Chapter 100: Minotaur

The City of Townsville. Outskirts. Hunter's Respite (Gas Stop).

06 MAR (Monday) 1989. 2110.

"I'll be fine, Dad," Bunny spoke into her flip-phone. Like her sisters, she was given one for ease of communication. "Thanks for the juice. I feel much better now. Love you too, Dad. Bye!"

Bunny had been deployed once more, just when she thought that crime had eased up a little. Not even 24 hours ago, she had been severely injured, and she had spent the rest of the day trying to recover as much as she could, only to encounter certain… hiccups along the way. Still, it wasn't too bad, seeing that she wasn't coughing up blood anymore.

The mission this time was strange, and it wasn't just because it was a conventional mission that would have befitted her sisters. The mission was noteworthy even before it started…

The City of Townsville. Suburbs. The House.

06 MAR (Monday) 1989. 2041.

Bzzz! Bzzz! Bzzz! The clown phone screamed at Blossom, Bubbles, Buttercup, and Bunny while they were playing. Blossom and Buttercup were each on their own, while Bubbles and Bunny were having fun with chess - Bunny had decided to pay Bubbles back for teaching her how to fly by teaching her how to play chess.

As Bunny was the only Girl on active duty, she zipped up to the phone, more energetic than before after a regime of bed rest, playtime, and Chemical X2-laced juices. Picking up the phone, she answered it.

"Bunny. This is General Blackwater. A USDO patrol unit has encountered an enhanced being - a very dangerous one. They've cornered it in the store it raided. How are you? Are you up for it?" the voice in the phone said. Bunny was glad to hear it. If only she could spend more time with the old general! "We can try keeping it there until the morning. Your… sisters… could back you up tomorrow-"

"No, general. I'll be fine on my own," Bunny said while casting a glance on her sisters, who were miserable while apart from one another. She didn't like the idea of putting them in danger.

"Are you sure?" the general replied, uncertain about Bunny's decision. It wasn't like him at all, but Bunny figured that their growing friendship was likely to blame for his odd behavior.

"Yes."

"I knew you'd say that. I've sent some men to escort you to the mission site. Don't take your bike out this time. They'll be assisting you in every way," the general said. "Stay safe. Go right ahead, there's no time to lose. It's not easy keeping that… thing penned in."

The general hung up after that. Instinctively, Bunny trotted over to one of the porthole-like windows and looked out. There were three vehicles on the streets, all of which looked identical to each other, save for the weapons mounted on top. They were all Lamborghini sports cars, the exact same vehicles that used to transport Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup around back when they couldn't fly. The sleek speed machines were all gray and emblazoned with the USDO crest on the doors. Some men were leaning on the cars or hanging around it. Zooming her vision, she could recognize one of them. Lieutenant Blake.

"You're going to fight crime, aren't you?" Bunny heard Bubbles say. She turned around and saw that she was no longer sitting beside their improvised chessboard.

"Yes," Bunny said. "I'm sorry I can't play with you."

"No, it's fine. Thanks, Bunny," Bubbles said. "It's because of you that we get to be normal little girls… at least for tonight."

"Maybe we could finish our Chess game later tonight?" Bunny suggested, before going into the closet to drag her gear out.

"I'd love to…" Bubbles said as Bunny was changing into her uniform rapidly. After she'd bade goodbye to Bubbles one last time, then to the indifferent Blossom and Buttercup, Bunny did the same with Dad and Mom as she went on her way out through the living room. She had to reassure Dad over and over again that she would be fine before she could leave through the garage door - she needed to pick up Ace's Duranium sword first.

When it came time to meet Lieutenant Blake, she wasn't sure how she should approach it. Being a little kid, she couldn't help but be shy about it, especially since she would be meeting an adult, even if he was someone who was friendly towards her sisters.

It felt as if she was taking her all to approach the man. Her hands were clasped together, as she wasn't sure what to do with them. She looked up at Agent Blake, wanting to say something, to greet him, but nothing came out.

"Cat caught your tongue?" Agent Blake said with a smile. Bunny did not understand the expression, so she actually had to check her mouth if her tongue had disappeared, momentarily afraid that it really did. Agent Blake laughed. "It's nice to see you again, Bunny. You may call me Mister Blake, like your sisters, did. Your sisters are great kids - so I hope that we can be friends throughout this whole mess in Townsville." Blake extended a hand, waiting for Bunny to take it.

"It's nice to meet you too," Bunny said stiffly. She recognized the PTF soldier's gesture and took it - like all other adults, his hand would envelope hers in a handshake.

