FINAL WISHES

By Gary Curtis

Powerpuff Girls created by Craig McCracken and all related characters owned by Cartoon Network

EIGHT

They fought to keep their tears of hurt and anger from their eyes as they flew through the Townsville twilight.

"That Daddy Morbucks isn't getting the chance to hurt the professor!" Buttercup growled.

Blossom was no less furious. "Yeah! I wish he had told us, but he's wrong about one thing!"

"We won't stop at anything either!" Bubbles cried. "I don't care if it makes us criminals!"

Buttercup looked sideways at them. "We can always say we didn't know it was wrong to try and protect our sister from that no-good creep."

"Yeah! Ignorance is nine-tenths of the law!"

Blossom blinked. "Uh, Bubbles, I think it's 'possession'. But that's a better excuse than I can come up with."

They were fast approaching the lavish estate at Morbucks Manor. Blossom rapidly gave the plan. "OK, Buttercup, you go find Daddy Morbucks and don't let 'im outta your sight! Me an' Bubbles will try to convince Princess that she needs to come with us."

"Yeah, Blossom! When we tell her she's our sister and she can really be a Powerpuff Girl, she'll forget all about wanting to destroy us!"

"Who'da thought there'd ever be a fourth Powerpuff Girl?" Buttercup wondered aloud. "I'll meet up with you guys later!"

Her green streak went one way and her sisters' pink and blue ones the other above the huge house, just as the sun was setting.

Professor Utonium walked through the parking lot at the university. His speech had gone well but he wasn't thinking about that. He had something else more important on his mind. He had no trouble spotting his car; it was the filthiest one in the lot, another indication that his thoughts had been elsewhere for some time.

"I can't put this off any longer! I've waited too long as it is! I must do something about it tonight!"

It was all he could think about as he headed home. "Oh, why did I wait so long? The girls will never forgive me for letting things get out of hand like this."

Princess Morbucks sat, backed into the wall of her grand bedroom, trying to get as far away as she could. She stared in horror at the wet sleeves of her pajamas. "Ack! Powerpuff slobber! Keep away from me, you drooling fools!"

They had let their emotions get the best of them, hugging their lost sister and crying. Blossom decided she'd better start fresh.

Princess prompted her. "What do you blithering idiots want?"

"Princess, we want you to come home!"

"I am home!"

Bubbles tried explaining. "No, to our house. You're our sister!"

"What?! You're crazy!"

"No, it's true!" Blossom protested. "The professor made you first and sold you to Daddy Morbucks and then he made us and your daddy didn't like it and is trying to get back at the professor by makin' you hate us and everything!"

"Oh, really?" She didn't believe a word of it, but she could see that something had made the two little twits snap. "Looks like one of that idiot monkey's lasers worked for once." So she decided to toy with them. "Why did he sell me, then?"

Blossom seemed ashamed. "For the money. But Princess, he's really sorry and we all want you to come home and be part of our family."

"And, we're rich, too!" Bubbles said. "He put lots and lots of moneys away for us!"

That got her attention. "Oh, yeah?" she asked, her eyes afire. "How much?"

"Seven million dollars!" they shouted proudly.

"What?! Seven million? Split four ways? Why, my monthly allowance is more than that!"

Their mouths about hit the floor. Bubbles began to whimper. "But Princess, don't you wanna be a Powerpuff Girl with us?"

"I can be a Powerpuff Girl anytime I want, only better than you peons! Now get out of my house!!!!"

Blossom sputtered, "But...but..."

Princess closed her eyes, made fists and screamed at the top of her lungs, "Daddeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!"

Daddy Morbucks heard the little girl screaming but couldn't do a thing about it. At the moment, he was trying to keep himself out of the clutches of the little green lunatic. He'd been savoring his cigar and cognac in the library when she burst in, yelling and making wild accusations. Something about that nutty professor of hers, ten million bucks, brainwashing his daughter and he wasn't getting away with it. She was angry and crazy, but he was just angry. It was time to put his foot down on Utonium, hard. But first he needed to make sure that he wasn't the one to get stepped on.

He made it out of the library, avoiding a few bookcases as they toppled and showered their volumes to the floor, escaping through the trophy room on his way to the garage. Too open and not enough time to hop in a car, which would really do no good anyway. He managed to get back to the trophy room and get his hands on an old flintlock rifle, and he aimed it at her. He trembled with rage, and a healthy dose of fear.

"Don't come any closer or I'll shoot! I mean it!"

The old fowling piece hadn't been cleaned in some time and his shaking hands made it discharge. The ball struck Buttercup right between the eyes. She reached up and picked off the flattened piece of lead, about the size of a quarter.

"Oh, now you're really gonna get it!"

His anger gave way to fright and he ran, dropping the gun and running into a leather chair. He bounced into the wall, which knocked a mounted rhinoceros head to the floor, narrowly missing him. He seized it and thrust the protruding horn at her.

"Keep away from me, you crazy little-"

"FREEZE!!"

Buttercup heard a crash and spun to see four SWAT team members in sunglasses and earplugs, aiming shotguns directly at her.

"All right!" she shouted. "Take that jerk in 'fer questioning! He's got a lot of explaining to do!"

"I SAID FREEZE!!" shouted one of the cops, apparently the one in charge, and she heard the slide-action of the weapons before they were once again aimed at her. The men closed in on her.

"Ulp! What'd I do?"

"You've all got a lot of explaining to do!" came a voice. Buttercup whipped her head to see her sisters, each being escorted by two more SWAT team crew. The girls were cuffed and their legs shackled to each others, and they were in shock. Princess walked behind, smiling smugly. Buttercup was cuffed, shackled and connected to her sisters in short order.

"Thank goodness you heard the silent alarm." Morbucks dropped the rhino head and breathed a sigh of relief.

"Got here as soon as we could, sir." said the leader.

"Take 'em to jail, boys!" Princess crowed.

Morbucks, once again feeling in charge, told them, "We'll be right down. And Utonium had better have a good explanation for this, or else!"

"You're the one with the explaining to do!" Buttercup shot back.

Blossom yanked her bound arms away from the two cops and pointed them at Morbucks. "The professor wanted to do this his way, to protect Princess as well as us. But now we're gonna do it our way! When the whole world hears the truth about you, no amount of money can save you!"

"I'd keep my mouth shut if I were you." the team leader said, raising his weapon. "You three are in enough trouble as it is."

The shocked girls began to protest but got no sympathy from their captors, only a nasty chuckle from Princess. "But not as much trouble as your daddy!"

"Professor!" Buttercup shouted. She looked at her sisters. "Oh no! One a' you two shoulda gone to look for him!"

"I know!" Blossom whined. Her face fell, along with her sisters'. "It's too late now."

"Indeed." said Morbucks. Of the team leader, he asked, "You got him yet?"

"A car's on the way."

"Good. He's going to pay for this."

The girls struggled to escape, to no avail. They had met the force too powerful to stand against. If Morbucks had the cops on his side, there was no hope.