The girls were forced to each wear a set of glowing yellow handcuffs as they were escorted into the prison. A pair of the facility's guards, men wearing full body white armor with orange stripes, marched on each side of the single file line with General Oliver up front. Walking down the narrow bridge from the helipad into the immense steel gate, Blossom did her best to keep a cool head while Bubbles was hyperventilating and Buttercup's eyes scanned the few dozen guards on top of the wall. The gates opened up slowly with an ear-piercing screech like it hasn't been opened up for years. The group marched into Toten Mond.
As they walked into the 'welcoming center,' Oliver told the girls their schedules. "At approximately eight o' clock that siren," He pointed at the pole standing on the roof of the mess hall with several blow-horns attached. "will go off and you girls may leave your cells with the block's security escort and it will lead you to the mess hall for breakfast from eight thirty to nine thirty. From there, the escorts will take you to one of our fine laboratories and you will be going through a series of tests."
"Does everybody have the same tests?" Bubbles inquired.
The senior replied with, "Nope. Toten Mond has hundreds of different underground testing facilities, depending on the superhuman. No worries, we have one just for you three. Anyway, at eleven you will be heading to the showers, don't drop the soap by the way." He grinned as a few of the surrounding guards chuckled through their helmet's comlinks.
Blossom quirked her brow. "Isn't that only with guys?"
Oliver couldn't hold back any longer. He took a deep breath after his heart laughter and said, "Allot of these inmates aren't even human. So we just throw everybody into a single bathhouse, over there." Everyone turned their heads to the left and saw a massive dull grey building across the field, wedged in between the jailhouse that held humans with super-strength and another that has prisoners able to shape-shift.
"When twelve o' clock comes along, you will be having lunch in the mess hall. One o' clock: return to your cells for an hour of rest. At two, your councilor will be entering with some bodyguards and that therapy session will last until four, which is when you have dinner. From five to seven, you can do whatever you want outside: Play, get beaten up, killed, a combination of the three. But going inside is off limits. At seven thirty you return to your cells and it's lights out."
Buttercup was in denial about this whole situation. From the end of the line she said, "And we have to do that every day?"
"Yup." Said the guard marching behind her, gripping his LMG.
After about twenty minutes of walking, the girls were led into the welcoming center. The middle aged woman with brown curls at the counter took out three fingerprint sheets with the girls' name scribbled on.
"May I see your left hand please?" She said in a bored voice. The girls floated up to the counter and held out their cuffed 'hands.'
The woman eyed their hand stumps suspiciously. She just dabbed ink on the tip of their hands and marked each paper accordingly. "Walk through the door on the left please."
The old-fashioned wooden door opened and the group marched into a spacious room with three changing stalls. The monotone voice said, "Please remove all items and accessories." At that moment, the energy cuffs shorted out and the robotic chain clanged to the ground.
Bubbles swallowed hard. Oliver gave Blossom a nudge. "Go on." He said reassuringly.
Bubbles looked up and behind her with her lip quivering. "But what're we gonna wear?" She squeaked.
Oliver took off his cap and ran his hand through his thinning grey hair. He placed it back on saying, "You girls aren't considered human. So no prison uniforms. But you will be wearing gowns that are hanging on the racks inside."
The sisters looked at each other with remorse. They each entered their stalls leaving dread and silent tears in their wake. Buttercup removed her dress, undergarments, stockings and shoes, placing them in the pink bin on the bench. She eyed the 'gown' awkwardly. It wasn't a gown. It was basically just a white plastic table cover with jagged holes cut for the arms and head. She managed to fit her head in without tearing the plastic too much. Buttercup never felt so...helpless. She felt the draft blowing in between her uncovered knees That the gown barely went over. Her bare feet on the cold stone floor forced her to remain afloat.
Blossom removed her clothing and quickly threw the plastic gown over her bare figure, spiting the feeling of being so revealed. She tore off her red bow she almost never removed, angrily chucking it into the bin. She ripped out the hair clip, allowing her luscious orange hair to spread around in a tangled mess on her back. She floated in the air just high enough for the lengthy hair to be lifted off the dirty stone floor.
Bubbles let her tears silently shed as she stripped her belongings and dropped them into the pink bin. The 'gown' actually made her colder than she was without it on. Her lanky blonde hair fell to her shoulders without the ties. During the entire process Bubbles whispered to herself repeatedly, "I'm not a bad girl."
With shame, humiliation, and depression weighing on their shoulders, the girls floated out of the stalls. The guards slammed the energy cuffs back on their wrists, forming a yellow energy ring around each one.
"Let's go to your jailhouse." Oliver said in an unusually chipper voice.
So the girls were silently escorted across the soundless Superjail with no other human being in sight. The mid afternoon sun burned brightly, making the girls' outfits highly uncomfortable. They stood in front of the largest building in Toten Mond, the one for monsters. Oliver put his hand on the scanner and the double doors slid open.
Back in Townsville, things were peaceful. There was a soldier standing at every corner, literally, three assault choppers watched the skies, and at each end of town, there was a temporary military camp holding dozens of troops and tanks. The citizens never felt safer when the girls protected the town. They assumed the villains weren't committing any crimes due to the increased firepower. But that wasn't it. They all kept their word, even the punks and boys. The super criminals all met at Mojo's observatory on time, except for the girls.
Berserk grimaced. "Where're those stupid girls?"
Mojo held his hand up in a calming gesture and said, "That doesn't matter at the moment. We can start building, as in constructing the machine, without them. But we need those three insipid girls for the final touches. For they are the key to it's completion. Besides, the human's armed forces will provide us with much needed time before Chester Utonium goes on a rampage."
And the super villains got to work on the machine. But Blackheart wasn't going to attack. He wasn't even in Townsville. So where is he? He's flying towards Toten Mond disguised as a cloud of black smoke high above the guards' field of vision.
Sorry for the short chapter. It was going to be longer but I'm lazy right now. :P