Powerpuff Girls Doujinshi: Boomer's Story

Epilogue: Exeunt

"Well, now what do we do?" said Brick.

Brick leaned on the wall by Boomer's bed. Boomer had regained enough strength to sit upright, although he was still fragile. Bubbles remained in her seat closest to Boomer's bed. Weasel remained standing up, monitoring Boomer's IV and his condition. Coop, Otto, Blossom, and Buttercup brought in folding chairs from the other room. Dexter also elected to stand, taking his place near Blossom. Butch leaned on the wall opposite of Brick, watching over Boomer intensely.

"Well, we need…a place to stay," said Boomer, still breathing heavily. "It's not we…can go back to the lab…"

"Indeed," said Weasel. "I was taking residence there as well…I have a house in California, but I'm certain Brisbaine's friends will be waiting for me there…I'll need to find a new house…lay low for a while."

"As do we," said Brick.

"Whoa whoa," said Butch, putting his hands up, looking irritated that they had forgotten a more pressing issue. "First things first. What do we do with those freaks we left outside?"

"He's got a point," said Dexter. "Maybe I should go out there and make sure they don't try anything."

Dexter started walking away to go but Buttercup got from her chair.

"Hang on, Four-Eyes," said Buttercup, causing Dexter to stop and look at her angrily. "I'll go…in case one of them tries something."

Dexter opened his mouth to insist, but quickly realized the futility of arguing with Buttercup, and simply walked back to his seat. Buttercup walked out the room, and exited the lab.

"Well, now that that's settled for now," said Otto, after remaining silent for a long time. "We need to find you guys a place to stay."

"That might not be necessary," said Weasel. "Well…" He turned to the Professor. "Are there any houses for sale around here?"

The Professor rubbed his chin.

"Well…lets see…oh yeah!" he said, remembering a location. "A couple blocks from here. The Patakis just moved away. Yeah, that should still be for sale…but why do you ask?"

Weasel smiled.

"I don't like to toot my own horn, but I have made some influential discoveries that have made me quite wealthy. I believe I have more than enough money to purchase that house."

Weasel glanced over at each of the Rowdyruffs.

"I…don't want to overstep my bounds," he said. "But if you Boys want to...I mean, I'm not good with kids but…"

"What are you getting at, doc?" said Butch, raising an eyebrow.

"Well, I mean, it's not like either of us have anywhere to go…and you kids need looking after…so…I figure…why not stay with me?"

Butch raised an eyebrow at him and looked over to Brick, who struggled. Butch then turned to Boomer.

"You make the call," said Butch, nodding to Boomer.

Boomer was not expecting Butch to put the decision in his hands. Remaining silent, Boomer rested his head on his remaining hand, breathed in another deep breath, and thought.

Well…it's basically the only choice there is, thought Boomer. Not to mention it's close…we'd be living near…

Boomer glanced over at Bubbles. After another moment of thought, he looked back at Weasel.

"Mr. Weasel," said Boomer, "we'd be happy to stay with you."

Weasel smiled.

Once Bubbles heard Boomer answered, her attention perked back up.

"So…Boom-I mean, they'll be living right by here?" asked Bubbles.

"It sure does look that way," said Coop, moving his lower half in the seat to get comfortable.

Bubbles smiled, looking over at Boomer. Their eyes met, causing both of them to look away from the other, blushing.

Blossom sat in the corner, seeming uneasy. She bit her lip, hesitant to ask the question on her mind.

"Brick…Butch…" she said finally, making them both turn their attention toward her. "I'm…just to clarify, we all are…you know…I mean, you guys and us…we're…alright, right?"

Brick looked over sideways at Butch, wondering how he would react, since Butch had become especially unpredictable in the past hour.

Butch didn't say anything for a minute. He looked over at Boomer, then looked at Bubbles.

"Well," said Butch, without looking at Blossom, "you won't have to worry about us coming and killing you in your sleep, if that's your concern."

Blossom widened her eyes at Butch's odd words, but Brick added his opinion.

"Don't worry," he said. "That's just Butch's borderline psychotic way of saying he's starting to like you guys."

Butch grunted, but he did not deny Brick's comment.

Butch had a strange way of making peace, but Boomer knew that Butch really meant when he said he wouldn't turn on them. The past day had given Boomer a real insight into how Butch thought.

While Boomer thought aimlessly, Bubbles stared at him nub.

"Is it...are you feeling alright?" asked Bubbles, gently.

