Chapter 60: Arrival

The City of Townsville. Suburbs. The House.

26 FEB (Sunday) 1989. 0445.

Bunny hadn't eaten much, even though both Dad and Mom had done their best to whip up the most appetizing waffles they could. Conversely, Blossom and Buttercup were shoving theirs into their mouths like hogs. To the two of them, Bunny leaving was a good thing, and when times were good, their appetite was healthy. Bubbles, on the other hand, wasn't much better off than Bunny. Bubbles knew what was going to happen to her, and although she had become good at crime-fighting, she knew that the process wouldn't be easy nor pleasant. She couldn't bear the thought that Bunny was going to go through the same process, if not worse, at just a few days old where she and her fellow elder sisters had three weeks before they were first put out there to combat Townsville's crime problem.

"Eat up, Bunny, it's really good," the professor said. He was sitting right next to Bunny, much to the chagrin of Blossom and Buttercup, who wanted his attention. They hadn't said a word about it only because they knew they would have his undivided attention very soon. "Your Mom and I worked hard on the waffles. The grape sauce is really something - we've never tried it before…"

"Bunny sad…" the going-away girl said, her head held low and her eyelashes wet with tears that managed to breach her closed eyes. "Bunny knows she must go but…"

"It'll only be for a few days, Bunny. We'll see each other again real soon," the professor comforted her, though there was little he could do, considering that he himself needed some attention from this traumatic event - especially when he knew so much more about this, and some of the facts were downright damning. He was a part of all this - if anyone deserved to be miserable, it was him. No matter how he rationalized his part in this, he could still perceive that his soul was stained if it wasn't already.

"Bunny likes talking to you…" Bunny said.

"You know, I think I have just the thing for that," the professor said, and after coaxing Bunny with this promise of a surprise to eat just a little more, he brought her down to the lab. After bringing her to his desk, he started rummaging through it, looking for something. "Now where did I put that thing?" He'd muttered as he overturned stationery, paper, and oversized lab instruments in his search. Bunny was peeking past his body left and right, wondering what he was looking for.

"A-ha!" the professor exclaimed when he pulled something out from one of the drawers of the desk. It was an instrument longer than a pen, and thicker, with numerous buttons on it. It was clear that it was an electronic device, with the digital screen on one side and a microphone on one end. "Here, I'll give this to you."

"What is it, Daddy?" Bunny wondered in her usual low voice. She examined the thing, and in the process, saw different symbols on the buttons. Arrows pointing in opposite directions, with two bars in between them. There was a red square too. "Bunny's toy?"

"It's more than a toy, dearest rabbit," the professor said playfully, proud of his resourcefulness. "It's a useful device for talking. This one's state of the art with an Institute solid-state drive, long before it will be introduced to the rest of the world." The professor had to pause himself when he realized he had forgotten that he was talking to a kid who was merely a few days old, and likely couldn't understand what he was saying at all.

"Here, let me show you how to use it," he said before gently taking the gadget from her. The professor then switched it on using a power button, denoted by an incomplete circle with a bar wedged into the middle. He then hit the record button, represented by a huge red square, before bringing the microphone of the device up to his mouth. "It's what you call a voice recorder. It records your voice."

The professor hit the pause button before rewinding it. Bunny observed the device in awe as if it was some kind of magical artifact. With her understanding of technology at an astounding zero, it might as well be. The professor hit the play button after the recorder had gone back to the zero mark of the latest sound clip.

"It's what you call a voice recorder. It records your voice," the sound recorder repeated the professor's words back to them. Bunny giggled in wonderment of the magic at work.

"Bunny likes it!" she said with a laugh. The professor smiled alongside her. He would give anything to see her happy and distracted from the darkness surrounding her, especially at a time like this, but for now, it seemed that all it took was some fatherly love on his part.

"And I want you to have it," he pushed the voice recorder into her hands before closing her fingers around it. "Whenever you feel like you're alone, you can talk to it. When you're back with me, we can listen to your recordings together."

Using whatever time they had together remaining, they spent a brief father-and-daughter moment with the voice recorder. The professor taught her the rest of its functions, and that it required charging at a power terminal. In the meantime, Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup were left alone upstairs again, exchanging looks with each other and Mom. Selicia glared at Blossom - she knew from how she behaved that she was jealous. She then stared at Bubbles with paranoia in her eyes, suspecting her of the same thing. Buttercup, however, was spared this treatment. While her sisters were sitting on the edge of their seats, afraid that Mom might do something to them while Dad was away, Buttercup was heaping another pile of waffles on her plate and pouring an excessive amount of grape syrup on them.


