"Code Blue"
By I am a good fighter
Powerpuff Girls created by Craig McCracken and all characters associated with the show are owned by Cartoon Network
At 2:15, exactly the same moment that Johns finished his short statement, Professor Utonium could hear the quiet hissing of the oxygen that Blossom was being fed, the steady, intermittent low beeping from the monitors as they indicated all was going smoothly, the soft exchange of instructions from Dr. Vora to the team, and their replies to her questions regarding a reading here or there. Occasionally she would make a comment to him, explaining what she was doing, and he would nod silently. He kept his detached scientist's mien, pushing his feelings down. It was disturbing to a parent to see his child's head wrapped , leaving only a patch of scalp, which was then cut and peeled away, revealing bone which then underwent the sawblade. It was also very strange to see her suddenly three times her normal size. Though her head was already as large as an adult's, it was now enormous. But the scientist watched, committing what he saw to memory. Waldman would also say something from time to time, but he would again just nod.
He watched as the section of bone was carefully lifted away and placed on a sterile tray, which would be covered by a sterile lid. In spite of her size now, he couldn't make out clearly details in the brain tissue beneath, so he turned to the monitor in the observation room. Ceiling-mounted cameras filmed and taped the procedure from three angles. The surgeon could call up any angle with a voice command, and it would be displayed on a monitor in the operating room, as well as the one upstairs.
He heard Vora say, "Aside from some swelling, which is from the increased internal pressure, this tissue looks quite normal." She looked at her team and said, "Shall we begin?"
She gave some instructions, then took a scalpel from one of the nurses. "I will be using a laser to remove the growth, but I will be getting started with a scalpel." She slowly reached toward Blossom's exposed tissue to penetrate the outer membrane.
Professor Utonium watched in horror as a gigantic blue spark shot forth from his daughter's head and her eyes flew open. Her body lifted inches off the bed before falling, and she screamed. The scalpel flew from the surgeon's hand as she was knocked onto her backside and slid, crashing into the table on which the gun lay. It fell to the floor with a loud metallic sound.
"What are you doing to her?!" he yelled, heading for the door to get out and go down there.
Waldman, no less shocked, was slightly taller and grabbed him in a bear hug. "No! You can't go in there." "What the hell just happened?" he asked himself. He got the distraught Professor to sit. "Are you all right down there?" he called out.
Vora was being assisted to her feet by one of her team, while the others, though startled, professionally went about checking on their patient. "Yes, I'm fine. What about our patient, what are her signs?"
"Vitals are returning to normal." one nurse said.
The anesthesiologist carefully checked a reading. "The pain was enough to get a reaction, but she is still out. I don't want to give her any more."
"I have never seen anything like this." Vora said. "It is like she doesn't want me to touch her."
The Professor reacted to that. "Yes. YES! It may be her body's natural defenses! I think I know how to get around that…Doctor, can you administer a beta-blocker while she is under? I think that will suppress her ability to fight an intruder."
"Why, yes, Professor, I believe so. It may take from thirty minutes to an hour to take effect."
"Go ahead, Doctor. If it doesn't work, then I think it isn't something naturally occurring, and that someone or something has done this to my girls…meaning you won't be able to stop it." he said. "And I'll find out who if it's the last thing I do!"
Jennifer Keane didn't get far from school before she ran into snarled traffic. Frustrated and frantic to get to the hospital, all she could do was turn on the radio. She wondered what had caused this. Within minutes, she knew as much as anyone, and it made her even more desperate to get there.
"Oh, dear God, not all THREE of them!"
She also learned the reason for the jam. On a talk station, people were turning their anger and grief toward someone who made a perfect scapegoat: Matt LeBeau.
"That jerk! Why'd he have to do that for?"
"If I see that * bleeeep * anywhere, I'll * bleeeeeeep * shoot him!
"Heh, thank goodness for the seven-second delay." the host muttered, "Even though I agree with you, and I'm a member of the media myself. There was absolutely no call for what that guy did. Next caller."
"Channel Five oughta fire that Low Blow!"
The name quickly stuck. And Jennifer Keane was now one of those that wanted to throttle him.
Though LeBeau had been on the air, it was only very briefly; and CNC hadn't replayed the footage. They hadn't needed to; his blurted question had rocked the world and needed no repeating. And with his instantly forgettable face, he needn't have worried about being spotted. Unaware of the anger that inspired the new nickname he was also unaware of, he made his way unmolested by passing security men and unnoticed by anyone else, down the hallway, in the fresh green scrubs with 'P. Ferrara' on the left breast. He entered the pediatric wing and passed both nurse's stations unnoticed on his way to room 225. He'd have been shocked to learn that the people didn't agree that they ought to know everything.
At also the same time as Johns was finishing up and her teacher had gotten stuck in traffic, Buttercup had since cried herself out and was talking to Bubbles quietly. Sara Bellum remained outside, listening. She heard the tough little girl trying to apologize for, as she put it, 'being mean to you'. That she never meant it when she called her sister 'dummy'.
"Heck, Bubbles, you're prob'ly smarter than I'll ever be. Remember that time we both were so stuck on doing things our way even though it didn't work, and you just went up to that monster and asked it to go home? Blossom'd never say that you were smarter'n her, but I know she's sorry for stuff she said to you, too. We both are. We just can't help it 'cause as much as we're all alike we're different, too. I wish I could see things the way you do. I think if I did, I wouldn't get mad all the time over stupid stuff. Like those posters of mine. What a dumb thing to get mad about. And y'know, after, I thought that Mankind looked cool with a purple mustache, even if you did draw it on the outside of his mask."
Sara listened to Buttercup rambling her sweet, random thoughts and it made her smile and killed her at the same time. Townsville would never be the same.