Part 12: Final Massacre
"Oh my..." Jerry muttered after listening to Clover's story of what He had been doing with her. It seemed that his manipulation knew no boundaries; he was intent on driving them as mad as possible, so long as he knew exactly where they were. Now Alex was out there somewhere, alone, and on a mission to kill as many of 'His followers' as she possibly could.
"We have to help the poor girl." Alice stated wisely, nodding her head.
"Don't we have more important things to worry about?" Crimson asked. "Like finding a way to destroy Him now that we've thrown away the one chance we might possibly have had." She shot Clover a dark glance. Clover had been told what had happened, what their options had been. Truthfully, she would rather have died, but it was too late to let her opinion be known now.
"You all can keep looking for a way to defeat Him. I'm going to look for Alex with or without you. It's totally my fault she's doing this." Clover's statement left no room for argument.
"We only have one WOOHP jet, and it's out of fuel. What, are you going to take a cab all across the country looking for her? She could be anywhere by now." Crimson shot back.
"Perhaps we have something else that could be of assistance... if it's still intact." Professor Utonium stated thoughtfully. Everyone turned to stare at him, but he just smiled and gestured for them to follow him down the street away from the small settlement. They wound their way down the small road until they came to a rather conspicuous hole in the ground amid the rubble. It was all that was left of the Professor's house after Him had sunk it to keep him from getting to the Antidote-X.
"What, are we going to dig out the Antidote-X? It could be at the center of the Earth." Clover pointed out.
"No, not that. Something separate from my lab." The Professor walked around the hole to the backyard. The others followed, watching him stomp on the ground as he marched through the backyard in a manner that made him look loonier than any toon.
"Um... Professor... what are you looking for?" Alice asked confusedly, watching him stomp around the yard. Finally the Professor came to a stop on one patch of grass and knelt down. His fingers dug into the soft ground, hurling it aside as he dug through the ground. "Here, I'll help!" Alice trudged up to the hole, slowed somewhat by the bulge in her stomach. She knelt to help him dig.
Soon they uncovered a small control panel set into a steel plate. Jerry, Crimson, and Clover finally took interest and walked up to them, looking down at it. The Professor smiled and looked up at them. "This houses the most powerful machine ever built by mankind."
"If it's so powerful, why haven't we been using it this whole time?" Clover knelt down beside him, staring down at the control panel.
"For one thing, the Powerpuff Girls and Rowdyruff Boys combined are still stronger than it is. But also because its targeting systems are as effective as a blind toddler. You could destroy the planet before you ever scratch your opponent." The Professor opened up the control panel. "But it's fast, and solar powered. It should move you about fast enough to find your friend."
"Wow, thanks..." Clover smiled slightly. She would be able to find Alex in a flash with this thing, if it was half of what Professor Utonium said it was. The Professor's fingers flew across the control panel, tapping buttons seemingly at random until the ground start quaking beneath their feet.
Professor Utonium pulled Alice back as a large section of Earth in front of them split open. A massive form lifted out of the hole, shining red as the crimson sun shone off its highly polished chrome exterior. Everyone stared up in astonishment as what looked like a thirty foot tall Powerpuff Girl loomed over them, with a malevolent grin forever plastered on its face.
"This is the Powerpuff DyNaMo." The Professor beamed proudly up at the massive machine. "It should get you anywhere you want to go." The Professor approached the machine's leg and pulled off a set of key. With the click of a button the machine got down on all fours, resting its head on the ground while its head opened to reveal the cockpit.
"I'll take it!" Clover exclaimed, leaping into the cockpit.
"Wouldn't this thing be better put to use on the battlefield in a plan against Him?" Crimson asked.
"Oh you shut up!" Alice shouted, catching her redheaded friend off guard. "I'm getting tired of listening to you always want to take the low road! Just do as you're told and shut the Hell up!" Crimson blinked in surprise, then rolled her eyes and put her hands on her hips.
