Chapter 137: Compulsion

The City of Townsville. Downtown. Sal's Milk Bar.

22 MAR (Wednesday) 1989. 1521.

"Have fun, Girls!" the professor wished the Girls as they alighted from the family car. "I'll come back in one hour."

It was going to be a long hour, though it was because the Girls didn't know what to expect.

Yesterday had been a better day until it wasn't. Buttercup had returned to the fold wiser and friendlier. But later that day, they received a call from another crooked cop working for the Lombardis, and then it was back to being crooked themselves: shaking down the local drug dealers for drug money, smuggling laundered funds and drugs around Townsville for the Amoeba Boys. Bubbles had another panic attack because of it, though it wasn't serious. Blossom could tell by her eye color, which didn't turn red. Bubbles was safe from regression for now, at least until the next time Bossman decided to slip her more of those His Secret 2.0.

The evening was ruined because of it.

And now, they were going to meet Mister Mullens, Olivia Mullens, and Stanley Talker in their usual haunt, all while working for the very people they were trying to put behind bars.

It began, as expected, in awkward silence, but mostly for Blossom and Mister Mullens, who had taken her aside, leader to leader, as usual. Mister Mullens did most of the talking, and all Blossom did was to nod or reply curtly and generically, occasionally looking at Bubbles and Buttercup as though they could save her from this. All she got in return was a blank look from Bubbles and a helpless shrug from Buttercup.

Bubbles and Buttercup seemed to be having an easier time on this. Bubbles was with Stanley Talker, the talking dog, and they got along just fine. The talking dog was an automatic win when it came to social interactions: what could beat a dog that talks? Buttercup and Olivia were a good match because they were both tomboys. They had plenty to talk about: guns, motorcycles, martial arts, et cetera.

"How's the milkshake? You barely touched it," Mister Mullens said, for the lack of a better topic to talk about. Nothing had really taken off. He tried talking about how Blossom was doing in school, he'd tried talking about what hobbies she'd developed, inched his way towards what she'd been doing while responding to calls on her hotline, only to hit a brick wall every single time. "You used to really like strawberry milkshakes…"

"I do like it, it's just…" Blossom had no idea how to even complete the sentence she started.

"Look, if there's something going on, you have to tell me," Mister Mullens went back at it again. It wasn't the first time today. It was the third time he'd tried to get Blossom to let him in on the secret he knew she had.

His luck, however, hadn't changed.

"Or not. Look, we're planning something really big, and I need to know if you're ready for it," Mister Mullens revealed. "I'm going to end this once and for all, and I can do it within the next few days. You in?"

He knew it wasn't exactly Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup's choice. They would have to respond to his call once he was able to get his allocation for the use of the Powerpuff Girls. With Paul Feig out of the way, he would have a much easier time doing it. However, their willingness to come was just as important. They were kids, after all, and without their willingness to do this, their performance could drop to practically zero.

"I guess…" Blossom agreed reluctantly. It wasn't a strong agreement, but at this point, Mister Mullens was willing to take what he could get.

"Good," Mister Mullens said, but Blossom was having the opposite reaction. Bossman would know about this. He always knew what was going on.

The City of Townsville. Outskirts. Lombardi Family Mansion.

22 MAR (Wednesday) 1989. 1724.

Shortly after their meeting with Mister Mullens, they were called by none other than Bossman himself. As usual, they had to fly to a random location and be chauffeured by Mister Palladino to the dons.

Things were different that day, though Blossom couldn't figure out much of it. Right out of the gate, she could see that there were more people at the mansion, and they weren't all dressed the same way. Usually, there would be men in suits and women in dresses, all looking dangerous, their affiliation unquestionable. Now, there were others. Men in suits with a different vibe, men in leather and denim, men of clearly different origins, from all four corners of the Earth. Were they from different gangs? But how could that be possible?

The Girls were led to the top of the mansion, and as dictated by tradition, had to put on black dresses before they could enter.

"If it isn't my favorite little girls!" Bossman said in a cheerful tone, which was exactly the opposite of what Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup were feeling.

"Hehe, yeah, favorite!" the smallest of the Amoeba Boys, Junior, said, adding in his own little meaning into Bossman's words.

