Reply to Guest: Surprisingly, no one except for the criminals and members of the Foundation will like the idea of lobotomizing Buttercup because of her severe psychopathy. It goes without saying that the professor and Selicia loves her, and her sisters, too, though their relationship is strained. The USDO, whether the faction on the Girls' side or not, wouldn't want to see Buttercup lobotomized because they either care about her or sees her as a powerful asset. Even members of the TPD or the public who dislike her would have reservations about that as... Lobotomy was abandoned by the 1970s, so yeah. Furthermore, even some criminals and Foundation members will be opposed to the idea for their own nefarious reasons.
Chapter 13: The Purple Man (Part 1)
The City of Townsville. Suburbs. The House.
7 FEB (Tuesday) 1989. 0802.
Bzzz! Bzzz! Bzzz! The clown phone rang during the most convenient of times - just when the Girls were about to leave for school. Blossom flew over to the USDO hotline and picked up the receiver.
"Hello?" Blossom answered the phone. "Is that you, Mister Blake?"
"Yes, Blossy," Agent Blake said over the phone. "Looks like we'll be seeing each other more often. This one's much more serious…"
"What is it? Is it Naga? Or… Mojo Jojo?" Blossom guessed, and couldn't help but to develop a lump on her throat. Naga had been hard enough to deal with - it was only with the help of her friends, Mom and Dad and her infrared beams that she was able to force Naga to run back out into the snow and leave Buttercup alone. Mojo Jojo was worse - the Chimpanzee had sliced them up with laser the moment they saw him, and they couldn't even get close to him. Furthermore, the crazy monkey had nearly killed Bubbles - twice!
"What about the Gangreen Gang?" Buttercup suggested when she flew up next to Blossom and guessed what the phone call was about.
"Please don't let it be another attack on the Morbucks Labs…" Bubbles hoped as she floated anemically towards her sisters. Agent Blake had heard everything as the other Girls were pressing themselves up really close to the phone that Blossom had to physically push them away.
"It's none of them, Girls," Agent Blake said. "He remains unidentified. But this isn't the first time we're pursuing him. Remember the Purple Man Case?"
The Purple Man Case. Blossom remembered it clearly, clearer than she could remember yesterday's sewer drug raid. It had been right on the threshold of 1988, mere days before the new year.
The City of Townsville. Outskirts, North. Exxon Gas Station.
28 DEC (Tuesday) 1988. 2135.
"This is Sergeant Blake. Be careful, Girls. We don't know what we're up against," the Girls' favorite USDO agent warned on the radio. The man himself was taking cover behind the Girls' Lamborghini speed transport along with several of his men. "Get in there carefully. We still have the New Year to celebrate."
"Are we going to watch the fireworks together?" Blossom asked over the radio. Several men laughed lightheartedly. Despite being pulled away from her police friends, Detective Mullens and his daughter, Olivia, while they were showing them the heart matryoshka spotlight on the TPD police headquarters no less, Blossom felt at home with these guys.
"That would be fun," Bubbles agreed on the radio.
"Fireworks… sounds like a blast," Buttercup agreed too - it was one of the few things she would agree with her sisters.
"Sure, if your father lets us," Agent Blake answered quickly so that Blossom could concentrate on the task at hand. "How about we finish this first so we can talk about the New Year sooner?"
"Yes, Mister Blake," all three sisters concurred simultaneously.
"Convoy-1, flank around the right of the gas station and provide support there," Blake continued to relay orders. "Convoy-3, flank to the left and provide support there."
The Girls flew into cover behind a gas pump. Blossom had her Serbu shotgun out, though it would be one of the last days she would be using it – by the New Year, it would be left in the walk-in closet indefinitely. She was peeking out from the right of the pump while Bubbles peeked out from the left with her stockless XM4 Carbine. Buttercup was perched on top of the gas pump with her machinegun at the ready.
