An unedited freewrite I did based on the dialogue prompt:
A: You're lying, aren't you?
B: Would you believe me if I said no?
"You're lying, aren't you?"
"Would you believe me if I said no?"
The teen pretended to consider that, dramatically humming and hawing while giving the yokai a scathing look. "Hmm, well, allow me to contemplate that. You destroy the city, summon evil armor, attempt to kill us all on multiple occasions, and now you invite me to your lab insisting it's 'not a trap'. Whyso ever would I believe you were trying to deceive me?" Ending his sarcastic response, Donatello raised one brow critically, his entire posture radiating a clear mistrust.
Not having a response to that, Draxum replied stiltedly (but certainly not awkwardly. The great Baron Draxum would never stoop so low as that), "Alright. I can, perhaps, kind of recognize why you may mistrust me. But I assure you my intentions are in earnest, turtle." The alchemist didn't stop to consider that his blunt flat tone was doing little to sound convincing. He did, however, notice that the genius turtle had not changed his posture one bit at his assurances. Crossing his arms, the elder yokai huffed, "Michelangelo has no issue in trusting me."
The purple turtle rolled his eyes at that, though not totally unfondly, retorting, "Angelo is an incredibly trusting and naïve turtle. He's easily swayed by illogical emotions. Fortunately-and un fortunately for you - my emotions are controlled by a heart of steel. It will take more than an 'I'm sorry' and rescuing two mere humans to get me to consider believing you."
Draxum sighed internally, even as he outwardly maintained his stiff posture. He should just quit. There was no sense in pursuing this any further. His creation did not trust him (for good reason, a small part of him couldn't help but think), and nothing he could say could conceivably convince him. There was very little gain in attempting, anyway. Really, what was he trying to do here? Connect with the boy? Try to act like a father ? Michelangelo may have considered him as such, but that didn't mean that his brother's shared the sentiment, or that it was true.
But then, spending time with the youngest turtle (and, to a certain extent, his brother Raphael), he couldn't wholly deny, on his honor as a yokai of science, that he did feel a twinge of something . Something positive, and warm. And then he saw Donatello, with his intellect and emotionless passion for the scientific; and though he knew rationally his own genetics played no part in that, he couldn't help but feel a certain kinship towards the teenager. He had thought that the offer to his lab would have been one that the sharp boy would have appreciated.
Looking back at the young turtle- who's posture was still closed off and defensive, his expression giving away nothing but disdain- Draxum decided against all logic to try and reach him. "I only thought you would have an interest in seeing an actual laboratory," he waved one hand dismissively in the general direction of the space the turtle used as a lab, "Not this cobbled together inferior mess that relies on human understanding and technology."
He bristled at that, and for a split second Draxum had the ridiculous impulse to feel satisfaction at getting the turtle to show some emotion. At least he did until he realized that emotion was anger towards himself. That kind of put a dent into his smugness. "Excuse you good sir, my lab is fantastic! Exemplary! Awesome!"
The warrior alchemist had to quickly backtrack, attempting to explain himself, "I only mean that I hate to see such scientific prowess stifled ."
The praise caught Donnie's attention, and he relaxed slightly. "'Scientific prowess' you say? Go on…"
"You are a very intelligent turtle, Donatello," Draxum was looking away from the receiver of his complement since he gave them so rarely, so he missed the way the young turtle's eyes widened proudly, smiling while his entire demeanor shifted at the praise. "Your 'tech' is rather impressive, but I feel you are being limited by your circumstances. In a true lab, a mystic lab, where you would have access to more than just the limited human understanding of science you could accomplish truly remarkable things," he began to gesture dramatically, his mind lost in the realm of possibility, voice raising at the pure limitlessness that he knew could be Donatello's potential, "Scientific feats that would crush what bare achievements of robotics that you create on the surface! Why, with your skill and the alchemical knowledge of my lab, you could create ways to bend reality to your will!"
"While I like that someone finally realizes how great I am, I doubt there is anything your 'mystic science' can do that I can't achieve on my own, with the superior actual science ," he replied smugly (but even though he tried to fight it off with a smirk, there were still traces of his pleased grin).
