Author's Note: And so, the story continues…Not much to say this time around, except that this story is finally reaching the home stretch. Somehow, this story will be concluding in the future…but just exactly how is still up in the air (I wouldn't just give away the ending, now, would I? :) ) I guess the delays of my chapters (not to mention the length) has dwindled the number of readers who take a serious look at this story. But that doesn't mean I plan to execute a shoddy job. That would make my previous efforts mean nothing, after all.
If you can, please leave a few comments to let me know how I'm doing. I need to be careful not to lose my touch. :)
Chapter Seventeen
Tap…tap…tap…tap…tap…
The sound of Robin's rhythmic motion of the foot echoed in the house. Normally, her time was better spent playing with the Powerpuff girls; but no one felt like playing that afternoon. The awful tensions of the atmosphere forbid it. Instead, Robin, Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup sat at a kiddy-sized table in the kitchen, quietly nibbling on some tiny, cheese-flavored goldfish that gathered in a plastic bowl. Professor Utonium had no immediate presence, for the scientist was hard at work in the basement laboratory ensuring that the tools for resolving the crisis worked without flaw.
The usually cheery blonde broke the uneasy silence. "Blossom?"
"Yes, Bubbles?" answered the redhead.
"Why hasn't the Rowdyruff been seen yet?"
"I don't know."
More silence followed. Buttercup softly grinded a few crackers to powder. Bubbles meekly played pretend, swishing the snacks around in the air like they were actual fish in the sea. Robin continued her tapping. Blossom merely stared.
The quiet ambience collapsed again, this time because of the superheroes' playmate. "Um…is there anything to drink?"
"There should be some milk in the fridge, Robin," Blossom replied, not breaking her empty trance.
"Does anyone else want some milk?" The young friend inquired.
The trio shook their heads, though they did not bother to look at Robin face-to-face.
Moments later, Robin placed a quart of milk on the table. She popped off the cap and clumsily poured the nutritious drink into a small, transparent cup, taking every caution to avoid spilling the beverage. After setting aside the plastic container, Robin prepared to sate her thirst; but she paused when the prolonged staring of the Powerpuff girls towards her milk caught her attention.
"Is something wrong?" Robin asked, uneasy.
The superheroes did not answer at first; but Bubbles soon spoke up, sounding drained: "That milk…it's like that Rowdyruff."
Robin cocked her head. "It is?"
"So white…so cold."
The playmate backed slightly away. "Are you sure you guys are ok? I thought your dad said we'd get this guy."
"How can we 'get' him if he doesn't even bother to show up?" Buttercup said bitterly.
"He's playing games with us, trying to make us lose our game face," Blossom speculated, "But he's just wasting time. With all of us together, he'll be no match for our strength."
"But Blossom, what if he picks us off one-by-one?" Bubbles asked, obviously troubled, "I don't want that needle in me…ever."
"We stay together, we defeat him," Blossom reiterated, "And we will stay together as long as we-"
Ding-Dong!
The eyes of the children grew wide as the doorbell's chime resonated throughout the house.
"Someone's at the door," Robin whispered.
"Yeah, we kind of figured that," The brunette answered sarcastically.
"Who's going to answer the door?"
Bubbles shrunk into her chair. "Not me."
"I…I just can't," Blossom replied, slightly trembling.
Buttercup grew uneasy as the eyes of the other children fixated upon her. "Fine then, I'll open the stupid door. Cowards."
The green-clad brunette levitated out of her seat, floating through the lounge as the other girls watched nervously from a distance. Soon enough, the door leading to the suburbia and beyond was before her.
Ding-Dong!
Buttercup gritted her teeth. I'm not scared…I'm not scared…I'm not scared…
The child's left "hand," unsteady from the anxiety, grasped the doorknob firmly. Its opposing twin pulled back with its respective arm, prepping to administer significant punishment in the case that the bell-ringer proved hostile.
Ding-Dong!
Unable to wait any further, Buttercup swung open the door with a force that tore the entryway from its hinges. Truth be told, she half-expected the albino Rowdyruff to be at the door, smiling like a sadistic psycho. But it is doubtful that anyone in that house expected a surprise visit from the super-powered, female squirrel they befriended not too long ago.
Upon seeing Bullet, Buttercup dropped the door from her hold. "Girls! You won't believe who's here!"
