Author's note: Hey, glad you like it! And I won't say if Agent Blue is Bubbles or not, you'll just have to wait and see. ;-)

Also, if you would be interested, I could add a timeline as an appendix, showing the history of this world.

Powerpuff Girls: Shattered Reality

Chapter 2

February 20, 2001 AD

London, 'United' Kingdom of Greater Britain

A small figure floated down a deserted street in the once-mighty city. Her black cloak fluttering, she pulled back the hood and took in the view.

London was a devastated wreck. The rebels had torn the city apart when they swept through the day before. Her emerald eyes flashed as she turned a corner and saw the famous clock tower in flames.

"Those Irish bastards." She fumed. "Britain could be helping us now if it wasn't for you." The Irish uprising had begun barely two years earlier, when the large island of Eire to the west of England had revolted. The Irish Army had invaded England in December of 2000, and had by now taken the southernmost portion of the country.

She floated faster towards the ruins of the Parliament building. Her hypersensitive hearing was picking up the heartbeat of somebody buried in the rubble. Zipping over, she focused her inner abilities and fired high-intensity laser beams from her eyes into the debris.

When the smoke and dust cleared, a brown-haired man, wearing what used to be a formal suit and lying on his stomach, lifted his head and coughed. He looked up at his rescuer and smiled. "Thank you." He managed to say before another dust-caused coughing fit shook his body.

The emerald-eyed girl picked the man up and slung him on her shoulder. "Don't worry, Prime Minister Cooper. I'll get ya out of here."

With that, she took off into the sky, leaving a very faint green trail against the dark smoky sky.

March 15, 2001 AD

25th Russian Army, Vladivostok Province, Russo-Chinese Border

Russian General Vladimir Ivanovich Alekseyev stared across the border with China.  Undoubtedly, his counterpart in the Chinese Army was staring right back. General Alekseyev stood with his upper body out the top of his top-of-the-line T-100 tank, the leader of this entire division.

He reflected on the irony. Eight years ago, he would have been overjoyed to be crushing the American army on its own soil. But times had changed. With the fall of the Soviet Union, China stood as the last Communist nation on Earth. And they were doing the impossible. They were beating the United States military.

Alekseyev chuckled at the irony. A slight whistling sound swept by his ear and he raised his hand to shoo the bug away. 'Wait a second . . .' his mind raced. 'That sounded like a . . ." The general dived back into his tank, yanking the hatch shut behind him, just in time to deflect the second sniper bullet. Grabbing the radio from his surprised driver, he screamed into it.

"All groups, red alert! There is a sniper in the area!"

The commander of the second tank in his squadron was not as lucky as his general. Looking back through his periscope, he saw his second-in-command's head explode into a fountain of red. Alekseyev felt his stomach clench at the bloody death of his friend, but his warrior training squelched it. There would be time for mourning later, he told himself.

It was when he turned the periscope forward that he realized how long it would be until that 'later'. At least 3 divisions of Chinese tanks were rolling over the border in a sweeping tide. Having studied Chinese doctrine, Alekseyev knew that close to 8 more divisions would follow. China was banking everything on this war, hoping to destroy both the United States and the Russian Federation.

"Crazy bastards," the general said under his breath. "All tanks, prepare to engage!" he ordered to his army.

Just past a small river in southeastern Russia, the two largest armies on Earth smashed head-on into each other.

The World War grew larger . . .

(Excerpt from Encyclopedia Germanica, 2032 Edition)

(There has been considerable dispute among historians on the number of World Wars. Quite obviously, the wars of 1914-1918 and 2001-2003 were global, but the greatest dispute occurs over the war of 1939, as many historians cannot even agree whether it ended in 1940 when the British government sued for peace or after the Balkans collapsed to Germany in 1941 . . .)

April 5, 2001 AD

Denver Defense Line, Colorado, United States of America

The relentless advance of the Chinese Army had rolled over the meager defenses in Oregon, even with the Russians entering the war. The city of Denver posed the main checkpoint for the Chinese, as the city was well defended by the Rocky Mountains around it and the massive fortress the Americans were putting together. If China managed to crack Denver, they could swoop down onto the wide, flat Great Plains, where almost nothing could stop them.

Lieutenant Colonel Andrew O'Brien ducked into his trench as the concussive blast from Chinese artillery shells burst over him. "How the Hell did they get that artillery up here, anyway?" he shouted at his trench mate, Private Michael Dassel. "Damned if I know!" was the reply. "What do they think they are, supermen?"

O'Brien smiled, despite the hellish roar. When the blasts faded away, he raised his head and looked around. No troops were incoming, Chinese or American. But the light was gone. 'The light's gone?' he thought, confused.

Instinctively, O'Brien looked up. Several of the Chinese shells had exploded far above the trenches. O'Brien had chalked it up to bad guidance, but that hadn't fit right. The rest of their advance had been flawless, why would there be a problem now . . .?

O'Brien's blood ran cold as he saw a spreading black stain on the sky. He shook, despite his training, and nearly panicked. His grandfather had told him about this stuff, used back when the Jerries were the enemy.

Gas.

O'Brien ran for a special control button and smashed the glass, tripping the switch. Air raid sirens blared all over the defenseless city as the black cloud settled down over it. He ran for the gas masks, but the black gas was already burning his eyes, he was breathing it in with each inhalation, he was almost to the masks . . .

As he grabbed a mask and shoved it over his face, O'Brien's eyes watered up. "Those bastard sons of bitches . . ." were his words as he fell unconscious.