Chapter 11: The Robbery Mockery
The girls remained as much on opposite sides of the Pokey Oaks building as they could. Buttercup kept herself in a corner on the first floor while Bubbles was on the other side of the room at the tables, coloring as she usually did. Blossom was on the second floor of the building where the children were generally not allowed.
This is how it had been for the last few days. The girls would only be within view of each other if Miss Keane made the children come together. Other than that, they remained separate at home, at school, and on patrol.
Justin Bradley wasn't coming back to Pokey Oaks, and now Miss Keane knew why. Everyone knew why. Tyler Osborn berated the girls for keeping their investigation on Priscilla Moore a secret. Had they gone to him sooner, she would have been in custody instead of in hiding. The girls screwed up.
Now, the girls were just looking forward to getting through each day as it went on, trying to forget that they were supposed to be a united team against the crime in Townsville. Elliott Meyer wasn't going to let them forget. The Powerpuff phone on the table was ringing, and none of the girls were rushing to answer it. It was beginning to disrupt the other children, so Keane finally answered it.
"Good morning Meyer," she said. "You know I don't approve of this phone in my school, but I'll ignore that, as I am generally expected to ignore all the things I disapprove of."
"You're snippy this morning, Kathleen," Meyer retorted. "Snippier than usual, I mean. What's up?"
"John is being a douche. Nothing out of the ordinary. What's the emergency?"
"Emergency?"
"Yes. Emergency. The reason you called?"
"Oh, right! Emergency! If the girls are available, there's a bank robbery downtown. First National. Osborn has it surrounded."
Keane stepped away from the phone and stood in the middle of the room. "Robbery! First National. Anyone want it?" There was silence. "No? Should I take it then?"
"I'm on it," Buttercup said, standing up.
"I'll get it!" Blossom shouted from the second floor.
"You only want it because I said I was going to get it!" Buttercup exploded. She didn't stick around for a reply, and Blossom angrily followed Buttercup out the door. Keane looked around to see that Bubbles was no longer at the table coloring either.
Sarah Bellum and Melanie Reenie had commandeered a meeting room for the day. Inside, they had several manila folders full of information on the Gangreen Gang, both past and present. Photos of known members were tacked onto the bulletin board and hypotheses about the gang's next move were written on the white board.
"What are they doing?" Sarah muttered as she put one folder down and picked up another. "What are we doing? We're not police. Should we even be doing this?"
"Absolutely," Reenie encouraged. "Tyler Osborn has his hands full with the higher power. We're doing him a favor, actually. We just have to take it one step at a time. Let's start at the beginning. I'm not from around here, so what can you tell me about the gang in the past?"
"Not much, really. The gang used to be pretty low on the radar. They didn't used to be that big. They were just a couple of punks who liked to skip school just a few years ago. From what I understand, membership has skyrocketed in the past few weeks or so, and word on the street is that they have a new leader."
"New leader," Reenie interrupted. "What do we have on him?"
"Nothing," Sarah explained. "It's like he came out of nowhere. He didn't rise up through the ranks. He just came in and took over. I don't have a name, but the general consensus is that he's muscular and African-American. Also, it seems that he's surrounded himself with new lieutenants-younger lieutenants-than previous leaders. However, that's just what is known by word of mouth. I can't confirm any of that."
"That's a good start," Reenie said with a smile. Her cell phone began to ring. He looked at it, mumbled "John" under her breath, and answered the phone. "John. How are you? I called you yesterday and you didn't answer. I feel like I haven't seen you since the restaurant."
"You haven't."
"And why is that?"
"I've been busy. I've been doing some lab work that has come up."
"It's convenient how lab work suddenly comes up when you start seeing me. If you're so busy, then why are you calling?"
"I just have a question for you. Are you busy tonight?"
"I don't believe I am. However, be prepared because Meyer is going to call a surprise PST meeting this afternoon. I'll be free afterwards."
"I'll see you tonight," he said before hanging up.
"Are you and the professor getting serious?" Sarah asked.
"I don't even know if we're together," she replied. She picked her bag up from the table answer headed for the door. "I'm heading out right now. I think I have an idea on how to deal with the Gangreen problem as well as my problem."
"Your problem?"
"Tyler Osborn is trying to get rid of me, and I know he's spoken to John. I intend to make myself indispensable. I'll see you this afternoon."
The Powerpuff Girls landed outside of First National Bank, but Tyler Osborn was nowhere to be seen. Instead, a young Sergeant named Zane Gedge appeared to being charge. Gedge was very youthful looking and appeared to have a positive outlook on most things in life. The girls had never spoken to him personally, but they knew him to be a man that Tyler Osborn trusted the most among his officers.