"Mmmhmm, what should we do with them today?" the tallest but thinnest of them all, Slim, said, with a grin on his face that sent a chill down the Girls' spine.

"We'll talk about that later," Bossman growled while he had a cigar clenched in his mouth that was still smoking. He picked it out, blowing some smoke out after that, like some dragon in a den. "We have business to attend to for now. Blossom, Bubbles, Buttercup, why don't the three of you sit down beside us while we deal with some money?"

Blossom was relieved for the most part, but she couldn't help but feel a bit of tension inside her. Whatever fate Bossman had in store for her was only just delayed. Furthermore, what did he meant by business?

Her last question was answered in short order. Bossman had called for Palladino to 'let the next man in'. The door was opened, and in walked a member of the Yakuza with a briefcase in one hand. The scarred Japanese man took a bow, glared at Blossom as if she had visited upon them a thousand ills (which wasn't far from the truth) before slamming his briefcase down on the table before Bossman. He unlocked it with a passcode and opened the briefcase. He pulled out several stacks of cash to show that the cash hadn't been padded with sponge or paper.

Bossman had hardly looked at the stacks of money before waving the Yakuza enforcer off. He glared at the Lombardi don, pausing as if considering the possibility of assassinating him, but backed off when his eyes fell upon Blossom. The Japanese criminal left after that.

This went on for a while, with one person after the next coming in to deposit more money on the table. It was then that Blossom noticed something. All these people had come from gangs she had defeated before with the help of Bossman. The Japanese Yakuza, the Chinese Triad, the Jewish Mob, the American Mob, the Black Mafia…

It was then that she discovered that she had been helping Bossman all along to consolidate his power over the criminal underground. She knew what the money represented, and what it meant when those gangsters gave briefcases full of them to Bossman. The realization had plunged her into a sudden, shocking depression. Blossom folded inwards onto herself as she wallowed in her own misery, no longer paying attention to her surroundings until something changed in the library of the Lombardi Mansion.

That was, until another man walked up to the Amoeba Boys, not in submission, but with a wholly different attitude altogether.

"Seriously?" the man laughed, really laughed in a way that lacked restraint. Blossom looked up and saw who it was. It wasn't someone she knew; just a gangster representing another gang she unknowingly helped beat down for the Amoeba Boys' gain. His dress code seemed similar to that of the Lombardi. "This is a joke, right?"

"Do we look like we're joking to you?" Bossman growled, spreading out his arms while he was still sitting behind his grand table.

"Yeah," Slim added. "We ain't laughing!"

"You got your rat-coppers to steal from my people, and now you want the rest of our dough?" the man said.

"What does it look like?" Bossman said, surprisingly calm, though his lion-like voice had never stopped suggesting danger. Blossom could feel that something was coming up, something bad. The man she was watching, however, seemed none the wiser.

"All while the Powerpuff Girls are watching?" the man said. "Oh, you stupid Lombardis are in some deep shit right now!"

"The Powerpuff Girls are part of the family now," Bossman claimed. "Can't you tell?"

"You're joking! They're too powerful for you to dick around with!" the man said. "Powerpuff Girls, do your thing and give me a good show to watch!"

The Powerpuff Girls, however, did nothing except sat lazily on the extreme corners of the table the Amoeba Boys were positioned behind, watching the rather dense man sheepishly. Blossom could tell, at this time, that this was the moment the truth had sank in for the man.

"W-why aren't you doing anything?" the man was questioning Blossom directly. "You weren't afraid when you busted us up! What makes the Lombardi so different!?"

"Girls, I want you to seize this man," Bossman ordered. Blossom, however, hunched where she was, closing her eyes and wishing all this to go away. She didn't want to take part in this; she knew what was coming. "Blossom, you better be an obedient, good little girl before I tell your daddy about your friendship with us."

Blossom heaved a tired sigh before she lifted herself into a hovering position. Bubbles and Buttercup did the same. Looking around at the man, she worked up a degree of anger towards him as she floated towards the terrified man. She forced herself to see him as the enemy, the one who would risk exposing her secret with the Amoeba Boys.

"No! Stop! Hell are you doing!?" the man screamed. The Girls swarmed around him. Bubbles and Buttercup took an arm each, twisting them around his back, while Blossom took him by the head, pulling it back by the hair. Blossom stared at Bossman, and part of it was a mix of anger and hatred, but the other half was just her waiting for her next instruction.

