Forgotten

Part 5

The sewers

The sewers in Townsville are like a maze, created seemingly randomly and left alone unless something goes wrong. It is true people had come down here and never came back, there were things hiding in these pipes that were best left unfound. There was only ever one person who could walk these sewers safely and that was because even the darkest creatures feared him. The sewer was like a second home to the thing that thought it fit to name its self "William Angelo" as if it were a human. It was for this reason the Power Puff Girls had no hope of ever catching him, not unless he wanted to be caught. Stephen could have told them this, but he wanted them to suffer. He felt they had failed and let William win and so should be punished, a nice walk through the drains should just about do it for him.

'I don't like this place, it's too dark…' Bubbles said as she hovered above the foulest smelling water she had ever been forced close to. Everything in this place seemed to reject everything that was essentially Bubbles. There were no colours, no light, no fresh air and no joy here… and as for laughter; well this place would warp it closer to screaming.

'Oh don't tell me you're still afraid of the dark bubble-head.' Buttercup said as she noticed a rat run past her feet, the thing looked bigger then a dog and for a moment its red eyes had flashed at her.

'I can't help it, this place is tres creepy.' Bubbles said. 'Don't call me Bubble-head!' Bubbles said after he mind had time to reprocess what Buttercup had said.

'I will stop calling you it when you stop been one.'

'Will you two give it a rest, I am trying to figure out which way he went.' Blossom said as she examined the ground where the pipes split off into two directions. They had been following no trail so far, it was all just guess work based on the easiest route. This was a mistake; they had skipped many directions because the pipes were too small for any man to get through. But if William was truly down here size would be no problem for him, he would simply take the form of a low creature and move on. Right this minute there could be a hissing snake, a scuttling spider, a scurrying rat or some other ugly thing that was escaping the girls and heading back to the world of light.

'Well leader girl which way?' Buttercup asked after Blossom had stopped talking for a good five minutes. Normally Buttercup would take the time when Blossom was actually been quiet as a gift from God. It seemed Blossom's mouth could run everlastingly and actually put Buttercup into a coma like state.

'I have no idea.' Blossom said at last shocking both of her sisters. 'Honestly I have not got a clue, it's like he never even came down here. There are no foot prints, no markings, no finger prints and no clues! It's impossible, even flying we left some evidence for us been down here.'

'Chill Blossom.' Buttercup said as she grabbed her sisters' shoulders. 'This William guy has magic powers; maybe he made the evidence… I don't know… disappear?'

'You mean he some how made evidence just, poof, vanish?' Bubbles asked.

'Well he made a super computer do the same thing, and remember Barry told us about evidence always vanishing before William could be put on trial.'

'I have one more question… how do we get back?' Bubbles said.

Blossom and Buttercup just stared at each other as they realised they were completely lost down here. They had been so intent on following William they had never even spared a thought for where they were going and how to get back. As I said these sewers could lead to anywhere in town, and sometimes even beyond it to places even monsters have nightmares about. Blossom had done a project on these sewers once and knew how dangerous they could be, you just had to ask Harry Gregory…

'If you could please tell the story Mr Gregory.' Blossom said as she started the recorder off.

'You recording this whole thing then?' Harry Gregory asked when he saw Blossom put the thing on the table.

Harry was an old man now, over sixty years old and showing his age more drastically then he should do. His hair was completely white with not a single hint of colour, and about as thick as a baby's hair. His face was a road map of wrinkles and he was blind in one eye.

'If you don't mind, it makes it easier for my report.' Blossom said.

'Sure as heck I don't mind, if it's for school work I don't mind a jot.' Harry said. 'Tell me are them sisters of yours doing reports same as you girl?' Harry said, the interest glinting off his one good eye.

'Umm yes they are…'

'Good, you tell them they can come talk to me anytime they want.' Harry said. 'Specially that blonde one.'

'Err sure I will tell them.' Blossom had no plans to tell them anything like that; maybe she would tell Bubbles to avoid this guy. 'Now if you could tell the story like you told me.'

