Chapter 49: No Going Back (Part 4)
The City of Townsville. Sky. Towards The House.
19 FEB (Sunday) 1989. 1405.
When Blossom was out of options and ideas, she decided to reuse her previous tactic. Unclipping another flashbang, she unpinned it and primed the thing, all while she was flying at top speed in pursuit of Bubbles. Hurling it in front of her, she covered her face just before the flashbang detonated.
There was an explosion of light and noise, and Blossom's ears sang while her vision swam in whiteness despite her precautions.
Bubbles was prepared this time, as it wasn't the first time Blossom had used a flashbang on her. Like Blossom, she'd hid her face from the blast, but since she was so close to it, she was still completely blinded and deafened by the blast.
With the strong wind and her senses blown, Bubbles couldn't control her flight as well. She descended, and accidentally smashed through the window of an office building, screaming as she went through a wall and rolled on the ground, scattering paper and workaholics working the weekends.
Blossom couldn't help but feel concerned about Bubbles, but she knew she couldn't stop to check on her. Flying ahead, she continued on her way to The House, feeling relieved that she had taken the lead.
But then there were explosions and screams. Blossom had flown a fair distance away when that happened, yet she was still able to hear it. Behind her, Bubbles had shoved herself through a window on the opposite side of the building she crashed into, breaking the glass and launching herself back into the race.
Looking back, Blossom saw that Bubbles was easily on the verge of overtaking her – in a matter of seconds, she would be within an arm's reach, and she didn't even want to think about what Bubbles would do to her once she was. Unslinging her MP5, Blossom pointed it behind her one-handed and started firing wild shots at her sister. Her flight path became unsteady from the multi-tasking. Bubbles veered left and right to try to avoid Blossom's aim, but she was too accurate. Blossom was able to buy distance and time with bullets - but for how long, she didn't know. All she knew was that she had to get to Dad before Bubbles.
"Blossom! Come in, Blossom," Blake said over the radio while Blossom was busy firing on Bubbles and getting home at the same time. He didn't wait for her to reply. "I've informed your family and as many people as I could! You'll have help!"
"What about Bubbles?" Blossom replied as she fired another burst of bullets at her sister. "I don't want her to get hurt!"
Like last time… Blossom thought.
"We'll think of something, over and out," Blake said vaguely as if he was in a hurry. As if he was dodging questions. Blossom continued firing rounds behind her until she was out. With her enhanced agility, she replaced her magazine with a fresh one within a few seconds and continued her suppressive fire.
Bubbles had to block the bullets constantly from getting in her face. Frustrated, she shouldered her own MP5 and started firing back at Blossom. As she was flying behind her, she had the advantage of being able to shoot where she was looking - she was able to put a full burst of munitions into her sister's back. Blossom fired back in vain, yelling on top of her lungs as she took burst after burst of pain and bullets. The distance was closing; Blossom could feel fire in every part of her body as she was exhausting herself just to stay ahead.
When Bubbles ran out of ammunition for her submachinegun (she usually carried less than her sisters), she dropped the gun and pulled her sidearm out and started firing more shots. Blossom replaced her second magazine with a third, and, in a bid to recover lost distance, flipped herself around and started flying backward, allowing her to aim downrange, her SMG over her belly.
Blossom started firing on full auto. Bubbles covered her face as usual, but something else happened - a red aura - a kind of energy bubble, appeared around her. Blossom could see her tracer rounds bouncing off of it.
Bubbles stopped shielding her face, revealing a demented smile. Blossom emptied the rest of her magazine into her sister's red bubble uselessly, in some vain hope that it would do something, but it didn't. She screamed, her face contorted in fear as she watched Bubbles gaining rapidly on her despite everything she had done.
Bubbles threw a punch at Blossom the moment she got within range, without warning or compassion. It'd nearly knocked Blossom off-course. In her desperation, Blossom began firing her heat beam - despite being exhausted halfway to the underworld - but Bubbles was able to block them off too, with gritted teeth and tough smile on. It'd done nothing, but Blossom was able to free herself and give herself another burst of speed.
