Heightened Tensions- Chapter 15

"I just can't work like this!"

Bubbles finally threw her blue colored pencil down onto the table, throwing a fierce glance at Dexter who sat across from her. He jumped at her outburst, gave her a fleeting look of understanding, before darting his gaze around the rest of the library as if trying to make sure nobody else had heard.

The two of them were sitting at the far end of library near the children's section, their textbooks and project work spread out on a long wooden study table. The softly-lit library was pretty quiet for a Saturday afternoon, except for the occasional squealing of children from behind the bookshelves to their left. For a while they'd worked near silence, occasionally striking up random conversation about various things, but once the conversation had turned to Buttercup, the air between them had gotten rather tense.

"Well… why don't you talk to her?" he said carefully, scribbling a few notes from his government book onto a piece of fairly rumpled notebook paper. He glanced up at her again, and was surprised to see Bubbles's eyes full of tears.

"She won't talk to any of us, you know. I… I think she might do something stupid…"

Dexter set the pencil down onto the table and closed his eyes. He took the glasses from his face and wearily rubbed the bridge of his nose with thumb and forefinger, before setting the lenses down onto the table. He watched Bubbles carefully, who was regarding him curiously, her head cocked sideways like she was studying something about his face. He suddenly felt very subconscious.

"Your eyes are blue." she said very simply, one silent tear sliding down her cheek. It was almost like she'd completely forgotten about her former anguish, and why she'd been crying at all… yet, all together she had been acting very peculiar since they'd met at the train station.

"Umm… well… yes, they are, but what does that have to do with-"

"Mine are blue too… I guess I never noticed your eyes before…" she said carefully, looking down at the table with her hand to her mouth. She was holding her chin with her fingers, immersed in some sort of deep thought, the likes of which Dexter could only guess. He was starting to think he really wasn't ever going to completely understand Bubbles.

But at the same time, her sudden shift in conversation seemed to be a cue that she didn't want to talk about her sister. Dexter thought it better to leave it alone for the moment, at least until she started the conversation again.

"Um, yes, well, I need to look something up, shall we check the computers?" he said cautiously, nodding to Bubbles, who was staring up at him with a faint look of adoration on her face. He looked away hastily, uncomfortable at her staring.

"Thank you," she finally said after a very long, awkward pause. Dexter turned back to her, unaware as to what she was thanking him for.

"Well, I'd feel better if I knew what I'd done that was good-"

"For putting up with me, I guess. I haven't exactly been the easiest person to be around lately… I just have a lot of things going on…" she trailed off, nodding her head slowly as their eyes locked into one another's. He smiled warmly in recognition, and for a few scant seconds they just sat there, staring at one another silently as if waiting for the other to say something. Perhaps they were both waiting for those certain words that were only spoken among the intimate, yet neither had the courage to really open their mouths.

"Well- er- right then," Dexter said, finally breaking their stare as he folded up a stack of carelessly strewn about papers. "Computer…" He grabbed a pencil and stood from the chair.

As if completely switching personalities, Bubbles finally smiled, her sapphire eyes gleaming over with sudden happiness. She stood too, and nodded.

"Let's hope they aren't all taken," she said, and the two of them walked to the middle of the library.

The rows of computers sat on low wooden desks, their screens glowing in the late autumn gloom that cast the entire building into a dull grayish glow. Together they found an empty computer at the far of the row, facing the front doors of the library. At first, they both hesitated, not sure as to who should take the seat. They both stared at each other for a beat, before Dexter finally decided to end the awkward lapse by pulling the chair from under the desk. Bubbles was hastily taken aback, not sure of how to react to his very formal gesture.

"I guess… erm… I'll sit then… thank you…" she murmured, setting her body down onto the swiveling chair. Dexter nodded in consent, leaned forward and supported his weight by grasping the back of the chair with the other hand against the table. He didn't even seem to notice how close he was, until Bubbles cleared her throat rather elusively, causing him to look in her direction. He was startled at first, to be hovering straight over her, less than a foot away from her body… but she hadn't seemed to notice him, so for some reason he didn't feel the need to move away.

