Chapter 9

Raph was sure he had never been so angry in his life. April’s frantic voice was still ringing in his ears, as he raced off toward her place, not even bothering to make sure his other two brothers were keeping up. The only thing Raph knew was that Mikey was in trouble, and he had to help his brother before Slash hurt him again. 

None of them spoke as they took the quickest route to April’s apartment building. They weren’t far off now, and Raph could see the familiar red-head pacing around the rooftop, some creep in a hockey mask standing off to the side. 

It only took a moment for Raph to put two and two together; this was the kid April had mentioned, the one that Mikey had been with when Slash had shown up. Putting on a burst of extra speed, Raph ran the length of the last building, jumping the gap and plowing directly into the teen. 

“Where is my brother?” Raph shouted at the stunned kid beneath him. 

“Ow! Get off!” the kid yelled as he struggled, but Raph gripped his shirt tighter. 

“Where is he?” Raph demanded again. 

“Raphael!” April pulled at his arm. “Let him up, Casey didn’t do anything to Mikey!”

“Yeah, ya creep! That psycho turtle chased him off, and if you get your fat shell off me, I’ll show you what way they went!” 

“Raph.” Leo’s stern voice broke through the angry fog clouding Raph’s mind. 

Growling, the red-banded turtle let the teen go, satisfied to hear a soft ‘oof’ when he hit the ground again. 

“April, can you tell us what happened?” Donnie asked, and Raph narrowed his eyes at his brothers. 

“We already know what happened! Slash chased him off into the city!” Raph snapped. 

“I didn’t see what happened,” April said, sparing only a glance toward Raph as she quickly explained what Casey had told her before. 

“Your little dude is fast, but that guy was HUGE! I mean seriously huge. They ran off in that direction,” Casey said, pointing the way he had seen Mikey and Slash go.

“And you what, just stood by and watched?” Raph growled, fists clenched and ready to pound into this kid, who was giving them nothing more than vague details about what had happened. 

“Lay off, greenie! Mikey’s my friend, and I don’t want to see him hurt either! But I knew there was no way I could keep up with them, I knew the little dude had brothers, and I figured April knew how to get in touch with you guys,” Casey said. 

“You did the right thing,” Leo said, nodding his thanks to Casey. “We may have to split up to search for Mikey,” Leo said and turned toward Donnie. “Any chance you might be able to track his t-phone?” 

“It’s possible, but that will depend on if it’s still on or if Mikey even has it with him right now,” Donnie said, pulling out his own t-phone and starting typing away on it. 

“What the fuck is WRONG with you two?” Raph shouted, staring at his brothers in disbelief. “Slash is out there, chasing after our brother AGAIN! And you two just want to stand here and chit-chat about everything? Are you even worried about-”

“Of course we’re worried!” Donnie yelled back, taking everyone by surprise, as it was rare that the purple-banded turtle would raise his voice in such a way. “I am completely freaking out right now, Raph. I know exactly how hurt Mikey was after the last time Slash got him! My brain is happily supplying me with hundreds of ways he could be hurting Mikey right now, and the sooner you calm the FUCK DOWN, the sooner I can focus enough to find a way to track our brother BEFORE something happens to him!” Donnie turned his shell on his brothers then and returned to typing on his phone, however Raph saw his brother wiping away his tears. 

Raph was still fuming, he still wanted to punch something, wanted to do anything other than stand there on that building and wait. Turning away from Donnie, Raph looked over at Leo; the blue-banded brother was staring in the direction that the Casey kid had pointed. Outwardly he looked calm, and very much in control of himself as he patiently waited for Donnie to find something. 

Maybe it was all the fights he had gotten in with Leo before, the years of throwing punches at each other, of studying Leo’s every move, or maybe it was just the fact that they were brothers, but Raph could tell that Leo wasn’t as calm as he was portraying himself to be. His eyes were narrowed more than usual, every ninja sense in him was on high alert, trying to pick up the slightest trace of their brother. But what really gave him away, was the fact that Leo was holding his katana, the sharp weapon was out, meaning Leo was ready for a fight. 