"Yeah," said Boomer, smiling at Bubbles. He turned to his tied off arm. "It's not that bad. I guess I'll just have to get used to the feeling of only having one arm…"

Surprisingly, out of the blue, Dexter started laughing. This seemed highly inappropriate, causing him to get odd stares from most everyone. Butch in particular glared at his seemingly disrespectful nature.

"What's so freaking funny?" said Butch, angrily.

Dexter regained control, then looked at Butch, pleased with himself.

"Come on," said Dexter. "Did you think a scientist like me was gonna leave my new friend armless?"

Butch raised an eyebrow and looked over at Brick, confused. Boomer also had a look of confusion on his face.

Dexter straightened his glasses and grinned.

"Just leave it to me," he said.

As he finished his sentence, Buttercup ran down the stairs of the lab frantically and went into the room.

"They're gone!" she said.

At this, everyone turned to Buttercup, shocked and somewhat skeptical.

"W-what do you mean 'they're gone?'" said Boomer, his nerves of the new stumbling him momentarily back into his old habit.

Buttercup, obviously angry herself at this new development, answered.

"All of them," she said. "Even the kid Coop locked up in Megas…"

Everyone looked at the other, nervous. Boomer started to sweat profusely. Bubbles saw this and almost immediately put her hand on his to offer some comfort.

Dear lord, thought Boomer. Where are they?

"I've picked up your trash, Father," said Bell, throwing Brisbaine down to the obsidian, wire-strewn floor of Black Eden. Brisbaine clattered to the floor. As he struggled to get up, he saw a gray, comfortable chair in front of him. Behind it were a vast amount of computer monitors with complex technical readouts, containing information about everything from the power output date to schematics of Cluster war machines. Seated in the gray chair was Dr. X, his red-orange form towering over Brisbaine, all six of his yellow eyes glaring directly downward.

Behind Brisbaine, Bell spoke to her father, in a voice that indicated annoyed undertones.

"Can I go now?"

Dr. X temporarily moved his ominous gaze from Brisbaine to look at his daughter.

"Of course. You may return to your room," said Dr. X.

Bell glared at her father for a split second, then walked away to her room. As she walked away, Brisbaine saw a small, greenish figure run out from behind the shadows of the complex machinery that decorate the lair of the Darkstar Council. The small figure tottered after Bell, joyfully yelling phrases that seem to merely be words randomly thrown together without regard for any meaning whatsoever.

Brisbaine turned back to Dr. X, who was pulling his massive body from the chair and began to walk slowly around Brisbaine.

"You'll have to excuse my daughter's attitude," said Dr. X. "She is still upset over a recent loss in our ranks."

Still on the floor, Brisbaine tried to conceal his fear and replied.

"I'm very sorry to hear th-"

"John, let's just skip the formalities and get to the point," said Dr. X, still walking around Brisbaine, like a cougar stalking its prey, waiting for the slightest flinch in the prey's body before it pounced. All six of Dr. X's eyes reset their gaze on Brisbaine. "John…I am not happy about this."

Brisbaine didn't dare try to stand up from the floor. Those yellow, demonic eyes seemed to paralyze Brisbaine. Brisbaine thought that the moment he moved, Dr. X would unleash whatever power his behemoth of a body held, destroying his flesh as easily as one would crush a fly.

Out from the shadows, Montray's purple, metal body clattered outward, his massive mechanical wings tucked behind his back. Within each of his massive claws, he held the unconscious husks of Blaine and Barrack.

"Dr. X," interrupted Montray, "Kuwagus and I have obtained the boys. What shall I do with them?"

Dr. X momentarily stepped away from his deadly orbit around Brisbaine and examined each of the Boys.

He looked at Barrack first.

"This one is of little use to us," said Dr. X. "He cannot think beyond commanded orders. He's barely sentient. Put him in stasis with Mojo. He's just another result of John's…mistakes."

"Yes," said Montray, grinning with his razor teeth in sinister glee. "Brisbaine does seem to make a lot of mistakes…doesn't he?"

Brisbaine glared back at Montray. It was no secret there was a history of hostility between the two. Brisbaine figured he must have felt like dancing when Dr. X dropped the hammer on him.

Dr. X did not pay any attention as he was examining Blaine more closely than he had Barrack.

"Hmm…," said Dr. X, pondering. "This one has proven himself more interesting. Ensure his wounds are treated."

Dr. X leaned in closer.

"The right side of his face was badly burned. Irreversible damage may have been done to the eye."

He lifted up Blaine's twisted, deformed right hand.

"The index and middle finger are broken."