"So, we still need some information on the Fourteenth Amendment, then?" she asked casually, her fingers gliding across the keyboard as she spelled out the address of a search engine. He watched her mad snapping of keys with a sense of surprise, noting the fact, with a little bit of guilt, that he'd never suspected she knew anything about computers.

"Not many people know how to type correctly, you know," he said calmly, and at the sound of his voice so close to her, Bubbles craned her head sideways to look up at him, and was also startled at his invasion of her personal space. Yet, she didn't find herself overly irritated, and therefore made no move to inch away. It was strange how if it were anyone else moved so close to her, she would have immediately backed away in order to gain more of her invaded bubble of privacy. Yet with him, she didn't seem to care that he was just within grasping reach, so close she could faintly smell the scent of his cologne… mixed with the fresh scent of his clean skin, almost making her head go fuzzy with a rush of… need?

"Yes, well," Bubbles said hastily, turning her attention back to the computer, where a rather interesting ad for a new movie was blinking with shining colors. "I took a liking to the professor's computer a long time ago. Some times it was the only shelter when my sisters were fighting, which was usually daily."

"Ah, I see."

"Why? Does that impress you?" she smiled, and looked back up at his face, and noticed that he was staring at the screen, almost as if he was avoiding looking at her.

"Well, I was just noticing… a lot of people don't really understand computers that well," he said matter-of-factly, his face still turned to the screen.

"How much do you know?" Bubbles asked, yet her voice was just slightly accusatory, as if she thought Dexter was spouting off random nonsense.

"Erm…" he hesitated. "A bit." he ended abruptly. She raised a careful eyebrow, but left it at that.

Bubbles figured that was the end of the conversation, so she turned back to the screen. Both of them stared at it blankly for a while, before Bubbles finally decided to continue the search.

"I suppose we could try one of the government addresses… hey!"

Both of them watched with curious wonder as their screen started blinking incessantly, the monitor hazing over with random horizontal lines of electrical disturbance that slid down the screen sporadically. There was a strange mechanical ring emanating from the screen, and as they looked around, they found to their surprise, that all of the computers were behaving in the same peculiar fashion.

"Power surge?" Dexter commented softly, looking around as other people at computers stared in puzzlement as their computer screens went from blank, to hazy, to completely normal, seemingly at random intervals. It was like a connection had gone bad… or a signal losing strength, but whatever it was, something was definitely interfering with the computers' delicate circuitry.

"Is there a storm coming?" Bubbles wondered aloud, looking towards the windows as if expecting to see a torrential downpour of rain. Yet, there was nothing.

Then Dexter nudged her roughly on the shoulder, and she spun around, only to meet his worried eyes. He jabbed his head towards the door, motioning for her attention, and she turned her eyes forward.

Bubbles leapt up in her chair, startling Dexter enough to cause him to leap backwards in alarm. She didn't say anything, but just watched tensely as Buttercup trudged through the doors, passing by the two of them without even a glance. Her face was very hard, and she seemed to be muttering under breath, but Bubbles couldn't read what she was saying.

They both watched her pass, and continued staring as she disappeared behind a row of bookshelves. For a second Bubbles hesitated, wondering if it was even worth it to try and talk to her. Crestfallen, she knew that Buttercup probably wanted to be alone, and wouldn't be in any sort of mood to talk to her. Yet, she never seemed to be these days.

"Well… let's get back to it," Bubbles said quietly, and she sat back down at the chair, rubbing her temples with her fingers as if warding off a headache. She suddenly felt very… threatened? It was like Buttercup's entrance had suddenly instilled some sort of panic deep inside of her, and as Bubbles frantically tried to turn it of, she realized with a new sense of alarm that her heart was pounding. She wanted to run.