“I’ve got him!” Donnie said, wasting no time before heading off over the rooftops. 

“Let’s go,” Leo said. “April, you and Casey wait here, in case Mikey comes back,” he ordered. 

“What? No way, yo, no one benches Casey Jones,” the teen said, pulling his mask down over his face again. 

“Well, Casey Jones, if you can keep up, be my guest,” Leo said and turned, moving swiftly across the rooftop after Donnie. Raph shot a glare toward Casey before he too took off after his brothers. 

“Mikey might be in hiding at the moment, he’s not moving,” Donnie said as his brothers caught up with him, glancing at the screen of his phone to make sure they were moving in the right direction. 

“If Slash even thinks about touching him again,” Raph growled. 

“We’ll deal with him,” Leo said, his voice low and dark, the white eyelid in place over his eyes and Raph didn’t know if he was happy or scared to see Leo show this kind of anger about the situation. 

---------------x

Mikey stamped down on the rising panic that was threatening to overtake him; he didn’t dare look back, there was no need to see Slash, he knew the larger turtle was gaining on him. Turning sharply to the right, Mikey dove off another building, using the fire escape so he didn’t fall too fast, or land too hard on the ground. 

He heard Slash let out a rawr. 

Eyes wide, Mikey moved to run out of the alley. He needed to find a manhole cover and get down to the sewers. He had just made it to the entrance of the alley when Slash landed in front of him. 

Mikey yelled, dodging the large hand that swung at him. “What do you want?” Mikey demanded, his voice shaking as he backed away quickly. 

“Revenge,” Slash said in a low, growling hiss. 

“I never did anything to you!” Mikey said, eyes darting around looking for an escape. 

“You’ve had Raphael hunting me,” Slash said, his claws scraping on the side of the building, leaving large gouges in the brick. 

Mikey shook his head. “I haven’t! I haven’t done-”

“You told your brothers what I did to you,” Slash said, narrowing his eyes. “You lied to Raphael, and now he’s hunting me. You’ve turned him against me.” Slash continued to advance on Mikey. 

“St-stay away from me!” Mikey shouted, picking up the lid to a metal garbage can and throwing it at Slash. 

There was another rawr of rage from the large turtle, and Mikey jumped up onto the first part of the fire escape, intending to leapfrog his way back up to the roofs again. As he moved to jump a second time however, Slash’s large hand wrapped around his ankle. 

Mikey screamed as he was pulled down, his shell slamming into the concrete, sending pain shooting up his back. Slash didn’t let him go, keeping hold of his ankle he lifted Mikey and slammed him into the wall next, each impact sending a new shockwave of pain through the orange-banded turtle. 

“I’m going to destroy you, and your brothers, and then nothing, NOTHING will stand between me and Raphael again!” Slash raged, bringing Mikey down to the ground once more, satisfied when he heard the echoing crack of Mikey’s shell as it hit the concrete again. 

Mikey lay there gasping for air, as his mind tried to catch up with the fact that he had just been thrown around like a rag doll. Shifting his eyes to look at Slash, the terrifying form of the larger turtle loomed over him. Hurt, fear, and anger surged in him, and Mikey lost focus as he twisted sharply, bringing his free foot up to kick Slash in the face. 

The other turtle clearly hadn’t been expecting that, losing his grip on Mikey’s ankle. Now free, Mikey released the blade from his nunchuck, turning it into a kusarigama. 

Mikey cried out with each attack, swinging his weapon around, trying to do as much damage to Slash as he could. Everything Mikey had felt over the last two months came pouring out of him, the feeling of isolation, trying to hide his pain, and now being faced with his attacker again. Mikey couldn’t have held back if he tried. 

Swinging his kusarigama down, Mikey blinked out of his haze when he heard Slash let out another rawr, this one of pain. Looking down, Mikey’s eyes widened in horror when he saw blood pooling around the blade of his weapon that was sticking into Slash’s shoulder. 

