JMJ

Chapter Sixteen

The Parley

Out in the blinding sunlight, Ace reached Billy's side and leered at Ex. There was just this one little prickle that Ace had to pull out like a needle in his sock. It had been lodged in even tighter by the confirmation of the little squealer back in Ex's lab.

"The Gangreen Gang answers to nothing and nobody," said Ace very clearly as he leaned his face directly into the famous scientist's. "That's the mistake you made, Pr. Ex. You thought you could own us? Deal's off, comprenday?"

Ex shuddered, but Ace could see it was mostly the noxious smell from Billy's underarm. He looked like he would faint from it at any minute, and Ace chuckled. He might have mocked more, but they had business.

"Hey, look, that csssssement truck'ss sstill running, Ace!" Snake called pointing to the rumbling vehicle; they wouldn't even have to hotwire it.

Ace stood back and smiled quite impressed.

"Hey, now that's a getaway!" he said. "I wonder if it's still got cement!"

First in the cab, as the underlings had to make way, Ace instantly started the vehicle off for City Park. He pulled a few levers and pushed a few buttons on the way but couldn't quite figure out how to see if any cement could come out. Well, until he accidently dumped a mound of it right where a dog was sniffing a hydrant.

With Ace quite preoccupied on the tail-end of the truck, they were crashing into cars, buildings, and rubble all along the way.

"Woops!" was all Ace had to say when they steered off course for a little ways,

He gave the wheel over to Snake to correct their bearings before smashing next to Big Billy.

"Don't worry," he said noticing Ex again, and he patted his shoulder, "we'll get you started with the business meeting right away so's we can work it all out between you and Mojo! Ain't that right, Grubber?"

"Pthzthppptzzz!" agreed Grubber cheerfully, most of his spit aimed right into Ex's face.

There was very little room in the cab where the whole gang of hot, smelly mutated teens crammed together, but Ace could tell Ex knew that that Grubber had gotten that raspberry in his eyes on purpose. He smiled.

"Ah!" cried Ex unable to wipe his eyes as his arms were squished between Billy's side and the seat.

"Sss-s-s-ssss!" snickered Snake swerving the wheel like he was driving a go-cart in a video game.

The cement mixer slammed into a statue.

Ex shrieked.

"So what're we going to do with him, Ace?" asked Arturo.

"Yeah, he's really squirmy," said Billy.

"I'm guessing Mojo needs this guy for something, and we're gunna find out what that is," Ace explained simply. "Hope Mojo's in his usual zippy spirits!"

"He's as a psychological debacle!" snapped Ex. "He'll probably kill us all!"

"I don't think so," said Ace.

He leaned back in his seat leisurely with arms hanging behind them and he kicked one leg over the other as best he could even if he did somewhat kick Snake in the process.

"Heh, heh, sorry 'bout that."

Snake just gave him a pouty sort of look before he went back to the wheel. Ace put his feet up on the dash between levers.

"Me and Mojo?" he explained to Ex. "We go way back! Don't you worry that sweaty snot-nosed head of yours. We even done time together, and that's a thing campus pasties like you are too busy puffing up your windbags to understand anything about, y'know? Ha, ha, ha! Well, actually you don't! Maybe we should write a text book and give you an exam."

The gang laughed too, and Ace stretched like a lazy cat while Ex shivered with anger and frustration. It only made Ace smugger, and he slipped his hands behind his head.

"Hey, Ace!" said Arturo. "Why is there a big pit in the park?"

"Huh?" Ace straightened in a second.

With eyes popping, Snake hissed through his teeth in fright.

Screech! He slammed on the breaks.

As the cement truck came to a stop everyone slammed painfully into the front window, especially Pr. Ex who was crushed under Billy. But Ace was the first to lift his head. Rattled a little he rubbed an elbow and rib. Then he blew a loose strand of hair out of his face and shoved his shades back to cover his blinking eyes as he focused on what was outside the window.

He slid the shades back down his nose again to get a clearer full-colored look.

