Part 7: Battle of Area 51

Alice poured the teapot into the small mug she'd found in the cold and hard kitchen in the WOOHP science lab. It had been a few days, and Jerry had yet to emerge from what he'd claimed the first day as his new office. Presumably he was searching for any sign of their enemy, or a way to defeat Him and restore order to the world. Wow... even as just a thought that sounded like a nearly impossible feat.

Crimson had spent her time in the shooting range, testing out the various weapons that the military and WOOHP soldiers had left behind. They had enough weapons to supply an entire army, but against their enemy all the guns in the world wouldn't make a bit of difference. Against roving packs of bloodthirsty gangs however, they would do just nicely.

Alice left the kitchen and made her way into the main central chamber, where Professor Utonium had spent the last few days tinkering with just about every piece of equipment in the lab. He looked like he was simply messing around, but during his short five minute breaks he insisted he was actually trying to make something to help them.

Alice walked up to him and held out the mug of coffee. "Thought you could use something." She said. It was almost one in the morning, and he'd barely slept the last few days.

"Oh, thank you." The Professor took the mug from her and took a sip. He was sitting on the floor, staring down at a small metal ball with wires coming out of it. "I just can't figure this stuff out..." He sighed, setting his mug on the table above him. "Maybe if I can get this casing open I can figure out what it's supposed to do..."

"Um... WOOHP makes weapons and stuff, be careful that thing doesn't explode in your face." Alice reminded him.

"It's a ball, why would it explode?" The Professor tapped one finger on the ball's casing. It detonated suddenly, but only sent a puff of black smoke hurtling outward. Alice and Professor Utonium sneezed uncontrollably until finally the smoke filtered out through the air conditioning.

"A pepper bomb?" Alice sneezed. "No wonder this thing never went into full production..." She smirked.

"Ugh... perhaps I should work on something else for a while..." The Professor sneezed and pushed himself up to his feet. Alice stared up at him, once again taking in his rather considerable height. He grabbed his mug and walked toward the other side of the room, with Alice following him. "How far along are you?"

Alice blinked, then looked down at the bulge in her stomach. "Three months." She brought up her hands to stroke the child nestled within her. "I was supposed to marry the father... God, two weeks ago today... it feels like much longer."

"I'm sorry to hear that." The Professor told her genuinely.

"How about you? Have a wife? Children?"

"No, never been married." The Professor waved off that prospect with one hand. He then sighed and shook his head. "But I have three daughters..." He trailed off, and Alice didn't want to press the issue. Professor Utonium stopped at another desk with equipment on it, staring down at it.

"Are you okay Professor?" Alice walked up behind him and put a hand on his shoulder, leaning around him to look at his face. He looked over at her with a sad smile.

"I'll be fine... I just wish I knew where they were." He sighed and shook his head again, his shoulders slumping slightly under her touch. She wished she could tell him they would find his daughters... but that seemed about as likely as finding her fiancé. She might never see him again... but she refused to let that get to her. There were more important things than mourning right now... but that didn't stop it from hurting.

Alex blinked in surprise, staring out over a pleasant glade of lush green grass and white flowers. Where was she? The last thing she remembered she was still lying on the raft in the middle of the ocean. "Hey, over here!" Alex's breath caught in her throat when she heard a blissfully familiar voice behind her. She turned slowly, to see Clover standing behind her with her old confident smirk and her red WOOHP jumpsuit.

"Clover!" Alex shouted happily, charging toward her and tackling her to the ground with a tight bearhug. "Thank God! I was starting to think I would be alone out there forever!" She then stopped and blinked. "But... how did I get here?"

"How do you think?" Clover asked from the grass.

"I don't know... did He finally let me die? Does that mean you're dead too?" Alex frowned. She didn't want Clover to be dead.

"No, and no." Clover replied.

"Hmm... then... did my mind finally snap like a brittle twig, plunging me into an insanity powered delusion?" Alex asked.

"Maaaybe..." Clover replied.

