Chapter 149: Imperative

The City of Townsville. Downtown. USDO Headquarters.

24 MAR (Friday) 1989. 1737.

"You! What are you doing here?" General Blackwater yelled when he saw Professor Utonium come in. He stood up, pushing his swivel chair back violently. Before he could reach for the rifle leaning on his desk, the professor drew his pistol and pointed it at the general. The general stopped abruptly, recognizing that he was being held hostage, growling like a discontented lion. "I should've thrown you in a cell when your Girls rebelled, Utonium. Why did I listen to that old doctor?"

"Shut up, Blackwater. Sit down," the professor ordered the general coldly, gesturing at the chair with his pistol. The general tensed up, looking like he was about to rush him, but the sight of the pistol deterred him from trying something like that. "I said sit down!"

"You're not going to shoot. You don't have what it takes," the general said, half a smile spreading on his face.

The professor promptly turned his gun slightly and fired a bullet just over the general's shoulder. The bullet made a hole in the wall. It was loud, very loud as it was indoors. But the professor didn't jump from the gunshot like he used to. His angels were in danger, and he would bear with anything to get them back safe and sound again.

The general sat back down, only half-convinced that the professor had grown a killer's instinct, but any doubt was enough for him to take the safe route.

"What the hell do you want?" General Blackwater asked gruffly. "It's something to do with those bioweapons, ain't it?"

"Don't call them that," Professor Utonium warned him.

"You can shoot me if you want, but the USDO will pursue them to the ends of the Earth without me if need be," the general said, rippling with confidence as ever, unflinching, not when the professor was close to shooting him, not now, not when he was held hostage.

The professor reached into his pocket and dug out a ball of paper, the half-burnt slip of paper he had picked up in the workshop of The House. He slapped it down on the desk and pushed it towards the general.

"What is this?" the general asked, indignant.

"Open it," the professor demanded. General Blackwater was staring at him, as if his eyes were guns, ready to shoot. After a pause for thought, he decided to do as the professor demanded in the end.

The ball of paper soon disappeared into the general's large ham fist. He undid the crushing and began reading the secret message. When he was done, the general looked up from the wrinkled paper, scrutinizing the professor, his own face a stone wall.

"Why?" the professor questioned the general. "Why order the hit? WHY USE SELICIA!?" He was unable to contain himself any longer. Memories of shooting his own girlfriend, his own wife-to-be, came flooding back. "Is this revenge for losing Bunny? Or is it just pure sadism?"

"I don't know what you're talking about," the general denied the professor's claims. Then there was the sound of a door opening. The professor looked over his shoulder. Corporal Nana had come in, and she looked shocked at the turn of events.

"Stop lying to me," Professor Utonium demanded, his hands and pistol shaking with a mix of anger, fear and grief. "I want the truth!"

The general rose from his seat.

"I didn't give the order. Someone else did," the huge man claimed.

"Sit back down! I asked for the truth!" the professor shouted, but the general was no longer deterred. He rounded his desk slowly, hands clenched into cannonball fists, as if ready to strike.

"The message was forged," the general said, all the while coming closer to the professor "I took Bunny under my wing. She was made from my blood, and she was my soldier. She was my daughter and I couldn't tell her. Her final act was to save Blossom, Bubbles and Buttercup."

"Stay back! I'm warning you!" the professor shouted.

"Having her family killed is the last thing I want," the general went on, getting closer to the professor, almost within arm's reach of his pistol.

"Listen to the general, sir," Nana pleaded with the professor from the door, where she had stood rooted, paralyzed, ever since.

"How do I know I can trust you?" the professor questioned the general.

"The council nearly had Bubbles killed months ago, I tried to stop them," General Blackwater said. "Your Girls were nearly useless back then. They're… They've grown, even if they've been misled. It wasn't my decision to have Bubbles killed back then, and I haven't considered killing any of the Girls since."

General Blackwater had loomed closer, as if ready to snatch the gun away from the professor. He had his hands up, in a rare show of surrender, one hand closer to the pistol than the other.

"You're a good man, professor. Don't do anything rash!" Nana continued pleading with the professor from the door. "Bunny wouldn't have wanted this!"

"Then why did you send those troops to The House?" the professor asked, gun still up.

"They weren't there to kill them. They were just supposed to transport the Girls to HQ for… questioning," the general said. "They gave the Girls numerous chances to surrender, from what I heard."

