Insert worthless not legally binding in court disclaimer stuff here. Like a good communist, I own nothing.
"Gauntlet: Redemption"
Part 3
"Leg hook to elbow combination, straight arm blow to the chest, hamstring."
Butch stepped forward, and the practice holographic Dummy struck at him. Butch leaned to the side, slid one foot forward and behind his opponent's forward leg, and scissored. As the Dummy fell forward, he elbowed it in the side of the face, straightened out his arm, soft-backhanding it, and completed the scissor, snapping the Dummy's hamstring with his knee. When it fell on its back, he didn't hesitate to follow up the attack with his free hand, in the form of a hard-fisted double blow.
Stepping back, he sighed.
"Again."
The Dummy's image faded, and reset into the standing position next to him.
"Leg hook to elbow combination, straight arm blow to the chest, hamstring."
He repeated the maneuver, streamlining it slightly as familiarity and repetition kicked in. This time, as the Dummy fell backwards, he followed up with a shallow kick to the neck. Stepping back, he mentally went over the maneuver, and how he could improve it.
"Again."
The Dummy reset.
"Leg hook to elbow combination, straight..." Butch stopped in mid sentence as he heard the hissing whine of the Training Hall Door open behind him. Two small shapes interrupted the flood of light, easily distinct enough in their outlines for Butch to identify them. He stepped back, and aside, and yielded the floor to Blossom and Buttercup. The former noticed him, and inclined her head in greeting, while the latter kept her eyes on him, but made no other indication of acknowledgement.
He just watched, silently, as the girls activated a battle program with several monsters of varying size and shape. It was easily at first, for them, until the levels increased in difficulty and number of opponents. Butch watched and noted the ease and fluidity of movement, the near lack of hesitation (something was odd with Blossom, he inferred - she seemed to be pausing slightly before her attacks) ... still, it was obvious that the girls were most comfortable with fighting things much larger than themselves. Inhuman things.
Butch was the exact opposite.
There was little satisfaction when you couldn't relate to your opponent. Less satisfaction than what little he seemed to get, anyway. Why did he fight, now? Brick was gone... perhaps the world needed him to fight, so he did. Yet, that was not it. The world had so many others willing to bleed and die for it, but Butch was not one of them. Why should he owe allegiance to such a thing?
Another long sigh escaped his lips, and not one motivated by boredom.
Finally, the two Powerpuffs seemed to tire of their exercise. Both had exerted themselves fairly well, and the ground of the Training Hall was littered with bodies of innumerable creatures. Blossom ordered the system reset, and both floated over near the Training Hall Door, to the small side footlocker, where a few towels were laid out. Each took one their respective color.
Butch snorted loudly enough to get their attention.
"You could have joined in," Blossom said, noting his desire for recognition. "If you wanted to."
"Unless you're too shy." Buttercup added, with a smile.
"You always get your kicks out of that?" He motioned to where the holographic monsters used to be. "Doesn't seem like it."
"What are you suggesting?" Blossom knew already, but asked anyway.
Buttercup just threw aside her towel.
"Ow ow ow ow!"
"Blossom, please! Stop squirming!"
"But Miss Bellum...!"
"There. Done." The tall redhead stood up, holding the First Aid Spray. "Honestly: that wasn't so bad, now was it?"
"No." Blossom nursed the scrape on her arm. "I guess not."
"Ha! You're such a baby!" Buttercup laughed, holding her icepack up to her swollen cheek and left eye. Behind her, the Professor had his arms crossed, and a sour look on his face. Butch, for once, wasn't unaware of the way the two adults were looking at him.Touching his broken lip nervously, he searched for something to say.
"Butch." The Professor finally said, sternly. "Could I talk to you for a minute?"
"Um... yes, sir." Butch floated off the floor, and followed the older man as he left the room. When the two boys made their exit, Blossom cleared her throat.
"Miss Bellum?"
"Yes?" The other woman didn't have to stretch to put away the First Aid Kit that had been required after their little 'exercise' with Butch. She also wasn't wearing her normal clothes, just a plain white shirt that hung loosely on her, and jeans. She looked so... casual... it was unnerving.
"I was wondering when we'd... when we'd be able to go outside?" Blossom noticed an almost imperceptible increase in the older woman's heartbeat. Buttercup didn't, as she hadn't really been paying attention at that point, but the topic of conversation did at least interest her. She inclined her head slightly.
"Not just yet..." Miss Bellum paused a second to search for words. "It's not safe."
"But that's why we should be out there!" Blossom insisted. "There are people out there, and they need our help!"