"Yay!" Alex exclaimed, wrapping her arms around Clover again. "That means I don't have to sit and listen to those stupid waves anymore!" She laughed happily, squeezing Clover tightly. "I don't care if you're a figment of my imagination, I've really missed you Clover!"

"Hey, I know, I've missed you too." Clover hugged her back, letting Alex rest her cheek on her shoulder. "But I'm here now and you don't have to worry about being alone anymore."

"Yeah... that's right. I'm not alone anymore!" Alex grinned happily, holding onto her best friend in the world. "I'm not alone with you here." She snuggled up against her, eager to feel the warmth of human contact again. "Please don't go anywhere Clover."

"Not a chance." Clover replied, stroking her back comfortingly. "I'm staying right here with you, no matter what happens." Alex smiled, burying her face in Clover's shoulder. "Don't worry Alex, you'll never be alone again..." Clover's hands massaged her back slowly. Alex smiled, her touch was the most wonderful thing she'd ever felt in her life.

Unlike the collision that jarred her out of her dream state. Her eyes jerked open and she tried to look around, but all she could see was the walls of the raft and the open sky ahead. Finally she turned her gaze upward and saw a wooden pole connected to a wooden walkway... she'd collided with a pier. But the raft was already starting to float away again.

Alex's joints popped and creaked in protest as she moved to the edge of the boat, grabbing hold of the pole. It took a monumental effort just to keep the raft from floating away, but she gritted her teeth and pulled herself in, wrapping both arms around it. Carefully she pushed herself to her feet, ignoring the pain and pops from every join in her legs, and the screaming of her muscles.

She reached up and grabbed the side of the dock. All she had to do was pull herself up, and her water voyage would be over. But she knew she didn't have the strength for even that. "Clover!" Alex would have yelled if her voice worked properly, but instead it came out as a slight whisper. "Clover help me..." She begged.

Her eyes lit up when she saw Clover approach on the dock, grinning down at her confidently. "Don't worry about this Alex, I'll help you get up." Clover knelt down and put her hands on Alex's biceps. Alex pulled as hard as she could to help. Her arms screamed in protest and her joints felt like they would fall apart at any moment, but still she pulled with all her might.

Finally she rolled onto the wooden dock, letting the inflatable raft below drift back out into the open ocean. She was finally free... she tried to push herself up, but her shivering limbs wouldn't cooperate. Finally Clover put her hands on Alex's shoulders, and she climbed to her bone-thin legs. They shook and threatened to collapse with every step, but Alex made her way up the dock to the grassy land itself.

"You're doing great Alex... we'll get you your strength back, and then we'll go find Sammy, and be friends like we've always been." Clover told her. Alex smiled as she reached the end of the dock, looking around. She could see a heavy-duty truck parked nearby, packed with supplies... including food and water.

Well beyond a growling stomach, Alex was drawn to the rations like a gnat to a bug zapper. She stumbled up to the truck and leaned against the back, reaching over to grab one of the water bottles. She fumbled with the crap, trying to twist it off until finally Clover put her hand on top of hers, helping steady her hand while she twisted. She threw her head back and poured the bottle into her mouth, letting the soothing cool liquid flow down her throat.

She gagged and coughed, throwing up half the water she'd just drunk. "Careful Alex. Slowly..." Clover moved up behind her, wrapping her arms around her to put her hands on Alex's. Alex brought her hand back up, sipping more slowly at the water. "That's it... not too much now." Alex lowered the water, leaning against the side of the truck.

"Hey!" A voice with a thick Irish accent shouted suddenly. "What d'ya think yer doin' over there?" Alex looked over to see a moderately sized woman with a fairly pretty, if angry, face marching toward her. "Get away from my food ye vulture! I found it all meself!" Alex opened her mouth to speak, her eyes drooping.

"I'm... sorry..." Alex whispered before collapsing to the grass, plunging into darkness.