Bubbles kept pace by doing the same. The nightmare wasn't over.
"STOP!" Blossom screamed in desperation when she noticed that Bubbles just wouldn't let up no matter what she did. The suburbs had appeared in the distance, but it seemed so far even though it was close.
Bubbles flew on top of Blossom. Throwing a gaze over her shoulder, Blossom fired another infrared burst, doing nothing but searing red energy. Bubbles delivered a chop to the back of Blossom's neck, stunning her and causing her to drop. Bubbles, however, wasn't done with her. Landing on Blossom's back, she let herself fall with her sister. Putting an arm around her neck, she began choking her as she groped her chest for the smoke grenades attached there. When she'd found the pins, she pulled them off, one after another, before pushing the levers, one then the next.
When that was done, Bubbles let go and jumped off of Blossom, using her as a springboard during free fall, while at the same time kicking her towards the ground. She continued flying towards home, while Blossom, half-conscious and nearly out from the pain, exhaustion and smoke inhalation, could only watch as she fell, and soon, she wouldn't even be able to do that after her smoke grenades burst into clouds of smoke.
After falling a certain height, the kind that would have killed a normal kid ten times over, Blossom crashed through the roof of a suburban home, going right through the ceiling and into the room of a teenage goth girl, who jumped and sat up at the shock of such a thing happening out of the blue. Rock music was playing in the playground, but Blossom's landing was far louder.
The door to the goth girl's room slammed open as if rehearsed beforehand.
"How many times must I tell you!?" a man at the doorway scolded. "Keep your temper tantrums to yourself and turn that satanic music… down…" the man, the Goth's father, stared at the thing that had made a crater in the floor. A little girl, dressed like she was going to dominate a war game, utterly flabbergasted by the destruction in his home. "What the hell is that!?"
"Don't look at me, dad," the goth girl said. "I didn't cause her to fall through the ceiling!"
Together, the father and daughter approached the little girl with caution. Studying the girl, they noticed the smoke grenades on her vest, which was still giving out some smoke. Looking up, the father noticed that there was a column of smoke from the sky. He reasoned that smoke grenades were detonated in the sky, which meant…
They had seen the USDO operatives before, but mostly on television. He was told by the neighbors that they would emerge from somewhere around the neighborhood while he was away at work and return in the evening, but he had rarely seen the sight before.
While the suburban folks continued to study the newly-named Powerpuff Girl, her eyes fluttered open and she gave a shout out of surprise. The father and daughter jumped back from being startled, shouting just as much out of surprise.
Blossom remembered the trouble with Bubbles immediately upon waking up. There was no time for explanations, apologies, and pleasantries. After shuddering from the pain all over her body and discarding the spent smoke grenades, Blossom kicked off into a hovering position.
"Sorry about your roof," she apologized quickly before flying through the hole she made with a muted 'pew' sound. The goth girl and her father exchanged looks as another piece of the ceiling dropped, reminding them that the Powerpuff Girl named Blossom had torn a new skylight into their home.
The City of Townsville. Suburbs. The House.
19 FEB (Sunday) 1989. 1409.
As Bubbles tore through the air towards The House, her home, she realized quickly that the USDO security force around it was fully prepared for her arrival. Airburst munitions were fired at her from humvees. The explosions threw her about like a ragdoll left and right, tearing away at her Kevlar armor until she started evading them. A recently acquired Apache attack helicopter, scrambled from the nearest USDO outpost, had arrived just in time to fire its miniguns at her. Numerous high-caliber rounds had struck her despite her speed and agility, though all they had done was to cause her pain and make her angrier than before if that was even possible.
But she couldn't stop. She could feel it - she was so close. Ignoring the vehicles and men firing at her, she crashed through the front door of her home, only to find more opposition - Selicia and Buttercup stood before her, standing between her and the airlock leading down to the lab, where Bubbles knew Dad would be.