"Yeah." Buttercup nodded, agreeing in not so many words. "It's kinda what we do."
"You can't girls." Miss Bellum leaned over slightly. "Don't you think the Professor knows best?"
"I just want to know why!" Blossom stomped her foot. "What's he waiting for?"
"You really need to tone things down a bit, Butch. I have no problems with you training with the girls... in fact, I encourage it... but what you got into was a serious fight. Someone could have been hurt very badly."
"Yes, sir. Sorry, sir."
"It's really the girls you should be apologizing to."
"I don't think they care that much, sir. They're..."
"What?"
"Frustrated. Except maybe Bubbles."
"Butch. The fact remains that you have to learn some self control, am I understood?"
"Yes, sir."
The Professor stopped, in front of a familiar door. "Don't call me sir, Butch. I'm... just call me 'Professor,' alright?"
"Yes, Professor."
Slowly opening the door to the Rejuvenation Bay, Butch saw, again, the cylinders that had held him and the others, and brought them back to life. All were open and empty, except one: Boomer's. The blue Rowdyruff had yet to awaken. Butch couldn't even see his only remaining brother behind the thick, X-ray proof metal - probably Duranium - that shielded the capsule. He did see Bubbles, however, in a small foldout metal chair, asleep, her face pressed up to the cold metal surface of Boomer's tomb.
Not tomb.
Butch wasn't totally sure what those healing cylinder things were, but tombs...
He shook his head vigorously. BAD wording.
Butch then watched as the Professor flipped open the master control panel, and went to work. He watched the man work his magic, like he had once watched Mojo work. Both scientists had a sort of deep determination to them, though their motivations were wholly different.
"Is there a problem, Professor?" Butch knew that the older man was working on reviving Boomer, and what concerned Boomer concerned Butch.
"There shouldn't be... he's healthy, physiologically. Brain waves are normal... Chemical X saturation is nominal... a little low, but in synch with what is to be expected in a comatose state."
Butch understood. He was no fool, and he could well follow many things Mojo and Brick worked on, in terms of the technical aspects. He suspected Buttercup was similarly quite intelligent... no: he knew she was intelligent, but preferred not to show it, because she wouldn't be able to upstage Blossom. He felt sorry for her in that respect. Even he didn't feel the need to compete in every aspect of his life.
"So why hasn't he woken up? And... what was that goop in there anyway?"
The Professor seemed surprised at the question. The man was obviously used to those around him not delving too deeply into the technical aspects of things. "Well... the goop, as you called it, is a modified a fluorochemical, built around basic perfluorooctyl bromide. I saturated the solution with trace amounts of Chemical X, about one part per three million, and a mixture of growth factors, that when in contact with a specific chemical reaction, in this case gas exchange in the lungs, stimulated the release and absorption of the needed chemicals into the bloodstream. The buffer solution itself then thins, and is expelled through the process of natural exhalation. The entire thing is... in a way... a natural, and very simplified, blood substitute. It wouldn't work on a normal human being, of course, not without some unfortunate side effects, but... in this case the prototypes were more than satisfactory."
"So... Boomer is physically in working condition... but he's just not waking up. Maybe... er... there's some sort of chemical imbalance?"
The Professor shook his head, sadly. "No. If only it was so simple. The only thing I can think of... is that he doesn't want to wake up."
"No." Butch barked. "Boomer's no coward! He's not... he's not afraid of facing the world. Not even after everything that's happened." Butch composed himself and crossed his arms defiantly. "I'm surprised he wasn't the first of us up and about."
"In two days... I'm going to try jolting him awake."
Something in the Professor's tone caught Butch's attention. "Jolting him awake?"
"We can't afford to wait ... A few well placed shots of electricity to the right parts of the brain should bring him around." The Professor turned to leave.
"There's something else. Something you're not telling me." Butch growled. "Please... tell me what it is. He's my brother!"
"That method... there's a chance... it could cause some brain damage." Professor Utonium's voice was soft. He had little love for the Rowdyruff Boys, especially after all they'd done, and all they could have done, but this... deep down, he wanted the blue Rowdyruff to live. The boys were changing - slowly - for the better, and his girls had come to like them, and even depend on them. Especially Bubbles. If Boomer was hurt...
Professor Utonium shook his head, clearing his thoughts.
The world was the way the world was. Sometimes.
"Remember what I told you, Butch." He added, before leaving the room.
"Yes sir." Butch corrected himself. "Professor." When the older man had left, Butch looked over his shoulder, at the cold metal tube that enshrined his brother. "Fuck."
