Chapter 91: No Bang for Morbucks (Part 1)
The City of Townsville. Suburbs. The House.
04 MAR (Saturday) 1989. 0000.
"Buttercup… Oh, Buttercup…" a sing-song voice whispered to the toughest of the three while she was still in bed. Turning in her place because of the voice, she covered her ears with the pillow, at first annoyed by the disturbance. The realization that she and her sisters weren't alone in their room came slow, sluggish because of the haze of sleep, but when it finally came, Buttercup bolted up and started frantically scanning her room. She'd even brought up her eye-lights to shine around the room in order to investigate who could be calling out to her in the middle of the night.
But all she saw were the usual, ordinary things that one would find in a girl's room. A pile of soft toys, pink kiddie tables with chairs. A white-pink wardrobe. Vanity. There were dolls that almost looked like they were standing up, but were actually propped up by chairs. One of them was so tall that she couldn't even see the abdomens of it. Then there was the-
Wait.
Wait a second.
Buttercup turned back to the tall doll legs.
She didn't remember Dad ever buying a doll like that. None of the dolls were adult-sized, and they never came with a strange pair of leather boots that went all the way up to the thighs. Were those even leather boots? She couldn't tell.
Buttercup would have looked up had it not been for a pair of shining red eyes glaring out of the darkness. Upon seeing it out of the corner of her eyes, she dimmed out her eye-lights. For the first time since... ever, she shook with fear. Lying back down, she pulled her blanket up to cover herself completely, hoping that, perhaps, whatever it was that was standing in her room would forget about her and go away.
While she hid, she thought she could hear deceptively soft footfalls, and it was coming closer. She nudged her closest sister.
"Bunny!" she whispered to her youngest sister. "Bunny, wake up!"
She would give her a pinch next, then a punch, but nothing woke Bunny up. "Bunny, please!"
The next thing Buttercup felt was something pinching the blanket and before she knew it, it had been pulled away. A figure loomed above her. Red eyes, like a pair of dark stars or doom planets, glared down at her.
"If it isn't the lovely 'Buttercup'," the enormous being said in its sing-song voice. Buttercup couldn't even tell if it was male or female.
"Blossom! Bubbles!" Buttercup murmured in fear. She reached out for them, only to feel what felt like clothes or rubber in her hands. She turned to look at her sisters, finding it odd that they didn't feel the blanket fall away, only to find what looked like rubber skin and clothes resembling her sisters. She screamed from the sight of it as the gigantic thing above her seized her by her arms with its claw-like appendages and lifted her up.
Somehow, all her strength was sapped. There was no escaping it. Relighting her eyes, Buttercup stared once again at the being, noticing sharp spines down its back, some kind of white fur around its neck and… a red jacket? She felt the claws expand, taking the form of chitinous fingers, five on each side.
Its eyes were glowing bright, so bright that they were drowning out Buttercup's view of its face.
"You look so afraid, Buttercup!" the gigantic abomination taunted her. "Well, you really SHOULDN'T BE!"
That was the moment when Buttercup woke up and realized that it had all been a bad dream.
'Hey, Dad… I'm sorry I overreacted down in the labs. I'm sorry I nearly killed Mister Smith and Missus Smith. I just… They shouldn't have hurt you. I love you, Dad, and I don't want you to be hurt. But there's this other thing… I've been killing people outside and it's been hurting me inside, here in my heart, and I can't tell you about them.
Maybe I could tell you about them here? Maybe we'll get to listen to them in the future… In spring and summer, when the sky will be blue and the ground green, when there'll be no bad people and we'll get to spend more time together…' - Bunny Utonium, 03/04/89, 0456. Sound Record File 6.
Addendum: B-50 would produce yet more audio files throughout the night, all of which details her missions with an emphasis on who she had killed and what she thought about them. Her reactions to these deaths range from vindication to guilt and grief. Below is a summary of the subsequent audio files.
Sound Record File 7: A reiteration of her involvement in Mister Wiggums' death and her regret over the incident.
