Chapter 84: One Too Many (Part 1)
Townsville Tribune Extract 03 MAR (Friday) 1989
The following data is a copy of a series of articles printed on one of Townsville's main news media outlets. It contains important information related to USDO activities.
(The following article is found on the front page, which is indicative of what is likely to be the city's main concern)
NEW COP-KILLER ON THE LOOSE
The City of Townsville had stood witness to numerous assaults on its esteemed city officials ever since its founding. From the Post-Civil-War assassinations of city administrators and law enforcers by ex-slavers to the Hunger Murders in the middle of World War One, from one bout of gang violence during Prohibition to another in the 60s, Townsville has had rashes of violence targeted at members of the Townsville Police Force.
Yet, the city continues to stand strong, proud and defiant against those who would parasitically exploit it or even tear it down. If there is any comfort to be derived from these tragedies, it is that they are intermittent, casualties often occur as one-time events and the perpetrators are very often caught or killed shortly after their rampages.
All that, however, appears to have changed with the newest rash of cop-killing. Ten police officers in the slums of Townsville are reported to have been killed last night. This fact alone is a bad omen, as none have ever been so bold as to kill so many police officers at once, not counting instances where the police are on the offensive while responding to calls. The cops were not just targeted for murder in cold blood - they were massacred.
The reason why TPD officers are, by and large, immune to being targeted, at least massacre-style, is varied. The law-abiding respect them for having to deal with crime in the world's most crime-ridden city. While often spoken in hushed tones, the not-so-law-abiding respects some of them for looking the other way. This status quo allows only small-scale assaults on police officers in the silent war between the upright and the corrupt.
Even the previous cop-killer case had not been so ambitious. On 15 June 1988, a disgruntled factory worker, Gavin Sullivan, had ambushed and killed four officers in two squad cars before being shot in the head himself by citizen hero, Mike Wilford - who is, coincidentally, distantly related to Mayor Wilford. A previous cop-killer case earlier that year on the 5th of February saw six officers killed in a coffee shop shooting.
Back in the slums yesterday, on the 2nd of March 1989, ten police officers were killed all within a short span of time, estimated to be about ten to fifteen minutes, according to forensic experts in the TPD. While details are still up for debate, a police spokesperson claims that it is likely that the perpetrator is a highly-trained and heavily-armed individual, either military or ex-military. A USDO spokesperson, when approached for questions, deeply regrets the incident and will step up their efforts to fight crime in Townsville.
The Townsville Police Department and their unions are up in arms over the incident. All units in the city have been placed on high alert. The TPD's rival unit to the USDO, STARS, or the Superiority Tactics and Response Squads, will also be deployed on random patrol missions. At the same time, STARS throughout Townsville will be on a 24-hours alert, to be deployed to any locale on short notice.
The public is advised to be on the lookout for anyone suspicious.
SURPRISE CELEBRATIONS IN STORE FOR TOWNSVILLE
Never in this decade has Townsville ever felt any sense of hope when it comes to the crime war. Some have even decided that an eternal war between good and evil is the new normal. Ever since the newly-christened Powerpuff Girls entered the scene, however, that has changed. Ever since coming into the picture, the Powerpuff Girls have been a constant adversary to the mafia that ruled the streets of Townsville. An article like this just months ago would have been impossible to publish had it not been for the Powerpuff Girls.
Recently, they have turned their attention to the many gangs of Townsville that have been slicing up the city like a cake and devouring their share of it. In recent days, Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup of the USDO had been targeting the top gangs. When interviewed, the USDO, this time, gave credit to the TPD for coordinating the manhunt for gang leaders. History has been made, as previously, these gang leaders were untouchable, protected by their complex network of contacts, plausible deniability and clandestine approaches to organized crime.
However, the Powerpuff Girls, functioning outside the confines of traditional law enforcement, have been able to touch them where no one else could. While many welcome this positive change, there has been some criticism of the Powerpuff Girls and their parent agency, the USDO. Some claim that it is hypocritical that the Girls are operating outside the law. Others took issue with the way they carried out their operations, as casualties are mounting and property damage is worse with the Powerpuff Girls. Many have also pointed out that children should not be forced to fight crime, nor should they be trusted to make life-and-death decisions.
'It is absolutely ridiculous that anyone would raise such criticisms of the Powerpuff Girls,' Director Cliff of the USDO had said when he took center stage in a USDO press conference two days ago at City Hall. 'They are not children, but well-trained, dedicated weapons platforms fulfilling their function. You don't judge a gun for firing on its user's behalf, you judge it based on the numbers, and the Powerpuff Girls have proven themselves effective. The results speak for themselves.'
