Chapter 119: Flight of Icarus (Part 4)
The City of Townsville. Downtown. Payne Avenue.
11 MAR (Saturday) 1989. 1241.
"I got her," Naga said confidently as she unstrapped her stolen USDO XM4 Carbines, all four of them, pointing them at Bunny.
"That you will, for I, Mojo Jojo, shall slay the Powerpuff Girls!" the enhanced chimpanzee said as he got up beside the sniper team to aim his speargun contraption at Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup.
"No!" Bunny yelled as she raised her China Lake grenade launcher, but by that time, Naga was already closing in on her, all four guns blazing like a walking machinegun turret. Bunny fired her launcher anyway, but the explosive shell simply struck Naga in the chest without exploding, its safety mechanism a disadvantage for once. However, it'd stumbled Naga, and Bunny took the opportunity to retreat and bring up her cloaking field.
"Come out and fight me, you lil' rascal!" Naga had fallen on a knee, but she got back up while rubbing her chest and began firing her four rifles at random, spreading a wall of bullets across the room, which was a small office area above a local art gallery. Some of the bullets had struck Bunny in the back while she was trying to get behind Naga, causing her cloaking field to falter.
"Gotcha!" Naga cried before concentrating her fire on Bunny, her ammunition unending due to the drum magazines she had installed on the captured USDO prototype rifles. Bunny leaped up into the air and fired another grenade, but once again, Naga had been charging towards her, closing the distance and preventing the grenade from reaching arming range. This time, she had braced for impact so she didn't stumble.
Bunny fell to the ground, but her footwork was distracted, confused, and she crumbled on the floor. Her chest pains had been flaring up mid-combat, which had broken her concentration. Hiding behind a desk, she wiped her nose once more with her upper arm to clear the blood that had been streaming down once again. With that, she rose out of her hiding place, pumping her grenade launcher, but Naga was already onto her at melee range, having thrown down her rifles for four Duranium sabers.
Before Bunny could fire, she felt two swords cutting through her launcher, breaking it, forcing her to fly back while wiping blood that had been pooling in her eyes.
Even now, Bunny hesitated to do it. She didn't want to use it, but she had to. Pulling out Ace's sword from its sheath on her hip, Bunny wielded it two-handed in a ready pose before flying at Naga. Bunny could immediately feel a wave of renewed energy over her. Her eyes burned with energy, with hate. Unknown to her, the glow of her eyes had changed from purple to hellish red.
However, it almost felt insufficient; it was like fighting against a one-woman squad of musketeers or trying to swim through a forest of blades. She had tried getting close and directing a slice at Naga, only for her strike to be parried and followed up by twice as many counterstrikes, which Bunny had to dodge or block with blade or energy shield, tiring her out even further.
Screaming, Bunny surged forward once more, aiming a slice at Naga's hip one-handed while using her purple energy shield offensively, bashing Naga with it, but Naga had neutralized her attack by slapping her sword arm away with a saber and sneaking a stab in Bunny's side while distracting her with her other two swords directed at her shield. How Naga could coordinate such strikes, Bunny could barely wonder with her migraine headache.
Bunny backed away, limping and clutching her side. Her wounds were mounting, on top of the disease that was eating away at her from the inside. Naga smiled, knowing that she had gained the upper hand. Well, four of them. It was only a matter of time before she could kill Bunny as revenge for the Powerpuff Girls' humiliation of her.
In the meantime, Mojo Jojo had fired off one bolt. He cussed a short time later under his breath, muttering something about how the wind had shifted and caused him to miss by mere inches.
Bunny looked on helplessly as disaster and failure seemed just seconds away. But she dug her heels in and gritted her teeth. No! She will not give up on her sisters! With that, she charged at Naga one more time, this time aiming for a more cunning approach.
That was when everything around her fell away, and time crawled to a standstill. Bunny herself couldn't even move any further, much less reach striking range. The world became a blank white before it faded into darkness. In the distance, fires were forming a circle.
Bunny found that she could move again, and so she approached the circle of fire cautiously. The fire raged, burning harder than before until it became blinding. Shielding her eyes, Bunny stared cautiously at the circle of chaos. Vaguely, just barely, she could see a figure rising from the ashes if there were any ashes in this strange world.
When the fires died down somewhat, Bunny found that she was standing before the Red Man, a huge, muscled creature in a red jacket, thigh-high boots, his face with its goatee framed by white fluff. He was a horrifying thing; slightly hunched, with sharp spines rising from its back. His eyes glowed red menacingly. He opened his arms, which ended in crab-like chitinous claws as if expecting a hug. Bunny didn't take it.
Did he save her? Bunny wondered. She didn't want to be saved. She wanted to help her sisters. They were still in trouble, she could feel it.
