ACT I - PART II

PRIMATE AFFAIRS 

Cracking sounds were heard at the same time a lightning bolt hit a field nearby the bunker, it was the most intense storm the region has ever witnessed since the previous decade. An egg was laying on what used to be The Painter’s containment cell, visible cracks decorated its pristine white structure, and with each thunder the storm let out, the more the egg cracked.

The Painter had gotten out of its “organic resurrection pod”, and now it was able to hear its own thoughts, which weren’t too many, but at least it was a start. It could recognize a certain discomfort on its face, but wasn’t able to describe it properly, nor find the proper way to “feel” it, it was stuck in a perpetual state of emotionlessness. It tried to express the discomfort with its beak, but nothing was coming out… Except for a vomit-like substance it wasn’t able to define, it looked like it had many colors yet seemed to have none, it seemed to emit light, yet it looked like a dark goo, an impossible substance that screamed contradiction.

It took a bit, but The Painter eventually could manage to get up and walk around the neglected containment cell. Not much time has passed until it decided to try and get out, with intentions yet unknown. Its journey towards the door was abruptly interrupted by it being kicked by none other than the armored redhead, shouting her lungs out: “Alright! Green freak! Let’s go, we got a mission-”, she paused as she saw the avian with beret, standing up, a pool of a strange concoction behind it and what seemed to be a broken egg.

“Holy shit”, she uttered, perplexed at the view of the creature she thought was dead. Millions of questions swirling around her mind in that same instant, yet nothing else was coming out of her mouth but a bunch of stammering sounds.

“Speaking of green freaks”, she said, regaining composure, “if you can walk, then follow me, or stay, I don’t have the time to understand what’s going on with you.”, she finished as she began to walk off through the hallway. She was originally searching for the cell where The Thing was contained, but since the numbers in the doors had faded a long time ago, and considering the green-skinned creature is really good at hiding, The Warrior resorted to punch every single door in the hallway, which was really long.

So long, in fact, that she had lost count of how many times the intercom was repeating the same message over and over again. “SUBJECT X21 ‘PRINCESS MORBUCKS’, REPORT TO MY OFFICE IMMEDIATELY, BRING SUBJECT X7-3.”

Of course, it was just a matter of time until she got to the correct door, the view of it was no less than… depressing. The Thing was sitting on the floor, hunched, looking at a wall on which a bunch of stick figures were drawn, the fierce opening of the door of his cell made him turn around. A single tear was flowing from his eye socket. “Come on, freak, Mayor calls”, Morbucks said with apathy, The Painter was standing behind her, as emotionless as always.

The Thing hesitated at first, thinking about how the last mission went awry, ending up on him losing his gangmates, afraid the next one could be his definitive demise. However, he could not stop himself from considering the facts: no matter what he thought of trying to do, he had no real choice. Time was running really slow for The Warrior while waiting for the green skinned creature to make a choice, and the relief of seeing him stand up was, admittedly, minimal in comparison to her surprise. 

The journey to The Mayor’s office was as uncomfortable as the previous one, no one was talking while the elevator ascended through the structure. 

In her office, The Mayor was, once again, sitting behind her desk, looking at the window, with her back turned on her “guests”, who had just arrived. The room was way darker due to the stormy weather, the clouds were in a really dark shade of red, comparable to dry blood.

“Hmm… The weather is… Surprisingly nice today, don’t you think?” She mumbled, nostalgically admiring the rainy weather, sipping on her coffee, reminding herself of the time before.

“Hey, Mayor! I got the green freak…” The Warrior interrupted her internal monologue, “I mean— the green freaks…” She corrected herself, almost forgetting The Painter was following her.

“Green… Freaks?” The Mayor asked, without turning around. She proceeded to take another sip from her mug while The Warrior tried to explain. “Yeah, it seems that Mr. Bird Guy is alive and-”, her rant was interrupted by The Mayor turning around in a flash, her attention was immediately caught. Subsequently, unnoticed by the untrained eye, The Mayor’s face grew slightly pale. As far as she knew, no subjects registered within the database of the bunker had the ability to “respawn”, let alone from so far away and so fast. 

