Forgotten

Part 4

The first ambush

Three young girls stood outside of the headquarters of one the worlds largest munitions company's waiting for the sun to rise. They had been told that they would meet up with Stephen De-joule at exactly six am and spend the whole day guarding the building. Blossom had been working on a plan almost all of the night and now looked like a wreck, she had only managed an hours worth of sleep. Buttercup looked even worse, though she had gotten much more sleep… she was just not the early morning type. Just to annoy both of them, or so it seemed, Bubbles was feeling perky and perfectly rested.

"Maybe I should go and get you two some energy drinks before Stephen arrives." Bubbles said. 'It wont take a minute to find an open store if I rush.'

'Could someone please give her some sedatives or something?' Buttercup said in a half asleep voice, he head resting on the wall muffling it further.

'You're just cranky because you did not get to sleep until mid-day.' Bubbles said sticking her tongue out at Buttercup. 'You really don't know what you're missing getting up before dawn every morning. I get to hear the birds singing, the sun rising up and making the sky look pretty. I have plenty of time to make my self look beautiful, eat breakfast and anything else I want to do. You should try it more often.'

'Can you please stop talking Bubble-head?' Buttercup said. 'If I'm lucky I can catch a few extra minutes of sleep before Stephen gets here.'

'Buttercup don't call Bubbles names.' Blossom said before a gigantic yawn escaped from her mouth. 'Oh and don't go to sleep, we have to stay awake and prepared to fight William if he shows up.'

'Big deal, I could kick that pansy's butt with my eyes closed.' Buttercup said after making a tremendous effort to stand up strait and keep her eyes open. 'Any way as I see it only you have to stay awake, and if he does show his face then you can wake me up.' Blossom might have argued against this but before she could start a car pulled up beside them, the same rental car Stephen was driving.

'You girls look like crap.' Stephen said through the open window as he looked at them.

'Wow, you really know how to charm a lady.' Buttercup said putting her hand on her hips and giving Stephen the evil eye.

'Yeah its one of my many talents.' Stephen said without a drop of humour in his voice. The car door swung open and Stephen stepped out of it, his trench coat once again showing more guns then you would need to fight a war. 'Ok then kiddies what's the plan?'

'It's a simple one really; we are going to ambush William when he tries to take the power core from the main vault.' Blossom said. 'I all ready sorted everything out with OCP, they gave me complete control of the building for the whole day. So I have had every single entrance and exit sealed off apart from one, a direct route from here to the main vault where the power core is kept. If William wants to get it he has to go through these doors, and down the route I set up. Everything has been alarmed and tuned to our communicator watches so there is no chance he can get past us. Oh that reminds me.' Blossom reached into her dress pocket and pulled out what looked like a normal watch with a few extra controls.

'A watch?' Stephen asked when Blossom handed the watch over to him.

'Not just a watch, it's a communicator and tracking device that the Professor built for us.' Blossom explained. 'The controls are easy enough and the range on them is incredible.'

'Very James Bond.' Stephen said as he put the watch around his wrist. 'And the plan sounds good, if you really did plan for everything and can keep an eye out… but just in case I think I am going to wait in the vault its self. If William gets past you and your alarms he will have to get past me if he wants that core.' Stephen said nothing more as he went inside the OCP building leaving the girls outside.

'The nerve of that guy thinks he's so big just because he was a hero once.' Buttercup said after Stephen had gone. 'There is no way William will get past us and even if he could he would set off twenty alarms just opening the door.'

'Leave it Buttercup, Stephen's way is just different from ours… he is more militaristic then we are that's all.' Blossom said.

'There is something I don't like about that guy, I just can't put my finger on it.' Buttercup said.

'He seems sad to me.' Bubbles said from nowhere. 'His eyes always look ready to burst into tears, his voice is always so low and he strains just to smile.' But both Buttercup and Blossom ignored what Bubbles had said.

'The sun is up and we can't stay out in the open girls, if we do William will see our ambush.' Blossom said. 'Let's go get into position and wait for William to make his move.'

It had been three hours and so far there was no sign of William, or anyone else for that matter. Stephen called ever hour to check what was happening and apart from that there was very little to alleviate the girls' boredom. Buttercup had nodded off at least three times and Blossom had found herself falling asleep a couple of times. Bubbles was still been irritatingly perky; trying to get them to play games with her while they waited.

'I wish this guy would just show up so we can get into some action.' Buttercup had made this complaint so many times it had lost all meaning. 'If I had known the stakeout was going to be this dull I would have brought my game-dude.'

'You don't need a game-dude to have fun, we could play twenty questions!' Bubbles said.

'Or I could pull off one of my arms and beat myself to death with it… no scratch that I could just beat you to death.' Buttercup made a playful grab at Bubbles who jumped back and hid behind Blossom.

'Fine sit there and be bored!' Bubbles again stuck her tongue out and then went to lie down and look up at the clouds.

'Would you two try to be quiet, this is meant to be an ambush.' Blossom said without taking her eyes off the road William would have to walk up if he wanted to get into OCP.

