* * *

The city of Townsville. It was another beautiful sunny day, and was one of the busiest times of the day for the the citizens of this fair city. They walked about the streets, on their way to work or heading for some other planned engagement. They were all going about their daily lives as usual, proceeding with a sense of purpose or accomplishment.

Watching from a rooftop, the Powerpuff Girls looked down at the people below, viewing them for the first time under a new light. They knew where the people really were, and it was unsettling a little to see them go about their business, blissfully unaware of their imprisonment. Blossom wanted to just fly down and tell them, to let them know what was happening to them, to show them the truth…but she knew they wouldn't believe her. They'd probably think she was crazy.

Daedalus and Query were both standing next to them, in their usual trench coats and sunglasses. Noticing their stares down below, Query said, "Almost hard to believe, isn't it? How they can be completely unaware of what's happening to them…"

"Yeah," Buttercup agreed. "I think it'd drive me crazy if I had to go back, knowin' where I really was."

"Can't we free everyone?" Bubbles asked.

"It's not as easy as that," Daedalus said. "You managed the transition fairly well yourselves, but you're still taking the truth a little heavily. Imagine these people, who have spent their entire lives as part of the Matrix. Many of them wouldn't want to leave, even if they did know the truth."

"So then…how do we do it?" Blossom asked, looking over at Daedalus in confusion.

"I'm not sure," Daedalus replied. "It will have to be a gradual process. A sudden shock might be too much for them."

Query, in the meantime, pulled out a pair of binoculars and looked off into the distance. "There…I see them. They're heading out right now. We'll stick to the rooftops. Girls, you fly high enough to avoid being seen, and watch them from above, all right?"

"Right!" Blossom said. She and the other girls took off into the sky. They could see Daedalus and Query below jumping from rooftop to rooftop, heading deeper into the city. She focused instead on their target below: a black car like the one they had seen earlier. It was pulling away from a parking garage next to a tall skyscraper, and was heading out through the city.

Buttercup looked down at the car, "So those are the agents, huh?"

"That's right," Blossom nodded. "We're going to have to keep our guard up around them. Let's make this clear: if we get attacked, we run for now. We may be strong, but I don't think we can handle these guys ourselves yet."

"Okay," Bubbles said. They continued staying amongst the clouds, never taking their eyes off the car as it continued through the city. Finally, it stopped, in an oddly public location: right next to Townsville Park.

As they observed, two agents got out, still wearing the same gray suits. They entered the park, and approached the base of Townsville volcano mountain. What? Blossom thought. They're going to talk to Mojo? What for? Curiously, they flew down amongst the trees in the park to get a closer spot to watch from.

The agents climbed up the steps to the mountain and stopped in front of the door. Giving each other a silent glance, they both drew pistols, and one of them kicked the door open. They rushed inside.

"They're not just visiting," Buttercup whispered aloud. "I think they're after him…"

Buttercup was right, because they could hear Mojo's shout, "Hey! What is the meaning of this intrusion? Mojo Jojo does not take kindly to your trespassing in Mojo's lair, and since this is Mojo's lair, I am angry!!" There came sounds of a scuffle.

"Now what?" Bubbles asked.

"Just watch," Blossom ordered. "We can't let them know we're on to them, at least not yet."

The agents emerged from the observatory a moment later. Both of them led Mojo out, who was handcuffed and struggling to get free. "You cannot hold me forever!" he said. "Mojo will escape, and will destroy you all for your balatant disrespect for the property of another…"

Blossom's mind raced…Why do they need Mojo? Maybe they're going to use his knowledge for something. Maybe we should try to free him…it's weird, helping Mojo, but these agents are a hundred times worse. Whatever they're planning can't be good for the human race! She finally whispered, "All right, we're going to try to get Mojo from them, are you ready?"

Bubbles looked concerned, "Are you sure that's a good idea?"

"I think so," Blossom said. "There's two of them. Just be on your best guard, okay? We're not fighting them, we're just trying to free Mojo."

"Fine by me," Buttercup said. "Let's do it, then, before they get away."

The agents pushed Mojo into the backseat of their car, and started walking around towards the front driver and passenger doors. Blossom saw an opening, and said, "That's our chance…now!" In a trio of colored streaks, the three of them flew out as fast as they could towards the car. Before the agents could get into it, the three of them grabbed the car and lifted it up into the air.

