Chapter 62: Father Figures
Training Segment: Communications
Date: 26 FEB (Sunday) 1989
Time: 1141
Subject: B-50 'Bunny Utonium'
Role: Black Ops Organic Weapons Platform (Bioweapon)
Status: In Training
"And X… Y… And Z…" Bunny recited the alphabets to her current instructor. After taking a break from the firing range, Bunny was brought to a small conference room in another part of headquarters by Selicia on orders of General Blackwater, in accordance to her training program.
"Very good! Your father sure did a good job teaching you the basics," Bunny's instructor, Corporal Nana Weston, praised her. When Bunny saw that she was going to take over, she was thrilled. Nana, this young woman from nowhere, had been kind to her right from the moment she met her when she came to visit with General Blackwater. Not to mention, the woman was sort of a spitting image of her, except older. They both had brown hair, though Nana's well-toned muscles were acquired, not inherited.
"Bunny good?" the enhanced girl repeated herself. They were seated next to each other behind a conference table.
"Yes, you're good," Nana cooed at her, pinching her cheek at the same time playfully. "Who's good? You are… you are!" Bunny giggled at the same time.
"Bunny like Nana," she said, and the corporal beamed at her. Those three words, though a small number, had made her day. But she knew she had a job to do. She knew she had to earn her keep in order to keep seeing Bunny.
"That's… Thank you. Nana likes Bunny too. Now how about we start learning something new?" the soldier said, visibly moved, caressing Bunny's hair. She pulled out a chart from a bag, one that appeared to display all twenty-six English alphabets with words below them. She was smiling at the same time as if she was in a TV commercial. "Radio code alphabets. Does Bunny think she can handle that?" She had asked playfully, her smile seemingly permanent. Of course, it went without saying that Bunny would likely be able to handle it. It would be harder for her to forget things than remember them, considering that she was gifted with Chemical X2-induced photographic memory which even the legendary Professor Utonium struggled to explain.
"Bunny good!" Bunny repeated herself while throwing her arms up in excitement. She seemed fixated on those words ever since meeting General Blackwater properly.
"Yes, you are! Great, now how about we run through our radio alphabets? A is for Alpha, B is for Bravo…" Corporal Nana began instructing Bunny, who giggled as if she was learning names to give her dolls and soft toys.
It didn't take Bunny very long to memorize the A to Z of radio codes, from Alpha to Zulu. But there was more in the syllabus Corporal Nana Weston had planned for her. It wasn't before long that she was able to get Bunny to memorize the Greek alphabets that the radio codes were based on, but also the language used on the military radio. Then it was onto the Morse code and military lingo. Beyond that, she began using flashcards to teach Bunny the name of various things, but unlike Professor Utonium's innocent pictures of apples and trees and goldfishes and cats, Nana Weston was using pictures containing numerous weapons, from improvised everyday objects to the most obscure firearms. Pictures of various military equipment came after that, then pictures of how different personnel in the USDO, TPD, and other federal or local agencies looked like, all of which she quickly learned the name of alarmingly fast.
And none of it broke Bunny's perfect memorizing streak. When tested on the names of some of the things she saw, she was able to recall all of them, in random order. For that, Nana gave Bunny a lollipop, and she got to choose the flavor. But really, there was the only choice that Bunny would ever take: Grape. It reminded her of the pancakes Daddy made before she came to the USDO headquarters.
The City of Townsville. Townsville Industrial Park. Church of the New Trinity.
26 FEB (Sunday) 1989. 1215.
Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup could only be confused at Dad's behavior ever since Bunny's departure for training. With her out of the way, he was supposed to spend more time with them, or at least talk to them more.
Instead, he didn't. Back at home, they had to have a second breakfast because they woke up so early. Dad was silent as he prepared the meal, and so was he at the table. He seemed distant, it seemed, with his mind elsewhere. The three of them were chatterboxes as usual, but when they tried to talk to him, he barely replied or would miss half the stuff they talked about.
Not to mention, he had brought them to the strange warehouse church when he wasn't a believer in their rhetoric. He wasn't himself, that much Blossom knew - as she knew, too, that he thought of things in a different way from the 'religious types'. He was silent when he drove them there, and he was silent when he sat down at the VIP area as the church's service began. Blossom, in particular, knew that he was thinking of something, and she could only guess that he must be thinking of Bunny. Her, and Mom. What else could it be?