Sound Record File 8: An account of her killing of Foundation agents in a bunker in the outskirts of Townsville. Her emotional response to this was confusion.
Sound Record File 9: An account of her first mission outside training where she takes on a warehouse full of cultists, mafia members, and Foundation terrorists. She seemed to feel less remorse over their deaths, though she still wished she didn't have to kill.
Sound Record File 10: An account of her killing of the police officers in the Expositos' hideout at the Slums. She was not proud of this, though she did say that some of them deserved it.
Sound Record File 11: She told a story of how she murdered a police officer and his entire family. She seemed to suffer most of her guilt from this mission due to her killing of a child close to her physical age.
Sound Record File 12: An account of the massacre in Precinct 109. She felt uncertainty over this, though her narration indicates that she knows at least some of the police officers she killed were guilty.
Townsville Tribune Extract 04 MAR (Saturday) 1989
RASH OF COP-KILLINGS CONTINUE - TPD TERRIFIED
Townsville is a city of history, and now history has been made once more, this time of the grim kind. Yesterday, on the third of March, Friday, in the sleepy eastern suburbs, Blueberry Street, a police officer on leave, Sergeant Damian Connelly, was stabbed to death in the living room of his home.
His family was not spared either, with Joanne Connelly, his wife and homemaker, said to have been shot in the back of her head with her own shotgun after being wrestled to the ground. Howard Connelly, his son, was killed on the second floor after Joanne. Based on forensic evidence, it was revealed that he was being shot at, with wooden shrapnel found on his skin, before finally being cornered in his room and killed via several impacts to the head using the butt of a shotgun. The murder weapon was abandoned at the scene of the crime.
Eyewitness accounts suggest that the perpetrator is highly proficient. Multiple eyewitnesses could not recall seeing the perpetrator, suggesting that he, or she, had taken great pains to sneak up on the household, succeeding. The attack on the Connelly family had happened within the space of five minutes to ten minutes. By the time first responders arrived on the scene, the perpetrator was long gone. This shows a degree of planning and efficiency in the killing, suggesting military or law enforcement training.
There is some silver lining to this tragedy, however. Eyewitness accounts have also stated that there is one survivor in the attack. Some of them have reported that a girl scout had approached the Connelly family for donations with cookies and that this girl scout was later seen running out of the building. The strongest theory to explain this is that the girl scout must have hidden from the attacker and ran out when the opportunity presented itself. The TPD is still searching for this brave little lady for help in identifying the perpetrator of the Connelly Killings. She is believed to be a girl scout, brunette and around eight to ten years old. The police would like the public to help identify this little league survivor to help with this case.
The killing of the Connelly family is not the end of it, however. On the same day, at around 10 pm, Precinct 109 at the Smith Cottages was attacked by an unknown assailant. Police investigators who worked through the night mentioned in their interviews that the murderer here might be the same perpetrator from the Connelly Killings, as the police officers, prisoners and civilians in the precinct were killed with military precision, with shots that had mostly landed in vital areas of the victims such as the heart and brain.
Eleven police officers were killed in the raid on the precinct, as well as six prisoners and four civilians. The attack has sent shockwaves through the TPD, as well as the general public as such an act, especially one so successful, is unprecedented. While there had been several other raids on TPD precincts in the past, none of them had been so deadly as to wipe out the entire station.
The Precinct 109 Massacre is made problematic even further by the fact that, by the time police officers on patrol duty had returned to the precinct, the killer was already gone. Investigations into the massacre were further hampered by non-functional security cameras, which just so happens to be undergoing maintenance the day it happened and was only due to being re-activated the following day.
It seems too coincidental for the security cameras of the precinct to be dark right when Townsville's latest cop-killer struck - Anyone can be excused for thinking so. As it turns out, it was not a coincidence. Anonymous tip-offs suggest that Precinct 109 is a hive of police corruption, and the cameras were never functional except during official inspections, ensuring that no illegal activities would be recorded on tape.
The killer had not done the city any favors by wiping out the entire precinct. The TPD's Internal Affairs Department states that 'only' 70%-80% of the precinct were suspected to be corrupt, which meant that there were some officers on the straight and narrow who had been killed. Corrupt or not, regardless, justice has not been served and it would be hypocritical to wish the corrupt death.
