"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
Vora gasped and invoked the name of the Hindu deity Vishnu. What she and the team saw when she uncovered the opened skull shocked them all. Johns, watching from the room above, couldn't see but knew something was wrong. It had taken him a minute to adjust to the shock of seeing Blossom's body the size of an adult and her head, covered like it was, too huge to comprehend.
What they were looking at was a mass of ugly, dying brain tissue. Whatever was growing in there, in the brain stem and probably at all the other sites that had registered on Blossom's scan, was choking the gray matter. It was purpling right in front of their eyes. In the short time of the delay, this was absolutely impossible. But what shocked them the most was that the massive, rapid growth had caused such incredible intracranial pressure that the child's brain was being pushed out of her skull through the opening.
"What's wrong?" Johns asked.
Vora looked at her assistants. No one had seen anything like it and there was nothing any of them knew to do. It was hopeless. Nothing could save the child now and it was Vora's fear that they had somehow been the cause of what they were seeing. Based on those earlier scans, it appeared as though Blossom was still some time away from the critical stage. Not anymore. She doubted her patient would come out of the anesthesia, having already slipped into the final coma. An EEG would probably confirm it.
"Everything, Doctor." she replied. "There is nothing to do but close her back up before we are unable to do even that."
"Damn! Damn it!" He pounded on the console.
"There is one thing I would like to do." Vora said. "I would like to go ahead and take a few small samples of tissue. We may yet learn something."
"That's your department, Doctor." His phone rang again. He switched off the intercom to below.
"Johns."
"Doctor, this is pediatric oncology again. We're sorry, Doctor, we lost her."
"Was Utonium with her?"
"No."
"Was anyone with her?"
"Her teacher." It went without saying that some staff would be there, so the nurse saw no need to mention the others. LeBeau's cover was still safe.
"I see. Thank you." Johns hung up. At least Bubbles hadn't been alone. This was the worst day in the city's history. But he had a job to do. No need to distract the surgical team with this news. He switched the intercom on again. "Doctor, I'm going to inform Professor Utonium. Thank you all for your efforts."
"We are sorry, Doctor." she replied, speaking for all of them.
"Yeah. Me too." He stood and walked out.
Vora looked around the table at her team members. "Well, let's get to work."
Keane had composed herself and gone out to stand in the hall to wait for Professor Utonium. She hadn't been able to bring herself to look back, wanting to remember the joy instead. Her mind was numb and she didn't know what to say to the professor. She heard a sound and looked up to see him and another man hurrying down the hall. He was holding some sort of rifle. That shocked her and she wondered what it was for.
They had taken the stairs to the second floor but it had still taken too long. The look on her face told him and he stopped running. He slumped against the wall. "Oh, honey, I'm so sorry I wasn't there for you." Waldman tried to assist him but he waved the help away. "No, I'm all right." He didn't have time to grieve. He must remain calm and deal with things. He still had two other daughters to think of. The grieving could come later. He walked up to the teacher, dropped the gun and held his arms out. She fell into them.
"Oh, Professor!" She shook again with her sobbing.
"I'm so glad you were with her, Ms. Keane." He couldn't give in to his grief, but he could vent his anger. "Buttercup should have been with her sister, if not for that sonuva…"
The two nurses coming out of the room stopped him. Waldman was still Bubbles' treating physician and needed to speak to them. It would be his responsibility to sign the death certificate. He placed a comforting hand briefly on the professor's shoulder and went to stand with the nurses.
The professor never saw the perplexed looks on the nurses' faces nor Waldman's frown as they talked, and he didn't see them walking over towards where he stood comforting Ms. Keane, who continued to sob. "Who else was with you, Ms. Keane?" he asked her.
She stepped back, rubbing her eyes. "Those two nurses and that Dr. Ferrara from Blossom's team of doctors. He was wonderful!"
"Dr. Ferrara?" Waldman asked.
"Yes, from surgery." Fuller said. "He said they didn't need him yet and came up here to see Bubbles."
"There isn't any Dr. Ferrara in surgery." Waldman said, his frown deepening. "There's a nurse named Peter Ferrara in that department, but he's not with Blossom's team. In fact, I think I heard Dr. Vora mention that he was off today!"