He also noticed Bubbles still held tightly to her stupid little Octi doll, with its retarded vacant eyes, mindless grin, and idiotic hat. Something about it unnerved him, though he couldn't place just quite what. Walking over, he got a good look at the blonde Powerpuff that held the plushy to her chest.
"Bubbles..." Butch coughed, and reached out for her. "I'm sorry I couldn't... they're all... all..." Butch tasted bile, and saw that Bubbles wasn't moving. "Bubbles... what...?"
She blinked, and pushed him, hard.
He ended up on his back.
Time seemed distorted, and after closing his eyes for what seemed like only a moment, he saw a green and white blur over him. His mind denied it. His heart raged against it. No. No! NO!!
Butch blinked, and banished the memory. Flashes of that fight had been popping up every now and then, and the raven-haired Rowdyruff could feel a small headache coming on. Cautiously, he reached out, and touched Bubbles' hair. He hated to admit it, but she was very cute. Yet: he knew very little of her. And how HAD she survived those two doubles that he hadn't killed?
Butch's hand went from her hair, to the cold metal of the cylinder. "Boomer... wake up, bro. Wake up. I... I need ya'"
"Blossom..." The voice was soft, almost a whisper of a tenor. Her eyes opened, slowly adjusting to the darkness of the room. Groaning in annoyance, she looked to the side, and saw the time in bright digital light: 12:01
Rubbing her eyes, she sat up. Just as quickly, she closed her eyes, and was about to fall back to blissful sleep, when she realized that someone was missing. Opening her eyes, to her right, she could see Buttercup, sleeping lightly on her right side. The gauze patch over her hurt eye was visible, too, and her cheek's swelling had obviously receded a good deal.
Powerpuffs healed quickly.
But to Blossom's right Bubbles was nowhere to be seen. Her side of the bed was also conspicuously vacant of amenities. Buttercup had her blankie and her 'Allie' Alligator doll, Blossom didn't really have too much, but Bubbles had always liked to pile up the side of her bed with things. Recently, however, she had left the other things in a pile on the floor. The only thing she seemed to give notice to was that 'Octi' doll of hers.
'She's probably in the bathroom.' Blossom reasoned, but the fact that the door was ajar, and yet the hall lights were off, seemed to contradict that statement. Bubbles always liked the hall light on. There was no way she would want to wander around in the dark.
Or was there?
Slipping out from under the covers, Blossom headed for the door and took a look down the hall. It was even darker than normal. Before, even at night, the lights of the city and the moon would shine through the large windows in the girls' room, but with those closed and locked, under the Professor's orders, even that small bit of moonlight was gone. Still, narrowing her eyes, Blossom could see that no one was in the hall, and no water was running in the bathroom nearby.
Floating down the hall, she finally saw a crack of light from under the Professor's door. The pink Powerpuff was about to use her X-ray vision to see what was going on, when she thought about what she was doing. Like anyone else, the Professor needed his privacy. Still... the likelihood of anything going on was minimal. Without thinking about it, Blossom had already used her ultra-sensitive hearing to determine that there wasn't anything... personal going on inside.
Eyes flashing for an instant, she saw through the door and the walls, and saw the Professor awake at his desk. He was hunched over a pad of paper, and working feverously at it with a pencil. It was his small desk light that had caught her attention. On the large bed in the same room, Miss Bellum was not as plagued by insomnia. Blinking and looking down, Blossom terminated her ultravision, but not before she saw where Bubbles was.
Downstairs: In the Lab.
"Ugh. Hey... what're you doin' here, blondie?"
Butch rubbed the side of his face. He'd only been half asleep, and when the door to the Lab had opened, he'd snapped almost instantly to alertness. He'd expected to see the Professor. He'd gotten Bubbles.
She looked at him somewhat distantly. "Hello, Butchie."
"Butchie?" He half smiled at the name. "Were'd you...?"
"I couldn't sleep." Bubbles smiled at him, and with her left hand nervously played with one of her slightly ruffled pigtails. Her other arm cradled that annoying doll of hers. Wait... was he seeing things, or were the Octi's eyes closed?
"Nah." He slowly got up from the bedroll he'd thrown down on the floor. It wasn't very comfortable, even compared to the couch he normally slept on, but he wanted to be there when Boomer woke up. He wanted to at least be close to him. It was sort of an obligation. "So... can't sleep, eh? Why come in here?"
Bubbles didn't answer; instead she floated over to him. Butch backed off nervously at the look in her eyes. "Hey... what do ya think yer doin?"
"Sssh." Dropping Octi, she held his chin in her hands, gently. "You're dreaming. Go back to sleep."