"Poor little Bunny, bleeding and dying alone…" the Red Man said, with a hint of sadness and sympathy in his voice. Bunny felt drawn to it. Sympathy had been hard to find in the past couple of days, even from those who called themselves her family.
"Mister… What's happening? Why am I here?" Bunny asked. For some reason, she could feel her pain and suffering lifting, if just for the moment.
"I've been watching you, dear Bunny…" the Red Man said as he approached her. Bunny shrunk away from him - she had been fighting her way through so many people who meant her harm, so it was hard not to anticipate more. "Don't be afraid, dear girl. I have something to show you."
The Red Man came closer, and Bunny let him. He twirled his claw, and from behind it, four more appeared, forming what looked like clawed fingers. Standing next to her, he placed a hand on her shoulder, pulling Bunny in. Together, they started walking, walking away from the fire. It grew darker, and darker until Bunny was forced to put her night vision goggles on, but the Red Man pulled the gadget up.
"Where we're going, we don't need eyes to see," the Red Man said. Bunny couldn't understand what he meant. Weren't she seeing things with her eyes now? Or did he meant that this was all a dream, as unreal as some of her fancier imaginations?
Before Bunny knew it, she was back at her house, right in front of the door to her room. Things were different. It was warmer for one, just like the mythical spring that Dad and her big sisters had talked about.
She thought she could hear the laughter of adults and the giggles of little girls. Bunny wanted to open the door, so much, just to see them one more time again. She looked up at the Red Man, who smiled down at her with red, glowing eyes.
"Go right ahead, don't let me stop you," the Red Man said.
Bunny opened the door, and she was greeted by the yellow light of a spring dawn. Her family was huddled around a model train set, facing her. Dad had the remote, and he was controlling the train, getting it to slow down or speed up, or even light up. Mom was cheering him on, mimicking the sound of an old locomotive. Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup looked on in amazement, giggling at the peculiar machine and the funny doll people in the carriages. All of them looked up at Bunny as she walked in shyly, smiling at her.
"Oh look who's here!" Mom said.
"Our dearest, favorite rabbit!" Dad said.
"Our most favorite, bestest sister!" Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup said simultaneously.
Before Bunny could join them, she could feel the Red Man's chitinous hand on her shoulder once more, caressing her.
"This is what I offer, Bunny Utonium," the Red Man said, in a sing-songy voice. "A loving family. A home and hearth you can always go back to. Happiness and joy, unfailing."
"What do I have to do?" Bunny mumbled. She was only focusing on half her attention on the Red Man's offer. The sight of her family, so perfect, so loving, so welcoming, was so enticing, too enticing. They stared at her and the Red Man, as though everything was normal.
"Oh, nothing, just… join me and rule over the world. That is your birthright," the Red Man said. "We, as these… ants that infest this world call the Shadowkin, are the superior race. Join me, and I will preserve your family… Give you the happily-ever-after you so wish. I can even fix you, give you the lifespan your human overlords had stolen from you by their ignorance…"
It sounded like a good deal. It was all she ever wanted - to save her sisters and to protect her family. She was very tempted to take it. Looking out one of the oval windows, she mulled over her decision. She saw the azure sky greeting her with clouds that looked like open arms, the sun rising to smile at her from the horizon, bathing the entire neighborhood in a warm, cozy glow. She stared hard at it, but the more she stared at the scene beyond her window, the more it seemed to change.
Walking up to the window, she saw that the neighborhood was largely abandoned. The usual USDO security detail at The House was missing. The roads, previously a smooth sea of black asphalt, was in disrepair with potholes filled with… blood and bones. The houses all around hers had huge holes in them, with broken windows that were boarded up. There was a decaying corpse hanging on the window sill of one.
Even more shocking was the house directly opposite hers. It was the exact same one! The difference, however, was the clone house on the opposite side of the road was dilapidated, same as the others, with broken windows and…
Bunny could see the skeletons of Dad and Mom huddled together in bed… her bed. Her older sisters huddled around their pink table, which was a sad, discolored thing. They were hunched over plates filled with some kind of meat, and they were eating it with their bare hands. All their eyes were red. Bubbles was the first to see her - oh how emaciated she looked! - and when she did, Blossom and Buttercup turned to regard her too, from the alternate universe across the street.
"Well? Take your time to think about it… BUT NOT FOREVER!" the Red Man shouted the end of his sentence, as though to show his annoyance at Bunny, briefly but just enough for her to know who was in charge. Bunny, however, wasn't cowed, and she already knew her answer.
"No," she simply said, before backing away from the fake family put up by the Red Man, backing away from the Red Man himself. "You're a liar. You're not trying to help me, or my sisters!"
