Reply to Guest (Chapter 91): Actually, 'Brick', a captain of the USDO, is found in Project Powerpuff: Declassified, but who knows? He might appear in this story again. He's in Chapter 79: Mercy. Captain Brian 'Brick' Griffin.
A/N: I have contingencies in place, in case I can't complete the story due to factors out of my control. You guys will know how this story will end regardless of my status. I will continue writing this story until the situation devolves to a critical (and/or lethal) point, which will also be the time when my contingency plan will be launched.
Chapter 92: No Bang for Morbucks (Part 2)
TOWNSVILLE CRIME WAR INTENSIFIES
MAYOR WILFORD ESTIMATES END OF WAR IN JUNE
It is a time to be alive. For over two decades, Townsville's crime problem has been on a steep increase, but with the recent entry of the USDO and the Powerpuff Girls into the scene, that trend has been reversing as of late. It has not been a smooth ride, as Townsville has seen an unprecedented 50% drop in most crimes by the start of February, only for crime rates to creep up sharply over the month once more. To most concerned, it sounds as if the sharp drop in crime was just a false start leading to a very evil real positive in crime resurgence.
Recently, however, there has been some cause for celebration. Under the Cooperative Law Enforcement Initiative between the Townsville Police Department and the United States Defence Organization, the Powerpuff Girls have been sent, day after day, to raid the headquarters of some of the biggest organized crime syndicates known in Townsville. On their hit list were included the Expositos crime family (a well-known Italian mob controlling the slums), the Japanese Yakuza (who considers Little Tokyo their territory), the Jewish Mob (who operates numerous small cells across major districts in Townsville) and the Chinese Triad (who operates from within Townsville's own Chinatown).
Behind this large-scale offensive against the criminals plaguing the city is Police Chief Feig of Precinct 77, who has been put in charge of the TPD's side of the cooperative program. Known for spending the majority of his two decades of law enforcement career in the most crime-ridden areas of the city, it was his plan, now put in action, that landed him the responsibility.
'At the end of the day, it's all just part of the job. Routine work,' Police Chief Feig remarked during an interview with him on the nature of his responsibility in the C.L.E.I and how he is so successful in getting rid of Townsville's worst criminals where two decades of police work could not put a dent in it. 'I know all about the gangs and syndicates of Townsville. We get the right people to RICO them, and the USDO sends in the Powerpuff Girls to shake things up. It's the maximum use of minimal resources that I'm most proud of. I don't need a massive task force that like how some of my peers do it - we don't know who we can trust until we've reached the light at the end of the tunnel.'
'I highly doubt it,' Police Chief Feig went on to say with a burst of hearty laughter when asked by our in-house journalist on whether he is worried about being targeted by the city's deadliest hitmen, especially when there have been recent developments in which police officers are being targeted by a mysterious killer. 'My headquarter's a police complex with fifty officers I can trust at any one time, twenty on the SWAT team and our very own STARS team. I live within five minutes of my HQ. Yeah, they know not to mess with me.'
Furthermore, when asked why he has not requisitioned the Powerpuff Girls to arrest the Lombardi dons, popularly known as the Amoeba Boys, he has this to say: 'The Lombardi Crime Family, although larger than most mobs in Townsville, are not as deadly nor prolific as the rest of them. We go after the worst of the worst, unlike Lieutenant Mullens and his Lombardi Task Force - they're barking up the wrong tree, even if their intentions are good.'
With the city's heroes and heroines, both old and new, on the job, there is perhaps hope that Townsville's long and bloody slide down into the abyss might end. Mayor Wilford himself, when interviewed, believes that the city is close to a new golden age and that he is glad he will get to see his hometown reborn in his lifetime.
'I'm more worried about the people on the frontlines - our police officers, even the everyday citizens who have to put up with the cracks that are still showing in our justice system despite the increase in funding. My heart goes out to the USDO, and especially Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup of The Powerpuff Girls unit, for just arriving to save the day even when we had no idea they existed in the first place,' the esteemed Mayor Wilford said at length during the interview. 'We, as a city, should show our appreciation for them - and I've got just the thing.'
The City of Townsville. Esperanza Acres. Morbucks Family Mansion.
