Chapter 98: Agony

B-50 Status Report W2 03051989

DOC: 06 MAR (Monday) 1989.

Created by: Professor Utonium

Title: Bunny's Fall

I wish I do not have to ever write such a report, but with Bunny taking on the role of all three of her prototype sisters as well as her own, I suppose it is only a matter of time if only because the laws of probability made it inevitable.

Bunny has likely had a run-in with the Chemical W-enhanced chimpanzee named Mojo Jojo. I recognize the principles on which the weapon used to wound Bunny has been designed - there will be more on that later in the addendum.

Bunny was severely injured during her mission. An arrow was shot at her. It managed to pierce her armor and bury itself deep in her shoulder, with the tip of the arrowhead even going through the back of her shoulder, but not completely through.

Bunny has sustained massive bleeding in her injury, losing 40% of her blood volume, measured during prepping for emergency surgery. Had it not been for her enhanced physiology, she would have died within half an hour. What is abnormal is that a wound of this nature, caused by a projectile such as an arrow, is not supposed to cause that much bleeding. The arrow itself is supposed to stem the bleeding. More on that later in the addendum.

Removal of the arrow required a two-hour-long surgery. This is further complicated by the fact that the arrow had gone through Bunny's armor. That it did not go cleanly through compounded the issues I faced during surgery. Furthermore, CT scans revealed several features of the arrow that had hampered extraction efforts. The shaft of the arrow is rougher than usual, and the arrowhead is barbed. Again, I have more details available in the addendum.

As a result of all these surgical obstacles, it became necessary for me to seek out the expertise of the combat engineer in Captain Scott's security detail, Staff Sergeant Nathaniel. With his help and his welding tool, he was able to separate the arrow from Bunny's (un)powered armor by cutting a circular hole around the arrow. The chest piece of Bunny's (un)powered armor was later removed by welder as well. Bunny's natural immunity to extreme heat and fire had allowed for this maneuver without any complications.

From here, there are only two options for the extraction of the arrow. The traditional route is to push the arrow through Bunny's shoulder such that the arrowhead emerges completely from it. The shaft can then be cut and the arrows be pulled out from the entrance wound. The other method, which I hesitated to use, is to cut open Bunny's shoulder entirely and extract the arrow that way. Due to the nature of the projectile, which would have hampered the traditional technique, I opted to open up Bunny's shoulder. The traditional technique would have caused even more massive tissue damage, and complete the already voluminous bleeding that Bunny had endured, risking death.

I would like to extend more credit to Staff Sergeant Nathaniel, as he was thorough in his examination of the arrow and point out that a few missing parts had dislodged at some point after Bunny's trauma. I was able to recover a few mini-sawblades and a small battery from inside Bunny. I believe I have a theory as to why the machinery of the arrow was damaged and shattered. Bunny had either tried to pull the arrow out or had accidentally fallen on it - while I do not know which of this it was, I do know that it had worsened her condition.

Returning to the surgery. The technique I improvised resulted in a further 20% loss of blood. However, Bunny's blood pressure did not fall by any critical amount, just 3-5 mm/Hg. This is likely due to Bunny's enhanced bone marrow producing more blood on overdrive, a phenomenon I have noticed in Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup too, whenever they had lost a huge volume of blood. However, I worked quickly, as if my theories on the way Chemical X, or Chemical X2, functions in the human body, Bunny could still die if her body exhausts its supply of Chemical X2. The use of Chemical X2 is accelerated whenever there is a need for the body to manufacture materials 'out of nowhere'; more Chemical X2 is converted to raw materials than the amount which is pulled from the higher dimensions.

Both Blossom and Bubbles had offered to step forward and donate their blood during the surgery, to their credit. While blood transfusion is certainly standard procedure for patients who have lost 40% or more blood, Bunny, like her older sisters, was an unusual case. While Chemical X and Chemical X2 has rendered the Girls' blood completely universal and fit for transfusion even into each other and even baseline human beings (but not without risk of possible Chemical X poisoning), I have no idea how Chemical X and Chemical X2 will interact in Bunny's bloodstream. In the end, as Bunny's cardiovascular condition was still stable, I decided against blood transfusion.

The surgical operation was almost a dissection. Bunny's shoulder had to be splayed open for me to remove the arrow with any hope of preventing any further damage to the surrounding tissues - though there is still collateral damage - especially to the Subclavian artery and vein, which were already half-ruptured because of the arrow. The surrounding musculature had sustained the most trauma, but that was the least of my worries. Thankfully, her bone was untouched.

