Powerpuff Girls Doujinshi: Boomer's Story

Chapter Eight: "Feasting with Mine Enemy"

Boomer looked out at the table. It was filled with food, but Boomer didn't feel like eating. Nobody else seemed interested in eating either, aside from Coop, who was digging into his steak. Boomer looked out and saw that every eye was on him, which made him very nervous. He glanced to his right at the empty seat right next to him. Knowing who would sit in that seat made him even more nervous.

Boomer tried to start talking, but he didn't know where to begin. He didn't know how he could convey how he was feeling.

He looked into all their eyes. Buttercup was glaring at him, with the kind of look that was usually followed by a phrase like, "Go ahead, make my day," or, "Turn thee, Benvolio, and look upon thy death." Blossom was looking right at him, not displaying any clear emotion, as if she was reserving judgment based on what he said; Professor Utonium's expression was almost identical to Blossom's. Coop looked over at Boomer while he chewed, showing he was interested in what Boomer had to say, despite giving into his gluttonous habits while doing so. Otto and Dexter looked at Boomer with sympathetic eyes, for Boomer was forced to tell them his story before they arrived; although, even they did not know the entire story, for Boomer could not bring himself to tell them exactly what he had said at the playground.

Boomer looked at them, and they looked at Boomer. Boomer tried to speak, but then he felt as if he was being watched from behind. He knew who it was, but did not dare turn around to look at her; he could not bring himself to look at her if he had caused her turmoil in his actions.

Boomer realized his hand was shaking, but was not able to control it. He gulped, then tried to speak.

"I…I'm…" He stopped, took a deep breath, then tried again.

"I'm…sorry. For…for any trouble I've caused, I-I'm sorry."

For a moment, nobody said anything, except Buttercup, who quietly muttered something while rolling her eyes.

Boomer looked down at the plate on the table, ashamed of himself. He thought about what he said at the playground, and tried to imagine all the trouble he caused Bubbles, and everyone else. As he thought, suddenly all his fears, anxieties, and sorrows from the events of today exploded in his mind. His eyes began to burn and his vision started to blur. His whole body began to shake. Then, despite his best efforts, tears dripped from his eyes onto his empty plate.

He didn't look up, because he knew they were all staring at him. He couldn't help it. He didn't know what to do. All he could do was cry. He felt a sob in his throat, but he didn't dare open his mouth to let it out; it would only further his disgrace. He had never felt more pitiful in his entire life.

He didn't know what to do.

Bubbles sat behind the wall to the left of the doorway to the dining room, so no one in the dining room would be able to see her. She carefully leaned her head out from behind the doorway, to get a glimpse of what was going on inside.

She could see everyone's face at the dining table, except Boomer's, since his back was facing the doorway. They all looked at Boomer, staring at him, watching his every move.

She heard Boomer struggle to speak from inside.

"I…I'm…" he said, clearly a nervous wreck. She heard him take loud, deep breaths.

Bubbles pulled her head back behind the wall and looked down.

I feel terrible she thought. Not only did I hurt his feelings, but now he being stared at like he's a…a green bug or something. I have to get in there and…do…something. Anything.

Bubbles knew she had to get in there, but was having a hard time getting the nerve to do so. Aside from the incident at the playground, which made talking to him awkward, she had also clearly hurt his feelings. She didn't know how she could talk to him after doing such a thing to him, and part of her was afraid trying to talk to him might only make him feel worse. She felt like a coward.

Then, as she was lost in thought, she heard the voice of Boomer from the doorway.

"I'm…sorry."

Bubbles looked up, in shock. He listened closely as he continued.

"For…for any trouble I've caused, I-I'm sorry," he said.

Bubbles leaned her head over the wall to look into the dining room again. She saw Boomer, with his head down near his plate. She immediately noticed that his whole body was shaking. Bubbles had cried enough times to know what the subtle shaking meant. She felt even worse, and for a moment, thought about crying herself. However, she straightened up, resisting the urge.

Bubbles could not put off going in there any longer. This boy was crying and she knew she was partially responsible for it. It did not matter if he was bad or not, all she knew was she had to help him and take responsibility for her actions.

She stood up.

Regardless of how hard he tried, he could not stop crying. The tears continued to run down his face. He still kept his mouth closed, never allowing himself to sob. He could only imagine the looks on the faces of everyone staring at him.