But if it was any consolation, the one good that Dad did was to bring them to the church, where the people there who believed them to be angels sent from heaven were fawning over them, indulging in their every need. It was a welcome distraction from having to think about Bunny overshadowing them.
They had a long talk with the priest. It was a refreshing change from the silent treatment Dad had been giving them. He promised! Blossom was especially sour with him – she had cried and begged for his attention and he had realized his error and promised it, and yet here he was, going back on his words.
The priest – or saint, as the people here called him – was adamant that she shouldn't blame him, however. He reasoned with her that the job of raising such perfect beings as three angels capable of saving humanity was likely difficult, and to add one more to his duties would be difficult to the point of biblical proportions. Despite how Blossom felt, she thought it made sense. Bubbles and Buttercup weren't exactly easy to handle. She felt that she alone had made it easy for Dad to take care of her – not that she was rewarded for it.
No matter how outlandish the priest's beliefs were, Blossom couldn't help but think that at least he was talking to her, unlike Dad.
After the church, Dad drove the Girls to Princess Morbucks' mansion, still largely mute all the way, not that Blossom felt like talking to him anymore. Confusion and sadness eventually turned to anger and resentment, and of course, she attributed all of this to Bunny. 'Jealousy' wouldn't even begin to cover it.
The City of Townsville. Esperanza Acres. Morbucks Family Mansion.
26 FEB (Sunday) 1989.1256.
It was as if the world was falling apart right before Blossom's eyes. Come to think of it, it had been falling apart ever since she first stepped out of her house. First, she discovered that crime existed on her first trip to the mall. Then, she discovered that her life as a crime-fighter was going to be just one torment after another when she 'fought' her first battle at Townsville Central Bank. She was abused by Mom multiple times, a parent whom she so loved, and even her sisters proved to be corruptible and untrustworthy at times. It seemed as if Dad didn't care about her anymore… and now this.
Princess Morbucks had taken ill in the past few days - more ill than before, to be precise. Where previously she could at least walk, she had become bedridden now. Where previously she was hopeful or even defiantly cheerful and talkative, she was barely clinging on; at any moment now, she could just slip into a depressive state of misery. When the Girls came up to her room, she had greeted them weakly, anemic, literally, as she promptly coughed up blood, which Annie the servant wiped away swiftly as if it was a shameful thing. The Girls, however, had seen it before Annie could hide the blood away. A doctor attending to her was just leaving, the sight of Townsville's three deadliest Girls was a pretty good motivation for him to disappear.
"Shouldn't you be in the hospital? That's the place Dad said people would go to if they're sick," Blossom asked as she hovered over to her - to her, however, it was purely a theory as she had never fallen sick before, and likely never will. Bubbles immediately flew to her, sitting beside her and taking her hand, giving it a squeeze. Buttercup loomed high above obnoxiously, watching the Princess.
"I… I don't want-" the Princess was about to explain things when she had another hacking cough. There was more blood. Bubbles pulled a piece of tissue out of its jewel-encrusted box and wiped it all away. "I don't want to stay in a hospital. I hate it. Dad said I could stay here. Plus, it's really nice to see the three of you."
"Oh, poor Princess…" Bubbles said, still squeezing her hand, caressing it. "I'm sorry this happened to you."
"Maybe with the three of you around, I'll get better?" Elodie Morbucks said, trying to keep things positive.
"Why did this happen anyway?" Buttercup inquired brusquely. "We were supposed to be having fun!"
"The doctor said that I was 'too upset, too often'," the Princess explained.
"It's our fault…" Bubbles remarked sadly, hanging her head low.
"No, Bubbles," the Princess continued. "He also said something about 'bad genetics' and 'genetic diseases' and it wasn't anyone's fault." Of course, despite the Princess' erudite upbringing, she was simply too young to understand the terms she threw out. It might as well mean the same thing as bad luck and fairy tale fate.
The Girls' time at Elodie Morbucks' place was instead spent on talking and reading from the Princess' vast selection of books. It was a sad affair, as although the Princess' 'genetic disease' was often talked about, the cure wasn't, beyond the bare mention that there could be no cure.