'Oh I will do better then that girl, I'm going to tell you the whole damn truth and nothing but the truth.' Harry said with his smile slowly falling away. 'The lies weigh heavy on me girl, think tis bout time I told someone the truth and I think you 'aint going to like me much after it. But here it goes; it all started when I was working for the city as an engineer…'

'Hey Hairy how you holding up back there?' Kevin shouted from up ahead, the guy was running down these damn tunnels like a kid on speed or something. (Truth was that old Harry was almost sure he was doing something like that, but he never voiced his opinion.)

'I am holding up just fine ya damn nut-ball!' Harry shouted back as he ran his walked through the sludge, a lamp held out in front of his face giving just enough light to see with.

'Good to hear it Hairy!' Kevin's voice came from further down the pipe, his light just visible to Harry.

'Kev will you stop calling me Hairy, the name is Harry!' Harry shouted as he stumbled over something in the water, nearly going face first into the brown liquid.

'I'll stop calling you Hairy Gregory the day you shave that thing off your face and ditch the mullet hairstyle.' Kevin had stopped running and now was waiting for his friend to catch up with him.

'First this beard is not that out of control, it's not like Father Christmas or anything like that. Second I will have you know I think I look very dashing with this hair cut.' Harry said.

'Well hurry up Hairy, if we don't get this block sorted out people are going to remember nineteen-eighty-two as the year every toilet in Townsville exploded. And you know who will get the blame? Not the idiots who designed this damn maze, not the Mayor who can't be bothered to have the thing scrapped and re-built. Nope they will blame one dashing, suave, handsome and charming twenty year old called Kevin Landers and the ageing, ugly, hairy ape man of thirty nine called Harry Gregory.'

'If you are twenty years old I will lick the crap off this floor.' Harry said when he finally caught up with his friend.

'Well I am so close to twenty it hardly matters…'

'Oh yeah then show me your driving licence and we will see just how close you... ouf!' Harry stopped talking as he walked right into the back of Kevin. 'Ya damn idiot why in the Sam-hill did you stop like that, I could have sent us both nose first into the crap.'

'Harry do you see what I see?' Kevin's voice had lost all its joviality and become so serious that Harry felt worried for the first time since they had come down into the sewers.

Harry moved his lamp up and looked in the direction that Kevin was pointing in; as soon as he did he could feel his blood run cold. There was a second tunnel here, one that seemed to go deeper into the earth and had no refuse flowing down it. What it did have was bones, hundreds… no thousands of bones varying in size and shape. The floor was covered in the white sticks that had once been held inside living things, now tossed aside. The lump in Harry's throat felt like an apple someone had pushed down there, and he had to make a huge effort to take in a single gasp of air so he could talk again.

'Let's go see what there is to see Kev.' Harry said as he started to walk down the tunnels littered with the remains of the dead. He was almost at its mouth when a hand grabbed his shoulder making him jump three feet in the air and scream so loudly people on the surface could just about hear him.

'Jesus Harry are you an idiot?' Kevin asked. 'Look at that place, its nothing but for the dead. If you go down there you might just find what the heck killed all these things and we don't have anything to fight with. Have you not seen a horror film before? The guys who go investigating with nothing but flash lights always end up dead!' Harry at that time had never seen a horror film, even though he heard they were getting popular right about then. Later in life he would actively avoid them because of this day, but you could never truly avoid the media. One day in the video shop he looked at some posters and shouted out loud. "It's him!" Before he ran from the shop screaming. The posters had been for two films, one had a picture of Freddy Kruger and the other a picture of Jack Nicholson as the Joker.

'Look if there is something dangerous down here it's our duty to check it out.' Harry said. 'It's probably a wild dog or something like that, and from the age of the bones I think the thing is long dead any how. If it'll make you feel any better you can wait here while I go and see what's down there.'

