Reply to Guest: Thanks for the feedback. I'll think about it. However, it just doesn't look good for M-rated stories. FFN openly discriminates against them, and FFN has stopped updating itself and its policies since many years ago. If it were to follow Archive of Our Own's example, I'd have switched in a heartbeat. As it stands, it's even affecting how I rate this story on AO3, since I value consistency. There are more reasons besides this - personal reasons, philosophical reasons, etc. I hope you understand. And thanks for reading.


Chapter 48: No Going Back (Part 3)

The City of Townsville. Sky. Towards Downtown.

19 FEB (Sunday) 1989. 1346.

"Good, you're heading in the right direction," Blake's voice whispered cautiously into Blossom's ear via her earpiece and radio as the enhanced little girl was leading Bubbles towards the Townsville Mall. "Keep going and keep her talking. I'll be there."

"Why won't you talk to me, Bubbles?" Blossom continued trying to get Bubbles to open up. They were halfway on their flight to the mall, but Bubbles had been keeping mum ever since the burning apartment building.

"You said we'll talk when we're far away from that place," Bubbles said curtly. "We're not there yet."

Her eyes were a permanent glow of angry red. Blossom could only guess at what she was thinking, but Judging by her eyes, it was likely nothing good. She knew that the mother of the boy she tried to save had struck a nerve, said some things, and Blossom had some idea why those things would set her off. The woman sounded exactly like her, back when she hadn't learned her lesson of patience and anger management yet.

But that wouldn't be fair to that lady, as Bubbles was already upset long before the burning building. It was the whole reason why she had been tracking her down in the first place. What was Bubbles so upset about? Didn't they make nice to each other? Especially after their vicious fight in The Strip?

They flew for some time, rising closer to the clouds so that the noise from the city was drowned out.

"Where are you taking me?" Bubbles asked when the silence wasn't palatable even to her.

"To someplace we could talk, where they'll never find us," Blossom lied. "The policemen were mad at us, and we need to let them cool off." The mall came within view shortly after. It was a huge mecca of commerce, and even from the top, looked much larger than any other building for miles. There were other malls, of course, but they were like children next to the Townsville Mall, imitations that paled in comparison to the original.

Blossom led Bubbles on the descend, down to just yards above the tallest buildings at Downtown. For a moment, Blossom stopped beside a billboard, and Bubbles aped her action despite her waning respect for her authority.

The billboard had a gigantic version of her, photogenic and posing in her combat gear, winking with one hand holding her MP5 singled-handed and the other hand pointing to an advisory: Jail Time or No Crime - You Decide. 'The Powerpuff Girls are here to save the day!' A not-so-subtle subtitle read under the art.

Blossom couldn't remember ever posing for that shot. Back in January, Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup had attended a few photoshoots for a few newspaper articles and public service announcement arts, but not in recent weeks, and certainly not for her likeness to be mounted on billboards on top of tall buildings overlooking the middle of Downtown.

However, it wasn't the time and place to mull over such an unimportant thing; Her sister took precedence. Resuming her course, Blossom took Bubbles to the roof of Townsville Mall, which, unlike the rest of it, was gray and austere and uninteresting. They touched down there, and Bubbles sat down on a vent. It was freezing, but she didn't care. Her insides were tortured and groaning and calling for the fairy godmother's magic, and a little freezing was nothing next to it.

Blossom retracted her glider wings and sat down on a vent opposite Bubbles but close to her. When she found it cold, she set down her flight pack and placed her jacket over it before sitting down again.

"Keep her there for a few minutes, Blossom," Blake's voice whispered to Blossom on her earpiece, like an angel offering a divine way out. "Good job. We'll be with you shortly, over and out."

Blossom's eyes returned to Bubbles when she heard it. 'Good job,' Blake had said, but Blossom couldn't tell what she was doing so well. She was going against her own judgment again, her own morals; Lying and plotting against her own sister when she would rather just try to reason with her.

"The winter's getting hotter, isn't it?" Blossom commented as she turned to look at the sky, Blake's order to stall for time with Bubbles half-forgotten. She had her own reasons for bringing Bubbles to the mall. "Dad said that spring will be here next month."

