CHAPTER 5 : CHEMICAL WINTER
"Further reports on the world-wide panic, as the countdown to checkmate approaches zero: In New York, several cases have been reported of people too afraid to leave their own homes. In Montgomery, Alabama, a militia called "the sons of freedom" including over 70 members has formed, for the express purpose of defending themselves in case of invasion by Checkmate Warren. In San Francisco, a power outage caused over 30 000 people to descend in the streets and attempt to flee the city, as it was believed to be the final phase of Checkmate's master-plan; city officials have now stated that the outage was due to an unrelated malfunction. Stores nation-wide have reported a rise of over 300 in sales of portable generators, hunting weapons, canned food, and other survivalist equipment. The terror alert status has been raised to red.
In international news, fear appears to be rising everywhere. A fight over supplies in a supermarket has resulted in 8 lightly wounded in St-Petersburg, Russia. A scandal has erupted in France over the words of the prime minister, who suggested that the nuclear option remained open in case of attack; in face of large protests, he has replied that his words had been misunderstood, and that launching nuclear warheads toward inhabited areas wasn't being considered in any of the potential scenarios. In the French Alps, a group of volunteers have formed a militia under the guidance of a few veterans of the World War II Resistance, but report that their numbers are disappointingly low. A diplomatic crisis between Israel and Iran has erupted after an Iranian sheik has accused the Israeli government of being in league with Checkmate Warren; Iranian officials deny any support to these claims. Rome officials have reported a very large increase in the number of pilgrims to the Vatican…"
Tender Heart turned the TV off. "Amazing. Some people are defiant, but…Almost everybody is scared stiff. I've never seen anything like it."
"For that matter, I don't remember any villain making this much noise," said Proud Heart. "Cold Heart and No Heart caused trouble every now and then, but the news barely mentioned them. Now, they can't shut up about Warren."
"That's because of the way he did it", said Cheer. "The flashy ways he tells the world the countdown is progressing, the sinister laughter, fighting in front of the cameras, the missiles…No Heart never tried to impress the world, just hurt it."
"While Warren wants to rule it" concluded Bright Heart. "He needs people to fear him."
"Then maybe that's the way to stop him?" suggested Brave Heart. "Tell people not to be afraid?"
"But they have good reasons to be afraid" answered Grumpy. "You've seen what he can do…"
In a huge skyscraper, No Heart's brother Control was addressing a corporate board room:
"Ladies and Gentlemen, in order to reach people, we must always take into account the current mood. Right now, people are afraid; they want more than anything else to feel safe – or at least for the crisis to pass, ending this nerve-wrecking anticipation for disaster. We must thus focus on these feelings – our marketing efforts must make people associate our services with safety, or with release from anticipation, whichever is more appropriate. You know what to do – go at it."
As they left, he turned to his secretary: "Ms Smith, I want a full report on Checkmate Warren. Every bit of information you can find will be required. You'll have at your disposition up to a million dollars in bribe money and other expenses to access the information, as well as Arnold's assistance."
"Yes, Mr. Quentin."
At the ProtoChem factory, the director looked up as a tall, old man with a white beard entered his office.
"Ah, professor Armitage. A pleasure to finally meet you in the flesh." "Although your sense of fashion seems somewhat outdated", he thought.
"The pleasure is all mine, Mr. Lockhart" answered the old man. "I took the scenic route through your factory – the work you do with chemicals is quite impressive."
"Why thank you. Yes, ProtoChem prides itself in being able to produce just about any chemical industrialists need nowadays. But I believe you've probably heard our company mottos enough to get sick of them."
"Never mind that. Tell me – are the chemicals for our little project all in place?"
"Fredersen sent them, and we got them this morning. I must say, Armitage, I usually ask new clients to pay in advance for this kind of work…But since Fredersen vouched for you, I'll trust his judgment."
"And for that I'm grateful" answered the professor. He then removed his right glove, revealing an oddly-colored hand. "Shall we shake on it?"
"Sure – oh dear. Your hand…It's blue!"
"It's a medical condition. Pay it no mind."
