Chapter 4: Rewards
The City of Townsville. Downtown. Rosey Park Apartment Construction Site.
3 FEB 1989 (Friday). 1526.
It was the middle of the afternoon, and the Girls were near the end of another round of sky patrol. They had started after lunch with Mom and Dad after school, at Pugliesi's Siciliano Restaurant. It was awkward nowadays, going out with the family, since everyone knew what the Girls were in Townsville. Almost everyone in the restaurant was staring at them at one point or another, and the entire family had to pretend as though they were alone. It was impossible for the Girls to do so, especially when some of the stares implied dislike or anger. Not everyone had forgiven the Girls for the mistakes they had committed, but at least not everyone was bearing grudges against them. There was even once when a stranger walked past them and dropped off a 'Thank you' card discreetly. Security had to intervene and check the card only to find it harmless.
It didn't help that the Girls had to do it in uniform as the only place they could change in the proper environment was in school. The restaurant restroom would have been too small, too dirty and too public, requiring additional security in and out - the restaurant wasn't in the USDO watch list.
It would have been awkward even for an adult to sit down to a plate of macaroni in full combat gear. Grenades and law enforcement tools were hanging from their vests as they ate, and their MP5s were leaned on the chair they were sitting on with their glider packs - no thanks to General Blackwater.
But that was over and done with. They had gone out of the restaurant to take flight, and Mom and Dad stayed behind for their chat.
"This is Flight Control Three to Bravo-Four-Seven, over," this time, a male voice at flight control contacted them over the radio.
"Hi, Blossom here," the leader of The Three reported once more.
"Confirm flight path, over," the male flight control officer asked.
"We're meeting the Mayor, Mister Flight Control Three," Blossom said, with a hint of humor and playfulness in her voice. They were going to see the Mayor! It had been two weeks at least since they last did, and it was all fun and marshmallows the last time.
"Flightpath confirmed," the USDO flight control officer agreed. "You are drifting. Please turn right by 25 degrees."
"Like this?" Blossom made a turn. Bubbles and Buttercup followed, bending their three-colored line into an unsightly crook.
"Bravo-Four-Seven, this is not a game! Turn left again, 15 degrees. Not too much, over!" the flight control officer said impatiently.
"What's 'degrees' anyway!?" Buttercup rambled - she hated being told what to do. "Why can't we fly the way we want to!?"
"Bravo-Four-Eight, maintain radio silence on all non-essential chatter. Bravo-Four-Seven, your course correction is a-okay. Stay on it until you see the construction site, over and out," the flight controller said nonchalantly, essentially calling Buttercup to shut up in radio terms.
"How did they know where we're flying to?" Bubbles asked curiously, and when none of them had any idea how to answer that, the question was abandoned, and since it was uninteresting, forgotten. What was interesting, however, was when the construction site the Mayor was at came within sight. It was a new apartment building in the works that Blossom could imagine would be lovely when it was done. The Girls could only wonder why he wanted them there.
The City of Townsville. Uptown. Pugliesi's Siciliano Restaurant.
3 FEB 1989 (Friday). 1535.
"This is beautiful, Thomas…" Selicia said as she smelled the flower Professor Utonium had given her. It was done subtly so – they didn't want to burden the Girls with the complexities of adult relationships. Instead of getting the flower himself, he had to make a special request through the restaurant manager to deliver the Roses after the Girls were gone. The Restaurant Manager was more than happy to oblige. Ever since they'd become regular customers patronizing his establishment every week, his restaurant had become one of the safest in town, owing to the Girls and their USDO PTF bodyguards. Business had boomed since. Selicia looked up at him, with teary eyes. "I just… Thanks for everything. I didn't think I could do this at all."
Professor Utonium reached out for her hand and took it. He smiled warmly, the stress of parenting the extraordinary Girls temporarily forgotten when it was just him and Selicia. "You give me too much credit. It goes both ways, you know," he said with a laugh. Selicia thought it was cute. "When you came along, I thought you were just there to keep an eye on me and the Girls on the USDO's behalf. I didn't think I could love anyone older than my kids again if you know what I mean. You gave me a chance at life too."