"I guess I knew I would be a scientist when I saw three little mutants staring down at me as a kid..." The Professor grumbled as his fingers fumbled with another one of the myriad of gadgets scattered around the base. Alice was sitting in a chair beside him, resting her head on her hands and listening with mild interest. "Which turned out to be my girls... but that's a different story."

"Sounds like your life's been almost as exciting as mine." Alice said, genuinely meaning it. "Worst thing that ever happened to me was being captured by Edison... I lost a huge chunk of my life to that lunatic." She scowled at the memory. "I only woke up when Sam, Alex, and Clover managed to get those mind-control things off of us... everything before that is still a blur. As if I really WANT to remember."

"We have to remember our experiences, even the negative ones. Otherwise, we would never become what we are."

"I suppose." Alice sighed. "I just wish the bad parts weren't necessary, you know? Like all this. The world is in chaos, and my fianc's probably..." She stopped suddenly, not wanting to make it true by saying.

"Until we know for sure, why assume anything? We're alive, and so are thousands of others. He could be too." The Professor told her. His tone was one of a simple fact being stated instead of a friend comforting a friend. Still, she knew he was right. It was foolish to work herself up by jumping to conclusions. Almost as foolish as hoping that he was still alive.

Suddenly the lights in the room started blinking red. A silent alarm... something was happening aboveground. "Come on, something's going on!" Alice and the Professor ran for the elevator, meeting Jerry there. "Jerry? You didn't pull the alarm?"

"No, it wasn't me." Jerry replied. Crimson pulled it? This had to be bad if she was calling for help, she normally tried to handle things on her own.

They reached the top of the elevator and emerged into the desert sun that shone down on the top-secret lab. Crimson was standing in front of the main gates into the complex, holding a very powerful assault rifle in her hands. "Crimson, what's going on?"

"We have company." Crimson replied, not looking back. The others walked up beside her. Alice gasped when she saw a fairly large group heading in their direction down the side of one of the mountains beside the base. Most of them were wearing aluminum foil hats and bearing some rather heavy firepower for a bunch of UFO hunting psychos.

"A bunch of whack-jobs are coming to find the aliens." Crimson smirked and gave Jerry a sidelong glance. "Great cover Jerry, your fake alien cover-up is attracting people instead of repelling them."

"It worked fine when there were people to guard the base." Jerry replied defensively.

"So now it's three against an entire band." Crimson stated.

"Hey, what about the Professor?" Alice asked. Crimson looked back at the tall, but somewhat lanky professor and scoffed.

"Like I said, three against an entire band." She looked back at the group, gripping her rifle in both hands. "We'll just have to mow them all down."

"If I may make a suggestion, as the senior officer here." Jerry interjected. Crimson looked back at him with an apologetic gaze. "We don't know how violent they will be, but even if they want a fight, there are easier ways to fight back than with guns blazing."

"So what DO we do?" Alice asked.

"For now, prepare." Jerry replied simply.

Sam groaned and opened her eyes slowly. She could feel her body immersed in water up to her chest. The bandaged wound on her shoulder was just above the bathwater, as small waves splashed up against her body. Something plunged into the water beside her, before she felt something scrubbing her arm furiously. Sam looked over to see Mandy holding a rag in one hand, trying to wash the old dried blood off of her. Mandy was already clean and still had wet hair, wearing a purple bathrobe.

"You saved me again..." Sam said softly. Mandy looked up at her face, then smiled slightly and turned back to her scrubbing.

"Yeah well, you saved me too. So I guess you only owe me for one of them." Mandy replied.

"Hey, my life was put in danger saving yours. That's worth two normal savings." Sam complained.

"If I hadn't had to save your life after you saved mine it would be, but you used one of your two savings with me saving you, so you still owe me one." Mandy pointed out.

Sam paused for a moment, then snapped the fingers of her good hand. "Damnit." Mandy chuckled and plunged the rag under the water, washing the dried blood off of it before pushing Sam up slightly to a sitting position. Her wound still ached somewhat, but it wasn't the sharp unbearable pain it had been before.