"Oh no!" Fuller gasped. "It was that freakin' reporter!"
"What?!" the professor shouted, his facing turning purple. "He was in there with her? Why, I'll…I'll!" He just then noticed the gun on the floor and bent to pick it up.
Waldman grabbed the man again, stopping him but thinking, "And after you're through with him…"
Keane was aghast. "Oh my God! He was right here! He seemed so nice!"
"Don't be mad at him! He said he was sorry!"
Five heads spun toward the open door to see Bubbles floating there in her hospital gown, clutching Octi.
Stanley Whitfield and Maria Santiago had realized at the same time that with Mojo's destroying machine destroyed, so was gone his threat to the hospital. Whitfield sent upline to CNC word that they could resume normal coverage. Without benefit of seeing what was happening, Stanley couldn't add much so Charles Wagner and his merry gang of 'experts' took charge. Soon, they were adding their own brand of commentary to the happenings below. The audio came in poorly. Mojo's taunting could be heard but not the responses from the downed Powerpuff, and the whole world believed they were seeing the end of her. They had seen his heartless blasting of the laser directly into the helpless girl's chest and now waited for the final blow to be delivered.
They heard him say, "Hah! I knew you would beg for mercy! Of course you do not want to die, but you will, eventually. Together, with both of your accursed sisters! Now, get up, Buttercup!"
"I…I can't!" "Oh…man…I can't see now! This is just like what happened to Bubbles! If I'm wrong, we're all goners anyway but if I'm right, I might have a little time yet."
"I said, get up or I will force you to get up!"
"Tears…yeah, tears oughta work." "I can't, Mojo! I can't move an' I…I'm blind!"
"Oh, so you cannot see!" This shocked the audience. "Well then, I suppose I will have to assist you."
"Yeah…that's it…pick me up. Nice and rough, too…"
Holding the laser on her with one hand, he reached down and yanked her off the ground and held her up above him. "You see?" he cackled to the world. "You see how easily I manhandle one of your precious protectors?"
He gave her a violent shake, which made her smile inwardly in spite of how awful she felt.
"What do you say to that, Powerpuff?"
She answered by throwing up in his face.
"I said I'd get even!"
"BUBBLES?!!!"
Keane passed out on the spot. The professor caught her and let her slump gently to the floor, then jumped for joy as the little girl flew into his arms. The nurses paled and Waldman stood, open-mouthed. "Wha-wha-wha."
"Oh, honey, I can't believe it! Are you OK? We need to get you into bed, make sure you're all right, Doctor, help me…"
Waldman still couldn't move, nor could the nurses.
"Professor, I'm OK, really, but there's no time!" Bubbles cried excitedly. "I'm sorry I scared everybody but right now I gotta go help Buttercup!"
"Buttercup! Yes! Bubbles, are you sure you feel OK?" He was in such shock he didn't know what he was doing or what he was looking at. Waldman stepped forward with a stethoscope he had removed from the stunned Fuller and gave a listen, then looked quickly into her eyes.
"Bubbles, go help your sister. We'll check you over later."
"Professor, I need somethin' to wear, I can't go out like this!" She didn't have anything on under the gown.
He was still too shocked to think clearly, but he remembered the things they had brought. "Buttercup packed some clothes…"
"In the corner!" Fuller shouted, coming out of her trance and pointing into the room. "In there!"
Bubbles dashed for the bag and all anyone saw was a white streak turning into a blue one and she was with them again in three seconds. "Buttercup brought my clothes! She knew!"
With that, she flew straight for the window in her room. The professor yelled "Wait!", scooped up the gun from the floor and ran after her but she was already gone. He looked out the large hole and saw her turning.
"What, Professor?"
"Hold still!" He aimed and fired, and instantly she was transformed into the size of Blossom at the moment. He squeezed the trigger again and she stood over ten feet tall.
She looked down at herself. "Whee! I'm like Dynamo!"
"Go take care of that monkey and get back here!" he told her with a smile.
"Okay!" She was gone in a flash. He turned to see Waldman and Fuller next to him, staring out the hole. The other nurse was helping Ms. Keane to sit up.