The killer is still at large. The police would like to urge the public to stay calm and report any suspicious activities in the city that might have anything to do with the cop-killer, whom the public had taken to calling all sorts of names: Anti-Blue, Copper Stamper or simply the Cop-Killer of '89.
In the meantime, the TPD spokesperson urges calm and wishes to reassure the public that Townsville's finest will do well to protect themselves and their dependents. Already, plans are already being executed to maximize manpower mobilization. The Superiority Tactics and Response Squad has seen its membership expand over the weeks, and will be put on high alert in the case of another attack on police officers, in addition to being ready to deploy on the push of a button against any terrorist threats or attacks by 'abnormal criminals'.
The City of Townsville. Esperanza Acres. Morbucks Family Mansion.
04 MAR (Saturday) 1989. 1433.
It felt like an eternity, the last time Blossom, Bubbles and Buttercup visited Elodie 'Princess' Morbucks, and the last time they did, things weren't looking up. Elodie was barely herself; she couldn't afford to be herself as she had been really ill, coughing up blood and panting with even the slightest exertions. She was bedridden, so they couldn't do much that day, and it was more about keeping Elodie company than having fun.
The Girls had reached the Morbucks estate by flight within a half-hour, but when they were greeted by one of the maids, Annie, they were met with surprise and lack of preparation, as if they weren't expected at all.
"I apologize for the lack of hospitality, Girls, but poor little Miss Morbucks isn't here today," Annie said to the Girls as she stood at the grand entrance of the mansion, looking down at them.
"But…" Blossom looked left and right at Bubbles and Buttercup, who was looking back at her, expecting her to be the leader and speak up for them. "But Mister Morbucks said we could come and visit her? We talked to him on the phone and he said yes…"
"Oh, that poor man…" the maid remarked, putting her hand on her chest as if she was about to stumble backward and faint. "He's so stricken with grief that he's lost all his faculties…"
"What do you mean, Miss Annie?" Blossom asked, unable to decipher half of what the maid said. All she understood was that Mister Morbucks himself wasn't exactly feeling great, physically and emotionally. She had gathered that from the last time she met him. He was barely hanging on when they met over a week ago. His face was constantly in his hands, and whenever she saw it, it would have puffy eyes, surrounded by streaks of sweat on a face almost colored like the snow on her lawn.
"Elodie hasn't been getting any better, and the father's been taking it pretty hard. That Princess is his most precious little thing, after all…" Annie went on to explain. Blossom thought that the Princess' personal maid seemed quite calm about it. It was good to have someone as level-headed as her around.
"Oh..." Blossom's eyes wandered down to the floor. Elodie Morbucks was her friend too, one of just a few who were about the same size as her. It was very unfortunate that she was suffering, and it would be even more unfortunate if they lost her that way.
"But what do we do now?" Bubbles asked, stepping up. "Elodie needs us. She said so herself, and… and so did her dad."
"Yeah, we flew all the way here and it took half an hour!" Buttercup added though it wasn't for her sisters' sake, nor was it even for Elodie's sake. "We usually weren't allowed to leave the house on our own and I'm not leaving until I see Elodie!"
"Bubbles and Buttercup's right. We should see Elodie or she'll be really sad and lonely," Blossom said. Miss Annie sighed.
"It's not up to me," Miss Annie said before continuing: "But I'm sure Mister Morbucks himself wouldn't mind seeing the three of you. It is not my place to point the way to the Princess, but maybe Mister Morbucks himself might do it."
The maid would then lead Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup through the mansion of the Morbucks family. While they already knew the way to Mister Morbucks' office, they didn't mind taking their time, especially Blossom and Bubbles, who didn't know what to expect from the big man himself. Buttercup had kept her mouth shut throughout the journey through the massive mansion, surprisingly, though it was only because they were making progress towards seeing the Princess and going places. Being slow was better than being at a standstill.