Lockhart hesitantly shook the professor's hand…But as he did, he suddenly felt himself growing cold. Very cold. He quickly let out an anguished yell before being frozen on the spot, looking like a living statue with small icicles coming down from it.
Chuckling, the professor removed his fake beard. "You were right on one thing – I was getting sick of your motto." He then dialed a number on the director's phone:
"Auntie Freeze? I'm at the factory. The director has been taken care off – with the beard and make-up, no-one suspected a thing."
"Good, Professor. What should we do with Fredersen's son?"
"Leave him there; we don't need him anymore. But come quick; I'll need both of you here. When we're done, the world will never be the same again!"
Flying above the large city, a cloudmobile was carrying two passengers.
"Well, that wasn't the hardest mission we've had lately" said Bright Heart.
"Yeah," concurred Brave Heart, "I wish everything was this easy…"
He was interrupted by Bright Heart's ringing phone:
"Yes?"
"Bright Heart, this is Tender Heart. The Caring Meter has detected another emergency, and you two are closest to it. The coordinates are…"
Five minutes later, the two Care Bear Cousins reached a house that looked abandoned; the lawn wasn't mowed, the hedge appeared neglected…Curious, the raccoon pushed the door. It wasn't locked.
As they progressed through the corridor, Brave Heart said: "Do you think anyone actually lives here?"
"I don't kno – wait. See this spot? There's no dust. Someone must have moved something recently."
"Right. But…"
"Looking for someone?"
They both looked up – Checkmate Warren was standing at the other end of the corridor. He was holding a small metallic object in his hand.
"You!" exclaimed Brave Heart, furious. "I've had it with your tricks! I've had it with you manipulating us all the time!"
Filled with righteous anger, the lion charged at the mastermind. An instant later, the mastermind had him pinned to the ground.
"It takes more than just rage to win, little lion. Remember this: I'm 5 times bigger, 10 times stronger, 15 times meaner, and 20 times smarter than you. Tick me off again, and you're a dead lion 25 times over."
"Don't hurt him!" pleaded Bright Heart. As the human let go of his captive, the raccoon went on: "What is it this time? Who are you holding here?"
"Holding here? Absolutely no-one. I assume you're referring to your caring mission?"
"The Caring Meter detected – wait. This whole thing was a trap of yours, wasn't it?"
"Of course. I know the frequency you use, and the voice-altering software at my disposal can easily imitate Tender Heart."
"Would it be too optimistic not to assume you did this to capture us?"
"Not at all. I just wanted to talk."
"Talk! You could just call, instead of doing all these mind-games!"
"True, but where's the fun in that? Now follow me," he put the object in his pocket, then opened the door to the room at the corridor's end, "I've got to show you a few things."
As they came in, Bright Heart noticed the machines lying around: Nothing big by Warren's standards, but definitely something…
"What is this place?"
"One of the countless secondary lairs I maintain. I'll have to scrap it after we leave, but its use had expired anyway. Now, the reason I called you here…There's something somewhat alarming going on."
"Beside your countdown?"
"Beside my countdown, yes. Tell me, when was the last time you've heard from Professor Cold Heart?"
"Um…That was back in Rainbow City. He hasn't come up since."
"Correct. I, on the other hand, took advantage of his presence in Rainbow City to put some bugs on his belongings and those of his henchmen, and have been trying to keep track of what he was doing."
"That shouldn't be too hard for you. Cold Heart Castle…"
"…is not his current address. While he was busy elsewhere – courtesy of Villain-dot-com – I took the liberty of raiding the castle, taking everything that could be useful to me, destroying everything else that could be useful to him, and filling the area with new traps. He can't even go there anymore."
"I should have guessed."
"I've been checking up on him – apparently, he hasn't taken his recent humiliation very well, and was intent on weaving a plan that, according to him, dwarfed all his previous efforts. Unfortunately, I lost contact around the time of the fight at the conference – I was too busy preparing my own plots to worry about his. He has disappeared."
"So you don't know what he's up to?"