"Hey, be lucky I don't collect more favors from giving you a sponge bath. This one's a freebie." Mandy reminded her.

"Alright fine." Sam couldn't help but chuckle as Mandy ran the rag across her back, wiping the blood and accumulated grime off of her. When she finished with her back Mandy pushed her carefully down against the side of the tub again. "Stingy little w-" suddenly Mandy's hand slapped against her wound, sending a sharp wave of pain coursing through her body. "Gggkgkg..."

"Oops, sorry." Mandy grinned and patted Sam's wet hair. Sam glared at her, but didn't say anything else. Mandy took out a pair of scissors and cut off the bandages covering her wound. The rag inside was covered in blood, but no more came out when she pulled it off. Mandy heaved a sigh of relief. "I guess we got lucky."

"Lucky?" Sam asked. "You didn't actually know what you were doing?"

"Well I'm not a doctor... I just knew I had to get the bullet out, not how to do it. But don't worry, it looks like it worked." Mandy smiled. Sam stared at her in shock. Her life had been in the hands of an amateur. Even more shocking, she'd actually survived.

Sam decided not to say anything while Mandy placed a fresh, clean rag against the wound and wrapped a new set of bandages around it. "Come on." Mandy grabbed Sam's sides and helped her step out of the tub. She still felt a little wobbly from blood-loss, so Mandy wrapped a blue bathrobe around her. She slid one arm into the sleeve, but kept her wounded arm curled up against her body while Mandy tied it off in the front.

"Go wait in the living room while I fix us something to eat." Mandy told her, heading for the kitchen. Sam hobbled into the living room, looking around. Now that she wasn't inches from death, she could see that this was a pretty homey place. She'd expected something extravagant and over-the-top, but this wooden shed on the beach with the ocean waves... it almost felt like a dream.

She walked up to the window and looked out at the ocean beyond. She blinked when she saw a strange stake with words written on it sticking up out of the sand. Squinting, she could barely make out the name 'Arnold Andrews' written on it. Mandy had marched all the way back into the city to retrieve Arnold and give him a proper burial? That didn't seem like her at all... but then, she was discovering a lot of things about Mandy that she'd never known before.

"Lunch time." Mandy walked back into the living room carrying two steaming bowls of Spaghetti-O's. "It's not much of a meal, but at least this place has a working microwave." She set the bowls on the coffee table and plopped down on one of the comfy couches. Sam smiled slightly and moved to join her. This wasn't so bad, there were certainly worse lives one could have.

Alice lay on top of one of the buildings toward the back of the small bunker, with a sniper rifle sitting in front of her on a stand. She looked through the scope, watching the small band of aluminum bandits marching up the path toward the base. Crimson was on top of the building beside hers, with another sniper rifle while Jerry waiting out in the open, in the middle of the base.

The band stopped at the front gate when they saw Jerry. Most of them raised their weapons, but nobody fired. One large figure who seemed to be the leader walked forward confidently. Alice reached up and twisted a knob on the device on her ear, so she could listen to their conversation.

"Where are they? We know they're here!" The man demanded instantly.

"What ever are you talking about?" Jerry asked.

"The aliens you people kidnapped!" The burly man snapped. "As if you don't know! These aliens are wiping out our planet looking for the beings YOU'RE holding here! Give them to us so we can get them back to where they belong." Geeze, Alice though, this guy was even more cracked than the stupid foil hat made him look.

"I assure you, there are no aliens here." Jerry remained as calm as ever, despite the crazed look in his eye that Alice could even see through the sniper scope.

"Then you wouldn't mind if I took a look around, old man." The burly man huffed himself up to full size.

"That's not a good idea. I suggest you leave, there are very important operations taking place here." Jerry replied calmly.

"I knew you'd say no." One large fist reached forward to grip the front of Jerry's collar. Alice's finger twitched on the trigger, aimed straight for one of the bully's large brown eyes, but she still waited for Jerry's signal. Crimson, however, did not.