It was no pit. At least fourth of the park was sliced through into the ground like a foundation of a monstrous building that went deep within the earth. From where Ace crouched he could not see the bottom. It made slamming into a window seem not so bad, honestly. The left front wheel was almost over the edge as it was.

There were sounds coming from within that pit, and Ace wasn't sure he liked it, but now that they were here, he wasn't going to stop.

#

"Ah, finally a plan is going completely right!" said Mojo Jojo sweetly to himself as he leaned back in his chair to look at all his cameras with pleasure. "'Foolproof', is the word I would use if I did not also use 'perfection incarnate', 'the master-plan of the master genius who is myself, Mojo Jojo.' The girls are powerless. Boomer is only to flee from Princess Morbucks who has taken more X than she can handle. The weapon of Ex given to Princess is destroyed by my robots. Pr. Ex is trapped within his own lab. The citizens of Townsville are at my mercy. The Mayor has signed over the city to me through one of my robots as currier. The city is in chaos. They will have no choice but to give into me. My speech is prepared to be given to my new conquered world as my robots spread from this city to the rest of the county, the state, and the country and beyond."

He closed his eyes. Had success ever felt so sweet? Sickeningly sweet! It was so sweet it would be enough to give a person gingivitis if it was a physical confection, but his mind was on a high with it. It buzzed through him with the sugar rush of ages.

"Not even Pr. Utonium can come up with a plan to stop me as he has no Chemical X with which to give the poor little Powerpuff Girls back their powers. He is helpless to revive them. They must heal from their natural wounds and weariness like normal people, and once they are healed it will only be to normal human little girls. They cannot fly to get to me from their positions so far away. The Professor cannot heal them in time no matter how smart he is. There is no power greater than that of Chemical X, and he has no hope of retrieving it from my fortress. My impenetrable observatory is guarded by bots to be on the lookout for the Utoniums above all other people now that all other people are either under my command or they are hiding. The Utoniums are helpless against the power that is mine!"

All rage was combed into bristling peace, energized but controlled beneath his exuberant joy—

more powerful, more volatile, more bloodthirsty than his anger ever had been. He could almost feel his tongue dripping with the taste of the world now set on the platter before him. All the pain, all the misery, all the fear and humiliation and doubt? It all led to this point. It was all worth it, because it was all his now. The experiences of the past had only made him the sage he was today. He was so bad he was good. He was so hateful he loved. He was so evil it was to him a sense of holiness. The contradictions were intoxicating. He bathed in it, and it soaked it into his pores. Even guilt was a pleasure.

Almost over now, he thought.

It was one year ago that he had begun his quest to rule the world after being rejected by Pr. Utonium, who ignored his brilliance for the flash and cuteness of the Powerpuff Girls. How foolish he had been to think that the way to defeat them was to be flashier and greater than they were.

"Instead of rising up as a great bulk of a beast as I had when I was young and naïve," Mojo said out loud to himself. "I have grown up so much in this one year of many influential things that feels like so many more than one. I know how to be more powerful by not showing my face. That is true evil. I am the brain. I am the center, safe in my skull of the Observatory. I am cold and calculating. My cravings are deep beneath the currents of surface emotion. I am—"

Drrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrring!

"Hmm? Oh!" Mojo clasped his hands together. "Those must be the chocolate chip cookies."

There was a pause as though he expected Com to say something, but Com was a busy man, so to speak.

He shrugged and muttered to himself pleasantly, "Meanwhile, I must bide my time in time for my speech with which I will begin my reign as supreme ruler of the world."

He hopped from his swivel chair and went up the stairs to the kitchen. The cookies were a little dark by the time he got there, but they were not burnt. His timing had been well. He liked his cookies a little crispy, he decided just then, and he smelled the lusciously dark Belgian chips melted to perfection so perfect it was more sinful than the commercials of any store-brand chocolate bar.

With baker's hat still on his head from when he had popped the cookies in the oven earlier, Mojo picked up some hot pads, slipped the cookies out from the oven with ease onto a cooling tray, and was just about to set them down when he heard Ding, dong!

