Chapter 36: In the Shadows (Part 3)
The City of Townsville. Suburbs. The House.
16 FEB (Thursday) 1989. 0752.
Sleep came easily the previous day, despite the Girls' injuries. It had been a long Wednesday after all. For Blossom, the hope that the sudden rash of crime was an just a quirk of the day had kept her from staying awake. For Buttercup, depression kept her down. To sleep was to get away from the emptiness that was her life now. Bubbles, on the other hand, couldn't wait for the next day, which would bring more opportunities for using the fairy godmother's magic.
But even in their dreams, there wasn't a void for them to rest in. Blossom had emerged into a beautiful forest under a beautiful starry night sky once more, and the man of her dreams had visited her again. Oh, how she'd missed him! She couldn't help but to cry in his arms, and tell him about all the things her sisters had been up to. But she couldn't take what he'd said in the end.
'Perhaps it's time that you distance yourself from your sisters. The three of you may be born together, but that does not make them good - if you stay with them any longer, they will corrupt or destroy you,' he'd said. 'Or even better - your father had said that doing the right thing is hard. And the right thing to do is to end your sisters, or they will hurt even more people… Yes… Yes…'
That was when she pushed the dream-man with a goatee away from her and ran away.
Buttercup, on the other hand, had met the dead cat again in her dreams. It was awfully distant as usual, but it did say that its many friends had taken an interest in her. Friends who would know a way out for her in her current predicament - when a family who claimed to know what's best for her had decided that she was 'a freak', as the dead cat had put it.
'The cults you've been fighting… there are some in them who can help you,' the dead cat had claimed. 'They know who you are, and they'll come for you at the right time and the right place. And then you'll be happy… Yes… Yes… You just need to wait PATIENTLY! I know you enough to know that you are not patient, but you must be.'
The next day, just when Blossom thought that the streak of criminal activity from yesterday was broken (naively by faith alone), there was a call just before they were ready to go to school. Her sisters and she were already donning their backpacks and on the way to Dad's family saloon when the USDO hotline rang. Before they knew it, they were flying to some obscure bank to beat down some of the most clueless bank robbers in Townsville - apparently, they didn't even have an escape plan. There were only six robbers, and Bubbles couldn't use her syringes.
They were scarcely settling down in class when there was another call. A neighborhood shootout in the tenements area had escalated out of control and required the Girls' intervention. It'd turned out to be another one of those operations that was neither too hard nor too easy, much to Bubbles' chagrin, forcing her to secretly inject herself with the fairy godmother's magic after lying to Blossom about needing the loo. She had to do it in a dirty, broken toilet too, which was typical of the rundown tenements.
By the time they gave their report to the police lieutenant in charge of the operation, school was nearly over. But that wasn't even the worst part. The worst part was when they had to attend to another call even before Dad and Mom could make lunch. They had to go on an empty stomach, clutching microwave-heated instant meals in paper bags while they were on the way to another operation. They had to eat while flying at the same time, and it'd made for a messy ordeal. Bubbles didn't even try, though she suffered much less for it as the drug had made her lose her appetite.
The next flash operation had turned out to be a manhunt, and the Girls were tasked with looking for a group of jewelry thieves wherever the police would point their fingers in the direction of. It was grueling, as they had to speed off here and there and search through ten or more locales before hitting the jackpot. What was even odder was the fact that the jewelry thieves were described to be moving in a nonsensical pattern that wouldn't have helped them to escape. If anything, their 'escape' pattern seemed designed to waste time. When they were captured, it didn't help Bubbles' mood that the jewel thieves had given up after Blossom had KO'ed the crew's leader. By the time they were back home, the lunch Dad and Mom had whipped up had become dinner.
Blossom, in the meantime, had been growing more and more concerned when it came to her sisters. Buttercup was barely even cooperating with her, but Bubbles took the cake. Her temper problem hadn't improved one bit despite Dad's optimistic projection that it would disappear as quickly as her accidents with her heat beam. If anything, it was getting worse. She had begun acting out more often. When the jewelry thieves did not turn up in the location they searched, Bubbles had trashed the place and generally messed it up and even destroy a pillar or wall or two - and Blossom had to stop her. That was aside from the fact that she tried to kill the jewelry thieves in plain sight even when they gave up without a fight. Blossom had to restrain her - and had Buttercup not helped, she wouldn't have been able to. And Buttercup had come dangerously close to disobeying her.
