leo up by the leg and moved to drop him off the roof, until…
"STOP!" Raph let out a snarl as he pulled himself to his feet, gripped his sais and slowly made his way towards Slash, his eyes blazing with rage "You're not laying another hand on him, or any of the others."
"You don't want to do this Raphael, and I don't want to fight you."
"That's where you're wrong, because I want to fight you. You're not Spike. You're nothing but this warped monster, a deranged and hideous freak."
"...Is that how you want to play it? Fine." Slash dropped Leo back on the roof, then let out a roar as he brandished his morning star and charged forward, meeting Raph's thrust of his sais and knocking him back to the ground, but when he moved in for a follow up attack it was quickly blocked by Raph's sais "You know that we could make a good team Raphael, but you're as much of a fool as your brothers are." and then he backhanded Raph into the wall again.
'Raph… he's in trouble…' once he regained consciousness and got a look at the situation, Leo slowly pulled himself to his feet and did the same with Donnie "We have problems, Raph is out there fighting Slash on his own."
"Wait, Slash is back?" Donnie pulled himself to his feet, using his staff as a crutch "Raph is fighting him?"
"Not particularly well, he needs us right now. Can you fight?"
"I'll make it work, so let's go." so Leo slung Donnie's good arm over his shoulder, and the two of them followed after the fight to the next building.
"There's nothing you can do that I can't see coming." Slash blocked a few attacks from Raph and forced him to retreat with a swing of his morning star "I've spent years watching you train and learning your moves. I know everything you can do."
"Big talk, see if you can back it up!" Raph let out a snarl as he charged at Slash, using his sais to catch the morning star in a lock and kick Slash in the face hard enough to send him skidding back across the rooftop "Guess you don't know everything."
"I know this much at least." Slash pounced at Raph and tried to sweep his legs out from under him, only for Raph to leap over the attack, but Slash grabbed him by the leg and slammed him into the ground repeatedly, before finishing his onslaught by punching him clear through the wall behind him, sending him crashing onto another rooftop. With that done, Slash went over to Raph, picked him up and prepared to run him through with his claws, until…
"Get the shell off of him!" Leo charged at Slash and tried to slash through him with his katanas, with Donnie grabbing onto his arm to pull him down.
"Wait your turn, I'll run you both through soon enough." Slash threw Donnie off of him and dealt Leo a smash attack over the head, knocking him to the ground with a loud bang "Raph isn't the only one I've been watching you know."
"Slash!" Raph let out a snarl as he pulled himself back to his feet, battered and bruised but still ready to fight "That's what real friends do. They stand up for each other against ugly monsters like you, and frankly I'd rather be like my brothers than you any day!"
"Hm. Then there's only one way this is gonna end."
"Yep." Raph brandished his sais and charged at Slash, managing to push him back with a series of swift punches and kicks, sending him crashing onto another nearby rooftop, and the chase continued on…
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Meanwhile, with the (former) Mutagen hunters…
'Back here again…' Venom cast a glance down at a certain building in front of him from his place perched on a low rooftop, and the mask retracted to reveal the face of Eddie Brock, fairly downcast 'A lot of good memories in this place, a lot of them bad… I can't blame everything bad on Pete now can I?'
"You have good reason to. Parker has caused us more pain and suffering than almost anyone in this world or any other."
"Except for the Kraang. And Pete isn't the one who caused the whole thing with Electro, or with the Lizard."
"But you remember what he did cause, the information he leaked, the way he stole us from that lab."
'Maybe but-'
"I am kind of surprised to find you here."
Eddie whipped around to find Ghost Spider and Turtle Titan standing behind him "I should be surprised that you both followed me here, and yet I'm not."
"I'm gonna take it as a compliment." Turtle Titan let out a chuckle, but then his gaze softened as he sat down on the ledge of the roof next to Eddie "So what's up?"
"I guess I got to thinking after we talked earlier. You said you trust me because Gwen trusts me, even though you guys know who I am and all the stuff that we… I did."
"Yeah, so?"
"Well it got me thinking about the other people trust me… or did. Like with May, or… like with the Connors." he gestured to the lab on the street in front of them.