“I need to make a call”, she said, trying to keep her composure, almost stuttering. She picked up the phone, and put it near her left ear. With the other hand, she pushed a single button on the device, a long, deep beep played. Morbucks was feeling like her time was being wasted, and was about to protest, however, she was interrupted by The Mayor, who began speaking on the phone.

“I need Subject X-98’s status to be changed to ‘alive’, now.” 

While the callee’s words were unintelligible for our main group and judging by the not-so-monotonous speech of The Mayor, it seems it was protesting or questioning. “Check its containment cell…There may be a need to address a potential capacity of…” She paused to look at the avian entity behind the orange haired teen… 

“Resurrection…”

“X98-01 may be needed for this mission, take it out of ‘the box’... Yes, I’ll send them to you.” The Mayor hung up and put the phone back where it belongs. “During the time our… ‘avian friend’, was absent, the research team discussed about the possibility of creating an ‘antidote’ for ‘The Dimensional Compound’, however, due to certain issues related with lack of qualified-”

“Yeah, we’re too few, what’s the deal?” The Warrior interrupted. A rather long silence invaded the room, accompanied by the sound of heavy rain, until The Mayor spoke again. 

“As I was saying, due to lack of qualified personnel, there’s not much we can do. However, there is one subject we are sure can help us with this predicament.” The Mayor took out a sheaf of documents from one of the cabinets, then proceeded to give them to the redheaded girl.

“Subject X02, also known as-”

“Mojo Jojo, yeah, I think we all know who this is.” The Warrior interrupted. “Wait… You really want us to go to his lab and ‘convince him’ to join our side?” She objected.

“It’s not that I want, it’s that WE need him for this”, The Mayor corrected.

“What do you mean ‘we’? There is no-” The Warrior was about to protest again, but The Mayor demanded, “go to the research labs, it’s an order.”

“Fine…” The Warrior sighed, leaving with her “team” not long after. The Thing blew raspberries while he followed the redhead, and The Painter, still, said nothing at all.

It is not necessary to describe thoroughly how awkward the trip to the research labs was for everyone, nobody truly wanted to go there, yet they had to, the specific reasons, though, still weren’t entirely disclosed. 

When the team finally arrived at the research labs, they were received by a curious-looking scientist, who seemed in a constant state of sadness, his speech was ridden with sniffs and sobs with words in-between, a strange cloud was hovering on his barren head.

“Ah, Subject Morbucks…” he paused, “... and friends. Bellum sent ya for the sad bird thing’s brush, isn’t it?” He sniffed, and before The Warrior could say anything, he continued, “Do not bother answering, It’s right here, inside this little containment box…” He patted a rather large gray-blue box that was laying on his desk, it resembled a small coffin.

“Quite the ‘cadaveric’ look, eh?” The scientist’s pun went over the team’s heads and, as he sniffed, knowing his joke was not welcome, he opened the box. It was a rather big brush, the handle so thick that only a hand as big could hold it. 

The Warrior was less than surprised about the reveal, “of course, it had to be the bird man’s weapon” she thought to herself while pinching the temple of her nose, “Not sure what I was supposed to expect”.

In a swift manner, The Painter snatched the box off the scientist’s hands, gracefully tossing the box while grabbing its mighty weapon once again. Suddenly, as if it was part of some protocol, The Painter looked for abnormalities, whether visible or not, using some unused material as an improvised testing field.

“We tried what we could to comprehend this weapon, but every time we tried to test it, it always backfired”, commented the researcher, “All tests involving human subjects ended in them fainting.”

The Painter kept practicing its “techniques” with extreme focus.

“We tried with machines, but they would stop working the moment they grabbed, like if it emitted an EMP.”

The Painter kept cutting stuff in half, The Thing tried to get close to the ruckus with a curiosity not even himself remembered he could pretend to have, but ended up hit by a flying piece.

