Butch flew across the city as quickly as he could, clutching his shoulder. He knew that Brick was too busy to follow him, but he still wanted to get as far away as possible. The scene back at the hospital was far too close of a call. He clenched his teeth tighter as another surge of pain from the wound on his shoulder reminded him just how close a call it really was. I almost died back there, he thought…again. I…I don’t know if I can do this…they’re really trying to kill me…my own brothers…
As he headed back for the Utonium household, he paused for a moment, looking off to one side, towards Townsville Park. They’re not home, Butch thought. Maybe this is my chance to find out what they’re up to. I’ve gotta hurry, though…who knows how long they’ll be gone?
He started flying again, this time towards the park. He crossed the remaining distance to it and flew into the observatory. Landing, he jogged over to the table, giving the still-unfinished device another curious glance. Whatever it was, it didn’t look terribly complicated, or even particularly dangerous. It looked like just some random objects stuck together. It had to be something important, though…why else would they build it?
Reaching the table, he found what he was looking for. He lifted the blueprints and looked them over. As he read the title, he was dumbfounded…the terms were unfamiliar to him. Knowing that Mojo tended to explain things in tremendous detail, he started looking further down for a better description in the rest of the plans…
He didn’t have the chance, though, for suddenly, he heard something, a familiar rush of air. They’re already back! he thought. Dropping the plans back on the table, he glanced around desperately, but there was nowhere to hide. He finally looked up and spotted his only available option. Flying up quickly, he wedged himself between two of the support girders that ran across the high dome of the observatory. Just as he did this, Brick and Boomer flew in, landing.
Butch tried to keep his breathing as quiet as possible and didn’t move a muscle. He prayed that they wouldn’t look up, and watched intently, ready to try to bolt at a moments notice. Brick and Boomer both approached the machine in the center of the room and each attached a device to it, likely the x-ray emitters they were searching for.
He noticed the sword on Boomer’s back, and something else occurred to him. He got away from the hospital, he thought, with Bubbles’ sword…oh geez…I hope she’s okay! If they…if they killed her…
“What’s next?” Boomer said, finishing the last of the connections.
Brick headed over to the table and looked over the plans. The table was directly below Butch, but thankfully, they hadn’t looked up yet. Pointing at something on the plans, Brick looked down at it and said, “This…we’ll get this next.” Butch squinted, trying to see, but Brick’s head was in the way, and he couldn’t.
Boomer walked over and looked where Brick was pointing, saying, “Yes…I think I know where we can get that.”
“Great,” Brick said. “That’ll save us some searching time.”
Butch listened, hoping they would give away some tidbit of information, some clue as to where they were going next. As he did, another surge of pain shot through his shoulder. He winced, but managed to stay quiet. He glanced at it to make sure it was all right…and suddenly became aware of a new danger. The blood from his wound had slowed, thankfully, but it was building up by the edge, and was getting ready to drip off of it. He quickly brought one of his hands over to cover it up, but a moment too late. He watched in horror as the drop of blood fell, directly towards the boys below, and held his breath…
They turned away from the plans just before it hit, however. As their backs were turned, the drop of blood hit the plans, leaving a small stain. Brick said, “All right, let’s go. We need to be back as soon as possible.”
“I’m ready,” Boomer replied, and the two of them flew out of the observatory. Butch listened carefully until he could no longer hear them, and then waited another few moments just to be sure. He finally gave out a sigh of relief.
Without another moment’s hesitation, he dropped down from the ceiling and flew out as well. As long as they were gone, he had to get back to the Utonium household before they could return. He had no idea what the device was, but perhaps the professor would…
* * *
Bubbles arrived in the lab, shouting, “Professor!” The professor looked up from the table, and she continued, “I couldn’t stop them…”
“What happened?” the professor asked.
Bubbles quickly explained how they had listened in on the other boys at the observatory, and how they each went for a hospital to get an x-ray emitter for whatever it was they were building. She also told them how she and Butch split up, each chasing one of them. “I couldn’t stop Boomer,” she added. “I got away, but he…he has my sword now, and…I missed with the Antidote X…”
The professor cringed and said, “You have to be more careful…only use it when you’ve got a clear opening. It’s for your own safety, but that’s not the only reason. I’m running low on it. We only have a limited supply, so you need to use it only when necessary.”
“How much is left?” Bubbles asked.
The professor shook his head, “Enough for another three, maybe four doses.”
Bubbles was worried, “You can make more, right?”
