Chapter 158: Monsters in a Hotel (Part 2)

The City of Townsville Coastline. Monster Island.

25 MAR (Saturday) 1989. 2105.

After defeating the smugglers in the Monster Island Resort, Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup had to stabilize those that were injured and restrain all of them. Bubbles was the medic of the Powerpuff Girls, so she became the leader for once, even if it was just for a short time. The Girls were able to work quickly, being enhanced, though it meant that they had to endure a lot of pained screams from their new prisoners. Unfortunately, a few of the smugglers had perished either outright or eventually, which weighed heavily on Blossom, who never liked killing.

After making sure that all criminals were flown into a room and tied there, the Girls began exploring the hotel basement properly. The very first thing they approached were the voices in the cages all over the hotel basement.

Opening the door of one of the cages, Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup stepped in - it was a room converted into a cage, so there was still some decent room, space that was necessary as the prisoners were just as afraid of the Powerpuff Girls as the smugglers were.

Blossom could see youngsters of all ages huddled close together, shaking with fear as they beheld their saviors. Most of them were girls. Some were boys. Many weren't even teenagers yet. One of the few teenagers finally stood up and cautiously approached the enhanced trio.

"Are we... are we free?" the teenage girl, whom Blossom thought was about 14, asked. She appeared caucasian, and her accent sounded eastern European. Unfortunately, she had asked her question in an eastern European language: Russian.

"I don't understand…" Blossom admitted.

"I can," Bubbles volunteered before stepping up and turning to the Russian girl and speaking in perfect Russian, which was something Blossom and Buttercup still had yet to get used to. "Yes, you're free to go, miss. We've beaten the bad guys and tied them up."

"But we have nowhere to go," the teenager said. At this, Bubbles had no idea what to do. She knew that she and her sisters were fugitives and couldn't act in the capacity of law enforcers. She turned to Blossom instead, whose forte was strategy and problem solving.

"What do we do, Blossom? How are we going to help these poor people if we're hiding out here?" Bubbles asked Blossom. At this, Blossom was at a loss too, but it didn't take too long for the commander and leader of the Powerpuff Girls to figure out a solution…


The City of Townsville Coastline. Monster Island.

25 MAR (Saturday) 1989. 2112.

Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup had continued going around the hotel basement to free all the prisoners and put in their place their former captors. As for the problem of helping the kids who were trafficked into the island, Blossom had decided to make them the guards of the smugglers, arming the oldest ones and teaching them how to use the firearms seized from the criminals. It was better than nothing, but Blossom promised them that they would send help once the Powerpuff Girls' own problems had been resolved… somehow.

The kids, in turn, took the Powerpuff Girls on a tour around the smugglers' base. They had been used for slave labor once in a while, and so they knew their way around. Of greatest importance was the pantry. When the action had died down, Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup had become hungry once more after they were no longer distracted by matters of (immediate) survival.

After that, Bubbles took a walk around the basement, troubled by the recent developments, but there was something much more pressing.

She hadn't been able to take her medications. The diluted His Secret meant to wean her off the real stuff had run dry long before they reached the island, and she had lost the drugs that Miss Alice had prescribed to her to help her cope with the addiction - it wasn't just her uniform the USDO's napalm destroyed.

No, Bubbles wasn't wandering the halls of the resort at random. She knew exactly where she was going. Heading straight to one of the rooms that the kids had termed the 'storage', Bubbles came up to a crate and opened it. She could smell it. Days of doping herself with His Secret 2.0 had made her overly familiar with the smell.

The crate was filled with syringes. Bubbles, with shaking hands, pulled one out.

It seemed to call out to her. It didn't help that Bossman had spiked her wine with the drug not too long ago; taking the real thing had made her crave it even more, and she felt weak without it. How she managed to fight without using His Secret 2.0 was a surprise and a miracle to her.

She froze, still unable to believe that she had a syringe of the drug in her hand, and that she had hit the motherlode with the crate full of drugs.

'No, Bubbles, don't do it. You promised Daddy…' Bubbles tried to talk herself out of it. 'It's bad and it'll only hurt you!'

'But it's good for you, Bubbles,' her other side, the one that had been lying dormant in the back of her brain, tried to convince her. Its voice… it was just like the Fairy Godmother. 'You were powerful when you took it, and you need to be powerful now.'

'I hurt my family because of it,' Bubbles thought.

'It'll be different this time. Promise,' her other side, like an independent mind, thought.

'No…'

'You didn't hurt your family the last time when Don Ricci made you take it now did you?' the Fairy Godmother buried in her claimed, her voice stronger than ever.