**********
Pathie Zimbogous, hidden by his MPSD's cloaking device, watched silently from atop the branch of a nearby tree as Bullet received a warm welcome from the trio of Malukian women.
Wow! The scout thought, Those there are like…like…agh, I can't find the words…Oh, this is so unfair.
Unfair, Indeed. The Malukian male quickly realized that the immense appeal of the blonde was merely a sampling of the incredibly hot trio of vixens taking refuge on the planet. The brunette's feisty curls, the redhead's perfect smile, the blonde's innocent radiance…if there ever was a time to kneel and thank the deities for the gift of sight, now would most certainly be it. In fact, Pathie the voyeur nearly proceeded with taking pictures when he reminded himself of some important facts. One: to acquire photos of sexy Malukian women would most likely lead to very dirty things. Two: any actual hope of even knowing them was shot to death by the circumstances. And three: his fear of women due to traumatic life events would've shot his chances anyway.
I'll just have to try to repress those thoughts…well, maybe just one picture…
Moments later, a digital photo was added to his personal database.
I guess I'll always have a soft spot for that blonde. But I've digressed. I have some Estrox to extract.
After waiting patiently for the squirrel and the refugees to enter the building, Pathie floated stealthily to the exposed entrance.
Their security appears to be close to nil. Still, I must be careful.
Pathie, laying prone just inches off the floor, snuck into the awaiting room like a slithering snake. He stopped to the right of the couch in the center, peeking over its armrest towards the adjacent room in white.
Perfect.
Bullet, the Malukian girls, and what appeared to be a human child were noisily chatting away while seated at a round table. The squirrel, in particular, began to perform various acrobatics, stealing smiles from all around. Clearly, Pathie's assistant knew how to put on a show.
Slipping back behind the couch, Pathie activated his Estrox detector, though the importance of suppressing noise meant he discarded voice commands for a basic keypad. The disc's display showed the cluster of four dots he was already familiar with. However, one isolated dot revealed to have a much higher reading of Estrox energy.
That's the 46-type, no doubt. And the readings show it is on a subterranean level.
Pathie scanned his surroundings. Much to his dismay, no visible door easily revealed itself as the entryway to the lower levels. That meant the scout had no choice but to test every route. Doing so is normally not very wise, due to a Malukian's acute hearing senses; but no other course of action could be taken.
So much for being easy.
Pathie opted to try the sole door in sight, and thus began to float towards it. But before he could get in range of the operating knob, the door suddenly opened to reveal a gigantic human moving at immense speed whose feet was about to trample over the scout like a rampaging elephant.
Fudge! Pathie cursed in his mind, as he quickly rolled to the side in an attempt to elude the black, leather feet. Unfortunately, his reaction proved too slow: a foot kicked Pathie's shoulder, spiking pain in his body while causing the white giant to topple over like a plastic domino. It cried out upon impacting the floor, attracting the attention of all who were playing in the kitchen.
"Professor! Are you ok?" called the blonde, as the whole freakin' group gathered around the fallen giant, oblivious to the scout's invisible presence nearby.
Don't panic, don't panic, don't panic! Pathie mentally warned himself, as he lay still as a lifeless rock.
"Oh…I must be getting clumsy," said the giant, "I was running up the stairs and out that door when I suddenly tripped over something!"
"Hmm, that's strange. There's nothing on the floor around here," observed the redhead.
"Heh, I bet ya just tripped over your own feet," said the brunette, "At least ya didn't bash your head open."
The giant got to his feet. "You're probably right, Buttercup. Oh, hello there Bullet! Didn't know you came in!"
At last, the whole group walked (or flew) back to the kitchen, conveniently leaving the basement door open as the scout snuck down the stairway to the location of his mission objective.
**********
Back in the kitchen, the Powerpuff girls helped their aching father soothe the pain by administering a thorough, pleasant back massage as he rested upon a metal stool. Being able to hover, Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup eased the muscles on his whole back all at once, much like a vibrating chair but with the precise expertise of a professional massager. Robin and Bullet watched this technique curiously as they continued to devour the cheese-flavored goldfish crackers.
"Oooh," The professor cooed, "That feels good."
"A massage always helps after a nasty fall," Blossom stated.
"I couldn't agree more," The professor agreed enthusiastically.