Inside the car, Mojo was looking around in confusion…he most certainly didn't expect any help from anyone, let alone the Powerpuff Girls. As they started gaining some altitude, the agents both drew their pistols and started opening fire at them. "Why are they even doing that?" Buttercup wondered. "We're bulletproof…"

Bubbles noticed it, however…they weren't aiming for the girls at all, but rather, at the car. Specifically, towards the gas tank. With a yelp, she made a snap decision…she ripped the door off from the side of the car and flew inside, flying back out with Mojo less than a second later. Just in time, too, because one of the agents' bullets found its mark right after she got clear. The tank of the car exploded…Bubbles and Mojo were safely away, but Blossom and Buttercup were knocked from the sky by the blast.

Hovering in the air, Bubbles tried to figure out where they landed, while Mojo said, "Powerpuff Girls! I am surprised to see you helping me escape…I was under the impression that they were part of the law enforcement, and since you are a part of law enforcement as well, that you would support their actions, instead of…"

"Shh!" Bubbles hissed, still trying to concentrate on finding the others. The agents had vanished, too…they were probably already on the move towards them.

Buttercup picked herself up from the tiny crater that was left in the ground from her impact. As she lifted her head to see, she spotted one of the agents heading directly for her. She quickly scrambled back to her feet, but he reached her before she could fly away. The agent slammed a foot into her, kicking her up and into the side of a tree.

Buttercup gasped for air; the blow had knocked the wind out of her. She was dizzy for a moment, and as her vision started to clear again, she saw him lunging towards her with his fist. Reacting as fast as she could, she ducked under the punch. She expertly did a foot sweep on him, but impossibly, he saw it coming and hopped over it. No, not impossibly, she reminded herself. Anything's possible here…

Gritting her teeth with determination, she continued the motion from her foot sweep around in a full circle to sweep a second time, just as his legs were coming down. Even she seemed a little startled at her own speed. It connected, and the agent tripped, tumbling over towards the left.

In the brief moment where he was suspended in the air before hitting the ground, Buttercup watched him fall, almost in slow motion. She saw an opening, and decided to take advantage of it. Normally, she wouldn't have had the time to think of it, let alone act, but she did both. She spun around half-way to face him, and slammed both of her hands forward into his chest.

The agent was knocked almost a hundred feet into the side of a brick building. Not brick, she thought, as she came to the realization. There's no building there. It's a computer program, just like everything else…

Bubbles descended from the sky, still carrying Mojo, and landed on the ground next to her. "Wow, Buttercup!" she said. "I saw what you did…that was amazing!"

Even Mojo looked impressed, "I saw this as well. Your already formidable speed and strength seems to have increased. However, I do not react with happiness as Bubbles did, but rather, I curse this fact, since it will only make it more difficult for my own plans to succeed in the future."

"Give it a rest, Mojo," Buttercup said. "We saved you…"

"And that is my other question," Mojo continued. "Why did you save me?"

"They're after you for some reason, an' whatever it is, it's gonna be bad for the world" Buttercup told him.

Mojo laughed, "Ha! They think they can outdo me when it comes to evil? I am far more evil than those fools!"

Buttercup shook her head, "If only you knew, Mojo…"

"Omigosh!" Bubbles exclaimed, suddenly remembering. "Blossom!" She immediately flew back up into the air to look for her. Buttercup quickly flew after her, leaving Mojo behind, who just watched them leave, blinking.

The girls heard the sounds of a fight nearby, by the edge of the park. When they got over there, they found Blossom and the other agent fighting. Blossom was executing a stunning array of kicks and punches, from at least a dozen different martial arts styles. Perhaps the training had paid off, since the agent seemed to slowly be getting pummeled by them. However, only the lighter blows landed; he remained fast enough to dodge any of the stronger ones.

Blossom spotted them out of the corner of her eye, and said, "A little help here?"

Bubbles complied by taking a deep breath and releasing a piercing scream towards the agent. The ground seemed to shake from the tremendous impact of her sonic attack, and the agent himself tensed up, slamming his hands over his ears. Blossom took this opportunity to fly back to a safe distance.

Even after the scream stopped, though, the agent reeled, disoriented. He didn't seem to be snapping out of it, either. After a few moments of tottering, he finally collapsed onto the grass, still twitching a little bit.

"Whoa," Buttercup breathed. "What did you do?"

As Bubbles shrugged, they became aware of something approaching from the air. They looked up just in time to see two familiar figures land on the ground, having obviously leapt from one of the nearby buildings.

