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

*Author's Notes: After months of indecision, I have finally worked up the courage to post the first chapter of my story, 'Slash's Revenge.' This work in progress is a sequel to my short story 'Mikey's Worst Move Ever.' *Just so you know, you don't have to read 'Mikey's Worst Move Ever' prior to reading 'Slash's Revenge.' There will be a few references to 'MWME,' but none that are critical to the plot line of this new story. ;) Speaking of 'MWME' . . . I want to give a huge thanks to all the readers who have already checked out that story. I appreciate it very much.* C8

Okay, about 'Slash's Revenge.' Whereas 'Mikey's Worst Move Ever' is a comedy that transpires just hours before the episode 'Slash and Destroy,' 'Slash's Revenge' is a suspenseful, multi-chapter story that takes place a few weeks after the same episode. I will warn you in advance that the story is going to get rather intense. Slash is not a very nice turtle in this one . . .

Please take the time to favorite, follow, like, reblog, review, and/or comment on 'Slash's Revenge' if you want me to continue with it. I wrote the first twelve chapters of this story over a year ago now and I've been debating on whether or not I should pick up where I left off, so the feedback would be much-appreciated. Thank you so much! ;) CJ

Okay, on with the story . . .

Chapter 1 – Stalking His Prey

For the better part of two weeks now, he had been covertly watching their movements from afar. He had had plenty of time to study their nocturnal activities while he continued to recover from his physical wounds incurred during their last encounter.

The healing process had proven to be rather difficult, but he supposed he should have expected that. After all, freefalling over the edge of a multi-story building down to the sidewalk below does tend to take a serious toll on the body.

No human being could have possibly survived such a fall.

Fortunately for him, he was no human being. Not so fortunately for the unsuspecting concrete slab that had been crushed beneath the tremendous weight of his impact.

Staring over the ledge of the building that he was currently posted at, he rolled his massive shoulders back and grimaced at the pain that still dwelled deep within his muscles and joints. He then cast a bitter gaze at the building across the street, where the very sources of his discomfort were out 'patrolling' as they had always liked to call it.

After fourteen days of spying on them from the shadows of adjacent rooftops, he was getting to be a bit of an expert on their nighttime rituals. Not that it took a whole lot of brainpower to memorize their routine. The four of them were most definitely creatures of habit, essentially following the same song and dance number, night after night. This came as no great surprise to him. They were nothing if not predictable.

Fools . . .

He was all too familiar with their tedious ways, having spent most of his life silently observing the brothers from the confines of the place they referred to as 'the lair.' Up until a couple of weeks ago, that 'lair' had been the only real home he had ever known. But now, he was no longer welcome there.

Not since his mutation . . .

Not since the night he had been transformed into 'Slash' . . .

During his time in 'the lair,' Slash had always been the closest to the most temperamental one of the siblings. This one had expressed a rare soft spot for him, and only him it had seemed. This brother wore a red bandana and went by the name of Raphael.

Raphael had found Slash in his unmutated form shortly after he had been flushed down into the sewers and left for dead. In an uncharacteristic act of kindness, the brother in red had taken the smaller turtle in, named him 'Spike,' and cared for him as his pet. Raphael had treated Spike/Slash with far more compassion than he had ever shown his three brothers. In addition, he had oftentimes confided things in his four-legged friend that he had never shared with anyone else.

As time went on, it became clear to Slash that, out of the four brothers, Raphael was consistently the most impulsive one. He was also the most quarrelsome one, always questioning orders and never backing down from a fight. He was highly explosive and crazy stubborn. Raphael was easily the strongest of the siblings and he showed the most ambition to get things done.

Slash had always looked up to Raphael. Everything the then-'pet' turtle had come to understand of the world, he had learned from what the hotheaded ninja had shown and taught him. Raphael was like the brother Slash had never had.

That is, until he went and betrayed him . . .

Slash squinted over at the rooftop where the four brothers were presently gathered in a loose circle, presumably discussing strategies for the evening. He could see that Raphael was demonstrating his usual impatience with both his oldest brother's penchant for longwinded tactical speeches and his youngest brother's proneness to bellyaching and mischief making.

The youngest one had always been the most annoying of the four brothers, and in Slash's opinion, the least useful by leaps and bounds.

The orange-banded brother called Michelangelo was constantly fooling around and pigging out on pizza or whatever else he could get his hands on (edible and sometimes not). The youngest one spoke considerably louder than anyone else in the room at all times, as if starved for attention even though they all babied him nonstop. Michelangelo was an immature, little runt that was constantly breaking stuff or screwing things up, but yet, they all put up with him for some strange reason. Maybe that's because they felt sorry for him since he wasn't exactly the sharpest crayon in the box.