“It’s like it has a sort of loyalty pact with Subject-X98.”

The Painter struck a pose that, in a different context, could be seen as “epic”, but in this specific moment, it only provoked confusion to those present.

The Warrior switched on the communication device in her glove.

“Hey, Mayor, Princess here. We got the weapon and our feathered buddy got a bit too excited.” She began, the voice of The Mayor didn’t take long to reply, “I’m watching the cameras, Morbucks. Continue your mission, I’ll take care of this mess later.”

“We must go through the metro system again, isn’t it?” The Warrior asked again, dreading the murky tunnels she was sure would never get used to.

“It’s the safest option, and the closest to your destination. By the way, you should watch your surroundings more often.” After that, The Mayor hung up. The Warrior, confused by what her superior had said, looked up just to see both The Painter and The Thing struggling for the former’s weapon, it seems the green creature took a liking to the avian’s enigmatic brush. The green mutant eventually got a hold on the handle, fainting immediately in the process, his body laying face down.

“See, I told y’all! But does anyone ever believe my freaking word! No!” The sad researcher weeped pathetically while The Warrior and The Painter dragged the unconscious mutant out of the research labs.

Once again, the group finds itself in the elevator. There was nothing to talk nor ask about, for one member would not answer, another would merely blow raspberries, and the only one capable of proper communication, well, didn’t have any real motives to do so.

Entrance G6, the path they took for the previous mission would have its door shattered once again by the mighty glove of The Warrior. Upon feeling judged, she would attempt to justify herself: “What? Can’t I have some fun around here? They’re gonna repair it anyway! Come on!”

Once again, the trio was walking through the husk of the former subway of Townsville, where humidity had done its work quite well, a perfect space for amphibians, rodents and insects, almost comparable to a swamp.

“I swear this place is getting worse and worse…” The Warrior complained, “if only Daddy was alive, he would’ve made it my personal transportation!”

“If Daddy was alive, he would have made this city better!” She insisted.

“If Daddy was alive, he would have made himself mayor, instead of… Bianca…” She was now struggling to find the words, she remembered its name.

“If Bianca wasn’t so cruel… We would have been best friends…” The Warrior’s frustration was fading, letting a sensation of uncertain loss into her system instead.

“Bianca…” She muttered.

A raspberry echoed through the tunnel, The Warrior noticed she was dissociating again, a trance-like state that made her derail from her walking path, and almost trip with the train tracks.

“Bianca… was a weird girl…” She spoke again, while redirecting herself to the intended path. “When I met her, she stared at me with her big eyes, three colors merging in her irises, she caught my attention.”

“I tried to make her my friend, or more exactly, I wanted to be her ’heroic partner’.”

“Whether by using money, or by more ‘violent’ means.”

“One day, she finally spoke to me, but what she said… Well…”

RIIIING! 

The redhead’s entrancing flashbacks were suddenly interrupted by the incessant beeping sounds of her intercom, The Mayor was calling once again and, as protocol, Princess picked up the call.
 
“Subject X21, progress report.” The Mayor ordered dryly.

The Warrior looked at her surroundings, noticing the station they aimed to arrive at just behind them by a few yards. The rain was still going strong, a faint red illumination could be seen from where they were at.

Doubtful, The Warrior replied: “It seems we’ve arrived… It’s as dirty and humid as I remember it.”

There was silence at the other side of the line, The Mayor didn’t seem to appreciate the unnecessary details, “we’re going up now, over,” the redhead ended the call.

An uncomfortable silence surrounded the trio, with the heavy rain and occasional thunder being the only disturbance. A moment they could have used to think about what they were trying to do, maybe try to talk a little… But nobody said a word.

They proceeded to rise to the surface, where the weather remained unchanged, crimson drops of a water-like substance falling endlessly on the group while they walked to their destination, feeling observed in the process.

Getting closer to the volcano, where The Primate resides, The Warrior noticed a certain patch of burnt grass that she recognized instantly.