"Where's Osborn?" Bubbles asked.
"He left when he found out you were coming," Gedge admitted. "You can't blame him. You screwed up that whole Priscilla Moore deal."
"How so?" Blossom shot back.
"Firstly, you have a crush on the boy. That's a conflict of interest. Secondly, all the evidence you collected-the battle suit, the hi-tech skates, the crude drawing-were discovered during a break-in. None of that would have been admissible in court. Lastly, your idea of going undercover was dangerous and poorly planned. Someone could have gotten hurt and Priscilla still got away. Captain Osborn already has the higher power, Melanie Reenie, the Gangreen Gang, and the constant attacks in the woods outside of Townsville and you girls just added something new to that list."
"What would he have preferred us to do?" That from Buttercup.
"His exact words: Stick to the beat-downs. Leave the investigations to the professionals. That, of course, brings us back to our current situation. There are two suspects inside. They're armed, but they have their weapons holstered, and they don't know you're here. All you have to do is speed in there and take them out. They won't even have time to react."
"I'm in charge," Blossom said. "I'll lead."
"No, I'll lead!" Buttercup insisted. Fighting each other for supremacy, the two sisters ran inside. Bubbles, shaking her head despondently, flew in the opposite direction.
Inside, the girls completely ignored the two thieves and instead began to fight each other until Blossom managed to shove Buttercup away from her and against the left wall where several of the hostages were standing. "Very mature, Blossom!"
"You're the one acting like a child!" she shot back. "A mature person would respect their leader!"
"Hey!" the taller robber shouted with his gun now in his hand and pointed at one of the two groups of hostages. "What's going on?"
"Could you not interrupt?" Blossom shouted. "I'm trying to reason with my sister here!"
"Reason this!" Buttercup got back up and lunged at her sister, but Blossom sidestepped and shoved her against the other wall next to the other group.
"Would you stop it!" the tall one shouted again. "You're starting to make me nervous, and I get trigger-happy when I'm nervous!"
Buttercup stood up again and looked at the agitated man, and then looked at the younger, shorter one behind him. She looked closely at both of them until she realized how closely they resembled each other. "You two are brothers, aren't you? What's your name?"
"Pascal," the shorter one replied.
"Idiot," the taller one said. "You're not supposed to tell them your name!"
"What does it matter?" Pascal said. "The cops have us surrounded, and we're face to face with the Powerpuff Girls. We're not getting out of this." He turned back to Buttercup. "My name is Pascal Walker and this is my older brother Rick Walker."
"Let me ask you a question, Pascal. Do you approve of how your brother is handling the situation?"
"No, I guess," he replied after mulling it over for a few seconds. "We're going to get arrested, so he must have done something wrong."
"And if he did something wrong, do you think you should still listen to him as a leader?"
"Well..."
"Shut up, Pascal!" Rick shouted.
"Yeah," Blossom added. "Shut up, Pascal!"
"Excuse me?"
"If your brother is your leader, then it's your duty as his brother to follow him. Clearly, if there was a mistake that was made, it was because you didn't support your brother as you should have!"
"You damn right he didn't," Rick replied. "Every time I have a job, he has to complain about it. Finally, I get him to agree on a job, and here we are, surrounded by police because he wouldn't follow my ordered correctly."
"Maybe," Buttercup interjected, "you don't know how to lead. Maybe Pascal didn't follow your orders because they were stupid orders."
"Yeah," Pascal said with more enthusiasm. "Rick put too much emphasis on weapons and taking hostages. If he had just listened to me and focused on speed and efficiency, we would be long gone by now."
"Shut up Pascal!" Blossom and Rick said in unison.
"I don't have to listen to you!" Buttercup and Pascal replied in one voice.
Then, the phone on the counter rang. The looked at each other until Blossom walked over and answered it. "Hello?"
"Hi," Gedge said. "This is Sergeant Gedge. Do you remember me? I'm the guy who told you to go in and take the guys out. I don't remember asking you to trade recipes."
"We've got it under control," Blossom insisted. Gedge tried to stammer out a response, but Blossom hung up and returned to her argument.
Melanie Reenie would be lying if she said she didn't feel frightened walking through one of the more unsavory parts of town. She was wearing a black overcoat and kept her hair tied in a ponytail to avoid standing out too much. The sun was still pretty high in the sky and she knew that she must have had a police officer or two still following her since Tyler Osborn ordered her to be followed after the assassin at the restaurant. It didn't matter how plain-clothed they were. People in this part of town could tell if you had a badge on you. They just knew.