"On the contrary. I have taken advantage of my new power over the Internet to search for clues. One of my research methods involved a program I've improved upon – originally designed to differentiate writing styles. I've modified it to look for Cold Heart's characteristic prose – every man writes in a unique way, after all. I've been running this program, and it recently found this."
Images appeared on a large computer screen. Most of it was text. The two Cousins leaned forward to look.
"Apparently, he's created himself the identity of professor Armitage, chemistry genius and environmental activist. Over the last couple of months, he has made good use of his manipulation skills, getting various chemistry experts on the web to brainstorm on an idea he proposed: Project Whitehouse."
"Whitehouse?"
"Yes. Tell me…What do you know of the greenhouse effect?"
"It's very simple", answered the raccoon: "In a greenhouse, the glass walls allow sunlight to get in, bringing heat; but since air can't get through, they prevent the heat from getting out. Global warming happens because greenhouse gases in the atmosphere let the sunlight in, but don't let the heat – under the form of infrared light – get out."
"Exactly. Well, Project Whitehouse's official goal is to fight global warming by countering this greenhouse effect. To this end, Professor Cold Heart – with his manipulated help – has designed Whitehouse gas. I've hacked into a few Cray supercomputers to assist my own in a simulation of the gas's effects:"
As a demonstration played on the monitor, the mastermind went on: "Once released into the atmosphere, the gas spreads out quickly, carried by the winds. Its chromatic nature makes it a far brighter white than the water vapor of which clouds are made – even a relatively small amount of gas would be enough to reflect a substantial amount of sunlight back into space, preventing it from reaching the ground."
"Wait, wait, wait…Wouldn't you need huge amounts in order to change weather patterns?"
"Where have you been for the last twenty years, frozen in time? You don't need a lot to change the weather. A few kilotons of Whitehouse gas would only prevent a very tiny fraction of the sunlight from reaching us, but even such a tiny fraction would be enough to make a huge difference: Within months, temperatures worldwide would drop by several centigrade degrees; glaciers in the North and South would progress; with the change in temperatures, wind flows would be modified, turning the climate upside-down; natural disasters would occur in areas not prepared for them; the fauna and flora would be greatly damaged. Cold Heart's plan isn't just to counter global warming, but to severely overshoot it, plunging us into a new ice age. The damage would amount to millions, maybe dozens of millions of dead; hundreds of billions if not trillions in property damage; an ecological catastrophe." As he spoke, the simulation on the computer echoed his words, showing the barren landscapes, as entire ecosystems withered and died from the temperature shift.
"He – he can do that?"
"Bright Heart, I could do it. Easily. We can assume that he could do it with a lot of effort." Warren looked pensive for a moment. "We'll have to work together on this, Bright Heart. We have our disagreements…You want to spread love to the world, I want to take it over, but we cannot allow Professor Cold Heart to destroy it."
Bright Heart seemed hesitant. "I don't know about this, Warren. Last time you told us about one of Cold Heart's plots, you played us all like a fiddle. How do I know this isn't just another one of your tricks?"
"Simple answer: You don't. I could argue that, had I wanted to manipulate you, I could have done it far more subtly…But that, too, could be a trick. But tell me…What's worse? The risk of being a pawn in another one of my plans…Or the risk of letting Cold Heart force an eternal winter upon the world?"
Brave Heart watched as his friend sank into his thoughts. He could tell what went through his head…On one hand, every encounter the family had had thus far with the mastermind had resulted in Warren successfully completing one of his plots, more than once using them as his pawns. On the other hand…Cold Heart was dangerous. One of the most terrible foes the family had faced. Could they really risk letting him complete such a twisted plan?
Finally, Bright lifted his head: "How can we stop him?"
"We have to find him first. The actual production of Whitehouse gas will require taking over a large chemical plant – he needs to produce kilotons of it, after all. I've made a list of every such plant on the continent, as well as a list of those outside it – though I doubt the Professor will actually attempt working outside the country. What we need is for your family to search them – with cloudmobiles and the Rainbow Rescue Beam, you can do it faster than anyone else, but you'll still need to hurry, and devote all of your efforts to the task. Once we find where he is, we'll have to destroy the Whitehouse gas before he releases it. I'll require your assistance here, Bright Heart."