"Enough standing on ceremony," Agent Blake said. Putting a hand on Bunny's shoulder, he led her towards the Lamborghini speed transport in the center of the three-vehicle column. "Here, let me introduce you to your new ride."

Young though Bunny might be, she could appreciate the beauty inherent in the car's design. It was an experimental model, poached from Chrysler Corporation and their Lamborghini subsidiary. Unlike all other sports cars of the same brand and design principles, the speed transport had four doors and was longer than usual. It was declared a failure compared to the conventional models, which made it easy for the USDO to get their hands on them. The USDO had bolted light armor plates all around it and added a machine gun on top, but those additions did not blemish the beauty of the car.

"Wow…" Bunny gawked at the car, her mouth wide open. "Is it really for me?"

"Definitely! We used to move your sisters around, and now we'll do the same for you. Come, Bunny. There are people who're eager to meet you," Agent Blake led her to a group of soldiers that was forming around one of the cars. The lieutenant would introduce her to the entire crew: his second-in-command, Agent Fields. Sergeant Cromwell, the communications specialist. Sergeant Holliday, the team's sniper - who also served as the Girls' chef when Blake had to take over as the Girls' handlers for a few days. Sergeant Rutherland, assault specialist - and also the Girls' playmate back in the day. Corporal Zach, the ill-humored medic. Private Mcmire, the group's K-9 handler - if they ever needed dogs for purposes beyond occupying Bubbles. There were a few others who weren't notable because of their reluctance to engage the Girls, but they had since come to accept them.

The doors of the Lamborghini speed transport would fling open, like the wings of a bird, and Bunny was shepherded to sit in the shotgun seat - though it was a special treat for her maiden trip. "You'll be sitting in the back the next time," Blake laughed. "It's safer that way."

Soon, they were on their way. There was a good reason why Blake had put Bunny at the front. On the way to the mission site, they would talk and get to know each other. Blake would tell Bunny about the adventures Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup would have whenever he was their driver. He would tell her what he knew about the Powerpuff Girls' first day, back when they were simply known as 'The Three' (not counting the insults Townsville citizens would throw their way back when they thought that they were a menace). He would tell her about their subsequent efforts to fight crime, which all ended in… mixed successes, until the turning point at the Morbucks Industries Research Laboratories, or the Morbucks Labs for short.

Bunny wasn't entirely surprised by her elder sisters' mixed successes; she had seen videos of them. But it was in Blake's storytelling that she found the more unexpected elements. She had looked up to Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup as heroines, in addition to being veterans, if obsolete and trained on a lower tier than her. She couldn't imagine them as freshly-born children who were as naive, meek, and clueless as her.

It was also in Blake's stories that she found what she was looking for; evidence and accounts of her sisters' competency and heroism. Despite their blunders, even in the first couple months of their existence, they were a force to be reckoned with, one that Townsville eventually began to trust. These days, mopping the floor with the strongest of the many gangs of Townsville was everyday business to her cherished sisters.

Bunny had always wanted to emulate them.

The City of Townsville. Outskirts. Hunter's Respite (Gas Stop).

06 MAR (Monday) 1989. 2111.

It was time. The USDO patrol officer who had put the gas stop under siege had told them the full story. An enhanced being had come down from the woods to raid the gas stop. Eyewitness accounts were varied; they couldn't even agree on the color of the creature's fur. Some said it was white like a Yeti's. Others thought it was pink. Still, others claimed it to be gray.

But there were some crucial (and startling) similarities. It was clothed in a haggard and worn denim jumpsuit, had discarded some white camouflage, and was strong enough to push aside cars and rip doors from their hinges. It was armed literally to the teeth - not just with an old lever-action shotgun, but also with claws and yes, teeth. Sharp, monstrous teeth that would best be described as fangs.

What was more, it wasn't the first time the USDO, or the Powerpuff Girls, had encountered it. Bunny had seen security footage that had captured the creature, and she saw it crushing Bubbles like a porcelain doll. It was faint, but she heard bones dislocating. Bubbles' scream, on the other hand, wasn't as faint.

Knowing that this monster had injured her sisters had made her mad. Bunny wanted to dispense her own justice for that, a little tit for tat, an eye for an eye.

"As much as I hate to put a child on the vanguard, you're tougher than the rest of us," Blake said to her while they were in the final stages of planning the counter-raid. "Unless you're not up to it. Are you sure you've recovered enough? You took quite a serious beating last night."

