(To view the artwork/cover page for Act 3, go to the Archive of Our Own version of this fanfic and the same chapter)
ACT 3: DOWN THE BUNNY HOLE
"The duty of youth is to challenge corruption." - Kurt Cobain
Chapter 53: First Day
The City of Townsville. Suburbs. The House.
22 FEB (Wednesday) 1989. 2024.
"You ready, Bubbles?" Selicia asked one of the Powerpuff Girls. They were in the lab, going for a quick round of training before bedtime. She thought it necessary after the Girls had been deactivated for three days. They would be back to saving the day by next light. "Is your neck okay?"
"I'm fine, Mom. It just feels funny…" Bubbles simply said. She stood before Blossom, putting up a defensive posture.
"Blossom?" Selicia turned to the leader of the Powerpuff Girls.
"I'm ready, Mom," she said.
"Alright, go right ahead, Girls, you know the rules," Selicia flagged off the first match between Blossom and Bubbles.
Blossom charged ahead and went for a sweeping low kick. Bubbles jumped and avoided getting tripped, only to realize that Blossom had followed up with a rising spinning kick aimed at her head, but she leaned back, feeling wind as Blossom's foot passed by within an inch of her face. She fell back a few feet, adjusting her posture.
Blossom found it surprising enough that Bubbles could avoid her strikes so deftly. Previously, before the whole mess with her using His Secret 2.0 that is, Bubbles couldn't even begin to predict where she would attack next.
There was something different about Bubbles now. Something had changed ever since she was detoxified (somewhat), ever since the 'fairy godmother', whoever that was, had tricked her into a cycle of addiction to the chemical.
She was much more focused and less afraid of fighting. Bubbles herself knew it, and she knew very well what she had to do now. She just knew she had to be stronger, and this time, it wasn't hard to be. She was angry. Very angry. She was mad that she had been taken advantage of and tricked into destroying her own family, and she nearly did. Though she was nothing like her drug-fuelled BerXerker self, her anger had given her enough to stave off her cowardly tendencies.
And Blossom felt it becoming manifest when Bubbles began dishing out a flurry of punches at her, such that she could barely keep up with her blocks and redirections.
Bubbles was fast! And when Blossom tried to break her hold on her with a sidekick, she jumped away, spinning in mid-air before landing a yard or two away gracefully.
"That was good, Bubbles!" Blossom praised her. But something was wrong. It was as if Bubbles didn't hear it. Jumping straight in, she reopened her attack with a flying kick, which Blossom blocked, and Bubbles didn't let up after that, giving her one whump after another with her fists, lightning-quick until-
Blossom stumbled back when she took one in the face, holding it with both her hands. Bubbles froze when she saw what she did, the anger on her face dissipated, replaced by shock.
The professor, who was watching, ran forward to check on Blossom.
"I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry!" Bubbles exclaimed as tears threatened to burst from her eyes.
Blossom removed her hands from her nose. They were red, though there wasn't a lot of blood.
"I'm fine, I'm fine…" Blossom said as her hands had returned to her nose, muffling her voice. Bubbles, however, had sunk to the floor, crying shrilly. The professor had produced a handkerchief to wipe the blood away.
"Your eyes weren't red, Bubbles," the professor said. "That's good. It means you're making steady recovery from the drug."
"But I've hurt Blossom!" Bubbles cried on the floor.
"I'm fine, really," Blossom said. "See?" she removed her hands. Most of the blood was gone. There were no visible wounds. "Besides, you were really awesome!" she turned to Buttercup on the sideline. "Right!?"
"Right!" Buttercup shouted back with a fake smile, and she had to try really hard not to let any bitterness show through. She still didn't like that things had returned to normal, but with her getting the short end of the stick – with all her secrets exposed, whatever bargaining power she had gone, and her every move watched as if she was a maximum-security prisoner. It was unfair – Bubbles didn't get the same level of treatment even though she had done more damage!
"This is just the first time you're fighting in a real match," Selicia explained as she came forward, with a smile on her face, though she was happy for different reasons. With Bubbles miraculously pulling through and getting her attitude fixed to boot, her job was about to get easier. "You just need to hold back now that you're a force to be reckoned with."
Bubbles liked the sound of that. 'A force to be reckoned with'.