When they had finally reached Mister Morbucks' office, the maid knocked on the door before opening it. She didn't wait despite the distressful noise of altercation coming from within the office. Blossom, in particular, thought that Annie must have thought it was normal because she didn't appear too bothered by it, and had followed through with her actions almost nonchalantly.
"-can't promise any better odds than this!" a well-dressed gentleman with a pair of gold-rimmed spectacles was saying when the door was opened.
"Get out!" Mister Morbucks threw a stack of files at the man. The cluster of thickly-stacked papers struck the gentleman in the head and chest. He had to adjust his spectacles to prevent it from falling and breaking. The gentleman then scooped up the avalanche of papers before hurriedly making his leave, at first stopping because he was shocked to see the famed and enigmatic Powerpuff Girls, before cautiously squeezing past them and running away as though they were going to kill him. To be fair, the corridor they were in wasn't very well lit, and their eyes had probably frightened him.
"God damn quack doctor and his useless treatments! What is this, the feudal ages!?" Mister Morbucks was practically shrieking at no one in particular; he was so engrossed in calling the doctor names that he didn't turn to look at the Girls at all nor notice the Girls immediately. "All the money in the world and I'm surrounded by a bunch of SYCOPHANTS and DIMWITS!"
He pounded his fists on his bookcase. Though his size was almost as prodigious as his wealth, the wood of the bookcase didn't so much as creak nor the books move. "What am I supposed to do, Elodie?" He cried and would have shed some tears had he not finally turned to the door to notice the three sets of eyes poking out of the near-darkness just outside.
"Powerpuff Girls!" he remarked in surprise, his face flushed from the realization that someone had been watching all along.
"I still hate that team name…" Buttercup whispered to herself and was quickly given a disapproving glare from Blossom, who'd overheard.
"Please, come in, come in," Mister Morbucks gestured for them to enter, putting on the gentlest smile possible, though his flushed complexion was counterproductive to it. "I apologize for my outburst and ramblings - I'm sorry you have to hear that." He quickly marched all the way back to his desk and sat behind it. "Please, have a seat."
The Girls, confused, flew up to the desk and sat on its surface, rather than the chair opposite him. They never liked that chair, even if it was an expensive leather luxury furniture ergonomically designed for the human spine; it wasn't quite meant for little kids, and the three of them would have to squeeze into that one chair. Besides, they considered Mister Morbucks a friend after they had learned to forgive him for the stunt he'd pulled back when he tried to raise funds for the USDO through a charity ball. Even Buttercup thought little about that day - she welcomed the fake terrorists as a distraction and enjoyed the brief adrenaline rush of the staged attack. Blossom and Bubbles believed he meant well.
As soon as the Girls had flown to their 'seats' on the massive wooden table, Mister Morbucks was up on his feet again. He had gone to a wine cabinet just behind him, surprisingly fast for someone his vertical and horizontal size. Instead of reaching for a bottle of wine, which he knew wouldn't be appropriate even for enhanced children, he took a glass pot full of some kind of yellowish beverage. He turned around.
"How about some lemonade, Girls?" Mister Morbucks offered with a hard-won smile as if he'd chomped down on a lemon himself. 'The Powerpuff Girls are here. That makes it all better, right?' he thought. He had shared the enthusiasm for the Girls that some Townsville residents of varying prominence had. He hadn't forgotten how they had saved both him and his daughter from certain doom back when the Foundation had attacked his research labs because of his perceived cooperation with the USDO. The Foundation wasn't wrong on that notion.
Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup couldn't reject the lemonade, so they each took a mug of the stuff. Blossom and Bubbles were taking reserved sips from the fruity beverage, while Buttercup was guzzling down on it.
"The lemon the juice was made from was freshly harvested from northern India. My kitchen staff knows where to source for the best lemons…" Mister Morbucks rambled on, unsure and even cautious about how he should proceed.
"It's nice of you to give us some, Mister Morbucks," Blossom thanked the tycoon before taking another sip of the lemonade. "But…"
"What about Elodie, Mister Morbucks?" Bubbles finished Blossom's sentence for her. It wasn't just the synchronization from their Sister Sense kicking in; she was unable to contain her worries and fears for the Princess. "What happened to her?"