It was faint.

He paused.

Someone… was at the door?

Impossible.

Perhaps he had been mistaken.

He made to set down the tray again.

He closed his eyes and relished the scent of the cookies again. Not oatmeal, Not raison. Just simple chocolate chips. The classic. Nothing beat it. He reached his hand to take a bite from one just as he was about take that first chunk out of the world.

"Ah…"

Ding, dong! His hand did not quite reach his open mouth. Ding, dong! Eyes popped and his mouth hung open still. Ding, dong! He growled between his teeth. Ding, dong! Ding, dong! Ding, dong! Ding, dong! Ding, dong! Ding, dong! Ding, dong! Ding, dong! Ding, dong! Ding, dong! Ding, dong!

Tray still in his clutches, he rushed for the door and almost dropped the cookies off the tray as he shifted it to one hand. He would not even have noticed until after slamming the front door open. But they were safe.

"What is the meaning of this intru—!?"

Smack!

He saw stars before he saw who was standing outside. And yet this time he was careful not to let the cookies fall as he felt their weight shift. Just barely did he catch them. Once balanced he turned sharply to the slamming thing, which to his surprise was the frazzled, angry, and worse-for-wear face of Pr. Ex almost eye level with him and less than a foot away.

He glared at Mojo, and Mojo glared back.

Then he saw the appendage as green as a spring leaf and thick as a trunk which upheld the miserable Ex stomach-side down.

"Dah… Billy, sorry about that," said Big Billy.

Mojo ignored him. Billy had not quite finished his apology before the unapologetic voice of his leader chirped in its usual carelessness, "Say, uh, is this yours by any chance?"

The rest of the gang watched from safety behind Ace. In contrast Ace acted like he was unconcerned in every way as he held one hand behind his back and one he lifted for a half shrug and half a motion towards Ex. Billy retracted his prisoner back under his armpit.

Was it strange to say that out of all the rogues in Townsville, Ace was probably the one that disgusted Mojo the most? His sneer, his punk shakes, his painted jean-vest, his pretentious boots— not to mention his smell worse than any animal from his living in the dump, not to mention his poor hygiene. Now that he knew that Ace was also tampered with by Chemical X, that would explain why such living conditions did not make him ill, adolescent vigor aside. He was the very genius of humanity in decline either way as far as Mojo was concerned. More barbaric in some ways than his brainless goon Billy, and somehow had less self-respect than the cautious other followers.

Mojo grimaced and then lowered his eyelids haughtily in offence at the punk's very bearing. What hole he spawned out of was more a question to Mojo than what he was now. Mojo was a one-of-a-kind creature thrown from his element as a simple simian and given advanced intelligence beyond what was normal. Therefore it was only natural that Mojo was not like other people to begin with, but what was Ace's excuse? He was a creature that was perhaps beyond Mojo's comprehension, and one he did not wish to analyze deeply once he caught himself.

"Not really," said Mojo civilly, holding his head high and his tray level. "Why do you ask?"

"Well," Ace went on as though performing some sort of satire of courtesy. "I'm here to negotiate with you about your partner here, and if you want us to release him we can talk it over the possibilities here if you would just put your whole evil plan on hold for a sec. We kinda had trouble getting up here with all the robots by the way."

Yes, though Mojo, that's what I get for having the bots focus more on the Utoniums' than anyone else.

Why had Com not told him that the Gangreen Gang had brought Ex here? He might have come up with a more suitable welcome for them.

Ah, well!

Mojo shook his head.

To Ace he said quite clearly and to the point, "What has already begun cannot simply be put on 'pause' like a little game at the arcade such as the ones I know that you and your game are quite familiar with. Things are in motion that cannot be stopped with a push of a button.

"Besides, I have waited for this moment far too long, already. My complete dominance and control over every living cell on this planet is just a short time away. Every living thing will bow before the superior might of Mojo Jojo. Every living thing will have minds forced to think of nothing but serving me! Happily devoted to me! Happily devoted to me! Once the robots have gathered all those in this city and have them in my pit, they will be influenced to be mine. Last time I was too nice! This time I will show the world what I'm capable of. They will fear and tremble at my name. That is, the name Mojo Jojo! And thus will be the eminent and final defeat of the Powerpuff Girls!"