"Girls! Get away from that pump immediately! It's explosive!" Blake shouted over the radio. Blossom, terrified, practically flew to a nearby car. Bubbles and Buttercup followed.
"Convoy-1 in position, over," one of Blake's men reported.
"Convoy-3 is in position, over," another of Blake's men reported.
"We're going in," Blossom said as she adjusted her helmet. Sprinting up to the gas station's store rapidly, she hid behind a concrete wall next to the glass wall by the cashier counter. Once she saw that the coast was clear, she jumped through the glass and then on top of the cashier counter. Her sisters followed.
The sight within the store was terrible to behold. The darkness and flickering light within did not serve to hide the mess so much as made it worse to look at. The Exxon cashier was torn in half and left on the floor with his guts lying in a bloody heap. His partner, a store attendant, was ripped apart limb from limb. One of her arms, which still had bright pink painted nails, had been thrown into a shelf full of candy bars. The rest of her limbs were nowhere to be found.
There was a security guard in that heap of body, and the only thing that indicated his occupation was the tattered remains of his uniform and the revolver still held in a dead man's grasp. His face had been ripped apart, his body a broken wreck. There were customers in the gas station store when whatever force of nature that had utterly devastated the place struck, but they were little more than a carpet of flesh and bones and viscera on the floor, one mass hardly distinguishable from the next.
Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup, too, were retching. It was like nothing they had ever seen before, not even after everything they had been through. It was even worse than Buttercup's handiwork, and the tomboy was actually inspired as much as physically disgusted by it.
"Hey, Girls, Blake here. Anything inside?" their friend said over the radio. He was running up to the store, switching from cover to cover with his second-in-command and Corporal Rutherland.
The Girls were going down the store, each of them taking an aisle, looking for survivors or enemies or both. There were just more dead bodies. None of them dared to speak a word for fear of alerting something. The store's redecoration with human body parts wasn't exactly fun and sunshine for them.
"Everyone's… dead, Mister Blake," Blossom said, was tearing up when she saw that a girl, not even ten, was one of the casualties – all mangled up and left to rot on the floor, alone. "It's bad."
She was just emerging out of her aisle when she heard something kicking up a can of paint close to her, in the direction of the freezers. Panicking, Blossom turned in the direction of the freezers and fired a quick pair of heat beams, blowing up a glass door and creating a cascade of fizzy drinks – and nearly hitting Buttercup.
"Hey, watch it!" Buttercup yelled, but Blossom did not hear: in her panic and lack of forethought, she'd fired her heat beam through her goggles, burning the edges of her helmet as well. The accident with her power had resulted in a lot of glass, plastic and Kevlar goop in her face, and she was furiously trying to wipe the hot mess away as she tried to run away, only to knock into shelves and send food and merchandises crashing down in her flight. Bubbles from another aisle had to fly up to the ceiling to see what had happened.
"Blossom!" she screamed in shock and immediately ditched her rifle and flew down to tend to her beloved sister.
"Blossom's hurt!" Bubbles screeched into the radio in her high-pitched voice, hurting the ears of everyone involved.
"All units, converge on the store!" Agent Blake ordered in the radio, and as Bubbles had sat a panicking Blossom down on the ground and was helping to wipe the melted goop in her face away, every door in the store was busted open, and USDO soldiers began a search-and-destroy protocol. Buttercup flew up to her sisters, shaking her head at how pathetic they were.
But there were no hostiles to be found. Whoever had massacred the Townsville citizens here was long gone.
By the time Blake had found Blossom, most of the hot stuff on her face was cleared up, but it took her some time to calm down from the terrifying and painful ordeal of having molten glass, plastic, and Kevlar in her face even though she wasn't injured. It was from that night onwards that Blossom had stopped wearing her helmet and combat goggles. Her sisters would follow her example not long after.
And all they had found for their trouble was a wisp of purple fur on the scene of the crime and some security video recording of what had happened. The Girls, of course, were spared the content of the video.