Exactly what the USDO Director meant by 'weapons platforms' has been up in the air for as long as the Powerpuff Girls have been in service. Some believe that they are highly advanced children-shaped robots, while others think that they are lab-grown bioweapons. Regardless of what they are, many see them for how they appear, as superpowered superhero children Townsville desperately needs.
'I can't take credit for all their work,' Police Chief Feig of Precinct 77 commented when interviewed about his pivotal role in coordinating strikes against the myriad gang leaders plaguing Townsville. 'All I did was point the finger at the right people, and off they go. They're doing the city proud. It's just a shame that we've gotten to a point where we're using little girls to solve the city's criminal crisis, as superpowered as they may be.'
How is all this related to a celebration? Mayor Wilford, as high up in his cloud castle as he may be, has done right by the city all these years, often descending down from his ivory tower and staying on the ground. A rare honest politician, the leader Townsville does not deserve, he has done it again.
In honor of the Powerpuff Girls, he has been arranging for a celebration in secret to mark their achievements and deeds done in service of the city. When pressed as to how it is a 'surprise' when he just spoiled it for this interview, he remarked that he knows the Powerpuff Girls enough to know that they do not read newspapers, and are too busy saving the day to listen to hearsay. The few people in the position to inform them about the surprise should be wise enough not to spill the secret, he believes. Of course, he urges the public to keep quiet about the surprise until it is time.
The celebrations are slated to go ahead at the end of next week. The details of its contents are, for now, under wraps.
The City of Townsville. Downtown. Townsville Police Department Headquarters.
03 MAR (Friday) 1989. 1103.
"Why!? I don't understand!" I yelled at the chief. It wasn't the first time, nor will it be the last. We both understood that.
"These 'Powerpuff Girls' are not your kids! You can't hog their services!" the chief argued back. I'd rarely heard that much thunder in him. It could only mean one thing. He was never really that motivated before, and I knew the only thing that fueled him. "We've been going in a loop. You know why. You're not the only guy with a mission here. You saw the press yesterday? Coming in here to ask questions? That's another man doing his job. His duty!"
"Is that right? You sure about that?" I asked sarcastically. I never wanted to kick the hornet's nest. I used to be smarter than that. But I guess the years were getting to me, not so much the rot of Father Time, but the tiredness that came with it.
"What's that supposed to mean?" the chief asked, his voice narrowed into a more hushed tone, which was never a good sign. I knew about who Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup had been liaising with, and that man's name wasn't good news. Not by a long shot.
"You know what I mean," I said simply. I wasn't kidding, and neither was I hinting at the fact. We both understood that.
"I guess I do," the chief admitted. I was surprised, but then again, his office wasn't bugged, at least I didn't think it was. There was a reason why he'd been around for so long, sitting in his comfy boss chair for years without interruption. He'd been toeing the line, well, a couple, and he towed them really well. The slave drivers hadn't given him any lashes - only one too many cracks of the whip in the air.
"But it means nothing in a city like this," the chief went on. Talking in vague terms had its benefits, especially in a city like Townsville. "I get it. You're an old cop, a decade older than even me. You've seen better days. But that's your problem right there. In case you hadn't notice all these years, 'lieutenant', things work differently from how it used to way back when."
"I know how things work, and it's going to change. We're going to win," I cautioned him. I was tired, like a first-timer running the last legs of a marathon, or an old man who had to make every breath count. I wanted it all to end. I'd hit one too many hurdles. "I'm going to make damn sure we win."
"Don't be so sure about that," he cautioned me in return, before standing up again, pushing his hefty weight up to my level. "The Powerpuff Girls will be too busy with other requests for the next few days. They've got actual things to achieve with other men - unlike the fool's errand they've been sent on when they were with SOMEONE I know."
I left the viper's nest with a bad taste in my mouth. Civil war's coming - it'd actually been happening for a while, but the skirmishes were giving way to the big battles.
I couldn't continue shooting for the Amoeba Boys, I knew that after my talk with the chief. I'd have to secure the home front first, and I knew where to start…
The City of Townsville. Suburbs. The House.
03 MAR (Friday) 1989. 1339.
It wasn't the best of days today, but at least it could have been worse, at least from the perspective of Professor Utonium. The Girls, all four of them, were back by lunchtime, and there was nothing on the news that would mean trouble for any of them, though the news, as always, was full of dark omens, and in Townsville, there were dark omens every other hour. A police officer and his family were slaughtered in their own home, and on the officer's day off no less.