What Slash had learned from his recent nighttime observations was that Michelangelo sometimes liked to sneak away from 'the lair' just to have a little fun. The youngest one spent a lot of time skateboarding across rooftops or grinding the rails at a local park. He also appeared to like to chase after stray animals and give them ridiculous names. Basically, all the youngest turtle ever did was goof off. Hence, the reason Slash had deemed him useless.

Even now, as Slash observed the brothers from a distance, the youngest one was playing around, gyrating about, and clearly not taking their conversation seriously.

Although Raphael was the most irritable turtle by far and away, Michelangelo's current squirrely behavior appeared to be frustrating his oldest brother the most. That's probably because the oldest brother was a total control freak.

The first born sibling of the four wore a blue mask and his name was Leonardo.

Leonardo was the designated 'leader' of the team and he would relentlessly tell his three younger brothers what to do, even when they weren't on a mission. That was how Leonardo operated. He just liked to hear the sound of his own voice. Unlike the youngest brother, Leonardo took everything way too seriously and it seemed like he was all work and no play. Always training and trying to be the best of the best, no matter what. The supposedly 'fearless leader' in blue was bossy, overbearing, and a real pain in the shell. He knew everything and he never hesitated to talk down to the rest of them.

The oldest one was Slash's least favorite turtle. No question about that.

Slash's ongoing surveillance of the brothers had revealed that Leonardo didn't like to go off alone much at night. The only time that Slash had actually seen Leonardo out on his own over the past two weeks was when he had pursued some ninja girl with a strange, multicolored hairstyle. Slash assumed that the reason Leonardo didn't like to go out at night without his brothers in tow was because he knew that his father would frown upon such reckless behavior. Leonardo definitely had a bit of a daddy complex, always striving to please his dear old father and look perfect in his eyes. Always going out of his way to make himself look good, while at the same time, trying to make his brothers look inferior.

Again, Leonardo was unquestionably Slash's least favorite of the siblings.

Then, there was the smartest one. The one in purple known as Donatello.

Donatello had always been the weakest of the four brothers, far more interested in his studies and experiments than honing his Ninjutsu skills. Slash had noticed that the smartest one tended to keep to himself, hiding away in what the family had dubbed his 'lab' most of the day. Whether that reclusiveness was intentional or not, Slash was not sure. Now that he had stopped to really think about it, Slash realized that the smartest brother was the one he knew the least about. Maybe that was why something about that turtle had always fascinated him.

Donatello appeared to be a pacifist by nature, but yet, he lived and fought amongst a family of skilled warriors. His weapon was nothing more than a long stick, but the way that he wielded it was truly something to behold. He was somewhat scrawny and gangly compared to his brothers, but at times, his movements could be so graceful and fluid, they almost seemed rehearsed. He was shy and quiet, but he could be rather high strung and whiny at times.

Like Leonardo, the purple-clad turtle was a bit of a know-it-all, but not nearly as confident. He seemed to be very passionate about everything and he was always attempting to come up with strange and inventive ways to keep the family safe. Other than the occasional unexpected explosion, the brother in purple caused the least amount of trouble and it oftentimes seemed like he was almost invisible to the rest of them. The only time they seemed to notice Donatello was when they needed something or he had done something wrong.

But Slash had noticed him . . .

The first five days of Slash's stakeout, Donatello had not made an appearance. That was probably because Slash had done a real number on the smartest turtle the night of his mutation. He had made Donatello pay dearly for being the weakest of the lot, that much was for sure. Still, a part of Slash felt bad for what had happened. Bad because he hadn't gotten a chance to finish what he had started with Donatello. He had kept the splindly turtle alive as part of a contingency plan.

Slash had been plotting to form a team with Raphael, but in the event that the turtle in red didn't go along with his idea, the larger mutant had intended to use the smartest brother as either collateral or bait. That was why Slash had beaten Donatello into unconsciousness and left him up on the rooftop for later. That was why he hadn't killed the far weaker turtle when he easily could have. Slash's plan had been to finish off Raphael's other two brothers, and then, if need be, he would go back for Donatello. If Raphael refused his generous offer, Slash was going to use the smartest one to lure the red-masked ninja right where he wanted him.

But Raphael had gone and foiled the whole thing . . .

Slash stared down at Donatello, who was just standing there listening to his three brothers bickering yet again. It was as if they didn't even see that the tallest turtle was there. That was probably the very reason it had been so simple for Slash to snatch Donatello away that fateful night.

A wicked twinkle began to gleam in Slash's glowing, green eyes as he continued to leer at the turtle in purple.