"What? Why?"
"Because, while your intellect is far behind mine, you are nevertheless a scientific genius on Cold Heart's level, and I'd rather have you help me with the intellectual aspects of the task at hand. When the world hangs in the balance, you don't take chances."
Bright Heart looked at Brave Heart, uneasy. "Brave Heart…Tell the rest of the family."
"You really think we can trust him?"
"Not really. But what else can we do?"
Soon enough, multiple cloudmobiles and rainbow-rollers flew out of Care-A-Lot and the Forest of Feelings. Uneasy as they were with Checkmate Warren's involvement, they were all determined to find Professor Cold Heart before it was too late.
We gotta get togetherWe gotta use our minds
We gotta find this man
And there's not much time
We gotta travel light
We go from place to place
Asking everybody "have you seen this face?"
Has anybody seen this man
He's so old and tall
Has anybody seen this man
He's so smart and cruel
We might have to look all over the world
Has anybody seen Cold Heart
Here's a little picture
For a quick reminder
I'm hoping you might have a clue
Does he look a little bit like someone you saw?
Does he look a little bit like you?
Has anybody seen this man
He's so old and tall
Has anybody seen this man
He's so smart and cruel
We might have to look all over the world
Has anybody seen Cold Heart
Has anybody seen Cold Heart
While the search was progressing, Bright Heart and Checkmate Warren were working at Warren's secondary lair.
"Why do you do this?" the raccoon suddenly asked.
"Which action are you referring to? I do more than one thing that leaves people quizzical as to my motivations."
"I'm talking about the villainy. In the last few months, you've…Well, you made a pact with an ancient evil sorcerer. Then you betrayed him first chance you got. You held Care Bear cubs hostage. You forced us to fight your fights for you. You stole machines, research, and probably more. You hurt and humiliated Bolt – twice. You played with biological weaponry. You broke Champ's leg. You used the Army's missiles. You hacked most computers in the world. You covered the entire world in a blanket of fear – have you seen how people are acting? They're terrified! Why do you do these things? You said you wanted to take over the world. Why? Don't you care about all the people you're hurting?"
"Truth be told, I've never been the greatest fan of my fellow humans. I will also freely admit that my empathy is somewhat lacking. But everything I've done, I've done because it was necessary for my plans. I don't hate you, like No Heart does. I don't hurt you for the hell of it. I hurt you because you're standing in my way."
"And you're okay with hurting anyone who stands in your way?"
"There are limits. I prefer avoiding collateral damage when I can. And quite frankly, I have more respect for you and your family than you probably think."
"You do?"
"But of course. As sickeningly saccharine as you may be, you're also true to your ideals, and consistent with your morals. That's more than can be said of most people. However, if successfully completing my plan requires for me to become your worst nightmare, then so be it."
"Again, why? What makes your plan so important that you're willing to act like a monster to complete it? Power never made anyone happy."
"When did happiness come into the equation? My plan never aimed at such objectives. There's more to life than happiness."
"Now I just don't follow."
"You'd understand if you worked for WebKnot."
"Huh?"
"Never mind. Let's just say I find our world…unsatisfactory. My plan will allow me to remedy to that."
"What…"
"Hush. We can keep discussing my motivations till the world ends…But that will happen rather soon unless we succeed in our current endeavor."
"Right. Well, according to my calculations, the Whitehouse molecules should break into their individual, mostly harmless constituents if subjected to a heat of 600°C or more."
"Then our results match. Excellent – destroying the gas should be easy enough."
"But isn't he making kilotons of the stuff? We'd need a lot of heat to destroy that…"
"The Care Bear Stare will be more than enough."
"Maybe…But you seem pretty confident in our power. We've never used it to create extreme temperatures, you know."
"Please. I've briefly studied your abilities. I've seen you at work, I've analyzed your DNA, I've observed Paradise Valley…"
"Hold it. You knew about Paradise Valley?"
"It's a small area, Bright Heart, but sooner or later people were bound to find out about a tropical micro-climate that was somehow maintained within an arctic environment. Surely you realize the amounts of energy involved are immense? All that power generated by nothing more than a couple of tummy symbols. Believe me, Bright Heart – what you have is among the greatest powers on Earth."