The City of Townsville. Suburbs. The House.
7 FEB (Tuesday) 1989. 0803.
"He's back?" Blossom said into the clown phone. The trail had gone cold over a month ago – the perpetrator of the massacre at the gas station had disappeared into the woods of Pokey Oaks county. The Purple Man had been a subject of speculation and horror stories among her and her sisters since. She'd even have a nightmare about it once, running away from the purple-furred creature while there was more molten goop in her face than she remembered.
"Yes. And we need your help with taking him down," Agent Blake said. "It's different this time. We might need to stay the night in the woods since it's going to be a manhunt. You'll need your forest gear, and bring along everything you got – we don't know what we dealing with. You remember where that gas station is?"
"Yes, Mister Blake," Blossom said. She'd visited that gas station one other time, a few weeks ago, to purge the demon she had gained that frightful night. It was actually helpful and therapeutic for her to see the same gas station up and running again, as though nothing horrific had happened, but at the same time disturbing. "I know where it is."
"I'll see you in 30 minutes?" Mister Blake said and went on when he detected something in Blossom's voice: "It'll be fine. Time flies, and it'll be over before we know it."
It reminded Blossom of the promise he made and the watch he gave her.
"Promise, Mister Blake?" she asked, smiling, audibly in a better mood.
"It's a promise," Blake said on the other end.
"Thanks," she said. "See you soon." She hung up the phone.
"What was that about?" Daddy asked, his smile disappearing. He knew what it was alright: it was his Girls going out there to lose more of their innocence again. He had to work harder to make it stop!
"Mister Blake said that we're going to find the Purple Man, Dad," Blossom said.
"Oh no…" Bubbles mewled. She'd seen the results of the Purple Man's mayhem in the gas station. It wasn't pleasant.
"Finally! I want to see how much tougher I am compared to him!" Buttercup exclaimed, ever the good sport.
"I'll call the school and tell Miss Keane – um, how long would that take? Half the class?" the Dad asked.
"Mister Blake said we might need to spend the night in the woods, Dad," Blossom said, a confusing cloud of emotions running through her – more than what she was capable of processing. She had experienced it before, but it was only recently that she had realized it – that she could feel so many things at once… and she didn't want to. "I've never been in the woods, Dad. I'm… um… I don't know how to say it." She was scared. Curious. Happy to see Blake and happy to discover a forest. And she was terrified of the Purple Man.
"T-the woods?" Bubbles exclaimed in fear, but she'd tried to find the bright side of the thicket: "Will there be a fairy godmother there too? Or- or- dwarves and princesses?"
"Pfff! We're going jungle-fighting!" Buttercup scoffed at Bubbles before giving her own idea a boost. "That's all we'll ever need!"
"You mean that's all you ever need, Buttercup!" Bubbles countered.
"What's the matter? Are you scared, Bobblehead?" Buttercup taunted.
"You're being mean!" Bubbles cried.
"Bubbles, Buttercup, quit it!" Blossom ordered. Buttercup pouted at her while Bubbles looked at Blossom, feeling maligned. "We need to get changed now!"
"Oh, Girls… A whole night at the woods!" Professor Utonium gasped. Blossom flew into his arms for a hug.
"I'll miss you, Dad," Blossom said. "I'll think of you every second I'm there."
Bubbles and Buttercup hugged their Dad as well, echoing similar sentiments. Buttercup then moved on to Mom, and Bubbles did the same. Blossom, however, kept her distance from her.
"Aren't you going to give Mommy a hug, Blossom?" Selicia beckoned for the smartest of The Three to come to her, with arms outstretched. Reluctantly, Blossom floated into her arms, but when Selicia enclosed her arms around her, she couldn't help but feel trapped. Like a fly in a spider's web.
"Remember what Mommy said or you're going to get it from me," Selicia whispered into Blossom's ear, so softly that no one else heard except for Buttercup, who smiled at Blossom's plight behind her leader's back. She then said aloud to Blossom, for the entire family to hear: "No pressure, okay? Mommy's proud of you. All of you."