However, this moment of hesitation was all Slash needed to turn things around again. Grabbing Mikey’s wrist, Slash pried it away from the weapon. “You’re going to pay for that as well,” Slash hissed, weapon still embedded in his shoulder as he stood up, gripping Mikey’s wrist tighter. 

Mikey cried out, feeling the bones in his wrist rubbing together until, SNAP. The scream echoed off the walls of the alley. Slash dropped Mikey to the ground, watching the smaller turtle cradle his wrist as he kicked back, trying to put some distance between the two of them. Slash didn’t let him get far, reaching out one final time he grabbed Mikey by the head. 

Mikey struggled weakly, tears streaming down his face when Slash grabbed him again, and the last thing he felt was the blinding pain of his head being smashed into the wall. 

---------------x

Donnie’s hands were trembling as he slowly knelt down, picking up the t-phone that was all but ruined from being smashed on the ground. “Mikey?” he said softly, looking up and searching the alleyway for his brother. “Mikey! Where are you?” he called louder. 

“He’s not here,” Leo said, coming over to where Donnie was knelt. Brown eyes stared up at Leo, before trailing down to the broken weapon in their leader's hand. 

“No, he has to be here,” Donnie said standing up. “His phone is here, he has to be somewhere,” he argued and spun around. “Mikey!” he yelled louder. 

“There’s blood over here,” Raph said from near the back of the alley. 

“There’s blood over there too. It looks like Mikey out up one hell of a fight,” Leo said, his hand gripping the kusarigama tightly.

“This is all your fucking fault!” Raph yelled, stomping his way over to Leo. 

“Yes it is,” the blue-banded turtle said sadly. 

“If you hadn’t had your head so far up your ass, then MAYBE we could have caught Slash BEFORE he took Mikey again!” Raph raged on. 

“We’ll find him,” Leo said. 

“And listen to you now! Standing there so fucking calmly!” Raph pushed Leo up against the wall, green eyes sparking with anger when the blue-banded turtle didn’t so much as flinch. 

“Stop it!” Donnie said. “Fighting isn’t going to help us find Mikey any faster!” 

Growling, Raph gave Leo another shove before letting him go and turning to Donnie. “Do you have any way to find them?” He asked. 

“I… no, I could track his t-phone, but other than that…” Donnie trailed off, feeling useless. 

“We split up,” Leo said, “search the city for him. Donnie, you call April, she can help, and find out if Mikey’s friend wants to help look for him too.”

“Fuck this, I’m not taking orders from you,” Raph said, jumping up onto the fire escape. “I’m going to look for Slash.”

“Raph, wait,” Donnie said, moving to go after him, however Leo stopped him. 

“No, let him go. He’ll call if he finds Slash. I really need you to call April and that new guy, I’m going to call Splinter… he needs to know what happened,” Leo said. 

Donnie stared at Leo before nodding slowly. He wanted to follow Raph, wanted to be out there looking for Mikey before something bad happened to him again. No one had helped Mikey the first time, and Donnie refused to let that happen again. 

“I’ll call them,” he said, pulling out his phone. 

“When you’ve done that, I want you to search the docks for him. I’m going to search some of the abandoned buildings over in chinatown,” Leo said. 

“I’ll call if I find anything,” Donnie said before calling April. His hands were still shaking and his mind was going a mile a minute, thinking of possible places that Slash could have taken Mikey, and possible other ways he might be able to track the two of them. 

Donnie was climbing back up to the rooftop when April answered her phone. 

“Donnie? Did you find him? Is Mikey okay?”

“We didn’t find him, we think…” Donnie trailed off for a moment as the words seemed to get stuck in his throat. “We think Slash got him.” 

“He, Mikey’s missing?” April asked, and Donnie felt something twist in his gut again for how scared April sounded about the idea of Mikey missing, and being in the hands of that monster. There was a loud noise on the other end of the line before a new voice came through. 

“Where’s my little buddy?” Casey demanded. 

“We don’t know,” Donnie shot back, feeling a mild irritation toward this new kid that none of them had known about before tonight. 

“What do you mean you don’t know? Didn’t you guys say you were tracking him?” Casey snapped. 