That was the place where she first found The Painter.

She remembered being at a reconnaissance mission, alone, with her glove. The sky was red and the weather was surprisingly breezy, not too cold, not too hot. She was walking at the park, in search of survivors or anything useful to defeat THE ANGEL.

She remembers seeing a strange figure in the distance, she initially thought it was a lost survivor, but as she approached it, a bad feeling was rising through her system. So, in an act of impulsivity, she rushed to the figure, assuming it could be THE ANGEL in disguise or something like that, for as far as she knew, it could have god-like powers and no one would ever have known.

Everything happened in a mere instant, the punch using her “power glove” and the shock wave that sent her away a few feet. And when she got to check her victim, she remembered one of the grossest views she had witnessed, a humanoid avian, with a broken beak, an incomprehensible substance sputtering through the avian’s mouth.

Eventually, the group arrived at the vicinity of the volcano, where a strange structure laid on top of it, similar to an observatory in design. The Thing, in his impulsiveness, tried to charge towards the natural monument, only to be stopped abruptly by what it seemed like a transparent dome.

Upon witnessing such a reckless act, The Warrior activated her communicator and called The Mayor to report the current situation.

“Yo, Princess here… Again… We’re at Mojo’s Lair and we can’t get in, there’s this dome or some weird force field that’s blocking us, what do we do?”

“That’s strange, this was not disclosed in the papers…” The Mayor replied in confusion.

“Are you kidding me right now? What? Are the documents outdated or something?” The Warrior questioned.

“Basically.” The Mayor admitted. “Sorry, but you are on your own for now, good luck.” After that, The Mayor ended the call.

The group was now in a stalemate, with a high possibility of being attacked right there by THE ANGEL. And before she could even think about a strategy to try and get in, she noticed that her teammates were already inside. There were two holes in the ground, judging by the dirt on The Thing’s hands, it was obvious who made them. On the dome there was another hole, the cleanest circle she has ever seen, in order of elimination, The Painter being responsible for that hole was a given.

“They weren’t joking about that brush”, The Warrior thought, “And golly, it’s been so long since I’ve seen something done almost immediately.”

The trio was now inside the dome, the stairs to The Primate’s lab was just in front of them, it looked so easy and so obvious, there should be a catch in all of it.

“Wait just a moment,” The Warrior said as she was stopping her teammates by the sleeves, “this reeks of a death trap...” She said while she began walking around the area, as stealthily as she could, looking for any hidden device that could test her hunch. Yet, despite her efforts, there was nothing that could be considered “compromising,” so she returned to where her teammates were, only to find them playing with a set of Poker cards.

The Warrior sighed, considering declaring failure on the mission, but not until making a last attempt, she called for The Primate as loud as she could, to see if he at least was in there.

“HEY! MONKEY!”

But there was no response.

“WE’RE FROM THE BUNKER OF TOWNSVILLE, WE NEED YOU FOR A MISSION!”

Again, no response. Meanwhile, unnoticed by the team, motors are being turned on just below their noses.

“WE CAN OFFER YOU GREAT MONEY!”

Motors begin to roar, but their sound is muffled by the layers of dirt they’re trapped in.

“MAYBE YOUR OWN POSITION IN THE GOVERNMENT, WHEN THIS SHIT ENDS!”

The Warrior is becoming frustrated, she felt a rumble at the soles of her boots.

“ANSWER, YOU IMBECILE!”

The Warrior is frustrated, machines begin to rise.

“SAY SOMETHING!”

The motors roared at full power, too loud to go unnoticed. The team was surrounded by these metallic entities, there was no going forward, no going back, and much less a way to escape.

“You asked for it.” The Warrior muttered.

Bullets began flying in many directions, ricocheting against the dome, some of these strange machines were trying to engage in direct physical combat, whether throwing punches or attempting to grab and/or strangle at least one of the team members.