"Oh…" Mister Morbucks crashed back down into his seat, rubbing his head. He could feel a migraine coming on from the lack of sleep and building stress. His daughter's health, which was spiraling down into oblivion, had taken a toll on him, and as if that wasn't enough, his divided attention had caused him to blunder in his leadership as an industry captain. Even his own corporation had taken a hit. Growth was slowing and even reversing. If only his mistakes were the only cause of it. No, the rabbit hole went deeper, way deeper. "Elodie…"
"Are you upset that we brought her up?" Buttercup continued the Girls' dialogue, surprisingly, feeling a sudden pang of emotion from the anomaly in her brain, which was linked to Elodie and her father and what they had provided for her. She thought she felt… gratitude? Friendship? Those fleeting emotions were strange, alien even. The urge to act on them felt inevitable, at least for as long as it lasted.
"No, no!" Mister Morbucks said quickly, removing his hand from pinching the bridge of his nose. "It's just- she's in the hospital right now, even though I promised I wouldn't put her there, I…" He wiped something from his eyes before the Girls could see. "She's getting worse and…" He was shaking by the time he'd reached this part of the conversation. Even the naive Blossom, Bubbles and Buttercup could see that he was barely in control of himself.
But then Mister Morbucks took in a deep breath, shut his eyes tightly, briefly, before opening them again.
"I've put her in the best hospital money can buy, put the best doctor money can buy on her case, choosing the most expensive treatments but…" Mister Morbucks continued. "Her odds aren't good. The hospital director promised me a one in five chance she might go into remission and, well…"
It didn't strike the financial guru immediately that he had been discussing some morbid details with what were essentially little kids (or babies, not that he was aware of their true age), but when he did, he was shocked at himself.
"I'm sorry I brought all that up," Mister Morbucks apologized. "The three of you shouldn't have to hear that."
"But I'm glad you did," Blossom said. "When my friends are in trouble, I'll want to know…"
"Maybe we can make it all better?" Bubbles suggested.
"And how are you going to do that, Bubs?" Buttercup asked cynically, crossing her arms. As hard as it was for Mister Morbucks to admit it, his sentiments were the same as Buttercup. "She's sick, and we can't punch or blast or shoot or lase sickness!"
"Maybe some hugs and kisses will make it go away?" Bubbles suggested.
"That's stupid!" Buttercup cried in disbelief.
"You're stupid!" Bubbles retorted, frustrated at Buttercup's negativity. Blossom had to intervene by pulling both of them into one-armed hugs before continuing with the interrupted conversation with Mister Morbucks.
"Hugs and kisses, and maybe some fun! Maybe she won't feel so bad that way! That's what we wanted to do with Elodie today, Mister Morbucks," Blossom added more ideas on top of Bubbles'. "I don't know if we could make her all better again, but she doesn't have to be alone."
"Oh… crap…" Mister Morbucks realized his mistake with the Powerpuff Girls way too late, and it'd embarrassed him. "I apologize for making the three of you fly all the way here - I was just too... swamped and… troubled."
"That's okay, Mister Morbucks," Blossom reassured the tycoon. "Everyone makes mistakes. That's what my Dad said and it's true…" Her smile disappeared the moment she mentioned the phrase. It'd reminded her of the number of skeletons she'd been piling in her closet. Had she made some mistakes herself? But it couldn't be! She's the smart one! Yet, it felt that way…
"Yes, you're absolutely right…" the Princess' father said. He'd gone back to rubbing his head. Reaching for a vial of pills, he shook two out and swallowed them with a gulp of his lemonade. Looking at Blossom, he thought she seemed troubled, but decided not to pursue it, what with the enormity of his own problems. "She's warded at Kingdom Hospital. It's a private hospital. Do you need directions?"
Blossom closed her eyes. She could see the entire city that way, fly through it as if she was in a simulation. Within a second, she knew exactly how to get to Kingdom Hospital.
"No, I don't," Blossom said.