The City of Townsville. Suburbs. The House.
16 FEB (Thursday) 1989. 1735.
When Blossom had told Professor Utonium about Bubbles' continued difficulties with controlling her BerXerker power, he could do nothing except run some more tests on her, tests that ultimately did nothing but affirm that Bubbles' body chemistry hadn't changed - if anything, the hormonal contents of her blood had further increased in concentration. All he could do was prescribe medication to Bubbles in the hopes that it would help her calm down while she worked out how to control her BerXerker power - though he found it troubling that he was prescribing antipsychotics and antiandrogens to Bubbles, the medication that was the last things he would expect her to take.
And it was prescribed none too soon – for, during Bubbles' checkup, the clown phone in the lab started ringing. Blossom had to apologize and plead for time for Bubbles' medical examination to be over.
It turned out to be Agent Blake, whom Blossom sorely missed. Her sisters, however, weren't as enthusiastic as she had hoped. Buttercup had gone cold on everyone and as for Bubbles – Blossom could not tell what was motivating her sweetest sister any longer. She seemed to have lost interest in Mister Blake.
'Hey, Blossom, don't ask. It's me, Blake,' the agent had said on the phone. The smart little girl could recall every detail of it. She couldn't help but drink in his every word, his accent, and tone and every little nuance of what he said as he had been gone for too long. 'I'm sorry we haven't visited for a while now. I've been really busy lately. It's funny how our duties have been putting a distance between us, and now it's bringing us all back together.'
'But what are we doing, Mister Blake?' Blossom had asked.
'Just like old times, buddy. We're going down to the sewers. I swear, they multiply like rats down there,' Mister Blake had rambled on. 'But we're going to have to try to shut them down completely.'
Thus marked the Girls' return to the sewers, made worse because they had already found out what it was for and what the water contained the first time.
The City of Townsville. Tenement Area. Logger Street.
16 FEB (Thursday) 1989. 1753.
Feeling cold, filthy and miserable, Blossom started forwards in the sewer tunnels. Surprisingly, Bubbles did not appear to feel the same way at all. 'I can't wait to help our friends,' she'd said, and Blossom had put less stock in her words than before. The leader of The Three knew better than to judge her sister by a power she couldn't control, but she could not help but feel differently about her. Where previously, Bubbles was afraid of getting down and dirty to fight crime, it was as if she had missed the fact that they were down in the sewers with the entire city's human waste. Buttercup, in the meantime, didn't seem to care, though unlike Bubbles, Blossom could tell that she hated it based on the grimace on her face.
When they had floated far enough ahead, the Girls' friends, Agent Blake and his band of USDO operatives, started climbing down from the manhole. While they were directed on where to go by Agent Blake, Blossom was using her x-ray vision to scan ahead. So far, the crooks weren't anywhere close. Lieutenant Blake had chosen an insertion point a fair distance away from the alleged drug node in a sewer junction.
"How did you know where the bad guys will be, Mister Blake?" Blossom asked her friend over the radio to fill in the void as they continued floating forward, making sure to whisper her inquest to avoid any chance of being discovered.
"Your friends in the police tipped us off. Detective Mullens and his task force. He's busy elsewhere, so he left this one to us," Blake replied. "He found out about the drugs here from a cultist he arrested."
The City of Townsville. Downtown. Townsville Police Department Headquarters.
16 FEB (Thursday) 1989. 1755.
Beep… Beep… Beep… Detective Mullens' desk phone rang as if he had been hung up when he was put on hold pending a transfer to the USDO's research department. After weeks and months of no results from the TPD's own forensic department, Garrett Mullens had turned to the USDO for their superior scientific facilities and personnel to uncover what 'His Secret' was all about. He'd sent them a sample of the drug to them a few days ago, and although he expected them to take longer to analyze the dope, he decided to call them anyway. As brutal and out-of-the-water as the USDO were, they had built themselves a reputation for being efficient and way ahead of the tech and science game if nothing else.