"It's not any different," Bubbles said absent-mindedly. "Nothing is. Nothing changed."

"But everything's changed. We're getting better at fighting crime. We've been helping more people and…" Blossom's voice trailed off. Not everything had changed for the better. Bubbles' eyes turned to her, wide and all-seeing. It made Blossom think she had said something wrong or done something wrong – besides the sins she had committed against her in the past.

"We've changed, Blossom. We used to be so close," Bubbles said.

"But we still are," Blossom said, and yet she was afraid; of the way Bubbles was looking at her, of her in general. "We can still be…"

"Buttercup hasn't changed. Mom hasn't. Townsville hasn't changed. Spring isn't coming," Bubbles said, her eyes drifting to the snowy concrete beneath her.

"But it will – things always change, that's what Dad said," Blossom corrected.

"DAD!" Bubbles screamed out of the blue, jumping off her vent-seat. Blossom had nearly fallen off hers. Alarmed, she got off it as well.

"Daddy this, Daddy that!" Bubbles screamed maniacally as she stepped closer to Blossom.

"B-bubbles, what did I-" Blossom stuttered, afraid that yesterday was going to repeat itself again.

"DAD DOES NOT KNOW!" Bubbles screamed. "He's supposed to know but he doesn't! He's supposed to know things!"

"What are you talking about?" Blossom asked, confused and scared out of her mind. Things were calm and going well before.

"I'm TALKING about ME!" Bubbles hollered madly. Her eyes had never gone back to blue ever since they were in the air. It was beginning to concern Blossom, more so than usual. It had always been a sign that things would soon spin out of control. "And… and…"

"What, Bubbles?" Blossom asked, but it was as if something was stuck in Bubbles' throat. "You can tell me – is it something to do with your new power?"

"I've changed - I've changed and I wanted it – But I… I've changed but I don't want it!" Bubbles blubbered as she began crying, the only sign of it was the tears as her eyes were already bloodshot.

"Bubbles, what is it?" Blossom asked again. Concerned and afraid for her sister, she came closer to try to hug her, but Bubbles backed away as if avoiding a plague victim.

"NO!" she screamed, afraid, but the look on her face soon changed to that of rage.

"Don't touch me! Don't you touch me!" she screamed maniacally as she wrapped her arms around herself for futile reassurance, looking a little like a mental patient.

"I wasn't going to hurt you," Blossom tried to reassure her sister.

"I can't tell you anything," Bubbles said, relatively calm, though that wasn't saying much, nor did it have anything to do with Blossom's efforts to quiet her down. "I can't tell you anything. I don't trust you."

But Bubbles' words were sharp, and it stabbed at Blossom right at the heart. Blossom gasped when she heard it, her hand going up to her chest as if she had been punched there.

"You don't mean that!" Blossom gasped. It wasn't something she had expected from her sweet little Bubbles at all.

"You DID all those things to ME!" Bubbles resumed her mad ravings. "Buttercup DID all those THINGS to me!"

"I know! We fought in the backyard and I made her stop!" Blossom defended herself, but it was a feeble attempt and they both knew it. Her eyes were beginning to mist - if only all this would just stop! "I tried to make it stop!"

"And you started DOING it to ME!" Bubbles screamed. "Hurting ME!"

"Bubbles… I'm not lying when I told you how sorry I am," Blossom said tearfully. "Remember when we were in the lab after the cinema? Please, try to remember!"

Bubbles closed her eyes; she thought Blossom's words meant something this time. She tried to remember through the red haze of blind rage and madness in her. She thought she saw something. Her own apologies, how things looked right then. Blossom hadn't laid a finger on her since. Remembering their time together since she saw that Blossom hadn't gone back on her words – and it was all her fault yesterday that they fought.

Bubbles opened her eyes tearfully, which were, for once, her signature baby blue.

"Bubbles – what's happening to you?" Blossom asked again. It couldn't just be her BerXerker ability causing her to lose her mind, could it?

"I had to get away," Bubbles finally opened up. "I… I didn't want to be anywhere close to you and Dad. I didn't want to be - I can't. I can't be close."