Training Segment: Human Anatomy
Date: 26 FEB (Sunday) 1989
Time: 1311
Subject: B-50 'Bunny Utonium'
Role: Black Ops Organic Weapons Platform (Bioweapon)
Status: In Training
"-so if you want to kill a human being as quickly as possible and with no chance of any incidents, you will need to aim for the brain as it is what controls the human body. Both the front and back portions here and… here will yield the same results," Doctor Simmons lectured Bunny in his briefing room, which contained no one but them both. He was pointing out different parts of the brain on an anatomy chart, before walking over to an anatomy mannequin to point it out in a more three-dimensional manner. He didn't look very happy while he was teaching, as he was going through the motions without breaking a smile or doing more than just regurgitating his knowledge of the human body. "The next best spot would be the heart - while it might not stop a person as quickly, it will almost certainly kill. Multiple shots will ensure fatality."
"Mister Simmons?" Bunny said while putting up a hand.
"Yes, Bunny?" the old doctor adjusted his glasses as he acknowledged the purple-eyed girl.
"Does everyone have a brain and a heart?" she asked.
"Yes, of course," the doctor answered, looking like he had just spat out a frog.
"Even my Dad?" she asked a further question, puzzling the doctor as to what she was thinking.
"Yes, even your Dad," Doctor Simmons seemed to lighten up at the mention of Bunny's Dad, a smile slowly spreading on his face. Bunny, however, broke into a sob, shrieking for reasons beyond the man, quickly erasing the smile.
"What's wrong?" he asked. "What's distressing you?"
Bunny didn't answer immediately. She just kept crying, blubbering.
"Daddy has a brain and a heart!" Bunny cried.
"Bunny? What is it?" Doctor Simmons asked. Reluctantly, he grabbed a chair and sat down next to her. Picking out a handkerchief from the breast pocket of his lab coat, he helped Bunny wipe away her tears.
"Daddy- Daddy could die!" Bunny managed to enunciate. The doctor sighed. Bunny was too smart for her own good, reaching conclusions she was too emotionally undeveloped to handle.
"Yes… Yes, he could," the doctor said. "But it's not going to happen. Your Dad's tough. Besides, he's got you to protect him now."
"Does Mister Simmons mean it?" Bunny asked, still tearful and sniffling.
"Yeah, he's not leaving us anytime soon," the doctor added as he leaned on his chair, eyes distant, penetrating the ceiling as he thought about things. "My guess? He's fated for so much more - there's just so much more he's meant to accomplish. That's how it is with a man on a mission. And I think that mission involves your elder sisters - Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup - and now you, Bunny."
"Promise?" Bunny pleaded, feeling a little better.
"I promise," Simmons said.
"Mister Simmons reminds me of Daddy," Bunny said, her tearful eyes flitting down briefly to regard his lab coat and office wear, and before the doctor was ready for it, the enhanced girl hugged him. "I miss him!"
Doctor Simmons laughed, his voice rough from age, but kindly despite being weighted down by decades of tragedy. "You'll see him in a few days. I know him well, and he'll always be there, waiting for you."
The door leading into the briefing room slammed open while they were still in their embrace, making the old doctor jump. Bunny got away from him and turned on her seat to see who it was.
"Doctor Simmons! Get out here! Now!" it was General Blackwater, booming like his newly acquired tanks firing a full volley.
"I was just-" Doctor Simmons sounded weak and sheepish compared to him.
"Get out here before I throw you in a cell!" the general gave him no quarter. Resigned, the doctor stood up, exchanged a look with Bunny before stepping out of the door, which the general slammed shut when he did. Bunny sat where she was, knowing that, although she was growing on the general, going against him in any way was a bad idea.
She could hear loud, angry murmurs after that, interspersed with barely audible mumbles, weak and anemic. Bunny tried to listen harder, tears breaking the dams in her eyes, dams that were barely built with mere hours of military training. The voices grew louder and louder the harder she concentrated until she could make out what they were trying to say, to her surprise.
"-Weakening her, when we need to toughen her up!" she heard General Blackwater say.
"That was not weakness I saw. Love is not a weakness," the doctor resisted feebly. She could hear something slamming against the wall after that, and the doctor shouting in pain.
"The professor made her weak. I think he's doing a good job at that. I don't need you to start," the general went on. Bunny didn't know who 'the professor' was. Her best guess was that it could be a term of endearment or someone's second name as everyone seemed to have one. "We are supposed to undo his mistakes - his shortsightedness. He's endangering our operations at every turn, and Bunny is supposed to be a fresh start!"
"You're calling her Bunny too?" the doctor said, a curious diversion from the topic at hand. "Shouldn't she be B-50 with you?"