04 MAR (Saturday) 1989. 1451.
Mister Morbucks watched as the Powerpuff Girls - Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup - flew out of his window and into the sky on their way to Kingdom Hospital, where his daughter, Elodie 'Princess' Morbucks, was warded in. Even for a billionaire like him, he was surprised that he had maintained a kind of friendship with what was likely the world's most powerful children. He was glad that he did. It was like a meeting of like-minded individuals - the powerful meeting the powerful - and he was glad for their company, however fleeting it could be.
Most importantly, they were a blessing that Elodie needed. The tycoon was hoping that somehow, as superstitious as it sounded, the Powerpuff Girls' power might rub off on Elodie a little, make her feel better, even cure her of her lethal cancer. If nothing else, he knew for a fact that Elodie hadn't been able to make any friends owing to the isolation caused by her wealth and health - until recently, when the Powerpuff Girls came to save the day.
Mister Morbucks turned on his boss chair to face a poster behind him. It was Elodie, modeling for a kid's fashion company when she was four. She was put in an expensive princess dress; she was crowned that day for the shoot. Before the Powerpuff Girls came along, it was the happiest day of her life; her fame had grown tenfold when that poster circulated, and that was on top of being famous for being the daughter of a homegrown billionaire.
There was a knock on the door. A few hollow knocks. Mister Morbucks knew who it was.
"Am I disturbing you?" the guest of his personal office asked. It was a female voice. He welcomed it and loathed it at the same time if such a thing was at all possible.
The billionaire turned around to face his door. It was one of his housemaid, Annie - the one he had assigned to wait on Elodie, at least back when his daughter was still in the mansion.
"No. No, you're not," Mister Morbucks said. He got up from his chair; all the anxiety had made him move more often lately. Walking over to his wine bar, he poured himself some 'cheap' whiskey, mixed it with some juice in a wine glass, before turning around. "What is it?"
"Have you considered the option I presented to you?" Annie reminded the man. Mister Morbucks took a swill of his whiskey.
Annie wasn't just a maid. In fact, it was more likely that she was no housemaid at all. The tycoon sank back down to his chair, sweat prickling out of his forehead once more. The question she asked was a loaded one, with a lot of history behind it.
The moment the USDO came into Townsville, he had been contacted by Director Cliff and the, then, Chief of Security Blackwater. Morbucks Industry's scientific and industrial capacity was a match to the USDO, even superior in some ways, and the USDO wanted a partnership with it - with him in particular.
The Powerpuff Girls had no idea what was in store for them - literally. The USDO had shared its technological and scientific data with Morbucks, and in return, Morbucks Industry improved on them, helped to accelerate the USDO's research. Among some of the projects conceived in this partnership was the production of suits of power armor, designed to draw on Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup's innate Chemical X energy. That energy would then be channeled to all the subsystems of the power armor, including an on-board computer system, environmental filtration system, personal jet turbines, the exoskeleton (as if the Girls need more strength!) and reactive armor.
There were numerous kinks to work out, however, as could be expected from a project as technologically cutting edge as this, but it was only a matter of time. However, the project was halted recently, pending changes certain changes that General Blackwater wanted to make to the design. What he knew was limited for now - but he knew that the general wanted the dimensions of the power armor altered to be larger for some reason - meaning it would not be for the Powerpuff Girls.
When Elodie's genetic cancer got worse, Mister Morbucks had appealed to the USDO for help. He knew about their medical technology through reports related to the various projects with the USDO. He knew they'd got to have something. He'd met with Doctor Simmons, only to be told that much of the medical miracles he'd been able to work out were prophylactic, preventative - preventing cancer from ever taking root and slowing down aging - but even the USDO could not cure cancer. At a close second, the USDO's medical sciences were obsessed with battlefield medicine and surgery, which wasn't a shock to him.
His conversation with Doctor Simmons then turned to the idea of putting Chemical X into Elodie. That conversation turned into a conference meeting with Director Cliff and his council, but whatever hope he had in experimenting with Chemical X as a treatment option had turned to dust within thirty minutes of talking to the man.