"You're lucky I know you're pregnant." Crimson stated. Clover smirked and gripped the controls, closing the cockpit and pulling the DyNaMo up to its feet again.
"You guys fight, I'm going for Alex." Clover stated, knowing her voice would be amplified outside the massive machine.
"Good luck." The Professor waved up at her as she found the thrusters and turned them on. The machine rose into the air, turning to streak across the sky like a silver bullet. Alex had been somewhere outside New Jersey when Clover had last seen her several hours ago. She should still be around there somewhere.
"Huh?" Suddenly an alarm went off and a picture of a radar screen came up in front of her. She could see six blips all heading toward the center. Damnit... she should have known they would come after her. The Professor had said this thing was really strong, and was big enough to be spotted for miles around. Oh well, Clover thought. She would get to see if it lived up to the hype.
Crimson marched into the small tent where Jerry was busy writing in a small journal at a wooden desk he'd found amid the rubble of Townsville. Crimson marched up to him and slammed her palm against the desk, demanding his attention. "What are we doing here Jerry!? We don't have time to be sitting around like a bunch of sloths!"
"Calm down, Crimson." Jerry replied softly.
"Calm down!? We just let Clover fly off with the best weapon we have left! What are we doing Jerry!?" Crimson yelled angrily.
"We're calming down, and waiting." Jerry replied softly, staring into Crimson's eyes. Crimson stared back, her eyes narrowing dangerously when she finally read the message in his quiet, defeated stare.
"We're just waiting to die..." Crimson said softly, pushing herself up to her full height. "You're not even going to try to fight anymore..."
"We've exhausted ourselves, and our options." Jerry told her softly, looking down at the small journal in front of him. "He won't leave us alone anymore, and he knows where we are. If we try to move he'll find us... and he knows we're a threat. We will be attacked, and we will be killed." Jerry smiled softly, looking up at her. "There's nothing we can do now."
"Bullshit." Crimson spat, slamming her fist on the table. "I'm not going to curl up and die here Jerry! We need to keep fighting!"
"You're free to leave Crimson, but I don't know if it will make any different." Jerry told her.
"Fine... you stay here if you want. I'm not giving up. I'm not going to curl up and watch those things come for me." Crimson whirled away from him, stalking to the exit. She stopped and looked back at Jerry once she was outside. "Goodbye Jerry... I hope you'll wise up and save yourselves." With one more glance she left, leaving her old boss and father-figure behind.
Sam leaned back in her seat as her and Mandy continued on the long road 'east', refreshed from their comforting pit stop in Nevada. The road was long and empty, but their hearts operated with renewed vigor. They bobbed their heads to the music that blasted from the stereo. Even the crimson sun couldn't get their spirits down now.
Mandy looked up slowly, seeing something outlined against the sky. "What the Hell is that?" She pulled her sunglasses down to get a better look. Sam looked up. Something was heading straight for them out of the north, flanked by what looked like tiny black specks.
"Holy shit!" Sam yanked the wheel to the side, sending them plunging off-road as the massive machine slammed into the street, tearing up the pavement as it skidded along. The shadows continued to pummel it from all sides, but it swatted at them irritably, sending them flying away from it. It lurched to its feet, but the shadows gathered behind it again.
A massive black energy beam burned into the machine's back, sending it stumbling forward to the ground. Sam and Mandy screamed as the massive head came barreling toward them, but it caught itself just before the two women were crushed. It paused, those big yellow eyes staring down at them.
"Sammy? Mandy?" An amplified but familiar voice echoed from the machine. Sam blinked, hardly believing her ears.
"C... Clover!?" Sam shouted. The top of the machine's heads opened, revealing Clover sitting amid an entire circle of controls.
"Get in, fast!" Clover shouted. Sam and Mandy lurched into the machine before the head closed again and it rose to its feet. Another series of quick impacts rocked the machine back and forth as if it was caught in a hurricane. The shadows outside seemed eager to bust it open like a tin can.