"That was last night, Mister Blake," Bunny growled, not at Blake, but at the creature holed up in the gas stop. Like a wolf rather than a rabbit, she glared at the gas stop, actually seeing through it. She couldn't quite see it, as it was blocked by rows of shelves, but she could see its head poking out. The rest of its body was an unclear silhouette. There were hostages kept behind the cash counter. It was no wonder the TPD hadn't stormed the gas stop store yet.

"Just yell if you need assistance. We'll be right behind you. We're packing some anti-enhanced arsenal for this, but you'll need to get out of the way if you want us to use it," Blake said, but Bunny wasn't really listening. She continued to glare at the beast in the gas station, already imagining ways to exact revenge on her new enemy.

"Bunny," Blake shook Bunny by the shoulder. She turned around to glare at him, but then remembered that she was surrounded by friends. She stopped putting on her mad look, but Blake had already seen her that way. "Hey, stay focused, alright? We don't need you to get injured again."

"Yes, Mister Blake…" Bunny said.

"Let's get started then. Lead the way," Blake replied.

Weaving between abandoned vehicles and gas pumps, Bunny approached the store of the gas stop stealthily, with her eyes fixed on the purple giant inside. Her x-ray vision had been active all the while, so she knew when to hide and when to dash. Agent Blake and his men were falling behind, but they were keeping out of sight admirably well, considering their lack of enhanced abilities.

Bunny couldn't wait. She wanted justice for her sisters, especially Bubbles. With her eidetic memory, she could remember everything perfectly, and that included the security footage in which the purple man had savaged Bubbles.

Within moments, Bunny had made it to the window of the store. While she was hiding under it with her MP5 in hand, she continued to peek at her target via x-ray vision. He had been busy filling a shopping cart full of handpicked food, prioritizing canned, and packaged food. He wasn't looking her way most of the time, as if he wasn't concerned at all about a raid on his position.

Flashes of Bubbles screaming, getting broken. Bunny couldn't wait any longer. Jumping through the window, shattering it completely, she took cover behind a shelf of gumdrops, x-ray vision still active. Purple Man was now looking her way again, walking out of the aisle he was shopping in, heavy footsteps betraying his graceless motion.

Flashes of Blossom getting maimed, scenes reconstructed from Blake's stories. Bunny hopped out of her position, gun blazing, emptied within seconds. The Purple Man shielded himself with his arm; the bullets made holes in his denim. He recoiled briefly, but surged forward amidst the lead barrage, thrusting his old lever-action shotgun out, ready to fire, but by then, Bunny was already gone.

She had already retreated to an aisle before popping behind the Purple Man and unloading another magazine of 9mm rounds on him, all perfectly accurate and striking home because of the strength she possessed. The Purple Man had anticipated her and fired his own shotgun, which did little except dent Bunny's armor.

Leaping back into cover, Bunny slung her MP5 onto her back - she had been testing her target's abilities all this while. Conventional firearms were useless against the purple-furred beast, but the beast had one himself, and it felt different. The force was more powerful. The shotgun pellets shouldn't have dented her armor, and her chest shouldn't feel bruised.

"Grrrr! How many of you city pixies are there!?" the Purple Man bellowed. "Lumpkins' gonna teach the all of you not to mess with him!"

Bunny responded by hoisting herself up the shelf and firing a quick purple laser beam, forcing the Purple Man, who called himself Lumpkins, to again shield himself with his massive arms. She ducked back down just in time to avoid another shotgun blast. She'd done damage. She'd seen it: fur getting burned, skin turning red.

'I'm winning,' Bunny thought, and she would have fired more laser beams too had Lumpkins not crash into the shelf she was hiding behind, sending both she and the shelf crashing into the glassy beverage section. She felt glass breaking all around her, cans popping open, letting loose a hundred soda geysers shooting gassy liquid all over the place, drenching her in the sugary stuff.

"You're not going anywhere, y'runt!" Lumpkins howled, and even when she was surrounded by aluminum cans and glasses full of alcohol, she could hear him well. As it turned out, there was more work to be done before she could even come remotely close to 'winning'.

Bunny flew out of her freezer prison, hovering in the air. Charging her eyes up for a more damaging beam, she endured another shotgun blast before firing her twin purple beams, searing Lumpkins as he clumsily ducked into cover. Then, unexpectedly, Bunny saw that the cover was raised and thrown at her. She darted out of the way, accidentally bumping her head on the ceiling hard before falling to the ground.

She was reminded of Blake's worries. She could feel it in her veins the sensation of mounting exhaustion. It wasn't even physical exhaustion; it was something deeper.