And yet, their methods were only partially effective. The Warrior, euphoric for the expectation of a winnable fight, was piercing through the chest of the robots she was sure could catch off guard, it was the most fun she had in actual years.

The Thing, ever strange in his nature, attempted this strategy he once saw in a movie, where he would slip inside an automaton and then destroy it on the inside, coming out covered in oil and with slight bruises and cuts.

The Painter, using its mighty brush and the technique it’s been honing earlier, cut the robots in half. However, the repeated use of this technique wore out the avian gradually, and eventually, it fainted, leaving it to the robots' demise. Meanwhile, The Thing succumbed to his injuries, and fainted too, conveniently next to The Painter.

The Warrior noticed this, ran to her fainted teammates while destroying more automatons in her path. Not knowing what else to do, she was considering running away, especially when she saw more robots rising from the ground and her glove was damaged from the excessive use.

The stakes were high and danger was imminent, there was only one thing left to do…

Run away.

The Warrior noticed the stairway was somehow unprotected, despite the efforts of the automatons. With a strength she never thought she could have before, The Warrior attempted to carry her teammates all the way to the top, bullets were still being shot and ricocheting and the speed of the travel was rather slow.

Some of these bullets ended up in some of the team's limbs, some others in the torso. And yet, The Warrior was still trying her best to get to the top.

In a surprising turn of events, The Painter’s brush began emanating a strange energy that was accumulating slowly but surely, a big ball of “light” covering both the ferrule and the bristles of the brush.

And then… A big ray of light shot out from the brush, ricocheting everywhere within the dome, piercing through the automatons like a bullet.

The enemy bullets stopped, and the team got to the top… Barely.

With the little energy she had left, The Warrior tried to use her worn gauntlet to punch the door, only to see that it was open all this time. The door opened slowly by itself, revealing a dark room, darker than The Mayor’s office. In the darkness, she could take a small glance, a blurry figure, walking slowly towards the light…

And then The Warrior fainted.

Hours later, The Warrior woke up, tied with her partners around one of the pillars present in the laboratory. Her “power glove” was nowhere to be found. Looking desperately for her weapon of choice, she almost failed to see The Primate, sitting on a white chair, with a “laser gun” in hand, laying on his lap.

The Primate’s face is ridden with what would be best described as “paranoia”, his eyes were wide open, and his breathing was definitely not calm. Before The Warrior would utter a single word, the green ape spoke.

“Speak to me, redhead from the bunker, why are you here in my lair, which was protected by an army of robots, which were protected by a dome? Did you come to kill me, torture me, eradicate me? Or are you some incognito undercover agents of Bianca Utonium, the Powerpuff Girl, The Perfect Girl, The DEVIL of Townsville?”

”I could ask why you would think that, but I’d be wasting my time.” The Warrior retorted, The Primate was already pointing his gun to the redhead.

“Wait, before you shoot!” She yelled, hoping he’d back off, “Hear me out.”

The Primate obliged and took a step back.

“We need your help to make an antidote for ‘The Dimensional Compound.’”

“Lies! Why should I believe you and not assume you are not being mentally controlled by that Bianca Powerpuff!?” The Primate questioned.

The Warrior’s tone shifted from sarcastic to almost dread-inducing, “I know things about her you wouldn’t be able to grasp, not even with that big monkey head of yours.”

“I am not a monkey… But okay, say what you have to declare. See if that saves your sorry redhead butt.” The Primate accepted. 

The Warrior cleared her throat how she could, and began:

I met Bianca when I was little, in that local daycare daddy made me go to. She was the last kid I saw among the small crowd the other kids made in my presence.

I have to admit, she kinda caught my attention immediately, there was this mysterious “aura” she had that got me a bit jealous. Her eyes were like looking straight to a rainbow, her hair and her clothes were pristine, way cleaner than what I wore, which was, by the way, really expensive.

I tried to make her my friend in the ways I knew. I tried to pay her, I tried to give her gifts, and I even tried fighting her using a suit I had custom-made.    