The raccoon seemed pensive. "Hm. To be honest, I never really understood how it worked…It is powerful, like you say. We've been able to hold even No Heart at bay with it…"
Elsewhere, the search for Cold Heart was progressing.
"This is Gentle Heart. I checked at the Goldman-Kent plant, but they weren't there."
"Birthday here. I just reached the ProtoChem plant. I'm going inside."
As the bear entered the plant, he saw much activity. The workers were hard at work, preparing huge amounts of whatever it was their vats contained. But something was off…The workers seemed afraid.
"Hi. Are you okay?"
Two workers turned, surprised.
"A Care Bear!"
"Yeah. Birthday Bear, at your service. Is everything all right?"
The workers seemed hesitant. One of them decided to take a chance:
"Professor Cold Heart. The mad scientist. He's here. He froze the boss, and a couple of others. Said he'd freeze us all if we didn't do as he said. He's got us working on something…He called it Whitehouse gas, or whatever."
"That's what we thought. Don't worry, we'll free you."
"That's not all. He also had that midget and some woman who could turn invisible patro…"
Before the worker could finish off, a ray of frost hit Birthday from behind. Before the bear could even yelp, he was frozen in place. Auntie Freeze, dropping her invisibility, appeared behind him.
"Well, well, well. Were you trying to warn a Care Bear about the Professor's plan?"
"I – please – don't…"
The worker was made silent as another ray of frost came out of Auntie Freeze's eyes and struck him.
Back in Warren's lair, Bright Heart was examining the weather simulation.
"It looks correct to me. Scary to imagine how much damage Cold Heart could cause. But don't those simulations take a lot of calculation power?"
"I told you, I hacked into some supercomputers in addition to my own."
"About that…Where did you get supercomputers? Did you steal them?"
"No, I made them myself…Or rather, I made them out of a network of regular computers."
"Which you got how?"
"Why do you think I have automated factories over the continent? There are things I need to build on a massive scale. Those "Mate in two" flyers, computers for my network, weapons…You get the idea.
By the way," he spoke into Bright Heart's communicator, "how's the search progressing?"
"We've searched about two thirds of the plants. Still no trace of Cold Heart."
"Fine. Incidentally, has anyone failed to report?"
"What do you mean?"
"What I'm asking is, has anyone disappeared while checking a factory?"
"Um, I don't know…Let's check."
A quick verification allowed them to realize that Birthday had gone missing while examining the ProtoChem plant.
"There's no time to lose," said the mastermind. "Everyone converge there. Grumpy, use the Rainbow Rescue Beam to send Bright Heart and me there – our scientific expertise may prove vital."
As the rest of the family was scrambling to reach the plant as fast as they could, Bright Heart, Friend, Lotsa Heart, Playful Heart, Loyal Heart, Good Luck, Love-A-Lot, Funshine, Wish and Warren were assembled in front of the gate.
"Should we wait for the others?"
"Negative", answered Warren. "We don't know how much time is left before the Professor unleashes the Whitehouse gas. We have to act now."
"What if it's too late?" asked Bright Heart. "What if we can't prevent the gas from spreading?"
"Hm…Good question. I guess we could try to position a huge aluminum foil in space to reflect a little bit of additional sunlight back to Earth, to counter the gas's effect. But as for the task at hand…Take these thermal protection units. They're the same as those I gave you in Rainbow City, and will prevent us from being one-shotted with a ray of frost."
"So how do we do it? Should we try to sneak in from a back door?"
"Of course not," said the mastermind. "If Cold Heart has captured your friend, then he'll be expecting you to sneak in. As long as you do what your foe expects you to, you're at a monumental disadvantage. I favor a somewhat different approach. Follow me."
Hesitantly, the others did as he said. He led them to the plant's parking lot, where he chose a large car, broke its window, and sat in the driver's seat.
"Get inside."
"Okay, but for…Hey, what are you doing?"
"As you can plainly see, I'm hot-wiring this vehicle."