Bunny was back home first before her elder sisters. She'd come back unscathed, something he could only be thankful about as the last time she was on a mission, she'd been hurt, and it seemed like the start of a trend. He was glad he was wrong.
They'd spent some time together, mainly just watching television as a normal family would. Bunny got to indulge in cartoons, something she hadn't been able to do since her training started. Despite her real-life experiences, those Hanna-Barbera cartoons were still magic to her. Her laughter during an episode of Paddington Bear was music to the professor's ears.
Not long after, Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup rang the doorbell. Both the professor and Bunny went to receive the elder daughters of the house.
And just like before, the original three came back home battered and even worse off than before. Blossom had received a terrible-looking cut going diagonally across her face, likely inflicted using a blade-like weapon. Buttercup's facial injury was worse. Her left cheek had been slit open. And this wasn't going into their other wounds yet. For Blossom, the next most conspicuous wound on her was her swollen, black eye, then the cuts all over her.
"Why does it have to be the face?" the tomboy groaned and winced. It wasn't the first time she had received such an injury. Bubbles was the only one of the three to be (mostly) unscathed this time; but even then, she still had some small cuts that needed treatment and a few bruises that needed a few hours to heal.
To say that Bunny was shocked would be an understatement. It'd felt as if she was failing them. The sight of Blossom and Buttercup's injuries weren't encouraging and particularly horrifying when she got to see the inside of Buttercup's mouth from the opening of her cheek wound. At that point, she knew that she would have to fight harder and kill more of her enemies - and somehow, she just knew, her sisters would cease suffering.
"How did this happen?" the professor would later ask Blossom and Buttercup after he had brought them down to the lab for treatment. He would discover later that Blossom had taken an ax to the shoulder while Buttercup had suffered a similar injury to the thigh. Apparently, someone had supplied Duranium weapons to whoever was responsible for the injuries. Upon removing their gear, the professor would discover more cuts and bruises on their bodies.
As Bunny was assisting the professor alongside Selicia, she had seen all of it, how bad it was. She'd promised herself then that she wouldn't be such a sobbing, apologetic mess the next time she had to kill an enemy.
"We were going after the 'Chinese Triad' this time on the far edge of Townsville in a place called 'Chinatown'," Blossom explained as she winced in pain while the professor was stitching her face up. Buttercup had had it worse, however, as the professor had to stitch her split cheek back together. Eating would be a problem for her, and it would be as painful as she was hungry. "The bad guys there really knew how to fight…"
The City of Townsville. Chinatown. Wuxia Mă Lù.
03 MAR (Friday) 1989. 1152.
Blossom thought that it was classy of Bossman to send her off only after they had filled her belly with snacks and her head with praises because this next gang he pointed out for her sounded like they really meant business - business of the sticky kind. Just the name of their leaders sounded intimidating. Their leader was known as the 'Dragon's Head'. The Dragon's Head was guarded by Dragon Claws, sworn brother-protectors of their leader. The Dragon's Head's lieutenants were known by various equally-intimidating terms such as the Vanguard, Mountain Master and Incense Master. Lastly, they were known as the Blood Dragons, or simply the Chinese Triad.
The Don considered them strong, even if still inferior to the Lombardi Crime Family. They had hundreds of members, which he considered small, but Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup still found it to be a big number. They weren't afraid of committing serious crimes, and their foulest deeds included mass murder and cold-blooded torture that'd went on for days, weeks - even months. But other than that, assassinations, kidnappings, extortion, involvement in the drug business, brothels, torture sports, illegal dog fighting rings, counterfeiting, money laundering, and illegal firearms importation were just some of their daily routine activities. The Girls didn't understand half the terms being thrown at them, but they understood the weight of those words. They must be some really, really mean bullies, perhaps even worse than the Expositos.
The Girls entered the scene flying, with Buttercup packing her machinegun while the other two had their MP5s as vestigial weapons they wouldn't likely use. The building was a huge multi-floor restaurant with a Chinese theme to it. There were guards at the entrance and roof, but they were easily dispatched with the Girls firing their respective beams simultaneously at different targets, burning and cutting them up, but one was able to retreat inside, clutching an arm that looked like it was going to fall off. The Girls crashed through a display window of the restaurant, shattering glass shards and fake bowls of noodles and rice all over the place.
There was no one in the dining area of the restaurant. It had been closed for something. Based on experience alone, the Girls knew that a criminal meeting was going on. There was a trail of blood leading into the back. Double doors with porthole windows were still swinging. They could see what was behind. The kitchen.
