Lost in the Fight

Chapter 36 - Big Bang Theory

As the repetitive sounds of his digital timer echoed down the sewer tunnel, Donnie watched his enemies approach the duffle bag that he had purposely left on the ground over a dozen feet away from his current position. He couldn't help but to smirk to himself, knowing that his enemies were falling for one of the oldest tricks in the book, just as he had predicted they would.

Thank Darwin's beard that common sense can't be taught . . .

The genius turtle knew that the bonus of engaging in a battle with robots was just that . . . they were robots. Artificial intelligence, though intelligent by namesake, was beautifully imperfect and skillfully stupid. The whole purpose driving the science of artificial intelligence was to develop computers that simulated actual intelligence, but Donatello was well aware that this endeavor was integrally flawed by nature. Humans, with their intrinsic singularities, were entirely too unpredictable to truly carbon copy. No machine could ever accurately replicate the human thought process, nor could a machine – or a ninja robot in this working example – be programmed to recognize an obvious trap when they saw one.

While Donnie kept a close eye on the Foot-bots now looming over his beeping duffle bag, he quietly dropped down onto the ground about fifteen feet behind them. Any sound he inadvertently made was completely drowned out by the blaring timer, just as the brilliant turtle had planned.

In Donatello's hand he clutched a light bulb that he had plucked from the sewer tunnel wall just before climbing up onto the overhead pipes. Around the base of the light bulb were a dozen wooden matchsticks secured in place by some extra wiring he had had in his duffle bag.

With the Foot-bots' backs still facing him, Donnie picked up the small chunk of concrete he had strategically placed on a dry surface underneath the pipes that he had been perched on. Carefully but firmly grasping the top of the light bulb, he proceeded to strike each of the twelve matches as quickly as possible. Once all of the matches were ablaze, the genius turtle extended his good arm back. He paused for a split second to say a little prayer that his aim would be true, and then, released the overhand pitch, delivering a perfect strike into his duffle bag on the ground in front of the robots. Just as Donnie had hoped, the light bulb flew straight between the legs of two of the middle Foot-bots and shattered against his bag.

Then came the boom . . .

Having been a witness/instigator of dozens of explosions in his lifetime, Donnie had a pretty good idea just what to expect. He heard the telltale 'woof' sound that typically accompanied a combustible explosion. He then braced himself for the jolting force he knew would release from the chemical reaction he had just created. Despite being fifteen feet away from the epicenter of the explosion, the genius turtle was still thrown some five feet back by the subsequent blast wind, landing awkwardly on his carapace.

From a molecular standpoint, the explosion was glorious. Well, at least what he could see of it was. His eyes were a bit hazy from the billowing smoke all around him, so it was a little difficult to see the full effect of his handiwork.

From a physical standpoint, the explosion hurt . . . a lot. The blunt force trauma was noticeably worse than he had anticipated. Hence the reason he was still splayed out on the ground.

As his vision slowly came back into focus, Donnie's first reaction was to clutch his side. He was fairly certain he had gotten nailed in the abdomen with a piece of flying debris from the blast, but he chose to ignore the pain. Right now, all he was concerned about was how well his plan had turned out.

Pushing himself up off the ground, Donnie shifted his eyes to where his duffle bag laid. He failed to stifle a coughing fit brought on by the smoke and dust particles floating around him. When he was finally able to stop choking on the dirty air that continued to fill his still vulnerable lungs, he approached the carnage he had caused and his eyes grew wide with wonder.