It took more time for me to stitch her back together than it did for me to open her up.

The surgery began at 2319 on 05 MAR 1989 and ended at 0133 the following day. At 0735, I performed another CT scan on her shoulder wound to check for any potential complications or possible mistakes in my procedure. Sometimes, the speed at which I perform these surgeries scare even myself, not to toot my own horn.

What I found was the opposite. The wound appeared to be about two weeks old by that time, which is a testament to her healing factor. By my calculation, she will already have recovered enough by the time this report is finished at around 0750 such that she can be moved even roughly without complications. Near-total recovery is projected at around 1150, at which point she would have been discharged from a hospital had she been a patient there. Any trace of the wound after that will be minor. Scar tissues will disappear within the next few hours.

Addendum: The Agony Bolt

There is no other name more fitting for the arrow than 'Agony Bolt'. As mentioned earlier in this report, I believe it is the work of Mojo Jojo, that damned monkey that used to be my adopted friend. It is, unfortunately, designed with my core principles in mind.

'If you want to do something, make sure you put your heart and soul into it.' That was what I used to tell him. I believe in quality and perfection. Apparently, so does he. A regular Foundation engineer would have slapped together an improvised, barely-working single-use model, as their principles are all about preserving resources, time, and secrecy. Mojo Jojo would have perfected a design before crafting it with absolute care.

The arrow itself is an object of terrifying implications. The arrowhead is made of Duranium, which means that it is designed with no purpose other than to injure my children. Where he has procured the Duranium from, I have no idea. The arrow is also barbed, meant to make removal on the battlefield impossible without further injury and excruciating pain; removal in surgery was a pain in and of itself.

The shaft is aluminum, designed to be lightweight, the same as any regular arrows. However, what is found in the shaft is anything but normal. The shaft is hollow, with numerous slits from which sawblades could emerge and spin. The sawblades are aluminum, likely so that they are lightweight. This meant that they would not have damaged Bunny internally. However, their spinning would have caused an immense amount of pain, on top of the excruciating pain of being pierced by a large projectile. On taking apart the arrow, I discovered an axle and two motors inside, which are likely used to drive the sawblades.

However, that is not the end of it. There is a battery in the arrow shaft as well, which is likely what powers the sawblades across the shaft. On dissecting the battery, I discovered that it is powered by none other than Chemical W-laced blood, which has been refined to increase the concentration of Chemical W. This is likely done through simple evaporation after the blood is laced with anti-clotting agents. Mojo Jojo bled himself to hurt others. I did not teach him that.

If only that was the end of it, but it is not. The battery was dislodged and found in Bunny, but there are still copper wires attached to it. Following this clue, I discovered copper wires running in the shaft as well, which are attached to electrodes across the shaft. Bunny was electrocuted during or shortly after she was shot with the arrow. The immense power from the Chemical-W blood battery meant that the shock must have been intense. The level of depravity inherent in the arrow's design is disconcerting.

Lastly, the back end of the arrow is actually covered in the residue of spent gunpowder. When I performed a test to identify Chemical W in the substance out of a hunch, I did indeed find traces of Chemical W. This explains how the arrow could have penetrated Bunny's armor and shoulder. The arrow was likely shot like a bullet out of a gun. In normal, mundane designs, this wouldn't have worked very well, but with the use of gunpowder laced with Chemical W, the force would have been immense, enough to drive the arrow through Kevlar, then the flesh of an enhanced being.

In summary, the 'Agony Bolt' is the perfect projectile designed to inflict maximum injury, agony, and terror.

Mojo Jojo should be wiped off the face of the Earth for what he did to Bunny.


The City of Townsville. Downtown. USDO Headquarters.

06 MAR (Monday) 1989. 1234.

Director Cliff's loud, bellowing voice could be heard even before General Blackwater and Bunny had entered his personal office. Someone was on the business end of an artillery bombardment of the harshest language known to humanity, and even when Bunny wasn't using her enhanced hearing, she could tell that it was unpleasant, and she was thankful that she was too tired to even want to eavesdrop on the unkindness of the director of the USDO.

They stopped outside the door. Bunny was thankful, once again, that the glass on the door was frosted. She didn't want to see the horror unfolding within. It was enough that she could see someone inside aggressively gesticulating and pointing fingers at a besieged recipient, who she was starting to feel sorry for despite knowing nothing about him - or her.