"Why?" Blossom asked. Bubbles averted her gaze and didn't speak any further. Blossom tried prodding her for answers more, but she had clamped up.

That was when the familiar sound of loud beating in the air began. A huge helicopter ascended into view from behind a building and sped towards them at top speed nearly equivalent to what the Girls could do, admirable for something achieved by regular human beings.

Bubbles glared at it, her eyes glowing hellish red anew. She then turned that murderous gaze on Blossom.

"You DID this!" Bubbles screeched at her. "You TRICKED me!"

"Bubbles, wait-" Blossom tried to explain things, but Bubbles wouldn't have it.

"You were always the smart one and you TRICKED me!" Bubbles screamed, then clasped her head with both her hands. "You LIED to ME! I TRUSTED you!"

The helicopter spun around in mid-air hazardously such that the tailgate was facing them. The wind from its rotors would have blown the Girls away had they not countered it with their hovering force. The tailgate opened, revealing a squad of men, two of whom were armed with what appeared to be net guns. Lieutenant Blake was one of them. They fired the nets at Bubbles without hesitation.

One of them missed because of the wind and Bubbles had sidestepped it easily. The other was well-adjusted for both wind and evasion, catching Bubbles by surprise, who fell with a yelp. Bubbles tore at the net, which seemed surprisingly strong for something that looked flimsy. The 'ropes' were actually steel cables forming a flexible wire mesh.

"Blossom, restrain her!" Blake ordered over the radio. Blossom rushed up to Bubbles, only to receive a hard kick in the stomach. Despite the tensile strength of the steel cables, Bubbles was able to rip it apart, freeing herself. After shooting Blossom and Blake a half-insane dirty look, she flew off.

"Blossom! Pursue her! We can't let her get away!" Blake's voice blared on the radio. Blossom did not wait – she knew what she had to do. There was something severely wrong with her – Bubbles wouldn't have tried to avoid Dad and her in any other circumstances.

Bubbles was fast – in her insanity, she had given no thought to conserving her Chemical X at all, and was traveling at top speed. In fact, it seemed that her newest power had completely beaten exhaustion into submission as Blossom was struggling to keep up at such a speed.

"Bubbles, stop!" Blossom yelled at her as she tried to gain on her, but it was all in vain. The shape of her sister was growing smaller with every second elapsed. What was worse was that she had left her flight pack behind in a hurry, which meant that the wind was constantly throwing her off left and right easily.

Blossom tried to think of a solution: her guns could help, but she didn't want to hurt her own sister and lose whatever remained of the trust between them. The same went for her heat vision. Besides, in her current state, she wasn't even sure if she was capable of feeling pain. Her smoke grenade could block Bubbles view and slow her down – if only it could hover. Her flashbangs – yes, her flashbangs!

Taking a flashbang from her vest, Blossom removed the pin and primed it. After taking careful aim, she lobbed it as hard as she could, and was decently surprised that she could throw it ahead of Bubbles. She covered her eyes quickly, but the light blast had partially blinded her all the same.

But it was working. Bubbles screamed madly as she spun out of control and fell, landing on top of an apartment building, putting cracks in the rooftop floor. Blossom, also disorientated, let herself drop, and landed on the same apartment roof in a crouched position.

"We're not going to hurt you," Blossom tried to reason with her sister. Taking a quick look over her shoulder, she saw that Blake's Chinook was a mere dot on the horizon; she was on her own now. "We just want to help you!"

Bubbles was just sitting up when she said this, cupping her eyes as though they were burning, screaming intermittently like a rabid dog.

"Liar! LIAR! LIAR!" Bubbles screamed. "She said you're evil!"

Her response forced Blossom to rush her, but before she could even grab her, Bubbles swiped at her with fingernails – which Blossom blocked with her Kevlar arm guard. Bubbles' nails were hard enough to carve deep fissures into her arm guard.

Blossom tackled Bubbles before she could do any real damage, before pinning her arms on her chest. Bubbles struggled against her as she screamed like a wild animal to be let go.

"Who said that? Who said I'm evil?" Blossom asked; the plot was thickening, and she wasn't sure where the end of it was or what she would find at the end of it.