The bears and cousins felt some surprise as he started the car, then crashed it at full speed against the gate. The gate broke down, allowing them to make a shocking entrance into the plant.
Cold Heart, surprised by the unusual tactic, yelled: "Frostbite! Auntie Freeze! Stop them!" Then, looking as the passengers got out of the car, he recognized both the denizens of the Kingdom of Caring and the criminal genius. "You! You've meddled with my plans one too many times!"
Ignoring the professor and sporting a predatory grin, Warren looked around…Then lifted a tazer, seemingly hit in the air, and apparently electrocuted something invisible. "I can see you just fine with these glasses, Auntie Freeze. I made some tests back in Rainbow City – you don't reflect visible light, but ultraviolet is another matter altogether."
Scared away by the Care Bears' Stare, Frostbite hid behind a corner. Furious, Cold Heart ran toward a control panel, and pressed a few buttons. A mechanism poured chemicals into a huge vat. A hissing noise came out of it, as white vapors started emerging.
"You're too late! My Whitehouse gas heralds a new ice age!"
"Then waste no time", said Warren to his allies.
"3, 2, 1, Stare!" The powerful ray hit the vat. Heat increased considerably; after a few seconds, the vapors coming out of it switched to a dark gray.
"Damn you!" cursed the mad scientist. "You'll pay for this!"
"So you say," said Warren. "But you fail with perfect consistency. As is sometimes said…Quitters never win; winners never quit; but those like you who never win and never quit are idiots!"
Cold Heart looked at his assistant. "Frostbite, throw that red barrel into the vat next to you!"
As the dim-witted henchman complied, flames started erupting from the vat.
"Sodium" observed Warren calmly. "Highly reactive, very dangerous. Do as I say or the whole place will burn down."
With the bears, cousins, and some of the workers following Warren's instructions, a disaster was avoided…But the icy trio had made its getaway in the meanwhile.
Soon afterward, several frozen human beings as well as Birthday were found, and subsequently thawed out, courtesy of the Stare.
Hesitantly, Bright Heart addressed their unlikely ally. "Thank you…I guess."
"No need to thank me. I don't want to see this world further ruined."
"About that…Some Whitehouse gas was released before our Stare overheated it. Do you think…"
"No. A few cubic meters can't make a noticeable difference in temperature."
"That's what I thought too. Well…Good-bye."
Activating his communicator, he said: "Beam us up, Grumpy."
But just as he said that, he saw Checkmate Warren lunging at them. The next moment, courtesy of the Rainbow Rescue Beam, they were in the Hall of Hearts with Grumpy – but due to the proximity, Warren had been teleported too!
"What…"
They never got to finish the question. Smiling diabolically, the mastermind let a small smoking object fall to the ground. The bears and cousins were knocked out in an instant by the gases.
"This is like shooting paraplegic fish in a barrel with a missile-launcher," reflected the mastermind.
"C'mon! Wake up!" the unconscious bears and cousins were woken up by some other family members, who had just come back from the search with their cloudmobiles and rainbow-rollers. "What happened?"
"Warren…He managed to follow us on the Rainbow Rescue Beam…Then he used a gas to knock us out…"
"Warren again! Spread out – search for him!"
A while later, the family was spread over Care-A-Lot and the Forest of Feelings, looking for the arch-villain. Back at Gram's cottage, Hugs and Tugs were growing restless:
"This is boring, Tugs."
"Yeah. Hey, I know! Let's help look for Warren!"
"But Tugs, isn't that dangerous?"
"Don't worry Hugs – I'll protect you!"
"Okay."
Somewhere below the Forest of Feelings, Gentle Heart was talking inside her communicator:
"I'm in the caring crystals mine. I'll call you if I…"
"Hello."
"Aiie!" the lamb yelled in surprise, as the mastermind appeared from behind a corner. Her communicator fell to the ground.
"You, you…"
"Hey hey hey, no need for gloom!
Cheer up dear, and face your doom!"
Gentle Heart gulped. "You – stop where you are."
"Hm…No, I don't think I will. Ask again at another time."
