Author's Note: This is the Epilogue to Kick at the Darkness Until It Bleeds Daylight. To understand this clearly, you'll need to read that.
S u p e r v i x e n
Make a whole new religion
A falling star that you cannot live without
XxXxX
"It's taking longer than I planned...I have to hurry..." Mojo mumbled to himself, keeping his eyes fixed on his creation. He knew that if he took his eyes away for even a second he'd lose his nerve. The massive construction before him, a glimmering shell of silvery-blue duranium, took up practically all of the underground bunker. Sweat covered Mojo's face, poured into his old, tired pink eyes. He took a shaky breath, twisting the final screw.
"It is...it is completed...my life's greatest work, my masterpiece, my ultimate weapon...maybe this thing...this thing can succeed where all else has failed," Mojo stumbled to the input panel, hunger and sleep deprivation finally getting to him. His fingers sleepily, yet with a practiced grace, plucked at the keys.
"The coordinates are set...10 Years Before the Coming...or as we'd say back in the day, 2000 A.D," Mojo chuckled half-heartedly, a sad sigh escaping his lips. He pressed the final key, watching as his entire laboratory surged to life. Now, it didn't even matter if he was discovered. His plan was engaged and couldn't be stopped. The silvery-blue ship faded through the time-space continuum, leaving the massive bunker completely bare, save for the scant machinery that had assisted in its construction. Mojo sighed with relief, smiling.
"At last..." The aging chimp froze, his entire body trembling, his eyes as wide as possible. Behind him he heard a mocking applause. He swallowed hard, trying to find his breath.
"Y...you...you what are you doing here? H-How did...how did you gain entrance?" Footsteps approached him from behind. Slow, measured, perfect like everything else about her. The Messiah's voice broke the chilly silence.
"Jojo...don't be like that. You were being a very bad monkey...and I'm afraid the affection I feel for you isn't enough to justify looking the other way on your crimes," Mojo swallowed hard and slowly turned to face them. Where the Messiah went, the other was always sure to follow. Sure enough, there she was, like a shadow. The blonde-haired Arch-Angel, watching him with a disappointed frown.
"I should have...have heard you enter," The Messiah chuckled, covering her mouth daintily. True to form, the Arch-Angel giggled and took a step closer to the other young woman. Mojo sneered inwardly. Neither had been a young woman for thirty-nine years.
"Jojo, after all these years you still underestimate me...that's such a dangerous thing to do, wouldn't you agree?" Mojo's mouth ran dry as he looked away. The Arch-Angel took a warning step in front of the Messiah, her frown returning with devout ferocity.
"Mojo, she's talking to you...it's rude to ignore her," Mojo narrowed his eyes, but didn't face the Arch-Angel. He knew better. Everyone knew better than to tempt her. The Messiah giggled and place a gentle hand on the Arch-Angel's shoulder.
"Relax...I'm sure he doesn't mean to be rude...do you Jojo?" Mojo clenched his fists, trying to bite back the earth-shaking terror rising in his chest. He'd been caught red-handed. They'd seen the whole thing.
"No...I do not," The Messiah smirked and walked ahead of the Arch-Angel, halting her shadow's attempt to join her. The Messiah stopped in front of Mojo, crossing her arms and leaning down to his eye level.
"Jojo...just what were you planning?" Mojo finally looked up at her; he finally looked her dead in the eye for the first time in thirty-nine years.
"I finished my greatest creation...and sent it into the past to destroy you before any of this could ever happen," The Arch-Angel gasped and drew forward like an angry lioness. The Messiah once again waved her off, her smirk intensifying in arrogance.
"Jojo...my reign is partially your responsibility...if we'd never spoken that night, I doubt I'd have ever gotten the idea," Mojo bit his lip and looked away. His heart nearly stopped when she gently caressed his furry cheek. The Messiah turned Mojo's face back to hers. She still wore the same smirk. She hadn't changed: the Messiah still looked like a young twenty-something, despite nearing her fifty-sixth birthday. Still the same fingerless hands, the same bulbous head, the same giant eyes. The same air of perfection and ethereal sovereignty.
"That's why I never want that accursed conversation to happen! I never want to inspire you! To give you any ideas! To plant the seed of your conquest!" The Messiah giggled and stood up straight. At full height she stood a perfect five feet tall, not a fraction of an inch more or less. Behind her the Arch-Angel kept a harsh glare on Mojo, who still refused to look at her.
"Mojo...I'm still here...don't you remember what happened with that silly creation of yours?" Mojo lowered his head. Admittedly his memory had been failing him. But how could the robot fail? It was programmed to know every last one of his most insidious and genius plans. And had the capacity to perform them all perfectly. There was no way it could lose...
"That robot...the evil alien..." Realization slowly fell on him, and Mojo's heart sank. The Messiah's smirk grew into a grin.
"That's right...you helped us stop it, sent it flying back to wherever it came from...which should be this very bunker, shouldn't it?" The air around them began to shift and waver as the super robot faded into view, towering over the three occupants of the bunker. The Arch-Angel looked up at it with a huff, rolling her eyes.
"That's it? I remembered it being more intimidating," The Messiah laughed and put her hands on her hips, sizing up the robot.
"Oh it was...but we're quite a bit more powerful than we were then," The Arch-Angel smirked and stepped toward the robot. She paused when the Messiah shook her head, "No, no...wait outside, Bubbles. I want to deal with this one personally," The Arch-Angel, Bubbles of the Powerpuff Girls, stared at the Messiah with some confusion.
"Are you sure? But...I don't want you getting hurt," The Messiah laughed out loud, a real laugh this time. She gave Bubbles an incredulous stare, one that forced her sister to take a step back, "Right...I should know better," Bubbles giggled and nodded, sending one last glare at Mojo, before turning and leaving. The Messiah smirked at the robot, now diligently awaiting orders. She cast a sideways glance at Mojo.
"Well Jojo...you've broken the most important rule of them all...you know what that means," Mojo swallowed and glared at the Messiah, who's grin had faded to become a stern look, so icy it nearly froze him.
"Evil...is intolerable," The Messiah's smirk returned, with a deadly quality to it.
"That's right..." The Messiah lifted her mitt and let loose a massive burst of energy, completely tearing apart the duranium robot, melting and shredding it into a thousand deadly bits of trash and shrapnel. Through the metal storm, she stalked toward Mojo, who remained unmoving. There was no use in running, no hope in fighting back, defeat wasn't an option. It was an inevitability.
"I hope you understand Jojo...I don't hate you. I never hated you," Mojo looked up at the Messiah, her pink eyes almost reflecting the sadness her voice lacked, "But my world is a perfect world, a just world, and evil cannot be tolerated," Mojo lowered his eyes.
"I know," He sighed and looked up at her. The Messiah lifted her mitt and blasted him. No pomp and circumstance, no ceremony or fireworks. Mojo fell to the ground, a gaping hole in his chest. The Messiah turned and left the bunker, and the laboratory it connected to. Bubbles stood outside, a look of keen interest on her face.
"Is he?" The Messiah nodded, floating into the air.
"Destroy the bunker, I don't want any evidence left behind that it ever existed," Bubbles nodded and caught the Messiah's hand before she could fly away.
"Hey...are you okay?" The Messiah shrugged and crossed her arms.
"Evil has to be destroyed, I did the right thing," Bubbles smiled broadly and nodded.
"Of course, you're always right, Blossom," The Messiah, Blossom of the Powerpuff Girls, smiled back and nodded, taking off into the sky.
XxXxX
The falling star that you cannot live without
I will be your religion
Bow down to me