Selicia wiped her tears away and laughed. She was never one to turn on the valve and let the waterworks flow, but this time, it was hard. Ever since she'd been out in the streets in her teenage years, she knew right from the start that she wasn't exactly the type of girl a man – a decent man – would want to be with. That thought had stayed with her even as she was recruited by the USDO and gone on to serve with both distinction and notoriety. People had told her just as much, if not more than what she told herself. She had been called a skank. A tool. A gold digger. The human vibrator. She was a jailbait before and after the legal age, before and after she joined the USDO.
Their lunch came just in time after that. While the Girls were around, they'd eaten light to both avoid suspicion and reserve their appetite for their date later, under the pretense that they weren't hungry. Selicia looked at their meals and beamed at the professor widely.
"Spaghetti and meatballs. Reminds me of our first date," she reminisced. "What did we talk about on that day?"
"That day? Oh, right," Professor Utonium wondered aloud, but he remembered very quickly what it was about. It wasn't just their first date. It was the day he understood Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup better. With an almost youthful grin, he recalled the conversation, though it would be more accurate to call it a scientific lecture. "I gave you a crash course on my Chemical X Unifying Theory… About what our Girls were made of."
"And… Buttercup was the spaghetti, right? Yum, I could eat her up!" Selicia added playfully. It was all coming back to her. Well, most of it anyway - she couldn't say that she fully understood what the professor was going on about Chemical X. "How's the sciencing coming along?"
To be truthful, Selicia never had any real interest in science - but for the sake of her 'assigned husband' and the Girls (mostly Buttercup), she thought she needed to start taking a real interest in it - no matter how much it hurt her brain.
"Really good, actually," the professor said. The few words he used to describe it gave no indication of what was to come. "Three weeks ago, I submitted my theory to the Institute for testing. The results just came back." Professor Utonium was absolutely quivering in excitement. Selicia tried to be as excited as she possibly could, but she found that it was a difficult thing to do. She twirled her fork around some spaghetti and ate a mouthful.
"Okay, long story short - the scientists at the Institute were able to detect a much higher incidence of quantum tunneling in their samples of Chemical X compared to normal matter - by the order of millions of times more. This, combined with their ultra-accurate measurement of its mass and volume variance over time, has more or less confirmed my suspicions that Chemical X is unique in its ability to provoke far more quantum incidences than normal, resulting in a fluctuation of its properties. Not only that, it opened my eyes to a new possibility…" the professor explained, oblivious to Selicia's confusion as he became caught up with the numbers and facts of his discoveries. However, when he saw that she looked like she was going to have a headache, he switched gears to bring his explanation down to her level: "Anyway, Chemical X is able to rearrange itself into any kind of pattern and shape instantly by shifting its subatomic particles around at the speed of light - and even beyond! It's incredible!"
"So, it becomes anything it wants… in zilch amounts of time?" Selicia tried to make sense of it, she honestly tried. She stabbed her fork into her spaghetti once more and spun herself another ball of pasta.
"Like what you're doing with your food right now, yes," the professor explained more plainly, as playfully as he could to match his wife's speed. What he said got Selicia to stop eating and look at the spaghetti she had spun up like cotton candy. She smiled like a kid at the professor for his analogy. "But that's not all. Using some of the most precise instruments the world has never seen before, they were able to detect spatial distortions around the Chemical X samples, and their electron microscopes have taken images of particles of Chemical X emerging out of thin air. My Unifying Theory is looking as good as the images they took, Selicia!"
"Isn't it a little too easy? Cracking the secrets of the universe in just a few weeks?" Selicia questioned as she studied her 'husband'. She liked it when he was this excited. She found it cute, but disappointed that he couldn't be more excited while he was attending to matters of a more… primitive and primal nature. She took a stab at a couple of meatballs, making a short kebab out of them.
"You're right it is," the professor said. "We've only just started testing the theory. We're only on the second phase of testing if my passable attempts in my poorly-equipped lab is considered the first. It's only the tip of the iceberg. But with Chemical X - the Girls - rushed into service just like that, we had to speed things up a little. I don't like to cut corners and jump to conclusions, but the Girls come first, and I've got to work with what I have… for Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup."