"I can stop you!" she said, gathering her courage, as her tummy symbol began glowing.
A few minutes later, the rest of the family, alerted by Gentle Heart's initial yell, was rushing inside the mine. Once there, they were surprised to find the lamb tied upside-down to a support beam with what looked like Checkmate Warren's necktie.
"Gentle Heart!"
"Blood…Rushing to brain…"
"What happened?" asked Playful Heart as he began untying her.
"He's…Pretty fast."
Some additional minutes later, as they kept progressing, they finally found the mastermind, near a mass of crystals. He was wearing latex gloves, and had apparently just put an amount of crystals into a small bag.
"Ah, there you are. What took you so long?"
"Enough!" said Noble Heart. "I don't know what you're doing, but stop this immediately!"
"In case it hadn't become obvious to you by now," said Warren as he put the bag in his pocket, "I have a tendency to disobey your orders. Why you keep giving them is anyone's guess."
"I can't believe you did it again!" said Bright Heart. "All that manipulation to get here…"
"Don't exaggerate. I didn't make up the threat of Cold Heart's plot. As for getting here, I could have done it more discreetly under the cover of the night had I chosen to. Hitching a ride on the Rainbow Rescue Beam was merely a little time-saver."
Realizing that they wouldn't win without a fight, Noble Heart and True Heart gave the order to attack:
"Care Bears…"
"Care Cousins…"
"Stare!"
"Call!"
The powerful ray erupted…And broke a support beam. Warren had simply side-stepped. They re-aimed the Stare to hit him…But he put his hand forward, and, somehow, the Stare was stopped in mid-air, a few inches away from his hand! The champions of caring felt their hearts sank – that had never happened before!
They kept pressing on – to no avail. Finally, they collapsed from exhaustion. Bright Heart then saw that Warren was holding in his hand the same metallic object he had held in his lair; it was open now, and he could see, encrusted in it, a familiar stone:
"The uncaring crystal!"
"A fragment of it. Its radiations cancel emotions and feelings, which happen to be the very components of your Stare. As such, this little hand-held shield can block your attack. Now, since you're too tired to keep fighting…"
"We're not tired!" came a voice. Tugs, followed by Hugs, ran past their family and toward Warren. "You'll never get away with this!"
"Why do you keep saying that, no matter how often I demonstrate the statement to be inaccurate?" asked Warren. The cubs ran at him, then jumped in an attempt to catch his hand-held shield…But he simply lifted his arm, and they grasped at thin air. Carried over by their inertia, they hit the mass of caring crystals at the other end of the room.
"Brave, but foolish" said the mastermind. "Now if you'll…" he suddenly stopped, as a creaking noise began. "Move out!" he yelled, lunging at the cubs, and pushing them out of the way at the last minute as a part of the mine collapsed; with the support beam broken earlier, the large amount of caring crystals weren't held in place anymore; they fell on the mastermind, burying him under their weight.
When the dust cleared, the bears and cousins saw a huge pile of crystals, under which their foe was supposedly buried.
"Warren? Are you okay?"
"Like…I've been run over by a train" came his muffled voice, as he slowly emerged from the pile. He was covered in tiny crystals.
"Uh…How are you feeling?"
"It takes more than simple caring crystals to stop me, if that's what you're thinking" he said, dusting himself off. He then gave them a menacing glare – but they felt they could see some sadness in it this time. "I'm leaving now. Do not attempt to stop me."
Unsure of what to do, they stepped aside as he walked forward, then away from them…But then, Hugs ran to him and grabbed his leg.
"Wait!" cried the cub.
"Hugs…Let go of me immediately, or…"
"Why did you save us?"
"That mass would have been enough to kill a being of your size. As a human adult, I could take it without any real risk."
"But why? I thought you were a bad guy!"
He sighed, then turned and kneeled to face her. "It's more complicated that that, Hugs. You…You can't just classify all villains as bad guys. Sometimes, to do the right thing, you have to do something unsavory. Playing nice isn't always enough."
"I don't get it" admitted the cub. "But I know you're a lot nicer than I thought." She then hugged him. He did nothing for a moment, then hugged her back. The rest of the family could sear there were tears running down his cheeks. He then got up.