"Daedalus! Query!" Blossom said

They nodded, but their attention was drawn towards the incapacitated agent on the ground. Daedalus was confused, "How…what…"

"That's what we were hoping you would know," Bubbles explained.

"Yeah," Blossom said. "She used one of her 'sonic screams' on it…"

Bubbles folded her arms, "I prefer 'shout', not 'scream'…"

Query was dialing her cellphone. She spoke quickly into it, "Tripwire…what's the status on the active agent in our area?" After a moment of listening, she said, "You're kidding…"

"Report?" Daedalus said.

Query looked over at him and said, "The agent's processes have been disrupted. I don't know how, but he's completely out of commission."

"Yeah, but for how long?" Buttercup asked.

"It looks like permanently," she said. "At least until someone repairs him…"

"That's not going to happen," Daedalus said. "Tell Tripwire to find us a safe haven. We're taking him with us." He kneeled down next to the agent and pulled the wire free from his ear, cutting him off from any communications.

As Query continued talking on the phone, Bubbles said, "What's going to happen now?"

"Now," Daedalus told her, "we're going to try to use him to find out what they're up to. This is completely unprecedented. No one's ever captured an agent before, we didn't even think it was possible. We need to take full advantage of the opportunity."

"Do you really think he'll tell us anything, though?" Blossom asked.

Daedalus shook his head, "It doesn't matter. He's a computer program…we can just hack the information out if we need to." After a brief moment of thought, he said, "By the way, did you find out anything?"

"They were after Mo--…" Buttercup began, but then froze as she realized, "We left him back there!"

Without wasting a moment, all three of the girls grabbed someone to take with them. They didn't want to leave anyone behind this time. Blossom carried Daedalus, Bubbles carried Query, and Buttercup carried the paralyzed agent. They quickly flew back over in the area where they had left Mojo. Upon reaching there, however, they found no one, not even the agent that had been knocked into the side of the building.

"I hope Mojo just got away," Bubbles said hopefully.

"From an agent?" Daedalus said. "Unlikely. But at least we have one of theirs. We need to find out what he knows as fast as possible, before they put whatever their plan is into action..."

* * *

They gathered back at a hotel room. It wasn't the same one as the one they had been in when they were removed from the Matrix, but it was similar. Equipment was piled around, and both Photon and Reaper had now joined them to help with the hacking process. The captured agent was strapped into a chair, several wires running from him, almost like he was on some sort of life support system, but it had a different purpose entirely.

The girls just watched silently as they did their work, at the computers. The agent barely moved; it was still incapacitated. Daedalus was observing the process just as silently as they were. The only sound was the soft clacks of Photon and Reaper working at their keyboards.

Query was standing near Bubbles, and she whispered, "We'll probably end up taking you along on future missions now, Bubbles. You've got a weapon we can use against the machines, and an incredibly effective one at that."

"Thanks! It was easy," Bubbles replied.

Daedalus softly reminded them, "They'll probably try to figure out a defense against it. That's the way they operate. We shouldn't count on it as a foolproof method of combating them…we must always remember to have a contingency plan."

"I think I've got it!" Reaper announced. Everyone looked at the agent, who blinked his eyes a few times, like he was coming around. "Don't worry, he can't move. He should be completely cooperative now, though."

The girls watched with interest as Daedalus stepped over in front of the agent. He said, "What is your name?"

The agent looked up, although its eyes didn't really focus on him…they were sort of glazed over. He spoke in a voice that sounded oddly synthetic, "Agent number 52291, 'Osbourn'…"

"Agent Osbourn," Daedalus said, "tell us what you know about the Powerpuff Girls."

"Project 882," the agent told them. "Biosynthesis of human DNA to produce a new specimen. Intention was to create a breed of human with a greater thermal and bioelectric yield."

"For what purpose?" Query asked.

The agent continued, "The theorized reason for control instability and subject separation from simulation was that far too many were being controlled. Any effort to reduce it to a manageable size would result in insufficient levels of power. By producing a superior breed with a greater output of energy, the older, obsolete humans could be easily replaced by a smaller amount, while producing the same overall output."

The girls glanced at each other, as Daedalus said, "Continue."

"Three prototypes were engineered," the agent said. "After five years of measuring thermal and bioelectric output, reading a full fifty percent above normal, their memories were cleared, and they were inserted into the simulation for test and observation in a live setting. The results of this test yielded unexpected results."