"But what can we do with your theory to help Buttercup?" Selicia asked, now much more invested when Buttercup was mentioned. The professor smiled at her but briefly - they were going into uncertain territory, which was also potentially lethal and full of deadly consequences, even if it didn't directly involve guns and explosives like what his other half was used to. He was glad to have Selicia by his side even when it was rough in the beginning - but then again, he hadn't met a single person who could master the art of parenting instantly.
"I think I'm ready to work on curing the Girls of Chemical X, Selicia," the professor said as he clasped Selicia's hand in both of his. "They won't have to fight crime anymore and get scared or injured every day, and we won't have to be afraid of any long-term effects Chemical X might have on the Girls. We'll get to be a normal family."
What he didn't expect was a change in expression on Selicia's part. Her smile had sunk into something of a cross between horror, displeasure, and anger.
"Tommy darling, are you sure you want to 'cure' the Girls of Chemical X?" Selicia said. "They're healthy, Thomas. It's not like they're suffering from the Clap or something."
"It might as well be a disease, Selicia, and we don't know what Chemical X is doing to the GIrls on the biological, chemical and molecular level," the professor explained, knowing full well that it might not go well, but he had always known that doing and saying the right thing was often difficult - it's what he had taught the Girls. "Every time I see them flying out of The House, I can't help but be afraid. It's like waiting for a nuclear lab explosion every single day. They were hurt over and over back in December when it should've been the happiest month of the year."
"No, Thomas. You don't understand," Selicia jabbed at her other half, annoyance rising rapidly in her voice like an impending flood. All the science had gone right over her head. "You need to learn how to accept the Girls as they are! They're- they're special, and we're lucky to have them. Buttercup would never want her abilities to be taken away!"
"Selicia, Buttercup's not even three months old. She doesn't know what she wants, or what's good for her," the professor tried to say it the most gentle way he could. Selicia retracted her hand roughly, suddenly disgusted by the man sitting before her. "You have to trust me. Buttercup - she's not well, and her power's only going to make matters worse. Alice said-"
"ALICE SAID!" Selicia screamed madly the moment she heard the psychiatrist's name, knocking over cutlery, attracting the attention and stares of the surrounding restaurant patrons. She'd never liked the doctor, who was a quack in her opinion, a voyeur masquerading as a professional. She hated the fact that she was privy to some parts of her life she would rather forget about. "Is that bitch your wife now, Thomas!?"
Not that they were really married.
As intelligent as the professor was and in love with Selicia, he couldn't help but tremble when she blew up. Eileen, his late wife, had been too perfect and angelic a woman for him to marry - infinitely patient, gentle and loving. They were made for each other and would've been happy in each other's company until the day they die of old age until the Grim Reaper decided to get overzealous. It didn't prepare him for this.
"I- I- I- B-but-" he stammered as he struggled to collect his thoughts quickly, but he just couldn't. "Selicia-"
The sight of the professor so disturbed, with sweat pouring and an expression other than love on his face, however, was enough to tell Selicia something.
"No, Thomas, I…" Selicia started again, her face no longer in a grimace. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have. I was just… I can't believe I screwed this up-" And the tears started pouring, and there was enough to snap the professor out of his shock.
"Hey…" Thomas comforted her as he moved up closer to her, putting an arm around her shoulders. "You didn't screw up. It's… just this crazy world we live in. I think it's safe to say that we're the only ones on Earth who have to worry about our kids fighting crime every day and an insane federal agency bearing down on us."
Selicia was happy. 'Our kids', Thomas had said. It wasn't long ago that he'd begun saying that. Not too long ago, it'd been 'my Girls', or 'my kids'.
"Imagine a boring life - the two of us, and Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup," the man said. "Far away from Townsville. A normal two-floor house, school, and work on the weekdays, the beach on the weekends. Watching the sunset in the evening, then television at night. That would be perfect, wouldn't it?"
"Yeah," Selicia agreed. In this, they were of one mind. Selicia herself has had enough 'excitement' to last her a lifetime, from her unstable household in her childhood to her life out in the streets, and finally her stint in the Organization and when it turned into the USDO. "Just you and me, and Buttercup - and the Girls."
"I'm not giving up on Buttercup. Not ever, Selicia," Thomas said. "You have my word on that. She's my daughter too - I'd never hurt her. So believe me, taking her enhanced abilities away... It's for her own good. With some psychiatric help…" He had been careful not to mention Alice's name. "and some love from the both of us, I think she'd be okay."