"Doctor, what just happened?" Fuller said slowly.
"I have no idea other than we got that miracle we were hoping for. Professor, they were telling me just before Bubbles came out of nowhere, that her color wasn't right for someone who was dead…"
"She wasn't turning bluish like she should have been. And the whole time…those numbers…they were impossible." Fuller added.
"As crazy as it may sound, Doctor, this is starting to make some sense." the professor said. "Blossom's reaction to the scalpel was like her body protecting itself. I think it's possible that Bubbles' systems were shutting down for her own protection, and they just turned themselves back on again when she was ready."
"Yes…" Waldman said slowly, trying to figure it out himself. "Do you think it's possible that what we thought was killing them was really their brains regenerating themselves?"
"Yes, that's what I'm thinking. Buttercup and Blossom will have to go through what Bubbles did, but they're going to be fine. Oh my God…Blossom! BLOSSOM!"
He took off, out of the room and down the hall, almost running Keane and the nurse over.
Bubbles knew she was going to be seen but she didn't want Mojo to see her, so she went straight to the roof and to the rear of the hospital, where she would be less likely to be seen from the street. She scanned the entire area in front of the hospital and cranked up her hearing. It didn't take long. Mojo was bellowing loudly. When she spotted them, she flew into a rage at what she saw. She hovered closer to the front, laying out flat as if she were flying, ready to take off. She needed to be quick, for the moment she was spotted, the crowd would yell. She wanted Mojo to have no advance warning.
What Bubbles had seen was this. Mojo was furious. Doused in vomit, he lifted Buttercup and bodyslammed her onto the pavement. It drove the breath out of her and she gasped trying to get air into her lungs. Mojo leveled the laser at her head again.
"You will pay for that insult, Powerpuff! No one does that to me and gets away with it! Now prepare to be the first of you to leave this world. You may welcome your sisters when they get to whatever accursed place it is I am sending you!"
"Now!" Bubbles said to herself and launched. She looked down and held up one hand to her mouth and waved the other, much the way Buttercup had earlier, to tell them to keep quiet. Much to her surprise, it worked. Their initial shock at seeing her had given her signal a few extra seconds to take hold in their minds.
Buttercup heard something that sounded very familiar and opened her eyes. Though she was blind, her combined senses told her that what she'd been praying for had happened. "Bubbles! I was right!"
Mojo saw her eyes opening. "What last words do you have for me, Powerpuff? Say them now!"
"C-code blue…"
"What? I cannot hear you!" He lowered his head slightly to hear better, wary of a trick and another facefull. His laser was at the highest setting and she could not survive one more hit from it. His finger itched with anticipation.
"Code…b-blue…" she repeated.
His anger and focus made him oblivious to his surroundings. "Muhahaha! I know what that means! It is a term for someone experiencing a medical emergency, but you are beyond that point!"
"Maybe, but you aren't!"
"Wha?" He spun to see Bubbles' massive right hand mere feet from his face. "Yaaaahhhhh! Nooooooo!!!!!"
It connected, sending the villain back into the building Buttercup had crashed into. He fell into his own pile of rubble and dust.
Bubbles looked at her hand. "Buttercup, what's this stuff all over Mojo? It looks like…Buttercup, you didn't?"
All she had strength for was a small grin and to open her eyes a tiny bit in her sister's direction. "Yeah…I did…"
"Eeeeewwwwww!!!!" Bubbles cried, bending to wipe her hand on the ground. She crouched over Buttercup. "Buttercup, you brought my dress! You knew, but how?"
"Later…get Mojo…" was all she could whisper.
"Oh yeah!" He was crawling out of the bricks and reaching for his laser cannon a few feet away. She stood up and three strides got her there. "Oh no you don't!" she said as she stepped on it. She picked it up and snapped it in half like it was a cheap toy, then threw the pieces on his head, cracking his turban.
He saw her nasty grin as she reached for him. "No, don't hit me!", he begged as he cowered beneath the towering 'Puff.
She found a clean spot on his tunic and yanked him off the ground. "I'm not gonna TOUCH you, Mojo!" she snickered as he groaned, trying to wriggle free from her grip. "You need a bath!"