"Hello? Doctor Vanum, USDO Research Department. How can I help?" the man on the other end of the line said.
"This is lieutenant Mullens of the TPD. Did you receive my samples?" he asked immediately - no bullshit, no beating around the bush. He wasn't going to wait any longer after wasting months on a wild goose chase with the TPD's forensics experts.
"Yes, and it's quite remarkable. I'm quite frankly surprised that anyone outside the USDO could have concocted such a chemical," the doctor on the other end said.
"What are you talking about? What do you mean?" Mullens asked. 'Now that's interesting,' he thought. In a way, he'd expected this. It couldn't be that the entire TPD's staff of forensics experts were inept. It had something to do with the drug itself, how it was the next level in the escalating drug war in Townsville - if the escalation in the use of bioweapons (perhaps in response to the USDO's Blossom, Bubbles and Buttercup) and the crime waves weren't bad enough.
"While I haven't truly identified the drugs you sent me, I've seen its structure and chemical properties before. It bears some resemblance to the same thing that gave Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup their enhanced abilities," Doctor Vanum explained.
"And can you tell me exactly what gave those kids their abilities?" Detective Mullens asked.
"It's classified information. But if the drugs you sent me is anything like the stuff used in the Girls, then they'd likely enhance an individual and their performance in all areas. There's one key difference though. The stuff used to create The Three aren't drugs – as in recreational or performance drugs? But what you sent me - 'His Secret', was it? It contains additives that would make it even more potent than any known street drugs. I'm afraid that's all I can tell you. I'm not exactly the go-to expert when it comes to the chemical," Doctor Vanum explained.
"Then is there a go-to expert I can speak to?" Detective Mullens asked.
"There is one person. My former boss. He's the Girls' 'father'," Doctor Vanum said, and he'd kept the sarcasm minimal to avoid blowing the professor's cover story.
"You talking about Professor Utonium?" Mullens asked. He didn't expect to run into him so soon, nor did he want to. They didn't exactly part on the best of terms and he thought that he'd better stay away for a while – at least until he was sure the professor had cooled off.
"Yes. I've consulted him about the drug not too long ago actually. Hours ago, in fact. I'll transfer you over to him now," Doctor Vanum said.
"Wait-" the detective tried to stop him but it was too late. The doctor's voice was soon replaced by a steady ringtone. "Damn it."
"Hello?" it was Professor Utonium, the father of The Three himself. Detective Mullens would be lying if he wasn't intimidated himself – his children were hurt multiple times on his watch, and he knew how fathers could be when their children were hurt. The worst part was that he was helpless to stop it. It was either the Girls or his men. The Girls could take hundreds of bullets to the head and still come out fine, while a single bullet at the wrong place and the wrong time could end any of his men. Sure, he felt guilty whenever the Girls were wounded, but it was better than destroying families by allowing good men and women to die when there was an alternative.
He couldn't help but wonder, however, how the Girls and their family had gotten to such a state – being put in the forefront of Townsville's war against crime in such a way that law enforcement had become so integral in their family affairs. He knew from personal experience that it wasn't something any sane, normal family would want.
"This is Detective Mullens," he said.
"What is it now?" the professor said, sounding as if he was offended. "Did something happen to the Girls again?"
"No, I've been transferred to you, actually, by Doctor Vanum," the detective said. "It's about the drug known as His Secret. He said you'd know more about it."
"Oh, that. I've seen the mail sent to me through the USDO internetwork," the professor said, though his tone hadn't changed. "I'm sure my colleague has probably mentioned this, but the drug you sent me is very similar to the chemical that enhanced my Girls. But that's not all. His Secret is actually considerably more advanced than what I've been able to create. It's impossible for anyone, even the Foundation or Institute, to create the chemical. I've seen the chemicals it has been bonded with, and it's as if it has been made specifically to enhance a regular individual without introducing the usual psychological and medical side effects – something I've failed to achieve even with my brilliant staff and cutting edge lab equipment. I can't even venture to guess who this person or what his affiliation is."