"Before you go in, Bunny, let me warn you about a few things so that you'll be prepared," General Blackwater got down and told Bunny. When was the last time he tried to speak on the same level and terms as her? Bunny could appreciate the gesture. "The Director - Director Cliff - he's a demanding man, a stern man, and he's… unkind, ruthless. But just remember that he's on our side, and he's one of the good guys. He's made sacrifices, made some really tough decisions for years, and lost a lot of things personally, so his… behavior is not exactly unreasonable."

"You mean he's like you?" Bunny said. At first, Blackwater thought she was mouthing off, perhaps out of bitterness, but the look on her face was too innocent and unguarded for that.

"Something like me, yes," the general admitted. "But we're two very different people. I'm willing to tolerate him and take orders from him because I know that he's on my side and highly competent. You should too. Bear with him, and continue with your duties after that."

Cue the door opening, and a woman clambering out from it as if a survivor of some natural disaster. A sobbing mess, she squeezed past General Blackwater without noticing him nor Bunny. It wasn't a good sign at all, and Bunny was further intimidated by what she must face. The woman was someone none of them had really met before. She was an administrator, caught in the wrong place and the wrong time.

"Now get the hell out of my office!" Director Cliff shouted from the inside so loud that Bunny could hear it from outside even without her turning up her enhanced hearing.

There were hurried footsteps after that, and the door opened once again. Chief of Intelligence Rook turned out to be one of those getting flogged by the Director's voice. The other was a man Bunny was unfamiliar with. Someone in tactical gear had graying hair and steely eyes. He was wiping the Director's saliva off his shades as he was walking out. This man, whom Bunny did not know was Agent Blake, looked down at her. They made eye contact but did not speak to each other as it wasn't the best time for it.

When the door was closed, General Blackwater knocked on it again.

"Get in here, now!" the beast within screamed, as if he knew who was outside. He might have, considering that he had a camera monitor in his office.

"I'll be waiting outside, Bunny. Go," the general said as he gently nudged Bunny towards the door.

It wasn't very often that Bunny felt weakness in her knees. This was one of those times, despite the lack of enemies to shoot at, and the lack of enemies shooting at her. It was worse than that.

The moment the door was closed, Bunny could feel her heart skip a beat, as though she was trapped.

"You!" Director Cliff snarled at the little form standing in the center of his office as he narrowed his eyes in pure hatred and disgust. Picking up a marble paperweight, he hurled it at Bunny. The heavy object struck her in the forehead, bouncing off. Bunny didn't dodge it, partly out of shock, but also because she didn't expect it from someone who was on the side of good, nor did she even dare to dodge it.

"Ow! Bunny shouted as she shielded her face prematurely, afraid that the Director was going to hurl something else at her. She'd seen his hand resting on something on his desk - but it turned out to be a trick of the light.

"Don't you start!" the Director yelled. "Get over here!"

Bunny obeyed him without question, even though the way he'd set the mood had frightened her. She'd caught him in a bad mood, and that was a severe understatement. The man was panting, like an overheating furnace. And like a furnace, Bunny could almost feel the heat coming off him, and his face was red. More than that, he looked like he was about to have a heart attack then and there.

"Do you know what you've done!?" the Director hollered at the now-shaking Bunny.

"I failed my objective…" Bunny said, using textbook words General Blackwater had taught her. There was some comfort in it, as textbook words tend to be impersonal. But no comfort was enough for her in the face of the Director.

"You're God-damn right you did!" the Director slammed his fist on his desk. "Oh, but if only you've just failed your objective, that would have been well and good. But no! You have no idea what you've done!"

Director Cliff circled around his desk, getting up close and personal with Bunny. Bunny shrunk from him as he got closer, but she didn't dare back away for fear of reprisals.

"You!" he pinned a finger on her armor, which hadn't been repaired at all even after the damage it sustained in her mission and the surgery after that. Half the chest plate was missing. "You've compromised everything!" He continued stabbing her with his finger. "I'll tell you what you've done! They know about you now. You were our deadliest weapon, our secret weapon. You let it go to your head and now… I'm not sure what you are anymore!"