Mister Morbucks, a self-made man, an inventor, industrialist, captain of industry, a tycoon worth billions, had tried to talk reason into them, and when that didn't work, he tried bargaining with them. Bargaining turned to begging and soon turned up nothing. He'd tried everything. He'd even offered up Elodie's service as an enhanced individual, a bioweapon or organic weapons platform, should she be turned into something resembling the Powerpuff Girls - but he was completely rejected. For a bunch of people who saw fit to send little girls into combat, they thought up a lot of excuses for doing so.
"It is one thing that we've created Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup from scratch - by accident - but it's another to subject your daughter to human experimentation!" Doctor Vanum, the acting Head of Research, had said. "That is not what a good father should do!"
"We draw the line between hardened criminals and innocents." Doctor Vanum's assistant added.
"Are there not treatment options available in the wide world? You admitted it yourself that you have yet to receive a report from your doctors. It is unethical to consider something that could very well be lethal when there are still other, more reliable, options available," Doctor Simmons, the Medical Director of the USDO had rejected him as well. It went downhill from there very quickly.
"The nerve that you have!" General Blackwater had slammed the table when it was his turn to speak. He would then rise up from his seat like a dragon getting ready to breathe fire down on him. "The USDO isn't some place you can shop around for services and favors! You do not negotiate with us! We DO NOT owe you any favors! What you have done for us is a service to the United States of America, not some shady business deal! You should be lucky you're even being paid for it! How dare you!"
The general would have seized Mister Morbucks by the neck had Director Cliff not gestured for him to settle down.
"While your service to the nation is appreciated, Mister Morbucks," the man in charge of the USDO said. "I simply can't allow our secret weapon - our Chemical X - to be squandered like this, to be compromised that way. Yes, don't forget it - Chemical X is a weapon, not some... over-the-counter medication you prescribe to your daughter."
"Our security personnel has been stretched thin as it is," Chief of Security Kate, who had just returned from a tour around the country, added. "Even if your daughter - Elodie, was it? Even if she becomes a new bioweapon, we will need extra manpower to support her, extra funding aside. It's something we can't afford."
"That's actually my line," Chief Financial Officer Silverslick made himself known. He wasn't a very prominent figure of the USDO council, considering that he was both new and a civilian in a militarized organization. "Yes, we can't afford another bioweapon. I can't reveal the full details, but you have no idea how much money is involved. Manufacturing even just the hygiene and medical products, like scissors and surgical scalpels, to maintain a bioweapon alone is exorbitant, not to mention the manpower cost."
By that point, Mister Morbucks had given up reasoning with them - he would likely grow a full head of hair in the process of it, and by then, Elodie would likely be pushing up daisies.
And now, back in the present, someone else offered an alternative, and Mister Morbucks couldn't say no.
"The Foundation will save your daughter where the USDO would rather watch her die from afar, like the cowards they are," Annie continued to hover over him, whispering promises. Whether she was an angel or a demon, he had no idea. But it didn't matter. She was here, offering help where medical professionals couldn't promise anything and the USDO wouldn't even deign to make promises. "The Foundation does not have its own stock of Chemical X, but they have something called 'Chemical W', and it works almost as well as X."
Mister Morbucks did not say a word. 'Almost as well as X' didn't strike him as a very good sales pitch to go by. And yet, what choice did he have? It wouldn't be the first time he's had to make questionable choices.
"It's not going to grant your daughter many enhancements, but that's not what you're looking for, are you?" Annie went on, walking around the desk. She sat down on the great wooden surface and put a hand over Mister Morbucks', caressing it. "You're a good father, Morbucks. The extent you go for poor little Elodie is admirable. Lesser men would have told themselves in the back of their minds that it is hopeless. They would have lied through their teeth to their children about how 'everything's going to be fine' and that 'heaven's close by'. But not you, Mister Morbucks… Not you."
"Your name's not even Annie, is it?" Mister Morbucks uttered. He remembered hiring her back in January. Her resume had floated to the top on his butler's recommendations. She was university-educated on top of having been through training as a chef and housekeeper, had traveled all over the world, knew five languages and had served as a maidservant for a millionaire in Citysville. "I knew it was too stereotypical a name for a maid."