The girls were a little shocked hearing all of this, but at least some of it began to make some sense. They used to wonder why they were five years old at their creation; now they knew why.

"Explain," Query said.

"Their enhanced bioelectric levels increased their subconscious processing speed, far beyond what was expected," the agent said. "They were able to effortlessly ignore most of the rules set by the system, in a manner which we were unable to fully comprehend. We planned to cancel the experiment, but chose not to when we saw the results of their energy outputs. They did not read fifty percent above normal as previously tested, but rather, they read between two hundred and three hundred percent above normal."

Nodding, Daedalus asked, "And why was this?"

"Their power output jumped with the use of their…'abilities'…" the agent told them. "We decided then to change the nature of the test. Instead of merely observing them in a natural setting, we created scenarios to continue prompting the use of their powers. We localized the tests to the city called Townsville in order to prevent any large-scale loss of human life."

Blossom blinked a few times and said, "So…you mean, all the disasters and criminals and stuff we've been fighting in Townsville…that was all set up?"

"Yes," he said. "Designed to keep the prototypes to constantly use their abilities, and to keep their energy outputs high. Assuming a successful test run, we would be able to replace the regular humans with these superior ones, and would only have to manage a population size from one-third to one-half the current size."

All of them fell silent at this. Daedalus said, "I see…and what does this 'Mojo Jojo' have to do with this?"

"Agent number 91881, 'Mojo Jojo'," he said. "For the purposes of testing, his awareness of his surrounding environment as a simulation was not included, so that he could participate in the test without affecting it outside of the controlled environment."

"He's…an agent?" Buttercup said.

The agent barely nodded, "Yes. One of several assigned to Townsville, to continue generating scenarios for the Powerpuff Girls."

Blossom shuddered a little…they were trying to rescue Mojo earlier, but in reality, he was just one of them. "But then, why were you trying to capture him?" she asked.

"The loss of the Powerpuff Girls from the simulation requires an agent that is used to dealing with them, so that they can be returned or destroyed. While we always observed test results, we rarely watched everything that occurred. Agent number 91881, 'Mojo Jojo', is the agent most familiar with them. His experience will also help with project 978."

"What is that?" Daedalus asked, suddenly concerned.

"I…it…zzg…" the agent said, his voice becoming more of a buzz. Electricity seemed to spark across his frame.

"What's going on?" Bubbles exclaimed.

Photon's hands flew across the keyboard, "His processes are breaking down…I'm sorry, but I can't stop it…"

The agent jolted once, and collapsed back in the chair, a wave of electricity passing across him one last time. His appearance changed, and now he looked like some police officer…likely, it was whoever the agent had been using as it's control point.

Reaper shook his head, "No sign of him…he's been completely destroyed."

"Well, at least that's one less agent," Query remarked.

Blossom was troubled about that last piece of information, though. What was this 'project 978' that he mentioned? Blossom thought. And what does it have to do with us?

* * *

Mojo sat in the small, barren room, still handcuffed. He grumbled, "Yesss…my vengeance will come, once I am released from this place. They cannot hope to hold Mojo Jojo for long, as I will have developed a clever escape plan by that time…"

The door swung open, and Mojo stopped talking, waiting to find out who it was. Three men, wearing similar suits to the one he saw before, strode into the room, and stood in a circle around him. Mojo growled, "Well, if you have something to say, then do so, or else release me, although I would prefer the latter…"

"Do not worry, Agent 91881," one of the men said. "Our procedure will not take long."

Mojo was confused, and still a little angry, "Agent 91881? What are you talking about? I belong to no agency. You are mistaken!"

The one by his left started unscrewing the helmet from the top of his head, revealing his usual exposed brain, while the other pulled out a long syringe. The one that had spoken to him continued, "You will remember soon enough."

"What are you doing?" Mojo demanded, but before he could struggle further, the agent on his right plunged the syringe into his head. Mojo clenched his eyes shut in pain and try to shout, but no sound escaped his throat. He remained tense for another few seconds, almost completely still, and then suddenly his eyes flew open again, and he released the breath that was caught in his chest.

"Welcome back, 91881," the man in front of him said.

Mojo slowly took his helmet back, and put it on his head, his expression returning to normal. "I am glad to be back, for now I can help you recapture the Powerpuff Girls. That is what you wanted me back for, is it not? And it is what I shall do for you…"

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