“I was tracking his PHONE, if he doesn’t have it with him, there’s no way to track him,” Donnie explained. “Just put April back on the phone.”

“Not until you tell me what you guys are doing to get my buddy back,” Casey said. 

“Look here meathead! The longer I spend talking to you, the farther away Slash could be taking Mikey, now put April back on the phone befo- oof!” 

The phone clattered to the ground, Casey’s voice still coming through the spreaker. “Hey? You still there? April, I think something just happened to your friend. I dunno, he’s not answering.”

“Donnie? Donnie, are you there? What happened?” April was on the phone now. “Donnie, where are-” 

The line went dead as Slash stepped on Donnie’s t-phone. Eyes narrowed, he looked down at the unconscious turtle; grabbing him he slung Donnie over his shoulder and disappeared into the shadows. 

------------x

Splinter could not shake the growing dread that something was wrong; his sons had gone out on patrol hours ago, and even though the sun was still a couple hours from rising, the four of them had yet to return home. 

Splinter remained awake, meditating in the dojo, his ears twitching with every sound they picked up, waiting for his sons. He let his thoughts trail to his youngest son. The young teen seemed to have been recovering from his ordeal two months ago,however, Splinter knew there was still a darkness hovering over him, and try as he might, the boy had yet to open up to him. 

Splinter feared that he had his eldest son to thank for Michelangelo closing himself off as he had; though Leonardo had meant well, he had inadvertently caused more harm. And now the only thing Splinter could do was sit and wait for the walls that the youngest of them had put up to come crumbling down. In the meantime, Splinter made sure his son knew there was an open door and a willing ear anytime he wished. 

Sound from outside the dojo drew Splinter’s attention. Leaving behind his failed attempt at meditation, he left the dojo. 

“Welcome home, my sons,” he said, pushing the screen door aside and paused, ears flattening against his head as he took in the sight of his two eldest. “My sons?” Splinter questioned, stepping further into the room and looking round. “Where are your brothers?” he asked, the growing dread he had had all night turning unpleasantly in his stomach once more. 

“Why don’t you ask fearless,” Raph growled, the anger and pure hatred radiating from him wasn’t so foreign to Splinter, however he had never felt such emotion from Raphael directed toward one of his own brothers before. 

“Leonardo?” Splinter turned his full attention toward the eldest. 

“They… Sensei, I have failed this family… I couldn’t protect them and, I think…” Leo pulled Donnie’s bo-staff from his back, holding it out to Splinter, his head bowed. “Slash has them, father. We looked everywhere we could think of, but the sun was coming up and we had to come back,” Leo said, lifting his head slightly to look at Splinter. 

Splinter frowned deeply, reaching out to take Donnie’s staff from Leo, his eldest son flinching slightly, as if expecting some sort of retribution from him. Splinter couldn’t find the words to reassure his son that he wasn’t upset with him.

“We can go back out there now, Sensei,” Raph said, anger apparent in his voice as one of his hands gripped the handle of his sai tightly. 

“No, my son,” Splinter said. “You have done enough for one evening. You two rest, the sun is up now, and even Slash will not venture out among the humans. We will resume the search tonight, as soon as it is dark.” Splinter took Donatello's staff, turning to head back toward the dojo. “I am going to meditate.” 

Splinter left both Raphael and Leonardo in the pit, closing the paper screen door behind him. He did not have the strength to reassure his sons that their brothers would be alright, that they would find them both in one piece. The dread and fear that had been festering in him all night came to the surface, and he could not give his sons empty promises. Knowing what Slash was capable of already, Splinter had hope that his sons would be found alive, however, it was the physical and mental damage that he feared would befall his sons. 

---------------x

Leo starred in the direction Splinter had gone Lowering his head, he slowly turned, intending to go to his room and wait there for nightfall again. However, Raph seemed to have something else in mind as he grabbed Leo by the arm. 

“Where do you think you’re goin’?” the red-banded turtle snapped, eyes blazing with barely controlled anger. 