"I won't! I don't want to!" Bubbles screeched.

'But you do. Daddy died because you were too weak and stupid,' the compelling voice said, loud and strong that it seemed to boom in the room, deafening. 'Do you want to lose your sisters too because you are too proud to do what's necessary?'

"But… Blossom and Buttercup, they'll find out…" she whispered to herself, like some fell creature in the dark.

'How about just take a little bit? They won't find out, and you get to save the rest for later…' the voice whispered back to her, in honeyed words.

'Everything will be fine,' it promised her.

Reluctantly, Bubbles held the needle to her forearm. She didn't notice it at first, but her breathing had become shallow, shivering. She would be lying if she said she wasn't craving it immensely. Then a moment of fear and panic gripped her, and she pulled it away.

But the craving… She couldn't stand it anymore, not when everything else was falling apart, and finding His Secret 2.0 was one of the few… good things.

Bubbles couldn't fight the urge anymore. She jabbed her forearm with the needle.

But it broke, and Bubbles gasped.

The needle. It wasn't made for her.

Panting from both effort and anticipation, Bubbles fought on, but it felt like a losing battle. Twice, now, she had yielded, and it was only by sheer luck that she hadn't taken the drug yet.

'Drink it,' the voice whispered. Bubbles shook her head.

'Drink it,' it repeated itself. 'Drink it, Bubbles. It's good for your health.'

'I SAID DRINK IT!' the voice screamed in her head, and for a moment, Bubbles thought she could see the Fairy Godmother.

Putting the remains of the needle to her mouth, Bubbles squirted the black substance into it, just a little, before swallowing.

She could feel it immediately, her bowels loosening a little because of nervousness first, then anticipation of a high she hadn't experienced in a long time. Then there was a shiver going down, starting from her nape and ending at the base of her spine. She wanted more, so she stuck the broken needle into her mouth again. Something made her stop. Memories of the past.

Reluctantly, Bubbles pulled the syringe out of her mouth. It didn't sink in immediately, but she knew what she had done. Holding up the syringe, she stared at the half-full tube. She wanted to toss it now, but found it such a difficult thing to do. Her mind fought itself.

"Bubbles! There you are!" a voice called out from behind her. Not wanting to be caught indulging in His Secret 2.0, Bubbles pocketed the half-full syringe and turned around.

It turned out to be Blossom, who stopped and stared at her. Bubbles' heart was racing. Did she notice? Then there was the realization that her eyes might be red.

"Is s-something wrong?" Bubbles asked, afraid that something was giving her away - but she had no way to tell if her eyes were glowing red. Her hands were shaking, so she held them behind her back. She smiled, but toned it down for fear of looking suspicious.

Blossom continued staring at her, reading her the way she usually did with people, looking directly into her eyes.

"No, nothing's wrong for once," Blossom said, much to Bubbles' relief. "I was looking all over for you. The friends we made here made us some meals. I just thought we should eat together as a family."

"Sure, I'm starving!" Bubbles said in her usual cheerful tone, with Blossom none the wiser that she was faking it this time. "Where are we having it?"

"I'll lead the way, like before," Blossom said with a smile, happy that her family, or what's left of it, was being provided for once again. She floated out of the room, anticipating Bubbles to follow her. In that time, Bubbles had already stuffed a fresh syringe of His Secret 2.0 in her pocket urgently, mostly because she wasn't given time to think about stopping her new foray into the dark side…


The City of Townsville. Location Classified. Operation Bed Time, Delta Force [REDACTED] Assault Squadron Forward Operating Base.

25 MAR (Saturday) 1989. 2115.

It was dark at the docks, yet it was darker, still, in the little corner office that comprised the administration center of one of many of the docks of Townsville. Men in heavy military gear were filing into the office, cramming themselves into the ill-fitting office as if they were the size of buildings.

There were already a few people in the room. Heavily-armed and armored police officers in irregular uniforms from the city sat at the back of the room, second in strength only to the Delta Force operators coming in. A man with graying hair that matched his gray uniform stood at the front, partially illuminated by light from the projector in the middle of the room.

"Hustle up and get seated! We have just five before we begin operations," the man in the front said. The soldiers were quicker than their appearances suggested, and all were seated within seconds of the briefing officer's barking. "I'll keep it short and sweet. I am Major Chambers from the USDO and I will provide you with info regarding this operation from my agency on a need-to-know basis."