'This is terminally dull leader-girl.' Buttercup stood up stretching her arms and wincing at the stiffness in her joints. 'At least Stephen will call in ten minutes to break some of the monotony of this job.'

'We just have to wait a little longer girls, William has a time limit while we don't.' Blossom said. 'It's only a matter of time before we see him face to face, and then we should have all the action you could ever want Buttercup.'

Professor Utonium sat at his desk sipping his coffee and reading over notes for his latest project. The red document was marked "Classified, project RRR. For authorised eyes only!" but most of the inside was blank, there was a lot of work to go into this project yet. It was while Professor Utonium was adding notes to this document he heard the chime of the conference computer. Looking over the top of the paper he could see the normally blank screen now had "incoming message" in blue letters.

'Now who would be calling at a time like this?' Professor Utonium said as he got up from his desk. 'Computer allow communication.' When the Professor had said this, the black screen changed to show a man with medium length brown hair, small glasses and the look of a scientist.

'Professor Utonium I hope this is not a bad time…' The man said.

'Hal it's been a long time, and no it's not a bad time.' Professor Utonium said taking a seat in front of the screen.

'Sorry about not making that conference last year, the one about those boys… I was busy.' Hal pushed his glasses back on his face as they started to slip. 'But I want you to know I worked non stop on it, but it just was not my area of expertise. Of course I will help all I can on your latest project to make up for it.'

'Hal there is no need to worry, I know you tried and so did a lot of others.' Professor Utonium could see the relief on his friends face. 'But is that all you called for, to say sorry for missing the meeting?'

'No that's not the only reason I called…' Hal bit his lip and let out a loud sigh before he went on. 'The reason I am calling was because my lab was looted two days ago…'

'That's horrible!' Professor Utonium said. 'I hope they did not take too much from you.'

'That's the odd thing they only took some stealth camouflage-suits and projectors I was working on. Everything else in the lab was left completely untouched. I thought I should warn you that you might be facing someone with my stealth technology.'

'Why would you think I would be the one to see your stealth suits?' When Professor Utonium asked Hal just became tongue tied, going over useless information over and over again. 'Hal you're babbling, please calm down and try to tell me what you know.'

'I'm sorry Professor I am a little nervous about the whole thing, I think I will let a friend of mine explain to you… its best you don't know his name.' Hal moved to one side and flicked a switch which activated another of the Professor's monitors. The face on this one seemed to be the very opposite of Hal's, a much older man who looked like he belonged in a war-zone rather then a laboratory.

'Otacon why the hell do I have to do this?' The man asked in a voice of a confirmed smoker, thick and sounding ready to cough at any moment.

'Sorry Snake but I just can't get my thoughts strait.' Hal said.

'Fine, oh and thanks for not using my name.' Snake said, causing doctor Emerich to go red and mutter a meek apology. 'Well I better get on with this.' Snake said with only a small sigh. 'Professor, Hal told you his lab was raided but he did not tell you how professional this job was. I know something about sneaking missions, and after I had a look round I could find no clues… whoever did this is better then me. It was actually dumb luck which put me on some sort of a lead, the rest I am going on guess work. Whoever came here managed to sneak in without setting off a single alarm, I accidentally found how.' Snake did not bother to mention he had found it by falling over and opening a control panel with his head. 'A perfect reroute of all alarms, setting it into a continuous loop. From there the intruder somehow managed to turn off the alarms in the lab remotely and leave no damage when they opened the doors… I still don't know how they did that one. They managed to get past both me and Otacon, and without even using a cardboard box…'

'A cardboard box?' Professor Utonium asked.

'Don't ask John, Snake can go on for hours about the importance of cardboard boxes in all assets of life.' Hal said.

'That's because they are damn important, why I can't the number of agents whose life was saved because of the humble cardboard box!' Snake said so seriously professor Utonium was worried he was not joking. 'But none of that matters right now, what does is that whoever did this job is the best I have ever seen. If they had not left evidence on purpose I would still have no clue as to who did it.'

'What evidence did you find?' Professor Utonium asked, already he knew the answer and dreaded its coming.

'A single black rose coated in the worst poison known to man.' Snake said. 'It was well hidden but I did find it, nearly killed myself with it. I did not find that out until Otacon researched it a bit, I am guessing you know what we found out from the look on your face. William Angelo, the guy who is making a name for himself where you are was the same guy who stole Otacon's stealth suits.'

'Thank you for the warning, I will try and take some precautions for someone with stealth technology…'

'Professor it's not the suits I would be worried about, more the person who has them.' Snake continued. 'This lab was not exactly Fort Knox but it had a damn impressive security system, and this William guy got through it with ease. Not bad considering all the techniques he used seem to be outdated…'

'Outdated, what do you mean by that?'

'Well most of these methods are at least twenty years out of date, I know of a lot more modern ways to gain access to a place but so far I have found no evidence for any of them been used here.'

'That makes sense; William has spent the last twenty years in jail. He would not know any of the modern methods of infiltration.' The Professor said.

'Well I said my piece, now I am going for a smoke.' Snake's screen instantly went black leaving all the screens to go back to Hal.