Men burst out of the said kitchen in short order; there was a whole bunch of them, armed with all manners of weapons, both modern and traditional. Bullets had started flying almost immediately, coming from both sides. Naturally, the Girls were hit to no effect. Blossom and Bubbles had formed their newly-mastered energy shields to completely nullify the force of the bullets while Buttercup was shooting back, simply shrugging off the snapping pain of the bullets. The tomboy was able to gun down one of them before the rest took cover behind counters.
"We have to go through them quickly! Their leaders will get away!" Blossom ordered. She knew how it would go; the criminal leaders would try to make a break for it as they could not beat them easily, realistically.
Buttercup was flying ahead with or without Blossom's orders anyway. Sticking close to the ceiling, she fired her Stoner Light Machinegun in bursts, concentrating on several men hiding behind the counters. She knew she had gotten one of them straight away, while the others dove for cover as wood splintered in her wake.
Blossom and Bubbles flew right up to the men, their energy shields still held up with one hand. Blossom was firing off infrared beams, the yield high enough to burn the men as they fired back at them with futility. Bubbles, however, decided to go soft on whoever she encountered, and even as one of them continued unloading his Uzi at her, she responded by knocking him out with a punch across the face. She would do the same for the others in a room - better her than her less discerning sisters.
But it was getting tiring. One of them was unloading shotgun shells on Bubbles and she flew up close to him. Her energy shield fizzled out but she'd given him an upper-cut just in time to knock him clear into lalaland.
Buttercup, in the meantime, had overcome her share of the bad guys easily by flying over the counters and gunning down another couple of Chinese thugs from overhead. Blossom had burned through the rest of them just as her own pink energy bubble had fizzled out from the firepower directed at it.
But the vanguard was down. Blossom ran through the swinging kitchen doors, slamming through them. Bubbles and Buttercup followed. It was pandemonium in there, and it wasn't due to some culinary magic. Men were running down the aisles, their guns spitting out bullets at them, fiery like dragons.
Buttercup jumped on top of a counter, returning fire to add to the chaos, only to run out of bullets shortly. She fell back on her laser eye beam, slicing a man's head off; blood had sprayed everywhere - on the counters, sinks, food, and utensils.
Bubbles fired ion beams as she surged forward, sweeping it across the kitchen, flooring a couple of them, who were replaced with four more. Radios and phones and other electronics in the room were shorted out.
Following up was Blossom, who fired her infrared beam at another triad member, who had wisely ducked out of view before he could be hit. Before she could scratch that itch, however, she heard a door flinging open and hitting the wall. A man flew out from the darkness within, but before she could turn to see, she felt something slam into the side of her head, sending her sprawling on the ground. With watery eyes, she thought she could make out a man with a long stick doing the same with Bubbles and Buttercup. The stick was shimmering. Duranium. And the man had red eyes. Oh no.
She tried to get up, but she had only made it to her knees when the mystery attacker, who had been spinning his staff, building up speed, swung one end of his Duranium weapon at her.
She'd been sent flying back out the kitchen through the double doors, landing on a table, smashing it with all four legs broken. She felt as broken as the table then.
But there was no time to rest. The man flew out of the doors in his pursuit of her; she barely managed to roll out of the way as he brought his staff down, splintering the wood where her chest used to be.
Blossom floated out of the way, losing control momentarily and spinning in the air before bringing her X-thrusts under control. She'd finally had a good look at the man.
And he wasn't someone she'd expected to fight. He didn't look like any criminal she had seen before. He was shorter than most men she had seen. He resembled the Yakuzas she had fought in physical appearance, though he seemed 'nicer'. Except for the Crazy-Bubbles-like red eyes. He was wearing clothing she had never seen before. Unknown to her, he was in traditional Chinese garbs, mostly brown in color with dark blue pants. Apparently, if he were to go out, he'd want to go out in style. On his hip were a few more weapons, swords in sheathes. The only thing modern about him was the MAC-10 machine pistol strapped to his belt.
Blossom would have thought that he was some kind of entertainer had he not brutalized her sisters and her.
"You leave, now," the Chinese man offered. "I don't want to kill little girls today."
The fighter seemed reasonable despite his use of His Secret 2.0, something which Blossom liked.
The kitchen doors, which had sustained much abuse today, slammed open again. Bubbles and Buttercup had finally rejoined the fight, albeit with bruises on their heads. Their newest nemesis seemed alarmed by this. He twirled the staff in his hand before holding it behind his back.
"I repeat my offer to three of you. Leave my brothers alone and I spare you, all of you," the Chinese man-made his offer once more, this time to all three of the Girls.