Dr. X turned away back towards Brisbaine.

"Treat those wounds. If you have to, replace the eye with an optical implant. Use anesthetic to ensure he does not regain consciousness until I say he can."

Montray nodded at Dr. X as he walked away. Before Montray turned and walked away, he looked Brisbaine in the eye and spared another sinister grin.

"John…" said Dr. X, skulking around Brisbaine once again. "Do you have any idea how much your failure has cost us?"

"I…I understand there were some small setbacks," said Brisbaine, "but I think-"

"Small setbacks?" said Dr. X angrily. His yellow eyes glowed red. "No…this is not a small setback. A small setback is when I accidentally buy the wrong thing from the supermarket…no…this is not a small setback." The red eyes glowed brighter. "This is a colossal failure!"

Brisbaine's hair began to get soaked in sweat.

"Let me try to put this in perspective for you," continued Dr. X. "Now, because of your…actions…"

"Now wait," said Brisbaine, making one last attempt to defend himself, "it wasn't my fault. Boomer attacked me and ran-"

"Don't lie to me, John. We know everything. I sensed something was amist so I sent a drone to investigate your location, where we found Brick's Backup. All we had to do was order the one called Blitz to tell us everything he knew, and he did. Don't insult my intelligence with your lies."

Finding that he was now helpless, Brisbaine was now forced to resort to more cowardly tactics.

"I…I am sorry, Dr. X," said Brisbaine.

"Sorry doesn't help the situation. Now, instead of having to exterminate three children with immense power that grows over time, I have to deal with six. You turn a child's crush into a mistake that costs most of our Chemical X resources. You can't even get the other Rowdys to retrieve the remains of that insignificant spacecraft Vexus asked me to obtain. And as if that all wasn't bad enough, you let them have contact with I.M. Weasel, who's no doubt tipped them into where the Rowdyruff facility is. Who knows what else he told them. You didn't even finish Final X…what we can't retrieve from the Rowdyruff facility we will have to destroy before they can get their hands on more information.

"You have no idea the amount of pain you are about to be put through."

Brisbaine couldn't help but ask the question he most feared thinking about.

"Are…are you going to kill me?" asked Brisbaine.

Dr. X loomed over Brisbaine.

"No, John…I'm not going to kill you," said Dr. X. "But soon you might wish I had. I'm going to make you into something useful."

Brisbaine had absolutely no idea what Dr. X was talking about.

"As of this moment, your status under the service of the Darkstar Council has been re-evaluated," continued Dr. X, walking back over to his chair. "You are no longer a scientist…but you will not be allowed to leave with the information you know. As of this moment, your profession in this organization has been demoted to…" Dr. X sat down in the gray chair. "…human test subject."

Brisbaine's eyes grew wider. He scrabbled off the floor onto his feet.

"Dr. X, you…you can't be serious!" said Brisbaine, frightened.

Dr. X's face showed he was absolutely serious.

"You are to be the personal test subject of whoever expresses the need for one first. Then maybe you'll-"

From behind one of the screens located behind Dr. X's screen, a short figure popped out. It wore a French maid's outfit, despite the fact it appeared male. Its face was green, and had pupiless, purple eyes. Instantly, the figure scurried from behind the monitor and ran up to Dr. X.

"Ooh-ooh-ooh," said Zim, waving his arms in front of Dr. X frantically, speaking at almost hyperactive speed. "Pick me! Pick me! I want a human meat slave! Please please please? I'll be good! I'll be good! I'll create something great! Please? I'll even give back all the squishy organs I don't use! Please? Pleeeeeeaase?"

Dr. X, surprised he was able to loose patience of Zim's antics so quickly, gave in.

"Alright," said Dr. X, causing Brisbaine to have a look of pure, uncontrollable fear on his face. "Fine. You can use him for tests. Just make sure you use him for something useful, and ensure it doesn't interfere with your cleaning duties."

Zim smiled, turned around, and began to yell triumphantly to no one in particular.

"Success! Success for Zim!"

Brisbaine was now officially Zim's personal test subject. The first thought that Brisbaine had after realized that fact was why couldn't he have just killed me?

Zim, obviously pleased with himself, turned back to Dr. X.

"You need not worry!" he said. "I will build this stringy beast of meat and hair into a creation so incredible that your brain ooze fluid upon beholding the brilliance of the Irkan elite! Even the Cluster will bow down and kneel before my AMAZING GENIUS! KNEEL THEY WILL BEFORE ZIM!"