He snatched off his baker's hat and wrung it in his fist with more passion than he had originally meant to present to the lowlife before him. Indeed, Ace looked more amused than impressed, and Mojo threw the hat down with a huff.

"So…" said Ace meanwhile. "how long you think all that's gunna take?"

Composer regained, Mojo glanced at a watch that he revealed under his glove and answered lightly, "Oh, another few hours or so."

"Just so you know, I don't think me and my guys are really into this whole brain slave to a genetically enhanced monkey thing, especially in my home town and all."

Oh, this was rich! It's not like this sort of thing was up for debate when one was trying to control people's minds. Just think of the guy in the Invasion of the Body Snatchers saying this to one of the hissing mob.

"I'm sure you'll get used to it," Mojo made sure to mock with all syrupy irony through deeply pouting lips.

And fairly quickly, he added to himself.

"Actually," Ace went on the more to Mojo's rolling eyes. "I'm thinkin' about collaboratin' our efforts. You want the girls out of the way, we want the girls out of the way. We want to destroy Townsville. You want to destroy Townsville. Y'know what I'm saying?"

"You're going somewhere with this, I must presume."

"Bots are no good with this kind of stuff. If we could find egghead here, what makes you think the Powerpuff Girls can't figure this whole thing out too? You need spies, and what better spies than the Gangreen Gang, eh? We know this city better than any street rat alive."

Mojo raised a brow. Ace stood back and put his hands into his pockets confidently waiting for Mojo to mull over this, but he was not mulling.

He laughed. He laughed good and hard too, wiping a tear or two from his eyes before the end.

"I don't need spies!" said Mojo when words returned to him. "Don't you see that I have eyes over every inch of this city that I know far better than you do? You only know the drains and the trash heaps that are no longer of interest to anyone but mistakes of humanity such as—"

Wrapping his arm around Mojo's shoulder unexpectedly, Ace had to lean pretty far down on those ridiculous boots to get level with him. Mojo's flesh crawled at those sweaty, spidery fingers playing their way through his fur so insolently as if he was touching a puppy.

"Aww, c'mon, Mojo!" Ace insisted more persistent than ever. "Actual manpower. Think about it. Just like we outsmarted Pr. Dope's drone, the Powerpuff Girls can outsmart your bots in the end."

"If you want to call your cute little band of uneducated juvenile delinquents 'men'," retorted Mojo delicately removing Ace's hand from his person.

"Says the monkey who sees what his enemies are wearing and decides to dress like 'em. Makes me think there's more to the rumored fourth Powerpuff Girl, after all."

Mojo flushed feeling somewhat self conscious in his outfit. He never had before. To an outsider's eye, it may quite look like he desired to present himself as a mutated Powerpuff Girl in a sleeveless tunic of a solid color, a belt that was similar to what the girls wore, and even a cape that fluttered purple behind him like the streaks of the signature colors of the girls. He had never thought about it before.

"Monkey see, monkey do, right, boss?" said Arturo.

"That's right, Arturo!" said Ace.

And the gang laughed in unison as though this had been planned from the beginning to mock Mojo Jojo to his face, but Ace had no reason to dare to try Mojo's patience.

"You know," said Mojo lowering his eyelids again, "that it is I who have complete control over—"

A glint on his tray suddenly distracted him— the glint that should have been covered by… the cookies!

His face went pale. Every last one was gone, and the traces of them were still being chewed between the molars of the insolent scoundrels. They looked pretty pleased about it too, and hungry as growing teens usually were, but this was no free-food stand!

Red, hot, boiling rage seared through his mind like a tidal wave of molten lava from the center of the earth.

Arturo was the first to blink in concern. The rest quickly followed. Even Ace, but not until Mojo threw down his tray with a terrible clank.