Bonus Feature: Lost Souls I
Captain Vargas
The following is an extract from audio recording TPD-PA05-250389
"Townsville. Oh what whirlwind of feelings it truly brings to a man's heart. It has been the crime capital of the world for decades now, its streets riddled with bullet casings and blood, its night darkened ever more by sheer terror. There was no one who knew it better than Captain Vargas, that old fart.
"Somehow, despite all the bodies in the shady streets, despite all the gunshots in broad daylight, he was still on the job, and when I asked him why he wouldn't just take his money and ride into the sunset, he would crack a smile and paint me a glorious picture. He would point behind me and ask me to take a look at Citysville before offering his window to me. He would tell me how beautiful Townsville was, still is, how there were still good people in this town, how the culture and the history and the all that the city stood for was worth protecting.
"Every time he gave his speech about glorious Townsville, I would tell myself to forgive him. I was too young to remember the good ol' days, and Captain Vargas was part of the old guard of police officers still dreaming of returning to those nostalgic days, to those days when a gun was optional and the week's worst crime was often littering, maybe a teenage brawl here and there. I was cynical. After all, the days when the TPD could make a difference was past, and that included the precinct Captain Vargas operated in.
"How he could nurse his optimism was beyond me. We knew that the major gangs of Townsville had eyes and hands in our station, the Lombardi especially. We couldn't do much good even if we wanted to. The best we could manage was a drug bust or two, breaking up a few turf wars between some minor gangs. We solved murder cases that had absolutely nothing to do with the major gangs. Whatever few arrests we made of those major gang members were merely just us cleaning up their mess whenever there were disagreements and rebellions in the underground.
"Years of that had a way of sapping one's will. He wouldn't want me to know, but whenever I would sneak a look at Captain Vargas in the canteen or when the door to his office was ajar, I could see the look on his face. Defeatism, even if some vestige of defiance was there. He was Townsville, and Townsville was him. In the days leading up to the appearance of the USDO and the Powerpuff Girls, both he and the city were finally beginning to lose hope after decades of decay.
"And when those Girls… Those Angels of Justice made their first moves, when Captain Vargas first laid eyes on them while those kids were deployed to stop an outcast Lombardi gang from robbing a bank, the captain's eyes lit up for the first time in years, decades even.
"We were initially deployed to assist other precincts in helping to contain the robbery. The Captain went to work with the frenzy of a hot-headed cop half his age, making orders both swift and tactical and helpful. We stormed the bank when the Powerpuff Girls failed in their maiden mission - and in our very first real operation in years, we succeeded, either killing or arresting the gang robbers.
"The change was palpable since that day. The office was worked up to a fever pitch when the captain was inspired by the Powerpuff Girls. First thing we did was to hold secret meetings away from the prying eyes of the gangs. Years of helpless submission was made useful for the first time. We knew who to avoid, and who to trust.
"It started slow at first. The net of the Lombardi was cast wide and tall, enveloping all. Networks of spies, bribes, and favors that would make the absent FBI blush. That near-military, comprehensive surveillance system made defying the Lombardi near-impossible. Layers upon layers of criminal safeguards were fortresses standing in our way.
"But slowly and surely, we found opportunities. An outsider would never believe us, but every Townsvillian would nod on principle, that it had always been the Angels of Justice who led the way, who opened ripped holes in the Lombardi net that was cast so wide. In their early days, the Powerpuff Girls would bleed and bleed again, but in the rivulets of their blood, we crossed the Rubicon. When the Powerpuff Girls raided Doc Bob's Pharmaceutical Storage and The Strip, we swooped in on the stragglers, built our own cases. As gangsters were torn limb from limb by youthful hands and bullets, we tore open their secret networks with tortured criminals and photos, strung threads between them.
"At the Morbucks Research Labs, the Girls fought legions. We picked up the slack half an hour in when the call came. We never saw our heroines, but we did our bit, dammed off a river of terrorists that would have flooded them with hails of bullets and fire. Captain Vargas himself was wounded that day, but the loss of seven of our own cut deeper. Killing several times our number did nothing to salve that wound. Criminals were, after all, abundant, and honest officers, few. Still, victory, even if hard-won and pyrrhic, was still precious compared to the complete defeat and surrender of the past decades.
"Our picture of the depths of depravity since that day grew as the Angels of Justice lit the way. We were kept in the dark, held down by the cloak of the Lombardi. When the scales fell, we saw not only Italian gangsters running the show. Terrorists stood shoulder-to-shoulder with them. Hints of darker forces plagued our innermost thoughts. Cultists, zealots, monsters rivalling our Angels in strength lurked.
"I would be lying if I boast that Captain Vargas had not stopped, had not hesitated nor despair. I had seen him at his worst and at his best, and I say to you, that his worst was past, years ago, and his best had been right after our losses at the labs for what is a hero if he isn't one who kept climbing even after falling into the deepest pits?