Silence ruled the conversation for a pregnant pause.
"And so what if I am? Are you accusing me of something, doc?" the general growled aggressively.
"I've seen the biological sample used to create Bunny. I was helping Doctor Vanum with it. There's… nothing wrong with feeling… that way, general," Doctor Simmons was speaking deliberately, treading carefully with his words. Bunny couldn't figure out why. She couldn't even begin to understand what they meant with the kind of language they were using.
"Get back in there," the general deflected the doctor's insinuations. "I don't want to hear anything about the professor on the monitoring device again."
Then there were footsteps, growing louder. Someone - one of them - was coming back. Bunny shook in fright as she didn't feel like seeing General Blackwater when he sounded really mad outside. The door flew open, but gently. She stared at the doorway. Doctor Simmons. The fright in her, however, clung onto her stubbornly.
Looking at Bunny, Doctor Simmons knew exactly what she was feeling. Walking feebly towards her, looking dejected, he stroked her hair affectionately and exchanged another look with her, doing very well at holding back sadness. But Bunny knew how he felt.
"Let's… move on with our lesson," he said, even though he didn't feel like conducting it. "We'll talk about the different parts of the human body in order of attack priority…"
Training Segment: Unarmed Combat
Date: 26 FEB (Sunday) 1989
Time: 1424
Subject: B-50 'Bunny Utonium'
Role: Black Ops Organic Weapons Platform (Bioweapon)
Status: In Training
"Good! Very good!" Bunny's martial arts instructor praised the rising star of the USDO after she was able to execute an excellent karate chop which managed to split a steel rod before her into two. That wasn't her only achievement, however, as she went on, as instructed, to put a deep dent in a steel plating next to it with a straight fist, and give another plate a kick so hard that it'd flown across the underground courtyard they were training in. A dull thud could be heard a second or two later when it landed. All this was done while Bunny was dressed in Karate uniform. It would be easy to imagine that she would be deadlier in her combat armor. "Good!"
"Bunny good!" the enhanced girl exclaimed excitedly when she had earned her stern instructor's approval. His martial arts instructor was a strict, unyielding man (more so than even General Blackwater), a black belt collector of martial art styles imported from Japan not too long ago. He had been rough with Bunny at the beginning of his training regimen, but when she proved to be the student of his dreams, he melted quickly into another sort of fatherly figure to Bunny, though that position was held by Professor Utonium first and General Blackwater second.
Speaking of the general, he had been watching from a bench, alongside Corporal Nana Weston and Sergeant Selicia Goodwin. All of them had been watching, their focus unbroken all the while, all of them with their own vested interest in the new kid around the block.
They continued watching, as Bunny began sparring with her instructor, going slow at first, then speeding up, with the black belt targeting strikes at her and Bunny parrying, redirecting or dodging. Even at his fullest speed, Bunny was untouchable, and even as the minutes passed, she showed no signs of exhaustion. Her instructor, on the other hand, could feel the heat building up in him, his limbs growing heavier, and he began winding down, then stopped.
"Did Bunny do good?" she asked, expecting the same praise she had grown addicted to.
"Yes, you did really well," the Japanese man praised the enhanced being, his accent thick. "Now attack, start slow like before. Ganbatte!"
It was far beyond what Selicia was capable of teaching Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup. Her skills in unarmed combat was either learned on the streets, underhanded techniques with no regulation and theory, or in Organization training, which was a mishmash of many different styles (in less polite terms, a bastardization of many different styles of martial arts pillaged from their respective countries), designed for the modern battlefield as a last resort, emphasizing the killing stroke. Sure, she had picked up one or two other things along the way as a matter of curiosity, but she would never be able to take on a black belt.
Bunny was already outshining her elder sisters, and it had only been a day, with only the basics covered. Selicia couldn't even begin to imagine what she would resemble by the end of the crash course.
As if to prove Selicia's point, Bunny would quickly sail through her master's lessons, absorbing not only the basics of Karate, but that of several other styles of Japanese martial arts, such as Jujutsu, Aikido, and Judo then moving on to devour the Korean systems of Taekwondo and Hapkido. While her technique needed polishing all around, she had gone far above and beyond that which was expected of a first-day student. In the end, her prodigious Chemical X2 enhanced physical performance could easily make up for the deficit in skill - and more.
In fact, she would have gone on to master what she was taught. The only reason why she stopped learning was that they had run out of time.