Of all the brothers, Donatello spent the most time alone on the surface. Slash's stakeout had revealed that the smartest one liked to venture topside to scavenge for miscellaneous items at a nearby junkyard. Donatello would also occasionally follow that redheaded girl that was always hanging around 'the lair.' Then, there were times when the purple-clad turtle would just sit up on the rooftops and stare off into space, as though he was lost in his own head.

Slash had frequently found himself wondering what the smartest one was thinking about. Donatello had always been somewhat of a mystery. There was something about that mystery that Slash wanted to solve. There was something about that specific brother that Slash wanted to crack.

The outcast turtle watched on like a ravenous vulture as the four brothers breached their little circular formation and started to once again sprint and leap from rooftop to rooftop.

This was when Slash's lingering injuries hindered him the most. He wasn't as spry as the prey that he was stalking, which made for quite a challenge. Once again, he was struggling to keep up with the brothers as they effortlessly soared over the city, bounding across buildings with far more nimbleness than Slash was capable of, even if he was at one hundred percent. His mutation had left him much less limber and considerably bulkier than them. On the other hand, that bulk that he had gained had worked to his advantage during their first battle. He had readily handed them a serious pummeling, clobbering all four of them into the ground with minimal effort. If not for Raphael hitting that pressure point in his arm to take him down –

Slash let a low growl rattle around in the back of his throat as he continued to rather inelegantly hop across the rooftops. He was doing his best to keep the brothers within his visual range, while at the same time, making sure he stayed far enough behind to prevent them from hearing his rather heavy-footed landings.

Slash may have picked up a good deal of Ninjutsu moves from watching the brothers for so long, but that didn't mean he was a martial arts master by any means. But what he may have lacked in ninja skills, he more than made up for in brute strength.

Soon, the brothers would be no match for him . . .

Finally, after what felt like hours to Slash, but was probably only all of five minutes, the brothers must have reached their desired destination. They came to a collective halt on the roof of an abandoned factory.

Slash stopped several buildings short of where the siblings were now congregated and concealed himself behind a faded billboard sign, taking this much-needed opportunity to catch his breath. Living off leaves his entire life had definitely left him with somewhat limited endurance, but all of the protein he had recently added to his diet was already making a huge difference. Even now, he could feel the added energy coursing through his veins.

Focusing his attention back on the brothers, Slash had to smother a laugh over what he saw. Leonardo was once again going on and on about something that Raphael appeared to be none too pleased with. Even from Slash's current vantage point, he could see that the hotheaded turtle was rolling his eyes and getting dangerously close to blowing a gasket.

Just looking at Raphael made Slash's hands ball up tightly. The enormous mutant had to fight off the urge to slam his fists into the sign that he was hiding behind, knowing that that kind of racket would no doubt alert the four brothers to his location. In order to keep his presence undetected, Slash had to settle for glaring at Raphael instead of resorting to the act of violence that he would much rather be doing.

At least for now . . .

The newly transformed mutant was getting stronger and stronger with each passing day. And with each passing day, he was getting closer and closer to making his move.

Raphael was going to pay for what had happened. He was going to pay dearly for his betrayal and Slash knew that the best way to truly hurt Raphael was through his brothers.

Well . . . one brother in particular.

Slash didn't want the youngest one. He was sure that he couldn't stand Michelangelo for more than an hour or two. Being alone in the same room as that obnoxious little twerp for any extended period of time would be sheer torture.

Slash didn't want the oldest one, either. Not just because he loathed him, but also, because taking that one down would be almost like doing Raphael a favor, rather than making him suffer the way he deserved to.

And Slash so wanted to make Raphael suffer in the worst way.

That left the smartest one.

Yes, Slash had plans in store for that one. He was going to break him.

The mere thought made a malevolent smirk spread across Slash's face.

Once he was feeling just a bit stronger, he could put his plan into motion. Then, when Donatello went off somewhere without his brothers, that would be Slash's chance to strike.

It was only a matter of time before he would have his revenge.

His sweet, sweet revenge . . .

To be continued . . .

Author's Note: Oh, it's been so long since I posted a cliffhanger ending. It feels good to get back into the swing of things. I sure hope you enjoyed the first chapter of 'Slash's Revenge.'

If you want me to keep going with this story, please take a moment to favorite, follow, like, reblog, review, and/or comment on this chapter to let me know that you are interested in seeing more. I would really, really appreciate the feedback. Plus, I'm super excited to hear from all of you again. I've missed everyone very much.

Thank you for reading! ;) CJ

**Special note: This story is dedicated to my two favorite ninja warriors (my son and my daughter). I love you two more than life itself. Happy birthday, B!