"And we've been waging war against this person for over a month," the detective deduced.
"My Girls have been waging war against this person without knowing it," the professor said with a vaguely accusative tone. "They've been fighting under your charge from time to time."
"Professor Utonium, I realize that it hasn't been easy for the Girls and I'm truly sorry but-" Mullens tried to explain himself, but the professor had cut in before he could.
"No, I… ur… I know I can be harsh with… everyone, practically, but…" the professor had rambled unexpectedly. The sudden change of tone was jarring enough to leave Mullens confused.
"I understand. I'm a father too," Mullens said. "And my daughter's in the force. Just turned detective last month."
"It's killing me. I see them coming home with blood everywhere, their bodies were torn up – I had to sew them up on a daily basis like- like mishandled dolls and the fact that it's becoming routine… it's not right," the professor rambled on. Mullens could sense that the man was reduced nearly to tears.
"Jesus, prof. I don't know what to say-" in all his time as the bearer of bad news, being the survivor of countless police operations in a city as vile as Townsville, he had never had to deal with something as heartbreaking as the Girls' situation. When good men and women die in the line of duty, they had died having lived a life, a childhood, knowing what they'd signed up for, and knowing that they were doing good. Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup, on the other hand, were just little kids - if what the USDO spokesmen said were true, merely 5 years of age when they were thrust into the seedy underworld of crime. They didn't even know the first thing when it came to what they were getting into, and by dint of their enhanced abilities, had made a huge difference anyway, albeit at a very high cost. If they had any childhood to speak of, it was coming to an end, too many years sooner than it should.
"Just get them out of your operations alive - I know it's all I can ask, for now, what with all the… SHIT that's been going on in this crazy town," the professor had continued on the phone, his voice shuddering. "I just need them alive because I've figured something out for them to live their lives as they should."
"You have my word," Detective Mullens promised. "The Girls - I haven't said this to you, but they've changed me. They may be spending everyday knee-deep in the town's miring, hateful muck, but it's as if they're made of sugar, spice, and everything nice like that song my old lady used to sing to Olivia. I know for a fact that they've done the same thing for others too."
"Thank you. I'm sorry that we've gotten off-track. I can't help being sentimental," the professor apologized.
"You have every right to be," Mullens said.
"Okay… Alright…" the professor sounded like he was having difficulty keeping a straight face or a straight voice, in the case of a telephone conversation, but he was eventually able to swallow his emotions down after taking a few deep breaths. "The- the drugs. They aren't just capable of enhancing an individual. They are capable of stimulating the central nervous system of a person, including the pleasure center of the brain. Risk-reward gets rewired. The compounds bound to the drug's central chemical are reminiscent of Methamphetamine and offers similar 'benefits' such as heightened energy levels and awareness. But there are other lesser-known compounds bonded to the chemical too. If I'm reading Vanum's report right, they increase aggression and suppresses certain parts of the brain, inducing acute psychopathy. And that's just the beginning - I haven't gone into the worst side effects it could possibly have, and the central chemical - I'll just call it Chemical Y - ensures that the effects linger far longer than the regular street drugs and since it's a chemical of the same type as the kind used in… my children's… urm… ascendance, it will physically linger in the consumer's body indefinitely, like radioactive substances with incredibly long half-lives, except chemicals like these have half-lives stretching into the eons."
Then there was a pause as if the professor was thinking, or unsure of himself. It'd stretched on for seconds, then half a minute, until the detective was sure that the professor suspected something.
"Professor?" Detective Mullens prompted the man. "Are you having one of those genius epiphanies or something?"
"No- Nothing. Just a wild thought. Something stupidly improbable. I'm sure it's just my paternal instincts going haywire," the professor replied.
"If there's one thing I learn from a lifetime of parenting, it's to trust your paternal instincts," the detective said.
"No, it's nothing," the professor insisted. "I'm going to further analyze the drugs you sent to Doctor Vanum, perhaps order them into my lab for testing. I'll let you know if I have anything more."