"Come on, Bubbles, let's try again," Blossom offered as she extended a hand for Bubbles to take. Smiling up at her, she gladly took it. It was a nice change of tone from before, and it was worth holding onto. For months, she had struggled for acceptance. Now, it seemed she had found it.
The City of Townsville. Suburbs. The House.
22 FEB (Wednesday) 1989. 2205.
As Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup returned to their room after a trip to the washroom to keep their teeth white, they saw Bunny again, still unconscious, still motionless right in the center of their bed, dressed only in flexible diapers and patient garb meant for adults, the rabbit soft toy Bubbles had given her nestling between her arm and side. Dad and Mom were right behind them.
The Girls clambered into bed, with Blossom and Bubbles taking the spots on either side of Bunny, each hugging an arm like a bolster. Buttercup was fine staying far away from Bunny. It was just what she needed - more competition, more eyes to watch her and another mouth to tattle on her.
"Isn't that sweet? They love Bunny already," Dad said as he gave Mom, who was in his arm, a peck on the lips. He thought that the Girls were angels because of this - Bunny had little going for her - she was plain in physical appearance, she was their junior and she knew nothing - she wasn't even awake yet, and she wouldn't be able to take over the Girls until weeks later, assuming that Bunny learn at the same rate as her elder sisters. That Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup would take her in without reservation, without condition, was endearing.
"Such a shame, my dear… I had such high hopes for you," Bubbles heard a ghoulish voice speaking in the dark. She lit up her eyes, but there was nothing to illuminate – just a claustrophobic void that extended to infinity. She couldn't decide if the voice was male or female. But she knew who it was.
"Miss Fairy Godmother?" Bubbles said. Breathing felt difficult then as if one wrong move could result in some dire consequence.
"I think we're past that by now…" the voice said, and it had gotten eerier. It sounded as if it was coming from all around her, but she couldn't determine where.
"Please don't hurt me…" Bubbles murmured, her voice low and hoarse. If there was air in this void, it was incredibly dry – her throat felt like it was on fire.
"Hurt you? Oh no, I don't want to hurt you… yes… yes… well, not really, anyway," the voice said. "You were doing so well, after all… You are one-of-a-kind. After all, you did get past everyone you know and don't. Leaving them… crushed."
All Bubbles knew was that there was a floor. But soon, it became an easy thing to confirm as flames, roaring and aggressive, shot up from all around her, surrounding her. She could see a figure in the distance, though he… or she… or it was too far for most of the light to reach him… or her.
"W-who are you!?" Bubbles screamed. She could make out enough to see that whatever it was in the distance, it had its back turned to her. And it was tall. And the legs – those legs sheathed in leather boots. She thought she had seen them somewhere before.
The figure turned to squint at her sideways - though she could not see its face, she could see that it wasn't human. The chin was too long and pointy, and so were the ears. Eyes shining redder than the hellish red of her BerXerker self stared at her, looking deep into her soul.
"Who am I? Why… I'm the same as you… Yes…" the figure claimed, and though Bubbles didn't know what to make of it, it'd sent a chill down her spine. The thing in leather high-heeled boots raised an arm and clenched a fist - Bubbles didn't notice its arms and hands only because it was camouflaged against the sheer terror the geometry of the thing's body presented. But the figure's arm was just as terrible to behold once she noticed it. Those arms were wiry, but they ended with what appeared to be crab claws, and when it opened up its claws, fingers formed from the otherwise rigid crab claws, each like the steel fingers of an armored knight's gauntlet. "I'm family."
"N-no…" Bubbles uttered. The monster started forward, and as it got closer, Bubbles could see it in greater and greater clarity, clarity that was unwanted. It was wearing some kind of red jacket with a white fur collar. The jacket transitioned seamlessly into some kind of skirt covered in white fuzz similar to the collar, held together by a massive black buckle. It was incredibly muscular, oozing danger from its aura and some kind of black substance from its mouth.
The fire parted to let the monster through. Bubbles worked up a charge in her eyes and fired an ion beam at him - or her, but some kind of red bubbles blocked out the beam, causing it to do nothing. Next, she tried sonic-screaming at him, but the creature didn't seem to mind the kinetic waves and drowning noise from her voice, all while coming towards her, closer.