'Annie' threw her head back in laughter, ripping off her maid's headdress at the same time. Her hair fell all around her, undone. "That was a stupid cover name, I'll admit," she said, before leaning close to Mister Morbucks' face, putting a hand on his cheek. Mister Morbucks seized up; it had been a long, long time since a woman had treated him that way. "But it did get me close to you. I've seen the way you were looking at me."
She looked like she was just about to kiss him when she backed off and pulled a rolled-up piece of document before unfurling it right before his eyes, putting it down on his tabletop and securing the curling corners with Mister Morbucks' prodigious collection of paperweights. One of them was even a memorabilia of Blossom, one of a few merchandises the USDO had allowed a corporation to market recently.
Mister Morbucks read the terms on the piece of paper. The first one was: 'The Foundation takes no responsibility for any negative mental and physical changes occurring in Elodie Morbucks.' The billionaire knew what it meant. He knew about Chemical X's predecessor while he was working on producing hardware for the Powerpuff Girls' use. Chemical W was known to induce psychopathy in the majority of its subjects. Only animals seem less susceptible to the phenomenon.
The second term was: 'The Foundation shall gain the use of Elodie Morbucks should she prove to be an effective bioweapon.' It was likely to be the case. Chemical W had a high potency when it came to enhancing individuals, second only to Chemical X. What strange powers Elodie would gain, however, Mister Morbucks was afraid to even ponder on.
The third term was: The Foundation shall receive a lump sum payment of $100 million for the service it renders, whether it results in the survival of Elodie Morbucks or not. Mister Morbucks wasn't put off by this term; money, these days, was the only thing he had in overflowing abundance, and he had only one Elodie, one daughter - even one family member left after his wife had left him for the next world. Neither was he disturbed by the implication that there was a chance for failure. Surely it couldn't be less than twenty percent, could it?
The fourth term was: 'The Foundation shall be given the rights to do further business with Morbucks Industries and its CEO, Mister Magnus Morbucks. All deals put forth by the Foundation must be accepted in part or in whole.' By 'business', he had no idea what that entailed, but he was willing to do anything for his daughter.
And the final term was: 'The details of this exchange must not be revealed to anyone, by anyone with or without links to Mister Magnus Morbucks. A breach of this term or any other terms that apply indefinitely, in any capacity, will result in the termination of all members of the Morbucks family.'
There was nothing much to think about anymore. All that mattered was Elodie's life. After gulping down on his whiskey, Mister Morbucks signed the paper before leaning back on his chair, as if he had just done something physically exhausting.
"You've made the right choice there, Mister Morbucks," 'Annie' said to her 'boss', before taking back the document.
"When will the treatment begin?" he asked.
"As soon as we can bring all the necessary materials and people together," the Foundation agent said. "Give us a week."
To Annie, and to the inner circle of the Foundation, it was the perfect ploy. They had everything to gain and nothing to lose: they would extract boundless resources from Mister Morbucks, they would gain a possible new enhanced individual to serve as an agent in the form of Elodie 'Princess' Morbucks, and everything that the tycoon owned would be at the service of the Foundation.
The City of Townsville. Central District. Kingdom Hospital.
04 MAR (Saturday) 1989. 1513.
Thankfully for Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup, Kingdom Hospital wasn't too far away from the Morbucks Mansion. After flying for a quarter of an hour, or slightly more, they touched down at the entrance of the hospital, attracting eyeballs everywhere. Few people had seen the Powerpuff Girls in person, and they were considered quite a sight. Dangerous, sure, but it was like watching a lion from afar, even if there was a conceivable chance that it might attack. The few pedestrians who had cameras began snapping photos. Bubbles waved at them, at everyone, while her sisters weren't in the mood for it.
Walking into the hospital lobby, they weren't spared from being stared at either. All eyes were on them as they entered, whether those eyes belonged to medical staff or patients or security. As the Powerpuff Girls walked up to the reception desk, people were getting out of the way, giving them a wide berth. Some ran out of the hospital when they could. Buttercup's frown had helped with that even though it had nothing to do with the runners.