'No way buddy, if you are going down there then so am I.' Kevin said as he swallowed hard. 'You're right it's probably nothing and we can just laugh about it later.'

The two started to walk slowly down the sewer, wincing at the noise of the old bones snapping under the weight of their boots. They both noticed that the deeper they went the darker it got for them, it seemed like the blackness was absorbing the light they had and was leaving them blind. This was impossible, the lights stayed as bright the whole way but somehow it just kept getting darker as they walked on. Harry could never remember how far they had walked before they heard it, but it must have been at least a mile. The silence was shattered by what at first they thought was screaming, a long echoing scream from depths of this pipe.

'Holy mother of God Harry it sounds like some ones been killed down there!' Kevin said as he started to run down the tunnel. 'Hold on helps on the way!' Kevin's voice echoed through the pipe but it twisted and Harry could swear he heard it as. "Hold on dinner is on the way!" when it came back to him.

'Hey Kevin wait up!' Harry shouted as he gave chase, running down the sewer closer to where the screaming came from. It was while he was running that Harry realised that it was not screaming he heard but laughter, a horrible laugh that made his stomach turn over. They both came to a stop far too late; they were now in the sight of the source of the laughter. Standing in the tunnel was what looked like a man dressed in robes and a hood, five small fires burning around him floating above the bones.

'Well what do we have here?' His voice was cracked with a hate that covered itself with friendliness. 'Looks like I have some guests, what a pleasure, what a joy and what a laugh! Come and sit, we may talk of many things, of ships and sails and sealing wax, of cabbages and kings! I never could remember that right you know, damned if I could because my memory runs out my ears like soup so it does.

'Oh I am sorry I am been a bad host, and there is no excuse for that now is there? Thought not. Sit my boys, sit and stay… I don't like Mondays, tell me why? I love that song don't you? Or has it yet to be written, I can never tell 'cause my memory just leaks out my ears… oh there I go again.' The robed figure chuckled, a sound closer to a dieing man choking then anything else.

'My God what is he?' Kevin said as he found that he could speak once again, Harry found he could do nothing more then make worthless noise as he looked at the cloaked man.

'I am glad you asked that question Kevin my boy, I thought it would good old Hairy here who would ask but a pie is as good as an eye I say!' The very words seemed to reverberate through the air, causing the men's bones to become cold and their blood to freeze in their veins. I can not tell you how this is so, if you were to hear him you would tell no difference from this voice and any other… but yet he held power and it was undeniable. 'Kevin my boy I will tell you what I am, I… am… HUNGRY!' The last word shot out of his mouth like venom, what little humanity that had been in his voice shattered and something truly monstrous came out instead. It was as the inhuman word came out that the hood fell back and showed its owners to the two men. Harry would never forget that face, even on his dieing day whenever he closed his eyes that face would be there laughing at him. You see the man had no face, and it looked natural as if such a creature as he was never meant to have a face.

It was never known who screamed first, the chaos that followed swallowed that memory whole but both men broke down in the end. They were terrified by what they saw, the ghoul that laughed at them defied logic and reason so only left terror in its wake. Harry could remember starting to turn to run, to try and escape the monster but before he could the thing spoke again.

'Leaving so soon, and here I made dinner plans for us all! Now boy it would be oh so very rude to leave, and there is never an excuse for been rude. Why I should take you both to the woodshed and give you a whoopin' that will tan your hides. But I be a gracious host and as such will only insist on one of you staying with me, where we may dance the Tango and discuss whether or not Clapton is a better guitarist then Hendrix. So my amigos who will be staying with me, who will have a laugh and half before supper time?'

It was then that Harry did something he felt guilty for his entire life, the moment he marked in his life as the lowest thing he ever did. He grabbed Kevin by the neck and tossed him back to the faceless one, without a second thought. He watched as horror shot across Kevin's face as he tumbled into the laughing mans open arms, where he was embraced like an old lover. Then Harry ran for all he was worth, running from the faceless one, running from Kevin's screams for help then screams of death, running from the laughter and the guilt. He never out ran any of them in the end, they always caught up with him.