'Those things will be the death of him… that or guns, fox-die, cyborg ninjas or large bipedal tanks.' Hal said. 'Umm you should forget that last thing I said.'

'Sure Hal.'

'Well I ought to go John, I still have something's to do here… oh and I will send my input on the triple R project as soon as I can.' Hal said. 'Please be careful John, if Snake says this guy is dangerous I think you should consider him the most dangerous man alive.'

'Don't worry Hal; I plan to be very careful from now on.' When Professor Utonium said this Hal nodded and then his screen went as blank as the others. Now alone Professor Utonium had time to reflect on what he had learned, could it be William was even more dangerous then they had thought he was?

'Yo Bubbles it's your turn on guard.' Buttercup said as she leaned over Bubbles shoulder. 'Hey wake up Bubble head, where is all that energy you had?' Buttercup then noticed what Bubbles was looking at so intently, a single black and white newspaper clipping. The photo was one of three young boys smiling happily as they came out of Pokey-oaks elementary school. The head line could just be seen above the photo, "Rowdy Ruff Boys help save the day!" and the date showed it had been taken just after the fall of the great prison.

'Hmm… oh sorry Buttercup I wasn't paying attention.' Bubbles eyes seemed to come back into focus as she looked up at Buttercup.

'It's your turn on watch.' Buttercup said simply, seeing that picture had stirred feeling deep inside of her she thought had gone. It had only been a little while ago that Butch had died in her arms after he had sacrificed himself killing his alter-ego Blaze. She now wished that she had a picture like that one, the boys had been around for so little time no one had even thought to take a photograph of them… and now it was too late.

'Ok then.' Bubbles said in a cheerful voice as she put the picture away and went over the building ledge to watch for William Angelo. It could not have been three minutes after this when the girls heard the gun fire from inside OCP. The constant rattle of some kind of machine gun, followed quickly by some explosions and then complete silence.

'Stephen what was that!' Blossom shouted into the communicator watch waiting for some sort of response. 'Stephen report!' She shouted again when she got nothing back but static.

'What are we waiting for we have to check this out.' Buttercup said already flying towards OCP's main doors.

'I don't understand, no alarms have gone off and we have yet to see any body go anywhere near the building… who could be shooting in there and what were they shooting at?' Blossom asked herself.

'There's only one way to find out Blossom.' Bubbles said, and together they flew into the OCP building, setting off all the alarms as they did.

The vault was a mess, bullet-holes in every wall and huge blast marks that had been made from high explosives. Lying face down in the middle of it all was Stephen De-joule, his guns laid out next to him and only the slight movement of his chest showing he was alive. Bubbles was the first to react going over to Stephen to see if he was all right, Buttercup was next to move when she went to the stand where the power core had been left. When she got there she saw the power core was now gone, replaced by a single black rose which was more deadly then the guns at Stephen's feet.

'Mr De-joule are you ok?' Bubbles asked when she reached him. She gently turned him face up and noticed a small trickle of blood coming down from his forehead, it looked like someone had hit him over the head with something hard. Stephen's eyes seemed to flicker for a moment and then he bolted up to his feet pulling out one of his pistols as he did.

'William!' He shouted as he swung the gun round in an arch searching for the man he had been fighting moments ago. 'Where did he… girls?' Stephen looked confused as he finally noticed the Power Puff Girls were with him.

'Stephen was William here?' Blossom asked as Stephen put his gun away again and put one hand to his head.

'Yes.' Stephen said. 'I tried to shoot him, I unloaded whole clips and hit nothing but air… then I tried to use plasma grenades but the energy just bounced off him.'

'This is impossible, we were watching the doors the whole time and he never went through them, and none of the alarms tripped so he could not have gotten in here.' Blossom said as Buttercup pointed to the black rose, the evidence which said she was wrong.

'He never tripped your alarms because he did not follow the route you set out for him.' Stephen said, now he was holding a tissue to his head trying to stop the slow trickling flow of blood.

'But I sealed all the other possible routes off; there was no other way to go!' Blossom was now starting to sound more like she was whining then anything else.

'Did you know about this route?' Stephen walked with a slight stagger, almost like a drunk man. He placed both his hands on the ground taking a grip on one of the large metal panels and pulled with all his might. His face went red and his muscles strained as he pulled on the metal slab, if he had been unlucky he might have had a heart attack then and there. But his luck held and the panel lifted up revealing a dark hole in the floor.

'A secret tunnel… cool.' Buttercup said as she looked down the black hole in the ground.

'It must lead to the sewer system.' Stephen said. 'He came up through here and surprised me, and I guess this is the way he went.'

'He can't be far ahead… Buttercup your with me, Bubbles stay with Stephen and help him with his wound.' Blossom said, finding the leader in herself once more.

'If you find William you will want to be all together, Bubbles should go with you.' Stephen said. 'I just have a bump on my head, easy enough to take care of… go.' Stephen did not bother hanging around for an argument; he simply left the vault still holding his head.

'You heard him girls, lets go!' Blossom ordered as the three sisters flew into the dark hole from which a monster had sprung forth, and may still be waiting.