The soldiers in the room barely moved in their seats. The police officers at the back were less stoic, and some had begun shifting in their seats. They had seen the Powerpuff Girls in action, and they knew what this operation was about.

"The primary objective of Operation Bed Time is the safe retrieval of three individual rogue bioweapons owned by the USDO. Should retrieval prove impossible, attain secondary objective: neutralization of rogue bioweapons," Major Chambers briefed the men monotonously, completely vacant of emotions. The slide on the projector shifted. Three little girls in miniature combat gear and weapons appeared. "The three rogue bioweapons are Bravo-Four-Nine, Bravo-Four-Seven, and Bravo-Four-Eight, from your right to left. The bioweapons respond to call-signs 'Bubbles', 'Blossom', and 'Buttercup' respectively."

One of the soldiers couldn't stifle a chuckle. Major Chambers didn't care; even he knew how ridiculous it was for the over-sentimental Professor Utonium to give those weapon platforms such names. The slide changed to another photo of the Powerpuff Girls, but one that clearly shows the weapons they tend to carry.

"Despite appearances, B-47, B-48, and B-49 are deadly bioweapons that are heavily armed; they are to be considered extremely dangerous. Current intel suggests that they are no longer protected by USDO-issued personal protective equipment but are still armed with USDO-issued firearms. B-47 is commonly equipped with a Serbu Super-Shorty. B-48 is commonly equipped with an XM4 and B-49, a Stoner Light Machinegun."

"Bravo-forty-seven, the one in pink and in the center, serves the function of the Powerpuff Girls' commander. Beyond that, she is highly proficient as a soldier. Bravo-forty-eight commonly serves as the heavy weapons specialist of the group. Bravo-forty-nine, the one on the left, is the team medic and communications expert. This is also the order in which they should be considered priorities for capture or destruction. Should B-47 be taken out of the picture, the other two bioweapons will fall into disarray, but B-48 and B-49 might enter a frenzied state, so stay alert."

The slide was changed to one containing several pictures of the Girls while they were releasing beams of energy from their eyes mid-flight.

"The primary armaments of B-47, B-48, and B-49 aren't their guns. As you might be aware, they are enhanced beings with enhanced abilities. Each of these bioweapon is capable of carrying weights up to twenty times the maximum load of a trained adult human being. Unarmed attacks from the bioweapons are known to kill or maim in a single strike. They are flight-capable, and are able to generate energy beams from their eyes strong enough to kill. B-47 is known to fire infrared beams. B-48 fires mainly laser beams. B-49 is least deadly, giving off ion beams capable of disrupting electronics, but don't let that fool you - her ion beams could still kill. In addition to that, she is known for her sonic scream - which can push even heavy objects away from her. Further information on the bioweapons will be available in the files that you will read on the way to the landing site."

There were a few coughs. Some of the soldiers had begun shifting in their seats. The slides changed once more to one containing photos of a sniper rifle and what appeared to be gray-colored flare guns.

"Weapons to subdue or kill the bioweapons collectively known as the 'Powerpuff Girls' will be issued by the USDO. The USDO is an organization highly experienced in getting rid of enhanced beings. We have developed several ways of countering bioweapons. The Powerpuff Girls are immune to normal firearms and weapons for the most part. However, sustained fire is known to cause enough pain to knock out the bioweapons, as does explosives. The XM9 Anti-Material Sniper Rifle, which will be issued to you, fires bullets capable of damaging and killing the bioweapons. Use it only when you have no other choice."

The slide changed once more. This time, it contained a map.

"The time now is 2116. The agreed-upon mission timeline will be to board the landing boats by 2120. You will land on shore and set up a beachhead at southern Monster Island here-" the instructor pointed out a specific point on the map with a telescopic pointer he pulled out of his pocket. "Estimated time of arrival is 2140. Covertly sweep the area for B-47, B-48, and B-49. Recon-in-force and maximum firepower is advised. The island contains dense vegetation surrounding abandoned structures, so both cover and concealment opportunities are plentiful. Once you have ascertained the Powerpuff Girls' location, encircle and subdue them. Once again, the USDO will provide equipment for securing the packages. RTB immediately upon clearing objectives and extricate via your beachhead. Any questions?"

For the most part, the room was completely silent, until one man spoke up.

"Will there be other elements present on the island?" he asked.

"I believe I can answer that question best," a woman's voice started from the back. All eyes turned to it.

"Monster Island is a haven for smugglers and pirates. Expect them at every corner. I've heard reports that there could be twenty or thirty of them at any one time," she said. "But there are vagabonds and drifters on the island as well - they're harmless... mostly. But they wouldn't dream of even going within a mile of a tough Delta Force operative."

