Slash's Revenge

Chapter 23 - Bad Blood

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

*Author's Notes: I've returned with chapter 23 of 'Slash's Revenge' and this is an extremely emotional one. I'm not going to lie. It made me cry several times while editing it.

Oodles and oodles of thanks to each and every one of you for sticking with this story. I truly hope you enjoy the chapter. ٩(●ᴗ●)۶

CJ

--------------------------  

Chapter 23 – Bad Blood

Balance had never been something Leonardo had struggled with. At least, not up until now...

Against his better judgment, Leo had opted to let Casey Jones stay behind the wheel of the Shellraiser so that the oldest turtle could help tend to his wounded brother. A decision the leader was seriously regretting as he fell on his backside for the third time in the last four minutes. The family was doing their best to keep Donatello still, but it was kind of hard when they were being whipped around like they were stuck inside a blender.

Leo was just about to call Casey out on his reckless driving skills, when Raph beat him to the punch.

"CASEY! What the shell, man? I thought you said you could drive this thing!"

"I can, yo!" Casey Jones peered up at the rearview mirror to see Raphael's fierce, green eyes glaring at him. Nothing out of the ordinary. In the couple of weeks since they'd met, Raph had already given Casey this look multiple times, but it still managed to rub the teenage human the wrong way. Maybe that's because he knew he was an amazing driver. Anyone who said otherwise didn't know what the heck they were talking about. "It's not my fault this baby's a total tank!"

"Well, why don't you try warning us the next time YOU'RE GONNA SLAM ON THE BRAKES?!" Each word of Raph's question was noticeably louder than the previous one, like someone was turning up a volume knob. By the time he finished with what he had to say, the hotheaded turtle's voice could probably be heard for several city blocks.

Assuming Raphael could see him in the mirror, Casey gave the temperamental turtle the evil eye.

"Nobody likes a backseat driver, dude!"

"Oh, yeah? Well, you're gonna like me a heck of a lot less if you keep driving the way you are, Jones! Get your head out of your – "

"RAPH!"

Poking his head up to glance at his two oldest brothers, Mikey formed his lips into a perfect circle as if to silently say, 'Oh, no you didn't.' The youngest turtle found himself wondering if Leo had completed Raph's sentence like that on purpose. The mere thought of prim and proper Leonardo saying 'get your head out of your Raph' would have been absolutely hilarious if not for the grim circumstances. As it was, Michelangelo just lowered his gaze without so much as a peep, focusing his attention back on Donnie.

They had all taken their turn at trying to get Donatello to open his eyes, but save for a few pitiful moans, he remained unresponsive. His head was currently resting in Master Splinter's lap so the worried father could keep him from getting tossed around too much. The bumpy ride made it nearly impossible for them to administer even the most basic first aid. They didn't want to risk injuring Donatello any further.

As much as it pained Splinter, he had done everything he could for his wounded child at this point, other than trying to keep him comfortable.

Master Splinter let out a sharp exhale, frustrated with the helplessness of the situation.