"I see. So, your powers are stronger than I expected," the Red Man said. "I never thought you could see through the little play I put up for you."
"You're just like Mister Feig!" Bunny continued to accuse.
"DO NOT COMPARE ME TO THAT PUNY LITTLE INSECT!" the Red Man exploded, loud and fiercely enough that he had Bunny cower a little. All around them, The House began burning away, not in a blaze, but like ember and paper. The perfect family that Bunny could only dream of withered away quickly, becoming dry husks before turning into skeletons and even those would disintegrate. Then the Red Man smiled. "Such a shame, really… You have so much potential… So many possibilities… But now, you will die…"
"I don't care," Bunny said defiantly, standing proudly with her chin up. The Red Man, however, appeared just as confident, just as strong, as if her rejection didn't matter at all. It probably didn't to the Red Man.
"Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup will die!" the Red Man said, and only then Bunny's defiance knew its limits. "They will either die or kneel before me as their true lord and master… I WILL MAKE SURE OF IT!"
Just like that, the nightmare was over, and Bunny found herself back where she was, with Naga flying towards her (not literally) with her four Duranium blades ready to turn her into shredded meat. The transition was confusing, and where she was previously on the offensive, Bunny found herself hesitating and going into the defensive, still reeling from the Red Man's threat and her rejection of his offer.
She had to parry Naga's four swords while she was still fighting off the shock from the threat, and for the longest moment, it was like walking on a tightrope without powers; Bunny could barely keep up with the sword blades coming for her from random directions, like a nest of snakes ambushing their prey. Eventually, Bunny's defense gave way and she felt a sword skewering her in the torso, going right through, buried into her, all the way down to the sword guard. Shocked, Bunny looked up at Naga, who smirked with triumph.
"Die, pesky little bee!" Naga shouted as she continued to push the sword still, though it couldn't go any deeper. Bunny's free hand found its way to one of Naga's four wrists, gripping it, but it was a weak grip, barely felt by either party at all. Naga twisted the sword, causing Bunny to scream at the top of her lungs before going limp. "That's right, obey the kiss of the sword! Join your sisters, you're first in line!"
As Bunny faded away, an image of her sisters came up in her mind. She'd heard them screaming with her enhanced hearing not too long ago. All kinds of scenarios sprouted up in her mind. How bad were they wounded now? That was juxtaposed with memories of the sweeter past, a past that, somehow, Bunny wished upon a star, could become the present still.
No, not yet.
Bunny opened her eyes, wide, the red glow shining more prominently than ever. With renewed strength, she sliced off the arm Naga used to stab her with. Taking advantage of how Naga had let her guard down and opened herself up, Bunny proceeded to slice off two other arms on the opposite side of the Chemical W-enhanced woman.
Reeling from her sudden loss of limbs, Naga tried to counter-attack, but her sudden disadvantage when it came to the number of arms made it a feeble attempt that Bunny intercepted easily by grabbing her remaining arm by the wrist. With Naga thus restrained, she sheathed Ace's sword in her chest, right where the heart was. In a reversal of roles, Bunny continued pushing the sword in deeper and deeper, until it sunk to the guard. She continued pushing Naga, pushing her until she was right at the edge of a broken wall-high window.
With a final push, Bunny threw her off the building… and with a sigh, allowed Ace's sword to follow her down. At the same time, the red glow in Bunny's eyes faded, replaced with her usual glowing purple. The taint was gone, and it was as if a weight was lifted off her shoulders.
The now-amputated woman screamed all the way down, but Bunny did not stay to watch her fall. Backing away, Bunny fell to her knees. Looking down, she inspected her abdominal wound.
Naga had stabbed her through the liver. It wasn't immediately fatal. It'd turned out to be a bargain. As long as she could live long enough to save her sisters, nothing else mattered. Gripping the handle of the saber in her abdomen, Bunny pulled it out in one motion. She didn't even have the strength to scream anymore.
Blood flowed from the wound, but also from Bunny's nose and mouth. She felt empty. Her time felt limited. She swayed on her knees, the temptation of sleep overtaking even the Red Man's tempting offer.
Not yet.
Bunny brought up her enhanced hearing with difficulty. Her sisters were still screaming frantically. Blossom was issuing panicked orders, Buttercup arguing desperately and Bubbles was sobbing depressingly.
Not yet.
With aching difficulty, Bunny got up to her feet, to be met with a shocked-looking Mojo Jojo as she shouldered her MP5.
"Naga…?" Mojo Jojo uttered in shock as he realized that his friend and savior was nowhere to be found. Seeing Bunny, anger welled up in him.