"I'm so sorry I went off like that," Selicia apologized again, shaking her head at herself, though in her mind, she still had reservations about disempowering Buttercup. "I'm a real mess, Thomas... You sure you want to love me?"
"Selicia. I didn't love you because you're some impossibly perfect woman. I love you because you're you," the professor said, taking her hand again. "Tell you what - the USDO could fake our marriage and relationship all they want - but I'm making it official. How about we register our marriage? For real? We could start with some photos next week with the Girls. I wonder how they'd look like in a family photo…"
"You mean you're not getting down on your knees and proposing marriage?" Selicia said and laughed while she wiped her tears away. Thomas reached for the fake wedding band the USDO had issued them, playing with it. The USDO had ruined it for them.
"How about when you least expect it?" Thomas said. "Better be on the lookout, soldier."
They both laughed.
The City of Townsville. Downtown. Rosey Park Apartment Construction Site.
3 FEB 1989 (Friday). 1540.
Mayor Wilford wasn't too hard a man to find, even though they were grounded by the chaotic construction work going on at the site. The moment they'd reached the right place, they knew he was there because of the black-suited bodyguards patrolling and protecting the area. When the Girls approached them, they were pointed in the right direction without any security measures taken against them - even their guns were not confiscated as they knew that it would not diminish how dangerous they were. On the other hand, even they knew that they would not be a danger to the Mayor any more than a sworn-in mayoral guard.
When Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup had finally found Mayor Wilford, they didn't expect to find him in a workman's outfit, complete with a hard hat. Miss Bellum was there beside him, similarly dressed in a jumpsuit, with her ample orange hair stuffed under her hard hat, poking out fashionably behind her. Tucked away in the construction foreman's office, they looked incredibly out of place even with their attire. They were examining a blueprint of the building, and when the Girls came up to them, they looked up and smiled.
"Why, hello Girls," Mayor Wilford greeted the Girls like the fine gentleman he was, the way he was raised since the beginning of the century. "How was your patrol today?"
"It was nothing, Mister Mayor. We helped an old lady cross the road today," Blossom reported proudly.
"Nothing is right," Buttercup complained, but the Mayor found her interesting nonetheless. "All I did today was warn a jaywalker not to jaywalk again! And Blossom didn't even let me smack him! It was boooooooring! With a capital B!" The most wayward of the Three had to suppress her facial twitch again, this time with a big frown - it was happening more and more often. She could feel herself going crazy from the lack of stimulation - and Blossom was watching her night and day like a hawk, ready to zoom to Daddy's side at the speed of light the moment she even look at something wrong.
"No, it wasn't," Bubbles begged to differ. "We helped a kitty cat trapped in a tree to get down. It's fun to help, whether it's with people or animals!"
"Attagirl. I like what the three of you are doing," Mayor Wilford praised them. "Even if they are minor things, every little bit you do for the town will go a long way in making the city a better place."
"Speaking of helping, what are we doing here today, Mister Mayor?" Blossom asked, curious as ever. She floated up to the table and landed next to the blueprint on her knees. Bubbles and Buttercup floated up as well, hovering in mid-air before standing on the table.
"It's just like last time, in the soup kitchen," the mayor said, reminding the Girls of what they had done two weeks ago. In the middle of January, they were called down to the edge of the slums, and the mayor had asked for them directly. They came in expecting a high profile operation, only to realize that it was a peaceful humanitarian mission. What was unknown to the Girls was that it was approved by the USDO, to aid in public relations. They spent a couple of hours ladling food for the poor and destitute and handing out coupons and small gifts. Indirectly, having the Girls around ensured the security of the place, as even an enhanced individual with the Foundation would think twice before attacking the soup kitchen - not that there was any reason to. The hungry and the desperate could eat in peace as a result, shielded from the outside evil, as well as the more violent among them.
Blossom and Bubbles enjoyed the change of pace. Buttercup did not. But they all did enjoy the marshmallows and hot chocolate that came after that.