The City of Townsville. Suburbs. The House.

26 FEB (Sunday) 1989. 0500.

It was time. As Selicia Goodwin and Bunny Utonium walked out of the front door of The House, hand-in-hand, a convoy of three humvees had pulled over on the street. Selicia saw the huge form of General Blackwater clamber out of the middle humvee, along with a squad of soldiers from every vehicle, battle-ready likely just in case Bunny decided to have an explosive tantrum. But there wasn't going to be another incident, not this time. The professor had made sure of it. In Director Cliff's words, he'd made her 'docile', 'tame' and 'obedient'.

Selicia and Bunny traveled across their lawn, luggage in tow, with Professor Utonium, Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup standing at The House's entrance, seeing them off. The two going-away girls didn't have to travel all the way across the lawn to meet General Blackwater, who met them in the middle of it with four soldiers on either side of him, like the wings of an eagle. Selicia gave him a quick salute when they came up close to them.

Bunny held her Mom's hand tightly as she instinctively squeezed closer to her, afraid of the giant standing in front of her. It didn't help that it was still dark out, and shadows were everywhere because of the street lamps. Before her, the giant in SWAT gear was staring down at her, scrutinizing her, judging every bit of her. The giant of a man scowled at her attire: the purple dress and white pantyhose were evident under her jacket. He'd seen pictures of her, some covertly obtained while others 'honestly' taken. She was likely wearing a pair of Mary-Jane shoes under her snow boots. The lack of winter pants and additional layers of insulation suggested that, like her elder sisters, Bunny was resistant to the cold too, like a human tardigrade.

"Hello, Miss Bunny Utonium," the general greeted the latest enhanced little girl stiffly and coldly, the frown on his face still there, as if frozen in place by the winter cold. "You may address me as General Blackwater. I will be administering your training from now on."

Bunny clamped up the moment she was in the general's presence, intimidated not just by his physical size and appearance, but also his demeanor and stern outlook, projected in overwhelming force. There was an awkward silence because of this, while everyone involved was waiting for Bunny to muster up the courage to return the general's greeting, only to be met with nothing.

"Don't be rude, Bunny," Selicia whispered to Bunny as she shook her as stealthily as she could. "Greet your general - the two of you will be seeing each other very often."

"H-hi, Mister General Blackwater," Bunny squeaked pathetically, timid in the face of the bear.

"General Blackwater. No misters, no extra words. Just General Blackwater," the general corrected her, his voice narrowing to something softer, though no one with him could decide if he was trying to seem more sensitive and approachable, or if he was cross with the fourth USDO enhanced individual. "The two of you will follow me into the vehicle back to headquarters. We'll begin immediately after we arrive there."

With that, they were escorted to the general's humvee. Taking one last look behind her, Bunny's eyes met with the professor's one last time. She waved at him and her sisters a final time before she stepped into the humvee.


Training Segment: Arrival

Date: 26 FEB (Sunday) 1989

Time: 0552

Subject: B-50 'Bunny Utonium'

Role: Black Ops Organic Weapons Platform (Bioweapon)

Status: Untrained

The ride to the USDO headquarters was silent. This made Selicia concerned. Bunny was usually spontaneous and full of life, like the Energizer Bunny in the commercials. Now, had it not been for the rhythmic breathing that she could feel while she was resting on her lap, Selicia wouldn't have known that she was alive. In the meantime, Selicia couldn't decide why General Blackwater would personally want to escort Bunny to the USDO headquarters. It was grunt work, something that any private or corporal could have accomplished. It would remain a mystery even after she had arrived at headquarters.

There, they were escorted to their bunks (the general had requested that they live separately). Selicia had followed Bunny to hers to help her unpack. It was a cold, spartan space underground, with modest and merely functional furnishing. Bunny remained lifeless in this new environment, likely still suffering from separation anxiety, this time sitting in her new cot like a statue while Selicia unpacked the little belongings they had brought along for the 'law enforcement' crash course. Calling it a black ops crash course would have been more accurate.