Going back to his desk, he picked something up and showed it to Bunny. It was the front page of the day's morning newspaper. The headlines, like Director Cliff, screamed at Bunny:

FOURTH POWERPUFF GIRL SIGHTED RUNNING IN TENEMENTS

CONSPIRACY TURNED FACT: USDO'S NEWEST KILLING MACHINE

IS THE USDO RESPONSIBLE FOR THE COP-KILLER OF '89? - AN EDITORIAL

But that wasn't all. There were pictures of her on the front page too, one that was taken from behind her, and another ahead - with her face visible. They were low quality and grainy, but it was unmistakably her, taken while she was running away from the mission, an arrow stuck to her chest, tail tucked between her legs, like a rabbit hopping away from a predator. Bunny couldn't remember seeing cameras - she could barely even remember her traumatic escape.

"Now the whole world knows about you! This is a PR nightmare! Even our allies will be at our throats!" Director Cliff continued raving. "All because you got scared and ran away!" And with that, when Bunny least expected it, the Director threw the newspaper in her face. So shocking and hurtful was it, combined with his previous words and abuses, that it made Bunny sob, her face scrounged up in misery as tears started to run.

The Director had turned his back on her as the dam began to broke, but the moment he heard her sobbing, he turned around, angrier still, if it was even possible.

"Stop crying! You don't get to do that!" he snarled at her, and when Bunny couldn't control herself, he gave her a tight slap across her cheek, which hurt his hand. He rubbed it as he continued: "I said stop your mewling! There's still more- oh FORGET it! Get out! I'm done with you!"

"I'm- s- sorry-" Bunny mewled while she was still trying to wipe away her tears with her gloves, but there was always more. The Director would not hear of it, and instead took her by the upper arm, turned her around and started pushing her towards the door.

"Out! Out! OUT!" Cliff shouted as he kept pushing Bunny, whose apologies continued to fall on deaf ears, towards the door.

Director Cliff opened his door and thrust Bunny out of it. Leaning halfway out, he made eye contact with General Blackwater. He pointed at him as if marking him for execution. "I want you to scrap your war plan and redraw it from the ground up! And make it simple enough for that stupid bitch to follow! If she fails again, you take that lab rabbit out of my headquarters and shoot her!"

With that, the Director slams his door shut. He wasn't done hollering, however, as he could still be heard from the inside.

Corporal Nana Weston had joined General Blackwater while he was waiting for Director Cliff to be done with Bunny. Upon seeing her, Bunny had latched onto her, crying into her uniform.

"I heard about what happened," Nana said to the general.

"At least that part's over now," the general said to her in turn. "Why don't you spend some time with Bunny? It's lunch hour."

Nana stooped down and gave Bunny a hug. "You heard that, sugar? It's lunch hour. How about if we grab something to eat?"

"I don't wanna…" Bunny sobbed, rubbing her eyes as tears wouldn't stop falling. "I don't wanna do anything!"

"You know, I heard baby carrots are on the menu today," Nana tried to coax Bunny again.

"R-Really?" Bunny asked in between sobs, wiping another stray streak of tears away. Dad had talked about baby carrots before and how nice they would go with any dish. He hadn't gotten around to making it yet though.

"Yeah, and mash potatoes, yogurt, and fruits. It's all to combat this terrible thing we adults face called 'Monday Blues'," Nana said with a smile. "How about it?"

"Okay…" Bunny finally said, her sobs reduced to sniffles. It was like being with Dad and Mom again, except with Nana and Blackwater acting like her mom and dad.

"C'mon, smile a little," Nana said. With a finger, she pulled one side of Bunny's lips into a smile. It tickled, so the enhanced girl did so anyway. "There, that's much better. We're having lamb chops today - perfect for soldiers like you and me. Come on then, let's hop to it!"

With that, Nana held hands with Bunny and led her towards the cafeteria, ignoring stares from her colleagues, some of whom hated enhanced individuals like Bunny with a passion.

After lunch, General Blackwater would begin planning his future operations anew, and Bunny was involved, but there was little that she could say beyond nodding her head. Having been through the catastrophe that was Director Cliff, she was afraid of making any decisions or suggestions, or saying no to whatever trials they wanted to put her through.

From there, Bunny knew that things had changed from here onwards and that some of the challenges she would face in the future would be done so out in the open and in the light, just like how Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup used to do things and will continue to do things.

If anything, Bunny had done more to learn than to participate in the strategizing. She had learned about why Chief of Intelligence Rook had ended up like her. As it turned out, he had fallen for the bait just like she did. His men had been following Police Chief Feig around the previous day, the whole day - to his home near the TPD HQ, then to a bar, and finally to the Tenement District. He had theorized that the fake Feig had switched places with the real Feig in the bar, likely in the washroom as he had agents in the bar as well. The only blind spot had been the washroom - he theorized that his men couldn't enter it in time to witness the switch. By the time they got in, 'Feig' was already leaving his stall.