"Clover, what is this thing? Where have you been? What's been happening?" Questions tumbled from Sam's mouth as she looked around at the extremely impressive machinery.
"Reminisce later, fight now. Both of you, take some controls." Clover slid her seat to one side as Sam and Mandy each took one of the other seats.
"How do you work this thing?" Mandy asked confusedly, staring down at the hundred different controls just in her section of the cockpit.
"Push buttons and figure it out as we go." Clover replied. The machine took to the sky again in a silver streak. The shadows followed behind them, once again gathering together for a massive energy blast that knocked them off course. They righted themselves and resumed course, but the pounding they were taking finally made the systems start going haywire.
"Okay. That's it." Clover muttered angrily. The machine whirled in the air, lashing out with one broad backswing. It knocked four of the six shadows back through the air, but the remaining two slammed into its chin, coming close to knocking the head clean off. The machine floated back, hurtling toward the ground as it was tipped off balance.
"AAAAGH! DO SOMETHING!" Mandy screamed, clinging to the control panel desperately.
"Shut up!" Clover screamed back. The machine flipped in the air, landing on its feet with a heavy thud that jarred all of its occupants pretty badly. They all had to climb back into their seats, but by the time they succeeded they were already being hammered to the ground by the shadows again. The machine slammed into the ground hard, sending up a thick plume of dust and smoke.
"Clover. Don't take this personally. But your fighting robot here sucks." Sam quipped.
"That's why we're not fighting anymore." Clover replied. "We're going for Alex." The machine lurched to its feet and took off in a sprint down the road they'd landed on. It ran as fast as it could, and for a moment it looked like they'd lost their pursuers in the cloud of dust and smoke. But suddenly they streaked out of the cloud, holding hands like a string of cutout paper dolls as they came up on the robot.
"Watch it!" Sam shouted too late. The string slammed into the robot's neck, cutting straight through it like a guillotine. The body plunged to the ground while the head rolled down the body, shaking up the three trapped teenagers until they slammed into the street. Mandy, Clover, and Sam found themselves on the roof of the cockpit, staring out at the shadows as they hovered close.
Clover slapped her hands over Sam and Mandy's mouths, watching with bated breath as the shadows hovered down toward the severed head. They seemed to examine it for a few moments, then they turned to streak away from the downed robot. Clover sighed in relief and pushed herself up to her hands and knees. "That was really close..."
"Clover!" Sam threw herself into her friend's arms, giving her a sturdy hug with a smile on her face. They were allowed to catch up now that the immediate danger had passed. "God I was afraid you were dead or something... I'm so sorry I abandoned you like I did..." Pulling back again and getting a good look, Sam was surprised to see that Clover hadn't changed a bit, where she and Mandy had definitely lost a bit of muscle mass from malnourishment.
"Hey, old news." Clover smiled slightly, but it didn't seem very genuine. "Honestly, after all this, I wish I went with you."
"What do you mean? What's been happening?" Sam asked curiously. Clover waved the question aside nervously, then looked over at Mandy. She seemed to be growing huffy at seeing them hug like they were.
"A better question is... what is SHE doing here?" Clover jerked her thumb back at Mandy. Mandy huffed and crossed her arms over her chest, giving Clover the glare of death from the days before He had taken over.
"That's a long story too..." Sam blushed slightly. "Let's find a way out of this head first, okay?" Clover and Mandy nodded. It felt so strange, being reunited with her best friend now. And apparently they were going to find Alex. The WOOHP spies reunited again... it seemed too good to be true in this damned age. But time would tell.
Alice watched Professor Utonium sit in one of the small chairs in his tent while she stood at the entrance. At this point, it was only a matter of time before the shadows returned to wipe out the little resistance they'd gathered here. Perhaps that was why they'd sent Clover away in the DyNaMo. If she had remained here, she would have been attacked too. As it was maybe she could get away.