"You! I'll KILL you for that!" the enhanced chimpanzee hollered, and immediately began to insert an agony bolt into his speargun. Bunny limped towards him nonchalantly, swiftly putting bullets into the last snipers, forcing its last member to retreat. Before she could do anything about Mojo Jojo, however, he had already reloaded his speargun and fired an agony bolt at her.
The bolt dug through her chest, going right through her left lung, but Bunny did not let that fall her. She continued forward, firing the remaining shots in her MP5 at the chimpanzee, which made him flinch and snarl in annoyance. He was largely bulletproof but slightly less so than the Powerpuff Girls. It'd hurt more and if Bunny was lucky, might have given him bruises or broke the skin… at the first layer.
Bunny's stride was broken, however, when Mojo Jojo pressed a button on his speargun. She could hear the bolt starting up, of sawblades poking out of the shaft of the bolt inside her, which began spinning. She screamed as she was brought low to the ground.
"How does that feel, little girl!?" Mojo Jojo cackled as he held the button down, an evil grin spreading on his green, mutated face. "How does my intellect, my intelligence, feel!? I have bested you yet again! I am triumphant! I AM THE VICTOR! Taste more of my ingenuity!" Mojo Jojo pressed another button on his speargun. There were cracks of electricity inside Bunny. Electrodes electrocuted Bunny as she screamed yet more.
"You will pay for killing my friend," Mojo Jojo said as he continued holding down the button. "I shall exact my toll in the form of your sisters! Your kin will die by my hands!"
The bare mention of her sisters and Mojo Jojo's threats steeled Bunny's resolve. Pushing herself up, Bunny stubbornly began coming towards Mojo Jojo again, unsheathing her Duranium combat knife. Threatened, the enhanced chimpanzee began reloading his gadget.
Bunny gripped the shaft of the bolt in her chest. The pain was unimaginable. She could hear the constant whirring inside her, feel her flesh being agitated, blood pooling inside her as it was disrupted from clotting. Dragging her feet, Bunny tried to reach Mojo Jojo as fast as she could, but he was faster. He fired another agony bolt into her, this time penetrating her in the stomach. This, too, was activated, and soon Bunny could feel sawblades tearing at the walls of her stomach, electricity coursing through her gastric fluid and blood and guts.
But Bunny kept on walking, raising her combat knife to strike.
"You stubborn, persistent little-" Mojo Jojo's voice trailed off as he began fiddling with his speargun again, frantically reloading it with another agony bolt, which he pulled from a quiver on his belt. "How about an experiment? We shall see if a third projectile will stop you!"
Bunny was so close that she could taste it, but Mojo Jojo had the benefit of perfect health. He fired another agony bolt at her. Bunny had shielded herself this time with a burst of energy she couldn't afford, but the purple energy shield that was formed wasn't a strong one. The bolt broke through and embedded itself in Bunny's arm, going right through her forearm.
With a few more steps, Bunny brought her combat knife down on Mojo Jojo, though the chimpanzee was able to seize her knife-arm by the wrist. Putting her all into the attack, however, she was able to overpower the monkey, plunging her knife into his abdomen.
While Mojo Jojo was howling in pain and still in shock from the wound, Bunny let go of the knife. Reaching for the bolt in her forearm, she ripped it out, her mouth agape from the pain, but she didn't stop. She plunged that, too, into Mojo Jojo, this time through his side. Falling on his knees, Mojo Jojo stared in disbelief at Bunny.
"How… is this… possible?" Mojo Jojo said.
Without a word, Bunny punched him in the glass dome, breaking it and injuring the humongous brain within. Her fist had sunk into the gray matter, causing it to bleed. Mojo Jojo fell to the floor and on his side, with blood pooling in the glass helmet protecting his exposed brain. He was twitching by the end of it and foaming at the mouth. His speargun had clattered to the ground. Bunny stomped on it, breaking it. The bolts in her had turned inert after that.
Exhausted, Bunny fell to her knees. She couldn't keep her eyes open. Happy memories flooded her mind. Her life flashed before her eyes.
"Dad…" she mumbled as she was nodding off. She remembered how he would spend every waking moment with her during the early days, how cozy it was, how comforting. And now she felt so cold, so alone.
Not yet…
Bunny snapped back awake when she heard it. Her sisters were screaming for help. Things were going critical right now. She could hear it. They were being stomped on, kicked around, and generally being savaged and beaten up.
Getting up once more, Bunny contemplated removing the bolts in her but decided against it. She remembered Dad telling her about Mojo Jojo's bolts, how dangerous and insidious they were, and never to remove them or they would do even more damage.
Limping towards the nearest window, she clambered over it and forced herself to fly towards her sisters…