Bunny opened her eyes. She could hear and smell him before she saw him. Heavy, rapid, thundering footsteps. Lumpkins was rushing towards her, the color of his fur turned red with anger. With her more fancy abilities unavailable, Bunny pulled Ace's Duranium katana out, but before she could fend off her attacker, she felt a massive kick to her chest, which had sent her flying into another store shelf, the impact cushioned by candy bars.

"I'll turn you into a tangled ball of yarn!" Lumpkins roared as he charged at her again. Bunny rolled out of the way, and the red-furred beast crashed into the chocolate-covered shelf. "Oh, you! Look at what you made me do!"

As Lumpkins was wiping chocolate off his denim jumpsuit and red fur, Bunny flipped herself to her feet. On realizing that she had lost grip on her Duranium katana, she unsheathed her Duranium combat knife and took her turn to charge at Lumpkins with it. The beast swiped his claws at her, but she hopped past him, delivering a slash in his arm, spilling blood.

Braking herself in mid-air, Bunny flew back the way she came, putting another cut in Lumpkins' forearm as he shielded his face from the assault. Repeating this maneuver, she aimed a stab at Lumpkins' eye, putting both hands into the blow, but this time, Lumpkins had ducked out of the way and grabbed her by the legs while she was sailing through the air. The monster swung her all around and slammed her against the ground, cracking the tiles underneath, making a crater. That single blow had winded Bunny, the pain almost paralyzing.

Lumpkins did not stop there; He lifted his feet and brought it down for a stomp, but Bunny had rolled out of the way, retrieving her Duranium katana in the meantime. She held both knife and sword in hand, crouching, but then felt pain in her lungs once again. She coughed, and once more, blood spewed from her mouth.

"No, no, no!" Bunny uttered, hoping that the blood was just from internal injuries sustained in battle. Nonetheless, she took off, running down the aisle they were in, turning invisible at the same time, fading away into thin air. Lumpkins had unslung his shotgun and fired, but his pellets missed. Bunny had taken a turn, avoiding getting shot in the process.

"Runnin' away like a coward now?" Lumpkins growled. "You better run all the way to your pa and ma if y'know what's good for you!"

While Bunny had turned invisible, he could still hear her footsteps, growing faint at first, before making a return. The store had been turned upside down during the fight as if a tornado had gone through the whole place. As such, it was impossible for Bunny to stay quiet for long. Lumpkins could hear the sound of glass crunching on the floor, and cans being knocked aside in a hurry.

Bunny was coming around Lumpkins for an ambush once more. He could hear it, the heavy skittering of footsteps from a weasel cub. Whirling around, he aimed his shotgun at the opening of his aisle and fired his lever-action shotgun twice in rapid succession, expecting to hit the invisible pixie in the face. Instead, he'd ripped open the tiled floor.

"Wha-? Come on out, you lil' coward!" Lumpkins taunted. "I've got a shell with yer name on it!" He pulled the lever, ejecting another spent shotgun shell, which he caught in mid-air with his pan-sized hand and kept. While he was doing this, however, Bunny de-cloaked right before his eyes, and by the time she did, she was already flying towards him, foot first. The purple beast shielded himself with his shotgun out of instincts.

There was the sound of wooden cracks and metal bending after that. Lumpkins was knocked off his feet, to Bunny's surprise, though he didn't fly very far - just a few feet. Landing on his back, he held out his shotgun, only to realize that he was holding two separate pieces of what used to be his prized possession.

"Ma boomstick!" Lumpkins screamed in horror, not that Bunny was sympathetic to his cause. Upon landing, she'd immediately jumped to land a stomp on his head.

But it wasn't going to happen. Lumpkins' fur had turned red once more, and he'd swept Bunny aside with a massive backhand, smacking her with such force that she'd crashed into a shelf, which fell over.

Lumpkins roared as he jumped to his feet, his fur growing redder, to the point of nearly glowing crimson. "Ya broke ma' boomstick! I'll kill you twice fer that!"

Bunny got up as soon as she could, wiping blood from her mouth. She kicked herself into a hovering position, an extremely unsteady one. Lumpkins charged at her, flinging his claws about, only to slice air as Bunny would fly left and right to dodge them. She threw a few punches after that, the first two pounding a face of hard flesh and bone, and a third blocked by a muscled arm. Bunny saw blood from the beast's mouth, but he wasn't stunned at all.