His eyes suddenly felt very heavy. "...sleep?"
"Go. To. Sleep."
"sleeeeppp..." His eyes closed and he fell backwards, limply. Bubbles smirked, and brushed off her hands.
"Still got it." She looked down at him and licked her lips. "Such a delicious young boy, too. Another time, perhaps. For now..." She floated over to the metal cylinder that held Boomer in its confines. Without hesitation, she held up her hand, touched its surface, and inhaled deeply. "Ah... yes. Much better."
Scooping up the Octi doll, she checked to make sure its eyes were closed. Still smiling, she headed for the door and made an exit. Upstairs, Bubbles inched back under the covers, and holding her plushy tightly, went back to sleep. For Blossom, however, after what she had just seen, sleep was a long time in coming.
"Let's look at things rationally... What do we... what do I know so far?"
Blossom tapped the eraser end of the pencil against her chin as she thought. Her eyes wandered slightly, to down in the Training Hall, where Butch and Buttercup were talking and fighting a recreation of the Justice League on a medium-low difficulty setting. The two seemed to enjoy beating up on role models, apparently. Still, up in the control room, it gave Blossom a chance for some time alone, to think and collect her thoughts.
What did she know?
She knew, or at least she thought she knew, how Brick and the Rowdyruff boys had reappeared. Brick, and his brothers, had reverted to the base Chemical X in their bodies. So, apparently, had Bunny. That Chemical X had then reacted with other ingredients, producing a 'monster.' Yet, they were all monsters - even before that. They were all products of Chemical X.
"In your soul, my little muse... you... me... all of our kind... are monsters."
Those were Brick's words. They were monsters, and so they had been reborn as monsters, just no longer in human guise. Their memories and personality, too, had slipped into the background. Except... Brick and Bunny had somehow remembered themselves, and in so doing, were able to 'recreate' themselves as they remembered themselves to be. Yet... that wasn't right...
Bunny, from what she had learned through Brick's memories - likely a side effect of the bonding they had shared or something similar - the Bunny he knew had not looked like the Bunny Blossom and the other Powerpuff Girls had created. She had been reborn as she wanted to be, not as she had been. That was an important distinction.
But Brick had killed her.
She had been driven insane by the experience, Brick had said as much, and he could not lie to her in her own mind. He had killed her, and then found and recreated his brothers, not of their own volition, but of his... had they then been products of Brick's memories and not their own? Were they what Brick wanted them to be, or where they what they had been?
Or... maybe... they were some combination of the two?
Writing as she ruminated and pondered, Blossom wrote down the possibilities that occurred to her and which led to the next problem. What was Chemical X? Where did it come from? Was it related to these creatures that had shown up, and if so, how? Had Brick been just reacting to events, or playing a greater role?
"What is Chemical X?" she wrote the question down, on the top of a fresh piece of lined paper. "What is Chemical X?"
"Chemical X is..." Brick had sighed. "It is difficult to describe. It is a sort of super-reactant. A catalyst. Think of it as Thought and Willpower - raw Sentience given form. 'I think therefore I am.' It reacts to sequences of ingredients. Add some sugar, spice, and everything nice, and you get instant girls... or something that appears close enough to pass itself off as a girl."
"A reactant. A catalyst." She wrote those down, under physical properties. Yet, there was so much more to Chemical X than that. Brick's persona, his memories, his knowledge, it had all been transmitted and contained... continued past death, in the form of the Chemical X that had once been in his body.
"Memories. Thoughts. Some sort of Base Neurochemical? No..." She wrote those down under a separate column: Non-physical properties. Thinking back, she remembered the effects the Chemical had on other occasions...
Mojo Jojo - injecting it into himself, becoming a colossus: a noteworthy reaction, because he already had Chemical X in his bloodstream. Princess, who had never been exposed to the chemical before, acquired superpowers, as did the overly ambitious classmates Mojo had used to try and take them out (Blossom had been keeping her eye on them ever since that little incident). Neither of which, however, had been permanent changes. The classmates' powers wore off quickly, and Princess' probably would have as well. Yet... their powers were magnified to a degree that exceeded the Powerpuff's own. Perhaps the Chemical X burnt out quickly in those two cases?
That would make the most sense.
Thinking about that, Blossom's eyes widened. "Blood!"