"Come on Eddie, you know you can talk to me." Ghost Spider sat down on the other side of him and pulled off her mask, revealing the face of Gwen Stacy "What's eating at you?"
"The whole thing with Pete… I caused a lot of grief and a mountain of hurt cause of it. I aimed it at a lot of people that didn't deserve it. Like you for starters, and May. Then the time when we tried to frame Spider-Man for a crime spree, set a building on fire and let him take the blame for that… and the way I've been treating the Connors, and even that Watson girl."
"Mary Jane you mean You did bad things, but it's not your fault. Not entirely at least. You've had… other factors driving you on." Gwen's gaze eventually trailed down to the white spider symbol on Eddie's chest.
"You mean our other. It didn't make me do those things. Maybe it pushed a few ideas up to the surface, but not the Watson girl. I'm sure she told you about it. I asked her out because I thought she and Pete were a thing. I still freshly pissed at him and wanted to hurt him, the way I thought he hurt me… and I used her to do it. Face the facts Gwen, I don't see myself cleaning that whole mess up, or making any of it right."
"You don't know that."
"Yeah I do. I know plenty well how Watson feels about me, and if the Connors ever found out the truth I'm sure they'd feel the same."
"I wouldn't be so sure about that."
Eddie recoiled at the sound of the new voice (which also prompted Ghost Spider and Turtle Titan to remask themselves and leap away) and whipped around to find a familiar redhead in a labcoat standing by the door to the roof "Martha- I mean, Dr Connors- I mean… What are you doing up here?"
"I suppose I could ask you the same thing Eddie. In my case, I was working late on… a personal project and came up here to get some air." Martha made her way forward and stopped on the edge next to Eddie "I have to admit though, I am kind of surprised… Part of me did expect to see you come back at some point. I know that Dr Kafka let you out of Ravencroft."
"To say that a lot has happened in the past few months is… a huge understatement."
"Believe me, I know that all too well myself. Both in a good and a bad way. Something I'm sure your companions down there can agree with… especially assuming that one of them is who I think it is."
"...I know she's not talking about me." came the voice of Turtle Titan.
"I'm not."
"I figured as much." there was a pause, and then Ghost Spider leapt back up onto the roof "Well you have to understand Doctor, the most important part of being a superhero is the secret identity unless- You already know don't you?"
"Yes, yes I do."
"I should've figured." Ghost Spider let out a sigh and pulled her mask back off, once again revealing the face of Gwen Stacy "Hi Martha, it's good to see you."
"You too Gwen. And you don't need to worry, your secret is safe with me."
"That's a relief. I know that this is probably a stupid question but… How have you been?"
"Honestly… I've been better. I think we all have." Martha let out a long sigh of her own as she glanced out at the city in the distance "I've been keeping it together as much as I can… Which really isn't easy given everything else there is to do despite what happened to Curt. We still have work at the lab, though Felicia and Dr Morbius have helped with that. Billy and I have actually been staying with my sister, she's been a big help. But it's… hard, to say the least."
"I'm sorry… If there's anything we can do…"
"Thank you, but right now I'm willing to settle for making sure nobody else gets transformed by that mutagen. Which I've actually been working towards myself." she pulled a canister out of her lab coat, along with a note pad.
"Looks like you're not the only one." Eddie held up his own two canisters that were pulled out of the void of his black t-shirt, which caused her to step back a bit."
"Oh, so… you're still-"
"Still bonded to our other. Yeah. but don't worry, I'm not going to-" Eddie was cut short by the sight of a green blur, and then a blue one, both crashing to the ground in front of them "What the hell?"
"What the shell?!" Raph leapt back onto his feet in time to block an oncoming attack from Slash, and managed to look around at the scene "What the shell are you guys doing?!"
"We got a couple of these." Turtle Titan pointed to the mutagen canisters Eddie was holding "So who's the new guy?"
"Long story and-" Raph was cut off by Slash grabbing him and sending both of them crashing through the roof into the building below.
"...Guess it's a good thing they don't do double shifts at this place." Turtle Titan shared a look with Gwen, and the two remasked themselves and leapt down in to join the fray.
Eddie on the other hand just watched the group take their leave "Oh yeah, there's a turtle themed superhero now. I'm kind of surprised it took this long for one of those to show up."