"That's Miss Valentine of the TPD's STARS branch," the major introduced the woman belatedly. "She and her team will be tagging along with you. They had an encounter with the Powerpuff Girls yesterday. Make the most of her experience."


The City of Townsville Coastline. Monster Island.

25 MAR (Saturday) 1989. 2137.

Dining with the mostly-female and mostly-children former captives of the smugglers had been a refreshing experience, and it wasn't just because the Powerpuff Girls finally got to eat something. To be able to see friendly faces once again in so unexpected a place was more than what the Girls could ask for, to expect.

Bubbles and Buttercup had expected to be able to stay at the hotel for the night, but Blossom had the bright idea of pulling them out of it after checking up on the now-captive smugglers one last time. They were now under the watchful eyes of teenage guards armed with the smugglers' own weapons.

"Why did you bring us out here, Blossom?" Buttercup demanded an answer from her leader sister. "I was just getting comfortable in there!"

Blossom, in the meantime, was in the middle of putting together a campfire. It was a basic skill that General Blackwater's friends had taught her back when things were peaceful. After starting up the fire with a weak and quick heat beam, she turned to Buttercup.

"They're afraid of us," Blossom said.

"They are?" Bubbles questioned, deep down a little guilty for going back on her promise to stay off the drug. Now, she was afraid of being found out, somehow, perhaps by one of the former captives. Was seeing her taking His Secret 2.0 what made them fearful?

"Yeah, didn't you two see the way they were looking at us?" Blossom said. "And how they didn't even want to be anywhere close to us?"

"But it wasn't all of them," Buttercup contended. "It was just some of them."

"I would hate to make anyone feel uncomfortable…" Bubbles mumbled, while still a little zoned out from worrying about how she might possibly have been found out.

"Exactly, Bubbles," Blossom praised her meek sister before turning to Buttercup again. "It's the right thing to do. They'll come get us if they need our help again."

"But I'm not worried about that," Buttercup wanted to continue arguing. "I don't care how they feel! I helped them, so I get to do what I want!"

"No, you'll do what I want, Buttercup!" Blossom snapped back at her as she took steps towards her sister.

Buttercup didn't seem threatened. Instead, she smiled, partly to hide her bitterness and partly to play the part of someone more… obedient.

"Of course, Blossom," Buttercup said to placate her. "Anything for you."

"But… What are we going to do now?" Bubbles asked as she stared into the fire. She seemed preoccupied with… something. "Are we going to stay here forever? With our new friends?"

"Here? Yuck! It's all dirty and the food wasn't great!" Buttercup complained. They'd had canned soup, stale bread and pigeons the smugglers had hunted for dinner. She didn't even know that pigeons could even be eaten.

Blossom sat down on a log near the campfire, thinking. For some reason, her mind had wandered back to how they fixed the tree she broke with her bare hands earlier. Then it wandered even further back, to how they had appealed to Mister Lumpkins for help, only to get chased out by a cultist-changed Lumpkins when they thought he would help them get back into the city. Blossom went even further back - and before Lumpkins, they tried getting Mayor Wilford to help them, only for him and his guards to turn on them. Oh, how worried Blossom was that Miss Bellum was in trouble because of her! But the enhanced little girl could only hope that nothing had happened to her…

But the same could never be said for Mister Garrett Mullens and his daughter.

Tears stung Blossom's eyes as she sniffled but stopped herself from crying. Everyone they had approached for help had either gotten in trouble because of them or turned against them.

But therein lay the solution; it clicked in Blossom that there was only one way to end it all.

"What do we do, Blossom? I miss… I wanna go home…" Bubbles was mewling all the while.

Blossom stared into the fire. Would asking her new-found friends for help even be an option? The oldest among them were teenagers. They were all untrained, hungry and desperate. If Mister Mullens and Miss Mullens couldn't last, then these teenagers would get cut down the moment they tried to help.

No, the solution was obvious now.

"Are we going to get our 'friends' to help us?" Buttercup suggested. It was as if she knew what she was thinking, and Blossom knew what Buttercup meant. Knowing her, she wouldn't mind putting those teenagers in harm's way just to get ahead.

"No, no one's helping us," Blossom said as she turned her glare towards Buttercup, then looked at Bubbles. "We're helping ourselves from now on. We're going to finish this ourselves."

"B-b-but how?" Bubbles stuttered. The thought of doing everything themselves and freely with no one to help scared her. "Everyone's after us! What can we do to even make it stop?"