Despite the bad taste in her mouth, Blossom had no choice but to move on. Flying back up to her room, she began changing into her uniform alongside her sisters. They had to get into some special uniforms this time, ones that were largely splotches of white and grey all over, with only small strips of their favorite colors remaining. The tactical gear they wore were a shade of white, rather than black, this time. Largely because of their enhanced dexterity, they were able to get suited up at speeds that even full-fledged marines could never match.
This time, they had to bring out their survival backpack, which had only been issued to them late in January, as well as put on their winter ghillie suits, something they had never used until now. The Girls, except Blossom, had to bring their heaviest weapons and similarly sheathe them in winter camouflage. Selicia had trained them for this, and though they had never put the skills into use until now, they remembered it all well enough due to their enhanced memory.
They flew out of the circular windows of their room after that, but before they sped away into the horizon, turned to wave goodbye to Dad and Mom, who had gotten out into the lawn to wave them goodbye, exchanging tears and a final look before they headed off.
"I must work on my Anti-X faster," Professor Utonium said to Selicia when the Girls finally disappeared into the vast horizon. The moment the Girls were gone, it'd felt like he was had slipped from his rope while abseiling down a building. And he had done such a thing before in his youth, and in his Organization basic training. It'd felt as though it was the last time he would see them, every time.
The City of Townsville. Outskirts, north. Exxon Gas Station.
7 FEB (Tuesday) 1989. 0828.
The morning air was cold and the wind chill was worse as the Girls sped through Townsville to get to Agent Blake. They did not have their jackets on, but despite this, they felt warm enough as their ghillie suits had a thick layer of fake vegetation on them.
The journey there was silent. Only the sound of the wind howling, their ghillie suits fluttering and their flight-pack glider wings flapping could be heard. Bubbles could not believe how things were unraveling right before her eyes - it seemed like a distant memory when things were quiet and peaceful for her. Then the factory happened. And then the party was ruined. The sewers destroyed her after that, and now… It was the forest's turn to swallow her whole.
Blossom would have agreed with Bubbles if they had actually spoken to each other on the journey, but she was in deep concentration as she led her sisters towards the outskirts of Townsville. Things were beginning to go wrong, and she could feel the pressure of having to perform crushing her. Her failures were mounting once more, as it used to do so before the new year. Buttercup was injured at the factory. She had been tricked into unwittingly performing for a party at Morbucks'. She had allowed Bubbles to let a few criminals run free in the sewers, and now… It was the forest's turn to swallow her whole.
Buttercup, on the other hand, was having the time of her life. Things were finally going her way - it had been boring for the past month or so, and Blossom was to blame for all of it! It felt as if the last few days had been more fun than the entire month of January put together. At the factory, she got to hurt a lot of people and finally kill one too, in the most deliciously brutal fashion possible. The party served to whet her appetite for the next big one when she took apart a woman in the sewers and now… The Purple Man was her next target, and she believed that she'd finally have a proper fight on her hands, considering what she saw at the gas station out of town.
"There, the gas station! We've finally made it!" Blossom said to her sisters, breaking the silence and contemplation among them when the Exxon sign that rose to break the horizon became visible. As they got closer, it became easily apparent that she was right - the Girls' old speed transports were there, along with several humvees and APCs. This time, it was a fully USDO operation, and the only TPD presence on site was a single police cruiser. As the Girls descended, they were each dismayed in their own way that they wouldn't be seeing Detective Mullens, Olivia and Talker this time, as the people who got out of the police cruiser were a pair of uniformed patrol officers.
They could recognize Agent Blake and his posse from afar. They just had to aim for the guy with the aviator shades and greying crown, who just so happened to be pointing at them and smiling. This time, however, he was dressed in winter camo uniform, along with the rest of his men.