"Let ME go!" Bubbles screamed and threw Blossom off with sheer willpower and strength. She took off immediately. Blossom air-braked herself and flew at full speed to give chase.

"This is Blake to Blossom, where is Bubbles going!?" Blake asked over the radio.

"I don't know!" Blossom shouted over the radio while she strained herself once more to match an errant Bubbles' flight speed.

"Take a guess! You're smarter than you know!" Blake said urgently over the radio.

Blossom thought hard about it. Bubbles did mention something about getting away from her and Dad. Why? Why her and Dad? She tried to kill her yesterday… Which meant-

"Oh no…" Blossom's face had gone pale when she realized what Bubbles was going to do. She pressed the button on her radio and practically screamed into his ears. "She's going home to kill Dad!"

It made perfect sense. The flight path they were on would take them straight home in a beeline. She'd memorized the local map and could see it as though it was a 3D projection before her when it was all in her head.

But why? Why? Blossom still had no idea why Bubbles would want to kill Dad of all people – if it was her, it would have made sense. She had failed as a leader and sister when she had counted on her. But Dad? Why?


The City of Townsville. Suburbs. The House.

19 FEB (Sunday) 1989. 1402.

Professor Utonium had been busy poring over the final results of his Chemical X2 plant trials. He had pages upon pages of data to go through, and he wasn't the only one generating them. His science staff, under Doctor Vanum who still reports to him even though he no longer outranked him, was involved as well. It'd accelerated his progress towards providing his Girls with reinforcement that they sorely needed – reinforcement which would exceed their capabilities, and hopefully, take over so completely that the Girls would have to beg for a chance to fight crime.

Bzz! Bzz! Bzz! A phone rang in the vicinity. Just what he needed; more bad news. But this time, there was something different. It wasn't his desk phone ringing. It was his USDO cellphone.

Pulling it out of his pocket, he flipped the phone open and checked the caller ID. Agent Blake was on the line. After giving a frustrated sigh, he accepted the call.

"Blake. What is it now?" the professor said, the tone of his voice betraying every bit of how he was feeling: defeated, ever more dreary and afraid of the unexpected. It made him wonder if he should just jump the gun and use his Chemical X2 to create the reinforcement there and then, instead of going through the usual scientific method.

"Professor! There's no time to explain!" Blake was shouting at the top of his lungs, and the background noise, which was filled with the beating of helicopter rotor blades and men yelling. "She's coming to assassinate you! I don't know why! But she is!"

"Who?" the professor asked. He knew that sooner or later that someone might want to take this life; he was an important person – contributing greatly to the USDO'S technological output and more recently, as the scientist in charge of the Girls. "Is it Naga? Or those Confederates in the Foundation? Is it Blisstina? Isn't Blisstina deceased?" there was no one else he could think of. With Blisstina, the evidence of her death wasn't complete enough to substantiate it.

"It's Bubbles! We have a Tantrum event! She's coming! I've signaled security at The House!" Blake revealed. It'd caught the professor off-guard. Bubbles? Why would she? "Stay in your lab! ETA 10 minutes! We'll sort this out!"

It couldn't be. It simply couldn't be. Just yesterday, she seemed fine…


The City of Townsville. Suburbs. The House.

18 FEB (Saturday) 1989. 0334.

Bubbles could not sleep with the thought of killing her Daddy in her head. Needless to say, she hated the idea. But it had to be done. It must be done. If she didn't, she would be in pain for the rest of her life, and the fairy godmother would add more on top of that, and there was no telling what she would do to the rest of her family. She would never experience true happiness, the kind that only the drug could provide.

Was there any real reason to kill Dad? She searched through her memories for one. Surprisingly, it wasn't hard to do so, especially when she was motivated by pain and drug deprivation to.

Dad had never been there when she needed him most. Day after day, one after another, those she would call family would hurt her right under his nose. Day after day, she would be sent out to fight even when she didn't want to - even when she couldn't. Day after day, she suffered, and Daddy didn't stop it.