"It is alchemy ," corrected the alchemist shortly, turning swiftly to finally look back at the teen.
"Uh huh," Donnie nodded, not at all convinced.
"Alchemy can do many things your quote-unquote actual science cannot," he defended brusquely, coming to the rescue of his insulted craft, "With alchemy I was able to create you , you know, as well as an army of mutants, massive golems that do my bidding, devices that can interfere with people's very minds," he very suddenly realized that loud rants about his own greatness weren't exactly getting anywhere, and abruptly cut that line of dialogue short. Sighing outwardly this time, he frustratedly ran a hand down his face, "Look, I was trying to do something nice, here. You all have a way of making simple things incredibly difficult ."
"As touching as that may be, inviting someone you've attempted to kill on several occasions to your scientific laboratory and insisting that it isn't a trap wasn't likely to work," the boy retorted dryly. Reflecting on it further, he added, "And last I recall, you were the Hidden City's most wanted warrior alchemist, yes?" The baron had no ready reply to that, so stood with his mouth held open in silence as Donatello looked pointedly at him, nodded sharply, and continued on, "So how, pray tell, would we have gotten into your lab without being promptly incarcerated, anyway?"
Embarrassingly, Draxum did not have an answer for that (not that he would tell the teenager that). Floundering only momentarily under Donnie's smug and critical gaze, he eventually huffed, "I'm a great warrior alchemist. I could easily have figured something out."
"Ah-HAH!" exclaimed Donnie proudly, pointing enthusiastically at the yokai, "That is clear scientist speak for 'I have no idea'! I have won this debate!" A single metallic arm reached into his battle shell and pulled out a microphone, transferring it to his actual hand just so that he could drop it. "Mike drop!"
Draxum stared at the whole display, baffled and disappointed. He was beginning to consider taking back the comment on the purple turtle being intelligent. Shaking his head, he relented, giving up on getting to connect with the young scientist, "Fine, then. I was going to teach you great things! Secrets and knowledge worthy of a mind of your caliber! But I can see you're not interested." Sighing in defeat, he turned to leave back to his own apartment, walking in the direction of what he thought (hoped) was the exit to this place.
Behind his back, Donatello watched him go and was surprised to find himself feeling...disappointed. He gnawed on his lower lip in indecision. He shouldn't care, Draxum was a criminal who had hurt them all, but at the same time he had yearned for a long time for someone to really notice his skill. And here was someone who Mikey at least considered a parental figure not only praising his work but offering him more . Someone who would actually understand what he was doing and even be able to offer assistance (not that he needed it, but it could be nice). Not as a father or anything, but as a colleague. Yeah that reasoned it out. He wouldn't be looking up to Draxum or anything, but he could be a colleague. Coming to this conclusion, he quickly muttered out before the older yokai could truly leave, "Well, I mean, you still could."
The sheep man's ear flickered once, and he stopped in his tracks at what he heard. Noticing this, Donnie straightened his posture, then reconsidered and slouched into what he considered as an easy-going, confident, posture. Attempting objectivity, he noted nonchalantly, "A second scientific opinion could be beneficial. Would you," he faltered for a moment, losing his nonchalance and looking more like the child desperate for praise and recognition that he was before pulling himself back together, "care to see my lab?"
Draxum turned around, and considered the suggestion. "Well," he noted, "it will severely limit what I can teach you, but...alright."
Proudly, Donatello led the warrior alchemist to his lab, gesturing widely when he stooped through the doorway into the important room. "Behold!" the teen exclaimed enthusiastically, while Draxum scanned the contents of the room passively.
The yokai hummed thoughtfully, though most of the room was filled with incredibly human technology which he admittedly didn't understand that much of. While he did his survey, Donnie watched him expectantly. Soon his eyes latched on to something he did recognize, and he made his way towards it, picking up a cyan disk to observe closer. "You're attempting to build a teleporter?" he asked the young turtle without looking his way, instead inspecting the device to determine how it was expected to work.