When she tried to fly away, the 'fairy godmother' snatched her up, its gauntlet-like fingers pressing her throat so strongly that she could barely breathe. Bubbles tried to scream, but she could not. The monster placed a rigid finger-claw on her lips.
"Shh… Don't be afraid… After all, we are family…" it said as it ran its claws down her cheek while she sniveled and wept. "We'll see each other again soon enough… yes… yes… I won't be away for long… But for now, TA-TA!"
The City of Townsville. Suburbs. The House.
23 FEB (Thursday) 1989. 0641.
Bubbles' eyes flitted open after her conversation with whatever it was that the fairy godmother had turned into. The last thing she saw in her nightmare was the fiery, hellish red eyes of the thing, and when she woke up, this was replaced by a pair of eyes, glowing purple, staring down at her.
The scream that came out of Bubbles' mouth next woke up the entire family.
Buttercup and Blossom practically flew out of bed the moment they heard it, with Buttercup halfway to their armory in the walk-in closet. Blossom was the first person to notice that the three of them weren't the only ones awake.
"Bunny! You're up!" Blossom exclaimed gleefully while Bubbles was still trying to find her wits. Bunny had been on all fours, pressing her face close to Bubbles when she woke up. She went into a kneeling position and turned to look at Blossom with an innocent smile on her face. Upon seeing that Blossom was flying, she giggled and clapped her hands in an infantile manner as if she had just performed a magic trick, exposing her crooked teeth.
"Should've called her Braces," Buttercup said on noticing it. "Even Katie's teeth didn't look that bad!"
Bunny whirled around to look at Buttercup, none the wiser about the meaning of the sounds coming out of Buttercup's mouth. She flashed a smile at her, exposing her teeth again, and giggled when she saw that Buttercup was floating too.
"Buttercup! Don't be rude! She's our little sister!" Blossom chastised her wayward sister.
"She's huge…" Bubbles commented. Bunny's size was hard to judge when she was unconscious and lying on her back, covered in ill-fitting clothes and a blanket most of the time. Now that she was up and about, her size had shown more clearly. Tall even by eight-year-old standards, she out-sized all of her elder siblings by more than a head, then there was the fact that she was physically older than them.
As it did many times, rapid footsteps grew louder outside, and the door was opened, with both Mom and Dad standing there. Curiously, Mom was holding an XM9 sniper rifle in one hand but hid it quickly on noticing that no one was getting torn limb from limb.
Bunny turned to Professor Utonium and Selicia with saliva dribbling down the side of her lips, squealing in delight when more wonders of the world had come to greet her. She greeted them back with babyish gibberish, her voice deeper than the average little girl.
"Girls, why don't the three of you take a bath while Mom and I take care of Bunny?" the professor said unexpectedly.
"Aren't you going to help us?" Blossom asked. He had never asked the Girls to bathe on their own before.
"I'm sure the three of you will manage on your own as long as you help each other," the professor explained absent-mindedly, without taking his eyes off Bunny. A boyish smile was spreading on his face. Oddly enough, despite everything that had happened, he seemed more energetic than depleted. "I've got to give our little rabbit here a tour of The House… and… and… her first meal too! Oh, what would it be? She's got to learn everything too – words, walking, using the toilet, everything! Just like how the three of you did before!"
"I think Bunny's going to need more help than the three of you," Selicia added. "Don't be selfish. Do you three remember General Blackwater's latest standing order?"
"The Powerpuff Girls are to be combat-ready 24/7 from the 23rd of February onwards," Blossom quoted directly from the source.
"Do you know what that means?" Selicia quizzed the smartest of the three.
"No…" Blossom admitted.
"The three of you are going to wear your uniforms and gear everywhere you go from now on, except when you're in bed. Now go," Selicia explained before pointing to the door.
"Okay…" the three Girls said in unison, before each of them floated into the walk-in closet one after another, then emerging from it with a mountain of stuff to put on - uniforms, boots, armor, and weapons. They left the room, still upset that their morning ritual had been affected.
Bunny could only stare after them, confused to the point where she wasn't sure what to be confused about - with nothing but whatever mother nature had programmed into her, there was so much she couldn't figure out, or at least not yet. She couldn't even understand how her sisters had disappeared through the door.