"Aren't you going to talk to her?" Dexter asked frantically, his eyes reading her face urgently. He noticed that Bubbles suddenly seemed very troubled. She shook her head frantically, and buried her face deep in her hands.

Suddenly Bubbles leapt up from her chair, a whirring buzz in her head. She didn't know what was going on, but she was suddenly afraid, very afraid.

"Are you okay?!" Dexter cried, panic driven. She was pacing madly. The fear was getting stronger, like, something was growing closer… People noticed her distress and had all stopped to watch her, but she didn't care, she just wanted to get away. Then-

There!

It's here!

Bubbles suddenly gasped, grabbing the sleeve of Dexter's shirt roughly as she suddenly jerked spastically into a partial crouch. He stumbled, watching her face with horror, not sure of how to react to her jacked up sense of alarm, not sure of what he should do. Like an animal, she sensed something, she sensed a predator.

Then an explosion rocked the building on the other side, the commotion hidden by the endless rows of bookshelves. People screamed, and like a stampede hordes of them emerged from the jungle of shelves and books, all of their faces twisted in terror. Above all the chaos there was a deafening screech of metal, a roar, followed by the thundering metallic clang of giant metal feet hitting the hard library floor.

Dexter had frozen in Bubbles's grasp. His mouth hung open in shocked silence, his eyes wide… yet there didn't seem to be fear in his eyes, only a sense of disbelief, and dawning comprehension.

He jumped as Bubbles suddenly screamed, her cry carrying over the horrendous sound of splintering wood and thousands of books dumping to the floor. Directly to their left, a tremendous section of the library exploded, as the shelves were flung away to make room for the metallic beast that Bubbles had dubbed X. It was almost running, its mass skidding to a halt as its faceless head caught site of her. It paused for a beat, twisting its head sideways as if studying her with animal curiosity, then-

"So this is you're little friend?" There was a fleeting sarcastic voice from behind Bubbles, and she knew that Buttercup was standing just a few feet behind her. Bubbles risked a glance over her shoulder, and sure enough, saw Buttercup just a few steps away, her arms folded, but her eyes trained on the robot in front of them. Despite her careless words, her face betrayed her desire to protect her sister.

Bubbles tugged at Dexter's arm, yet he didn't budge, much to her horror. He stayed rooted to the spot, his face openly shocked as he stared dumbly at the robot. Bubbles though she saw recognition on his face, as she continued to pull on his sleeve pleadingly, but she hardly cared for any revelation at the moment. If the robot lunged, they'd be trapped, and she doubted it would show any mercy to him. She didn't want Dexter's blood on her hands.

As if reading her thoughts, the robot suddenly lifted its arm, the strange hand morphing into its arm cannon with mechanical efficiency. She heard the familiar hum of its blaster charging, heard it growing in a frenzied crescendo, and realized with a spasm of horror that they were still standing directly in its path, and that they'd probably never get out of the way in time.

There was then an urgent tugging on Bubbles's other arm, and she felt Buttercup's strong grasp upon her.

"Grab your boyfriend, and LET'S GO!" she hollered, and as if on cue, Dexter snapped out of his stupor, and the three of them ran for the double doors of the library.

A tremendous, fiery explosion, and a violent displacement of air shoved the three of them off their feet as they made it out of the blaster's path. There was the searing heat of flames, the overpowering aroma of burned plastic and wood, and the lingering rumbles as pieces of the blasted wall and ceiling came crumbling down behind them.

The three of them leapt back to their feet, cursing, fear willing them all to move, and they took off into the street. They ran, none of them daring to look back. Bubbles the most shaken out of the three of them.

It had actually attacked her in broad daylight… in a public place… where innocent people had been. It had never done that before.

But apparently it would now.

They came crashing to a stop what seemed like a mile away, Dexter panting roughly while Bubbles and Buttercup remained unaffected by their terror-driven jog. Yet, Bubbles was shaking for another reason entirely.