Nothing worked, and then I got sent to prison.

But in the short time we “spoke”, she was cold, cruel, heartless… Soulless. She spoke in this monotone voice when nobody else was around, muttering things about a “mission” and a “Recreated Paradise.”

I tried to fight her how I could, take info out of her, something, anything, that could prove she was the worse person of us two. It was around 6-7th grade when she showed some of her true colors, when she killed off The Mayor of Townsville. And after that, criminals began to disappear.

Of course, being one of the most crime-ridden cities in the US, it was not a surprise when people began to cheer for her. They began to call her “The Angel”, “The Savior” and other “holy” titles. 

This got to a point where she would form a cult around her, claiming to be witness, judge, jury and executioner of all evil within the city. That she would create a “perfect place,” “cut the issues at the root,” and “kill the unworthy.”

Eventually, she “expanded” her definition of “unworthy”... Did you steal food for necessity? Did you lay your head on a bench because you didn’t have anywhere to go? Perhaps you accidentally committed littering? That was enough reason to kill you.

Then… Then… She killed off my dad.

One of the few corpses she didn’t take away.

I saw his face, scorched to a crisp.
And a word engraved on the walls of his studio… “GREED”.

Even for me, I haven’t seen something so… So…

The Warrior lost her composure, blowing chunks on the almost polished floor of the lab, she began to sob right after, no one tried to console her.

“I don’t need to hear more, former rich redhead, I’ll believe your word… For now.” The Primate spoke once again. “I am willing to believe in whatever plan, even if it is an awful plan with no sense or coherence.”

The Primate walked away, the pressing of a button could be heard and, subsequently, the machines that restrained The Warrior and her teammates retreated to their respective sections.

“Here, I fixed your gauntlet.” The Primate spoke, The Warrior was still looking at her reflection, disturbed by the chunks of vomit she puked earlier. She grabbed and put on her weapon of choice. As soon as she stood up, she noticed her wounds were healed.

“Thanks…” Is what she would have said, but decided not to, “it’s not like he cares,” she thought to herself. The Warrior tried to use the communication device in her gauntlet, but regardless of her attempts, The Mayor was not picking up the call, so she decided to leave a message.

“Hey, Mayor, not sure how much has passed, but we managed to convince him. We’ll be getting there soon.”

The message was sent, and the team proceeded to get back to the bunker, using the same path they took to arrive. All members of the team (except The Painter, of course) were having a bad feeling about this, they were feeling “observed” but also, they were feeling something was really wrong. The Warrior had this feeling the most, The Mayor never ignored a call unless the signal was really unstable, like the previous mission, so it was weird to not have her answer the call.

The Mayor's office was eerily quiet when the team arrived. The sky was no longer cloudy; instead, the red sun shone on the crimson horizon, its light interrupted only by the chair, whose backrest pointed toward the group. The Warrior tried to break the silence, trying to sound celebratory, “Yo, Bellum, guess what? We got the monkey!”

“I AM NOT A MONKEY!” The Primate interrupted angrily.

“Bellum is no longer here, kids… She’s gone…” A sobby voice emanated from behind the chair.

“Dr. Goubrious? What are you doing here? Where’s Bellum!?” The Warrior asked in confusion.

“You… Took too long”, the sobbing scientist replied.

“But we’ve only been gone for hours… Right?” The Warrior was doubtful with her words.

“It’s been almost a week… Have you checked your lost calls?” Claimed Dr. Goubrious, his voice breaking in a rather… Abnormal way.

Both The Warrior and The Thing were in shock, but The Primate was not buying it. “Listen to me, crybaby excuse of a scientist, I know how my inventions work, and my inventions work so well they take effect in minutes!” He yelled, in search of a convincing answer. “So you better tell us what happened to Sara Bellum, acting mayor of Townsville, or I will burn your head to a crisp with this atomic ray gun of mine, that I created to kill pests like you!” 