The City of Townsville. Suburbs. The House.
23 FEB (Thursday) 1989. 0705.
The Girls took their time bathing. Part of it had something to do with the absence of Dad, and it wasn't just because they couldn't bathe themselves as well as Dad could do it. The morning ritual was important to them - they got to get cleaned up, say hi to Dad and Mom in the morning and enjoy their company right from the get-go.
Even when they were done and out of the bathroom, Dad and Mom were still somewhere else, spirited away by Bunny. They had to actually form a search party to find them, and as it turned out, they were still in the middle of bathing Bunny back in the washroom of the master bedroom. They could hear laughter all the way from the bedroom door. The parents and the new sister were taking their time, splashing water about, teaching and learning new words respectively at the same time and generally having fun.
All the Girls could do was wait at the dining table. Blossom could hear her stomach growling while Bubbles was getting a little sweaty and jittery from the remnants of her withdrawal symptoms - Dad was supposed to give her the day's 'withdrawal medication'. Buttercup was annoying the both of them by drumming the surface of the table with her fingers as she was leaning on it, letting them know with too much clarity that time was ticking by one slow second at a time, and to children merely three months old and as intelligent as kids many times older, time would pass by very slowly.
Five minutes passed, then ten minutes. It was only way past that, that Dad, Mom, and Bunny emerged out of the master bedroom. As they were descending the stairs, the Girls saw them - Bunny was squealing with delight at descending the stairs, wearing one of Mom's security T-shirts like a dress and a diaper like an underpants, cradled in Dad's arm as he swung her around to coax some giggles out of her.
The Girls, each for their own reasons not dissimilar to one another's, couldn't help but be envious of Bunny. When was the last time Dad had done that with them?
"Whoops, sorry to keep you Girls waiting," Dad said when he finally noticed them. "Bunny's been having lots of fun, as you can see, learning about… everything, really!"
Blossom tried her best to smile genuinely, tried her best to be happy for Bunny.
"It's fine, Dad, I'm glad Bunny's having fun," Blossom said, and meant it - just that it was hard to be virtuous when she was starved not just of food but also of Dad's company.
"Can we eat now? I'm starving to death!" Buttercup yelled, which attracted a glare from Mom, and she backed down quickly.
"Come now, Buttercup, don't be selfish! You won't starve to death until weeks later," she lectured Buttercup when she had just reached the foot of the stairs ahead of Dad and was crossing the living room. It was upsetting to the tomboy. Before her trophies were discovered, she was would never be cross with her, much less scold her or lay a finger on her. "Besides, I'm working on it, heaven's sake!"
"Dad, I need my needle now," Bubbles said whilst shaking a little. Though the symptoms she had to bear with weren't as bad as before, it was still unpleasant, and she didn't want to be reminded of her past mistakes.
"Coming, honey," the professor had just reached the living room with Bunny on his shoulder, who stared all around her in awe of the wider world. Professor Utonium laughed. "She's heavy!"
He came up next to Bubbles, and instructed her to reach into his lab coat pocket, which she did. There was nothing in it at first, and she had to reach into another of his pocket to finally find it. It'd worsened her anticipation for relief. Putting down Bunny in her seat, the professor knelt down beside Bubbles to assist her when he noticed how shaky her hands were.
"Just a quarter every half a day, Bubbles, here," he said as he took the syringe of 'His Secret' from her before knocking the vial and pushing the plunger slightly. "Maybe I should repackage the… medication to make it easier for you."
"Dad?" Bubbles said while he was removing a plastic sheath from the needle and aiming to stick it into her forearm.
"Hmm?"
"Will you still spend some time with us?" Bubbles struggled to put her question into words. It wasn't something she thought she could lose until Bunny came along.
"Don't be silly, honey - of course I will," the Dad said. "It's just with the four of you, I can't do it as often for each of you. But I promise I will."
Breakfast, however, was spent with all attention put on Bunny. Not only that, Selicia had cooked in bulk to save time, and so everyone had to eat porridge, just like Bunny. When it came time for the older trio to be driven to school, Professor Utonium had opted to stay behind with Bunny instead, putting Selicia behind the wheels. Only Buttercup seemed especially thrilled that Mom was driving them instead while her sisters… less so.
The City of Townsville. Pokey Oaks North. Pokey Oaks Kindergarten.