Dr. X groaned, realizing he would soon regret this. The only plus side to letting Zim get his hands on a test subject was that it would ensure that Brisbaine would get the punishment he deserved for his mistake. Dr. X almost felt sorry for Brisbaine. Almost.

Zim turned and looked Brisbaine up and down. While he did this, Brisbaine made one final plea.

"Dr. X, please reconsider!" he said.

"Sorry, John, but I have an operation to run," said Dr. X.

Brisbaine looked down at the ground. There was no hope for him now.

Zim finished looking Brisbaine over and called out.

"GIR! COME TO YOUR MASTER!" There was no response. "GIR, COME!" There was still no response. "GIR!"

After the last call, the same small green creature that had followed Bell into her room ran out quickly. It looked like a cross between a green dog and a character from Hello Kitty gone horribly wrong.

"Yes master!" said Gir, saluting Zim, looking serious for only a moment before it lowered its arm and rolled around on the ground, babbling gibberish.

"Gir, I require materials," said Zim, his eyes following Gir as he rolled on the ground. "Go fetch me some anesthesia, a hacksaw, a power converter, a sonic screwdriver, any spare metal you happen to find, AND…" Zim thought for a minute. "Umm…AND A SPATULA!"

Gir got up and stuck its fake tongue out.

"ARE WE MAKIN' WAFFLES!" it yelled with glee.

"Not this time, Gir. This spatula is for SCIENCE!"

Brisbaine watched in horror at the fools he was now in the hands of.

Life as the personal guinea pig of an Irkan idiot, thought Brisbaine. Brisbaine felt his fear consume him. This buffoon was going to operate on him and he didn't know what he was going to do. He didn't know who would be so horrible to operate on someone against their will.

Perhaps if Brisbaine was not so afraid, he might have realized the irony in that thought.

One week after Blaine's attack…

"Alright, almost done," said Dexter, tightening the last bolt with his wrench. "And…there we go! So, how does it feel?"

Boomer hesitated for a moment, then tried to move the sophisticated prosthetic arm Dexter had designed for him. Boomer brought his arm into his view to look over it. Dexter had outdone himself; it looked almost exactly like his old arm, except made of gray steel. When Dexter had first approached Boomer with this idea, Boomer was afraid he would make his arm appear skeletal and ghoulish, like something out of the Terminator; however, Dexter had done a good job making it appear very smooth and human-looking. Boomer looked down at where the metal joined the remains of his left arm, which were held together by the bolts Dexter had just finished screwing in. He moved the joints of his arm and wrist around, making a quiet, clanking sound as he moved it. Dexter had found a way to connect his nerves into the arm, which was very painful, but now Boomer saw it was worth it.

"It's good…but it feels kinda heavy," said Boomer.

Dexter straightened his glasses.

"Well, that's just a prototype," said Dexter. "This is only a temporary solution while I try to work on a more refined model that'll have synthetic skin on the outside. This one isn't perfect, and I still haven't figure out how to make your prosthetic arm charge energy..."

Boomer continued to move around his arm.

"That's okay," said Boomer. "I'm just glad to have an arm again."

Dexter smiled.

Boomer looked around Dexter's lab and gazed at all the other great mechanical creations he had within.

Dexter pulled up his sleeve and looked at the watch.

"Well, we should get to school now," said Dexter. "Sorry to call you in early, I just thought you'd prefer to have this done before your first day."

Boomer looked at his arm, then looked down at the ground, glumly. Dexter immediatly noticed this.

"What's wrong?" said Dexter, although he already had a good idea what the answer would be.

"It's just..." said Boomer. "I mean...Blaine and Brisbaine are still out there somewhere...I don't know how I'll..."

Dexter put his hand on his shoulder.

"Come on, don't get like this," said Dexter, concerned. "Just remember what Butch said..."

Shortly after they had discovered Blaine and Brisbaine had disappeared, Boomer came upon the verge of a nervous breakdown. Butch had looked Boomer in the eye and said, "Don't worry. If they come back, we'll give them enough suffering for two lifetimes. Together." In Butch's odd way, he was able to comfort his brother for the first time.

Boomer was somewhat comforted by this memory.

"You okay?" asked Dexter.

"I'll...I'll try to be," he said, getting up from the chair Dexter had him in.

"Alright," said Dexter. "Let's go."

Dexter pushed a button on his watch and a steel wall nearby opened forth, revealing his normal bedroom. He and Boomer walked through his room, down the hallway, and into Dexter's living room. On the couch, Butch and Brick were sitting on the couch, watching TV while they waited for Boomer.