The Primate pointed his ray gun to the chair, which, slowly but surely, turned around, revealing the sobby doctor, his eyes looking like kaleidoscopes and his mouth drooling a sort of black saliva.



“H E A V E N . . .” Is all he was capable of saying before getting hit by The Primate’s weapon of choice. However, that barely did anything to the possessed scientist, who began crawling like a spider all around the office. He got his eyes on The Warrior, and before she could react, he jumped towards her… Only to be cut in half by The Painter. The possessed man got his body cut in perfect halves, then it melted, leaving only an incomprehensible puddle behind.

After all that, there was silence, long enough for the team to think about what just happened… And the implications behind it. “Oh god no…” The Warrior muttered, realizing what this meant… “Quick! We must…”

A furious banging interrupted her, it was coming from a door at the left of the office, the utility closet. The team, losing no time, prepares for another fight, approaching carefully to the door, while the banging was getting louder, and louder, and louder…

Until The Warrior opened the door.

There was The Mayor, on her knees, with both her ankles and her wrists tied together, and her mouth gagged, all with a solidified version of that black substance they saw earlier. Her puffy hair was messy and her clothes had black-ish stains.

They dragged her out of the closet, The Mayor attempted to speak to no avail as she was put on her chair.

The team tried to free her, but the material used for these bindings was so incomprehensible and tough that not even the power glove was able to snap it. In one moment, The Painter, like a pavlov dog, squeezed between its teammates and touched the bindings with the tip of its brush, the bindings faded away in seconds.

The commotion stopped for a moment, silence struck again in the room.

“Well, that was… Something…” The Mayor broke the ice, as dryly as she’s been lately, “and it seems you got Mojo Jojo with you, good.”

“Is ‘she’ here?“ Asked The Warrior.

“She’s nearby, won’t take her long to find a way in, if she isn’t already here, that is…” The Mayor explained.

“What are we waiting for then? If you need the universal compound antidote serum so much, we must go to the labs! If not we won’t ever win!” The Primate said in his particularly angry manner.

He looked up and saw The Painter, looking back, “And you… I don’t like you…”

The team ran like hell towards the laboratories, having to use the stairs after finding out the elevators were out of service. Papers, coffee and clothes were scattered around the halls on the way to the labs.

Having the team arrived, they lost no time on dialogue, and got started. The Primate’s ability with the machines and chemistry equipment had no comparison. In less than two hours, the anti-dimensional compound was ready, a pristine white liquid, trapped in a glass capsule, it emitted a strange white-ish light.

“Now, one must put it inside this hole within this ray gun made by me, like this antidote, and voilà, here’s the anti-dimensional gun to finish with the Powerpuff Girl.” The Primate said proudly as he did the finishing touches of his newest creation.

“Now what?” Asked The Warrior.

“Hey, you told me to make the anti-dimensional compound, not to plan a strategy to use the recently created anti-dimensional compound, you can ask about a proper strategy with the acting mayor if that concerns you so much!” The Primate got defensive.

Then, a faint, yet familiar sound was detected.

“She’s here…” Whispered The Warrior with caution.

“Bianca…” Whispered The Mayor in shock.

“THE ANGEL…” The Primate whispered in terror.

A nigh-dead silence was invading the room, tension was rising, heartbeats were getting faster, and faster, until…

BOOM.

Suddenly, one of the walls of the labs was shattered with an explosive impact, and someone spoke. A voice way too familiar for some of the people present, a sweet, yet dread inducing voice.

“WELL, WELL, WELL, WHAT DO WE HAVE HERE?”

“A LITTLE WELCOME PARTY?”

“THAT’S SWEET…”

“IT IS SADDENING IT HAS TO END SO SOON…”

“FOR THE TIME HAS FINALLY COME…”

The commotion was unanimous, for the first time in years, THE ANGEL has spoken. Fearful, The Warrior exclaimed: “How!? How did you even know we were here!?”