"That was just a bit… awkward…" Buttercup said very simply, brushing her pants off casually as if they'd done nothing more serious than crash a job interview. Bubbles rounded on her, teeth clenched and furious, her entire body trembling madly.

"BELIEVE ME NOW!?" she cried hoarsely, throwing her fists into the air. She turned her gaze between the calm Buttercup, and Dexter, who was leaning against the brick wall of the café, his eyes very wide and angered. He looked almost vengeful, but didn't seem nearly as frightened as Bubbles thought he should be.

"WELL?!" she directed her scream at both of them, and Dexter was startled as she took two giant steps towards him, her face twisted in anger. He stood up completely, and looked at her faintly, almost with pity in his eyes. This did nothing more but enrage her even further. She was about to scream again, but he opened his mouth first.

"I… I… er- have to go, check… erm… something," his face was flushed, yet there was acid in his tone that gave away the fact that he was angry about something. Before Bubbles could react, he spun around, shoved his hands in his pockets, and then walked away quickly, disappearing around the side of a building.

Bubbles stared at the space he had occupied just seconds before, almost in disbelief. He'd just abandoned her, he'd just left her in her state of turmoil as if nothing had happened. He'd just acted as if nothing was wrong at all, as if there wasn't any homicidal robot hunting her down, and she was only making the whole thing up. To say the least, it hurt. She'd thought he'd cared more than that…

"You're boyfriend isn't too bright, is he?" Buttercup mused, her voice a mocking purr. Bubbles spun around and marched back up to her sister, who was eyeing her carefully.

"He isn't my boyfriend!! Did you just see what he did to me!! He abandoned me!!!" she bellowed, letting her sadness overpower her anger. She fell against the side of the building and slid to a crouch, wrapping the loose end of her skirt around her legs. Her blonde hair falling over her shoulders, she stared down into the pavement.

"Don't they all…" Buttercup said distantly, looking around. "Look, I think its about time we told Blossom about this. She should at least know that her sister's about to get pulverized."

Bubbles jerked her gaze back up to Buttercup, now angry again, but also incredibly betrayed. It was like… Buttercup didn't care if she got killed or not… none of them did…

"Well, since you obviously won't help me-"

Buttercup's amused expression dropped suddenly, and she peered down at Bubbles hesitantly.

"I never said I wasn't going to help you-"

"But you talk as if you don't care at all! IT'LL KILL ME!"

"How is it even finding you anyway?!"

Bubbles stopped short, thinking hard. For some reason Buttercup's mention of Blossom had clicked on some sort of understanding in her brain… but she couldn't remember what it was. It was grating at her, like when trying to remember a word that's escaped memory… She could picture Blossom's face, and she was talking, saying something… saying something to her about-

Bubbles looked at Buttercup hard, who was fidgeting nervously with her hair. They both stared at each other, Bubbles still straining her memory to think, then-

"I REMEMBER!"

"Remember what?"

"My hair… its tracking my DNA… however that works… but that's how it keeps finding me in the most random of places. Its tracking my blood…"

"But you aren't bleeding…"

"It doesn't matter, it can just sense me… It can attack me anywhere, and it'll stop at nothing to get at me…"

But those revelations brought another point to her attention. Anywhere she went, she was putting other lives at risk. If it now clearly had no qualms about busting in on heavily populated areas… then surely… it would even attack her at home.

The professor…

It would kill him for sure… and not to mention her sisters. Sure, they'd try to fight it off, they'd try to protect her…

But in doing so, they would only get themselves killed. She didn't want to take that chance.

Bubbles knew she had to draw it away from Townsville. She had to keep it from hurting innocent people. She would run, far away, and in doing so would ensure the safety and well-being of thousands. In the end, she herself would probably die, but if it meant the safety of the rest of her family, then it was well worth it.

"I… can't go home…" was the last thing Bubbles said, before she disappeared, running away to leave Buttercup standing alone.