That was the answer! Blood! They never had Chemical X in their blood. Princess had been exposed to a concentrated 'liquid laser' version - nothing more than a supped up water gun that splashed her with the stuff. The other kids were likely affected in a similar if not identical manner. In contrast was Burnsday and the other Mercenaries that the Professor had semi-employed to try and take down the Rowdyruff Boys. The Chemical X had made them tougher, faster, stronger... but it had been given in tiny amounts. Perhaps a better example would be the case of 'Bullet,' the Powerpuff pet they'd adopted. The squirrel had developed powers like their own... unlike Twiggy, who had just mutated into a freakish... thing.
Tests on both Twiggy and Elmer Sglue, months ago, had confirmed that they'd been exposed to toxic runoff, not Chemical X. She wrote those two incidents down as comparison cases. Reviewing what she had, she tried to draw out an effective and useful conclusion.
Chemical X tended to create superpowers in human subjects... not just human subjects, but all animals, it seemed. Then again, thinking about it, Bullet hadn't ever shown the full range of Powerpuff abilities, just high-speed flight and exceptional durability. And Mojo had been affected differently as well.
"Think of it as Thought and Willpower - raw Sentience given form. 'I think therefore I am.' It reacts to sequences of ingredients." Blossom repeated what Brick had said. "Thought and Willpower. Princess wanted to be a Powerpuff Girl. Mary and the rest wanted to be like us... Powerpuff Girls... Mojo didn't. Bullet..."
If Bullet had been attacked by a Hawk, was it not unsurprising that she (or he) would want to be faster and tougher? They were all getting what they wanted. They were all becoming what they wanted to become. What was Chemical X? Where did it come from? Blossom still couldn't answer those questions, but at least she knew: What does Chemical X do?
What is its purpose?
"What is its purpose?" She wondered out loud. "Of course... that ties into where it comes from. Was it created? Found?"
She wanted to just ask the Professor. He would, she knew, have the answers. Yet she also knew he wasn't ready to tell her everything. She'd been able to squeeze some information from Miss Bellum, who seemed more sympathetic to telling them what was going on, but their father was being unusually tight lipped. It was, no doubt, something he'd "tell you when you're older."
But Blossom needed to know NOW.
Then there was the matter of those Things. They weren't monsters, she was sure of it. Not monsters as she knew them, from Monster Island... they acted differently, and Brick treated them differently. Plus, they had this 'Living Core' vulnerability, which Blossom had never even heard of before.
Antidote X.
One of them, the huge spider creature with seven legs... its blood had not only been a highly corrosive acid, but also had Antidote X in it. But why would it have Antidote X in its blood? Brick had mentioned that Antidote X was little different, structurally, from Chemical X, except in its pH. Of course, he could have been lying and said that as misinformation, but Brick always mixed some truth in his lies. Always.
Which meant he was likely telling the truth about them being similar, structurally.
"Thought and Willpower - raw Sentience given form. 'I think therefore I am.'"
Was Antidote X then non-thought? Some sort of negation, or maybe, more along the lines of a refutation. Yes: an argument, and a counterargument, equal but opposite, and thus canceling each other out. One was positive, towards change, and the other negative, towards stability.
She was so close to an answer, she could taste it.
What was Chemical X?
That was the key.
What was Chemical X? What part did it play in these things that were attacking and destroying the world? What was Brick's motivation - he had to have a hand in what was going on. He knew far too much to not to.
"Ah, my little muse..." Brick's left hand rested on her own. "My Mneme. There are only two more tests... two more... Our kind is so close to our destiny..."
"I still don't understand..."
"Nor do I wish you to."
"Curse you, Brick." Blossom ran a hand through her hair. Her head hurt from it all. Then, even aside from that, there was what she had seen of Bubbles the night before. Her normally harmless sister, somehow knocking Butch out, acting totally unlike herself, and then doing... something... to Boomer's stasis rejuvenation chamber or whatever the Professor called it.
Then there was the situation outside, of which she knew next to nothing...
"No, no no... Hal Jordan was the one and only Green Lantern..." Butch was smiling as he walked out of the Training Hall with Buttercup, already into some conversation only the green Powerpuff would care about.
"Butch!" Blossom called out, catching them before they got into the main part of the Professor's Lab. "Do you remember anything odd happening last night?"
"Not... not that I recall." Butch's face darkened a shade. No doubt because Boomer still hadn't woken up yet. Blossom just narrowed her eyes. It was bad enough having to deal with problems from the outside, now this... this was the last thing she needed.
Miles away, the clarion call of trumpets broke through the silence of the ruined city below. The heraldic music ushered the End. Innumerable faces, dirty and desperate, gripped by animal instincts, looked to the heavens, and as the clouds high above parted, a silhouette descended. Some wept. Others ran.
None escaped it.
(To be continued... in 'Gauntlet: Advent')