“I ALWAYS KNEW…”

“I JUST NEEDED TO WAIT FOR THE PERFECT MOMENT TO INTRUDE…”

“AND GET THAT ANTIDOTE OF YOURS…”

“Stop right there in this instant or I will shoot, Bianca Powerpuff!” The Primate tried to maintain control of the situation, pointing the ray gun with the antidote at THE ANGEL, but before he got the chance to even consider to begin to shoot…

“LITTLE APE, LITTLE APE…”

“SLEEP WELL, SLEEP WELL…”

“HAVE SWEET DREAMS…”

“FOR YOUR REST IS WELL DESERVED…”

THE ANGEL got closer to The Primate, who was being affected by a sensory overload, paralyzing all his thoughts and ultimately, making him faint, dropping the gun in the process. Almost instantly, THE ANGEL got hit by The Warrior, using her “power glove”, the impact sent her flying to the other side of the room.

If THE ANGEL had something that could qualify as a “weakness”, it was the fact she had to concentrate a lot on one task at a time to do it “properly”.

“You should check your surroundings more often, Bianca!” The Warrior mocked THE ANGEL as the latter slowly descended. Losing no time, The Warrior ran towards THE ANGEL, and put her in a chokehold, hoping this would keep her still for enough time.

The Painter and The Thing joined in The Warrior’s struggle, buying time for The Mayor, who immediately ran to get the ray gun with the antidote. With the gun in hand, she pointed at THE ANGEL, who was writhing at the struggle of the trio.

“What are you waiting for!? Shoot!” The Warrior yelled in desperation, to which The Mayor obliged.

A glowing white ray emerged from the gun, when it hit THE ANGEL, it created an energy explosion that freed her from her bindings and sent her captors flying away from her.

Everything was quiet for a minute as the smoke dissipated. Only The Painter, The Mayor and The Warrior were awake enough to know what was happening. Suddenly, a voice was heard, it was gentle, yet sinister.

“AT LAST…”

“MY TRAINING WHEELS ARE FINALLY OFF…”

THE ANGEL stood up, and began to walk towards The Mayor.

“IT’S BEEN A LONG WHILE SINCE I FELT LIKE MYSELF!”

THE ANGEL’s skin began turning red.

“FOURTEEN YEARS STUCK AS THIS ‘POWERPUFF GIRL…’”

Her limbs began lengthening, her hands and boots were acquiring sharper features. Her dress was adjusting to her new proportions, like if it was stuck with her body.

“MY TRUE SELF, CONTAINED IN A SICKENING VESSEL…”

Her hair became sharper, a mane-like scarf grew on her new neck.

“AND FOR LIBERATING ME, I MUST THANK YOU, SARA…”

But her face suffered the worst changes, her mouth once small, opened wide to reveal a set of teeth comparable to a predator, along with a neon green tongue.

And her eyes, god, her eyes, which were already open, opened again to reveal a new, more unhinged set, the irises were now the scleras, and the pupils were tiny to the point of being barely perceptible.

Minutes after a deathly silence, THE ANGEL began to laugh, first with a small chuckle, then escalating in intensity until it became an evil cackle, one so loud it could break the windows of an entire building.

“Good heavens…” Murmured The Mayor, shocked by the new appearance of this new creature.

“YOU DESERVE A PRIZE FOR SUCH A SELFLESS ACT OF KINDNESS, SARA! HAVE AT YOU!”

THE ANGEL snapped her giant fingers and, just like that, The Mayor vanished, leaving her clothes behind.

“IN FACT, I FEEL RATHER GENEROUS TODAY…”

“REJOICE, EVERYONE PRESENT! FOR YOUR SINS HAVE BEEN FORGIVEN!”

“ALL OF YOU WILL BECOME WORTHY…”

“OF MY PARADISE: RECREATED!”

The message was sent straight to the minds of every living being that was still within Townsville, some panicked screams could be heard in the distance. Nobody could stop the inevitable, one by one, every entity within the vicinity of Townsville vanished, leaving their clothes as proof they had once existed.

The last thing The Painter saw before fainting was an incandescent light.