One single bullet flew across the base, plunging into the man's forehead and sending him to his back on the ground. There was a moment of stunned silence before a cry of anger erupted from the crowd at the gate. They all raised their weapons and took aim at Jerry.

Jerry stood his ground as gunfire erupted from the crowd. Sparks flashed in front of him as the bullets struck a suddenly formed blue shield. Alice and Crimson waited, with Alice shooting Crimson a dark look. Her partner looked back over at her with a shrug before resuming her position. Suddenly a hideous screech rose from the ground that make screeching nails seem like a blessing.

Even as they clutched at their ears, black gas began rising from the ground around them. The sneezing screaming mob dissipated pretty quickly, with most of them retreating away from the base. Several however rushed for Jerry, howling their righteous rage at being denied the right to return the aliens to their people.

Alice and Crimson picked off those who dared approach Jerry, who still stood calm in the middle of the battlefield. Suddenly, the battle was over. Most of the mob had retreated, and those who tried to attack lay dead on the ground. Alice sighed and stood to head down to ground level, meeting Jerry on the battlefield. Professor Utonium emerged from the elevator as well, walking up to them.

"Good job Professor, Alice." Jerry told them before turning to stare at Crimson. "Contain your excitement next time." He recommended. Crimson growled, but took the criticism with some amount of restraint since she had definitely jumped the gun. Jerry had been in no danger from the guy; he could have taken him out with a hand gesture.

"Thanks Jerry." Alice smiled.

"This whole thing has given me an idea..." The Professor said. The other three all turned toward him. "There are more ways to fight than through force. That may prove to be our key advantage against the... against His minions."

Crimson smirked. "Does that mean we finally get to go on the offensive soon?"

"Possibly. Even with effective weapons, they won't do us much good if we don't get a chance to use them. As Sam, Alex, and Clover discovered at the beginning of all this." The Professor replied.

"So we'll have to pick our time and battlefield very carefully." Jerry added. Crimson and Alice nodded, both ready to finally fight back after being run through the ringer for the last two weeks.

Memories flooded through Blossom's mind as she watched her friends, teachers, and leaders mingling in the streets. She could remember playing out front with the other children, sitting in class and watching Miss Keane write math equations on the blackboard, responding to the Mayor's calls to stop some criminals or perform stupid chores for him.

The more she looked back, the more she wondered why she put up with it all. These people were sickening manipulative little wretches. She wouldn't have been there if she didn't think they could hide her from Him. Even now she could hear them whispering to each other about how she would protect them. How they were saved because she was there.

She shook her head and floated through the small village that had been constructed in the middle of the road. Every building in the city had been completely demolished... except for Pokey Oaks Elementary. She couldn't imagine why, her sisters should have gone for it first.

"Blossom! There you are!" Blossom looked to the side to see her best friend, Robin Schnieder, charging toward her. Robin slammed into her, knocking her to the ground and hugging her like an excited puppy. "I'm so glad you're back! I was so scared those evil shadow-things got you!" She exclaimed. The Townsville citizens had no idea Buttercup and Bubbles were among those shadows... and Blossom wasn't about to spill. They might grow suspicious of her if she did.

"I'm fine Robin." Blossom pushed the girl off of her easily and floated to her feet. This reaction was kind of startling. Everyone else had been more relieved for themselves than her.

"Where have you been? What happened? Are you okay!?" A string of questions tumbled from Robin's mouth until Blossom slapped one hand over it.

"Somewhere, something, and yes." She smirked. Robin blinked, staring at her until she moved her hand.

"You're different..." She muttered worriedly. Blossom quirked one eyebrow at this. Nobody else had even begun to notice her transformation from a Powerpuff Girl to a Whoopass Girl.

"Forget about it. I'm just tired." Blossom turned to float away from her, leaving Robin behind. She had to start looking for a way to fight Him alone. Then she could leave these parasites behind and free her sisters.

TO BE CONTINUED