“Yes, I can,” the professor answered, “but the process takes twenty-four hours…”
“We might not have that much time!” Bubbles protested. The professor opened his mouth to say something, when the door to the lab swung open again. They both turned to look, and saw Butch float in. He didn’t have his sword with him anymore, and even worse, he was clutching his shoulder in pain, and Bubbles could see blood on his shirt around the wound.
She rushed over, “Butch! Are you okay? What happened?”
Butch made it to one of the examination tables and laid down, grunting, “I took a…bad stab back there…but I’m okay…I think…”
The professor came by the side of the bed carefully examined the wound. “It’s not as bad as it looks, I’ll have it bandaged up in a jiffy.” He took some bandages from the table nearby and started fixing the wound up.
As he worked, Butch looked up at Bubbles and said, “I’m sorry…I couldn’t stop him…I tried, but…”
“It’s okay,” Bubbles said. “At least you got back safely.”
“You too…” Butch nodded. “I saw Boomer going back…and he had your sword…I was afraid he’d done something to you…but I’m glad you’re okay…”
Bubbles smiled and said, “It’s all right. We’ll get you fixed up, and then we can find a way to stop whatever it is they’re doing.”
That suddenly reminded Butch, and recalling the terms he saw on the plans he read, he sat up slightly, saying, “Professor…I got a glimpse of their plans…I didn’t understand ‘em though. Do you know what a ‘Neutrino Intracellular Neutralization Wave Emitter’ might be?”
The professor narrowed his eyes and rubbed his chin, “Well, from the sound of it…something to neutralize a cell’s natural energy functions…that would allow small changes in the cell’s operation, but what good would that do? Unless…” His eyes widened again, and he said, “You said they were putting x-ray emitters into it, are you sure?”
“Absolutely,” Butch said. “I saw them installing the emitters myself.”
The professor paled slightly. He straightened up and suddenly set his face into an expression of seriousness. His tone was equally serious, “You need to go back there right away and destroy that machine. Destroy it, and the plans, quickly.”
“Why? What is it?” Bubbles asked, concerned by this sudden change of attitude.
“If that device does what I think it would do,” the professor said, “then it must be destroyed before they can use it. From the sound of it, the device most likely emits waves of neutrinos and x-rays, designed to completely disrupt the functions of living cells, likely on anything within a certain radius.”
Butch was confused, “What does that mean?”
“It means that any living thing that the wave crosses would die,” he explained. “Anything…not even a single-celled life form could survive something like that.”
Bubbles imagined this…A weapon that can destroy any life, all life, she thought…no wonder they’re so eager to build it. “How big of an area?” she said, feeling very afraid now.
“I don’t know,” the professor said. “Potentially, if the wave is designed to gather up all of this intracellular energy that it disrupts, it could continue out to great distances. My immediate guess would be a radius of several hundred miles, but that’s conservative. The scale of this thing might be global…”
“The whole world?!” Butch said in shock. “You can’t be serious!”
The professor shook his head, “I’m dead serious. That device must never be allowed to activate. You must stop them immediately.”
“Right,” Bubbles said, nodding. “But…we don’t have anything to fight them with anymore…”
The professor walked briskly over to another table and picked up the spike weapon he had invented, handing it to her, “Take this, but be very careful with it. It has an extremely low rate of fire, and the Duranium spikes are not easily replaced. Make each shot count. Do you understand?”
“I…yes, I do…” Bubbles said, with a slight bit of uncertainty. It was difficult for her…holding the weapon that had killed Blossom. Remembering her reaction as the robotic spike burrowed into her arm, seeking her heart. She said, “We’ll be back as soon as we can.” Butch nodded in agreement.
“Good luck, you two,” the professor said, and the two of them turned around, flying out from the lab. The professor quickly began working with his chemicals. They were all running out of weapons, and they needed something to fight with…he had to design something soon in case they failed…No, he thought, they’ll succeed, they’ve got to…
* * *
They flew straight for the observatory. On their way, they could tell that word of what was going on must have been getting out, because more emergency vehicles sounded, especially in the areas near where both of the hospitals were. Bubbles wondered just how many people were killed already this evening…it seemed ludicrous that she tried her hardest to stop the killing, but failed so miserably.
He explained the usage of the weapon she carried to Butch as they flew on the way there. He understood, and perhaps seemed a little disturbed by the whole idea of the weapon, but he summed up Bubbles’ own sentiment by saying, “At least if you hit them with it, you know they’re through.”