"After celebrating Christmas and New Year by mourning and licking our wounds, we brought more into the fold, started staking out when the Lombardi was driven into hiding. We dripped intel into the cauldrons of allies we'd met, such as the USDO, so that they could brew a lasting plan to defeat our enemies. We trailed the Powerpuff Girls and helped where we can. We were slow compared to their divinity, but we tried our damndest. The Angels tore apart the web of lies and deceit and exposed the spiders that are the cultists, and we did what we did best - supporting from afar, stringing together our view of this crazy world of ours.
"We beat back the darkness, saw more than what we thought we'd see and more. The veil of secrecy of the criminal element had only been the first of many curtains. The cultists weren't just worshipping idols, but by the Angels, we cleared what evil we could, first in the Silver Age Cineplex, then by ourselves in their outposts. But we were not the Powerpuff Girls, and our losses and wounds mounted until we were but a squad of seven broken men left.
"Then the call to uproot the cultists from their compound forcibly came. It was then that Captain Vargas knew, that this was it. That this was where things would come to a head for him. He knew, but by his order, we went in with him leading the speartip. The Powerpuff Girls were in dire straits, and so we did what we did best - supporting from afar, damming up another river that would have flooded them.
"We fought our way into the cultist mansion, plowing through dozens. We lost another precious few men before we could make our stand at one of the mansion's exits. We didn't last long after that. We planned an hour of resistance so that the Powerpuff Girls could complete their mission without worry. We lasted minutes before the cultists poured through when we ran out of bullets and grenades. We fought with knives, rifle butts and fists. We fought to buy our Angels seconds more, until we fought no more.
"The cultists, some of demonic red eyes, stabbed and punched. They finished us off hastily; we weren't worth it, I could feel it even then, when I took innumerable cuts and stabs and punches and kicks. None had touched my vital organs. They were going for the Girls. The room was emptied as quickly as it had become filled by red cloaks, evil eyes, and daggers. I was there, and I saw what remained; corpses that used to be my comrades. I dragged myself into a cupboard when more gunshots rang out. An anti-climactic silence came instead.
"I remembered then what Captain Vargas had said to me. 'Live,' he said, just before the doors of our cruisers opened. 'Live, no matter what. Somebody has to.' It remained one of those great mysteries to this day why I was chosen, but one of those mysteries hadn't been the purpose of my survival.
"I watched, with blood-filled eyes, as one of them entered the room approached Captain Vargas. He was still breathing, I hadn't noticed, but barely. Blossom, they called her. One of them. One of Angels. And she hugged Captain Vargas when she saw him, probably put together what we had done. He had died in her arms, and I closed my eyes, the blood washed by tears. This had been part of the purpose of my survival; to witness.
"Throughout our time together, not once had Captain Vargas begged for fame, or recognition, or for me or some other to write a book about him. All that had come from his lips were orders, and plans to take down the great many plagues upon Townsville. All he had asked was for me to live, and so here I sit with the rest of you," Lieutenant Diego said, then paused, glancing at the twenty or so SWAT officers he had gathered since the day Captain Vargas fell, all seated within a SWAT bus. He had been speaking while standing in the center aisle. "I've had time to think since that day, on what else constituted the purpose of my survival. Day by day, it came slowly but clearly to me: Carrying on the spirit that drove him, embodiment of Townsville, to stand by our Angels, to keep true the trust and love we've placed upon the shoulders of the Powerpuff Girls so that we may fight for a free Townsville together.
"And so, on this day, after we've circled Townsville in the wait for the Angels of Justice's return, we hurtle our way towards the very nest of the Lombardi. Hundreds of them held it like a fortress; rats holed up in a decaying ruin. They've had decades to live their decadent lives, unused to terror and adversity as they were. They are now quaking in their boots, fighting an uphill battle against the enraged Three, their hands surely shaking as they fire off useless, wild shots."
Cheers and laughter erupted as Lieutenant Diego broke into a vicious smile.
"They face the Powerpuff Girls, as well as their parent organization, the USDO. The FBI and the CIA had come at long last. We are no longer alone in our fight, hadn't been since that day the Powerpuff Girls attacked the Central Bank heist unsuccessfully. Hundreds though they may number in the mansion, with hundreds of thousands more in the city, they now face a renewed Townsville, manned by tens of thousands of us honest officers. Last intel suggests they outnumber us three to one; good odds for any hardened cops," the lieutenant said. The SWAT bus came to a stop. The doors opened. Sounds of gunshots and fire rang in the distance. "This day, we stand on the precipice. The Lombardi will fall, and in its place will stand a second golden Townsville, one filled with hope and love and prosperity, ruled forever by law and justice, crowned by the rainbow of the Powerpuff Girls. So FORM UP and turn your safeties off - we're heading in!"
With that, Lieutenant Diego and the SWAT officers under him charged out of the bus and into the inferno that was the Lombardi Mansion.