"You could've entrusted me with that responsibility," the professor said, regretting the incident at The House that had scattered the family.

"You think I didn't want to know what the Girls have been up to!?" the professor yelled at the general, his voice breaking as the topic of the Girls' mistakes came up

"Maybe you're right," the general said, nodding. "I could have - should have - worked with you on that. It's still not too late for us to work together, prof. We're both still part of the USDO."

"Listen to the general, Professor Utonium," Nana said from the door. "He's sympathetic to the Girls… to Bunny."

"How do I know I can trust you?" the professor asked, still on edge, his pistol still clutched in a dead man's grip, shaking. Nonetheless, General Blackwater grabbed it by the slide, but did not try to pull it away or wrestle the professor for you.

"You're just going to have to," General Blackwater said. "Or you might as well just get this over with and shoot me." He began pushing it down gently, and the professor let him, all the while still unsure about his stance with the general.

Heavy footsteps could be heard outside shortly after that. A squad of soldiers had arrived, and Nana had likely sounded the alarm before coming in here. Thinking back, the professor thought that his gunshot might have alarmed Nana. The door opened, and in the doorway were two soldiers taking cover behind the walls left and right of the door.

"General Blackwater sir, is everything alright?" one of the soldiers asked.

"Nothing was wrong in the first place," the general said cryptically. "Except one thing."

The professor tensed up. Had he been wrong to trust the general in the first place?

"Have Corporal Nana here arrested and thrown in a cell," the general ordered. The professor had never been more confused. Staring at the general, he tried to read his face but failed to discern his intentions. Why Nana? What had Nana ever done to deserve imprisonment within the HQ's jail?

The soldiers swiftly marched into the general's office, guns trained on Nana, who stared at the general with just as much confusion as the men began restraining her and handcuffing her. She was too shocked to even resist.

"W-what did I do!?" Nana cried as her pistol was quickly removed from her holster.

"You are now a suspect for this case of falsified order," the general said as he waved the half-burnt secret message in his hand. "You're one of a very few number of people who could have gotten to my stamp and falsified my signature."

"Take her away!" the general ordered the guards, who began dragging Nana away.

"I didn't do anything!" Nana cried. "General, please!" Her pleads and protests continued as she was being dragged away, but they grew fainter until they could no longer be heard.

"Don't be too hard on her," the professor said as all he could do was watch the guards disappear with a struggling Nana. "She's what's left of Bunny; I don't think it's her." Nana did remind him of Bunny, and that made total sense considering that she was the genetic mother of Bunny. The brown hair, the tall and toned physique worthy of a Hollywood superstar or a successful modelling career - General Blackwater's half of the DNA had only militarized all that.

"That goes without saying," the general said. "Arresting her is just a precaution. I have more suspects in mind, but I'm going to let internal affairs handle it. We've got bigger fishes to fry."

"We?" the professor questioned. He hated the idea of being lumped together with General Blackwater. Despite knowing the length and breadth of the general's contributions to the USDO, he couldn't like the man no matter how hard he tried. They were just too different, polar opposites of each other that could never meet down the middle. "So what now?"

"You wanna find Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup? Here's your chance. You're coming with me," the general said.

"I'll help, but that's on the condition that they won't be harmed. Or killed. Or worse," the professor bargained with the general, who stared at him, once more studying him as a tiger would a prey. The professor knew the general well enough. His conditions would have taken away too many options from him, and as a military man and a strategist, options were everything.

Before there could be any kind of agreement, the general's desk phone rang. After taking another moment to read the professor's face, the general doubled back to his desk to pick up the phone.

"Hello?" the general spoke into the phone with his usual gravelly voice. "Yes. No. I'm coming, I was just… delayed. I will be right over in a few minutes." It wasn't a long conversation, and soon, the general slammed the phone back down to its receiver.

"What was that about?" the professor asked.

"It's just a meeting I'm supposed to attend five minutes ago, and then you showed up," the general said. "I'm on a tight schedule - the council meeting, then the battlefield. But since you're with me now, I think you should follow me to the meeting."


USDO Council Meeting 03241989-2 Transcript

DOC: 24 MAR (Friday) 1989

-TRANSCRIPT START-

(Sound of door opening and closing)

Director Cliff: Finally! What took you? And why is Professor Utonium with you?

Doctor Simmons: Professor! I've been looking all over for you!

General Blackwater: Just a misunderstand we had to clear up. Right, professor?