Selicia was still in her T-shirt and jeans, with her vest hastily thrown over her and an XM9 Anti-Materials rifle in her hands. Bubbles had seen it before; her Mom had used it to wound Naga back in the Battle of Morbucks Industries Research Labs.
Buttercup had changed and was fully ready to do battle with her, with her MP5 clutched tightly in her hands, though the glow in her eyes was faint and Bubbles knew what it meant.
"Go up to your room before someone gets hurt, Bubbles!" Selicia warned.
"And I know who that someone will be!" Buttercup boasted, raising her MP5 at Bubbles. Bubbles glared at them – they were family, but they were selfish. They had been tormenting her for months. In her twisted mind, whatever good memories she shared with them were shoved aside, forgotten in her rage.
Without warning, Bubbles dashed towards them in a zig-zag fashion. Selicia couldn't even begin to track her with her Duranium rifle. Buttercup was ripping up the living room with her submachine gun, and even if she had hit Bubbles, she wasn't showing any sign of it.
By the time Selicia fired a Duranium round, Bubbles had already gotten up to her, pushing aside the Duranium barrel of her gun and charging into her and knocking her into the wall. Clutching the barrel of her gun, she pulled it away, disarming her, and hurled it out of her reach.
"Mom!" Buttercup shouted as she was exchanging her empty magazine with a fresh one. Letting Selicia slide to the floor, Bubbles threw a punch at her, lightning-quick, and Buttercup couldn't dodge it in time.
The train coach that was Bubbles' fist had knocked her to the floor, yards away. Buttercup's gun went off, putting holes in the ceiling.
Bubbles followed Buttercup as she skidded on the ground, and didn't let up by giving her a few kicks when she was down.
Fortunately, she didn't have long to do much damage as Selicia had drawn her stun baton, which was set to maximum charge, and jabbed at Bubbles' back with it, shocking her.
Bubbles screamed, but it hardly immobilized her and she was able to get away from the baton easily to avoid any further electrical pain. Selicia thrust it at her for a second strike, but Bubbles was able to dodge it easily before grabbing it and Mom by the neck.
Selicia screamed bloody fury as she tried to pull away, but Bubbles' grip was vice-like. Wrenching the baton out of her Mom's grasp, she gave her a right hook before she could recover.
Her head was slammed against the wall hard, and there was a splatter of blood. Selicia slid down the wall a second time, painting more of it red on the way.
Buttercup, in the meantime, had recovered enough to shoot laser beams at her from where she sat, but they were too weak to do much damage, merely carving her Kevlar vest as she came towards her. Bubbles gripped her Mom's stun baton tightly. Buttercup switched back to firing her gun, but it was futile.
When Bubbles came within range, she smacked Buttercup's MP5 out of her hands and kicked her in the face.
"This is for hurting me!" Bubbles yelled before jabbing the stun baton into her side while she held Buttercup by the collar. It'd made Buttercup squeal in pain as she thrashed about on the floor. Bubbles didn't stop until she stopped squirming - but on seeing her eyes, which were still open, and hearing her moaning, she slammed Buttercup's head into the floor, making a crater there, where blood began to pool.
Just when she thought she could walk through the airlock leading to the lab unimpeded, something crashed through a window in the kitchen before bounding towards her.
Blossom dashed to block Bubbles from entering the airlock, sliding into position as her momentum was strong. In her entrance, she had seen what Bubbles had done to Mom and Buttercup. There was a lot of blood. They looked as though they would need to be hospitalized, at least, or buried in the dirt, at worse.
And the worst part was that Blossom didn't even have the time to be shocked, to act like the little girl she was.
"What did you do, Bubbles!?" Blossom scolded her out-of-control sister.
"They deserved it! They were both hurting me!" Bubbles shouted defensively. "Like you!"
"And now you've hurt your family," Blossom said, and that got Bubbles to quiet down as she couldn't think of a counter-argument, as damaged by drugs as she was.
Instead, Bubbles reached behind her and pulled her first-aid kit out. Opening it roughly and breaking it open, she pulled a Duranium scalpel out of it and trashed the rest of the first-aid kit on the floor. Bandages, band-aids, bottles of antiseptic, pain medication and rubber gloves spilled from the ruined kit, abandoned by Bubbles.