I'm in hell, he thought to himself. He could not stop crying, but he could not leave. He was at a loss. Once again, Boomer felt himself totally helpless; yet another instance where Boomer could not control anything, no matter how much he tried. Boomer wanted to crawl under a rock and die.

Then, he felt something on his right shoulder. It came down upon his shoulder slowly, as if it was hesitant, and then spread out over it. He realized it was a hand as the fingers gently gripped him.

Boomer's heart jolted. He wiped the tears from his eyes and tilted his head to the right, to confirm who it was. He looked and saw Bubbles, standing over him with her hand placed on his shoulder. Boomer's eyes widened with disbelief. Her expression was a mix of sympathy and apprehension.

She didn't say a word; she just looked right in his eyes and rubbed his shoulder. For a moment, she looked like she was about to say something, but didn't.

Boomer could not belief this was happening. He stood there staring, unconscious of the fact he was no longer crying. For a moment at least, Boomer forgot he was being stared at by everyone in the room. He was still shaking, but now because of being so close to Bubbles; being touched by Bubbles. Boomer, before today, imagined that if Bubbles had ever touched, he become so nervous he would have a massive heart attack; but, under these circumstances, although he was still nervous, he clearly felt much calmer than he had several moments before.

Finally, Bubbles said something.

"It's okay" she said. She slid her hand off Boomer's shoulder and sat down in the chair next to him.

Boomer was in shock.

My God…after all the trouble I've caused her…she still helps me, thought Boomer. She's a angel...maybe if she did that for me, maybe she…

He didn't allow himself to finish his thought.

No…I can't get my hopes up, especially with crazy thoughts like that.

Boomer turned back to the other people at the table. They all were silent, with blank, surprised looks on their faces. Even Coop had stopped eating for the moment. Except for the other Girls, everyone also had a clear amount of confusion shown on their faces.

Boomer took a deep breath and exhaled, now that his soul seemed to have grown stronger. He glanced quickly back at Bubbles, who seemed to be in deep thought about something, maintaining that same expression on her face. Then, he looked back out to everyone else.

Dexter, who looked more concerned than anyone else, was the first to speak up.

"Um…you...um…you okay?" he said, while adjusting his glasses.

Boomer nodded, unsmiling, since he was still a little hesitant.

"You sure?" asked Otto, who also looked worried about Boomer.

Boomer nodded again.

The Professor cleared his throat.

"Young man," said the Professor, cautiously. "If you feel uncomfortable, you could always-"

"Leave. You could always do that," interjected Buttercup. However, Bubbles made an expression that made Buttercup fall silent.

Boomer then knew he had to speak. He gathered his strength.

"It's okay," he whispered to himself.

Boomer took one final deep breath, then finally began to speak.

"W-what I'm about to tell you is…is very serious…and I'm not really sure how to tell you all this," said Boomer.

"Tell what?" asked Blossom, curious.

"There is a person who could pose a threat to you all. A...a very serious one. Someone I believe is conspiring against you and…someone I hope you can help…protect me from," admitted Boomer.

Buttercup raised an eyebrow. Everyone leaned forward in anticipation.

"He's a man named B-Brisbaine. Doctor Brisbaine," said Boomer.

The Professor looked taken aback by what Boomer said.

"Did you say Brisbaine? John Brisbaine?" asked the Professor.

Everyone turned towards him.

"You know him?" asked Dexter.

The Professor nodded.

"In a manner of speaking. I met him briefly when I attended college. Unfortunatly, my memory is fuzzy about that particular time, ever since my college roommate, Professor Dick, tampered with a memory helmet experiment I conducted, making me forget a lot about that year, most of my memories of seventh grade, the ending of Raiders of the Lost Ark, and how to whistle. But, I digress...I seem to remember he was studying genetics at the time."

Dexter turned back to Boomer.

"Do you think it's the same guy?"

"There's really n-no way of knowing for sure," said Boomer.

The Professor scratched his head.

"I remember…he was a rather…unemotional man. Seemed rather cold," said the Professor, continuing to reminisce.

Boomer paused for a moment.

"Yeah, that's him alright," he said.

Buttercup folded her arms and leaned back in her chair.

"So? How much of a threat can a doctor be anyway?" said Buttercup.

"He brought us back, for one," said Boomer. He knew, after what Brisbaine said, saying they were 'brought back' was oversimplifying what occurred, but Boomer didn't feel like explaining that they were clones. Also, deep down, it hurt Boomer to remind himself that he was just a botched clone, whose feelings might be the result of a mistake made by science.