"Are we going to feed the poor here too?" Bubbles guessed naively. "I saw a lot of men out there who looked really tired and hungry…"
"That's a good guess, Miss Bubbles, but those men were just tired towards the end of their shift," Miss Bellum finally spoke, diplomatic as ever. "It's different today. We'll be helping the construction crew here to build an affordable home for the poor. With your help, we could speed things up - not by much - weeks at most - but as the Mayor said: every bit helps."
"Well said, Miss Bellum," Mayor Wilford praised his USDO liaison. "How did I do without you all these decades? With this apartment complex, I'll be able to move some of the poor out of the bad neighborhoods and get them jobs. Uh, anyway… Girls - Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup - I really must thank the three of you for cleaning up my town good and proper! In fact, I have a surprise for the three of you, something that's coming soon… at least in my view. I'm an old man, after all."
"Is it another ride on your balloon?" Bubbles guessed. "I really like your giant balloon!"
"No, that wouldn't be enough for the three of you and what you've done to help the city, now would it?" Mayor Wilford said with a kindly and patient tone. "You three deserve more."
"Do we get a trip to Monster Island?" Buttercup took a stab at the nature of the surprise. She had seen the island far off into the distance before. She might not be able to see as well as Blossom, but she could make out the Ferris wheel and rollercoaster there. She'd even deviated off-course from her patrol route once to take a closer look, but she couldn't get far before Blossom and Flight Control caught up with her. They'd jumped down her throat for it.
"Now why would you want to go there? Monster Island's been abandoned for, oh, just about a decade now," Mayor Wilford explained. Monster Island had once been a thriving island amusement park that had been open since the shortly after World War II, featuring all the famous monsters Hollywood and Japan had to offer, from Frankenstein and Dracula to Godzilla and Mothra. It was closed because of safety concerns, rising crime, and diminishing interest. "So the rides won't work and it's dangerous to go there now. It's a haven for criminals and pirates, and even the police and coast guard won't own that place."
"But that's part of the fun!" Buttercup insisted – she wouldn't mind being surrounded by a bunch of low-lives just so she could tear them apart. She could acutely feel her need for violence inside her - her need to dispense her powers and see men quiver and get savaged. It sure beats playing house with Blossom and Bubbles - something her siblings had been forcing her to do for far too long; they were hoping to make her like it.
"It's too dangerous, my dears, even for the three of you," Mayor Wilford had no choice but to resort to lying. He didn't want to neglect the Girls on his watch and risk them running away for some cheap thrills to sate their misguided curiosity. "It's called Monster Island because there are monsters there too. Ones even the three of you couldn't defeat." Although to be fair, even he didn't know if that was true, considering the kind of monsters, both human and metahuman, they had to deal with just in Townsville alone. For all he knew, the Foundation could be hiding out there too, creating even more trans-human threats in their bid to sway the city to do their bidding.
What he didn't tell them – couldn't, in fact, because the Girls' understanding of the world was so limited – was that Monster Island served as a buffer zone for crime, to protect the better parts of Townsville, just like the tenement area, slums, and Gangrene Gulag, by providing a 'safe' area for criminals so they wouldn't set up shop in the better parts of Townsville. It would be a long time before he could solve these pressing municipal issues, and it would likely be his successor who would see it done.
"So… What do we do here?" Blossom asked, absolutely beaming at the Mayor. She was just glad to help. The reward for their endeavor could come later.
"I'm glad you asked," the Mayor simply said, before moving on to explain their role in the construction project. After that, he handed out yellow hard hats to them, which the Girls gladly took, likening it to playing dress-up, though the yellow safety helmets didn't go well with their black and color-coded SWAT gear.
They spent the next hour hauling steel beams up to the skeleton of the half-finished building, because the construction crew's crane was broken and out of commission for weeks due to maintenance. They then spend the second hour putting them into position so that the workers could rivet and weld them into place.
Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup were able to enjoy the work, as they found it similar to playtime with their toy blocks, but bigger and more awesome. The impressive size of the work they were helping with was even able to convince Buttercup to look at the job with a more positive light, as her tastes were more boyish in nature, and construction was well within her interests, just like how she had an earth-mover in her model vehicle collection. Blossom just loved putting things together, like a giant puzzle, and she couldn't wait to see the apartment complex when it was done. Bubbles, on the other hand, found it a great diversion from crime-fighting and thought they were creating a gigantic work of art.