Before Selicia could try to remedy Bunny's situation or even talk to her, however, a soldier went through their door, informing them that General Blackwater had requested to see Bunny alone. In addition to that, he'd dropped off a few sets of uniforms for Bunny - military fatigues of the same design as Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup's, except larger-sized and purple. The soldier left without a word after that.

Selicia had to help Bunny suit up. While she had already learned how to dress up, the professor hadn't taught her how to wear military fatigues. Neither did she seemed motivated to learn. She didn't seem motivated to do anything. Had breathing required conscious effort, Bunny would have died on the spot.

"Bunny," Selicia shook her, and when she failed to respond, she shook her even harder, and longer, until Bunny looked up at her. "You need to take this seriously! This is what you're made for-" Selicia stopped when she realized she might have let slip the secret behind Bunny's origin, but decided that her new daughter's naivety and lack in vocabulary made it inconsequential. "This is what you're born to do. You're going to help your sisters."

"Bunny miss Dad," Bunny mumbled. Tears started dripping from her eyes when she said this. She then broke out into a sob, which Selicia found inconvenient to the current situation and agenda.

"Hey, Bunny," Selicia tried to catch her attention again, but Bunny was too emotionally affected. The Mom called out to her repeatedly, snapping her fingers in her face. Nothing worked. She went back to desperately gripping her by the shoulders and shaking her, only then did Bunny made eye contact with Selicia once again, her glowing violet eyes ringed with red. "You need to be strong, rabbit! Look, I miss your Dad too, but you don't see me crying like a little girl, do you?"

"Here, you need to put your boots on," Selicia simply moved on, even though Bunny wasn't done crying yet. Taking a pair of child-sized military boots out of their boxes, she loosened the bootstraps before slipping Bunny's foot into it. It was a perfect fit. The general had made sure of it. In fact, he was extremely involved - personally involved - with Bunny's development, much more so than with the first three. With the other boot, she tried to teach Bunny how to put it on and tie the boot strings, but the girl in question was barely even listening, likely because she was still upset. Selicia sighed.

"You need to shape up, Bunny. You're going to see General Blackwater in a few minutes," Selicia said as she sat herself down next to her.

"Bunny don't want to see Blackwater," she simply said, while she wiped another stream of tears off her still-red cheek.

"Why not?" Selicia pulled her into a hug. She sort-of kinda liked Bunny, but not just because she was going to liberate Buttercup from her crime-fighting duties. Bunny seemed confident and glad to use her enhanced abilities, and though she could see shades of Blossom and Bubbles in her, she thought it was too early to tell.

"He's mean," Bunny simply said and hugged back.

"Oh, I know he looks and talks that way, but once you get to know him… I'm sure you'll like him," Selicia said as she stroked her hair, which she had cut down by a few inches and tied into a ponytail for neatness.

"But why does he have to be like that?" Bunny asked.

"He's suffered. For a very, very long time, he's been sacrificing everything to protect others," Selicia said as she kissed Bunny in the scalp. "He's like your sisters, I guess, but he's endured more pain, more hardship. And like your sisters, he's earned the love of those around him. His soldiers, Bunny… His… knights… will die for him because of that." Selicia thought throwing in some fairy tale elements was a nice touch. No, it was masterful!

"Oh…" Bunny said, still downcast, still dejected. What she was really thinking was a mystery to Selicia, and she wasn't always forthcoming about her thoughts through no fault of her own - with only a vocabulary numbering in the hundreds and still a distance to go from a thousand, there was likely so much that Bunny couldn't express.

There was a knock on the door, though it wasn't interrupting anything. The woman and girl had long fallen into silence, with Bunny just snuggling closely with her Mom, while the latter allowed her a moment of peace and reprieve before the beginning of the end when her innocence would be lost.

"Ma'am, we shouldn't keep the general waiting," the soldier advised Selicia, who stood up immediately after that.

"C'mon, Bunny, I'll walk with you," Selicia offered to her fourth daughter, putting out a helping hand to lift her up. Bunny took it.

Together, they walked hand in hand, with guards who had been waiting outside all along. There were six of them, which was minimal when it came to enhanced individuals. Had it been Blossom, the general would have guarded her with twenty men, and with Bubbles or Buttercup, forty per head.

Resigned to her fate, Bunny followed along, pulled by Selicia, towards what she imagined must be a bear's den. Why else would there be so many men around her?