“I’m going to my room, I’m going to meditate too. You should also rest, we will need our strength to find Mikey and-”

“Cut the shit, Leo!” Raph yelled. “I’ve put up with your calm, ‘I’m better than you’ attitude all fucking night! Our brothers are MISSING, the least you could do is show some kind of goddamn emotion about it!” 

Leo’s eyes flashed dangerously as he spun to fully face his brother. “Don’t push me, Raph. I’m just as upset, about this as you are.”

“Then fucking prove it! You’ve not said a word since you found Donnie’s staff, and if it weren’t for you, Mikey NEVER would have run off on his own! We shouldn’t have had to split up! Or maybe if any of you had HELPED me track Slash down when I said we should-”

“I messed up!” Leo shouted, interrupting Raph. “Is that what you want to hear? Leo, your ‘fearless leader’ fucked up! I pushed MIkey away, I made things worse! You want to see some kind of emotion from me over this?” Leo advanced on Raph, and the blue-banded turtle saw a slight spark of fear on those green eyes, though Raph didn’t back away, holding his ground like he always did. 

“Poor Leo, turns out you’re not so perfect after all,” Raph said, and Leo snapped, shoving his brother as hard as he could. 

“You don’t know anything! Don’t go assuming you know how I feel about this situation!” Leo shoved Raph again, who shoved back this time. “You want me to take the blame for what happened tonight? Fine, it’s my fault, you can’t blame me more than I blame myself right now.”

Raph frowned. “Don’t go pulling this emo shit now,” he growled in annoyance, “And stop shoving me!” He pushed Leo back just as hard. 

“No, you wanted me to take the blame, so this is me taking it, but why don’t you man up and take your share of the blame too. I admit what happened to Mikey, and his recent attitude, is my fault, but who’s fault is it that Slash was able to attack him in the first place? Who was it that fought SO hard for Slash to be allowed to stay? It certainly wasn’t me.”

With a yell of rage Raph launched at Leo, the two of them tumbling to the floor as they started shoving at each other, each trying to get the upper hand in their struggle. 

No weapons were drawn, all the anger and frustration from the night was coming out in a flurry of punches and scratches, the two turtles rolling around in the pit area hissing and growling at each other. Raph got the upper hand quickly, sitting on top of Leo he pulled his fist back and punched the blue-banded turtle in the mouth. 

“Never blame me for what Slash did to Mikey.” With that, Raph pushed himself off Leo. 

The blue-banded turtle swung his leg out and tripped Raph before he could get more than a step away. 

“Neither of us wanted this to happen,” Leo said ,sitting up to glare at his brother. “Never accuse me of not caring about any of you.” The icy tone in Leo’s voice had Raph freezing where he was for a moment, before giving a single nod of understanding. 

“What do you plan on doing then?” Raph questioned. 

“I am going to meditate. There isn’t much we can do during the day. As soon as the sun starts setting, we head out and find our brothers,” Leo said. 

----------------x

Donnie groaned as he slowly opened his eyes, wincing at the light that flooded his vision, making his head throb more painfully. Pushing passed the pain that was threatening to make his head split in two, Donnie attempted to remember what had happened, and where he was at the moment. 

“You awake, D?” 

The familiar voice of his baby brother had Donnie’s eyes snapping open further, twisting his head to locate where Mikey was. The orange-banded turtle wasn’t too far away, chained to a wall, his arm and legs stretched out, restricting any movement. He was already sporting a few bruises, and a particularly large one around one of Mikey’s wrists. 

“Mikey?” Donnie slowly sat up. “Where are we?” he questioned. 

“Easy, D, I can’t see well from here, but it looks like you got one hell of a bump on your head,” Mikey said, his voice hushed. 

Donnie went to lift his hand, to touch the back of his head where most of the pain was emanating from, only to find his own hands were chained to the floor. Though his movements weren’t as restricted as Mikey’s, it did make it impossible for him to check on his own injury. “Uhg,” Donnie laid back down on the floor, closing his eyes. 

“Donnie?” Mikey asked, sounding worried now. 