The boy puffed up proudly, explaining himself haughtily, "I've been studying Leon's sword, and working on replicating its effects with actual science. When it's complete I'll implement it into my own staff and then dumb-dumb Leo won't be the only one able to go wherever he wants or zap people to Tahiti on a whim!"
Giving the device a closer look, Draxum had to say it was pretty smart. The boy was very close to functionality, by the look of course, he would be closer if he had used alchemy. Looking to the turtle for the first time, he noticed his expectant expression and paused. He was supposed to say something here, wasn't he? Something….encouraging and supportive and all that. "Impressive," he said the only thing that came to mind, but it seemed like enough for Donatello, who beamed. Before he had to think of anything more to say, he hastily set the invention back down and darted his gaze around the room, hoping to find something else to turn the subject to.
That was when he noticed the array of beakers, flasks, and computer monitors bunched up around a table tucked in a corner of the lab. Moving towards them, and shooting an uncertain glance at the turtle that followed behind him, he gave the set up a closer look. Thankfully this experiment was something he was very familiar with. "Ah, playing with genetics, are we?" he asked Donnie with a teasing note, though inside he felt strangely proud, as if he had anything to do with the fact that his creation was following in his hoofprints.
"Ah, well, I'm actually working on a retro-mutagen at the moment. Sort of. It's one of many, many, side projects actually," Donnie's response was slightly less confident this time. Not because he doubted himself! He just wasn't sure how Draxum would take the fact that one of his current projects was undoing his.
"You're attempting to reverse-engineer my mutagen?" stated the alchemist with shock. Not because he was mad at the turtle, but because he was surprised at how well along it was going. It had taken him decades to first create the mutagen, just understanding it would have taken other people years, but based on his observation Donatello was well on his way to replicating his ooze.
"Well, not everyone wants to be a mutant," defended Donnie, taking Baron's words the wrong way.
Draxum picked up a clipboard that sat on the table, reading through the notes Donnie had taken. It was thorough, and incredibly accurate. Draxum himself had never thought about how he would reverse the effects of the mutagen, it was designed to be permanent. Yet here Donatello was, with an underground lab, no formal education, and he was well on his way to actually creating such a thing. Of course, there were still holes in his data. "Would you like to see my notes?" he found himself asking.
Donatello started, with the incredibly eloquent response of, "Huh?"
Draxum elaborated, "I have detailed notes on the entire creation of the mutagen. I could share them with you, help you complete your experiment."
"That...would be indispensably helpful," he agreed cautiously, not certain why Draxum would want to create a substance that destroyed his life's work.
Looking between the notes and the set up, and thinking on all his data on the ooze, Draxum held his chin thoughtfully, musing aloud, "And this set up, while admirably close, could be altered to be more efficient."
"Okay," Donnie nodded along, more hesitantly, but mostly from surprise at the suggestion.
"I could...assist you, if you would like," Draxum offered without thinking about it, only to immediately be shocked at himself. He couldn't believe he would offer to tear down what he had worked so hard to build, or that he looked forward to the idea of working with Donatello on a project. But the facts were that he found he was very proud of what his creation had accomplished. And for whatever reason that pride turned into a desire to see him truly he explained more rationally, "This would get done far quicker if we were to work together on it. With the progress you have already made I can see us creating a retro-mutagen within weeks, perhaps."
Donatello was thinking a remarkably similar thing as Draxum right at that moment. That it would be nice to have someone working with him, supporting him and his science as he worked. And he could hardly deny Draxum's expertise with genetics. Despite his best efforts, he was smiling as he agreed, "Yeah. That sounds pretty good."
Hope you enjoyed this. Draxum and Donnie are my two favorite characters and I NEEDED to see them interact. Like, c'mon they act so similar but the show never has them really even talk to each other. I have dreams of Donnie getting to hang out with his science dad. This was my first time writing anything for this version of the turtles, so I hope my Donnie was ok.
Anyway, I wrote this for the #saverottmnt thing that's going on on Twitter right now. Rise of deserves better than what it got, so maybe consider joining in on the movement if you like this version of the turtles.