On the TV, a tall, bald African American man was talking while he had a picture of a bright blue light seen on Earth by a satellite orbiting it.

"…NASA has declined to comment, and we at Mysterious Mysteries of Strange Mysteries have yet to uncover the source of this mysterious light seen almost a week ago.

"In other news, Amity Park has received more mass sightings of what some believe are ghos-"

Brick saw Boomer and Dexter come down and turned off the TV. As Boomer came down, Brick and Butch walked over and looked at his arm.

"Whoa," said Butch, looking over Boomer's steel arm. "The nerd sure did a good job. Does it feel alright?"

Boomer nodded, hiding his preoccupation about Blaine.

"I told you not to call me that," said Dexter to Butch.

"Very nice," said Brick. "This sure does look a lot like the metal arm from Full-"

Dexter coughed to interrupt.

"My inventions are one hundred percent original and this design is in no way influenced by that famous show that I have never seen," he said.

Brick raised an eyebrow at him, and Boomer managed to smile.

"Anyway," said Dexter, changing the subject from the inspirations for his inventions, "we should probably go now. The Girls are probably out waiting for us."

Butch rolled his eyes, because he was still not as comfortable with being around the Girls Boomer and Brick had become.

"I don't even see why we have to go to school at all," said Butch, walking with the others as they approached the door.

"Well, I can see why you would complain about learning," joked Brick.

"And what's that supposed to mean?" said Butch, annoyed.

Dexter opened the door, and the rays of the sun shined upon them. Beyond Dexter's front porch, just as Dexter had predicted, the Girls were outside, along with Otto who had ran into them on the way. Buttercup was sitting on the sidewalk just beyond the lawn, while Blossom and Bubbles stood over her, waiting. Once the door opened, Bubbles turned and ran towards Boomer.

"Morning!" said Bubbles cheerfully. Boomer raised his left hand to wave, not realizing it was his prosthetic hand. Bubbles slowed down in front of him and took hold of the prosthetic arm, causing Boomer to blush.

"Wow…" she said, looking at it. "Dexter did a really good job."

"Thanks," said Dexter, walking past Boomer and Bubbles towards Blossom. They started talking while Bubbles still looked over his arm.

Meanwhile, Brick nudged Butch to indicate that maybe they should give Boomer and Bubbles some privacy to talk. Butch reluctantly walked with him towards the Girls. Buttercup looked up at Butch and glared. Butch returned the expression. During the past week, although they were not either friends or enemies, they had developed a strange, competitive relationship. Considering their similar personalities, both seemed to think they were obligated to compete at almost conceivable opportunity. This resulted in many shouting matches, but since neither wanted to interfere with their siblings' happiness, they never got in any truly serious physical bouts.

Brick stood by the side and shot the breeze with Otto.

Bubbles finally relinquished Boomer's prosthetic arm. After that, she smiled at him, making Boomer's heart beat faster as always.

"I'm…I'm glad you have a new arm now," said Bubbles.

Boomer smiled back at her.

From near the sidewalk, Otto called out.

"Hey! Come on, let's go!" he yelled.

Bubbles looked back at Otto and the others. They were all waiting, except for Butch and Buttercup, who were already flying down the sidewalk, no doubt another result of their competitive nature. She twirled back to Boomer. She smiled once again. She held out her right hand.

"Come on…let's go," she said.

Boomer looked down at her hand and hesitated for a moment. He looked up into her shining face and bright blue eyes. All the worries he had about Blaine and Brisbaine seemed to melt away; by gaving into her eyes, he somehow knew everything would be alright, everything would be alright. He took her hand with his right, natural hand.

And together, hands entwined, they ran off into the bright morning.

"And yet I wish but for the thing I have:
My bounty is as boundless as the sea,

My love as deep; the more I give to thee,
The more I have, for both are infinite."

-Romeo and Juliet, Act II Scene 2

Authors Note: BUT WAIT! THERE'S MORE! I hope you have enjoyed this story as much as I have making it. And if you have enjoyed it, no doubt you still have some unanswered questions, chiefly of which are these two: "What happened to all that crap about PROJECT: BUNNY?" and, "Will there be a sequel?"

Which is why there will be two extra Appendices that will answer those very questions (although they will probably raise just as many questions).

Although, since the main story is now over, I would like to take this time to think the fans. It's your reviews that have kept me coming back to write this instead of watching reruns of Firefly. Truly, this story could not have been finished without you guys. You guys kick ass.

So, next week (maybe sooner), Appendix I: PROJECT BUNNY.