"I'm sorry for your trouble…But I must go."
"Can't you stay?" pressed on Hugs. "We could be friends…"
"I wish it was possible, Hugs. But alas, duty calls…I fear I have greater priorities." Facing the rest of the family, he said defiantly: "I say it again…Do not attempt to stop me. I may not be at my peak, but I can still take you all."
A while later, the mastermind returned to what had used to be No Heart's castle.
"Boss! You're back…" exclaimed Beastly, before noticing the countless glimmers on Warren. "Hey, are those…"
"Caring crystals, yes. I had an accident. It is inconsequential, however, as I have attained all my objectives. Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to take a shower. A long, intensive shower."
In the Hall of Hearts, the Care Bear Family was discussing recent developments:
"So Cold Heart's plan is ruined?"
"Yeah. The police discovered that he had abducted the son of a chemical supplier to hold him hostage, but he's fine now. Also, the chemical industry is going to watch out in case he tries to get the components again…Not that he's ever tried the same plan twice before."
"Fine, but what about Warren?"
"As usual, we can only guess", said Bright Heart. "I have no idea why he wanted those caring crystals."
"What I wonder about is the effects they had on him," replied True Heart. "Caring crystals normally bring out the best in people, but they can't put in something that isn't there to begin with. Did you notice how hard Warren was repressing himself while under their effect?"
"It is weird", admitted Tender Heart. "And what about the way he saved Hugs and Tugs? He wasn't under the crystals' effect then. How can he be so nice and so mean at the same time?"
"I have a theory" said Bright Heart. "If he does have an important nice side, but still follows his plan before anything else while under the effect of a lot of caring crystals, then it means that he thinks he's doing what's right. It would also fit what he says."
"What's right? He's trying to take over the world!"
"Maybe he thinks he's justified. I don't know. But I noticed something else…"
"What is it?"
"Well…When we reached the ProtoChem plant, I asked him what we could do if the Whitehouse gas was released. He didn't have a plan. He came up with one in the blink of an eye, but he didn't have one ready before I asked him."
"So what?"
"That's not all. He didn't have a plan to stop Cold Heart and his minions from escaping, either. I'm sure he could have caught them if he had really tried! And when he knocked us out earlier, he could have used the Rainbow Rescue Beam to send the whole family to the other side of the Earth – that would have given him all the time he needed to get the crystals without our interference. But he didn't."
"Maybe he didn't think about it."
"It's Checkmate Warren! He's too smart not to have thought about it."
"So what does it mean?"
"It means he's getting overconfident. After all the victories he's had lately, he must think he can improvise his way out of any difficulty. He isn't doing his best anymore."
"Then...Maybe we have a chance of stopping him!"
"Or maybe his plan will explode in our face."
Inside the wooden cabin that served as his temporary lair, No Heart was surprised to see Control's features forming in the mirror.
"Control? Why are you bothering me!"
"Now, now, brother. You asked for my help dislodging an intruder from your castle, as you surely remember…"
"You have not been very helpful."
"True. But I could change my mind…If you agreed to do me a little favor."
"What kind of favor are you talking about, weaker one?"
"Oh, nothing immediate…But, somewhere down the road, I'll ask you do something…And you will comply. Do we have a deal?"
No Heart hesitated for a moment. "Agreed. Now help me destroy the scourge!"
"No, no, no. Surely you realize I cannot get involved in this directly…I will, however, give you all the directions you need to succeed. For starters, I'll tell you where to find an additional, precious ally…"
In the castle, Warren was experimenting with the caring crystals.
"Why do you need those things anyway, boss? Hey, why are your eyes red?" asked Beastly.
"Unimportant. As for the crystals, I simply wanted to see if they could be used to counter the effects of my doomsday device. Now that I've ensured that it cannot be stopped, we can proceed with the last phase."
Looking at the window, he declared: "The time for my final move has begun! The world is helpless before my might! Mwahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!"
Author's note: ProtoChem was the name of a chemical lab/plant in a story I co-wrote with JusSonic.