"Are we finished here Professor?" Alice asked softly. Professor Utonium looked over at her from his contemplation. "Have we done everything we could? Was it all just not enough?" She asked. Professor Utonium stared at her, then sighed and walked up to her.
"Quite simply, yes." He told her softly. "He has all six of the boys and girls under his power... we can't stop them, and there are no weapons powerful enough to take Him out." Alice closed her eyes and nodded, accepting the inevitable.
"I thought so..." She looked away from him, staring out across the small settlement outside of Townsville. The small sea of children were gathered around the few remaining adults. Her hands slid to her abdomen as she realized her own child would be among them in a few months, if she lived that long.
She felt his arms slide around her shoulders, pulling her into a strong, comforting hug from behind. Alice leaned against him, putting her hands over his on her chest. Looking up, they could see six shadows approaching through the sky. They moved slowly, as if they knew they prey couldn't escape no matter what they did. And they were right.
"Don't worry... close your eyes..." He whispered softly in her ear. Alice nodded and closed her eyes, letting the rhythm of his breath press into her back. She could hear the initial screams of fear and terror, all high-pitched children's cries, but his fingers brushing over her cheeks helped relax her even as she could hear the final piece of sanity in the world crumble to dust.
Explosions, screams, sickening thuds, none of it registered anymore as she let the Professor's embrace carry her away from it all. To a world where she sat on the lush green grass, holding her newborn child close to her chest. She could feel its breath on her cheek... she could see its emerald green eyes staring up into hers as it cooed and laughed without a care in the world.
She could feel the Professor holding onto her from behind, sitting with her in the glade. The wind washed over them both, carrying her child's laughter far away toward places that perhaps had never heard it before. She could feel her child's heart... right up until, suddenly, she could feel nothing at all.
Clover took a deep breath when they finally emerged from the confines of DyNaMo's severed head. It had taken them several hours to pry the damn thing open so that they could clamber to the streets. They were all sweating under the heat of the crimson sun, but Clover more than the others since she was still wearing her red WOOHP jumpsuit. It was made even worse by the fact that she hadn't showered in a little over a month.
"Well, that giant robot didn't last very long at all did it?" Mandy quipped as she plopped down on the road, panting from their exertions. "Guess they just don't make 'em like they used to."
Sam smiled and looked over at Clover, who was standing by the side of the road, looking around. "So Clover, you said something about finding Alex out here. Do you know where she is?" She asked. Clover didn't respond, staring out across the open plains they'd landed in the middle of. "Clover?"
"She is out here somewhere..." Clover replied softly. "But I have no clue where we are, let alone where she is." She reached into her belt and pulled out a compowder. "Jerry gave me another one before I left." She explained as she flipped it open. She blinked when she saw nothing but static reflected in her screen. "Jerry, come on. Pick up."
"Maybe he can't..." Sam said softly. Clover tapped her screen a few more times before slowly sliding the compowder back into her belt. She looked over at Sam, who was leaning against the DyNaMo's head. "You know... this thing's power systems don't seem to be in the head... if... if we can attach different controls to the body..."
"And then do what with it?" Clover snapped more sharply than she'd intended. "They whipped it when it was in top shape! There's nothing we could do with it!" She growled and closed her eyes tightly. "God I wish that stupid red sun would go the fuck AWAY!" She screamed to the sky, clenching her fists tightly at her sides.
"Oh shut up Clover!" Mandy snapped. "I WAS in a good mood before you had to drop in and remind us how hopeless everything is! Me and Sam were happy!"
"You were happy because you're an idiot!" Clover snapped back. Mandy shoved herself to her feet and stormed up to face Clover.
"You're the idiot, dwelling on the hopeless instead of moving on with life!" Mandy screamed. They looked like they were about to come to blows, but Sam was too distracted to break it up.