As they approached the observatory, they could see the boys inside, back from wherever their last trip took them. Bubbles ducked down into one of the trees again, and Butch followed. She handed the weapon over to him and whispered, “I have a plan…here, take this…”
Nodding, Butch said, “What do I do?”
“Stay right here and watch that opening,” she told him. “I’m gonna try to sneak in and blast that device…if they see me, I’ll fly outta there, and when they chase me out, that’s when you shoot.”
“Gotcha,” Butch said, taking aim at the side of the observatory. “I’m all set, Bubbles. Go for it.”
Bubbles flew out from the trees and stayed close to the ground as she flew towards the base of the volcano. Looking around for a moment, she spotted the hole she had made earlier, flying through it into the volcano’s center. Rising along with the heat from beneath her, she headed up towards the observatory.
She looked carefully up through the hole in the ground. The device wasn’t far, but neither were the boys. Still, she didn’t have a clear shot from here, so she sneaked up through the hole and slipped quietly behind some equipment near it. The boys hadn’t spotted her…they were too busy adding parts to the device.
Slowly, she leaned around the edge until she knew she had a nice clean shot on it. She carefully powered her eyebeams up and fired…but that’s when they moved. How they knew she was there, she had no idea, but Brick was suddenly between the eyebeams and the device, one of the Duranium swords held out to stop the blast. It was one of her stronger blasts, though, so the blade was knocked free from his hand, clattering to the ground.
Bubbles gasped and tried to make a break for the exit, but Boomer was already blocking it off, sword at the ready. Brick was recovering now, as well, drawing his other sword. “Nice try,” he said, “But I heard you when you came in. And now, you won’t be leaving.”
“That’s what you think!” Bubbles shouted. She dove towards Boomer, like she was going to try to dash past him to make a break for the exit. Boomer pulled his sword back, prepared to swing, but before Bubbles reached him, she turned quickly and started flying at Brick, towards his unprotected side. She slammed into him shoulder-first, knocking him down.
Brick frowned and tried to swing his sword at her, but she had already gained some distance…she was now heading for a new target: the sword she had knocked away from Brick. She scooped it up quickly, and at the same time, Brick leapt back to his feet and started approaching her again. Boomer also came at her from the other side.
Two on one, Bubbles thought. I’ve done it before, I can do it now… Both Brick and Boomer swung together at her, and Bubbles blocked both swings with her own sword, but the force of their combined impact knocked her back just the same. She stumbled off-balance, and Brick thrust his sword forward while he had the opening.
She rolled to one side, though, and did a surprising move, catching the flat part of the blade between her arm and body and holding it in place. She used the leverage this gave her to twist back the other way and wrench the sword free from his hand, where it was tossed to the ground. Continuing the motion, she turned all the way around, swinging her own sword directly at him.
The sword fount its mark…Brick didn’t even have time to shout as the blade slashed across his chest, leaving a deep, gaping wound. Brick tottered for a moment, then collapsed onto his back.
Boomer clenched his teeth and took another swing at her, but she had already darted out of the way, sliding quickly past him and rushing for the exit. Boomer followed her out of the opening…
Butch saw Bubbles fly out from the observatory, and Boomer was hot on her heels. That’s it, dude, he thought…shoot him, quickly! He lined up, being extra-careful not to accidentally shoot Bubbles, and pulled the trigger. The tiny metal spike launched from the barrel of the weapon and shot through the air, heading for Boomer.
Boomer sensed something was wrong, though…Bubbles’ retreat didn’t make any sense to him, since she had the upper hand. When he flew out from the observatory, he automatically looked quickly around for anyone else, and spotted Butch a split second before the spike was fired. Small as it was, he saw it coming towards him and raised the blade of his sword up protectively.
The spike hit the blade and was rebounded back. Butch was startled…he tried to throw himself to one side, but he didn’t make it all the way in time. The spike struck him in the right foot, and he winced in pain…
Bubbles gasped when she saw that, “Oh no! Butch!” She flew as quickly as she could over to the tree, and Boomer took this opportunity to fly back into the observatory. Butch reached down and tried to pluck the spike from his foot, but it had already sprouted its claws, and just before he grabbed it, the thing had burrowed its way into his foot.
“Ghaa!” Butch screamed in a panic, dropping the professor’s weapon and grasping his leg. “Get it out, get it out! Bubbles, help!!” Bubbles knew she didn’t have long…she knew the spike was going to travel the rest of the way up his leg, up into his chest, seeking out his heart. She also saw the look of fear in his eyes, and knew how afraid he was to face death again, just like her. She gripped her sword and thought, You’ve got to do it…he’ll die if you don’t…hurry, do it now!