'I spent two days in them sewers, two days where I stumbled around half mad trying to escape from that monster. They found me and brought me to the surface, I have never been so happy to see the sun and be out of the stink of them sewers girl. I told them that me and Kevin had got lost and Kevin had fallen down a pipe, that he was dead and they believed me. They looked for him, and never found him or that tunnel of bones.' Harry was now crying, the truth finally out was relief to him but the old memories hurt him now as much as they had done twenty years ago. 'You know what girl, if your sisters be doing a project tell them to do it on something else other then them sewers… they have things down there that don't rest easy.'

'Thank you Mr Gregory but I really should be going now…' Blossom was now worried she had pushed the old man to far, forcing him to tell his story had somehow driven him to tell some old horror story of his. Now she would never be able to separate fact from fiction, she would have to base the whole project off the original records. Blossom was still thinking this when Harry's arm shot out and grabbed her own, holding it with a strength she never thought a man of his age could possess.

'The worst thing was the face; he had no damn face… I mean he had eyes and a mouth and a nose but he had no face… he even had skin but he had no face!' Harry's eyes were wide with terror as if he could not see Blossom anymore but his faceless horror from long ago. 'I hear him laugh in my dreams, I hear him and he says that the laughing man lives. Oh god I wish I was dead, just so I could sleep again… Kevin can sleep but I never will because of what I did. Dear Jesus what did I do?'

Now floating in the darkness of the sewers that story suddenly did not feel so much like an old mans rambling and sounded like the truth. Could it be they had come across William Angelo down in these sewers, the dates did fit. It would have truly chilled Blossom if she had known that she stood only twenty feet from the very tunnel where Harry "Hairy" Gregory had shouted to a now dead friend "I am holding up just fine ya damn nut-ball!".

'Blossom you do know the way back right?' Buttercup asked Blossom.

'Well I know it's in this direction, just not the specific route we have to take to get back… I don't suppose you remember it?' Blossom looked at both of her sisters and both of them shook their head. 'Oh great, well I guess we should start walking…'

There was a large pile of empty Jive-cola cans next to his seat, a pyramid consisting entirely of used cans. Stephen De-joule had shown a huge love for cola, drinking the stuff by the case full with out slowing down. The second he finished a can it went into the pile and he opened the next one up. The man must have now finished over twenty cans and it had only been four or five hours since he had started to drink them. The Professor was now measuring the time by how many cans Stephen had drank, it was better then watching the clock and waiting for his girls to come back.

'Where are they?' Professor Utonium shouted out at last, as Stephen put down another can and started opening a new one the very same second.

'As I see it there are two possibilities right now.' Stephen took a large gulp of the soda drink and then went on talking. 'The first is they are still searching the sewers which are messing around with those watch things you made them. The second possibility is they found William Angelo and they are lying dead in said same sewers most likely with bullet holes in their heads.' As soon as Stephen said this professor Utonium went as white as sheet, he did not even notice Stephen's sly smile as he saw the reaction he had caused.

'That's impossible, refuse to believe my babies are dead!' Professor Utonium yelled at Stephen. 'They are superheroes; I doubt a gun could ever do more then given them a slight itch! If they were really in any danger Blossom would have made them retreat and head back for home with out a second thought.'

'I say believe what you want, but I do know William's gun could kill those girls as easy as a normal gun would kill a normal man.' Stephen said very calmly. 'I have seen that pistol put holes through heroes made of much tougher stuff then your daughters are made of, that revolver is not of our world and as such does not follow its rules.'

It was while Stephen finished the latest can of Jive-cola that three young girls walked into the Utonium house. They smelled like a septic tank, their clothes looked like they came from a charity bin and they all looked sick and tired. The Power Puff's were power pooped; they did not even have the energy left to hover. Stephen just watched as they came in, he was used to seeing scruffy kids and was very used to bad smells.