It scared her. Bubbles felt anger and hatred welling up inside. She couldn't believe that she could be angry towards a man who had done nothing but took care of her, hateful towards a man who had only loved her, who was just as much a victim as she was. But now, she hated him enough to want to kill him.

Slipping out of bed once more, Bubbles flew to the door and left the Girls' room, more cautious than ever. She checked her sisters' twice, thrice - and knew that they were asleep this time. Buttercup had been sedated during her medical examinations, and the speckles of green that remained in her eyes did not shine. Blossom was dark too.

Bubbles flew to her Dad's door. It was decided. She wanted to kill him, and she wanted to just get it over with. But how? She wasn't a mastermind, but she knew enough to know that Dad had to die in a way that wouldn't implicate her. She flew to the living room, searching for something to aid her in her patricidal quest, and when there was nothing she could use in the living room, she moved on to the kitchen. She had killed enough to know her own modus operandi - she had killed with fists, guns and even her sonic scream. She couldn't use any of those.

Her eyes ran over the kitchen, and on a counter, she saw a block of kitchen knives. Landing on the kitchen counter, she pulled one out to discover that she had taken a cleaver. She didn't like the idea of having to take off Daddy's head, so she put it back and chose a slimmer one. A chopping knife for cutting vegetables and fruits. A single stab through the neck would do.

Gripping the knife underhanded, she flew back up to the second floor and landed in front of her Dad's door. Hovering up, she gripped the doorknob with her other hand.

She couldn't help but hesitate. The door was locked only by love. Yet she could feel the beginnings of the drug's withdrawal effect in her. She sighed and remembered how Dad had raised her right from the beginning - if it weren't for him, she wouldn't even have known how to walk, talk or even use the toilet without making a mess. She remembered all the times they spent together - how much time her Dad had invested in her, so lovingly, so unconditionally.

She had to push it all away, and, with great effort, replace it with hate. Dad was weak. Dad was stupid. He was careless and he didn't help her in her times of need when it truly mattered!

Twisting the doorknob, she swung the door gently, wide enough for her to hover through. Dad and Mom were fast asleep, or at least it looked like it. Mom, at least, was snoring with a gentle and quiet rise and fall of her breathing. Bubbles touched down on the carpet, and couldn't help but hold her breath.

Holding the kitchen knife before her, she padded towards Dad, barefooted and in her pajamas, looking nothing like a killer, at least until her eyes turned red with sustained hatred. Her hands shook as she got closer, just another arm's length to within striking range.

Then she saw movement before she was ready. She quickly hid the blade behind her back. Dad had turned and opened his eyes. Despite her red eyes, he didn't so much as a gasp. Reaching out for his lamp, he turned it on, and saw Bubbles close to him, holding her hands behind her back.

"Bubbles? What's wrong, honey?" he asked in that tired voice of his, barely awake. He yawned after that. "Were you having a nightmare again?"

What Daddy had said had reminded her of that time back then, two weeks ago, when nightmares of that day in the Morbucks Industries Research Labs, when she was stuck in a hole, had plagued her relentlessly. Dad was there to comfort her. He was there in her time of need when it truly mattered.

And he was here now.

"Y-yes… A really bad one," Bubbles found herself replying, tears streaming down anew. If only it was all just a nightmare - the fairy godmother, the drugs, her lethal intentions, everything.

"Hop on, then," Dad pushed himself deeper into his bed and patted the space he had made for her, beside him. His eyes were closed once again. He was likely very tired. Helpless.

Bubbles wasted no time in slipping the kitchen knife under her father's bed and clambering into it, snuggling up to him. The Dad covered her up with a blanket and put an arm around her. He remembered, too, to leave the lights be.

Bubbles couldn't help but whimper and cry.

"Hey… Everything's fine. It's just a nightmare, it'll all go away…" Dad said, without knowing how wrong he was - that it wasn't a nightmare, and it wouldn't go away just like that. Bubbles turned and planted her face into his shoulder.

"Promise?" Bubbles asked, wishing desperately for it all to just end.

"Promise," Dad said and gave her a peck on the back of her head.


The City of Townsville. Suburbs. The House.