Letting out a shriek, Bubbles lunged at Blossom without a warning, when the latter was expecting her to say something. Blossom fired her heat beam at her, only for Bubbles' new red bubble shield thing to block it. Within a second, Bubbles was all over her, trying to stab her with the Duranium scalpel. She was able to pin Blossom against the wall and lift her off her feet with one hand, no matter how hard Blossom tried to push back.
Blossom's hand had found its way onto Bubbles' wrist, trying to push the Duranium scalpel away, but it was looming closer, the blade inching towards her, coming… But not yet, as Blossom head-butted Bubbles and pushed her away while she was rubbing her nose, which bled copiously from the force.
Glaring at Blossom, Bubbles, looking especially unhinged with blood all over her face, screamed and charged at her again, swinging the Duranium scalpel wildly at her, forcing her to back away towards the middle of the living room. Drawing her pistol, Blossom fired at her in self-defense, though even without her new red bubble ability, Bubbles wasn't even fazed by the gunshots.
Eventually, one of Bubbles' swings had sliced Blossom in the hand, forcing her to drop the pistol. Shocked at the amount of pain it caused, the wound it dug in her, Blossom wasn't able to react when Bubbles lunged at Blossom a second time again, tackling her to the ground. Bubbles, again, tried to stab Blossom with the Duranium scalpel, but Blossom was able to grab Bubbles by the wrists, after accidentally slitting her fingers on the blade of the scalpel in the scuffle.
The scalpel floated over Blossom like some doom pendulum in an Edgar Allan Poe story. With a crazy scream, Bubbles applied all her strength to it, putting her weight and entire upper body strength into it. The scalpel came ever closer to Blossom, who screamed as well, but not in bloodlust and aggression, but in fear, until…
Blossom felt it penetrate her, piercing through her as if the scalpel was a butter knife and she was the butter. In the struggle, the scalpel had gone deep into her shoulder. The pain was unbearable, so much so that for a split second, Blossom thought she might have lost consciousness there and then, and though it was but for a split second, it was long enough for Bubbles to direct two more punches at her, until she was limp, until she had lost consciousness for sure.
Bubbles stood back up when she saw that she had finally done it - knocked Blossom out for the count. For a time, she stood there, just gazing at Blossom, wondering if she should finish the job. But in the end, she decided that killing one family member was enough - two would be too much. The fairy godmother promised a dozen syringes if she killed her evil Dad, and that had to be enough. She really didn't want to have to sacrifice two of her kin if she could help it. She'd thought, perhaps, that the fairy godmother might see it fit to reward her more of her magic anyway if she would just obey her like a good girl and kill her father without any further hesitation.
Walking away, Bubbles padded towards the airlock.
"Fire!" a USDO PTF soldier ordered from a living room window. More soldiers started popping out of windows and doors, firing their weapons at Bubbles.
"Leave me alone!" Bubbles screamed and turned around, firing a red ion beam from her eyes that swept across the windows and door of the living room. Men screamed in fear, pain and confusion. It was a new power but she didn't care; she was absorbed in her own pain, regret and need for the drug. She tried opening the airlock door, but found it sealed, so she pried it open anyway, forcing it open. There were creaks in the door, which groaned and bent and screamed as Bubbles broke it open. Walking into the airlock, she closed the door back up. Bullets ricocheted against it as she forced her way through the inner airlock door as well, as the few USDO PTF soldiers who weren't injured or dead tried futilely to slow her down.
Despite her rage, despite her insanity, her mind twisted by the workings of someone or something, Bubbles could not help but feel a little nervous, and anxious. Would her Dad fight her in an attempt to defend himself? She was still unsure if she would back out, even if there was a huge bounty on his head. Regret wormed its way into her, as always, even though she hadn't gone through with it, even if she hadn't discovered if she would lament her decision to silence her Dad, such that she would never hear his soothing voice again…