Although the receptionist was on the phone, the moment she saw who was coming towards her, she finished her conversation quickly before slamming the phone down. And then they started hovering in mid-air, attracting gasps and cries of terror. The receptionist shivered in fear when she saw it happen right before her eyes. She had never seen them before - the Powerpuff Girls - not in person. She couldn't help but wonder if she had done anything wrong.
It didn't help with the fear factor that the glowing-eyed girls had scars all over them, easily visible as some of them were on their faces. Buttercup's Glasgow smile was especially horrifying.
"I- I swear, I've been a good little lady!" the receptionist couldn't help but utter. The lead Powerpuff Girl, Blossom, was impossible to make eye contact with. Her eyes were shining bright pink as if it could pierce deep into her very soul. She'd seen videos of Blossom burning people with heat beams coming from her eyes. Buttercup and her green eyes weren't much better. Bubbles was the only one of The Three who she could conceivably hold a conversation without fearing for her life.
"That's great, Miss Nurse," Blossom said with an innocent smile that the receptionist found threatening all the same.
"I'm a- a- receptionist," the woman tried to speak, but she still found herself stuttering from fear. "H-how can I- urm- help you?"
"We're looking for Princess," Blossom inquired. "Mister Morbucks said she'd be here."
"P-Princess?" the receptionist asked. Her mind had gone blank where she would be on top of it normally.
"Yeah, Elodie Morbucks? Princess?" Buttercup growled at her.
"He- I mean- She's on l-level 3. The- urm- w-ward 5," the woman stuttered her way out of the awkward exchange. Blossom couldn't help but raise an eyebrow at the receptionist. Shouldn't people stop being afraid of them by now? After everything, they had been doing? She hated being feared, and now, it reminded her of her dark secrets and questionable deeds, as people would likely freak out on hearing about them. Blossom couldn't help but feel a little insecure because of this.
"You look scared, Miss Nurse," Bubbles said. "Are you okay?"
The receptionist need only take a single look at Buttercup, who was wearing both a psychotic smile and a Glasgow Smile to know the answer. Just one glimpse of Buttercup had caused the receptionist to break out in cold sweats, but she tried smiling. And failed. She'd ended up with what amounted to forced curling of the lips.
"I'm a receptionist, not a nurse!" the woman freaked out - despite what she said, being called the wrong title was the least of her concerns.
"Of course she's afraid, Bubbles. They all are," Buttercup said, knowing how right she was. Even the average layperson knew about the exploits of the Powerpuff Girls. They knew that they had killed a good number of criminals and injured many more. They knew they had done worst in the earlier days, and they knew what kind of horror they were capable of, shooting out what amounted to death beams from their eyes, crushing cars and concrete walls with their bare fists.
"I think we should just go, Bubbles, Buttercup," Blossom decided, and started pulling her sisters away from the shaking receptionist. But then she stopped floating away and pulling her sisters, then turned around again. "Erm, which way to the Princess, Miss Nurse?"
The receptionist said nothing and answered their question by pointing the way with one trembling arm.
"Thanks, Miss Nurse!" Buttercup thanked the woman, her voice fading as Blossom began pulling her towards the lift lobby. Eyes were still staring at them, sometimes with terror in them, sometimes scrutinizing them. Blossom, for one, didn't care. She just wanted to solve the current task of finding Princess. Bubbles just wanted to see Elodie as, from what Mister Morbucks had said about her, she was worried sick about her.
They went two floors up, then navigated to the Princess' ward by looking at the numbers, flying haphazardly past doctors and nurses and patients, yelling apologies at them as they nearly caused one accident or another. It was only when they encountered the magic '5' that they stopped, landing right outside the swivel doors of Elodie's ward.
The City of Townsville. Central District. Kingdom Hospital.
04 MAR (Saturday) 1989. 1519.
Elodie 'Princess' Morbucks had been lying in her bed all day long. Scratch that. It wasn't even her bed, and it was making her back ache. She hadn't been able to do anything; even the slightest exertion would tire her out. She had been breathing through a respirator for a while, as her lungs, too, were compromised by the growth of tumors. Her arm hurt, as she had been put on an IV drip.