She whispered, “I’m sorry…” and raised her sword, swinging it down…with one blow, she severed most of Butch’s right leg clean off. Butch screamed when she did this, his leg falling from the air out of the tree and hitting the ground below. He couldn’t stay airborne either and began to fall similarly. Bubbles quickly caught him with her free arm.
“Hang on, you’re gonna be all right,” she said, trying to calm him down. Butch’s scream stopped, replaced by short gasps of pain as he clasped his hands around what was left of his leg. He was still in shock, but Bubbles herself was also shaken badly by what she had been forced to do. You did the right thing, she thought. He woulda died if you hadn’t…but he still might die if you don’t get him bandaged up quickly!
Butch held tightly onto her arm, not letting go. Tears rolled down his face, and his breathing was still quickened…still, as Bubbles began to carry him off, he managed to say, “Th…tha…nk…you…” The two of them left the park, heading for home once again.
A few seconds later, a white flash came from the observatory. Barely a minute passed before Boomer emerged from the observatory, along with the now-revived Brick. They didn’t leave empty-handed, however…both of them carried piles of chemicals and equipment, including the device itself and its blueprints…
* * *
Bubbles flew into the professor’s lab, carrying Butch with her, leaving a trail of blood behind where they flew. The professor saw his condition and gasped. Bubbles quickly explained what happened, and he went to work patching up his leg. He had lost a lot of blood, but thankfully he would be all right.
Taking her sword with her, Bubbles told them she was going back to the observatory to try and destroy the device again, and for Butch to stay here until he felt strong enough to follow. They agreed, and Bubbles set out again, heading back to the park once again.
When she got there, the first thing she saw was the place on the ground where Butch had dropped the professor’s weapon…it had fallen too far and was smashed to pieces against the ground. She shook her head…another weapon lost. At least she managed to get one of the swords back, or else they would have been completely defenseless.
Flying up into the observatory carefully, though, she found another disheartening sight: they have vacated Mojo’s hideout, taking everything with them. She was crestfallen…she had no idea how much more of the machine was left to assemble, and even worse, she didn’t know where they were hiding it now. By the time she found it, it could be too late.
She dropped down, landing on her knees and staring at the empty spot where the device used to be. It’s all over, you can’t do anything now, she thought. They’re gone. Just…just give up, everyone’s going to die anyway…
I
can’t give up, she told herself. I
can’t…not as long as there’s still a chance…
Why
bother? It’s all going to end soon
anyway. Just wait for Death, and be
happy, knowing that there will be no more suffering…only silent bliss…
She remembered Blossom’s words…she had said something similar. Bubbles grabbed the sides of her head and thought, Don’t let them win! Life is good…life is good! Life is GOOD!!
Silence
is good…peace is good…Death…is good…
NO! Not for everything! Everything has to die eventually, but life always continues! Life must always continue! Nobody has the right to just take it away from everyone…they have a choice! If I don’t stop them, it’ll all be over…the choice will be taken from them…I have to find them, I have to stop them!
She got back to her feet and said aloud, “I’ll find you…wherever you are, I’ll find you…” Flying out from the observatory, she took to the skies, looking for some sign of them, wherever they might be…
* * *
Brick and Boomer finished attaching more of the components to the device, which was now sitting inside an abandoned warehouse near the docks. Brick could hear the constant sound of sirens off in the distance…the emergency crews running around, trying to search for survivors. So noisy, he thought…just imagine how quiet everything will be, once life is destroyed. All will be left to the peaceful solitude of Death…
“It’s installed,” Boomer announced. “What’s left?”
“Only a few more things,” Brick said, glancing over the plans again. “We need something called a ‘Phase-Induced Theta Transceiver’…”
Boomer narrowed his eyes, “What in the world is that? I’ve never heard anything like it…”
“Me either,” Brick said, “but look, Mojo had it circled on here, see?”
Boomer came over and took a look. Mojo had indeed drawn a big red circle around this component, and scribbled next to it was a name. “Ahh,” he said. “I’ll bet whoever this is has one of those. Good thing Mojo did the research for us…it coulda taken us hours to find someone who had this part.”
“Yeah,” Brick agreed. “So, shall we?”