Buttercup straightened up. Boomer continued to speak.

"He was the director of the project that brought us back. The point of the project was to train us to s-strengthen national security. At least, that's what he claimed. Now I'm pretty sure it isn't from the government. I think he's something worse."

"What makes you think that?" asked Blossom.

Boomer paused for a moment. Dexter saw he was uncomfortable, so he tried to save him some trouble.

"He tried to lobotomize him," said Dexter.

The Professor looked aghast. Blossom's eyes widened in horror.

"My God," she whispered.

Buttercup looked confused.

"Lobotomize? Isn't that when they suck all the fat out of your stomach with a tube?" she asked.

Coop looked up from his dinner.

"It's, uh, when they try to take out a piece of your brain so you become a zombie and do what they whatever they want," he said.

Everyone, aside from Boomer, who was uncomfortable remembering what had occurred earlier, was looking at Coop, astonished at his random display of intelligence. Coop looked annoyed.

"Hey, I watch a lot of sci-fi shows, okay? I'm allowed to know stuff, aren't I?"

They shrugged this off and returned their attention to Boomer and Dexter.

Bubbles, who had remained mostly silent during the 'dinner,' turned to Boomer.

"…he really tried to do that to you?" asked Bubbles, hesitantly.

Boomer looked down, not saying anything. That entire ordeal was not something he wanted to recall.

"Why would he want to do that?" asked Blossom.

Boomer did not answer once again. He didn't want to go into why Brisbaine attempted to do that to him, especially with Bubbles there; he didn't want to give her the false impression that any of that was her fault.

Dexter saw Boomer was uncomfortable again, so he continued where Boomer left off.

"To make a long story short, Boomer narrowly escaped Brisbaine's…procedure, and flew over to the Nasty Burger, where he ran into me and Otto. He basically told us everything he told here, so we got Coop to give us a lift here."

They all sat back and reflected on what they had heard.

Buttercup banged her fist on the table.

"Nerve of that Grisbaine guy," she said, accidentally mispronouncing Brisbaine's name. "First, he brings back a bunch of evil boys we have to deal with again, then he-"

Boomer spoke up at this.

"We're not evil."

Buttercup looked up.

"What are you, stupid? But, that's how Mojo made you. He wanted to make you e-"

"We're not evil," said Boomer, sounding completely certain. For all the things Boomer was uncertain about, this he was completely sure of. "Butch may be a jerk sometimes…and Brick may seem cold a lot, but they're not evil. Maybe we were once, but we're not. I…I know it may sound crazy but we're-"

Boomer stopped and looked at the window. He could have sworn he just saw something go by it a moment ago. Something very familiar to him.

"You alright, Boomer?" asked Otto.

Boomer said nothing.

No…it couldn't have been thought Boomer. I must be seeing things. That couldn't have been…that couldn't have been Brick.

Boomer remained in thought. Buttercup still didn't look convinced about the statements Boomer made. Everyone was silent for a moment.

The Professor, however still had some unanswered questions.

"But…no one still told me why Bubbles was locked in her room all day."

Boomer snapped back to reality at this statement and looked as if someone had shot him in the chest. Bubbles looked down, embarrassed.

Dexter and Otto looked at each other, for they too were ignorant of Boomer's involvement in that affair.

"I…don't see what that has to do anything," said Dexter. "I mean, I know he was at the playground, but he says he didn't do anything."

"You mean you don't know!" said Buttercup, astonished.

"Know what?" asked Otto.

"Well," said Buttercup. "He-"

Blossom got up and covered Buttercup's mouth. Buttercup mumbled angrily underneath.

"You know, this might not be the best place to explain that," said Blossom, trying not to embarrass Bubbles further. "Professor, I'll tell you in the other room."

Blossom got up, dragging Buttercup with her down towards the lab, with the Professor following. Dexter and Otto followed suit, without being formally invited to follow, for they were curious to discover the information Boomer had omitted. Coop finished what was left on his plate, then followed everyone else, because now he too was curious to see how this soap opera played out.

Boomer remained still for a moment. Then, he came to startling realization.

He and Bubbles were alone. Boomer suddenly became extremely nervous once again.

I can't avoid this any longer thought Boomer. I have to talk to her.

Little did he know that Bubbles, at that moment, was thinking almost the exact same thing to herself.

They were both afraid, but they knew it was unavoidable. They both knew it had to be done.

The fateful time had finally come.