The massive beast counterstruck with another swipe of his claws. Tired, Bunny couldn't get out of the way, not fully. The Kevlar on her right leg was scratched. Pieces and powders of it fell. The force of it had sent Bunny tumbling to the ground. She flipped herself upright again, and before Lumpkins could take advantage of her disadvantageous position, she flew into a butterfly kick, doing nothing as she'd hit Lumpkins' arms (again).

But the move was disorienting. Tired, Bunny tried to brake herself in mid-air; she was wide open for an attack, and Lumpkins took advantage of it. Running up to her, he flung his fist at her as hard as he could, striking home, and once more sending Bunny flying into a shelf, knocking it over.

Bunny groaned, but there was no time to feel pain nor bleed. Coughing up blood, she pulled her katana out on seeing Lumpkins rumbling towards her. She delivered a slash to his stomach, but it was as if the monster did not feel it; she was smashed deeper into the shelf she was half-kneeling on when Lumpkins gave her an overhead blow with both his hammy fists.

"Urgh…" Bunny groaned as she watched Lumpkins withdrawing his fists, feeling bruises all over her body and blood all over her face. She could barely see. Her vision was blurred. But the shape of Lumpkins' fists coming down on her was unmistakable. Quickly, she pulled her Duranium combat knife out and thrust it upwards-

Only to get slammed even deeper into the metal shelf she was lying on, the butt-end of her knife's hilt forced into her chest, the impact painful, but nothing compared to Lumpkins' red, angry fists.

Lumpkins pulled his fists back once more. He'd felt something in his hand, so he examined the sensation. There was red on red. Something had sliced up his hand badly. Looking back down at Bunny, he saw what had cut him up - a knife, coated thickly in his blood.

The pain had brought him out of his berserk state.

"Tricky little city pixie," Lumpkins taunted Bunny, who looked like she might be on her deathbed. Half her face was bruised, and one of her arms looked limp, likely dislocated. "You're gonna pay for bustin' up ma boomstick! What d'you 'ave to say fer yerself f'that?"

After panting for some time and swallowing a glob of saliva and blood, Bunny reached feebly for her ear and spoke dryly and weakly into her headset: "Blake… Now…"

"What? Speak up, kid!" Lumpkins growled at her. But something broke his focus on the enhanced kid. Movement at the corner of his eyes. He turned to see, only to realize that he was surrounded. There were USDO soldiers at the windows and doors.

"Fire!" Blake ordered from the window. An explosion of gunshots ensued. Lumpkins could feel them in his arm and chest and stomach. Something huge but slower than a bullet struck him in the face, causing him to stumble back. A white mist blinded him, and he coughed as it entered his lungs, burning him. He swiped at the mist as if it was some physical enemy, but he couldn't get rid of the gas, and so he did what Bunny didn't expect: he turned tail and ran.

Bunny had taken a whiff of the white mist. She felt a wave of lethargy after that, and so she crawled away from it, as far as it could. Was it some sort of concentrated nerve gas? Or a manner of gaseous chloroform? It didn't matter, Bunny decided in the end, as long as it got Lumpkins to back away.

She could see the huge form of the beast through the thinning white mist. After grabbing the remains of his old shotgun and dumping it into a shopping cart filled with food, he picked up the whole shopping cart, pinning it between arm and hip, before scooping up a few containers of gasoline.

"You'll pay for my boomstick one day!" Lumpkins bellowed in the general direction of Bunny as he retreated amidst a hail of heavy gunshots, bullets that ripped through metal and concrete with ease but ultimately only served to hurry Lumpkins' retreat. "The things I do to survive the winter!"

With that, Lumpkins ran through the backdoor, enduring shots from the police outside as he rammed his way through the police line out of desperation.

Bunny slumped back down on her shelf, which had been her bed for the past tense minute. Another failed mission. The target was to be either killed or arrested. She had done neither.

'What's happening to me?' Bunny thought as she finally allowed herself to rest. She had been on a streak, on the fast-track. Now, she couldn't stop failing. Once more, she was injured, and it made her feel more like a burden than a protector of her family and the city.

The next thing she knew, Blake, Fields, and their medic, Zach, were looking over her, saying something, but by then, she couldn't hear them anymore, and soon, nor could she see them.

A/N: If any of you have any feedback on how I can improve my writing, please do give it. I believe that the overall quality of my writing has been reduced by a number of factors, and any constructive criticism would be greatly appreciated to halt this trend. While I may not implement every suggestion, it doesn't mean that I think less of you, whoever you may be (the reason could also just be lack of energy rather than disagreement).