Reenie managed, after trying several times, to ditch the two cops tailing her. After a while, they realized what she was doing and came to the realization that they didn't care about her life as much as their own and simply returned to the station. Reenie made sure one last time that she wasn't being followed before entering a run-down apartment building. It wasn't completely abandoned. There was a landlord and he did charge rent, but he was a drunk and it was easily to convince him that they already paid their rent that month.
Reenie climbed three flights of stairs and took light steps to avoid falling through what barely passed for stable floor. She kept walking until she reached room 329. The door was ajar, and Reenie could hear a conversation already in progress.
"We've been through this several times already, Christopher," one man said in a calm yet commanding voice. "I've given you enough breaks already. As far as people in my profession go, I've given you more breaks that I really have to."
"I don't have your money yet!" Christopher interrupted.
"I realize that, Christopher. That's why I'm here. I'm here to collect. Of course, I will feel free to take all of your things and see how much money I can get for them at the pawn shop, but looking around, I'd be lucky to get a couple hundred, and you owe me a lot more than a couple of hundred."
Melanie Reenie let out a small "yes," then immediately covered her mouth, hoping the two in the room did not hear her.
"Come on," Christopher continued to plead. "You need to give me more time."
"No Christopher," he said slightly more sternly. "I don't have to give you anything. Now we need to get going on our little field trip. We can go easily or not, but we are going. If you force me to, I will drop you here. No one will even notice until it starts to stink, and in this building, an unusual smell wouldn't be noticed for several weeks, I would assume."
"Please!"
"Let's go, Christopher."
Melanie took a few quick steps back as the two of them, a taller man leading a relatively short young man in a grey jacket out the door. They didn't even look at Reenie as they walked down the hall, which irked her momentarily before speaking up. "Excuse me. Mr. Loan shark?"
He turned his head and gave a quick smile. "Hello, Miss. I'd help you out if I had time, but I'm unfortunately on a very tight schedule and I'm behind as it is, so I must cut this conversation short."
"How much does he owe?"
"Him?"
"Yes. Him."
"I don't think that's any of your business, miss. I really have to go now."
"How much does he owe?" Reenie asked again.
The loan shark sighed. "He owes $3,590." Reenie nodded and began to fish in her pocket for her wallet. The loan shark shook his head. "I don't accept checks."
Reenie smiled. "I don't either." She opened her wallet and began to count out hundred dollar bills until she counted $3,600. "I don't have any smaller bills."
The man took the bills and checked each and every one of them for authenticity before sliding them in his pocket. Christopher couldn't believe what he was witnessing. The man was satisfied and even pulled out his own personal wallet to find a ten dollar bills to provide Reenie with her change.
"This worked out well. I believe this is yours," he said while pushing Christopher toward Reenie. "I just added a lot of time to my day. I'm back on schedule. I really must thank you. Good-bye Christopher. I hope we don't meet again."
Soon, he was off the floor and it was only Reenie and Christopher. He opened his mouth to speak, but she stopped him. "I know. You're Christopher Mills. I know. I just saved your life. I know. You are eternally grateful. I'm glad. I need you to do something for me."
"I'd give my life for you."
"I'm glad to hear it."
Bubbles was at Millennium Park because she didn't want to bicker like her sisters. Bubbles was at Millennium Park because she didn't want Tyler Osborn to be disappointed in her. Bubbles was at Millennium Park mainly because she didn't want to be disappointed in herself.
Bubbles had let the blond thief get away twice and she wasn't about to let him kept slipping out of her grasp. She knew that the homeless, especially those hiding from the law, come together at Millennium Park. The blond thief had to be here.
However, Bubbles wasn't having any luck. When she introduced herself to the local homeless population, they would greet her kindly and offer her any help they could. However, when she began to describe the blond thief, the homeless either feigned ignorance or simply turned cold. As time went on, the word got out on why Bubbles was in the area and the homeless simply refused to talk to her.
Bubbles wanted to keep herself restrained. She knew it wouldn't turn out well for her if she began to turn the park upside down looking for him. Still, working the pavement wasn't bringing any success, either.
"Excuse me!" Bubbles said. "Ma'am?" The woman she was calling was a rather heavyset middle-aged woman with brown curly hair and a stoic look about the way she stared and the way she stood. "I was wondering if you could help me with something." She huffed, crossed her arms, and continued to stare. Bubbles continued. "I'm looking for someone. He's male, in his early twenties, blond. He was last seen wearing an old jacket and ripped jeans. Do you know where I can find someone matching that description?"
The woman tilted her head up slightly and looked behind Bubbles. She looked at Bubbles again. She looked behind Bubbles again. She looked at Bubbles again."