Professor Utonium: Right…

(Sound of chairs moving and creaking under the weight of bodies)

Director Cliff: Fine, whatever, as long as we get started. I believe you have something to report?

General Blackwater: Yes. The Powerpuff Girls have gone rogue and escaped-

Director Cliff: That, we know.

General Blackwater: My men are tracking them down even as we speak, with the help of the TPD and our friends from the FBI and CIA.

Agent Mudler: Glad to be of service.

Director Cliff: Any success?

General Blackwater: Our soldiers are too slow since they are transported by humvees, trucks and tanks, but the TPD has had some successes-

Director Cliff: Are the bioweapons secure?

General Blackwater: Close, from the reports, but no-

Director Cliff: Then what do you mean by success?

General Blackwater: We've been able to gather intel from the TPD's failed attempts (ruffling of papers) Officer Valentine of the TPD STARS reported them to be injured and tired, hesitant to kill any combatants. There was also an altercation involving the Powerpuff Girls in a detective's apartment, which might serve to tire them out even further.

Director Cliff: And how will you take advantage of these… intel?

General Blackwater: They have gone stealthy on us recently, but if we can catch them, they won't be running much further or for much longer. They're not going to put up much of a fight.

Director Cliff: If?

General Blackwater: ONCE we can catch them.

Director Cliff: I'm more interested in how you will track them down and catch them.

General Blackwater: We have been planting GPS trackers into their equipment the moment I suspected them of illegal activity. That wasn't too long ago, but better late than never.

Director Cliff: I knew giving the TPD more freedom to use our bioweapons was a mistake. If only I didn't have to deal with inter-agency relations and public relations and- urgh… go on.

General Blackwater: We have been able to track them, but our GPS technology is still primitive, according to Doctor Vanum.

Doctor Vanum: Yes, I'm afraid that's true. GPS technology has really only just begun, and we're not too far ahead of the curve, eh, no pun intended, due to our focus on bioweapons and weapon systems. The Powerpuff Girls are too fast and too rough for our GPS system, and it has the effect of making our normally precise data imprecise. Now, they're just best guesses. Previously, we could have pinpointed where a tagged object is within half a block's radius. Now, they could be anywhere within a district.

DIrector Cliff: Has anyone tried contacting them and getting them to give up?

General Blackwater: Our control towers are constantly radioing them in, but they haven't taken the bait yet.

Professor Utonium: Why are you staring at me?

Director Cliff: Have you tried calling them on their phones?

Professor Utonium: No.

Director Cliff: Of course not. I know what you're thinking. You don't want them back at HQ, do you?

General Blackwater: I think that is to be expected considering his relationship with them. I wouldn't force it.

Director Cliff: You're smart, Utonium, I'll give you that. You knew your phone was bugged, do you?

Professor Utonium: It's what I do best.

(Phone ringing. Sound of phone being picked up.)

Liaisons Head Yorkshire: Hello? (pause) Yes sir. Yes he is. (pause) It's for you, Director Cliff.

Director Cliff: Who is it?

Liaisons Head Yorkshire: It's the President, sir.

Director Cliff: Which one?

Liaisons Head Yorkshire: It's the newly-elected President, sir.

Director Cliff: Of the United States?

Liaisons Head Yorkshire: Yes, sir.

Director Cliff: Put him through.

Director Cliff: Mr. President? Congratulations once again on your successful inauguration-

President George H. W. Bush: Are you Director 'Cliff' of the USDO?

Director Cliff: That's me, sir.

President George H. W. Bush: I haven't got a lot of time, so I'm just going to jump straight to it. It has recently come to my attention that you have lost control of several bioweapons in the City of Townsville. I've read reports that your unit of bioweapons is equivalent in strength to a squadron of jet fighters, a wing of attack helicopters, a platoon of tanks and a platoon of infantrymen all rolled into one, and they have now either gone rogue or fallen under the control of criminals. Would you care to verify the accuracy of my intelligence reports?

Director Cliff: Mr. President- I- Your intelligence agents aren't wrong- But we're attempting to retrieve them as quickly as we can.

President George H. W. Bush: And can it be said that you're close to success?

Director Cliff: No, sir.

President George H. W. Bush: Gosh darn it, I don't need this, 'Cliff'! Things are precarious as it is now on the international front and I don't need a triplet of doomsday weapons wrecking the western coast of the United States!