"Hey, Blossom, c'mere for a second," Bossman instructed next. Blossom let go of the man's scalp before returning to her new 'father's side. "Slim, your personal cutleries?"

Slim smiled coldly. He reached into his suit and pulled something out from the pocket inside. A thin box. He opened it to reveal a set of cutleries: a fork, a spoon, and a knife. As if a picky child, Slim presided over this choice, fingering the fork at first, before touching the knife, but he eventually settled on the spoon, pulling it out of the container.

"Ah, good choice, a really good choice," Junior cackled as Slim held the spoon out to Blossom. Blossom could only wonder what he meant.

"What… do you want me to do?" Blossom asked meekly as she took the spoon reluctantly, wondering what it was for. She could only deduct that she certainly wasn't going to be eating ice cream anytime soon.

"Simple, really," Bossman growled as he watched Blossom with interest while he picked his cigar out from his lips. "I want that idiot's tongue. He's not using it right."

"W-what do you-" Blossom stammered, she had a vague idea of what Bossman wanted, but fear and panic and inexperience had clouded her mind.

"You're supposed to use that spoon to cut his tongue out," Bossman all but spelled it out for Blossom.

"No! NOOOO!" the man screamed and struggled, but Bubbles and Buttercup were a thousand times stronger than he was, so he couldn't break free and run. "Please, don't! B-Blossom, this is not you! This is not what the Powerpuff Girls do!"

Blossom was disgusted by the idea of digging out a man's tongue from his mouth, but she had to do it. With the spoon in hand, she hovered towards the restrained man reluctantly, an apologetic look on her face, as she wondered how she would dig his tongue out. Would it be the same as scooping out a spoonful of ice cream from a tub? The spoon was too blunt to cut anything well, but with the kind of raw strength she possessed, it wouldn't matter.

The man was screaming his head off just as Blossom had got up close to him. She had never heard a man scream that way before, in that high-pitched tone, not even when she was attacking one on the battlefield.

"You know what, I change my mind," Bossman suddenly said just as Blossom was gripping the man by the hair and about to plunge the spoon into his mouth. Blossom spun around while still hovering, and gladly too, looking at Bossman expectantly, hoping that he had just been playing around all along. "I want his eyes instead. I think that would be more interesting. Well, go right ahead, Blossom, scoop them up!"

Blossom's blood ran cold when she heard Bossman's new demand. The man screamed with renewed fear.

"Don't wait too long, Blossom, or else…" Bossman threatened Blossom by reaching into his jacket and pulling out the photos Blossom had long feared, waving them at her. It'd set Blossom loose on the man. Turning around, and without hesitation, she gripped the man by the hair and jammed the blade of the spoon between the man's eye and socket. The man's scream rang in her ears, causing it to ring.

"Stop," Bossman ordered once more before Blossom could actually gouge the man's eyeball out. "Let him go, Girls. Back away from him."

Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup did as they were told, removing themselves from the man before floating away from him. Blossom had actually left the spoon stuck between the man's eye and socket. He had to pull it out himself.

"Turn around and don't look at him," Bossman ordered again. The Girls turned away from the man, who was clutching his face and wincing in pain, panting. Both Blossom and Bubbles' face was pale with shock. Buttercup was the exception; she looked bored.

"You were saying something just now?" Bossman said to the man, who was visibly trembling.

"I- I'll pay up-" the man croaked, still clutching his eye. Surprisingly, there was no blood at all. "I'll bring the money here in one hour!"

"Right! Just as I thought!" Bossman laughed. His brothers laughed along with him like a pair of hyenas.

"Run along now, hehehehehe!" Junior cackled. The now-terrified man didn't wait.

"Yeah, you better run! Before Don Ricci here changes his mind!" Slim added, causing the man to break into a jog.

Meanwhile, Blossom was feeling lousy about herself. To be manipulated like this, forced to do something she really didn't want to do - things so unimaginably wrong and cruel… She could still see herself digging into the man's eye with the spoon, unable to shake the image off, and she would never be able to, as it had been burned into her unfailing memory.

"You've done well, Blossom," Bossman praised the enhanced little Girl. "Now come here and sit on my lap. I'm rewarding you for that. You like grapes, no? I've brought in a whole crate of it from Italy."