23 FEB (Thursday) 1989. 0815.
"Thanks, Mom!" Blossom said before opening the car door and jumping out.
"Yeah, thanks, Mom!" Bubbles mimicked, but when she and Buttercup were about to open the door, Selicia pulled Bubbles' hand away from the handle roughly.
"Blossom, why don't you go ahead. I need to have a talk with Buttercup and Bubbles here," Selicia said, sounding too serious for it to just be a conversation she was about to have with her sisters. Blossom knew what it meant. A talk with Mom was just rarely a talk. Come to think of it, it didn't seem like an accident that Mom had put Bubbles on the shotgun seat.
"Can't I stay and talk too?" Blossom said. Despite her pessimism, she hoped – wished – that she was wrong. Mom seemed better the past few days, and it seemed as if she might go back to being her January self again; well, she hoped.
"No. Listen to Mommy will you? Just go," Selicia insisted, and she sounded like she was just a hair's width from blowing her top. Her face was redder than usual, and the cold couldn't be the cause of it. Afraid, Blossom closed the door and walked away, constantly looking back at her sisters.
Selicia gripped the steering wheel of Dad's family saloon tightly, so tight that it creaked, the cloth crinkling and sounding like it could tear.
"Bubbles, if you hurt anyone – anyone at all, I will shoot you down and I won't miss, do you understand?" Selicia threatened without turning to her. Bubbles had inched her way towards the door, but the seatbelt and door prevented her from putting much distance between her and the Mom. "That goes double for your Daddy. You don't know how lucky you are to have him. Take him for granted again, and I'll finish you off like how Blossom should have."
All Bubbles could do was nod curtly, the color from her face drained.
"I don't even need your promise because I know girls like you. You're a born liar, I think it's obvious by now. I tried to be nice to you, but honestly? You don't deserve any of this," Selicia went on berating Bubbles coldly before falling silent; Bubbles was too upset and shocked at the words hurled at her that she couldn't even cry. "I'm done with you. Get the hell out of my car."
In fact, Bubbles was so shocked that she had forgotten about her seatbelt when she tried to get out as quickly as she could.
"For fuck's sake," Selicia whispered under her breath before helping Bubbles to unbuckle her seatbelt. The meekest of the three nearly fell out and had to hover to prevent that shameful thing. "And close the damn door!" Bubbles did as she was told; she had forgotten about that too after getting threatened by her own Mom.
When Selicia looked up at the rear-view mirror, she caught sight of Buttercup giggling to herself, likely taking pleasure in Bubbles' plight. She knew that Buttercup would - the animosity between her and Bubbles could only grow ever since Bubbles gave her one too many cranial traumas. Unknown to the seductive security officer, that wasn't the only thing. Using one of the few secrets she had left – her enhanced hearing – Buttercup was able to hear her Mom cursing while she was muttering to herself, and she thought it was funny. But after seeing her Mom's stern look in the rearview mirror, she stopped.
"Buttercup," Selicia uttered her name. The psychopathic girl appeared tense to her, and it pleased her, though she didn't let it show. That she could command such fear and respect from an enhanced little girl - one who suffered from clinical psychopathy no less - was an achievement in itself.
"I'm sorry…" Buttercup said quickly before Selicia could say anything else.
"Do you even know what that means?" Selicia sidetracked, unable to resist it.
"It means that… I'm sorry?" Buttercup repeated herself and was barely able to hide the confusion in her voice. She'd changed, and it was little wonder why. She'd basically had her ass handed to her over and over, and not just when it came to physical fights too.
"Anyway, I just want you to know that I've never stopped loving you," Selicia said.
"T-then why have you-" Buttercup was about to ask, but Selicia interrupted her.
"I- just… It's about your… 'Hobbies', Buttercup," Selicia confessed. "You have to know that that's not normal."
"I know," Buttercup paid for the confession with another, a smaller one. It felt like an opportunity - a way to get into her Mom's good books again and reap the rewards. "It's why I hid my stuff in the first place."
"Remember what I told you when we first met?" Selicia reminded her 'daughter'.
"That I don't have to hide who I am?" Buttercup recalled. "But you're still mad, aren't you?"