Buttercup smiled and relaxed, comforted by the crowd's cheering as the creeping blackness took her.
Dr. Waldman, realizing the same thing the professor had and also knowing the only way to contact the surgical team was through Johns, raced down the hall, stopping at the nurse's station where they could get in touch with Johns.
Johns answered his phone again.
"Tim, it's Adam. Are you still in the room?"
"No. I'm on my way to find Utonium. Adam, there's nothing that can be done for Blossom and they're just closing her up."
"What? You mean they're NOT operating? Tim, that's great! Listen, you aren't going to believe this." He related to Johns the amazing thing he'd just been witness to.
Though stunned and not quite believing it, Johns quickly realized what that meant as far as Blossom was concerned. He told Waldman of Vora's intent to get a tissue sample. "Adam, I've got to get back there!"
Fifteen officers, seeing what had just happened, charged on foot to the location. They stared at Bubbles as she stood over them. She held out the captured villain and they backed away, holding their noses. She giggled, then pointed toward a fire department pumper she'd spotted a thousand and something feet away. They grinned up at her and collared Mojo. As they cuffed him and dragged him away, he mumbled stupidly; more in shock at seeing Bubbles alive and in her present state than from any physical damage he'd suffered. The cops looked back at her, staring at the huge girl. "Don't worrry!" she giggled. "Professor's gonna change me back! Thanks for takin' care of Mojo, but I gotta get Buttercup to the doctor! Bye!"
She gently knelt and lifted her unconscious sister from where she lay on the street, then floated off the ground toward the hospital. She didn't know why Buttercup smelled so bad but she didn't care. It was Mojo's fault, probably.
"Don't worry, Buttercup, you're gonna be OK. Buttercup? Buttercup, can you hear me? I hope so. I heard you. It was real weird, Buttercup. When I was still awake and you guys came in, I really thought I was gonna die, but Professor told me I was gonna be OK and after I fell asleep somethin' kept tellin' me that everything was gonna be all right. I felt really bad that I couldn't wake up so you wouldn't be sad no more and so Ms. Keane wouldn't have cried. But she sang me a really pretty song and that reporter everybody's mad at came in and said he was sorry, so don't you be mad at him, 'kay? I was mad at him too when I found out he made Mojo come down here and I couldn't come out and help you, but everything's OK now. But Buttercup, what really made me happy was when you got on the bed with me and talked to me. There was stuff I forgot all about and it made me feel like I really mean something to you. It made me feel really special. You an' Blossom are both special to me, Buttercup, but I'm gonna wait to tell you when you're both awake, so I can know that you're hearin' me."
Bubbles knew she couldn't go inside the hospital like she was, not until someone shrank her back to her normal size. She flew to the emergency department entrance, oblivious to the shouts and waving directed at them. CNC had been having a field day with it. No one could believe what they'd seen and the 'experts' were falling all over themselves trying to come up with an explanation for it. She didn't know and wouldn't have cared anyway. All she hoped was that someone would be there to take care of her sister. Inside, they had seen what was happening on TV and they were all ready for Buttercup. A gurney was there waiting and Bubbles carefully handed her sister over to the amazed medics, but not before whispering, "You're gonna be okay, Buttercup. You were there for me and I'll be right there when you wake up. I love you."
She told the medics, "Sorry she's so messy. Can she have a bath?" They smiled and nodded as they whisked Buttercup away. She watched them until she couldn't see them anymore, then she flew around to the front, looking for someone to help her.
"Bubbles!" came thousands of shouts, and they cheered her. She saw the huge pile of flowers and stuffed animals in front of the large poster of herself. "Hey, is all that for us? Gee, thanks! But that's a lot of stuff!" We can share it with all the kids in the hospital!" she thought. "And maybe all the other hospitals in Townsville, too. Gee, people are awful nice to us!"
"Thanks, everybody, but I really wanna get back to my right size so I can be with my sisters. Can somebody tell the professor to get the gun and shoot me?"
Millions of shocked viewers and most everyone on the ground had no idea what she was talking about. But the folks in Townsville figured it out pretty quick. They were used to the professor and his inventions. Whitfield pulled out his phone to get Bubbles some help.