"So am I, though I'm not complaining. Billy is actually a pretty big fan." Martha looked away for a moment, then back at Eddie "I'm also not complaining about having the chance to talk to you again. And there is one thing I wanted to say if I got the chance."
"What's that?"
"I know things have been… tentative for some time now, between the lab's finances and pretty much everything else. But if there's any chance that you'd like to have your job back, we would be more than happy to have you."
Eddie fell silent for a moment as he looked away from her, and then his face fell "Thanks for the offer but… it doesn't really feel right after… everything."
"Everything?"
"The way I acted when you had to let me go after It got swiped from the lab… I get why you did it. You didn't want to do it, you just had to make a tough call… I just wish it didn't take me so long to figure it out. I'm… trying to make up for a lot of things."
"I see. In that case, there might be a good way for you to start." Martha glanced down at the battle raging below.
"...Yeah, that could work. As for the job thing… let me think about it." so Eddie's face once more faced into the mask of Venom, who then leapt down towards the battle raging on the street below.
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Meanwhile, with the fight…
"You put up a decent fight, but I know how to think, how you fight. Nobody on this whole damn planet knows you better than me." Slash grabbed Raphael's sais in the middle of his attack, threw them away and dealt him a kick to the chest to send him skidding back a short distance "You may as well just face the facts Raphael, you've already lost."
"Not on your freaking life!" Raph let out a snarl as he charged at Slash, only to be backhanded away, but he managed to rebound and deal Slash a fist to the face, sending him staggering back a few feet.
"Even when you're beaten down and bloody, you've got the spirit of a true warrior. We really are the same aren't we?"
"I'm not a single damn thing like you, you're pure evil!"
"That's what you think." Slash let out a roar as he charged at Raph, dealing him a savage barrage of attacks and sending him crashing into the pavement, and then he moved in to land a finishing blow, until…
"Hey Yoshi, try picking on someone your own size!" a black webline suddenly latched onto the back of Slash's shell and used it to hurl him into a nearby wall, courtesy of Venom as he leapt down onto the scene and used a tendril to pull Raphael back onto his feet "Correct us if we're wrong here, but we thought there were only four of you mutant turtles."
"There were until about three hours ago." Raph spat out some blood to the side "Short version, mutagen-"
"Got it."
"And I've got you." Slash pounced at Venom and smacked him across the face with his morning star, sending Venom staggering back a short distance "Yeah, and Raphael said that I'm a hideous freak."
"At least we aren't a pathetic byproduct of the Kraang. Too bad the same can't be said for the likes of you."
"So what? Being like this gives me the chance to do to those other pathetic turtles what I've been waiting to do for a damn long time."
"And the one in red is the exception?"
"Raphael will understand soon enough. We're not like the others. They're weak, but we know the meaning of power. Our anger is what makes us stronger."
"That sounds familiar. We know the meaning of that too." Venom let out a roar as he charged at Slash, grabbing him by the throat dealing him a swift slash of his claws, sending him hurtling down the street towards where Raphael was waiting.
"Anger makes us stronger huh? Then try meditating on it!" Raph leapt forward with a single finger raised, and once he got close enough to Slash he struck a pressure point under Slash's armpit, causing him to freeze up and convulge, allowing Raph to grab Leo and Donnie's masks and leap away, leaving Slash to hit the ground with a loud thud.
"Pressure point attack?" Venom glanced over at Raph as he let loose a series of black webs to pin Slash to the ground, and then his mask faded to reveal the face of Eddie Brock "Not a bad move actually."
"One of those times I'm actually glad I live with a ninja rat master that literally knows how to strike every damn nerve." Raph spat out a little more blood to the side, then looked at Eddie "So it's Venom right? Thanks, I guess, for the backup."
"You can thank the so-called Turtle Titan for that one. We got to talking and said he was up for giving me a chance, but said I'd have to earn it with you, so I figured I'd give it a shot. And for the record, it's Eddie when I'm like this."
"Good to know." with that said, Raph glanced over to where Turtle Titan and Ghost Spider were carrying the wounded forms of Leo and Donnie over to them "You guys okay?"