"Only because you hid something from me," Selicia claimed. "Buttercup, I'm your mother. Have you forgotten that? You can tell me everything. Is there anything else you've hidden from me?"
'What else could she possibly be hiding anyway?' Selicia was thinking. Having a jar of human teeth and nails had got to be the worst of it. There was a pause as Buttercup considered her options. But there were no options - she had to rebuild. She had to - after everything she lost.
"I killed a cat and buried it near the front door," Buttercup. "I talk to it sometimes, but it said it's no longer my friend, so I stopped talking to it."
"Well, that's…" Selicia was at a loss for words.
"And I killed the neighbor's dog too. I buried it in his backyard. I don't think he knows," Buttercup divulged further, like cashing in some chips at a casino. "I didn't talk to the dog though. It bit me, so I didn't want to be friends with it."
Selicia gave a sigh before rubbing her head.
"You're not going to tell Dad, are you?" Buttercup asked.
"When did you kill those animals?" Selicia asked when she'd recovered enough.
"Two months ago, I think," Buttercup admitted. "You're not going to tell Dad, right?"
Selicia looked out the windshield of the car at Blossom and Bubbles, who were standing at the entrance of the kindergarten complex. Bubbles, that liar, had collapsed in Blossom's arms, probably crying to her about how unfair everything was, even though she had it coming. She was probably telling more lies again, Selicia just knew it. She gave the matter some thought, but there was no way in hell she would create an even bigger rift between her and Buttercup over nothing.
"They're just some dumb animals. It's not like you've killed anyone," Selicia finally said. "Your Dad doesn't need to know."
Buttercup couldn't believe it at first. Her luck had been bad for as long as she could remember. It was more likely for her to lose out than to gain something. She smiled when she'd finally caught a break.
"Just don't do it again," Selicia said. "Like I said, it might feel good but… it's just not normal. Now get going, I'll see you when school's over, okay?"
"Yes, Mom!" Buttercup said jubilantly before opening the door and flying out, even though she was supposed to go easy with her powers in the school zone.
The City of Townsville. Pokey Oaks North. Pokey Oaks Kindergarten.
23 FEB (Thursday) 1989. 0934.
Even though the class had made every effort to make Bubbles feel welcome, she couldn't help but feel some kind of dissonance in the air between herself and the class. It was only when things returned to normal that Bubbles could feel a little at ease.
It didn't help, however, that she had to wear her uniform and gear in class. Her sisters, Blossom and Buttercup, were feeling similar things because of it. They didn't feel like kindergarten students that way.
"Stop touching my gun!" Blossom said to Mac, pushing him away when he tried to touch the MP5 slung on her back. However, it didn't deter him from doing it. He went back to putting his paws on it with a grin on his face.
"Stop!" Blossom said again before pushing him away again. Like some overeager puppy, he soon got closer to touch it again. She had to push him away once more.
"Miss Keane, Mac's been touching my gun! He's trying to take it!" Blossom reported to the teacher. Miss Keane had been busy at another table, and when she heard it, turned around quickly before marching up to Mac.
"Mac, how many times must I tell you? No touching or stealing guns in class! Especially when they don't belong to you!" Miss Keane lectured the little boy, pronouncing her every word loud and carefully to make sure the boy couldn't miss it.
"But Miss Keane, my dad doesn't ever let me touch his!" Mac complained. "And Blossom's look cool too! It's all big and sick looking! I was just trying to borrow it!"
"I think your dad probably has a very good reason," Miss Keane said, before taking him by the arm gently and pulling him towards a table - his own. "Why don't you draw yourself one instead of trying to 'borrow' one?"
The rest of the day had been relatively mundane, but the Girls, even Buttercup, found it appealing as it meant nothing bad was happening. Blossom and Bubbles enjoyed the peace, while Buttercup simply enjoyed the lack of consequences - it wasn't as if she could do what she wished while she was fighting criminals anyway – Dad and Blossom had made sure of that.
Bzzz! Bzzz! Bzzz! Speak of the devil. Crime never sleeps. It never did even when the Powerpuff Girls were convalescing after their internal conflict, just that someone else had to answer the call when they were not available. People who were far more fragile, some who would die without the Girls knowing it. But now, they were back in business - for better or worse. They could only hope that Bunny grow up quickly so that they could have help.