"I think your boyfriend is calling you."
Bubbles turned to see a young man standing across the street and waving his arms, but Bubbles didn't immediately recognize him. "I don't know him."
"He seems to know you."
Bubbles turned her head again and stepped closer to get a better look. "Zachary?" She turned back to the woman. "He's not my boyfriend, but he might be my sister's. I'll be right back."
Bubbles dashed over to the other side of the street, startling Zachary momentarily. "Whoa. I didn't see that coming. I suppose I should have, though."
"What are you doing here, Zachary?"
"Oh," he said. "I was wondering if you could give Buttercup my phone number. With all the Priscilla drama, I never got a chance to give it to her myself."
"Buttercup doesn't like you. I thought she made that clear."
"That's what she said, but that not what she feels," Zachary replied confidently. "I know a thing or two about romance. I can feel it. She saved my life, after all."
"Zachary, if you can't tell, I'm a little busy trying to track down a suspect."
"At Millennium Park?"
"Yes. If you must know, the suspect is a homeless man and homeless people on the run tend to hide out at Millennium Park."
"Do you know why homeless people hide at Millennium Park?"
"Why?"
"Because you're never going to find them here. The homeless have created a very sophisticated society here. The police don't even bother to go after homeless criminals anymore. It's too much of a hassle to get a common criminal off the streets. Honestly, you're wasting your time, Bubbles."
"You're the one wasting his time," Bubbles shot back. "I'll succeed. Just watch."
Tyler Osborn stepped out of his patrol car and greeted John Utonium at his doorstep. "You called me over here," Osborn noted as he was led inside. "I hope this means you've made a breakthrough in our Reenie situation.
Utonium nodded and picked up a bottle labeled Sedusa from the counter. "This is Melanie Reenie's perfume. This is what Melanie Reenie uses to control men."
"If I intend to mount evidence against her, then I need to know how it works and why it only works on men."
Utonium pushed open the door to the basement and invited Osborn to follow him downstairs. He led Osborn to the back where he had his laboratory set up on the far counter. "This is all of it," he said. "Sedusa-Melanie Reenie's personal perfume-broken down into its main components."
"How do these things create mind control, John?"
"This is science, not magic. There is no such thing as mind control. It's testosterone control. I haven't quite figured out yet how these chemicals fit together, but their uses are unmistakable. The combination of chemicals manipulates the testosterone in men until they essentially fall madly in love with Reenie."
"Love?"
"Have you ever been in love, Captain?"
"Once."
"Take that feeling and multiply is by a thousand."
"I don't get it."
"Love is nothing more that lust plus rationale. Love arises from an initial feeling of sexual attraction, which itself is brought on by some other strong emotion. My hypothesis is that Reenie has found a way to take that strong emotion, whatever it may be, force it to become lust, and then magnify it."
"I don't like the way you said 'hypothesis.'"
"I can't testify in count in favor of this, Osborn. I am very confident that my assumptions are correct, but I haven't had the opportunity to test it. That could take weeks. We don't have weeks."
"What do you propose?"
"I've invited Melanie out tonight. I'm going to tell her what I know and give her the opportunity to step down and leave town."
"Sounds like our only option," Osborn replied just as his cell phone began to ring. "It's Gedge. I have to take this. Gedge. Are you at the station?"
"No sir. I'm still at First National."
"What do you mean you're still at First National? Meyer called the Powerpuff Girls. They were supposed to be in and out. What happened?"
"Well, they went in and they didn't come out. Bubbles left, but the other two are sitting in there and talking with the suspects. What are your orders?"
"Hold your positions. I'll be right there."
The standoff at First National was lasting longer than it should have. Even the hostages were getting tired of waiting. A group of them had started a poker game and a couple of them were taking a nap in the corner. Still, they had to wait. They had to wait until Blossom and Buttercup were done arguing through the Walker brothers.
"Do you want to know how many times we've almost been caught because of his stupidity?" Pascal asked Buttercup.
"Of course I do," Buttercup said. "I've got all day. I'm sure it's a long list."
"Don't listen to his crap!" Rick shot from the other side of the room, supported by Blossom who was giving her sister the evil eye. "My plans may have not been perfect, but I'm human. Why don't you ask him how many times we've almost been caught thanks to his negligence?"
"You're the one talking crap, Rick!"
"Don't talk to your leader that way!" Blossom interjected.
"Hey," Buttercup shouted. "We've already decided that Pascal doesn't have to listen to Rick if he doesn't want to. Maybe Pascal has some great ideas. Did you ever think of that?"
"Yeah!" Pascal agreed. "Did you ever think of that, Rick?"