19 FEB (Sunday) 1989. 1404.

Yes, Bubbles was fine yesterday, being her sweet old self despite the difficulties she was having with her new BerXerker power. Except… He thought back to that night when Bubbles came up to him. He thought he saw a glint then, like a reflection. A knife? How could that be? If his good memory served, he thought he heard something sliding on the carpet before Bubbles joined him in bed.

He had to know. He needed to. Getting up, Professor Utonium started racing up the stairs to the surface. While the airlock cycled, he banged on the keypad as if it would cycle the airlock faster - it wouldn't. He had never acted this way before. He ran across the living room, where Selicia was. As it just so happened, she was on her USDO cellphone as well.

"Thomas! Wait!" she shouted as he was running past. He didn't stop, didn't wait. He had to know. Running up the stairs, two steps at a time, he proceeded straight to his room and looked under the bed.

Sure enough, it was there. A kitchen knife, right under his bed. Picking it up, he sat down on his bed and felt like he would be stuck there until the heat death of the universe. Holding it up, he saw his reflection on it.

Bubbles intended to kill him last night.

There were heavy footsteps outside. Someone running. The professor knew it was Selicia, but the knife before him and what it meant was too upsetting for him to care.

"Thomas! Bubbles' gone rogue!" Selicia warned the professor, the phone still clutched in her hand, but stopped when she saw what was going on.

"T-tom? What are you doing?" she asked, fearing what could happen next. She had no idea about what the professor had learned. It looked as if he was about to take his own life. He didn't reply immediately, and it made her terribly worried. Normally, she was able to capture his attention, enthrall him. Now, something else had taken the lead. "What are you doing with that knife?"

"It's Bubbles' knife. She left it here. She wanted to kill me last night," the professor said, face pale, looking shell-shocked. What Bubbles had done, however, was far more damaging than any shell could be to the professor.

Everything had snapped into place for Selicia the moment he mentioned it. No wonder something felt missing in the kitchen this morning! She was whipping together breakfast for the Girls, and although she didn't need the knife, she thought something looked off with the kitchen when she entered it.

Buttercup poked her head in from the outside, wondering what all the excitement was about.

"I know you feel like roadkill right now, but we need to keep you safe!" Selicia reasoned. Coming up to the professor, she tried to lift him off the bed, only for him to shake her off.

"No, Selicia! What's the point? Bubbles wanted to kill me last night," the professor went on. He was barely there. Likely heartbroken. Disappointed. Upset. Perhaps even suicidal.

"You still have Blossom and Buttercup to look out for!" Selicia tried to reason with him again. Taking the knife by the handle, she put it away before dragging him to his feet. "You still have me."

Silence. Then the professor cranked his head to look at her wearily, with almost nothing in his eyes.

"Yes… Yes… You're right," the professor said, though he sounded half-dead.

"Now please," Selicia pleaded with him as she held his face. "Lock yourself in the lab. There's a safe in there with a Duranium rifle, behind the painting near your desk. The combination's your birthday. Take it, just in case."

Wordlessly, the professor started towards the door, his movement stiff as he had lost much of his will to do anything. Selicia turned to look at him leave and saw Buttercup standing by the door. The professor stopped beside her, before ruffling her hair as he rubbed her scalp affectionately.

"Buttercup, Blake suggested that you help defend your Dad," the Mom said, less loving to her favorite as usual. "Do you want to?"

Buttercup had to actually think hard about it. There simply wasn't much left to defend. She had lost all hope of ever becoming her Dad's most loved. There was simply no going back from his discovery of her trophies and shadowy activities. Even Mom seemed to be giving her the cold shoulder.

"Yes…" Buttercup said, slightly unsure of herself. The only reason why she would even agree to it was that Dad was still her provider. Who else was she going to turn to for pancakes, toys, clothes and a gazillion other things? Or even that rub in the head he gave her as he was shuffling towards his lab? For what it was worth, it felt pleasant when he stroked her in the head.

"Then get suited up and wait for me outside the lab door," Selicia ordered. Buttercup zipped to her room to get prepared for battle while Selicia did the same, throwing on a Kevlar vest and pulling out an XM9 anti-materials rifle and XM4 carbine.