Bunny had also learned the identity of the other man who was with Rook. Agent Blake. General Blackwater had introduced him as Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup's former lead 'bodyguard'. Now, he had been taking on missions on the fringes of Townsville. Where the Powerpuff Girls were not available, he would pick up the slack and never once did he fail, at least until yesterday. He was the closest unit to the fake Feig's location, but by the time he'd reached the abandoned luxury apartment, almost everyone was gone. There was no Mojo Jojo, no 'face-dancer', and the majority of the Lombardi guards were ghost. He was only able to apprehend a few stragglers who had made the mistake of going for their drug stash first. He wasn't able to even make them talk, as they were low-level enforcers who knew nothing except to guard their area and grunt at orders. It was a total bust.


The City of Townsville. Downtown. USDO Headquarters.

06 MAR (Monday) 1989. 1442.

After planning their operations, General Blackwater led Bunny to his office. Seating her down on the guest chair, he pulled a wooden case out of a drawer and put it down in front of her. The box was ornate, held close by equally well-crafted metal parts.

"Open it," he ordered the newly-promoted corporal. Bunny did as she was told, undoing the clasp on the wooden box and snapping it open. There was a combat knife with brown sheathe and handle inside, on a purple velvet pillow. "It's yours."

"Why? I failed-" Bunny said, but the general put up a hand to stop her from going on.

"That's the Director's word, not mine. You didn't fail. You were ambushed. I think it's victory enough that you've denied the enemy your death," General Blackwater said.

"But Mister Cliff said I've ruined everything," Bunny said, still discouraged by what she'd experienced in Cliff's office.

"I've told you that we're two very different people. I don't believe that. I think the war is evolving as it always did. It's time for you to go… 'conventional'. You'll be taking on more missions out in the public," Blackwater explained. "Why don't you try holding that knife? Get a feel of it and see if it fits you."

Bunny picked up the knife from the box. The first thing she noticed was that it was lighter than her own, despite being nearly the same size. Pulling the knife out of its sheathe, she immediately noticed that the blade was made of Duranium, based on its unnatural reflections. In fact, the longer she stared at it, the brighter it seemed to shine; her Duranium-sight was awakening.

"But- It's Duranium," Bunny said. "You said it's rare and - where did you get it from?"

"You see that spear mounted on the wall behind me?" General Blackwater pointed behind him with his thumb. "The metal's from that antique." Bunny stared at the spear. It still had a spear point - but how was it possible? That conundrum, however, didn't last very long in her mind. The spear point's shine was pure white, unchanging. It was dull compared to the Duranium combat knife in her hand. General Blackwater had commissioned a fake speartip to replace the one that was removed. "Remember that story I told you about the monster in that Egyptian desert temple? That was the spear I used to slay it."

"Anyway, I took the Duranium from that antique and had it reforged by The Institute. The spear tip was big enough for two knives," the general explained.

"But if it's big enough for two knives… Where's the second one?" Bunny asked, this time out of curiosity. The general then pulled open another drawer and took his utility belt out before dumping it in front of her. There was a knife sheathed on it. He pulled that out briefly to reveal the blade. Bunny caught a glimpse of it: Duranium.

"Why are you being so nice to me?" Bunny said, still unable to believe how kind the general was, despite everything.

"You are a soldier under my command," the general said, looking away, as if afraid of making eye contact with her. Bunny found it odd. He was usually stern and unyielding, especially in the way he approached people. He tended to stare them down, establish his authority that way. His eyes were like cannons; his face the steel hull of a ship. Yet now, he wasn't himself. "A very important one. You were injured while carrying out my orders. Severely injured… under my command, my care."

"Does that mean every soldier under your command gets a present?" Bunny wondered with a smile. That the general seemed to care about her aside, the thought of a present-dispensing general was interesting to her. The thought of the general acting like Santa was funny. It was a shame she was born just a scant couple of months after Christmas - she couldn't wait to celebrate it this year! She had heard about it from Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup, and it sounded like fun.

"No, not really," the general said, then looked at his watch. "Seems like time's flying like a jet. I'll drive you back home."

With that, the general got off his chair and started leading Bunny towards the motor pool of the HQ. Yet, Bunny had even more questions, more to talk about. Why was he spending so much time on her? Wasn't a general supposed to be busy leading his troops, especially during a war?