"I'm in charge for a reason, runt!"
"There he goes again," Pascal said to Bubbles. "He gets all defensive and starts calling me names."
"Don't listen to him," Buttercup repeated. "Do what you want to do. Don't listen to him when he tells you not to!"
"Yeah!"
"Do you want to do something right now?"
"Yeah!"
"Would Rick disapprove?"
"Yeah!"
"What do you want to do?"
"I want to shoot Rick!"
"Then do it-wait, what did you say?"
Pascal didn't answer. The gun was already in his hand and the bullet was already traveling out of the barrel and toward Rick Walker. Buttercup put herself in motion and managed to catch the bullet just inches from Rick's face. Blossom, still shocked, looked up to see Pascal now aiming the gun at a group of hostages. He fired without aiming and without stopping until the clip was empty. Blossom dashed in front of the hostages and caught the five bullets.
Rick now had his gun out. Buttercup ran and tackled Pascal, knocking the gun out of his hand and protecting him from the bullet that Rick had fired. Buttercup prepared to tackle Rick, but stopped to see that he had already dropped his gun, and Blossom to could see why. Tyler Osborn and a handful of officers were already inside and going in to place the brothers under arrest. The hostages were taken to safety and the brothers dragged out until it was only Blossom, Buttercup, and Osborn left in the bank.
"What happened?"
"It was her fault!" they both said while pointing at the other.
"I'm sorry," Osborn said.
"Why?"
"I'm sorry I ever let Meyer go through with his little Powerpuff project. I'm sorry I thought allowing a couple girls to fight crime was a good idea. I'm sorry I gave you another chance after Priscilla Moore. I'm not sorry, however, for what I'm about to do. Goodbye girls."
Osborn immediately turned around, slid into his patrol car, and drove off.
"For once," Reenie said, "I wish we could have the entire PST here at one time."
"It happened once," Meyer assured. "I'm pretty sure we were all here at the first meeting." Although Sarah and Meyer both wanted to get started, Reenie insisted on waiting. John Utonium kept glancing at his watch and trying to avoid direct eye contact with both Melanie Reenie and Kathleen Keane. Keane, for her part, was occupied with keeping an eye on both Utonium and Reenie.
"Maybe we should just go ahead," Sarah suggested. "We can fill Captain Osborn in later. I'm still in the dark as to your plan as well, and I'm very interested."
"All right," Reenie compromised. "Sarah and I have been working together for the last couple of days on figuring out what the Gangreen Gang is doing and why they're doing it at Millennium Park. We came to the decision that no amount of research will divulge the information we need so-"
Just at that moment, Tyler Osborn stepped in. "Don't let me stop you," he said. "You have a plan regarding the Gangreen Gang. I want to hear it." Both Utonium and Keane gave him a surprised glance. Utonium thought it odd he would humor her if he planned on demanding her resignation that night. Keane thought it odd he would listen to the opinion of a known criminal.
"I came to the decision this morning that the only way to get information would be to infiltrate the gang, and since their new leader seems to be only recruiting teenagers and young adults, I found a young man named Christopher Mills who is willing to go undercover for me and only me."
"Melanie!" Sarah exclaimed. "I thought you were done with your mind control thing!"
"I never said that," she said. "I only said I wouldn't use it for evil. Also, I don't have mind control. Where are you even getting that?"
"We can't be considering this," Keane spoke up.
"I don't see why not," Meyer said.
"I agree," Osborn said. Now, everyone was looking at him. "Reenie, I know you're using a chemical compound meant to control male testosterone, and I have no reason to doubt that you used it on this Christopher kid. I really don't care."
Now, Utonium was standing and staring at Osborn. "What about what we talked about?"
"We're putting that on hold. I need Reenie for this operation."
Now, Keane was up. "What about the girls?"
"The girls are done!" Everyone was silent. "Meyer, I gave the Powerpuff Girls a chance and they blew it with Priscilla Moore. I gave them a second chance and they almost caused a massacre at First National."
"You don't have that right!" Meyer shouted.
"Actually Meyer, I do. I've been looking the other way, but the fact of the matter is that those girls are vigilantes and vigilantism is a crime. Reenie, I want you and Mills to report to station Monday morning. As far as those girls are concerned, I don't want to see them in field. They will go to school and report home. If I catch them anywhere near a crime scene, I will place them under arrest, and if I find out the PST sent them, you will all be sharing a jail cell as accessories."
Everyone else remained silent. Tyler Osborn went for the door, but made a quick detour to the phone in the corner to violently yank it out of the outlet before leaving.
It was official. The Powerpuff Girls were grounded.
