Slash's Revenge

Chapter 8 - Breaking Point

"I can hear it, my sons! It is coming from above." Before even finishing his second sentence, Master Splinter was already effortlessly scaling up a nearby fire escape to make his way to the rooftop. An instant later, his three sons were also climbing up the side of the building, anxiously following their father as well as the sound of the Donnie's T-phone.

They found the device lying abandoned in the middle of the rooftop, just a few feet away from the genius turtle's discarded bo-staff. Other than those two items, the space was completely empty.

Much to their despair, Donatello was nowhere to be seen.

Mikey bent down and scooped up his immediate older brother's T-phone, clasping it close his heart, as if holding something of Donnie's might bring him some form of comfort.

No such luck...

"Donnie! Donnie!" Moving along the edge of the building, Leonardo searched for any signs of his missing brother. The rest of the family started to comb the rooftop as well, not really sure what else to do. Up until this point, they had all been clinging to the small speck of hope that Donatello would still be with his phone.

That little bit of hope was now draining out them like water through a sieve.

Soon after they began exploring the rooftop, Mikey's blue eyes widened in sudden recognition.

"R - Raph... Isn't this the same roof that we found - " The youngest turtle stopped mid-question when he saw that his hotheaded brother had already come to the same unnerving realization. Mikey could tell this by the way his big brother was glaring at the three distinct gouges carved deep into the metal roof vent.

It was the exact same rooftop where they had found Donnie lying unconscious the night of Spike's transformation.

Was it just a freaky coincidence or had Slash planned this?

Was he really that vindictive?

From his current vantage point, Mikey could see Raphael was taking the discovery even worse than he had. The turtle in orange thought for sure his vile-tempered brother was going to burst into flames at any second.

Fortunately, Master Splinter's voice distracted Raph from spontaneously combusting.

"Leonardo." Just a little way from where Donatello's bo-staff laid stock-still, Master Splinter stopped and stared down at the surface of the rooftop with a clearly shaken expression. An expression the boys rarely saw from their father.

Upon hearing Master Splinter gasp out his name, the oldest turtle felt a sinking sensation in the pit of his stomach, like his insides had turned to stone. Even worse was seeing the distraught look on his father's face. It made Leonardo's chest tighten with indescribable dread. He wasn't sure just how much more of this he could take...

The leader approached Master Splinter with hesitant footsteps, as did his two brothers; scared of what they were about to see.

It didn't take them long to figure out why their father was so noticeably upset.

There, on the surface of the rooftop, was what appeared to be a significant amount of blood.

As soon as Michelangelo saw the deep, crimson stain, he whimpered and walked away, not emotionally equipped to deal with the reality that that was his closest brother's blood.

Leonardo also turned away, as if to gather his composure.

Raphael, on the other hand, kept his gloomy eyes fixed on the pool of blood, despite his growing agony inside. The hotheaded turtle felt the need to stare at the evidence of his younger brother's pain, as though he didn't deserve the reprieve that looking away could possibly bring. He owed Donatello that much.