Slash's Revenge

Chapter 9 - Life in Captivity

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

*Special Note: I'm so super proud of my amazing friend, CorolineThePheonix, for creating the extraordinary drawing of Slash hovering over Donnie. They worked incredibly hard on this picture and it turned out absolutely perfect. I adore this masterpiece!

*Author's Notes: I'm back with chapter 9 of 'Slash's Revenge' and it's finally a Donatello chapter. Warning: this one's a bit intense.

Humongous thanks to my creative consultant, Captain Vegeta, my beta reader, Joanne N. Grey, and to everyone who has read this or any of my other stories. I am so very grateful to all of you for your tremendous kindness and support.

I sure hope everybody likes the chapter. Thanks for reading. ;) CJ

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Chapter 9 – Life in Captivity

At first, the only thing Donatello could register was the inconceivable pain washing over him like millions of jagged shards of glass. It racked every nerve in his body, preventing him from focusing on anything other than his agony. He wasn't even sure how much time had elapsed while he was in this seemingly impenetrable state. It could have been hours or it could have just as soon been mere minutes for all he knew.

Gradually, his overwrought mind began to discern comprehensible thoughts amidst the fog he was in. In a rather small twist of irony, the first thought he could focus on was the pounding in his head. It wasn't much, but at least it meant his brain was functional enough to process something. Even if that something was just distinguishing one pain from the many others inundating him.

Progress is progress...

His skull was unremittingly thrumming in tempo with his heartbeat and his natural instinct was to wrap his hands around his head, but as soon as he tried to move his left arm, he was once again in sheer agony. A tight grimace pulled across his lips as pain ripped through him like the sharpest of blades, momentarily stealing his breath away and making him forget all about his headache.

Once the discomfort finally diminished to a more tolerable level, he decided his best course of action would be to keep his left arm immobilized as much as he could. For several prolonged moments, he just laid there, trying to get his breathing under control again. His muddled thoughts began to turn into a series of questions, none of which he would be able to answer if he didn't open his eyes.

Though defiant at first, his swollen eyelids eventually parted ways and his weary, reddish-brown orbs slowly adjusted to the dim lighting of the room.

What he discovered soon had him wishing he'd just kept his eyes closed...

With his vision now restored to near-normal levels, it didn't take him long to figure out why he was so incredibly uncomfortable. The appalling realization struck fear into his heart like a bolt of lightning and his breath started to come out in panicked gasps.

He was locked in a cage!

A cage!

Donatello tried to push himself into a sitting position with his less injured arm, but the barred enclosure didn't allow him the freedom to sit completely upright. It was several inches too short in height and he wound up scraping the top of his carapace against the highest part of the cage. This gave him an instant case of claustrophobia. Something he normally didn't suffer from, but it wasn't like he had spent a lot of time being cooped up in a cage before.