Sam stared up at the shining crimson ball that perpetually hung in the sky now. She quirked one eyebrow, staring up at it. "The sun..." She muttered softly. Clover and Mandy both looked over at her in surprise, but she didn't notice, still staring at the sun. "Since He took everything over, the sun has been changing..."
"Uh, no shit Sammy, did you just figure that out?" Clover snapped.
"Don't talk to Sammykins that way!" Mandy shouted.
"Back off!" Clover screamed. Finally Sam moved between them, pushing them away from each other.
"Don't you see? As his power grew the sun changed. His powers must be linked to it somehow. If we can cut that off, maybe it'll be enough to take Him down." Sam told them. Clover and Mandy both stared at her incredulously.
"You're suggesting we destroy the sun?" Mandy asked. "Wouldn't that, you know, destroy everything else in the solar system!?"
"Not destroy it, cut Him off from it. Maybe weaken him. Perhaps if we can weaken the power he gets from it, he'll lose his control over the 'boys and 'girls." Sam told them logically.
"Let's say we thought this was a halfway plausible idea..." Clover said. "How do we do that? We don't have a space shuttle handy, or the power to pull it off if we did." She pointed out.
"Yeah, we'd might as well try to drain the magma out of the Earth's core." Mandy agreed with Clover for perhaps the first time in their lives. Sam grabbed both of their heads and turned them toward the beheaded DyNaMo. They blinked as they finally realized it could be done, if it were possible for them to fix the thing. It could take a long time... but as if it mattered how long they took. Anything was worth a try.
"The first order of business in getting this thing repaired is supplies. Two of us should head into the nearest town we can find and raid any supply and electronic stores we can fine. We're going to need materials and wiring to make this thing space worthy and controllable." Sam was all business when she pulled away from the other two girls, looking back at them.
"I'll head into town with you Sammy. Clover can stay with this... thing." Mandy smirked, giving Clover a sidelong glare. It almost warmed Sam's heart to see the two high-school rivals at each other's throats again. It seemed like the only thing from the 'old world' that hadn't changed.
"Wait, why should I stay with the DyNaMo? Why can't Mandy stay with it?" Clover complained.
"Because you're a better fighter than she is." Sam reminded her. "If anyone tries to steal any of the robot's pieces, you could fight them off. She couldn't. Besides, it's YOUR robot." Clover growled and turned away from them in a huff.
"Fine, I'll stay behind and guard the junk pile while you two run off to find whatever we need to get this thing up and running again." Clover gave up. "But if you're not back in two days I'm coming after you."
"Fine. Do you have anything to eat or drink as long as you're out here?" Sam asked.
"I have some canteens and cans in the head over there. I can hold out." Clover replied.
"Good. We'll grab food while we're gone. Come on Mandy." Sam gestured for Mandy to follow her as she started walking along the road to the east. Mandy rushed after her, wrapping one of her arms around Sam's as they walked, almost taunting Clover to challenge her on it. Clover growled and walked back to the DyNaMo's head, leaning against it and staring up at the blood red sun overhead. She couldn't help but wonder where Alex was, but if they could put a stop to Him, she could find Alex when the danger was past.
Alex had the gas pedal floored, flying down the highway in her Ford convertible. She had a blank stare in her eyes, after several days of traveling alone, she'd managed to stop several of His followers in their plans. The car and her clothes were covered in dried blood, along with the two-foot long dagger she'd picked up at a specialty store along the way.
She remembered Clover's last words... she remembered her last request before she, too, had left Alex alone. Kill them all... they were all following Him. They all had to be stopped if she ever wanted to see her friends again... if she ever wanted to hold someone again.
She slammed her foot on the brakes, staring out across the plains she'd been driving across. She could see a shining silver mound in the distance, reflecting the sun's red rays. Maybe there were people there... more of His minions, doing his bidding. She would have to find out... and stop whatever they were planning...
TO BE CONTINUED