The City of Townsville. Suburbs. The House.

22 MAR (Wednesday) 1989. 1857.

Blossom had been lying in her bed, curled up in a fetal position, a pose that was becoming common among the Girls. She could still see her disturbing actions right before her eyes. She could still see herself jamming that spoon into that gangster's eye, and she would have gouged it out had Bossman been half a second slower in ordering her not to. She trembled, even though it wasn't as cold as it used to be. If this was what a normal weekday would bring, then what would tomorrow hold for her?

Buttercup had been busy entertaining Bubbles' stupid game of chess. She had to learn the rules of the board game from the ground up, all to get into Bubbles' good books. With what little thought she put on Bubbles though, she thought it was very out of character of Bubbles to play such a game. Dolls and soft toys were right up Bubbles' alley, not chess, which Buttercup thought was something Blossom would have enjoyed instead. It seemed suspicious. Somehow, Buttercup thought Bubbles was acting up because she suspected something about her.

"Why would you want to play this boring game anyway?" Buttercup asked Bubbles.

"It's what Bunny used to play," Bubbles said, while Buttercup pushed her black pawn up half-heartedly right into Bubbles' white pawn, making an illegal move ending with a checkmate. It was supposed to be her opening move. "Hey! That's not how you play the game! It goes up one or two squares on its first move!"

Buttercup had missed Bubbles' tips the first time as she had little interest in playing the darn game.

"Oh, sorry…" Buttercup apologized, tried to fake being nice and meek like her stupid sisters.

"It's okay. It was hard the first time I tried to play the game too," Bubbles accepted Buttercup's apology, lapping it all up. It was getting easier each time she faked it. Everything was going according to plan. Buttercup looked around at Blossom, who was shaking in bed, looking clearly upset and distraught even with her back turned to her. Bubbles might not be able to hear it, but Buttercup could; her enhanced hearing had been an indispensable tool right from the beginning. Blossom was weeping silently; she was vulnerable and weak at the moment.

It was the perfect opportunity to manipulate Blossom and set her up for the fall.

"Hey, Bubbles, I'm going to talk to Blossom," Buttercup said, and without waiting for Bubbles' permission, ditched her and hovered to Blossom. Bubbles had thought at first that Buttercup had lost interest in her, but that thought was banished when she saw Buttercup sitting down beside Blossom. Unknown to her, she had been right the first time; she was ditched without her knowing it.

Buttercup was lost at first. Rare was the moment when she comforted anyone, and usually, it was either under the influence of the silver lining in her brain or her selfishness to gloat or establish her dominance. She never had to act at all.

Putting a hand on Blossom's arm, she stroked it, still unsure what that was supposed to do. She had seen the professor do it before. Blossom turned to look at her, wiping her tears away as swiftly as she could, but the leader of the Powerpuff Girls knew she had been caught crying.

"What?" Blossom asked. "I don't feel like arguing, Buttercup."

How she had lacked such opportunities in the beginning, Buttercup never knew, but she had just gained yet another in a streak she hoped would run forever.

"But I'm not here to argue," Buttercup said, tried her best to sound as gentle and kind as she could. It was actually quite a demanding task. "You alright, Bloss?"

Blossom was surprised once more. She had thought that yesterday was a one-off thing, that Buttercup had only become nicer temporarily because running away was a horrible experience.

"No-" Blossom said before giving out a pathetic mewl. "I didn't want to hurt anyone…"

"You've always been the nice one," Buttercup said; she couldn't think of anything else other than to parrot what everyone else had been saying. When no other ideas came to her, she pulled Blossom closer and put an arm on her shoulders. "Leave it to me to be the bad girl and do the wrong thing the next time."

"But I don't want you to be a bad girl," Blossom replied immediately. Somehow, she thought that Buttercup had wanted to go back to being bad. She didn't want Buttercup to go back to how she used to be. She liked the current Buttercup better. "You know, you're really nice too."

"Really?" Buttercup faked incredulity.

"Yeah…" Blossom said. Had this been a couple of days ago, she wouldn't have believed that she would cuddle with Buttercup of all people, and even cry into her shoulder.

All the while, Buttercup had been grinning madly while her sisters weren't looking.