Gift cards, balloons, chocolates, toys and sweets formed a ring around her, and yet she could not enjoy any of them, not just because she was bedridden, but because she didn't want to. Emotionally drained, it felt like it was the end for her - everyone she had come to love seemed distant, and despite the lengths, they had gone to reconcile with her, the wounds of old were still stinging her from the inside. Time, it seemed, had a way of making people think, and those thoughts tend to take a turn for the darkest path. The pain, the utter hopelessness and oppressive depression had helped her along.
She didn't even have the energy to cry anymore. Her mind felt like breaking, turning animal and wiping itself clean when something flew through her door. Pink, baby blue and lime lines of light streaked up to her, and before she knew it, three little girls were floating next to her. She turned to look at them and gasped in surprise.
It was Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup. She sobbed, finally letting what little tears she had left out, but they weren't tears of sadness. With difficulty, Princess lifted a hand, reaching out to them. Bubbles came forward and held it.
The Princess looked miserable. The long, flowing robes of fine material she usually wore were gone, replaced with a child's patient gown, little better than the usual kind with its light purple hue and intricate hospital logo. Where she was previously all words and laughter, despite her frailty, it was all replaced by the clinical, constant beeping of her heart monitor.
"Bubbles…" Elodie whispered to BFF, her voice barely audible - which wouldn't have been had it not been for the Girls' stellar hearing ability. "I'm sorry I can't really play with you guys…"
Bubbles floated next to her and sat down on her bed, putting Princess' hand on her chest. "It's okay, Elodie. It's just nice to see you again."
Blossom flew to the other side of the bed, sitting down next to the Princess. "Yeah, we kinda miss you."
"-and the stuff we used to do together," Buttercup added as she floated to the headboard of the bed.
"I feel terrible…" Elodie said. Bubbles pulled some tissue paper out of a box from a nearby table and started wiping away the Princess' tears.
"I know how it's like, Elodie," Bubbles said, but when it came to making her feel better, Bubbles was at a loss. "You don't have to do anything. I'll… urm…" She began looking around for something to do. There was a book amongst the Princess' gifts, so she took it and opened the book. "I can always read you a story!" It was the first thing she'd thought of, inspired by Dad. Bubbles loved it whenever he would read her a story.
"That would be nice…" the Princess said.
Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup would spend the next hour trying to distract Elodie Morbucks from her cancer. After Bubbles' reading of the story, which was fraught with mistakes because she hadn't learned fully how to read yet, Blossom found a puzzle book and together, they all tried to solve page after page of puzzles. They weren't entirely successful, owing to their young age, with the Princess being the oldest among them in real age. Buttercup showed the Princess how her MP5 worked after that.
And throughout all of this, Elodie smiled genuinely, for once, in her deteriorating health crisis. It'd brought all the good memories back up - her time with Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup had been nothing but good. They had shown her what real friendship was like, unlike the poor kids her dad had bought as her play buddies and homeschooling classmates.
"Promise me something?" she asked just before the Girls left. Though she was speaking to all three Girls, she was looking at Bubbles specifically, as if directing the question at her, charging her with the responsibility of fulfilling the promise.
Bubbles hovered back to Princess, holding her hand. "I'll promise anything, Elodie, if it means you'll get better…"
"Will you come back next Saturday? Please?" Elodie asked feebly, but there was desperation in her voice. "The doctors helping me said that they'll put me in a machine to help me with my sickness. I'm scared and I really want you to stay with me."
"Of course, Elodie. I promise I'll be here next Saturday," Bubbles said confidently, hoping that it would enliven her terminally ill friend. But she realized that some detail was missing."Urm… What time will it be, again?"
Elodie closed her eyes, racking her brain for answers. She'd heard it from the doctor while her father was speaking to him. Being at an age that could be counted with a single hand, and having a debilitating illness did not help. But it surfaced nonetheless - being her father's daughter, gifted in mind, even if that mind was threatened with death, she was able to rake her mind for it. "It's at one o'clock."
Blossom floated up next to Elodie, followed by Buttercup. "We'll be there, Princess. We won't miss it for anything," Blossom promised as well. When Buttercup did not follow along with it, she gave her a quick horse-kick in the shin.
"Yeah, I promise! When you're all better, we'll have some mint shakes together, like before!" Buttercup added.