'My babies!' Professor Utonium started to run over to them then stopped dead in his tracks as he started to gag. The stench was overpowering, a mixture of something dead and the stuff you never wanted to talk about.

'This is great we smell worse then the Rowdy Ruff Boys did!' Buttercup said as she saw the Professor covering his nose with his jacket and backing away from them. She did not notice the slightly hurt look in Bubbles eyes when she mentioned the boys.

'Well you smell as bad as that time you refused the bathe.' Blossom said.

'We I aint refusing now, I got first dibs on the bathroom!' Buttercup turned into a streak of green light as she fired up the stairs as fast as she could move, the draining of the long trek round the sewers forgotten with the reward in her sights.

'No way I need to go in their first; my hair will be ruined if I don't treat it right away.' Blossom started running after Buttercup but half way up the stairs she heard the sound of the bathroom door locking and a bath been run. 'Buttercup!'

After all of the girls had a chance to wash and change they were all sitting in the living room once more. Stephen had finally run out of Jive-cola and now had moved on to 8-Down, though he was not drinking it with the same gusto as he had the cola. The Professor wondered where he was putting all that drink, he had yet to go to the bathroom or at the very least exploded from so much been put in his stomach.

'I am going to assume that you three did not catch William and that you did not recover the power core from him.' Stephen said. 'You know I do blame you for this mess up.' Stephen looked right at Blossom who sill had a towel wrapped around her head as her hair dried. The whole room looked at Stephen in shock as he blamed Blossom for what had gone wrong.

'That's hardly fair, I did everything I could to stop him… how was I meant to know that secret passage was there?' Blossom defended her self while Stephen just drank his can of soda.

'I knew about it, I learned about if from only a little research on the buildings history.' Stephen said. 'I assumed as a leader you had made sure to check your plan was solid and that you would know about the secret passage. I thought you must have set some of those alarms in the sewer or even blocked it off. Looks like I seriously over estimated your ability as a leader.'

'Hey you take that back, Blossom is a great leader!' Buttercup said, shocking everyone by admitting she thought Blossom was actually doing a good job. Blossom felt a moment when the guilt was gone and was replaced with love for her sister, but that lasted only a few seconds.

'I say only the truth and nothing more.' Stephen said. 'If I had been in charge then William would never have gotten into the place… did you even think to bug the power core?' Stephen's question was so sudden and out of place it took Blossom by surprise. It gave her no time to think of a real response and left the others speechless. 'Thought not, you only planed for a strait win and never even thought about losing. That is why you are a bad leader and why next time I am taking over.'

'Why you!' Buttercup flew right up to Stephen's face and shook her fist at him. 'I ought to knock you teeth out for saying that, how dare you think you're a better leader then Blossom is.'

'Buttercup stop that.' Blossom said quietly. 'Thank you for standing up for me but please leave Stephen alone, he's right about me.'

'Blossom no he's wrong about you.' Bubbles said going to her sisters' side and holding her close. 'You're a terrific leader, your smart and know what to do all the time.'

'No Bubbles I am not, I am just lucky that's all.' Blossom said. 'If I had been thinking right I would have researched the building and checked for any other way in, if I was a good leader I would have put a tracking device on the power core.' What she did not say but thought was "If I was a good leader Brick and the others would still be here." But she kept that to her self.

"Blossom." That was all Bubbles could think to say as Blossom moved out of her hug and went over to Stephen.

'Stephen I hear by hand over all my powers of leadership over the Power Puff Girls to you… you're the leader now.' Blossom said.

'Ok then my first order is that you three get some rest, you looked like zombies out there this morning.' Stephen said. 'I won't have that again, you will be fully alert and ready to fight tomorrow morning.'

'What's that plan then…jerk face.' Buttercup said the last two words so quietly that Stephen completely missed them, but not the look of disgust in her eyes.

'Tomorrow we will set another ambush up and this time we will stop William Angelo.' Stephen said. 'Or we will die trying.'