Dagger From the Mirror (ROTTMNT/TMNT 2012 Crossover Fic)

Mistakes of the Wise

Talking with himself had become a somewhat nightly ritual for Donatello by now.

It was a strange, addictive torture, one that he knew deep down was a mistake, but was trying to convince himself otherwise. He was no idiot; he knew his counterpart was under the control of the Kraang right now and he knew that if he was willingly speaking to him, it meant he was up to no good... but maybe Donnie could still spin it around to work in his favor. Surely, if he spoke long enough to the other Donnie, he could convince him to reveal something. Maybe he could find the location of his base in Dimension X, or maybe an easier way to disable the mind control devices, or maybe a way to get rid of the bombs on the Bridge, or just... anything! Anything at all!

That was easier said than done, though. They had talked at least 6 times now, and the controlled Donnie hadn't spilled a thing.

He grit his teeth together as he stared at his computer now, having just left the ridiculous argument between his oldest brother and New April in the kitchen. He had retreated to his lab immediately afterward in hopes of distracting himself... but this conversation was only getting him more stressed out. An hour and a half came and went and he began to regret even logging on in the first place.

"I'm almost done with the bomb," his counterpart typed, and though Donatello couldn't see him through the screen, he could feel the sadistic grin he just had to be wearing over there. "It won't be too much longer now until it's gone for good. My brothers and April won't be able to escape, and the Kraang will get everyone to do their bidding... including you and your family. Aren't you excited?"

"That's not the word I'd use for it," Donnie replied, glaring at the screen.

"It's the word you should be using."

This world's Donatello chose to ignore that. "How do you even have the time to work on that? Aren't you trying to perfect the Kraang's mutagen or whatever? I thought that was what they were doing, last I checked."

"Oh, the mutagen? Ha! I perfected that ages ago. First thing I did when I got here, actually. I've moved on to bigger and better things... Namely, making sure the invasion will go perfectly with no chance of anyone stopping or reversing it. That part of the plan is going quite well, if I do say so myself."

Okay, maybe saying that Donnie had gotten nothing out of his counterpart wasn't entirely truthful. He had learned that their chances of stopping the Kraang were getting lower and more improbable with each passing day.

He shoved that thought from his mind; he needed to focus.

"If you perfected it, why haven't you guys launched the invasion yet?" He typed.

"I'll let you in on a little secret," The alternate Donnie replied, "You know how when some people play video games, they like to rush through everything, earning the bare minimum requirements to move to the early boss level? Then, once they get there, they struggle to beat them and often only just barely scrape by... if they even win at all?"

Donnie's face scrunched up in confusion. "Uh... yeah?" He typed, not entirely sure where he was going with this. Of course, he knew that that was a common strategy. Rushing through quests to get to where you wanted to be was what most people did, sure, but what did that have to do with anything?

Donnie didn't have to wonder very long.

"I am not one of those people. I prefer to level up to the absolute max rank possible, then come back and DESTROY those tiny bosses with my overpowered superweapons. Make them regret even considering battling you in the first place, and then rub your sweet, sweet victory in their faces. Never play fair. It's good advice to live by. That's why we haven't launched the invasion yet... why simply win when you can do so much more?"