"They're pretty banged up, but they oughta be okay. We're gonna have Splinter check them out when we get home though." Turtle Titan glanced over at Raph "So what the shell was up with the new guy?"
"Long story, I don't really want to-" Raph cut himself short at the sound of a loud crash, and he and the others whipped around… only to find that the black webs were shredded, and Slash was nowhere to be seen "He's gone… but he's still out there. Somewhere."
"So he'll probably be back." Ghost Spider patted Raph on the shoulder "Come on, I think we should get you guys home."
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A short while later, back in the Lair…
'He's still out there…' Raph sat alone on the ground, holding a half eaten leaf in his hand, his thoughts drifting to the night's events 'But it's like I don't even know him anymore.'
"Probably a stupid question, but how are you holding up?"
Raph looked over to see Gwen sit down next to him "How am I supposed to feel? I thought he was my friend, then he ends up trying to butcher my brothers for some twisted reason. And now I have no idea where he is and he's probably gonna try again."
"Believe me, I get how that feels pretty well." Gwen gently patted Raph on the shoulder "I feel the same way sometimes myself."
"What, you mean with Parker?"
"No. Well yes of course, but not in this case. I'm talking about with Eddie. After I learned the truth about everything with the Symbiote, I didn't know how to take it. It was like the person I knew all these years was gone… and it broke my heart. But I had to keep going. And like we saw tonight, he eventually came back. I think if Eddie had the potential to come back, then there's hope for Slash too. At some point."
"So what, I just sit around on my shell waiting until then?"
"I wouldn't say that. Tell me this Raph, do you know what I do when I miss the people that I've lost? Like with my mom, or with Peter?"
"No."
"I don't forget them, but I try to think about the people that I have in the here and now, like you guys." she gestured to where the Turtles were playing on the arcade game.
"...Yeah, I guess that makes sense. Thanks Gwen." so Raph put on a small smile and made his way over to the group "Hey, so what does a guy have to do in order to get a place in your little competition?"
"Hey as far as I'm concerned dude, the next game is all yours." Mikey told him, but then his face fell slightly "But listen bro… I'm sorry about Spike, really."
"Eh, it's alright. You guys aren't the worst people to hang out with either." Raph's smile widened as he wrapped his arms around the others, but his face fell slightly when they weren't looking 'I gotta wonder though… Where are you now Spike?'
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Meanwhile, with the antagonist in question…
'Dammit… That didn't go so well…' Slash gave scowl and spat out some blood to the side as he leapt from one rooftop to the next, seething over the night's events 'Here I thought Raphael had the same warrior spirit… and then he goes and betrays me… He's gonna pay for this. All of them will."
"They're going to pay for a lot of things. We'll make sure of that."
Slash whipped around at the sound of a new voice, only to find himself surrounded by a group of armored figures wearing pumpkin masks, and then suddenly be met with a powerful surge of electricity that caused him to roar in pain and sent him crashing to the ground.
"Yes, I think this one will do very nicely." standing over Slash's downed form stood none other than the Jackal, his gauntlet surging with electricity "You should be honored. You've just been made into our newest recruit, and as such you'll have the opportunity to see the rise… of the Goblin Nation."
A/N:
Here we are people, finally back at this story. Sorry it's been so long, but I wanted to work on some of my other fics, and then I wound up getting a job. Nothing too big, just some seasonal employment. That's been a headache in its own right for one reason or another, so here's my way of letting out stress.
On another note, not a ton of changes in this chapter compared to the canon one, aside from the inclusion of Venom and him having a somewhat proper introduction to the Turtles, and helping them deal with Slash. Plus it's leading into the debut of the new villainous faction I'm introducing this season. You'll see more of them in the coming chapters.
Now then, before I close this out I need to address something that I probably should've awhile ago: Certain reviewers spamming reviews. I'm not going to name any names, but seriously, there has to be a line to draw. It's flooding my inbox with the same stuff over and over again, and honestly, it's getting on my nerves. I'm not saying to stop reviewing entirely, but please tone it down, and I mean entirely, not just until I upload the next chapter because I've noticed that trend too. If it keeps up like this, I might have to start deleting reviews entirely. That's something I hate to do for any reason (aside from a few characters that spam insults or trash my fics for no good reason), but if I have to, then I will.