Director Cliff: Mr. President-

President George H. W. Bush: The United States can't afford to be weak at this stage-

Director Cliff: Sir, the bioweapons won't be destroying anything. They've been… uh… raised to not do that.

President George H. W. Bush: And how will I know they won't be rebelling against your method of raising them? They have already gone rogue even as we speak!

Director Cliff: This isn't the first time sir, b-but Mr. President- Calm down- I have the bioweapons' handler with me right now. He can vouch for them. (off the phone) Utonium, get on the line!

(sound of Professor Utonium picking up phone)

Professor Utonium: Mr. President, sir.

President George H. W. Bush: You're the bioweapons' handler?

Professor Utonium: Yes, sir.

President George H. W. Bush: (flipping of pages) 'Professor Utonium', is it? Tell me one good reason why I shouldn't send the entire U.S military down on your bioweapons' asses and nullify them for good.

Professor Utonium: I can tell you more than one good reason, sir.

President George H. W. Bush: And what would those reasons be?

Professor Utonium: They're not just any bioweapons, sir. They have names. Blossom, Bubbles and Buttercup.

President George H. W. Bush: I'm aware of those nicknames. I got them from the news.

Professor Utonium: They weren't just nicknames, Mr. President. Those are their actual names. I gave them their names. And they loved their names. They smiled and laughed and identified with them immediately upon awakening.

Professor Utonium: They loved going to school, sir. Blossom enjoys mathematics the most, and Bubbles likes to draw. Buttercup loves recess, when she could play in the schoolyard.

Professor Utonium: Helping people is their greatest joy, Mr. President. They've gone through so much hardship each day just to help enforce the law and bring justice to the people in Townsville, but they just kept going on. Other children would have given up. Even Bubbles, the meekest of the three, never gave up on the mission forced upon them… Yes, forced upon them, sir. Deep down, they knew they had to help even though they didn't choose to be Townsville's Angels of Justice.

President George H. W. Bush: You… speak as if you're a father to them. You remind me of me, back in the day when I was practically a nobody.

Professor Utonium: Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup… They've made a mistake. They're kids, sir, and like any other kids they're just scared and upset, but they won't harm anyone unless their lives are threatened. They just need somebody to talk to.

President George H. W. Bush: And I assume that somebody is you?

Professor Utonium: I was lucky to have them. The children need their parents and one of them is already gone. The situation I found myself in when I adopt them wasn't conventional but- we were close. We were a family, and I can't bear the fact that it's splintered apart now. Don't make our separation permanent, sir. I'm asking you this not as a government employee, but as an American citizen and the father of a broken family who's just trying to put it back together again.

President George H. W. Bush: You- (pauses) (sighs) Fine. You've said what you need to. I need to speak to your director now.

(Professor Utonium hangs up his phone)

Director Cliff: Yes sir?

President George H. W. Bush: What are your protocols for rogue bioweapons?

Director Cliff: In the case of B-47, B-48 and B-49, if their surrender cannot be obtained, the USDO's military arm will attempt to capture them. If capturing them proves futile, they will be terminated. This is already considered lenient, Mr. President. Previous subjects of Project Powerpuff were frequently terminated on sight after containment breach since their attempts to escape implies lack of cooperation and unsuitability for service.

President George H. W. Bush: You will spare every effort to reacquire them. There is a Delta Force platoon on a training mission near Townsville. I have redirected them to this crisis. They will liaise with you soon. Make full use of them to bring the Powerpuff Girls back into the fold. For the sake of Townsville, for the sake of the American people… even if it is just for the sake of your brave Powerpuff handler, do not terminate them. I'll leave you to it, then.

Director Cliff: Yes, sir.

President George H. W. Bush: (hangs up)

Director Cliff: (hangs up) (groans)

Liaisons Head Yorkshire: Sir?

Director Cliff: You heard the President. We have a job to do. Yorkshire, I want press conferences to calm and inform the public. Agent Mudler and Booker, I want the FBI and CIA to assist in locating the Girls in… where was their last GPS signal?

General Blackwater: It's in the industrial and warehousing area.

Agent Booker: It'll be a piece of cake.

Agent Mudler: The FBI has handled 'strange' cases like this before, it'll be done in no time.

Director Cliff: General Blackwater, your men will sweep through the area and be ready to respond to FBI, CIA and TPD tip-offs.

General Blackwater: Do I have permission to deploy air support?

Director Cliff: Make it so. Give me a run-down of your plans.