“I’m okay,” Donnie reassured his baby brother. 

“You won’t be.” 

The new voice surprised Donnie. Looking up quickly, he saw none other than Slash. The large turtle was standing in the doorway leading out of the small room Donnie and Mikey were being held in. Narrowing his eyes, Donnie forced himself to sit up again. 

“Slash,” he hissed. 

Slash however ignored him, turning his attention toward Mikey instead. “Still unconvinced that your brothers have been hunting me?” Slash demanded. 

“No one was hunting you!” Mikey said, his head sinking a little further into his shell as Slash advanced on him. 

“Slash! Leave him alone!” Donnie shouted, drawing the large turtle’s gaze toward him instead. Donnie felt something cold settle into the pit of his stomach, his mind working a million miles a minute, trying to figure out the fastest way to get both him and Mikey out of this situation, preferably unharmed. 

“You’re in no position to give me orders, Donatello,” Slash growled. 

“I’m not about to sit here and watch you hurt my little brother!” Donnie said, refusing to flinch away as Slash advanced on him. 

“You think you’re so smart,” Slash said, coming to stand over Donnie, glaring down at him. “You are nothing, weak, the only reason Raphael ever kept you around-

“Raph?” Donnie interrupted, things clicking into place quickly. “That’s what this is about, that’s why you attacked Mikey before.” Slash’s only response was a low growl, and Donnie stared up at him. “You want Raph for yourself. You still have your turtle instincts, but they were messed up by the mutagen. You’re trying to dominate us… this makes sense now.”

“Shut up!” Slash snapped. “I don’t want anything to do with you, or your brothers. And neither does Raphael. Once you’re all broken, and he can see how worthless you all truly are, he’ll understand then,” Slash said. 

“And how is raping Mikey going to make Raph want to be around you at all? He cares about Mikey, and the rest of us, more than he does you! You’ve become a monster, you’re no longer Spike, and you can’t possess Raph the way that you want to.” Donnie saw the anger flash in Slash’s eyes, seconds before the other turtle swung his large fist out, hitting Donnie hard in the chest. 

Being chained to the floor meant that Donnie didn’t have anywhere to move. The fist connected and smashed him back down, his head hitting the floor painfully, and the cry of pain seemed to get caught in his throat. 

Slash didn’t stop at one punch, pulling back he punched Donnie again, all the air being forced from the purple-banded turtle's lungs. 

“No! No leave him alone!” Mikey shouted, pulling at his own restraints. “Don’t hurt him anymore! Slash!” Mikey cried, pulling harder, but his words never seemed to reach Slash, who continued punching at Donnie.

A loud crack filled the room, followed by a loud painful scream that was pulled from Donnie, the purple clad turtle twisting onto his side to try and get away from the creature that was causing the pain. 

“You know nothing about Raphael,” Slash hissed, giving Donnie’s cracked shell a hard kick, seeming satisfied when it pulled another scream from the olive-green turtle. “You’ll see.” With that, Slash left the room. 

Mikey tried to pull at his restraints again, quietly sobbing as he stared down at Donnie. “I’m sorry, Donnie, I’m sorry.”

“It’s not your fault,” Donnie said weakly, biting his lip as he rolled over so he could look at his baby brother. 

“It is, I shouldn’t have run off, and he’s going to hurt you too, he said he’s going to kill everyone,” Mikey sniffed. 

“It’s not your fault, Mikey, and you should know better by now, we don’t kill that easily,” Donnie said, wanting more than anything to push himself up and go comfort his brother. “Leo and Raph are going to find us, we’ll be home soon,” Donnie said, hoping his words would bring Mikey enough comfort for now, while they waited for their two older brothers to find them. Donnie just hoped it didn’t take to long. 

TBC

And that’s chapter nine done! I feel like I should apologise for this chapter taking so long to get posted. I had this written back in November, but as a few of my might have heard, I got married recently, so planning the wedding, right after Christmas, things have been a bit crazy! Things should start evening out a bit more and hopefully as the year progresses, I should have more regular updates again ^_^