"Good morning, Mister Blake," the Girls greeted him in unison, their troubles temporarily forgotten.
"Hey munchkins," Blake greeted them back, before gesturing for them to follow him. "I have something to show you three."
"What is it, Mister Blake?" Blossom asked.
"Are we really going to find the Purple Man?" Bubbles asked out of fear. At this point, she was hoping that all of this was just a set-up for a prank, that the Princess would just jump out of one of the humvees and give her a hug.
"Are you going to give me some marshmallows?" Buttercup asked – she'd been secretly craving for those sweet treats since Saturday.
"No marshmallows, I'm afraid," Agent Blake led them to his USDO Lamborghini, and what was put on the hood answered their questions for the agent.
There were photos on the hood. Agent Blake swept the snow that had fallen on the collection of Polaroids with his hand and pulled them closer to the edge of his car. The Girls gave themselves a boost by floating up to see them.
Grisly scenes were depicted on the photos, and the quality wasn't very clear as they were stills from security footage taken by security cameras. The content, however, was clear enough, despite the faint coloration: it was the Purple Man.
And he was very purple. And big. And angry. And terrifying. The Purple Man's eyes were like silver orbs on camera, inhuman and soulless, and whatever facial expression that wasn't masked by his fur was one of intense rage and hatred. He was wearing nothing but a pair of patched and old denim pants, which gave the impression of simple and brutal barbarism. He was in the process of tearing someone's arm off. Blossom recognized who the victim was: the store attendant at the very same gas station she was standing outside right then, the very same person whose limbs, except for a mangled arm, were nowhere to be found.
The picture alone was enough to cow Bubbles. Her hands had gone up to her mouth as she stifled a scream. Blossom forced herself to study the monster in the pictures despite a similar fear enclosing around her heart – how sharp his claws were, the innumerable fangs he had. How thick like tree trunks his arms were. How a barrel wouldn't even begin to describe his chest. He was frightening to her, sure, but as with Naga, there had to be a way to beat even a fearsome person like the Purple Man.
The Purple Man had even given Buttercup pause. She knew that for all her powers and enhanced abilities, she had no claws and teeth and a big body like the Purple Man. Despite being rarely expressed, her imagination wasn't sterile - and for a second, she believed, truly believed, that she was going to be ripped and torn apart in the forest like how she tore apart her latest victims on Friday and Monday. But, after sucking up a lungful of fresh air, she told herself that she was the one who was going to do the ripping and tearing.
"Don't be afraid of it," Agent Blake reassured the Girls. None of them felt any better. "It has an obvious weakness. Can one of you tell me what it is?"
"Urm…" Blossom's mind was jammed by the question - and it was rare that she couldn't come up with something - anything.
"Uh-uh…" Bubbles shook her head and gave up right from the start.
Buttercup's arms were folded as she was floating in midair. An idea - or half of it - presented itself in her mind only to fade away while she was halfway from putting up her hand, at which point she retracted it.
"Simple. Look at its fur. Do you know what color it is?" Agent Blake hinted at his answer.
"Is he pink?" Bubbles answered. "Isn't he?"
"It's purple," Blossom corrected.
"Duh, that's why we call him the Purple Man," Buttercup added, meant as a jibe at Bubbles, and the latter girl had detected it all too well. Bubbles gave Buttercup a death stare before returning her attention to Agent Blake.
"Yes, it's purple. It's not going to be able to hide very well in a snowy forest," Agent Blake said. "We, on the other hand, will look like the forest. It'll never know what hit 'em."
Bubbles wanted to believe him, but she could never bring herself to. Blossom thought Blake's tactical assessment to be reasonable. Buttercup thought he was cool, and that was enough.
"One more things the three of you should know before we head out," Agent Blake continued. "We aren't the first ones in. Captain James 'Boomer' Wilbur and a squad of twenty men had entered the woods three hours ago. They never reported back. That is why we're going in. We'll have to try to find them as well as this… Purple Man."