(The rest of the meeting consists of a briefing on strategies, SOP adjustments, troop deployment and doctrines)

-TRANSCRIPT END-


The City of Townsville. Townsville Industrial Park. Church of the New Trinity.

24 MAR (Friday) 1989. 1806.

For the past half hour, the Girls had the rare chance to finally rest and recuperate. They didn't even have to take care of themselves as the church ushers were more than happy to attend to them; helping to remove their gear, undress, shower, dress up and finally, dress their wounds. Basically, treating them like goddesses, though to be fair, they were 'just' angels to the masses in the church.

After witnessing Mister Mullens' undoing, however, they had lost their appetite. Well, other than Buttercup, though her injuries and adrenaline had prevented her from eating anything more than a chocolate cookie. Otherwise, they were content to just bathe and change out their half-complete military gear for a fresh change of clothes.

It was quite unexpected despite the church's obsession with the Girls, but there was an entire wardrobe of dresses that the Girls would have worn, and there were sizes that fit them perfectly. George, the founder and preacher of the church, had explained that those were used by the children of the adherents to put up church plays and skits. They were bought from the exact same company that manufactured the clothes the professor had bought from - Rainbow Streams (TM).

They sat at a round wooden table after that, in an office repurposed as a small nursery for the children of church attendants. George, the church founder, was seated with them.

"Are you sure the three of you will not join the attendants at our communal dinner? The stoves are full and hot and my flock would love to see the three of you," George said. "Rosita's whipping up something special tonight!"

"I don't really feel like seeing anyone…" Blossom said.

"Talking to people is boring. I prefer punching them!" Buttercup added.

Bubbles just sat where she was, with slumped shoulders as if the weight of a panic room's ceiling was crushing her once more.

"Is there anything I can do to help?" George Luther asked, directing that question at Bubbles in a way as he saw that she was the worst affected of the three. "You know that I am God's servant - your servant."

"Everyone hates us now…" Blossom said.

"That's not true," George replied, turning to Blossom. He was close to putting a hand on Bubbles' back in the hope of comforting her, but he was held back by his intense reverence of what he considered an angel of God. "My church - we adore you. I'm sure much of the city holds the three of you in the highest regard."

"They were chasing us all around the city! Trying to kill us! How is that' holding the three of us in the highest regard?" Buttercup exploded.

"The police? That blasphemous institution is filled with sinners! They don't represent the city," George spat.

"But what do we do?" Blossom cried. "Everyone we know are… are…" Blossom couldn't say the word.

"Not everyone," Bubbles corrected Blossom, which was rare. Blossom flashed a faint smile at her, and Bubbles smiled back. Blake was still breathing. Detective Wednesday and the Talking Dog were still out there, somewhere. Princess Morbucks was out of contact but still around. Miss Keane was still doing her thing. And of course, there's the pastor George Luther and his friendly cult.

"I wouldn't presume to advise the Angels of Justice themselves," George said respectfully. "But perhaps a glimpse into the past might help. Your predecessors had faced similar hardship. Jesus, for example, was pursued by demons and Roman soldiers alike, and yet he pressed on and completed his work for the betterment of mankind. I imagine that it would be the same for the three of you."

"And just like the three of you, he fasted - he did it for 40 days, of course, but we shouldn't compare. He fasted, and prayed for direction," George went on. "Would the three of you like to pray?"

"Pray? Yucks, I don't wanna pray! I wanna play!" Buttercup spat, more honest than George would like her to be, not that he could do anything about it. Folding her arms and pouting, she went on: "Not that this is the time for it."

"I don't know…" Blossom said. In all honesty, she didn't feel like doing anything. Dad was dead - what more was there to do? As it was, she felt like she was being pulled at all sides, her leadership tested to the breaking point. "I just need to think." Blossom got off her chair and walked away, putting herself in a corner, facing the wall, as if she was giving herself a time-out.

All the while, George witnessed the leader of the three's helplessness, himself feeling helpless since he hadn't been of much use. Hiding a sigh and shutting his eyes briefly as he tried to come to terms with these dark times, George stood up. He was about to leave when he felt a tug on his sleeve. Looking down, he saw that it was Bubbles.

"I would like to pray with you," she offered. "May I?"

"I am more than happy to receive your holiness," George said with a smile. Bubbles couldn't help but blush and smile despite what she'd been through. She wasn't sure about the cult founder's beliefs, but she was sure that the preacher meant well.

'Maybe praying might help make me feel a little better?' Bubbles thought.