"We're going after the Amoeba Boys. They tricked us; they started this," Blossom said, and when Dad came to mind, her mood took a quick turn for the worst. There hadn't been time for her to process it, to grieve, and when the sadness came pouring in, it came as a flood. "They started this and Dad was killed because of it."

Buttercup's words had sunk in after all. Was Dad dead? Blossom could never be sure, but at this point, it was highly likely that he was.

Buttercup cheered at Blossom's proclamation. More fights! More violence! And a chance for revenge!

"But the Amoeba Boys!" Bubbles gasped. "They're too powerful! We couldn't even beat one of them…"

"That was before we even knew how to fly, Bubbles," Blossom said, her steely gaze still fixed on her. "And now we have Buttercup's laser beams, my heat beams, your ion beams and sonic scream… and this!"

Blossom held her hand in front of her. Focusing on it, dark X-energy began coalescing just above her palm before igniting, forming what looked like a small fireball.

"That's wicked!" Buttercup praised her leader sister.

"They are going to die for what they did to Dad," Blossom said, her eyes lost in the fireball, her mind in revenge.

"That's the way," Buttercup said, a hand on Blossom's shoulder. Now that's the sister she wanted!

"That's not what Dad would have wanted…" Bubbles said, afraid of Blossom once again. "We should-"

"Daddy's not here anymore, Bubbles," Buttercup interrupted the meekest of the three. "He's not even alive anymore."

Blossom sighed. If only her sisters could get along too! But could she even ask for that if she had difficulty getting along with Buttercup? She was barely keeping herself in control. Buttercup was still insistent that Dad was dead, and she was repeating the unfounded claim so much that Blossom was starting to believe it, too. If anything, it was annoying that Buttercup kept rubbing it in her face that Daddy was dead.

"I need to think about this for a second…" Blossom said, clutching her head. There were so many things going on in there that it was almost painful. Her photographic memory, her ability to process information fast and in such a torrential volume was beginning to seem like a curse. "I need to… come up with a plan. Could the two of you just tell our friends we're leaving soon?"

Bubbles left immediately, for now preferring the company of friendly strangers to Buttercup. Buttercup, however, stuck around for some reason. Coming around to Blossom, standing behind her, she wrapped her arms around her in a way that took Blossom off-guard, that shocked her. But when Blossom realized that it was just a hug - albeit one from the least likely person she expected - she calmed down a bit.

"I'm glad you agree with me, Blossy," Buttercup whispered into her ear, all the while having ethereal words whispered into hers, promising, once again, revenge, ordering her to worm her way into Blossom's heart, to turn her around - to turn and twist and corrupt her into something more like her, something more like… darkness.

"I like it that we're finally going to KILL the Amoeba Boys," Buttercup whispered again. "You made the right decision, sis." Buttercup's arms tightened around Blossom. It was starting to feel uncomfortable. "They hurt us, so we should hurt them back double."

"Buttercup!" Blossom grunted as Buttercup tightened her grip on her.

"Oh, sorry," Buttercup said. She loosened her hold on Blossom, going back to just hugging her from behind. "You know, we shouldn't just stop there. I don't think killing the Amoeba Boys is enough."

Just the thought of killing had shaken up Blossom, but what was worse was that she thought about it too, and what was more, that she wanted to kill everyone who had gone after her. Not just the Amoeba Boys, but their whole stinking gang. Every single criminals in the city, every single police officers in it, even the USDO, even the mayor - everyone. For days, she had struggled with the feeling of betrayal and loneliness, and it was all because of them!

And yet, there was Dad, or the memory of him. Bubbles was right. It wouldn't be what he would have wanted - or what he wanted.

"Should we… Destroy Townsville? Smash everything?" Buttercup went on to suggest. "They wanted our help, and when we did help them, they want us dead. If it weren't for them, we wouldn't have ended up like this. We-"

"Stop," Blossom finally said. "Just stop talking, Buttercup."

But Buttercup wasn't upset by her sister shutting her up. No, she was ecstatic, smiling her shark smile behind her sister's back. It wasn't hard to notice that Blossom was shaking, and not exactly resisting her the way she did.

"Just think about it, Blossom, my buddy, ol' pal, my sister…" Buttercup said, just pouring honey into her ear, sweetening her deal, kissing her in the cheek for good measure. "It'll be better for the both of us."

And with that, Buttercup walked away, then flew into the abandoned hotel, leaving Blossom alone to fight her dark desires.