As the superhero children continued their pleasurable treatment for the scientist, Robin piped in with a question, though her words were slight garbled by the crackers in her mouth. "Mr. Utonium, why were you running up the stairs?"
"I'm sorry, you said something?" asked the professor.
"Why were you running up the stairs?" Robin inquired again, this time with more amplitude.
"Say again?"
The youngster, frustrated for obvious reasons, hastily swallowed her food before shouting out her question like a shrieking banshee, thereby rushing the professor to his date with the tiled floor. The massagers once again rushed to their creator's aide, helping him back to his seat while glaring at the fellow youth. Needless to say, Robin shrunk from the embarrassment. The resident squirrel, meanwhile, shrugged and remarked on the impatience inherent in human children.
"Well, now that you have my full attention," the professor said, holding his throbbing head, "I'll tell you why I ran up the stairs. But everyone should sit down first; this will be very important. Bubbles, be sure to translate for Bullet. She should know about this as well."
Acquiring booster seats, the children sat at the adult sized table while the squirrel rested on all fours on the table itself. They listened (and Bubbles interpreted for the squirrel) as Professor Utonium spoke to them solemnly of the current issue at hand.
"As we have already learned, this…creation, this Rowdyruff, has proven to be very dangerous. It is not clear exactly what his objectives are, nor is it clear whether or not it even has a rational mind. But whether the Rowdyruff is sadistic or insane, the creation is nevertheless hostile. Hostile and formidable.
"There is no telling how truly powerful this monstrosity can become. For all we know, It can easily overwhelm thousands of superheroes, never mind three or four. Thus, the only sure way to eliminate this threat is to siphon away the source of the Rowdyruff's power until it is too weak to even harm a fly.
"Only the properties of Antidote X are capable of accomplishing such a herculean task. However successfully administrating that chemical is a colossal task within itself, for it would be near-impossible to keep the creature still to splash the chemical unto its skin. Thus, I have engineered an invention that will help to bring this crisis to a permanent end.
"This invention is quite simple. It is a fully autonomous machine with three main components: a multitude of titanium-alloy tentacles that stretch to the length of half a football field; six lenses that serve as both visual sensors and anti-X-gas laser emitters; and a spherical body housing its circuitry. It is capable of great speed and agility, due to its anti-gravity generator. It can absorb power from lasers, electricity, and the like to charge its battery. This machine is near-impossible to turn to scrap, for even if a tentacle was torn off, its cache of nano-bots would instantly rebuild it. Overall, there is no other invention out there would even approach its efficiency.
"When the Rowdyruff reveals itself, the robot will activate upon detecting the creation's genetic signature, seek out its target, and reduce that target to a weakling. If the target proves too resistive, the robot will resort to any means necessary to incapacitate the creation. One way or another, that machine will triumph.
"However, in the case that the creation reveals itself now, there is a warning that I must-"
BOOM!
The Utonium household quaked violently as a white streak of energy shot through its floors and ceiling, hotly pursued by an abomination of scientific progress whose numerous tentacles flailed wildly in the open air. All toppled to the ground, caught off-guard by the sudden destruction. However, the Powerpuff Girls quickly recovered from the stunning blast and promptly flew up, stopping just above the newly conceived hole in the house.
"Look!" Blossom exclaimed, pointing in the distance, "It's the Rowdyruff! It's being chased by the professor's robot!"
"Alright! Now we're gonna get some action!" Buttercup exclaimed, "Let's follow them!"
The brunette zoomed off in chase, prompting Blossom to follow suit. Bubbles, however, hesitated for a quick moment, before finally deciding to join her sisters in the chase.
As the superheroes sped off into the distance, the others managed to finally snapped out of their brief stupor.
"Oh, no…oh, no!" The professor wailed.
"What's wrong, Mr. Utonium?" Asked Robin.
"I wasn't able to warn them…it all happened too fast…my girls are flying to their deaths!"
The youngster gasped.
"Robin, we must warn them of the robot's programming! Get to the car, quickly!"
The child and adult, not even realizing they were leaving Bullet in the dust, ran around the newfound destruction in the house and headed outside to the car, racing down the road as soon as the two hopped into the vehicle.
Bullet, bewildered by what just happened, stared at the immense damage of the house.
I don't know who to believe anymore, the female squirrel thought, But I should help my friends however I can.
At once she flew into the open sky, leaving the home barren and destroyed once more.