“Let’s,” Boomer nodded. Both of them flew out from the warehouse…they knew its location was still a secret, and there was no way anyone would discover it while they were gone. They flew low away from the docks to be sure no one saw them leave and made their way around the outer edge of the city, heading for their destination…
* * *
“Are you going to be all right?” the professor asked, looking over from the table where he was mixing chemicals. Butch was still lying on the examination table…what was left of his leg was bandaged up, and he seemed like he was starting to relax, finally, not in so much shock anymore.
“I’ll be okay,” Butch assured him, forcing some toughness. “Heh…I can fly, remember? It’s not like I use my legs much anyway…”
The professor nodded, “Are you still feeling pain? I can get you something for it…”
“No…really, I’m fine…” Butch said. “There’s…there’s a little bit, but I don’t want any painkillers. I’ve gotta help Bubbles, and I don’t wanna be groggy or anything…”
“If you insist,” the professor said, concerned nonetheless. He turned his attention back to his chemicals and worked some more…as he did, his face lit up, and he said, “Ah! Success!”
“What?” Butch said, leaning a little to one side to try and get a better view.
The professor turned around, a flask in his hand. “This isn’t Antidote X,” he said, “but it’s almost as good. This will react with the Chemical X in their bodies and cause a complete paralysis of all voluntary motor functions. It’s only temporary—probably only lasting for about a minute or so—but it still makes an effective weapon against them. For lack of a better name, I’ll call it Sedative X…”
“Awesome…” Butch said, sitting up. “Look, I’d…better get out there. Bubbles needs my help…gimme some of that stuff, and I’ll go find ‘em…”
“You should get more rest, Butch,” the professor said, pouring out the Sedative X into several vials. “You’ve been through a lot.”
Butch set his teeth and said, “No…every moment I rest, they’re getting that much closer to destroying us all. If I can do anything to help, I hafta do it now, before it’s too late.”
The professor paused for a moment, thinking about this, then held out a couple of the vials and said, “Please, be extra careful, all right?”
Butch nodded, “All right,” and hovered off the bed, flying over to take the vial from him. He flinched again as he felt more pain from his leg.
“You’re sure about this?” the professor asked, trying one last time.
“Yeah…I’ll be okay, I swear,” Butch told him. “I’ll be back, ‘k?” The professor nodded and watched him as he tucked the vials away and headed out of the lab. Such courage, he thought, to face something so difficult. The strength of Chemical X never ceases to amaze me.
He turned back to his equipment, working for a few minutes longer. There has to be a way to deliver Sedative X more efficiently, he thought. Maybe like some kind of tranquilizer dart…no, perhaps a small metal carrying device that releases it on impact…that way, there’s no possible risk of backlash to the user…
The door to the lab opened again behind him, and without turning, he said, “Back again, Butch? Did you forget something?”
“Professor Utonium,” came a voice, and the professor froze, one of the test tubes he was holding dropping out of his hands and crashing to the ground. Whoever it was, it wasn’t Butch…or Bubbles, either.
He slowly turned around…the other two Rowdyruff Boys were hovering there, each with a sword on their backs, and each giving him a cold stare. Bubbles was right, it was the same stare he remembered seeing when he faced Blossom and Buttercup on the street the week before. Only this time, he didn’t have his weapon handy…
“What do you want?” he said, gritting his teeth. He slowly moved his hand across the table behind him, searching for something to use against them…the rest of the Antidote X was at another table, out of his reach…
The one in red—‘Brick’, as Butch had mentioned to him earlier—said, “We need a Phase-Induced Theta Transceiver…and you have one.”
The professor’s eyes darted across the room for a moment, falling on the transceiver that he spoke of. I’d better not tell them, he thought. They probably don’t know what it is… Unfortunately, Boomer followed his gaze and spotted the transceiver, saying, “Ah, that must be it…”
“Stay away from that,” the professor said with as much authority as he could muster. “I know what you’re going to do with it, and I can’t allow it.”
“I don’t think you have any say in the matter, Professor,” Brick told him, hovering forward and drawing his sword. “In fact…why are we even continuing this conversation? You’re not leaving here alive anyway, so there’s no need to explain to you…”
They would be on him in seconds…the professor knew this was his last chance to do something. He moved his hand desperately across the table behind him and grabbed one of the beakers, ready to fling its contents at the boys. Brick spotted him just before he did and dashed forward immediately.
Outside the Utonium household, there was no one on the streets…but if there was, they would have heard a single loud, bloodcurdling scream come from within…
TO BE
CONTINUED…