No sooner had Johns finished with Waldman, he saw Professor Utonium come around a corner, charging at him. He turned and ran back toward the O.R., calling out over his shoulder, "Dr. Waldman called me, Professor!"
He heard a crash and looked behind him to see the professor closer to him and a young orderly and his equipment on the floor, having stepped out of a room without looking.
"Sorry!" the professor shouted, never looking back. "We have to stop them!" he cried, catching up with Johns. "What's happening to her is meant to happen! Bubbles is awake and she's fine!"
Johns slowed and said, "I know!", but the professor never broke stride and bolted past him. Johns took off to catch up. He couldn't let the man just burst into the operating room. "Professor, wait! Let me handle this!" Together they turned the final corner and saw three people in green scrubs standing in the hall outside O.R. # 3. They ran up. It was Dr. Vora and two of her team. Her look was grave.
"No! Oh, no!"
"I am sorry." Vora said, approaching him and touching his arm. "There is nothing we can do." She turned to Johns. "I was not even able to get a tissue sample. The beta-blocker did not work."
"What?!" the professor asked. "You mean you weren't able to operate at all?"
"Yes. When we tried a second time, the same thing happened. She will not let us touch her."
She was stunned when the two men looked happily excited and clasped each other's arms, as if they were celebrating. Utonium slumped with relief to a sitting position against the wall. "Oh, Doctor. I thought we were too late!"
Vora and the other two were completely confused and exchanged frowns with one another. "Why? What has happened?"
"Dr. Vora, I have no idea." Johns said. "All I know is that we're seeing a miracle here."
His phone rang again. He didn't bother to say his name. "Yeah."
"Tim? It's Stan. Do you know where the professor is? Bubbles is out here and she has a little…er…big…problem."
"He's right here." Johns handed the phone over to the surprised man. He whispered to Vora and the other two, "Adam and the professor will have to explain it, but Bubbles woke up and is outside the hospital right now helping Buttercup fight Mojo." Seeing their shock, he added, "Oh yeah, you don't know about that…it's a long story. But what they're telling me is that Blossom is going to be all right…"
"That is not possible, after what I just saw in there." Vora told him.
"I don't know…Adam and the professor know more than I do." he repeated.
The professor stood up and handed Johns the phone. He had relayed instructions to Bubbles after finding out some information from the reporter.
"Dr. Vora, it's their bodies healing and protecting themselves. We weren't supposed to do a thing. How is Blossom right now?"
She nodded toward the room. "They are running an EEG now. After the second shock, her vital signs dropped rapidly."
"Yes. I just found out that Buttercup is in emergency. Bubbles said it seems just like what happened to her. Apparently, the stress that she and Blossom have been put through triggered their systems to speed up the process."
Vora and her team members looked at one another again. "Go scrub up, I'll be right in." They left through a door.
"That explains the tremendous growth and pressure. It explains some other things too, but we can talk about that later. Professor, that pressure is forcing her brain out through the opening. I need to close her up as soon as possible."
She left to scrub herself. "Unbelievable." the professor said to Johns, running a hand through his hair. "I have to get back to Bubbles' room. I told her to meet me there."
"Just a second, Professor." Johns pushed a number on the phone, for the emergency department.
"Yes, Dr. Johns. Is Buttercup there? Great! Let me talk to him!" He looked up. "Waldman's there with her. Must've been watching TV."
He went back to the phone. "Adam? Yeah, everything seems to be OK here. OK, hang on."
He handed over the phone again. "You two know more than I do."
The professor took it. "Hello, Doctor."
"Professor, there's nothing we can do for her down here. She's slipped into a coma and the time frame seems to be around where we were with Bubbles this morning. I want to get another scan of her to be sure, then we'll just monitor her condition. I also want to start some tests on Bubbles."
"So do I. I want to be sure she's really all right. After I get her back to her proper size, I'll send her over. After Blossom comes out of surgery, I'd like for them all to be together. Is there some way to do that?"
"Yeah, Professor, I think there is. Let me talk to Tim."
Johns was thinking the same thing. The kids had been through hell. He took the phone back, but first told the professor, "I'll see if the VIP room is available."